ã€ŠEngineered Magic - The Wizard&#x27;s Towerã€‹


 Trueborn

    The Speedwell Colony, Sigma Draconis

    A starship left Earth in our near future. It made a multigenerational journey to arrive at a potential colony world in the Sigma Draconis star system. As they settled into their new home they found the ruins of a former civilization. While exploring those ruins they discovered magic. The ruins are not ruins at all, but the edges of a world spanning structure that hosts a real life game.

    Many of the colony ship¡¯s landing generation settle into the structure, where they work to build a new future for their people. It is a life that uses magic to bridge the gap between human abilities and the dangers of the structure.

    It isn¡¯t long before the old sins of humanity arise; addiction, greed, domination, prejudice.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Irene was a sixteen year old apprentice engineer on the colony ship when it landed. Now, nine years later, she is a tier three wizard, torn between her duty to the colony and her desire for a life of her own. Journey with her through the structure as she navigates this new world as a woman, wizard and engineer.

    <hr>

    This story is a lot darker than previous novels in this series. It contains sex, rape, bigotry, robbery, assault, addiction, deception, betrayal and murder. Some of which occurs just off the edge of the page while others are directly on it. This story does not contain a happy ending. It is a story of loss and survival. These events are the pivot point in one woman¡¯s life that shadow all her decisions and actions thereafter. If you are looking for a happy uplifting story, this isn¡¯t it. Do not feel pressured to read this work. Comments and recollections in following volumes give the basic outline of the events that occur within, so there is no requirement to read this book in order to follow the greater story. It is presented here to give a deeper understanding of characters'' roots, reasoning and motivations.

    This is a story of war.

 Trueborn: Chapter One

    <h2>9 A.L.</h2>

    Water ran down the glass in a near perfect sheet from high above. Below the ground level of the green it separated from the glass and formed a water curtain. Two stories below, it splashed into a deep pool. A narrow shelf of stone flooring surrounded the water on three sides. The fourth side was hidden behind the waterfall.

    Ian looked down at the pool below from his seat on the edge of the floor of the green. Terraces, each filled with a different plant, formed a kind of rough staircase down to the water. On the sides of the waterfall, from both right and left, true stairs lead down to a passage behind the water. Ian walked past this point before and never noticed the passage behind.

    With their entire suburb on the march, one of the gatherers stumbled on the waterfall. In their enthusiasm for a tuber on the bottom terrace they ran down those stairs and discovered the passage.

    Kyle along with his personal guards, Sophia and Jake, went to explore what was beyond. Ian was on overwatch, keeping an eye on the hunters, gatherers and children. As the highest tier wizard among them, he could do this task with his eyes closed. He was bored and itched for the chance to kill a beast or two. Unfortunately their large group appeared to have scared them all away.

    Sophia came back out of the passage and swept her eyes over the workers. She spotted Ian in his high perch. She started up the stairs to join him. Ian forced his boredom back at this new development. Outside of a settlement Kyle very rarely let either of his bodyguards leave his side. Ian was convinced they both pissed when Kyle did.

    Sophia settled down next to him. She held a bow across one knee and kept her eyes moving across the forest in the green.

    ¡°It¡¯s a square,¡± Sophia told him. Ian was not that surprised. They found a few before. The waves of animals that were drawn to them made trying to stay in one a costly enterprise. Darien sent a large group of warriors to a square that showed up close to Chicago. After twelve waves three quarters of the men were dead and they were forced to retreat. When Darien sent a new stronger force to try again, there was no sign of the square. It was like it never existed.

    ¡°It has a crystal,¡± Sophia told him. ¡°It is smaller than Londontown¡¯s but larger than anything I¡¯ve seen in a rest.¡±

    ¡°That is interesting,¡± Ian observed.

    ¡°It struck me that this square is rather hard to find, it might be years before someone else locates it. An enterprising person might make some real progress from a secure base like this,¡± Sophia commented.

    ¡°Kyle will report it,¡± Ian countered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he will step out of that square again,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°He will send someone else to report to Darien.¡±

    ¡°You, Jake or I are the most likely messengers. If Kyle does send someone else, there is no way for Darien to know that if we replace them on the way. As long as a messenger arrives we can continue to buy and sell in Chicago.¡± Ian thought about it for a second. ¡°Maybe it would be easier to elect a new leader now.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I don¡¯t want to deal with all these people¡¯s complaints. Kyle is good at it, I say let him keep the job until he is a real problem,¡± Sophia offered. Ian nodded his head, conceding that she had a point. Officially Sophia was with Jake, but Sophia and Ian held similar goals. They often worked together to secure real power in this new world, while avoiding the tedious duties that went along with it.

    ¡°Kyle wants a few minutes to look things over. I am not certain if he¡¯s ever seen a square,¡± Sophia commented, delivering her message from the leader.

    ¡°I¡¯ll send the hunters out for dinner,¡± Ian commented. ¡°I¡¯ll keep the rest of them here until the women are done with their harvesting.¡± Ian gave a whistle calling the hunter¡¯s attention. He gave them the hand signal to bring back dinner. That left the scavengers/warriors on the outer rim keeping watch.

    ¡°This is nice,¡± Sophia said softly. ¡°The sounds of the water naturally mute our voices. We can sit right here in plain sight and have a private conversation.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a spell that does that,¡± Ian commented.

    ¡°Of course there is,¡± Sophia countered. Sophia didn¡¯t use magic. Instead she depended on her skill with the bow and knife. Ian was a wizard, one of the few.

    ¡°It reminds me of the western exit out of the first ruined green,¡± Sophia observed. ¡°Jake almost got himself killed there pulling a boar.¡±

    ¡°But you saved him,¡± Ian finished the story for her. All her stories ended with her as the hero.

    ¡°No,¡± Sophia said, surprising Ian. ¡°If it was just me he would have died there. I was young and foolish enough I might have followed him. It was Irene that saved him. She nailed that boar with three ice-bolts as neatly as you please.¡±

    ¡°Irene?¡± Ian said. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize that name.¡±

    ¡°She was in the group I came in from the Speedwell with. She already tangled up with a boar and limped around at about half speed. She is the only other wizard I¡¯ve ever seen that could cast that stun spell you have,¡± Sophia commented.

    ¡°Really?¡± Ian asked, his interest fully engaged. It was hard to find a wizard that knew anything outside of ice-bolt and fireball.

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    ¡°Yeah, I guess she¡¯s my one regret. I should have kept her around,¡± Sophia observed.

    ¡°Did you kill her?¡± Ian inquired.

    ¡°Nothing that dramatic,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°I pushed Jake to take the position with Kyle even though there was no place for her. She was odd, and I thought we would do better without her. Darien wanted to keep her in Chicago. Those were the early days and any kind of wizard was valuable. What¡¯s funny is I think she knew about Darien. She snuck out of Chicago within days. She was smart that way. I remember we were there less than a day and she told us how Chicago was using the crafters to hold on to the suburbs. How they used the promise of safety to draw in the crafters.¡±

    ¡°If she was so insightful why did you think you¡¯d do better without her?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°She was too well connected. She worked in the same department as Darien and went to those stick fighting classes on the Speedwell all the leadership reminisces about. Even worse, she was one of the queen¡¯s daughters. Although in those days the queen was still just the healer in Londontown.¡±

    ¡°What happened to her?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. She probably got herself killed. I haven¡¯t heard anything about her in all these years.¡± Sophia suddenly laughed out loud, ¡°I remember she carried this black broomstick around like it was a weapon. I used to laugh my ass off at that one. It is still funny today. I saw her crush the skull of a rat with it once. Up until then I thought she might be one of those disconnected assholes in command, but that rat strike showed she held a much more physical job.¡±

    Ian wondered what Sophia would think if she found out he was one of those disconnected assholes in command. He was destined to be the next captain of the Speedwell until it all fell apart. Darien was assigned to engineering. He was put there when he failed out of the command program. Ian admitted Darien worked the position to his own advantage, using the access to the carts and the freedom to move around the settlement to prepare a place for himself in the structure. His spot among the leadership of Chicago was assured long before he stepped into the structure himself.

    A woman with a black staff seemed vaguely familiar. Ian could remember seeing someone like that in Chicago, but he couldn¡¯t recall when. A daughter of the queen could be useful. Technically the queen, as a member of the last generation of flight crew, must have eight children. The radiation in interstellar space made natural birth unviable, so the infants were all gestated in artificial wombs. That allowed the flight crew to raise the children in their seventies, limiting the time the Speedwell needed to support the high numbers. Darien only knew of three before this, and they were all already affiliated with Londontown.

    ¡°We¡¯ll tell Darien we found a rest below the green with a close stair,¡± Ian said. ¡°We¡¯ll tell them the stair access is on the north wall, but closer to the west. Chicago is in that direction so we can intercept any messengers heading our way.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°Messengers never like staying in a small suburb anyway. If we intercept them with a work crew, they¡¯ll take advantage of the situation, drop off their message and head back.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Ian commented. ¡°In the long term, we need to report our relocation every so often.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we can keep it secret that long?¡± Sophia asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. The tricky part will be keeping travelers from carrying the tale.¡±

    ¡°I know how to deal with them,¡± Sophia said with a loving caress of the arch of her bow.

    ¡°Deal them on the way out, not the way in,¡± Ian instructed. ¡°I¡¯ll need more men for the plans I have. This honey trap should draw them in.¡±

    When the gatherers finished picking over the terraces, Ian set three of his warriors to watch for the hunters return. He ordered the rest of the group down the stairs and through the passage behind the waterfall. Two of the warriors led the rabble. Ian brought up the rear. He¡¯d seen plenty of squares and they were all the same. Past the training yards was the square proper. The courtyard was surrounded by glass walls that raised three stories to the ceiling above. That made this a small square. Londontown was five stories high, its apartments and balconies packed with people. Its first floor arcade was all rented out as shops. This square was empty.

    Kyle was standing on one of the ¡®outdoor¡¯ tables in front of the inn, giving an address. He was walking through the basics of renting rooms in the inn or one of the apartments above. The way Kyle spoke about the inn made Ian think the man already purchased the business. Ian wasn¡¯t interested in being an innkeeper, although the position did allow a person to keep tabs on the inner workings of a square. It was a rather smart move for Kyle.

    Ian wondered idly if the gatherers possessed enough coin to rent a room. They tried to keep them stripped of coins. He thought four or five of them together could probably scrape together enough coins for a night or two. They would need to switch over to a more coin based society. Ian intended to rent a room in the inn for his public persona, but he would need an apartment or two for his private business as well. He looked up at the balconies above and decided there was no rush. There was plenty of housing for their small group.

    Kyle finished his speech with a promise of a feast to celebrate their good fortune. As the group broke up to explore their new home, Ian went over to speak to Kyle.

    ¡°I sent the hunters out to catch dinner,¡± Ian informed Kyle.

    ¡°Great,¡± Kyle responded. ¡°Along with the greens the women gathered we will have the makings of a feast.¡± Kyle turned serious. ¡°Tomorrow I want you to take two of your best scavengers and report back to Darien. Tell no one but Darien himself of the square.¡±

    ¡°Will do boss,¡± Ian responded. ¡°I¡¯ll warn my boys not to talk to anyone. It might help if you had a word with them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll speak to your choices on the way out in the morning,¡± Kyle assured the wizard. ¡°Jake will run our defense while you are gone.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid another suburb might want to take it from us?¡± Ian asked, trying to implant the idea that they needed to be leery of strangers.

    ¡°No,¡± Kyle responded. ¡°Not once Darien knows we''re here. I worry about those bastards in Londontown. I can believe anything of them.¡± Kyle possessed a deep seated hatred of Londontown. Ian suspected he suffered some kind of personal betrayal by one of its citizens. Ian needed to think about how he could use Kyle¡¯s hatred to further his own goals.

    ¡°When I get back, I¡¯ll set up watch points in the green so the blues don¡¯t come upon us without warning,¡± Ian suggested.

    ¡°Good idea,¡± Kyle responded. ¡°With a protection crystal we should finally be able to get ahead. We can reduce the guard and start scavenging more. With some luck we can start enjoying some of the fine things the structure has on offer.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t get an argument from me,¡± Ian responded, even as he wondered how a man could be happy with so little. If you weren¡¯t in control anyone could take it away from you without warning. Ian was going to do what it took to climb to the top. It was his destiny to rule, not just one small settlement but all the humans in the colony.

    ¡°I am going to call it Redfalls,¡± Kyle announced. ¡°That should tell those blues they aren¡¯t welcome here.¡±

    ¡°Perfect,¡± Ian responded, even as his mind worked on how he could use the square to fulfill his destiny.

 Trueborn: Chapter Two

    <h2>11 A.L.</h2>

    Greg kept to the back of the meeting room. His suburb, The Heights, was too small to have much significance. His people hunted a ruined green on the edge of dark space. They collected hides and produced finished leather. No one had discovered a magical crafting method for tanning leather. It made leather the most individually valuable raw material.

    His was the farthest east of the suburbs. As their children grew, most suburbs were forced to move west in order to gather enough metal and fiber scrap to survive. Warrior skills, imbuing a weapon with an element, were fairly common, but wizard skills were still almost completely unknown.

    Greg knew some wizard skills. Over the years a friend taught him a variety of spells. Greg went on to teach them to the residents of his suburb. Probably the most useful spell she taught him was how to turn the lights on. This was information he did not share with his superiors in Chicago. If they knew that all the adult members of his suburb could throw a fireball if threatened, they would force them into service. On the official records he was the only one in The Heights with awakened magic. He was a simple tier one warrior.

    Once all of them knew some magic, the dying stopped. The light spell allowed them to live and work in the dark region. The threats from animals were minimal there. The most dangerous animal in the ruined green was a boar. Any two of the adults in the settlement could bring one down easily. They were large animals that produced a thick leather perfect for armor. His eldest son Bill was ten years old and starting to learn magic himself.

    ¡°Our bronze collection is down thirty percent,¡± a suburb leader reported. ¡°I believe a square further west is scavenging in our territory.¡± Two other leaders reported similar decreases. Darien¡¯s secretary Michael marked the location of the complaining suburbs on a map drawn directly on the conference room wall. The map showed Chicago downtown in the center, with Londontown to the southwest. Darkspace, with its ruined greens, ran along the eastern edge.

    Chicago was organized as a set of roving bands which traveled the halls, clearing rooms and gathering raw materials for crafting. Downtown was a secured section of halls that housed the crafters that processed those raw materials into the weapons, armor and consumables needed to survive the halls. Chicago was located in a network of hallways and rooms with only three ways in. One of those ways was the northern stair, which led down to the same level as a nearby green. The access was just far enough to keep the dedicated crafter types from wandering into the Green, but close enough to supply fresh food to the leadership.

    ¡°I will send a survey in that direction to identify the size and location of the settlement,¡± Darien declared. ¡°In the meantime, every suburb from here,¡± Darien said, indicating the locations on the map, ¡°down to here needs to shift south.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can,¡± the southernmost suburb leader argued. ¡°The beasts get thick south of my location.¡± He rose from his seat to point to a location beyond the edges of the map. ¡°There is another green here,¡± he explained, ¡°that is filled with bears. They can be found in the halls at night. It takes at least six of my hunters to defeat a bear. If I shift any farther south, I am going to start losing residents.¡±

    ¡°We need to push the blues back.¡± This advice came from a stand-in for an actual suburb leader. The suburb changed its name a year or so ago to Redfalls. Greg couldn¡¯t remember the leader showing up for any of these meetings in person recently.

    ¡°Once we find the square, we¡¯ll know where they are coming from,¡± the surrogate representative observed. ¡°We can set up border stations and charge a tax for anyone to pass.¡±

    ¡°Are you volunteering warriors for the enterprise, Ian?¡± Darien asked. ¡°My own men are stretched thin.¡±

    ¡°I need to consult with Kyle for how many warriors we could spare but I can pledge my own efforts as a wizard for this effort,¡± Ian responded. Greg didn¡¯t like the sound of that. A murmur went around the room. The thought of fighting alongside a wizard made people bold.

    Michael executed a roll call, asking each suburb how many men they could volunteer. All the suburbs that complained of decreased salvage pledged two or three warriors. There was a scattering of other volunteers from across all the suburbs. All together the pledged number of warriors was nearly one hundred. That amount was a clear indication that the suburbs were for this course of action. Darien bowed to the pressure in the room and agreed to organize a series of patrols to push the blues back.

    Soon after everyone who didn¡¯t pledge men in support were dismissed while the details were worked out. Greg shuffled out with the rest of the back wall suburb leaders. They adjourned to a neighboring room where snacks were laid out on a beautiful table constructed of polished wood.

    Greg was impressed with the table. It was the kind of high craft his suburb could not afford. The food was less impressive. His suburb ate well off the produce of the ruined green. He noticed that several of the other back wallers were partaking heavily from the offerings. One man was slipping portions of fruit into a leather pouch at his belt.

    ¡°Hey Stan,¡± Greg said to him. Stan was the leader of Northbrook. The suburb didn¡¯t have access to a greenspace. It was located below and south of Chicago. Its name came from the first location they settled. It was a water source that was a broken pipe in a wall that fed a stream of water that flowed down a hallway where it disappeared down a floor vent.

    ¡°Greg,¡± Stan returned the greeting. Greg never saw the brook. The water source went dry years ago, but Stan didn¡¯t change his suburb¡¯s name. Greg thought about the suburb that recently changed its name to Redfalls. Did they find some kind of large volume flow from above?

    The Heights name came from the fact that it was positioned above Chicago. They moved as close to darkspace as they could trying to keep their children alive. The salvage pickings might be slim, but there were also less animals.

    ¡°What do you think about pushing the blues back?¡± Greg asked. Greg took a bite off his plate. The plate was a cut section of wood. The Heights used stiffened leather squares.

    ¡°I¡¯m all for it, if it means my group gets more room. I doubt it though. The profits will go to the volunteers,¡± Stan replied.

    ¡°This time it was volunteers,¡± Greg commented. ¡°I am worried next time it will be mandated. My hunters won¡¯t fare well against warriors. I dare not go myself. My entire suburb stays close to the rest when I am not there and our production suffers.¡± This wasn¡¯t really true anymore. It was true at one time. Greg knew that if it was discovered his suburb was doing better, their taxes would increase, so he always described his suburb as it was in the early days.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it will come to that,¡± Stan responded. ¡°The blues will shift farther west. The wild is much less dangerous to them since their children stay in the square.¡±

    ¡°I hope so,¡± Greg responded. Stan slipped another apple into his bag as Greg ate some sort of pastry. He wondered where downtown Chicago was getting the flour. It didn¡¯t taste like the tuber based version in his suburb. ¡°These pastries are really good,¡± he observed. ¡°I wonder what they make the flour out of.¡± Stan put an entire pastry in his mouth and barely chewed it before swallowing.

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    ¡°That¡¯s fine flour. It¡¯s made from vendor grain,¡± Stan replied. ¡°A trader runs by my place every other year or so and tries to sell me some. He always wants too much.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize the vendors sold grain,¡± Greg observed.

    ¡°Not all of them,¡± Stan observed. ¡°The trader always tells me it is a rare and valuable product, although that might just be his salesmanship.¡±

    The rest of the group of suburb leaders came into the room, the planning complete. Greg wondered how much tax they would end up collecting from the border stations. He knew that unless he volunteered warriors or hunters for the push he was unlikely to ever know.

    <hr>

    The trip back to the suburb was much faster than the trip to downtown. Greg and his two companions were no longer loaded down with the heavy bundles of cured hides. As they drew near the area of the settlement the halls remained unfamiliar. This happened before on earlier trips. The structure remodeled sections of itself on a fairly regular basis. Normally it didn¡¯t happen in occupied areas. The settlement must have moved several days ago in order for the area to change. They would have to sweep the area looking for the new settlement location.

    Greg and Sharl agreed to try to find something closer to the green the next time around. Greg¡¯s party decided to walk through the old location to the green, before they began their search.

    ¡°Light ahead,¡± one of his companions commented. Greg slowed, they were far into the dark zone. He shifted the hold on his spear so that it was ready to use. The three of them proceeded with caution. They could not just bypass the light since it might be their suburb, or someone from it. They rounded the corner to find a woman sitting against one of the walls in the center of a straight section of hallway. She was dressed in green. A long black walking stick leaned against the wall next to her.

    A pile of cut leather was laying at her side. She held a sliver of boar tusk in her hand that she was using to carefully punch holes in the leather. She pushed a length of sinew through the hole to sew the two pieces of leather together.

    ¡°Irene,¡± Greg said in surprise. Irene usually showed up twice a year, but last year they didn¡¯t see her at all.

    ¡°Ah Greg, there you are,¡± Irene responded calmly. ¡°The protection crystal in the rest failed, so Sharl moved everyone down to a new rest just off the green. I volunteered to wait for you.¡± She greeted Greg¡¯s companions by name. They hung back a small distance, keeping an eye out for trouble.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t need to. We would have found them eventually,¡± Greg responded.

    ¡°Sharl helped me tan this leather, so I owed her,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°It is good to see you,¡± Greg said to her. ¡°I was worried when we didn¡¯t see you last year.¡±

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I got caught up in something. Life on this planet is never very predictable.¡± Irene tucked the sliver of boar tusk into a small bag on her belt. She rolled up the pieces of leather and tied them with a section of integrated rope. She tied it in two places, leaving a kind of handle in between.

    ¡°When did the remodel happen?¡± Greg asked. He thought it was interesting that Irene said ¡®on this planet¡¯, almost everyone said ¡®in the structure¡¯.

    ¡°Two nights ago,¡± Irene said as she rose to her feet with the help of her staff, swinging the roll over her shoulder. ¡°I spent the night in the suburb and when I came back it was totally changed. I¡¯ve never been that close before. It was rather surprising.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen it a couple times,¡± Greg responded. ¡°It never loses its oddness.¡±

    ¡°We better get moving,¡± Irene said, stepping out to lead the way. ¡°Sharl was getting worried about you. She said you were a couple days overdue.¡±

    ¡°She forgets how far we actually are from Chicago these days,¡± Greg said as he followed Irene. ¡°I keep considering dropping out from the suburb agreement, but then I would have to negotiate with a square somewhere. Most of them are dominated by blue wizards and don¡¯t care for us reds.¡±

    ¡°Too true,¡± Irene said with a sigh, ¡°although I can¡¯t figure out exactly how that happened. I know it started with the healer in Londontown, but from there I am clueless. There is a red dominated square far to the north. It is far enough away that you would need to relocate.¡±

    ¡°Is there?¡± Greg asked. ¡°At the meeting in Chicago it came up that there must be a square north of Londontown that is scavenging some of the northwestern suburbs¡¯ territory.¡±

    ¡°That would be Paris,¡± Irene said casually, like everyone knew that square. ¡°It is blue affiliated. I was talking about Moscow. It is four or five green spaces north and forty or fifty stories down.¡±

    ¡°That is far,¡± Greg commented. ¡°I don¡¯t think Sharl would like the idea of living that deep in.¡±

    ¡°You could always look for a square of your own,¡± Irene commented. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go south. The¡­ difficulty increases very quickly when you go in that direction, but both west and north are well within your abilities. If you stay high, I don¡¯t think you would run into anyone.¡±

    ¡°We are happy enough as we are,¡± Greg responded. ¡°If things change I will remember your advice.¡± Greg considered his own words. He thought about Chicago''s idea of imposing a tax on the use of their territory and their call for volunteers. That was an indication of change and he wasn¡¯t certain he approved of it.

    ¡°Chicago is planning on putting up tolling stations at the border to Paris,¡± Greg told Irene. He thought with how much traveling she did, she should be warned. He used her name for the new blue square.

    ¡°Really?¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of anyone doing that before. How much is the toll?¡±

    ¡°Maybe toll is the wrong word. It was described as a tax for using their territory. I didn¡¯t hear any figures. Since I didn¡¯t volunteer warriors to man the stations I wasn¡¯t invited to the planning meetings later,¡± Greg explained.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to keep a watch out for them,¡± Irene responded. She led them to a stairwell where they climbed two floors. They traveled a series of hallways in the general direction of the green, until reaching another stairwell. Irene led the way up, stopping when they reached the first landing.

    ¡°There is access to the green just down the hall to the south,¡± Irene said pointing in that direction. ¡°The rest is up two stories and to the east,¡± she explained, before moving up the stairs. Depending on how far it was to the east, this could be the closest rest they ever found to the green. They were at the east end, indicated by the complete lack of working lights. Irene was throwing light spells in front of them as they walked. Her actions were so automatic Greg wondered if she was even aware she was doing it.

    It was a very short distance to the east from the stairwell to the next intersection. Greg could hear the voices of his suburb. Greg and his two companions picked up their step, happy to be home. Irene laughed at them and stepped out of the way. Sharl appeared from a side corridor. Greg swept her up into a hug.

    ¡°You¡¯re late!¡± Sharl said to him after he released her.

    ¡°No I¡¯m not,¡± Greg told her. ¡°Although I would have been if Irene didn¡¯t bring us.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it great?¡± Sharl told him, turning to wave at the rest proper. The rest was located at a dead end against the wall of the green. The view out of the glass was beautiful. With all of Greg¡¯s attention on Sharl, he didn¡¯t even notice it. It was nice. As he took a moment to appreciate it, Sharl continued to tell him the features of this location.

    ¡°And,¡± Sharl said at the end of her listing, ¡°there is a public sanitation facility just down the hall.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Greg said. ¡°That is a bonus. How did you find it?¡±

    ¡°Irene told me about the rest,¡± Sharl explained. ¡°She said she slept in it on the way. She showed up after the crystal failed and we were looking for a new place. She didn¡¯t know about the sanitation facility. We only found it after we started clearing rooms for our stuff.¡± Greg remembered Irene saying something about Sharl helping her tan the leather she was working with. They must have used the pools in the sanitation facility.

    ¡°When did the crystal fail?¡± Greg asked. ¡°It sounds like I missed a lot.¡±

    ¡°The morning after you left,¡± Sharl explained, ¡°and you are late.¡±

    ¡°No I¡¯m not,¡± Greg insisted. ¡°Chicago is just a lot farther away than you remember.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Three

    Bill, not Billy, sat with Irene in one of the side hallways in the new suburb. The ten year old was Greg and Sharl¡¯s eldest son. He watched in fascination as Irene worked on sewing her new leathers.

    ¡°Why are you doing that?¡± Bill asked. ¡°Dad says crafted leathers are stronger.¡±

    ¡°They serve me well enough,¡± Irene told the boy. ¡°They don¡¯t cost me any coin and I like to keep my skills up.¡± She didn¡¯t mention that wearing handmade leathers made people underestimate her. She owned a set of hunter¡¯s greens that she wore most of the time. She was wearing them now. They were good for mixing in with a crowd in a square, but they also indicated a certain level of wealth. ¡°They may not be as easy to repair as integrated armor, but the key is to not get hit in the first place,¡± Irene explained.

    The boy considered this comment as if it was a priceless bit of wisdom. He rolled it over in his mind. Not getting hit sounded like a good idea to him.

    ¡°How do you not get hit?¡± he asked.

    ¡°There are two methods,¡± Irene told him. ¡°The first is to get out of the way using speed and agility. The second method is to not get in the way to begin with. To accomplish this you have to be able to defend yourself at a distance and hold an attacker back.¡±

    Bill nodded his head in agreement, as he considered this deeper truth. He knew how to defend himself at a distance. He could cast the spell fireball. He was very proud of that fact. He was one of the first children in the suburb to learn it. His father told him to only use it in defense and to never use it to draw attention to himself.

    ¡°How do you hold an attacker back without getting close?¡± the boy asked.

    ¡°You can stand behind someone stronger and bigger than you,¡± Irene told him. ¡°That method works well.¡± Irene reached the end of her seam. She tied the end of the thread off. She cut the sinew using her knife. She turned the leather and inspected her work.

    ¡°Is there no other way?¡± the boy asked.

    ¡°Magic,¡± Irene told him. ¡°There are spells that will slow an attacker or stun them, giving you the opportunity to move away.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about those!¡± the boy said enthusiastically.

    Irene decided the just completed seam was good. She carefully turned the leather to begin work on the second seam, that would both reinforce the joint and hold the leather edges down so they didn¡¯t rub against her skin.

    ¡°In the three spell tree there is ice slick,¡± Irene told the boy, ¡°it forms a layer of ice on a surface and makes an animal slip.¡± She continued on, explaining a large number of tier zero defensive spells. Irene finished with a description of a five tree spell that created a curtain of fire that could cause an animal to stop its charge. It also broke a scent trail.

    ¡°That one¡¯s the best!¡± the boy said enthusiastically. ¡°I want to learn that!¡± A scratching sound came from their left. That direction led away from the suburb. Bill froze, a look of fear crossed his face as he looked past Irene to the hall beyond.

    Irene pushed her sliver of boar¡¯s tusk into the leather. She locked her eyes on the rat that stepped out of the cross corridor and flicked a spell at it. Light flashed the length of the hall and the rat dropped dead. Irene waited to see if it was alone. She strained her ears, listening for any hint of sound. The boy held still and quiet beside her. When she decided it was alone, Irene set her pile of leather down and rose to her feet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go pick that up and you can take it back to the cook,¡± Irene told the boy.

    ¡°That was awesome!¡± the boy said. He jumped to his feet and danced around. Irene left him guarding her half sewn armor and went down the hall to pick up the carcass. She took a moment at the intersection to check for any other animals. She threw light spells down the cross corridor to illuminate it farther away. Animals in dark space generally didn¡¯t like light and would turn away when confronted by it.

    She hefted up the rat and turned back to Bill. Irene was surprised to find Sharl waiting with her son. It worried Irene that Sharl could sneak up on her. Sharl was no threat to Irene, but if she could do it, someone else could too. Irene would have to be more careful. She was listening for sound approaching from outside the suburb, not from inside.

    ¡°Take that to Mary,¡± Sharl told her son, ¡°she is cooking tonight. I¡¯ll stay here and keep Irene company.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mama,¡± Billy replied. He struggled with the heavy carcass for a moment before getting a good hold on it. He ran off into the settlement.

    Irene sat back down on the floor. She turned the leather around looking for her awl.

    ¡°I heard you talking to Bill,¡± Sharl said, as she lowered herself to the ground ¡°You are very good with him. Have you considered offering lessons?¡±

    ¡°Lessons?¡± Irene asked, puzzled. ¡°In what?¡±

    ¡°Magic,¡± Sharl responded. ¡°I taught all my children how to read and do simple math, but they will need more than that to excel in the structure. They need to know about magic. You just told my son more spells than I knew existed and I suspect you were giving him the simple version.¡±

    ¡°Bill is bright and well behaved,¡± Irene responded, ¡°and I enjoy his excitement. But I am not really teacher material. I lack the patience. Hearing a spell exists is not the same as learning it. I don¡¯t think I can stay in one place long enough.¡±

    ¡°Think about it,¡± Sharl said. ¡°I would like to learn that fire curtain before you leave us, so think about what you need that I can trade for it. Billy will be very disappointed if we can¡¯t teach it to him.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, I may owe you that one, for putting the idea into his head,¡± Irene said with a smile. Sharl frowned, not liking the idea of not paying her way. ¡°I could use some buttons or toggles if you have any extra,¡± Irene said, when she noticed Sharl¡¯s expression.

    ¡°I have a really nice set of buttons Greg sliced out of an immature boar¡¯s tusk,¡± Sharl responded, happy again.

    ¡°Deal,¡± Irene said. Thinking the conversation was over, she picked up her awl and started punching holes again.

    ¡°I wanted to talk to you about what you said to Greg,¡± Sharl said.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Irene replied, as she wondered what comment Sharl was referencing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of these tax stations. It feels like an escalation of the tensions between Chicago and Londontown. You told Greg if we stayed high you didn¡¯t think we would run into anyone. I¡¯ve always gotten the impression that the squares are a lot deeper. Do you think we could find a square high up?¡±

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Irene said. ¡°Several years ago I saw one northeast of here attached to a ruined green. It didn¡¯t have a protection crystal. I¡¯ve heard that if you settle in a square without a crystal, waves of animals attack. Hold out long enough and a crystal will form.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sharl responded. ¡°I saw a migration in the early days. They are very dangerous. I don¡¯t know if I want to risk the children. Although the animals that attacked were the same as the animals in the local area. If it was a ruined green, I wouldn¡¯t expect there to be anything worse than boars.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make a sketch of where I saw it and you can think about it,¡± Irene suggested. ¡°I was planning on heading north from here. If I get the opportunity I will swing by and see if it is still there.¡±

    ¡°I doubt it is,¡± Sharl responded. ¡°A year is a long time in the structure. If no one claimed it, it was likely remodeled long ago. Still if you found a square on one ruined green, there could be others,¡± Sharl said consideringly. ¡°What do you think of this territory tax?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Irene replied. ¡°Until now no one has tried to claim wildspace as territory. Well except for Chicago downtown, but that is different since it is occupied. It will cause resentment and harden the lines between groups. Paris has been there for at least two years, since I visited it that long ago. If the suburbs are just noticing a drop in their scavenging, it may be the result of them pushing into Paris¡¯s territory, not the other way around. I don¡¯t think anyone can really know,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°Londontown settled Paris and split their population in an effort to increase the territory they can hunt and scavenge. Chicago needs to do the same. They need to move north and find a square or even another pocket to claim and settle,¡± Irene observed. ¡°They should split their population just as Londontown has done.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Darien will want to share power with another downtown,¡± Sharl commented. ¡°I find it hard to believe the leadership in Londontown allowed half their population to move away.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Irene said slowly. ¡°It may not have been the queen¡¯s idea. There may have been a rumor among the lower tier crafters that a square was to the north.¡± Sharl gave Irene a hard look. Now Irene was here telling Sharl¡¯s spouse they should move to a square. Sharl was forced to admit the ¡®rumor¡¯ wasn¡¯t a lie since Paris was there now. Irene didn¡¯t make any promises to her either.

    ¡°If you find a square up high near or in dark space, I¡¯d love to hear about it,¡± Sharl commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you first,¡± Irene responded. Irene walked Sharl through how to cast fire curtain. Irene cast it once to show Sharl what it looked like. A sheet of flame sprang to life before Irene. Sharl could smell the smoke, feel the heat and hear the crackle. The spell ended and it was gone with no sign it ever existed.

    Sharl would have to try it against a live opponent around twenty times before she would learn the spell and successfully cast it. Sharl thanked Irene and went to get the ivory buttons.

    Irene returned to sewing her leathers. The new set was almost complete. She was using their construction as an excuse to linger with Sharl and Greg¡¯s group. She liked the entire group. It was made up of survivors of the original survey teams that were officially sent into the ruins. They did not choose to come here. When Irene first met them, Greg was the only one who knew any magic. He only knew how to imbue a weapon with fire. None of the rest of them awoke their magic even though they were in the structure for over two years. Outcast from other groups for their lack of magic, they bound together to survive.

    On that first visit, Irene traded Greg how to cast fireball for how to imbue fire. During the exchange Irene taught Greg her personal theory of how magic worked. Greg went on to teach every adult in his suburb magic using Irene¡¯s method. Irene was afraid at the time that magic knowledge might tear the group apart or encourage them to take on too much risk. That didn¡¯t happen.

    Even though Irene liked them, she didn¡¯t feel like one of them. She didn¡¯t share the same early traumatic experiences that they all lived through. Some of their behavior seemed paranoid and fearful to her. At the same time, she didn¡¯t want to dissuade them from it, since she thought some of those actions were what kept them alive.

    Sharl returned carrying the buttons. She handed them to Irene. Irene accepted them and gave them a glance, which deepened into a close inspection. Sharl described them as sliced from a boar''s tusk. These buttons were much nicer than that. Each one was hand carved. The face of them looked like the multiple petals of a flower.

    ¡°These are beautiful,¡± Irene declared. ¡°I can¡¯t accept them. They must have taken hours to make.¡±

    ¡°A deal is a deal,¡± Sharl declared. ¡°Honestly Greg makes tons of them. We¡¯ve been talking about selling them in Chicago.¡±

    ¡°You should,¡± Irene replied. ¡°Make a trip and sell them in Londontown, or sell them to a trader heading in that direction. If I was heading that way I would take some myself. The queen loves pretty things.¡±

    ¡°Greg mentioned a trader selling vendor grain in the Chicago suburbs,¡± Sharl said. ¡°Do you know anything about them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been out of the structure for the last year so I don¡¯t know who that might have been,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ve met a couple dozen traders and have played the roll myself on occasion.¡±

    Sharl, who was standing until this point, sat down next to Irene. She gave the other woman a sharp look.

    ¡°What do you mean by you¡¯ve been out of the structure?¡± Sharl asked. Irene realized her slip. She should have said she was out of the area, not the structure. Irene didn¡¯t like to advertise that she went back out to the colony ship. People living in the structure always thought she was lying.

    ¡°I was out on the Speedwell,¡± Irene responded. ¡°A dear friend of mine from the flight crew passed away this last winter. I didn¡¯t want her to be alone.¡± In truth Agatha¡¯s family provided most of the old woman¡¯s care near the end. Four of her children resided in the eastern villages. Irene stayed close in order to assure herself that Agatha was given all the medical care the ship could provide. The eastern villages started out as a subsistence farming community at an almost pre-industrial technology level. Agatha believed they would increase their technology level as they settlers missed the conveniences of the ship. Instead they turned away from technology. They developed a deep crafting tradition, but their medical care suffered.

    ¡°Someone from the flight crew is still alive?¡± Sharl said in surprise.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene answered. ¡°There are not many left now. They are all in their late nineties, most of them have retired to the villages with their families. The queen is a member of the flight crew, so it shouldn¡¯t be that surprising.¡±

    ¡°The queen is flight crew?¡± Sharl asked, her whole world view was being shaken.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. She thought everyone knew that. ¡°She is Dr. Whitman. That is why some people call her the mad queen. She suffered a stroke or has dementia or both. I think Control tried to heal her, but it doesn¡¯t know humans well enough to actually fix her. Instead she came out¡­ odd.¡±

    ¡°Mad, you mean,¡± Sharl responded.

    ¡°I guess, but it is strangely cruel to say that about her when I don¡¯t think it was her fault. Although the result is the same I guess,¡± Irene responded. Sharl stared off into space for a moment while she assimilated this new information.

    ¡°What are these villages you mentioned?¡± Sharl asked. Irene realized that since this group was all survey crew they left the Speedwell long before the formation of the villages.

    ¡°They are the colony,¡± Irene explained. ¡°When Command realized they were losing so many workers to the structure that it was a danger to the colony¡¯s survival they issued land grants to every member of the landing generation. The land grants were for fallow fields along the eastern edge of the valley. A series of villages were built by the inhabitants. They grow their own food and trade labor or products with the Speedwell for the steel they use to make their hunting weapons, tools and plows. If things get bad here and you don¡¯t want to go deeper, you could try your luck there.¡±

    ¡°Back to the ship?¡± Sharl said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That is almost like a dream now. I don¡¯t think we would fit in there anymore, especially the children.¡±

    ¡°Not the Speedwell, there is really no one left there. It is just used for its medical facilities. I meant the villages. Life there is not much different than here just without magic. The fact that there aren''t as many vicious beasts makes the lack of magic not a problem,¡± Irene explained. ¡°As a member of the landing generation, the Speedwell will assign land to you. Your group is large enough you could start a new village.¡±

    Sharl didn¡¯t respond. She was obviously struggling with something.

    ¡°How would we even find the way out?¡± Sharl said aloud. Irene wasn¡¯t certain if it was an actual question.

    ¡°You''re really close here. That¡¯s why I always visit your group on the way in or out. You can use your map. Obviously the corridors and rooms it shows from when you came in ten years ago will be all changed, but the sections revealed from those travels will still be there. Use them to get the direction back to the entrance. The entrance itself hasn¡¯t changed,¡± Irene said. ¡°That is what I do.¡± When Sharl still seemed shaken, Irene said, ¡°There is no need to go now. You have a good life here. There is no reason to leave it. I just want you to know the option exists, in case that changes.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Four

    Late that night, Sharl joined Greg on watch. There were too many of them to all sleep in the rest at night, like they did in the early days. The youngest children were prioritized for spots in the safety of the protection crystal. Most of the adults and older children spent the nights in the closest cleared and secured rooms, separated by families. Normally Sharl or Greg stayed in the room with their oldest while the other took a turn at the night watch. While Irene slept in their room they felt safe enough to both be on watch together. It gave Sharl the opportunity to talk to her spouse with some privacy.

    ¡°Irene told me some startling things today,¡± Sharl announced.

    ¡°She tells me startling things all the time,¡± Greg responded. ¡°What did she tell you?¡±

    ¡°Did you know she goes back to the Speedwell every year? She visits us on her way in or out of the structure, which is why we usually see her twice a year. She told me that was where she was this last year,¡± Sharl told her spouse.

    ¡°The Speedwell?¡± Greg said in shock. That answered Sharl¡¯s question on if Greg was keeping secrets from her. Sharl told him about the colony villages and how Irene assured her that they could go there if needed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to do that,¡± Greg said. ¡°I feel like we have just figured out how to live well here. I don¡¯t want to have to start over again.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Sharl said, ¡°I feel the same, but Irene is right about it might be a safe place to retreat to if the friction between red and blue breaks out into war.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it will come to that,¡± Greg denied, but his fingers were crossed. ¡°Did she say anything about squares in dark space?¡± Greg asked. He knew that was what Sharl went to ask Irene about.

    ¡°She said she saw one on a ruined green years ago, she gave me a sketch of where it was. I think it would be a waste of time to go there now. There is no way it is still there. She promised to tell us if she found a new one,¡± Sharl responded.

    ¡°Good,¡± Greg responded. ¡°She is a better scout than most of Darien¡¯s crew. If there is one out there she will find it for us.¡±

    ¡°She also told me the queen is Dr. Whitman,¡± Sharl said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Greg responded. He showed no surprise at this news.

    ¡°You knew?¡± Sharl asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought you knew too,¡± Greg responded. ¡°Dr. Whitman was the only one who figured out the heal spell. The queen started out as the healer of Londontown.¡±

    ¡°I guess I just never put it together,¡± Sharl admitted. ¡°That means the queen is old. I mean really old. Irene told me a friend of hers from the flight crew passed away this winter. What will happen when the queen dies?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think much will change. Everyone knows Londontown is actually ruled by her son Phillip. Do you remember him? He was an apprentice in the medical department that came out with her,¡± Greg commented.

    ¡°Vaguely,¡± Sharl replied. ¡°Dr. Whitman was a rather forceful presence. Everyone around her kind of vanished into the background.¡± Sharl remembered the doctor as a bossy woman certain of her own importance. If Sharl thought about the apprentice it was only to feel sorry for him that he had such an arrogant woman for his mother. It was shortly after the doctor''s arrival on the survey team that things started to go sideways. ¡°Irene thinks the queen is senile,¡± Sharl commented. ¡°She thinks Control tried to fix her, but didn¡¯t know how.¡±

    ¡°Actually, dementia is a good explanation for some of the odder things she ordered us to do,¡± Greg commented as he thought back to those early days. At first Greg thought the doctor was just ambitious and wanted to be ¡®in charge¡¯. She was fascinated by the idea of magic. She sent a lot of good people to their deaths trying to awaken their magic. Her orders got weirder and weirder, until Greg couldn¡¯t figure out what the point was. That was when his team broke away. That group wasn¡¯t this one. Most of the members of that original team were dead now. This group was the result of the merging of the survivors of multiple teams.

    ¡°I also heard Irene talking to Billy. She was telling him how to fight with magic. She listed off a long string of spells I don¡¯t know,¡± Sharl said, changing the subject.

    ¡°She knows a lot. I think she ¡®knows of¡¯ a lot more than she can cast. She says the wall inscriptions can be decrypted to give hints. She also told me you can find hints in the tile murals, the floor tiles and some piles of debris. Although she calls the debris piles ¡®abstract statues¡¯,¡± Greg responded.

    ¡°Really?¡± Sharl asked. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me any of that before?¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t seem important. It is not like we have time to wander around looking for wall inscriptions,¡± Greg said with a shrug.

    ¡°There is one down by the sanitation facilities,¡± Sharl said.

    ¡°Is there?¡± Greg asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°So how do you read it?¡± Sharl asked Irene. It was the morning after her conversation with Greg. She asked Irene about the wall inscriptions at breakfast. Irene didn¡¯t hold back with her description of how you could decode them. Hopelessly confused, Sharl asked Irene if she could show her. Irene thought about it for a while before replying that she could try.

    ¡°This is a nice one,¡± Irene said. ¡°It is a tier one imbuing spell from the force tree. I call it rooted. You cast it and touch the ground with the weapon. The weapon becomes fixed.¡±

    ¡°What good would that be?¡± Sharl asked.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°I use it to brace my spear when a boar is charging me,¡± Irene said. ¡°If you can hold your aim and jump away at the last second, the boar will impale itself.¡± That sounded a little suicidal to Sharl. Although if she cast a shield spell at the jump it might be possible.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Sharl asked.

    ¡°I recognize it. See these symbols?¡± Irene asked, pointing out the tiny symbols the inscription was made up of. ¡°I call this font Roman. You can see that most of this inscription is made up of the over and underlined X. That is the zero symbol or maybe a spacer symbol might be a better description.¡± Sharl studied the small carvings. What Irene was calling a spacer symbol looked a lot like the roman numeral ten. There were other symbols mixed in. One looked like an upside down V, and other like a W.

    ¡°What are these other two?¡± Sharl asked, pointing out examples of them.

    ¡°You''re going to be good at this,¡± Irene declared. ¡°The inverted V is two and the W is four. Read these from the bottom up. Pick a column in the center someplace and tell me the order of the non-zero symbols.¡± Sharl picked a column and started reading.

    ¡°Two, four, two, two, four, two, two, four¡­¡± Sharl continued for a while until Irene stopped her.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. So that is the order of the symbols to cast the spell. The spell is repeated over and over. So really your choices are two, four, two or two, four, two, two, four, two. Obviously there are longer versions that could also be repeating, but this is roman. Roman is usually a tier one spell, so it won¡¯t be longer,¡± Irene explained. ¡°Actually tier one spells are usually only two or three symbols long, so it is two, four, two.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Sharl said. ¡°What script is used for tier two spells?¡±

    ¡°They are done in something I call Cuneiform. There is some variance in that. I¡¯ve seen tier zero spells in Roman and tier one spells in Cuneiform. Tier two spells are five to six symbols, so if two, four, two didn¡¯t work, you could try the longer six symbol version,¡± Irene explained. She leaned her staff against the wall and pulled two styluses out of her pocket. She handed one to Sharl. ¡°Now comes the fun part.¡±

    Irene started pointing out the larger patterns that repeated in the inscription. She used the stylus to draw diagonal lines at different spacings across sections that repeated right to left. She explained how to use the number of symbols, and number of unique symbols in the pattern to determine how many lines to use. She instructed Sharl to do the same on patterns that appeared bottom to top.

    It took a long time. Irene finished first. She stepped back and inspected Sharl¡¯s work. Irene made a couple corrections as Sharl finished.

    ¡°Step back here and kind of blur your vision,¡± Irene instructed. Irene stepped forward and pointed out a section that was heavily covered by their two different hatch marks. ¡°Can you see the spear here?¡± Irene asked. ¡°The weapon is an indication that this is an imbuing spell.¡± Sharl didn¡¯t see it. She tried to blur her vision.

    ¡°No, not really,¡± Sharl admitted.

    ¡°The handle is here,¡± Irene used her stylus to outline the section as she spoke. ¡°The spear point starts here. See how the dark double hatched area gets wider?¡±

    And suddenly Sharl saw it. There was a spear on one side of the panel. On the other side was a kind of inverted T. Actually there were more lines under the T, each one shorter than the line above it.

    ¡°What is the inverted T?¡± Sharl asked. Irene smiled, happy at Sharl¡¯s observation.

    ¡°That is the rooted symbol,¡± Irene responded. She picked up her staff, which she¡¯d set against the wall and swung it around, setting it firmly on the ground. ¡°See,¡± she said, holding her staff vertically in front of the inverted T, ¡°that is the spear handle, and the bottom lines here are the ground.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I would have gotten that,¡± Sharl said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t either on the first try,¡± Irene said. ¡°These panels really only give hints. They often have slightly different drawings for the same spell. Putting them together gives you a better idea of what the spell does. Also you can get hints from other things too.¡±

    ¡°Greg mentioned mosaics and statues,¡± Sharl commented.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Irene said. ¡°Fountains, pools, the trim around a door, you never know when you might find a hint to something.¡±

    ¡°How did you ever figure this out?¡± Sharl asked.

    ¡°Actually a friend did it. She used the Speedwell¡¯s computers,¡± Irene explained. Sharl heard the grief in Irene¡¯s voice and thought this friend was likely the member of the flight crew who passed away recently. Irene sat down on the floor looking at the inscription. She invited Sharl to join her. ¡°So that is how you decrypt a tier one inscription. A tier zero inscription is actually easier, but tier two and above get much harder.¡±

    Irene explained how to do a tier two inscription. It did sound worse, although this time Sharl was able to follow the description. There were multiple possibilities. At each step there were checks to be done to see if you used the correct option. Sharl suspected the decryption might take days.

    They were discussing the different symbols Irene had seen and what she thought they meant when Greg arrived with Bill in tow.

    ¡°He insisted on coming to see what you were doing,¡± Greg explained to his spouse. ¡°The rest of the herd is in daycare,¡± he said before Sharl could ask. In this suburb, daycare was the rest proper with at least two adults keeping watch. One watched the children while the other watched for danger. Some of their children were getting too old for daycare, like Bill. They were going to have to come up with a better solution for them soon.

    ¡°Look Dad!¡± Bill exclaimed, ¡°it¡¯s your spear!¡± The boy ran up to the inscription to give it a close inspection.

    ¡°What spell is it?¡± Greg asked.

    ¡°Rooted,¡± Sharl answered. ¡°It fixes your weapon to the ground so that a charging animal will impale itself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± Greg responded. ¡°It could be useful.¡±

    ¡°It is tier one,¡± Irene offered, ¡°in the force tree, so you need to know a tier zero weapon skill in that tree before learning it. Do you know force tap? That would work.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Greg responded. ¡°I¡¯ll have to think about how I could learn it safely.¡±

    ¡°You can learn it by facing off with something small like a rat. If you keep a club or something handy, you can just bash the rat over the head if necessary. It times out pretty quickly but it is a little unnerving when you can¡¯t pick up your weapon the first time it works,¡± Irene offered. ¡°It is faster to learn a spell in front of an instruction inscription like this. If you start trying it right here in front of the inscription, there is a chance that Control will send out an animal. It is likely that the animal will be something large like a boar, so it would be more dangerous.¡± Greg looked to where Bill was studying the inscription.

    ¡°I think we will forgo that option for now,¡± he replied, not wanting to endanger his son.

    ¡°Thank you for showing me this,¡± Sharl said to Irene.

    ¡°Oh, it''s nothing,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I should have shown you earlier. I have to believe a lot of people have figured them out, at least the early ones. I don¡¯t see any other way so many spells have been discovered. It is almost impossible to just accidentally cast one, once you''re past the simplest ones.¡±

    ¡°From your description it sounds near impossible to decrypt the higher tier ones without a computer,¡± Sharl commented.

    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± Irene said. ¡°I think I must be missing some method,¡± she admitted. ¡°Maybe you will figure it out.¡± Sharl very much doubted that she would figure out something that eluded Irene for years.

 Trueborn: Chapter Five

    Irene decided to swing by Chicago downtown on her way north. She was dressed in her new leathers with Greg¡¯s beautiful buttons holding the pockets closed.

    The guards were collecting new taxes. They called them security fees. It was always hard in Chicago to tell if the guards were collecting for themselves or the leadership. Irene wasn¡¯t carrying anything of value physically. No one could view another person¡¯s virtual inventory, so she knew better than to admit she carried any virtual coin. When she showed her empty gathering bags the guards still refused to let her enter. She inquired as to what the minimum entrance fee was. They told her six rats, two squirrels, a badger or thirty iron coins.

    Irene went over to the nearest room door and threw it open. Ten rooms later she returned to the guards with seven rats. There were four in the last room even though she only needed three more at the time. She dropped all the rat carcasses at the guards feet. They let her pass. At the first opportunity Irene cast a don¡¯t notice me spell on herself. She shouldn¡¯t have done that with the rats at the entrance. It would only make the guards remember her.

    She wandered through the shopping district looking at what was available. Nothing really caught her eye. She recognized most of the high level crafters from previous visits. She thought most of them were tier three. There was one or two she thought might have reached tier four. To her surprise one of these was John, the leatherworker who tried to rob her on her first visit to Chicago.

    He was offering a new type of hardened leather armor. Irene stopped her wandering to inspect it. She ran her fingers over the surface and felt the slick almost plastic feel of integrated material.

    ¡°Irene,¡± John said in greeting. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you around for a while.¡± John saw through her cloaking spell like it wasn¡¯t even there. Since the spell was just tier zero and Irene was tier three, anyone tier two or above could see through it with a little effort.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been traveling,¡± Irene said vaguely. ¡°This is new,¡± she commented on the armor.

    ¡°It is,¡± John responded. ¡°It is lighter than mail and just as strong.¡± Irene thought that might be true. It was hard to predict the performance of integrated items from their appearance.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem very flexible,¡± Irene commented. She wore leather more as a disguise than as armor. Her story to Bill about not getting hit was actually her plan.

    ¡°Have you brought any leather for trade?¡± John asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I reached The Heights just after Greg left for the last conference. They didn¡¯t have any finished leather left for trade. Are you short on materials?¡± she asked.

    ¡°A little,¡± John responded, ¡°but don¡¯t think you can use that admission to get more out of me.¡±

    ¡°The guards demanded six rats for the entrance fee into Chicago,¡± Irene observed. ¡°They called it a security tax.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a little high,¡± John responded. ¡°They must have thought you were holding out on them. This hardened armor takes something stronger, like boar. Bear works better.¡±

    That explained John¡¯s shortage of leather. Irene considered the bear a tier three animal. As a tier three she could kill one, but she needed to be extremely careful. It was better to go out as a team to hunt them. The ruined green that The Heights hunted didn¡¯t contain any bear. The best they could be bringing John was boar. Irene promised John she would remember him if she came across any bear hides before moving on.

    It was getting late. Irene headed in the direction of the hospital. She learned on her first visit to Chicago that the hospital would allow her to stay the night if she took a turn at nursing. Irene arrived to find two women binding the wounds of a fresh arrival. The hunter¡¯s party was passing a stack of iron coins over to a third woman to pay for the man¡¯s care.

    When one of the women working on the bandages turned, Irene was surprised to see it was her oldest sister Mary. She last saw Mary in Londontown where she was a recognized member of the royal family.

    Irene waited quietly for the team to finish up with the new arrival. The man¡¯s party helped the women move the wounded man to one of the back rooms in the suite. Irene approached the third woman who accepted the payment. Irene knew her from earlier visits. She thought her name was Melony, but she wasn¡¯t certain so she didn¡¯t use it.

    Melony readily agreed to let Irene stay overnight. Irene settled her pack and staff in a corner of the room the women slept in before following her sister into the other room. Mary was sitting at the new arrivals side carefully trickling water into his mouth. There was no sign of the man¡¯s party.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you,¡± Irene said to her sister. ¡°I¡¯m surprised to find you here.¡± Mary jerked, jumped to her feet and turned to face Irene, fear stained her face. Irene was rather shocked at this response.

    ¡°Irene,¡± Mary said, relief in her voice. ¡°For a second there I thought you were Mother.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene said firmly. She said the word even though she wasn¡¯t quite certain what she meant by it. ¡°Do I really sound like her?¡±

    ¡°Maybe a little,¡± Mary responded. ¡°I¡¯m just nervous.¡± Mary was wearing a hunter¡¯s outfit in green. It was stained with blood, some fresh and some not. Integrated cloth slowly cleaned itself, so none of the blood could be that old.

    The wounded man was laying on a thin pallet. Mary lowered herself back down. She picked up a small square of cloth and wetted it with her water. She began cleaning off the man¡¯s face. Irene said down next to her.

    ¡°How is he?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°He lost a lot of blood. If we got the bleeding stopped he¡¯ll live,¡± Mary explained.

    ¡°If?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°It is a gut wound. He could be bleeding internally. I¡¯ve seen that before. If he¡¯s still alive in the morning we¡¯ll know,¡± Mary commented. ¡°Anyone who lives at least a day after an injury usually survives here.¡± Irene glanced around the room at the other patients and cast muffle.

    ¡°Do you know heal?¡± she asked her sister.

    ¡°No,¡± Mary said. ¡°If I did, I wouldn''t use it.¡± The disgust in her sister¡¯s voice was enough to explain her presence here. ¡°I don¡¯t trust magic.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not magic,¡± Irene said, feeling the need to explain it to her sister. ¡°It¡¯s technology.¡± Mary shot her a look like she thought Irene was delusional.

    ¡°Really,¡± Irene said. ¡°It''s nanobots. They are in everything here, including us. The heal spell is just an instruction to them to do the repairs faster. Without a heal spell they work slower. They are the reason there is no infection here.¡±

    ¡°What is a nanobot?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°It is a tiny robot that is floating around in our blood,¡± Irene said. Mary was not stupid. She was highly intelligent, but her education was all in medicine. Mary should have been their mother¡¯s favorite. She followed their mother into medicine and rose to be one of the senior doctors on the Speedwell. Oddly their mother never seemed to notice Mary at all.

    ¡°There are plans for them in the Speedwell archives. They were proposed to help combat the higher radiation levels the crew experienced in interstellar space. Earth never worked out all the bugs. If the nanobots were self-replicating they tended to consume the host. If they weren¡¯t, they were cleaned out of the patient''s body too quickly. Manufacturing facilities to make more of them required too much mass for the ship to transport.¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying these machines are here?¡± Mary asked. ¡°Where did they come from?¡±

    ¡°They are part of the structure. At first I thought the structure made them, but now I lean towards the idea that they made the structure,¡± Irene shook her head, realizing she was getting off track.

    ¡°If heal is just instructions for them to work harder, that doesn¡¯t explain the addiction,¡± Mary commented.

    ¡°That has to do with the color of your magic,¡± Irene said. ¡°If you heal someone with the same color magic it causes pleasure. I think it might be a mismatch in our biology. If you heal someone with a different color magic it causes pain and there is no addiction.¡±

    Now Mary glanced around the room. She lowered her voice before speaking. ¡°A blue can¡¯t heal a red,¡± she said.

    ¡°No, but a blue can heal purple. A purple can heal a red,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°There is no such thing as a purple,¡± Mary countered. She turned her head, dismissing Irene, and returned to her patient.

    ¡°I am a purple,¡± Irene admitted. She cast blur, then reaching out to the patient, cast a tier one heal on him. The poor man moaned in pain and twisted in agony. A moment or two later his breathing evened out. Some of his color came back. Irene was pretty certain he had been bleeding internally. The injury was bad enough that her low tier heal wasn¡¯t going to fix him. It stopped the bleeding and would shorten his recovery.

    Irene realized early that leaving a trail of healed patients behind her wasn¡¯t good for her own safety. A group of red and blue warriors tried to imprison her once as their personal healer. They found out rather quickly that heal wasn¡¯t the only spell she knew. Small heals that put people out of danger were safe enough, along with healing people she trusted.

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Mary demanded.

    ¡°Did you see any pleasure in his reaction?¡± Irene questioned.

    Mary looked down at her patient. She pulled a small eating knife from her belt and sliced her own arm open. She turned to look at Irene. ¡°Heal me,¡± she demanded.

    Irene cast a tier three heal on her sister. It was a harsh thing to do. The higher tier heal would make the healing pain worse. Irene was hurt by Mary''s dismissal of the idea of a purple magic user. The higher tier was a petty revenge. Such a small wound wouldn¡¯t be that much pain anyway.

    Mary gasped. The blood running down her arm was reabsorbed through her skin. The cut sealed itself perfectly, leaving no scar or even hint of redness. She took a long deep breath. A thread of tension in her body seemed to melt away.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a heal,¡± Mary commented. Her voice was softer and not as challenging. Her words were a comment, not the accusation her early observations were.

    ¡°Sure it was,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I told you, the color mismatch makes it painful.¡±

    ¡°A heal doesn¡¯t work this well,¡± Mary said. ¡°That cut was deep, I should still have a scar.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s because it was tier three, not one,¡± Irene admitted.

    ¡°Tier three,¡± Mary echoed. She shook her head in wonderment. She looked down at the patient who was now fast asleep. ¡°I¡¯ve been here before,¡± she said quietly, ¡°but in the end I always end up going back.¡± She picked the wash cloth back up and wetted it again. She used it to clean the dried blood off the man¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Do you want to go back?¡± Irene asked. She didn¡¯t know much about the family situation in Londontown.

    ¡°No,¡± Mary responded. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I am on my way north,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯m doing a scouting run for a group of friends of mine. I am going to travel north up high, along the ruined greens. Eventually I plan on going to Moscow. It is a red square, over forty stories down.¡±

    ¡°Can I go with you?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Irene responded.

    Irene took her turn in the night, bringing water to the patients. She cast four more tier one heals on different patients in the night, including a second one on the newest patient. Everyone was going to be surprised at how fast he recovered from what looked like a fatal wound. That happened fairly often in the structure. Irene didn¡¯t think anyone would remember her.

    In the morning Irene checked Mary¡¯s belongings and made a list of things she would need for the trip. Mary headed off to make her purchases. They agreed to meet in an hour near the north gate. Irene went over to the public prize altar to pull physical coins from her inventory. She was going to use them to purchase more travel food for the two of them. She was certain she would have to pay a tax to use the altar, but that didn¡¯t worry her that much. Going back out to use an altar in wildspace would only draw more attention to her.

    ¡°Do I know you?¡± a man asked Irene. She was once more under a don¡¯t notice me spell. This man was looking at her unbothered by the spell. She returned his gaze. He was slightly built but with defined muscles. He was wearing red-touched leathers. The red was a darker shade than usual. It was an indication that he was tier four. Although there was a short sword at his waist Irene suspected he was a wizard. Irene found him attractive, but she was also certain she never met him before.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± he said. ¡°You seem so familiar. Did we meet on the Speedwell?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I did a lot of maintenance and got around to all parts of the ship.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Ian,¡± he said to her, ¡°from Redfalls.¡±

    ¡°Irene,¡± she responded automatically.

    <hr>

    So it was her, Ian thought to himself. He saw the woman waiting in line for the prize altar and noticed the black staff she carried. Something about her stirred his memory. A closer look and he recognized the staff was actually a broom handle.

    ¡°There is a new cafe just around the corner. Let me buy you a tea,¡± Ian offered.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯m on a schedule to meet someone. Perhaps another time.¡±

    ¡°Are you staying here in downtown?¡± Ian asked. ¡°I can change my offer to dinner.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m on a scouting mission,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡± It was her turn at the altar. She stepped past the guards and into the room that currently housed it. He considered what his next action should be. He remembered Sophia saying that Irene sensed Darien¡¯s interest and fled from him. She stepped out of the room. The trip inside was so quick she must have only pulled out coins.

    ¡°Look me up next time you''re downtown,¡± Ian said, ¡°and I will pay for the dinner.¡± Irene smiled at him. Ian decided that she was attractive in an understated way.

    ¡°I will remember that,¡± she said. Ian stepped past her into the altar room. He didn¡¯t intend to use it, but he wanted to give Irene the impression that he wasn¡¯t targeting her. Irene headed off in the direction of the food shops. As soon as she was out of sight Ian cast camouflage on himself and followed her.

    Irene purchased dried fruits, tuber flour and travel bars. She was giving every appearance of someone going out on a scouting mission. The quantities she purchased were large. Either the trip was a long one, or she wasn¡¯t traveling alone.

    Irene added her purchases to her pack, before heading in the direction of the north gate. The north gate out of downtown was a stairwell leading down to the closest green. Near the stair entrance she met up with another woman. Ian didn¡¯t recognize her. She was wearing worn hunter¡¯s greens that were stained with multiple layers of blood. Ian was confused by her. The blood on her outfit indicated an active hunter or butcher, but the woman carried no bow. Ian could detect only a slight trace of a blade on her.

    As the women rounded the last corner to the gate they vanished. Ian realized one of them cast a cloaking spell, perhaps even the camouflage he was using. Its near perfect performance against him indicated one of them was a higher tier wizard than he suspected. Ian followed along. He wasn¡¯t worried about losing them. It would be easy to follow them using his blade sense in the green where there was no interference from the residents of downtown.

    He only realized his mistake when he reached the bottom of the stairs. Stepping out into the corridor that led to the green he passed a hunting team carrying a boar carcass and heading back to downtown. There were no weapons ahead of him. There was no way the women could have walked fast enough to get out of the range of his blade sense in the short time that had passed since he last saw them. If they broke out into a run, he would feel the vibration of their footsteps through the floor. They did not come down to this floor. Ian looked up at the stair rising above. He never had any need to go up there. He wasn¡¯t even sure how many floors the stairs reached up. He climbed to the downtown level and concentrated on his blade sense.

    He could detect no trace of them. He didn¡¯t know why anyone would want to go up. He needed to go up there and explore. They could have stepped off on any floor. Irene escaped him for the moment. Everything she told him appeared to be the strict truth. He believed her statement that she would be back was also true.

 Trueborn: Chapter Six

    <h2>12 A.L.</h2>

    ¡°Did Irene find you?¡± the blacksmith asked Ian. Ian was looking over the blacksmith¡¯s offered cutlass. There was a slight curve to the blade but it wasn¡¯t exactly like the ceremonial cutlass the Captain of the Speedwell carried. It was closer than the short straight sword Ian currently carried.

    ¡°No,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Is she back in the settlement?¡± It was almost half a year, maybe more since he lost track of her at the north gate. Since that meeting, rumors indicated that the queen¡¯s oldest daughter was no longer in Londontown. Ian wondered if Mary was Irene¡¯s companion that day.

    ¡°I saw her about a week ago. She said you promised her dinner,¡± the blacksmith responded.

    ¡°Was she alone?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Yes, although she did say something about spending some time with a bear hunting group out of Moscow,¡± the blacksmith responded. Ian was surprised. He wondered where this Moscow could be.

    ¡°Moscow?¡± Ian asked. ¡°That¡¯s not a suburb is it?¡±

    ¡°No, it''s a red square, far to the north and about forty stories down. Bears are common there,¡± the blacksmith said. The blacksmith was giving Ian a look that said, how can you not know that? Ian did not believe the blacksmith description of forty stories down. The structure was not that deep. He would send a patrol north to make sure this square was not a threat to Redfalls. ¡°She asked where Redfalls was and all I could tell her was north.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out for her,¡± Ian commented. ¡°Does she visit often?¡± The blacksmith thought about this question before answering.

    ¡°She will come by twice in a year and then not at all the next year. I think she has a trading route that loops north to south. If you want to find her I would check the southern suburbs.¡± Ian nodded his head in agreement. He purchased the sword.

    With his new cutlass on his hip, he headed over to Darien''s ¡®command center¡¯. The map on the wall there showed the most detailed information on suburb locations. The information on the map included very few suburbs to the south. Most ¡®southern¡¯ suburbs were actually more to the west. The true southern suburbs were all in extremely poor hunting grounds and were desperately poor. One, called ¡®The Heights¡¯ was so far up it must be on the edge of dark space. Darien could see no reason why a trader would visit them.

    The southwest suburbs were rich enough to support a trader''s visit. Looking at them, Ian saw that some of them were rather close to Londontown. Ian nodded to himself. That was where the queen¡¯s daughter went. She must spend time there to build inventory before running the trading route to the north. Ian wondered if Irene was actually a scout/spy for Londontown. It was a possibility. He would have to be very careful about what he told her when he finally caught up with her.

    ¡°Ian,¡± Darien said in greeting. Ian turned to find the Chicago leader approaching. Darien¡¯s secretary Michael was close behind.

    ¡°Darien,¡± Ian responded, turning away from the map.

