Back In Black

At the Guild of Fine and Magical Creations, Noir and Sam sat across from a stone elf of aged countenance, who was peering through a set of lenses into the soul sapphire before him. Noir had kept a tight hold on the soulstone, and he'd been quite anxious with every inspection of it, and the disappointing offers that were rejected, which led them up the chain of experts to the slate-haired elf sitting before them.

And that was because it was a slow day.

The representative of the Association of Jewelers, Lazuli Highstone, whose subset of the Creations Guild handled the legal trade of all mana crystals in the city.

With a large swallow, he analyzed each gem protrusion, every facet, even the fossilized bone under the gems, though he didn't spend long on that.