Kaden entered the shop once belonging to his father and to the ringing of a new, and higher pitched, bell above the door. The out of place tone made him cringe with memories.

There was a line of eager patrons snaking back from the counter. Sahl was attempting to keep up and collect money from customers hungry to make purchases, while others perused the limited wares stacked on shelves around the shop.

It wasn't long before all recognized the demanding presence of the prince's Karo Shar in the doorway.

Kaden was willing to wait, but the customers weren't willing to let him. Many, especially those whose lots in life were lower than most in the Upper Ring, fawned over him.

"Please, please, continue your shopping," Kaden urged, but the presence now gracing them was too much to pass up.

A particularly older woman, hunched and hobbling on a cane, was at the fore of the crowd crushing towards him. She was well past the years most saw and surprisingly moved faster than one might suspect she could have. "Please," she begged, standing before him. "Spare some luck for an old lady? So that I may see another sunrise?"

Kaden flinched, but only internally. Cautiously, he reached up his hand and placed it on the woman's forehead with as much tenderness as his manly physique could muster. "May the luck within me transfer some of itself to you, and your wish be granted."

The woman smiled an old and crooked smile of missing teeth. "Thank you, Demon Heart." And she went on her way.

Kaden cringed upon being called the name. One that had become well associated with him, thanks in no small part to his wife and her agents whispering it while telling the legend of his ascent from son of a traitor to slave to Karo Shar.

Kaden handled each of the rest of those seeking a blessing from him with a foul taste in his mouth. It took longer than he would have liked, but when he finished, the shop was empty and he and Sahl could conduct their business.

"Shelves are looking sparse, my friend."

"Always a good day for business when you show up." Sahl counted his coin, stashing what he wouldn't need for tending to the next rush of customers into a rebuilt secret compartment under the counter. "Hard to keep stock on the shelves once rumors of the Karo Shar possibly stopping by start to spread."

"Please tell me you didn't make money off that?" Kaden approached and leaned heavily on the counter. The wood creaked under his weight.

Sahl chuckled. "I always increase asking price the second you walk through the door. A lot less haggling goes on when people are afraid they won't get a shot at receiving a piece of the Karo Shar's blessed luck. You're pretty much a legend. Even more so after that little stunt you pulled in the Lower Ring."

"Got my ass reamed for that," Kaden lamented. "And you know I don't enjoy being fawned over. And I really don't like giving up what could possibly be my last sliver of luck. I'm going to need it."

"I don't think your luck's ever going to run out. I think you might even be Luck itself."

"Now don't go start spreading that rumor."

Sahl held up a tarnished silver coin. One that one of the previous customers had spent in the shop. "Imagine the money we could make."

"Is that all you think about? Money?"

"I'm this close to buying my freedom." Sahl held up a hand with two fingers and an inch between them. "Damn right that's all I think about."

"And then what?" Kaden asked. "You're gone?"

"Depends. This little setup is pretty profitable. Could just sit here and make my fortune while you slay demons and play lapdog to the princess. Problem is, I suspect at some point the prince will decide to have my head like he did your father's."

"I'd really like you to consider sticking around. Once you have your freedom, I mean." Kaden wasn't begging, but he was as close to doing so as one could get. "You've turned into a fine alchemist."

"I was already a fine alchemist," Sahl scoffed at the suggestion. "But, I'll admit, you've taught me many things. And together, we've figured out many more."

"I hear Hundu is really jealous of you."

"Well, he can be jealous all he wants. He blew his opportunity. If he'd been better at his job, you'd never have been able to pry his position from him in your bargain with the prince."

"You know, as Chief Alchemist, I have the right to name my own successor. As long as I haven't done anything to dishonor myself."

"And have you?" Sahl asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. But I can't pass it on to a slave. So earn your money. Buy your freedom. And you'll be Chief Alchemist. Other than me, you're the only one who knows our secret recipes. And I don't have time to make them."

Sahl put the coin he held into the stash behind the counter. "You trust me? I could poison your essence in a heartbeat if the prince asked me to. Or the princess for that matter."

Kaden grew weary of the dreary banter laced with suppositions and innuendo. "Why are you always so dour?"

"I'm just playing the game, my friend. Just playing the game."

Kaden straightened and folded his arms. "And who's team are you on exactly?"

"Officially?"

"Yeah, let's say 'officially'."

"Why yours, of couse. Unofficially, though? I'm on nobody's team but my own. It's the only way I have a chance of coming out of this alive."

Kaden smiled. "Slaves who are not obedient to their master can be killed, and no one bats an eye."

"Kill me," Sahl said with a smirk of his own, "And you'll never know which vials sitting in the back room are poisoned."

"Are you serious?"

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."

Kaden sighed. "I don't like what this entire scenario has done to either of us, Sahl. It was simpler when we were just slaves together wallowing in the darkness of the catacombs."

