Andromeda was out in the yard, sitting on a chair, keeping herself as calm as possible. She listened to the small sensations of the world around her to ground herself: the birds in their nests, the squirrels rustling on the ground, the sunlight on her cheek, and the cool breeze in her hair. She drew on the serenity she had come to associate with her abilities. The world grew quiet, and she felt her body enveloped by the otherworldly feeling – the Serenity of a White Mage.

Eli and Alice had been busy with their various duties, as well as their new friends, so she had a lot of extra time. Not wanting to get a herniated disk from slouching in an office chair for days on end, she started practicing using her serene state more often. She could enter into various states of it, from just barely passing the threshold to going all out, like what had put her on her ass before.

The goal now was to focus and hone that state. She wanted to be able to enter the lower sides at will and endure the higher sides in a pinch. The best way, she thought, to do that was to exercise the only abilities she had that didn't involve being hurt. To an outside observer, Andromeda's body would seem to disappear, only to reappear moments later, and then disappear once more.

What she was doing was trying to use vanishing abilities at once. One of them made her vanish in the senses of others, while the other ability made mana flows pass right through her, blocking her from the view of anyone who used magic to sense her. Both had their uses in stealth, but it seemed like they absolutely *did not* want to work together at the same time.

From the other side of the side yard, peeking around from the front of the building, Chi and Garret were watching Andromeda sit quietly by herself. Every once in a while, her body would flutter in the sunlight, shimmering like a barely held-together shadow. They could still mostly see her, but getting anything more than a vague outline was hard.

"Don't be afraid to talk to her, Garret," Chi said. It was easier said than done, even ignoring the fact that she was flickering in and out of perception.

"I don't want to risk saying something out of turn," he said.

Chi gave him a death glare. "Garret, I'm tired of you tiptoeing around her and jumping at your shadow. If you don't get over there right now, I'm going to—" She said, but Garret threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine," he said, and after he awkwardly stood there just long enough to be uncomfortable, Chi pointed toward Andromeda again, and he walked over.

As he approached, he saw Andromeda's form shimmer more intensely. For fractions of a second, it looked like she would stand up, turn around, or move in some way, only for that movement to dissolve into shadow and reveal she didn't move at all.

Garret stood there for a moment, hoping in vain that she would notice him. After some time, he heard Chi loudly cough in the distance, prepared to speak.

"Arch Mage White?" he said. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at him. For only an instant, he felt a strange and alien emotion strike him with the force of a hammer, only for her eyes to soften, the glow around her to fade, and the shimmering to stop.

"I already told you to call me 'Andromeda,' Garret. What's up?" she said. He was going to argue, but the piercing gaze laid on him made his words catch in his throat. He elected to just speak frankly.

"I'll do my best… Anyway, I needed to speak with you. I received a report from the capital that there was a reference to an Artifact in Verdant Keep," Garret said.

"Oh?" Andromeda said, surprised and a bit excited, from the look of it.

"Yes, I have a briefing ready inside. I was waiting for you to come inside to tell you more casually, but you've been out here for a few hours," Garret said, and Andromeda's eyes shot wide.

"Hours?" she exclaimed. She looked up toward the sky and verified that the sun had moved nearly toward the horizon. She thought it had been an hour at most since noon when she started, but she only then realized it was closer to five hours. "Alright, let's get in there."

After migrating to the main hall, she was impressed to see that Garret had negotiated the chalkboard they were keeping in the basement up the stairs and prepared it with papers and rough notes.

"What are we dealing with? Nothing as dangerous as the spear, right?" Andromeda said as she settled into her seat across from the chalkboard.

"Fortunately not, this is not just any Artifact, however, rather one that has a bit of a storied history. It is recorded as the 'Silver Tongue,' a golden coin with the visage of an unknown humanoid on one face, and several unknown characters on the other side. To the best of our modern knowledge, these characters correspond to no known language, alive or dead," Garret explained.

"It's gold, but it's called the *Silver* Tongue?" Andromeda questioned.

"To the best of my knowledge, its name is a play on words based on its capabilities, rather than a factual description," Garret clarified.

"What does it do?" Andromeda asked.

"It's a Major Artifact, meaning that its effect is both anomalous and unique. If I understand the records from the capital correctly, this coin has a unique and powerful effect on the mind of sentient beings. However, it actually possesses two distinct effects. The lesser effect is that if it is casually flipped, it will land on whichever side the user desires. The greater ability is evoked when a wager is made between two people. If the coin is flipped in this case, it will not react to the user's wishes, and the results of the wager will be forced on both parties," Garret said.

"So it's like an oath?" Andromeda said.

