“I’m surprised that you chose me to spend time with,” Valda said as the two of us strode down the street that led up to the castle. “I would have thought that you’d be spending more time with the princess.”

  “I am spending time with the princess,” I replied cheekily. “You do count as one, Valda.”

  “You know what I mean,” the lizard-folk woman said, shooting me a small smile. Which, for her, might as well have been a loud laugh.

  It had been two days since my talk with Jane, and I was intent on spending time with each of my girls. Today just happened to be Valda’s turn.

  “Rieka is busy with her mom,” I replied with a shrug. “Gemma has been taking this opportunity to spend time with Rieka while we wait to hear back from her spies.”

  “You know, most young ladies would take offense to how you phrased that,” Valda said coolly. “You implied that I was not your first choice of people to escort for the day.”

  “No, you assumed that because you mentioned someone who might compete for my attention and I explained why she wasn’t available,” I countered with a pointed look. “I also know that you aren’t serious about being offended, and likely are teasing me.”

  “Only likely?” Valda replied, her face a neutral mask.

  “I don’t have as good an ability to read you as I do the others in our little group,” I replied with a shrug. “You are both better at hiding your emotions, and I haven’t had as much time to learn how to spot when you slip. But my guess would be more on the professional side: you asked because I am supposed to be Rieka’s protector but I’m not at her side.”

  “A good guess,” Valda said with a small nod. “But you are capable of racing to her assistance at a thought, so you don’t need to cling to her every moment of every day.”

  “And while I know Kassandra would like that, I think I’d end up stifling Rieka if I tried,” I replied, earning a small smile from the lizard-folk woman.

  “Also true. Rieka is an independent woman and proud of it,” Valda replied before finally stepping closer to me and looping her left arm through my right. “So I get the pleasure of escorting you about the capital.”

  “Other way around, Valda,” I countered with a roll of my eyes. I tugged at her arm in mine gently before teasing back. “And I thought you knew better than to take a warrior’s sword-arm.”

  “Which is why I used my left,” Valda replied airily, swaying her hips just enough that her scabbard bumped into my thigh. “That way I have a clear draw if we need to fight.”

  “And me?” I countered, wiggling my captured right arm.

  “Liam, I have known you for a far-shorter time than the others have and I know that right or left doesn’t matter. You are lethal with either limb,” Valda replied dryly.

  “Can’t argue with that,” I replied with a grin. “Anyway, I was hoping that you could show me around some of the shops that are… more our style.”

  “ ‘Our style?’ ” Valda queried with raised eyebrows.

  I didn’t answer immediately, waiting until we turned off the main road in front of the castle and onto a busier side-road that was bustling with foot traffic. After walking for a short distance along the cobblestone road and just soaking in the environment around me, I shot Valda a wink before using Shape-Shifting to adjust my appearance. Within seconds, I had assumed the look of another lizard-folk with dark red scales smattering my cheeks, neck, and arms. I retained most of my features, but angled my eyes to be more of a match to what I’d seen the lizard-folk look like.

  Valda’s breath hitched in her chest and she stared at me for several long moments. I had to guide her around one old woman who stopped to chat in the middle of the street, and that broke Valda out of her staring.

  “Yes,” I said and nodded to the elaborate, human-era sword on her waist. “ ‘Our style,’ would be shops that carry weapons, armor, and other useful goods for such things. I may not need a weapon to fight, but I can’t help but feel like having one on hand would help me blend in better as well as be taken seriously.”

  “That… is a good point,” Valda admitted a moment later. “You are a guard to the others—”

  “—and to you as well,” I interrupted. “You may not need a guard, but we did agree on a guardian contract. So I am responsible for you as well.”

  Valda tried to scowl at that. I saw her lips twist down and twitch furiously, but the amusement I saw in her eyes told me that it wasn’t sincere. She gave up with a sigh through her nose before continuing what she had said earlier.

  “You are a guard to our group,” Valda paused meaningfully and stared at me, as if waiting for me to argue. I didn’t, and just smiled at her until she continued. “And by making it more obvious that you are there as a protector might prevent problems from arising outright, though your reputation is beginning to precede you.”

