Nighttime has well and truly fallen upon the Bazaar now. Most of the storefronts are darkened with only the windows of the permanent residents pricked with light. The smell of sweaty shoppers and mingling wares has faded into the smell of evaporating rainwater and moss. Above, the brightest points in the Procession shine down through the city's haze.

Kia's shop is easily closed, as in the evening most of the patrons are on their way home. Any other person perusing the Bazaar at this time of night probably isn't looking to get a clock fixed (although they might get their clock cleaned, figuratively speaking, before the night is done). There's always the lurking chance that someone might come pounding on the mouse's door with an "emergency repair" that can't wait until morning, but those are thankfully few and far between.

So with the door locked, the windows shuttered, and finalgreetings spoken to the other shop owners outside, Kia is officially closed for the evening. A kettle of tea whistles from her stove and the faint sound of ticking emanates from her workroom upstairs.

The mouse moves to the stove, her steps slowed by consideration, and takes the kettle off. She pours a cup of tea, then asks her curious "guest", "Do you drink?"

"No, Miss Mouse," Azul replies. "I do not require food nor drink."

"What do you require? Just the occasional winding?" She takes another cup down from the overhead cabinet, asking "Would you like some tea, Enos?" of the jaguar cub still staring wide-eyed at the android.

"Just winding, Miss … or … should I call you Mistress? If you're well and truly my owner, I suppose I should refer to you by your proper title," the mechanical Khatta clicks softly.

Enos snaps out of his revere. "Yes please. I am a bit thirsty."

"'Miss', or 'Miss Kia' will do quite nicely, thank you, Azul. That's as proper a title as I've got." She fills the cupfor the cub, then clinks a few sugar cubes and a little cream into her cup, while she asks Enos, "Cream? Sugar?"

"Yes please!" The cub calls back, a grin tickling his voice.

a few scraping noises can be hard from the workbench as Azul adjusts his seating. "Miss Kia then. I was not sure if you wished another title from me as your servant. Oh dear, I hope I can be of aid without a leg."

She doses the cub's tea liberally with both, then carries the two cups carefully back to the workbench where Azul currently rests. The mouse gives Enos his, and sets her own down before pulling over a tall stool and positioning it near the robot. She perches on top of the stool with her feet hooked on the top rung. "I'm sure there's a lot you can do, Azul," she reassures it. "For starters, you can tell me how you were built – or at least what you know about the process."

"Well," Azul folds his hands over his singular knee, "I'm a multi-sphere creation. Earth magic, life magic, mind magic, and spirit magic. Every metal plate, gear, and wire within me was specially crafted my metal mages so that I could have an affinity with it; my spirit was formed into being by the spirit mages and refined by the mind mages. The mind mages also taught my spirit a sort of … fancy telekinesis. Imagine how your brain knows what muscles to move. My spirit was taught which gears and levers to manipulate while I'm active."

While she listens, Kia takes the occasional absent-minded sip from her teacup. "Amazing," she murmurs. "But … why does your spirit need winding, if it's your spirit that manipulates the gears? Or do they need to be physically wound before you can activate them – like flipping a switch on something already powered?"

The Khatta reaches back and detaches his tail, as easily as if he were removing a hat. He thumbs a button and the tail POPS into a key. "Well, most created spirits usually dissipate, or if they were brought into being by some nasty Necromancer mage they might feed off of other people's energy." He taps the crystal in the neck of the key. "This feeds energy to the clockwork in my chest and spine which is where my true consciousness is. When you wind it and get the gears moving, my body magnifies the small effort into a moderate pool of energy for my spirit to feed off of. Once that runs out, I go dormant until the next winding."

The jaguar cub noisily slurps at his teacup.

The mouse smiles. "So you need to be wound, too. You seem like such a terribly complicated thing for the mages to just have packed up and put away… The connections that let your tail shift into a key – and other things – are they magical, or mechanical, or both? It seems like the metal mages who shaped your pieces must have known a lot about mechanics, too. Not just magic."

"Oh, but that's common among mages. A life mage must betaught a great deal about healing arts and how the body works before they practice their craft. Metal mages must also have training in minerals and ore … and in my case clockwork as well." Azul twirls the key. "This is simply for decoration. An umbrella to keep me dry, a horn to play music and entertain with, a key to wind myself with, a walking stick, a baton, and my tail."

The mouse pauses mid-sip. "To wind yourself? You can keep yourself wound?" she queries, blinking.

The automaton shakes his head. "No, Miss Kia. It is against my programming to wind myself."

