Ronin could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead as he brought the tuning fork close to the blue rupee. He had copied this procedure from some notes in the archives and was fairly confident he had everything correct, but it was still his first time performing the crafting procedure outside of mental simulations and he was nervous. He had extracted blue light from essence of starlight by running it through a prism and was currently shining that light onto the blue rupee to condense the light into enchanting stones. He could hear a faint buzzing so he was sure he was starting to get a reaction.

“You’re gunna break it that way.”

Ronin felt his heart jump into his throat. “What?” He said as he turned towards the voice.

“That blue rupee, you’re gunna break it that way.”

Ronin found himself staring into the many faceted eyes of a tall figure with a bee’s head, black antlers, and a full mane of yellow bee fuzz. Stifling a shout, he instead asked the first question that came to his mind.

“What are you?”

“… a difficult question… haven’t run into another person like me so far… But I suppose if you had to call me something… Bee Shaman will work. That’s what other people call me anyway.”

It was only then that Ronin noticed the bees buzzing around the stranger. Some were even crawling over the many packs visible under his worn desert coat. More intrigued than frighted now, Ronin studied the stranger. He noticed quite a few Treasures peaking out of the Bee Shaman’s bags, including a rare honeycomb. Ronin had never seen a honeycomb in person before, he had only read about them in the archives.

“What do you mean I’m gunna break it? I’ve meticulously researched this. I’m pretty sure I am following the procedure exactly as it should be performed.”

“Damn scholars. You all read and read and talk and talk and you forget to LISTEN. Your tuning fork is totally wrong for that blue rupee. If you had actually touched them together you would have been one rupee poorer. Or even worse it might have exploded on you.”

Ronin was a bit taken aback. It was not often that anyone lectured him on crafting with Treasures, much less bee headed strangers with rare honeycombs in their bags.

“What do you know about the resonance of blue rupees?”

“I know a lot about vibing with Treasures and Magic. I didn’t always look like this after all. Here, I’ll show you.”

Ronin watched as the Bee Shaman walked over to the blue rupee and studied it for a moment. The shaman flicked the rupee and cocked his head as if listening for a faint sound. The bees around the shaman started to buzz. The shaman seemed to nod in response and grabbed the blue rupee in his clawed hand. He started to hum a single crystal clear note, his black antlers flashing with small electric arcs. Ronin’s mouth fell open as the blue rupee flashed a dazzling blue light and a stream of perfectly formed enchanting stones fell to the floor. As the light faded, the shaman turned back towards Ronin.

“See… now THAT is the correct note. Even my bees know better.” Apparently satisfied, the Bee Shaman turned to leave the crafting space.

“Wait!” Ronin said, grabbing the Bee Shaman’s arm. He had so many questions. It was not everyday you met a master crafter and he was not gunna let this opportunity go to waste.