Though she knows that the Fenrimorph in front of her is not going to harm her, she 't help but be wary of it. The red eyes that seem to glow, alongside sharp teeth and spiked spiked hive her the sense of a dangerous beast bult to maim and kill. She’s also wary of getting nicked even slightly by the monster's appendages. If that happens, then she is as good as dead. Unlike human’s and Wolven, Gemma never survive the transformation. At least that's what her father expined.

  With a calming breath, she grabs the Fenrimorphs arms and begins measuring ead every part from extended cws to individual fingers. She does the same to the other hand, more-so to make sure that the measurements are the same.

  “Done.” She takes a step back.

  The Fenrimorph yawns. Then it disappears and is repced by a cat.

  The cat yawns and hops up on a table. “So, how does the process of making these runed gaus work?”

  She takes a seat and ys down her measurements. She grabs a clear piece of paper, a pencil, and a stylus.”

  “Well, the first part is to design the gaus around your arms dimensions. Then I have to prepare the metal to be used. This will involve grinding down the core into a powder and mixing that powder into liquid steel. Ohe steel is done, I’ll o use the metal to craft all parts of the gau and put them together. Finally, I will engrave the runes into the metal using crystal powder.”

  Quasi nods. “So… that actually sounds pretty simple. Where does the difficulty e in?”

  “The Runeing.” She grabs a thick bck crystalliylus that houses a gss der at the top. “Is doh a ruylus like this. Powdered crystal is put ihe gss der. When I add my mana into the obsidian-” At her words, the tip of the stylus begins sparking and glowing crimson. “It glows hot enough to engrave metal. As I engrave the metal, powdered crystal will meld into the engraved cracks to form the runic framework. This framework is the most difficult part because even the slightest mistake will cause the ruo fail and then the whole item is no longer fun and must be re-smelt.”

  The cat sits ba its hindlegs while a f scratches its . “That holy doesn’t seem plicated at all. It sounds like you just need a steady hand, a steady supply of mana, and knowledge of how to form the rune.”

  Emma snorts at quasi’s ignorance. “It’s not a steady supply of mana. Each rune o be engraved in a certain way with a stantly shifting pieana. At certain parts of the engraving, more mana may be required to create a deeper groove, or less mana for the opposite effect. This gets expoially more plicated with additional runes. Every additional rune added to an item increases the difficulty of applying anraving. The more you apply, the more mana, trol, and skill is required. On top of all that is the time po. Ohe first rune is produced, the ambient mana in the air will start entering the metal and increasing the difficulty of the entire engraving process.”

  The cat pouts. “Damn, so learning to engrave will take years.”

  “Decades. I started when I was five.”

  “You were making runes since you were five years old?”

  “Started. My first success was when I was eight. It was a simple (Endurance) rune on a frying pan. My dad was so proud.”

  “I didn't think the statue could show pride.”

  She chuckles. “I grew up ion all my life, but my dad tells me that most emma tend to act like him. If you want to see emotions, look at his eyes.”

  “I see… anyways, how long will this entire process take?”

  Emma leans bato her chair. “A day for the design. One- no, two weeks for preparing the metal, smithing it, and f the gaus. Then two days for the engraving. One for each gau. After that, they should be done.”

  “Purrfect. I should be ready to leave by that time.”

  The cat stands back up and then stretches. It hops up towards aed rack. “I’m going to take a nap while you work on the designs. Wake me up when you’re done.”

  Emma watches dumbfounded how not a moment since his annou, Quasi is already fast asleep.

  She shakes her head and refocuses on her work.

  ______________________________________________________________________

  Just as Myers remembers years ago, Runic W is at the same pce as the st time he visited. It even looks mostly the same, what with the white angur stone stru so heavily favored by the Gemma. Just below the sign is the only ge to the store. The door, formerly like the walls, is repced by thick runed marble. Which makes sense. Marble is capable of holding several runes in parison tur stone.

  He walks up to the door and easily pushes it open on at of the smooth hinges. As the door opens, the top of it taps a bell which rings of his presenot that it is needed, for in front of the ter is Afinov wearing a coat.

