Nessie approaches the Balada Tree whose roots span beyond time and trunk has split the sky since the dawn of record. Atop the Tree few have been, but it is said to have granted desires. Of course, Nessie does not believe in this myth; in fact, not many do. Such silly tales were only believed in the distant past, now the Tree is mostly hollowed and the dwarves have taken up residence within its trunk. No, what the tokki dwarf is here for is not some grand pilgrimage but rather an errand given to her by her father to acquire a gem. She makes a final check of her person, from the tip of her soft rabbit ears down to her hoppy feet. She ensures that everything, especially her pouch of coins, is in order. Adjusting her robe, she sets her beady eyes on an available outer lift but is stopped by an old friend. “Is that Nessie!” a yeou dwarf calls out. She swerves around to see a foxy figure and responds, “Ji-ji, annyeong! Oh the Arc, where have you been?” “Ayy, ya know me, always another adventure. Still working under your dad?” Min-ji replies. “Unnh! Actually, I’m heading to the market for a forge, I need a major catalyst. Appa says I’m ready to finally work solo!” “Wahaha, ya sure those tiny hands can handle it? I happen to recall the last co-op forge of yours not going too well.” “Hmph, says the ‘adventurer’ with a big blindspot,” she says and flicks his snout from beneath. “I’m telling appa to charge you extra next time!” “Hey, hey, I’m kiddin’!” he says, rubbing his nose. “Nuh uh, too late, that’s going in the Book!” “O-of Umbrage? Wait, hold on,” Min-ji says while searching his holding bag. “Here, take this: my apology.” In his fuzzy hands is– “A HARPY EGG?” Nessie exclaims as she grabs the egg, tied in a net, with no hesitation. “How’d you get this?” “Impressive ain’t it? Can’t say the deets, but my latest venture took me to a harpy town up Mt. Xing. Quite the adventurer, aren’t I?” “Yeah yeah, can I really have it just like that?” she asks, never breaking gaze with the egg, absorbed in its roundness. “Of cour–” “No take backs!” she says, tying it along her belt and Min-ji chuckles. Min-ji mentions he plans on sticking around for a while and says his goodbyes. He then scurries off avoiding any of the preset paths before Balada City. Pleased, Nessie continues her errand. From her other pouch, she produces a round opal. Nessie inserts the semi-precious gem, a minor catalyst, into a slot on the lift, powering it with magickal energy. After a couple presses, she begins to ascend the Tree and waves at residents on the exterior houses along the way.
•
On the 49th cylinder, she exits the lift and ejects the opal from the slot. There, she sees many other races of dwarves. This was always Nessie’s favorite part of visiting Balada; although, she rarely saw another tokki like herself. Standing in the entrance bay, she confirms her destination. Suddenly, she yelps as an elf shoulders into her, causing her to drop her map. The elf hastily apologizes and flies away as Nessie waves them off. Sheesh, must be nice to fly, she thinks. Nessie feared flying and never learned any sort of flight magick. In fact, it was an oddity for a dwarf to take the lift up as most simply flew in. So, flightless, she treads through the market. The 49th cylinder hollows a 20-foot tall section of the Tree. The many stalls on this floor create a complex maze that Nessie travels through while avoiding the many patrons passing by. The Balada general market was busy all year round and shops were open 32 hours, 8 days a week. Along with the dwarves, Nessie sees a variety of humans, elves, merfolk, and harpies. H-harpies? Don’t see much of them around, she thinks as she hides the harpy egg behind her back. In that moment, the winged man’s eyes catch hers and in a panic, she quickly hops off to her destination. Around a corner she sees it. The shops of the market rotate regularly but this one, the Bose Pit, has remained for as long as she could remember. It was run by Ko, her father’s trusted lapidary. Breathing in, she enters the shop. “Annyeong-haseyo,” Nessie cautiously greets. “Bah! Wee girl, why ye here. Where’s ye father, back fin’ gave out?” Ko, an ingan dwarf, asks. “Nooo, I’m here on my first independent forge!” “That so? Ye want a bit a quart?” Ko bursts from his chair with a guttural laugh, knocking over some lesser precious gems from the top of his display. Nessie