Backing out of the door which separated the back of the store from the front display area, Johnny was carrying a small tray of new pieces in his hands and whistling quietly. He was dressed in a cable-knit sweater, jeans and work-boots; perhaps not the image of a salesman for work of this quality, but Johnny had never paid much attention to those delicacies. The whistling cut off abruptly when he turned and saw the man standing in the shop ? probably a relief, since the tune had been wildly off-key. Blue skin was not easily forgotten, even in this strangest of towns, and so Johnny recognized Locke from the Red Dragon.

Friendly smile spread while Johnny placed the tray of jewelry carefully into one of the display cases. The smile broadened when he saw which statue Locke had been admiring. A siren on the rocks of the harbor, hair caught and twisted by the wind, and she was poised to lift her voice in song. ?Ya go? a good eye. Tha?s always been one?a m?favorites in here. How ya been, bro? Ya ge? ta seein? a healer fer tha? knock on th? head ya took??

Miracle that anyone could understand him sometimes with the way he slurred words together, and laughter brightened emerald eyes a moment as Johnny recalled Hudson?s admonition. When he spoke again it was with a bit more care. ?Take it ya had a chance ta look aroun? in here already. Ya see anything in p?ticular yer interested in? Or are ya here ta order something custom? I can help ya either way, but if?n ya want custom work ya should know it?s going ta run ya extra, stonework or metal.?

It was a friendly warning, but a serious undertone gave the truth to his words. Johnny spread his hands, silver mesh on his fingers catching the light, then leaned against the counter. ?Jus? le? me know wha? ya wan?, bro, an? I?ll see abou? gettin? ya fixed up.?

Johnny took a moment before he took Locke?s hand in greeting, and lowered the temperature of the silver mesh embedded into his hands. It meant his grip was a shade above ice, but his voice was warm as ever. ?Locke. Good ta mee? ya formal-like, an? better ta hear yer doin? righ?. An? thanks fer th? complimen? ? abou? everythin? ya see in here I did bu? th? paintin?s. Those?re m? sister?s.? Johnny took the offered ring-sections carefully, holding them in his palm as he turned them over.

A jerk of his head over to one counter was intended to direct Locke to the ring-sizing guide there. A simple post with rings of various sizes attached to it, even the craftsmanship of those plain sizing bands was evident. ?Look those over an? give me an idea wha? sizes ya need, righ??? His voice was absent, distracted, as he examined the rings carefully.

Emerald eyes studied the carving, the metal, made note of the oddly precise nature of the break. A slow blink and silver film slid down to obscure white and color of his eyes both. It gave him an oddly sightless look, but such was definitely not the case. Against the chill of his hands, the ring pieces and the necklace didn?t stand out to infrared. A twitch of the muscles at the corner of one eye produced no visible change to the silver film, but to Johnny the change was immense.

Grain of the metal snapped into focus, and he made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat. Long fingers turned the broken ring pieces over carefully, silver mesh rasping quietly on the metal. When he spoke again his voice came slow. ?Ya go? somethin? interestin? here, bro. Ain? never seen nothin? like this metal. Th? shape I can do easy, th? snowflake, an? three ain? no harder than one. But this silver?s goin? ta be tricky.? Johnny looked up from the ring to Locke ? an odd sort of vision, but he was used to it by now.

Silver film remained in place as he explained further. ?Thing is, ?s almos? like pure silver. Given wha? ya called it, tha? don? surprise me much. Bu? somethin?s been at it ta align th? grain of th? metal, an? there?s a coupl?a odd twists in there. I don? know magic nor anythin? abou? it, bu? I don? know wha? else could?a made somethin? like this.? A thoughtful look crossed his face as he studied the ring pieces again.

?Tell ya wha?, bro, an? I?ll be hones?. I can make somethin? tha? anyone else wouldn? be able ta tell from th? original ring. Can make ?em out?a silver jus? as pure as this pro?lly started like. An? I can do some ?a th? same alignments in th? grain. Bu? there ain? no way I can manage th? twists. Can? even follow them all, an? tha?s sayin? somethin?. So if?n tha?s good enough fer wha? ya need, we can do business. If?n ya need closer?n tha??.? Johnny?s voice trailed off as he looked back at Locke, and the silver film retracted from his eyes, leaving them shining bright emerald once more. He wouldn?t lie about his abilities, but there was quiet confidence in the claim for what he could and would do. It was up to Locke whether that would be good enough.

The disappointment on Locke?s face was obvious, and Johnny hated disappointing people. Especially when it was on a matter that seemed so important to the man. So when Locke suggested smelting down the old ring and adding the metal to the silver for the new rings, Johnny nodded thoughtfully. ?Sure, ain? no reason I can see not ta mix in th? metals. Can do it easy enough. An? tha? migh? help me make some?a th? changes ta th? silver that?ll be needed. Worth a try, any rate.? He made quick note of the size of the band Locke had chosen.

