Mages of Rubia ✔️

18

The forge's heat is sweltering, something that takes a long time to get used to. Ravana looks very uncomfortable with it. But he wanted to see me at work, so he's here.

"And the demon is who again?" the smith, Palmer, asks.

"A housepet," I say sarcastically.

"Rude. We're housemates."

"But I pay for the house so he's more like a pet."

Palmer hums lightly, looking nervously at Ravana's teeth.

"He's docile," I say as I flatten a bar of steel.

"He's not," Ravana mutters, "But I'm sure you know that by now."

Palmer laughs nervously.

"So, what sort of stuff do you guys usually make here? Lief doesn't tell me much about it."

"Oh, a lot of it is made to order. We had a big order of door hinges recently, sometimes jewelry, sometimes parts for others projects. Lief is very skilled at small things, but he only wants to make weapons."

Ravana raises an eyebrow. "Your father liked to make dainty things, didn't he?"

I feel the pressure of the necklace from him on my sternum. "So what?"

"It's just very curious."

"Lief won't tell me much about his father. Did you know him?"

"Not very well. We never met, I just knew of him."

"Can we please not talk about this?" I say.

The two fall silent. Slowly they lull into a conversation that ends with Palmer showing Ravana how to make rings. He's very excited, asking more and more questions on how they make different types of jewelry.

-

I don't like the city. The air feels thick and it smells strange. Still, Ravana and I walk through to find the shop be showed me. Arden's shop. It's got an open sign, but the lights are dimmed. We step in, Ravana reaching up to stop the bell as we realize someone is sitting on the floor in a circle of candles.

It looks like two women. There are seven cards between them, vibrantly colored. Neither look up as we quietly stop on the outside of their circle.

"I sense a connection being made, the woman with short curls says, "With someone you've been worried about."

She presses a hand to one of the cards. "You need to traverse this carefully, as this relationship could go very well or very poorly. Take care to make a friend instead of a foe."

The other woman nods. "Anything else?"

She draws a card from the deck and stares at it. She purses her lips. "Keep an eye on traffic this week, you might be late to something if you aren't careful."

"Thank you, Esmeralda. I'll see you next month, yeah?"

"Have a good one."

The candles are blown out, and the light switches on. Arden walks out from behind the counter.

"I see you've met Esmeralda," they say, "Ezzy, these are Lief and Ravana."

"How do you find such vibrant people, Arden?" she asks, smiling.

"Who knows? I was hoping you wouldn't be here when they came, though. How was her reading?"

"Terrible. She's going to make an enemy by being late to a meeting at work."

"That isn't what you told her," Ravana points out.

"You saw the cards. I wanted her to at least think it was preventable."