Sechen raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. She would definitely remember seeing someone like Novia before, and the only explanation she could think of didn’t bring back happy memories.

“I’d never been in the night district before, so unless you saw me out on the street somewhere, I don’t think so.”

“Hrrm.” Novia grunted in agreement. His focus shifted to the crystal, sneaking glances at Sechen every now and again with growing a mounting confusion. He narrowed his eyes one last time and sighed, setting the crystal on a worktable and crossing his arms, his complete focus now on Sechen. Confusion and curiosity died, switched out for something akin to frustration mixed with anger. “Nothing in there called out to me. But that thing around your neck does. I’ll give you the powder for that.”

“My circlet? Why?” Sechen asked, raising a hand to touch the tarnished gold ring that hung around her neck. “It’s kind of important to me.”

“Sorry, girl, but it’s that or nothing.” Novia shrugged.

“She couldn’t trade it even if she wanted to. It’s a manifestation, not a piece of jewelry.” Metea/Irric said.

“No, it’s jewelry.” Sechen corrected. “My only manifestation is my arm.” She pulled the circlet apart at the back, a core of light shining through and wanting to be closed, snapping shut the second Sechen stopped putting strength behind it. It was Revel’s gift, but saving Elach would lead to saving Revel. It almost bothered her how easy it was to come to a decision. “I’ll give it to you, but you have to tell me why you want it.”

“Didn’t you just say it was important to you?” Metea/Irric asked. “Revel gave you that, didn’t she?”

“It’s a blinder.” Novia said flatly.

Sechen looked down at Revel’s first real gift, warm in her hands. She remembered when it was brilliant gold, and how it had tarnished over the years. Tarnished with her failures. “What’s a blinder?”

“Horrible craftsmanship that can only have come from one or two shops in this place, and maybe a few others in the glacier or the tunnels. Useful only to make an apprentice’s Issi conform perfectly to the scrap their master gave them.” Novia offered Sechen an outstretched hand. “Give it to me. I’ll destroy it, and you can go give your master a piece of your mind for destroying your progress in the name of legacy.”

Sechen couldn’t move. “Revel… but… she wouldn’t…” Her circlet clattered to the floor, and all she could do was look at it in horror. Look on in horror, and fall into a memory.

“Sorry, young lady, but you don’t have enough to get in.” The guard looked very slightly down at Sechen from his seat with an apologetic expression on his face, which was quickly replaced with something else as he turned to address Revel. “And you’re sure you won’t try to vouch for her, ma'am? It isn’t that much more strenuous on your entry application.”

“No, we have a room not far from here. She can wait for me there.” Revel said with a smile, turning to look at Sechen. “I won’t be too long; maybe a day or two, then we can start moving up to the glacier for the trials. Wait for me in the room, alright?”

Sechen had agreed, as she had no reason to distrust Revel after only a few months together, and returned to their room. Two weeks and a whole lot of work for the Inn to keep the room later, Revel returned with barely any money left and a gift for Sechen. It had been their first fight, and it had only been resolved after she saw the circlet Revel had brought back. It was a smaller replica of the natural haloes that Revel manifested, and was the first real connection Sechen had felt to her patron.

So much so that she didn’t just forgive Revel’s two week long absence, but she completely forgot about it until now. Now, the gift held a different meaning. After just a few months of trying to train Sechen, Revel had given up. She’d switched her methods drastically after that, and years followed under those methods without much, if any, progress. Because she wasn’t trying to teach an apprentice. She was trying to create a smaller version of herself.

“Sechen? Are you okay?” Metea/Irric asked, putting a hand to Sechen’s forehead as if she was checking for a fever. “You blanched and got a faraway look in your eyes. Is something wrong?”

“No. I’m fine. Physically fine.” Sechen muttered, then looked up at a surprisingly tender expression from Novia. “What are you looking at, old man?”

“Betrayal.” Novia said, his words cutting like a knife. “My offer still stands.”

“Take it.” Sechen kicked the circlet towards novia, and he stopped it by stepping on it. “If you aren’t lying, you’d be doing me a favor.”

Novia grunted confirmation and pushed down with his foot, flipping the circlet over his boot before kicking it up and catching it in his right hand. “It’ll take two days to saturate the metals with enough Issi. Come back then for your powder.”

Metea/Irric recoiled like she’d been punched. “What? No! There’s so much amazing stuff in here! You just gave up your biggest connection to Revel, Sechen! You should get more than just the stuff we need for Elach. Like maybe, some tools, or maybe a burner, oh, that metal looks interesting… and so does that vial…”

Sechen sighed, but it was cut with a smile. Whatever it was about this place, it had brought the real Metea/Irric back. But Novia didn’t want them here any longer than necessary. “Cloudy, we should…”

“That’s fair.” Novia grunted. “Take a look around. If you find something you like, I’ll weigh it against what Sechen traded.”

“Really?” Metea/Irric and Sechen asked in unison. Sechen’s question was tinged with doubt, but Metea/Irric’s was all excitement.

“I won’t touch anything. Just look.” Metea/Irric assured Novia, and he motioned for her to go ahead.

“Alright, old man, what’s the catch?” Sechen asked as Metea/Irric sprung away. “Eternal servitude? A pound of flesh? My immortal soul?”

“We’ve gotta talk, you and me. Alone, while your friend’s all busy gawking over my collection.” Novia said seriously, stepping through the melted hole and beckoning for Sechen to follow. “How good’s her hearing?”

“Really good.” Metea/Irric called from inside Novia’s workshop.