Mention of the spell-casting needed brought a slight frown to Johnny?s face, however, and he rubbed absently at the stubble on his jaw with an open palm while he thought over Locke?s words. He was uncomfortable with the request for more than one reason. Technology, even that advanced beyond what he knew, didn?t trouble him, but he knew little to nothing about magic. Locke?s request also meant that the man would have to come to his studio. Until now, the only people Johnny had allowed into his workspace were Sianna and his twin sister, Juliane.

Finally Johnny nodded once, sharply, as he made a decision. ?Righ?. I ain? tha? comfortable abou? magic an? all, bu? if?n tha?s wha? ya need fer yer rings ta be righ?, tha?s wha? we?ll do. If?n yer ready now, we?ll head over ta m? studio an? ya can say yer words over th? metal an? all, or wha?ever ya need ta do. I can ge? started on th? mold t?day. Since ya need three an? all th? same size, I?m goin? ta do a lost-wax castin?, make up a mold an? pour ?em. Take a day ta make th? mold, one ta cure it, ?nother fer actually makin? the rings ? an? two on top?a tha? ta do th? finishin? on?em, work th? metal grain. Five days if?n I start t?day, an? I?m bettin? ya don? wan? ta waste time.?

With the decision made, Johnny moved briskly, straightening from his lean against the counter to walk back towards the back area. Opening the door that separated back area from front allowed the faint sound of music to drift out. From the sound of it, Sianna was demonstrating something for one of her students. Johnny called back through the door, ?Si! Headin? ta th? studio, so I?m goin? ta lock th? front door!? There was a muffled sound of assent, and Johnny smiled as he shut the door and turned back to Locke. ?Lead th? way out, bro, an? I?ll lock th? door behind. If?n ya got any questions, I?m more?n happy ta answer?em on th? way ta th? studio.?

The front door was attended to, quickly. As he walked down the street with Locke, Johnny considered the questions he?d been asked. Oddly enough, while the questions seemed unrelated on the surface, their answers stemmed from the same source. His brow furrowed as he shoved his hands in his pockets. A sidelong glance revealed the smooth way Locke eased through the crowds on the street ? a talent Johnny didn?t possess. Then again, with his height and the strength built by working metal and stone, people tended to give way without a fuss.

?Jus? call me Johnny, don? worry abou? th? sir. An? tha? band an? th? old ring?ll be all I need, once ya say yer words over th? metal.? A smile and a slight shrug as he continued, ?Th? funny thin? is, th? answers ta yer questions are kinda th? same thin?. See, th? first thin? ya got ta understan? abou? me is tha? I ain? a local, nor anythin? close ta one. Me an? m?family are from a l?il world called Hope, almos? on th? other end?a th? universe. I came here hoppin? on th? liners, landed at th? Spaceport, an? took a look aroun?. Suited me fine, so I stayed. M?ma an? m?sisters came ou? here after, an? Katie, m?cousin, jus? a coupla months ago.? Johnny looked up at the sky thoughtfully as they passed through the Market, judging the directions, then pointed up to the southwest quadrant of the sky.

?Hope?s tha? way, near?s I can tell, coupla million light years. See, it was tech tha? took humans from th? Homeworld, Old Earth, ta th? stars. An? we jus? kept on goin?, settlin? an? movin? on. Science is real sophisticated when ya ge? off RhyDin ? an? magic ain? nothin? but fairy tales an? legends. World I?m from tried ta balance tech an? keepin? thin?s in th? old ways. So we had anti-grav an? horse-drawn wagons. Medics fit ta heal ya six ways ta Sunday, an? revolvers makin? sure people needed ta get healed. L?il bit a? nano-tech an? mods, but surface stuff, not like wha? I got. Me, I had a fair piece a? mods done. Yer docs at th? Spaceport can maintain an? repair work like mine, bu? they don? have th? facilities fer installation, so I?d bet if?n ya see anyone with stuff like mine, it was done off-world.? A twist of a smile hinted at the understatement Johnny was making about the extent of his modifications.

The apartment building that contained Johnny?s studio rose up in front of them, the south wall of the third floor ? the top floor ? almost entirely of glass windows. Johnny led the way up the stairs as he continued. ?Th? mesh ya see on m?hands is only th? surface layer. Got some tricky work in there, with th? bones reinforced, an? a linkup through th? muscles an? nerves ta m?brain, so I can activate th? mod when I wan'. Mainly m? hands can heat up an? cool down as I need?em ta so?s I can manipulate materials ? stone an? metals, mostly. None?a it works on organics, though ? can melt stone an? then touch wood an? it wouldn? do a thin? ta th? wood. There?s regulators tha? sense organic components. M?hands won? ever feel any more?n uncomfortable warm ta th? touch, nor any colder than migh? hurt someone.? A shrug as he unlocked the studio door, pausing to turn and look at Locke.