pouts, taking offense. “Haheheh, well? What’ll it be, speak up now.” “I want a padparadscha sapphire!” To this, Ko exaggerates further by falling over. Nessie continues, “And I’M paying for this forge!” “YOU? What a waste! Ye father’s a great smith he is but ye?” Bursting once more, Ko manages to catch himself as passersby start peeking in. Nessie starts shaking with fur standing on end and her face burns as hot as coals. “Aye, aye. Well ‘en, where’s ye load, eh?” As Ko fixes his hair and begins to collect the fallen gems with his pasty fingers, Nessie fumbles for her pouch and her heart plummets. After a moment, Ko speaks up, “Ayy? No coin?” “I… uh…” she manages, close to tears. “Ack, pipe down. Listen, am sorri. Shouldn’ta heckled too hard, but I can’t help ye much with no coin to o’fer.” Ko looks at one of the fallen gems, a ruby, “‘Ere, ‘ave this. Least I can do for ye father. Ain’t a lot but it should be plenty.” Nessie slumps over, taking the gem and turning without a sound. Ko notices the harpy egg strapped to her belt. “Hold on, lass, where’d ye get the egg?” Shaking his head he says, “Nay, don’t matter. Say, take that egg to Balada’s crown where the goods are stored Ye’ll find a tokki like yerself; o’fer that egg there for a padpah.” Nessie’s dubious glare invokes a meep from Ko who consolidates, “I said am sorri, trust me. And keep the rubee!” A ruby, she thinks to herself with her back against a wall outside of the Bose Pit. After all these months of saving, all those stupid side-jobs I took, and all the bok choy deals I had to skip, all I have to show for it is a RUBY? If I wanted a ruby, I would’ve stayed home and taken the gem dad offered. She would not settle for a ruby, not after her many previous failures with co-op forges. Feeling there to be no other option, Nessie decides to listen to Ko’s advice. A ruby may be plenty, but she wanted more than plenty. Any weapon forged with a padparadscha sapphire would be a guaranteed high-quality item that could cast and conduct magick with high fidelity. Now revitalized, Nessie went back to the bay, clutching her harpy egg firmly. I’ll show them, no one will doubt me after this forge!
•
Once again, Nessie inserts the opal into the slot to go up, but nothing happens. In her mind she curses, sibal gaesegi! Didn’t I charge it last night? The minor catalyst, meant to store magickal energy, was depleted and Nessie, deflated, steps off the lift to use her life essence to charge the opal. At that moment, she sees a familiar face. “THIEF!” Nessie exclaims. “H-huh, me?” the elf questions. “Oh, I-I recognize you.” “Yeah me, the dwarf you crashed into!” “Right, right. Again, sorry about that. I was in a hurry and there was this deal I just could not miss. I didn’t steal any coin, swears!” “No, don’t lie to– wait. How’d you know I lost my coins?” “Ah. You see… well this is a market and I mean uh what else would be stolen…?” With her dubious look, Nessie grabs the ruby from her pouch, readying a cast but the elf flies out of the Tree before she can think of any spell to perform. “HEY! W-wait!” She chases after but stops at the edge of the bay. With little hesitation, she backs up and, in a flash, sprints towards the open air and springs forward with such ferocity that the wood chips beneath her and the robe from her body is lost. Though closing a great distance between her and the elf, without flight she would soon be with the ground once more. Within a second of seeing her hopes fly away further, she imbues her essence in the ruby, still tight in her hands, and the major catalyst conducts her magick to cast a flying spell, rudimentary at best, but enough. With the push, Nessie ever so slightly grabs the elf who, startled, begins to spiral but she does not let go; instead, she clenches harder, to her mistake. Having not practiced flying magick, she also loses control causing the two to slam into the side of the Balada Tree with Nessie taking the brunt of the impact which empties her lungs. She gasps for air and releases the elf. Taking the opportunity, the elf speeds off shouting, “I’m sorry about your coins!” Catching her breath, she’s able to stabilize mid-air as a couple of guards approach her. They ask her a few quick questions, but she struggles to focus; how could she? During the interrogation, she felt the slimy yolk run down the side of her leg. Her hopes cracked.