    ¡°Are you interested in the south?¡± Darien asked. It was obvious he was watching Ian examine the map for some time.

    ¡°I was wondering why we aren¡¯t monitoring the border with Londontown,¡± Ian responded. ¡°The distances between some of our eastern suburbs and Londontown are shorter than the distance to Paris.¡±

    Ian hinted to Darien how much profit they could add if there was a tax on access from Londontown. Darien made no commitments, but Ian knew he was making progress. The current plan Ian was working on was to increase tensions between Londontown and Chicago. Increasing violence between the blue and red settlements would give him a training ground for his own men. If he got lucky some of the suburb leaders would be removed along the way, leaving a power vacuum he could take advantage of.

    Ian¡¯s next stop was the Common Room, an eating and drinking establishment set up in a suite of rooms. A set of tables filled the first room. The tables were constructed of debris and varied wildly in their quality. Usually Ian went through to the back room, with its crafted furniture. The prices were higher back there, but Ian considered the increase in the quality of the patrons worth it.

    Today he stayed in the first room, claiming a primary position at the bar where he could survey the room. When the new border was set up against Londontown, Ian would need more warriors.

    <hr>

    Jake found Ian in the Common Room an hour after he didn¡¯t show up for their arranged meeting. This wasn¡¯t the first time it happened. Jake found it irritating how Ian always assumed whatever he was doing was more important.

    ¡°The leatherworker has finally gotten enough bear skins for our order,¡± Jake reported. ¡°He says we can pick up the armor in six days.¡± Jake leaned against the bar next to Ian.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°That¡¯s not good enough,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Tell him we have to have them in five.¡±

    ¡°He warned me the quality would decrease if he¡¯s forced to rush,¡± Jake commented.

    ¡°It better not,¡± Ian said. Jake wondered what Ian would do if the quality did go down. Ian always wanted things faster than possible. It was why Jake did most of the trading with the crafters for the settlement. The leatherworker told him the armor would be ready in four days. Jake padded the number for just this occurrence. Now when the leatherworker delivered in four Ian would be in a much better mood for the trip back to the square.

    ¡°I heard a rumor today about a red square to the north,¡± Ian said. ¡°Someplace called Moscow.¡±

    Jake heard that rumor two or three years ago. It was very far north and deep. The area was very dangerous. The green it was on was heavily occupied by bears. The bear hides the leatherworker just received probably came from Moscow. When Jake first heard of it, he tried to talk Sophia into trying their luck up there. They just found Redfalls and Sophia was newly committed to staying with Ian. Jake didn¡¯t understand Sophia¡¯s devotion. They met a lot of forceful personalities over the years and it was usually Sophia¡¯s council that they stay away from them.

    Jake accused Sophia that it was sexual attraction that drew her to Ian. She emphatically denied it. She went on to physically prove it to Jake that he was the only man she wanted. Jake enjoyed her attention, but still he doubted.

    ¡°Do you want me to investigate?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Ask around and find out where it is,¡± Ian ordered. ¡°Send out a patrol and make sure there is no threat to us.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± Jake responded. He didn¡¯t see how a square over month¡¯s travel north could be any kind of threat. He¡¯d go through the motions and have the scouts report directly to Ian.

    ¡°Keep your eye out for new men,¡± Ian ordered. ¡°Darien is going to put up border stations on Chicago¡¯s southern flank around Londontown. I want at least one man on each one.¡± That explained why Ian was out here with the working men, Jake thought. Ian excelled at recruitment. He had a knack at spotting people whose greed often overwhelmed their good sense. People like that were easy to buy.

    ¡°I secured your room in leadership housing,¡± Jake told Ian, before rising to his feet.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Ian demanded to know.

    ¡°To talk to the leatherworker and see if I can find out the location of Moscow,¡± Jake reported.

    ¡°Yes, get to that,¡± Ian replied. ¡°I¡¯ll be dining with Darian tonight, see about feeding the men while you¡¯re at it.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Jake responded.

    Jake escaped the Common Room. He headed back over to the leatherworker''s shop, not to put pressure on the man, but to ask him where he got the bear hides. If they came from Moscow, whoever brought them would be able to tell him the square''s location.

    ¡°Back again already?¡± John asked.

    ¡°Can you tell me where you got the bear hides?¡± Jake responded.

    ¡°I bought them from a circuit trader. She comes by every other year or so. She is the only one I know who goes as far north as Moscow and as far west as Waymarket,¡± John replied.

    ¡°Waymarket?¡± Jake questioned. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of that settlement before.¡±

    ¡°It''s about a month and a half travel to the west, past Londontown, about twenty stories down. It¡¯s very lightly populated. I think it was settled three or four years ago, but I only heard of it two years ago.¡±

    ¡°What about Moscow? I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s a month north and about forty stories down. Is that accurate?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°As far as I know. I¡¯ve never been to either. You need to talk to Irene if you want better instructions,¡± John responded.

    ¡°Irene?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Is that the trader?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± John responded. ¡°She was through here a week ago. I don¡¯t expect her back for at least a year. She will be making the run to Waymarket next year.¡±

    ¡°I knew an Irene in the early days,¡± Jake said. ¡°She was a wizard.¡± He gave a brief description of the woman he knew. ¡°Is that her?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it. She carries a black walking staff with her. She usually wears handmade leathers, although I¡¯ve seen her in hunter''s greens a time or two. Once she was wearing red wizard silks,¡± John responded. That was odd, Jake thought Irene was a blue wizard.

    Jake saw her cast both ice-bolt and fireball during the trip in from the Speedwell. He assumed she was blue because he saw the ice-bolt first. If she was actually a red wizard that could explain why she left Londontown with Sophia and him to go to Chicago. Jake never understood why she did that. If it was his family ruling Londontown, he would have stayed.

    ¡°Do you know of anyone else who might have better directions to Moscow?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Sorry, no,¡± John responded. ¡°I¡¯d check with the travel food vendors. Most of the traders stock up here.¡±

    Jake worked his way around the food vendors. None of them gave better directions. He found out from them that there was another blue square in the north called Liberty. Their rather vague description placed it even farther north than Moscow but a little to the west. Jake decided not to mention it to Ian. All these squares made Jake realize just how large the ruins were. He remembered thinking about finding a new square in the west for Sophia and himself to settle in. That plan was scrapped after they left Irene. She did a lot more damage with her spells than either of them realized at the time. When they traveled with her the halls didn¡¯t seem that dangerous. Once they left with Kyle to go to his suburb, they found the halls far too difficult to travel through with just the two of them, especially at night.

    Jake purchased food for their group from the vendors for the next few days. Travel food wasn¡¯t that flavorful, but it was affordable. It was very unlikely he would get reimbursed for the expense.

 Trueborn: Chapter Seven

    Irene checked the maintenance logs one more time. Everything was up to date. She worked extra hard for the last four months, running though work that should have taken a single person a year. She used maintenance robots as a second pair of hands to complete jobs that required multiple people. The maintenance robots could take care of a lot of the ship¡¯s requirements by themselves. Their automation was part of Agatha¡¯s legacy. In addition many jobs just weren¡¯t required very often anymore. The air filters didn¡¯t need to be cleaned yearly when there was no one living on the ship.

    Irene clicked over to the ship¡¯s security systems, initiating a last scan to ensure herself that no one else was on board. She checked the status of the ship floor by floor. Nearly all of them were offline. She spent most of the morning purging the food systems in the main gallery and the water lines on the level with her apartment.

    Essential systems like the computers that were running the automated farming, mining and manufacturing systems were still live. She was leaving Engineering control powered as well as medical. The lifts were online, but Irene planned to lock the last car into its safe position at the bottom of the shaft and switch off the power for them before she left.

    She was leaving. Four months of laboring alone in the empty colony ship taught her that there was no future here. She either needed to move out to the eastern villages or go back into the structure. She picked the structure. She spent the last three days checking in with the village elders and her siblings living there telling them all that she was leaving. She keyed them into the security systems so they could continue to use the ship''s medical and manufacturing facilities and access the farming warehouses until the systems failed.

    They would fail eventually. Irene logged out and shut down the monitor. Its functional lifespan would be longer if it was left unpowered. She picked up the sheet of plastic she prepared and taped it to the top edge of the monitor. On the sheet of plastic was printed detailed instructions on how to get the current list of error conditions in the system. It started with how to power the monitor back up, included the username and password for the main engineering account and ended with how to access the built in library that would walk a novice through how to do a repair.

    She tried to get someone from the villages to come and learn these simple steps, but everyone claimed to be too busy. Irene knew how a small simple problem could bring the entire system down. She hoped if that happened these instructions would help.

    She picked up her backpack and made her way out of the engineering control center for the last time. She took the lift down to the power distribution floor and sent the lift on to its safe position. She flipped the last of the power breakers. She climbed the stairs back up to the airlock doors. The doors were another thing she left powered. She wanted the ship sealed to stop wildlife from gaining entry, but she needed to allow access for the villagers. She already left signs inside the doors directing them up to the medical center using the stairs.

    A maintenance cart was waiting for her at the bottom of the west terrace. She programmed it to drop her off at the edge of the western fields and return to the garage. She was ninety percent certain it would work. She would walk the rest of the distance to the entrance. As the cart pulled away from the Speedwell, Irene felt odd. The colony ship was her true home her entire life. She couldn¡¯t quite believe that she would never see it again.

    It was the twelfth planetary winter since the landing of the Speedwell.

    Irene found The Heights on the way in and spent a couple days with her friends. She was on her way to Londontown. This was her destination partly because it matched the pattern she followed the last couple years. Partly it was because Mary confessed she left three children behind in Londontown when she parted ways with Irene at Moscow.

    Mary appeared completely unmoved by that fact, certain her spouse would see to their care. Irene wanted to make sure the children, a boy and two girls, were alright.

    She was surprised to find one of Greg¡¯s toll booths on the way to Londontown. She thought those were only on the border with Paris. The booth was set up on a main hall, it was easy to work her way around it using lesser halls and camouflage.

    As she neared Londontown, she started scavenging. Londontown was chronically short of scrap and crafting tools. Only those with magic would brave the halls and rooms. Residents without it hunted and gathered in the Green, bringing in food. Unfortunately the Londontown elite hung on to power with the use of healing magic. Eventually everyone ended up injured in the halls. Once addicted to heal, they were easily controlled, but they also lost most of their drive. Once they gathered enough to buy their heal for the day they stopped scavenging. They also sold their finds to the crafters in the shops, looking for a fast turn around. Irene would sell her materials to the crafters in the upper apartments.

    Irene cleared the room of six badgers. That was a large number of the animals for a single room. She pulled the badgers out into the hallway, which gave her only quick glances of the room. By the time the sixth animal emerged, Irene was certain this was a suite of rooms. When nothing else emerged from the room when she opened the door, she wedged it open and made entry.

    It was a single large room. It was deep enough that Irene thought it might reach all the way to the next hall, although there was no door on the far wall. Irene studied the room''s contents. Each room in the structure told a little story. Most of the rooms around Londontown were office themed. The rooms closer to the entrance were housing. Unfortunately everything close to the entrance was in very bad shape. Here near Londontown the occasional salvageable item could be found.

    This room looked like a bunk room of some kind, which didn¡¯t match the office theme. A row of six broken platforms ran along both the right and left walls. Their shape matched the shape of beds in an inn room. Each bed was damaged in a different way. As Irene walked along the length of them she got this rather strange idea that she could piece together one or two full beds from the remnants.

    The suburbs of Chicago all used bits and pieces found in the debris to build items they used in everyday life. Things like hide stretchers and fire grills. They also used larger pieces piled and interlocked together to make barriers. Irene noticed a long time ago that there were a lot more pieces that possessed the same type of connecting ends, than what the suburbs used. The scavengers from squares sometimes found complete pieces of furniture; desks, tables, shelves. The squares were all located deeper into the structure where things were more intact. The salvaged furniture was sold in the markets for high prices. Irene wondered why she never considered putting together the larger, more complex furniture from pieces.

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    The beds were constructed on an iron frame with wooden slats across the top. She thought they would make a better softer base for a pallet than the floor. Irene went through the first pile and disconnected all the sections that looked broken in any way. Scraps of tan fabric and fiber scrap tangled with the splintered and dry rotted wood were the remnants of a mattress. Irene picked up all the fiber scrap and stuffed it into a gathering bag. She moved all the broken bits to a pile by the door. She repeated this procedure on the next bed. On the last bed of the line, she discovered the bed was turned over, with a large swath of fabric on the ground underneath. It was easier to disassemble it than try to flip it over.

    As the weight came off the fabric below it, it began to puff up. Most of the iron pieces were ruined, but the wood slats were all intact. When Irene moved all the wood over to the first bed structure in order to rebuild it, she realized the pallet or mattress below was also intact. It was covered in a heavy tan fabric that was stained with dirt. She brushed the surface with her hand and most of the dirt came off of it. She thought with a better brush she could get it clean. It was an incredible find. She didn¡¯t think she had heard of anyone finding a mattress before.

    There was no way she was leaving it behind. It was light, just bulky. She rolled it up as tight as she could and winched it even tighter with a piece of rope. With effort she got it down to something she thought she could carry. Now there was the problem of carrying the frame. She started out playing with the beds as an experiment, but now she felt committed. She would get even more for the bed if it came with the frame.

    She picked up the mattress roll and set it just inside the door. She started stripping the frames of ruined parts on the other side of the room. When she finished all the bed frames were a lot smaller. She started consolidating the pieces until she built one complete frame. There were a lot of pieces left. She kept working on it until she constructed most of a second frame. She was short wooden slats.

    She made one last circuit of the room looking for wooden pieces. At the last position where she picked up the mattress she noticed the floor tiles were different. The floor down the center walkway was the usual tile found in halls, which was made up of different sized octagons and triangles of grout. These tiles were square. She checked under each of the beds. None of the tiles under the beds were octagons.

    The tiles under the first bed on the left from the door were triangles, while the one on the right was pentagrams. It was a spell or maybe two spells. Tier three spells were six symbols with a precise timing between the symbols. Irene thought that tier four spells were twelve symbols, but since she was only tier three, she wasn¡¯t certain. Agatha theorized that tier four spells were cast with both hands.

    Irene cleaned everything off the floor and dumped it into the hallway. She even broke apart the newly assembled bed frames. She stuffed the small pieces that held the wood pieces to the iron into her second gathering bag. All the large pieces went into a stack in the hallway.

    She studied the floor. She pulled a notebook out of her pack and sketched the layout in the room. The beds were equally spaced down the length of the room. Irene noticed that the size of the octagonal tiles varied between the spell number tile sections. That resulted in a different number of tiles between the sections, she thought it might be an indication of timing. She recorded that information too.

    Finally she thought about the room again. Where a spell encoding appeared was often a hint of what it was and this room was obviously special. The question was what kind of spell went with a bunk room? Irene considered if it could be some kind of sleep or refreshing spell. She couldn¡¯t decide. She wasn¡¯t even certain if the spell ran from front to back of the room, or the other way. Read front to back the two spells were from the ice and fire trees. Back to front they were in the electricity and sound trees.

    Standing at the door looking to the back of the room, there was something vaguely familiar about it. She thought about it for a while, trying to figure out why. Finally she decided that it reminded her of single housing on the Speedwell, only single housing was filled with bunk beds. It was more like the medical center. Not the main treatment center with its privacy rooms, but the recovery ward. Now that Irene thought of that, the arrangement was similar to how the hospital in Chicago was set up.

    Three five was the coding for a tier one healing spell. The tier two and tier three versions of the spell started with those same two numbers. If this spell was tier four, cast with both hands and read front to back, the first two symbols cast would be three five.

    Spell hints tended to only show up where there was someone who could learn them. A heal spell here, this close to Londontown made sense. Londontown was known for its healers. It meant that one of them was tier four. Irene thought that was likely. Most of the wizards in the landing generation started reaching tier four a few years ago. Really specialized wizards were an exception to that. Learning magic out of only one tree limited a wizard to tier two. Irene, with all the time she spent outside the structure was trailing behind. Wizards in general remained rare in the population. Most people with magic were warriors.

    If this spell was the tier four heal, the next question was how to target it. The lower tier heals were targeted by touching the patient with your off hand. If this tier four heal was cast with both hands, she couldn¡¯t touch the patient during the cast. She could touch the patient before the cast, or touch them with one hand while she made the start symbol with the other. Would that work?

    Before she could even begin trying to learn it she would need to reach tier four. It was all just hypothetical for now.

    Irene decided to head straight to Londontown. She would rent a room and secure her finds. She put a mark on her map where this room was. Someone told her a long time ago that if you took something from a room it was replaced in six days. Irene did a long series of experiments in the rooms close to the entrance and knew it was more complicated than that.

    She picked up her rolled and compressed mattress and swung it over her shoulder before going over to study the bed frame pile. That was the moment she realized she made a mistake. She couldn¡¯t tell how much of the pile was one frame. She was going to either have to put the frame back together again, or take the whole pile with her. She decided to take the pile.

    She sat her bundled mattress back down. This was going to take a while. She put together a kind of skid using broken wooden pieces as its runners. Since she was already short on wooden slats for the second platform she didn¡¯t want to risk damaging the ones she found. It made a nasty sound as she pulled it over the floor tiles. She cast muffle to hide the sound. She threw the badger carcasses on top. When got close to the back gate of Londontown, she stashed the skid inside a room. She didn¡¯t want to drag the heavy bulky item into the square without a plan. She picked up her mattress and one of the badgers before heading into Londontown.

 Trueborn: Chapter Eight

    The guards at the back gate taxed her the badger carcass, but left her the mattress bundle. They didn¡¯t know what it was. The courtyard was busy with afternoon traffic. Hunters were returning to the square after a day in the Green. They were visiting the shops to sell items not taxed from them and buy replacements for the equipment damaged or lost in the hunt. Irene crossed the square planning on renting a room for the night in the inn. The common room was mostly empty. It wouldn¡¯t get busy until the guards were finished collecting taxes at the green gate. Irene stood just inside the door and thought about how she was going to get her skid up to a rented room. She didn¡¯t think she could do it without drawing too much attention to herself. Although she wanted to check on Mary¡¯s children, she also wanted to pass unnoticed by her mother as long as possible.

    She slipped back out into the square. She took the stairs up to the first floor of apartments and circled the floor looking for an empty one. The shortest an apartment could be rented for was thirty six days, which was why she hadn''t rented one before. She never stayed that long in one place inside the structure. Since she didn¡¯t plan to go back to the Speedwell again she needed a new place for her base of operations. Londontown seemed like a good choice.

    There were no available apartments on the first floor. There were a few on the second, but they were far from the stair closest to the back door. Irene expected more empties. It wasn¡¯t that long since the split with Paris. She walked the path back to the back door. She was trying to decide if the apartment far away on the second floor would work better or worse than a closer one on the third. She couldn¡¯t decide. She really wished there were apartments directly on the square.

    She leaned against the courtyard wall outside the stairwell closest to the back door. She set her mattress bundle down at her feet. One of the rope ties was loosening up, letting the mattress start to expand. As she pulled the lines tight again, a group emerged from the training grounds and crossed the courtyard carrying a large boar. They went directly to a meat shop.

    Almost all the shop fronts were filled. Irene found only one empty. It was located in a corner. The amount of frontage on the courtyard was small. There were workshops behind all the shops. Not being a crafter, Irene hadn''t entered any of those workshops, so she didn¡¯t know how big they were. The front was large enough to display two beds and maybe a chair. Irene put her hand onto the sealed door.

    A pile of ten silver shadow coins appeared above her hand. They looked like they were laying on the glass. Below her hand was a pile of eighteen shadow coins made out of oxidized bronze and a little scale model of a shop. She didn¡¯t think the model was this shop, but rather a generic version, since the frontage on it seemed much wider. Irene didn¡¯t know what the lower amount was. She checked the price on shops before out of curiosity and only saw the upper ten silver price. She lifted her hand off the door and the shadow coins vanished.

    She considered the little shop model. Eighteen greens was a lot of coins. The price was about six years worth of rent on a shop. Could this be the purchase price for the shop, instead of just rent? Irene might have enough. Traveling, trading and not staying long in settlements was profitable. Once she was outside the structure the coins held no value. That fact made her careless with keeping track of how many coins she held.

    She wouldn¡¯t be going out to the Speedwell again. A shop would serve as a home base as well as an apartment. If she bought the shop, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about losing it or its contents to the rent being a day late because she was delayed on the road. She still planned to travel. She wanted to become the trader she always pretended to be. Which was a goal that was in conflict with a shop.

    A shop needed someone to run it. Irene wasn¡¯t certain Control would allow a shop that never opened. She saw rented shops closed for a day or two. So they could be closed sometimes. A newly rented shop sometimes didn¡¯t open for a week or more as the new shopkeepers got themselves organized and hired workers. Now there was an idea, Irene thought. Master craftsmen often hired a clerk to run the front shop, while they retreated to the workshop behind.

    Irene wasn¡¯t a crafter so she didn¡¯t need to disappear into a workshop. As a trader and scavenger she needed to travel into the structure to gather her goods. Yes, she thought, that sounded right to her. She put her hand back on the door and paid the eighteen greens. The door opened under the pressure of her hand.

    The showroom was deeper than it was wide. A door in the back wall led to the workroom. A small counter projected out from the right side wall in front of the door. This would be the pay surface. The back wall was lined with built-in shelving to display goods on.

    Irene sat her bundled mattress, pack and staff down, before opening the door to the workroom. The workroom was much larger than the showroom. It was the same depth as the showroom but wider than it was deep. Irene thought this space was perfect for a large crafting team that produced small amounts of high end quality product. It was pretty much exactly opposite of what she would need. She probably should have rented the space for thirty six days before buying. She shrugged off that thought. This was the only space available in Londontown.

    She visited shops that changed their layout over time. Shifting where the pay station was or the shelving. Maybe she could move the wall separating front from back.

    There was another door in the sidewall of the workshop. Irene opened it to find a tiny restroom. It was equipped with a single organic toilet and a sink basin on one wall. Irene decided that it explained how crafters could spend all day in their workshop.

    She decided to go retrieve the rest of her components before trying to figure out how to use the pay station from a seller''s point of view.

    She left most of her belongings in the shop, only taking with her the tools she needed to make safe entry into a room. She cleared the room she left her skid in, but there was no way to tell if it was repopulated in her absence. She would need to clear it again.

    Irene found the skid where she left it. The five badger carcasses were still on it. She thought about it and threw three of them off. She didn¡¯t want to draw attention to herself. A lone scavenger coming in with five badgers would do that. She cast muffle again and dragged the skid the rest of the way to Londontown.

    ¡°Back again?¡± the guard asked. Irene dismissed the muffle spell, so the guard could hear her response. She noticed to her chagrin that she forgot to cast don¡¯t notice me. The guard didn¡¯t seem to recognize who she was, just that she was there earlier.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Where¡¯s your partner?¡± she asked. The guard was alone, when she came through before there were two of them. Irene didn¡¯t recognize the guard, so there was no reason for him to know her.

    ¡°Prior engagement,¡± the guard responded.

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    ¡°What do I owe?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°You paid a badger earlier,¡± the guard responded. ¡°That more than covers entry taxes for the day.¡± That was a surprise.

    ¡°So if I head back out and scavenge more, you¡¯ll let me back in without another tax?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Until midnight, which is when my shift ends,¡± the man responded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to think about that,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to set up a shop. I¡¯ll need a lot of salvage to fill it.¡± Irene made a note of what the man looked like. Even if what he was quoting was the official policy, not many guards followed it.

    She recast muffle on herself and the skid. She pulled it through the gate and into the back hall and across the courtyard to her shop. Once the skid was in the shop, she skinned the two badgers. She sold the meat to the butcher shop and the skins to the leatherworker. As she watched the clerk in each shop use the pay surface to buy the items, Irene wondered if she could talk one of them into teaching her how to use it.

    Back in her shop she emptied out her gathering bags and backpack. The little connectors spilled across the floor, while the fiber scrap fluffed up into an impressive pile. Irene found several crafting tools she tucked into the pockets of her pack. She was carrying a large supply of travel food that was actually survival bars from the Speedwell. She set it all aside along with anything else she didn¡¯t need on a salvage run so she would have more volume to carry items. She tied the gathering bags to the side of her pack within easy reach. She took the time to refill her water flask from the water source in the shop restroom.

    She picked up her staff and went back out the back door. She started clearing rooms as soon as she was out of sight of the guard. She put anything she suspected of being a small connector into one of her gathering bags. The second bag she reserved for fiber scrap. Any useful items she had seen anyone use in a settlement, like bowls and crafting tools she put in her pack. The large pieces of metal and wood that she thought might be similar to the structure of the bed frames, she set in the hallway.

    In her fifth room she found an almost intact chair frame. She removed the damaged pieces and set the remaining chair into the hall. By looking at the intact side, she could see what the missing pieces should look like. She found them fairly quickly in the salvaged piles built up behind her in the hallway. A few minutes later she held an intact chair frame.

    When Irene first came to Londontown she saw them in use with the missing seat and back replaced with straps of braided cord or leather straps. She could buy the cord or leather from a crafter and weave them on herself. The pieces used to make the frame seemed common. Irene was certain she could piece together another one just from what was in the hallway. Pleased with her find, she bundled up a bunch of the components like firewood and swung it across her back. She picked up the chair one handed and carried-dragged it back to the square. In her other hand she held her staff.

    ¡°Nice chair,¡± the guard commented as Irene approached. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen one in a while. Are you interested in selling?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for my shop,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯m planning on selling furniture.¡± The guard tilted his head in thought.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, but it''s going to be a lot of work to get enough stock. Intact furniture is really rare,¡± he said.

    ¡°I know,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ve got a plan.¡± She carried her chair back to her shop and unloaded. She set her new components in a new pile separate from the skid.

    ¡°Again?¡± the guard asked as Irene exited.

    ¡°Well even my plan involves work,¡± Irene responded.

    It wasn¡¯t until her fourteenth room that she actually found an intact piece of furniture. It was a large set of shelves in a storage room in an office suite. The shelving supported a mixture of items that residents of the square would find useful. Irene was picking through the debris when she realized the arm reaching out from the back was one of the components she was gathering. This wasn¡¯t the first set of shelves she found in a supply closet. She never thought of them as furniture, because they were too large to move out through the door. If she took it apart, the pieces would fit through easily.

    She cleared all the broken and decayed items off the shelves and disassembled the entire thing. She bound the pieces together into a single bundle and carried it back. Irene could see that the guard thought she was a little crazy bringing back piles of junk. She went straight to her shop and reassembled the shelves against the back wall of the workshop. The only problem she had was figuring out which of the small pieces in the gathering bag were the ones from the shelving. She threw the shelving connectors into the bag without thought. When she dumped the bag out she was surprised at how many connectors were in there. They were not all the same. The ones to attach sheets of iron to the top of the shelves were distinctly different to the ones used to attach the wooden slats to the top of the bed frames.

    Looking over at the still loaded skid, Irene realized she was going to have trouble putting the bed frame back together. She already didn¡¯t remember it that clearly. She thought about doing it now, but decided against it. She left a lot of good components in the hall, she wanted to retrieve them at a minimum before giving it up for the night. Once out in the hall, she couldn¡¯t resist checking just a few more rooms.

    She found a complete small table, a nearly complete desk and the frame of a bookcase. She was getting a feel for how the pieces went together. She just needed to find the right size sheets of metal or planks of wood and she could fix the bookcase. She might even already have them. She¡¯d continued to haul back bundles of loose components each time she made a trip.

    ¡°My shift ends soon,¡± the guard commented, as Irene passed him on the way back out.

    ¡°Thanks for the warning,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Some of the night watch think that desperation to get back into the square will make people pay more,¡± the warrior commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just make one more quick run then and play with what I¡¯ve gathered,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Do you work the same shift everyday?¡±

    ¡°Most,¡± he responded. ¡°I get one day off in six. My next day off is in three days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow night then,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to it,¡± the guard smiled. ¡°I am Anthony, by the way,¡± he said introducing himself.

    ¡°Irene,¡± she responded without thought.

    ¡°Phillip¡¯s sister?¡± Anthony asked with a frown.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone. I haven¡¯t admitted I¡¯m back in the square yet.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t promise you that,¡± Anthony responded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Irene replied. ¡°They will figure it out sooner or later. I just prefer later.¡± Irene smiled and headed out for her last load. She gathered up as much as she could from the hall. She managed to keep herself from entering any other rooms.

    Back in the shop, Irene couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the items she left in the hallway. She decided to try and squeeze one more trip in before the guard changed. As she rounded the corner to the back door she heard two male voices. It appeared she already missed her window. She cast muffle and camouflage on herself and walked carefully the rest of the distance.

    There were two new men, they were engaged in an animated discussion of who would win in a fight between Phillip and Chris. Irene might have thought they were talking about an uprising, only she was pretty sure that Chris was actually Christopher, Irene and Phillip¡¯s second oldest brother. The last time Irene was in Londontown, Christopher¡¯s official title was head of the guard.

    Irene walked calmly by them and started bundling up the rest of her collection. She ended up with three big bundles. She could carry one on her back, and one in her arms, if she set her staff across the top, defending herself from an unexpected attack was going to be difficult. She ferried the three bundles up to the last corner, one at a time, so that the time she was burdened with two would be limited. She peeked around the last corner, under full cloaking and discovered both guards were asleep. Faintly annoyed at this development, Irene made three trips, under full cloaking spells, but not using much care. She decided this was a lesson for her. After midnight, when the halls were dark and people didn¡¯t want to go out, guards assumed that no one was coming in either.

 Trueborn: Chapter Nine

    ¡°Have you ever worked as a shop clerk?¡± Irene asked. She was sitting on the upper steps of a Londontown stairwell, chewing on the rib of a badger. She bought the rib from a woman with too many children cooking out of an apartment. Irene sold the woman the badger yesterday.

    The rib came with a small green salad and baked tubers on a wooden plate. The cook told her to bring the plate back. Yesterday the cook didn¡¯t offer a plate, instead Irene experienced a much messier time eating off a scrap of leather she used to hold her food when she traveled. Today after negotiating the sale of another badger for a hot meal and a couple coins, the woman asked, ¡°You¡¯re Irene aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene admitted.

    ¡°Here,¡± the cook said, ¡°take it, just bring the plate back.¡± She handed Irene a plate loaded with twice as much food as yesterday.

    ¡°No,¡± came the terse reply returning Irene¡¯s attention to the present moment. Since the upper level of Londontown was mostly empty, Irene could sit on the steps and enjoy her meal without blocking traffic. When she climbed to the top of this particular stair, she found it already occupied by a woman alone.

    Lone women were rare. Not just in the square but anywhere in the structure. Irene thought this woman was probably escaping from another apartment too full of children, for a little me time.

    ¡°I recently decided to set up a shop,¡± Irene explained. ¡°I can¡¯t make heads or tails of the shop interface.¡±

    Irene¡¯s dinner mate was using a vent pin to spear the green salad. Only after her salad was gone did she speak again.

    ¡°You have this shop here? In Londontown?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. ¡°It¡¯s in the corner by the blacksmith.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember an empty there,¡± the woman responded. Irene just shrugged her shoulders. It was there and she bought it. ¡°My brother rented a shop once, in the early days before he got hooked. You can secure a shop from thieves, but not from the owner,¡± Irene¡¯s dinner mate went on to comment.

    ¡°Do you know anything about the interface?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Some,¡± the woman replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you ten iron if you show me what you know,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°A silver,¡± the woman countered boldly.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Irene replied. ¡°You¡¯d have to be the square¡¯s expert to get a silver out of me. I¡¯ll go pay one of the shop clerks first.¡± Ten iron was enough for a two day stay in the inn. Irene thought that was plenty. She only asked the woman because she was thinking about giving it another try tonight. This was the third day since Irene¡¯s arrival at Londontown and Anthony¡¯s day off. Irene already checked the back door and there was a different set of guards tonight. She was going to spend the evening assembling pieces for sale instead of gathering. Maybe she would even get the bed frame together. She thought she was getting close.

    The woman finished her meal and rose to her feet. She tossed her rib bone into a corner of the landing and left without comment. Since everything left in the halls of a square disappeared in the night, this was a common occurrence. Irene usually took her trash out to one of the rooms in wildspace. Since she wasn¡¯t heading out there tonight, she tossed her own bone in the corner. When she finished her meal she took the wooden plate back down to the cook.

    A knock sounded on the shop door about an hour later. Irene turned to find the woman from the stairs standing in the courtyard. The lights in the structure were in the half light phase of evening. Irene was working on weaving a chair seat with cord. She was working on a diagonal pattern, she saw it once someplace but never really paid attention to it. She made a quick half hitch to hold the cord in place.

    The woman was alone. She was looking a little impatient. Irene saw her looking over at the inn. Irene pushed the door open.

    ¡°Hello,¡± she said in greeting.

    ¡°Ten iron,¡± the woman responded, ¡°is the offer still open?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Irene said. ¡°You weren¡¯t interested before. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Anna,¡± the woman responded. ¡°Margot told me who you are.¡± Irene wondered who Margot was. ¡°She told me you really do have a shop.¡± Now Irene really wondered who Margot was and how she knew about the shop.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. It was pretty obvious she did have a shop, since she was standing in the doorway. Irene wondered what Anna was afraid of and decided she didn¡¯t really want to know. ¡°Ten iron,¡± Irene confirmed, holding the door open for her.

    Anna stepped inside. Her eyes went over the shop contents. The showroom was scattered with piles of components. The chair she was working on and a small bookcase were the only completed, or almost completed items, in sight. The mattress that started this whole adventure was against the back wall with Irene¡¯s personal possessions scattered around it. She slept on it the last few nights and it looked like a pallet. There were component shelves up against the walls, but since they were loaded with more components they didn¡¯t look like items for sale. Anna went directly over to the pay counter.

    ¡°Touch the surface with the flat of your hand and wait till you see the interface. When you do, there is an icon in the lower left that looks like a K. Select it,¡± Anna instructed tersely

    Irene went around the counter to the seller¡¯s side and set her hand on the surface of the counter. Anna was studying the surface of the counter so Irene looked down at it herself. An interface appeared on the surface of the counter. It looked like icons or buttons were carved out of the stone. There were a dozen of them at least. Irene studied each one of them earlier and didn¡¯t have a single guess for any of them.

    She studied the images on her lower left. There was one that looked a little like a K on its side. It also might be a man kneeling, or two arms crossed. Irene touched it. From her point of view, nothing happened except the icon now looked like an upside down T.

    ¡°Good,¡± Anna said. ¡°Now I can see it too. That is how you share the interface with a customer. It appears on the corner of every screen. So the icons down the right side are roughly, rent, accounting, personnel, inventory, purchases, sales, open/closed. On the left from the bottom is visibility, hours, layout, default and I don¡¯t think anyone has any idea what the last two do.¡±

    ¡°What''s this big one in the center?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s the default behavior that happens if you just tap the control surface. Yours is set to inventory,¡± Anna said. Irene studied the large icon. It did sort of resemble the smaller icon along the edge. The larger version was clearly a grid with round dots in the bottom half.

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    ¡°You called this one default,¡± Irene said pointing at the icon on the left. ¡°Do I use that to change the default behavior?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes, exactly,¡± Anna responded. She seemed relieved. ¡°Let''s start with inventory. I know the most about that.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Irene said. She reached out and touched the inventory icon. A new set of icons appeared on the right with a blank area on the left. Anna started pointing out the icons.

    ¡°Add, remove, update, list, reports and I call that one ¡®settings¡¯,¡± Anna said. ¡°You can set up separate inventories.¡±

    ¡°What is that for?¡± Irene asked, ¡°Splitting the shop between two businesses?¡±

    ¡°My brother used it to keep track of which suppliers'' products sold best.¡± Anna thought about it for a moment. ¡°I think it would work for your two businesses in one idea too. If you set up multiple inventories, all the other choices get more complex, because you have to pick which inventory first.¡± Anna walked over to a nearby pile and picked up one of the iron tubing sections. She brought it back and set it on the counter. ¡°Select the add icon,¡± she instructed.

    Anna walked Irene through how to add items to the inventory. The easiest method was to just set the item on the counter. The system defaulted to believe you wanted that item added. The price defaulted to one iron coin. A quick tap on the price and another iron coin was added. A long touch on the iron coin and a silver coin was added. A long touch on the silver and a green coin was added. A swipe across the entire price, like you were crossing it out, and it reset to one iron coin.

    After the price was set, the system reported how many of that item was currently in the shop, in structure script. A tap on that number and they were all added for that price.

    ¡°That part only worked because your item is integrated. If you try to sell something unique like butchered meat, you have to issue an id number for the object and it is individually priced,¡± Anna said. ¡°The id number is how it appears in the accounting.¡±

    ¡°How do I identify integrated items in the accounting?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Oh they have an id number too, it¡¯s just already set. That is what this is here and that there in the corner is the icon it will show for this thing.¡± Irene looked at the number issued for the iron component. It was actually a string of numbers. Anna went over and picked up the bookcase and set it in front of the counter. ¡°This might be unique,¡± she said.

    Anna explained that the second easiest way to put something into inventory was to put it in front of the counter. If the top was empty the interface would look there next. This was convenient for items that were too large to easily fit on the counter. The bookcase was not unique, but the string of numbers identifying it was longer. When they tried the chair, with its almost finished seat, it came up unique. When they tried to enter it, a warning came up.

    ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Anna said. ¡°You don¡¯t usually see that warning unless you''re putting together bundles. Did you add anything to the inventory before I got here?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°It¡¯s the first item you added.¡±

    ¡°The bar?¡± Anna asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. That¡¯s this piece here,¡± she said pointing at the leg-backrest piece. Irene picked up the bar and flipped it around so she held the loose piece up next to the chair. ¡°See?¡± Anna frowned. She looked around the room again, at all the stacks of bars and sheets, then back at the chair and bookcase.

    ¡°Why are you making them in pieces?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not making them. I¡¯m assembling them. I¡¯ve gathered all the pieces from wildspace,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Except for the seat, of course. I¡¯ve seen people weave seats and backrests so I am trying to reproduce it.¡±

    ¡°So you''re going to sell chairs and bookcases?¡± Anna asked.

    ¡°Among other things,¡± Irene said. ¡°It¡¯s a salvage store. I plan to sell salvage items that aren¡¯t scrap.¡± Irene could see that Anna thought that was an odd idea. She physically shook off the thought and returned to her instruction. From the warning they could abort adding the new item into inventory or if they continued the old item would be rolled into this item. They could set a new price for the rolled in item, or accept that the existing price.

    ¡°It''s set up that way so you can track the profits per sub item in an assembly if you want. You should put every item in here in inventory. Inventory items in a shop are protected from theft. If someone does manage to steal something, which is hard, it automatically returns in three days,¡± Anna explained.

    ¡°How does that work?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Anna said. ¡°But I¡¯ve seen it happen. The missing item will be waiting for you in the shop. The thieves can¡¯t sell the item either, not using a pay surface. If the item is near a pay surface it just won¡¯t work.¡± Irene thought that was an important thing to know even for even who didn¡¯t own shops. It was a real reason to use the pay surfaces in the market and not just exchange physical coins.

    ¡°Is this what you meant by securing a shop from thieves, but not from the owner?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Anna replied. ¡°Once something is in inventory the only way it can be removed from the shop is by removing it from inventory first. A sale is how a clerk removes an item from inventory. When you hire someone you grant them access to each of the top level icons. If you don¡¯t grant them access to inventory, they can¡¯t add things to inventory, but they can¡¯t take them out either. You also don¡¯t want to give a worker the ability to make purchases. That¡¯s another way a shop bleeds coins.¡±

    Anna went on to explain how to add anything anywhere in the shop into inventory. It was possible to pull up a map of the shop and target an item on the floor plan. When she targeted one of the piles of components, a long list of items appeared. Irene added them all into inventory for one silver each.

    After inventory Anna walked Irene through how to hire a clerk. Irene hired Anna as a clerk for the example, giving her only access to the sales icon.

    ¡°What is the difference between the hours and the open/closed icons?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°If you set the hours then your personnel can only enter during those times. The shop won¡¯t actually be open to the public unless there is personnel inside. The open/close icon is an override. It is open the shop now, close the shop now. Personnel with access to the open/close icon can enter the shop at any time,¡± Anna explained. ¡°That is what I was told about the hours icon, I¡¯ve never used it myself, so I don¡¯t know how you define hours.¡± Anna didn¡¯t know that much about sales, purchases, rent or layout. Accounting was a log of every transaction. Anna described how to sort, filter and get totals, but without any data it was hard to demonstrate.

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Anna said. ¡°That¡¯s all I know.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Irene said. She reached down into her pocket looking for physical coins to pay Anna with. She didn¡¯t think she could use the pay surface to pay her yet, since without sales there was no money in the account. She pulled out a handful of coins and sorted through them. There was only eight iron in physical coins in her hand. She shoved the coins back into her pocket. ¡°You¡¯re still entered as personnel. I¡¯ll buy that component from the shop and give it to you. Then I¡¯ll buy it back from you to pay you.¡±

    Wanting the money, Anna agreed. The interface vanished as soon as Irene stepped out from behind the counter. Anna took her place and reactivated it. She switched it to the visible configuration. Irene sat the component on the counter. The interface automatically recognized it. Irene could see the same icon on the side that Anna used to add items anywhere in the shop to inventory, so there was a method to add more items. An icon above that one looked like a coin, Irene wondered if that was a way to manually set a price for an item not in inventory, like delivery charges. Near Anna, in the clerk position, was a coin tally. Anna tapped the coin tally and the normal pile of shadow coins appeared on the counter. Or in this case a single shadow coin appeared since the price of the component was set to one silver.

    Irene made the payment motion and the coins vanished. Irene took the component off the counter and handed it to Anna. They switched positions. Anna sat the component on the counter. Irene selected the purchase icon. The same ¡®select from someplace in store¡¯ and coin icons were on the purchase interface. Irene selected the coin icon. She played with the interface and found that she could not increase the amount past the one silver in the account. She tapped the coin tally.

    ¡°That is a silver,¡± Anna said. ¡°I agreed to ten iron.¡±

    ¡°I changed my mind,¡± Irene responded. ¡°You under sold your knowledge.¡± Anna took the coin. ¡°Before you go,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll be ready to open in a few more days, but I am going to concentrate on salvaging wildspace and trade with other squares. I want to hire someone to run the shop. I¡¯ll pay a sixth of everything sold.¡± Anna showed Irene how she could do that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it,¡± Anna replied. Irene noticed that Anna carefully checked that the area outside the shop was empty before she exited.

 Trueborn: Chapter Ten

    <h2>13 A.L.</h2>

    Irene really couldn¡¯t believe it when she found the first stuffed chair. It was like Control was laughing at her. She invested a small fortune in fiber scrap and fabric and hours convincing Joe to cover a chair frame. She got the idea when she finally collected enough components in wood to make the frame. The end result was very nice, but Irene was forced to price it high to cover the costs of the fiber scrap, fabric and Joe¡¯s time.

    Just as the project was completed, one of her favorite hunting grounds remodeled and provided her with a free chair. The fabric on it was a dark tan, almost brown. Her custom chair was covered in hunter¡¯s green. Turning the chair over and brushing its surface, she admitted brown wasn¡¯t bad. It was a unique piece. She found them before. The first one she found was a very nice storage trunk. She was extremely disappointed when she realized it wasn¡¯t made of components so she couldn¡¯t build more.

    She marked the chair room on her map. She was going back to the room every six days to get the replacement chair as the room returned to how she found it. This was her fifth chair. The room would continue to spawn the chair until the whole area remodeled again. She still couldn¡¯t figure out a schedule for remodels. It seemed rather random, although it tended to happen at least once a year.

    The room with the beds lasted only a month. Irene didn¡¯t know if the spell encoding on the floor affected it or if she just discovered it late in its life. Luckily she always knew how rare beds were and priced them extremely high. When her source was gone, she tripled the price on the last bed. She did it partly because she kept sleeping on it herself when she was in town. She didn¡¯t like the idea of going back to the floor.

    It was about nine months since she opened the shop and sales were dropping as the square became saturated with furniture. Irene made the trip to Waymarket and back easily without the shop running out of product. She was thinking about making the trip out to Chicago. The large demand for furniture in the beginning kept Irene close to Londontown. When demand for the component based pieces decreased Irene shifted over to unique and modified pieces. She learned to pick up only the components she needed for the item she was replacing. That allowed her to remove the workroom wall from the shop layout and get more showroom space.

    On the whole Irene preferred the slower sales rate in the shop. It allowed her to travel more. Anna was making noise about wanting a larger percentage, but Irene was pushing back on that. The clerk was still making a good living from the sales, it just wasn¡¯t the instant wealth of the first days. Irene thought sales would pick up again when the furniture started wearing out. If the shop''s sales fell below a working wage for Anna, Irene would close the shop for a few months and wait it out.

    She thought this might be her last upholstered chair before heading north. The tensions with Chicago were increasing. Red magic users were always encouraged to move on from Londontown since the queen¡¯s healing magic didn¡¯t work on them. Recently Irene overheard hostile comments driven by the ever increasing number of toll booths.

    The room was about two miles west of Londontown. Irene carried the chair back close to the square, before searching the rooms for a badger. She found four rooms with rats before she came across a single badger.

    ¡°There is talk about raising the tax,¡± Anthony told her as she delivered him the badger. Anthony was always on guard duty alone after the first hour of his shift. His partner was a heal addict. He would make up an excuse to go back into the square for something and never come back.

    Irene didn¡¯t think Anthony was addicted. She saw the warrior with minor wounds which healed over multiple days. As a blue in Londontown it was really only a matter of time. Irene felt for the man. She wished she knew what caused her to have purple magic. If there were more people like her, healing would be a lot safer. If it became known that she could heal people without addiction, she didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be safe in Londontown, regardless of whose daughter she was.

    ¡°What is driving that?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Scrap is getting scarce,¡± Anthony replied. ¡°Most of our scavengers were going east, since the halls are easier there. Now they are being forced west, they don¡¯t go out as long and come back with less,¡± he explained. ¡°Plus I think someone realized all that fancy furniture in the new shop must be coming in from outside. The day guards have all been questioned. No one has even considered that someone might be going out after dark.¡±

    Irene picked up scrap everywhere she went. She even cleaned out the rooms she just searched looking for a badger. That scrap was how she came up with the fiber needed for the stuffed chair experiment. Distracted by her shop, she wasn¡¯t doing anything with the rest of it; wood, iron and bronze. She wondered if she was part of the problem.

    ¡°I have some scrap,¡± Irene commented. ¡°I guess I should sell some of it off.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a metal worker up on the third floor, near the training yard stairs that could use some,¡± Anthony commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember,¡± Irene commented. She left to go get the chair. When she came back she heard two male voices before making the last turn. She cast camouflage, muffle and eagle eye before peering around the corner to see what was going on.

    Her brother Christopher was grilling Anthony. The topic of the moment was where the other guard was. Irene thought it wouldn¡¯t be long before they got around to her. Anthony was a friend and Irene didn¡¯t want to see anything bad happen to him.

    Irene was planning to head out to Chicago soon. She bought a bundle of bear hides in Waymarket she wanted to sell there. She could check in with everyone at The Heights and get a feel for the rising tensions from the other side. She wanted to go north to Moscow and see what was going on up there, but she didn¡¯t think she could be away from the shop that long. She would sell some scrap to the metal worker on the third floor in the morning and slip out of town after that.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    She dismissed her spells and picked up her chair. She hauled it up the darkened corridor making no attempt to hide her approach, although the bulk of the chair itself probably hid her identity. She set the chair down in front of the gate and looked at her brother.

    ¡°Hey Christopher,¡± she said. ¡°How are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Irene,¡± the head of the guard responded. There were several layers of emotions in his voice, from exasperation to ¡®that explains it¡¯.

    ¡°Are you checking up on the night guards?¡± Irene asked. ¡°You know those two on shift after Anthony here usually sleep most of the night. I¡¯ve always found that a little worrying.¡±

    ¡°How long have you been in town?¡± Chris asked.

    ¡°This trip? About a month, maybe a couple weeks longer. I was out at Waymarket before that,¡± Irene responded. Chris looked at the chair.

    ¡°So the furniture store is yours,¡± he commented.

    ¡°Perhaps I was just hired by the owner to scavenge for them,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Chris responded, but his tone said he didn¡¯t believe it for a moment. ¡°Have you seen Mary?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene replied. ¡°Not lately. How are her children?¡± Chris tilted his head and looked at his sister. He never knew her to ask after any of the family members before.

    ¡°They are fine,¡± he responded. ¡°When did you last see Mary?¡± Irene made a show of thinking about it.

    ¡°About a year ago, maybe longer,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Where was that?¡± Chris asked. Mary left Londontown nearly two years ago now.

    ¡°Moscow,¡± Irene responded. ¡°It¡¯s a red square, about five or six green spaces north and thirty or forty stories down.¡±

    ¡°A red square?¡± Chris responded in shock.

    ¡°There was a group forming up heading north. She was talking about joining them. I wanted to go along, but I was scouting for another group. I needed to get back to report,¡± Irene told her brother.

    ¡°So she won¡¯t be back,¡± Chris observed.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think so. She was very angry at Mother,¡± Irene told her brother.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Chris conceded. ¡°I can see that.¡± Irene picked up her chair.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize she had children until then. I thought I¡¯d better check on them when I got back. I¡¯m glad to hear they are ok,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have children?¡± Anthony asked. Irene almost forgot him; she was so focused on her brother. Thirteen years since the landing everyone had children.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°If I had children I¡¯d have to settle down someplace to raise them. Wildspace is no place for the young.¡± Inherent in that response was the fact that she wouldn¡¯t leave them behind. Chris was startled. On some subconscious level he thought she did have a family somewhere. It was odd to realize she didn¡¯t. Irene shifted the chair in her hands. ¡°It¡¯s been good talking to you,¡± she said. She moved to pass her brother heading to the courtyard.

    ¡°How long has she been bringing in the furniture?¡± Chris asked.

    ¡°On and off for about nine months,¡± Anthony admitted. ¡°It started a couple weeks before the shop opened.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you report it?¡± Chris asked.

    ¡°Report what?¡± Anthony asked. ¡°She pays the gate tax.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see her pay anything,¡± Chris countered. Anthony turned and pointed to the badger in the bottom of the collection box.

    ¡°She paid the badger,¡± Anthony reported. ¡°She went back to fetch the chair. She said she couldn¡¯t carry both.¡± Chris looked down at the badger. It was alone at the bottom of the box. No one else entered the square since the last collection run after dinner.

    ¡°How long did it take her to fetch the chair?¡± Chris asked.

    ¡°Less than ten minutes.¡± That made Chris curious. He looked down the hallway she approached from. It seemed better illuminated than he would expect for this time of night. He compared it to one of the side halls. It was definitely brighter. Chris drew his sword, he felt better with the weapon in his hand.

    ¡°Come with me,¡± he said to the guard. The guard picked up a steel spear from where it was leaning against the wall. The two of them went down the hall to the intersection Irene emerged from. Around the corner was even brighter. The light was coming from around the corner of the next major intersection.

    With care the two men approached the intersection. Only the need to keep up appearances in front of the guard kept Chris moving steadily forward. They carefully stepped out into the intersection, checking for danger. An overhead light panel burned at full brightness a short distance down the hall. Chris could see two more reaching out into the distance. The floor of the corridor was littered with dead rats. There were more rats there than Chris would want to face with a team.

    He looked up at the light panel and wondered how Irene turned it on. No wonder she scavenged at night. With her comments about the early shift sleeping, she could have come and gone from the square any number of times, yet she chose to pay.

    ¡°I need to tell her she can pay the tax in rats,¡± Anthony commented.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t need to pay at all,¡± Christopher announced. ¡°As a daughter of the queen she is exempt.¡± He was aware that Irene traveled the structure a lot. He also knew she was a wizard. Somehow that didn¡¯t really sink in. Chris suspected she would have no difficulty killing any of them, yet at the same time he believed her when she said she left Mary in the north.

    Mother always treated Irene like she was a complete failure, yet his sister won the same exclusive position in engineering their father held. Chris could see how their mother¡¯s treatment of her might have taught her to hide from attention. Her quiet competence didn¡¯t end with engineering.

    Chris climbed the steps inside the inn to the rented rooms. He knocked softly on his brother¡¯s door. If Phillip was already asleep, Chris didn¡¯t want to wake him. The door was opened by Phillip¡¯s spouse.

    ¡°It¡¯s your brother,¡± she called as she stepped out of the way to let Chris in. ¡°I¡¯ll go check on the children.¡± She stepped out into the hall, leaving the brothers alone.

    ¡°What brings you by so late?¡± Phillip asked. He was half dressed and standing in the door to the sanitation facility.

    ¡°Irene is in the square,¡± Chris reported. ¡°The guard at the back door told me she¡¯s been going through in the evenings on and off for the last nine months.¡±

    ¡°Nine months, how have you missed her for that long?¡± Phillip demanded.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t miss her,¡± Chris responded. ¡°The furniture shop is hers.¡± Phillip stood straight and started pacing. He thought about the shop. It was about nine months. ¡°I think she is looking for a home,¡± Chris commented. ¡°If we welcome her, she could be an asset. She is a wizard.¡±

    ¡°If she¡¯s been around that long and we didn¡¯t notice, she hasn¡¯t been causing her usual trouble,¡± Phillip observed.

    ¡°She did tell me the guards on the early morning shift sleep most of the time,¡± Chris replied.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand her,¡± Phillip admitted, ¡°even if she is our sister.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Eleven

    ¡°What is the purpose of your visit?¡± the first guard asked.

    ¡°Trade,¡± Greg responded.

    ¡°Where are you coming from?¡± the guard asked.

    ¡°The Heights,¡± Greg answered.

    ¡°Who is your leader?¡± the guard asked.

    ¡°Greg Atwater,¡± Greg responded.

    The second guard held a structure notebook in one hand. He was paging through it looking for the suburb''s name. When he found it he double checked the leader''s name.

    ¡°Looks like you''re paid up,¡± the second guard said. ¡°Your quarterly taxes are due in thirty days.¡±

    ¡°We will have it,¡± Greg assured the second guard.

    The guards let their small party through. Neither noticed that there were four of them, unlike the usual three. They all kept their heads down and walked quickly through the gallery. As members of a tiny suburb they didn¡¯t have any intention of catching the eye of power. They hurried away from the leadership offices on the east side and headed directly to downtown where they could sell their leather.

    It was the same leatherworker Irene sold her bear hides to on her last visit. She let the don¡¯t notice me spell drop and greeted the proprietor.

    ¡°Hello John. How is business?¡± she asked the leather worker. She held her own slightly smaller bundle of leather separate from the rest of her group¡¯s.

    ¡°Fair,¡± John replied. ¡°Londontown has started sending patrols out into our green, so all the hunters are upgrading to leather armor. Did you bring me any bear hides?¡°

    ¡°Straight from Waymarket,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°They have bears there?¡± John asked.

    ¡°The next line of greens to the south are heavy with them,¡± Irene explained.

    As Greg and John fell into their price negotiations, Irene thought about what John said. Patrolling the green north of Chicago seemed like an odd thing for Londontown to do. They would literally have to go around Chicago to get there. If someone was roving the green it seemed far more likely to her that it was an affiliated square to the north, like Paris. She didn¡¯t hear anything about patrols inside Chicago territory in Londontown. She needed to swing by Paris on the way back.

    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to come back with us?¡± Greg asked after he finished his price negotiations with John.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I am on my way north to see the squares there.¡± Irene hugged Greg and wished him a safe journey home. Greg returned the sentiment, before his party headed off to buy supplies with the coins they earned from the leather.

    She negotiated with John for the bear hides. He was paying fifty percent higher than last year. John tried to sell her a set of light leather armor to replace the worn set she was wearing. Irene demurred, but she did look at her clothing and decided she needed to craft herself a new set.

    Irene browsed through the shops looking for any new products. The weapons dealers were all heavy on blades and war hatchets. Elie, the blacksmith, was selling a breastplate and backplate in dark iron. She displayed them on a dummy over the top of a cloth quilted shirt. Irene thought the armor would restrict the wearer''s range of arm motion. She wasn¡¯t certain why she would want to wear it.

    ¡°How much?¡± Irene asked the young boy that was keeping his eye on the armor. He was probably Elie¡¯s son. There were so many children running around all the settlements, Irene stopped trying to keep track of them years ago.

    ¡°Twenty five silver,¡± the boy said. Irene hoped she kept a straight face. That was very steep. It was about equivalent to the rent on an inn room for half a year. She moved on.

    The main crafters in Chicago were doing well. There was an increase in the manufacture of heavy weapons and armor. Irene realized it was a war economy. She suspected the cost of vegetables was going to increase as gatherers switched to scavenging to supply the war manufacturing.

    Usually Irene made a trade or two with the smaller crafters in the cross halls. Since she carried the heavy pack of bear hides from Londontown she didn¡¯t have many more physical items on her. She went off to find the prize altar where she could pull some items out of her digital inventory.

    The public prize altar was not where it was on her last trip. It was in a room off a cross corridor. A long line of scavengers were waiting.

    ¡°What is the rate?¡± Irene asked the woman in line in front of her.

    ¡°One silver flat fee, plus one in ten, rounded up,¡± the woman responded.

    ¡°What do you mean rounded up?¡± Irene asked, stunned at the high rate.

    ¡°If you pull out one iron scrap they will take it from you. If you pull out eleven they will take two. So be careful to only take out sets of ten,¡± the woman advised. Ten wasn¡¯t an easy number to pull out of inventory. The structures systems were all based on a base six number system written in an almost roman numeral style. Anything past thirty six gave Irene a headache.

    ¡°I am from a registered suburb,¡± Irene countered.

    ¡°You should have pulled your inventory out in the wilds and carried it in. Everyone pays at the altar, it is a war tax.¡± Irene ended up stepping out of line. The lesser crafters would have to survive without her scrap. She hoped Greg didn¡¯t get burned by this tax. The Heights main product was tanned skins, but they picked up and sold any scrap they found along the way. She kept her eye out for him and his group as she made her way to the northern exit. She didn¡¯t see him before she reached the northern stairs.

    She thought about making one last loop of Chicago looking for him. He could be anywhere from inside a shop to paying his suburb¡¯s quarterly tax. Greg lived in the structure longer than Irene. He came in with the first exploration teams. She decided she was being paranoid and Greg was capable of taking care of himself.

    She cast camouflage and slipped past the guards inspecting the gathering bags of a hunter just returning. She slipped into the stairwell hugging the wall in an effort to not bump into the line of waiting hunters. The line extended as far as she could see down in the direction of the nearest green. Irene made the decision to go up. She found an easy route north to the next line of greens on the upper levels when she traveled with Mary. The level above was little different to any other in the structure. The hall¡¯s closed and broken doors ran off into the distance. The number of broken doors was higher than on the lower floors.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Directly across from the exit on the floor above, Irene was surprised to find an inscription in Polygon. Irene studied the inscription. It was composed of zeros, ones, threes and fives. She didn¡¯t have any idea what spell it represented. With that many symbols it was at least a tier three spell. The Polygon script indicated tier four. She looked it over carefully and narrowed her eyes at it.

    She studied it so intently that her interface light began to flash in a corner of her vision. She blinked it away. With a sigh she gave up on the inscription and turned northwest.

    As she worked her way north she heard voices from ahead. The door to a nearby room was broken. The door looked as if it was shredded by giant claws. Since she could see through the opening to the inside, it was fairly safe to step inside. She made sure her camouflage spell was still on her and ducked into the room, standing out of the way of the swing of the door remnants just in case the passersby were interested in clearing the room.

    ¡°I think we missed it,¡± a blur in the hallway said. Irene realized they were using cloaking spells of their own, although obviously not muffle. She kept her eyes on the blur. It coalesced into a warrior in blue touched leathers as Control recognized that she saw the movement and decided in her favor. It meant her tier and skill in the spell was higher than the caster.

    ¡°Did you check the map?¡± another man¡¯s voice asked. His voice came from farther back down the hall. Cloaking spell or not, Irene could not see him from her position next to the wall.

    ¡°It¡¯s not on my map anymore. I think this whole area has changed. The only staircase I see ahead is the one leading to Chicago. I don¡¯t think we want that one,¡± the man within Irene¡¯s vision commented. She could see him looking at this virtual map. Irene rarely used the map system. The structure was constantly changing. The only things with any permanence were the greenspaces and settled squares. Irene traveled so much her map was always out of date. She relied on her memory most of the time. She was pretty good at navigating the halls by dead reckoning. She used how the floor, wall and ceiling tiles were laid at intersections to decipher the direction of travel.

    ¡°Well damn,¡± the second voice commented. ¡°If we head east from here we will be over the green. Let''s head west and see if we can catch one farther away.¡±

    There was some discussion of this plan by four or five voices, at least one of which was female. The group turned around and headed back the direction they came from.

    Carefully and quietly Irene slid to the floor. She didn¡¯t want to catch up with them. Chicago was solidly red. Those blue touched leathers were a clear indication that this was the Londontown patrol John mentioned. The fact that Chicago hunters were armoring up because of these patrols did not bode well for their intentions. The patrol leader said if they went east they would be over the greenspace. Irene didn¡¯t think that was strictly true. She was pretty certain east of here was the top of the green, where the greenspace¡¯s high ceiling blocked all travel.

    She decided she would also turn around. She would go back to the Chicago stairs and wait for the hunters to clear them. It was getting late in the day, everyone would want to be inside the boundary by nightfall. Instead of staying the night in a rest or securing a room she would stay in a tree. She preferred that to a secure room anyway. She could use the opportunity to fill her water supplies.

    Irene waited ten minutes before slipping out of the room. Still under camouflage she retraced her steps to the Chicago stairwell. A glance down the stairwell showed it was still filled with hunters.

    The inscription taunted her as she sat down with her back to the wall opposite. The whole situation here seemed so much worse than in Londontown. Was she too distracted by her new business? Irene didn¡¯t think so. Anthony did mention the increasing tax and Christopher was checking the night guards, but both of those actions seemed so minor compared to what was happening here. She decided to give up thoughts of a fast run up to Moscow. If she went north from here, she could circle around Chicago¡¯s tax stations and visit Paris.

    She held still so long her interface light was blinking again. Looking for a way to pass the time, Irene herded the light into the center of her vision. Her interface opened to overlay her vision. It opened on a different screen than usual. Surprised, Irene jerked and her interface closed automatically.

    It took her a few moments to open it again. It opened on the usual screen, only the interface wasn¡¯t being rendered in the same structure font as the last time she viewed it. When she last looked at it all the numbers were written in Arabic, now they were in Polygon. Polygon was a tier four font. Her interface being rendered in it meant she was tier four.

    Now that was a development. She wondered when it happened. She tried to think of anything that stood out. She wondered if tier four was why she was given the opportunity to buy the shop and not just rent it. She would have to ask around. If it was, maybe she actually hit tier four last season. Bear hunting with the team out of Moscow did make more sense than killing rats and gathering furniture. Or did it? It seemed like Control loved variety.

    She needed to review the list of tier four spells she had gathered hints on and pick one to start working on. She started to reach for her notebook. Her movement caused her interface to close again. She remembered that flicker of a different screen. She thought about what she was doing differently the first time she opened the interface.

    She was looking at the inscription when she opened it the first time. She reopened the interface while staring off down the hall. A thrill ran down her spine as she considered why the interface would respond differently depending upon what she was looking at. She locked her gaze on the inscription and waited for her interface light to start blinking.

    In a pretty extreme act of stupidity, Irene stayed in the hallway the entire night with her interface open for most of it. Everyone knew the fastest way to die in the structure was to stay unprotected in a hallway at night. The second fastest way was to use your interface in an unsecured location. She dismissed the interface and cast chain lightning in the direction of any approaching sound. Everytime she did it, she thought about securing a room and resting for the rest of the night. She always made some excuse that she would do that in just a minute after she tried just one more thing.

    She solved the decryption shortly after full light. The inscription was a tier four cloaking spell. Irene suspected it cloaked light, heat, sound and scent in a single cast. She knew a tier three cloak that masked light and heat. She didn¡¯t find it that useful, it took more energy to hold and very few things in the structure tracked by heat. She usually just cast the tier two camouflage which masked the light reflected from the caster¡¯s body, or their image. This new tier four spell was essentially camouflage and muffle together with extra¡¯s.

    The spell wasn¡¯t really that important. The incredible thing was that she decrypted it with her interface. It meant that even though she lost the use of the Speedwell¡¯s computers she could still use the inscriptions to discover new spells. After Irene dismissed her interface, the decrypted version of the inscription remained on the wall. She rose to her feet and ran her fingers across the wall. She could still feel the inscribed symbols on the wall under the image.

    She stretched trying to work the stiffness out of her neck and shoulders. In the increased illumination from the light panels, Irene could see an excess of dead animals in both directions down the hall. There were rats, badgers, hall spiders and even one cougar. Looking at the carnage she dealt out during the night Irene felt bad at the waste. She didn¡¯t have to stay in the hall all night. She should have gone back down to Chicago and rented a pallet for the night. All these animals could have continued on living their lives, although it didn¡¯t really work that way. Control bred and raised the animals someplace else and just brought them in to kill or be killed. If Control didn¡¯t send them after her last night, it would have sent them against someone else today. Irene wasn¡¯t completely certain they were real animals and not some kind of biological machines. They didn¡¯t seem to have very many animal instincts.

    Irene pulled her knife and moved to the first carcass out of guilt. She would sell the hides to John. If they were still here when she got back she''d haul back some of the badger meat to sell to the butcher. She¡¯d use the rats for the entry tax.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twelve

    ¡°It¡¯s a tier five spell, I think,¡± the woman said as she looked down at the tiles on the bottom of the pond. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen very many, so I can¡¯t be certain.¡±

    Jake was standing on the shore looking out at the woman. He was escorting a group of hunters through the green. With Ian and Sophia both away at Chicago, their hunting teams were being very careful. Although the woman was wearing a worn set of hunter''s greens, she wasn¡¯t a resident of Redfalls.

    The woman¡¯s strange response to his standard challenge threw him for a moment. He watched her scrape the bottom of the pool with the end of a spear for a moment or two. He found himself drawn to look down. The pond was lined in a multicolor mosaic of tiles. There were multiple shapes on the bottom. The only one he could see clearly was a dark green ring. When he lifted his eyes back up, he found the woman looking at him with a frown on her face.

    ¡°Let me get out of here.¡± She was completely unworried by his presence or the presence of the hunters in the trees around them. She waded across the pond and used her spear to balance herself as she stepped up out of the water. When she did so, Jake realized it wasn¡¯t a spear but a walking stick. Actually it was a dark carbon fiber broom handle and he recognized it.

    ¡°Irene?¡± he asked. He only spent a few weeks in her presence years ago. His memory of her was vague, but he didn''t remember Irene being as attractive as this woman was.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded, ¡°and you are?¡±

    ¡°Jake,¡± he responded. ¡°We traveled together from the Speedwell.¡± The subtle frown left Irene¡¯s face.

    ¡°Jake,¡± she said enthusiastically. ¡°I remember, you and Sophia went to a northern suburb. Are you two still together?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jake responded. ¡°She and Ian have gone up to Chicago for the yearly leaders meeting,¡± he explained. Irene knew the yearly meeting was going on. She traveled with Greg to Chicago because he was attending as leader of The Heights. They arrived several days early and Irene left Chicago before the meeting even started.

    ¡°Ian?¡± Irene asked. ¡°I met a man with that name a while back. He offered me dinner in Chicago, but I had prior commitments. He told me he was from a suburb called Redfalls.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the same Ian,¡± Jake confirmed.

    ¡°Is he or Sophia the suburb leader?¡± Irene queried.

    ¡°Oh, neither. Kyle is our suburb leader. Ian and Sophia went up as part of the party,¡± Jake responded. He didn¡¯t mention that this was the first time in years that Kyle decided to go himself. Their leader was alarmed at the increasing violence. Kyle went to speak to Darien directly about starting negotiations with the blues for peace.

