Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 36

Damien

Angelica skipped pulling Damien along behind him. He couldn't help but laugh as they arrived at the stalls that sold the jewelry and Angelica pulled him harder as she started looking at all of the shiny bits and bobbles. She jerked him a few times as she skimmed her eyes over everything before she stopped her eyes going down to the hair combs. Damien looked down at all of the items, unsure as to where he should even start. There were so many items, it was as if they were blending together into a sea of silver, gold, and copper.

"This!" Angelica said holding up a silver hair comb that had several roses made from metal and bent into place. They were dusted with reds, gold, copper, with a hint of green for the stem. It looked as if the artist had taken the trees when the leaves are changing and molded them into several roses. He couldn't help but be taken aback by the craftsmen ship, it was a gorgeous piece. There was a whistle and he turned to see Nathan standing behind him nodding.

"Your right Angelica," He said looking at the comb with intent, "It'll match a good chunk of her dresses so there will be more chances to wear it." He paused and Damien knew that they were talking, or more Nathan was translating for Angelica. "Well yeah," He paused and held his hand out to which Damien placed the comb into. "The teeth are strong, and wont bent," He flipped it over examining the connections of the roses to the body. Damien couldn't help but smile watching his scouts in their own element.

"Well," He looked at Angelica, "You're right it's not just silver, it's plated, but," He brought the comb to his nose and sniffed, "Its iron, but with it being plated silver it shouldn't irritate the queens scalp. Plus, doing it this way makes it so that the comb will be more durable and less likely to bend or break." He handed the comb back to Damien, "Plus, if there are any issues, I know mom is always willing to fix things for queen Elizabeth." Angelica grinned and nodded several times before she turned her attention back to Damien, her smile only growing wider, eyes glinting.

"You really know your metals," Dashiner spoke from behind them and they all turned to see him and Sigma standing there listening to their conversation. Damien smiled at the scouts.

"Nathan is from a family of smiths, his dad runs a forge in Dunhule, and his mom makes some of the best jewelry in town. My mother owns many of her pieces and Nathan's mom does special orders for her." Damien spoke quickly as he fished the coin from his pocket, handing the lady several more pieces than was requested, followed by the comb so that she could wrap it. The lady selling this piece was asking several coins cheaper than it should be sold for this level of craftsmanship and as much as he loved a good deal, he also made a point to pay for an item worth.

"Yeah but how can he tell what type of metal it is just by sniffing it?" Dashiner's brow was raised.

"When your around metals as much as I have been, you also know the taste." Nathan looked at Angelica who laughed softly.

"I only did that once," She said softly looking slightly indignant.

"Only did what once?" Sigma asked looking between the two, there was a beat before Angelica blushed.

"Angelica decided that she wanted to know what the metals tasted like when she was smaller, she thought it would help her understand the it more. Though instead of simply putting it into her mouth and tasting it, she swallowed several pieces." Damien spoke as he straightened from grabbing the bag from the lady giving her the extra coin back and shaking his head. To which the lady took the coin looking slightly confused. "The healers weren't happy with her to say the least," Damien muttered as he side glanced Angelica who blushed a deep shade.

"In truth, she wasn't completely wrong," Nathan said looking at Damien with a small scowl, "After that she was able to understand iron, copper, and silver more. Their melting points, the best time to manipulate it, and even at which point the metal needs to do doused."