“I didn’t realize you’d be doing it today,” Angel said. He pulled the chair out and gestured for Alison to sit down. “How much do you know about runework, Tilly?”

“I’m at the top of my class,” she replied. “I know more than Alison.”

“Good for you,” Angel said, his eyes narrowing. “Then I’m afraid you might be a bit bored today. I’m going over some rudimentary concepts today.”

Alison flushed as she sat down at the table. Tilly turned her nose up and Angel bit back an annoyed sigh. He handed Alison the filled canister he’d made the previous day.

“Here. You’re going to draw another light rune and then use this to power it.”

“Okay,” Alison said. She’d lost a lot of her eagerness to learn with Tilly staring over her shoulder, but she revealed a thin metal tube with a pointed end. “I went to a general store and bought the focus for the canister.”

“Oh, well done. I was just going to make one myself, but that makes things faster. Go on, then.”

Alison screwed the nozzle onto the canister and picked up Angel’s scribe, carving runes into a piece of scrap metal.

Angel didn’t bother watching her this time. He was relatively confident the girl knew enough rune carving to make the basic pattern that he’d asked of her. This time, he was far more interested in Tilly.

She had turned in her chair so that her back was to both Angel and Alison. Her gaze was firmly fixed on a cabinet.

“Why are you here?” Angel asked, talking low to avoid bothering Alison.

“It is required by my future employer.”

“I see. Did she also ask you to act like a spoiled little brat?”

Tilly spun to look at him, her features narrowing in rage. “What did you say? I’ll tell Magistrate–”

“Hold on,” Angel said through a yawn. “I think there might have been a slight misunderstanding. Do you think I work for Daliah?”

“Of course you do,” Tilly said, crossing her arms. “She got you this workshop in exchange for entering her employ. When I graduate from the Academy, Daliah is going to train me to take charge of all the Tinkerers in her house.”

“That’s cute, but you’re sorely mistaken,” Angel said. “I don’t work for Daliah. She must have some lofty goals for you, though. Unless she’s playing at something else, the only price I have to pay to use this workshop is letting you watch me work. That’s a lot of effort for a little brat. Can’t imagine why.”

Tilly’s hands clenched at her sides and her eyes narrowed. She was so bad at hiding her true emotions that Angel nearly laughed in her face.

“If Magistrate Daliah didn’t require me to be here, I’d leave and get out of your hair,” Tilly said, glowering at him.

“Oh, that’s it?” Angel asked. “I’ll just tell her you were observing and you can go do… well, whatever it is you do. Win-win.”

Tilly blinked. A small frown crossed her face and she nodded at Alison. “What about her?”

“None of your business.”

“I checked the Academy archives,” Tilly said, switching the subject. “You aren’t listed as a licensed Tinkerer.”

“That’s because I’m not one,” Angel said. “Now what do you think about that offer? I don’t have any desire to have you polluting the air with anger while I’m trying to work.”

“I’m staying,” Tilly said. She crossed her arms and met his gaze. “I wouldn’t lie to Magistrate Daliah, and the fact that you would shows a flaw in your character.”

Angel rolled his eyes. Alison, who’d been working throughout their conversation, lifted the scribe from her piece of metal.

“Ah, you’ve finished,” Angel said, walking up to stand beside her and ignoring Tilly completely.

“Is it safe to use?” Alison asked. She did her best to not look in the other girl’s direction.

Angel scanned over it, then gave her a nod. “As safe as the others. Remember, don’t give it all of the canister’s energy at once. Just a trickle.”

She pressed the tip of the nozzle to the activation rune on the metal and put a tiny amount of force on a lever at the base of where it connected to the canister. A faint trickle of blue energy slipped out and entered the runes.

The rune at the top turned a warm red. Alison’s eyes went wide and she let go of the lever. The magic flow stopped and the light went out.

“I did it!” she exclaimed. “I can make runes. I’m not cursed!”

“We already knew that,” Angel reminded her. “There’s something off with how you’re using magic, not your rune crafting.”

“That’s good to know,” Alison said, but the excitement faded and her face fell. “But this won’t help me long term. Any real Tinkerer needs to be able to test what they make.”

“It’s a temporary fix.” Angel waved his hand dismissively. “Just use the canister for the purposes of class. I’ll refill it whenever it runs out. Once I take care of some other work, I’ll see if I can figure out exactly why your magic doesn’t work right.”

Alison’s eyes watered up. “Thank you, Master Angel. I don’t deserve this.”

“Angel,” he corrected. “As I suspect Tilly is about to point out, I’m no master. Just a wandering Seeker.”

Tilly harrumphed and scooted her chair over to the window. He shook his head and took the scribe from Alison. He drew several unconnected runes on a plate and put it on the table.

“Do you know what these runes do?”

“I’m sorry,” Alison said, shaking her head. “I don’t.”

“Learn them. Don’t link or connect them in any way. Just practice drawing them. Also, start putting more focus on your artistic skills. Your hands aren’t as steady as they should be. I expect you to be able to draw a perfectly straight line.”

Alison nodded vigorously. “Yes, M- Angel. I’ll do that immediately. Would you like me to leave you and practice on my own?”

“For today, yes. You can come back after dinner. I’ve got some work I need to do privately.”

“What could you possibly have that’s important enough to hide?” Tilly scoffed.

“Wouldn’t you like to find out.” Angel took Alison’s place at his desk and rocked back on the chair. “Shoo now. Go tell Vanessa how horrible I am or something. I’ve got work to do.”

Tilly grabbed her chair, which turned back into a disk, and sneered at him as she left. Alison followed the other girl at a safe distance. Once both of them had gone, Angel hummed contemplatively.

“Blue, what do you think the chances are that Tilly is a spy for Daliah?”

“You believe her standoffish behavior is to make you stop paying attention to her?” Blue asked. "My knowledge implies spies want to stay unnoticed, not annoy their target."

“It's just a guess. I guess it's possible that she's just got an inflated ego, but I'd rather be safe,” Angel replied. “Daliah knows what I’m wrapped up in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she suspects I’ve made progress on returning Old World Magic. I don’t know what her true goals are anymore.”

“Would you like me to observe her while she is present?”

“Yes. Go ahead and do another scan of the room while you’re at it,” Angel suggested. “Then watch that vent again.”

Blue chimed in affirmation and set about inspecting the room. Angel bit his tongue. Now that he was alone, there were all too many projects vying for his attention and it was getting hard to focus.

He mentally separated them, trying to rank each one by importance. There was the Key, the cube relic in his arm, the Star Fragment, Soul’s old core, and probably something else that he’d managed to forget.

The Key was by far the most difficult problem. There were too many runes he didn’t understand and, more importantly, he was missing a good portion of the instructions to make it. That would come last, then.

Lilian’s temporary heart had enough power to last her a little while longer, and he could always make another if he needed to. On top of that, once Lilian was fully repaired, Angel wasn’t confident she’d stay on his side.

If that wasn’t enough, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Soul wouldn’t have just died without trying something. The man had been as spiteful as they came, and Angel didn’t trust anything on his body in the slightest.

He pushed inspecting Soul’s core to the bottom of his priority list. That left the Star Fragment and the relic. Between the two, he’d already worked with a relic successfully, so it was probably the most logical next step. The Star Fragment could come afterwards.

With his newfound order established, Angel rested his arm on the table and opened the latch concealing the red cube. Faint runes flashed across its surface, fading in and out with every breath. The relic was more than just a power source, and Angel planned to draw every last secret free from it.