  “Only in places that I’ve been before or the girls frequent,” I countered. “It’s why I have been wanting to get actual armor made up and have a weapon on hand.”

  I flicked one hand, displaying the thick black claws on my fingertips like the ones that Valda had. Unlike the woman on my arm, I wasn’t wearing the leather claw-cap gloves she did. The specialized gloves looked a lot like an archery glove, holding just the top inch or so of the razor-sharp claws encased in leather while strips ran down the back of the hand to a wrist-strap that supported the whole arrangement.

  I knew from practice that Valda could flick her wrist and send the caps flying onto their leather retaining straps so she could use her keen natural weapons. I even had a set of the gloves in my things that the girls kept for me, since I had used the claws for a while. But I didn’t have them with me right now, so I had to be mindful of the sharp tips to my digits right now.

  “Yes, and there are fools who would still hound you even with a weapon on your hip,” Valda countered, though she gestured for us to keep moving down the street.

  “You can’t fix stupid,” I replied with a shrug.

  Valda’s eyes twinkled at that and she nodded in agreement.

  “Muffling it helps, but that usually requires one to stuff their fist so far down the other person’s throat that they choke,” Valda added.

  We shared a laugh at that and the ice was well and truly broken. To be honest, there wasn’t much in the way of ice between us. But I’d found that Valda took time to ease back from her staid and stoic demeanor at times. Usually when in public or after we’d been separated for a while.

  It’s almost as if she has to remember that she’s allowed to relax around us, or around me, I guess? I thought as Valda guided me into the first shop.

  From the outside, the shop looked like any other along the street. A wooden building with a stone first floor. Red clay tiles roofed it while a large chimney belched smoke into the air despite the relatively warm morning.

  Inside the shop, the bustle and rustle of the crowd dimmed the moment we stepped over the threshold. It was instead replaced by a distant, rhythmic hammering that echoed from the back of the building and what sounded like a gruff voice singing.

  The front of the shop was set up with long racks for weapons and tools along the walls, while waist-high shelves were scattered around the center of the small shop holding lesser ironware like fire-strikers, hanging rings for fires, tent stakes, and more.

  “If what you are after is good ironcraft, then the Bronzesingers are where we start,” Valda said as she stepped through the door right after me.

  “And hearing that from an Ironclaw makes it more than just flattery,” replied a light female voice from above us.

  I glanced upward to find a slim woman wearing a tight white shirt, leather bustier, and coal-black pants sitting on a rafter sorting through something in a wooden crate in the loft area above the shop. Her long, light brown hair was held back in a tight braid behind her head.

  “As it should be,” Valda replied politely while nodding toward the woman. “Greetings to you, Journeywoman Bronzesinger. I brought a friend of mine to browse your brother’s wares.”

  “Just call me Farah,” the woman who I now realized was an elf said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “And feel free to browse. I was just retrieving some bits and pieces to refill the shelves. A group of recruits from the Hunt and Trade Hall recently came through and bought up a bunch of our general supplies.”

  “It’s good that they are preparing properly,” I said, getting a nod from the elven woman who had gone back to pulling things from the crate and tucking them into a leather pouch on her hip.

  Valda didn’t wait for the woman to come down from her perch. She led me into the shop and past shelves of various metal objects. We passed pots, pans, hooks, horseshoes, and more as we went. It honestly surprised me how much there was on display, especially with what Valda had said.

  The lizard-folk woman must have guessed my thoughts because she explained as she walked.

  “The owners of this shop are a brother and sister. They take turns working in the smithy and managing the shop. I found it on our first day in town while looking for whetstones that could handle my sword, and they have a little bit of everything that can be made with metal or used to care for it.”

  “A solid enough proposition,” I replied as Valda brought me to a stop by a selection of knives laid out on canvas. “I’m just not used to smiths having this much ready-made.”

  “It’s not a normal business model,” Valda admitted with a nod, “but it works out well for them. Farah handles tools, home goods, and armor, while her brother handles weapons, flatware, and horseshoes.”

