"Does he often talk to himself?" Hayes leans over to ask Amelia.

"Sometimes, but in this case he was talking to the Book of Knowledge. We call her System-chan, or Temmie." Amelia explains my seemingly one-sided conversation.

"Nickel, nice." I start noting down the useful metals. "Magnesium, that could be useful. Ooh, Titanium, yes please. I hope there's some neodymium, but I doubt I'm that lucky."

"This is what he's like when he's talking to himself." Amelia snorts at my antics.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." I shake my head and walk over to a barrel full of green rocks. "Oh, Fuck! Girls, get back." I step back myself and make a lead sheet from some of my new stock to drape over the barrel. "Hayes, please tell me you haven't been messing with uranium."

"Never heard of it. I thought that was a new type of copper ore that I hadn't seen before. I just got it last week, haven't messed around with it yet. But, what's with the lead?"

"Sorrel, baby. You're scaring us. What is it?" Amelia asks, her voice laced with worry.

"Sorry, I'm exaggerating the danger a bit, but I was not expecting to find uranium ore. It's not as deadly until it's been processed, but even the raw ore can cause cancer just by being near it for prolonged amounts of time. The lead blocks the invisible light that it emits."

"Like when you described what causes sunburns?" She tilts her head to the side.

"Yep, only worse." I nod, and turn to the old smith. "Look, Hayes. I'm gonna have to confiscate this; I'll pay for it of course, but it's too dangerous to leave in the middle of the city like this. First let me check your health, and I hope the person you bought it from is still in the Capital, because if he's been hauling it around for weeks, or even months..." I trail off.

"Cancer? Invisible light from rocks? What is this, some scam? Let me guess it really contains gold right?" He scoffs, disbelievingly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't fully introduce myself earlier." I retrieve my golden circlet, and ceremonial sword. "I am Archmage Sorrel Rumex, Newly appointed Count of Circle Orchard. But please don't take my word for it. Guards!" I use an air spell to speak to our security detail. "Please come into the smithy, it's a matter of national security."

Less than a minute later a half dozen guardsmen and women rush into the hallway, each of them looking ready to pounce. "Lord! What is the matter?" The squad leader, a thirty something woman speaks up.

"Stand down." I hold my hand up. "I apologize for calling you in like this, but I needed to impress on smith Hayes the severity of the situation. Please don't bow, Sir. I don't go in for any of that formal nonsense." I reach out and take his hand, pushing my magical senses into his body. "Good news, you're in remarkable shape for a man of your age. But I still need to find the person you bought from."

"Lord, may I ask what's going on?" The squad leader asks hesitantly.

"Sandra, right?" I'd overheard all their names days ago. "Master Hayes had the misfortune of coming across a very dangerous piece of ore. One that can cause cancer just by being near it. Can you imagine what would have happened if he tried working it, and the smoke and particles from his smelter spread across the city?"

"There's a rock that can do that?" Her mouth thins to a line.

"Yes there is, and I need your men to go buy me some more lead for me. It can block the cancer rays, here." I toss her a small pouch of silver.

"Right away, Milord." She rushes out along with her team.

"Damn, Sorrel. You're sexy when you're all take charge." Apricot flies up and whispers in my ear.

"Down girl, we can play later. Ugh, I should probably call this in to the castle." I groan. "It's just one thing after another lately. I truly am sorry about all this Hayes. I just wanted to build a car, dammit."

"It's okay, babe." Amelia takes my hand. "At least you were able to spot it in time. Is it really as bad as you made it out to be?"

"Not really." I shake my head. "Chances are he would have just contaminated his forge, and made the risk of anyone spending time in there getting sick that much higher."

"Lord. Um, my granddaughter sometimes plays over here. She doesn't usually mess with the ores, but..." He trails off with a pale, worried look on his face.

"Just Sorrel is fine, or Sir if you absolutely must. And please go get her, and anyone else that may have been in here. I'll check them all out."

"Oh, thank you, Sir." He rushes out the door.

"Let him pass." I Windwhisper to the guards outside. "He's getting his family, in case they became sick." I let out an exasperated breath. "Unless he or the kid ate a piece, or ground it up and breathed in the dust, there's no chance they got sick." I explain to the girls. "I sorta freaked out there, didn't I? Should have just thrown gold at him until he gave it up."

"Hah!" Amelia snorts. "That's your solution to everything, and I think you deserve a bit of a freak out." She comforts me.

"Thanks for putting up with my bullshit." I pull her in and kiss her on the forehead. "I should call Oliver now." I sigh and pull my phone out.

"It'll work from here?"

"This one will. I had just enough time to upgrade it yesterday before we got called to the castle. Was it really only yesterday that we got married? Feels like it's been longer."

"It has been one long, week. Now, quit procrastinating and make the call." She tells me gently.

"...Fine." I make the call. "Hello, Oliver?"

"Ah, Sorrel. I was just about to call you. I've got good news about those lots you wanted." He sounds jubilant.

