The team, plus Valin, was assembled in the school's association hall which they were calling the annex. They were making a trip back to Home Square to check on things there. It was late on the last day of classes, all the students in the annex were already on their way back to the Speedwell. The free day was tomorrow. Since using the transportation system left a person feeling fully rested, the team was planning on leaving now to maximize their time in Home Square.

  The academy was past the midpoint of its winter term. Grandmother was turning her attention to preparations for the next year. She wanted the school to expand and teach more subjects. The planned trip to Home Square on the free day was part of those preparations. Grandmother was picking up equipment for doing structure chemistry in the hopes of developing the magic into a new offering for next year.

  “Before we head out to Home Square I’d like everyone to help me with an experiment,” Grandmother said to the group.

  “What do you need us to do?” Alex asked. Grandmother smiled. She picked up a set of books outside of Londontown in a ruined library. Some of the books were too ruined to be recovered, most were blank, but some contained pseudo-writing in them. Grandmother noticed that a restore spell cast on one with fake writing in it caused the writing blur to tighten. None of the ones she tried became legible, but she thought it was an indication that in the right circumstances they could.

  “I need you to cast restore on a few books,” Grandmother explained. She led the group into the library where she set out seven stacks of books on the desk. “I’d like each of you to cast a restore on a separate stack of the first six and everyone on the seventh stack. I’m trying to decide if color, or all colors will do something different.”

  “Sure,” Sarah said. She stepped forward and cast restore on the first stack and on the last. “Do you need me to check the books?” she asked, when she saw Grandmother reaching for the first stack.

  “Yes, please,” Grandmother said. Sarah picked up the first stack and started leafing through them, looking for anything legible. Ellen went next, taking her stack with her. Alex followed and Grandmother decided it was her turn. She tapped out the spell on her stack and the common stack. Todd then Companion followed. Valin sat down on a chair, watching the experiment, but not taking part in it.

  “Look at this,” Ellen said, when Grandmother barely opened her second book. Ellen was looking at the second to the last book in her stack. She set the open book on the desk. The smear of color inside the book that gave the impression of writing was gone. In its place was actual writing, but it wasn’t in any language Grandmother knew.

  “Valin,” Grandmother asked. “Do you know what language this is?” The elf rose from his seat and came over to give it a look. He looked at the book, then touched a ring on his finger.

  “I don’t recognize it,” Valin reported. “My translation ring isn’t working on it either. That means I’ve never met an individual of the species that wrote it.” He handed the book back to Ellen.

  “I think it’s a book on weaving,” Ellen commented, she pointed at a series of colored squares along the edge of the page. “See this? If I translate the colors to numbers, it is a control spell for a loom.”

  “I’ve got one too,” Companion sang. The selkie continued to look through his books when everyone else crowded around to look at Ellen’s discovery. “It is in selkie. It is the story of the life of a saint.” Companion brought his book over to the desk to show everyone.

  “Interesting,” Grandmother said, after she looked at Companion’s book. “Ellen, who is a crafter, got a crafting book and Companion got a book on selkie history. It makes me think you have to be connected to the contents in some way.”

  “You want us to cast restore on all of them, don’t you?” Todd asked.

  “Of course!” Grandmother responded. “Valin, can you cast restore?”

  “Not directly,” Valin admitted, “but I do have a trinket in my store. I can pick it up and try it on the way back.”

  “That reminds me,” Grandmother said. “Do you have another translation ring for sale? I’d like to buy one if you do.”

  “No,” Valin replied. “I can make one, but it will take some time to gather the ingredients.”

  “It is copper,” Alex commented, “how hard is that to find?”

  “Appearances can be deceiving,” Valin responded.

  “Put together a list of ingredients and we can all help gather them. I want it to talk to Unkell, our species sixteen visitor,” Grandmother said. Todd and Grandmother ran into Unkell in Londontown earlier in the winter. Grandmother tried to talk the secretive player into coming out and visiting the Wizard's Tower, but so far she failed to convince her. Control told Grandmother that species sixteen were masters of chemistry. Grandmother wanted Unkell to come teach at the school next year. If she was too shy for that, Grandmother would be happy if Unkell would consent to teach Asher. Asher already knew a little about the subject, although he was working in that academy as a metal working instructor. She told Valin that she wanted to communicate with Unkell in case that changed the needed ingredients. “Or maybe for Unkell to talk to us,” she added.

  Since Ellen’s book was the second from the bottom of her stack, they knew the restore must have reached that far down. They set up stacks of books of the same height and rotated through casting restore on them. Valin paged through the finished books looking for legible ones.

  Out of over five hundred books, they ended up with seventeen legible ones. Eight of them were in selkie. Of the other nine, three were in elven. Two were crafting books and one was on weapon imbuing. One of the last six was in a language Valin’s ring translated for him. Valin paged through it. This was one of the small books which reminded Grandmother of the coloring book Companion received from a child at the orphanage in Chicago.

  “This appears to be written by a click-crunch, species forty. I didn’t realize they had a written language. I’ve only met one member of this species. He was a slave at the King’s Court,” Valin commented. Grandmother frowned. She didn’t like the idea of a player being held in slavery, but really that was the purpose of the bind she removed from Valin. She shouldn’t be surprised.