    ¡°Is the suburb close?¡± Irene asked. Now Jake was uncomfortable.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯d invite you, but Ian doesn¡¯t like unknown visitors when he is away. As head of the guard he likes to vet all newcomers himself. Especially in these uncertain times,¡± Jake explained.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Irene said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know how to take care of myself.¡± For the first time Irene looked around at the hunters watching from the trees. ¡°What is your group after?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We are just hunting for the pot,¡± Jake responded. ¡°Most of our warriors are out at the tax stations, so I am taking a turn as a hunter.¡±

    ¡°I ran into an apple tree and a squirrel nest that way,¡± Irene offered, pointing off to the north. ¡°I killed a couple of them before I scared the rest of them off. You¡¯re welcome to them if they''re still there.¡±

    ¡°You came from the north?¡± Jake asked. He tensed, wondering if Irene already found the square.

    ¡°No, I came from Chicago, but I ran into this series of ponds and started following them back. Each pond has a different image on the bottom. It is really fascinating,¡± Irene explained. She started describing all the images she found. Jake remembered how Irene was always staring at the walls on the trip in from the Speedwell. It appeared she was unchanged. The waterway she was following was cutting southeast. It was very unlikely that she¡¯d find the square if she stuck to it.

    After listening to this monolog for a while, Jake took his leave. He made the excuse that they needed to hurry over if they wanted to find the squirrels. Irene told him it was great seeing him. If he could visit later she planned to follow the waterway all the way to the south wall.

    Jake signaled to the hunters that they were turning north. After they were out of earshot the top hunter came over to walk beside him.

    ¡°Is it a good idea to just leave her wandering around?¡± he asked.

    ¡°She saved my life once,¡± Jake responded. He wasn¡¯t going to repay her with an ambush. ¡°Besides, she is a wizard. Ian won¡¯t be happy with us if he finds out we discarded an asset like that without letting him try to recruit her. If she shows up at the square, we will invite her in and keep her there until Ian is back.¡± The hunter rubbed his back as he considered Jake¡¯s words. He gave a sharp nod as he agreed with the plan.

    A call came back from their lead elements indicating that they found the squirrels. Jake came out into a small clearing to find eight dead squirrels littered around. A large apple tree stood on the edge of the clearing. It was heavily loaded with fruit. The presence of fruit explained the squirrels. It was late in the year to see that much still on a tree.

    ¡°Do you think she killed them all by herself?¡± one of the hunters asked another. Jake ignored the comment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get them processed. You two; gather some of those apples,¡± Jake ordered.

    <hr>

    Irene followed the water across half the green, checking the bottom of the pools. The series of images described a spell of last resort. It showed an expanding ring of dark green which killed everything in its wake. Irene thought she knew the symbols involved, but she couldn¡¯t figure out the timing. The stream/water feature didn¡¯t reach the south wall. It stopped at a final pond with a sandstone bottom. The water seeped through the sandstone and disappeared. She inspected every inch of the bottom of this last pool, but couldn¡¯t find any spell hints in it.

    Many times an area that held one hint for a spell would contain another for the same spell. Of course ¡®area¡¯ could mean something as large as a square mile over ten stories. Normally it just wasn¡¯t worth the search. A tier five spell was something she didn¡¯t think she could leave behind. Irene climbed a nearby tree and settled in for the night.

    <hr>

    ¡°Do you remember Irene?¡± Jake asked Sophia. It was a week after his encounter with Irene in the green. The two of them were in their room at the inn. Jake was making a display of taking off his leathers, trying to catch Sophia¡¯s attention. She was distracted tonight, traumatized, Jake thought, by the loss of Kyle. He was happy when Sophia smiled in amusement.

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    ¡°I remember her broom handle,¡± she responded.

    ¡°I ran into her in the green,¡± Jake responded.

    ¡°What?¡± Sophia sat upright, her eyes glittering. ¡°We need to tell Ian,¡± Sophia jumped out of bed and threw some clothing on.

    ¡°It was a week ago,¡± Jake murmured. ¡°You can tell him in the morning.¡±

    ¡°You should have said something as soon as we arrived,¡± Sophia demanded.

    ¡°Everyone was upset at the news about Kyle,¡± Jake countered. Ian and Sophia returned without Kyle, reporting that he was killed in a blue raid in the green just north of Chicago. There was something very ironic in that. Kyle was on his way to push for peace when he was killed.

    Sophia threw open their room door and marched over to Ian¡¯s where she banged on the door. In only a moment or two, a fully collected Ian opened it.

    ¡°There is an outside group in the green,¡± Sophia announced. ¡°Jake just got around to telling me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a party,¡± Jake responded, from where he followed Sophia into the hall half dressed. ¡°It¡¯s one woman.¡±

    ¡°A blue wizard,¡± Sophia countered.

    ¡°She mentioned you, Ian,¡± Jake said, in an attempt to justify his actions. ¡°She said you offered her dinner in Chicago.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that!¡± Sophia said, turning on Jake.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t give me a chance,¡± he responded. There was only one wizard Ian ever offered dinner to. Irene, the elusive daughter of the Londontown queen. Ian smiled. Jake was a little frightened by the expression.

    ¡°Irene,¡± Ian said with a strange satisfaction. ¡°When and where did you see her?¡±

    ¡°It was about a week ago, she was west of here, looking at the bottom of a pond,¡± Jake responded.

    ¡°The bottom of a pond?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophia said with a laugh, ¡°that is Irene.¡± This was the reaction Jake expected from Sophia when he started telling her this story. He thought she would find it amusing that Irene was still wandering around looking at the walls.

    ¡°She said something about it being a tier five spell,¡± Jake reported.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Has she been to the square?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Jake answered. ¡°I would have kept her here if she found us. She was moving south, following the water. One of the hunters said he saw her enter the southern halls a couple days ago.¡± Ian was feeling frustrated. Was this woman always going to slip through his fingers?

    ¡°There is a chance a fast party could catch up with her before she reaches Chicago. It is a much faster trip over the top.¡± Sophia offered.

    ¡°She isn¡¯t going to Chicago,¡± Jake responded. ¡°She came from there. I think she was on her way north to Moscow. She said she got distracted by the pond.¡±

    ¡°No need to track her down, Sophia,¡± Ian said. ¡°Put the word out that no harm is to come to her. If anyone spots her on her way north, have them extend my invitation to her to join us in the square,¡± Ian told Jake. He turned and looked at Sophia, ¡°A blue wizard could be very useful.¡±

    Early in the morning Ian made Jake take him out to the pond where he saw Irene. Ian sent Jake back to the square to run the hunters while he inspected it. The tile at the bottom of the pond did include imagery. Studying it, Ian couldn¡¯t see why Irene would call it a tier five spell. Ian didn¡¯t get to tier four, now five, without figuring out a lot of spells from structure hints. If this was a tier five spell, Ian thought it must be here for him to find. Even though he only hit tier five a few days ago, he was the only tier five he knew of.

    He followed the water course down the slight slope to the south. It ended at a large round pond with a sandstone bottom. There was no sign of Irene or her passage. Ian was not surprised, the green regenerated even faster than the halls did.

    Ian walked the length of the stream in a couple hours. If Irene lingered here for several days before entering the southern halls, she must have been searching for more hints. Ian considered all the hints and oddities he saw in the area recently. He remembered a collapse that was below the green. It was three or four stories down. From memory, Ian thought it was about in this area. It was odd to find a collapse that low in the structure.

    Ian pulled up his map and found it. Pulling up through the floors he found the collapse was directly below this pond. That could not be a coincidence. It was a long complicated route to get to the collapse from the south halls. It was actually faster to go to the east end of the green and come at it from that direction. Ian decided to go down and check it. The collapse was a complex mess of stone, steel and copper wiring. If Irene thought it was a spell hint, she would linger there for some time.

    He could feel the faint echo of a blade ahead of him as he neared the collapse. He cast camouflage on himself so he could assess the situation before making himself known. Irene was standing inside the collapse. Drops of water were falling down from above, wetting her hair. They were rolling off the integrated hunter¡¯s outfit she wore. The green color of it looked muddied. She was holding her broomstick up measuring distances with it. She would measure a distance, move over to a notebook set just outside the ring of wet and make a note and repeat. She was slowly making her way around the collapse. Ian watched her until she stopped measuring and started studying her results. He stepped back out of the area and dismissed his cloaking spell.

    He approached the collapse again, making no attempt to hide his approach. He expected Irene to be watching him as he stepped into view. Instead she was still lost in thought, studying her notes.

    ¡°I thought I might find you here,¡± Ian said, as a way of introduction. ¡°Jake told me you were interested in the ponds above.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡± Irene responded, as she looked up at him. ¡°It¡¯s like a deluxe version of the abstract statues in the grand staircases. Of course there¡¯s no spell ribbon, but I think the bronze wire spacing is the spell timing.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ian responded, looking up at the debris tumbling out of the hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°Look here,¡± Irene said, using her stick to point out a ring around the pile. ¡°All the oxidized wires pass through this level in a vertical position. If you plot them out they are a near perfect circle, but the spacing between them varies.¡± She shifted around, stepping into the falling drops of water. ¡°These six here,¡± she said tapping the wires close to her, ¡°All twist around and emerge from this side of the central figure. The other six emerge from over there.¡± Irene danced around to stand in front of the pile. She balanced her staff against a shoulder and held both hands up.

    ¡°She is casting with both hands,¡± Irene said, pushing her hands out infront of her and slightly to the sides.

    ¡°What spell is it?¡± Ian asked, as he studied the position of the wires with Irene''s demonstration in mind.

    ¡°The pools above describe it as a kind of ¡®take them with you¡¯ spell. The graphics made me think of a nuclear weapon, killing everything in its path.¡±

    ¡°How big of an area does it affect?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell,¡± Irene responded. She grasped her staff and used it again to point out the shape of the debris. ¡°Above it looked like some kind of ring of death, but I think the water falling down from above and the round arches on the wires here are a warning that the effect is actually spherical.¡±

    Ian remembered that Sophia called Irene odd. She wasn¡¯t odd, she was brilliant. Ian got the feeling not many people could follow her thoughts. He remembered thinking she could be a spy for Londontown. He thought that unlikely now. She spilled information far too easily. If she was a spy, she was playing a really deep game.

    ¡°If this is the timing,¡± Ian said, ¡°what are the symbols?¡±

    ¡°Oh I got them from the pools above. The problem I have now is deciding which way it runs,¡± She went back to stand in front. ¡°If I was designing it, this wire here,¡± she said tapping the front wire on her main side with her staff, ¡±would be the first symbol. So the spacing to the next wire back,¡± she moved her staff to tap it, ¡°would be the timing to the second symbol with that hand.¡± She shifted to her off side and tapped the first two wires there.

    ¡°That would make this spacing the timing for the first two symbols on my other hand. However, everything is always backwards from what I expect, bottom to top not top to bottom. Which makes me suspect the spacing on the first wires back there,¡± she said, turning to point to the wires behind the central figure, ¡°are actually the timing on the first symbols.¡±

    ¡°I know what you mean,¡± Ian said. ¡°Like how all the directional pointers indicate south, but we were raised with a north arrow.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯m hoping there is something on one of these four wires that marks it as the primary. Ian got the impression that Irene would crawl over every inch of this debris looking for her clue. He spent most of the day looking for her. It was getting late and he missed lunch.

    ¡°I want to invite you back to the suburb for dinner,¡± Ian explained. ¡°We can make it before dark if we leave now. The statue will be here in the morning.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Thirteen

    At first, Irene thought Redfalls was a newly discovered square. None of the storefronts were taken. When Ian took her there for dinner the common room was barely a quarter full.

    It wasn¡¯t until two days later that she found out from Jake that their leader Kyle was killed on the last trip into Chicago. The inn was run by Kyle¡¯s spouse Ellen, so people were staying away out of respect. Irene felt odd that that blue patrol she spotted above Chicago might have been the men who killed Kyle. How would things have turned out if she didn¡¯t decide to hide?

    Redfalls relied on their hidden location behind the waterfall to keep them safe. Ian asked her the first night not to spread word of the square, since most of the population of the square were women and children. The square was run similarly to The Heights, in a communal manner. The Heights worked because there weren¡¯t that many adults in the settlement. When Irene realized how many women and children were living in the apartments she really couldn¡¯t understand how they managed. She said something about it to Ellen. Ellen¡¯s response included the information that the square was settled almost five years earlier. She also mentioned that most of the warriors were away, assigned to tax stations. The handful in residence now would rotate out with a set at the stations every couple weeks. They brought back coins which the woman used to pay the rent on the apartments.

    Irene knew the tax stations must pull in a lot more money than just an apartment¡¯s rent, but it appeared very little of it made it back to the square. The inn survived off the earnings of the hunters. They earned both the prize coins from the kills and a flat rate for providing meat for the inn and the residents. The women gathered fruits and tubers in the green, but none of them dared to go very far.

    The main reason the shops were all empty was that there were no crafters here. With so few magic users in residence, no one was scavenging the halls. Scrap was the primary source of material for most crafters. Scavenging was also the primary source for the beginning crafting tools. Irene tried to sell the few crafting tools she picked up during her search for spell clues, but found few takers. She was only able to sell a few of the skinning knives to hunters.

    Ian dined with her each night, showing a great deal of interest in her deciphering of the tier five spell. She still didn¡¯t know which direction the timing read. She realized that either the last two, or first two symbols were timed together. While the other two were definitely one symbol followed by a second with the other hand. She leaned to the two symbols together being the finish, but she wasn¡¯t certain.

    ¡°Jake and I are running out to Chicago tomorrow,¡± Ian told Irene over dinner.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss your company at dinner,¡± Irene told him truthfully.

    ¡°We''ll be back in six days, twelve days max,¡± Ian responded. He leaned over and gave Irene a light kiss. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you a gift,¡± Ian said. Irene blushed.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that,¡± she replied, a bit flustered.

    The next morning, Irene saw them off. The group that left included six warriors who were going to continue on to the tax stations. It was the first time Irene saw them. She wondered where they were during the rest of her visit. The group left through the training grounds and into the green. Irene went up to her room and packed up her things and changed into leathers. She gave up finding any more hints on the tier five spell three days ago. She was lingering now because she enjoyed Ian¡¯s attention. Now that he was gone she remembered her store. She would follow her plan and swing north to avoid the border. She left out the back door only twenty minutes after Ian¡¯s party.

    Paris was in an uproar when she got there. The square was located on the eastern edge of its green. It¡¯s back door faced south. Since Irene was coming from the north, she entered through the green. That was probably the only reason she wasn¡¯t killed on sight.

    They were hit by an attack on the back door the night before, both guards were dead. One managed to call the alarm before he bled out. The reaction force arrived expecting an animal wave. Instead they found around a dozen red warriors spilling into the square. The guards managed to push the invaders back. The red¡¯s superior armor protected them from serious injury.

    The depth of confusion among the guards was revealing. Paris was not the source of the blue raiders in Chicago¡¯s green. Irene did not linger in the square. As an outsider she was kept under careful watch. She entered the square openly. She made a note to approach settlements with more caution in the future. Even the tier zero don¡¯t notice me spell would allow her to blend in.

    She moved south fast, afraid for Anthony standing his evening shift alone at the back door of Londontown. She considered the warrior a friend. She didn¡¯t want anything to happen to him. She made the trip in a personal record time. She entered through Londontown¡¯s back door at midday and walked directly to the Inn.

    ¡°I am looking for Christopher,¡± she announced to the innkeeper.

    ¡°You mean Chris,¡± the innkeeper replied, ¡°the head of the guard?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Christopher, my brother. Where is he?¡± Irene demanded.

    ¡°He should be in the training yard,¡± the Innkeeper responded, suddenly much more subservient. ¡°I can run and check.¡±

    ¡°Never mind,¡± Irene announced. She turned on her heel and marched back out of the inn.

    Christopher was in the yard, sparring with another warrior. Irene marched straight up to him, ignoring his opponent. His opponent, seeing Christopher¡¯s distraction lunged forward with a heavy overhead swing of his sword. Irene reached out with her main hand and cast shield. The warrior bounced, lost his footing and fell onto his ass.

    ¡°I need to talk to you,¡± Irene announced to her brother.

    ¡°I am kind of busy at the moment,¡± Chris said with a wave at his opponent.

    ¡°Did you replace that addict that was on the evening shift with Anthony?¡± Irene demanded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how that is any of your concern,¡± Chris countered. He motioned for her to move out of the way as the warrior he was facing climbed back up to his feet. Irene glanced at the warrior and threw lightning. Cast in the training yard, it was little more than a stun. The warrior fell to the ground and convulsed.

    ¡°If you''re smart,¡± Irene said to the warrior, ¡°you will stay down.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Chris said, returning his sword to his scabbard. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°A suburb leader was killed by a blue raiding party a month ago, in the green north of Chicago. A week ago a red raiding party hit the back door of Paris in the early evening. The reaction team was able to push them back, but not before two guards were killed. The square can¡¯t figure out why they were attacked because they didn¡¯t send the raiding party into Chicago¡¯s green. Did you?¡± Irene demanded. She was practically yelling by the time she reached the final question.

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    ¡°No,¡± Chris responded. ¡°I swear.¡±

    ¡°Anthony is my friend. I will not see you sacrifice him because Mother can¡¯t hold onto power without the healing addiction.¡±

    ¡°You are going too far,¡± Chris warned her.

    ¡°Perhaps I am,¡± Irene countered. ¡°I am so sick of it all. You eject red warriors like they can¡¯t be trusted, but look at what you allow Mother to do to the blues. We are all human. This entire place is constantly trying to kill us, the last thing we need is to start killing each other on top of it.¡± She took a deep breath and tapped her staff on the ground. ¡°Sort this out and protect your people. All of them.¡±

    She turned and walked away. Every warrior in the training yard watched her leave. There goes a Queen, a small quiet voice at the back of Christopher''s mind whispered. He shook his head, wondering where that thought came from. It was just Irene, his little sister.

    ¡°Evan,¡± Chris called, ¡°you¡¯re banned from healing for the next month and you¡¯re off guard duty.¡±

    Chris ended up reorganizing all the guard watches. He doubled up the watch for the next two weeks. He set up a reaction force. Although he was aware of the concept they hadn¡¯t kept one for years. Originally set up to repel beasts that followed fleeing hunters back to the square, the guard long ago became little more than tax collectors. He randomly visited every shift himself. Anyone caught not on full alert was added to the banned healing list. Three days later, when the raid came against the back door they were ready.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not seen this type of armor before,¡± Phillip observed. He was standing over the body of a red warrior in the hall by the back door. ¡°It is some kind of hardened leather.¡±

    ¡°It stood up extremely well to frost blade,¡± Chris observed. ¡°If they¡¯d caught us unprepared they could have done a lot of damage.¡±

    ¡°How were you so prepared?¡± Phillip asked, as he straightened up.

    ¡°I was warned there was a raid against Paris,¡± Chris reported. ¡°I doubled up the guard and replaced the less dependable warriors.¡± He was surprised Phillip didn¡¯t already know that. Chris was starting to think every magic user in the square was in the training yard that day. Now that the attack actually happened, Chris was a little worried about the following Irene was going to gain. Only her open disapproval of healing was keeping most of the warriors from raising her banner.

    ¡°How many did you kill?¡± Phillip asked.

    ¡°Three,¡± Chris reported. ¡°We injured at least two others. The blood trails head east. We gave them a good bloody nose,¡± Chris commented. ¡°They should think twice about coming at us again.¡±

    ¡°Strip the bodies and take the armor to the leatherworker. Instruct him to repair it and make more. We¡¯ll organize and push back against them. When they get over their bloody nose, they will just come at us with more men,¡± Phillip countered.

    Chris nodded his head in forced agreement. Irene sighed. She was standing less than ten feet away under camouflage and muffle, listening to her brothers. She was very disappointed. She wasn¡¯t certain what she expected, but this wasn¡¯t it. Her outburst at Christopher shifted the deaths from the blue to the red, but it didn¡¯t stop any of it. Londontown proved that the back door was easily defended. The next attacks would come from the green, or in the green, like the original raid against Chicago.

    Worse, she could see Phillip¡¯s point about pushing back. Bullies never backed down on their own. It didn¡¯t really matter who sent the blue raiding party that killed Kyle. It only mattered that Chicago thought it was Paris or Londontown.

    Irene listened as her brothers talked about sending a healer to Paris to help with any wounded. They talked about solidarity among the blue against the red threat, but Irene saw it as a way to get their addiction into the Paris defenders. It was all spiraling out of control. Irene recognized the hardened leather armor as John¡¯s work. Irene herself might have supplied the bear hides that went into its construction. The armor was expensive and rare. Whoever was behind this action possessed both wealth and access to Chicago. That wasn¡¯t proof that Darien sent these men, but it was indicative of it.

    Irene carefully retreated from the entrance to Londontown. Camouflage and muffle did not damp out the vibrations of footsteps. Once clear of the men patrolling outside the entrance, Irene turned east. She was angry and frustrated and didn¡¯t trust herself to behave well if she stayed in Londontown. She used the last three days to restock her store, going out during the day shift with all the other scavengers. She found her steps turning to Redfalls.

    The trip back was much faster than the trip out, since she didn¡¯t stop at Paris. She¡¯d been gone three weeks when she came in the back door of Redfalls. The hunters were in the process of distributing the day''s catch at the tables outside the inn. Irene walked past them carrying a badger. She dropped her badger onto the counter in the common room.

    ¡°What will you give me for it?¡± she asked Ellen, the innkeeper.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any coins,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean you personally,¡± Irene countered. ¡°What can the inn pay?¡± Ellen activated the inn¡¯s interface and carefully picked her way through the icons. Irene offered hints on which icon to select when Ellen seemed puzzled.

    ¡°I can pay you three iron,¡± Ellen answered. It was low, compared to the standards in Londontown. Badger was a much better tasting meat than squirrel, which was what the hunter¡¯s were distributing in the courtyard. Baked the animal would serve at least twenty. Put together with greens or tubers, the meals could be sold for an iron each.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Irene responded, ¡°but at that price, I am keeping the hide.¡± Irene went out into the courtyard to skin the animal.

    After selling the meat, she rented a room and stored the hide for later. She went out into the green and joined the woman gathering greens. She did her gathering at the edge of the group, using her movements to move the group in the direction of fresh territory that wasn¡¯t so picked over. She scared off two or three squirrels using fear. The group stayed out longer than usual, returning after lunch with a good haul.

    As the woman stopped at the tables to divide the produce, Irene went straight into the inn and set her items on the counter.

    ¡°How much?¡± she asked Ellen. Irene could smell the roasting badger. Several hunters were already eating portions of it in the common room.

    ¡°One iron,¡± Ellen offered, she couldn¡¯t look Irene in the eyes.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Irene agreed, ¡°because you are just getting started. A meal of badger, tubers and greens costs an iron in Londontown. It is two iron in Chicago. I¡¯m going to go scavenge out the back door for a couple hours. Is there anything you need?¡±

    ¡°The inn kitchen comes fully equipped,¡± Ellen explained, ¡°but I am short on serving ware and plates.¡± Londontown used vent pins for forks. Vent pins were available for purchase from the vendor. Their main use was to hold air vents closed when camping in wildspace. It was cheaper to make them, although it took metalworking skills to do it. Both squares of leather and short wooden planks were used for plates. She thought she could provide the leather squares, but perhaps encouraging someone to learn woodworking might be the better option here.

    After lunch, which Ellen insisted was part of the payment for the greens, Irene went out the back door and started at the first room on the right. She picked up every piece of scrap and crafting tools she could find. She threw the rats she killed along the way back into the rooms. She didn¡¯t want to give the hunters any excuse to stop working. In a stroke of luck she found a smelter. She didn¡¯t know how to run the thing, but she had watched the metal worker in Chicago do it.

    Irene dragged the smelter back and set it up in a market stall. She pulled about twenty pieces of iron scrap from her inventory using the market¡¯s systems and stacked them around the smelter. She made a big show of throwing scrap in and banging against the smelter with her stick. It didn¡¯t take long for a woman to arrive and lecture her on the appropriate way to handle a crafting tool. Her name was Andrea, she was about four months pregnant, she addressed Irene like she was a child. She walked Irene through how to smelt iron. Irene only paid half attention to it. She didn¡¯t have any intention of becoming a crafter, although she did take notes.

    She put on this display in an effort to find someone to sell the smelter and scrap to. Her earlier methods of asking around didn¡¯t work. She thought a more physical demonstration might.

    ¡°That takes too long,¡± Irene said when Andrea finished the first ingot. ¡°I¡¯ve got better things to do. How about I pay you to do it for me? I¡¯ll give you an iron for every five ingots. I¡¯ll supply the scrap.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Fourteen

    Ian returned three days later. Sophia emerged from the inn to greet them. Irene didn¡¯t realize that Sophia was in the square. Irene wondered if she was there the whole time, or if like Irene, she slipped out for some of it.

    Irene was awash in iron ingots. She still needed to find an anvil. She managed to set up another woman as a beginner woodcrafter, using a similar method. She knew these victories at establishing the square as a working community were small, but she felt better about these efforts than her failure at Londontown to stop the violence.

    ¡°I brought you a gift,¡± Ian said to Irene. He presented a new set of hunter¡¯s greens. ¡°I noticed your current set is losing its color.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the color of my magic staining the fabric,¡± Irene responded. ¡°These will discolor too. They are really nice, I haven¡¯t gotten a new set in forever,¡± she said as she ran a hand over the fabric. She usually paid to have her greens repaired. After a certain point, repairs never really returned the article to new. After that they just fell apart no matter how often they were fixed. Irene was wearing her worn leathers because her greens were getting close to that state. Time out of the structure didn¡¯t appear to count on the wear of integrated cloth. She was surprised by how often her greens needed to be replaced when she stayed full time in the structure.

    ¡°What do you mean your magic stains the fabric?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Because I am tier four,¡± Irene said as a quick explanation. She reached out and ran a hand around the dark red edging around the collar of Ian¡¯s armor. ¡°It is the same mechanism that makes your red so dark,¡± Irene responded. ¡°That dark color is how I know you are tier five.¡± Ian was startled. He thought his tier was a secret. It was disturbing to think he was walking around advertising it. ¡°My magic isn¡¯t green, so when it stains the fabric it causes the discolor. If you wore green it would be even worse.¡±

    ¡°What if I wore blue?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°It would turn purple. I don¡¯t know how long it takes at tier five, but it is a couple days before it is really noticeable at four,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯m going to change into these,¡± Irene said. She went into the inn.

    ¡°When were you going to mention you hit tier five?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°When it was pertinent,¡± Ian responded. He didn¡¯t mention his increase in tier because he didn¡¯t want questions asked about how he did it. ¡°What happened when we were away?¡± he queried Sophia.

    ¡°The usual,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°There haven''t been any unexpected visitors.¡±

    ¡°What has Irene been doing?¡± Ian asked specifically.

    ¡°She goes out with the gatherers to the green in the morning and scavenges in the afternoon. She has some weird fascination with crafting tools,¡± Sophia commented. Sophia only just returned from her own side trip to Chicago. She left Chicago the instant she heard Ian¡¯s team arrived. The information she was giving Ian came straight from her morning interrogation of Ellen.

    ¡°Crafting tools huh?¡± Ian asked. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Ian wondered if it was her engineering background that made her interested in the tools. Ian went into the inn to seduce a princess.

    <hr>

    ¡°What is all this stuff?¡± he asked later that night. There were chunks of iron, tools and fiber spread all over the room. A frame pushed against the wall held a stretched hide. He kicked a small spool as he made his way across the room. It skittered away in a good imitation of a miniature rat.

    ¡°Oh just stuff I¡¯ve picked up scavenging and a few side projects,¡± Irene said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting company.¡± She didn¡¯t mention that this was just from the last few days. She emptied out her bags each morning in order to have empty bags to gather with. She just left it all on the floor. She needed to work on getting someone trained up to make her more bags. Her rooms always tended to become overwhelmed if she stayed anywhere too long. Since putting items in and out of inventory either reduced the amount or wore the item, she avoided that if she could. She would put most of it into her inventory when she left to travel to the next place.

    ¡°Next time we can sleep in my room,¡± Ian commented. He could feel a slight buzz from the half dozen skinning knives and blacksmith hammers mixed in with the tools. Ian realized he felt something similar from Irene herself most of the time. Ian made his way back over to the bed where he cuddled Irene close to him.

    ¡°How long have you been tier four?¡± he asked, in an effort to make conversation.

    ¡°About a year,¡± Irene responded. ¡°It will probably be a decade before I reach five,¡± she commented.

    ¡°Why did you spend so much time figuring out the tier five spell if it will be a decade before you can cast it?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°I like the puzzle of it,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Plus tier five spells are so rare, I mean I only know a handful of tier four spells. I¡¯ll probably not find another one in the next decade. I think that one must be there for you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Ian asked. He thought so too, but he wanted to hear her logic for it.

    ¡°Yeah, haven¡¯t you noticed that spell hints usually occur near someone who can use the spell?¡± The structure also seemed to rig things so that certain spells would solve a situation very easily. Those situations or events could be solved with other methods, but the alternates were usually more difficult. Irene didn¡¯t like to think about a situation when a ¡®take them with me¡¯ spell would be the best choice, but she also didn¡¯t like thinking about being in that situation and not knowing the spell.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that,¡± Ian responded, even though Irene¡¯s theory matched up close to his own thoughts. ¡°I saw a bunch of tier two and three spell hints when most of us were only tier zero.¡±

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    ¡°That was the early days,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I think there were ¡®leftovers¡¯ from whoever was in the area last. When they moved on or died out the systems here shut down to conserve power, including the remodel system.¡±

    ¡°If that spell is for me, I should learn it,¡± Ian observed.

    ¡°Be careful,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I think you could easily kill innocent bystanders with it, without even noticing. You¡¯ll need to get well away from occupied areas before you cast it.¡±

    Ian thought about the description Irene gave for the spell. A wave of death that was actually killing in a spherical pattern. Her innocent bystander comment made him aware that she thought the spell would travel through walls. He would have to go out to those ponds and look at the images himself. Killing from behind a wall seemed like the perfect assassination tool to him.

    Thinking about the power of the spell he felt himself becoming aroused. He pulled Irene close and initiated sex with her again. He may have been a little too forceful, but Irene surprised him by giving as good back. A smile of satisfaction spread across his face as he reached his release. He would plant his child and tie her to him in a way she could not break. If she became troublesome to him down the road, well the kid would be a grandchild of the queen. Irene fell asleep shortly afterward. Ian thought about going back to his own room, but he was strangely comfortable laying beside this woman.

    He awoke to Irene moving around the room. She was piling crafting tools onto the prize altar and dropping them into her inventory. He realized he couldn¡¯t hear her movements, only feel the vibrations through the bed. Her hair was wet and she wore only the shirt from the new hunters outfit he bought her. She possessed a beautiful body and moved with an unnatural grace, granted by her tier four status.

    ¡°Good morning beautiful,¡± he murmured. He stretched, making sure to expose more of his muscled form than was strictly necessary.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± she said. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t wake you. I was just trying to straighten up a little.¡± She sat another stack of tools on the altar. This time he heard the tools clink against the stone surface. There was more floor space visible now than last night. Ian could still feel that light buzz of weapons, but it was fainter. Ian rose smoothly to his feet, displaying his own unnatural dexterity.

    He ran a hand up her back and pulled her to him. He kissed her with the intention of driving all thought from her mind. Irene melted into his grasp. They were both breathing heavily when he pulled back away from her.

    ¡°I think I¡¯d better clean up in my own room,¡± Ian said, ¡°or I¡¯ll get a late start on the day.¡±

    ¡°Would that be so bad?¡± Irene asked. Ian smiled and planted a light kiss on her nose.

    ¡°You tempt me,¡± he said. He released her and stooped to pick up his armor. He roughly pulled the pants on. He gathered the rest of his clothing in one hand while picking up his boots with the other.

    ¡°Take these,¡± Irene said. She rolled several sheets of vellum together and slipped them into Ian¡¯s boot.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°They are my notes on the last resort spell. You will need them if you''re going to learn it,¡± Irene explained. This action surprised him. He didn¡¯t even ask for them. He leaned forward and kissed her nose again.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, before making his way out into the hall. He strolled down the hall in a relaxed gait to the door to his own room. He turned back to find Irene peeking at him from the open door to her room. He winked at her, before disappearing into his room.

    Ian never jointly rented a room, so he didn¡¯t have to worry about Sophia laying in wait for him. He suspected she might have been in the hall outside his door except it was late enough that there would be witnesses to that. Sophia liked to pretend that Jake didn¡¯t know she slept around with others. She hunted him down later in the day.

    ¡°You stayed with her all night,¡± Sophia accused, when she finally found him. They were just outside the square at the base of the waterfall. Ian was sitting on the edge of one of the terraces studying a sheet of vellum. He habitually sat there, since it made the gatherers happy to think protection was close by. He liked a salad with his steak. It was a simple thing to do to get a good meal. Additionally, the location allowed him to have private conversations in the public eye, which was useful.

    ¡°She¡¯s not the kind of woman you sneak out from in the middle of the night,¡± Ian responded. ¡°You need to get over your petty jealousy. I have long term plans for Irene. In the short term we¡¯ll use her as a guardian for the square. That will free more of us up for retaliatory raids.¡± Sophia liked the sound of that. She didn¡¯t like getting left behind to keep an eye on the women. It made her think Ian was plotting to get rid of her.

    ¡°When do we start the raids?¡± Sophia said.

    ¡°We won¡¯t. Either Londontown or Paris will decide the best way to get rid of the threat will be to strike back first. I¡¯m betting on Paris, since we got the upper hand there,¡± Ian explained. ¡°Darien will call an emergency meeting, and to save face, he will order raids on Paris.¡±

    ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t?¡± Sophia asked.

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t he¡¯ll look weak. I¡¯ll call for a vote of no confidence. As the suburb who has done the most to protect Chicago from the threat, we should be a shoe-in for his replacement,¡± Ian observed.

    ¡°And what if the blues don¡¯t strike back?¡± Sophia questioned.

    ¡°Then we will raid them again. If nothing happens in the next month, we¡¯ll hit their scavengers and hunters when they are away from the square,¡± Ian responded. ¡°We¡¯ll lose less warriors that way. I only hit the squares directly this time to drive them to strike back at Chicago itself. Darien won¡¯t be able to hide an attack against downtown.¡±

    The plan still sounded good. Although Sophia didn¡¯t see any role in it for Irene, except babysitting the civilians.

    ¡°Can we trust Irene to keep visitors from carrying word of the square?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We are getting to the part of the plan where that won¡¯t matter anymore,¡± Ian replied. ¡°In fact I have an idea for the end game where we will want the blues to know we are here.¡±

    ¡°How would that work?¡± Sophia asked.

    ¡°If we are all here fighting a war we won¡¯t be suspected of being someplace else,¡± Ian explained. Sophia was very careful not to show any reaction to this observation. Ian did not like it when underlings did not obey him exactly. Not watching the square in his absence was definitely not what she was ordered to do. ¡°If something tragic were to happen to Darien, it would be our duty to see justice done. This spell,¡± Ian said, tapping the vellum, ¡°is going to make taking him out easy.¡±

    ¡°What spell is that?¡± Sophia asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s Irene¡¯s tier five spell. She calls it a spell of ¡®last resort¡¯. I think ring of death is a more accurate name,¡± Ian said. ¡°She gave me her notes.¡±

    ¡°Of course she gave them to you,¡± Sophia said, shaking her head at the woman¡¯s naivety. The woman was too weird for words. ¡°How long will it take you to learn it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Probably six months,¡± Ian said, ¡°Maybe longer since I won¡¯t be able to dedicate all my time to it.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure it is worth it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± Ian replied.

 Trueborn: Chapter Fifteen

    Ian practiced the main hand symbols and timing until he could do it in his sleep, which was roughly a week. Only then did he change to the off hand. Usually he did all this work in private. He didn¡¯t want to accidentally share magic secrets. Since he was following the instructions Irene gave him, he couldn¡¯t see any harm in doing the early work in front of her. He practiced in the evenings before they went to bed.

    They were in his room. Irene¡¯s room was always crowded with treasures. Ian couldn¡¯t handle the disorganized state.

    ¡°Do you always train one hand at a time?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t you?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I was wondering if it was a better method. I haven¡¯t mastered any tier four spells. They seem to take forever.¡±

    ¡°What spells are you trying to learn?¡± Ian asked, wondering if he could get more spell secrets from her.

    ¡°I am working on chain lightning,¡± Irene answered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize that name,¡± Ian commented. ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°It is an electric strike to multiple targets,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Oh, electric floor,¡± Ian responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t bother to learn the tier four version.¡± Chain lightning wasn¡¯t electric floor, Irene knew the tier three version of that spell as well, and it was fairly useless. It affected everything in a certain area, unfortunately the more animals in that area the less shock each animal received. At four targets and above it was mostly a stun, although environmental factors greatly affected it. For that reason, Irene always thought of that spell as electrify water.

    ¡°How many tier four spells do you know?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Eight,¡± Ian said, ¡°Fireball, fear, shield, I know ice-bolt too, but I keep that quiet.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that,¡± Irene noticed he only listed four spells, but then she didn¡¯t admit chain lightning wasn¡¯t electric floor. The secrecy around spells was hard to drop. Irene cast around for a safer subject.

    ¡°When we first met in Chicago, you asked if we met on the ship. What group were you with?¡± Irene asked. Ian carefully considered his response to that one. He usually kept that even more secret than spells. It was still the early days of their relationship. Considering that she was from engineering she shouldn¡¯t be too shocked. Confiding in her would build her trust in him.

    ¡°I was in command,¡± Ian said. ¡°I keep that one quiet too.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Irene asked. ¡°I thought all the commanders were flight crew. All the ones I met were.¡± After the ship landed there wasn¡¯t any need for a command structure for it anymore. Or at least that was what Irene always thought. The plan called for it to be systematically dismantled and recycled into the materials needed to build the colony. That hadn¡¯t happened, but when the settler generation took the aptitudes and were placed in departments, that was the plan they were following.

    ¡°Most people seem to think that, but that is only because most departments grew after the landing and command didn¡¯t. Even when landed there is only one Captain of the ship.¡±

    ¡°Is that your destiny?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Captain of the Speedwell?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Ian replied with absolute belief. Irene asked the question as a kind of joke, but she caught the conviction in his voice.

    ¡°Why did you leave the Speedwell and come into the structure?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°A captain is nothing without a crew,¡± Ian replied. ¡°I could see the plan was falling apart. When I saw in the exploration recordings that magic was real, I knew everyone would end up in the structure.¡±

    ¡°Some people did take the land grants,¡± Irene offered.

    ¡°Those will all be abandoned when the automatic systems on the ship fail,¡± Ian stated with certainty. ¡°They may already be empty.¡± They weren¡¯t, Irene knew that, but his prophecy was what made her work to keep the Speedwell systems running as long as she did.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I feel a bit guilty thinking about it sometimes.¡±

    ¡°About what?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Leaving the Speedwell and not keeping the maintenance up,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°You mentioned you did a lot of maintenance,¡± Ian said. He was glad he remembered her saying that in Chicago. It meant that he didn¡¯t have to admit he knew about her before they met.

    ¡°I was in engineering,¡± Irene replied. ¡°It is an engineer''s duty to maintain the ship, because without the ship the crew will die,¡± she recited. Ian stopped practicing for a moment and laughed.

    ¡°It is a commander''s duty to lead from the front, see the plan to completion and protect the passengers and crew,¡± he said. Irene wondered who the passengers were. All during transit everyone on the Speedwell was part of the crew. Maybe the children were considered passengers until they were apprenticed? ¡°I learned that at my father¡¯s knee before I even took the aptitudes.¡±

    ¡°What did your father do?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°He was Captain,¡± Ian said, as if that was obvious.

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    ¡°Emmet Black?¡± Irene asked. ¡°He was your father? You know you do look a little like him.¡±

    ¡°I am his trueborn son,¡± Ian responded. Irene never liked that word, trueborn. It divided people and set up favorites. Ian being the son of the captain explained his belief he would have become captain one day. The Speedwell was not an hereditary organization. Placements and promotions were based on accomplishments and test results. But it was a human organization. There wasn¡¯t one in history that didn¡¯t get biased with favors.

    ¡°What did your mother do?¡± Irene asked, trying to change the subject.

    ¡°She was in food production. I didn¡¯t see her much after landing. She spent all her time out in the fields,¡± Ian said as he went back to practicing.

    ¡°I might have met her,¡± Irene said. ¡°I spent a lot of time in the fields wading through muddy water and clearing pump intakes.¡± Irene rolled over and stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought. ¡°I miss it sometimes.¡±

    ¡°The mud?¡± Ian asked with disbelief in his voice.

    ¡°The cold,¡± Irene said. ¡°The sky is so blue in the crisp morning of a clear winter¡¯s day. It is never cold here.¡± Irene picked up the fabric throw that was covering her body. ¡°The inn supplies these covers but they aren¡¯t really needed. If anything it is a little warmer here than the temperature we kept the Speedwell at.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the cold,¡± Ian said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t either,¡± Irene admitted with a laugh. ¡°My hands would cramp and slip on the metal fittings. I¡¯d end up bruised and bleeding. But it was different, and it gave you the feel of time passing. It is so easy here to lose track of time.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t spend much time outside,¡± Ian admitted. He didn¡¯t mention that the open spaces beyond the ship terrified him. The hardest thing he ever physically did was to force himself into the cart that took him to the ruin entrance. He managed the trip by sitting in the back of a windowless construction vehicle, while someone else drove. It was after full dark by the time they reached the entrance. Crossing that last space outside was made more tolerable by the darkness. He was able to convince himself the walls and ceilings were just out of sight.

    It took him a couple years to be comfortable in the green spaces of the structure. He avoided the ruined greens, with their open skies, like the plague. All he knew of the blue sky was what he saw on Speedwell¡¯s screens.

    Irene fell silent. She was looking at the ceiling, lost in thought. Ian didn¡¯t like it when she didn¡¯t give him her undivided attention. He liked it better when she watched him with desire in her eyes. He stopped his practice.

    ¡°Come back to me,¡± Ian said, running a hand over her bare shoulder. He leaned forward and kissed her nose. She reached up to embrace him, pulling him down onto the bed. She didn¡¯t want to think about past failures. She didn¡¯t want to think at all.

    <hr>

    A hunter was waiting for Ian when they got down to the common room in the morning.

    ¡°There is a messenger from Chicago,¡± the hunter reported.

    ¡°Duty calls,¡± Ian said to Irene, before following the hunter out of the inn. Irene exited out of the square herself a few minutes later. She was surprised to find a hunter waiting with the gatherers. It was a different hunter than the one who brought the message.

    ¡°This is my spouse, Richard,¡± one of the gathering women said to Irene when she joined the group. ¡°I told him how you scare off the animals that come near us. He wants to go out with us and see if he can hit any of them with his bow. Normally he doesn¡¯t like to come with us because he is afraid of drawing more animals with the blood.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Irene said, not really understanding why she was being told all this.

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t go out with the group then we aren¡¯t guaranteed a share, but anything he does get we can sell to the inn,¡± the woman went on to explain. Irene smiled.

    ¡°That sounds like a good plan,¡± she said. When she spotted the first squirrel she pointed it out to the hunter, long before it charged. The hunter took careful aim and hit it dead center. The squirrel was fatally wounded, but still managed to run a short distance in their direction. The hunter hit it again as it ran toward them. Irene was impressed with his accuracy and speed, especially since he used no magic. After retrieving his arrows, he gutted the animal and tied its legs together to make it easier to carry.

    ¡°There¡¯s another,¡± Irene said. He ended up with six animals. His spouse helped him carry them back. This was a very good bounty for a single hunter. The group of gatherers always flushed animals. That was why they were so afraid to go very far from the square. If the full team of archers went with them, they wouldn¡¯t get much more and it would be a poor hunt for them. The key was spotting the animals early.

    ¡°Thank you for letting me come out with you,¡± he said, as they walked back to the square.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I let you,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I welcome your assistance. You volunteered. If you come out without me,¡± Irene said to the hunter, ¡°make sure you have someone keep watch while you process the kill.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Richard replied.

    The courtyard was a buzz of activity when they returned. A mixed group of warriors and hunters were running around. Irene couldn¡¯t get anywhere near Ian in the crowd. She went into the inn to sell her gathered produce to Ellen.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Irene asked Ellen.

    ¡°There¡¯s been a blue attack on the west gate of Chicago. Darien has called an emergency leadership meeting. They are deciding now who will go and who will stay. After what happened to my Kyle I don¡¯t think very many will stay,¡± Ellen said with a frown. Irene frowned too. Again guilt ran through her. She didn¡¯t warn Chicago, even though she heard her brothers talking and could have predicted an attack. When she warned Londontown, she felt like it was her fault the reds died. Now that she didn¡¯t warn Chicago, she again felt like the guard deaths were her fault. Only Chicago must have known a counterattack was coming after they hit both Paris and Londontown. Unless the attacks didn¡¯t come from Chicago, but one of the suburbs.

    Irene¡¯s head was starting to hurt. She was going to have to figure something else out or the entire war was going to end up her fault.

    Jake came in from the courtyard and approached them at the service counter.

    ¡°Hey Ellen, Sophia and I are both going to go, can you make sure Tami knows she has the kids full time?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± Ellen replied.

    ¡°There you are,¡± Ian said as he stepped into the inn, soon after Jake exited. ¡°I was afraid you weren¡¯t going to make it back before we headed out.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to Chicago?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, taking her hand. ¡°Ellen must have told you. I¡¯m taking most of the fighters so we can push through any trouble on the trip. If you see anyone in the green, try not to lead them back here, since I¡¯m not leaving many guards.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you,¡± Irene said. ¡°When do you think you¡¯ll be back?¡±

    ¡°A couple weeks,¡± Ian replied. ¡°Suburb leaders never agree to anything quickly.¡±

    ¡°Travel safe,¡± Irene said. Ian gave her a quick kiss and headed out.

    ¡°He won¡¯t be back for a month or more,¡± Ellen said suddenly. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them come back faster than that. I don¡¯t want you to worry unnecessarily.¡±

    ¡°I need to go up to Moscow and check on someone,¡± Irene announced. ¡°It¡¯s at least two months of traveling there and back. If I don¡¯t make it back before Ian, you can tell him that¡¯s where I went.¡± She went up to her room and threw everything she could into virtual inventory. Before she left the square she delivered a pile of iron scrap to the woman she hired to run the smelter. She instructed her to work on turning the ingots into door wedges and forks. She was to sell them directly to the hunters and scavengers. After her return from Londontown, Irene bought an anvil from the vendor, instead of holding out to find one.

    By the time she was done it was late in the afternoon. Irene knew that if she didn¡¯t leave now she would get caught up in something in the morning. There was no way she would be able to tell all those women no. She hoped Richard was still in the square and would go with them in the morning. She loaded up her pack and, with her walking staff in her hand, headed out the back door.

 Trueborn: Chapter Sixteen

    <h2>14 A.L.</h2>

    It was almost four months before Irene returned to Redfalls. She took time to check on her shop in Londontown. Sales were down again. She restocked the shop easily. She increased the percentage that Anna received from the sales, once she calculated that the sales clerk really was earning less than rent and food. She tried very hard not to listen to the reports of violence.

    ¡°Is Ian in the square?¡± Irene asked as she checked into the inn, renting the room for a week.

    ¡°He¡¯s been in and out. There¡¯s a lot of hostility along the border. He was concerned when you weren¡¯t here until I told him you went up to Moscow,¡± Ellen reported. ¡°Did you find who you were looking for?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I knew she was going north with an exploration party, but I hoped word would be back on what they found by now.¡±

    ¡°Is it more peaceful up there?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Sort of,¡± Irene responded. ¡°There is still the red-blue split, but there isn¡¯t open fighting. News of the fighting down here has reached there and tensions were higher. There is a red healer in Moscow building up a following. They came from a red square called Mumbai. I''ve never been to it but I was told it is ruled by a healing clan.¡±

    ¡°A red healer?¡± Ellen asked, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that. I thought the healing spell only worked for blues.¡±

    ¡°No, it works for everyone, but the healer and the patient have to have related colors. A blue healer can¡¯t heal a red warrior, and a red healer can¡¯t heal a blue. But a violet healer can heal both a blue and a red. What is interesting is that if the colors don¡¯t match, like violet/red there is no addiction, but it hurts like hell,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a violet wizard,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°What would violet be? Fire-ice? Ice-Fire?¡±

    ¡°Electricity,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Like Ian¡¯s stun spell?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Irene responded. ¡°That is the purple spell tree.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean Ian is a violet wizard?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Oh, no, he is a red wizard. The color of a wizard¡¯s magic doesn¡¯t control what spell they can cast. Look at me, I can cast fire, ice, force, fear¡­¡±

    ¡°I heard you scare the animals off from the gatherers,¡± Ellen said, breaking into Irene¡¯s list. ¡°Is that the fear spell you¡¯re talking about?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. ¡°It is the yellow tree. I¡¯ve never met a yellow wizard, but there probably is one out there.¡± Then Ellen surprised her.

    ¡°I met a yellow once, in the very early days. She could cast fear. When she touched crystals in rests they turned yellow. At the time no one knew what that meant. She was killed when she tried to frighten off a bear. Instead of running it turned on her and tore her to shreds,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°That¡¯s awful,¡± Irene responded. ¡°The fear spell is dangerous. If you use it against a low tier animal it is fear, but against a higher tier animal it is enrage. The bear was too high tier for her.¡±

    ¡°That seems backward to me,¡± Ellen said. ¡°If I knew fear I¡¯d want to use it against the big scary stuff.¡±

    ¡°It is kind of a trap. I use it to get rid of things I don¡¯t want to bother with. If you''re truly afraid, you need to stand your ground and fight with both physical blows and magic,¡± Irene advised. Ellen would remember those words. Years from now and miles from this place, they would save her life.

    Irene went out with the gatherers in the morning. They were all delighted to see her. Irene noticed there were two warriors traveling with them, Richard and another man. Richard smiled welcome, but the second man was reserved. He warmed up as the morning passed and Irene pointed out animals, but never claimed any for herself.

    When Irene headed in the direction of the grappler vines, the group didn¡¯t follow. There wasn¡¯t any Grappler juice at breakfast and Irene missed it.

    ¡°What is the problem?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s a boar den in that direction,¡± one of the women told her.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Irene said. She straightened up and secured her gathering bag. ¡°I hate those suckers,¡± she said as shifted her grip on the walking stick. ¡°I¡¯ll go get rid of it.¡± She stalked off in the direction of the vines.

    ¡°Is she really going to kill it?¡± the new hunter asked the old one.

    ¡°I have no clue,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Yes,¡± one of the women replied. ¡°She killed them before when she was with us.¡±

    Irene found the animal eating grappler fruit and making a mess of the vines with its tusks, which just pissed her off. She knew it didn¡¯t really have a den in the area, that was part of the weirdness of the animals in the structure. Animals did get ¡®assigned¡¯ to an area and wouldn¡¯t leave without provocation. When she killed this boar, a new boar would appear someplace in the green by morning, but the odds were it wouldn¡¯t be here. She cast enforce on her staff. It was a long lasting spell, casting it now freed up her hands to cast different spells later.

    She fired off a low tier fear into the flank of the animal. The animal turned to face her in a fury. This was the real use for the fear/enrage spell. As enrage it drew animals to you.

    The boar screamed and charged. With her left hand she cast rooted while with her right hand she cast fire spear. Fire raced along the length of the staff transforming it into a spear. The digging claws on the animals'' feet threw dirt as it closed the distance. She aimed for the spot just below the jaw but above the breast bone. It was the sweet spot on the animal and could kill it instantly.

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    The instant the beast made contact with her weapon she released the rooted spear. She jumped to the right, throwing up a shield to the left to deflect the tusks away from her. The rooted spell failed under the force of trying to stop that much momentum. The animal probably weighed five or six hundred pounds. The boar dropped to its belly and slid to a stop.

    A round of applause rose up, Irene looked up to find Ian looking down at her from the nearest hill. He approached under a camouflage spell, so she didn''t notice him until he dropped it. A vaguely familiar hunter was just behind him.

    ¡°Ian,¡± Irene said with a smile. ¡°Ellen told me you were away.¡±

    ¡°Just a quick training trip,¡± he explained. Irene went over to the boar and grabbed her staff. She used force tap in reverse to pull it free of the animal. Ian joined her, looking down at the beast. ¡°That was very neatly done,¡± he commented. It was a strangely physical approach for a wizard to use. He gave Irene a quick kiss, while she smiled at him. ¡°Did you want the tusks?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Oh, no. It was just in the way. I wanted grappler juice for breakfast tomorrow. It looks like it did a real number on the vines, but maybe some can be salvaged. Just a second,¡± she said as she pulled away from Ian and started back in the direction she left the gatherers. She found them closer than she left them. ¡°I got it,¡± she said to the group. She returned to the boar to find the hunter studying it with a strange look on his face, it almost looked like hunger. ¡°Did you want the tusks?¡± she asked him.

    ¡°No,¡± he responded. ¡°It is your kill.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really have any plans for them. I know a man who makes these beautiful buttons out of ivory, but I¡¯ve never learned the skill,¡± she told him. She picked up the front foot and tried to roll the beast. Its heavy weight resisted her.

    ¡°Need a hand?¡± Ian asked. He was leaning against a nearby tree, enjoying the show. The gatherers all jerked when he spoke. They missed him standing there. They hurried past to start gathering what fruit they could.

    ¡°No, I got it,¡± Irene said, holding up her staff. ¡° She used the staff as a lever to roll the animal over. Twenty minutes later the boar was skinned. She rolled up the hide and tied it with a rope. She looked down at the tusks.

    ¡°I¡¯ll carry them for you,¡± Ian said. He knew that look, she wanted them even though she really didn¡¯t have a plan for them. Irene smiled at him. He walked over and with a sharp force infused blow cracked the tusks off.

    The gatherers circled around Irene and her kill during the time she spent processing it. She called out to them that she was heading back in the direction of the square. Richard asked Irene if he could take some of the meat.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Irene said. ¡°Let me help you quarter it.¡± The hunters with the gatherers handed off the squirrels they already collected to the women. Irene helped them quarter the animal and trim them back to something they could carry. Each hunter took a quarter, including the hunter that was with Ian. He took a heavier hind quarter. They left the last hind quarter behind. Irene was surprised they wanted the meat at all. It was nutritious enough, but no one liked the taste of boar.

    The heavily loaded group headed back to the square. They retraced their route back, in an effort to limit their encounters with wildlife. Irene excused herself to her room to clean herself up, before rejoining Ian in the common room. She changed out of her hand made leathers into the hunter¡¯s greens Ian purchased for her on her the last visit to Redfalls.

    ¡°How was Moscow?¡± Ian asked when Irene returned to the common room. She sat down at the table Ian chose.

    ¡°A little tense,¡± Irene reported. ¡°They have a new red healer who is trying to carve out a following.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± Ian replied. He needed to find time to head up to Moscow one of these days and learn the red heal. Ian long suspected the spell must exist. Since the blue heal didn¡¯t work on reds, there must be a red version out there. He didn¡¯t have the time to visit the north. The scouts they sent north to check for any encroaching settlements returned after a month without finding anything. If this Moscow really existed, it was very far north. Didn¡¯t Ellen say two months? Ian thought. Things were really kicking off here now. He couldn¡¯t be away that long.

    ¡°The existing power structure was trying to figure out a way to get rid of them. The square is run by a committee composed of the first group to discover the square. They can¡¯t agree on what they should do.¡± Irene said. Ellen delivered two plates of food, beer for Ian and water for Irene. Since both the beer and water were served in tankards, they looked no different from each other. Irene tasted the meat and found it to be rat. She made a note to bring back a badger.

    ¡°The area is rather dangerous, so the healer is a temptation. Although very few people who manage to get back to a square after being injured in the field die. Usually if you can make that trip, you¡¯ll heal up if you wait long enough. Not that it''s pleasant,¡± Irene observed. Internal injuries were tricky. Internal bleeding could kill you later, but also hunger and dehydration. If someone was injured too badly to eat, without a heal they would starve to death. The process was rather quick, since the nanobots used the materials of the players body to try to fix them if there wasn¡¯t any food available. That was why it was so important to continue to try to force a severely injured person to eat and drink, even if they could barely swallow.

    ¡°I never really understood turning your warriors into addicts,¡± Ian commented. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you could trust them to do their job, if they are desperate for a fix.¡±

    ¡°It is about taking the threat of revolution away,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Although an addict will do anything to get their fix. If you drive them right, they will do things you wouldn¡¯t do.¡± Ian took note of Irene¡¯s words. She said them with a casual condemnation, but as a daughter of the queen, Ian figured she would know.

    ¡°There are rumors that the queen has finally taught some of her grandchildren how to heal. If we could win one of them away from Londontown, perhaps we could convince some of their warriors to change sides,¡± Ian commented.

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to believe,¡± Irene replied. ¡°Maybe one of the grandkids figured it out by careful observation, but I can¡¯t imagine the queen teaching someone. The warriors will be fanatical in their defense of anyone that knows heal. To get anywhere near a healer, I suspect you would already have won the war.¡± Which was something to remember when they did win, Ian thought to himself. If he secured one of the young healers, he could use them to control the addicted. If he kept them isolated, they would never learn any new magic, keeping them controllable.

    He wished Irene knew heal, then he could just use her to control the warriors. He had a sudden flashback to her standing calmly before the charging boar. Or maybe not, he thought. She was tier four and obviously abhorred how her mother was holding on to power. He would keep her happy by expressing the same sentiment until they were in Londontown. By then she would have children to keep her occupied. If she questioned the continued healing of the warriors he¡¯d spin it as a mercy or something.

    Ian was disappointed to see she was just as slim as before. He expected her to be showing the first signs of pregnancy. He was rushed off by the emergency meeting too quickly. He didn¡¯t get back to Redfalls until two months later. He was shocked when Irene wasn¡¯t there waiting for him. Luckily he took the time to calm down and think about his approach since then.

    ¡°I got you something,¡± Ian said, later that evening in his room. He pulled out a loaded gathering bag and handed it to Irene on the bed. Irene shot him a questioning look before taking the bag. She opened the top and spilled out the object inside. It was a weird contraption of metal, wood and bits of ceramic. A blue scavenging party dropped it while fleeing. He picked it up thinking about all those crafting tools that littered the floor of her room. If the scavengers liked it enough to pick it up, it must be something.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Irene asked, turning it over in her hands in fascination.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Ian responded. ¡°I thought of you when I saw it.¡±

    ¡°It is awesome!¡± Irene declared. She sprang from the bed to envelope him in an embrace. This was how a woman should react to a man¡¯s attention. Now Ian knew what kind of gifts to bring to keep her happy.

 Trueborn: Chapter Seventeen

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Anna told Irene, ¡°but there just aren¡¯t any sales.¡± Irene was standing in front of her shop. She arrived in Londontown to find the shop closed. It took her half a day to track down Anna. ¡°I had to do something else.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Irene responded. ¡°This conflict with Chicago is redirecting a large portion of the economy into weapons and armor.¡±

    ¡°The reds are beasts,¡± Anna said with passion.

    ¡°They are human, just like us,¡± Irene countered. ¡°At this point I am not even certain who started it. Everyone is angry and hurt. I wish people would just remember that we are all children of Earth. We should be united against the dangers of the structure, not divided against each other. No one remembers what our ancestors did to get us here.¡±

    ¡°The reds started it when they killed our people at Paris,¡± Anna said with absolute certainty. Irene knew that was a belief she could not fight.

    ¡°Let''s go inside,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll pay you a parting bonus. I¡¯m going to shut down the shop. If things calm down in the near future we can try it again.¡±

    She paid Anna ten silver as a parting bonus. It was enough money to rent a shop for a month. Irene felt a little guilty that she didn''t visit Londontown as much as she really should in the months since she returned from Moscow. She dropped Anna from the shop interface after the woman left. Irene sat down on one of the upholstered chairs that were in the front window.

    She got a little lost in her love affair with Ian during the last six months. As the raids and counterraids started piling up, Irene found herself spending more and more time in Redfalls, where she could pretend none of it was happening. Recently Ian spent more time away. He was taking a larger role in the defense of Greater Chicago. When he was gone, Irene remembered her commitments and tried to make time to live up to them.

    Irene was crazy in love with Ian. All those silly pictures her sister Helen used to send of her muscled boyfriend in construction overalls suddenly started making sense to her. Ian brought her strange new crafting tools and listened to all her theories about nanobots and magic. Even if he did seem to drift off in the middle sometimes, he never called her weird or strange or odd. Instead he called her brilliant and beautiful.

    Teachers and teaching machines told her she had high potential since the first lesson, but potential just wasn¡¯t the same. There was something about the statement that left her thinking she wasn¡¯t good enough, she needed to strive for more. Her potential was greater than her accomplishments, hence she was already failing at reaching it.

    She knew she wasn¡¯t beautiful. A cousin of hers, her father¡¯s sister¡¯s second daughter was beautiful. She possessed a luminescent radiance that was hard to describe. Having seen her, Irene knew how far short she fell. When Ian called her beautiful, she felt his approval of her. It wasn¡¯t physical beauty he was talking about, it was love.

    Irene tilted her head, as her eyes focused at what she was looking at while she was lost in thought. The protection crystal hovered over the ground in the courtyard. Its translucent shape was only visible in the way it refracted the light that went through it. When Irene first saw it twelve years ago, it was two feet tall. It was smaller now, by at least an inch or two.

    She couldn¡¯t remember thinking it was smaller before. All the crystals in squares were different sizes. The one in Redfalls was no more than sixteen inches tall. Their size didn¡¯t affect how they worked. However the absence of a crystal was another form of hell. If the crystal in Londontown was shrinking, would it eventually disappear?

    Irene got up and left her shop. She walked across to the entrance to the training yards. Warriors were facing off against each other with new dedication. None of these warriors were going to land on their ass after striking a shield spell. They were wearing hardened leather armor at a minimum. There was a lot of armor reinforced with steel studs. Irene didn¡¯t see any of the plate armor that was just starting to appear in Chicago, but she didn¡¯t think it was far behind. Christopher was standing outside a sparring area yelling advice at the two combatants.

    ¡°They look more skilled than before,¡± Irene observed. ¡°Like they actually know how to swing a sword instead of just relying on magic to drag the blade in the right direction.¡± Christopher jumped a foot and turned to stare at her. Irene realized the don¡¯t notice me spell on her was still active. She dismissed the spell with a quick wave.

    ¡°Irene,¡± Chris said to his sister, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were in the square.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to close the shop,¡± Irene said. ¡°It isn¡¯t making any money. I¡¯d like to blame the violence, but sales dropped a while ago. I think I just saturated the square.¡±

    ¡°You sold too cheaply,¡± Chris told her. ¡°I would have paid double for the pieces I purchased.¡±

    ¡°I thought you lived in the inn,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°No, I have too many children. I have an apartment up on the third floor,¡± Chris responded. He didn¡¯t mention that three of those children were actually their sister Mary¡¯s.

    ¡°The crystal is smaller,¡± Irene said. ¡°When did that happen?¡± Chris looked back at the courtyard, fear flickered across his face.

    ¡°It shrinks when there is fighting. It is worse if someone dies,¡± Chris explained. ¡°I don¡¯t think Phillip believes me.¡±

    ¡°That is interesting,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I wonder if that means Control doesn¡¯t want us to fight, or if we just can¡¯t fight from a safe zone. Chicago doesn¡¯t have a crystal to lose.¡±

    ¡°They may not have a crystal, but without healing they have a lot more deaths. Most of our injured are saved,¡± Chris countered.

    ¡°But at what price?¡± Irene asked. Chris looked angry and refused to reply. ¡°Not that long ago we all lived in a big metal can floating in the darkness of space. Isn¡¯t there a common ground somewhere in our Earthen roots that we can build a peace from?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Chris responded. He spoke the single word with a firm conviction. Irene sighed.

    ¡°Be careful, brother,¡± Irene said. ¡°If the crystal disappears it will be far worse, remember even inn rooms will be wildspace.¡± Chris frowned. Irene hoped she made an impression. She turned away, intending to go back to her shop.

    Halfway there she changed her mind and went up the stairs to find a cook selling lunch. She ended up at the same cook she bought from before.

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    ¡°I hoped you would come,¡± the cook said as soon as Irene stepped into the open doorway.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Irene asked. The cook turned the heat source she was cooking on off. She set down her spoon and wiped her hands on a small towel.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the next apartment,¡± She led Irene back out of the improvised restaurant, closing the door behind them. She went down the hall to the next apartment and knocked. A young boy opened the door with caution. ¡°It¡¯s ok,¡± the cook told the boy, ¡°I found Irene.¡±

    The boy opened the door for them. Irene followed the cook into the apartment. Against the wall lying on a thin pallet was Anthony. He was too pale and sweating. A young girl sat beside him, trying to get him to drink water. Irene was across the room in an instant.

    ¡°What happened?¡± she demanded

    ¡°He took an imbued sword strike,¡± the cook replied. ¡°His team got him back here, but he¡¯s lost part of his sword hand, so they won¡¯t heal him for free. They don¡¯t think he can hold a sword again, so he has no value to them. We don¡¯t have the money to buy a heal. I¡¯ve heard if you live twenty four hours you¡¯ll make it, but it¡¯s been three days and he isn¡¯t any better. I heard years ago you healed Rebecca¡¯s little boy. Can you help him?¡±

    ¡°I was able to heal the little boy because his magic didn¡¯t have color yet,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Is Anthony¡¯s magic really blue?¡± Irene asked. A lot of people with red magic in Londontown pretended to be blue. Red wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but if Anthony was hiding another color like Irene, it could be. Irene kneeled beside her friend. The young girl backed away, giving her access.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the cook responded.

    Irene cast. It was just a quick tier one heal to try and stabilize him. The warrior moaned and thrashed, throwing the light cover off himself. The action revealed nasty blood stained bandages around his body and a hand that was too small.

    ¡°He will need more food and water,¡± Irene requested. ¡°I know of another spell that might help with the hand, but I haven¡¯t mastered it. It might take me a couple hours to get it to cast. Do you want me to try?¡±

    ¡°It might fix his hand?¡± the cook asked. She knelt down beside Anthony and ran a soft hand across his forehead. ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°please try.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone,¡± Irene said, suddenly remembering that she was in Londontown. ¡°If it works or not.¡± Irene wasn¡¯t certain it would work. In the time since she found the tier four heal she considered what injuries a tier three heal couldn¡¯t fix. Those injuries were candidates for what a tier four heal would. Missing limbs was one of those things, along with the diseases of age.

    ¡°I understand,¡± the cook said. She rose back up to her feet. ¡°I¡¯ll go get both of you food.¡±

    It took Irene three hours to successfully cast the tier four heal. She lost count of the actual number of tries, but if she figured a minute for each cast, it was at least 180. When the spell finally cast Anthony¡¯s eyes rolled up into his head and he went limp. The first tier one heal stabilized him enough to allow his children to feed him in turns. He ate listlessly, but he swallowed. From his daughter¡¯s happy reaction, Irene knew this was an improvement. His son was more reserved.

    Irene cast the spell four more times before it worked again. Anthony¡¯s response was much more muted, mostly just a twitch of his maimed hand. Irene unwrapped the hand and inspected the result.

    His thumb, first two fingers and a chunk of hand structure were missing. It was true that with what remained he would never hold a sword in that hand again. The edges were all healed over with a smooth coating of baby skin. Irene suspected this wasn¡¯t real skin but some kind of nanobot fake skin, put together in moments to close the wound. An extra pink line delineated between Anthony¡¯s real skin and the nanobot fake. It was a good sign. It could be an indication that the missing hand and digits would grow back.

    ¡°Margot?¡± Anthony said in a weak voice. So, Irene thought to herself, the mysterious Margot was the cook.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°She went to work the dinner rush. It¡¯s Irene.¡± She turned to the two children, ¡°Can one of you go tell Margot we need dinner?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± the boy said, jumping to his feet.