"That's great, but I've got a bit of bad news, afraid I made a bit of a scene on Smith Street." I explain. "You know the higher energy forms of light? Well, a smith named Hayes recently came into possession of some uranium, a rock that emits some very high energy light."

"That could be very dangerous." He voice turns grave. "The first thing we tell new Light mages to do is not to mess with that stuff."

"Exactly. I tried to take it off him, but he thought it was a scam, so I had to invoke my title. I'm sure Sandra sent a runner, but I thought you should hear from me first."

"Thank you for that, is there anything you need us to do?"

"I've got everything handled here, but we may need to bring the General in on this, depending on where the ore came from. Or, at the very least send a decent Earth Mage to go collapse whatever mine it came out of. Fortunately his supplier is walking up to the smith right now, unless there's more than one person in town with uranium dust in their lungs."

"Lord Rumex." The smith calls out as he runs into the front room where we're waiting. "I brought my family, and Billy the prospector that brought me the ore. Um, Sir? He's not looking too good. Is there anything you can do for him?"

"I'll go let Patrick know, could you stop by the castle once you're done there?" The Court wizard says.

"Of course, we'll be there in about an hour. Goodbye." I disconnect and turn to the newcomer. "Hello Billy, I take it your lungs haven't been feeling to good lately?" The man looks pale, but I can't tell if that from fear or possible disease.

"Yes, Lord. Is what Hayes said really true? I don't want to die from cancer, had a great uncle go out that way. It was not pleasant." He gulps.

"I'll do what I can." I promise the man. "But first, I think I need to deal with this little one, right here. Hello there, what's your name?" I lean down to put myself on the little girls level.

She's a little tomboy of about ten, with dirty blonde hair pulled back to keep it out of her face. She's covered in dirt and scratches and is wearing coveralls with pockets full of all sorts of things. Things like a tiny pebble of uranium ore. I was following Hayes with a spell, and wrapped it in a light spell to protect her and her family as soon as she came near the old Smith.

"Her name is Hayley, Lord." The girl's mother speaks up. "She gets a bit shy around strangers."

"Nice to meet you Hayley." I sit down on the floor cross-legged i front of her. "Can you answer a few questions for me?" She nods. "Good. Now, first off. Is there anything you'd like to tell your grandpa? Perhaps about something that fell into your pocket, and that your forgot to mention before now?"

Her family gasps as she slams her hand over her pocket like she's protecting its contents. I just smile and mouth the words "It's safe." to them.

"No? Okay, let me tell you a story then." I look over my shoulder and let my smile widen as I take in the image of my wives. "Do you see these two beautiful ladies behind me?" Her eyes widen when she notices Apricot waving from atop Amelia's head. "We love each other so much, that just yesterday we were married."

"But, she's so tiny." The girl finally speaks.

"Yes she is." I chuckle and agree. "But she has a very big heart, and with enough love and magic. Anything is possible." Apricot plays along and shifts to human size.

"Wow!" She breathes out.

"Wow indeed. Now, I love them so much that I did something silly earlier. I got so scared of a rock that I went and frightened not only them, but your grandpa, and even my guards." I nod to Sandra as her men come up hauling a cart full of much more lead than they should have been able to buy with that tiny pouch of silver.

"Why'd you get so scared of a rock?" She looks confused.

"Well, not all rocks are safe to play with; some could be sharp enough to cut, some could be big enough to break your bones, and some can be poison. Even really pretty green ones that glow in the dark?" I turn the last statement into a question, and her eyes go wide, confirming my suspicions as to why she took it.

"I-I didn't know." She starts tearing up.

"It's alright, Hayley. Neither did your grandpa, and unless you ate it or breathed in the dust." I give Billy a significant look. "You should be fine. But I'm going to take the rock now and do some magic on you and your family just to be sure. Is that okay?" She nods and I levitate the autunite nugget from her pocket. "Doesn't look like much does it? How about now?" I put us all under shade and let them see the rock glowing. "Time to join your brothers." I send it into the back and place it in the lead covered barrel.

"Is she going to be okay, Lord?" Her father asks.

"Let's find out shall we?" I hold my hand out for her. "Will you hold my hand please? I need to send some magic into you to see if I need to heal you." She places her hand into mine, and I use a bit of Light magic to show her family what I'm sensing through my nature magic. "I didn't know one little girl could get so many scratches. Did you walk through a patch of brambles?" I joke to lighten the mood.

"I'm not sick am I?" Hayley asks in a tiny voice.

"Not at all." I smile. "But I'm going to give you a Magical bath and make you drink some medicine just to be sure. Cleanse!"

"Nooo! I hate baths." She screams, making us all laugh.

"Too late little one, it's already done." I conjure a small glass tumbler and fill it with Healing Sap. "Here, drink this for me. It'll take care of all those scratches and even fix up that stubbed toe." She takes it but scrunches up her nose. "Don't worry, it tastes good. There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It's good." She licks her lips. "My toe feels better too."