"This is all on you, my friend." Kaden's slave turned and headed for the back room. "You're the one who put us in this situation. Come. Your new breastplate is ready."

Kaden was thankful the conversation had ended and followed, skirting around the edge of the counter. Like Kaden's father often had, Sahl produced a key that fit into the new door and lock separating the two parts of the store.

Opening it, Kaden could see things had progressed well in the back room. Together, Kaden and Sahl had constructed a magnificent distillery. One even grander than his father had once run in this very same spot. There were more stills and more lines of color flowing, and flowing faster than anything his father had attained.

But, even so, Kaden knew that without his father or the knowledge he'd passed on to his son before his untimely execution, none of this would ever have been possible. Although Kaden had had to learn much on his own.

Kaden quickly noticed something new had been added since the last time he visited. "Is that a second extractor for Love?" The pink liquid flowing away from the beaker over its flame told Kaden it was. But, what was in the source beaker was the boiling orange of Fear.

"Yes," Sahl affirmed. "I found a way to extract Love from Fear not long ago. Purely by accident, I assure you. But a welcome accident, none-the-less."

"Impressive." Kaden stopped and examined the unconventional still closely. There were actually two flames on it instead of just one. The first was underneath, which was typical. But the second burned along the side of the neck. There was also something powdery and dark in the bottom. But there was no doubt the result was, indeed, a conversion to Love.

"A catalyst?" Kaden asked.

"Yep."

"You found one that finally worked?"

"Yep."

"What's the loss rate on the conversion?" Kaden's questions kept coming.

"Ah, you only get about one percent. But with our excess of Fear, its turning what would be wasted essence into a profitable side hustle."

"Well, good thing I got those Fear stills running more efficiently than anyone ever has."

"Oh, so you're going to try and take credit for this discovery?" Sahl's voice was deeply insulted as he stared down his master.

Shrugging, Kaden stated things as he saw it. "Well, if I hadn't done those things, there wouldn't have been an excess for you to meddle with. Problem is, other than the Prince and the Army, there really isn't much demand for Fear. So I'm proud of you for finding a way to make it into a profit. In fact, to show my gratitude, everything you make off of selling what comes off this still, is yours."

Sahl was stunned momentarily into silence before replying. "Well, thank you. I didn't expect that."

"Is that why you didn't tell me before now?"

"No." Sahl held his hands up defensively. "It just never came up until now. And, honestly, I just got the still fine tuned yesterday."

"Well, just don't let it happen again," Kaden winked with a little bit of a tease. "Now, you said you have the new breastplate."

Sahl nodded fiercely. "Yes, of course. Right here." Then he walked his master over to the corner and a stand specifically built to hold the armor. It was the only spot available to store it.

The virgin metal gleamed in the light of the fires running the stills. The armor sat there, begging to be adorned and scarred by the fury of battle. And the Karo Shar wanted to put the breastplate on and give it what it wanted.

The very realization of that thought scared Kaden.

Two years ago, the thought of donning armor, picking up a weapon, and forging into battle would never have even crossed Kaden's mind. But now, finding something to kill to satisfy urges boiling inside him was on his mind far too often.

"It's a beautiful work of art," Kaden complimented it. "Particularly this."

Nestled in the breastplate, was a only slightly raised notch that could be loaded with a tube of concentrated essence from the outside. And he could easily press and inject whatever its contents were into himself.

Without removing the armor, Kaden looked around the backside and at the marvelous network of tubing that would transport the essence from there to his heart. It wasn't soldered in, but forged directly from the metal of the armor itself.

The cost of such a piece was not insignificant. However, Kaden's profits from the shop these past two years had more than covered the expense. He could have purchased five more, had he been so inclined. And still had money to spare.

"Why haven't you tried it on yet," Sahl griped as he witnessed his friend stalling at putting on the armor.

"I'm worried the prince will take offense to me not wearing the armor he gifted me. I'm going to have to have a talk with him. Tell him a little more about what it is I've got going on here." Kaden motioned to his chest.

"I thought you'd already told him?"

"I told him about some things," Kaden said, taking off his current armor. He carefully slid the piping out of the moleskin wedge in his chest. "But not everything."

The Karo Shar retrieved the new armor. The weight felt the same, as did the balance. The prince's armorers had done just as good a job on this piece as they had on his original.

"Well, that's your funeral then," Sahl warned. "Although I'd prefer you'd wait to tell him your secrets you've been keeping until after I've obtained my freedom."

Kaden slid into the new breastplate, seating the pipe into his chest. The buckles fastened, he felt how comfortable it was. "I'll make certain he doesn't hold you accountable for my indiscretions."

"You know it doesn't work that way." Sahl half smiled. "What will save me is that I'm a damn fine alchemist, and I've never given the prince a reason to doubt my loyalty."

"Always assume the prince has something on you, Sahl. Even when he doesn't."

"I do," Sahl said. "Believe me, I do."