  “Interesting split of duties,” I muttered, leaning over the rack to study the blades in front of me. I figured that Valda had a reason for bringing me here first, so I looked them over.

  “It works for them well, and they get enough business that they can alternate forge time with the front to collect commissions and feel out the markets so they know what to make more of—” Valda explained, only for the elven woman to speak up from her spot in the rafters.

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  “That and people are more willing to part with coin when they can talk to the crafter in question.”

  “Something that I wholeheartedly agree with,” I replied, looking up to find the fair-haired elven woman smiling down at us. “I’ve been debating doing something similar myself since I work in jewelry and fine-detail work.”

  “Eh, don’t bother with that unless it’s a pure-custom piece,” Farah said with a wave of her hand. “The nobles are the only folk who can afford custom jewelry and with the exception of a small selection of their number, they aren’t worth the effort of interacting with. Not unless you are one of them.”

  “I would say that you qualify, Liam, given association,” Valda said teasingly. “But seriously, you wanted to look into equipment to be taken seriously, that starts here.”

  Farah didn’t comment, but I caught a small smile on the slender woman’s face as I turned to focus on Valda and what she was pointing out.

  Over the next half-hour, Valda walked me through all sorts of knives, swords, maces, and weapons of war. She spoke of the benefits and downsides of each with the practiced eye of someone who had wielded most if not all of them in a fight.

  While I’d gotten some of this advice from Cerebaton, Valda was providing a far more comprehensive explanation of what to expect and where each piece would shine.

  I was torn between two blades for selection of a dagger, which Valda insisted I had to pick before we moved on.

  The first looked like it was caught somewhere between a long dagger and a shortsword. Rather than having two edges coming together in the middle to a sharp point like most swords, this one had a thick blade with a singular cutting edge. The point was in line with the blade, leaving it with a sort of chisel-like tip to the blade and a very thick spine. It looked like a very serviceable blade that could handle fighting and chopping very well. It was brutal and efficient in its simplicity.

  The second was a backward-curving blade that looked like a miniature scimitar. The blade was keen and like the first had a single edge, though it came to a backward-swept tip that gleamed in the lights of the shop. A solid guard protected the hand and it felt good in my hand, but with the curve to the blade, it didn’t feel like a good stabbing weapon, which is what knives did best in my head.

  “The seax is a solid all-round fighting knife,” Valda explained, tapping the first weapon. “I know more than a few folk who rely on it as their back-up weapon and a few who swear by it as a primary. They are sturdy and reliable.”

  “I am leaning more toward that than this one,” I said, tapping the curved knife. “None of the others are speaking to me right now, though.”

  “You should get a dagger, not a seax,” Farah said, coming up behind us finally. Her approach hadn’t been quiet or subtle, with her hip bag clinking with stock she was using to refill the shelves she went past.

  “Oh? What makes you say that?” Valda asked, turning her attention to the other woman.

  Farah was actually taller than I was by several inches, something I was not used to. But the difference in height didn’t matter to her one whit as she worked her way by, setting out small eating knives in simple leather sheaths while she talked.

  “Daggers are for thrusting. Go for one that is nice and sharp with a hardened tip,” Farah answered without hesitation. “Pair it with any other weapon and it can parry, but tuck one in your boot as a holdout? That’s where they come in handy. Seax are too long for that, and you really want a straight blade for a boot-knife.”

  Valda shot me a look with raised eyebrows, asking my opinion without speaking aloud.

  I turned it over in my mind for a moment before nodding. It did make sense, and honestly I had been having misgivings about exactly what Farah had mentioned.

  So I turned my attention to the elven woman fully and asked her opinion.

  “Okay, what one would you recommend for me?”

  Farah paused and glanced over her shoulder at me with her brow furrowing thoughtfully.

  Now that she was closer, I noticed something odd about her: the woman’s eyes were such a pale gray that they almost vanished into the whites of her eye. If it wasn’t for the fact she was navigating the shop without a problem, I would have assumed she was blind at first glance.