  “I am not certain what the subject of this is. The beginning gives a brief summary of how a small survey ship landed on the surface. It describes the ship falling apart,” Valin reported. “After that it gets hard to read. A lot of it is not translating, or it’s translating into old words I don’t know.”

  “Old words?” Grandmother asked. This was the first time she heard him say that.

  “A lot of the words you use to describe how your ship works translate into words in elven that have fallen out of use,” Valin admitted, “so I don’t know the meaning of them.” A wave of excitement washed over Grandmother as she thought about what that might mean.

  “I wonder if it could be a book on technology,” Irene said excitedly. “We’ll take it back to the Speedwell and see if the computers can come up with a translation. It will help that you can translate parts of it,” she said to Valin. “We will need to go through the other books and write down all the spells we recognize and what they do. Context is the key to starting a translation.”

  “What does a species forty look like?” Alex asked, as they worked to pick the books up.

  “They are small, about half my height. They are covered by long modified scales that are multicolored. They fly most of the time. They have only one set of hands/feet and the wings of course,” Valin commented.

  “They sound like a bird,” Sarah commented.

  They carefully stored all the books. Valin would try his restore trinket on them when they returned from Home Square. As Grandmother was securing the legible books she realized there were no doubles. She picked up the ruined books from the library twice. That meant each time books were spawned a different random set was used. Now Grandmother wished she’d camped the room and picked up as many copies as possible. If she ever found another library she would do that. On their last visit to Londontown the library was gone, remodeled into a standard set of rooms.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Grandmother’s pet squirrel was running back and forth across the top of the central sofa. Sarah came to a sudden halt when she saw it. She happened to be in the lead when the group finished up in the library and headed to the transport room.

  “Is that?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Todd said from right behind her.

  “But how?” Sarah echoed.

  “It's a gift from Control,” Todd announced. Grandmother picked up the earthen squirrel from the same ruined library as the books. It hitched a ride back to the annex on Grandmother and was now living in the roots and tree of the roof collapse. This was the first time Sarah saw it here. The team ran into a scurry of them living in a set of pipes far to the south a couple years ago. Grandmother caught one of them and fed it. After that it kept coming back to her wanting more, until the team moved out of its territory. When this squirrel out of the dozens that ran out of the library went straight for Grandmother’s pocket to steal food, Todd declared it was the same one, even though Grandmother could not figure out how it could be.

  “Hey girl,” Grandmother said. She walked over to the sofa and tried to touch the little animal. It danced around so that Grandmother only managed to touch its tail. It was making a chirping burbling sound.

  “Is that a nuisance?” Valin asked. Grandmother wondered if that was what elves called them or if Valin was using the selkie name.

  “It’s Grandmother’s pet,” Todd explained.

  “She isn’t a pet,” Grandmother countered. “She’s her own squirrel. Come on girl I promised you could come along next time. We're not going to Londontown, but you’ll like Home Square.” The nuisance jumped from the sofa to Grandmother’s leathers and disappeared into a pocket.

  “That is impossible,” Companion announced. The team didn’t meet Companion until after the squirrel encounter in the south, so this was the first time he was seeing the animal interact with Grandmother.

  They arrived in Home Square before midnight. The square’s master blacksmith was on duty in the transportation room.

  “You’re late for Challenge day,” the blacksmith said.

  “Is it still running?” Todd asked. “We thought it might be over by now.”

  “Tomorrow should be the last day,” he responded.

  “I’d like to get vent forks in different materials,” Grandmother said to the crafter. “I owned a set in bronze when I was young. Does your shop offer any other materials? Like steel or copper?”

  “I can put something together for you,” the blacksmith replied. “What do you need them for?”

  “Don’t go to any trouble,” Grandmother said. “Tomorrow is a free day at the academy, but we have to head back tomorrow night, so we won’t be here long. The vent forks are for an experiment. One of the instructors says he knows how to make an elixir that when you drink it makes you feel like you just woke from a full night's rest. He uses the forks as stirring rods. He suspects the material the fork and mixing bowl are made out of changes the quality of the product.”

  “Drop by the shop after the challenges,” the blacksmith said. “I’ll put together a set you can choose from.” Grandmother thanked the blacksmith before stepping out into the back hallway to the square. She was the last person to come through. Todd and Companion were waiting for Grandmother in the square. They were standing in front of the furniture and magic shops. Grandmother could see that Sarah, Ellen and Alex were checking their shops through the windows.

  “Where’s Valin?” Todd asked.

  “I sent him directly to OpenSky,” Grandmother explained. The elf activated his disguise before stepping into the transport system. Grandmother wasn’t certain what the elf wanted to do on this trip. The rest of them agreed to the trip for different reasons, but Valin just showed up when they got in the cart heading to the annex. Picking up his restore trinket was a later development.

  “What’s the plan?” Todd asked.

  “I want at least one ceramic topped workbench, preferably two,” Grandmother responded. “So I’d like to do a scavenging run below us in tier three space. I am also looking for bowls in every size and material. I’d like to get my hands on a mortar and pestle but I suspect that will have to wait until we make a trip to Seagrass in the spring.”