    Anthony dragged himself up into a half sitting position with Irene¡¯s help. The girl offered her father water when he started to cough. He reached for the flask then looked at his hand in horror when he caught sight of it.

    ¡°Drink,¡± Irene said encouragingly. ¡°Dehydration is a real problem and will kill you even here.¡±

    Margot came in behind the boy, carrying two heavily loaded planks. She took one look at Anthony sitting up and almost dropped the food. Irene stepped out of the way, as Margot tried to squeeze the life out of Anthony, under a shower of tears. Irene picked up one of the hastily discarded plates and started eating.

    ¡°Will he be ok?¡± Margot asked tearfully when she finally pulled away.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene replied. ¡°The hand looks hopeful. It might regenerate. You need to keep him well fed and hydrated.¡±

    ¡°Did you heal me?¡± Anthony said in horror.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said, ¡°but don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m not a blue wizard and I¡¯m not a red wizard either. Somehow I ended up as something in between. I think if I healed someone with magic my own shade it would be a problem. I ran into an archer far to the north whose magic was green. I couldn¡¯t heal them at all.¡±

    ¡°Green?¡± Margot asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I think magic comes in many more colors than anyone has realized yet. I recently heard of someone with yellow magic. As I told you earlier, children don¡¯t have any color at all. If we¡¯d ended up with more mixed societies I think some of the pitfalls of healing could have been avoided.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that reds can get healing addiction too?¡± Anthony asked.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Irene responded. ¡°They just need to be healed by a red wizard. There are a couple up in the north that are building empires very similar to the queen¡¯s. I expect the way things are going one of them will show up in Chicago before very long and enslave the whole bunch of them.¡± Anthony looked stunned.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always been jealous of reds because they don¡¯t have the temptation,¡± he commented.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene said. ¡°It is the queen that saved red magic users when she wouldn¡¯t teach anyone else how to heal. It was her refusal to share that knowledge that kept the reds safe. Now that someone in the north has figured it out independently, the reds¡¯ heal-free society is coming to an end.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s what¡¯s happened?¡± Margot asked. ¡°That a red healer in Chicago is driving all this violence?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Although with all the injuries among the reds the opportunity is only getting greater. I think our current conflict is just human greed and power games. Londontown and Chicago are the oldest and largest settlements. With all the children getting older, they started to spread and touched each other. The existing power structures in both settlements don¡¯t want to lose any ground and they both want to grow.¡±

    ¡°Harry,¡± Anthony asked the boy, ¡°where is your brother?¡± The mention of their children getting older made him realize his eldest son was missing. There was some talk of training the oldest children for the war effort. Anthony did not want to see his eldest child caught up in the fighting.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the shop apartment, watching all the younger kids,¡± Margot replied for the young boy. ¡°Harry and Jane have been taking care of you.¡± Anthony thanked both his children for their care and gave them hugs. Irene finished up her meal while the family was reunited.

    ¡°I would like to know if that hand regenerates,¡± Irene commented, before she left. ¡°I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea if I was here though if it happens. You be careful,¡± she said to Anthony. ¡°I was forced to shut down my shop due to lack of sales. With the rising violence in the halls I don¡¯t know when I will be back.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Eighteen

    When Irene returned to Redfalls, the first thing she did was check the crystal. She was 99% certain it was smaller. She went into the inn and found Ellen.

    ¡°A room?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I have a question,¡± Irene said. ¡°Was the crystal bigger before?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ellen countered, sounding surprised. Ellen turned to look out the glass front of the common room to look at the crystal floating in the courtyard beyond. She frowned. She stepped out from behind the service counter and walked closer to the window. Her frown got larger. She pushed the door open and walked out into the square.

    Irene followed behind, not liking Ellen¡¯s reaction. Ellen reached out one hand and ran it across the surface of the crystal. The crystal was stained a very, very light red. The paleness of the color meant Ellen could not be more than tier one. Children were tier zero. The transition from tier zero to tier one was a little vague. Almost every settler was already tier one or tier two by the time the personal interface was widely known. Irene wondered if anyone was paying attention to tier and magic color development among the children. The oldest children were just reaching twelve. Greg¡¯s son Bill would be that old now. Irene knew Bill could cast magic at ten. The children in the suburbs all seemed a lot older than their physical age. Irene thought it was the result of living in constant danger. Irene herself never felt completely safe in the structure. Not even sleeping next to Ian in an inn room. She really couldn¡¯t imagine growing up in wildspace.

    ¡°It does look smaller,¡± Ellen commented. Irene pulled her drifting thoughts back into the moment. ¡°I think it was about three inches taller when we first found it.¡± Irene held her thumb and forefinger up indicating a span she thought was roughly three inches.

    ¡°About that much?¡± she asked Ellen.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I remember Kyle measured it off. We were comparing it to Londontown¡¯s crystal.¡±

    ¡°It was smaller than that when I first visited,¡± Irene commented. ¡°I¡¯ve heard a rumor that violence in a square can cause the crystal to shrink. Has there been any fighting here?¡±

    ¡°You mean between people? No. I mean there is some sparring in the training grounds,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°No, not training,¡± Irene said. ¡°If training or hunting shrank a crystal, Londontown¡¯s would have disappeared long ago.¡± Irene held her staff up to the crystal, getting a new more precise measure of it. ¡°This worries me,¡± Irene commented. ¡°Are they back from Chicago yet?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen replied, ¡°I don¡¯t expect them for at least a week yet.¡± Irene searched her memory trying to recall any other time she¡¯d seen a crystal shrink. She couldn¡¯t come up with anything.

    Rest crystals disappeared after a while. The crystals were already so small in the rests the The Heights stayed in, Irene didn¡¯t notice if they got smaller before they vanished. She saw rests with larger crystals in them, but she didn¡¯t stay in them long.

    ¡°Does a rest crystal get smaller before it disappears?¡± Irene asked Ellen, ¡°or does it just vanish?¡±

    ¡°I never noticed,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°When we lived in wildspace, I was always too busy to be measuring the crystal every night. We¡¯d get attacked in the middle of the night and realize the crystal was gone. We¡¯d come back to the rest after a gathering run and there would be no sign of it. Once the entire area remodeled in our absence and we lost all our possessions.¡± That would hurt, Irene thought. She wondered how many times that happened to The Heights. She realized she hadn¡¯t visited her friends in that suburb in a while.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go to Chicago,¡± Irene told Ellen. ¡°Hopefully I¡¯ll catch Ian still there.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Ellen said. ¡°You should stay the night and go in the morning.¡± Irene agreed. She rented a room for just one night.

    <hr>

    She traveled high, over the top of Chicago, heading to The Heights. She didn¡¯t know why, but suddenly she felt like she really needed to see them. She traveled fast, south and east until she hit the ruined green. She found them on the second day of searching.

    ¡°Greg,¡± Irene said, giving the warrior a hug. ¡°I am relieved to see you.¡± He was the first person Irene saw. It was late in the day and he was standing guard.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Greg asked, obviously sensing her disquiet.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I realized I haven''t seen you in a while and suddenly it was really important that I did.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re always welcome,¡± Greg replied. Irene swung her pack off her back and joined Greg on the watch.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised to find you in the suburb,¡± she said. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the time for the leadership meeting?¡± Now Greg frowned and looked troubled.

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    ¡°I left early,¡± he said. ¡°Most of the small suburb leaders did. Anyone who doesn¡¯t supply warriors for the war doesn¡¯t have a say anymore.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry to hear that,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I don¡¯t understand this war. Isn¡¯t the dangers of the structure enough?¡±

    ¡°It is for me,¡± Greg replied. ¡°There have been multiple deaths and the hospital in Chicago is full.¡±

    ¡°There is a red healer in the north at Moscow,¡± Irene said. ¡°I mentioned the red square as a place you might trade with. If you do end up there you need to be careful.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that,¡± Greg responded.

    ¡°I¡¯ve learned a few things about smelting iron and making small items. Learn is not the right word,¡± Irene corrected. ¡°I took notes on it. Maybe Mary or someone else can learn it.¡±

    ¡°Do your small items include vent pins?¡± Greg asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. ¡°vent pins and door wedges. I was told they are the simplest things to make. That anyone who has handled examples can produce them. You just need an anvil, a blacksmith hammer and a smelter.¡±

    ¡°Being able to make our own would take some of the pressure off. I could drop out of being an official suburb in Chicago. We can afford to pay the higher tax rates for traders, if we don¡¯t have to go as often,¡± Greg observed.

    ¡°Good,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll make a copy of my notes tomorrow and go over them with whoever is interested.¡± Irene picked her pack back up. She was tired. ¡°I¡¯d like to finish the watch with you, but I suddenly feel exhausted. I¡¯m going to go find a corner to curl up in.¡±

    ¡°Sharl and the kids are in the second room on the right past the rest,¡± Greg volunteered. ¡°There should be a corner available for you there.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Irene said. She moved past Greg into the suburb proper. She cast muffle on herself so that she didn¡¯t wake anyone that might already be sleeping. She found Sharl still awake. She was rocking a young child, trying to get it to sleep.

    ¡°Who is this?¡± Irene asked quietly as she paused to greet Sharl and the baby.

    ¡°The newest member of our family,¡± Sharl replied, ¡°little Bethany.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s beautiful,¡± Irene said. She swung her pack to the ground and set her staff beside it. She sat on the hard cement floor, leaning against the wall. There were no spare pallets in the room. Irene didn¡¯t expect one. She slept on the hard floor more times than she could count.

    ¡°Where are you heading?¡± Sharl asked.

    ¡°Here,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll go back to Chicago after my visit,¡± she responded. Sharl stilled and looked worried.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been in Chicago?¡± Sharl asked.

    ¡°No, actually a new red square north,¡± Irene responded. ¡°They¡¯ve been keeping its location quiet since its population is heavy on children. They don¡¯t want to draw the conflict to themselves.¡± Irene shifted, trying to get comfortable. ¡°I¡¯m worried about it. Have you ever heard of a protection crystal shrinking?¡±

    ¡°In a square?¡± Sharl asked. At Irene¡¯s nod she continued, ¡°No. If you find a rest with a larger crystal, it will shrink until it vanishes. I think it has to do with how many animals are repelled. It¡¯s hard to notice in the little chip crystals that dark rests have. A chip crystal won¡¯t last a week where there are badgers in the halls, but here where there are only rats it can last for months.¡±

    ¡°The crystal in Londontown is shrinking,¡± Irene confided. ¡°I was told there it is related to the fighting. I noticed the crystal in the red square I mentioned is also shrinking. The full-time residents are dependents of warriors and hunters that have been manning the tax stations and defending the border.¡±

    ¡°Greg heard in Chicago that the tax stations have been doing more than defending the border. Once the blues stopped scavenging beyond the tax stations, the income dropped. The guards started running patrols deep into blue territory to catch blue scavengers and rob them,¡± Sharl said. ¡°Is there any truth in that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she responded with a sigh. ¡°I avoid the border. I don¡¯t doubt it. I know there have been direct attacks on Paris, Londontown and Chicago downtown.¡±

    ¡°Really? Paris? Londontown? Greg didn¡¯t tell me about that,¡± Sharl responded.

    ¡°I was there when one raid happened. It was red warriors wearing hardened leather armor. At the time the only crafter who made it was in Chicago,¡± Irene reported.

    ¡°So it is even worse than I realized,¡± Sharl responded.

    ¡°I carried warnings in the beginning,¡± Irene admitted, ¡°and it made me feel guilty about the deaths. I started trying hard to not know what was going on. Now I am feeling guilty about that. I really wish I could figure out a way to stop it.¡±

    Sharl carefully laid her daughter down into a handmade crib. The baby slept on, oblivious to her mother¡¯s love.

    ¡°Sometimes you just have to let the children fight it out. All you can do is pick them up afterwards and kiss away their hurts,¡± Sharl commented.

    ¡°People are dying,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°People die here all the time. You didn¡¯t kill any of them. Don¡¯t feel guilty about the life and death decisions people made for themselves,¡± Sharl said. Irene rubbed her face and lay down on the floor, using her pack as a pillow. The lights dimmed, as the night cycle started.

    ¡°You have to remember the good things, like little Bethany,¡± Sharl commented, sensing her friend¡¯s continued sadness. Sharl realized Irene never mentioned any family. Sharl thought one of Irene¡¯s brothers was in Londontown. Sharl could only have gotten that information from Irene. ¡°Bill will be thrilled to see you,¡± Sharl said, mentioning her own son and his hero worship of the trader. Irene noticed that even Sharl, Billy¡¯s mother, was calling the boy Bill now.

    ¡°Remind me in the morning to show you how to use your interface to decode inscriptions,¡± Irene said. At the moment it was the last accomplishment she remembered that was untainted by later events. That and meeting Ian. If she talked about him, she would have to face her fears that he might get killed.

    Sharl was amused that discovering a method to solve the wall puzzles was Irene¡¯s version of good things.

    ¡°I look forward to it,¡± Sharl responded.

 Trueborn: Chapter Nineteen

    Irene took two days to find an inscription, during the same time she gathered all the parts needed to build herself a bed frame and looked for a smelter or anvil. Dark space contained mostly iron and wood furniture components. Fiber scrap was extremely rare, so there was really no hope of finding a mattress. The ruined green contained a type of plant that yielded a natural fiber. Everyone in The Heights called it cotton. They used it raw to stuff the pallets they slept on.

    After teaching Bill and Sharl how to decode an inscription with the interface, she spent the next two days collecting cotton to stuff her pallet. Bill thought Irene was being boring, until her bed was finally complete. The boy bounced around on the top of it with such joy that Irene knew she would have to make another one. It was nice to see the boy happy, at thirteen he was way too serious. He spent hours talking to Irene about spells as he planned his fighting style.

    ¡°I saw you put that together,¡± Greg observed as he watched his son, ¡°how can it be so springy?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it isn¡¯t really wood and iron, it¡¯s all nanobot material,¡± Irene said. ¡°Once I put the pallet on it, it went from being a generic construction to being a bed. I wasn¡¯t certain the pallet would work, but I was hopeful.¡±

    ¡°How did you figure that out?¡± Greg asked.

    ¡°I found a bed near Londontown,¡± Irene replied, ¡°and a second frame. I noticed how different the one with the mattress felt versus the one without. If I put the mattress on the floor it was soft, but not nearly as good as it felt on a frame.¡±

    ¡°I heard a rumor that there is a furniture store in Londontown at the last meeting,¡± Greg commented.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene responded. ¡°That was mine. I just shut it down.¡± Irene went on to explain why.

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad,¡± Sharl commented. ¡°I can see how sales might not be very high. I would just memorize the patterns and build my own.¡±

    ¡°I think I would too,¡± Irene agreed, ¡°but that wasn¡¯t ever a problem.¡±

    She finally found a smelter on her fifth day in the suburb. It was an exceptional find in dark space. Irene moved southwest in her search to find it. The difficulty of the structure increased rather dramatically to the south. Dark space ended not far to the west. Chicago, northeast of The Heights, was not in dark space, but she didn¡¯t want to go into the contested area.

    She dragged the heavy smelter back on a quickly assembled skid. She cleaned out a new room at the edge of the suburb. The room didn¡¯t have any animals in it. Irene used her own vent pins and door wedges to secure it. She would leave them here for the suburb and pick up new ones in Redfalls, or maybe replace them here if she got lucky and found an anvil soon.

    She went back out with her skid to the closest prize altar where she pulled out a stack of iron scrap. She set up the room with the smelter in a corner and the pile of scrap on one side. Then she went in search of Mary.

    Mary was The Heights¡¯ vent pin repairer. When Irene first visited The Heights, she asked Mary how she did it. Mary was worried the group would abandon her if someone else could repair the pins and refused to tell Irene. Irene saw the real fear in the woman¡¯s eyes and never asked again. Over the years Mary became more secure in her position in the group. Irene thought she might share the knowledge with her now if she asked again. Irene didn¡¯t really want to know, except maybe to write down so she could pass it on. She gave up any thought of being a crafter long ago.

    ¡°Mary,¡± Irene said in greeting when she found the woman. ¡°Do you have some spare time? I want to show something to you.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Mary said cautiously. Irene led Mary down to the new room. Mary looked at the scrap and smelter and was puzzled. ¡°What do you want me to see?¡± she asked. Irene pulled a couple sheets of vellum out of her pocket. She leafed through them until she found two copies of her smelting notes. She returned the rest of the vellum to her pocket.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said, handing one copy to Mary. ¡°I hired a neophyte metal worker to smelt iron scrap into ingots for me. They were willing to let me take notes.¡±

    Mary¡¯s confusion only seemed to increase as she looked at Irene¡¯s notes.

    ¡°Tell you what,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll walk you through the notes. I can be a little too concise sometimes. Grab a piece of scrap and drop it into the smelter.¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted to show me something?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°Well I haven¡¯t actually learned it,¡± Irene explained. ¡°I could go through all the training motions myself, but then we¡¯d just have to do it again to teach you. It seems faster to just have you do the training, while I give the explanation.¡± Mary looked shocked.

    ¡°Are you saying you want to teach me how to smelt metal?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene said. ¡°You need ingots to make vent pins. I¡¯ve got notes on that too. If I find an anvil before I leave, I¡¯ll walk you through my notes on that too. Actually even if I don¡¯t find an anvil, I¡¯ll walk you through the notes. Hopefully someone will find one eventually.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Mary started to say¡­ She paused and looked at the vellum. She looked at the scrap and finally the smelter. ¡°Alright,¡± she said finally. She picked up a piece of scrap from the pile and dropped it into the smelter.

    ¡°Now tap out fire on the side of the smelter,¡± Irene instructed.

    ¡°How do I tap out fire?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°It is the same tap pattern as hot water,¡± Irene explained. ¡°One finger at a time starting with your pinky.¡± Mary tapped the pattern out smoothly and easily, since she was familiar with it from manipulating the temperature of water. ¡°Drop your hand back to your side and wait to see if anything happens.¡±

    Mary peered into the smelter. Nothing changed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± she reported.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Irene said. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Just pull the scrap out and switch it with another chunk. I should mention here that we are probably going to have to do this twenty or thirty times before it works. Luckily the later steps don¡¯t require taking the scrap back out to try it again.¡± Mary tucked her copy of the notes into a pocket, before reaching into the cold smelter to pull the scrap out.

    On the tenth try the smelter came to life. A deep orange glow came from within, but only enough heat for them to feel escaped.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Irene said. She came closer to look inside. ¡°That was a lot faster than I expected. Your experience with repairs must help. I knew we should train you first.¡± Mary was looking at the smelter in complete surprise.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Irene said, ¡°the next part is a little tricker.¡± Together the two women managed to produce their first ingot about an hour later. There was a lot of laughter and completely ruined scrap along the way.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that worked,¡± Mary said. They were sitting on the floor, eating lunch. Irene was thinking they needed a couple chairs and a table. The smelter room needed shelves for the ingots and scrap. Actually it needed a big bin for the scrap, but Irene didn¡¯t know how to build that. ¡°I was told it takes forever to learn blacksmithing without a tutor.¡±

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    ¡°Well it does take longer,¡± Irene responded. ¡°But obviously not forever. After all, we humans haven¡¯t been in the structure that long.¡± Mary looked very thoughtful.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Mary responded. ¡°I guess I never thought about it that way before.¡±

    ¡°After we eat, I¡¯ll walk you through my notes on vent pins and door wedges,¡± Irene offered.

    ¡°Does it need a hammer?¡± Mary asked. ¡°My repair hammer is getting a little feeble.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it does,¡± Irene said. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind a little wear I am sure I have a hammer in my inventory. I can pull one out for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you for it,¡± Mary said with pride. ¡°I have enough coins, I was just hoping to find one before the old one failed.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Irene said. She named a price. She explained the price was low because of the wear.

    ¡°Wear shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Mary said. ¡°I can use the old hammer to repair the new one. The wear from being stored can almost completely be reversed.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that,¡± Irene told Mary. ¡°That is interesting.¡±

    After Irene went through how to make vent pins, Mary surprised her by walking through how she repaired them. Mary said it was payment for teaching her to smelt. The repair and construction spells overlapped. Irene knew Mary was going to find making new pins easy.

    In the afternoon Irene went out again looking for an anvil. She didn¡¯t find one. Instead she found a hand loom. Looms were even rarer than anvil¡¯s, especially this close to dark space. Irene didn¡¯t see even a single spindle to make thread with during her multi-day search. Spindles were one of the most common fiber crafting tools. After some experimentation, she figured out how to tie a rope to the loom to make it easier to carry over her shoulder.

    Her knowledge of tailoring was even more sketchy than her information on metalworking. She did know that tailors never sewed anything by hand, instead they used a sewing machine. She didn¡¯t know if it was required. She sewed all her leathers by hand, but leather wasn¡¯t an integrated material, cloth that came off a loom was.

    On her way back to the suburb she pulled two blacksmith hammers from her inventory. Irene dropped off one of the hammers in the smelting room. She carried the other one over to Mary¡¯s room, where she sold it to her for the agreed price. Irene hoped that by switching the hammers around Mary wouldn¡¯t figure out there were two of them until after Irene left. After Mary¡¯s description of using one hammer to repair the other, Irene wanted to make sure she left two.

    ¡°What¡¯s that thing?¡± Mary asked, pointing to the loom hung over Irene¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, it''s a loom,¡± Irene said. ¡°They are very rare and I just couldn¡¯t leave it. Unfortunately my knowledge of tailoring is almost all theoretical.¡±

    ¡°No notes on a sheet of vellum?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Tom¡¯s spouse know a little tailoring?¡± Mary¡¯s roommate asked from across the space.

    ¡°That was a long time ago,¡± Mary commented. ¡°He never really got over her death. He might remember something,¡± she admitted.

    Irene went in search of Tom. The Heights was populated by ten adults, six women and four men. Mary and her roommate were the odd women out, although who Mary¡¯s roommate was changed over the years. Mary herself took no interest in pairing. Irene thought that whatever left her with the fear of being left behind, also put her off men.

    Irene found Tom standing watch at the other end of the settlement while keeping an eye on a spit of roasting meat. The meat was roasting over a portable stove. It smelled delicious.

    ¡°Where did you find the loom?¡± Tom asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been searching rooms to the southwest for an anvil,¡± Irene explained. ¡°No anvil, but I found this.¡± Irene was encouraged by Tom¡¯s quick recognition of the item. ¡°Do you know how to use it?¡± She swung the rope off her shoulder and sat the loom on the ground, away from the stove.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Tom responded. ¡°Give me ten spools of thread and I can make you enough cloth for a small gathering bag.¡±

    ¡°If you know how to weave,¡± Irene asked. ¡°Why don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s a variety of reasons,¡± Tom said. ¡°The tools and fiber scrap are hard to find in darkspace. I¡¯m amazed you found the loom anywhere within a day''s walk. Even to make the crafting bag you need shears, pins and a sewing machine, and that¡¯s after you made the cloth. Finding the loom was fluke, finding a sewing machine will be much harder.¡± Tom rotated the roast.

    ¡°Do you have to use a sewing machine?¡± Irene asked. ¡°I sew my leathers by hand.¡±

    ¡°It is possible to sew integrated cloth by hand, but the end product isn¡¯t integrated. You don¡¯t get the advantages of the pattern. Actually, cutting the cloth is more difficult than sewing it. The seams always come out uneven and fabric unravels in time,¡± Tom explained.

    ¡°Just because the end product isn¡¯t integrated doesn¡¯t mean it is useless,¡± Irene observed. ¡°You could buy the tools in Chicago or from a vendor, they don¡¯t have to be found.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Tom replied, ¡°but it all starts with fiber scrap.¡±

    ¡°Have you tried making thread from that plant fiber and not fiber scrap?¡± Irene asked. She wondered about that since she stuffed her pallet. Tom looked thoughtful. He brushed a baste on the roast from a small bowl. Irene wondered where he got the bowl.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± he said finally. ¡°I would need a spindle and spools to give it a try.¡±

    ¡°If I got you the tools,¡± Irene said, ¡°could you try it? I would love to take a few notes.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Tom replied. He checked the outward facing hallways for any signs of danger. Irene went back to the prize altar where she pulled out a wide variety of tailoring tools, and stuffed them into her gathering bag. She made sure to throw ten spools in since that was the number Tom mentioned for making cloth. She didn¡¯t know when she¡¯d get another chance to write down cloth crafting spells. She hoped the notes would help her get tailoring started in Redfalls. There was some leftover fiber from making the pallet, she picked it up, along with her notebook, on the way back.

    ¡°All of these tools were in your inventory?¡± Tom asked, impressed with the tools Irene spilled out of her bag.

    ¡°I sort of collect them,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I like the idea of making beautiful things to improve our lives, but I just don¡¯t have the patience. I try to promote skills in others.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you want to take notes?¡± Tom asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. ¡°I gave Mary the notes I have on beginning metalworking. Whatever I learn from you, I¡¯ll pass on to someone else down the road. I know no one is ever going to tell me the advanced stuff, but everyone needs a place to start. With the next generation growing up, I¡¯m only going to find more candidates in the future.¡±

    ¡°I think you are wrong,¡± Tom said. ¡°People will tell you anything if you pay them enough. Sometimes enough is surprisingly small. I¡¯ll show you what I know, but I¡¯m keeping the tools, including the loom.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± Irene responded.

    <hr>

    ¡°What have you got there?¡± Greg asked Sharl. Irene left that morning. She headed north, stating her intention to visit Chicago.

    ¡°Irene left me a copy of her crafting notes,¡± Sharl said. She was studying a stack of vellums as she rocked her daughter to sleep. ¡°She was confident Mary will be able to make vent pins and door wedges if we find an anvil.¡±

    ¡°I could tell she thought she was failing us not finding one,¡± Greg said.

    ¡°She is really worried about the violence,¡± Sharl responded. She leaned back from the notes and cradled her baby. ¡°I think on some unconscious level she¡¯s realized something that horrifies her. She just can¡¯t face it. She wants to keep us safe from it.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we are in danger?¡± Greg asked his partner.

    ¡°No, no more than usual. When I thought she was just depressed I told her to think of the good things too. She told me about decrypting wall inscriptions. But you know, she was already thinking of the good things, that is why she came. To her that''s what we are. She came to make sure we were safe and to give what help she could.¡± Sharl handed the baby to Greg. Greg looked down at the infant and smiled. All his instincts screamed at him to protect this child.

    ¡°The war is going to get worse,¡± Greg said suddenly. ¡°I could see that in Chicago.¡±

    ¡°We may want to consider moving farther away,¡± Sharl suggested, as she straightened the bedding in the crib.

    ¡°Irene warned me that the difficulty goes up quickly to the south. With the entrance to the east, Londonton to the west and Chicago to the north, I am not certain where we could go,¡± Greg commented.

    ¡°Maybe we need to jump past Londontown and try on the other side,¡± Sharl observed. Greg was surprised to hear Sharl say that.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you wanted to leave dark space,¡± Greg replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since we retreated for safety. We all know more magic now. I hope we can do better. Irene found that smelter in the halls on the southwest of the green. She went off scavenging over there for days and she came back without a scratch on her,¡± Sharl told her spouse. ¡°Next time we move, I think we should find a rest over there. We can still hunt and gather in the ruined green. It will be a kind of test. If we get in trouble, we can pull back to this side.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Greg agreed. ¡°We can put it forward to everyone tomorrow. If they agree, we will start scouting the area.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty

    Chicago was a bustling hub of commerce. There were more shops than ever. They were selling armor and weapons in more advanced styles. Elie, downtown''s top blacksmith, was selling plate armor bracers and greaves. There was a note about special orders scrawled on the wall that made Irene suspect even more pieces were available for a price.

    The halls were crowded with warriors fresh from the border. Irene saw several missing fingers and one missing ear. The missing ear surprised her, she thought that it would regrow on its own without any healing. Apparently not.

    There were a lot of new drinking and gambling establishments. For the first time, Irene saw something very close to prostitution. That shocked her. Speedwell''s history lessons claimed that prostitution was the result of inequality between the sexes. Its arrival here showed a much deeper divide between the men and women than Irene realized.

    Women stayed in the settlements more, bearing and minding children and becoming crafters, while men faced the danger of the structure, becoming warriors and scavengers. The population was getting a little uneven, with more women than men, because men were far more likely to be killed. Even with their lower numbers, men were making all the decisions and controlling the flow of coins from prize money.

    Crafting was not a less valuable contribution to a settlement than fighting. There was no reason a man couldn¡¯t be a crafter. Minding and teaching the young was just as valuable as hunting and bringing home food and raw materials.

    There was no reason why women couldn¡¯t be scavengers and warriors. Redfalls¡¯ gatherers were all women. They went out and faced the same dangers in the green that hunters did. An animal could be faced down and killed with a weapon and strength, but it could also be defeated with magic using a flick of the hand. A larger physical size was not a guarantee of safety.

    All the adults here were raised on the Speedwell. If asked directly they would agree all those roles were valuable and essential. There was no honor or shame associated with any of them, and yet¡­. here they all were.

    For once Irene didn¡¯t think Control was responsible for this development. Just like the emergence of royalty in Londontown, it echoed too closely the sins of history on Earth to have come from anywhere but humanity itself. Although Irene suspected Control might be taking advantage of the situation.

    The Chicago hospital occupied four suites instead of just the one Irene remembered. The rooms were littered with fighters with more desperate injuries, including missing limbs. There was a shortage of nursing assistance. Irene itched to cast her tier four heal on all those with missing limbs. At the same time, Irene realized that a missing hand would send them home to their suburbs and their families and away from the border.

    Irene settled in at the side of a fighter with a gut wound. He didn¡¯t look good. Irene pulled her main water flask off her belt and began dribbling water onto the man''s lips. When the lights cycled down for night, Irene cast a quick tier one heal. He moaned and twisted, the only sign of life she saw from him so far. In the horror of the ward, no one noticed his reaction. About an hour into the night, one of the nurses came over to check on him.

    ¡°Is he your spouse?¡± the nurse asked her.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. She dribbled more water between his lips. Irene thought he might have swallowed. She pulled a small cloth from her pack earlier. She used it to bathe the dry skin of his face.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he will make it,¡± the nurse warned. ¡°Not all of them do. You need to prepare yourself.¡±

    ¡°He needs food and water to fuel his recovery,¡± Irene countered. ¡°Is there any available?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the nurse replied. ¡°It is for patients only, not visitors.¡± Irene held up the water flask she was using to give water to the patient.

    ¡°I have my own,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll fetch it for him,¡± the nurse replied. Irene didn¡¯t really expect the woman to return. She dug through her pack and came up with some travel food and a small copper bowl she found scavenging around Londontown. She added water to the bowl and put in some dried fruit, hoping to soften it.

    It was nearly half an hour later when the nurse returned. She carried a flask and a tankard of hot broth. She was surprised when she saw Irene¡¯s soaking fruit. She handed the broth and water to Irene before settling down onto the floor next to her.

    ¡°Are you from the same suburb?¡± she asked Irene.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°He reminds me of my brother,¡± Irene found herself saying. Not Phillip, ruling Londontown at Mother¡¯s side, nor Christopher, who was running the war from the other side, nor Benjamin raising his family in the eastern villages. This man reminded her of Thomas, her second youngest brother, who was always the jokester. Irene last saw him a few months after the landing, nearly fourteen years ago, at her father¡¯s memorial. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen him in a really long time,¡± Irene said. She returned her own flask to her belt and began giving the patient water from the new one.

    ¡°Not many sibling groups stayed together,¡± the nurse observed. Irene could hear the fatigue in the woman¡¯s voice. She looked at the woman and could see she was just as damaged as the patients. Irene rose to her feet, and made a round of the room. She offered water to every patient that was awake. For the sleeping patients she tried to judge if it was a healthy sleep, or just unconsciousness. She didn¡¯t think anyone else would die in the room that night. When she circled back around to her chosen patient, the nurse was asleep.

    Irene sat back down and started trying to feed her patient broth and moistened fruit. He murmured something resisting her and Irene knew that he too would live. She was insistent that he eat.

    Now that she studied him, Irene could see he didn¡¯t share much of a resemblance to Thomas. It must have been a trick of the light that caused her to think of her brother when she first sat down. It didn¡¯t matter. She needed to sit next to someone during the night. This man needed care and she could give it to him.

    ¡°You have experience with this,¡± the nurse said, when she woke from her nap.

    ¡°I always volunteer if I stay the night in Chicago,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a resident then,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯m a trader,¡± Irene said. It was the easiest explanation for what she was. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen the hospital so full, or so many nurses.¡±

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    ¡°There are never enough nurses,¡± the woman replied. ¡°Darien pays us, but there are easier ways to earn coins in Chicago. Most of us nurses are war widows, with kids to feed.¡±

    ¡°Darien pays?¡± Irene asked. ¡°That is new, when I volunteered before it was funded by donations and fees.¡±

    ¡°After the first few wounded died, the warriors became angry. Darien funded the hospital to keep them fighting,¡± the nurse explained. The nurse moved to pull herself to her feet.

    ¡°Rest,¡± Irene told her. ¡°I¡¯ve got this room for now.¡±

    The nurse was out like a light. Irene rounded the room again, confirming that all the other patients were now sleeping soundly.

    Her patient mumbled and actually woke up. He blinked several times, looking at the room around him.

    ¡°Try to drink this,¡± Irene said to the man, handing him the tankard of cold broth. He automatically sipped from the vessel.

    ¡°Where am I?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The hospital in Chicago,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°I need to get back to Northbrook,¡± her patient said.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going tonight,¡± Irene said firmly. ¡°Eat, drink, rest and you might make it in a week.¡± The warrior tried to get up. Irene made no move to stop him, knowing how weak he would be. He didn¡¯t really fall back, since he didn¡¯t manage to get up. He did manage to drop the tankard. Irene caught it. It was mostly empty anyway. She refilled it with water from the flask, while she waited for him to catch his breath and come to terms with the fact that he wasn¡¯t going anywhere.

    When he calmed down, she handed him the water and a piece of dried meat. It wasn¡¯t five minutes later and he fell asleep. Irene rescued the meat and tankard and sat them beside him on a square of leather. Irene judged it was a healthier sleep than his earlier unconscious state and let him rest. When the nurse woke, she went and refilled the flask. When she returned she took the watch while Irene napped.

    ¡°Can you take word to Northbrook that I am here?¡± her patient asked when he woke in the morning.

    ¡°You can go yourself in a few days,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Please,¡± the man asked. ¡°It is important to me.¡±

    ¡°Where is Northbrook located?¡± she asked. He described the location of the suburb. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Stan,¡± the man reported.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see if anyone is going that way,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, his relief seemed physical. Irene gathered her belongings and stepped out of the hospital into the hallway. She tracked down a woman that looked like a lead nurse and asked about sending a message to a suburb for a patient.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t do that,¡± the head nurse replied. ¡°They need to find a trader or another warrior heading home to carry it.¡± Irene swung by several bars and eateries on her way through Chicago asking if anyone was from Northbrook. She didn¡¯t find anyone. Most of the early morning occupants never heard of the suburb.

    She ended up at the other end of Chicago at the north stairwell exit. There was no tax on exiting Chicago. Since it was early in the day, the stairwell was clear of hunters returning. Irene went down the stairs. At the bottom exit from the stairs she paused. If she wanted to get back to Redfalls and Ian, she needed to go north through the green. From Stan¡¯s description Northbrook was to the south, and two more stories down. Stan swore it wasn¡¯t far, but Irene knew how long it could take to find the moving target of a suburb.

    She cast muffle and camouflage on herself and turned to the south. She moved quickly, trying to shorten the time required for the trip.

    Irene walked boldly up onto what looked like a settlement. It was a little rougher around the edges than The Heights and more heavily populated.

    ¡°Hold,¡± came the cry from a guard. ¡°Who are you and what is your business?¡± Irene could see the group was extremely jumpy. Two guards were holding a checkpoint ahead. One was covering Irene with a longbow.

    ¡°I¡¯m a messenger,¡± Irene called. ¡°I am looking for a specific suburb. What suburb is this?¡±

    ¡°What suburb are you looking for?¡± the guard called back.

    ¡°If I tell you that, I have no way of confirming I have the correct settlement. I want to make sure the message gets to the right place.¡± There was a long pause as the guards considered her request.

    ¡°This is Northbrook,¡± the man stated.

    ¡°Stan¡¯s been injured,¡± Irene told the guards. ¡°He is in the hospital in Chicago. I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be able to travel for at least two or three more days.¡±

    ¡°What happened to the others?¡± the man questioned.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I only spoke to Stan and he just woke up. That was my message, I am going to go now.¡± Irene said as she turned away.

    ¡°Wait,¡± a woman called. She pushed her way past the guards and approached Irene carefully. She was armed with a spear, which she held in a rest position.

    ¡°How do you know it was Stan?¡± she asked.

    ¡°He told me that was his name,¡± Irene said. She gave a brief description of her patient.

    ¡°That sounds like him,¡± the woman responded, ¡°but someone else was already here and told us he was dead.¡±

    ¡°I know nothing about that,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°What suburb are you from?¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°The Heights,¡± Irene responded, without thought.

    ¡°Who is your leader?¡±

    ¡°Greg Atwater.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the woman replied. She literally paced back and forth across the hall. Irene thought about leaving, now that she knew the way she was pretty certain she could make it back to the green before nightfall. The woman¡¯s obvious distress held her. ¡°Can you take me to him?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to go with her?¡± one of the guards asked.

    ¡°None of it makes any sense,¡± the woman said. ¡°I need everyone here to stay on alert until I get back. Stan told me about Greg from The Heights. He said Greg is a stand up kind of guy.¡± The woman turned to Irene. ¡°Will you travel with me? I don¡¯t want to take any more guards from the suburb.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°If we are going to make it before nightfall we need to hurry. I had some trouble finding you.¡±

    ¡°Let me grab my pack,¡± the woman responded.

    The women set off soon after. Irene only stopped once, to refill her water flask. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Irene asked as they waited for the flask to fill.¡±

    ¡°Elizabeth,¡± Irene¡¯s companion replied. ¡°Call me Lizzy.¡±

    ¡°Lizzy,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I am Irene.¡±

    They arrived back at Chicago downtown just as the lights were switching over to the night cycle. They climbed the stairs to find four guards watching the north entrance for the night. The guards demanded an entry fee of fifty iron coins, or a silver and fourteen iron. Elizabeth paid it without comment.

    ¡°What suburb are you from?¡± a second guard asked.

    ¡°Why do you need to know that?¡± Irene asked. ¡°We paid your fee.¡±

    ¡°I have to record it. Which suburb?¡±

    ¡°Redfalls,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Ian Black is the leader.¡± The guards looked startled. Luckily in their startlement they missed Lizzy¡¯s surprise.

    ¡°Keep the fee,¡± the guard said, handing the coins back to Elizabeth. ¡°Redfalls is a primary suburb.¡± Irene nodded her head like that was perfectly reasonable and arrogantly walked away from the guard post, heading in the direction of the hospital.

    ¡°Are you really from Redfalls?¡± Lizzy asked, when they were clear of the guard station

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded, remembering it was her claim that she was from The Heights that made Lizzy trust her, ¡°but I¡¯ve been there. I didn¡¯t think it was any of his business where we are from.¡± Irene took Lizzy to the room she¡¯d left Stan in just that morning. The warrior was still laying on the floor in the same place. He looked much better. Even in the failing light, Irene could see he was still awake.

    ¡°Stan,¡± Lizzy said with relief from beside her. She rushed across the room to hug the man. ¡°They told me you were dead.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty One

    ¡°What happened?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°We were attacked on the way back from the meeting,¡± Stan responded.

    ¡°I hate the blues,¡± Lizzy said with passion.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t the blues,¡± Stan countered. He looked cautiously at Irene.

    ¡°Irene came and told me you were here,¡± Lizzy explained. ¡°She is from The Heights.¡± Some of the tension left Stan.

    ¡°It was red warriors,¡± Stan explained. ¡°They wanted our cargo. When we refused they slashed me. I told the others to run, did they make it back?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Lizzy answered.

    ¡°I lost consciousness soon after that. I don¡¯t know how I got here,¡± he looked at Irene.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± Irene responded. ¡°You were already here when I volunteered last night. The lead nurse might be able to tell you more. If another party found you injured and brought you in, the same might have happened to your companions. You should check all the patients.¡±

    ¡°A set of red warriors came to the suburb. I didn¡¯t like the looks of them. They said you were dead, killed on the border. I knew you would never go to the border without telling me first. I asked them to leave and put the suburb on full alert,¡± Lizzy explained. ¡°When Irene arrived I thought she was lying.¡±

    Irene made a round of the room. Lizzy got up and went out of the room, looking for the missing residents of their suburb. Two of the patients were new, with fresh wounds. She thought both would heal, but one of them was heavily traumatized by the battle. Irene settled down next to the wall where the nurse sat the night before, saving the spot next to Stan for Lizzy. There was no sign of the nurse, but the woman didn¡¯t turn up until an hour into the night yesterday.

    ¡°Over the years Greg has told me the names of all his suburb members. Irene isn¡¯t one of them,¡± Stan observed. ¡°Luckily for you he also told the name of his favorite visitor.¡±

    ¡°I doubt you know all the names,¡± Irene countered. ¡°Do you know little Bethany, born just this year?¡± Stan admitted he didn¡¯t. ¡°I live many lives,¡± Irene admitted, ¡°as I think any traveler does. The Heights is a spiritual home. When I am here in Chicago, I am Irene from The Heights.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for going to Northbrook,¡± Stan replied. Irene accepted his thanks with a nod. ¡°The day nurse was surprised to see me still alive. I think they expected me to die in the night. I am only alive today because of your care.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in the war,¡± Irene stated, ¡°so I save who I can. This world is already trying to kill us. As children of Earth we should band together against the structure, not help it. By allowing violence against the blues, Darien is teaching his warriors how easy it is to just take. You¡¯re the victim of that. Now that you are short, you¡¯ll be tempted to take from someone else. That is a mistake, it will only grow the disorder. Instead go to your neighbors and warn them about what has happened so that everyone will be on their guard. Tell them what you have lost, but don¡¯t ask for anything. Trust them to decide if they can spare anything. I think you¡¯ll find that almost everyone will help you out. Those that don¡¯t are likely worse off than you, and just don¡¯t want to admit it. The next time you have extra you should consider trading with those who couldn¡¯t help you, instead of Chicago. It would save your settlement the trip to downtown and give your weaker neighbors a little boost.¡±

    ¡°I found Oliver,¡± Lizzy said when she returned shortly after that. ¡°He¡¯s lost a foot, but they say he¡¯s past the danger point and will live,¡± she told Stan. Stan¡¯s nod was half filled with grief for whoever else was still missing.

    ¡°Where is he?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Since you are here for Stan, I can sit with Oliver tonight.¡± Lizzy told her where their injured companion was. Irene picked up her pack and moved to the new room. A nurse was on watch in it. It was a different nurse than the one Irene met the night before. This woman was visibly pregnant, but still able to move around.

    ¡°I¡¯ve come to sit with Oliver,¡± Irene told her. The woman indicated a man with a shortened leg, who was laying uneasily, against a wall. Irene sat down beside him, bracing herself against a pack

    ¡°I¡¯m Irene,¡± she said to Oliver. ¡°I left Lizzy watching over Stan.¡±

    ¡°Did Stan make it then?¡± Oliver asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize until after Lizzy left that she didn¡¯t actually say.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°He is in another room. A day or two and both of you can head back to the suburb.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain if I should go,¡± Oliver admitted. ¡°Without a foot, I will just be a burden.¡± Irene wasn¡¯t certain how to answer it. Her first instinct was to assure him she could fix that, but she could not say that here. Besides she wasn¡¯t actually certain it was true.

    ¡°Stan doesn¡¯t know how he got back here to Chicago. He passed out soon after the initial confrontation,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°We tried to flee when Stan gave the word, but we were slow because of the heavy packs. I was brought down quickly by some kind of stun spell,¡± Oliver explained. "They took my pack and weapon and laughed at me. Said my armor was trash and not worth the effort. One of the warriors took off my foot with a fire imbued strike. He told me that would keep me from carrying tales. Then they just left me. I used my belt as a tourniquet and crawled back to the main corridor. A group coming back from the front found me. I told them my party was attacked. I wasn¡¯t far from Stan, so they found him too. There was no sign of Nora.¡±

    ¡°It sounds to me like you saved your and Stan¡¯s life, and you did it without a foot. You won¡¯t be a burden unless you want to be one,¡± Irene assured him. ¡°I don¡¯t think you want to be.¡± Irene pulled a meal of travel food out of her pack. She was starting to get low. She set the food out on a square of leather, and began to nibble on it. It was easily within Oliver¡¯s reach. She pulled her water flask from her belt and set it out as well.

    The nurse in the room got up and went out. She came back with a tankard of broth, which she gave to Irene.

    ¡°We don¡¯t like to give them directly to the patients, because they tend to choke,¡± She said. Irene nodded her understanding. She helped Oliver prop himself up and fed him the broth. Irene could see how patients with family members present were getting much better care. The Heights didn¡¯t volunteer any warriors for the border, but Redfalls was supplying a large number of them. Irene wondered if there was anyone here to tend to Redfalls¡¯ wounded.

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    Oliver and Stan were both noticeably better in the morning. People healed quickly in the structure, as long as they were fed. Irene excused herself, telling Oliver she needed to buy more travel food.

    Irene went out into the shopping district. It was early enough her shopping choices were limited. She bought dried meat, fruit and tubers. She swung by John¡¯s leatherworking shop and bought four water flasks from an apprentice. The flasks were of a poor quality, which meant they would wear quickly. They were cheap and would work just fine for a month or two.

    Irene tied the empty flasks to the outside of her pack. They screamed her poor status and should tell thieves she didn¡¯t have anything worth taking. She headed back to the hospital. She bought them for Stan and Oliver so that they could keep water at their bedside without having to depend on the nurse. She wanted to drop them off and wish them well before heading back to Redfalls.

    She was surprised to find the three of them, Lizzy, Stan and Oliver hobbling down the hall in the direction of the western gate. Stan was leaning heavily on Lizzy and Oliver was using her spear as a crutch.

    ¡°Can I ask what the plan is?¡± Irene said when she caught up to them. Stan stumbled to a stop and leaned against a wall, he was breathing heavily.

    ¡°I thought you left,¡± Lizzy said, there was fear in her voice. ¡°Stan doesn¡¯t think we are safe here. We¡¯re going to go as far as we can past the gate, and settle in a room for a day or two.¡± Irene thought that plan wasn¡¯t half bad. She could see how they might be worried the red warriors who attacked them might be back to finish the job. Silencing witnesses might be the reason the warriors turned up at the suburb. It actually meant the missing Nora could have escaped.

    ¡°Here,¡± Irene said, handing her staff to Oliver. ¡°Use this as a walking stick and give the spear to Lizzy. Keep working your way to the exit, but don¡¯t leave Chicago proper until I get back. You should be safe enough in the main hall with witnesses.¡±

    She turned around and headed back to the hospital. She paid the head nurse twice the going price for water to fill all four of her newly purchased water flasks. She went to the nearest blacksmith shop and purchased two apprentice made iron spears.

    She found Stan¡¯s party waiting just short of the exit guards. Irene was impressed at their determination. She handed out the flasks and gave one spear to Stan to use as a staff. The narrower diameter on the spear made it harder to use for that purpose than her own staff.

    ¡°You can use my staff for now,¡± She told Oliver. ¡°I will want it back.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± the warrior replied.

    ¡°You lead,¡± she told them. ¡°I will follow behind and watch our backs.¡±

    They went through the guard station. One of the guards looked twitchy to her. She gave him a hard look, right before she cast muffle and camouflage over her group, making them disappear from the guards sight. She lingered for a moment under the cloak to see what the guards would do.

    ¡°A wizard,¡± the twitchy guard said.

    ¡°A high tier one,¡± the other guard replied. ¡°She got irritated at us a few years ago when we first started collecting protection tax. She went off for five minutes and came back with seven dead rats. We are better off pretending we didn¡¯t notice them.¡±

    Irene remembered that. She knew that was a mistake at the time. It really irritated her when her temper got the best of her. The party hobbled along for another twenty minutes before Stan could not make it any farther. They picked a room at random to secure.

    Irene cleaned the largest pieces of junk out of it and dumped them in the neighboring room as Lizzy got Stan and Oliver settled. Irene wedged the door open just a crack so she could keep watch in the hall beyond. They all sat in silence for about ten minutes, while Lizzy pressed water onto Stan.

    Oliver broke the silence by scooting himself across the floor. Even though he was without a foot, he was in much better condition than Stan. His stub was almost completely healed over. Irene looked up at him as he slid into place on the other side of the door.

    ¡°I can keep watch,¡± he said with determination.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene agreed. ¡°You can.¡± Irene stood up. ¡°Take my spot. It has a clearer view. I am going to scout the block and see if I can find a prize altar. I have a portable stove in my inventory we can use to make soup for Stan.¡± Oliver agreed. Irene marked the room on her map so she could find her way back to it.

    She scouted out the area, looking for any sign of other people passing. The structure erased everything in a matter of days. She was pretty certain no one passed recently. She searched the rooms looking for a prize altar and the components she would need to build a frame to hold her leather stew bag. She found a ¡°broken pipe¡± water source not far away. The water was streaming out of a crack in a wall and down into a puddle on the floor. The fourth room she searched contained an anvil. She gave the item a dirty look.

    The thirteenth room contained a prize altar and an upholstered sofa. The dirty look she gave the sofa was even worse. In all her time supplying her store she never found a sofa. She did remember that Darien owned one on her first trip to Chicago. She wondered if they were a more common spawn in this area. She thought about carrying it back, then decided to just switch rooms. She marked the new room on her map and went back for Stan¡¯s party.

    ¡°Coming in,¡± Irene called as she approached the door. Oliver acknowledged her call. She stepped inside. ¡°I found a better room,¡± she explained. ¡°It¡¯s about five minutes away. Are you recovered enough to get that far?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Stan assured her. Irene recast her cloaking spells and the group hobbled over to the new room.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Stan said, as he viewed the sofa.

    ¡°I thought you would like it,¡± Irene said. ¡°Hopefully it will give you a well rested bonus and help you heal.¡±

    ¡°Is that real?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°I just made it up,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°Knowing this place, it could be real.¡± She secured the room. Oliver settled by the door. Irene pulled a portable stove from her inventory at the altar. She set down her pile of components when she decided to move the group. She clicked them together to form the frame. She dug the sling of leather she used to make soup out of her pack. She wasn¡¯t that good of a cook. Her soup was usually just softened dried ingredients. She went through the travel food that was in her pack and tried to decide what wouldn¡¯t taste too awful together.

    ¡°Let me,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°I¡¯m not that great of a cook, but from the look on your face, I think I may be better than you,¡± Lizzy confided.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Irene admitted. She handed over the task to Lizzy. She dug through her pack one last time and found the small copper bowl she carried for her own use. Irene frowned. ¡°I think I saw some more bowls in a room not far from here.¡± They were in the room with the anvil. ¡°I¡¯ll go check.¡± She left her pack with the group and retrieved her staff from Oliver, before stepping back out into the hallway.

    ¡°Why is she helping us?¡± Oliver asked.

    ¡°She is the friend of a friend,¡± Stan explained.

    ¡°What friend?¡± Oliver asked.

    ¡°Greg, the leader of The Heights,¡± Stan responded.

    ¡°She mentioned Redfalls when we entered Chicago together,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°She said she¡¯d been there and the guard didn¡¯t need to know where we were actually from.¡±

    ¡°She probably has been there,¡± Stan responded. ¡°Greg told me she is a traveler. He has tried several times to get her to stay with his group, but she tells him she has itchy feet. I got the impression from him that she is a powerful wizard.¡±

    ¡°Can we trust her?¡± Oliver asked.

    ¡°She will see us home,¡± Stan replied. ¡°To play it safe, I don¡¯t think I or Oliver should go back to Chicago for a while. We may need to pick someone else to attend the meetings.¡±

    ¡°We owe her a debt,¡± Lizzy declared.

    ¡°We do,¡± Stan agreed. ¡°I think we will repay her by following her advice.¡±

    ¡°Her advice?¡± Oliver asked. Stan explained what Irene said about banding together and warning their neighbors.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Two

    They stayed in their little room for three days. Irene kept running around during the day bringing things back. She really did seem to have itchy feet. First she brought iron bowls. Stan found it difficult to lean over and pick up his bowl from the ground while sitting on the sofa. Irene arrived with a stack of tubing and metal sheet which she snapped together into a side table. Lizzy said something about putting the portable stove on it so she could stand and cook. Before they knew it there was a new table under the stove. Irene spent the first evening wrapping rope around a chair frame to give it a seat and back. By the third day the rope was replaced by rawhide, and there were three of them. Stan wasn¡¯t certain where the rawhide came from, although fresh meat along with mushrooms and even the occasional vegetable kept appearing in the pot.

    Irene kept mumbling something about an anvil. On the third morning when Stan announced he was strong enough to make the rest of the trip. Irene promised she¡¯d be right back. She returned with an anvil sitting on a little cart. The cart rolled along with surprising ease on a set of tiny wheels. She pulled it along with a piece of rope. Stan thought it was the same piece of rope that was once on the chair.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it awesome?¡± Irene said. ¡°I found the wheels on the bottom of a mop bucket. I really wish I¡¯d found them a couple years ago.¡±

    ¡°We need to go down quite a few flights,¡± Lizzy warned.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to try to put it into my inventory. I¡¯ve been looking for one for different reasons for about a year now. I ended up buying one from a vendor in the north. It occurred to me that everyone assumes an anvil can¡¯t be put into inventory because it is too heavy to try.¡± Irene rolled the anvil into the room and lifted it with little effort onto the prize altar. She shifted the item around a little until it was stable on the shelf.

    She opened the prize interface and tried to put the anvil into her inventory. Nothing happened.

    ¡°That is a disappointment,¡± she said. She left the anvil on the prize altar and flipped up her cart to retrieve the little wheels. She slipped the wheels into an extremely full gathering bag, before untying the rope and rolling it up. ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± she told the others, as she stuffed the rope back into her pack.

    Although fully healed, stairs were still hard for Oliver. He was using a spear as a cane, with Stan steadying him. Stan was nearly fully healed himself, although there was a large scar across his abdomen and his stamina was limited. Walking slowly down the stairs with Oliver was giving him a much needed break.

    ¡°What tier are you?¡± Lizzy asked, as the two women waited for the men at the bottom of the stairs.

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°I know how heavy those anvils are. You moved it onto the altar like you could have skipped the cart and just carried it over your shoulder,¡± Lizzy replied.

    ¡°It''s easy to just let go of a rope to fight. I lose more time tossing a load aside,¡± Irene explained. ¡°I am tier four,¡± she said after a moment''s consideration.

    Lizzy whistled. ¡°No wonder you aren¡¯t afraid,¡± she commented.

    ¡°Don¡¯t misjudge me,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I am deeply afraid. I wouldn¡¯t have made it to four if I wasn¡¯t.¡±

    They arrived at Northbrook to widespread relief. The suburb welcomed back their missing residents. Irene filled her water flask and ate a meal with the group before heading back north to Chicago.

    Lizzy looked around the bare rooms her friends and family all lived in, and remembered how Irene fully decorated that random room in under three days. She wondered if the wizard had the same kind of effect at The Heights. She should have invited the woman to visit again.

    Irene came up the north stairs into Chicago near nightfall. When the guards demanded the entrance tax, Irene told them she was from Redfalls. The guards looked extremely nervous. One went running off, while the other asked Irene to wait. Irene raised one eyebrow at the man. A few minutes later, Ian came marching up to the entrance, a thundercloud on his face. His eyes settled on Irene. For a split second his anger held, then it melted away.

    ¡°Irene,¡± he said in greeting, a smile transforming his features.

    ¡°Ian,¡± Irene replied. ¡°I hoped I¡¯d run into you. I¡¯ve been in and out looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Is she with your suburb then?¡± one of the guards asked.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Ian said expansively. He stepped forward to take Irene¡¯s hand. ¡°I gave them a hard time,¡± Ian said confided in Irene, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize it was you. Now I will have to reward them.¡±

    ¡°I should have paid the entry fee,¡± Irene said. ¡°I don¡¯t like special treatment.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± Ian said. ¡°Beautiful women always get special treatment. Have you eaten?¡±

    ¡°Just travel food,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Well I can finally buy you dinner,¡± he said. Ian took her to a cafe that was still open. They were close to the administration side of Chicago. Irene soon forgot her worries about running into Darien as she enjoyed Ian¡¯s company.

    ¡°What have you been doing?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°I found an anvil,¡± Irene announced. ¡°I tried to put it into my inventory, but it didn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°How did you try that?¡± Ian questioned.

    ¡°I put it on a prize altar, of course,¡± Irene said. ¡°I think it is just too big to fit through the trap door. When I bought an anvil in a square it appeared in front of the vendor on the ground. There must be a separate trap door on the floor in front of vendors. I wonder if I could sell an anvil back?¡± she mused to herself.

    ¡°Is that all?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°I found a sofa too,¡± Irene said. ¡°I really, really wanted that, but I decided it is just too far back to our suburb to haul it.¡±

    ¡°I like how you say our suburb,¡± Ian commented. Irene smiled and kissed Ian on the cheek.

    ¡°Oh!¡± she said suddenly. She reached down to untie the gathering bag still secured to the side of her pack. She opened the top and felt around inside the heavily loaded bag. ¡°I found these beauties too,¡± she said, pulling out four small caster wheels. ¡°Aren¡¯t they wonderful?¡± At a complete loss why anyone would be so rapturous over a wheel, Ian mumbled something approving.

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    ¡°I thought I could use them to move the sofa, but I decided I¡¯d never get it down the stairs, it was just too bulky," Irene explained.

    Jake came walking into the cafe. He did a double take when he saw Irene.

    ¡°Excuse me for interrupting. I didn¡¯t realize you were in Chicago,¡± Jake said to Irene.

    ¡°I discovered something in Redfalls that I wanted to talk privately to Ian about,¡± Irene said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find either of you on my first day and I¡¯m afraid I got a little distracted.¡± She held up her wheels as proof.

    ¡°Are those wheels?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. ¡°Aren¡¯t they awesome? They can carry a significant amount of weight. I built a little frame and rolled an anvil around.¡± Jake looked thoughtful. He still remembered the days before they found the square, when they were forced to haul all their belongings around when the rest crystal failed. He could see how useful a rolling platform would be.

    ¡°Where did you find them?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°In a random room outside the west entrance. They were on the bottom of what looked like a damaged mop bucket. They popped right out when I twisted them,¡± Irene described excitedly.

    ¡°Did you need me for something?¡± Ian said, trying very hard to hide his annoyance.

    ¡°Umm yes,¡± Jake said. ¡°One of our teams has returned from the border. Sophia thinks they need to report to you.¡±

    ¡°Tell them to come back in the morning,¡± Ian said.

    ¡°No, no,¡± Irene said, slipping the wheels back into her bag. ¡°I don¡¯t want to distract you from your duties, that would make me feel bad for coming. You go ahead. I¡¯ll go find a bed for the night.¡±

    ¡°You can stay with me,¡± Ian said. ¡°I¡¯ll walk you over, before I meet with the team.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Irene replied. Ian escorted Irene over to leadership housing. It was a two room suite, fully furnished. The second room was set up as a kind of bathroom. Of course it wasn¡¯t really a sanitation facility with running water and recycling plants. It was equipped with a pitcher and bowl set up for bathing. A chamber pot waited discreetly in a corner.

    The bedroom was equipped with a bed identical to the ones she sold in Londontown. In fact it was so close, Irene wondered if it wasn¡¯t one of her beds. It would be really weird if one ended up here. She suspected it was just another structure spawned bed that looked the same.

    ¡°This is nice,¡± Irene said as she looked around the room, ¡°especially for wildspace. I¡¯ll be fine here,¡± Irene assured Ian. ¡°You tend to your duties.¡± Ian kissed her before leaving.

    ¡°Where are they?¡± Ian asked Jake sharply when the door to his quarter closed.

    ¡°This way,¡± Jake said, leading Ian out of the administration section to an area of Chicago that was all transient housing. He gave a quick knock on a door, before opening it for Ian. Ian stepped inside to find Sophia and Ian¡¯s private strike team waiting.

    ¡°Keep a watch,¡± Ian told Jake, before closing the door behind him. ¡°Well?¡± he demanded from the room''s occupants.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t find her,¡± Sophia reported. ¡°We found Northbrook, but she wasn¡¯t there. We told them their leader died on the border as you instructed.¡±

    ¡°How did they take it?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Not well,¡± one of the warriors replied. ¡°They threw us out and doubled their guard.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem,¡± Sophia added. ¡°I would do the same if I thought a band of blues were wandering around. We circled around and checked for the other bodies. There is no sign of them, the structure has already taken them.¡±

    ¡°At least that is taken care of. There was a report of a woman coming in the north entrance, but that turned out to be Irene. No other women have gained entry traveling without men.¡± Ian stated.

    ¡°If she didn¡¯t run back to her home suburb and she didn¡¯t return to Chicago, she is dead,¡± another warrior declared. ¡°She didn¡¯t have any equipment or weapons on her.¡± He didn¡¯t mention that the prisoner was naked when she got away. She was a quick thing. They only caught her in the beginning because she was carrying such a heavy pack.

    ¡°It looks like we got away with it this time, but I don¡¯t want a recurrence,¡± Ian declared. ¡°If you want to rob reds, everyone has to change out to blues first.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± Sophia asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the discolor that happens when you wear blue is proof you''re not one?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to abstain from here on,¡± Ian replied. Any camouflage spell they used broke in combat, which was why Ian carefully recast don¡¯t notice me after every attack spell. It was a quick tier zero cast. This method left only brief flickers of his true appearance. The real problem with it was that in Chicago''s territory it made everyone look like a red. He couldn¡¯t use it when they were pretending to be blues. He was a known figure. Any survivors could recognize him and report it to Darien. A report that reds were robbing reds was bad enough. A report identifying him could really mess up his plans. ¡°Everything is going too well to screw it up now over a few coins worth of cargo and a bit of fun. I looked up Northbrook. It might be a small suburb but it is an old one. I don¡¯t think the leader would have supported us as a replacement for Darien, so he is no real loss.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be disturbed for the rest of the night,¡± Ian told Jake when they were back at leadership housing. Jake nodded his understanding. He moved to stand watch in the hall. Ian gave the door a sharp rap and moved to open it. It opened easily to reveal Irene sitting in the center of the floor surrounded by sorted piles of crafting tools and sharpening her knife. Ian could feel the usual buzz from all the minor weapons in the piles.

    ¡°All taken care of?¡± She asked with a smile.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Everything else can wait until morning. Actually that report could have waited too.¡±

    ¡°Let me just pick these up,¡± Irene said. She knew how Ian didn¡¯t like the disorder. She returned her knife to its sheath. She took her belt off to get comfortable, so it lay on the floor beside her. She packed the tools into her gathering bag, one type at a time. She stood and stacked her belt and bag on top of her pack. When she turned back to face Ian, she found him already here, enclosing her in his arms.

    ¡°What did you want to talk to me about?¡± Ian asked later, when they were in the bed together. The bed was a little narrow, but Irene didn¡¯t mind. She was completely blank for a moment.

    ¡°The crystal in Redfalls is getting smaller,¡± Irene said, slightly shocked it could slip her mind even for a moment. ¡°Crystals in rests get smaller before they disappear, I am worried that will happen in Redfalls.¡±

    ¡°The Redfalls¡¯ crystal is much larger than a rest crystal,¡± Ian said. ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to worry about it disappearing in a week.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s shrinking a lot faster than a rest crystal,¡± Irene said. ¡°I talked to Ellen and I think it started before Kyle¡¯s death. She remembers a crystal larger than what I first saw.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ian replied. ¡°I am sure we can figure it out. When you¡¯re finished with your business in Chicago, I will escort you home and take a look.¡± Irene was relieved, knowing that someone else was going to help. She fell into an exhausted sleep shortly after that.

    Ian lay awake for a while longer. He heard a rumor that Londontown¡¯s crystal was shrinking. He needed to send in someone to check it out. The rumor he heard was that the shrinkage was tied to attacks upon the square. Ian thought the development was good news for him. If attacks on Londontown itself shrank their crystal, then the blues would push forward, attacking Chicago suburbs directly. The more they did of that, the more unhappy the suburbs would be with Darien and the closer they were to a change in power.

    The crystal in Redfalls shrinking was a bit of a wrench in that plan. There wasn¡¯t any fighting at Redfalls. That meant it wasn¡¯t just direct attacks that affected them. He needed that secure base to keep his army up. As the suburbs became more dangerous, men with large families were fleeing to Chicago. From there it was easy to recruit them with the promise of safety for their children. Jake usually escorted the families back to Redfalls. There was a group waiting to go now.

    Ian would take Jake''s place and bring Irene along with the group. He just knew she would love the idea of him offering the square as a place of refuge. She must have seen earlier groups arrive. Witnessing him take care of the group on the journey should impress her.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Three

    Ian gave a sharp whistle. The group of women and children grouped together. The women tried to hush their youngest. Irene cast muffle over the group when they first left Chicago, but she dismissed it when she realized Ian and his guards were using whistles to communicate. In order to continue to hear party members under muffle, the spell needed to be cast on everyone at once. This group was too large for Irene to accomplish that.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Irene asked softly. She couldn¡¯t see anything ahead to bring the group to a stop. Her soft voice wouldn¡¯t carry any farther than the noises the children were making.

    ¡°I can sense an armed group, ahead and to the right,¡± Ian said. Irene wondered how he could sense something like that. She never figured out all the tier four spells Ian knew. She pushed her desire to learn this one down. The danger to the group was more important.

    ¡°How do you know they are armed?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I can feel their weapons,¡± Ian replied. Irene thought that was an odd way to describe a spell. She wondered if it made you feel weapons as a source of heat or cold. She would have expected more of a change in visual light, like how infrared made heat appear as a false color. Infrared didn¡¯t work through walls. Whatever spell Ian was using obviously did.

    They weren¡¯t that far from Chicago downtown. They were working their way along the west side of Chicago¡¯s green. Irene thought about it. Ahead and to the right, was likely in the green. There was an opening ahead that some hunters liked to use to get away from the crowds.

    ¡°They are moving east,¡± Ian commented, after a few minutes. A few minutes more and Ian gave the all clear. The group started moving forward again.

    Irene was surprised to discover Ian was taking in more dependents. It did explain why every time she visited Redfalls she didn¡¯t recognize half the inhabitants. She thought it was just her notoriously bad recall of faces. There were also a couple warriors in this group with missing fingers. They were being rotated out of the fighting to recover. Irene wondered what happened to all the men she saw in the Hospital with missing limbs. That made her realize she never tried out her tier four heal on Oliver. She cursed herself inwardly. She would have to make another trip down to Northbrook.

    ¡°You look annoyed,¡± Ian commented. Irene shook off her disgust with herself.

    ¡°It''s nothing,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I just remembered something I meant to try.¡± She smiled at Ian. He smiled back. The way she said try, made him think she thought up some new plan to put an anvil into inventory.

    Irene wandered along the hall like she was in the shopping district in Chicago. Ian¡¯s men all prowled, traveling the open stretches quickly so they could arrive at the next intersection well before the group. They peered around the corners with caution checking for any danger. They would hold position until the main group arrived. As the main group reached the next intersection the trailing warriors would leave the last intersection and close up with the group. Irene was walking along just behind the main group. Ian usually walked with the lead elements, but he wanted to stay close with Irene so she could witness how good of a job he was doing.

    When the lead guards spotted a group of wall spiders around a corner, the entire group stopped to wait. Ian kissed Irene and moved forward to finish off the threat. He just couldn¡¯t take the boredom of the rearguard anymore.

