Half an hour later we were sat down in the living room. Safrah had made herself lunch. I was still full so I declined her offer to eat together. Other than that we had not communicated at all. She seemed to be deep in thought, probably trying to parse what her life had turned into. Now, after she got some food in her belly, she was looking much better. The dwarf had leaned back into her couch, eyes half-closed and let out a deep sigh.

I was resting as well, thinking about what I wanted from the dwarves. Other than the healing potion, there really was no need to ever come here. But that did not mean I was uninterested. The constructs, as Safrah had called their magical tools, were something I really wanted to take a closer look at. And maybe I could even convince a brewer to show me how to make potions. I had a cauldron, even if it was still in Vivi’s den and was intended for thaumaturgy. It could probably be utilized to make magical brews as well.

Soon, Safrah opened her eyes and blinked at me.

“So, what do you want to do?”, she asked.

“I was thinking of exploring the town a bit on my own. At some point, I would like to learn more about how constructs work. And I’m interested in brewing.”

My words pushed her back into thinking. Though not for long. She sat up and looked at me.

“I can tell you it will be near impossible to learn about the secrets of brewing. Even the simple ales are made by masters of their craft. They are the only dwarven clan not having their own city ruled by a Prior. And they are the only dwarves settled in this town who have not left their clan. I think… it would be impossible. But I’ll ask Captain.”

That was a bummer. Maybe I could sneak in?

“As for artificing, it will be much easier to get you a teacher. The library mostly contains books about that and our people’s history and the librarians are always happy to have a willing student. The deeper secrets are still kept by the corresponding clans, but it would take you years to get to that level. I should make an appointment for you. When do you want to go?”

I considered. I did not really want to get caught up in town right now. My first priority was…

“Would you be willing to host a friend of mine as well?”, I asked.

She raised her eyebrow.

“She’s a sapient animal as well. She lives in the nearby forest. I don’t want to leave her there just like that. We only just became friends.”

“I think… that should be fine. What kind of animal is your friend?”

“She’s an ocelot.”

“Uh, that’s… a type of cat, right?”

I nodded.

“A little taller than me. She’s a [Hunter] and has little experience with people. But I think she should be fine.”

Safrah frowned.

“I don’t know if I can take care of both of you, you see? I don’t even know what you eat.”

Oh. That was her problem? That was easy to solve.

“We can find food for ourselves. Towns always have rodents and just in case, the forest is an all you can eat buffet. It’s not like I could eat cooked food anyways…”

“Oh. Okay. Then, I think it should be fine?”

She seemed decidedly unsure.

“Well. Your friend will need to be questioned by Captain, just like you were. Those are the rules for new people coming into town. They are especially important for beasts, to gauge how well they can fit in with society.”

Of course. I nodded. That was very much expected.

“Then, I think you could make an appointment with the library in three days. I’ll go and get my friend right now. Though it might take some convincing. If she doesn’t want to come, I won’t force her.”

Safrah sunk back into the soft cushions.

“Alright. That’s fine with me. You can get in and out on your own, just make sure to close the window behind you. I don’t want it open in case it rains. The attic is all yours. After I clean it up.”

“Thank you”, I sent. This was going a little too easy for me. Was she planning something? It did not feel like it but it was hard to tell. I did not really understand people. Roguk was nice enough but Meeny was a bit of a bitch. And the idiot ork was a complete ass.

“How long am I welcome here?”, I asked.

Safrah glanced at me.

“As long as you want. Most sapient animals either leave civilization at some point or find a place for themselves. Often times they stay at their chaperon’s place and work from there. Though, once you start making money, I am supposed to start charging rent. They’ll stop paying me for housing you at that point as well.”

I nodded. I did not plan to stay here for that long but learning a trade I could use in other towns as well might be a good idea. I had to think about it.

“Alright. I’ll be on my way then. If Vivi comes along we will probably take a path across the rooftops.”

Safrah gave me a wave.

“See you”, she said and as I went up the stairs again I heard her mumble to herself.

“Should probably get to cleaning…”

I was back in the forest half an hour later. I simply flew over the walls and straight towards the pond. Before going in, I shifted to my metal and glass form once again.

Inside, Vivi slept on her makeshift bed. She looked very content, the remains of a meal strewn across the floor. My books were scattered around but still clean. The only one she had kept being interested in was the Thaumonomicon. I gave in and started to clean up. Everything went back into my storage, besides the large tome. I noticed I had much more space now. I could take along a similar amount of books again.