"It's similar, however notably neither participant needs to be aware for the effects to take place. There is also the matter of the consequences should the terms of the wager be broken. In the case that happens, both participants will die," Garret said.

"Oh… That's… Hmm," Andromeda said.

"I'm sure you can see why this might be a serious topic to discuss. Not only for the fact that lives will be at risk as long as it's out in the wild, but the potential for someone to exploit its properties for profit is massive. A few properly flipped coins are enough to sink an empire," Garret said.

"My question is, how do we go about getting it? I'm gonna assume you don't know where it is exactly or you would have led with that," Andromeda said.

"Exactly, the difficult part is that all we know is that it's most likely in Verdant Keep, but it won't remain there for long. The informant who leaked the information to us about it said that it would be changing hands soon. What that means, how it will happen, or when are unclear," Garret said.

Andromeda leaned back in her chair and considered the situation. "We won't be able to roll up and start making a racket about it. The kind of people who would be interested in something like this would probably scatter as soon as they realized they were ratted out. So we'd have to be stealthy…" She said. Then her face lit up.

"In a sense, what are you implying?" Garret questioned, suddenly uneasy.

"I'll go by myself. I can move around quickly, quietly, and with Whisper, I can do recon better than pretty much anyone else," Andromeda said.

"Do you not think that could be dangerous? You'd be alone out there, and without any contacts or connections, we'd have a difficult time contacting you if something happened either here or there," Garret said.

"I mean, sure, that is a possibility. But at the same time, the more people we have looking around and digging up leads, the more likely something will go wrong. You and Chi don't have much in the way of self-defense skills, Alice is too well known, and Eli doesn't trust me enough to rely on me. If we called for backup, it might be gone by the time we get over there. Right now I'm the best chance we have."

Garret wanted to argue. There were so many risk factors and potential issues that could arise. But at the same time, he knew better than to argue with an Arch Mage, let alone one who seemed so confident. His only option was to agree.

"If you think that's best, I can arrange for some transport. Will you need much time to pack?" Garret said.

"Naw, I'm already in my robes. I'll just head out. Verdant Keep isn't that far out, right? I could get there in half a day," Andromeda said, then she just stood up and started walking towards the door. He couldn't even get a word in edgewise before she was gone.

Garret was so shocked that he stood there for a few minutes. He didn't know if Andromeda was being reckless, or if she was just *that* confident in her own abilities. His head made him lean on the latter, but his gut leaned the other way.

-----

This was a selfish choice.

Andromeda was looking for an excuse to get away from the paperwork, the stress of Lady Wren breathing down her neck, and the bickering. Alice and Eli had improved a bit with time, especially after making new friends in the area, but it was still stressful wondering when they would next break out into an argument.

She still cared about both of them, in different ways, to be fair, but there, regardless. This was an excuse for her to just live and experience something new. Andromeda had no time before now to explore without restrictions. Until now, she was either studying in a locked-down mage college, or traveling across the country to her impending death, or in various states of unconsciousness, some lethal, some not.

But now, there was no real stress. Sure, she had to find an Artifact in a fairly large city, but she didn't have to worry about anything in particular. She'd be able to go where she wanted, do what she wanted, and with no risk of anything she cared about being hurt, endangered, or even put at risk. It was an opportunity jumping out at her.

A part of her wanted to wait around until Eli and Alice were back home before heading out, but from the way Garret described it, she was on a bit of a time crunch. But even ignoring that, Eli and Alice were grown-ups and didn't need her holding their hands. If their friends were keeping them happy and healthy, she was happy.

*"I'm not saying that going out and taking a few days to explore is a bad idea, but what exactly is your plan? Walk around and ask?"* White suddenly interjected. She had a point. Going around and asking random important-looking people if they knew anything about a powerful and ancient supernatural artifact wouldn't end well.

"The idea was to leverage Whisper. People can't see or hear her unless she wants, and with her going through walls and that, she's basically the perfect covert spy," Andromeda said.

*"That may be, but she isn't invincible. Magical wards can keep her away, and if the people who have this thing aren't idiots, they'll have countermeasures,"* White added. Another good point, but this time Whisper joined in.

"*I'm not condoning the lack of planning, but I'm pretty sure as long as nobody knows I exist, then we can work with that at least. I mean… Who would expect a poltergeist to be running, er, flying around?"* Whisper said.

"*Just promise me that you won't do anything overly reckless. Please?"* White said.

"I'll do my level best to avoid anything that might kill me or put me in harm's way," Andromeda said.

"*That's not what I asked for,"* White said.

"*I know, but if I promised anything more, I might make myself a liar,"* Andromeda said with a sly smile.