    A cougar stepped out of a room with a damaged door not far down the side corridor from where the group waited. Irene flicked off a tier four lightning bolt, without much thought. The cougar dropped. The guards at the rear looked nervous. Irene winked at them. Ian and the lead elements never noticed. When the group moved forward, Irene moved with it. She didn¡¯t claim the prize drop since she didn¡¯t want to fall out of line.

    This was not a fast moving group, they traveled only half the distance Irene expected. They stayed the night in secured rooms. When the dependents settled into rooms, Irene sat down onto the floor of the hallway, just outside the doorway to the room with the youngest occupants.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have the boys secure a private room for us,¡± Ian assured Irene.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t keep a watch on the little ones from there,¡± Irene commented. ¡°I can stay out here to be near you. I¡¯m tough enough to endure a sleepless night or two.¡± Trapped into the role of guard, Ian settled down beside her. She curled up next to him resting her head on his shoulder. As the lights faded in the hallway, Ian wrapped an arm around her, breathing the soft scent of her hair.

    Ian awoke to find Irene boiling water over a portable stove. Ian sat up, rubbing his eyes.

    ¡°Do I smell stew?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Not really stew,¡± Irene responded, ¡°just badger, tubers and dried apples. I am not much of a cook. I¡¯ve noticed before how much a hot meal can get people moving. I am hoping that once I serve this up, I can pass the stove on to one of the others to do the cooking for the rest of the trip.¡±

    Ian rose to his feet and went down to the room designated as a latrine. When he returned he found his guards all sneaking bits out of the pot. The guards were a mix of painfully polite and bold. Their behavior struck Ian as odd. Watching them he realized it was his weaker rear group that was polite. Ian didn¡¯t like that. It made him think that Irene befriended them somehow, and was wooing them away from him.

    The smell of stew drew the dependents out of their rooms. Irene scooped out portions onto leather squares using a small copper bowl. She pulled a handful of iron bowls from her pack and used them for people who didn¡¯t have leather squares.

    Ian was pretty certain this was going to delay their departure. He forced himself to show no irritation in front of Irene. When the stew was all gone, Irene broke down the frame she was using to hold the leather stew pot with a few quick twists. She secured it into a bundle with a section of cord. She tied the cord in a way that it formed a long strap, making it easy to haul the bundle over the shoulder or across the back. A second cord tied to the portable stove made it easy to carry too. Two women stepped forward to carry the pieces. Irene rolled up her leather pot and returned it and the small copper bowl to her pack. She swung the pack up onto her back. She stood.

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    ¡°Are we leaving soon?¡± she asked Ian. Ian looked around to find the woman all lifting their smallest children and settling them into their arms. It was his guards who weren¡¯t ready to leave.

    ¡°Yep, If you''re ready, we will head out now,¡± he replied. ¡°Terry, your group has the lead today. Elias, you''re on rear guard. Let¡¯s go.¡± The guards scrambled to gather their belongings. A minute or two later the old rear guard crossed the camp and started down the hall in the lead. Irene gestured to the woman with the stove and the entire dependents group started out with Irene and Ian following. The old front guard came up behind, a little late. They were the least prepared for departure. Ian frowned at them at their poor performance. These men weren¡¯t his private strike team, but they were his Seconds. He usually picked from this group when he needed to replace a strike team member. He expected a higher performance from them.

    Once again Ian was only able to hold himself to Irene¡¯s gentle stroll until the front guard found something to kill. Ian gave the new rear guard a sharp look, making sure they knew to treat Irene with respect, before he moved forward to join the fighting.

    That evening the women set up the portable stove in the hallway, centered on their secured rooms. As Irene explained how to put the frame together one of Ian¡¯s Seconds approached respectfully and offered a badger carcass.

    ¡°We caught it trying to approach from behind us,¡± the man said. ¡°I thought you could use it for the pot.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Irene said with a smile to the warrior. ¡°That will save me the trouble of hunting one down.¡± The warrior gave a polite nod before scurrying away.

    What the hell? Ian thought to himself. This was the same man that boldly stole meat from the pot that morning with a vent pin. Ian could not figure out what he missed. The stew possessed a more complex flavor that night. Irene was vocal with her praise of the cook. The dependents all settled down quickly with warm food in their stomachs.

    Irene curled up beside Ian in the hallway, resting her head on his leg, as he remained sitting up. He intended to quiz her about what happened between her and the guards during the trip.

    ¡°You¡¯re really good at this,¡± Irene praised Ian before he could get his first question out. ¡°I like how you switch everyone around in the roles. It keeps everyone sharp.¡±

    ¡°There are benefits to having specialists too,¡± Ian observed. He was about to say something more forceful. In his army people worked their way up to the premium positions. They stayed at the posts until they died or were punished with a demotion. Just as he was about to speak, a fragment of his Command training rose from his memory about cross training and the need to have suitable replacements available in the case of emergency.

    ¡°I can see that,¡± Irene agreed. ¡°You are special to me.¡±

    ¡°The hot meal has put the children asleep quickly tonight,¡± Ian conceded. The group traveled more distance today. It still wasn¡¯t up to what just Ian and his warriors could do, but it was closer.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. ¡°I should have made the first stew last night. I forgot I was carrying the stove. They should be ready to head out earlier in the morning, after a good rest. I don¡¯t have much experience traveling with children. I don¡¯t know how you do it.¡± Ian was happy with this praise and let his questions about what happened between her and the guards slip away.

    They arrived at the square two days later. It was a slow trip, but not nearly as bad as some. The dependent group usually slowed over time, as close calls and injuries accumulated. This time the group sped up, as confidence in the guard increased.

    When they arrived in the square, dependents all ran around with excitement. Irene said a few words to the women with the stove and the cooking frame. The women went off to join their children exploring the square.

    Irene joined Ian inspecting the crystal. It was smaller, Ian admitted to himself. It looked about three quarters the height it was when Kyle¡¯s group found it.

    ¡°Ellen says it¡¯s about three inches shorter than when you found it,¡± Irene said from Ian¡¯s side.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ian replied, ¡°about that.¡± Actually it looked about four inches shorter to him. It was about a year since Kyle died, leaving Ian in charge. If it shrunk a quarter a year, then it wouldn¡¯t last more than three more years. That was if it continued to shrink height at the same rate. By volume it looked like it was probably half what it was before. If that was true there was only about a year left. He wondered how much Londontown¡¯s crystal had shrunk this year.

    ¡°Do you think it will disappear?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ian replied. ¡°We need to prepare for that.¡±

    He was going to have to go with plan B. There really wasn¡¯t time for the growing discontent with Darien to rise up to revolution. In preparation for plan B he needed to master ring. He would give more power to Sophia to run the front, so he could spend time on that. Jake was just a little too soft for the role. They needed to make a strike against Londontown and kill someone important, like the Captain of the Guards. Chris was a little too competent in his role anyway. They needed someone angry and reckless to lead the attack against Redfalls.

    Which meant someone needed to tell Londontown about Redfalls. Ian looked over at Irene and the worry on her face as she looked at the crystal. No, he didn¡¯t think he could talk or trick her into doing it. He would pick someone else, maybe Allen. Ian was impressed with how ruthless the hunter could be. The man was very good at keeping Ian informed about Darien¡¯s moves. It took some effort to woo the man away from Darien, but it was worth it. Allen could fake being a trader and drop hints in both Paris and Londontown.

    ¡°There are a lot of people here now. Do you think everyone would still fit back in Chicago?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°For the short term, yes,¡± Ian replied. ¡°If we lose the square, everyone will have to go back to living in the suburbs.¡± That was the reasonable plan, Irene thought. She forgot that everyone here came out of the suburbs. Most of the northern squares were the result of people getting tired of living in the wild and looking for something more. ¡°That or claim another square,¡± Ian commented.

    Irene considered that. Finding a new square near here was doubtful, but there should be rests scattered around all over. If she could find an area with limited access like Chicago, it would be easier to secure than open halls. Since rooms, halls and rest locations all changed over time, she would need to revisit mapped areas often to keep her data accurate. If the crystal vanished, knowledge of the closest rest locations could be priceless.

    Ian was thinking about how no one could turn away a child. Perhaps the dependents weren¡¯t just a big waste of time. They may be the key to getting entrance to Paris or even Londontown.

    The head of the Seconds came walking over to speak with Ian. He approached from behind. Irene saw Ian react to the approaching warrior before he could have seen him. Irene saw him do that before. She realized he must be using his weapon sense spell. Irene excused herself so the men could talk.

    ¡°What is the plan boss?¡± the warrior asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to spend the night with my lady,¡± Ian responded. ¡°We will head back to Chicago first thing in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Understood,¡± the warrior responded. ¡°It takes a strong man to hold a powerful woman like that. You are a lucky man.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± Ian agreed.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Four

    <h2>15 A.L.</h2>

    Irene was watching Ian spar in the training yards at Redfalls. It was nine months since she returned from Chicago with the dependents. Ian didn¡¯t spend much of that time in the square. He was training while wearing the red silks of a fire wizard. Ian claimed not to like the silks, but Irene thought he secretly did. He was wearing them now because blue wizards did.

    The silks flowed around him as he shifted before his opponents. He moved like a flame to stay out of the way of their blades. Fighting two at once, Irene decided he must be using his sense weapon spell. He fought back with only spells, mostly using fire curtain, stun and fireball. What Ian called stun, Irene called tier zero lightning. Irene didn¡¯t believe he knew any higher tier version of it, which is why he didn¡¯t know that the higher tier versions were obviously lightning.

    As a fire wizard Ian knew a lot of higher tier fire spells. The fireball he was using in the sparring was only tier zero or tier one. He wasn¡¯t trying to kill his fighters, just train them in how to attack a wizard. The training yard weakened spells and blows, but only up to a certain tier. The weakening effect was why Irene surprised the training warrior in Londontown¡¯s yard. He was expecting weakened spells and Irene didn¡¯t hold back with a lower tier spell.

    The blues were putting more wizards out onto patrol. The last rumor Irene heard was that they were coming from the oldest of the second generation. Irene didn¡¯t want to think about their children getting pulled into the war. She had visions of Bill from The Heights dying in it. She was well aware that not only was he old enough to fight, he was also a better wizard than most. Whenever she thought of him getting dragged off into the fighting she remembered him jumping joyfully on the newly constructed bed.

    Ian defeated both his opponents. He threw a smile Irene¡¯s way before waving in two new fighters. Irene could see he was going to be busy for a while. He visited the square more often since the border stations officially closed. The stations were replaced by roving patrols. The patrols roamed the border making random attacks against the blue squares and their greens while trying to intercept blue patrols doing the same against Chicago and its suburbs.

    Redfalls¡¯ crystal continued to shrink. It was clear to Irene that it would not last another year. She thought it might fail before the next leadership meeting in three months. She stepped up her survey of the surrounding area and started scouting the surrounding greens.

    Ian told her he was heading back to Chicago tomorrow. Irene was watching him fight as a way to lengthen her time with him. She really didn¡¯t like watching sparring, she never did. Not since her time as an apprentice on the Speedwell when she took lessons in stick fighting. She sucked at stick fighting, although she did learn enough to keep herself alive.

    After Ian¡¯s third set of opponents, Irene wandered back into the square proper. This was the time of day she usually spent scavenging and updating her map. She decided she should be doing that instead of mooning over Ian.

    She went up to her room to pick up her daypack. Since she started spending so much time near the square she stopped carrying all her belongings with her everyday. She sat on the end of her bed and pulled up her map, trying to decide where she should survey today.

    The area around Redfalls was the most revealed area on her map. Even the area around Londontown possessed more blank space. After having that thought, she targeted the largest blank space that she could reach with the time that was left in the day and headed out. The spot was about four stories down. Irene went west to find a stairwell that led down.

    She thought she was near the bottom of the structure. She didn¡¯t find any stairways leading down from this floor in any of her surveys. The structure felt like it was a couple thousand stories deep. Irene thought it was actually only fifty or sixty stories in any given spot. The building hugged the land, so as a traveler moved from the mountains to the sea they would continue to travel down. The Speedwell landed high in the mountains, traveling into the structure meant traveling down. Except for the lack of stairs, there was nothing to distinguish this floor from any other. It was impossible to tell if this was the original surface of the planet or underground. Or above the ground, Irene thought to herself. For all she knew another fifty stories stretched below her housing the real machinery of the world.

    Her own theories leaned toward this being underground. She thought the nanobots converted the surface mass of this planet into the structure. She suspected they may have even made the atmosphere and seeded the plant life. The dangers of what could happen if control was lost, made Irene doubtful the builders would set nanobots loose on their own home world. She hypothesized that the animals were all descendents of animals from the builders homeworld and the homeworlds of all the visitors since. Irene saw human¡¯s arrival here as an accident and not part of any design.

    Although she did sometimes wonder why the colony planners back on Earth targeted this star system. She searched but never found any record of how that choice was made in the Speedwell¡¯s computers. A search of the advance ship¡¯s records showed that it almost chose the moon of a gas giant for the colony site. If it made that choice it would have been a very different colony. The moon was warm enough, with liquid water. It possessed a thick atmosphere of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, but no oxygen. It was the oxygen in this world''s atmosphere that tipped the balance and sent the Speedwell here.

    Irene traveled under camouflage and muffle. She didn¡¯t want to draw the attention of any passing animals. She learned the hard way that if she brought back too much meat, everyone in the square seemed to expect her to do all the hunting in the future. She fell into that trap by finding too much joy in using her mop bucket wheels.

    Irene was building a theory that by facing the wild for them, she was training the residents to just hide in the safety of the square. It was amazing how fast even the hunters stopped going out. With the crystal shrinking, the square residents needed to be getting better at dealing with the wild, not worse. She pretended the wheels broke and hid them in the bottom of her pack, to get out of the expectation. She still brought back a badger or two, but no more.

    She felt no need to kill animals without reason. It was faster to just pass them. When she reached her target area she began running the halls in a grid pattern. She found a rest fairly quickly. She marked it on her map, before checking all the rooms around it. She was looking for resources a suburb could use, prize altars, sanitary facilities, water and food sources. Finding nothing particularly thrilling, she moved on.

    If she found time at the end of the day, she would double back and check the rooms between rests. Doing this she found inscriptions, mosaics, floor tiles and specialized rooms that gave her hints to no less than seven tier four spells. She found a lot more tier two and three spells. There were obviously more tier two spells in existence than tier three, but she found more inscriptions that detailed tier three spells. She thought that was interesting. It was like this area was geared to training tier three. She could conclude that that was because most people in this area were tier three, but Irene wasn¡¯t certain that was true. She thought most of the dependents were only tier one or two, and that was the adults. The children were tier zero, with only the oldest reaching tier one.

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    The inscriptions in the darkspace The Heights was located in were for tier two and tier one spells. Finding a tier three spell there was hard. Near the entrance to the ruins, the inscriptions were of tier zero and tier one spells.

    Inscriptions did appear where there was someone who could learn the spells, but Irene was starting to think there was a second mechanism that set the default inscriptions at certain levels. The density and ferocity of animals increased to the south. She wondered if she went that way would she find tier four spell inscriptions that weren¡¯t triggered by her long term presence, but were just the default for that region?

    She could see how the tier four spell hints were being spawned here by her own presence, the tier four warriors that Ian recruited, (although they spend most of their time at the border), or perhaps the presence of the master crafters in Chicago. The spells she found were mixed from the fields of wizard, warrior and crafter. Irene could not explain the tier five spell that was in Redfalls green. Ian was only tier four when she met him the first time. It was Irene¡¯s impression that he reached tier five very shortly before meeting her the second time at the collapse under the green. Not only was he not a tier five very long, he really didn¡¯t spend that much time in Redfalls. Irene didn¡¯t think it was nearly enough time to spawn the spell hints. That spell was a complication that suggested that there was another tier five somewhere near Redfalls. That or her theory was still flawed.

    She found a gallery next. This one was in fair condition. It was a long thin space with high ceilings. The upper walls were transparent glass revealing ruined rooms in the floors above. The wall on the right side was entirely glass, opaque at ground level. The left wall was stone at ground level and only changed to glass on the floor above. Irene could see into rooms for three levels above.

    There were groupings of ruined furniture along the length of the room. The sets on either side were little more than broken bits of iron and shreds of fiber. The central set was intact, if worn. There was a sofa and chair with a small table between. Sitting on the table was an abstract statue. Opposite the furniture, on the stone wall, was an inscription.

    The inscription was in Mosaic. It wasn¡¯t a mosaic, that was just the font. The font was named that because the shapes closely resembled the tile shapes used on walls and floors. Wall and floor mosaics were different from inscriptions in that they couldn¡¯t be decoded, or at least Irene didn¡¯t think so. Irene did not know what tier Mosaic was. There was also another font which Agatha named Egyption. Irene thought that either Mosaic or Egyption must be tier five, with the other being tier six.

    Irene felt a thrill of excitement run through her.

    She turned to the two side doors in the glass wall. The first door opened into an overgrown sanitation facility. The room was like a miniature greenspace. Irene could hear a trickle of water from somewhere inside, but she could see no path forward. She shut the door. She moved over to the second door and pushed it open. It was hard to tell what the room beyond once was. Irene was expecting a food service room. She wasn¡¯t certain that was what this room was. There was no food vendor which sometimes appeared. The layout of the debris seemed wrong as well. There were chunks of ceramic, bronze and glass that were not the remnants of components, but rather reminded her of tools. It almost seemed like a workshop to her. Although maybe a ruined stove and temperature box would look the same. If she found a prize altar anywhere around here, she would come back and see if she could convert any of this to scrap.

    She dismissed the oddness from her mind and went back out to the inscription. There was a door out into the halls on the other end of the long room. She checked the hallway on that side to ensure there wasn¡¯t a giant spider nest, or herd of rats just waiting for her to open her interface to jump out.

    She rechecked the way she came in, to ensure it was still clear. In the months since she discovered the decryption interface she had gotten better at using it. She could decrypt tier two inscriptions in less than an hour. She cast fire curtain at both entrances to the gallery, hopefully that would cut her scent trail. She pulled a notebook and stylus from her pack. She approached the inscription and examined it closely, taking precise notes. It was times like these she wished she still carried her camera.

    Her beginning notes finished, she settled down onto the intact sofa. She cast her cloaking spells of camouflage and muffle. Opening her interface with those spells active caused the price of the spells to go up. She would tire quickly and be forced to drop them eventually. If she didn¡¯t she would pass out and then they would fail, not the best of plans. For a couple hours she would be able to work on the inscription without fear of interruption.

    Three hours later she was forced to drop the cloaking spells. The decryption was not finished. Irene felt like there was still a long way to go. It was the most complex inscription she had attempted to solve with her interface. She wanted to rest and try again, but it was getting late. Ian was leaving in the morning and she didn¡¯t want to miss him. She marked the location on her map and headed back up.

    ¡°Where have you been?¡± Ian asked, when Irene joined him at dinner.

    ¡°I found the most fascinating inscription,¡± Irene said. ¡°I am still working on decrypting it.¡± She took a bite of her meal.

    ¡°I was worried about you,¡± Ian said. ¡°In these uncertain times, I hope you''re being careful and keeping close.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it''s close,¡± Irene said, ¡°just below us. I think it might be a tier five spell.¡± She took another bite as she considered that statement. She had Ian¡¯s attention now.

    ¡°What do the numbers look like?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°You mean what font is it in? I call it Mosaic because they are very similar shapes to some of the wall tiles,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°The teardrops or the hexagons?¡± Ian asked.

    ¡°Teardrops,¡± Irene replied. Ian nodded his head, as he agreed that was tier five. His interface transformed into Mosaic when he reached tier five.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell me when I get back what you find out,¡± Ian responded.

    ¡°I will,¡± she said. Irene ate a few more bites of her food, as her mind continued to think about it. ¡°Actually, it might be the same tier five spell as the one in the green. I think it is located below the collapse, only upstream from it. I didn¡¯t find an inscription for that spell yet, so this might be it.¡±

    ¡°Well I hope that won¡¯t be a disappointment for you,¡± Ian said. He wanted it to be a new spell. Having Irene do all the work to find spells was rather convenient. He finally mastered the ring. He was on his way to Chicago to send Allen to Londontown to drop hints about the location of Redfalls. The ring was all that he hoped it to be. He tried it out in a green to the north. The circle of dead animals was impressive. He cast it from the hallway beside the green and it propagated through the wall. A last test from below proved it went through floors as well.

    Ian¡¯s only regret with it was that the spell was from force magic tree. Since it wasn¡¯t fire based Ian¡¯s fire wizard bonus didn¡¯t apply to it. If he could find a fire version, the area of effect was bound to be larger. Luckily he knew tier four shield, which was a force tree spell and it qualified him to learn the ring.

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± Irene said. ¡°Having all that other information about the spell should help me figure out what all the hint images in the inscription mean. The images are often reused, so learning them will make it easier for the next one.¡±

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Five

    The tier five spell in the inscription was some sort of crafting spell. Irene took copious notes on it, including trying to exactly copy the complex final image. The symbol that Irene believed represented the tool wasn¡¯t one she recognized. It was similar to the smelter symbol, but not exactly the same.

    A tier five crafting spell meant she was back to her original theory that there was content that was ¡®left over¡¯ from previous occupants. She was moving away from that theory with her new one about inscription tiers in certain zones. This gallery was deep. It was possible no human came this far down before. Perhaps there was some truth in both theories.

    If there wasn¡¯t she was left with the hint that there was a tier five crafter running around who specialized in a craft that was related to metalworking. Maybe. Probably someone with green magic, since both the spell in the pond and this one were from the force tree. She didn¡¯t know what to do with that. The only green magic user she had met was an archer.

    Irene hefted her full pack and stepped out into the courtyard. It was about two months since she found that spell hint. Ian was away again. He said something about ¡®checking on developments¡¯. She decided to use the time he was gone to travel north and check some of the closest greens for new squares.

    She stepped out into the courtyard to find Jake walking toward her carrying a toddler.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± she called to him. He paused and shifted the toddler. His movements revealed his love and pride in the child.

    ¡°Good morning. Where are you heading?¡± Jake asked politely.

    ¡°North,¡± Irene said. ¡°I plan to do a quick survey of the next green. Who is this delightful one?¡± she asked, reaching out to play with the toddler.

    ¡°This is my son, Tyler,¡± Jake said. ¡°He is my youngest.¡± Irene smiled at the baby. She wondered if this baby was born before or after Irene joined Redfalls. Sophia was very rarely in the square. Irene didn¡¯t remember Sophia being pregnant. The child didn¡¯t remind Irene of Jake at all. His overly large eyes reminded her of Ian. She shook that impression away. All babies had large eyes.

    ¡°How many children do you have?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Four,¡± Jake said. ¡°Tyler here is my only son. I haven¡¯t lost any. I¡¯m happy I got the implant on the Speedwell. In the struggle of those early years we were spared the trauma of having to watch our children die.¡±

    ¡°How long did it last for you?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°At least the three years the technician promised,¡± Jake responded. ¡°Sophia''s first pregnancy was in the fourth year.¡±

    ¡°Where is Sophia?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°She is at the border. We have a nanny to watch the children when we are away,¡± Jake explained. He shot a quick glance over at the ever smaller protection crystal. ¡°I¡¯ve been more worried lately and decided to come check on them.¡± Irene looked over at the crystal herself.

    ¡°I¡¯m going up to the next greens to see if any new squares have developed up there,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°I escorted most of the dependent groups,¡± Jake told Irene. ¡°I know the route back to Chicago like the back of my hand. I¡¯ll take the children back there to regroup if the worst happens.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Irene said to him. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve thought about it. Sometimes I think I am the only one who worries.¡± Jake tilted his head at her, as if something she said puzzled him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always gotten the impression you aren¡¯t worried at all,¡± Jake said. ¡°You never worry about the blues.¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m worried about the blues,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯m also worried about the reds.¡± Irene waved at the crystal. ¡°Even Control doesn¡¯t approve of our war. A migration though this square will be far more devastating than anything seen so far. If we don¡¯t stop killing each other, that is where we are headed.¡±

    ¡°You think the crystal is shrinking because of the fighting?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said sharply. ¡°The crystals at Londontown and Paris are also shrinking. Londontown¡¯s crystal went years with no change, it didn¡¯t start shrinking until the fighting started.¡±

    ¡°Does Ian know?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Irene said. In a lowered voice Irene said, ¡°My brother Christopher in Londontown told me before his death, so they know too. I never understood what the point of all this violence is. What exactly are we trying to win? So far all I have seen is loss.¡± Irene shook her head in disgust and walked away in the direction of the back door. Tyler was a little upset by Irene¡¯s sharp words. Jake jiggled him until the baby was happy again.

    Jake never understood Irene. She was always so disconnected. He heard her little speeches about how they were all children of Earth and how they should work together against the structure. He always experienced a visceral rage reaction to her suggestion they just give up on their dead. He lost a lot of good friends to the blues. He told himself she was just weak because of her family in Londontown. He never spread that information, but it was there at the back of his mind.

    His son smiled up at him and said, ¡°Da, da.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, my big boy,¡± Jake said. ¡°I am your Dada.¡± The boy giggled and reached for one of the shining brass studs on Jake''s armor. The thought of the child facing a migration horrified him. What were they fighting for? Sophia and Ian were fighting for the right to rule. At one time Jake wholeheartedly agreed with them. Somewhere along the way his priorities changed. Did it matter to Tyler if Darien ruled Chicago? Did it matter to the boy if the queen ruled Londontown?

    It would definitely matter if a migration hit the square. Jake cuddled his son close, as he watched Irene leave out the back door, off on her search to find a new home for the people of Redfalls. It was her attempt to do something. Jake needed to do something too. He decided he wouldn¡¯t head back to the border. Instead he would start getting organized for a forced march back to Chicago, or to Irene¡¯s new square, if she found one.

    <hr>

    Irene cast her cloaking spells and moved north at a fast pace. The conversation with Jake left her unsettled. Jake would have been surprised that it wasn¡¯t the talk of war that shook her, but his description of his fertility implant failing at year three. Before her final exit from the Speedwell, she went up to the medical center and got a fresh fertility implant. Counting on her fingers she was pretty certain that was close to three years ago.

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    With her active sex life with Ian, she was very likely to be pregnant within the year. She was thirty three years old and never seriously considered having a child. With the nanobots in her blood she didn¡¯t think she would face any of the age related risks of pregnancy. That was some solace. Pregnant women in the structure didn¡¯t gain extra weight or retain water. They only started showing their pregnancies late. Labor was short and any damage healed quickly within a day or two.

    If a woman stayed active, like Sophia did, pregnancy became even less noticeable. That was why Irene didn¡¯t know if Tyler was born before or after Irene arrived at the square. Irene was horrible at judging the age of children, having none of her own for comparison.

    It took Irene about a week to reach her targeted green. By the time she reached it she came to terms with her approaching motherhood. She would give up traveling and do her best to give her baby a happy childhood. She would teach her little girl or boy everything she knew about engineering and magic. Perhaps when they were older, she would even take them out to the Speedwell so they could learn from the educational machines there. In her daydreams her child looked remarkably like Jake¡¯s little boy. Irene decided that was just because Tyler was the last baby she saw and his image was in her mind. She couldn¡¯t even recall what Sharl¡¯s Bethany looked like, except for a generic ¡®baby¡¯.

    She came out onto the green in the southeast corner. She breathed the plant scented air of the greenspace and felt her spirits lift. This war wouldn¡¯t last. Even if the protection crystal in Redfalls vanished, Irene and Ian could find another square. There was always Moscow in the far north. Maybe they could follow Mary¡¯s expedition into the unknown beyond. Irene could take up a craft while caring for her child. As she traveled north along the eastern edge of the green, looking for any sign of a square, she amused herself by thinking about which craft she should try.

    Her notes from The Heights were enough to get started as a tailor. She suspected many of the same spells Tom told her would work for leatherwork. She already knew how to tan skins so perhaps that was what she should do. She knew her notes on smelting were enough to get started on metalwork. She wondered if Mary ever found an anvil to try making door wedges and vent pins. Irene knew the least about woodworking. She needed to check back with the woman in Redfalls she tried to get started in the field. The fact that she knew the least about the craft sort of drew Irene to it. She knew that you could make furniture with wood, perhaps she could set up a shop selling furniture again.

    A bear emerged from the underbrush, pushing his way south. Irene froze. She was under her full set of cloaking spells; camouflage, muffle, scent masking, cloak heat. She usually didn¡¯t bother with the last two in the halls. Boars hunted by scent, so she added that when touring greens. She used cloak heat mostly at night, when animals that hunted in the dark were out. She cast it here because of the dark shadows under some of the trees. She wasn¡¯t certain how bears tracked their prey.

    She remained where she was when the bear appeared and waited. She would kill it if she was forced to. She developed an aversion to selling the leather made from their hides after seeing that hardened leather armor on the dead warrior at Londontown¡¯s back door. She found the animals challenging at tier three. She hadn¡¯t killed many since she reached tier four.

    The bear wandered by. It didn¡¯t give any indication it sensed her. She moved on. She saw a bear or two on her last visit to this green. It was an indication that the structure did get harder to the north, but the transition to harder animals was much slower than to the south.

    She passed two green entrances on the east wall, but no squares, before reaching the north wall. She turned west to follow it. She spent the night in a tree, using her rope to secure herself and her belongings as she slept.

    She killed a squirrel in the night that managed to find her in the tree. She skinned it in the morning and roasted it for breakfast. She added fresh fruit collected from a nearby bush. As she traveled west, she filled one of her gathering bags with fruit and another with tubers. She knew she was lingering in the Green when she barely reached the western wall by nightfall. She roasted her tubers for dinner and snacked on the green leaves of a lettuce plant. She was near another exit from the green, but she chose to climb a tree for the night.

    Although her sleep was always more interrupted by animals in a tree, she preferred it to staying in secured rooms. There was something about being high up and seeing danger coming that soothed her. When she stayed alone in a secured room, she was forced to blindly open the door the next morning. Nine times out of ten there was something waiting for her.

    It was still early in the day when she found the square. It was in the southwest corner of the green. Its entrance was even with the green¡¯s floor, which made its appearance identical to Londontown. Entering the square, Irene found a mirror image of Londontown. The training yards opened on the right to the courtyard. The darkened shops around the courtyard didn¡¯t even look odd to Irene after seeing the same in Redfalls. The ceiling was high overhead, displaying a large number of balconies from apartments above.

    It was a large square, bigger than Redfalls. There was no hint of dirt or dust on anything. Floating high above the courtyard was a crystal. It was high enough up that Irene found its size difficult to judge. She would need a ladder to reach it. It looked like it was about sixteen inches in height and a foot in diameter. That would put it near the size Ellen described the Redfalls crystal being upon its discovery.

    The elevation of the crystals in squares varied just as their size did. She hadn¡¯t seen a crystal this high before. If you were the first person to touch a crystal in a rest it gave a discovery payout. Irene assumed the same thing was true of square crystals. Looking up at the high crystal she wondered if it didn¡¯t do something else. That high elevation made her think the crystal was telling her, ¡®Don¡¯t touch me unless you really mean it.¡¯ Perhaps no one should touch it until the fighting was done.

    With that thought in mind, Irene retraced her steps into the green. She turned the corner and headed back to the entrance she entered the green by. She picked up her pace. She wanted to get back to Redfalls and discuss this discovery with Ian. Hopefully he was back from ¡®checking developments¡¯ by now.

    She made the return trip faster than the trip out since she was motivated now. She arrived at Redfalls to find Ian not back yet. It took her some time, but she tracked down Jake in an upper apartment.

    Following her directions she knocked on an apartment door. A woman she did not recognize opened the door. A rather large number of children were running around the apartment behind her.

    ¡°Is Jake here?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Just a second,¡± the woman replied. She carefully closed the door to keep a crawling infant from escaping the apartment, leaving Irene waiting in the hall. Only a moment or two later, Jake opened the door and joined Irene in the hall, closing the door on the chaos inside.

    ¡°Irene, this is a surprise. What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you had four children,¡± Irene couldn¡¯t stop herself from commenting.

    ¡°They aren¡¯t all mine,¡± Jake responded. ¡°This is our nanny¡¯s place.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Irene replied. Not having children obviously left her ignorant about how parenting was handled in the structure. ¡°I wanted to tell you that I found a new square,¡± Irene said. ¡°It¡¯s in the southwest corner of a green north of here. It took me a week to get there, so I don¡¯t think a large group could make it in under two.¡±

    ¡°Did you tell Ian?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Irene said. ¡°I will when he gets back. I don¡¯t know how long a square lasts if it isn¡¯t settled. I found a prospective square a few years ago on a ruined green. It was gone when I went looking for it more recently. This square has a crystal, so I would think it would last longer. Perhaps we don¡¯t want to settle it too soon.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Jake asked.

    ¡°If we settle it with the war still on, its crystal might start shrinking too,¡± Irene explained.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Six

    Ian was surprised by Irene''s discovery of a new square. He decided to keep the news quiet for now. He told Irene he would need time to organize the transfer of all the dependents. They would keep the discovery between themselves to prevent anyone from getting killed trying to make it on their own.

    ¡°I already told Jake,¡± Irene told Ian. ¡°He seemed so worried about his son, I wanted him to know there were alternatives.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Ian said, ¡°Jake will have a big part in planning the move.¡± Ian was confident Jake wouldn¡¯t say anything. He may be a little soft but he wasn¡¯t stupid.

    Everything was coming together nicely. A blue army was forming up from a union of men from both Londontown and Paris. Allen reported that their target was going to be Redfalls. There were far too many of them to attack through the halls so the attack would come from the green. Ian couldn¡¯t believe how long it was taking for the two squares to organize. He sent Allen in to carry the tale of a red square behind the waterfall in a green north of Chicago¡¯s green weeks ago. There was plenty of time to organize a successful defense.

    The only part of the plan that wasn¡¯t executing perfectly was Irene¡¯s continued failure to get pregnant. It wasn¡¯t like Ian didn¡¯t try. He was beginning to think she knew a spell to stop conception. Ian decided that was alright. She was really good at running the square. Under her direction a small crafting community was forming up, providing small consumable crafted items at a much lower cost than Chicago. The inn was serving much more flavorful meals and the women were happier with their men.

    Only her tendency to wander off every once in a while caused any concern. The last thing Ian needed was Irene to get herself killed at this late date. He was up at those northern greens testing out the ring only a few months ago. If she was wandering around up there then he could have killed her. Even without that threat she always seemed so distracted when she was engaged in her puzzles.

    ¡°Did you ever decrypt that tier five inscription?¡± Ian asked. He didn¡¯t remember her telling him what it was.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Irene said. ¡°It was a crafting spell, I think. I didn¡¯t recognize the symbol for the tool. I can¡¯t figure out why it would appear. It must be a ¡®leftover¡¯.¡± She grew thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Have you noticed that there doesn¡¯t seem to be any tier six spells?¡± Irene said suddenly. ¡°Do you think that means there isn¡¯t a tier six?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one that told me that spell hints usually appear where someone can use them. No tier six spells just means there are no tier six wizards nearby,¡± Ian responded.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Irene agreed. ¡°Sometimes I think it is because this area is too low tier.¡± Ian let that comment go unanswered. This was the first time he heard Irene give a tier to an area. He would ask her about this new theory of hers later. She loved it when he let her talk about her ideas. He excused himself shortly after telling her he needed to do some planning. Irene assumed that meant planning the move to the new square, when Ian actually meant planning for the coming battle. He needed something that would engage the blues for an extended amount of time and not defeat them too quickly.

    <hr>

    ¡°There was a runner from Chicago today,¡± Ian told Irene over dinner about a week later. ¡°A large blue force was spotted crossing the border. I¡¯ve sent scouts out to alert us if they come anywhere near us.¡± Irene stopped eating.

    ¡°Do you think they are coming here?¡± she asked. Irene thought about the small protection crystal in the courtyard. It was barely six inches tall.

    ¡°If they are, the scouts will give us warning. I sent a message back with the runner for Sophia to return with everyone not actively on patrol. Even if they find us, we¡¯ll put up a good defense,¡± Ian assured her. Irene couldn¡¯t come up with a response that didn¡¯t seem ungrateful. It seemed to her they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. She didn¡¯t see how the crystal was going to withstand a battle on its doorstep. If they didn¡¯t defend themselves they would have to flee now, unprepared, into the wild.

    Irene was feeling trapped and a little panicky. She lay awake in Ian¡¯s arms late into the night. When she woke in the morning Ian was already up and out of the room. She went out with the gatherers. She was reassured at the great job the hunters did escorting the group. She took a moment to tell them both that, before she headed in to sell her produce off to Ellen.

    Needing something to distract herself with, she turned back to the tier five spell. She still didn¡¯t understand why it appeared here. If she could find another hint perhaps she would understand it better. If there wasn¡¯t another hint, well that was more evidence that it was just a leftover. The gallery was roughly underneath Redfalls. She never finished searching past the gallery, or above it. Irene went back to exploring the area. She started at the bottom and worked her way up.

    She found a large suite. There was a main room that was decorated as an office. Ruined desks and chairs were laid out in lines. There were three executive offices off to the left and back sides of the suite. The one in the back was a deluxe office with what looked like a secretary alcove in the front and a big intact wooden desk in the back. Irene wanted the desk. It was equipped with a set of shelves and drawers underneath. It was a unique piece. Irene knew her chances of finding it again were very slim.

    There was a room to the right that looked like a kind of break room or perhaps a conference room. A set of counters were built into one wall that reminded Irene of the pay counters in shops. The center of the room held a large broken table with the remains of chairs around it. The chair remains were a rich source of fiber scrap. Irene stuffed one of her collection bags full of it.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    There was a door in the back wall between the end of the deluxe office and the right wall. Doors inside suites were rare. Most of them were actually the entrance from another hallway. Irene left this door for last, since she would have to make a cautious entry. The open doorways to the rest of the rooms meant any animals inside them were usually drawn out to the hallway on her initial entry. Not that she didn¡¯t use caution entering them, it was just easier to see what was coming without a door in the way.

    She found four rats in the room behind the door. The room itself was uninspiring. It was a supply closet with shelves on both sides. If she was still running her store she would have wanted the shelves. There were piles of vellum sheets, styluses and notebooks, mixed in with a variety of junk she didn¡¯t recognize. If there was a prize altar nearby she would try to put all that unknown stuff into her inventory. It was the easiest way to identify if something was junk, debris that would convert to scrap or an item. Unfortunately identifying something as an item didn¡¯t tell you what the item did.

    She checked her map looking for where she marked the presence of prize altars. She didn¡¯t see anything near on this level. When she checked the level above she found out she was directly under the training yards. There was usually a dearth of prize altars around a square, Irene thought it was to encourage people to return to the settlement.

    This was obviously a unique room. It was exactly what Irene was looking for. She studied the floor tiles, pushing the debris piles to the right and left to see what was under them. She carefully inspected each wall, the door frames edging along the bottom and top of the walls. She got a crick in her neck inspecting the lights in the ceiling. She touched every section of the built-in counter in the conference room on the off chance that it was something like a shop counter.

    Nothing. Although she did slip a brass tankard she found on the counter into her pack. She thought it would match her bowl.

    She was perched on a broken desk when she heard a sound from behind the closed door to the supply closet. She realized she didn¡¯t do a detailed search of the little room, but she also couldn¡¯t understand what could have made the noise.

    She once more made entry into the room. A solitary rat charged out at her when she opened the door. She stared at the rat¡¯s body. She wondered where it came from. Animals could respawn fast, but she never saw one respawn that fast. Especially when she was still in the same suite of rooms. She wondered if it was hidden behind the door somehow, only the door opened out. Irene wedged the door open. She should have done that last time.

    She carefully searched the shelves. She glanced through their contents before. This time she removed everything from the shelves and dumped it into the main room. A couple really interesting objects she crammed into a second gathering bag that was already dangerously full. The shelves were a standard component construction of stainless tubing structure with black iron sheets on top.

    Irene inspected the floor in the tiny room and the ceiling. It wasn¡¯t until she got to the walls that she finally found it. There was a narrow gap in the right side wall at the back. The shelving almost completely masked it.

    With a start of surprise Irene realized there was a hidden room beyond. This was something to remember in the future, even as she wondered how many she missed in the past. She took the shelving apart, setting the components in a neat pile in the other room. She didn¡¯t stop until she took all the shelving apart in the small room. She wanted to make sure she wasn¡¯t missing anything else.

    When she was finished she slipped through the narrow passage and into the hidden room. The wall opposite the passage was made of opaque glass, although there was a strange liquid look to it. Light was leaking through the glass. It and the light coming down the passage from the storage closet was the only illumination in the room. The room was small, and completely empty. The walls and ceiling were unadorned cement. Irene stepped inside and turned to look at the fourth wall from which she emerged.

    Deeply incised into the cement was a complex inscription written in the rarest of scripts, Egyptian. Additionally each symbol cut was colored. Not just with one color but as many as three or four. There were no rows or columns. The symbols were packed as tightly as possible into the space. Irene had no idea how to read it.

    Irene backed up against the opaque glass in an effort to get a better view of the inscription. She could hear the flow of water. A careful check of her map showed she was directly under the entrance to Redfalls. Irene suspected the wall at her back was the wall behind the waterfall.

    Irene wasn¡¯t certain how to even get started. Although Agatha named the font from a snippet she found on an early recording, there wasn¡¯t enough of the inscription in the recording to even identify all seven symbols, never mind determine each symbol''s value. One thing was certain, Irene wasn¡¯t leaving here until she tried.

    She made very little progress by the time the light began to fade from the water wall behind her, but she did make some. Irene decided a meal and a good night''s rest was just what she needed to make more. She rose to her feet and made a careful exit from the room, picking up her door wedges on the way back out.

    She picked up two of the rats to sell to Ellen and went back up to the square. The nearest stair was actually in the wrong direction. Irene still made it back before full dark.

    The inn¡¯s common room was full. The tables were filled with warriors and hunters drinking beer. Ellen was eager to purchase the rats, which Irene thought was odd until Ellen said, ¡°Did you want dinner? I am afraid I am out of all cooked meats except the boar.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it,¡± Irene agreed with a grimace.

    ¡°Did you want beer? I¡¯m nearly out of that too. The next batch won¡¯t be ready for a day or two,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°Do you have any juice?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll bring it,¡± Ellen promised.

    ¡°I¡¯m just going to run up and drop off these bags in my room,¡± Irene explained. ¡°I will be right back down.¡± Irene smiled at Ian as she passed his table on the way to the stairs. Irene noticed that he was sharing his table with Jake and Sophia. When she came back down she joined them at Ian¡¯s table.

    Ellen brought Irene her meal as soon as she sat down. The boar wasn¡¯t too bad. Irene did manage to swallow her first bite.

    ¡°I hope pulling all these men from Chicago doesn¡¯t leave them short handed if an attack happens there,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°Darien has his own defenders,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°These men were all pulled back from leave. If nothing happens here they will just have to enjoy the comforts of home for a while.¡± Which made Irene wonder why they weren¡¯t enjoying the comforts of home already. The three of them began talking about adding defenses in the green outside the entry.

    Irene wanted to talk about the inscription, but she couldn¡¯t find a way to bring up the subject. She sat through the conversation on the war by pretending to enjoy her meal. It was a hard thing to do, since neither was to her taste.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Seven

    Ian left Irene sleeping. He silenced her worries last night with sex. The ploy worked every time. He was really very impressed with his performance. He felt certain she was carrying his heir this morning.

    ¡°I need to speak to you about the defense of the back entrance,¡± Sophia said to him as soon as he reached his table.

    ¡°We covered everything last night,¡± Ian responded.

    ¡°Not everything,¡± Sophia said. She licked her lips and gave him a sulky look. Ian frowned. He glanced up at the stairs. Luckily there was still no sign of Irene. Ian didn''t want her seeing Sophia''s jealousy.

    ¡°What did you miss?¡± he asked.

    ¡°We can walk through the defenses and I will show you,¡± Sophia responded. The woman was almost humping the table. Ian decided he couldn''t risk this kind of display here.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Ian said, rising to his feet. ¡°Let''s go see this problem.¡±

    Sophia led him out of the inn and across the courtyard to the back door. She didn''t stop at the outer guard station but continued on. She rounded a corner and waited in front of the first room that was out of the guards sight.

    Ian threw the door open, ready to blast any animals within. The room was unoccupied. Sophia threw herself on him, grinding her loins against him.

    He took her on a broken desk. He didn''t have any need for more children from this woman, but he saw no need to deny himself either. If only Irene would get pregnant so easily. Sophia must have borne at least a dozen brats by now. Ian didn¡¯t even know what the woman did with most of them. She barely showed the pregnancies and only admitted to a handful of them to Jake. Ian knew about them because she became particularly demanding right after she gave birth.

    ¡°Does that satisfy you?¡± he questioned, when he was certain he could deliver the words in a cool calm voice.

    ¡°It seemed a little soft to me,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°Irene is making you weak.¡±

    ¡°Weak huh?¡± Ian replied. He threw her up against the wall. He took her two more times before she finally had enough. Ian thought she must have pushed out twins last week. Ian felt a trace of pity for Jake. Before Ian hit tier five it would have been physically impossible to give this performance. There was no way Jake could have a chance at satisfying her. Every time Ian exceeded himself, Sophia only wanted more. He found the entire experience cheap and shallow. Bedding Irene once brought him ten times the satisfaction that this little scene gave him.

    Sophia craved rough sex in dangerous places as proof that they were still partners. Sophia wanted to believe that only she could satisfy him. He found that amusing. Why would any man want a genetic diversity child whose poor performance on the aptitudes got her assigned to animal culture when they could have the trueborn daughter of a queen? Ian was glad he wasn¡¯t going to need Sophia much longer. He was looking forward to being free of her. Ian didn¡¯t see any reason for her to survive the battle of Redfalls.

    ¡°I need you to set up a sniper nest for me,¡± Ian told Sophia. ¡°Something with a good view of the battle, but hard to see from our side.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were going to Chicago,¡± Sophia responded. They were laying in the filth and debris that littered the room¡¯s floor. Ian flicked a piece of iron away that was under his ass.

    ¡°I am, but Irene will take my place. Since she never fights, no one will think it is her,¡± Ian explained. ¡°Just make sure no one from our side will be able to see it isn¡¯t me.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure she will do it?¡± Sophia asked. ¡°She is a coward.¡±

    ¡°She is more pacifist than coward,¡± Ian observed, remembering when he saw her stand before the charging boar in the green. ¡°She¡¯ll do it to protect the children. I¡¯ll instruct her to just use stun. It should make her happy that she doesn¡¯t have to kill anyone.¡±

    ¡°And everyone will assume it is you, since you use stun all the time,¡± Sophia admitted.

    ¡°When I return, we¡¯ll let the blues push forward into the courtyard. I¡¯ll chase them in and finish them off like I abandoned the sniper''s nest in a final defense. If the blues manage to kill a few of those worthless widows that keep begging for handouts, that will make the final push look more heroic,¡± Ian explained.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure everyone knows not to take them into the apartments or inn rooms,¡± Sophia volunteered.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Ian grinned. That idea deserved a reward.

    <hr>

    Ian returned to the square under camouflage. He didn''t want Irene to catch sight of his rumpled state. Since she was still sleeping in his room when he left he entered it with caution, feeling for any moving weapons in the room. He was relieved to find that she was already gone for the day. He stripped off his stained clothing and scrubbed off all traces of the rough sex from his body.

    He used a skinning knife to refresh his shave and trim his hair. He combed it so that it lay just right, using the reflection of his image in the knife to check his appearance. There were no mirrors in the sanitation facility and as Captain he needed to maintain his image.

    His tier meant the scratches Sophia inflicted on him were already healed. Most of his blood was reabsorbed by his skin, but traces of it stained his armor, along with Sophia¡¯s blood and other excretions. He used a cloth to wipe it all off. The armor was self cleaning, but removing the large stains would speed the process. There would be no trace of contaminants on it by evening to disturb Irene.

    He put his armor back on and belted his cutlass into place. His appearance repaired, he made his way back out of the inn. He would tour the preparations, inspiring his troops with his presence. There was no need for him to join in the work. There was enough dirt on his hands for the day.

    Ian found Jake digging a trench in the green. The trench would have to be retouched each day since the green naturally repaired itself. Jake was making it especially deep to start with to make it last longer.

    ¡°When I get this finished, we are going to try and flood it,¡± Jake reported. ¡°Hopefully that will give us some warning of cloaked adversaries in the area.¡±

    ¡°Yes, very good,¡± Ian said aloud, even as he worked out how he would get past it. If he could figure out a way, then having it in place would only help convince his people he never left the battle. He spotted Sophia pointing out where she wanted a sniper''s nest. Ian noted with satisfaction that her gait was a little off from her usual smooth hunter¡¯s stalk. He smirked a little before returning his attention to Jake. ¡°Once these defenses are in place we will need to man them full time to keep them from melting away,¡± Ian told the warrior. ¡°Set up a rotation.¡±

    ¡°Will do, boss,¡± Jake responded. He watched Ian walk off with a frown. Jake didn¡¯t like how the other man looked at Sophia. Jake tried to warn her that Ian hated her. Sophia wouldn¡¯t listen. She thought Jake was jealous because she was promoted over him to make decisions on the border when Ian was away. She spent most of her time with Ian¡¯s personal strike team, while Jake was assigned to lead the Seconds.

    She didn¡¯t understand that he preferred working with the Seconds, ferrying dependents and supplies to and from Redfalls. It allowed him to spend time with their children.

    His preparations for evacuating were complete. If the battle went against them or the crystal failed, a core group of fathers would escort the women and children to Chicago. There they could organize and plan next steps. Food and equipment for the trip was stored in an apartment that Jake keyed all the men into. He left a note with the food about the square Irene found. Even leaving the note was against Ian¡¯s instructions, but if Jake was killed in the fighting he didn¡¯t want the knowledge lost. The note included the information that the crystal in Redfalls was shrinking due to the war. Since Irene told him her theory, he confirmed it from observations of its decreasing size and reports of when battles occurred. In the note he recommended that anyone involved in the fighting shouldn¡¯t be allowed into the new square.

    Jake picked his spear up to loosen more soil. Once it was loose, he would scoop it out of the ditch using a split sheet of wood. It was hard work, but if it helped protect his family, it was worth it.

    Sophia directed the set up for the sniper''s nests. She paid particular attention to the one Ian requested for Irene. She made sure no one on their side could see it with one exception. By leaning just slightly forward Sophia would have a clear view of it from her position.

    Once Irene served her purpose to prove Ian¡¯s presence here, Sophia would finally rid herself of the wizard. Sophia only managed to keep her knife out of Irene¡¯s back because the woman was barren. Sophia didn¡¯t think that was even possible in the structure, but there Irene was, childless after all these years.

    Sophia was pregnant within the first month. Jake wasn¡¯t the father. The father turned out to be a complete disappointment. Sophia didn¡¯t think Jake would believe his implant failed that fast. She managed to hide the pregnancy from him by getting herself sent to Chicago on a buying trip during the last month. She gave birth in Chicago and turned the baby over to the orphanage there the next day. She was fairly certain the second daughter she gave Jake was actually his.

    It might be time to think about getting rid of Jake too. Not yet, the man was a powerful fighter, and he would still be needed for the march to Chicago. They would need a good show of force to secure overall leadership of all the suburbs.

    Irene¡¯s death had to look like it came at the hands of the blues. That was why Sophia needed to get rid of her now. If Irene made it out of Redfalls alive, getting rid of her would get so much harder. If Ian even suspected Sophia, he would kill her. Sophia thought about that.

    Jake would never harm Sophia. He loved her. He would forgive her anything. Way back on the Speedwell they made a pact to do whatever it took to end up on top. When they made it to Londontown it might be Ian who needed to go. Sophia was not going to let some other woman step in at the last moment and take her place as queen.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Eight

    Irene sat with her back against the opaque glass wall of the hidden room. Her gaze was locked on the inscription across from her. It contained a full set of symbols. Irene wasn¡¯t certain she would ever have figured out the value of each one on her own. Luckily some of the built-in functions for viewing inscriptions were simple math functions that would add, subtract, multiply or divide two symbols. She was able to use those functions to figure out the numerical values for all seven symbols.

    The next problem was the lack of rows and columns. Nearly all of Irene¡¯s methods for decrypting revolved around them. She focused on the few methods she knew that didn¡¯t involve rows and columns and tried to use them to produce a similar order to the symbols. Her latest breakthrough involved the colors. Each symbol was composed of no less than three colors, a few had as many as five. By using the number of the magic tree with that color, Irene was able to translate those colors into additional values.

    This was her third day working on the inscription. Her neck was so stiff after the first day Irene almost gave up on it. Instead she figured out if she rested her back and head against the wall, she could stand it a little longer. The third day she was forced to take more frequent breaks. She stopped casting her cloaking spells the first day, luckily the secret room didn¡¯t draw any animals.

    It was time for her to take a break now, but Irene could almost feel the solution. She knew she was getting close. The inscription was starting to fall out into a series of lines and rectangles that looked like a section of the map.

    ¡°They¡¯ve broken their force apart coming through the corridors,¡± a man¡¯s voice said. Irene was startled. It sounded like he was standing right behind her. The voice was slightly distorted by its transmission through the water and glass at Irene¡¯s back, but the words were clear enough.

    ¡°I expect they will reform in the green,¡± a second male voice responded, ¡°and come at us in force. How far ahead of them are you?¡±

    ¡°No more than a day,¡± the first voice responded. ¡°I would expect the attack at dawn.¡±

    ¡°The sniper nests are all set up. Have you convinced Irene yet?¡± a woman asked. Irene startled slightly at her name. Her interface closed. Her staff clattered to the ground, falling from where it was braced against the wall beside her.

    ¡°What was that?¡± the first voice asked.

    ¡°An animal someplace,¡± the second voice responded. ¡°There¡¯s no weapon other than ours closer than the sniper nests.¡± The second voice was Ian, Irene realized. Irene felt herself relax. Ian was just doing his job protecting the square. ¡°I¡¯ll tell her this evening,¡± Ian responded. ¡°I¡¯ll leave before dawn and be back by evening. I¡¯ll help you finish off any stragglers when I get back. After our victory I will send an official messenger to Chicago to discover the tragedy there.¡±

    ¡°This crystal is never going to survive a frontal attack,¡± the first male voice commented. ¡°Should we send the noncombatants down to the new square Irene found?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Let¡¯s keep that new square our secret for now. We¡¯ll march whatever civilians we can gather up through the western suburbs to gain support for invading Londontown. We can present them as survivors from Chicago.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Londontown¡¯s crystal will survive a frontal assault either,¡± the woman¡¯s voice commented.

    ¡°We won¡¯t need to attack,¡± Ian replied. ¡°In this case ¡®support¡¯ will be even more helpless civilians. We¡¯ll march them all through Londontown¡¯s gates and demand sanctuary. I¡¯ll have Irene deliver one of her ¡®we are all children of Earth¡¯ speeches. We will hold the queen and Phillip accountable for the tragedy, before declaring Irene heir to the throne.¡±

    ¡°Heir to the throne?¡± the unknown man asked.

    ¡°Irene really is the queen¡¯s daughter,¡± the woman explained. ¡°I came with her. When we reached Londontown even Phillip acknowledged her.¡± The woman must be Sophia, Irene thought, but the man couldn¡¯t be Jake. Jake was there as well and already knew.

    ¡°No one¡¯s heard anything from Mary since she vanished years ago. With Christopher dead there are no other adults to contest the claim,¡± Ian commented. Ian¡¯s causal mention of Christopher¡¯s death twisted something in Irene¡¯s gut. When word reached them that he¡¯d been killed, Irene was devastated. She thought she made real progress convincing him that this war must end. She was also slightly revolted at her unease over whether he was really killed in the war, or if it was something more internal.

    ¡°What about actual survivors of Chicago?¡± the man¡¯s voice asked, Irene could hear a trace of uncertainty in his voice, but it was only a trace.

    ¡°If there are any, we will take them in as well,¡± Ian responded. ¡°I¡¯ll cast the ring from below. There is no way anyone will see me do it. It doesn¡¯t even have any visual effect above, so the survivors won¡¯t be able to report anything. I plan to fire it off under each of the gates and Darien''s quarters.¡±

    ¡°If we are lucky you will catch a lot of the suburb leaders,¡± Sophia commented. ¡°They should be gathering for the annual meeting. Many of them like to come in early to enjoy the pleasures of town and Darien¡¯s hospitality.¡±

    ¡°When we have control of Londontown, we will ¡®find¡¯ the new square and settle it,¡± Ian said. ¡°With two squares under our control it will be easy enough to expand.¡±

    ¡°So we are ready to go?¡± the man¡¯s voice asked. Irene still couldn¡¯t figure out who that could be.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ian responded. ¡°Which position have you saved for Irene?¡±

    ¡°This one here,¡± Sophia responded. ¡°It is hard to see from the other positions. As long as she casts stun, everyone will assume it is you.¡± Irene thought Sophia must be pointing out the location on some kind of map.

    ¡°Remember, try to leave at least one of those wizards alive. We will need¡­¡± Their voices trailed off after that, as the group walked away from the waterfall.

    Irene was frozen in shock. There was only one spell she knew of that Ian would call the ring. She thought he never learned it, although he tried for months. If he was planning on using it tomorrow he must have. She wondered what the actual area of effect was. Casting it from below would limit the effective radius. The closer it was cast to the ceiling the more destructive it would be. If she was doing it, she would put together a tall platform to cast from.

    Irene shook her head, sickened by the thoughts that were running through her mind. Downtown wasn¡¯t occupied by just warriors and leaders. It was filled with most of Greater Chicago¡¯s skilled crafters and their families. Many of the more dangerous suburbs sent their children there. Redfalls was a suburb of Chicago. Ian swore loyalty. Destroying it could only be a power move. Irene remembered what she told Margot, that the conflict was human greed and power games. Could it be that it wasn¡¯t a struggle between Londontown and Chicago, but one between Chicago and Redfalls? Londontown was just a weapon in that war.

    Irene was frozen for so long her interface light was flashing. She opened it back up. The almost decrypted version of the inscription overlaid on her vision. Without thought she clicked through three more decryption steps. The map solidified, all the underlying symbols vanished from her view. It was several floors of rooms all overlaid on each other in different colors. The rooms below were very large, with two or three story ceilings. A floor of more normal sized rooms was overlaid on top. Or at least Irene thought it was on top. It was drawn in the colors of the higher value magic trees. For all she knew she could have it completely reversed and that floor was actually farther down.

    Irene covered her face with her hands and leaned over as she forced herself to think. No, she thought to herself, it couldn¡¯t be Redfalls. Her interface automatically dismissed itself. She breathed heavily. Irene had to make Ian see reason. She heard the derision in his voice when he mentioned her ¡®children of Earth¡¯ speech. She never suspected he felt that way.

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    It was almost like this man she overheard was a different person from the one she loved. She wanted very much to believe that. Maybe she was mistaken about who the speakers were. She couldn¡¯t identify the third voice, what made her think the other two were Ian and Sophia?

    The ring of death was a tier five spell. Ian was the only tier five wizard in Redfalls. If the voice was not Ian¡¯s, then the spell they referred to wasn¡¯t the ring of death, but some other far less dangerous one. She wanted to believe that, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn¡¯t think of another spell that matched the conversation.

    A scuffing noise filled the room. Irene jumped to her feet, reaching for her staff. It rolled out of her reach when it fell over. She pulled the knife from her belt and braced herself. A single rat came sniffing its way through the narrow passage and into the hidden room. Irene cast lightning. Silence returned to the room.

    She bent to pick up her staff, taking a moment to return the knife to her belt. Just as she was about to slide the knife into its sheath, she paused. She looked down at that exposed blade. Ian said there was no weapon near, but what was this knife if not a weapon? It was in very poor condition. She long since gave up trying to keep the rust off the blade. Her constant sharpening wore it down to about half its original width. The tip broke off at least three times over the years, shortening its length. Irene held on to it because it was from the Speedwell and it reminded her of happy times working with Agatha to build the colony.

    Ian didn¡¯t sense it. His spell must only detect integrated weapons.

    She put it back into her belt, stopping the direction of her thoughts. She leaned over and picked up the staff. She glanced over at the inscription. It still appeared as a section of map. This was verification that she correctly decrypted it using the interface. Suddenly it didn¡¯t seem that important to figure out what it meant. She picked up the rat by its hind foot and swung it over her shoulder. She slipped through the narrow section to the closet. She took a moment to gut the animal, before swinging it back over her shoulder and heading back to the square.

    Irene settled the rat carcass onto the service bar in the inn. Ellen agreed to purchase it with some relief. ¡°A scout came in about an hour ago and reported a large group of blue warriors heading in this direction,¡± Ellen told Irene. ¡°Everyone has given up hunting for the day. This is the only fresh meat I¡¯ve gotten.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen Ian?¡± Irene asked the innkeeper.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I am sure he is getting the defenses set up. He will soon send those blues on their way.¡±

    Irene frowned. She wanted to remind Ellen that blues were people too, but she couldn¡¯t shake the memory of Ian¡¯s contempt. Instead she said, ¡°If things go badly we may have to move quickly. A long enough conflict could break the crystal. You should pack a bag with the minimum you need for your children and yourself.¡± Irene deliberately mentioned Ellen¡¯s children first, since she knew the woman was devoted to them.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said thoughtfully. ¡°It is probably best to be prepared.¡±

    Irene went up to her own room. She fetched her pack from where she left it on the chair and dumped out the contents on the bed. She added the contents of her day pack to the pile. She picked up the gathering bags she left behind that morning since she knew she was just decrypting the inscription and dumped them too.

    The gathering bags contained an impressive amount of crafting tools and fiber. The increasing tensions and crowding in the square reduced her attempts to encourage new people to pick up crafting. Mixed in with the crafting tools were a fair number of small skinning knives. Irene wondered if they qualified as a weapon. She activated the prize altar in her room and dumped all the tools and fiber scrap into her inventory. Putting tools into inventory caused damage to them, while putting fiber in reduced the amount. Irene usually tried to avoid both side effects. Right now she didn¡¯t want to carry the weight.

    She went through all the contents of her packs. She sorted everything into three piles, what she needed for daily survival, things that were useful in the long term and items to discard. When she was done she put anything integrated in the long term pile into inventory. Everything else there joined the discard pile. She tossed them into a corner of the room. She repacked everything left. She pulled the outer straps tight. It would be easier to maneuver and fight with the pack in its small configuration.

    She lay down on the bed. Everything in her said to just flee, but she couldn¡¯t. She had to talk to Ian. She needed him to see that they could have a good life here in this square, or maybe the new square, since she thought this crystal was done. They didn¡¯t need Chicago or Londontown.

    She got off the bed and swung her pack onto her back. With a firm grip on her staff, she went back out into the courtyard to look for Ian.

    The preparations in the green were impressive. Irene toured most of them looking for Ian. There were sniper nests in the trees, pit traps and blinds. There was even a trench that was flooded with water from the falls. It was next to impossible to pass flowing water undetected, even with a tier three camouflage spell. They must have been building this all the time Irene was working on decrypting the Egyptian inscription. It worried Irene that she didn¡¯t see enough warriors to man all the defenses. Irene wondered just how many of the warriors were killed in the war, it seemed like there were many more women here than men. She hoped the missing men were still on patrols along the border.

    She was far less impressed with the defenses on the back door. The two men on duty were pulled back to the courtyard side of the passage. They were both armed with bows. Irene decided the idea was that they could hold the hall long enough for help to come. If she was in charge of the attack, she would send a team of camouflaged scouts to take out these two men in silence, after nightfall. Hopefully whoever was leading the attack wasn¡¯t thinking like her.

    She stepped into a nearby stairwell and cast camouflage, muffle, cloak heat and scent masking on herself. She went out past the two guards. She jumped the closed gate so that its opening wouldn¡¯t give away her presence. She ran ten minutes to the nearest stairwell. It only went up one floor. She ran another ten minutes to reach a second stair that allowed her to climb to the floor level of the green. From there she ran west to the nearest green access.

    She moved at a fast trot across the green. None of her cloaking spells would mask her footprints in the dirt or the movements of plants if she brushed them. It took her about an hour to reach the main green entrance on the west wall. She slowed down even more as she drew near it. She froze at the first sound she heard. Two warriors crossed in front of Irene. They were obviously on patrol. One was wearing a mix of leather and plate armor. He was armed with a sword and shield. The second wore blue touched leathers and carried a bronze spear. This second warrior couldn¡¯t be more than thirteen. Seeing him, Irene wondered what they were turning themselves into.

    An arrow arched out of the underbrush to Irene¡¯s right. The older warrior reacted quickly, throwing his shield out to try and block the arrow. He failed as the arrow wasn¡¯t aimed at him. The young man was struck in the shoulder. He yelled out. Irene heard more people rushing through the underbrush.

    The warriors in front of her took up fighting stances and studied the trees trying to spot the archer. After the shout, the younger man gave no indication that the arrow bothered him. A eager, hungry look was on his face. A wizard in blue silks arrived. She was escorted by two fighters dressed in full plate armor. One of the new arrivals pulled the arrow from the boy''s shoulder, before the wizard cast heal.

    The wizard was also second generation. She was even younger than the boy. Irene braced herself as she realized this little play was the perfect ruse to draw this healer out. No further arrows arrived. The wizard retreated back in the direction she came from while the two man patrol continued on. There was a distracted dazed look on the healed warrior¡¯s face, but he moved forward boldly, oblivious to any danger.

    With great care, Irene crept closer. A small camp was set up at the western entrance to the green. Irene estimated that their numbers were about half the count of Redfalls¡¯ defenders. As Irene watched, another group of ten arrived from the halls. She spotted at least three healers, all second generation. The youngest looked no older than eight.

    The occasional arrow struck at the perimeter patrols as Irene watched. One warrior was unlucky enough to be struck in the eye. He was dead before he hit the ground and could not be saved by the healer. Irene didn¡¯t bother trying to track down the archer. Ian never used a bow and he was who she was looking for.

    After observing for some time, Irene decided the archer wasn¡¯t trying to actually stop the invaders. Instead they were trying to rile them up. Since no magic was used in the attacks, Irene also wondered if they wanted to make the blues overconfident. The lack of magic made Irene decide that Ian was not out here.

    She retreated back across the green to the halls. She paced a random corridor, still under her full set of cloaking spells. Irene was worried. The force from Londontown was sizable. She was certain a lot of people were about to die. She could see no way to stop it. She still needed to talk to Ian. It was getting late. She was pretty certain she missed lunch. She decided to head back to the square and eat. She would need the fuel for whatever happened next.

    She found Ian drinking in the inn¡¯s common room.

 Trueborn: Chapter Twenty Nine

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you,¡± Irene said as she sat down next to Ian.

    ¡°Here I am,¡± Ian said with a smile.

    ¡°I heard there is a blue force approaching,¡± Irene said. ¡°I went out to check on it.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t put yourself in danger that way,¡± Ian responded. ¡°The guard will take care of it.¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of them,¡± Irene started to say, before Ian cut her off.

    ¡°They are mostly hunters, with a few warriors. Our warriors and wizards will deal with them easily enough,¡± Ian responded.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Irene asked him. ¡°We have lost a bunch of warriors lately and they have healers.¡±

    ¡°Back at Londontown,¡± Ian replied confidently, ¡°they will be no help to them here.¡±

    ¡°There are at least three healers with the raiding party,¡± Irene stated. ¡°I saw them myself.¡± Ian flicked out a spell. Irene recognized it as muffle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get hysterical, just because they are wearing blue silk it doesn¡¯t mean they are healers,¡± Ian told her.

    ¡°I saw them cast heal,¡± Irene said urgently.

    ¡°Look,¡± Ian said, ¡°you''re not a fighter. I have this under control. I am tier five, no tier zero wizard is going to be a problem.¡± He dismissed the muffle and set his beer down. ¡°You''re under a lot of strain, let''s go on up to my room and relax for a bit before I join the night watch.¡±

    He rose to his feet before Irene could respond. She was forced to follow him in order to continue the conversation. Ian projected an aura of confidence as he crossed to the stairs and climbed them.