?Yer th? third person ever ta be in here since th? place?s been mine. Ain? goin? ta say don? look, bu? don? touch a lot, righ?? Anyway, th? eyes are somethin? like th? hands, give me enhanced sigh? ? infrared, UV, microscopic an? below, some others. Withou? th? mods, I was a very good sculptor, more?n fair jeweler an? smith. With th? mods ? well, I?m better?n most.? There was no false modesty to Johnny?s words, but he wasn?t bragging, either. It was just a statement of fact. He opened the door and waved Locke in, revealing an open studio with a loft overhead.

An easel with a half-finished painting was set in the light of the windows on the south side of the room. A long worktable was set next to it with a tall rolling stool shoved beneath. Tools from easily recognizable to mysterious littered the work-scarred table, along with half-finished pieces of jewelry. In one corner of the room was the cloth-shrouded figure of a sculpture in progress, and random figurines were bracing up completed paintings in a variety of mediums. Opposite the easel were a small anvil and a wire-pulling machine, and stacked neatly next to that were small ingots of assorted metals. There was a locked safe shoved against one wall.

Johnny headed for the ingots, silver film snapping back over his eyes, and studied them carefully before he extracted one of gleaming silver. Carrying it back to the work table, he set it down along with the broken ring and then leaned up against the scarred wood. ?There?s th? metal fer yer rings. Say yer words, do wha? ya need ta, an? then I?ll get ta work.? The words could have come across as curt or unfriendly ? the tone of his voice made it clear that was not his intention.

?Really parky, an? windy. Tha?s an understatemen? an? a half, bro! Ain? seen anythin? like tha? b?fore. At leas? it wasn? all glowin? an? lightnin?s.? The words were said with a tone of good humor even while Johnny stepped up to lend support to the wavering Locke. He?d gotten the rolling stool simply because he liked them ? but now it came in useful, and he was able to hook it over to Locke easily. Once the exhausted man took a seat, Johnny felt free to pick up and examine the ingot of what had been ordinary silver. The broken pieces of ring slid onto the table with a gentle tinkle.

Film over green eyes brought back the oddly sightless appearance that many found disconcerting. Johnny twitched the muscles at the corners of his eyes rapidly, cycling back through modes of vision to see the effects of the spell on the metal. After several minutes, an indrawn breath whistled between his teeth. Long mesh-covered fingers brushed over the ingot, and left faint tracks behind. Johnny?s eyes widened and the film retracted with the motion of surprise. ?Bro, I don? think ya fully know wha? ya got in tha? spell there.?

If he hadn?t been so distracted, Johnny might have explained that statement a bit better. As it was, the words hung in the room while the silver film slid back into place over his eyes. He set the ingot down carefully on the table and studied it without touching it. Eventually he spoke again, matter-of-factly. ?There?s a legend, been aroun? a long time. Heard it all m?life, all th? miners tha? come ta Hope. Heard it here from a coupl?a dwarves, once. Livin? metal. Not livin? like we think of it, with though? an? all, nor even like a plant?but still, metal tha?s alive, ?stead a? th? dead stillness we?re used ta dealin? with. I ain? never seen anythin? tha? made me begin ta know wha? tha?d be like, nor anythin? tha?d make me think th? stuff?s more?n a legend.?

Finally he straightened and looked over at Locke with a slight smile and a shake of his head. ?Still no? sure if?n there?s anythin? like tha? out there, bu? yer silver there?s pro?lly as close as I?ve ever seen. Those twists in th? metal I was talkin? abou? earlier? They ain? all there, ain? fully formed, like, but there?s a good start on?em. Wouldn? be surprised if?n tha? trick with th? ring growin? with ya?d work now. Five days, an? you?ll have yer rings.? Johnny was bemused and excited, both. This was a challenge, and those had become farther and farther between. He was anxious to get started ? but he wouldn?t rush out Locke until the man was able to stand on his own two feet and walk out without falling over.

Locke?s growing distress at the warmth in the room was very obvious. Johnny took the opportunity when Locke swept out his hand to the statues to duck his shoulder under the out-swept arm and give his support. Unfortunately, he could not manipulate the temperature of the rest of his body the way he could his hands. Still, that much he could and did do. Silver mesh chilled to a point near freezing, and he used his now very cold hands to help support Locke as they went down the stairs.

Outside was bitter chill and, just across the street, a bench ? graffiti covered its surface but was hidden under the dusting of the light snow that had begun to drift from the heavens. When the two of them fell onto the bench, Johnny leaned back and finally spoke again. ?Ya think yer goin? ta be righ? here, bro? Only way ta get colder?n this I can think of would be ta toss ya in th? river ? ?s only a little bit down th? way if?n ya need tha?, though.?