"Good girl, in fact, you were such a good girl I'm going to give you a present." I take out my enchanting gear and whip up a little light generator for the cute little tomboy. "Just push this button here and it'll make little lights that last about an hour." I press it and several colored lights appear, each a different simple shape.

"For me? Really." She looks like she wants to grab it, but is too afraid.

"Yes, really." I put it in her hands. "If it stops working, you just have to set it in the sun for a few hours." I levitate myself upwards and put my feet under me. "Just let me give you guys a quick check and you can go about your day, She'll be perfectly fine."

I mouth "don't be too harsh on her for this" to her parents when I check them out. A minute later and they leave looking relieved.

"Do you think they noticed you cleansed them as well?" Apricot pipes in once they walk out the door.

"No, but I'm sure they'll notice when they get home to the cleanest house they've ever seen." I laugh before turning serious. "Sorry for making you wait Billy."

"That's quite alright, Lord. Kids come first." He holds his hand out fearfully.

"Can you tell me where you found the ore at?" I ask to distract him. "And we need to know if you sold it to anyone else."

"Just to Hayes, he's always looking for something new." The prospector explains. "I found a small vein of it up in the foothills, to the north. I've got a map with my stuff back at the inn."

"Well, good news and bad. Your lungs are in decent shape, at least they will be once I clear out all that rock dust. But, your kidneys have taken some damage." I prepare a much larger glass for him. "Drink this, and get yourself a good dusk mask, and you'll be fine."

"Oh, thank you Lord. Thank you!" He slams the drink back like a frat boy at a party.

"Now, take a deep breath in, and... out!" I pull several grams of crap from his lungs and guide the magic to repair his body. "All better. Just let me deal with the ore, and we can go get that map."

"Lord." Sandra takes her cue, and steps forward. "We've procured the lead you asked for."

"I can see that." I have to hold in a laugh at the over loaded cart. "Just how did you get so much with just a small bag of silver?" I levitate the barrel out to where we are and start wrapping each rock in lead, before sealing the whole barrel in the stuff. "Temmie? Will this be safe in the inventory?" A *Ding* in the affirmative. "Thanks girl, you're a doll. Sandra, could you please have your men return the rest of this?" I take one last ingot to replace the one I used earlier.

"Yes, Lord." She salutes with her fist to her heart.

"Oh, yes. Hayes, how much do I owe you? Don't even think about saying nothing." I raise my hand to forestall him. "Billy, tell me honestly how much did he pay you." He does and I give Hayes double that. "Thank you, and my most sincere apologies for today's hassle. Thanks for the tip on Alum as well. Now, I need to get that map and head to the castle, but I'd like to stop by again and talk about those other ores, and smithing in general if possible."

"Of course, Milord, any time you wish." He bows deeply to me.

***

"Ugh!" I groan out as we leave the castle for the second time today. "What next?"

"Next is you relaxing babe." Amelia walks up behind me and starts massaging my shoulders.

"She's right Sorrel." Apricot adds, flying backwards in front of us. "You've been walking around with the weight of the country on your shoulders since you heard about this damned war? You are not responsible for it." She tells me flatly. "No matter what you did or didn't do at the dungeon."

"Listen to her babe; if you don't loosen up, you're going to snap." Amelia's voice is full of love and worry. "Forget about all that and just do something for you. Please." She begs.

"Well." I take a deep breath. "I have been wanting to see the gardens, but I keep either forgetting about them, or getting distracted from seeing them."

"That's my nature mage." Amelia hugs me from behind. "Let's go, they're just around the South side of the Castle. You're driving this time." She laughs and runs around to hop in the passenger side seat.

"Well, if I'm driving, then I need some driving music." I try to fix mood by playing something peppy, and "Stickshifts and Safetybelts" by Cake fits perfectly. I even change the seats and get rid of the useless stick shift in time with the lyrics. My only regret is that I don't know what a Malibu looks like; aside from seeing it listed as a Chevy once upon a time, I don't know anything about it.

"Ahh!" Amelia screams as I pull her across the new bench seat. "Hands on the wheel mister."

"Like this?" I pop it off the steering column and hand it to her.

"Hahahah!" Apricot breaks up laughing. She then shifts herself to human size, landing in my lap with a soft plop. "Oh, the look on your face." She bends over and kisses Amelia on the lips. "You did tell him to relax, after all. You should have expected something like this."

"Stupid magic." She grumps.

"Don't ever change, Amelia." I give her my own kiss. "Or, do. We'll still love you." I laugh and transition into "Satan is my Motor" once the song ends.

Keeping up the Cake theme as we toured the gardens, I was able to relax and just center myself again. Along with collecting hundreds of new seeds and cuttings for my already quite extensive collection. The chief amongst my new discoveries being a rubber tree, something I was very much hoping there would be a sample of. I can make due without, but it's just not a proper tire without rubber wheels.

***