Matthew asked Erin to come with him to help out picking out a ring for Faralynn. Erin took him to the same store they went to all that time ago when he bought the necklace that Ffyr inhabited when she was resting.

"It’s still the best store." She smiled at him.

Matthew’s eyes were focused on the display where hundreds of rings rested against velvet supports.

"You’re really asking her in marriage?" Erin examined his face.

"I don’t know. But, after all that happened, I thought I should be ready." Matthew explained himself. "I still haven’t talked about these things with her."

"Don’t feel pressured to make a decision too fast just because Farzan gave you that armor." Erin gave her opinion. "I believe he was half joking."

"I know. Lynn even chuckled a bit when she told me. But I feel she was happy about the thought."

"And when is she and Mia coming back?" Erin changed the subject.

"About a week." Matthew said. He was in touch with her with the help of elven Somniomcancers.

"Are you going to surprise her with the ring then?" Erin teased.

"No." Matthew smiled. "I need to talk about it first with her. But perhaps we should get engaged." He added, surprising Erin.

"Wow." She exclaimed.

"And what about you? I remember you were engaged." Matthew asked.

"Yeah. My family picked a nice guy. Handsome man named Curtis O’Higgins." Erin said with her eyes fixed on a beautiful gold necklace.

"Do you like him?" Matthew was worried.

"Like? I don’t know. I kinda do? We haven’t spent much time together. He’s on Mars coordinating one of my family mines there. But whenever we talk, he’s very sweet." Erin smiled. "He writes to me every week."

"Hope you two get along." Matthew said and pointed to a ring. "Is that silver?"

"That’s mithril." Erin said, looking at the jewel. "And thank you."

"Mithril is a very good alloy, sir." The store clerk who was patiently hovering over them said. "It’s as light as aluminium, but more resistant than diamond. It’s impossible to scratch it normally."

Matthew looked at the ring closely. Mithril was an alloy made from aluminum and orichalcum which wasn’t naturally present on Earth. Neither was orichalum, that came from other planets and planes of existence. But with human technology, it became easy to make mithril as long as one had orichalcum. It was still very expensive, because orichalcum was a very rare metal.

Orichalcum was a very hard and very heavy metal, sometimes called adamantine or adamantium, which was virtually impossible to bend or melt. Its melting point was twice as high as tungsten, needing temperatures as high as the surface of the sun to simply melt. Reaching such temperatures was a thing of myth for most planets and casting orichalcum was a thing reserved to gods and smiths of legends. But Earth found ways not only to reach such temperatures, but also to create an industry out of it.

When melted, adding aluminum to orichalcum created the alloy mithril. It was a very complex process, since aluminum turned to gas at such temperatures. It was needed to add aluminum into the melted orichalcum and trap it inside while the two metals bonded creating mithril.

Mithril’s melting point was a bit lower than tungsten, but it was almost as hard as orichalcum while being as light as aluminum. It was also the best material in the universe in capacity to hold mana inside without collapsing.

"You’re buying an engagement ring, Matt, not a weapon." Erin admonished him, understanding what he was thinking. "You don’t need the best ring, you need the ring that matches Lynn’s tastes."

Matthew chuckled. Was it that obvious what he was thinking?

"She likes silvery jewelry." He said.

"You don’t need to pick mithril for that. Silver or white gold are just as good." Erin pointed out.

"Do you have something with a purple or green stone?" Matthew asked the clerk.

"In silver?" The clerk pondered. "Hold a minute." She added while walking around the store with a black tray in her hands.

She came back and displayed 6 rings, all with silver looks and holding jade and amethyst stones. The clerk explained all of them, their composition and prices, with a courteous smile on her face. She tried really hard to push a mithril one onto him, the more expensive, of course.

Matthew watched the rings in front of him in silence in contemplation.

"I’d pick this one." Sarah said, surprising him who didn’t notice her entering the store with Ffyr behind her, both carrying bags with clothes they bought.

