Gen ruminates over what he’s just been told. Before Gaius stood a counter at the far side of the building, they walked past the smithing counters. “Oh, that looks like silver leaf,” Gaius thought to himself as he saw the sign, “Oh wow. There are so many different auras.” The plants and herbs along the shelf pulsed their rich auras but were mostly contained within their respective boxes. Seeing the young man’s elated face the worker behind the counter said, “How may I help you today? Do you need a tonic or tincture of some sort? We have many remedies and concoctions.”

“Oh, I don’t think I need anything, I was just curious. Why does the Merchant’s Guild have a section for selling alchemical supplies, tonics, and tinctures?”

“Oh?” the worker was a bit surprised by the obvious question, “Ah,” he finally said as realization dawned upon him. “I am part of the Alchemy Guild. The Merchant’s Guild’s first floor is for the myriad of other guilds to sell their wares, so that it is convenient for the customer to go to one place for everyday needs. The Alchemist Guild that I belong to rent out this section from the Merchant’s Guild so that we may peddle our everyday tonics and tinctures. If you needed a more demanding or custom potion, then you’d need to head to the guild directly,” the man said patiently. “I take it this is your first time in a city, lad?” after Gaius gave an affirming nod the man continued, “Look around, have you noticed that the Scribe’s Guild, Runeweaver Guild, and even the Smithing Guild have rented sections of the first floor? If you wanted a shieldsmith or a jewel smith to forge you a custom piece then you’d need to visit their branch directly, here they just sell everyday armaments and trinkets.”

“Ah, thank you for enlightening me,” Gaius and his family continued to the last section of the first floor. Off to the side there was a man yelling and berating a docile-looking boy. The boy lowered his head meekly and nodded at the man’s words. “Hmm, city people are a lot meaner,” Gaius thought as he saw the two. Without looking back, he continued to the last section.

“What an odd sign. It just has a hand,” Gaius thought to himself. “Mom, dad. What does this guild do?” he asked as he now knows all first floor signs represent a separate guild.

“Ah, this is the most important and powerful guild, the Labor Guild. They make their living by scavenging, harvesting, mining, skinning, farming, and extracting all manners of materials that all of the other guilds use. It boasts the most members out of all of the guilds, even if you combined all of the other guilds together, the Labor Guild would still be more populated. I’m sure the old couple we ran into this morning were members of the Labor Guild. They purchase crops at a steady price, which makes it easier for families to budget their finances,” Duncan said.

“Wow, that’s really convenient,” Gaius couldn’t help but think to himself. Gaius walked past the Labor Guild without talking to any of their workers and came upon a set of wide stairs that led to the second floor. At the foot of the staircase were guards barring its passage. “The second floor is for members of the Merchant Guild only. Do you have a token of identification?” one of the guards told Gaius as he approached them. With that, Gaius and his family walked back out of the Merchant’s Guild.

“Are you boys hungry?” Tulia asked as she marked the time of day.

“No,” they both said.

“Well, where do you two want to go next?” Duncan asked.

“Can we look at some of these stores nearby?” Gaius asked while Gen said, “Can we go see the fighting pit?”

“Let’s browse some stores first and maybe grab a snack or two, then we’ll head to the fighting pits,” Tulia suggested.

Gaius and his family went from store to store looking at their wares with a cursory glance. A few stores offered several delectable snacks, a lightly caramelized piece of meat on a stick with a refreshing cold fruit juice served from its hollowed out shell. Besides the street an area devoid of pedestrians were performers.

Gaius noticed the crowd and slowly approached, “Whoa!” Gaius thought to himself as he saw two performers throwing knives at each other, but instead of impaling each other they would catch the knives mid-air, all while moving, jumping, and flipping around the streets. Gaius turned his head to the opposite side of the street where another group of performers were slinging condensed Aspects at each other. “Hmm, doesn’t seem as exciting as the knife throwers,” Gaius thought to himself. Their Golden Bark village had displays of magic on a daily basis, so their performance was a bit lackluster when compared to martial prowess.

Gaius and his family meandered throughout the market district slowly. Gen was attracted to this particular store that sold weapons and armors. Gen led his family through the front door, and upon seeing customers, the shopkeeper said “You folks lookin’ for anything in particular?”

“No, just browsing your wares,” Gen replied. His fingers lightly caressing the armor plates on the displaying stand. He imagined how heroic he would look fully dressed in a full suit of armor, while riding a roaring tiger.

At the other end of the store, Gaius said, “Oh! Shopkeeper, what is this weapon here? I saw one earlier today and was wondering what it was,” as he pointed to an exotic weapon.

Seeing the weapon in question the shopkeeper said, “That’s a stone-sickle, at least that’s what we call it here. The weapon originally came from Besk’lok.”

Gaius was lost in thought as he tried to figure out how someone would use this weapon effectively. At the sight of her confused son, Tulia said, “the stone on one end is usually used to entangle the opponent’s limb, and when they achieve that the person will run in with the sickle. It’s a very difficult weapon to master.”

“Oh,” he thought to himself as he continued to walk around the shop. Gaius eventually made his way up to the counter, as there were weapons and armors displayed behind the shopkeeper. One of the weapons caught his eye and Gaius stared at it intently, upon noticing this the shopkeeper followed the boy’s eyes and smiled. “Ah, you have a good eye boy. This here is the best bastard sword I’ve ever made. I even got a runeweaver to craft a sigil on it for me. It’ll never rust or lose its edge,” the man beamed.

