Declan Sinclair was on the shorter side, and scrawny to boot. His skin was as pale a color as she’d ever seen, and his hair was a sandy blonde color. Vibrant green eyes peered at her from behind thick spectacles. Overall, he looked younger than herself by a few years.

  Looks could be deceiving though. She knew that he was older than her. Still young, but several years past the border of adulthood. He held himself with a quiet confidence and inspected her with assessing eyes. Not me, she realized. He was paying special attention to her equipment. Her bag and sword in particular. He barely glanced at her holstered gun.

  He finally spoke. “That sword, can I see it?”

  Harper hesitated for a moment but unbuckled her sheath and handed it to him. She was loath to part with it, even for a moment. The noble hadn’t let it be known that the sword was anything but mundane steel, and she wanted to keep it that way. It was by far the most valuable item she had taken from home.

  The crafter slipped the sword out of the sheath, inspecting the rapier. The grip was bound in tight dark leather. Curved metal wrapped above and around the hilt, serving as the guard. A smooth cone of metal adorning the bottom acted as the pommel.

  The blade itself looked well-made, if unassuming. But if someone perceptive took a closer look, they would notice the sigil of a lunar dragon engraved into the metal near the base. They might also notice that the blade wasn’t the standard color of steel, instead taking on an almost silver sheen. The astute craftsman in front of her was one such observer.

  “If you drew this sword in the moonlight, it would glow, correct?” He asked in an almost reverent tone. At her reluctant nod, he continued. “I’ve never had the privilege to see it myself. Moonsteel is rarely seen, even amongst the other Domain metals.”

  He admired it for a while longer before handing it back. “Thank you. I can see that you don’t like being separated from it, nor do I blame you.” Harper took it back and relaxed. It wasn’t a huge concern, but there was the possibility that the crafter would demand to buy or trade for it upon seeing what it was.

  “How did you know there was something special about it? No one else has. Unless you secretly have the Astral Domain; I can’t tell how you realized.”

  Having the Domain of Star would go a long way in explaining his crafting achievements. There had to be a large advantage in being able to sense the aether in items you worked with, but she knew that there was no chance of it being the case.

  If he had so much crafting talent and a connection to the Astral Domain, the nobility of Magnon would have ordered him to the home continent. They would likely have started with bribes, but turned to force if that didn’t work. It would be for his own good. Such a talent would be able to single-handedly influence the fate of nations. Quilen’s enemies would have stopped at nothing to see him dead.

  “Ha, I wish,” he replied wryly. “No, I know because I inquired about you when the governor told me to expect your order. When I heard that I would be making an item for Lady Waspen, I recognized your name. That your family knows the secret of moonsteel is quite well documented in the higher crafting circles.”

  It made sense. Her family's specialty in the Lunar Domain did not extend to aether techniques alone. While it wasn’t something they were exactly famous for, it was unsurprising an aethersmith of Declan’s renown knew about their moonsteel. They rarely sold, preferring to keep it in the house. The creation of it was a secretive process, even she didn’t know the details.

  “Anyways, go ahead and take a look around. Some of the single Domain artifacts are not made for a specific client and you can take them if it pleases you. If not, we can talk about a custom order, but it may take a while.” He gestured to the rest of the workshop.

  Nodding her agreement, the young woman turned her attention to the rest of the room. Several small forges were set into the back of the room; the lack of smoke revealed that they were core powered. The room lacked the items normally prevalent in most smithies. There were no large anvils, hammers, racks for weapons and armors, and other tools needed for larger equipment.

  Instead, the room’s purpose was clearly meant for firearms and smaller items. A variety of tools lined the walls, most meant for precisely manipulating metal. Several chairs and workbenches sat in the room, most with half-finished products waiting to be completed.

  Materials lay everywhere as well. Single Domain cores, metals that were likely imbued with aether, and various creature parts were scattered across the room. To her surprise, she recognized some of them. Large scales of a greenish-brownish color sat piled near one of the forges. Declan was working with tyragator scales, almost definitely the ones taken from the Potentate creature killed at the fort.

  The largest item in the room attracted her attention. It looked like a firearm but had a significantly larger barrel than normal. Small cannonballs were stacked in a sturdy box next to it. A launcher. Few weapons are better for sieging a wall or hurting a large creature. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted.

  Unfortunately, even if Declan could make one enchanted with the Aquatic Domain, she wouldn’t often find use for it. Due to their size and excessive reloading time, they were usually single use items in battle, to be pulled out of an aetherspace, used, and discarded. Or to be reloaded from a fortified position. Even the most well-made launchers only lasted a couple dozen shots before deteriorating. She wanted something that would last and could be used more often.

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  Harper roamed the room, examining items and questioning the crafter as to their Domain affiliation and enchantment. She was passingly familiar with everything, her privileged background ensured that. To her disappointment, nothing that she could use caught her eye, and she wasn’t willing to take something on the chance that she might manifest the necessary Domain to use it in the future.

