The universe is on my side

The responses to my Letters were very fast.

The owners of the old Guest house on the harbor side, practically threw the old house on me when I offered them two gold coins for it. I had sent Bard to go and pay them and then collect the title deed of the property from them. I had also sent him with some money to go and secure some builders and architects to redesign the House so that about thirty women could live there. I wanted every woman to have her own room, large enough so that a good sized bed, desk and wardrobe could fit into each one. There also had to be a bathroom for every three rooms. I wanted there to be a small vegetable garden in the back where they could grow their own food, as well as have a nice space for children to play if the women were coming into the shelter with children. There also had to be a large kitchen and a few lounging areas.

Since the property was quite large I was sure they would be able to fit all that in. I was very pleased with the floor plan that Bard had come back to show me, it was exactly what I wanted. Luckily this particular architectural guild also did furnishings so they threw in a quote to furnish the entire house. The only change I made was to upgrade some of the furnishings they suggested but then I soon approved the plan and they began work. Bard and Auberon went down to the House to supervise the work.

Mrs Edith Godfrey, the owner and manager of the Godfrey's Home For Children, was so grateful for my offer of patronage, so much so that I could literally feel the emotion in the way she wrote the letter back to me. She thanked me profusely for becoming a patron of her institution and even told me that if I hadn't offered, the home would have had to shut down in a few seasons since she was running out of money to keep all the children. I had gottena bit teary eyed reading her letter, I could tell that she was a kind woman struggling to help those around her which made me realize that my mission was to make her mission easier.

As per my request she sent me a list of things that she needed help with at the home, which was practically everything...

She coudln't always pay the electricity bill so there were long periods were the children went without power.

In Arteria, since Lightning magic was a thing, they used it as electricity and spelled objects within people's houses with lightening magic to keep electricity and light flowing for seasons at a time. If you could not carry on paying, the Lightning magic providers would unspell the objects and you woundn't have light or electricity until you could pay them again. it was a similar principle with sewage and plumbing, except they used water magic.

She also humbly asked if I could do anything about food and clothing for the children. Apparently the children were now relying on the kindness of the local inns to drop off their leftovers as the Home. I grimaced when I read this. I knew the Inns in the area already made terrible stew, so I could only imagine what the leftovers were like, the food that nobody had wanted to eat...

To solve those problems I asked Augustus if he had any friends who were cooks who were looking for jobs. He had immiedately wrote to  three of his friends who used to work at the palace with him and told them about my proposition. In no time, I had found three cooks who would work full time at the Home to make three meals a day for the kids, using some of my recipes. However, at Augustus's insistence, I made all three chefs sign a contract saying that they could not distribute my recipes to anyone, or else they would be sentenced to years in prison, which I thought was a bit extreme, but Augustus insisted...

I also contracted the same architectural guild to do some maintenance on the Home. Fix the cracks in the walls, do some insulation, replace all the broken furniture with new stuff and paint the walls. They easily renovated everything within a day becasue they used magic to complete their work, which really sped up the process. They also finished the renovations for the Womens shelter in three days, which really impressed me so I gave them a big tip.

The electricity and water bills were quite cheap, so I payed for them and I sent all the clothes I had gotten in Gismead when my status was still that of a  peasant's. Agnes was more than happy to give all of my normal pedestrian clothes away, she literally hummed as she folded the clothes into baskets that I was sending to the Home.

I also sent Edna with some money to the Gismead dress shop to order some dresses for younger girls and some tunics and other garments for the boys, as well as other essentials such as shoes, umbrellas, coats, ties, socks and hats. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything I had to get done, but quite happy and fulfilled at the same time.

Also, Mr Frobisher wrote me a letter, agreeing to do the changes in the produce I ordered, he also agreed to deliver some of the produce to the children's home.

Thanks to him I was able to open up the cafe again yesterday, Matilda and Briony were glad to start working again after their days of rest. Plus I was able to secure a steady flow of food for the children.

For the past few days, I had been really busy organizing things with the cafe and the Children's home and the womens shelter, as well as working on my project for my Mage exam. Thankfully I had finished the actual spell and had written it down on paper, all I needed to do was actually spell the weapon.

I just needed my Crystalline snake, who I had decided to name Sedgewick beacuase that was a name that popped up when I googled: Medieval names for pets.

Sedgewick was a surprisingly tame snake, despite his appearance. He just liked to be comfortable, nice and warm, curled up in a dark corner covered by a fluffy blanket. He was also surprisingly affectionate and seemed to like it when I stroked his crystalline scales. Luckily he an Sophie had made fast friends, whenever I opened the door to the Safe room, Sophie was in there snuggling up with him and Sedgwick coiled around her in a protective pose. It was acutally really cute and always made me smile. Since I had provided Sedgewick with an optimal living environment and had been feeding him lots of metal ornaments, he had been pooping out a lot of crystalline, thus I had been able to collect enough crystal to form a small sword.