"Oh." She finishes her sip. "Your … programming? That stops you from doing some things?"

"He talks like that winged lady with the horn in her head," Enos hiccups out, blowing bubbles in his teacup.

Azul nods quietly. "Yes, Miss Kia. I cannot do anything that would harm another sentient being, I can never tell a lie, and I cannot wind myself."

Kia glances to the cub, looking blank for a moment, then recognizes the reference, and nods. "Maybe he does at that." She returns her attention to the robot. "That sounds like a good list of things not to do. Except maybe the winding yourself part. Um. How do you define 'sentient'?"

"Well, I'm allowed to squash bugs or try to defend my master against some animal attacking them. But if it is a speaking and thinking creature I cannot physically hurt it. My programming defines it as one of the species of Sinai, or a species with the characteristics of one, usually possessing speech in some form or another and logical thought." Azul clicks the key and it reforms into his tail, which he reattaches to his backside.

Reassured, the Skeek nods, rotating her cup before her in her hands. "What sorts of things do you know?" she asks, then hurries to be more specific, "I mean, do you know how to do the things which allowed you to be created? Or are they beyond your skills?"

"They are beyond my skill, I'm afraid. I can make minor repairs on myself but I could not create a duplicate." The automaton shrugs sadly and then its mouth snaps shut back into its molded grin. "I am capable of speaking in over twenty languages, I am an accomplished cook, accountant, musician, and housecleaner. I can also mend clothing and copy records."

Tilting her head to one side, Kia says thoughtfully, "Well, housecleaning and cooking might be tricky with only one leg, but the rest should be quite manageable. Hmmm … let's see." She hops down from her stool and walks to a large trunk. After opening it, she sifts through the articles of clothing within, then removes a pair of pants with the inner thigh seam undone. She takes it, along with a small basket of sewing supplies, to the android. Handing the items to him, she asks, "Can you fix this?"

One mechanical eye closes and then examines the seam. "Easily, Miss Kia. Shall I start now?"

"Can it make cookies?" Enos asks hopefully.

"Please do," she instructs it, sitting back down to watch it perform. She casts a smile towards Enos, and adds, "We'll check on your cookie-baking abilities later," the mouse promises.

"Chocolate Chip, Sugarfir, or Crunchy Cricket?" Azul's head tilts to the side and he begins working on the seam. His movements are … well … mechanical. "Miss Kia, forgive me for asking, but is there a chance you could provide me with a replacement leg? I won't be able to manipulate it like my normal one, but it would be very pleasant to be able to walk."

"I'm still hoping to find your original one, Azul, but in the meantime we could work some kind of prosthesis up, I'm sure," the mouse says, her whiskers twitching as she considers the materials on hand at the shop. "Are you any good with wood or metal working?"

Enos wipes his mouth and sets his cup empty cup down.

"Only lightly. I'm no craftsman, I'm afraid," Azul answers. He's progressed halfway through the seam, making fairly good pace and seemingly confident of his sewing skills. "I can do ornate calligraphy, but that is about the extent of my artistic abilities."

Noticing that her guest has finished his tea, the mouse inquires politely, "Did you want some more, Enos?" Her whiskers droop at Azul's response, before her ready smile returns and nods. "Well, you can't have everything. I'm sure we can work something out." She stands again and starts rummaging about her shop, digging around to see what she might be able to put together for a robot leg.

"Yes, please! It tastes different than the tea at the shop. It doesn't make my mouth tingle as much." The cub giggles.

The automaton looks up from its work. "I can be taught new skills, Miss Kia. Although I am much better at repeating something shown to me than doing something creative. I fear I do not have much of an artisan's mind."

"That's good!" the mouse replies, her voice muffled as she eases herself back out of a closet, brushing dust off her clothes. She strides briskly back to the cub, accepting his cup and then pouring him more tea. "Learning new skills is good, I mean," she clarifies.

"I've been programmed to be adaptable." Azul holds out the mended cloth and examines it. "Originally I was an experiment with storing a spirit in an artificial body while the real body was being repaired, but there was a bit of controversy about the whole thing. So instead I was directed at being used as an experiment in creating an artificial spirit."

Sugar cubes clink into the cup, then it is returned to its former possessor. "Storing a spirit in an artificial body?" Kia's whiskers twitch. "Is that … well, would that be like necromancy? I mean, if the real body wasn't … working, wouldn't it be dead? Or do you mean just not working very well?"