"That one is too big." Ffyr protested. "Lynn has thin fingers." The fairy explained.

"We can adjust the size however you wish." The clerk informed them.

Matthew smiled and picked another ring to examine it closely.

It was made of white gold, a silvery metal with a yellowish glint. It was thin and delicate with floral patterns in its design. There was a beautiful amethyst stone being held by a fox head.

"That one is a bit corny." Sarah scoffed.

"I think it’s cool." Ffyr said.

"Why this one?" Erin asked.

"The stone is the same color as her eyes. And she likes cute things." Matthew smiled, looking at the ring.

"Are you happy with it?" Erin asked.

"Yeah. This one is perfect." Matthew smiled.

"It has a Vitality Boost enchantment on it." The clerk said while carefully packing the ring inside a case with green velvet, as per Matthew’s request.

"That’s perfect." Matthew said, taking out his credit card.

After that, they all went to the food court to eat something. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

While Ffyr ran around trying to pick what she wanted to eat, Sarah ran after her and Matthew and Erin sat down waiting for their burgers to be ready.

"I remember the last time we came here." Erin giggled.

"Me too." Matthew smiled at her.

"I hope I didn’t mess up with your head." She chuckled.

"You really did. Not that my head was normal back then. But you really made things hard. Sarah scolded me so much." Matthew laughed.

"But you really helped me, you know?" Erin said, taking her phone and showing him a picture with her and a red haired man by her side.

"Is this your fiancé?"He asked, examining the man who looked a bit older than her.

"Yes, that’s Curtis." She smiled. "Thanks to you I realized I really didn’t mind marrying someone I barely knew."

"Ouch." Matthew joked. "Was our date so bad?" He asked.

"No!" She laughed. "It was great. But it helped me process my feelings. And actually happy about this." Erin pointed at her phone.

"I’m glad." Matthew smiled.

When their burgers came, Ffyr got back to them drinking a milkshake.

"You should really eat healthier." Sarah admonished the fairy, walking towards their table with a tray carrying a simple salad and a juice.

"Ffyr doesn’t actually need to eat." Matthew noted. "She just does because she likes the taste."

"Really?" Sarah was surprised.

"I won’t get fat either." Ffyr gloated.

"As if any of us would get fat in our line of work." Erin commented.

"Even so. It’s important to watch our diet. Not all of us can survive on mana alone." Sarah said side eyeing Ffyr who just showed her her tongue.

"I’m just glad I’m not eating black hares anymore." Matthew said, savoring his food and making the table go silent.

He looked at the girls who looked at him with pitiful eyes.

"It’s alright. I’m back now. It’s ok to joke about it." He gave them a nervous laugh.

"Jerk." Sarah said with a smile.

"Sorry. It’s just... It’s hard to look past everything." Erin said, taking a bite of her burger.

At this moment, Matthew’s phone rang. It was Paula.

"Hello." He answered.

"Matt! Hi." Paula’s voice was breathy.

"Hey... Is everything alright?" Matthew asked, a bit worried about her voice.

"No. I mean, yes. It’s hard to explain. It’s Tylith. She’s weird." Paula said in a fast pace.

"What happened?" Matthew asked.

"We were in a dungeon just now and she suddenly freaked out. She started to say something about someone named Vine? And then she ran away. Michael ran after her, but I lost them." She explained.

"Where are you?" Matthew asked.

"We were in Dagda’s Loch and she suddenly freaked out." Paula said.

"I don’t know where that is."

"It’s in Abule." She spoke of a small town north of their own, about 120 miles (200km).

"Okay. Send me your location. I’ll go as fast as I can." Matthew said and hung up.

He then explained the situation to the others.

"I’ll take Sarah home, then." Erin offered. "You should hurry."

Matthew and Ffyr got in his car and he drove north at full speed, using the map on his phone to find his way.

"What do you think scared her?" Ffyr asked.

"I don’t know. Let’s hope she just got scared." Matthew said ominously.