“Seraphine Morrow greets customers with a small bow and a faint curling of blue smoke that smells of citrus and old books. The shop is built into the lower floors of a merchant house near the city university: narrow glass cases, suspended shelves, and a chalkboard ledger hang behind a counter. Lanterns of captured starlight float in jars above the aisles, and faint musical chimes sound whenever a magical item is removed from a shelf. A reading alcove by the back window contains a battered armchair and a stack of arcane journals; Seraphine often invites trusted patrons to sit while she tests a lesser item for them. She keeps a ledger of provenances and odd requests—she will sometimes trade rare reagents for story or a favor rather than coin. The shop smells of ink, ozone, and lavender; Seraphine's left sleeve is embroidered with tiny sigils that glow when bargaining is honest.”