  Harper was about to give up and request a rifle enchanted with the Domain of Sea when something she saw caught her eye. A Telluric Domain tester sat on a table; its inset peridot gleaming. “You can work with gems?” Harper asked, an idea starting to form.

  “Indeed,” he said proudly. “It took months, but my success rate is finally higher than my failure rate. I’m a true aetherjewler now.”

  “Have you ever made a Domain reservoir?” she asked excitedly.

  His eyes widened in realization. “No.” Harper’s spirit fell before he spoke again. “But I would be happy to try.” That was less than ideal, but not a dealbreaker.

  “I assume that a failed attempt would eliminate my chance for a free artifact?”

  Declan nodded the affirmative. “It would. Also, such a request would be outside the scope of what the governor offered. The base materials, core, and crafting time would still be free, but you would have to provide or buy the gem yourself.”

  Harper leaned on the table, drumming her fingers against it in consideration. It's worth the risk, she decided. The biggest question was how she was going to get a suitable gem. It would be for naught if the craft failed, but she had the chance to acquire a valuable tool. Something that would have been difficult to get even when she was the scion of a noble house.

  “Let’s do it,” she replied confidently. “Will the tyragator scales work as a material tied deeply enough to Sea to work?”

  The crafter got up and walked over to the pile animatedly. The novelty of a new type of project seemed to excite him. “They will. You're fortunate that we have the parts for such a creature on hand. Parts of a Magnate creature with a deep connection to the Aquatic Domain may have worked, but the chances of success are higher with these.”

  He picked up a scale and began inspecting it. “What form do you want it to take? And with what kind of enchantment? A staff or wand would be best; I know they aren’t usually made of metal, but the length and aether flow will allow a wide variety of effects. Plus, you could add on all kinds of stuff later. I could work it onto a sword as well, it just might be a bit more limited.”

  Harper shook her head. She would not be giving up her current sword, nor the extra options having a free hand gave her. She had something else in mind. “I would like it on a ring, and I want it to be open for later expansion.”

  He raised a brow. “Ambitious, but I can do it. Are you aware of the weaknesses of going this route are? There are very good reasons that gemgloves aren't more common.”

  “I know. I’ve already decided to bear the risks and shortcomings. I believe it will be worth it.” There was a myriad of reasons that gemgloves were ignored in favor of other options. Their enchantment options were far more limited and often weaker, the usual strategies to reduce the disruption in the aether were less applicable, and they became more difficult to stabilize as more pieces were added.

  But there were ways around all of these, or at least, ways to mitigate the issues. Harper deemed the loss in efficiency and enchantment complexity a fair trade off for the versatility and ease of use that the gemglove gave. Building one would show its true worth once she had several integrated Domains and an Apex Domain.

  They worked out the details. Much of the work depended on the specific gemstone she was able to acquire so there wasn’t too much to go over. Afterward, Harper and Declan made their way up. Their destination was the materials department of the crafter’s guild. Declan was gracious enough to both help her pick the ideal gemstone and use his discount as part of the guild to lower the price.

  There was also a catalog of items being sold by the neighboring merchant guild, but hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary. The crafter’s guild got many of its materials directly from the governor's ventures. Buying from merchants working as in-betweens would have come with a steep price markup.

  She was fortunate, buying one elsewhere would have been more expensive. The mine was known for its surplus of gems. The young woman wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same mine that the Magnetic Domain priming draught was traded for. The gems it was known for were its rubies, topazes, tourmalines, moonstones, and most importantly to her, sapphires. She’d be able to find them cheaper here than in most of Magnon.

  Declan led her to the gemstone section. Most pieces were packed into locked shelves and uncut. They were still bought by jewelers, mundane jewelry had its place, but the best gems were saved for aethercraft. Both size and clarity were important factors.

  Size was especially important for her purposes; a Domain reservoir was limited by the gem’s dimensions. Clarity was a little less so. It was most desirable when making a complex enchantment. The better the aether flow, the smoother the effect. The enchantment currently planned was so basic that it didn’t matter as much.

  They immediately disregarded the locked away gems. Instead inspecting the already cut ones being shown off in display cases. There were some true finds among them. A ruby bigger than her fingernail and flawless to her eyes took the forefront.

  She doubted she would be able to afford such a gem for a long time. Checking the price confirmed her suspicion, it was more expensive than most Magnate cores. Someday, a crafter would make an incredible artifact out of such a gem.

  Harper moved on, inspecting the other gemstones. There were fewer sapphires than there were rubies and topazes, but still a decent selection. She dismissed those that had great clarity. They were either too small or out of her price range. Eventually, she found one she deemed workable.

  It was one of the larger ones. The deep blue gem was oval shaped, and slightly smaller than her fingernail. Normally, that would have turned her away; her funds were just too little for such a buy, but the clarity was noticeably lesser than most of the others. It earned its way to the display with size, not looks.

  A spiderweb of lines was frozen through the inside; one of the oval’s faces was marred by a crack running across almost the entire side. A cloud of impurities gathered in a corner. It was not the prettiest of gems, but for her purposes, it would work.