Wister rings up a customer with a smile, telling them to have a good day. He sighs softly and his eyes go from a bright and shiny gold to a dull coloring and a neutral expression. He starts cleaning as Poi bleats at him that she is hungry. Wisteria rolls his eyes and motions towards the knife rack, the sheep’s eyes shining as she rushes over and knocks one down, eating it off the floor. Wisteria looks out the window and sees preparations for a festival. He sighs and shakes his head, “That time of the year already?”

a bright light forms outside his store, shining through his store windows. A girl that looks strikingly similar to him comes in and glares at him and Wister glares back. The girl has rose silver eyes and is much cleaner. The two stare at each other then both laugh and hug each other.

Wister: “It's been 50 years since we last spoke?”

Aster: “Mmm 52, but it sure does fly by when you are working.”

Wister: “Really does. You really never had time to visit?”

Aster: “Well I finally had time thanks to Ira. He decided that we have been studying too much so he gave us a break.”

Wister: “You mean give your students a break, not you.”

Aster huffs, “Whatever. I need this as much as they do. They really do stress me out brother.”

Wister smiles and turns away to clean shields and polish them until they shine.

Poi bleats and looks at Aster, eyes shining. Aster usually has some kind of treat for Poi.

Aster smiles, reaching into her pocket, “Gods what he is feeding you Poi? You are getting big, almost big enough to eat.”

Poi bleats happily, which Wisteria translates. “She says she is almost big enough to eat you.”
Aster chuckles and holds a gemstone out to poi. Poi immediately swipes it with her mouth and starts to chew on it as if it were candy. Aster rubs on Poi’s soft face and smiles, “As if this adorable thing would eat us.”

Wisteria: “She would.”

Aster stops rubbing poi and dusts her shoulder off: “So how are you doing?”

Wister: “What do you mean?”

Aster: “Well you barely talk about yourself. I mean 50 years ago all we really talked about was me. You don’t ever write… or plan trips to go places together… or anything. All I've gotten were portraits of Poi.”

Wister: “Yeah, well Poi is adorable. Besides, you were busy doing amazing things Aster. You got your thesis published on the 7th magic element that was previously only accessible to the Gods. You found a way to identify what was wrong with those mages that couldn't use magic properly and figured out their affinities properly.”

Aster: “Yeah… all but one”

There is silence as they just stand there, Wister continuing to polish the shield on display. Wister sighs, “In any case, you are amazing sis. You did everything I wish I could have.”

Aster: “I’m not that amazing. I'm sure you have done tons of amazing things in your life. Well, spill it. I want to know what you did before you ended up here in this town.”

Wister’s eyes darken a bit as he turns back around to hang up a shield next to a case of weapons. “I just traveled, Aster. I really did… I built up my skills enough to open a shop like this after taking a master.”

Aster frowns, “That can’t be all. After all you didn’t even have this shop for 50 years, how many has it been now?”

Wister: “10 now actually.”

Aster: “You arrived here on Luxia’s birthday?”

Wister: “No, I opened my shop on Luxia’s birthday. I worked in another shop before then and found Poi 60 years ago.”

Aster: “And… before that?”

Wisteria goes silent, not answering. It seems he does not want to talk about it.

Aster walks up to the case of weapons and sighs, “I see” She reads the weapons in the display case, all of them seemingly dedicated to someone else with inscriptions written into them.

A tome and amulet (For Uriel, for a child of the time god you always were late)

A magician’s staff: (For Ghazan, The kindest mage that the tower rejected)

A pair of knives: (For Kheevu, Somehow the most emotional and emotionless)

A short cavalier sword: (For Hilda, our leader who led us all in our journeys)

Finally, a greatsword: (For Bernie, the most righteous of us all)

Aster: “Since its Luxia day, we should celebrate the birth of the Goddess. There is a festival today after all.”

Wister hesitates, “But… well I suppose my shop shouldn't be open today. Alright fine, we can go to the festival. Just let me go and change.”

He leaves the spot he was in and walks into the back room, walking into his room and changes into more casual wear. He finishes changing and walks back to her, Aster had changed her clothes into more casual wear as well with her magic, signified by the door that Wister left through Illuminating a new purple shine of light on it. All Poi did was wrap a scarf around her horn… somehow on her own.

They leave the store, Posters are spread across the town with the goddess’s picture on them as they walk. They pass by stands that advertise jewelry and Wister’s eyes shine as he examines them. He loves to just see them and see how others craft things as Aster is showcasing harmless magic for children as they gather around her. 

The festival then starts with fireworks being lit in the middle of the day in various bright colors, Magic circles all over the city acting as speakers play a speech, telling of the story of the goddess of light, her birth and her journey. Poi looks up at Wister and gives him a begging look. Wisteria stares at her but eventually gives in, giving her a small pouch of coins. “For food only. No rocks” Poi bleats happily. Her and Aster wanders off, the two of them wanting to taste the local food. That left Wisteria alone for a moment, walking around to observe what other vendors were selling.

He looks out to the crowd, a gathering of many different races with many different backgrounds, all of them here to celebrate the birthday of the goddess. Travelers from all over to come sell their wares and tell stories of how their civilization depicts the goddess. Wisteria takes a small but deep breath and exhales, then puts on his customer service smile to blend in with the crowd

He first stops at a food stall to get a kebab made from cows from the desert region to the east, from the jade oasis. He then stops by a stall meant for magic items from the Ivory tower, his old home. He picks up a flute and the vendor tries to sell him on it, but he declines and walks away. He then walks to a stall from the sleepy glade, where the stall owner is napping. He picks up a fluffy pillow and looks at the vendor. He looks at the price and leaves the appropriate amount. He feels the stall owner’s thanks and walks off, looking at a stall from the northern kingdom of Jhiradain. He picks up a device and looks at the stall owner, “What is this?”

The stall owner smiles, “Why, thats a new device our scholars have made. A device that does not use magic but instead uses the surrounding mana to send messages across the leylines.” To showcase, the owner picks up a similar device and taps on it, a message appearing on the one Wisteria was holding saying “Hello”. 

Wisteria: “And how do you designate where the messages go?”

The shop owner smiles, “Each device has a different designated number. It says the number is on the screen so you can give it to others. You tap the number on the top and you can send them messages. You can also switch who you message by tapping on the screen to each designated number and rename them to whatever you want.”

Wisteria is impressed, nodding. “How much for two?”

“With conversion to currency… 9000 Lux?”

Wisteria frowns, “How much in Sol?”

The owner sighs, “1000 Sol.”

Wisteria reaches into his bag and places 1000 sol coins onto the table in a pouch

The owner whistles, “You visited Jhiradain?”

Wisteria nods, “Briefly. But that was a long time ago.”

The owner chuckles and nods, “I bet. We rarely use coins anymore. Switched to a paper based currency. But I'll take these, just will take a trip to turn these into the treasury.”

Wisteria nods and holds both devices, heading into his shop to drop off the pillow but keeping the new devices on his person. He walks out and heads out to a local jewelers stand. He helps the jewelers by buying their merchandise and giving them advice, as a fellow smith.

Wister: “Y’know if you want to make the dots a little more consistent, you could use a bead and wind magic, since your family’s good with wind magi-”

Someone hooded bumps into him and he turns around 

???: “S-sorry!”

Wister turns around with a small smile, “Its al-” His eyes meet hers and his eyes and tone lowers, “Its fine.”

Her eyes were a bright yellow, glowing as her face was stone cold. The girl looks to be of the same age as Wister

Luxia: “What in Asphol are you doing outside your forge?”