"You understand why it was rather frowned upon, now." Azul nods and holds out the finished garment. The seams are precise and perfectly spaced, as though run through a mechanical sewing machine. "Some mages say that spiritsare just magical echoes of a former person, and that although they may hold memories and such, in truth the person is dead. Still, there are always those who strive for immortality. I hear that's how the Sabaoth attained his long life."

Enos's ears flatten against his head and he suddenly becomes very interested in his cup.

The mouse accepts the repaired item, inspecting the seam with evident approval. "Nicely done." She lifts her head to study the android. "What about you? Do you think you are an echo of a former person?"

The automaton shrugs. "If my spirit was patterned after a live or dead person I do not know anything of it. As far as I am aware my spirit was crafted entirely by magical means instead of being drawn off of someone and implanted."

"But would you know?" she murmurs, ears flicking backwards, then forwards, before she shakes her head. "I guess you don't have any memories of being anything other than what you are, mmm?" Kia folds the mended pants into a neat bundle reflexively.

"I would not know, no." Azul's eyes half close.

"So he might be a ghost?" Enos asks, his tea left untouched for now.

The mouse pivots to face the cub, tucking the folded slacks beneath one arm. "I don't think he's a ghost, Enos. The Collegia Esoterica wouldn't have made him if they thought he was, and they would know better than anyone, right?" She smiles encouragingly to the feline.

"Yes, Miss Kia!" the mechanical Khatta agrees. "Necromancy in all shapes and forms is highly frowned upon by the Collegia."

The jaguar cub seems only halfway convinced and sips quietly at his teacup.

Kia's whiskers twitch as she watches Enos. She takes another sip from her tea, cold now from sitting out, and makes a face at it. "What do you know about ghosts, Enos?" A quiet seriousness, as well as curiosity, inflects her words.

"I… " The cub looks at his feet. "My sister told me that a lady whispered to her in her sleep once. And then Daddy explained that it was a ghost that was trying to trick her. That's why Daddy became a spirit hunter."

A mouse hand drops lightly to the cub's shoulder. "Your Daddy fights bad ghosts, Enos? Maybe you should tell him about Azul and see if he thinks we should be worried, mmm?"

Enos shakes his head. "I dunno. What if he tells me I can't come back here anymore?"

The Skeek gives this possibility due consideration. "Then I will go and talk to him, and see what he is concerned about," she tells the cub. "I'm sure your father knows what's best for you, and if he concludes that Azul presents a danger to you, well, it's best that we know, isn't it? You can't fix a problem until you know you have one, after all," she points out reasonably.

The cub nods, although he doesn't look entirely happy with the decision. "You won't tell him about Nana's locket, will you?"

Only a hint of a smile crosses Kia's face as she nods to Enos's request. "I won't."

Azul has grown oddly quiet during the whole exchange. His chin rests against his chest and his eyes are closed. The soft ticking noise that he usually makes has also quieted down.

"Thank you, Miss Kia," Enos mews. "Do you want to see him tonight or would you rather wait until tomorrow?"

Noting the silence from the robot, Kia glances back towards it, then to Enos. She taps her fingers against her cheek, tilting her head. "I shouldn't want to barge in on your father if he has other plans for the evening," she answers. "Perhaps it's best if we take you home and you ask him when a good time for us to talk would be? Assuming he's interested, of course," she adds.

"Papa usually isn't very busy," Enos replies as he sets his cup down. "But he might need some time to get ready to meet with you. He's not supposed to show his face around too much and Auntie Shade might want to be left alone if there's strangers in the shop."

The mouse's head tilt becomes more pronounced, a frown of confusion creasing her brow. She starts to reply, then changes her mind. "It's always best to give people a little warning before visiting," she assures Enos. She lifts her cup and holds her hand out for his. "Now, shall we wash our cups and get you home? I don't want to get your father angry at me for keeping you out late."

"Okay! I can show you the Goliath I'm making." Enos hops down from his perch on the tabletop.

"Goliath?" Kia asks, stepping towards the sink with her cup in hand, then nods with recollection. "How's it coming along?"

"Uncle Fox saw it on a visit and got an idea from it. I haven't added to it much lately, but maybe when we get the next shipment from Chronotopia, Daddy will let me have some of the junk bits and I can build on it more. I'm also thinking of making a shell for it so it'll look like a proper Goliath." The kitten beams.

The mouse chuckles at the mention of junk bits. "You know, it seems to me there might be one or two bits around here – " she gestures vaguely to the junk-filled workroom, with a wave to include the additional stuff in the third floor work space, " – you could use that I don't have a need for, Enos. Maybe if you ask nicely, I'll let you have them." She grins at the cub, and winks.