I was infact waiting for one of the men from the Mage society to come and mold the sword for me. I was sitting in my alchemy room counting the crystalline gems when Agnes showed Mr Bazthornia into the room.

"Good Morning Lady Delton." Came the old croaky yet cheerful voice of Mr Bazthornia.

"Good Morning Mr Bazthornia." Mr Bazthornia was an expert artifact maker and owned his own renowned guild that specialized in customizing artifacts and he was also on the board of the Mage society, which was how I got in contact with him. He was a very old and soft spoken man (he let his craftsmanship do all the talking) he talked in a very slow languid way, and his back had a very pronounced hunch to it. Nevertheless he was said to be the best of the best. Thankfully, when I had asked him to come help me mold a sword he had agreed.

"Are these the gems you wish to use?" He asked pointing a shaking wrinkled finger at the crystalline gems.

I nodded.

"They are exquisite." He said as he peered down at the stones through his glasses, his old lips quivering slightly. I told him about my pet Sedgewick and how he had pooped the stones out.

"Ah... A crystalline snake. I've only ever seen two in my entire life." He remarked. Looking at him made me think that he was at least a hundred and twenty years old, I had the urge to ask him his age, but I didn't because I thought that he might get offended.

He then opened up a large silk bag that was filled with sword molds, he went through each one with me and then asked me to decided which one I wanted.

I chose one of the simpler design for a short sword, since I knew the shimmering opal color of the stone would be enough of a shock value, so I didn't want to go super over the top with the sword design.

As soon as Mr Bazthornia started working his entire demeanor changed. The frail old man that I had been acquainted with disappeared and in his place came some terrifying and determined sword maker. Suddenly his hunch disappeared and he stopped shaking and his eyes sharpened. I felt like I had witnessed some kind of transformation...

I watched intently as he placed the crystalline gems into the mold of a sword that I had picked. He then used a very impressive fire magic technique and roared flames under the mold, terrifyingly hot white flames burst from his hands and instantly increased the temperature of the whole room. The heat was so intense that even I, who was standing a few meters away, began to sweat, and had to turn away as a felt the severe heat on my face. On the other hand Mr Bazthornia was almost standing on top of the flames and was grinning like some fire demon. I noted to myself that in Gismead, looks could be very deceiving - somehow a frail old man could turn into some crazy fire demon in a few seconds. Moreover, seemingly beautiful kind maidens like Lavinia could turn out to be real witches.

Fire demon or not, I could tell that he was an expert at his craft. The way his eyes flowed in the blistering heat and the way he maneuvered the mold was so brilliant to watch. It wasn't long before he asked me to me to bring some cold water. Using my water magic I siphoned some water from the fridge and as he instructed, cloaked the molten sword in the water.

Immediately the glowing blade sizzled loudly in protest as the water touched its surface and hot steam bellowed from the blade. So much steam that the room became clouded and I could no longer see Mr Bazthornia.

"It is done." I heard his frail voice from a few meters away.

I jogged over to the windows and opened them so that the steam could get out, and waited there a few moments breathing in the fresh air, while fanning myself with my hands.

Then I turned and gasped at the sight of it. The sword was beautiful. The blade shone like pure light was emanating from it, but also shimmered different blues and purples. It was even more beautiful than Sedgewick's scales.

Mr Bazthornia who had transformed back into a frail old man slowly swung the sword over his head and I could hear it sing as it sliced through the air. He then  slowly took out a piece of leather from his bag and then wrapped it tightly around the hilt, thus he had created a soft leather handle for the sword.

"Here you are Lady Delton." Said the old man as he held out the sword to me. I eagerly took it out of his hands and held it.

It was so light. It literally felt like I was holding a spoon instead of entire sword.

"It so light..." I murmured as held it out in front of me.

"Ahh... yes, Crystalline is like that. A stone harder than iron, yet as light as a feather. If the metal wasn't so rare, I would suggest making all swords out of crystalline..." muse the old man as he admired his work.

"Thank you so much Mr Bazthornia, it's perfect." I told him gratefully.

"No, no, my dear. The pleasure is all mine." Said the old man sweetly as he began to pack up. "I better be on my way then." He placed his on top of his grey head and straightened out his glasses, then gave me a shaky bow before he headed for the door.

"Wait Mr Bazthornia!" I called out. He moved surprisingly quickly for such a frail looking old man, but then again he was part fire demon. I grabbed the box of heart fruit cake that I had asked Augustus to make for me and handed it to Mr Bazthornia.

"This is a thank you for being so kind and helping me."

"How very kind Milady." He said gratefully steadied the box between his arm and his side.

I walked him out and thanked him again for his help. I would definitely employ his help next time.