There was another thing I wanted to do before going into town. It would be important for Vivi once I left. I was sure I would continue my journey at some point and it would not be in the too distant future. So she needed her own supersensory matrix in case she ever wanted to communicate with people.

While cleaning I spotted a small gold trinket held in Vivi’s paws. It looked like some kind of animal but I could not tell the details. It was obscured too much. That had to be what she did with the bit of gold I gave her. When she had found the time to work on it the last days I did not know. I was never gone all that long.

I dismissed the thought and left the den. I had to find a suitable crystal. In my everlasting genius, I had sold all the really good ones to the dwarves. I could try to get one back but that would make me feel dumb. I would look for another node first.

It took me a few hours of flight to spot something. A clearing was reflecting the remaining daylight in a weird pattern. Perfect. Just the place I needed. I took a careful approach, making sure there was no Guardian nearby. Half an hour later I was looking for a suitable crystal in between the stalks of grass.

The place was a little different from what I expected. There was a node somewhere nearby but it was not actually above ground. Instead, the ground opened up in places, cracked as if a pane of glass hit by a small stone. Out of those crevices, mana flowed and formed crystals. They had destruction and earth aspects, though earth was much stronger. This would do. Earth formed the aspect of life with water. I could get the needed water mana from the small crystals near the pond and from there go the same way I had for my own supersensory matrix.

I quickly returned to the pond. It was time for another crafting process. Nothing spectacular happened, I had already done this once, after all. The slight adjustment of using earth mana from the crystal instead of myself and pulling water mana from elsewhere might be worth a mention but with my skills, it proved no problem.

As I finished up my crafting and raised my head, I found Vivi sitting there, watching intently. I had completely lost myself in the process. I formed a connection to her mind with the new supersensory matrix and found it working perfectly. In fact, it felt even more natural to me than the previous one.

“Hello, Vivi. How long have you been watching?”, I sent.

She laid down, still staring at my creation.

“A bit.”

I let it slide. It was not important.

“Well. I made this for you. Want to try using it?”, I asked.

She nodded. I severed the connection and pushed the new supersensory matrix to her. The original one I placed on the ground next to me. Vivi gingerly picked up the item and focused. I waited. Nothing happened for quite some time. Only the breeze rustled the leaves. Then, something brushed my soul. A feeling somehow more intimate than [Identify] while at the same time quite distant. Shortly after, it came again. Then something clicked and the connection was formed. Vivi let out a deep breath and looked at me, ears perked and tail swishing happily.

“I did it!”

“Yes, I can see that. Congratulations”, I nodded my head sagely, “Now, I want you to try again.”

She pouted at me but obliged. This time, the connection formed a tiny bit faster. That might have been my imagination, though. We tried a few more times until I figured she was not getting much better than this. So I went to the next experiment.

“You got the basics down. Now I want to know if there’s a difference between the two.”

While saying that I pointed at the original supersensory matrix. Vivi nodded and we swapped the two items around. I nodded at Vivi to proceed. She focused again and, just as I had expected, formed a connection in only two-thirds of the time. As for the why? I had my suspicions. While the base materials had been completely transformed, they looked to still have an influence on the end product. I had no water mana so the water-based matrix was less receptive to me while for Vivi it was the other way around. If I had made one from a destruction crystal, both of us should have similar ‘affinity’ for it. Though I did not like to use that word. It had a deeper meaning within the system, after all. Maybe alignment? I should ask the librarians when finally meeting them if the phenomenon was known and had a name. Speaking of.

“Hey, Vivi? Do you want to come to the town with me? I want to spend a bit of time there. I would be happy if you came along.”

The ocelot considered for a moment. Her head was tilted and she looked me over from her spot lying on the ground.

“What can I do in the town? Is there good prey to hunt?”

I chuckled. Ever the wild animal. It would do good to show her civilization.

“There are a bunch of rodents but that’s not why you should want to go there.”

“Then why?”

This time she sat up and looked at me with curiosity.

“People can do a lot of things. The two of us are sapient. We are not much different from them. Why should you come to the town? You like carving, right? The dwarves are very good at carving. Stone, wood, metal. They make wonderful art. I think you would enjoy seeing it and maybe even learning from their best craftsmen.”

The wide and sparkling eyes she gave me let me know. I had her.