  “I think I have something that might be useful…” the elven woman murmured, her eyes tracing my figure thoughtfully.

  If it’d been anyone else, I would have assumed they were checking me out. But the clinical way that the elven woman studied me, told me there was no such attraction in her.

  “Normally I wouldn’t sell a customer work that wasn’t made in-house.” Farah’ long, pointed ears twiddled thoughtfully as she spoke. “But you look strong enough that I don’t think regular iron would work for you as well.”

  I didn’t comment on that, not because I couldn’t think of anything, but because her words reminded rather distinctly of the number of forks I’d bent getting used to my System-enhanced strength months ago.

  Farah gestured for us to follow her to the corner counter that had a sign on it saying ‘Commissions and Vendors’ in large block font.

  “I picked this up from another elf a while back,” Farah said after setting her bag on the counter with a metallic clank. “She was running this little stall in the market selling oddments and the dagger caught my attention. The workmanship was surprisingly good and it didn’t show any toolmarks to it.”

  It felt like someone ran a finger down my spine, sending a shiver through my entire body at those words. Farah continued to talk while she rooted around under the counter.

  “My brother and I kept it and studied it for some time, and as far as we can tell it’s just really well made, but you’ll see why it caught my eye when you look at it.”

  “That’s odd,” I said, fighting to keep my voice neutral. “Does anything stand out? You don’t think she stole it or something, do you?”

  “Oh no,” Farah said with a shake of her head, looking up to lock eyes with me and smile. “I’m sure you thought it was possible I was blind when you saw my eyes earlier, right?”

  “I thought it was possible, but you weren’t having any trouble moving about so I figured it just had to be a quirk of your family history,” I replied with a shrug.

  Farah nodded at that, still smiling as she found what she was looking for and straightened upright.

  “Yeah, it happens sometimes that folks make the mistake of assuming. But I can guarantee this woman was blind. Her eyes were entirely gray, like someone had wrapped them in spider silk or something similar.” Farah’s forehead wrinkled in thought while she set a leather-wrapped bundle on the counter. “Honestly, she might have lost her sight to some kind of explosion. She had some odd scars on her face too, but that’s not the point. She was blind, and I can’t imagine a blind thief would have an easy time of it, or be dumb enough to try selling her goods in the market.”

  “That is fair,” Valda said, pressing in on my right and peering down at the wrapped bundle in curiosity. The lizard-folk woman had tucked her left arm around my right once more and was blinking in curiosity as she watched Farah unwrap the leather from the bundle.

  What was underneath was a simple straight-bladed dagger with a blade half as long as my forearm. There was no guard above the polished wooden handle, only a thin bar to keep the user’s grip from sliding up onto the blade. The blade itself was dark iron, shot through with thin threads of brighter silvery iron. It had the look of marble or images I’d seen of Damascus steel, but the pattern wasn’t quite right. The blade had perfectly straight edges that tapered directly into a sharp, triangular point.

  Other than the patterning on the blade and the polished wooden handle, there was only one other thing that stood out about the dagger. And it was a symbol engraved into the narrow hilt of the dagger. The symbol was simple, an octagonal shape with a line through it that reminded me of an airlock I’d seen on various science-fiction shows.

  System has detected DSR-issued equipment in Traveler’s vicinity. System requests Traveler secure item.

  Unlike before, there was no flash around the edges of my vision that told me a message was incoming. Instead, the words scrolled through my view like a whisper glowing a blacklight purple color to pull my attention to them.

  I ignored the message at first, studying the weapon in front of me, before reaching out to it with my Manipulate Element ability. I didn’t sense any entropic energy in the metal of the weapon, which reassured my initial fears of it being somehow enchanted with the element.

  Impossible, I thought silently, brushing that worry aside firmly. If it was entropically aligned, then it would have melted through the table by now, least of all the wrappings.

  “May I pick it up?” I asked, glancing up at Farah who was now glaring down at the dagger.

