We went one circle around the shops to avoid the Angelhunters and arrived back at the red shop. I don't see the two Angelhunters. The sign over the doorway was written in some strange writing I didn't recognize.

  "Those words mean Toh's Curiosities," Kaelen said, then he reached back to stop me gently. "Now mind your step, Boy."

  It was a strange move, like he was stopping me from walking into danger. I followed his eyes down to the ground.

  There, across the doorway, was a slab of stone. I blinked twice.

  Who puts a slab of stone here? I could've struck my toe!

  I stepped over it, lifting my feet so high my knees touched my stomach and glanced at Kaelen for answers.

  "It's called a Men Kan in Shenlongese," he said. "A threshold. It's a cultural thing, said to keep evil spirits out." The foreign word rolled off his tongue naturally. Kaelen sure knows a lot of stuff.

  "Just blast them away with magic." I muttered, sounding more like a growl.

  "Not everyone can use magic, Boy," Kaelen said with a smirk.

  Inside, the shop had shelves climbing up to the ceiling on all sides. Every available space was filled with stuff, leaving only a small path wide enough for one person to walk. I had to be extra careful not to knock something over. I saw carved wooden masks with long noses and bulging eyes, rusty oil lamps with ornate handles, jade figurines of animals I didn't recognize, and countless ceramic jars with faded labels in those same strange characters. The air has this strange... Strong, perfumeish smell mixed with old wood.

  Ugh...

  "Hey, you've got customers!" Kaelen called out.

  A shuffling sound came from the back, followed by a grunt. Then a plump man emerged from behind a beaded curtain, wiping his hands on his red robe. He had narrow eyes that nearly disappeared when he smiled, and two thin mustaches that drooped down past his chin like whiskers.

  My first impression was that I didn't like this guy. Something about the way he smiled and clasped his hands together told me this guy's no good.

  Greedy.

  "Ah! Customers! Welcome, welcome to Toh's Curiosities!" The man's voice was high and nasal. "What can old Toh find for you today, hmm? Antiques? Charms? Lucky talismans?"

  Kaelen threw me a glance. "I'll handle this." He stepped forward to the counter.

  "We're looking for a snow globe," Kaelen said simply.

  "Snow globe! Ah, yes, yes! Very rare item here in Kalibona, lah!" Mr. Toh rubbed his hands together, his smile widening. "Not many people asking for such things. You must be from up north, yes? Very far north!"

  He shuffled over to one of the shelves and pulled out a small wooden box. Inside, nestled in straw, were three glass spheres of varying sizes.

  "See, see! I have three, all the way from Weissland! Very expensive to bring here, you know? Shipping very costly, lah!"

  I leaned forward to look. The smallest one had a pine forest inside with white flakes suspended in liquid. The middle one showed a snowman scene. The largest had a white castle with blue roofs... and two children holding hands.

  My eyes fell immediately on the largest one.

  The Sapphire Palace, with Natalie and myself... Holding hands.

  I grabbed Kaelen's hand and pointed at the smallest one.

  He nodded slightly, then turned back to Mr. Toh. "How much for the small one?"

  "Ah! You have good eye! That one is seventy pounds!"

  I didn't know much about money outside Lumina, but from the way Kaelen's eyebrow twitched, that was too much.

  "Seventy?" Kaelen's voice was flat. "It's old. The wood has aged."

  "Is quality item, lah! Glass very fine, mechanism inside very delicate! You won't find better price anywhere in Kuching!" Mr. Toh's hands fluttered dramatically.

  "I'll give you fifty."

  "Fifty?! Aiyah, sir, you killing me, lah! I have family to feed! Sixty-five, cannot go lower!"

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Fifty-five. Final offer."

  Mr. Toh clutched his chest as if wounded. "You driving hard bargain, sir! Very hard! Okay, okay, thirty, but only because I like your face, lah!"

  "Fifty-seven."

  "Fifty-nine!"

  "Fifty-eight, and I'll tell my friends where to buy their curiosities when they visit Kuching."

  Mr. Toh stroked his mustaches, eyes calculating. Then he sighed dramatically. "Okay, okay! Fifty-eight! You win, lah! Old Toh is too soft-hearted! My wife will scold me tonight!"

  But he was already wrapping the snow globe carefully in cloth, still smiling. Greedy, but satisfied.

  Kaelen counted out the coins, some gold, some silver, some big, some small and placed them on the counter. Mr. Toh made them disappear into his robe faster than I could blink.

  "Thank you for your business! Come again, ah!" Mr. Toh called as we left, already turning his attention to rearranging his shelves.

  Outside, Kaelen handed me the wrapped globe. I tucked it carefully into the small satchel he'd given me this morning.

  "That was... different," I said. "We paid whatever the shopkeeper said in Lumina."

  "Different cultures, Boy. The Shenlongese are clever merchants," Kaelen explained as we walked. "If you pay the first price, they think you're a fool."

  "But he seemed so upset..."

  "He made a profit. Trust me. Now, let's get some food. You must be starving."

  My stomach rumbled in agreement.