    <hr>

    When Irene took the aptitudes her job choices were limited by the psychological questions. Most people didn¡¯t even notice the psychological results, since it was the measure of their spatial ability or their inherent ability to learn logic or language that defined their job choices.

    Irene¡¯s limited empathy qualified her for medicine, while her ability to see multiple solutions granted her entrance to engineering. It was her lack of leadership prerogative that banned her from Command. Even at the age of eight, when the aptitudes were given, Irene was curious. She read that long detailed report on her measured abilities and wondered what is leadership prerogative?

    Irene looked it up. After weeks of reading bits of psychological texts, none of which used the term ¡®leadership prerogative¡¯ and were decidedly over the reading comprehension for most eight year olds, Irene decided the term was the designer''s euphemism for a leader''s ability to project confidence and act with certainty.

    Once taken, the aptitude tests were open for review, although Irene was certain most eight year olds never looked at them again. Irene discovered she could change her answers on the test and see how that would alter her results. This didn¡¯t actually change her aptitudes, those first pass results were fixed. With careful experimentation she was able to figure out exactly what each question was measuring.

    The questions that measured ¡®leadership prerogative¡¯ all measured her ability to understand the other person¡¯s point of view. At first blush Irene thought these were the questions that measured empathy. The low empathy score she attained made her think she got them wrong.

    However careful testing proved that all the empathy questions were about emotion. They were things like four children won¡¯t let a fifth child join them, how does that make the fifth child feel? The questions were all dressed up in different activities and friendship levels, but essentially that was what they were. Irene looked at all those activities and friendship levels and responded that some of the time the left out child was angry or hurt and sometimes not bothered at all. If it was reasonable they wouldn¡¯t have fit in the conveyance anyway, she felt the request was more of a friendly greeting than anything.

    Her experiments with the test showed her that if she wanted a high empathy level she needed to say the left out child was traumatized with despair in every situation. She thought that wasn¡¯t empathy but rather a measure of a person¡¯s lack of emotional control. Only an extremely over sensitive person would believe someone else was devastated by the everyday event of being told no.

    Going back to the point of view questions, Irene saw she actually got them all right, if right was being able to see multiple points of view. Her answers on those questions were part of her high score on the ability to see multiple solutions that qualified her for engineering. If she wanted a high score on leadership prerogative she needed to only see one point of view and ignore all the others. It didn¡¯t matter which point of view she selected. As long as she stuck with the viewpoint through all the questions about a described situation, her leadership prerogative score went up.

    At the age of eight Irene could not figure out why not seeing another person''s viewpoint would increase the measure of a person¡¯s leadership ability. Years later she concluded that the designers felt that if a leader didn¡¯t see an alternative, they would push through the given plan without question. They would act with certainty. That confidence would give the appearance of a strong leader. Irene wondered if this was really good leadership or if it was a manipulation by the designers to see the plan written down on far away Earth carried to completion.

    Ian was part of Command. In order to get that position he tested high on leadership prerogative. Irene never considered that before. As she lay there, listening to Ian¡¯s heavy breathing beside her, she did.

    Ian didn¡¯t reject her arguments as much as he just didn¡¯t hear them. He would smile, compliment her intelligence and distract her with sex. Obviously the same thing just happened, only this time she wasn¡¯t distracted. The sex was strangely empty. There was something Ian said that was still bothering her.

    ¡®No tier zero wizard is going to be a problem.¡¯ Irene heard those words echo in her mind. To her those words were an admission of two things. Ian was perfectly aware there were healers among the blue raiding party. He was out there and saw them himself. Otherwise, how would he know they were all young? They did look like tier zero wizards, but they weren¡¯t. They were at least tier one, because heal was a tier one spell. Ian calling them tier zero was proof that he didn¡¯t know heal.

    Irene respected Ian because he didn¡¯t use the heal addiction to rule. Now Irene wondered if it was really higher morals that kept him from using heal to rule, or if it was just a lack of opportunity. Irene felt like she was just waking up to the fact that Ian was willing to do anything to get on top.

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    Ian snorted slightly and woke up. He rolled so he could check to see if she was awake. Irene laid a hand on his head and stroked his hair, her thoughts still far away.

    ¡°If you are worried, why don¡¯t you help with the defense?¡± Ian commented. ¡°Sophia set up a nice sniper''s nest in a tree on the right side of the entrance. From there you could cover the terraces. I wouldn¡¯t expect you to kill anyone. Just cast electrified floor and stun anyone who gets too close.¡±

    It was the same as killing them, Irene thought. Especially with all the water in the area. The electricity based spells were very affected by the conductivity of the environment. She might as well cast chain lightning, only that wasn¡¯t a spell Ian knew.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you do that?¡± Irene asked, in a calm voice.

    ¡°I am going to go around behind and hit them from the rear,¡± Ian explained. It was a good plan if the goal was to kill them all. Only Ian claimed they were just going to ¡®bloody their nose and send them packing¡¯ or at least that is what he said before he started kissing her.

    ¡°It''s true then,¡± Irene continued in the same measured tone. ¡°You''re going to use the ring on Darien and take his place as leader of Chicago.¡±

    ¡°Who told you that?¡± Ian snapped. There was something in his voice Irene didn¡¯t like.

    ¡°You did,¡± Irene responded, ¡°just now.¡± She reached one hand down over the edge of the bed and grabbed the hilt of her Speedwell knife where it lay in the pile of her clothes. ¡°We are all crew of the Speedwell,¡± Irene said to him, in one last try to change his mind. ¡°As Command it is your duty to protect us all.¡±

    ¡°It is the crew¡¯s duty to obey their Captain,¡± Ian retorted angrily. Ian clearly felt he was captain, only he wasn¡¯t. One of the last things Agatha said to Irene was, ¡°You are Chief Engineer now.¡± Irene checked. There in the Speedwell¡¯s computers, after a long list of empty entries, the first of which was captain, was the listing for chief engineer. Irene¡¯s name followed it. It is an engineer''s duty to maintain the ship, because without the ship the crew will die.

    Maintaining the ship meant many things. She could see no other way.

    She pulled the knife. She forced speed into her muscles as she twisted and turned. She shifted the blade slightly in her hand as years of skilled instinct took over. She plunged the knife down into Ian¡¯s chest. The blade smoothly slid between his ribs. Ian made no move to shift out of the way, or block the blow as he usually did when sparring.

    Disbelief shrouded Ian¡¯s features. He cried something, Irene had no idea what. He lifted a hand off the bed beginning a cast. Irene imbued the blade with lightning stunning the breath out of him. She welcomed the pain of the electricity as it leaked from his body into hers where they touched. She hoped it would kill her, because she really didn¡¯t want to face what came after this moment.

    A fountain of white light spilled out from below the bed. It traveled through the bedding under Irene and encased her in a column of light. The column continued up into the ceiling above. A feeling of well-being filled her. The light vanished.

    Ian was dead. Irene let go of the knife and tumbled back out of the bed and onto the floor. Horror and pain filled her. Heartache crashed onto her, because no matter how she looked at it, the truth was she loved him.

    His blood was on her. Its bright red color was almost a perfect match for the red silks of a fire wizard. Irene dragged herself to her feet and half ran into the sanitation facility, where she plunged into the bathing pool. She scrubbed her skin until it hurt. She dunked her head under the water repeatedly. She was reduced to a shaking, gasping pile.

    In the end the cold drove her back out. She didn¡¯t warm the pool before diving in. The water was uncomfortably chilled. It seemed colder to her than usual. It was much colder than the hot tears that streamed down her face.

    Her initial reaction passed, as her survival instincts kicked in, or maybe it was her horror. She could not stay here with Ian laying dead on the bed. She rose to her feet and carefully reentered the sleeping room. Her pack and staff were close to the door, but her clothes were littered across the room. She picked up each article and carefully inspected it for any stains. She dressed slowly, in the reverse order from how she undressed. She reached as far forward as she could to drag her pants back toward her, so she didn¡¯t have to get near the bed.

    Finally she was clothed. She picked up her staff and swung her pack over her shoulder. She opened the door and stepped out. Irene firmly shut the door. She put her back to the room and walked down the hall. The knife sheath on her belt was empty. Irene wasn¡¯t certain what happened when the renter of a room was dead. She wasn¡¯t sticking around to find out.

    She came down into the common room to find it occupied by a large number of women and children. It was late, long past the dinner hour. Irene expected the fighting to begin in earnest at first light. She couldn¡¯t understand what all these people were doing here. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and studied them. They were all nervously trying to sleep. Only the youngest seemed to be having any success.

    ¡°Did you need something?¡± Ellen asked her. She came out of the inn¡¯s kitchen as Irene studied the group.

    ¡°Why is everyone here?¡± She asked. The entire group looked like dependents to her. Without Ian or her fighting, this square was going to lose. Although she would like to believe that no one would kill a child, in the heat of battle Irene wasn¡¯t so certain. There were plenty of war atrocities in human history. These people needed to lock themselves into a rented room until the fighting was over and calmer instincts prevailed. No one ever figured out how to gain entry to a room, apartment or shop without the renter¡¯s permission. ¡°The protection crystal won¡¯t hold the fighting back. Mistakes are too easily made during the fog of war.¡±

    ¡°Where else would they go? These are the spouses of the warriors who have died. No one has coins for the rent,¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°What about you?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°I have a single room provided with the position, but everyone won¡¯t fit. If the fighting spills over, I¡¯ll take the youngest there,¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°I thought you owned the inn,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°No, Ian does. I just work for him,¡± Ellen said this like it was no secret. Irene wondered how that information never came up.

    ¡°Well get everyone loaded up,¡± Irene said suddenly. ¡°They can¡¯t stay here. I know a place you can go.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Load up your stuff,¡± Irene called out to the room. ¡°We are getting out of here. You don¡¯t want to be here when the fighting starts.¡± She turned and looked at Ellen. ¡°Pack up as much food as you can in ten minutes,¡± Irene ordered her. She fished out her gathering bags from her pack and handed them to Ellen.

    ¡°We are leaving in ten minutes,¡± Irene called out to the room. Ellen hurried off. Irene was happy to see the woman needed no further prompting. Irene circled the room, pushing the woman and children to move. Irene counted eight women in the room, nine if she included Ellen. There were at least thirty children, Irene lost count. The oldest was eleven or twelve, while the youngest was a week old infant. Irene ordered the older children to carry the youngest ones that were incapable of walking themselves. Irene knew this was a bad idea, but the situation being what it was, her options were limited.

    Fifteen minutes later, Irene swung Ellen¡¯s youngest onto her hip, and led the group out of the common room and into the center courtyard. The protection crystal in the center of the square was half the size it was that morning. It was barely three inches tall. The crystals in some rest areas were literally bigger.

    She kept a steady pace across to the square¡¯s back door. She gave the guards at the gate a killing look. They both appeared shocked and fell back without comment. Irene was glad since she planned to hit them both with tier zero lightning to stun them if she had to.

    The group followed her out into wildspace.

 Trueborn: Chapter Thirty

    It took them two weeks to travel down ten stories and north to the next set of greens. Ellen packed an amazing amount of food in the limited time Irene allowed her, but with all the mouths to feed they ran out quickly. Irene killed everything that came anywhere near the group, both for safety and to eat. When they found a public sanitation facility, she made the woman tan the hides. She ordered the most skilled to teach any of their number, including the children, who didn¡¯t know how.

    Irene knew how dangerous it was, especially for children, to eat only meat. When they reached the next green, Irene ordered the woman to gather tubers for two days, while she kept overwatch. She killed over thirty squirrels, five boars, two cats and a bear. The woman looked at her with fear in their eyes. For once Irene didn¡¯t try to ease it. She felt like a villain. She used that fear to keep everyone in line as they marched.

    When she thought there was enough food gathered to last at least a week, she drove the group to the far southwest corner of the green, where the square Irene saw weeks ago still waited. The high crystal looked unchanged. She paid for nine rooms in the inn for six days each. She rented a room for herself for only a single night. The cost consumed a large portion of the coins she received for killing all those animals along the way.

    Irene came down early the next morning to find Ellen looking longingly at the sealed door to the kitchens.

    ¡°I forgot where we are,¡± Ellen said, pulling herself together at Irene¡¯s arrival. ¡°I woke from a dream where I was in Kyle¡¯s inn and he was waiting for me in the kitchen to start cooking breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Give me your hand,¡± Irene said to Ellen. Ellen held her hand out with a puzzled look on her face. Irene set a single oxidized bronze coin in it. The coin was worth 36 silver or 1296 iron coins. Ellen couldn¡¯t believe so much wealth was resting in her hand. ¡°Put it all on the inn rent,¡± Irene said, with a gesture to the service bar.

    ¡°Really?¡± Ellen said, clearly shocked. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to rent it yourself?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Kyle would want you to have complete control of the inn.¡± The mention of Ellen''s dead spouse convinced her. She ran her hand across the service counter and set the coin down onto the counter top. There was a small light display and the coin was gone. Ellen stepped around the counter and pushed the door to the kitchen open.

    ¡°After breakfast I want everyone to report to the training yards,¡± Irene told Ellen.

    ¡°Everyone?¡± Ellen asked. ¡°Who is going to watch the children?¡±

    ¡°Bring the children too,¡± Irene said. ¡°They count as part of everyone.¡± Irene stepped out of the inn and made her way out into the green. She searched for straight lengths of wood with about the same diameter as her walking stick.

    She spent nearly seventeen days with this group of weak defenseless women. She reached her limit days ago. There was no way she was putting up with it any longer.

    She found a good candidate and reached for her knife, only to find it still missing. A shudder ran through her, half revulsion and half grief. She pushed all that emotion down. She snapped the wood off with a force tap delivered with a well aimed blow of her staff.

    She found ten of them before returning back to the training yards. She waited impatiently for the woman to report. They trailed out slowly, ushering their children before them. When they all settled down around where Irene stood before a targeting dummy. Irene counted the woman and came up one short.

    ¡°Who is missing?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Rose just gave birth, she is still recovering,¡± one of the other women responded.

    ¡°We just walked for sixteen days,¡± Irene said callously. ¡°If she isn¡¯t recovered now she never will be. Go fetch her. Tell her if she isn¡¯t here in five minutes I will ban her from the settlement for life,¡± Irene declared. The woman who spoke rose to her feet and hurried off in the direction of the inn. ¡°And bring the baby!¡± Irene called after the woman. Irene wanted no excuses for the woman to hurry off again.

    The straggler barely made it in the allotted five minutes. Irene noted that Rose was very beautiful. Under normal circumstances Irene was certain Rose would have wrapped some man around her finger shortly. Irene wondered why Rose decided to follow her. The woman must know her usual methods weren¡¯t going to work on Irene.

    The woman Irene sent to fetch Rose was carrying a small infant. Irene thought it was interesting Rose chose not to carry her own child.

    ¡°Here I am,¡± Rose announced, her voice heavy with outrage at being dragged out here. Irene shoved one of the wooden sticks into the woman¡¯s hands.

    ¡°I am so glad you volunteered to go first,¡± Irene announced.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Rose asked with disgust.

    ¡°Block my attack,¡± Irene said. She swung her staff and hit the woman firmly on the shoulder. Rose dropped the stick in her hand and jumped back.

    ¡°What the hell!¡± Rose cried.

    ¡°Pick it up,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°No,¡± Rose cried.

    ¡°Your choice,¡± Irene responded, and swung her staff again. She hit the woman again. The woman jumped back again, she possessed really quick reflexes, but she stumbled on the landing and fell. ¡°Get up,¡± Irene told her. Irene could see the denial starting to rise to the woman¡¯s lips. Irene began her swing.

    ¡°Give me a second,¡± Rose cried. She grabbed the stick off the ground and rose unsteadily to her feet. Irene gave her a moment to steady herself.

    ¡°Block my attack,¡± Irene said again. This time Rose made an attempt to raise the stick up. Seeing Rose¡¯s action, Irene aimed her blow at the stick and not at Rose herself. Rose managed to not drop the stick under the impact. ¡°Good,¡± Irene declared. ¡°Now hit me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Rose said shakily.

    ¡°Swing that stick and hit me with it!¡± Irene yelled. ¡°Go on! Hit me!¡±

    Rose made a weak swing in Irene¡¯s general direction. The blow came nowhere near her. Irene didn¡¯t even step back.

    ¡°I said hit me,¡± Irene goaded, taking a step closer.

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    Rose swung again. Her blow was weak. Irene shifted her staff just slightly catching the blow without any perceived effort.

    ¡°Good,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Now, I want you to tighten your fingers one at a time starting with your pinky.¡± She held out her hand and mimed the action without holding her staff.

    ¡°What?¡± Rose echoed again.

    ¡°Hold that staff out,¡± Irene ordered. ¡°Tighten your fingers one at a time, starting with your pinky,¡± she commanded when Rose held the staff in front of her. Irene repeated this instruction two more times before she saw Rose flex her fingers. ¡°Good,¡± she said, ¡°now squeeze the staff once with all your fingers together.¡± Rose followed that instruction without Irene needing to repeat it. ¡°Tighten your fingers one at a time again, starting with your pinky,¡± Irene instructed. ¡°Now hit me,¡± Irene said when Rose flexed her fingers again.

    Rose swung again. Again Irene stopped the blow with little effort.

    ¡°Good,¡± Irene declared. ¡°Do it again. Tighten your fingers one at a time.¡± Irene ran through the exercise again and again. Rose¡¯s weak attack grew even weaker. Irene thought the first blow she landed on Rose¡¯s shoulder might have been a little heavy. The woman was having problems with it now. Irene didn¡¯t feel sorry for her. Irene knew she was in a very dangerous mood. These women were driving her crazy with their fear and their excuses. Irene could not believe that at one time they all lived in the wildspace suburbs of Chicago. How had they done that and not know how to land a hit?

    ¡°What do you want from me?¡± Rose cried. She stumbled slightly with fatigue and she was the one doing the hitting.

    ¡°Again!¡± Irene demanded. When Rose didn¡¯t respond Irene hit her. Rose was unable to get her stick up in time. ¡°One at a time, all together, one at a time and hit me,¡± Irene repeated.

    Rose swung. Flame raced down the length of Rose¡¯s stick. Her blow gained force, her swing shifted as it gained accuracy. Irene shifted slightly, catching the blow on her own staff. Her higher skill level and tier allowed her to block the imbued blow as easily as Rose¡¯s weak beginner blows.

    Irene smiled, it was a cold thing. ¡°Good,¡± she said to the woman. Irene stepped close to Rose and grabbed ahold of her shoulder. Irene leaned her own staff against her body and cast a tier three heal. Rose screamed as the pain from her injuries doubled, then faded away to nothing. Irene was already stepping away from Rose, her staff back into her hands by the time Rose recovered.

    ¡°That is how you imbue fire,¡± Irene said to the group. The woman and children all watched her beat Rose in shocked silence. It troubled Irene that none of them stepped forward to help their companion. ¡°Pick up your staves and face off with each other. We are not leaving here until you can all do it consistently.¡± Irene turned back to Rose. ¡°Hit me,¡± she said to the woman.

    Irene taught them all how to imbue fire and ice. She also taught them to throw an ice-bolt and a fireball using the targeting dummies. She told them how to cast shield, fear and the tier one heal. She gave them a stern warning that the heal between the same colors should only be used in the direst of circumstances since its use led to addiction. Even several of the older children managed to learn some of the spells.

    Irene let them all go at lunch. She walked back to the outside tables of the inn. Ellen sat down next to her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Ellen said to Irene.

    ¡°Women are always on the bottom here,¡± Irene said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be that way. The structure makes pregnancy and childbirth completely safe and only a minor impairment. Magic means there is no measurable advantage to size or strength. Agility and quickness is more of an advantage. Look at how fast Rose could jump back from my blows. An untrained man could never match that. Yet Rose whines on and on about how she is recovering from childbirth, when truthfully she was completely healed in a day,¡±

    ¡°What about the children?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°What about them?¡± Irene countered. ¡°You already share childcare duties among the women. Why do men get excluded from it? Don¡¯t they have the same eyes and hands you do to watch their children and keep them out of trouble?¡±

    ¡°They are busy hunting,¡± Ellen countered.

    ¡°Why are they busy hunting? Think about that. Are they busy hunting because women don''t help?¡± Irene gave Ellen a hard look. ¡°When women don''t hunt men keep control of the flow of structure coins. As a woman I want to blame men for these developments, but us women are just as responsible. Women are taking advantage of the male instinct to protect their family, sending fathers out into danger. Women are cheating men of the opportunity to spend time with their children and bond with them. What happens when a father dies? How does a mother who never hunted care for her children when there is no man left to bring home food?¡±

    Ellen shifted uncomfortably as she considered that all the women here were huddling in fear in the common room when Irene found them. They were all waiting for a man to come and protect them or kill them. But a man didn¡¯t come, Irene did.

    ¡°It is that desperation that leads to women devaluing themselves. Learning to defend yourself doesn¡¯t increase your risk. Not learning it does not make you safe. This is Ellensburg,¡± Irene said, naming the square, ¡°don¡¯t let anyone take it from you.¡±

    ¡°I am not certain I know how to do that,¡± Ellen confessed.

    ¡°I have one last thing to teach you,¡± Irene told Ellen. ¡°I never forgave my parents for teaching it to me, but I don¡¯t think I would be alive today if I didn¡¯t learn it. I don¡¯t expect you to forgive me either.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Self reliance,¡± Irene said. She cast a spell. From Ellen¡¯s point of view Irene just vanished. There was the slightest blur on the other side of the table and then that too was gone.

    ¡°Irene?¡± Ellen called. ¡°Irene!¡± Ellen called louder as the meaning of Irene¡¯s words sank in. There was no response. Irene was already gone. She rose from her seat moments after the cast. She was halfway across the square at Ellen¡¯s first questioning call. She didn¡¯t hear the woman''s later more frantic calls as she crossed the training yards and entered the green.

    She spent that night high in a tree on the east side of the greenspace. She reflected on how she treated the women of Ellensburg and admitted her harsh treatment of them was driven by her disgust with herself. She kept remembering things, and putting them together. She didn''t like herself. She didn''t like that she let so much slip. She pushed it all into the back of her mind. She wasn''t safe here.

    The next day she headed up and south in the direction of the exit. She spent two days looking for The Heights, but didn¡¯t find the suburb. She hoped her friends just moved someplace safer. She remembered she told them to go out to the Speedwell if things got bad.

    The exit courtyard was unchanged. The weather felt like late spring. The bright sun and fresh green grass greeted her. She walked up the trail and welcomed the feeling of weakness that overcame her as she stepped past the structure¡¯s area of influence. She paused at the rocks on the top of the ridge to eat the last of her food. She thought about building a small structure here to house a cart. That way she could drive back from here in less than an hour. It took her two days to walk it without food. She ran out of water on the second day and was forced to drink from the irrigation water. Luckily she knew which lines were safe to drink from. The automatic systems were at work, tending the fields. There was no human traffic on any of the roads to give her a ride.

    Irene found the airlock doors to the Speedwell sealed. They unlocked smoothly after recognizing her. She climbed down to the power distribution floor and flipped the breakers to the main lifts, the floor that held her apartment and the main galley. The power was still on in the essential systems, engineering and medical. She did a quick check and found that no faults occurred in her absence.

    With the lifts now active she rode one up to her apartment level. The floor lights powered on in response to her motion when she stepped out of the elevator car. One light at the far end of the hallway flickered before powering on. Irene made a note to herself to check it later. She opened the manual valves for water flow onto the floor and triggered a system flush and integrity check on the nearby control panel.

    The door to her apartment slid open at a touch. The rooms beyond were slightly cool. Irene checked that warm air was coming in through the vents. She set her staff and backpack on the kitchen table before making her way into her childhood room. It was still furnished with two sets of bunk beds designed to hold the four daughters of the house.

    Irene crawled up onto the bed that was hers. It was the top bunk to the left. The blankets were old and worn. Irene had a vague thought about stripping out the contents of the apartment and replacing it all with new. She curled up in a ball under the thin fabric. For the first time in three years she felt truly safe. She was also completely alone.

    Irene Whitman, Chief Engineer of the generational colony ship Speedwell and a tier five wizard, cried herself to sleep.

 Trueborn: Chapter Thirty One

    Three days later, Irene took her repair cart out to one of the eastern villages. This was the third village to the south. It was located just within the virgin forest along the edge of the cleared fields. The residents named it Woodheart. It was just before dawn when Irene parked her cart in front of the bakery. Smoke was rising from its chimney even at this early hour. She stepped up onto the wooden boardwalk outside the shop and knocked on the closed door. She heard a start of surprise from inside. Everyone in this small village would be well aware of the bakery¡¯s hours. Someone knocking on the door at this time of day was an outsider.

    Irene waited long enough that she wondered if she needed to come back during business hours. The door swung open. Linda, Irene¡¯s sister-in-law stood in the doorway.

    ¡°Good morning, Linda,¡± Irene said in greeting. ¡°Is Benjamin available?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re back,¡± Linda commented.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± a male voice called from inside the shop. Linda half turned to respond to her spouse. Irene noted her sister-in-law¡¯s large stomach and concluded that she was expecting again.

    ¡°It''s your sister, Irene,¡± Linda responded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t leave her standing out there. Bring her back and we can talk while I finish this batch,¡± Benjamin called back. Linda stepped to the side and motioned for Irene to enter. Irene stepped through the door and into the warmth of the interior of the building. The front shop room was mostly dark. It was lit by a wedge of light coming from a partially open door into the back room and the single candle in Linda¡¯s hand.

    Irene crossed to the partially open door as Linda closed and secured the shop door. She pushed the door open to find her brother forming loaves at a wooden work table. The room was very warm. The back wall was the bakery''s oven. The door to the oven was slightly open. A long handled baking peel was standing upright beside the door.

    Irene heard a child¡¯s cry come from above. The child sounded very young. Irene wondered if she was misjudging her sister-in-law''s condition. She thought Linda might not be expecting a new child but that her shape wasn¡¯t recovered from giving birth to the last one. Childbirth outside the structure was much more dangerous and took far longer to recover from. It was this disadvantage and the need to care for the newborn that caused women to become tied to the home on the old world. Without fertility control, women were caught in the loop of pregnancy, recovery, infant care, pregnancy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go check on the babe,¡± Linda said, as she passed them, heading to a small door in the sidewall of the workroom. Irene knew that the door led to a stairwell that gave access to the living quarters above.

    ¡°Take your time dear,¡± Benjamin said. ¡°Irene can help me finish up here.¡± After his spouse left the room, Benjamin turned his attention to his youngest sister. He noted her thin state and the disarray of her hair. She was wearing a worn outfit made out of heavy leather. Dark shadows were under her eyes. He stopped rolling the loaves, an action that would have shocked Linda if she was still there to see it.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked Irene.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene replied bluntly. She ran a hand under her eyes and took a deep breath. She promised herself she was done crying. She was not going to break down at the first sign of concern.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Benjamin asked gently.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can talk about it,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want to be alone.¡±

    Benjamin didn¡¯t know what to think. He and Irene were never close. He was six years older than her, one of the first set of settler infants. Irene was one of the last set. He wanted to send her down to the southernmost village where their sister Helen made her home, only Helen died two winters ago. Benjamin doubted that Irene even knew. Even Benjamin could tell that now was not the time to tell her.

    ¡°Go wash your hands in the basin over there,¡± Benjamin said, indicating a wash station in a corner of the room, ¡°and I will teach you how to roll loaves.¡±

    Irene followed his instructions. She cleaned and dried her hands, before joining him. First he showed her how to size the dough using a simple balance and weighted measures. He demonstrated to her how to roll and shape a loaf. She did surprisingly well for a beginner. Benjamin used the baker''s peel to load the loaves into the oven.

    ¡°We get to take a break now,¡± Benjamin said, when all the dough in the mix box was made into loaves and loaded into the oven. ¡°Come on up for tea and toast. It is day-old bread, but a dollop of preserves will make it go down easily enough.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to feed me,¡± Irene countered. ¡°I ate something on the Speedwell.¡±

    ¡°When? Yesterday?¡± Benjamin asked critically, once more looking at Irene¡¯s thin form. ¡°Come,¡± he said again, ¡°you can¡¯t say no to bread in a baker¡¯s house.¡±

    Irene followed her brother up the stairs to the small kitchen above. Linda was walking the floor with a bundled child in her arms. The baby looked happy enough if wide awake. Benjamin took the baby from his spouse, before telling Irene to take a seat at the table. Benjamin sat in the chair at the end of the table and jiggled the baby on his knee.

    Irene sat down on his right. She brushed some of the flour off the leather of her armor, and ran one slightly shaky hand over her hair. To her embarrassment her hand snagged on tangles. She couldn¡¯t recall when she last combed it out. Irene caught Linda giving her a second glance, before sharing a look with her spouse. She moved to lay out the promised toast and preserves. She made tea from water that was heating on a small charcoal brazier.

    ¡°There¡¯s been a war inside the structure,¡± Irene admitted suddenly. She wasn¡¯t certain why she felt the need to tell her brother. ¡°Christopher was killed about nine months ago,¡± Irene explained. Christopher was another of their siblings. Benjamin was startled, but thought this was his chance to clear the air about Helen.

    ¡°Helen died two winters ago,¡± Benjamin announced. ¡°Her spouse and children are still living in Bayou,¡± he said, giving the name of the southernmost village.

    ¡°I lost track of Mary, but she was in the structure at one point,¡± Irene responded, naming her oldest sister. ¡°Phillip is still living in Londontown with Mother.¡±

    ¡°Your mother is still alive?¡± Linda burst out, surprised by this news. The old woman must be nearly a hundred, or maybe even older.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°She has dementia or something. She doesn¡¯t remember me. She clings very tightly to Phillip.¡± Irene didn¡¯t see any reason to tell them that their mother was known as the queen of Londontown. It would be meaningless to them here.

    ¡°She always did favor Phillip,¡± Benjamin commented. ¡°I could never understand it. It was obvious to all of us that you and Thomas were the trueborn children.¡± Each single member of the last generation of flight crew was issued four children. Each couple was issued eight. Of the eight children only two were genetically related to their parents, the rest were grown from stored genetic material. They were added to assure genetic diversity among the settlers.

    ¡°All of us were gestated in the Speedwell¡¯s artificial wombs,¡± Irene countered with some force. ¡°We are all trueborn children of the colony.¡± She fell silent for a moment, lost in thought. ¡°I can¡¯t really blame our parents for having favorites. It was on the schedule so it just happened. No one asked them if they wanted to raise eight children in their elder years,¡± Irene continued after the brief pause.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Irene was scarred by whatever happened. Benjamin could see that. He could see that she was also damaged by their perfectly normal childhood. He felt a little jealous of her when she came last time and told him she was going into the ruins. She told him about life and magic in the structure. She keyed him into the Speedwell¡¯s security so that the villages could continue to use the medical and manufacturing facilities. Somehow his dutiful sister who kept everything running turned into an adventurer when he wasn¡¯t looking.

    Looking at her now, with the shadows in her eyes, he was suddenly grateful for his steady life as a baker and the love and support of his wife and children. He may not have experienced the highs of an adventurer''s life, but he wasn¡¯t forced to endure the lows of it either.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to Thomas,¡± Irene commented, ¡°Beatrice either.¡±

    ¡°I heard a rumor they both went with a group that crossed the eastern ridge,¡± Benjamin commented.

    ¡°Did a group go east?¡± Irene asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°A small group,¡± Linda said, ¡°only about twenty. One of my brothers went as well. They left even before the land grants. I don¡¯t think anyone ever heard from them again.¡± Irene nodded her head, indicating she understood they were likely dead. She could pull up the data from the advance ship and see what was to the east. She never really thought about what was in that direction before. Irene ate some of the toast. It was very good. Irene wouldn¡¯t have known it wasn¡¯t fresh. The tea was some kind of herbal blend she didn¡¯t recognize.

    ¡°What are your plans?¡± Benjamin asked. Irene ran her fingers through the ends of her tangled hair as she thought about her response.

    ¡°I need to catch up on the Speedwell¡¯s maintenance,¡± she said finally. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought beyond that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been running low on wheat,¡± Linda commented.

    ¡°There is plenty in the storehouses,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I added you to the security roster,¡± she said to her brother. ¡°You could pull whatever you needed.¡± Linda gave her spouse a sharp look. It appeared Benjamin didn¡¯t tell her that part.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in charity,¡± Benjamin countered. ¡°It is an insult saying I can¡¯t take care of myself.¡± Irene sighed.

    ¡°Do you have some kind of currency you use?¡± she asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Benjamin responded.

    ¡°What do you sell your loaves for?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Iron weights,¡± Linda responded. She rose from her seat and went to a box tucked away on a shelf. She pulled the box down. She returned to the table and opened the box showing Irene its contents. Inside were cut pieces of the iron ingots the Speedwell¡¯s refiners produced. She remembered that Benjamin¡¯s scale below used stones for its weights. This display made Irene think the villages must be starved for iron.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t anyone do the listed jobs for Speedwell credits anymore?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Not for a while,¡± Benjamin responded. ¡°We are all too busy.¡±

    Irene felt through the pockets of her armor and found a physical coin. She pulled it out and set it on the table. Luckily it was iron.

    ¡°How would you value that?¡± Irene asked. Benjamin picked up the coin and weighed it in his hand.

    ¡°Maybe a quarter weight,¡± he said before passing it to his spouse. Linda hefted the coin and nodded her agreement before inspecting it closer.

    ¡°This is really fine work,¡± she said after studying it. ¡°Where did you get it?¡±

    ¡°It is a structure coin,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I can set up the warehouse to buy and sell material for these coins or something like them. That way you can sell your excess off when you have it and use the coins to buy wheat and flour after the harvest. Would that work?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much excess,¡± Linda commented.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking of the bakery directly. I meant the lumberjacks can sell wood, the hunters furs or the ranchers leather. The Speedwell¡¯s manufacturing facilities are short on some materials so many of the end products can¡¯t be made anymore. If the villages provide that raw material the Speedwell can pay in coins. The lumberjacks, hunters and farmers could then pay for your bread with the coins and you could use them to buy wheat from the Speedwell farms.¡± Irene was fully aware that she was describing something very close to the vendor system in the structure. It was a system designed to distribute goods without stripping the meaning and value from people¡¯s lives. The Speedwell would buy items from the villages that they could produce and sell them items they couldn¡¯t. Most of what the Speedwell bought would end up being recycled, but right now most of the harvest was. The process would leave everyone with their pride.

    ¡°It might work,¡± Linda said, turning the coin over in her hand. ¡°You would need to spread the news about it somehow.¡±

    ¡°It would work better if there were exchange points closer to each village,¡± Benjamin added. ¡°It is a long trip up to the Speedwell for most of us. The list of items on offer or being purchased needs to be clear, along with the current prices.¡±

    Irene turned the project over in her mind. She would need to set it up so the warehouse bought a lot of items in the beginning to spread the coins. Once a certain amount was in circulation she would scale back, so that the warehouses were only a minor part of the villages¡¯ economy. She could do a survey of how much items were selling for in iron weight to begin with. She could use statistics to alter the prices offered over time, offering more for hard to produce items and less for the easy stuff. She would have to be careful not to sell the products from the automated fields too cheaply if anyone was farming the same thing by hand. She didn¡¯t want to devalue a hard working farmer¡¯s crop.

    ¡°I have a comb you can borrow for your hair,¡± Linda offered. Irene realized she was sitting there playing her hair, working the tangles out with her fingers as she considered the project.

    ¡°That¡¯s ok,¡± Irene said, rising to her feet. ¡°I should go get cleaned up. Thank you for breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Come visit us anytime,¡± Benjamin said. The baby he held was finally falling asleep. He carefully shifted it to rise to his feet. He handed the infant to his spouse, before escorting his sister downstairs.

    He recognized the maintenance cart waiting in the street outside his shop. It seemed so odd to see it there. It was an item from the far past to him. As Irene passed him in the doorway, Benjamin stopped her with a soft touch on her shoulder.

    ¡°Will you be alright?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said, turning to look at him. Her eyes seemed clearer and he was reassured.

    ¡°Come to dinner,¡± he said.

    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± Irene replied. ¡°Thank you for teaching me to make loaves.¡±

    ¡°My pleasure,¡± Benjamin responded.

    Irene stepped through the door. She crossed the boardwalk and stepped up into the cart. She flicked a few controls and the cart smoothly rolled away. The sun was just rising in the east.

    Benjamin returned back into his shop. He checked the oven before heading up to the kitchen. Linda was sitting at the table drinking her tea. Benjamin settled down beside her.

    ¡°I invited her to dinner,¡± Benjamin told his spouse. ¡°I don¡¯t know if she will come.¡±

    ¡°Did your mother really not like her, even though Irene was her true child?¡± Linda asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Benjamin replied. ¡°Father didn¡¯t like her either. He couldn¡¯t handle that she was smarter than him. I never understood Mother. She made rather cutting comments about how Irene picked engineering over medicine when her aptitudes qualified her for both. I don¡¯t think that was really the problem, even before the aptitudes, Mother favored Phillip.¡±

    ¡°That is so strange. In my family the true children were heavily favored,¡± Linda commented.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t favor Thomas either, but at least they didn¡¯t single him out in disapproval. He played the party boy, never serious about anything. That¡¯s partly why I never really believed he went with that group east,¡± Benjamin observed. He sighed. ¡°When I think back I realize she must have been very lonely. She said as much last time she was here. I don¡¯t think I believed her then, I do now,¡± Benjamin said.

    ¡°What do you think happened to her?¡± Linda asked.

    ¡°Someone she trusted betrayed her,¡± Benjamin responded. ¡°That or someone she loved died, or maybe both, perhaps in that war she mentioned.¡±

    ¡°I think she did something she can¡¯t forgive herself for. She has come here looking for acceptance because she knows she can¡¯t find it among people who know what she did,¡± Linda said critically. She never really liked Irene. The woman was so cold. She was always studying or working. She never came to any of the socials. She didn¡¯t seem to ever do anything just for fun. Even if Linda felt a little sorry for Irene now, Linda wasn¡¯t certain she wanted a woman with so little joy in her around her children.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what she did or didn¡¯t do,¡± Benjamin responded. ¡°She is my sister. She will always be welcome in my house.¡± Benjamin said these words with a little more force than he intended, startled as he was by his spouse''s words.

    ¡°She isn¡¯t really your sister,¡± Linda countered. ¡°She is trueborn, you aren¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You heard her,¡± Benjamin said with finality. ¡°We are all trueborn children of the Speedwell.¡±

 A Lesser God

    The generational colony ship Speedwell left Earth hundreds of years ago. Defying the odds it landed safely on its target planet in the Sigma Draconis system. As the last generation of flight crew and first generation of settlers began building the colony, they discovered ¡°ruins¡± on the planet. These "ruins" are actually a world spanning structure that hosts and runs a game.

    The game is very dangerous, killing the unwary. It actively destroys technology brought into it. Human players are forced to defend themselves with the weapons of the game, spears, swords, knives, bows and magic to survive.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Join the tier six wizard Grandmother and her team, Todd, Ellen, Alex, Sarah and the non-human Companion as they travel deep into the structure. Their differing strengths and interests allow the team to learn more skills, master more magic, craft more items and complete more quests than any single player could. Even if the single player is a lesser god.

    If you want to know how Grandmother assembled her team and became a lesser god, read Engineered Magic available at Amazon</a>.

 A Lesser God: Chapter One

    <h2>48 years After Landing: Todd</h2>

    They arrived early on market day. Todd and Grandmother visited a couple days earlier under cloaking spells to verify the travel time and confirm the day. The party waited in the tight confines of the transportation room until Grandmother stepped out last. They exited out of the transportation room under a camouflage spell. Where the hallway opened up to the square courtyard, Sarah dropped the spell.

    They crossed the courtyard to the market area. Todd was unusually nervous. This wasn¡¯t any square. This was Londontown. He was born here, but when his magic came up red and not blue he didn¡¯t have any other choice but to leave. It was luck that Ellen¡¯s father was putting together an expedition south at around the same time.

    Silence descended on the square as everyone in the market stared at them, or rather at Companion. Companion handled this attention with casual ease. This was not the first human square they visited, and Companion wasn¡¯t human. He was a member of another player race. Alex, who was the best at understanding Companion¡¯s language of any of them, started calling Companion a selkie. Alex explained it was from an Earth myth. Todd was going to look it up the next time they were back at the Speedwell.

    Grandmother picked a spot. She was carrying a contraption of wooden rods and leather in her hand. She set about unfolding this into a portable stool. She put the stool near the payment pillar that was in the front left corner of her chosen market stall. She sat. She glanced at Sarah, who was busy with her own setup.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Grandmother told Alex.

    ¡°We are Grandmother¡¯s party,¡± Alex announced to the market, in a loud clear voice. ¡°Today and today only we are paying for spells. We will give six iron for any spell. If you can demonstrate the spell, we will pay double. If it is a spell we don¡¯t know, there is a bonus. Come forth and claim your coins.¡±

    Todd waited for the tide of questions that always came. What creature is that? What kind of spells? How do we know you will pay us? Where do you come from?

    ¡°Who is this Grandmother?¡± a heavy man wearing blacksmith¡¯s leathers questioned, with a trace of anger in his words. He was setting up at a stall across the way from them. Todd was surprised that this question came up first. Usually Companion¡¯s presence overpowered all other considerations. Alex took a deep breath in preparation for his reply. Alex called Grandmother the Keeper of the Eastern Tower, the Ruler of the Southern Marches and the Wielder of the Earthen Quarterstaff in previous squares. Todd thought Grandmother secretly liked that last one. He suspected Alex would probably go with Friend of the Selkies this time, since Companion¡¯s presence wasn¡¯t explained yet. All of these titles were just words to impress the square¡¯s citizens and hold back trouble. Although all of them were technically true, they didn¡¯t really carry any weight.

    Todd found his hand on Alex¡¯s upper arm, silencing the man. ¡°I¡¯ll take this one,¡± he said to his teammate. Alex nodded his acceptance and took a half step back.

    Todd stepped forward to face the questioning man and all those in the market behind him. He tapped the end of his spear on the courtyard stone. The sound echoed strangely through the space. ¡°We serve Irene, the mad queen¡¯s youngest daughter. You will show respect to her and all those she chooses as companions.¡±

    Grandmother tilted her head, surprised at Todd¡¯s words. She did not contradict him. This was Londontown, the oldest of the human squares. They were arrogant. They considered themselves the seat of civilization. Perhaps the threat of force was not uncalled for here.

    The blacksmith¡¯s gaze flew to Grandmother. His eyes widened. He was older. Although Grandmother admitted she hadn¡¯t been to Londontown for a while, this man was old enough to have seen her on her last visit. Besides, the mad queen ruled here for over twenty years. Her atrocities were not so easily forgotten. The blacksmith bowed.

    Todd was shocked down to his toes. Companion said something in his high fluting tones which Todd translated roughly as, ¡°Finally someone who knows how to treat the Elder.¡±

    Alex sang back a response in the same language, but in a much lower octave. He said, ¡°The person knew the Elder''s mother. That is where his fear comes from.¡± Or at least that was Todd¡¯s rough guess.

    ¡°Her mother?¡± Companion fluted back. ¡°You have not told that tale.¡±

    ¡°I will need a few beers for that one,¡± Alex replied.

    ¡°Tonight then,¡± Companion agreed. Grandmother shot them both hushing looks, before turning to the blacksmith.

    ¡°Do you wish to sell me a spell?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I wish I knew one to sell to you, my lady,¡± the blacksmith responded.

    ¡°You wear a blacksmith¡¯s apron,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Surely you know the spell to sharpen a blade?¡±

    ¡°You will pay for a crafter¡¯s skill?¡± The blacksmith asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother responded. Somehow she injected a thread of pure joy into her voice. ¡°Crafter¡¯s spells, warrior¡¯s spells, wizard spells, utility spells; I will give six iron coins to anyone who can tell me how to make the water in the sink warmer. Twelve coins if they demonstrate it to one of my companions. And enchantments!¡± Grandmother said, suddenly raising her voice, ¡°I¡¯ll pay double for them.¡±

    ¡°What is an enchantment?¡± the blacksmith asked.

    ¡°It is a way to add properties to an item with the application of symbols. Darien owned an invisibility cloak. I would love to know how that was done!¡± Grandmother replied. The blacksmith shifted on his feet and looked around at everyone watching in the market. He had become the representative of the people of Londontown. The coin Grandmother was offering would make their lives all much easier. In a human society such an influx of coins would cause nothing but inflation, but this was the structure. The coins could always be used to purchase items from the vendor, or pay rent on the rooms. The vendor only sold the bare necessities so there would be some inflation especially in the amount paid for raw materials, but at the same time there would be an influx of tools and higher tier products. It was the promise of a more comfortable life.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Grandmother announced this plan to Todd while they were installing a squat toilet for Companion¡¯s use on the Speedwell. She admitted to him that she got a rather large reward for claiming the protection crystal in the southern gallery. The sofa there was upholstered with a tapestry of stones that contained dozens of stone sculpting spells. That tapestry inspired her to tour the human region and record as many spells as possible.

    Todd asked her how she would get people to tell her their most closely guarded secrets. ¡°Pay them, of course,¡± Grandmother responded, as she tightened a pipe joint. She would pay for every spell, regardless of if she knew it and regardless of if the person in front of them in line just told it. If she only paid the first person to tell her, people would not be as willing to come forward later in the day. ¡°We will pay more if they can demonstrate the spell,¡± Grandmother said excitedly. ¡°It will favor crafters. Crafters tend to know dozens of spells, but warriors and wizards usually only know a few. We will pay for the utility spells too,¡± Grandmother said suddenly, ¡°that should help even it out. Even the children will get some coins. When we go back in a couple years, they will be more likely to show us the new spells they have learned.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t we just end up paying people again for the same set of spells if we go back?¡± Todd asked. The amount of money involved here was mind boggling. Even if Grandmother only offered a single coin per spell, the total would be in the tens of thousands. Todd got the feeling she was talking about more than one coin.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°but how else will we encourage people to learn more? I will have to think of a method that encourages people to tell us of the new spells they learned, not the old ones. Maybe on the second pass we won¡¯t pay for all spells? That would be unfair to the children though. We could limit it by tier maybe¡­ Anyway, there is plenty of time to figure out the second pass rules. For this go around I will have Sarah take notes.¡± Todd wondered when this exercise changed from their group learning new spells, to encouraging others to do the same. Perhaps encouraging others was always Grandmother''s goal.

    ¡°I know the spell to sharpen a blade,¡± the blacksmith announced, breaking Todd out of his memories.

    ¡°Come forward and speak to my scribe,¡± Grandmother said, gesturing to Sarah who was sitting on the floor slightly behind her. Sarah was inside in a ring of silence she drew on the courtyard floor with her stylus. It wasn¡¯t really an enchantment. The sound inside the circle was being muted by a simple muffle spell. Sarah would cast an additional blur spell when she did the interview. ¡°Inside the circle your words will be muffled and your movements blurred.¡±

    The blacksmith looked at his own apprentice, a young woman that was probably his daughter. He said a few quick words to her, before stepping out of his stall and crossing the walkway. He knelt down to talk to Sarah. Sarah cast blur and the two figures became vague.

    ¡°You should sell us your spells next,¡± Todd said to the blacksmith¡¯s apprentice.

    ¡°I learned them all from my father,¡± the apprentice responded.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we have heard it before,¡± Todd stressed. ¡°We pay each person once for each spell. We don¡¯t want to make winners out of those who push the line.¡±

    ¡°What about the new spell bonus?¡± the apprentice asked.

    ¡°Well yes, if you really know something unique I suppose speediness is to your advantage. Grandmother prizes honesty above all else, so I will tell you this is our eighth square. New spells are very rare,¡± Todd replied to the woman.

    ¡°Eight squares?¡± the apprentice echoed. ¡°How do I know you won¡¯t just lie and claim you have heard my spell before, even if it is new?¡±

    ¡°We have a list. If we say we have heard of the spell, we can show it to you on the list,¡± Todd replied. That seemed to make the woman grow lost in thought. She turned to her own tasks of setting up the blacksmith¡¯s stall.

    ¡°Today and today only we are paying for spells. We will give six iron for any spell. If you can demonstrate the spell, we will pay double. If it is a spell we don''t know, there is a bonus. Come forth and claim your coins,¡± Alex called out their offer again. He reached into an actual coin purse tied to his belt, and pulled out a handful of physical coins. He juggled them around, one silver flashed among the iron coins. It was actually made of polished steel, but everyone called them silvers. The flashing coin insinuated a silver bonus for a new spell, although Alex never actually promised that.

    The blacksmith stepped out of the ¡®circle of silence¡¯. He was holding two sheets of vellum Sarah wrote notes on. Ellen intercepted the blacksmith and took one of the sheets from him.

    ¡°Do you want to demonstrate these spells now or make an appointment for after the market?¡± Ellen asked the man after inspecting the sheet. Ellen made the offer to demonstrate later to anyone who professed to know spells that used large tools that were difficult to move. These people were usually tier two or three crafters and owned workshops of their own.

    ¡°This evening at my shop will work best for me,¡± he responded. Ellen got the details of his shop¡¯s location and the best time to meet up. She made the note on the back of his sheet of paper.

    ¡°Take the other sheet to Grandmother and she will pay you the first half,¡± Ellen instructed. The blacksmith turned and hesitantly approached Grandmother. He held the sheet out far ahead of himself, so he could stay as far back as he could from her.

    ¡°My lady,¡± he said cautiously.

    ¡°I prefer Grandmother,¡± the mad queen¡¯s youngest daughter, Irene responded. Grandmother took the sheet and examined the contents. ¡°Sarah has noted that you know the art of metal smelting. Do you want your payment in coins or scrap?¡±

    ¡°Scrap?¡± the blacksmith asked. Todd could sense the man¡¯s caution. ¡°What is the rate of exchange?¡±

    ¡°Since you have the skill to smelt iron, steel, copper and bronze, I will give you scrap at the following exchanges; Two coins per iron, five coins per steel, seven coins per bronze and fifteen coins per copper.¡± These numbers were half the value the vendor in their Home Square offered for scrap that morning. No one sold scrap to the vendors; the price was always too low. Buying it from the vendor cost two or three times more. This was an incredible deal. Grandmother wanted the crafters to have access to the raw material in order to encourage their development.

    ¡°I will take half in steel and half in bronze,¡± the blacksmith said instantly. Grandmother nodded. She reached out and touched the payment pillar. With a couple quick flicks of her wrist she set up the transfer. She waved for the blacksmith to make his claim. He swept the scrap and a couple extra coins into his inventory.

    ¡°If you think of any other spell you know before your demonstration appointment, we can record and pay you for them then,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the blacksmith said. He seemed uncertain what else to say.

    ¡°Good market day to you,¡± Grandmother said with a smile. The blacksmith returned to his stall. A leatherworker at the next stall leaned over to speak quietly to him. Whatever the blacksmith said must have met the leatherworker''s approval, as he stepped out of his own stall and headed in the direction of Sarah.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Two

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    The blacksmith was a respected member of the crafting community. Every seller in the market made their way over to Grandmother¡¯s stall. It was their biggest success so far. In the rush Todd lost sight of the blacksmith¡¯s apprentice. He wanted to make sure the woman got her money. It would be proof to the others that they really intended to pay everyone.

    It was nearly an hour later when Todd spotted her again. She was helping an extremely old woman walk to the market. When Todd first met Grandmother she was the oldest person he had ever seen. It wasn¡¯t until he went to the eastern villages and met the starborn there that he realized Grandmother was in really good condition for her age. In the ten years since, the starborn in the villages got older and older, but Grandmother seemed to stay the same. Todd stopped thinking of Grandmother as old. Instead he thought of her as mature.

    This woman looked even older than the residents of the eastern villages. Her hands were knotted and swollen with arthritis. Cataracts whitened her eyes to such a degree that Todd was uncertain she could see at all. She walked in a stoop; her balance was so faulty he was certain she could not have walked at all if the blacksmith''s apprentice did not have a firm hold of her arm. As the old woman approached, everyone stepped away from their place in line, letting her step ahead of them.

    When Sarah¡¯s current interview was over, she looked up and caught sight of the old woman waiting. Sarah rose gracefully to her feet, not wanting to force the old woman to have to sit to converse with her. The blacksmith¡¯s apprentice guided the old woman inside the circle. Sarah recast her spells and the view of them blurred.

    Minutes later Sarah dismissed the spells. She raised her voice and called, ¡°Grandmother, Mary says she knows a copy spell. Have you heard of it?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said, she rose to her feet and moved closer to Sarah and the old woman. She seemed to be studying the old woman closely. Todd wondered if she knew her. ¡°What does it copy?¡±

    ¡°It copies anything written with a stylus from one piece of vellum to another,¡± the blacksmith''s apprentice explained. ¡°I thought of it when you talked about ¡®enchantments¡¯,¡± the apprentice stumbled slightly over the unfamiliar word. ¡±No one else in my family knows it, only Gran-mama.¡±

    ¡°Can you demonstrate it?¡± Grandmother asked Mary.

    ¡°No, not really,¡± the old woman said, holding up her crippled hands. ¡°I can talk you through it.¡±

    ¡°Usually I don¡¯t pay for a new spell that can¡¯t be demonstrated. If you can¡¯t cast it and I¡¯ve never heard of it, how do I even know it is a spell? Let¡¯s see what we can do in this case.¡± Grandmother said, as she thought about it. ¡°What color is your magic?¡± she asked the old woman.

    ¡°Blue,¡± Mary replied, clearly uncertain where this question was leading.

    Grandmother handed her staff to Companion, who as usual was standing guard on Sarah. She shook out her hands and began to cast.

    Todd felt it in his bones. It was like the nanobots in his body wanted to move to do Grandmother¡¯s bidding. They were torn as to which master they should follow, Control or Grandmother. Ever since he reached tier four he was able to sense it when Grandmother cast the higher tier spells. This is why the blacksmith was right to fear the mad queen¡¯s daughter and it had nothing to do with who her mother was. Grandmother was a tier six player, what Companion called a lesser god. The rest of them thought this description was a mistake in the translation of Companion¡¯s language. When Grandmother cast, Todd wondered. At a minimum this feeling in his bones must be what caused Companion¡¯s people to call tier six players gods.

    Grandmother completed her cast. For a brief second Todd swore the lights dimmed. The old woman whimpered, as her fingers and back straightened. The cataracts faded from her eyes. She stumbled back, where she was caught by Sarah. It was a tier five heal. Todd suspected it might be capable of bringing the newly dead back to life.

    ¡°Alex, run over to the inn and see if you can get us some lunch,¡± Grandmother asked. Alex readily agreed, even though it was still far too early for the meal. They all knew how hungry a high tier heal could leave you.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up, Mary. You are still old. You are just a healthier version of yourself,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°It is like if you received all the geriatric care the Speedwell has to offer.¡±

    ¡°The Speedwell¡­¡± Mary said slowly. ¡°Does it still exist?¡± She was looking down at her hands as she flexed her fingers.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother assured Mary, ¡°along with the villages against the eastern ridge. Do you think you can demonstrate the spell?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Mary replied.

    ¡°I think Mary can support herself for now,¡± Grandmother said to the apprentice. ¡°If you step back, we can get your spells later.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± the apprentice agreed. ¡°I will be near, Gran-mama,¡± she assured the old woman. Grandmother returned to her stool. Ellen was engaged in a detailed discussion with the tailor at the next stall. Alex was still off on his errand to pick up food. The line of people waiting their turn absorbed the blacksmith¡¯s apprentice, pelting her with questions as they waited.

    Todd noticed that Grandmother was frowning slightly, as she stared off into space. He moved over to her side. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked her quietly.

    ¡°I knew a Mary,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°a long time ago, in a suburb of Chicago. I couldn¡¯t tell you if this is the same Mary or not. She seems so old.¡± One of Grandmother¡¯s sisters was also named Mary, but she knew without question that the woman in Londontown was not her sister. Todd thought the woman was incredibly old, but he didn¡¯t want to depress Grandmother by saying so. ¡°She is the first member of the landing generation I have seen in the structure since¡­. Well before I met you. It should make me feel old, instead it makes me afraid.¡±

    ¡°Afraid?¡± Todd questioned.

    ¡°Of what I have become. I wonder if Control is done with me yet, or if there is more to come,¡± she observed. Todd didn¡¯t know what to say to that. Luckily for him, Alex came strolling back, carrying several packages of food and drink.

    Sarah dismissed her cloaking spells and escorted Mary over to Grandmother. She handed one slip of vellum to Grandmother and a second one to Ellen. ¡°Mary will demonstrate her blacksmithing skills tonight at her son¡¯s shop,¡± Sarah told Ellen, before she returned to her circle to interview the next crafter.

    Grandmother juggled the slip of vellum, her staff and her food around until somehow Mary was sitting on Grandmother¡¯s stool eating a sandwich. Todd was holding Grandmother''s staff along with his own spear. Grandmother was inspecting the slip of paper and humming under her breath. She asked Mary if she wanted coins or scrap for her payment.

    Mary consulted with the apprentice who ran across the walkway to consult with the blacksmith. When the apprentice returned, Mary¡¯s sandwich was replaced by another and a tankard of Grappler juice was added. ¡°Scrap,¡± she reported, ¡°as much copper as you can get, with the rest in bronze and steel.¡± Grandmother confirmed with Mary that she wanted scrap before she started making selections on the payment pillar.

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    ¡°Alright, all set,¡± Grandmother said. She turned to look back at Mary. ¡°Here is your bonus for the new spell.¡± Grandmother pulled a coin out of her pocket. It flashed green. The coin was constructed out of oxidized bronze. It was worth thirty six of the silver coins Alex was flashing earlier while juggling. The silver was worth thirty six iron. That meant a green, the common name for the oxidized bronze coin, was worth 1296 iron. Todd might have thought Grandmother was being generous with someone of her own generation, but he saw her make the same payout for every new spell they discovered. She didn¡¯t allow the ¡®winner¡¯ to trade up the bonus to more value by receiving scrap instead.

    She set the coin on the top of the payment pillar in a showy move she hoped would catch everyone¡¯s attention. Mary and the blacksmith¡®s apprentice stared at the coin in shock. The coin appeared to dissolve into a shower of sparks. Mary handed the tankard to her granddaughter and swept the contents of the trade pillar into her inventory.

    Mary finished her second sandwich and juice, before heading back to her apartment. There was an uptick in people taking them up on their offer and it was already a busy day. They worked as a team to process them. Alex and Todd took turns verifying both warrior and wizard skills in the training yard, while Ellen verified the demonstration of crafting and utility spells. Word got around to the children of the square that they could get coins for changing the temperature of the water. Ellen took groups of twenty at a time into the public sanitary facilities. She talked Companion into coming with her in order to keep the children on their best behavior.

    There was still a line when the market closed. They took down everyone¡¯s name and promised to process them the next day. They split into three sets of pairs and went out to witness the higher level crafters¡¯ skills in their shops. Sarah teamed with Companion, Ellen with Alex and Todd paired with Grandmother.

    Grandmother and Todd finished first. Ellen and Sarah were both much better crafters than the rest of them. They split the most complex demonstrations between them. Todd and Grandmother were strolling in front of the shop fronts.

    ¡°Where did you get that story about the mad queen¡¯s daughter?¡± Grandmother asked suddenly.

    ¡°Ellen told me it the night before we first left the structure,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I think she knew from the beginning. She told me her father knew you.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother responded as she fell into thought. Todd noticed the old woman still did not admit she was Irene. Grandmother came to a stop outside of a shuttered shop, in a corner of the courtyard. Todd stopped beside her, comfortable in her silences. He amused himself by inspecting the front of the closed shop. The windows were opaque, giving no hint of what lay inside. If the glass or the transom once held a sign nothing of it remained. It seemed strange that such a busy, affluent square would have an empty shop.

    ¡°I wonder why this shop is empty,¡± Todd mused.

    ¡°It¡¯s mine,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°I bought it a long time ago. I was waiting here because I wanted to show it to Sarah.¡±

    ¡°You bought it?¡± Todd questioned. ¡°I was unaware they could be purchased. I thought they were rented.¡±

    ¡°At tier four you can buy them,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°You can¡¯t buy one someone else is renting, but if you find an empty one there is an offered purchase price. It is rather costly and I have never figured out how to sell it to someone else. There is a method to rent it out. If Sarah isn¡¯t interested I think I will try putting it up for rent. There seemed to be a lot of crafters in the market that didn¡¯t have storefronts.¡±

    ¡°Can you buy an apartment?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Grandmother said after a moment''s thought. ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever tried. There is a small restroom at the back of the shop. I¡¯ve stayed here before if I didn¡¯t want anyone to notice I was in the square.¡±

    Todd decided he would see if he could buy an apartment in their Home Square. He was living in the apartment he rented before meeting Grandmother. He¡¯d thrown a large chunk of his prize money from the last migration onto the rent before leaving the square with Grandmother for the first time. He was pleasantly surprised it was still his when they returned. He kept throwing money at the rent each time they were leaving the square for an extended trip. He was uncertain at this point how far ahead he was paid up for.

    ¡°Sorry that took so long,¡± Ellen said as she and Alex came walking up. ¡°We owe the leatherworker a new spell reward.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Grandmother said, turning her full attention to Ellen. ¡°How did that happen?¡±

    ¡°He told Sarah he knew how to make thin leather. His description was stretch and scrape and apply a certain chemical. It sounded more like how you actually make leather. Anyway somewhere in his description he said twice to the right and once to the left. Sarah thought that was enough of a symbol reference to check it,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°You have always said to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and he was insistent that it was magic.¡±

    ¡°So it is magic?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Alex replied from behind Ellen. ¡°He turned a raw skin into a finished sheet of vellum in about five minutes.¡±

    ¡°Vellum?¡± Grandmother said, startled.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ellen replied. She pulled out a rolled up sheet of vellum that was tucked through her belt. She unrolled it to show them the quality as she continued to explain. ¡°He kept calling it thin leather. He said he didn¡¯t get much call for it. He learned the trick from his uncle when he was a boy. I think there are actually three or four spells in the process. The chemical he is slathering on seems to be some kind of whitener, not a tanning agent.¡±

    Grandmother took the rolled sheet and studied it. Looking over her shoulder, Todd saw that it was large. He thought you could cut it into at least six of the octagonal sheets the vendors sold, maybe more.

    ¡°What did he start with?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°A prize rat skin I pulled from my inventory,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°How many spells did you pay him for?¡± Grandmother queried.

    ¡°Three,¡± Ellen answered. ¡°I credited twelve coins for the second two and six for the first. He took the payment in squirrel skins.¡±

    ¡°How does he normally cure leather?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°The same method as all of us use. He didn¡¯t seem to think it was possible to break down the steps for this thin leather and just apply one or two of them. That is why I''m not certain if it is three or four spells, he has them so intertwined,¡± Ellen looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°There might be a lesson there in how to roll spells together to make them faster.¡± Grandmother rolled the vellum up and handed it back to Ellen. ¡°I told him to come find us in the market area tomorrow, that you will want to talk to him. I implied we might be interested in buying vellum from him.¡±

    ¡°Perfect,¡± Grandmother said with a smile. ¡°Although I think it might be Sarah who will buy the vellum. I think with a source of vellum, and Mary¡¯s copy spell she should be set for starting a bookstore.¡±

    ¡°A bookstore?¡± Todd asked. This was the first he heard of this idea.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said, turning to look at Todd. ¡°I have been trying to convince Sarah to open a shop that sells spells and books on magic.¡±

    ¡°How could you sell a spell?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°The grand staircase statues do a fair job of describing cast magic with the inscriptions on the iron ribbons. Add in a description of what the spell does, and the start and end symbols and I think an experienced wizard could do it. Really it wouldn¡¯t take more than a single sheet of vellum,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Sarah could make a standard tier zero casting book that describes the start symbol, the most common end symbol and how to read the ribbon. After people purchase that book, they could come back to buy individual spells. If the original book came with blank pages at the back, the copy spell would make it easy to add them to the book.¡±

    ¡°I can see how you could do something similar for crafting skills,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Each book could be a different craft, or specialize on a specific crafting tool.¡±

    ¡°I suggested she sell crafting tools along with the spell books,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°What about warrior spells?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Those too,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think the ribbon would still work, you just need a different book introduction on how to read them.¡±

    ¡°What about healing spells?¡± Todd asked. The healing spells caused an addiction side effect that was so extreme it was almost enslavement. The mad queen maintained her hold on power through the use of it.

    ¡°I am still a little undecided on that one. Lately I have been leaning towards yes, although each page must have the color warnings on it. Maybe we should stress self-healing, along with warnings about the pain levels,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Even before Companion joined us we were able to manage healing well enough with our mix of magic colors. If we don¡¯t tell people the safe way to use heal, they will just keep repeating the same mistake.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Three

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    It was another twenty minutes before Sarah and Companion came hustling up.

    ¡°The blacksmith got a good look at Companion¡¯s breastplate and realized it wasn¡¯t steel. I told him it was part of the spoils from fighting bears far to the south. He started telling us some wild story about glass,¡± Sarah said to explain their absence.

    ¡°Glass?¡± Grandmother said questioningly. She looked thoughtful.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sarah said. ¡°His uncle¡¯s spouse¡¯s sister went to the far north and returned with a set of glass gloves or shoes or something. His mother and him were in disagreement about the exact item.¡±

    ¡°Glass slippers are in an old earth fairy tale. I bet it was gloves, probably gauntlets. Companion, what did you think of the blacksmith¡¯s story?¡± Grandmother asked the selkie.

    ¡°He talked too fast,¡± Companion replied.

    ¡°Alex, can you ask Companion if he has heard of glass armor?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it,¡± Companion replied quickly after Alex translated the question. Todd got the impression the selkie did not have any trouble understanding Grandmother¡¯s simplified question. ¡°Glass is better than light metal or copper. It is very hard to find.¡± Light metal was how Companion described the aluminum of his breastplate.

    ¡°A long time ago I picked up some glass scrap,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I never found a use for it. I wonder if it is still in my inventory.¡±

    ¡°Did you find it in the north?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°No, it was in the upper rooms around an open green,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It looked like a chunk of the structure glass that broke from a wall.¡±

    ¡°Structure glass would explain its strength,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°Are we going to the inn?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion chimed in. ¡°We can taste the beer, while friend Alex tells us of the Elder''s mother.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to show Sarah the shop?¡± Todd asked before Alex and Companion could get away.

    ¡°The shop?¡± Sarah asked. Grandmother turned to look at the darkened edifice. She reached out and pushed the door open. The door opened smoothly under the hand of its owner. As Grandmother stepped inside the lights came on. Todd wasn¡¯t certain if it was automatic or if Grandmother used a spell. The rest of the party followed her. Todd brought up the rear, exactly as if they were entering wild space.

    The space inside the door was filled with furniture. Todd wasn¡¯t certain what he expected, but this wasn¡¯t it. There were tables, chairs, both soft and hard, benches and even a bed. Scattered on the tables and shelves were other small items found in wildspace that people found useful. The space was narrow at the front, but then widened out about halfway back from the storefront.

    The shop was really deep. Todd mentally paced the distance back. It was twice the depth of any other shop he could remember. He stepped forward into the back section, scouting for any danger. There were even more pieces of furniture back there. There were shelves and bookcases, desks and trunks. A door to the side led to a small restroom. Todd could see why Grandmother called it that. Although it was the same organic technology as the sanitation facilities, it contained only a single plant and no ground pools. There was a sink hollow built into one wall.

    ¡°This is your shop!¡± Sarah said excitedly. ¡°You told me you didn¡¯t have it anymore.¡±

    ¡°That may have been a bit of a misstatement,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I haven¡¯t run it in a long time. I am surprised the stock is still here. I expected it would have decayed by now.¡±

    ¡°It reaches back really far,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have any need for the workshop, so I removed the wall,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°The interface allows you to make changes.¡± She said to Sarah, ¡°You can put the wall back or maybe divide the space with a counter. That way you could keep the spell books in sight, but out of reach. Looking around, Todd spotted a small counter that protruded from the left wall near the front of the shop. He missed it amongst all the furniture. This counter would contain the pay surface and likely the shop interface. The only time Todd visited a shop was to buy something from it. He came from a family of warriors and upper floor cooks. He knew very little about how a shop worked.

