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((Julius and Talonfaust only.))

The shop was quiet this morning, and it was a good thing, for Julius did not think he could take more than three feien in his company at a time. Three pushed the limits of his control, and had he come and found more than that number, he would have turned back immediately.

So quiet was good, even if it was not good for his purposes.

Three days now his dreams had been restless. Twice he woke in a cold sweat, once he nearly screamed. There were voices, shapes, faces, and the sensation of glass cracking, himself being dashed and thrown and torn to pieces --

But from behind the shield of his blindfold and invisibility, none of his agony showed. He was calm, controlled, steely even, and could delay no longer. He had to find out the meaning of his dreams. So he focused on the one face he could remember: Irisa. He had come to the shop now to find her. Emperial kept records of residences here.

Unfortunately, the shop was a place Julius preferred to avoid, and he did not know where such records were kept, or even how to decipher any address he might discover. He was confident that a clue would present itself. One always did.

Julius touched down behind Talonfaust on the counter (a respectful and cautious distance away), secretly relieved, and dropped his invisibility. "Good day," he said plainly, steepling his fingers.

If Julius were in the habit of smiling, he surely would have, for this was exactly what he had been looking for. Instead he merely inclined his head the tiniest bit. "Perhaps you may. I was in search of another."

"I am looking for Irisa," said Julius, in a manner that suggested he fully expected Talonfaust to be able to procure her up in the next thirty seconds.

"Her place of residence should suffice. If you have not seen her, it was only because I had sent her on an errand, but one I would have expected to be completed by now," said Julius. Was that a tinge of concern or regret in his voice? Perhaps, but the coldness that followed wiped all presence of sentiment away: "I think perhaps she might have failed in the task."

"She retrieved the tablets?" said Julius, honestly surprised but hiding it well. The cogs in his mind began to turn. This made no sense. In his dreams he had seen her, and the broken tablets, and been dashed to pieces himself. He had assumed that this meant she had failed, for the Artificer tablets could not be broken. Their enchantments prevented that. Had she instead stolen them when they could be of no use to her?

Julius frowned thoughtfully. "I would ask that you first recount to me the happenings in Rome."

Julius gave a sudden hiss, inhaling sharply. "A cube? What sort of a cube?" His fingers tensed, and suddenly his demeanor seemed very angry.

Julius thought over the list again. This... cube... a pair of gloves... goggles? The frown on his face deepened with each passing moment. This did not sound right. The exact identities of the Artificer items were not directly known to him, but his gut was telling him something was wrong. And then there were the dreams to consider.

They sounded like plausible artificer items, and the fact that they had led to the discovery of the tablets confirmed that, but at the same time the items sounded so unlike what the former headmaster of the school had told the Council to look for. "And you found these items in the Vatican archives?" asked Julius.