  “Please. Just be careful, the edge is wickedly sharp. One of the things we were trying to figure out is how it keeps so keen of an edge on it. Damn thing will notch the sheath it’s kept in if it doesn’t match the blade exactly,” Farah said with a wave of her hand.

  I picked the knife up, fingers wrapping around the wooden handle gingerly. I was honestly half-worried that it might end up charged with the entropic energy anyway, so I held the power close at hand so I could summon it if needed.

  The wood of the handle remained cool, almost cold under my fingers. And that cold sensation did not fade as I held it like I would have expected.

  Shifting the blade in my hand, I rotated my wrist through a series of gestures to test the balance of the blade. I’m sure it looked a bit goofy to Valda, given she had so much more experience than I did with blades. But the lizard-folk woman watched on in silence as I inspected it.

  The blade was as wickedly sharp as Farah mentioned when I tested it, and even being exceedingly careful, I had to quickly use Shape-Shifting to thicken the skin so it didn’t draw blood when I tested the edge on my thumb.

  “How much do you want for it?” I found myself asking Farah. The System remained quiet after making its initial request of me, and I can’t deny that I was curious as hell how something that apparently belonged to the DSR ended up here.

  While Farah considered my question, I continued inspecting the knife. I wonder… I thought slowly. If this is DSR issued does that mean…

  I summoned just a spark of entropic energy into my palm—not enough to do much more than scratch the finish on the handle—and waited.

  I’d used entropic energy to carve stone and metal before, melting through solid iron with minimal effort on multiple occasions. But when I pressed the energy into the handle using my palm, I felt the material press back.

  Yup, I thought while fighting back a smile. Neutral material, just like the glass I got to coat Cari’s jewelry and those sheets she brought over.

  Farah finally broke the silence a moment later.

  “I’ll take twenty five silver for it,” Farah said with a shrug. “Other than the ridiculous sharpness of the blade, it’s not magical at all. The metal itself is just iron as far as we can tell, with some kind of special treatment to give it that coloration. Honestly, I’ve been frustrated by it enough that I’m happy making back what I paid for it, and it does look right in your hand.”

  “Done,” I replied without hesitation before glancing questioningly at Valda.

  The lizard-folk woman shrugged, making a gesture with her free hand as if to say ‘go ahead’ while smiling.

  It only took a minute to fish the requisite coins out of the pouch that Kassandra had given me earlier. My lovely lamia managed my Cortha funds and when she’d heard I wanted to go shopping for weapons with Valda, she’d made sure I had the money to cover whatever we needed.

  Farah happily accepted the coins and wrapped the dagger back up once more in the leather so I would have something to carry it in.

  “I have the dimensions for the blade recorded already,” the elven woman was saying as she pushed it across the counter. “If you wait two days, I can put together a belt sheath for it.”

  I was opening my mouth to answer when I felt a vibration on my right arm and saw the edges of my vision flash, signaling a message from one of my girls.

  I didn’t hesitate and reached over to tap the tattoos there to see who had reached out to me with the Contact Contracted Companion power. Only a moment later, Rieka’s sweet voice entered my mind.

  “Liam, I hate to call you and Valda back to the castle but my mother just received a report about that issue to the west and we need to discuss it. Can you bring Valda back to the castle?”

  I quickly sent back a ‘yes’ before focusing on the patiently waiting Farah. Valda hadn’t missed the small gesture I’d made in tapping my bond-marks, and her smile had melted away to leave behind a serious look.

  “No, thank you,” I said with a shake of my hand. “I have a feeling that I’m about to be sent out for an indeterminate amount of time.”

  “Duty calls,” Farah said with an understanding smile. “Then I hope your new blade will serve you well. And if you figure out how it stays so sharp, come back and let us know, okay?”

  “Can do,” I replied, returning her smile before glancing at Valda. The lizard-folk woman was roughly the same height as me, so our eyes met easily. “We should head back, it’s about time we got our new orders.”

  Valda’s eyebrows went up at that, but she didn’t hesitate. Instead, she nodded quickly and began pulling me toward the door.

  The leather-wrapped dagger sat in my left hand, feeling unnaturally cool to the touch despite the covering.

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