    Ellen was running her hands across the surface of a wooden table. There were pieces in here made out of metal, wood or a combination of both. Some of the chairs were upholstered in shades of brown, while one chair was hunter¡¯s green. There was a set of shelves in the back that was made of copper and glass. Todd didn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever seen anything like it before, even in the south. They were around the corner from where Ellen was standing, so she hadn¡¯t seen them yet.

    ¡°There are some beautiful pieces in here,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°Who crafted them?¡±

    ¡°These are all found pieces,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°They come from the local area. I did learn a few tricks to help with transport, but it is just too hard to move large items very far. I paid a few crafters to do repairs. It took me forever to convince a tailor to try and reupholster that chair,¡± she said pointing at the green chair Todd noticed earlier. ¡°I was disappointed when no one wanted it.¡±

    ¡°Why did you close the shop?¡± Alex asked, from where he was laying on the bed. Companion was standing next to it poking it with a flipper-hand. On the Speedwell Companion slept in a shallow box filled with river rock. When the selkie rented an inn room in the structure the provided bed was something similar.

    ¡°Furniture lasts a long time,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I think I sold the early pieces for too little. I set it up so the clerk got a percentage of the sales for their pay. There was a glut of furniture in the square and people stopped buying. Without sales I couldn¡¯t get anyone to run the shop for me. It was easier just to shut it down.¡±

    ¡°When did you run it?¡± Todd asked. He didn¡¯t remember a furniture shop in Londontown in his childhood. As he thought about it he couldn¡¯t recall what was in this space at all. He supposed the empty space never caught his younger self¡¯s attention.

    ¡°I set this up when Agatha died. I realized I could buy the space. I was about your age at the time, maybe a little older,¡± Grandmother responded to Todd, ¡°so probably thirty years ago or so.¡±

    That was before any of the rest of them were born, except maybe Companion. Todd didn¡¯t know how old the selkie was. Todd suspected Companion didn¡¯t know either. It meant Grandmother was in her sixties now. That solid number really frightened Todd. He knew she was old. They called her Grandmother for a reason. She was a big part of their lives, not just the party members, but lives of their entire Home Square. He couldn¡¯t conceive of what they would do if she died.

    The flight crew almost all passed away in their eighties. A few made it to their nineties. Todd thought the mad queen herself lived into her early hundreds. Todd wondered if Control kept her alive longer because she was good for the Narrative. If that was so, maybe Control would keep Grandmother alive longer too. He remembered Grandmother¡¯s words about being afraid of what Control was turning her into. He couldn¡¯t believe that anyone would want to grow old and die, but what if the price of longevity was becoming the next mad queen?

    ¡°I can understand if you want to set up a shop in Home Square,¡± Grandmother told Sarah. ¡°I just wanted you to know this was here.¡±

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    ¡°My ego likes the idea of having a shop in Londontown,¡± Sarah told Grandmother. ¡°Everyone knows it is the oldest square. At the same time I am a little intimidated. I think maybe I need to work out the kinks in Home Square before I set up here.¡± She turned her attention to her sister Ellen. ¡°There are still empty shops at home, aren¡¯t there?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Last time I checked,¡± Ellen replied. She reluctantly left the wood table and moved farther in to inspect a wooden chest. Storage pieces were really rare. This simple wooden chest was bound in black iron straps. Ellen blew a fine layer of dust off the top before opening it to reveal a set of drop in trays.

    Grandmother frowned. She leaned down and tapped out her clean spell on the floor. A swirl of dust rushed past them to vanish under the door. Everything in the room sharpened. That wouldn¡¯t have happened if any of the rest of them cast the spell. Todd thought that the rejuvenation effect of Grandmother¡¯s clean was the result of her tier six status overpowering the spell. The same thing could happen if she stood in one place too long.

    ¡°The beer is not tasting itself,¡± Companion commented. Or at least that is what Todd thought he said, it seemed an odd turn of phrase and Todd wasn¡¯t certain he translated it correctly.

    ¡°We need to be careful in the inn,¡± Grandmother said in a serious tone. ¡°It has been many years since I was welcome there.¡±

    ¡°Were you ever welcome?¡± Todd heard himself ask. He wanted to take the words back as soon as he said them.

    ¡°Yes, I was,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°That was even more dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Is that glass?¡± Ellen exclaimed. Companion said something about beer escaping. Alex replied with something about bravery and endurance.

    ¡°The uprights are copper,¡± Sarah commented excitedly. The two crafters found the shelves around the corner.

    ¡°You found these?¡± Ellen questioned again.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°They spawned in a room not far from here. They are modular. I got them a piece at a time and reassembled them here. If you want them we can try taking them back apart. The shelves alone might be too large to carry through the transportation door.¡±

    ¡°You assembled them from pieces?¡± Ellen asked in a surprised tone.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded, her tone of voice was that she was confused by Ellen¡¯s surprise. Usually this meant Grandmother knew something none of the rest of them had ever heard of, but she thought everyone already knew. This was the moment to ask questions. Todd reviewed the exact wording of what she just said.

    ¡°What do you mean by ¡®spawned¡¯?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It was part of the Furniture of the room, so it was replaced in the reset,¡± Grandmother said with a frown. Todd could hear the capital letter in the word furniture. She was not talking about just chairs.

    ¡°What reset?¡± Ellen asked, as she too realized Grandmother was describing some fundamental property she didn¡¯t know. Grandmother looked thoughtful for a moment. She went over to the green chair and sat down.

    ¡°I guess we haven¡¯t farmed a small area very much,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°The closest we have come is that area around the southern gallery. We only did that for a few days. You know how rooms return to how you found them if you leave them alone long enough? That is what I am calling the reset,¡± she asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Alex said, lifting his head off the bed, as the conversation finally caught his interest. ¡°Do they?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they do,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Different item types return at different rates. Ignoring tools, the rooms will reset to exactly how you found them in six to thirty six days.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the animals returning?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°The animals are a little different too. They aren¡¯t an exact assignment. They are distributed more inline with a random number generator picking from a possible set. Even the replacement time is a little random, from minutes to hours or even days sometimes,¡± Grandmother said thoughtfully.

    ¡°What are the different item types?¡± Sarah prompted. She was sitting at the desk, with her spell diary out and a stylus in hand. Todd was glad to see her pose. Her notes on this subject might prove valuable in the future.

    ¡°There is base Furniture, which is everything that doesn¡¯t convert to scrap when you put it on a prize altar. There is debris, which does convert to scrap. Then we have scrap and items.¡±

    ¡°Items?¡± Sarah prompted.

    ¡°Tools,¡± Grandmother expanded on the concept, ¡°both minor and major, crafting and utility.¡±

    ¡°What is a utility tool?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°What else would you call a portable stove?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°As far as we know there are no crafting options for it, but it is very useful for cooking. I have seen a couple items along the way I thought might be utility tools, but they may have been actual crafting tools I was unfamiliar with.¡±

    ¡°I should make a list of known crafting tools,¡± Sarah said suddenly.

    ¡°I can work on that,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°So if I pick up all the scrap in a room it will reappear in time?¡± Todd asked, not wanting them to get too far off the current subject.

    ¡°Yes, eventually,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°The base Furniture reappears first, in six days. So if you find a chair,¡± Grandmother pointed at the brown chair set against the right wall, ¡°and carry it away, if you go back to the same room in six days an exact copy of that chair will be back. You can take that one too.¡± Grandmother turned to point at a brown chair sitting to her right.

    Todd went over and picked up the chair by the wall, he moved it to sit side by side with the one to Grandmother¡¯s right. They were identical. He eyed the green chair she was sitting on; it appeared to be a different style. He noticed that the integrated cloth that covered it was starting to discolor from Grandmother¡¯s presence. She hated it when furniture did that. He was curious as to what the result would be, so he didn¡¯t mention it. Since a crafter had upholstered the chair with integrated cloth, would it just discolor purple like Grandmother''s cloth armor did when she wore it? Or would it end up with a tapestry scene with spell hints in it, like what happened when she sat on furniture in a rest or gallery?

    ¡°As soon as you move Furniture from its original position it starts to degrade. In the early days everyone used bits and pieces to put together useful items. The ends are made to fit together. We built things like stretching frames, work tables or grills. Out in wild space you need to look at the item at least once a day to give it any kind of reasonable working life. Touching it works better. Even the most well maintained solid pieces will break easily in a year or so.

    ¡°I expected the same kind of lifespan inside the square. That is why my prices were too low. It turned out they last much longer in protected space. In fact these pieces here have lasted longer than anything I have ever seen. I have to assume it is because they are listed in the inventory of a shop.

    ¡°So Furniture respawns in six days, what about the other item types?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Debris turns up in twelve to eighteen days, if you haven¡¯t visited in between. Scrap in twenty four to thirty six days. Tools are a little like animals. If you found a tool in a room, there will be another tool in that room or a room near it thirty six days later, but it may or may not be the same tool. If it is a different tool it is usually one from the same crafting tree. So if you found a spindle in a room, thirty six days later there may be a pair of shears there, or a set of pins. Also, tool replacement can happen faster and usually does with the smaller pieces. If you found a loom, then as little as six days later you might find a spool.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by a room near it?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Items seem to have a spawn region. I think of it like there is a circle on the map that encompasses roughly four to eight rooms. There are multiple places inside the set of rooms where a tool might appear, like on a shelf or under a chair. When the current tool is removed a new tool is selected from the potential set. If the tool is small, six days later it is randomly placed in one of those spawn points. If the chosen tool is a larger, more complex one, the wait is longer. Thirty six days later, as long as no one visited in between, a tool will be there somewhere in the circle,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Things like bowls and tankards are items. You can put them in your inventory, but they respawn like Furniture,¡± Grandmother added.

    ¡°What happens if someone visits in between?¡± Todd inquired.

    ¡°Best guess, the count starts over. Honestly it gets hard to test at the longer time periods,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°You tested all this?¡± Ellen asked, surprise in her voice.

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I did it all nearer the entrance and would go back to the Speedwell in between sweeps. I spent a couple years doing it. Where do you think I got all that scrap in my inventory?¡±

    ¡°I guess I didn¡¯t think about it,¡± Ellen confessed.

    Todd didn¡¯t think about it either. If he did he might have assumed it was just because she was old. Maybe he subconsciously thought that he too would end up with a large inventory when he reached her age. At the same time he didn¡¯t have much in his inventory now. He tended to cash it all in for coins whenever they reached a settlement. He used the coin to replace or repair equipment, buy food and pay rent. If Grandmother kept going back to the Speedwell she wouldn¡¯t have needed structure coins for food or rent. Most of her gear wasn¡¯t integrated. A lot of it came from the Speedwell as well. When they first met, she crafted herself a new set of leathers from the hide of a boar she killed herself. She did that many times in the years since.

    ¡°The rooms change over time,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Just when you find a great source for some item the section will get remodeled into a new set of rooms. Eventually the safe rest I was operating out of disappeared. I decided it was a hint to go do something else,¡± Grandmother concluded.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Four

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    Companion was pretending to sleep on the floor when the conversation finally ended. Alex shook the selkie and promised him beer. Companion climbed back up to his feet too fast to have actually been fast asleep. When Companion first joined their group, Todd thought the player would be able to answer all their questions about the structure. That turned out to be a false hope. Companion¡¯s people seemed to be even more specialized than humans. Companion freely told them anything he knew, but what he knew was limited to his narrow path in society and colored by his belief that the system that controlled the technology in the building was a god, the true god.

    Todd suspected Companion was listening closely to Grandmother''s words. The selkie both feared and worshiped her as a lesser god. He would learn all he could from her and take it home to his people. Todd said as much to Grandmother. ¡°Good,¡± was Grandmother¡¯s response.

    ¡°How much of that did you know?¡± Todd asked the selkie. They also experienced the same problem with Companion that they did with Grandmother. He assumed they knew things they didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Some,¡± Companions replied, ¡°Some confusing.¡± Todd made a note to try to talk about the subject again to sort out the player¡¯s confusion. Sometimes that meant he just didn¡¯t understand, but sometimes it meant he picked out a mistake in Grandmother''s assumptions but didn¡¯t want to say anything because of the whole lesser god thing.

    As they crossed the square¡¯s courtyard they passed its protection crystal. Each of them touched the crystal briefly to update their transportation access to the square. It was tiny for a square crystal. Todd wasn¡¯t certain it was any larger than the protection crystal in the southern gallery.

    ¡°It¡¯s smaller than the last time I was here,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°They must have had another war.¡±

    ¡°Not much time left,¡± Companion fluted. ¡°Two or three lives.¡±

    ¡°Lives?¡± Todd questioned.

    ¡°I think he means generations,¡± Alex explained.

    ¡°How many years are in a generation?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Not know,¡± Companion replied.

    ¡°I tried to explain a year to him,¡± Alex explained, ¡°but his people have spent too long in the structure and have lost the idea of seasons.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not good news,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°We will have to figure out how to make it bigger.¡±

    ¡°Tasks from the true god,¡± Companion supplied. ¡°Like you finished in Home Square. The true god rewards with time.¡±

    Grandmother straightened in surprise. ¡°Now I have to figure out what task we completed and how I was supposed to know we were completing it,¡± she mumbled under her breath.

    Todd smiled. He was amused at Grandmother''s distress. Londontown was not her responsibility, but Todd knew if she could figure out a way to help them without committing to ruling the place, she would.

    They arrived at the door to the inn and pushed their way inside. They were greeted by a wall of silence. They arrived in the middle of the evening meal. Nearly every seat at the tables was taken. The majority of the occupants were male, wearing blue touched leathers. These were the people who ruled the square. Very few warriors took up their offer to buy their spells. The few wizard and warrior skills Alex and Todd verified were performed by people who left the fighting professions behind to become crafters.

    Companion pulled himself up to the full height and pounded on the top of the service counter. ¡°Strong beer!¡± the selkie called. Of course no one outside the party understood him. Alex solved that problem.

    ¡°Your strongest beer for myself and Companion!¡± he called out to the innkeeper. He sang Companion''s name in the notes of the selkie¡¯s language. The innkeeper was probably in his thirties. That was old for the structure if you ignored the outliers like Mary. He glanced nervously at his own dining room.

    ¡°Six iron,¡± the innkeeper declared.

    ¡°That¡¯s steep, the beer better be strong,¡± Alex commented as he paid from his inventory. The innkeeper fetched the beer himself, leaving the rest of them standing inside the door. Todd was keeping an eye on the silent diners. Companion accepted his tankard and chugged it. Alex was still drinking from his tankard when Companion slammed his back onto the counter.

    ¡°Arrowhead root! My favorite! Another!¡± he fluted. Alex choked on his drink, dropping it back on to the counter.

    ¡°What?¡± he cried. Arrowhead root was a poison. ¡°I can¡¯t feel my lips.¡± he mumbled. Grandmother stepped forward.

    ¡°Killing a customer is not good for business,¡± she commented. She cast a quick blur, then a heal on Alex. He spit on the floor and tried not to heave the contents of his stomach as the numbness from the poison was replaced by the pain side effect of the spell.

    ¡°I would never,¡± the innkeeper countered, ¡°if the beer is too strong for the warrior the healer above will cure him.¡±

    Todd stepped over to Companion repeating the casts on the selkie. Companion showed no reaction from the heal. It was an indication he was serious about the root being his favorite.

    ¡°Are you drinking?¡± he asked Alex, with a wave of his flipper at the abandoned tankard.

    ¡°All yours, friend,¡± Alex managed to reply. The selkie picked up Alex¡¯s tankard and chugged that as well. Yep, he was serious, Todd thought.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have dinner and rooms,¡± Grandmother said to the innkeeper, after giving him a hard look.

    ¡°No rooms,¡± the innkeeper muttered, stuttering over his words. ¡°We are full up.¡±

    ¡°You lie,¡± Companion said sharply. He pulled back his lips showing his teeth. Suddenly everyone was aware that the large tusks hanging from his whiskered mouth were actually sharpened blades. ¡°Inn¡¯s always have room.¡± Todd wondered if that was true. Inns were a special kind of business. They were run more by the structure than the proprietor.

    ¡°We have not broken any rules. Turning us away is a violation of hospitality. I see now why your crystal has grown so small,¡± Grandmother said calmly. She smiled at the man. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said sincerely. ¡°You have relieved me of the need to solve that problem.¡±

    Grandmother turned and looked at the silent crowd of witnesses. She wondered how many were related to her. She was certain the ¡®healer above¡¯ was. Her youngest brother ruled from a step behind her mother. He died under unusual circumstances when one of his children became the queen¡¯s new favorite. The protection crystal shrunk around that time too, Grandmother remembered.

    ¡°We will find lodging elsewhere,¡± she announced to the room, ¡°and return in the morning to finish our business.¡±

    Ellen opened the door. The crystal in the courtyard was visibly smaller.

    As they stepped out of the inn Grandmother cast conceal on them. From the inn residents point of view they simply vanished from sight.

    Grandmother led them back to the transportation room. Grandmother and Todd pushed the rest of them inside. Sarah, Ellen, Alex and Companion were all tier three. Sarah just recently reached the tier, while Ellen and Alex both expected to reach tier four any day. Companion believed he wouldn¡¯t reach tier four for years yet, if ever. The transportation system could only be accessed and controlled by tier four players or above. The result was they pushed and pulled their lower tier party members through it. While in the transportation room the lower tier members were blind.

    ¡°That was¡­ interesting,¡± Ellen commented. They were all crowded together in the small room. Grandmother held her hand on the control console, but she didn¡¯t select their target yet.

    ¡°I think we brushed against someone else¡¯s Narrative. Or at least I hope it was just a brush. Did anyone mention where we came from?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Alex said, ¡°I didn¡¯t even use my southern marches title.¡±

    ¡°I mentioned we already visited other squares,¡± Todd admitted.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°That¡¯s good, that should make it seem like we came from the north,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Tomorrow try to let it drop that we are from Melbourne.¡±

    ¡°Melbourne?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Where is that?¡±

    ¡°It is a dead square,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°The one Companion¡¯s people cleared out.¡± Companion shifted on his flipper-feet and began to click. This behavior was a sure sign of fear in the selkie.

    ¡°You know?¡± he fluted.

    ¡°A misunderstanding I am sure,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We are doing better this time around I think.¡±

    Companion calmed and fluted his agreement. Grandmother selected the crystal that represented Home Square. The stone departure door transformed into a sheet of light. Todd finished securing his spear over his shoulder with a loop of rope. He nodded once at Grandmother and stepped through the door.

    Todd stepped out the arrival door into the transportation room at Home Square. The air seemed cleaner. Todd felt the tension lift from his shoulders. He swung his spear off his shoulder and rested it against the wall. He pulled the exit door to the hallway open and used a door wedge to hold it.

    He barely finished before the warning sound rang. The stone of the arrival door transformed into a curtain of light and Ellen stepped through. Todd guided each of his teammates out of the transportation room and into the back hall. He barely managed to remind each one to meet at the inn in the morning before the next arrival warning sounded. Todd realized Grandmother must be pushing everyone through the door as fast as she could. Grandmother stepped out last.

    ¡°Did everyone get through safely?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I reminded them to meet at the inn in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother commented. She pulled her staff out. Instead of securing it with cord as she usually did, she slipped it through her belt at her back. Todd saw it as further proof that she wanted to leave Londontown in a hurry. ¡°I need to talk to Harry,¡± Grandmother announced.

    Harry was the head of the square¡¯s defenses. Todd was certain that in Grandmother¡¯s mind Harry was the square¡¯s leader. He wasn¡¯t, Grandmother was. Everyone knew it. Grandmother was the only one who wouldn¡¯t admit it.

    ¡°He will have heard the arrival gong,¡± Todd observed. ¡°I am sure he is on his way.¡± Harry was Todd¡¯s uncle. He was also a tier four warrior. Grandmother managed to give him access to the transportation system. That allowed him to see the door to the transportation room and hear the arrival warnings. He could also use the system, but Todd was certain Harry never left the square without being forced. Grandmother dragged him to the southern gallery in order to give him access. She made him touch the crystal there and at the northern gallery, opening those destinations to him.

    They stepped out into the hallway. This hallway led from the back door to the square¡¯s courtyard. Todd acknowledged the guards on watch at the back gate before turning to the square. They walked slowly, giving Harry time to get there.

    Harry came striding out of the stairwell as they emerged into the courtyard. ¡°Good trip?¡± he asked when he saw them.

    ¡°Interesting trip,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I have news to share. Let''s go up to my room where we can relax.¡± They crossed the courtyard and went into their own inn. It was a near copy of the inn in Londontown. Only here the tables were filled with crafters and hunters with both sexes in equal numbers. The noise of the chatter filled the room.

    Companion was settled onto his bench at Grandmother¡¯s table at the far wall. Alex arrived just before them and was still crossing over carrying a pitcher of beer for the table. He plunked the pitcher onto the table just as Todd reached the bottom of the stairs.

    ¡°Gather round,¡± Alex called out in his storytelling voice, ¡°as I tell you the story of good old Londontown and its mad queen.¡± Todd caught Grandmother shaking her head as she climbed the stairs in front of him. They emerged into the quieter hall above. Rooms for rent lined both sides of the corridor. Grandmother led them to the end of the hall where the rooms faced the square. She opened the door and stepped inside. She held the door open so they could follow. Since the room was rented to her, only she could open it.

    Harry¡¯s pace stuttered slightly, before he cleared the doorway so Todd could enter. When Todd gained entry he realized instantly what surprised his uncle. The room beyond was no ordinary inn room. Companion¡¯s room in the inn was a little like this. The first night Companion spent in the square, he drank Alex under the table. Worried about his new friend, Companion carried Alex up to his room for the night. Alex came too in the morning on a pile of rocks. Shocked by the discovery that the bed provided for Companion was so different from what was provided for human players, Alex dragged every member of the party through Companion¡¯s room to view it.

    Grandmother¡¯s room did not contain a pile of rocks. The wall across from the door was a floor to ceiling window out into the courtyard. The view beyond was crystal clear, although Todd was certain you could not see in from outside. The ceiling was too high. The light panels were held up by arching beams of wood, bound in copper. The floor was covered in carpet. It was a deep purple, crisscrossed in a pattern of diamonds in a shade of copper that matched the ceiling beams. The area right inside the door was a sitting area with a sofa and stuffed chairs, while to the left was an enormous oval bed, draped in shades of violet.

    The right wall was covered in an elaborate tapestry that showed a forest scene complete with animals looking out at them. The few animals Todd recognized made him wonder if the rest were also real. A weapons rack in copper was just inside the door. Todd set his spear in the rack, next to Grandmother''s staff.

    Harry was walking very tentatively on the carpet. Todd recognized what it was from his time on the Speedwell. They had never talked Harry into making the trip. He probably didn¡¯t know what it was.

    ¡°This is unexpected,¡± Todd offered as he sat on a stuffed chair. The upholstered furniture were all covered in tapestries of elaborate images, following the same forest theme. The chair Todd sat on was covered in leaves and flowers. A quick inspection of the pattern of petals on the flowers showed it was encoded with the symbols for the third tier healing spell. He thought there might be a second spell encoded in the lobes on the leaves. He ran a hand across the fabric as he puzzled it out.

    ¡°It¡¯s been this way since the migration,¡± Grandmother mumbled. ¡°I try to ignore it.¡± She sat down onto the sofa.

    ¡°It''s the queen¡¯s suite,¡± Harry said suddenly, looking around. ¡°Although the mad Queen¡¯s room was never this deluxe and hers was in blue. I can still recognize the bones of her room in this one.¡± Todd forgot at times that his uncle was once a part of the ruling elite in Londontown. He was just a minor figure, but his position as a member of the guard bettered the lives of the rest of the family.

    ¡°It is Londontown I want to talk to you about,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°The protection crystal there is failing.¡±

    ¡°Failing?¡± Harry straightened up and turned his full attention to Grandmother.

    ¡°Companion said it would only last for two or three generations more, although we don¡¯t know how long a generation is for him. I think more importantly was that it visibly shrunk when we were there.¡±

    ¡°What caused that?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°They tried to poison Companion and Alex. The poison didn¡¯t seem to work on Companion. He just thought it was delicious. I healed Alex. They tried to claim that Alex was just too weak for the beer and said they would have healed him. They didn¡¯t realize Companion recognized the poison.¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Since Alex is a blue, healing in Londontown has a whole other set of insinuations in it.¡±

    ¡°I think them denying us rooms also played a factor,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I have not seen anything that proved Control understands our language and that exchange was all talk.¡± There was something about the way she said it that made Todd suspect it wasn¡¯t completely true. He suspected she saw something, somewhere that made her wonder if Control could understand her words.

    ¡°Maybe Control doesn¡¯t understand our language,¡± Todd responded, ¡°but what about Companion¡¯s? He was the one who called them liars.¡±

    ¡°Why did he do that?¡± Harry said, trying to get a clear image of what happened.

    ¡°They told us we could not stay the night because the inn was full. Companion said they lied, because the inn is never full,¡± Todd elaborated.

    ¡°Is that true?¡± Harry questioned.

    ¡°I have never seen one full,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Situated as they are on the square, Control could just keep adding on rooms at the back as they are needed.¡±

    ¡°We will have to test it,¡± Harry said, winning Grandmother''s approval.

    ¡°For now we can assume it is true. I think it was exactly what you said to them. They denied us hospitality. Given the way I introduced you, I would think the Narrative would shade the offense even harder than trying to kill or enslave a random visitor,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°Given the way you introduced me, he was not a random visitor, but a member of my retinue,¡± Grandmother said thoughtfully.

    ¡°What the hell is a retinue?¡± Harry asked suddenly.

    ¡°The group of people who travel with royalty,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°How did you introduce Grandmother?¡± Harry asked. Todd glanced at Grandmother wondering if he should say. She waved him on.

    ¡°As Irene, youngest daughter of the mad queen,¡± Todd reported.

    ¡°Ah, yes,¡± Harry said, showing no surprise at that title, ¡°not just any royalty, a member of their own royal family.¡± Grandmother was shaking her head in disgust, as she wondered if everyone in the square thought of her as the mad queen¡¯s daughter. Todd did have a point about the Narrative. A royal house in trouble turns away a royal daughter who returned from the wild bearing gifts for the people. Grandmother could see how that could quickly accelerate to assassination and war.

    ¡°We will have to be even more careful tomorrow,¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°With the protection crystal visibly getting smaller, there could be unrest in the square. We could see citizens or even armed troops searching for another square.¡±

    ¡°How do you want to deal with it?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to war,¡± Grandmother responded, but the way she said it let Harry know it wasn¡¯t off the table, ¡°but I don¡¯t want the flavor of the square to change either. I think it might be best if we could just remain undiscovered.¡±

    ¡°So don¡¯t draw attention to ourselves and don¡¯t let anyone follow us home?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°And if we do take in refugees, make sure they are carefully selected and their numbers remain small. That way they should be absorbed into our culture and not bring their own. We don¡¯t want any false recruits that carry our location back, at the same time no one is to be held here against their will.¡±

    ¡°How small should we keep their numbers?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°No more than ten to fifteen percent of our current population,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We don¡¯t want to make the same mistake as Londontown. If anyone finds us without our help, they are welcome and are one of us. Our hospitality will not be questioned.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Harry responded. ¡°I''ll notify everyone to try to stay south of the green and to report any outsiders they spot. I¡¯ll try to gently reroute anyone we find wandering to a different destination.¡±

    ¡°Tell our people why they shouldn¡¯t wander north,¡± Grandmother suggested. ¡°I don¡¯t believe in keeping people ignorant.¡± Harry¡¯s agreement made it obvious he never considered hiding the situation.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Five

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    ¡°If anyone asks, we are from Melbourne and we spent the night in the shop,¡± Grandmother said as they got ready to transport back to Londontown in the morning. ¡°No one is to eat or drink anything in the square and never leave your partner''s sight.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Grandmother,¡± Sarah said in her best little girl voice. Grandmother snorted, she knew she was repeating herself. She spent the night thinking about Narrative, which always left her troubled. She considered not going back at all, but thought that would reflect badly on her honesty and might get her cast as the villain. She had been there before and it was not a role she wanted to play again.

    They went through the departure door and waited for Grandmother. Instead of the lower tier camouflage they used to leave the transportation room yesterday, Grandmother cast the higher tier conceal. She held the spell until they arrived back at their stall in the market. There was no market today, so all the other stalls were empty. When Grandmother dropped the spell, the people who were waiting, leaning against the storefronts or sitting on the planters, exhibited some surprise.

    Sarah knelt down to redraw her circle. She was using a different pattern today, Todd wondered if anyone would notice. Grandmother set up her folding stool next to the payment pillar and sat. She nodded to Alex.

    ¡°Calling all who signed the list,¡± Alex announced to the square, in a loud clear voice. ¡°We are here to uphold our promises and pay for your spells. Six iron for any spell, twelve if you demonstrate it. If it is a spell we don¡¯t know, there is a bonus. Come forth and claim your coins.¡± For a moment there was no movement. Todd wondered if there were threats, he wondered if Grandmother¡¯s paranoia was rubbing off on him.

    A young boy came running up. Todd knew there were no children on the list yesterday. He wondered what Grandmother would do. ¡°What is your name?¡± Alex asked. He held a copy of yesterday''s list in his hand. He was getting ready to make a theatrical display of looking up the child¡¯s name even though he too must know there were no children listed.

    ¡°Not me,¡± the boy said. ¡°I got twenty four iron for making the water hot and cold!¡± he said excitedly. ¡°Hurry, Mama,¡± he called. ¡°Don¡¯t miss it today!¡± A woman in her early twenties rose to her feet behind the boy. She was sitting on the edge of a nearby planter. The woman was wearing blue wizard silks that stretched over a protruding belly, heavy with child. She could not have worn the silks yesterday, Todd would remember that. He found he did remember her, but not from the market. She was one of the few women in the inn the night before.

    Todd suddenly knew why Grandmother insisted on paying the children. They were an introduction to the adults. At the same time he wondered if they wanted to gain this woman¡¯s trust.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let her touch you,¡± Todd said quietly to Alex as he stepped in front of his teammate. He took the list from Alex¡¯s hands. He turned a brilliant smile onto the boy¡¯s mother. ¡°Your name, my lady?¡±

    ¡°Irene,¡± the woman said clearly. ¡°I was named for my great aunt.¡±

    Todd scanned the list, even though he knew that name wasn¡¯t there either. ¡°I am sorry, Irene. I don¡¯t see that name here.¡±

    ¡°I may have given my nickname, Ira,¡± the woman responded more quietly. ¡°Irene carries a heavy load here.¡±

    ¡°It does everywhere,¡± Todd responded. He looked at the list again. There at the very bottom was Ira. ¡°Here we are,¡± he said loudly. He made a show of marking it off. ¡°Step forward into the ring of silence to speak to Grandmother¡¯s scribe,¡± Todd pronounced. Damn, he thought to himself, I think Alex is wearing off on me.

    Ira nodded, and touched her young son¡¯s head, who was dancing around his mother in excitement. ¡°Wait for me here,¡± she told the boy. She stepped forward into the circle. Todd shifted around to keep his bulk between her and Alex.

    Sarah cast blur and muffle with Companion inside the circle at her back. Todd kept his eyes on the slightly vague figures as he, Alex and Ellen shifted around so the woman wouldn¡¯t get near Alex on the way out either. A handful of people drew near, giving their names to Alex. He confirmed their presence on the list and reformed yesterday¡¯s line.

    The young boy stayed close to Todd. He was talking excitedly about all the warrior skills he was going to learn when he grew up. Todd couldn¡¯t help smiling at the boy. Todd was him once upon a time.

    Sarah dismissed her muffle spell and handed two slips to Ira. ¡°Take these to Grandmother,¡± Sarah said clearly. ¡°She will witness your demonstration of the spells and pay you.¡± Ellen took the hint and stayed where she was. For today she was paired with Alex and wasn¡¯t supposed to leave his side.

    Ira handed the slips to Grandmother. Grandmother did a quick scan of the list. She rose from her stool. ¡°We will go to the yard where you can demonstrate these cast spells first,¡± Grandmother announced. Ira collected her son and they headed across the courtyard. Todd followed behind. His partner for the day was Grandmother. He would ensure that nothing happened to her.

    When they reached the square¡¯s protection crystal, Grandmother stopped. ¡°For everyone¡¯s safety,¡± she said to Ira, ¡°I have to insist you touch the crystal.¡±

    ¡°Ok¡± Ira said after a quick look at Todd. The crystal flooded with a light blue. Tier two, Todd thought to himself.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother commented. She moved on past the crystal to the yard. They went to the magic area where Grandmother cast a blur and told Ira to run through her cast spells. Ira cast a couple tiers of ice-bolt and ice-slick. Todd was surprised Ira didn¡¯t know ice-wall, which was a low tier shield type spell.

    From there they headed to the public sanitation facility where Ira changed the water temperature.

    ¡°Now the heal spell,¡± Grandmother said, pulling her knife. She made a shallow cut across the back of her off hand, and returned the knife to her belt.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Ira said with a glance at Todd and at the door where anyone could come in and watch them.

    ¡°No one will see us,¡± Todd said to her. ¡°Don¡¯t leave Grandmother bleeding.¡±

    ¡°Cast it,¡± Grandmother commanded. Ira cast a tier one heal. There wasn¡¯t a tier zero heal, so this was the simplest version. All human¡¯s outside of their Home Square added extras to casting. Todd admitted that even some of the citizens of Home Square did it. They tried to correct their own down to the required parts when they saw it, but some people were just too set in their ways to change.

    The extras Ira added to the tier one heal seemed excessive and showy. Somewhere buried in the middle of it were the four symbols required for heal. The cut on the back of Grandmother¡¯s hand closed as her blood was reabsorbed into her skin.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother commented, checking the spell off the list. She didn¡¯t allow any sign of the pain heal caused her to show on her face. Todd remembered all the times Grandmother cut herself to teach him heal. She rarely showed any sign of pain. ¡°Can you cast the tier two version?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ira admitted. They headed back to the market stall, where only Sarah and Companion remained. Ellen and Alex escorted a group off to demonstrate their skills. There were two groups of people milling around now. Some held slips of paper in their hands and were waiting for payout or the opportunity to demonstrate their spells. The rest were still waiting to talk to Sarah.

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    Grandmother went to the payment pillar and set up the transfer for Ira. Ira looked at the sum. ¡°Can I get it in materials instead?¡± she asked Grandmother. Grandmother looked over the list of spells Sarah wrote down during Ira¡¯s interview. This was just theater since Grandmother already looked at the list multiple times.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t list any crafting spells,¡± Grandmother remarked. ¡°Did you not understand we pay for them too?¡±

    ¡°I understood,¡± Ira responded. ¡°I don¡¯t know any.¡±

    ¡°I trade out materials for the coin only for those who have the skill to process them. I want to promote the development of crafting in order to increase the quality of life for everyone in the structure,¡± Grandmother explained in a kind voice. ¡°You will just sell the material on, increasing the price of the final product. Without that mark up the coins I give non-crafters will actually purchase more of the final products crafters produce.¡±

    ¡°Surely as family¡­¡± Ira stopped talking suddenly. Grandmother''s face had gone cold.

    ¡°I remember you from the inn last night. I did not hear you speak for me when I was denied hospitality. That is not the actions of family. We are not enemies, but neither are we friends, never mind family. Do you contest the total?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ira responded in a small voice.

    ¡°Take it. That is all you will get from me.¡±

    Ira swept the coins into her inventory. She gathered her son and headed back to the inn. Grandmother¡¯s anger was a real thing. Todd swore he could feel it in his bones. Grandmother watched the woman walk away with her son. Grandmother took a deep breath and shook her head. The pressure eased. A visible struggle went across her features. She released her breath and it was gone. She turned with a smile to the next person in line, reaching out to take the slip of vellum from their hand. A slow murmur started up again and Todd realized everyone in earshot went silent during the exchange.

    Control might not understand any human languages, Todd thought to himself, but it understood Grandmother just fine.

    There were no new spells today, but the leatherworker turned up near noon and Grandmother paid him four greens. Three for the unique spells he demonstrated to Ellen and one for his demonstration of how to streamline them. The man was so ecstatic. Todd wondered if he should escort the man home before he did something crazy.

    Soon after the last name on the list was checked and the market area of the square was empty again except for them. ¡°Time to head out,¡± Grandmother said with some relief as she rose from her stool and collapsed it back down. Sarah was removing the ¡®circle of silence¡¯ from the floor. When Sarah finished, Grandmother cast conceal and they were gone.

    ¡°It is good to be home,¡± Ellen commented. They were gathered at their usual table in their Home Square¡¯s inn, eating a late lunch.

    ¡°We are lucky they didn¡¯t poison yesterday''s lunch,¡± Todd commented over his food.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the innkeeper realized I didn¡¯t belong to the square,¡± Alex said. He took a large bite and nodded to the blue on his collar.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have sent you alone for the food,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you if you buy the beer tonight,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°Maybe your beer, but not Companion¡¯s. I am not certain I can afford that,¡± Grandmother responded. Todd choked on his food as laughter erupted from him. This comment was from the woman who just handed out more money than Todd had seen in one place in his lifetime. Then Todd remembered that bright copper Grandmother loaned him when he first tried out the transportation system. He gave it back to her at the first opportunity. A bright copper was worth thirty six greens.

    ¡°Companion, we humans have a problem when someone is healed by another with the same color of magic. It creates a¡­. hunger for more healing. Do your people have that problem?¡± Todd asked. He realized that Companion didn¡¯t seem worried about one of them going off by themselves in any of the human squares. The selkie only ever worried that he wasn¡¯t left alone. He needed one of them nearby to put in his beer order.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion confirmed. ¡°That is why teams have mixed colors, like us.¡±

    ¡°If it does happen, do you have a way to fix it?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Just don¡¯t heal until hunger is gone,¡± Companion replied. He said it like ¡®the hunger¡¯ wasn¡¯t that bad and could be ignored. Perhaps Grandmother was right about a mismatch in human biology, because the addiction was far, far worse in humans.

    ¡°That can be a long time,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Sometimes we can¡¯t wait.¡±

    ¡°Use a greater heal from a correct color. Might need multiple heals depending,¡± Companion offered.

    ¡°Do you think it could be that easy?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°Multiple heals would not be fun. I can see how people might give up too soon.¡± Grandmother was looking thoughtful.

    ¡°What have you thought of?¡± Todd asked her.

    ¡°I may have seen that before. It was a little chaotic at the time and she was sort of on the run¡­¡± She trailed off. Todd got the feeling she wasn¡¯t going to explain that one any better. ¡°Unfortunately we will probably get a chance to try it one day.¡±

    ¡°If they do get me,¡± Alex said with a serious tone in his voice, ¡°I want you to drag me out to the Speedwell, and keep me there.¡±

    ¡°That is a brilliant idea!¡± Grandmother responded enthusiastically. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t think of it.¡±

    ¡°So you will do it?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I would never leave you behind. I¡¯ll hit you with a couple tier five heals too, just in case that works.¡±

    ¡°Companion said ¡®a correct color¡¯, I wonder if a self-heal would work?¡± Sarah commented. Everyone shifted uncomfortably, except for Companion. They all learned how to cast a tier one heal on themselves after Grandmother did it with a tier five heal, in a last ditch effort to save her life. She mentioned it earlier, but they never seem to get around to learning it. Self heals were incredibly painful and tended to make the caster lose consciousness, leaving them vulnerable to further attack. Grandmother¡¯s tier five spell left her in a coma for five days.

    ¡°You heal you?¡± Companion asked in obvious confusion. Companion was their weakest healer. He did not know the spell when they found him and he joined the team. Grandmother injured herself repeatedly in order to teach heal to Todd. As a red, Todd could only heal violet and orange magic users safely. Before they discovered Companion¡¯s people, Grandmother was the only person he could heal, since there were no human orange magic users, and she was the only adult violet they knew. Todd returned the favor with Companion, teaching the selkie both the tier one and tier two heal spells. Tier three was their next goal. Companion could also safely heal Sarah since she was a yellow. When Sarah offered to help train Companion, Todd wouldn¡¯t hear of it. Sarah was their youngest member. She was Ellen¡¯s younger sister and they were all protective of her.

    ¡°Oh yes, my friend,¡± Todd said to the selkie. ¡°It is not for the pain adverse. I will show you before we start on tier three.¡±

    ¡°Londontown was our last square on the network,¡± Sarah observed. ¡°Should we head out to the Speedwell and enter all this data?¡±

    ¡°I know of three other squares where for different reasons I never touched the crystal. Plus Chicago, which doesn¡¯t have a crystal,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We will need to travel to the closest neighbor and go through the halls. I¡¯d like to visit all of them before we head back out.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I¡¯m going to draw a kind of world map on that large sheet of vellum we got. If you give me the locations of those settlements I can add them.¡± Grandmother agreed to do that after lunch. She went on to say that she thought they needed a break before starting these last settlements.

    ¡°What do we have on the to-do list?¡± Todd asked. Everyone offered up projects they wanted to accomplish. Most of the tasks could be accomplished individually or with the help of just one or two others. They agreed to work on individual tasks for the next six days, while finalizing the route they would take for the last of the settlements.

    ¡°You should show Sarah your room,¡± Todd said to Grandmother, just as they were breaking up after lunch.

    ¡°My room?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The spell hint in the chair¡¯s flowers was definitely the tier three heal,¡± Todd observed. ¡°I didn¡¯t recognize the spell encoded in the lobes of the leaves. Plus, I didn¡¯t really give the wall tapestry a detailed look.¡±

    ¡°Tapestry?¡± Sarah said. Now everyone was looking at Grandmother with interest, even Companion. Grandmother gave Todd a betrayed look.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Six

    <h2>Alex</h2>

    Alex didn¡¯t have a place of his own. Todd was always willing to let him sleep on the floor of his apartment and stash his stuff there. Occasionally he would get a room in the inn. Mostly he shared rooms with a friend. Since Companion joined the team, Alex had woken up too many times on the selkie¡¯s rock bed.

    On the Speedwell they all slept in the same apartment unit. Ellen and Sarah shared one bedroom, Todd and Alex another with the last bedroom reserved for Grandmother. When Companion joined them they set up his box of rocks in the end of the common space, right outside Grandmother¡¯s door. It was where Companion slept on the floor the first night they were onboard. No one ever talked about changing this arrangement, even though there were hundreds of near identical apartments on the Speedwell, all of them empty. Instead of all that empty space inviting them to spread out, it instead caused them to cling together.

    Grandmother¡¯s furniture store fascinated him, although he tried hard not to show it. He was amazed at the variety and beauty of the different pieces. The bed was far larger than his bunk on the Speedwell. It also offered far more comfort than the bed in the default inn room. He was fascinated by the simplified form of the glass and copper shelving unit. How could metal and glass hold that much beauty?

    He was not a crafter. Even with magic, crafting took long hours of repetitive small actions in solitude. He knew crafters often worked together in the same room, but it wasn¡¯t the same as actually working together.

    The queen¡¯s suite, as Harry called it, was another revelation. The entire group went up to tour the room after lunch. As everyone named the animals they knew in the tapestry, Alex looked at the furniture.

    He could see how the different pieces of furniture worked together. The carpet softened the floor under the feet and quieted their footsteps. The elaborate tapestry was almost like looking out another window. The sitting area was a deluxe version of a section of the gallery, only more private and intimate. There was a storage chest at the foot of the bed and a set of shelves in the sanitary facilities. A weapon rack was positioned near the door, and a small table by the side of the bed. A small wooden stool was pushed against the wall by the prize altar.

    All together it made the room something more. The high arched ceilings and wall of windows gave it a regal air, but the carpet, tapestry and stuffed furniture made it warm and welcoming. Grandmother cringed at the touches of purple that seemed to be everywhere, but Alex could see how that color theme tied the whole space together.

    Alex was waiting for Grandmother to come down for breakfast. Companion and Todd were off working on teaching Companion the tier three heal spell along with how to cast a heal on yourself. Ellen was closeted in her apartment/work room trying to reproduce the Londontown leatherworkers vellum spell. Since Ellen wasn¡¯t much of a leatherworker, it was going to take her a while. Sarah was working on the world map.

    Normally when there were no group commitments the next day, Alex would spend the night in the inn¡¯s dining room sharing music, stories and drinks with his friends. He wouldn¡¯t get out of bed until noon. Sitting on the edge of the queen¡¯s bed he came to a decision. He would start a furniture shop.

    Finally Grandmother came down the stairs stifling a yawn. She saw Alex waiting for her and crossed the room to join him.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± she said to him. ¡°I don¡¯t usually see you at breakfast.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to ask you something,¡± Alex said. He felt unusually tongue tied. He realized this was important to him, and he didn¡¯t want to mess it up. One of the inn servers brought over two tankards of tea. Alex told them to bring him whatever Grandmother ordered when she arrived.

    ¡°What do you want to ask?¡± Grandmother said, prompting him.

    ¡°I want to start a shop,¡± he said, surprising Grandmother. ¡°A furniture shop, like yours in Londontown. Is that alright? I am not a crafter like Ellen or Sarah, but it seems like bringing the beautiful things we find in the ruins back here could be my contribution to the community.¡±

    ¡°I think that is a great idea,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°You can count on my help to get you started.¡±

    ¡°I was hoping you could teach me how you did it,¡± Alex responded. The server arrived with their breakfast. Alex ate his food without even looking at it.

    ¡°Well first thing you need to do is sweep the surrounding rooms and find all the unique pieces that are within carrying distance. It would be nice if we could find the makings of a cart,¡± Grandmother said. She chewed her food thoughtfully. ¡°Have you rented a shop yet?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Alex said. ¡°I wanted to make sure you weren¡¯t planning on starting a store.¡±

    ¡°Good. Let''s see if we can get you a space near the back door. I always wished my store in Londontown was closer. I don¡¯t have any firm commitments for this morning so after you get the shop we can go out to the local area. I can show you how the modular stuff works,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°Should I get some of the others to help clear the rooms?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°The two of us will be fine,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°This area is tier two space as long as we don¡¯t go down past the grand stairway. As a tier three you can probably clear the rooms alone, if you''re really careful. I wouldn¡¯t recommend it. I was tier four when I did it. Talk a teammate or two into going with you. If none of the rest of us are available, get yourself three or four of the trainees to go out. I¡¯ve seen people charge youngsters for the privilege, but I alway thought getting them to help haul back my inventory was payment enough. I usually let them keep most of the meat and skins, but of course that is up to you. ¡± Grandmother ate more of her breakfast before continuing her comments.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind setting up a sweep schedule for the area below the staircase. I don¡¯t know if the numbers I gave hold for tier three space and it would be interesting to see how the furniture and items differ there.¡± She observed. ¡°We should probably take the full team for the first sweep. Just to be safe.¡±

    Grandmother spent the rest of the meal talking about pricing and how important it was. She explained how furniture lasted three to four years inside rented property. She priced her pieces expecting that they would fall apart a year or less and that was too low.

    ¡°You want a business that is self-supporting. That way you will have a money stream to pay a shop attendant or two when you are out of town. If you do it all out of the kindness of your heart, you will be tied to the shop the rest of your life. Or like me, you¡¯ll be forced to shut it down after a while,¡± Grandmother explained.

    About a quarter of the shop space in the square was available. The area around the entrance to the training yards was completely sold out. The second most occupied section was behind the market stalls. They found a spot close to the hallway to the back door that wasn¡¯t rented. Grandmother stood by as Alex touched the sealed shop door. A pile of shadow coins appeared on the door. This amount represented thirty six days of rent. It was a considerable amount, ten silver, far more than the rent on an apartment in the halls above the square. Alex put a finger on the payment to hold it into place and pulled money from his inventory twice, paying two months rent. The four green Grandmother gave the leatherworker inn Londontown would pay the rent on this shop for over a year.

    The door to the shop popped open. Alex went inside, holding the door open for Grandmother. She insisted he close the door before she entered, so he would be the clear single owner of the shop. Once that was done, he let her in to survey the space. The shop was split into a front section for display and a back workshop. Grandmother¡¯s shop was a T shape with the narrow section at the front, giving her little window space but a large back area. This space was L shaped with the wider section at the front. A wall divided the front wide rectangle from the narrow long rectangle at the rear. A door to a small restroom was located in the back rectangle close to the inside bend of the L. A shop counter was set in front of the door to the back area. The wall was equipped with built-in shelves for displaying items for sale on each side of the backroom door.

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    ¡°This is nice,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°The windowspace is perfect for displaying your goods. It is easy to make them transparent in the interface. It has a small backroom, but since you aren¡¯t crafting anything it will be great for storage. You can use the interface to change the appearance, define inventory, set prices, key workers so they can enter without you being present and of course open or close the store to the public. I can go over how to do all that or we can go out and get some stuff. What do you think?¡±

    Alex looked around the open space. He was excited and nervous at the same time. The pale stone walls, opaque windows and pure white floor looked barren to him. Plus a little action might calm his nerves.

    ¡°Let''s go get some stuff,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°Great! I¡¯ll go get my gear. Don¡¯t bother with food, we¡¯ll come back for lunch,¡± she said as she pushed the door open. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you at the back door in ten minutes,¡± she called as she exited. Alex took one last look around the space, before running out to pick up his own gear. He emptied out his pack of anything he carried with him for overnight use. It was light on his back, since it contained little more than his door wedges, vent pins and gathering bags. He belted on his sword. He filled his water flask before tying it to his belt. The flask was enchanted by Sarah, so it would continue to fill on its own. He filled it now only because he liked his water cold.

    He made sure the rent was paid on the inn room for the next couple nights. He felt odd leaving all his belongings laying loose on the bed.

    He found Grandmother already at the back door gate. She was talking to the hunters on watch. There were two women and a man. They were all younger than Sarah and probably didn¡¯t remember a time before Grandmother¡¯s arrival. Alex eavesdropped on them as he approached. Grandmother was asking questions about where the scavengers usually went, saying she didn¡¯t want to search an already picked over area. The hunters didn¡¯t know the final destinations, but they reported that everyone usually headed straight down the main corridor away from the gate.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Alex asked when he arrived.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Lets go right, Ted here warns me the crafters use one of the first rooms to the left as a waste disposal.¡± Alex gave the young man a second look and confirmed that this was Teddy, one of Sarah¡¯s childhood friends. He should be about the same age as Sarah, but somehow he seemed younger.

    They went down the right corridor. There were no doors on the right side of the corridor. That blank wall was actually the back wall of the square''s shops. Grandmother stopped at the first room. They were still within sight of the hunters on watch.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start here,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°No one ever checks these close in rooms. Everyone always assumes someone else already has.¡±

    Alex took the lead, he pulled his sword and prepared himself mentally. He made entry into the room, pushing and holding the door open as he scanned for any sign of movement. The room was clear. Grandmother propped the door open with a door wedge. She walked around the room giving everything a close inspection. ¡°Aha!¡± she exclaimed. She pulled a small cross cut saw out of a pile. ¡°I told you no one ever checks,¡± she slipped the saw into her pack, and made a mark on her map. ¡°But that is not why we are here,¡± she mumbled with a quick glance at Alex. ¡°Stay on task,¡± She reminded herself. She pulled on a set of gloves and started digging through the piles.

    Alex circled the room behind Grandmother. He picked up all the scrap, but saw nothing useful in what was left. There were plenty of items that were converted to scrap with the help of a prize altar. This would be the debris part of Grandmother¡¯s item types.

    Grandmother pulled a thin sheet of dark iron, about three feet long and a foot wide and a handful of small complicated pieces. She also picked up two tangles of steel tubing. The tubing was stuck together into an odd pattern along with sections with obviously broken ends.

    Alex used chunks like these to build barriers before by piling them up. The rough broken ends helped tangle the sections together. Grandmother pulled, twisted and lifted and the pieces fell apart. She threw aside anything that looked damaged. She gave each one a sharp tap against the floor before selecting it. Alex was familiar with the practice. Occasionally something that looked like it would build a solid barrier turned out to be made of a weak brittle material that shattered at the first impact. She was left with four lengths of square tubing that were made out of steel.

    ¡°Here, put these outside,¡± She said, handing them to Alex. Alex carried them out and stacked them neatly against the wall. The tubing had holes and slits at different points along its length, while the ends were cut in a complicated pattern, with spots of extra thickness. The tubes were all different lengths. Although the ends looked similar across the pieces, he didn¡¯t think they were identical.

    He stepped back in the room, to find Grandmother waving a stick of wood behind her back as she dug through a pile. Alex took it from her and added it to his pile. When he turned to reenter the room he found Grandmother pulling the wedge out from the door.

    ¡°That¡¯s about it for this room,¡± she reported, waving him on to the next one.

    ¡°Should we take this stuff with us?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No, it''s closer to the gate here. We¡¯ll pick it up on the way back. I can¡¯t see anyone taking it while we are away,¡± Grandmother observed. They continued this way. About one in four rooms were occupied by animals of some kind. Mostly badgers, but there were some rats and cats as well. Grandmother gutted the first six badgers and left their carcass in the hallway along their piles of ¡®stuff¡¯. She left the guts in the room. After that she ignored the animals, mumbling something about not wanting to flood the market.

    Grandmother picked out items in wood, iron, steel and oxidized bronze. She told Alex to record where the bronze pieces came from. Alex buried them under the less eye-catching iron. As they moved on to new rooms Alex started making his own selection of tangles. Grandmother showed him how to unhook the different kinds of joints. There were square tubes, round tubes, sheets and solid pieces. Grandmother picked up any whole wood planks they found.

    Alex found an intact wooden chair in a pile of wooden debris, in about the twentieth room. There were some heavy gouges across the back and strangely there were some burn marks on the legs. It was strange because there were no other signs of fire in the room. He pulled it out of the pile and set it on its legs.

    ¡°That¡¯s a unique item,¡± Grandmother said from where she was searching across the room. ¡°Most of the contents of my shop were unique items. That was the result of months of collecting. They are hard to find. You need to mark your map and come back to this room every six days to get the copy.¡± She dusted off her gloves and crossed the room to where he stood. She reached out and tapped out a clean spell on the chair. The finish on the chair glowed. The gauges shrank and smoothed out, while the burn marks became a dark black stain that added character to the piece. Alex suddenly loved it. He wondered if he could part with it.

    ¡°That¡¯s really nice,¡± Grandmother commented. Alex was certain it would not have cleaned up nearly as well if he cast the spell. He made a note to himself to try to get Grandmother to clean everything he could. It was better looking than the chair in his room at the inn.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just take the chairs from the inn¡¯s rooms? It really wouldn¡¯t be stealing, since they would just just respawn,¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say?¡± It was the same words a lot of Grandmother''s long lectures started with. Alex settled himself into a relaxed stance. Grandmother started poking through the rest of the wood debris in the pile as she talked. ¡°You can¡¯t take things from the inn¡¯s rooms. You must be an extremely honest man to have never tried. If the door to the room is open, you will find all the furniture is fixed to the floor. If you pick it up with the door closed, you will find the door will not open until you set it down again. Any protected place with a door is like that. If there isn¡¯t a door, like in a rest, any complete furniture is attached to the floor permanently. In a really low tier rest you can move the debris, I think this is so you can spend an easy night. Anything you remove literally turns to dust in six days, even if you wear it as a necklace. The debris piles in the rest will reform from the dust in the same amount of time.¡±

    Grandmother picked up two wooden triangles from the debris and set them on the chair seat. ¡°We¡¯ll want to leave that chair just inside the room. That is something someone might pick up if they see it in the hall.¡± Alex marked the room on his map. He moved the chair so it was against the outer wall, just the side of the door, where they wouldn¡¯t damage it accidentally if they needed to clear the room again when they got back.

    ¡°Now that you moved it, even though it is still in its original room, it will start to decay,¡± Grandmother commented. Alex realized Grandmother was still in lecture mode. ¡°If you come back in five days, it will fall apart at a touch. If you come back in six, there will be no sign of it here by the door, but a new chair will be upside down in that wood debris pile.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Seven

    <h2>Alex</h2>

    Grandmother cleared out a nest of spiders in a multi-room suite, with a couple casts of chain lightning. Alex wasn¡¯t certain what tier the spell was, but it jumped to at least six targets. This was the first room that made Alex think twice about coming out here alone. Grandmother negated the threat in a few seconds. Usually she made sure the rest of the team did most of the fighting. She called it gaining experience. This trip she treated the animals as a nuisance that just needed to be disposed of.

    The main room looked like it contained the remnants of high desks, or tables in two rows. One of the desks along the left wall appeared to be intact. After confirming the room was clear, Alex and Grandmother headed directly over to it. A variety of stuff covered the surface of the desk. Mixed in with chunks of glass, stone and slivers of metal was a set of needle nose pliers. Alex knew they were pliers from his time doing maintenance chores on the Speedwell. He couldn¡¯t remember seeing a set in the structure before. He wondered which crafting tree used them.

    ¡°Look at that,¡± Grandmother declared.

    ¡°What type of crafter uses them?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Them?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°The pliers,¡± Alex replied, thinking that was obvious. He pointed at the tool in the pile of metal filings.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Grandmother said, as if what he said was a revelation, ¡°the pliers.¡± She shifted her gaze and Alex realized that for once he saw something before Grandmother did. ¡°Metal workers,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I think they use them to work with wire. They are rare.¡± She reached out to snag the pliers and slip them the collection bag she was using for small tools. She started picking up the bits of glass and stone and putting them into another bag. ¡°Ellen might be able to do something with these stones with her new stone crafting tools,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°There was a prize altar a couple rooms back, I¡¯m going to check if this glass is scrap.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Alex said, ¡°what were you talking about?¡±

    ¡°The workbench,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen this design before. I think this top might be made out of ceramic.¡±

    Alex took another look at the ¡®workbench¡¯. The structure was made out of dark iron, but the surface was a bright white. Alex felt the surface, it was cool to the touch like stone or glass. He thought it might be ceramic. There was ceramic integrated into some of the abstract sculptures that appeared in galleries or grand staircases. It did resemble that.

    ¡°That might be another surface over there in the corner, so maybe we can piece together another one,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Piece together?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I was hoping we would find a complete example so this is perfect. It is time for your modular lesson.¡± Grandmother dug around in the remnants of a couple other tables before she came up with a length of iron tubing. ¡°Here we go,¡± she said. She went back to the workbench and knelt down in front of it. She waved Alex over to take a look. She rotated the tubing in her hand and held it up next to the brace between the front and back legs. They were identical.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Alex said. ¡°So this table is put together from parts?¡± he said.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Once you have a pattern you can build it out of any of the materials. There are about twenty or thirty parts in the set. Some of them are so rare they are almost unique, like the top on this workbench. The hardest common ones to find are actually the small bits, because they do convert to scrap so they have the longer respawn timer. Interestingly enough a complete unit like this usually shows up on the base Furniture time table, even though parts of it will convert to scrap.¡±

    Grandmother stood back up and ran her hand across the surface. ¡°This is a real find.¡± She did some quick math in her head. ¡°If I were you I wouldn''t accept less than seven or eight silver for it.¡±

    ¡°That is almost the rent on the shop for a month,¡± Alex said with some surprise.

    ¡°Think of it this way, there are probably about fifty tier two or higher crafters in the square. The workbench will last them about 3 years, call it 36 rent payments on the shop, or 360 silver. If we divide 360 by fifty, we get 7 silver and 10 iron,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°That seems too high to me,¡± Alex responded. ¡°You''re telling me, to price it like it is the only thing I will ever sell to a crafter.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°because it might be. Obviously this is your shop, so you get to decide. It also might not sell at all. I priced each item like it was the only thing I sold and I expected each buyer would get a replacement in a year. My prices ended up way too low. Especially when you consider you actually need more than the rent. You need money to pay your workers. If you are doing it yourself you need to pay for your room and board, since all your time is spent gathering stock or minding the store. You don¡¯t have time to make money another way. When I price it just for rent, I am assuming you will find other items that will also sell to cover all those additional expenses.

    ¡°This one ends up especially high because I think the audience for it is small. Your chair I would price differently. There are about 800 residents in Home Square. For every adult there are a couple children. So we can consider there are about 270 adults. Each one could buy a chair. So 360 divided by 270 is¡­.one silver twelve iron, I think. Now since it is a unique piece, and after the remodel you might never find it again, I might double that.¡±

    Alex thought about his chair. Could he part with that for only one silver twelve iron? He wasn¡¯t certain he could. Maybe he would feel differently after he collected several of them.

    ¡°If something didn¡¯t sell I lowered the price if I ended up with four or more of them. Towards the end I realized that if I couldn¡¯t keep the item in stock I needed to raise the price on it. I should have done that earlier,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I did it on the unique pieces, but I never really kept track of how fast the modular stuff went out. I should have. If you sell more than one six days, it is the same as not being able to keep it in stock.¡±

    ¡°What about the type of material it is made out of?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be a factor in pricing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, now you¡¯re thinking. If you can offer the same item in iron, steel and bronze you should mark them up for each material type. You can go check how much more the blacksmith wants for a steel spear versus an iron one. People love wood. I would charge more for wood than steel,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°This is getting complicated,¡± Alex murmured.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Grandmother laughed, ¡°That is why I came up with my simple ¡®divide the rent by how many I might sell¡¯ method to determine the price. Don¡¯t worry about it for now,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Let''s go through this suite and gather up all the parts we can find. I¡¯ll show you how to take this table apart for transport. We can head back after that. I think it will take multiple trips.¡±

    Alex agreed. They split up to cover the different rooms in the suite.

    ¡°This is the best room ever!¡± Grandmother called from a tiny room in the back of the suite. Alex rushed over to find Grandmother beaming at the cracked and dirty remnants of what looked like a mop bucket.

    ¡°You want that?¡± Alex asked with a shudder. He knew what it was from his time on the Speedwell. The ship was occupied by an army of little crawling robots that cleaned the floors of everyday dirt. Alex learned about mops and mop buckets when someone didn¡¯t warn him of the ¡®outside the structure¡¯ experience of a ¡®hangover¡¯. Grandmother handed a mop to him and told him his mess was too much for the floor cleaners. He now held a firm rule not to drink on the Speedwell.

    ¡°You don¡¯t realize how rare they are,¡± Grandmother declared. ¡°I gathered furniture for years before I found one.¡± She flipped the bucket over. Four caster wheels were revealed underneath. She twisted, pushed, twisted and pulled the first wheel free. She held it up in the air triumphantly. ¡°With this we can make a cart,¡± she announced. One of four didn¡¯t roll quite as smoothly as the other three. A quick clean spell from Grandmother fixed that problem.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Grandmother left the rest of the suite to him, while she went out and picked through the parts they collected and left in front of the last three or four rooms. They were still in the same hallway they followed from the back gate of Home Square. They traveled down several jogs in its path so the guards couldn¡¯t see them anymore. The structure loved to put small offsets into the hallways so the player couldn''t see very far. That way danger could have an easier time catching a player unaware.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the optimal solution,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°but it will work.¡± She set twelve pieces of steel tubing out and four sheets of iron. She walked him through how to align the pieces and click them together. The wheels clicked in through a set of holes in the tubes. She used the sheets to form a kind of deck on the platform. There weren''t enough sheets to cover the entire platform and they weren¡¯t locked down. There was a special piece that would clamp the sheets into place. They found some earlier but there weren¡¯t any in the near piles.

    When the cart was finished, they went back into the room and deconstructed the workbench. Grandmother tied the bundle of pieces that formed it together. ¡°Believe me this will help when we put it back together. Knowing exactly what pieces you need is half the battle,¡± Grandmother commented.

    They loaded the cart. They put the two ceramic bench tops on first. They covered the hole left by the missing iron sheets completely. Grandmother laughed, remarking that she wasted her time with the iron decking. They set the tied bundle of parts on the cart against the vertical riser for the handle. They loaded everything else with less care. They started rolling the cart in the direction of the square, loading each pile as they passed it.

    They cleared the chair room again when they reached it. It was refilled with four badgers in their absence. The pile of ¡®stuff¡¯ on the cart was getting rather large. Grandmother added uprights along the edge to help stabilize the load. Alex carried the chair in his off hand instead of trusting it to the load. Grandmother tied the badgers to the top to keep them from sliding off.

    The cart was difficult to push by the time they loaded the last pile onto it. The guards at the gate watched their approach with a keen interest. Alex saw the hungry looks they were casting his chair.

    They rolled the cart down the back hallway, around the corner and into his shop. Alex was grateful Grandmother told him to get the shop closest to the back door.

    ¡°I think we need to bring less back next time,¡± Alex commented as he surveyed the load. He carefully set his chair down in a corner of the showroom.

    ¡°There is definitely a lot more usable stuff here than around Londontown,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Let¡¯s sort the pieces by type as we unload them.¡±

    Alex agreed and they started taking pieces off the cart. They stacked the tubes into separate piles in a line across the floor, roughly from the longest to the smallest. A second line held the sheets in different widths and lengths. When they got down to the tied bundle, Grandmother sorted it out onto the floor in a completely different section. Together they picked out another set of pieces that duplicated the first set. With a lot of trial and error, Alex put the original set back together, while Grandmother put together a copy from the gathered pieces. When they were done, Grandmother cast clean on each of them.

    The white tops shimmered, while the black iron supports almost absorbed the light. Alex could see the beauty in them. Alex couldn¡¯t tell the difference between the one they found complete and the one they assembled.

    ¡°Although unique pieces are nice, these modular pieces are completely functional. I think you could replace that workbench top with two of the shelves. There would be a seam in the middle, but it would work. I built desks that way and no one ever complained.¡±

    ¡°Is that what these other flat pieces are?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Shelves?¡±

    ¡°Let me show you,¡± Grandmother said. She started pulling out parts.

    Grandmother headed out for a late lunch leaving Alex to look over his new stock. She promised to help him out with how to use the shop interface later. Grandmother showed him how to put together shelves, benches, low tables and a desk, (with a seam in the top). She made a chair frame, which she said was what she started with to make the stuffed green chair in Londontown. She only made it after Alex asked. She warned him again how she hadn¡¯t been able to sell it. When he asked why she replied, ¡°It has too much real cost in it. I paid for yards of integrated cloth, integrated leather for the seat and back supports and fiber debris for the stuffing. You would not believe how much fiber debris it takes to stuff a chair. I used all integrated products to increase its lifespan, but it ended up with a cost greater than crafted furniture. If I sold it for less people would just take it apart for the scrap value. Giving scrap away was not the point. If you buy some rope I can show you how to weave a seat and backrest onto it. It doesn¡¯t look as nice, but it is functional.¡±

    With all the parts now laid out, she turned their jury rigged cart into a beautiful finished product. Everything but the cart were copies of things she found in the structure before.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen people make all kinds of stuff out of them that they just made up, but I was never that inventive,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    Alex carried all the extra components through the workroom door and laid them out on the floor there. He needed to come up with a shelving or container system to hold them. The stockrooms on the Speedwell were equipped like that. He would put something together from the parts. He was surprised at how many components Grandmother¡¯s constructions used. There was still an overabundance of some pieces while there was nothing left of others.

    Alex rearranged the pieces until the display pleased him.

    He loaded the six badgers onto his cart and rolled them over to the leatherworker where he sold the hides. He took the skinned carcasses over to the butcher. Normally he would now be sweaty and covered in blood. He tapped out the cleaning spell on his cart and the steel of its construction shined. It was still built with dark iron sheets on the top, but there were now enough of them to perfectly cover the area and they were locked into place.

    Ellen caught him rolling the cart back in the direction of his shop.

    ¡°Where did you get that?¡± Ellen demanded. ¡°Although with wheels that small it won¡¯t be easy to get up the stairs¡­¡± Ellen mumbled.

    ¡°Grandmother put it together to help haul back inventory for my shop,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°Your shop?¡± Ellen asked in a shocked voice. In her mind only crafters rented shops. The only thing she¡¯d ever seen Alex craft was a pan flute out of reeds.

