“Ah! Dawn, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. “War Sentinel Dawn, pleased to meet you.” Sure, it was teeny-tiny, but I was pretty sure it had a good predatory grin. I grinned at him, channeling my inner shark. “He is currently in a private room, and has asked not to be disturbed.” “Hi! Yeah, is War Sentinel Tyrannus here?” Sharing the glory of Auri’s baking would make it all worth it. It obviously had someone else’s food in it, and it was probably a little insulting to walk in here with it. “May I be of assistance?” He asked, giving my bag a dirty look. I waved one down, noting that I seemed to be a little underdressed for the place. I realized as I entered that I had no idea where in here we were meeting.

An inky black sky, scattered with stars, with various planets and suns slowly drifting through the vast cosmos. I went inside, discovering that the entire ceiling was an illusion. They were leaning hard into the Celestial theme, pillars of stars on the marble columns, the moons and sun over the entry arch. The Celestial Supper was just around the corner, and the place was fancy. “BRRRRRRRPT!” A fireball chased me out, and I legged it. “Yes, of course I’ll tell everyone where I got it from… if it’s good!” I teased Auri with one last parting shot before I left her store. “I knew Amber was a bad influence on you!” I shook my fist at Auri as she neatly packed everything up for me with a legion of hands. I sighed, fishing the coins out of my pouch, and handing them over. One of Auri’s poked me in the chest, and made the ‘pay up’ motion. Tasty food was here, for sale, and Auri had a business. The sheer speed boggled the mind, and I put it out of my head. How the fuck she’d gotten a spot, supplies, a kitchen, and the required logistics chains in a few days, even with Night pulling some strings was astonishing.Įspecially the location! There had to have been a working store here just a few days ago, what happened to it?!

The kitchen roared in the back, Auri effortlessly keeping a dozen different confections in various stages of cooking at once. Burning flames were above each one, giving a price. Rows upon rows of fairly basic goods lined her shelves, but to be fair, she’d just opened up for the first time. “Auri, can I get a dozen cookies, a loaf of your tastiest bread, and a stick of butter?” I think I was Auri’s first customer in her new bakery. However, I still had a job to do, and the meeting with the rest of the War Sentinels was just around the corner. Nina coming into our lives was interesting, and promised to keep us all busy for the foreseeable future.

Macro cosmos honest