  ---

  I clutched my satchel close as we wove through the crowd towards the char Kueh teow shop. It was busier now, the lunch crowd filling most of the tables. The clanging of the wok and the sizzle of oil filled the air, along with a rich, savory smell.

  I peered into the smoking black pot as the Shenlongese man stirred. White, flat strip of noodles with shrimps and meat were being tossed inside. The cook then scooped a thick, black liquid from a nearby bowl and threw it into the pot and continued stirring. The noodles sizzled and turned dark brown in the rhythmic clanging of metal.

  "Chow kueh teow liang ger," Kaelen said with a two-hand sign to the cook. He didn't even look at us, not a nod or sound, just kept stirring.

  We sat down at one of the empty tables near the back, away from the street entrance. The table was small, round, with a chipped marble surface that had probably once been shiny. The chairs were old wood and rickety.

  I sat down, placing the satchel carefully in my lap.

  The shop was open on two sides, with only a low wall separating the seating area from the street. A large fan hung from the ceiling. It looked very old and dirty, like it hasn't been cleaned in years. It was spinning so slowly and did nothing against the heat. I wiped sweat from my forehead.

  A plump, tired-looking auntie approached our table. She had her hair pulled back in a bun and wore a simple floral shirt that had faded from too many washings. "You boys want drink or not?" she asked in heavily accented Lundanian.

  "What would you like, Herald?"

  Before I could answer, he added, "Chocolate?"

  I lit up at the thought of it. I nodded enthusiastically.

  "Hot or cold?" The auntie asked.

  "Cold!" I answered quickly.

  *Why would I drink it hot? The heat here was killing me! I was sweating like I was in a volcano!*

  "Milo Peng Kaw~~~!" The auntie yelled towards the back corner where a small stall with lots of glass was, then she turned to Kaelen, "And you?"

  "Kopi Peng Kaw," Kaelen said.

  The auntie yelled again and shuffled away.

  I blinked at Kaelen. "Milo Peng... what?"

  "Iced chocolate drink, heavily condensed milk," he explained. "Peng means ice. Kaw means thick or strong. It's Kalibonan slang, derived from Lundanian and mixed with local languages."

  "You sure know a lot of languages, Uncle."

  "When you've lived as long as I have and traveled as much as I have, you pick them up." He leaned back in his chair, which creaked loudly. He looked more relaxed than I'd seen him in a while. "Lundanian is the world's most common tongue. The Lundanian Empire spread it everywhere during their expansion. Not counting the Weissreich, they're the most powerful nation in the world."

  "More powerful than Lumina?"

  "In terms of military might and territory? Yes. In terms of magic?" He tilted his hand back and forth. "Different kinds of power."

  The drinks arrived faster than I expected. The auntie set down two tall glasses with straws. One was dark brown, almost black. The other was lighter, more of a coffee color.

  Kaelen slid a few silver coins over the table and she swept them into her palm in one efficent swoop.

  Then he pushed the darker drink to me. It was bubbly on top with patches of dark cocoa at the bottom.

  I wrapped both hands around the cold glass—oh, it felt so good against my sweaty palms—and took a sip.

  It was... different. Sweeter than the chocolate I'd had in Lumina, thicker, with a malty flavor I didn't recognize. The ice was crushed into small pieces that crunched between my teeth. And there was so much condensed milk it was almost syrupy.

  But it was cold, and sweet, and after that long run in the heat, it was perfect.

  "Good?" Kaelen asked, sipping his own drink.

  I nodded, already taking another long sip.

  A few minutes later, another auntie brought over two plates piled high with flat rice noodles. They were dark brown from the soy sauce, glistening with oil, mixed with slices of Shenlongese sausage, shrimp, bean sprouts, and what looked like cockles. A fried egg sat on top of each plate, the yolk still runny.

  The smell hit me and my mouth watered immediately.

  "Chi kuai!" said the auntie who brought the food.

  A few more coins slid across the table. This auntie picked them one by one, said something that sounded like shie shie and bumbled away.

  "What did she say?"

  "Seven pounds and thank you. That's Shenlongese for you."

  Okay, the char kueh teow were here. But there was no fork or spoon. Only a small basket at the center of the table with lots of slender wooden sticks in it.

  "Where's the fork?"

  "Shenlongese don't use fork and spoons," Kaelen said as he fished out two pairs of the slender woods, "They use chopsticks."

  He handed me a pair. What followed was a series of clumsy attempts of me trying to pinch flat noodles with two sticks in one hand while Kaelen corrected my form. After much frustration from me, Kaelen asked the auntie to bring a set of fork and spoon. And lunch, well, breakfast actually, became a lot easier.

  The noodles were smoky, savory, with a slight sweetness from the soy sauce. The shrimp was fresh and springy. The egg yolk broke and ran into the noodles, making everything richer. There was a hint of spice that made my tongue tingle, and the bean sprouts added a nice crunch.

  It was different from the bread, stews, steaks and pilafs in Lumina. But it was delicious.

  I was halfway through my plate, completely absorbed in eating, when two shadows covered my plate.

  I looked up, and froze, a forkful of noodles halfway to my mouth.

  It was the two Lundanian Angelhunters...

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