“Ah, that’s what it is then. The sigil,” Gaius thought to himself. On the blade’s surface were small scribbles that exuded a dense aura, but unlike every aura he had seen before the one on the blade was a mixture of many types. He felt the Aspect of Metal, Aspect of Fire, and even an Aspect of Earth. Gaius wondered about this until he noticed that Gen and his parents were making their way to the door, he decided that he’ll think about it later and followed his family.

The front door of the shop suddenly swung open. A young girl with dirt and grime staining her cheeks and forehead barged in panting and out of breath. She was dragging a wagon behind her. Gaius observed the girl closely when the shopkeeper bellowed, “How many times do I have to tell you girl! Bring the ores through the back, not the front! Are you daft?” She shirked at his reprimand and slowly pushed the wagon out of the door. Gaius made a slight move forward to help her, but was stopped by his father.

Upon leaving the store, Gaius asked his father about the poor girl. “She’s a Novitiate,” was all he said, and they continued on with their day. While ruminating on what his father was said, he could see his brother and parents talking to a stranger. He approached just as the stranger left and his family turned around, his father said, “Well, apparently the fighting pits are on the other side of the city. From here, the man earlier said that it’d take a couple of hours to reach it.”

Gaius noticed his brother’s disappointed face, and Duncan continued, “Good news though, the man said that there’s a special duel tomorrow between the Calet family members. So, how about we return to the inn for the night and go there first thing tomorrow?”

Though disappointed, Gen perked up when he heard that there was a special duel and that he wouldn’t miss anything special by not going today. The family made their way back into the inn, and while the parents were ordering dinner the boys were washing up in the bathing rooms.

The two brothers were bathing with each other and talking about the day’s discoveries. “Remember that huge axe at the guild?! Oh man, can you imagine someone wielding that?” Gen asked as he pantomimed swinging the axe overhead at his brother.

Gaius then pretends to wield the stone-sickle and gestures twirling the stone chain above his head, and with an exaggerated throw around Gen’s legs, and Gen pretends to be caught and falls into the water. Both of the boys laughing. “How can someone actually fall for that in real combat? Isn’t it obvious where the stone will go?” Gaius asked his brother as he floated within the bath.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s harder to dodge it when you’re in full armor,” Gen said as he pictured himself in one.

“Remember that old guy from the Scribe’s Guild?” Gaius asked his brother.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think someone can really die if they break their promise?” Gaius asked.

“No way! How could that even happen. What if it was by accident, like if you just forgot the promise and then all of a sudden you drop to the floor dead?” Gen laughed at the idea.

“Yeah, like I tell you I’m going to buy you candy, and I forget. Then when I get home I just drop to the ground dead!” Gaius joked with his brother. They continued to laugh as they bathed.

The two boys soon joined their parents within the inn’s dining area and as they sat down Tulia asked, “Did you two have fun today?” She was met with enthusiastic nods. “What was the most interesting thing you learned today?” she asked as they began eating.

“Someone could die from just breaking their promise!” Gaius said immediately while also stuffing his face.

“Sigils can prevent a weapon from rusting,” Gen said.

Tulia and Duncan smiled at their innocent responses. “Good, what was the least interesting thing you learned today?” Tulia asked after swallowing her food.

Gaius thought about it for a minute while his brother blurted out, “That the fighting pits are at the southern part of town.”

His parents stifled a laughter and looked at Gaius expectedly. He finally decided to say, “Not only can I not condense an Aspect, I can’t even ask for information about anti…m” he stopped and didn’t continue with a sullen look on his face.

Tulia tried to cheer him up, “Son, don’t worry about it. Though the information is restricted by the Alirian Kingdom, your uncle will definitely have answers for you. All the answers you can ask him, okay? I promise.”

Gaius perked up as his mother promised him the only thing he had ever wanted, so he tried to be more cheerful but it took a while for him to come around. After dinner, the boys climbed onto their bed tired from the day’s festivities while their parents went to bathe.

“Do you think someone will die from the duel tomorrow?” Gen whispered.

“Maybe, but won’t the killer go to jail? So probably not,” Gaius answered in hushed tones.

“I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow,” Gen said before he slowly fell asleep, and his brother soon joined him.

Gaius woke with sleepy eyes. “Ah, I wonder if all rooms at an inn are so cozy. I’m usually shivering every morning when I wake up,” he thought to himself. “Oh, where’s mom and dad?” Gaius thought as he walked to the window and opened the blinds, “It’s not too early, maybe they’re downstairs for breakfast.”

Gaius went downstairs and went through the double doors to see his parents eating and chatting, 4 plates filled with food sitting on the table with steam still emitting from the eggs, sausages, and golden biscuits. Gaius hungrily joined them.

“Where’s your brother?” Duncan asked as his son plopped down and started eating.

“Shtill ashleep,” he said with his mouth full.

Tulia smiled and said, “I’ll go get him before his food gets cold.”

With just the two of them at the table Duncan asked, “Son, do you want to take a look at the Alchemist Guild sometime?”

Gaius nodded vigorously while his mouth was occupied.

Duncan smiled at his antic and saw his wife and other son walk into the room. Upon seeing the plate of food, Gen rushed over and sat down—gobbling just as much food and just as quickly as his brother. Tulia sat down and smiled at the barbaric display, “So, are you excited for the duel today?” she asked Gen.

Unlike his brother Gen tried to answer with his mouth full, “Yesh! I hope we get to shee really cool fights,” spittle and food flew out of his mouth. As endearing as her son was, Tulia reprimanded him for his lack of table manners. “Bad enough you two didn’t thank us for getting you two food, now you’re spitting food in my face?” Tulia rebuked.

Gaius and Gen looked sheepishly as they said, “Sorry.”