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The girl running the booth today curtsied as Essie approached. “Princess Elspeth. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Essie scanned the packages of hot chocolate, finding the double chocolate supreme. There was only one left since hot chocolate was especially popular now that it was the middle of winter. She picked up the package. “Do you sell this in a larger size?”
“Not in the shop, but if you would like to place a custom order of anything, I would be happy to see that it is delivered to the palace tomorrow morning.” The girl gave the perfect, practiced smile that Essie recognized. There probably wasn’t a whole lot of difference between a job in customer service or the role of princess. Both involved a lot of smiling even when people were being downright unreasonable.
Essie gave the girl one of her own practiced smiles in return. “In that case, yes, I would like to place a custom order, though delivery by tomorrow evening would be fine. I am not in a rush.”
First thing in the morning would mean someone would have to work overnight to get an order to the palace on time. Hopefully giving them the whole day would mean they would not have to work extra hours or go too much out of the way for her.
The girl took down the details of Essie’s order, and she did not even blink when Essie ordered ten pounds of hot chocolate mix. Essie gave instructions to have the order delivered to the Buckmore Palace gate and paid before she left the booth to return to wandering the market.
By the back wall, she found a booth selling pottery and ceramics, including everything from flowerpots and vases to bowls and plates and mugs. Right in the front of the booth sat a mug with two elf ears sticking out on either side. The whole mug, elf ears and all, was white but veined in vibrant blue that was clearly meant to be a representation of Farrendel’s magic.
When the woman running the booth noticed the direction of Essie’s gaze, her face paled, and she reached for the mug. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. No disrespect to your husband was intended. My husband is in the army, and he fought in the war and told me about your Prince Farrendel’s magic. I came up with this design, and it has been selling quite well in my husband’s army unit. I never meant any disrespect, truly.”
“It’s all right. I think the mug is hilarious.” Essie snatched it up before the woman could take it away. Farrendel would absolutely hate it, which was exactly why Essie was going to get it. “Has this really been selling that well?”
The woman’s spine relaxed a fraction. “Yes, it has, Your Highness.”
“Good. I’m glad to see any sign that the old prejudices against elves are fading.” Essie dug out more money and paid for the mug, letting the woman wrap it in paper before Essie carefully placed the mug inside her cloth shopping bag.
With one last smile for the woman, Essie set off into the market once again. While she adored the mug, it probably wasn’t the best gift to thank Farrendel for the set of armor he’d given her. She probably should find a mug he would actually like.
She found the perfect thing a few aisles down. It was a giant beer stein, but it would work just as well as a hot chocolate mug and Farrendel would probably never know the difference unless she told him.
But what caught her eye were all the tiny gears set into the side of the stainless-steel stein underneath a layer of glass. When the stein was picked up and tipped back, a metal ball rolled along a maze of channels, moving the gears and pressing down on levers as it worked its way toward the top. When the stein was tipped upright again, the ball fell back to the bottom, often taking a different path than the one it had before so that as a person drank from the stein, the metal ball worked its way around the entire outside.
It was masterful work, making all those tiny gears turn so smoothly while being set along the side of a round mug, and definitely something Farrendel would find fascinating as well as useful for giant amounts of hot chocolate.
After she paid, she had to struggle to keep her princess smile in place instead of smirking as she imagined the look on Farrendel’s face when she showed him her new mug.
Farrendel clasped hishands behind his back and tried not to rock back and forth on his heels as he waited for Professor Harrington’s verdict on the power cell. He struggled to keep his breathing even, his chest going tight.
This was the kind of thing he would have to learn how to handle if he wanted to take classes at Hanford University. His work would be judged and evaluated on a regular basis, not something he had faced since he was a young elfling still learning to read and write.
“Hmm...” The professor perched a set of spectacles on his nose and continued his inspection even more intently.
What was he even looking at? The power cell was not that complicated, though it had modifications to allow it to store Farrendel’s particularly powerful magic.
Finally, Professor Harrington looked up, focusing on Lance. “This is good work. You were on new territory, melding human engineering and elven magic like this.”
“Thank you, professor.” Lance grinned, and he pulled another device from under the table. “If you think that’s fascinating, take a look at this.”
The device was another of his magic sensors, and, as soon as he flipped on the switch, the red light started flashing frantically. The needle on the dial immediately shot all the way to the far side.
Farrendel tightened his clasped hands behind his back, trying to appear nonchalant as he waited for Professor Harrington’s reaction.
The professor’s eyebrows shot up as he glanced from the device to Farrendel.
Lance sighed, tapping the dial. “I still haven’t managed to craft a sensor that can detect the upper range of Farrendel’s magic. I’m not sure it is possible, not if I want a device that still has any degree of accuracy to it.”
“I see...” Professor Harrington regarded the power cell again, his mouth falling into that frown.
Farrendel resisted the urge to take off his cloak, even though he was feeling hot and choked as he waited for a response. Any response. Lance had assured him that Professor Harrington would be impressed since it would exhaust even a strong human magician to call up the amount of power contained in that small magical device. Yet, for Farrendel, that power felt so little he could fill a hundred of those devices and not feel the strain.
With a nod, the professor set the magical power device on the table and faced Farrendel. “Mr. Marion mentioned that you were considering enrolling in Hanford University. If that is the case, please know that I would be happy to work personally with you to craft a magical engineering degree that would work for you.”
Farrendel forced himself to exhale slowly as the tension left his shoulders and chest. Both Lance and Essie had assured him that there was no way Hanford University would turn him away, not when it would be too good for their reputation to have an elf prince studying there. Not to mention the potential access to elven knowledge that it would give them. But, surely it could not be this easy, could it?