  “Myers.” The Gemma quickly diss the maering his establishment. “You should not be here?” he asks.

  Myers closes the door behind him and strolls to the ter.

  “I didn’t have a choice. [Bounty Hunters] have reached my home and I was forced to flee.”

  Afinov squints.

  “Why here? You know as well as I do that [Bounty Hunters] are numerous here. If even one of them gets a whiff of you, Breston will be swarmed by the guild.”

  “It has been three years. I doubt my bounty is still being hunted.”

  “Your bounty has doubled every year- as has the childs. So long as the child lives, I imagi will tio increase.”

  “Doubled every year? That’s madness!” Myers excims.

  “Go to any inn or tavern. Your picture is pstered on the wall alongside enough trist to buy a small kingdom.”

  “What’s happened? Something must have ged since I was gone because this sounds like desperation?”

  Afinov blinks slowly. “These are just rumors, but when you disappeared, Fallentine underwent a purge; [Nobles] and senior leadership lost their lives or were imprisoned.”

  Myers nods slowly. “I already heard of the purges and expected them. What happened after?”

  “The purges opped. When they finished with the [Nobles] and upper leadership, they attempted to ge the [Order anders].”

  Myers grimaces. “The [Knight] orders serve Falntine seds and the third. But above all, they serve the leader of their orders. To move against the [Order ander] is to move against the ey of the order.”

  “Ihe orders fought back, but they were outnumbered by the kingdom's military. Instead of staying and losing, they took their ons, armor, ships, a fnis.”

  Myers goes silent as he digests the information. “Dangerous. The Republic of Guilds avoids flict. I doubt they would protect the orders if Falntio hunt them down.” Myers strokes his beard for a moment. “How many of the orders left? Do you know whies?”

  “I know not the specifics, but there are twelve orders in Magnis.”

  “Twelve!” Myers nearly yells. “That's a tenth of Falntines military and a good half of their expert csses.” The old man takes a breath. “With them gone, I imagine banditry and piracy to be on the rise in Falntine trolled isnds. Hell, the Corsairs may be bold enough to attack Faln directly.”

  Afinov he pained look on the old man's expression. Pain from building something up, only for it to drop at a moment's notice. He knows the feeling well.

  “I apologize if this information pains you.”

  Myers shakes his head. “It’s fine. Please, tinue. Is there more?”

  “What you expect is indeed happening. Falntine is beset by [Pirates]- but that is less of an issue in parison to the rapidly deterioratiions with Lapis.” Afinov expins with nary a movement of his body. But Myers has dealt with many Gemma before, and if you want to tell their thoughts, you gaze into their eyes.

  “War. That idiot wants war!” Myers excims loudly. “He was never happy about the peace treaty. He wants a reason to break it.”

  “So does Lapis.” Afinov adds. “The republic has a rge ego and is more than happy to get into another war against a kingdom with a heavily weakened military. Especially one missing their [Royal Admiral].”

  Myers balls his fists in growing frustration. “I’ll o look into this more. I-I need more information.”

  “Be careful who you ask.”

  “I know, and I will.”

  Afinov grunts ever so softly as he gnces behind him.

  “Now, did you e only for information, or is there another reason?”

  Myers' spiraightens as he remembers why he came. “Yes. Currently, I am traveling with a [Captain] by the name of Quasi Eludo.”

  Afinov blinks rapidly. “The cat?”

  Myers nods slowly. “Yes. That’s him. I heard he was here.I o ask him where the Ballistae and o are located.”

  “He’s probably talking about the destroyer, Seden’s Orbit. When I woke up from my wound, my daughter told me he vinced [Lord] Richard to give him everything but the ship.”

  Myers frowns. “Wound? Did you get an injury?”

  Afinov uncsps his coat to reveal his bandaged chest.

  “How did you get such a wound?”

  Afinov g the entrao the store and the ck of ers so far.

  “It is aing story. If you have time, I would like to tell you about it over tea.” Afiends an arm and points a finger behind him.

  Myers strokes his beard again as a smile crosses his face. It has been awhile since he’d had something other than water and alcohol. “I could use some tea and some sane pany.”

  Afinov turns around and starts walking to the kit with Myers following behind.