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The Thought That Counts - Chapter 2
Sharak was still running when he left the Merry Minstrel, crossing the stone pavers of Lower Jeuno. He was tempted to use the auction house there, but he thought it might not be the best idea.
"They might spot me if they see me here, I'd better head up to Ru'Lude Gardens or something," he thought, darting toward the Guidestone.
He ran up the long staircase to Upper Jeuno where he stopped for a moment to catch his breath, then darted up the stairs to Ru'Lude Gardens, the uppermost layer of Jeuno. He made it a few moments later, drawing the attention of the ducal guardsman, Morlepiche.
"Is everything okay, adventurer?" asked Morlepiche.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm just in a bit of a hurry!" he explained, stopping to rest for a moment.
"I'll kindly ask that you remember running is not permitted in the Ru'Lude Gardens," said Morlepiche, coldly.
"Alright, sorry! I've got to go though!" he replied, walking off hurriedly.
"Sheesh... I think it's time I get some Crimson Cuisses," he thought to himself, sighing.
He approached the auction house and was greeted by the friendly clerk.
"Welcome! How may I help you today, sir?" asked the clerk, opening the registry of items.
"Hmm... do you have any... Serket Rings?" asked Sharak, looking off at the distant clouds while he thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, sir, the last was sold four hours ago," said the clerk.
"Darn... how about an Aqua Ring?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, there are none for auction," said the clerk.
"What about an Aceso's Choker?" asked Sharak, desperately.
"There seem to be four up for auction at the moment, each starting at 2,000,000 gil," said the clerk.
"Two million? Ouch, that's a little over what I've made from all the quests I've done, and I don't have any time to do more! What am I gonna do?" he thought to himself, dismayed.
"Would you like to bid on the Aceso's Choker, sir?" asked the clerk.
"Sigh... no thanks, I won't be able to afford it. Can I check the registry?" he asked, frowning at the clerk.
He skimmed through the registry, reading through the long list of neckpieces and earrings, not quite sure what to get. He started to read down the list of rings when something caught his eye.
"The Dawnsoul Ring has a beautiful name, it'd be a fitting gift for Chymerial," he thought to himself, finally deciding on the best present.
"What about a Dawnsoul Ring? Are there any up for auction?" he asked, excited by this promising prospect.
"I'm sorry, sir, there aren't any Dawnsoul Rings for auction," said the clerk.
"Alright... thanks," he said, sighing deeply as he slowly walked away from the auction house, staring at the ground as he went.
"I promised myself that I wouldn't see Chy again until I had the perfect gift for her, and now I've failed. I probably won't even be able to get her a gift in time for her birthday, this sucks..." he said as he walked down the steps toward the Mog House. "I just wanted to do better than I did last year. Yeah, she liked my gift, but... it wasn't anything special. This was my one chance."
He pressed the switch and walked onto the elevator, staring up at the sky of Ru'Lude Gardens as the elevator slowly descended.
"Welcome back, Master, kupo!" said his moogle as it spun in delight."Hey..." said Sharak, dropping his chapeau onto the table before walking over to his bed and falling backward onto it."What's wrong?" asked the moogle as it flew across the room toward Sharak's bed.
"Well, I've been avoiding Chy until I could find the perfect present for her, but everything I could think of was either not for sale or just too expensive. To make things worse, her birthday is tomorrow! I'm just gonna look like an idiot after avoiding her for so long," he said, staring up at the curved ceiling.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Master, what did you decide on?" asked the moogle.
"Well, I decided on a Dawnsoul Ring, because it looked and sounded as beautiful as she does..." said Sharak, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"Well, if you can afford one, why don't you just buy the materials and craft it yourself? Then you can use a special crystal to sign it for her, kupo!" said his moogle, spinning around gleefully once again.
With that, Sharak sat up quickly, eyes widening as he said, "You're right! Why didn't I think of that?"
He jumped up and crossed the room to his chest of personal belongings, opening it to find a mess of various parchments, quills, used magic scrolls and empty ether vials. He pulled out a massive book from the bottom and set it on the table. Opening to the index, he found the section he needed and quickly skimmed through the massive and tattered pages.
"I found it!" he said, looking at his moogle.
"Kupo-po! Can you craft it, Master?" asked the moogle.
"Hmm... it's goldsmithing," he said, reading down the page, "and synergy, ugh..."
Reading that hit him like a ton of bricks right in the stomach.
"L-let me see what materials are needed for the synthesis," he said, stammering.
"Let's see, kupo... you'll need one Phrygian Ring... and one Light Gem," said the moogle, running its paw down the page as it read.
"Hmm, well that doesn't seem TOO bad..." he said, continuing to read along.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said the moogle, "Phrygian Rings are difficult to craft and must be very expensive... and Light Gems are crafted from Light Geodes, kupo."
"Well, I don't have a lot of time! I've got to try to make this, it's only eight hours until her birthday! I've got to head out to the auction house, thanks moogle!" he said. With that, he ran to the door and left his Mog House, his moogle watching from the opened book.
"Oh dear... What is Master getting into now?" asked the moogle.