Third Person

For the rest of the day, Riley sat down in drawing room next to the study and held interviews for the position of the Manager of her Women's Shelter. Agnes was at her side and helping her conduct the interviews. Agnes was quite happy to see so many familiar faces, she recognized many of the men and women from her time at the palace, from the Seasonal Service Brunch (an event where almost all of the servants of noble households get together to share a lunch at the town hall down in the common sect). Agnes wasn't surprised though, she had been very vocal about how kind and generous Lady Riley was, and she had talked about what a pleasure it was to work for her. So it actually made perfect sense that so many would come for the interview.

Mrs Gardinia Ethelwort had been one of the Queens personal maids for two years. Today she had been given the errand of going to purchase some cakes from a particular cake shop on the harbor side.

The shop had looked quite inviting and all the cakes and desserts looked very delectable, so she had spent all of the money that her Queen Mirabelle had sent her with.

She bought: a gocan cake, a box of Gocan cookies, a box with a variety of fruit tarts, cream filled cakes, three tubs of iced cream of different flavors, a loaf of banana bread, a heart fruit cake and a few bottles of cold milk tea.

Mrs Gardinia Ethelwort was very tempted to buy something for herself, however she knew she would be punished if she used the Queen's money to buy herself something, so she just shushed the grumbling of her stomach and loaded all of the goods into the carriage and and set off to the Palace. The turned back to to look at the shop at as the carriage rode away.

"Sophie..." she murmured. "What a strange name..."

Queen Mirabelle was delighted as the plates of desserts were set down before her. For the first time in her Royal life she began to drool, and almost lost herself as she stared at the beautiful desserts in front of her.

The Queen gingerly picked up the smallest of all the desserts: the round flat 'cookies' with Gocan chips in them.

She slowly bit down.

Her face immediately lit up, her eyes widened and a huge smile appeared on her face. He mouth savored the new sensation of crumbly chocolate goodness. The crunchy and sweet texture of the cookie made her heart skip a beat and she squealed happily in delight. It was unbelievably, better than she could ever have imagined and ten times better than anything that she had ever been served by the cake masters in the palace. Before she knew it she had somehow finished the cookie. She was almost frustrated to see that the heavenly confection had disappeared from her hand. She picked up another and ate is even faster. Then another. Then another. Then one more. Just one more...

Then the queen opened her eyes and was horrified to see that she had eaten more than half of the box of cookies that had originally contained twenty cookies. She immediately blushed feeling quite embarrassed. And gingerly brushed the crumbs of her face. Her servants pretended not to have seen the cookie ravaging that their queen had just taken part in.

The queen's throat felt a bit dry so she daintily picked up a glass bottle that read: heart fruit iced milk tea.

Queen Mirabelle slowly brought the pink colored milk to her lips and took a generous sip, already expecting that she would like the taste.

She was right. She immediately blushed at the cool temperature of the drink and sighed happily at its sweet and smooth taste. It tasted like the café had managed to squeeze out the essence of heart fruit and blend it with the cold milk mixture. It was heavenly, pure bliss. The Queen only put down the bottle after having a few more generous gulps.

The queen then slumped back in her chair, feeling completely satiated, yet she still wanted to try the other desserts, but she knew she only had space in her corset for one more.

"Ethelwort." She Called our to her maid.

"Your Majesty?" She repleid.

"Which of these should I try?" Asked the Queen, hoping her maid would give her a good reply.

"The two Ladies working at the shop highly recommend the 'iced cream'." Said Ethelwort as she pointed to one of the tubs of ice cream.

The queen nodded, thereby dismissing the woman from her side. The queen picked up the spoon and dig it into the tub of ice cream and then brought the spoon to her mouth.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she let out a loud moan of pleasure.

"Heaven!" She cried out at the ice cold dessert cleansed her pallet. The luxurious creaminess of the dessert filled her with joy, and suddenly the fullness that her stomach felt disappeared because she suddenly squeezed the tub of ice cream to her chest and began to dig the spoon in again and consume the iced cream.

Her arm was now working automatically to shovel the iced cream in her mouth and the queen just couldn't stop herself. She had lost all control and she simply sat there and ate like a possessed woman, while her servants stood around her unsure if they should stop her or not.

Meanwhile Riley had just finished interviewing the last of the applicants. She had chosen a girl who she was convinced would carry out the job with tenacity and honor, he name was Sybil, she used to work as Lady Lavinia's maid, but then at the Von Esterheim soirée she told the truth about how Lady Lavinia had planned to frame Riley for shooting her in the leg with an arrow, and thus had gained the Prince's ring and was able to leave the Hestia household.

Riley had also hired another, older woman who seemed to be a very nurturing and kind woman, but very organized at the same time, Mrs Magnolium.

Riley also hired a gardener to attend to the garden and three cleaners to help keep the place tidy. The women themselves would have to do their own laundry and make their own beds, the cleaners would just be there to wash dishes and clean out the kitchen and living rooms and make sure the place was polished.

By the time Riley was headed to bed she was pleased that everything was settled. She would be completely free to enjoy Tyrion's birthday party tomorrow and the day after she would have to go and take her Mage exam. She slept soundly that night, pretty exhausted from her days activities.