  “Send a message to the transportation room keeper in Seagrass,” Companion said. “If you offer a price, a trader can pick one up and bring it through.”

  “If the challenge is still going on, there will be a lot of selkie heading home soon,” Todd commented. Grandmother quizzed Companion on more details on what the selkie did as they waited. Soon Alex came out of his shop with his cart.

  “Are we going scavenging?” Alex asked. Grandmother told him she wanted to go to tier three space and get two ceramic workbenches if they could find them. “I get all the rest right?” Alex countered.

  “Well I am interested in any kind of container that will seal,” Grandmother commented.

  “Seal?” Alex said. “Like a water flask?”

  “Yes, only not a water flask. It is for Asher’s elixirs. The water flask property of keeping its contents clean deactivates the elixir,” Grandmother explained.

  “I’ve seen containers with lids,” Todd offered. “The inn kitchen has a set for holding ingredients.”

  “Asher told me that several different items in supply closets can be fitted together to make a sealed container,” Grandmother explained. “I don’t remember many supply closets in tier three space, so after you get enough furniture I want to do a sweep in tier two space also.”

  “Sounds good,” Alex responded. “That will give me a better assortment of furniture. Are Sarah and Ellen coming?”

  “I’ll ask,” Todd said, stepping into the magic shop. Grandmother could see the two women moving around the space. Both Ellen and Sarah continued to put together new spell books the entire time they were out at the Speedwell. Grandmother was uncertain where they found the time. They were working on adding the new books to their inventory.

  “They’re coming,” Todd said, as he stepped back out. “They just need a minute.”

  “I’m going to run up to my room in the inn and drop Squirrel off,” Grandmother said, before making a quick trip up to her room. She scooped the little animal out of her pocket. She made a hollow in the bed blanket to set the little girl into. She unloaded the bag of wheels she’d brought for Harry and switched from her full pack to her day one. Harry was the head of the guard in Home Square. Grandmother trusted him implicitly. Actually she tried for years to get him to take over, but Harry spent those same years making sure Grandmother remained in command.

  The team was waiting for her when she got back. Since Alex’s cart didn’t roll that well over the soil in the green space, they took the halls instead of the shortcut across the greenspace to the nearest grand stairwell down into tier three space. They carried the cart down the stairs, but they would have to do that on the green route anyway. The floor of the greenspace was two levels below the square. Staircases at the training yard gate led down to it.

  It took three hours to find two ceramic topped workbenches. By that time Alex collected a full load of unique items and overloaded component bags. They found a unique vendor that sold miniature sculptures. Alex bought an assortment of them that he put directly in his inventory, along with one they vended while they tried to figure out what the icons meant.

  Grandmother looked at the vended sculpture from all angles, trying to decide what it was. It was the same abstract style as the sculptures that could be found in the ruins. Grandmother thought it represented an animal, but she couldn’t decide which one.

  “What do you think it is, Sarah?” Grandmother asked the artist in the group. Even as a child Sarah held firm opinions about what each of the abstract sculptures in stone, glass, porcelain and metal represented.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah responded. “I get the feeling it is flying.”

  “Maybe it’s a bat,” Todd commented. “Does it cast fire?”

  “This dark iron here could represent fire. I don’t think it's casting it as much as exhaling it,” Sarah said.

  “It’s a dragon!” Alex exclaimed. “Maybe I need another one of those.”

  “I’m going to buy a full set,” Grandmother declared. “We can put them on the tables in the galleries. It might trigger something.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Alex said. “Some of them are very expensive.”

  “I hope it's worth it,” Grandmother said. She purchased one full set of everything the vendor sold. She bought three copies of the cheaper pieces, since she owned three gallery/association halls. Grandmother also transferred the items directly into her inventory.

  Ellen and Sarah skinned every animal they killed, planning to turn all the hides into vellum. The structure method didn’t care if the source material wasn’t very suited for the application. Essentially the spells replaced the original skin with nanobot material, so it didn’t matter. There were more restrictions on producing thick leather.

  “Are you planning on gathering materials for chemistry as well?” Ellen asked as she worked on skinning a huge pile of rats that filled a room. Rats were very low tier for the area, so when they did turn up it was in multitudes.

  “I was planning to bring back any chemicals I see in the storage closets,” Grandmother replied.

  “I just remember Asher said something to me about making a powder that stops bleeding out of rat's claws and dried tubers,” Ellen said.

  “Did he?” Grandmother asked, eyeing the pile of rats and their claws.

  “Yes, there was something about arrowroot and violets too. I only remember that because I wondered if a violet was that purple flower plant Todd took to Londontown to sell,” Ellen explained. Grandmother sighed and started collecting the claws off the rat carcasses.

  “It could be,” Grandmother said. “Todd, where did you get that purple plant?”

  “In the green, right outside Home Square,” Todd responded. He picked it to decorate the table in Grandmother’s store in Londontown because he thought the color was oddly appropriate. He was surprised to find it sold on their next trip. “I’ll see if I can find another one,” he promised.