“Alright. Really good it is.” Novia huffed. He held out his hand and muttered something, Issi blazing into existence before coalescing into the shape of a metal sphere. With a tap to it’s side, the air around Sechen suddenly felt unnaturally still. “This should do the trick. What’s wrong with your friend?”

“No beating around the bush, huh?” Sechen chuckled dryly. “She lost something that was messing with her Issi, and it messed with her brain, which messed with her Issi, which led to what she’s going through right now. Our leader, if I could call him that, said it’s because she’s going through an Issi withdrawal… hey. Is that thing making me say whatever pops up in my head without filtering it first?”

“Used to dealing with mental Issi, huh. I can respect that.” Novia nodded. “Yeah, It’s making you talk. I was a little worried you were taking that girl as an… unwilling servant, if you understand me, especially with that thing around your neck. Hells, I thought you might’ve been an unwilling servant yourself.”

Sechen frowned and crossed her arms. “Very much myself now, thank you. What’s so important you needed to hit me with the truth ball?”

“If you knew how things worked around here, you’d know that that was the important part. Contracts are law here, and forced signings are a death sentence. To the person who forced the signing.” Novia grunted as he bent down, the ball unfolding into a sort of flower as it touched the metal floor. “Hoalt always says a practitioner’s only worth as much as their word is trusted. And the stronger a practitioner gets, the more their word matters. Because there isn’t anything else they can be held to.”

“Too powerful for regular laws?” Sechen commented.

“Unfortunately.” Novia grunted. “A powerful practitioner says they’ll protect your ships, but then decides they’ve got better things to do? Or they decide they want what you planned on selling? The only deterrent is if they know they won’t be welcomed back after news reaches Hoalt that they broke their word. Look at the glacier; the high-end practitioners there are near untouchable. They can do whatever they want outside the glacier, and Glasrime doesn’t have two scraps of caring to rub together. And so nobody works with those glacier fools any more since they know Hoalt’s entourage won’t murder them in their sleep for their precious cargo.”

“One broken contract equals excommunication, then?” Sechen tilted her head in thought. “What happens if it’s the other people that take advantage of that, though? Like, what if the merchants stiffed payment because they know the practitioner can’t do anything about it?”

“Contracts are law. Breaking either side is equally awful in Hoalt’s eyes. And his eyes are everywhere.” Novia said gravely. “You’ll understand as you try to finish off that list of yours. Look for the eyes. Listen for the whispers. Feel their influence, and you’ll know why this city is so damn safe.”

“So don’t sign anything we can’t fulfill. Gotcha. I’m going to go in there and grab my friend, then we’ll get out of your hair.” Sechen said as she left the truth ball’s field, the ventilation of Novia’s workshop now extremely obvious. “We’ll be back in a few days for the powder.”

“I was serious about the extras.” Novia said, stepping up beside Sechen. She looked back to see the ball disintegrate into slag, then into Issi. “That blinder might not be worth a huge amount, but the pleasure I’ll get from watching it melt into uselessness is more than enough to give you two a little more to help you along. And if you don’t want anything, I can give your friend a whole new supply of things to get her started on her path. She’s got the spark, that one.”

Sechen blinked and turned to focus on Metea/Irric, who was in her own little world as she slowly and meticulously went item by item along Novia’s shelves. She no longer had the wide smile she’d started with, her lips now a thin line as she considered each and every item, eyebrows raising whenever she got to something Sechen assumed she didn’t recognize. “The spark of what?”

“Creation.” Novia answered. “The urge to make… well, anything. I’ve mastered three crafts of my own, and from them I’ve created something brand new. I have an apprentice, not in the Issi sense, mind you, but we don’t see eye to eye on most things. They’re extremely practical, you see, and I am not. Your friend, though? I want to see what she can make.” Novia’s eyes glimmered with curiosity as he turned to Sechen. “I don’t want her to become the next me. I want to see someone claw their way up to the same heights I have, then struggle to keep up with them as their genius catapults them into legend and myth.”

Sechen raised an eyebrow. So Novia had more than a couple of bugs wriggling around in his mind. But he seemed to know his stuff, and from how Metea/Irric reacted to the workshop, had the skills and wares to back up his knowledge. “Cloudy, do you want to stay here for a little while? I can come back for you when we’re leaving tonight.”

“Yes, please.” Metea/Irric said instantly, straightening her spine as she turned in one fluid motion to face Sechen and Novia. “But is that alright? I didn’t think mister Kruss wanted company.”

“I can tolerate you now that you’re true to yourself. Stay as long as you like, but I won’t be taking any apprentices. Issi or otherwise.” Novia crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Think you can handle the heat, Cloudy?”

“Oh, that’s not my name. It’s Metea/Irric.” Metea/Irric walked over and grabbed Novia’s hand, shaking it vigorously. “Thanks so much for letting me stay for a while. I promise I won’t get in your way.”

“Metea/Irric.” Novia tried the words in his mouth and frowned as they came out. He locked eyes with Sechen, and she gave him a look that she hoped conveyed what she wanted to: that it’s exactly what he thought, and not say anything about it. He quickly put on a smile and turned back to Metea/Irric. “Good to have you for at least a little while. I’ll see you again in a few days, Sechen. I hope to meet your employer then.”

“Have fun, you two.” Sechen laughed, walking through the melted hole and down the rows of crucibles towards the actual storefront of Novia’s Naturals. A bizarre name for a metallurgy shop, but maybe that was the point. “One ingredient down, an unknown amount left to go.”