•
Nessie, with a charged opal, rides a lift to the top of Balada. She does not know what to expect, if anything at all. What could she do without the egg? Would the tokki dwarf even be there? She slumps over, sitting with her head down. She notices the ruby, peeking out from her pouch. Plenty, huh? she thinks. The words of her father ring in her mind, “a good forge can make even a poor gem seem extraordinary; it draws the full potential of the gem” She clutches the ruby as she reaches the apex cylinder, cylinder 109. Nessie takes a deep breath. Realizing she had what she desired after all, she presses the button to take her down… but again nothing happens. Nessie groans, really, again? She tosses the opal off the tree in frustration. Ugh, I’ll just power the lift directly, she thinks while placing her hands over the slot. Focusing, her essence pours into the lift to power it. This more direct method without a catalyst depletes essence quicker but, desperate to get back home, Nessie does not care. The ride back down is quiet. As she arrives at the bottom, Nessie bangs on the lift slot which produces a sound more hollow than she expected. Puzzled, she fiddles with the slot and discovers a false cover. Beneath, she sees the regular lift mechanisms and a round garnet connected to it. She loudly groans and throws her head back having found what was draining her opal so quickly and curses once more.
•
Nessie makes her way to her father’s smith, the Iron Foot, tired but determined. It resides in a quaint little Tokki dwarf settlement near Balada. In the center of the town, a sly voice calls out once again, “Nessie!” “Ji-ji?” she asks. “What’re you doing here?” “Said I’d be in the area, right? Uhhh, you look… rough. How’d the expedition go?” “TERRIBLE!” Nessie replies and stomps her feet. “AWFUL…” “O-oh! What ever happened?” “Some gaesaekki stole my coin pouch!” “That’s- that’s awful! Hey, at least you got a harpy egg for your troubles, right?” “Not even! The egg broke when I tried to catch the thief!” “I’m so sorry that happened– wait, you saw the thief?” “Yeah, some elf bumped into me and stole the pouch!” “Ahhh! Hahah well, that sucks; anyways, I got places to be. Say thanks to your father again for me, I bought this fancy new spell-rapier,” he says, showing a rapier with a diamond pommel. “Wow, I didn’t think anyone would buy that. How–” before she finishes her thought, Min-ji scampers off. Nessie is taken aback but, satisfied with venting what frustrations she could, shrugs it off and makes her way towards the Iron Foot. “Appa! I’m home,” Nessie shouts. A thud can be heard in the empty lobby of the smithy followed by the clanging sounds of metal falling over. Nessie walks over to the workshop and carefully hops over bits of sharp scraps and large heaps of weaponry. From the corner of the room, a burly tokki dwarf, Rhaka, pops out and lifts a pair of goggles from his face. “Ne-Ne, you’re back!” He dusts himself off before moving closer. “Hmm, you look different. Did you grow taller?” “Ugh, appa.” Laughing, he asks, “Okay okay, but really what happened? Did you get the gem you wanted?” “No! I—” Nessie pauses to temper herself. “I- yeah I did,” she manages and pulls out the ruby she got from Ko. Rhaka gently takes the ruby and asks, “What about the padparadscha?” He examines the ruby carefully and, sees nothing special about it but looking back towards Nessie who has a face of conviction, he understands. “Did you spend all your money on bok choy again?” “Appaaaa!” He laughs heartily once more and continues, “Well Ne-Ne, why don’t you show me how you make use of this ruby huh? Go on, complete your forge.” Nessie begins to head to her area of the workshop, but Rhaka grabs her and says, “And listen, I know you want your first independent forge to go well but you’ll have as many tries as you want. I’ll always be here if you need, okay?” Nessie smiles and nods in confirmation before she turns back.
