Underwater

Chapter 22: The Gazebo

"Your majesty. Everything is ready," Raonel told him. Delwyn smiled up at the butler, so excited that he couldn't stop his tail from twitching back and forth. He'd planned this day for nearly three weeks, micromanaging it down to the smallest detail.

"Good. Good, good." Delwyn was both nervous and excited. He hoped she liked what he had planned for her. He hadn't known what exactly to give her, but after talking to all the people close to her, including a sneaky visit back to the market, he thought he'd gotten a good idea of what Reina might like for her birthday.

All he had to do was wait for the next day, which seemed a more difficult feat than usual.

As Delwyn finished up his work and swam to the dining room where his wife waited for him to have their evening meal together, he thought back to their date – the day he had turned up at the Magic Academy after she had settled her issue, excusing his surprise visit as him wanting to 'celebrate' her victory.

After the meal they'd shared, which was surprisingly delicious, they'd returned to the market. Some of the citizens were wary of him, others hostile. But once they saw the way he treated his wife, many of them warmed up to him.

They're so protective of her. He chuckled to himself as he recalled the way the old man, one of her magical tool sellers, Philippe, had lectured him on being a good husband. He had bowed his head and listened intently, wanting to endear himself to one of his wife's supporters.

She had introduced him to all her favorite stalls. There were many. So many, in fact, that the names of all the stall owners started to become blended into one. However, it was clear that Reina was on friendly terms with the majority of them, perhaps because she visited so often.

The light was almost disappearing when they finally made it to her shop in downtown Virtrie. There were few customers that time of day, so it was mostly empty, thankfully.

"Reina, what's this?" he asked, pointing to a curious-looking tool with a series of symbols across what looked like a variety of buttons.

"It's a typewriter. Watch." She fed the tool a piece of parchment, then clicked a symbol. It appeared on the parchment. He frowned and clicked on a different button and its affiliated symbol appeared on the parchment.

"Interesting."

"On the surface, most people type rather than write. Some people with disabilities can't create legible writing, you see, so typing is a way of overcoming that issue, as the symbols printed onto the page always appears the same. In addition, it's just faster. Once you memorize the position of each key, you'll find that typing is several times faster than writing."

"How fascinating. This would be useful for many of the officials."

She nodded. "It would. It would also make it easier for us to read, since you won't have to decipher people's handwriting."

"How about this tool?" he pointed to a different item on display.

"That's a calculator."

"A what?"

"Here. Let me show you."

Delwyn marveled at the item, seeing the impossibly difficult sum almost immediately solved on a light projection emitted from the object.

"It's very popular amongst people of the finance ministry, but also many others who have to manage the bookkeeping of their own businesses or households," Reina explained. Seeing the admiration on his face, she continued. "I didn't come up with how to make it. I'm not very good at imbuement magic. I just pitched the idea to Dart and Morwen, and together we created magical equivalents of technology that already exists aboveground."