Broad smile made it clear both that he was joking ? and that if his joking suggestion was after all necessary, Johnny would be more than willing to help. It was more important to make sure Locke would be all right than to go back up and get started on the rings, no matter how much he wanted to begin. Working with that metal, that silver which wasn?t quite silver any longer, was going to be both challenging and interesting. He was already mentally sculpting the mold, the precise curves and angles of the snowflake on the bezel.

Five days of intense work, and Locke would have his rings. It was fortunate that there weren?t any other custom orders in the shop at the moment. Everything else could be set aside. Five days.

Crafting the mold and having it fired turned out to be the easiest part of making the rings. Melting the spell-enhanced silver and the broken pieces of the old ring turned into an unexpected challenge when Johnny found that its melting point had been raised; something in the spell changed the nature of the metal. His iron crucible began to melt before the silver did; he wound up crafting a new crucible of a nickel-chromium alloy.

From one challenge into another ? after he freed the rings from the mold, he had to trim the excess left from the pouring hole. His tools wore down before the plugs of altered silver ? more custom work, files with diamond dust for their rasping surfaces. Once the excess was trimmed, Johnny?s modifications turned from useful to critical. With the enhancements to his sight, the nano-mods in his hands, and some very specialized tools, he began to work with the grain of the metal. Alignments formed, shifted, reformed, and the rings went from unusual to extraordinary.

The metal had to be coaxed, in the beginning ? but as Johnny worked the metal responded, with shifts on the molecular level. It was early in the morning of the fifth day when Johnny straightened from the third ring and let the silver film over his eyes retract. He had worked through the night yet again; the drain of the work showed in the dark circles, the red rims around green eyes, and the thinning of his frame.

Some wondered how Johnny could eat as often and largely as he did ? but the reason was simple. The energy to power the modifications came from his own. Once the rings were delivered, a large meal and sleep would restore him to his prior state. Until then, he moved slowly and wearily while he nestled the rings into three individual boxes and put those in his pockets. It almost seemed like too much effort to cross the town to the shop ? but the sooner he could deliver these, the better.

Opening the store took concentration for even the simple tasks, and Johnny paused to go into the back room and fix himself a mug of coffee. When he returned with the mug in hand, it took a moment to register the presence of another in the store. Fatigue caused a very slight delay before the person?s identity registered, and then Johnny smiled slowly. ?Locke! Bro, ya don? know how glad I am ta see ya here so brigh? an? early. They?re done.? One, two, three, Johnny set the ring boxes on the counter, and then took a sip of the coffee. He left the opening of the boxes to the ice elf.

Johnny waved off the concern Locke expressed about his worn-down appearance. ?Sleep through th? day an? t?nigh?, coupl?a good meals an? I?ll be good as new.? It was an absent comment, and he took another sip of the steaming, fragrant coffee while he watched Locke examine the rings. The pleased satisfaction of the ice-elf was enough to make the effort worthwhile. In truth, Johnny didn?t care much about the money; beyond enough to keep himself and his family comfortable, it wasn?t something he worried about. That satisfaction Locke was expressing, the delight ? that was why Johnny loved his work.

So when Locke handed over the bank draft with the substantial sum written on its surface, and gave that uneasy laugh, Johnny frowned. Putting down the coffee mug, he lifted his hand to rub at the bridge of his nose and over his eyes. He didn?t need this much money at once, and he truly hated the idea of cleaning out someone?s rainy-day fund so completely. Especially given that from overheard comments and a few mentions in passing from Locke himself, Johnny had gotten the impression that gambling was actually how the ice-elf supported himself. That meant that instead of the temporary loss of a hobby should things turn sour on Locke, it would really be the loss of his income.

Dark-ringed emerald eyes looked again at the money order with the name and amount already clearly inscribed. Johnny could understand why Locke hadn?t wanted to carry around that much in coin ? gold would have been prohibitively heavy, platinum too easily stolen. But this was harder to manipulate. After a moment he looked back at the ice-elf. ?Don? like th? idea of takin? away yer rainy-day fund entirely, ya know? But I can? figger a way aroun? this,? he tapped the money order, ?so I?m goin? ta tell ya now if?n yer luck turns sour enough tha? yer hurtin? fer it, ya come by an? le? me know. Give ya back half th? amoun? an? we can work ou? somethin? fer th? repayin?.?

Locke seemed about to protest, and Johnny shook his head. ?Th? way it?s goin? ta be, bro. An? now I?ve go? ta get tha? sleep I was talkin? abou?. Si?s in th? back now an? she?ll keep th? shop open t?day. I?m goin? ta go collapse, now.? With a last smile, Johnny folded the money order and put it into a back pocket, and then picked up his mug of coffee. He lifted that in a small salute and then strode off into the back of the shop to make his way to the residence part of the building; he didn?t give Locke a chance to answer at all.