•
Nessie wakes up after working nearly all 16 hours of the night. She finds a blanket placed on her and a warm bowl of vegetable stew on the desk next to her. Huh… I don’t remember sleeping, she thinks as she sips some of the stew. She picks up her freshly completed forge, a tasi-steel trident. Its teal sheen apricates in the dawn’s light. The bright ruby at the pommel of the trident leaves plenty of room for the magickal circuits etched within the shaft to conduct essence into it. She runs her fingers along the metal, feeling the conduits resonate with her. She smiles; got it just about right. Yeah, this should do. My essence percolates smoothly. She jumps up from her seat to rush and show it off to her father. Bouncing into the lobby, she hears a shrill feminine voice ask, “Is my commission ready yet?” “Miss, I’ve told you it’d be—” Rhaka turns his head to Nessie, cutting himself short. “AH! Excellent, my trident,” the young merfolk girl says, seeing the trident in Nessie’s hands. She quickly snatches it from her hands. Rhaka reaches out to the girl and says, “I’m sorry miss, but that’s not—” “Oh hush, give me space to examine the item.” “But you see there’s been a mis—” “Shhhh!” In one hand, the girl pushes her blue scaly finger on her lips and in the other she points the trident towards Rhaka. “Ohoho, lightweight.” Nessie whispers to her father, “Hey, appa, who’s this?” “A sea princess that ordered a custom trident a few days ago; Abigail’s her name. Spoiled brat she is,” Rhaka says plainly. “I heard that! And I told you to call me Abby.” “Huh? What’s a princess doing here?!” Nessie exclaims, mouth agape, to which Rhaka shrugs. After seeing Abby perform several weapon twirls and strike a few funny poses, Nessie asks, “Are you sure she’s a princess? And what’s with that water bowl on her head… I thought triton could breathe on land.” “Oh Ne-Ne, I wouldn’t believe it either but the other day her retainers came in after she left to inspect the smithy. I think she’s just playing hero.” Abby’s yellow fish eyes glint and she smiles. “I’m quite keen on it buuut… HMPH,” she exhales as she attempts to cast a piercing water spell along with a thrust of the trident. In that moment, her life essence is conducted through the magickal circuits of the trident and imbues the ruby catalyst. It glows a shimmering crimson before overloading and exploding into a fine mist, nullifying the spell. “A ruby simply will not do!” “I knew it!” Nessie cries. “Oh? Young rabbit, you made this?” Abby asks, to which Nessie simply nods with her head down. “You try to cheat me?” Rhaka takes some steps forward and opens his mouth, but Abby interrupts, “Of the weapon’s build I cannot complain. It conducts essence so finely, but the commission far beyond covers the cost of a higher quality gem, does it not?” Rhaka rapidly blinks, each laden with surprise, “A-ah, of course! You didn’t let me finish now did you? As I was saying, there’s been a misunderstanding. You see, the ruby’s a placeholder gem. My daughter here had to test the quality of the trident before using a higher quality stone, right Ne-Ne?” “Huh? Oh, right!” “Here, one sec,” Rhaka says as he scurries into the workshop. In just a few seconds, he returns with a large pouch full of coins. “Why don’t you pick up the padparadscha from Ko up now eh?” “Well then,” Abby says, “I shall wait around this little town for your return. I am sorry for making such accusations, hm. Ne-Ne was it?” “Nessie, but no, no it’s alright… Abby? I’m just glad you really like the trident… you do like it, right?” “Of course, I don’t lie. I see a good potential in you Nessie. I look forward to working with the Iron Foot in the future.”