    ¡°I decided to sell found furniture,¡± Alex explained. ¡°I rented a space over by the back door.¡±

    ¡°You have a space already?¡± Ellen asked, surprised again. ¡°Can I see it?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Alex replied. He rolled his cart forward. He was a little insulted by the small wheels comment. It rolled forward silently across the smooth floors with very little effort. He knew how much load it could carry and that was impressive. He loved this cart. He opened the door to his shop and pulled it in behind him. Ellen helped steer it from behind so it cleared the door. Alex parked the cart by the shop counter as Ellen looked over his little furniture display.

    ¡°You have so much!¡± she exclaimed. She ran her fingers across the desk surface, trying to feel the seam she could see. The fit was so tight it was barely noticeable. She pushed on the side of a set of shelves. It stood firm. She moved around a bench that was put together with wooden planks over an iron frame. Ellen reached one of the workbenches. Alex put them at the back, one on each side.

    She tapped the surface as if trying to decide what the top was made out of. She pumped against it judging how solid it was. She stood directly in front of it and set her hands on the top surface as she considered the height.

    ¡°How much do you want for this one?¡± Ellen asked. Alex looked at his friend and teammate. The crafter of their party. She was trying hard to keep a straight face, but he could see the desire in her eyes. He couldn¡¯t charge her for it.

    ¡°Consider it a gift,¡± Alex said. He could always sell the other one.

    ¡°No, Alex,¡± Ellen said, her face serious. ¡°Let me give you some advice. Gifts are fine, for family, at celebrations or times of need out in the wild. But every cra¡­ shopkeeper,¡± Ellen said as she shook off her prejudiced belief that all shopkeepers were crafters, ¡°will tell you, once it is in the shop the only way it leaves is if someone buys it. So how much do you want?¡±

    ¡°7 silver 10 iron,¡± Alex announced. Ellen was looking at him like she was daring him to give too low of a price so that she could correct him again. Under the pressure of her disapproval Grandmother¡¯s value slipped out before he could think about it.

    Ellen gave him a quick nod of approval. She turned and considered the piece. ¡°I¡¯ll take it,¡± she announced. She turned to look at him with a carefully blank expression. ¡°Do you deliver?¡± Alex looked closely at the crafter, but he couldn¡¯t read anything beneath her trading face. Although the fact she was using it meant she thought they were still negotiating, even though she didn¡¯t make a counter offer on the price. He remembered her comment about his cart not going up stairs well. She didn¡¯t know he could take the workbench apart to make it easier to move. The thick ceramic top was heavy. Grandmother moved the tops around easily enough, but Alex felt their weight. Ellen and Sarah¡¯s place was two flights up above the courtyard.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex said with a smile, ¡°for the low service charge of 21 iron.¡± That was three iron per silver which worked out to about a 8 percent markup. He picked that number because it was easy to calculate.

    Ellen smiled and clapped her hands. ¡°That was great,¡± she said quickly. ¡°You learn fast. You need to premise that with the constraint that you only deliver within the square. You never know when some crazy person will show up and expect delivery to Chicago.¡±

    ¡°Has that really happened?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ellen replied. ¡°It is what my father told me once.¡± She stepped away from the workbench and headed in the direction of the shop counter. ¡°I''ll take delivery too,¡± she said.

    ¡°Umm,¡± Alex said following it over. ¡°I haven¡¯t actually entered the inventory yet. Grandmother said she¡¯d come by later to help with that.¡±

    ¡°No need to bother her,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I used to do it for my father in his shop all the time. I will show you how.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Eight

    <h2>Ellen</h2>

    When Ellen got back to her apartment she found Sarah lying on the floor. She was working on her world map. The large piece of vellum was spread out with a variety of stones holding the edges down. The stones were the results of Ellen¡¯s experiments with stone sculpting. It was a ¡®new¡¯ craft the team discovered recently. Companion¡¯s people knew all about stone sculpting, but Companion wasn¡¯t a crafter. His knowledge on the subject was very basic.

    Ellen carried her food purchases into the kitchen area of their apartment and set them down on the built in counter. There was a set of shelves built into the short wall that ran ninety degrees back from the counter. As she looked around the space she thought a set of Alex¡¯s shelves would be useful and separate the kitchen from where Ellen and Sarah slept.

    Ellen stepped back into the doorway to the room she considered her workshop. Sarah was occupying most of the free floor space with her map making. Tools, materials, finished and half finished products cluttered the rest of the space. Most of them were laying directly on the floor. Ellen considered where she wanted her new workbench placed. She needed to clear a spot out before Alex got here.

    She was still shocked that Alex rented a shop. Having a shop was a dream of Ellen¡¯s ever since they¡¯d lost their father¡¯s shop on his death. There always seemed to be one more thing she needed to do before she was ready. She needed a rent fund, master a new skill or build up an inventory.

    She was certain Alex never considered opening a shop before today. He somehow got up this morning and just did it. He set his shop up to pay his clerk a sixth of the sales amount. The first ten silver made each month would be used to pay the rent three months out. He¡¯d told Ellen with pride that he paid two months¡¯ rent up front as a buffer. Ellen saved enough coin for four or five years of rent and she still wasn¡¯t certain that was enough since she didn¡¯t have money for salaries. It made her realize that the loss of their father¡¯s shop affected her in more ways than just giving her the desire for a new one. In her fear of losing another shop, it made her overcautious.

    ¡°Alex has opened a shop,¡± Ellen told her sister. Sarah stopped drawing and looked up at her sister.

    ¡°Alex?¡± she questioned.

    ¡°Yes, he is selling found furniture, like Grandmother¡¯s shop in Londontown,¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s too bad. I was trying to talk Grandmother into going into a shop with me selling furniture,¡± Sarah replied. ¡°Now there is no way she would do it. She would never compete with Alex.¡±

    ¡°No, she wouldn¡¯t. She is helping Alex get started. He already has an impressive number of pieces for sale. I bought one from him,¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°You did? What is it?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°He called it a workbench. It is a workbench of a kind, but it has a ceramic top. It reminded me more of a chemistry bench,¡± Ellen commented. She wanted to buy almost everything in his shop, but at the same time she wanted to build his confidence that he could sell to more than just friends. When he offered her the workbench as a gift, she was very tempted to accept it, but instead she gave him the advice her father gave her. Alex was more than just a friend. He was as much family as her sister was.

    ¡°What is a chemistry bench?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you take any chemistry laboratory classes on the Speedwell?¡± Ellen asked. When Sarah admitted she didn¡¯t, Ellen gave a brief description of the subject. ¡°Chemistry is about identifying substances, purifying them, learning their properties and mixing them to produce new substances.¡±

    ¡°That sounds contradictory,¡± Sarah observed.

    ¡°It is how you make dyes with science. That is why I took the class. With magic we can only make six colors and not everyone wants to run around in those bold shades,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sarah agreed, ¡°Just look at Grandmother and her love of purple.¡±

    ¡°I thought maybe if I understood the science behind dyes I would have a better chance of modifying the color of integrated cloth,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°I never made any progress with the magic, but since I saw Alex¡¯s workbench I am wondering if we missed another school of crafting, something that represents chemistry.¡±

    ¡°You should ask Companion,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°I will,¡± Ellen responded, ¡°but I think chemistry is going to be a hard concept to explain to him.¡±

    ¡°Just ask him if his people have a way to make different colors,¡± Sarah explained.

    ¡°I doubt if he would know that,¡± Ellen countered. ¡°You¡¯re the one who told me the swimmers in the ocean square mostly wore orange with just a few in yellow and green. So even if they know how to make different colors they aren¡¯t using that knowledge.¡±

    ¡°I can see the problem,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°As a non-crafter Companion wouldn¡¯t know about something that wasn¡¯t sold. What other things are made with chemistry?¡±

    ¡°Tons,¡± Ellen replied. ¡°Everything from the fuel that powered the Speedwell through interstellar space to the hormones in the implants that control our fertility.¡±

    ¡°Well those are obviously things we don¡¯t have in the structure. You need to think of something we have seen,¡± Sarah countered. Ellen thought for a minute or two.

    ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°one thing comes to mind. Most of the chemicals that were used in the laboratory were dangerous if they touched your skin or you ate them. They were all poisons.¡±

    ¡°Like the strong beer in Londontown?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Sort of, although I think that was just made with simple brewing, which is a cooking skill,¡± Ellen said. She thought about that for a moment before saying, ¡°Actually, cooking is a type of chemistry. The cook adds different ingredients together and creates something new.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like maybe you need to talk to Todd too,¡± Sarah commented. Todd was the best cook among them.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ellen replied. She looked around the room again. Even with her new observations of her behavior she couldn¡¯t just jump into having a shop. She needed a plan to keep herself sane. Instead of dithering she would make that plan today. First step, Ellen thought to herself, inventory what I have on hand.

    ¡°Can you help me clean up in here?¡± She asked her sister. ¡°We need to make space for the workbench and I want to get an inventory of what finished products I have on hand. Alex promised delivery before dinner.¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Sarah said. She rolled up her map and tucked her stylus into a pocket. Together the two sisters started straightening their belongings. They were still working on it when Alex knocked on the door.

    Alex rolled the workbench in on his cart. He seemed very proud of himself. Ellen wondered how he got the cart up the stairs. He unloaded the workbench with a couple quick moves and positioned it against the wall where Ellen indicated.

    Sarah was already spreading her map out on the ceramic top when Ellen returned from saying goodbye to Alex.

    ¡°Oh no,¡± Ellen said to her sister. ¡°That is mine.¡±

    ¡°But it is so smooth,¡± Sarah commented, running her hand over the ceramic surface, ¡°it is perfect for writing on.¡±

    ¡°There is another one in Alex¡¯s shop. Only 7 silver 10 iron, plus the delivery fee,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you buy it?¡± Sarah demanded.

    ¡°I want other customers to see it,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Honestly I wanted most of his stock, but I don¡¯t want to sabotage the opening of his shop either.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, if we strip him of all his best pieces before he opens, people won¡¯t bother coming back,¡± Sarah said with a sigh.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t resist the workbench. I think a lot of crafters will like it,¡± Ellen commented. As she watched, Sarah started to pick the vellum back up. ¡°You can use it for now,¡± Ellen relented. ¡°I want to finish my inventory.¡±

    Sarah gave her sister a spectacular smile and promised to move whenever Ellen wanted. Ellen felt like she wasn¡¯t going to get to use her new purchase much.

    Ellen worked on reorganizing the room. She set aside all her duplicate tools. She needed to find a dedicated place to store them. She was a little surprised at how many there were. Her pile of completed items was rather impressive in its size, but the content was a little lacking. Her pile of unfinished projects was just embarrassing. She made a promise to herself that she would not start any new project until she finished two in the unfinished pile.

    There were also a lot of accumulated vellum and structure notebooks. Ellen sorted through them. She set blank sheets and books in one pile and anything written on in another. She was about to hand the written on sheets to Sarah to deal with, when she realized the top sheet was in her handwriting.

    Sorting the pile again, she found two thirds of the pile was hers. Her sheets were notes on different crafting methods. There were loose sheets and notebooks all on the same subject. She organized everything by craft, slipping the loose sheets into a notebook where most of its content was on the same subject. When it was all sorted out, she was reminded of the discussion with Grandmother in Londontown about selling magic.

    There was more about crafting in these writings than most tier four crafters knew. How much farther would her father have gotten if he had access to it as a young man? He died at tier four protecting the square he founded and his family from a migration wave. Only Grandmother¡¯s arrival saved them from the next wave.

    Ellen went over to sort out the finished stock. It was mostly containers. There were cloth gathering bags, leather water flasks, backpacks made of cloth and a more advanced type made of cloth and leather. There were also lengths of rope, weapon harnesses, belts, sheaths and even one sword scabbard. There was one set of hunter¡¯s greens. Looking over at her unfinished pile she could see more sets of cloth armor and a couple sets of wizard silks.

    She thought of herself as a tailor, not a leatherworker. The leather water flasks were an exception. She constructed them for Sarah when her sister was working on learning how to enchant them to autofill. She made the belt and weapon harnesses because she once jury rigged one up for Companion. When they got back to the square she decided she wanted to know how to make one for real.

    There were also piles of cloth and thread over in a corner. There were cloth bolts in every magic color, including several in orange. It took her three months to figure out how to produce the color without a sixth finger. Her method was hard and tedious. It used both taps and sounds. Companion paid her to color everything he owned orange and to make him a new set of silks. Ellen did the work happily. She refused to take more from the selkie than it would have cost him to have it done in green from the local tailor shop. He was a teammate.

    Ellen looked at her collection of finished goods and realized something. She wasn¡¯t the same kind of crafter her father was. When he died he hadn¡¯t made a gathering bag or a backpack for years, decades maybe. He spent most of his career crafting wizard silks and hunter''s greens. His small amount of metal working to make metal buttons evolved to making the metal scales that went into his famous brigandine armor. He only completed four sets of the armor before his death. Todd still wore the last set which she scrupulously repaired, in order to lengthen its lifespan.

    Ellen did a lot of repair work. She kept her teammates'' equipment in top condition while they were in the wilds. She repaired items no one usually bothered with; gathering bags, door wedges, socks. The jury rigged weapon harness wasn¡¯t the first item she crafted in the wilds at the spur of the moment.

    Her father was a master tailor and he knew a little metalworking. He was less than a journeyman blacksmith. She was only a craftsman tailor, but she was at least a journeyman blacksmith, leatherworker and woodworker and an apprentice stone sculptor. She was a generalist. She wasn¡¯t the type of crafter to have a shop.

    If she came to this conclusion days ago it would have crushed her. She still didn¡¯t want to give up her dream of having a shop. Luckily Grandmother and now Alex proved to her that you didn¡¯t have to be a crafter to have one. She needed to think about what she was, not what she wasn¡¯t.

    She was a generalist crafter and also a wizard, a warrior and a neophyte enchanter. Her crafting strength wasn¡¯t large complex pieces like armor. It was small items and repairs. She was confident of her ability to walk the halls and collect her own materials. Most crafters clung to the safety of their squares. This is what traveling with Grandmother turned her into. She couldn¡¯t blame Grandmother for this transformation. Alex, Todd and Ellen practically forced themselves into Grandmother¡¯s company. She didn¡¯t know why Alex and Todd wanted to go, but Ellen did it to gain knowledge.

    She turned away from her crafting goods and went back to the pile of notebooks and loose sheets of vellum. This was the knowledge she sought. Grandmother handed it out unrestrainedly. She even helped Ellen gather more when she ran out of her own knowledge. This latest idea of Grandmother¡¯s to travel to all the squares and gather magic knowledge produced many more crafting skills than warrior or wizard spells.

    Ellen thought about why she wanted this information. It wasn¡¯t to sit in a pile in a corner of a room. The conversation with Grandmother about spell books was fresh in her mind. Ellen thought she could write crafting skill books. She knew she could write the starter books. She pulled out a stylus and started making a list. She started with cleaning fiber and spinning thread, because that was where her father started her. She stopped at how to sew a gathering bag, since that was the simplest finished product. She thought for a moment and added how to change the color of a finished product.

    She started a new list. Only this one began with cleaning hides and finished with sewing a water flask. She repeated the task for woodworking, stopping at making arrows, and metalworking with door wedges as the final product. She skipped stone sculpting for the moment. All the things she knew how to make in stone sculpting were parts used in bigger projects.

    She went back over her lists and added which tool was used at each step. Then she added the spells that were used with the tool at that point. This was not an exhaustive list of all the spells that could be cast with each tool. That was way too much for a beginner. Maybe she would write tool specialty books later.

    Thinking of beginners, Ellen could see that her list was too long. She would break each list into multiple instruction booklets. The beginning tailoring list could be broken into making thread, making cloth and finally cutting and sewing the bag. It was nice that thread and cloth were both materials that could be sold on if the crafter didn¡¯t yet have the tools for the next step. The money made selling thread and cloth could be used to buy those higher end tools.

    She remembered a conversation with Todd about the recipe/pattern tree. A new crafter would get their first glimpse of it at the cloth cutting stage. Ellen made a note to discuss how the patterns were revealed there.

    Ellen wasn¡¯t certain she owned enough blank notebooks. She thought about working on mastering the vellum spells and making her own. She caught sight of her pile of unfinished work and refused to consider the idea. She would check and see if Sarah could spare any. If she couldn¡¯t, she would go out with Alex when he was gathering stock and see if she could find any. She could offer him a finder¡¯s fee for any he found when she wasn¡¯t with him. If all that failed she would ask Grandmother.

    She picked up a blank notebook and started working on her introduction to the magic of crafting which would include how to read the spell ribbons. When she was done with that she would get Sarah to show her the copy spell.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Nine

    <h2>Ellen</h2>

    When Grandmother came down for breakfast, Ellen was waiting for her at her table. Ellen looked for Grandmother the evening before. She ended up having a long conversation with Companion about the different items his people crafted. He told her selkie did a lot with clay. He thought glass crafting might be a branch of that, but he wasn¡¯t certain. He called rock, clay and glass crafting higher tier crafts. Distracted Ellen completely missed whether Grandmother came in or not.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Grandmother greeted Ellen. She took her seat. A server brought over Grandmother''s morning tea. Ellen was already sipping Grappler juice, so she waved the server away.

    ¡°I was hoping you would look something over and give me your opinion,¡± Ellen responded after returning Grandmother¡¯s greeting. ¡°As a novice crafter I think your viewpoint would be especially useful.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I need to go check on Alex. I promised him I¡¯d help with the shop interface, but I am free after that.¡±

    ¡°I showed him yesterday,¡± Ellen said. ¡°I learned how to use the interface in my father¡¯s shop.¡± She explained. She dithered a little, realized she was dithering and pulled a structure notebook out of the collection bag she left sitting on the floor next to her chair. ¡°Here,¡± she said, thrusting it at Grandmother, ¡°I brought it with me.¡±

    Grandmother set down her tea and took the book from Ellen with real interest. The cover of the notebook was blank. Grandmother opened the cover to the first page. There she found a drawing of a needle and thread. Below the drawing were the words: Tailoring, Book One, Spinning.

    The next page was filled with text. It was a brief description of types of materials that could be turned into thread, along with sketches of the icons that were used in the inventory system for those items. The next page was the uses for thread. It could be used to make fabric but it could also make cord and rope. It could be sold to leatherworkers where it was used to join leather together. There were other uses listed.

    Magic started on the third page. It described the use of starting and ending symbols. It described the length of time it took to learn a new spell and gave hints on how to speed that up. A nonsensical ribbon, the symbol used for the number was meaningless, was drawn on the edge of the fourth page. The start section of zeros was located. Directions were given to read it up or with a leftward turn. How to interpret the timing was described. A second ribbon running across the bottom of the page gave a section for each symbol, starting with zero and running through six.

    Next was the casting specifics for crafting. What the start and end symbols typically were including the fact that when using a tool they were often omitted. There were ways to increase the speed of leaning a spell that were unique to crafting. It gave recommendations on whether to discard the material on a failure or just retry. Most of the page was dedicated to how to tap out the commands, but there was a note that audio control was possible but was not included in this instruction.

    The pages that followed were the steps to make thread from the fiber sources given. A page of description was followed by a page that showed a drawing of the tool used, with its name underneath and the spell ribbon, or ribbons used on the tool and the name of the spell. Ellen made most of these names up. Naming spells wasn¡¯t a big thing among crafters. By naming it, she could refer to it on other pages.

    The final page was a drawing of a spool with thread wrapped around it. Underneath it gave the amount of thread a crafter at different tiers could expect to get from a unit of fiber of each type. The remainder of the book was left blank.

    Ellen waited anxiously as Grandmother looked it over. When she asked Sarah about the copy spell, Sarah wanted to see what Ellen was working on. Sarah was so excited she set aside the world map and started on her own book on casting light. When Sarah went to write her ribbon she ran into their first problem. Ribbons were written with zeros as spacers among the spell symbols, but light was cast with zero.

    ¡°Do you remember the inscription at the entrance?¡± Ellen asked her sister. Sarah was only eight when they stopped to look at it, Ellen wasn¡¯t certain Sarah would recall it. ¡°It used a blank area to describe a zero symbol.¡±

    ¡°I remember,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I suppose I could do something similar. Blanks don¡¯t seem like a good way to describe how other symbols appear.¡±

    ¡°What if we used made up symbols for the ¡®how to read a ribbon¡¯ page? Then we could reuse that page in every book. On the page with the light spell you could spell out how the blanks are zero,¡± Ellen suggested. From there they worked out that they would use structure numbers in the ribbons. They picked the Latin font since it was the script used in children¡¯s interfaces.

    Together they put together a page they thought would work for both crafting and wizardry. They decided to include the blank as zero on the page. They reviewed the page with thought to warrior and utility spells. Ellen told Sarah Grandmother¡¯s idea of adding spells to the back of a wizard book. Sarah loved that idea and suggested they put all the actual spell encodings on their own pages so they could be added after purchase. That way they could let the customer browse through the book without giving away the knowledge for free.

    ¡°This is very good,¡± Grandmother said. A huge weight lifted off of Ellen and she released a breath she didn¡¯t realize she was holding. ¡°I have a couple suggestions,¡± the old woman added. All of Ellen¡¯s stress came back.

    ¡°I¡¯d love to hear them,¡± she forced herself to say.

    ¡°This image,¡± Grandmother said, pointing to the needle and thread on the title page, ¡°I have seen it associated with tailoring before, but as far as I know there is no structure needle. Everyone hand carves them out of boar ivory.¡± She turned to the last page that held the image of a spool filled with thread. ¡°I think you should replace it with this image. If you want something more generic to represent all tailoring, set the spool on a piece of cloth with a couple pins in it with a sewing machine behind or something. That way everything in the image can be found in the structure.¡± Ellen thought about that. Her family used the image of a threaded needle to mark their shop for at least three generations, but Grandmother was right, there was no structure needle. This book was a factual book about how to use crafting tools in the structure. Would the image make people think they needed to find a needle before they could be a tailor? She got a sudden flash of quests into the wild looking for the mythical item.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Ellen said slowly, ¡°I can see how that might lead people astray.¡±

    ¡°Put the image on the front of the book also,¡± Grandmother said, closing the book and tapping the blank cover, ¡°Along with the title and your name on the bottom as the person who wrote it. Put the title and your name on the spine too.¡± She pointed to the edge of the notebook. ¡°That way when they are stored on a shelf next to others, people can tell which one they want without looking at all of them.¡± Grandmother held the book on edge, her hands on either side representing other books. She turned its spine facing Ellen to illustrate her point.

    ¡°Is that how they made books on Earth?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Almost all the knowledge on the Speedwell was stored in the computers, but there is a set of physical books in the computer core that gives instructions on how to bring the core online. Someone realized that if the computer was down the crew couldn¡¯t use the knowledge in it to bring it back up.¡± Grandmother thought for a moment about those books. ¡°They have a table of contents,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I think that might be a good thing for you to have too. It would go here, on a page after the title page. It would give a list of the sections of the book and what page they are on.¡±

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    ¡°What do you mean by sections of the book?¡± Ellen asked. Grandmother leafed through the book, giving titles Ellen should add to the top of each section. These included background, magic, spell encodings, crafting skills, the individual steps, and yields.

    ¡°Number the pages in the corner,¡± Grandmother said pointing to the top or bottom of the free edge of the pages. ¡°So someone can go straight to step two if that is the only part they don¡¯t remember clearly.¡± Ellen could see how that would be very useful for a complex crafting project.

    ¡°Also leave the first page blank,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I know that sounds odd, but all the books on the Speedwell have it blank. I was told they did that because the first page wears out fast, but on one of them was a handwritten note wishing all who traveled on the Speedwell a safe passage. A blank page would be a nice place to add a note if the book is a gift.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°No, not really,¡± Grandmother said. She leafed through the book again. ¡°I love how you put all the spell codes onto separate pages so you can add them at the point of sale. You can make another book that includes all the tailoring spells and keep it in the back. Since you named them all, you can put an index on the master spell book to make it easy to find the right page. You can just leave the name of the spell on these books until then and erase it before you make the copy. If someone did get their hands on the master book, it won¡¯t really help them much to just have the individual codings. They¡¯d still need to buy this book to make full use of them.¡±

    Ellen hadn¡¯t thought of half of that, but she nodded her head along with Grandmother¡¯s observations. She made notes in her head to put together a master spell book.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Grandmother said as she set the book down open to the title page, ¡°you should add a date. That way if you figure out a better method for anything and want to rewrite it, people will be able to tell if they have the old or new copy.¡±

    ¡°The date?¡± Ellen said questioningly. There wasn¡¯t much time tracking in the structure. Seasonal changes were very mild. This was why they couldn¡¯t figure out how long Companion¡¯s ¡®lives¡¯ represented.

    ¡°Personally I would use the Earth year, as defined by the Speedwell, you could also go by years since landing, or both. If you anticipate more frequent updates add in the month or season.¡± Grandmother¡¯s breakfast was sitting on the table next to them. Ellen didn¡¯t notice when it was delivered, she was so focused on Grandmother¡¯s opinion. ¡°Both might be best. The Earth day and year length don¡¯t actually match what we have on this planet. It is close, but there is drift.¡±

    Grandmother picked utensils and started eating. After two or three bites, she gave Ellen a quizzical look. ¡°Did you want something else?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± Ellen said. She picked up the crafting book and returned it to her bag. She pulled out the other book stored there. ¡°Sarah put this one together,¡± she told Grandmother. ¡°I told her your idea of adding spells at the back. We were thinking about selling it with just these two to start.¡± Ellen felt a little odd about handing the second book to Grandmother now that she was obviously interrupting her meal.

    Grandmother pushed the plate away with alacrity and took the second book from Ellen. The outside of the book was blank. The first page showed a very close copy of the six fingered fist on the light training inscription at the entrance to the structure. Below the drawing were the words: Wizardry, Book One, Thrown Spells.

    The background on this page was a detailed description of how magic did not come from the caster but rather from the technology in the structure. Grandmother gave them this lecture many times. It also gave a few details of the types of things that a wizard''s magic could do. It mentioned throwing fireballs, creating shields, cloaking a hunter¡¯s presence, fearing an animal and healing the injured.

    The casting magic and reading spell ribbons sections were identical to the crafting book. The next section gave the start symbol and end symbol for thrown spells. There was a page describing how to throw a light ball to turn a light panel on. The next page was the simple spell ribbon for that spell. It was labeled light. The last two pages described pulling a light ball out of a light panel to turn it off. The description included a note to reverse the end symbol to pull the light out. The last page with writing on it was the same light spell ribbon as the first ribbon page. The difference in these two spells was all in the end symbol.

    Grandmother paused for a long moment on that last page, like she was thinking about it. She rubbed the corner of the page between her fingers. Ellen braced herself for the comments. Grandmother seemed to come to some conclusion and released the page.

    ¡°So I have all the same recommendations of cover, sections and indexes. I love how you have identical sections in both books. I think that will really drive home the point that it is all the same magic. Sarah¡¯s description of where magic comes from may be over most people¡¯s heads, but don¡¯t change it. I would take out the part about magic healing people,¡± Grandmother added.

    ¡°Did you not want us to sell the healing spells then?¡± Ellen asked quietly.

    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not it,¡± Grandmother responded, setting the book on the table. ¡°I want you to sell them, but there isn¡¯t a tier zero healing spell and it seems like this is an introductory book. I would add in there an indication that you are describing tier zero spells. Actually the single ribbon only works through tier three. At tier four you need two ribbons to describe both hands. You might want to add something about it on your ¡®how to read a ribbon¡¯ page, I didn¡¯t think of that before.¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°The rest of that list of spells are tier zero. I was thinking maybe you would want to add the descriptions of all the tier zero thrown spells in the book, leaving blank pages for spell ribbons, but then I decided against it. After all, we have no idea if we know all the tier zero thrown spells. The ones we know are so simple people may be able to figure it out from the description alone. No, I think you just need a list on the wall someplace, or a book with a list of the names that your customers can page through and find out what is available,¡± Grandmother said all this in between bites of food. Ellen thought she should be writing this down.

    ¡°I would make another book for tier one spells. There you can describe how there are prerequisites for many of the spells, but that heal is an exception and has no prerequisite. You can also describe the increase in complexity. This book is called ¡®thrown spells¡¯, are you planning on making one for non-thrown spells, like shield and don¡¯t notice me?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen agreed, ¡°although we couldn¡¯t agree on if we should split it again into spells that act on you and spells that act on the world.¡±

    ¡°That would be a good distinction at tier one, but there aren¡¯t really enough spells, that we know, at tier zero to support two books. I would make one book and sell it with muffle. Muffle is surprisingly useful for hunters. The start, end symbol section for that book will have to be a lot longer, giving all the different end symbols. You can state on each spell which end symbol to use, like that note on pulling a light ball.¡± Grandmother was close to the end of her meal. ¡°Do you have any other books?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I have tanning leather, smelting iron and joining wood scraps,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°I am working on a utility spell book. Sarah was just starting on a warrior book, but she volunteered to help Alex with his inventory collection this morning. We¡¯re hoping she can pick up more notebooks.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like you are making excellent progress,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Have you rented a shop?¡± Sarah looked at Grandmother¡¯s expectant face and had an epiphany. Grandmother helped Alex because he made the commitment of renting the shop. Until Ellen did the same, Grandmother would offer advice, but she wouldn¡¯t commit resources of her own.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen admitted. ¡°I forgot to do that before Sarah and Alex headed out. I want to share the ownership with Sarah, so we will get one when they get back.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Come and find me when you have one rented. I would love to see the inside. I have a theory that shop spaces are all oddly shaped in order to hide that there is missing space the structure uses for other things.¡±

    Ellen agreed to do that. She picked up the thrown magic book and tucked it away in her bag. She left the inn shortly afterward and looked at all the available shops left in the square. There was a spot adjacent to Alex¡¯s farther away from the back door. Ellen decided to pay for it as soon as Alex and Sarah got back, just as she told Grandmother. She went back up to her apartment, where she wrote down all the changes Grandmother suggested, before starting to implement them.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Ten

    <h2>Sarah</h2>

    Alex made entry into the room. Three badgers focused their attention on him and charged. Sarah cast a tier two chained lightning through Alex and into the badgers. All three badgers stumbled and fell as the stun effect of the spell took hold. Sarah started trying to cast the tier three chained lightning spell at the badger farthest from Alex. Alex stepped forward to finish off the closest one. Grandmother warned them all that casting any magic but the spell you were currently trying to learn would increase the number of attempts you would have to make. Sarah was hoping that by sticking with just the tier two version of the same spell, the lengthening effect would be limited.

    So far her theory was proving to be more fiction than fact. She was keeping a mental count of her failed attempts and that count was getting rather large. The third badger was starting to shake off the effects of the stun just as Alex finished off the second one. Sarah was afraid the chained lightning might jump to Alex because he was so close to the badger. Instead of casting she shot the last badger with a non imbued arrow, killing it.

    They both held for a moment searching for any additional motion in the room. Alex touched the nearest badger causing prize coins, hides and claws to appear. Alex and Sarah scooped their shares up.

    ¡°Have you noticed the prizes are larger with just the two of us?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alex replied. ¡°The materials are about the same if you consider it is only being divided by two and not by six. The prize coins though are higher than the smaller split accounts for. It is like Control is giving a bonus for being in more danger.¡±

    ¡°Something like take more risk and get more reward?¡± Sarah questioned. ¡°Since failure is death I don¡¯t think the increased payoff is worth it. I wonder if this is another of Control¡¯s little tests. Control is testing us to see if greed will overcome common sense.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Alex said. Deciding that the room was clear he slid his sword back into its scabbard. He started digging through the debris in the room. Sarah made her own sweep picking up any loose sheets of vellum, notebooks or crafting tools that she found. The room was dressed like an office with multiple rows of desks. It was a large single room with no side rooms that might be closets or private offices. There were loose sheets of vellum mixed in everywhere, but Sarah only found one or two complete notebooks. She picked it all up and slipped it into the gathering bag that was tied to her left side.

    Alex came up with a nearly complete chair frame built out of steel. There were only three legs, but the wooden seat was still attached to the frame. The seat was constructed out a square plank of wood with a hollow carved into it to make it more comfortable to sit on. There was no back rest, just a bare bar too high to really offer any support.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen a seat like this before,¡± Alex observed, looking over his find. ¡°I wonder if there is a back rest in a similar style.¡± Sarah looked at his half chair and thought.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve seen something like that before,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°A narrow plank of wood with a rounded hollow for your back, it mounts on that cross bar and hangs below.¡± Sarah thought about it some more and said, ¡°I might have seen it on the Speedwell.¡±

    Sarah¡¯s description sparked a memory in Alex, only his wasn¡¯t a distant memory it was much more recent. He started going through the piles of debris again.

    Sarah was finished with her own search. She thought she was watching Alex when she recognized that her gaze was caught on an object near her feet. The item didn¡¯t look like debris. It didn¡¯t have the same dirty worn look. Sarah leaned over to pick it up. She turned it over, studying it. On the side was one of the same little cubbies that accepted spools of thread on a loom. Sarah could see the center pole the spool would slide on. Sure now that it was a tool of some type, even though she didn¡¯t recognize it, she put it into her pack.

    Thinking about what it could be, she studied the spot she found it in. It was laying half on a pile of debris that might once have been a desk. It was staged like the tool fell off the desk when it collapsed. If Sarah remembered correctly she found a stack of vellum in the remains of that desk. The stack was so tightly packed that she thought it might be a notebook before she picked it up. She wondered if that was related.

    Sarah knew the debris pile was never a desk. She knew the tool didn¡¯t fall off of it. Everything in this room was constructed by Control in exactly the condition it was in now. Control placed everything in this room in exactly the positions they were in when Sarah and Alex made entry. Still, Control liked to tell stories. It pushed events to turn everyday life into an endless adventure story. It also told small stories in the mosaics on the bottom of a pool, in the images on the upholstery of a sofa and in the arrangement of the debris in a room.

    Alex came up with a short wooden board that looked worn in the middle. He thought it looked too short on the first pass through the pile. Now he remembered that Grandmother picked up every piece of wood that wasn¡¯t rotten and didn¡¯t have a broken edge. He walked over to his broken chair and held the board up in front of the cross bar.

    ¡°How does that look?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah responded, ¡°that is what I remember.¡± By this time she was actually pretty certain the chair she remembered seeing was on the Speedwell, so she was glad her comments helped Alex. Alex studied the bar and the back of the wooden plank. He flipped the chair and studied how the seat was attached. When he was finished with his inspection, he turned back to the room debris and started searching the piles again.

    Sarah considered the spool that should be in the machine. Maybe it rolled away when the tool hit the floor. Spools were small and easy to miss. The only tool that Sarah was aware of that was smaller were pins. She started searching the piles of debris that were on that side of the desk. When she found the spool there was thread on it.

    Sarah searched her memory but she was certain she never found a spool with thread already on it in the wild. Even more shocking was that the thread was white. It was possible to not dye thread when you spun it. What you ended up with was threads in different shades of tan and off white, depending on what source of fiber you started with.

    Ellen will be interested in this, Sarah thought to herself, as she recalled her recent conversations with her about chemistry. Todd found his own small object in a pile of debris. He was comparing it to something under the seat of his partial chair. When he finished, he plunked the small part into his backpack and started searching the piles again.

    Sarah''s thoughts wandered, as she fiddled with the spool of thread with one hand. She was thinking of the fountain that stood at the exit from Home Square to the green. It was covered in geometric tiles representing each of the magic symbols. A circle represented one, an oval was two, a triangle for three, a square was four, a pentagram was five and a hexagon was six. The zero tile was represented as an octagon. Besides the shapes the fountain tiles were also colored, yellow; one, green, two, blue, three, violet, four, red, five, orange, six. Thread could be dyed those colors by adding a source for the color and the corresponding number symbol in the spell. A crafters personal magic color could serve as the source for the color.

    In the fountain the octagonal tiles were white. Did that mean that zero would dye an item white if a crafter gave a white source? Sarah wondered. She was thinking a lot about the zero symbol since her discussion with Ellen about how to represent it on a ribbon. Light was not the only spell that was cast with zero. There was a whole tree of cloaking spells; don''t notice me, blur, camouflage, conceal. Sarah realized with a start that those weren¡¯t separate spells, rather they were increasing tiers of the same spell. Don¡¯t notice me was a tier zero spell while conceal was tier five. It would appear they were missing a few of the tier versions. She needed to ask Grandmother about it.

    ¡°Are you ready for the next room?¡± Alex asked. Sarah looked up to find Alex waiting in the doorway. There was no sign of his chair, the board or any of the small parts he was searching for. Getting that lost in thought was dangerous in the wild. Sarah shook her head to clear her thoughts, focusing on the here and now. She dropped the spool into her backpack and assured Alex she was ready.

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    Her foot slipped on a last sheet of vellum when she took a rushed step to rejoin Alex. The sheet was laying flat against the floor and disappeared into the floor tiles. It was only after Sarah picked it up that she realized it wasn¡¯t vellum but something thicker. She refused to think about it here. She would examine it closer when she was back in the safety of the square. She slipped the sheet into the collection bag with the rest of the loose vellum sheets.

    It took about four hours to fill Alex¡¯s cart. He was pleased with the haul. They only found one piece of complete furniture. It was a small round table made out of iron. Alex called it a unique piece. The legs were decorated with twisted rods of iron that were so beautifully done it looked like vines. A flower image was inscribed on the flat top. The scribing was deep enough to give the image texture, but not deep enough to make the surface noticeably uneven.

    Alex threw six badgers onto the top of the cart. The crafter in Sarah rebelled at the thought of leaving so many animal carcasses behind. When she said something to Alex about not wasting the animals so close to the square, Alex replied, ¡°We don¡¯t want to flood the market.¡±

    Sarah thought about Alex¡¯s words as they walked back. If they carried all the meat back it would feed the square for a week. At the same time, if they kept it up day after day, it might drive hunters out of work. Even though this square was their home in the structure, they did not stay here very much. If the square¡¯s hunters gave up the craft, where would the square get their food when the party left again? Six badgers were one for each member of the party. Although no one ate a badger in a day, it also wasn¡¯t so much of an oversupply that it would drive anyone out of work.

    When they reached the square, Alex thanked Sarah for going with him. Sarah and Ellen were crossing the courtyard that morning on their way to the inn when they ran into Alex just coming out of his shop. Ellen told Alex they were interested in notebooks or loose sheets of vellum. Alex told them he was just on his way over to the training yard to see if any of the trainees wanted to go on a scavenging run with him. If they wanted to go with him instead, they could keep all the vellum they found. After a quick discussion they decided that Sarah would go with him while Ellen would go on to the inn to look for Grandmother.

    Sarah thanked Alex in return for letting her keep all the crafting tools. The tools were not part of the original arrangement. She assured him that either she or Ellen would go out with him in the morning.

    Sarah climbed the two flights of stairs up to her apartment at a half run. She was anxious to learn what Grandmother thought of her and Ellen''s work. She opened the door to find Ellen at the new workbench. The entire surface was covered in loose sheets of vellum. There seemed to be writing on all of them. Even more impressive was the stack of finished books on the corner of the top.

    ¡°There you are,¡± Ellen said, sitting the stylus in her hand down and turning to face her sister. ¡°I thought you would never get here. We need to go down and rent a shop.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Sarah asked, surprised. She swung her bow and quiver off her shoulder and leaned them against the closest wall. She followed that with her pack and collection bags. ¡°Are we ready? I found some interesting things today I want to show you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will ever feel ready, that isn¡¯t important. What is important is that we move forward. I have a feeling Grandmother will respect us if we¡¯ve made the commitment of renting a shop,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°The shop next to Alex¡¯s is still available, let''s go claim it.¡±

    Ellen marched past Sarah and out into the hall, leaving Sarah a little shocked. She dropped the last of her loose items and followed her sister down to the courtyard. She didn¡¯t catch up with Ellen until they reached the shop front.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Ellen asked. Sarah looked over the shop. It was the next set of doors down from Alex. The doors were all equally spaced along the edge of the courtyard, but the spaces beyond varied. Since the windows to an empty shop were always opaque, there was really no way to know what you were getting until you paid the rent. There were some hints. The front windows of Alex¡¯s shop were transparent. Most of the space between this door and his shop door was his. Sarah thought the large frontage on the courtyard was great for displaying his larger merchandise.

    The shop on the other side was also rented, it was the square¡¯s butcher. It too seemed to have most of the space between the doors. That didn¡¯t leave much window space for this shop. Sarah thought that might work out well. Their spell books didn¡¯t need a lot of space to display. A large amount of empty space might work against them. Making customers not come inside when they thought there was nothing for sale.

    ¡°I like it,¡± Sarah responded.

    ¡°If we touch the door together we would both be able to pay a month''s rent. We will both go into the shop on the first door open. That should make us joint owners,¡± Ellen explained. Sarah knew all that. She could see that Ellen¡¯s urgency was a cover for her nerves. She was now using this planning to control her anxiety.

    Sarah reached out and took her sister¡¯s hand. She pulled Ellen¡¯s hand up and pushed it up onto the glass of the door. At the last second Ellen opened her hand and spread her fingers, allowing Sarah¡¯s fingers to reach through between them and also touch the glass.

    A pile of shadow coins appeared. It was ten silver. Sarah was surprised the rent on a shop was so low. The way people talked about it, she expected more. Sarah pulled the coins from her inventory and paid a month''s worth. Ellen did the same. Sarah dropped her hand releasing Ellen¡¯s. Ellen reached for the door. Sarah noted there was a slight tremor in her fingers. The door swung open at Ellen¡¯s touch. Sarah followed her sister into the space beyond.

    Sarah considered their shop as the door closed behind them. It was a little like Grandmother¡¯s shop in Londontown. The frontage on the courtyard was narrow, which Sarah already reasoned out, but it reached far back. It was wider in the back. Grandmother¡¯s shop was shaped like a T, but this shop was more of an L, with the back section extending in the direction of Alex¡¯s shop. The back room of his shop must be small, Sarah thought to herself. What was interesting was how the wall between the front room and the back room was laid out.

    In the shops Sarah visited before, the back wall ran parallel with the courtyard wall. In this shop it was rotated ninety degrees. The separating wall made the toe of the L into the back room. A small restroom opened up off the backroom close to the bend in the L. That left the showroom as a long thin room. The shop counter was right at the front. It too was positioned ninety degrees to the front glass. It abutted the glass wall itself. Built-in shelving was on the wall behind the counter for displaying goods. The shelving was only on the front half of the wall. The back half was bare.

    Sarah could see Ellen¡¯s nervousness as her sister looked at all that space they needed to fill with things to sell.

    ¡°I like it,¡± Sarah said. She was standing behind the counter at the front. ¡°With the counter here we can greet each customer as they enter and explain how the shop works. I think we are going to do that a lot in the early days since no one has seen a shop like ours before.¡±

    Ellen turned and looked at the counter and the door. Her nerves settled as she considered Sarah¡¯s words. Sarah was right. They would need to explain their product.

    Sarah wandered toward the back of the space. She thought Ellen would be calmer if the front room space was smaller. ¡°Grandmother said she removed the back room wall in the interface. Can we just move it?¡± she asked Ellen. Sarah was too young when their father was killed to remember much about his shop. Ellen was older and was an active part of the business. Ellen¡¯s crafting skill and business acumen was what kept them fed and housed until they joined up with Grandmother.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen responded, ¡°with some limitations.¡±

    ¡°Can we move it here?¡± Sarah asked, she was only about halfway back the top of the L from the courtyard wall. It would make the showroom truly tiny. Moving the wall here would put about half the built-in shelving into the back room. ¡°Can the second half of that shelving be put on the new wall, or on the opposite wall? Actually, can we move the shelving from behind the counter altogether? Put it on the far wall and the new back wall? That way we could use it to house the books we want the customers to browse.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking about buying shelving from Alex,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°We can do that too, when we run out of space. He got this little iron table today that reminded me of the tables in the gallery. I think we should buy that from him instead. Maybe we could get several of them as he gets the respawns. We can set them up in the center of the space with a couple crafting tools on them and an open book,¡± Sarah said excitedly and her thoughts flowed. Ellen liked that idea. She thought a display like that might draw her into a shop. They could set the first table close to the window.

    ¡°Grandmother said we should put a list up of all the wizard spells we have so that people could choose from it what they want to add to their book. We could put that up on the blank wall behind the counter,¡± Ellen said aloud. ¡°I suppose we need a list of warrior spells too. We could also put up your world map there.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Sarah said suddenly as inspiration struck her. ¡°We can sell map sections! Like the real map. Remember how Companion taught Alex how to copy a section of his map to and from a vellum? We can pull the map sections for each of the settlements from our own maps and put them in a book. Then we can copy them onto vellum sheets. As part of the price we can teach people how to load the square up onto the personal map. It may not give them a route to the settlement but it would show them what direction to go.¡±

    ¡°That is a good idea,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°The route really isn¡¯t that important. With the way the structure changes all the time they become obsolete way too fast. Settlements always stay in the same place.¡± Sarah was happy to hear some of the stress leave Ellen¡¯s voice. ¡°How do you know a copied version of a map square will still load into a personal map?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t. We will have to experiment. Think of how proud Grandmother will be with us if it works?¡± Sarah responded. ¡°That reminds me I found some things with Alex I think you should see. It might call for some experimentation before you finish your book on spinning. And you need to tell me what Grandmother said.¡±

    ¡°So much to do,¡± Ellen muttered, but she sounded almost happy about it. ¡°Let''s make the changes to the shop, they won¡¯t take effect until we leave. I can walk you through how to use the interface at the same time.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Eleven

    <h2>Sarah</h2>

    It was Sarah waiting for Grandmother when she came down for breakfast the next day. There was a stack of books on the table in front of her. She and her sister worked hard into the night getting them ready for this review. Sarah was a better artist than Ellen, so she went through all the images and updated them. She drew a new image for tailoring among other things. She¡¯d remember the wind symbol in the inscriptions that signified the throwing finish move. Together the two of them tried to remember as many of those symbols as they could. They defined the symbols in the section of end symbols and then repeated the symbol on each of the spell ribbon pages.

    Her stack of books included the two Ellen showed Grandmother yesterday. It also included books on utility spells, warrior skills and enchanting. There was a copy of their book of spells, which held all the ribbons. Also in the stack was the book that Sarah was the most proud of, the map book. Sarah¡¯s world map was rolled up to the side.

    ¡°Good morning, Sarah,¡± Grandmother said as she settled down into her chair at the table. ¡°I see you have brought me more books to look at. Have you and your sister rented a shop yet?¡± Sarah was glad Ellen was in such a rush to get the shop yesterday.

    ¡°Yes, we have,¡± Sarah replied. ¡°It¡¯s the one between the butcher and Alex¡¯s shop. I think it will work out very well.¡±

    ¡°That is good news,¡± Grandmother responded. Only now did she reach out to take the first book off the stack. ¡°I will have to tour it after breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Sarah said enthusiastically. ¡°I can tell you our ideas for our displays.¡±

    The first book on the stack was the spinning book. All the changes were done except the date. As Grandmother paused on the title page, Sarah asked, ¡°We weren¡¯t certain of the date. Is it forty eight years since landing or forty nine?¡±

    ¡°Forty nine,¡± Grandmother replied. She also gave the earth date. Sarah pulled the next book off the stack and opened it to the title page. She wrote down under the author¡¯s name: year 49 after landing, Earth year 2972. She closed the book and put it back on the stack. ¡°This part is different,¡± Grandmother observed. Sarah glanced over. She saw that Grandmother was on the page that said how to color the finished thread. ¡°I don¡¯t remember this reference to white yesterday.¡±

    ¡°I went out with Alex yesterday and found a spool of white thread. We tested it and with that thread as a starter, you can dye more. We wove cloth from the white thread and were able to dye more cloth white with it as a starter,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I also found a utility tool that binds vellum into notebooks,¡± Sarah continued excitedly. ¡°It uses thread to do it. That¡¯s where I found the white thread.¡±

    ¡°Very good,¡± Grandmother said, clearly impressed. ¡°You should consider selling sets of colors. You could bundle seven spools of thread together or seven swatches of fabric, one of each color and sell them as a package.¡°

    ¡°That is a good idea,¡± Sarah said. She pulled out her diary and made a note in it. ¡°We will need a lot of spools,¡± she mumbled.

    ¡°I have some in my inventory you can buy. You can pay me when they sell,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°That would be great,¡± Sarah said. ¡°How much do you want for them?¡±

    ¡°How about this, if you sell them alone, I want half the sale price. If you sell them bundled with something else, like the thread, or a book, I want a quarter.¡±

    ¡°What if we bundle them with multiple things. Like thread and a book?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°I still want a quarter,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°But if you sell multiples together I just want the quarter not multiples of it. So if you sell seven spools with thread and a book, I still just want a quarter, not seven quarters if you get the idea.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Sarah responded, ¡°If we sold a loom, a spool, thread and a book and we got just the spool from you, you expect a quarter of the sale, so we are better off selling a spool we already own with that package.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°That or get the loom from me too.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any looms?¡± Sarah asked, then shook herself. This was Grandmother. Of course she had looms. She was obsessed with gathering crafting gear, which Sarah always considered really weird since Grandmother didn¡¯t craft anything herself. All she ever made was hand sewn leathers, no magic involved.

    ¡°Yes I do,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Of course they are in my inventory so they will have a little wear on them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ok,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°We will just be clear to people that they do. Ellen showed me a way to keep inventory items in the shop separated by crafter. It is a way to give bonuses to the apprentice whose wares sell the best.¡±

    Grandmother worked her way down the stack of books through the delivery of her breakfast. She asked a question or two after every book.

    ¡°Are you planning to sell this with these spells included?¡± Grandmother asked. She was holding the utility spells book. It included how to make the water in the sink hot and cold and the fact that it also changed the temperature in bathing pools. Also included was a third spell to set fire to a piece of wood.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°Nearly everyone already knows the first two and we thought the third one is a great illustration of how starting and ending symbols are used.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to include a spell in this one?¡± Grandmother asked when she reached the end of the warrior book. There wasn¡¯t any spell currently included.

    ¡°We want to,¡± Sarah responded, but we didn¡¯t know which one. ¡°All of them end up fixing a person¡¯s magic color. We are afraid that if we put in the ice spear, future generations will all end up blues.¡±

    ¡°There is a light blade skill,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I never use it. It is one of the few spells that only work with integrated weapons.¡± After literally years of writing down every spell Grandmother mentioned, Sarah was once again not surprised to find out she knew another one Sarah never heard of. ¡°Do you have an integrated knife?¡± Sarah did. She pulled it from the sheath on her belt and handed it over to Grandmother.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see, it has been a while.¡± Grandmother held the knife vertically. She slowly executed the start symbol for weapon imbuing. She followed that by a single squeeze of her hand. For a finish move she twisted the knife while keeping it vertical. The blade exploded in light, temporality blinding everyone in the room. Or Sarah hoped it was temporary as she blinked frantically trying to clear her vision.

    ¡°Sorry everyone,¡± Grandmother called out to the room. ¡°I didn¡¯t remember it being so bright.¡± Sarah supposed it wasn¡¯t when Grandmother last cast it at tier one or two. Sarah¡¯s vision finally returned when Grandmother was asking questions about the enchanting book. Luckily enchanting was her specialty and she could literally answer the questions blind.

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    ¡°I like how you have divided this book by type,¡± Grandmother commented after looking through the master spell book. They¡¯d numbered all the pages and left blank pages in the center between spell types. ¡°Although you probably will have to use different books for each type to have enough space.¡±

    ¡°We think so too,¡± Sarah conceded, ¡°Although that bookbinding tool I found may be capable of binding larger books than what we find. We don¡¯t have the loose vellum to really test that out. We are concentrating on using the supplies we have at the moment. We agreed to investigate making our own books after the store is open.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± Grandmother asked. She was on the last book in the pile, the map book.

    ¡°It''s a map book,¡± Sarah said excitedly. ¡°I pulled the map sections for each square from my map using Companion¡¯s method.¡± She pulled out a blank sheet of vellum and copied one of the map sections from the book onto it. She handed the copied map to Grandmother. ¡°You can load that up into your own map,¡± she said. ¡°We tested it and it works.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother said as she fingered the vellum. She loaded it into her own map and the vellum went blank. Her map didn¡¯t change, since she already visited the area, but it did recenter on the square in question. ¡°Do you have a plan to inform your customers on what locations are available?¡±

    Sarah unrolled her world map, showing the finished product to Grandmother. ¡°I plan to put this on the wall. Do you think I should take off the selkie settlements?¡±

    Grandmother looked at the world map. She remembered Sarah saying she was working on one. The map was hand drawn so it couldn¡¯t be uploaded into Grandmother''s integrated map, but it possessed the benefit of showing the location of settlements across many floors at once. The integrated map showed one floor at a time.

    ¡°Leave the settlements on the global map, but don¡¯t sell the map sections,¡± Grandmother offered. Grandmother pushed her empty plate away, and closed the map book. ¡°This is all really excellent work,¡± she told Sarah. ¡°Pass that on to Ellen too. The illustrations are beautiful and the steps are logical and clear. Have you thought about how you are going to make copies for sale?¡±

    ¡°If you have a notebook with the same or larger number of pages, the copy spell works on the whole thing. We plan to keep a master of each book in the back,¡± Sarah explained.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Let me run upstairs and grab a couple things. I will meet you at your shop for the tour.¡± Sarah agreed and gathered up her books and map as Grandmother headed to the stairs. She found her knife sitting on the table and realized she was blind when Grandmother returned it. She needed to record the spell in her diary before she forgot it. She was itching to learn it herself, but she was still working on mastering the tier three chained lightning. Hopefully Ellen wasn¡¯t working on anything and could learn it. Sarah could see how helpful it would be. She remembered when they ended up in pipes with no light panels. Grandmother cast night vision on them, but a glowing knife would have lit the way just as easily.

    Sarah carried her stuff over to the shop. She juggled the books and map a couple times before she managed to get the door open. She stepped inside to a transformed space. The sisters didn¡¯t make it back down last night to see how the changes looked. Sarah dumped her pile of books on the counter and gazed around in wonder. She picked up her books and put them on a shelf, side by side with the spines looking out, just as Ellen described to her. Sarah could see how the writing on the spines made it so you could still identify the book. She looked at all the shelving. It didn¡¯t seem like very much when it was on one wall behind the counter. Now with it wrapped around two walls and her small handful of books barely occupying one shelf it seemed an impossible task to fill them.

    She reached out and turned the first book, leaning it against the wall behind the shelf so that the front of the book was easily seen and displayed. They could display them that way. She could put additional copies next to it, properly shelved. There were vertical risers every so often in the shelving which split the units into rectangles. She could put a new book in each square, spreading their stock out.

    Sarah heard a tap and realized Grandmother walked up to the door behind her. Sarah rushed to the door before Grandmother could leave, since the windows were set to opaque Grandmother wouldn¡¯t know Sarah was already here. She held the door open and ushered Grandmother inside. Grandmother was followed in by Companion who was carrying three full gathering bags. The bags were a pure violet color, so Sarah knew they didn¡¯t belong to the selkie.

    ¡°Oh, I like this,¡± Grandmother said as she walked around the tiny space. She went through the door to the back room. Sarah followed. The back room seemed enormous after the tiny front room. Grandmother checked the room, even opening the door to the little restroom. ¡°Companion,¡± Grandmother called. The selkie came wandering back from the show room. Sarah wondered what he was looking at out there. He still carried the violet bags. ¡°You can dump those bags over here,¡± she said to the selkie. ¡°I¡¯m sure I can trust Sarah to do a count later.¡±

    Companion said something about, ¡°Unpaid lesser fish.¡± The notes bore a familiar tone to it. Sarah was pretty sure it was an idiom his people used that she heard before. Grandmother smiled. Sarah thought the old woman was just grateful the selkie wasn¡¯t calling her a god again.

    ¡°Set me up as a supplier and I¡¯ll transfer a couple of the larger starter items over from my inventory,¡± Grandmother said as she returned to the show room. Sarah followed Grandmother back to the front, but not before she saw Companion release the ties on the first bag. Small starter crafting tools sprang from the opening almost like they were under pressure.

    Sarah setup Grandmother as a supplier and authorized user of the shop interface. She handed the interface over to her. She picked up her world map and started fiddling with it as she waited. She was wondering how she could get it to stick to the wall.

    ¡°Can I see?¡± Companion asked. He held the three empty bags in one hand. He set them down on the counter next to where Grandmother was searching through her inventory.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Sarah replied. She rolled out the map on the floor. Companion danced around the vellum, tilting his head to look at the drawing from different angles. Sarah suspected his vision was different from their own, that his eyes were more suited to seeing underwater.

    ¡°This here?¡± he asked, pointing one flipper at the dark black square representing Home Square. It was the farthest south of the human squares.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah told him.

    ¡°Is this my selkie home?¡± Companion asked. Pointing to a square even farther south. It was twice the distance from Home Square than Home Square was from the northernmost human settlement.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah said. She pointed to the other square shown in the south. ¡°That is the selkie settlement we stumbled upon before we met you.¡± Companion made a clicking sound that wasn¡¯t quite his fear sound.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you found Fishtown,¡± Companion commented.

    ¡°I can take them off the map if you want,¡± Sarah said to her friend. ¡°We were a bit surprised when we found the selkie settlement. It easily could have gone wrong. I am hoping that by letting people know your people are there, it will reduce the chances of an accident. Honestly I don¡¯t think there is anyone in this settlement with the strength to cross bear country without Grandmother''s help.¡± She pointed at the large region between Home Square and the Selkie settlements that Sarah labeled bear country. ¡°Grandmother thinks maybe Control has placed the bears there to keep us apart.¡± Sarah didn¡¯t mention Alex¡¯s theory that they were there to increase tensions and cause a war between their two races.

    ¡°No,¡± Companion replied in his high voice, ¡°bears are always there. They guard the transportation entrance. We selkie have a different entrance than you humans, but it is similar.¡± Companions explained. ¡°I visited three other squares in my youth, you add?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°If you are sure,¡± Sarah responded, ¡°I am planning on putting this up on the wall.¡± Companion confirmed that he was certain. ¡°Where are they?" Sarah asked, pulling her ever present stylus from her pocket.

    Companion surprised her by going to the shelf. He pulled off the map book. He must have looked at the books earlier when Grandmother was surveying the back. He opened the book to the first blank page and copied a map section off of his own map and told Sarah the name of the settlement. He repeated this two more times before handing the book back to Sarah. Sarah wrote the names of the settlements on the page facing them. She noted they were home to selkies.

    Grandmother finished up soon after that. She and Companion left the shop, heading in the direction of the inn. After they left Sarah noticed that Companion placed two spools, a spindle, a pair of shears and a strip of vellum with pins stuck through it next to the spinning book. They were arranged in a pattern that echoed the drawing on the front of the book, although the pins in the drawing were through a piece of cloth. Sarah loved it. She thought about setting up a table with a mixed display like this, she wondered why she didn¡¯t consider putting one on the shelves. She packed up her books and map to head back up to the apartment, but she left the little tool display to show Ellen.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twelve

    <h2>Companion</h2>

    The Elder was just finishing her breakfast, when Companion settled on his bench at the end of the table.

    ¡°Good rising, Companion,¡± the Elder said in greeting to the selkie, or at least that was how Companion interpreted her words. He didn¡¯t really see anything good about it. This was the second day in a row he was off of his beach way too early. He noticed the Elder was coming back late every evening after almost everyone retired to their beaches. When Companion rose early to catch the Elder before she left the square, he found her on her way out of her room carrying three heavy cloth containers. He knew they were heavy because she thrust them at him as he greeted her in the hall.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said, ¡°carry these.¡± He followed her down the stairs and across the hard space to a closed shop. The Elder tapped on the glass and Sarah opened the door. Inside was a mostly empty shop. One shelf contained a six count or so of books. On the front of the first book was a drawing of sewing tools on it. Companion admired how the tools were arranged to signify the craft. Companion sat his bags down and leafed through the book. He recognized human writing, but he wasn¡¯t very good at reading it. He reached a page that contained an incorrect spell coding on it. He studied it for a moment and realized the page was trying to teach him how to read the coding.

    Paging through the book and looking at the pictures he thought it was teaching him how to craft thread. He set the book down and picked up the next one. The cover on it was a surprising six fingered hand closed in a fist. He thought this book was throwing magic. On the cover of the next book was what he thought was water flowing into a basin. The drawing of water made him long for the sea. Leafing through it he couldn¡¯t figure out what it was trying to teach him. The next book was the same six fingered hand holding a knife, obviously this was weapon magic.

    He thought he was getting the feel of these books when he opened the next one. It was full of spell codings. Companion recognized some of them. He realized these were the spells described in the other books. There were more spells than just the ones he saw pictured in the first books. Companion thought there must be more books somewhere else.

    The last book was maps. Companion recognized many of them. They were map sections for all the human shores the pod visited that spring. Just then the Elder called for him from the back room. Companion put the books back how he found them, retrieved the bags from the ground and went to answer the Elder¡¯s call.

    The trip to the shop left Companion with a lot to think about. After leaving it, when the Elder asked him what she could do for him, he¡¯d put her off. Instead he went out to the training yards and helped Todd train the halflings. By the time he decided what he wanted to ask the Elder, she was gone from the square.

    So now he was up too early again. ¡°Good rising to you, Elder,¡± Companion fluted.

    ¡°Have you decided what it is you want to ask me?¡± the Elder queried.

    ¡°I know you want to finish the tour of the human shores,¡± Companion said, ¡°but I humbly request we travel to the selkie shores first.¡±

    ¡°Do you miss your home, your family?¡± the Elder asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion replied with perfect honesty, ¡°but that is not why I am asking this. I want my people to also be part of your ocean.¡± The Elder wore her puzzled face. Companion was very good at recognizing it because he saw it a lot.

    ¡°I request that you pay them for their spells also. I want our traders to come through the portal and buy the books in the shop. I want our two communities to share in the wisdom of the true god. I will translate your human words so that my people will hear you. You will convince them, I know you will.¡±

    ¡°You know I can¡¯t speak for other humans. I could only negotiate trading with this shore,¡± the Elder said to him.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion responded. ¡°This would be enough.¡±

    ¡°I will talk to the others, no,¡± the Elder said, suddenly switching her thoughts. ¡°I want you to talk to the others. Be honest with them about the risk. If they all agree to go, when our break is over we will go to your home shore and speak to your elders.¡±

    Companion gruffed his happiness. ¡°I will, I will,¡± he assured the Elder. He rushed out the door. Alex was almost harder to find than the Elder. One of the halflings in training yesterday mentioned that Alex was going out the back gate every morning. Companion went directly to the gate and asked the halflings there if they saw Alex passing.

    The halflings didn¡¯t really understand him. Companion¡¯s pronunciation of Alex¡¯s name was close enough that along with a few flipper signals they told him Alex hadn¡¯t been through yet this morning. Companion had the strange thought that maybe Alex was going through the portal, even though he was tier three and should not be able to use it without a tier four¡¯s help. Companion moved down the hall to wait for the human at the hard space end of it.

    Alex emerged from a shop front very near to the back hall. He was heading in the direction of the yards.

    ¡°Alex, my friend,¡± Companion called to the man. Alex stopped and turned back to look at the selkie.

    ¡°Companion, well met,¡± Alex replied. ¡°Are you interested in doing a gathering swim?¡± Companion considered, he thought such an activity would give him plenty of opportunity to explain to Alex. Plus he would get the chance to swing his ax.

    ¡°Absolutely, friend Alex, I will fetch my ax,¡± Companion replied.

    ¡°Bring your cloth containers,¡± Alex called from behind him.

    ¡°I swim with you,¡± Alex responded to Companion¡¯s request that the pod go to selkie shores. They were in a multi-room suite that didn¡¯t even contain any animals. Alex was wearing a second skin of leather on his hands. He was carefully searching the debris. Companion wandered around and picked up any tools or vellum. Alex mentioned that Ellen promised a finder¡¯s fee. Companion didn¡¯t know Ellen was involved in the shop. Alex explained that Sarah and Ellen were running it together.

    Companion was worried that Alex¡¯s consent was too easily given. The Elder stressed that he must tell each one of them the danger.

    ¡°My people may not be welcoming. There could be trouble. We may have to fight. Perhaps the Elder will not fight with us in order to avoid a war between our peoples,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°All is good my friend,¡± Alex responded. ¡°Almost since the moment I picked you up in that hallway, the Elder has said we will make sure you get home. Talking to your people when we get there will be fun.¡± Alex was examining a long piece of wood carefully. Companion thought it looked a lot like a gravel beach shoring, even though it was out of the wrong material.

    ¡°I think you have the wrong impression of the Elder,¡± Alex added. ¡°You see her as jovial and kind, but she has a hard side too. That interaction with her family member in Londontown was nothing. Perhaps she wants you to speak with each one of us because she wants us to warn you what could happen.¡±

    ¡°I know what can happen,¡± Companion replied.

    ¡°Do you really?¡± Alex said. ¡°I met the Elder during a migration of orcas. She used a spell that killed everything around us out to 108 flipper-feet. She cast it over and over, until I lost count. She was only tier five at the time.¡± Companion wasn¡¯t certain how far 108 flipper-feet was, but by the way Alex said it Companion knew it was impressive. He thought all this time that his pod mates were excessively naive about the danger of a tier six, yet here was proof that they weren¡¯t as ignorant as they appeared. Alex knew the Elder was deadly and still he followed her.

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    ¡°If you offend a lesser god and the god decides you should die for your crimes, you die,¡± Companion said back. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Alex said to him, ¡°you do understand. If you want to introduce your shore to the Elder and all us humans, I swim with you.¡± Alex confirmed. ¡°Does this plank look like anything to you?¡± he asked, changing the subject.

    ¡°It looks like a beach shore. You need three more and a lot of gravel to fill it, round rock would be better.¡±

    ¡°Do you think your people would be interested in buying it?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yes, they are hard to come by. Many selkie who rent apartments still stay in the inn one day out of six in order to get a good rest,¡± Companions explained.

    ¡°I will take it then, even though it might be hard to get through the portal. Maybe some of your people will move into the shore and want one. I wonder where I can get round rock¡­¡± Alex trailed off thoughtfully.

    ¡°I saw some two rooms ago,¡± Companion offered.

    ¡°You did? Why didn¡¯t you say something? Still two rooms isn¡¯t far, let''s go back,¡± Alex announced.

    Alex ended up with three of the four boards needed for a sleeping beach and about a quarter of the round rock. They filled four cloth containers with the stuff. Companion was covetous since the rock was a finer grain than the stone in his inn room.

    When Alex started to throw six hall seals on the top of the load, Companion insisted they take six spinners instead. There was a sudden glut of hall seal meat in the human shore and they tasted so bland. Spinners weren¡¯t as good tasting as land urchin, but Companion could make do.

    Companion followed Alex into his shop. Alex¡¯s shop was the opposite of Sarah¡¯s. Here the room in the front was large, while the back room was small. Companion glanced at the front room¡¯s contents as they passed through. He noted a sturdy bench built out of iron with approval.

    The back room was filled with ¡®constructions¡¯. Most of them were a kind of shelf, but with no surface, just the horizontal supports. Alex stacked his pieces of tubing across the supports, each set of supports was filled with a different type, or length of tubing. Near the front by the door, small pieces were set carefully on one set of actual shelves. At the very back of the space Alex was working on building a bin system. Using tubes he¡¯d put together a frame system that held the shelf material into a u shape. The ends were open. There were several of them spread across the floor.

    ¡°I keep looking for short pieces of flat material, but they seem rare. The few I have found I used for chairs,¡± Alex explained to Companion. Alex was considering storing the round rock there, so he could return Companion¡¯s two cloth containers to him.

    ¡°Rotate and push them against the wall,¡± Companion suggested. ¡°That would block one end.¡±

    ¡°Let''s do it,¡± Alex agreed. They turned two of the bins and added the rock at the back. As it piled up a few pieces rolled out the front, but most of it stayed inside.

    ¡°Sarah could use something like this,¡± Companion observed. ¡°The Elder supplied them with crafting tools to sell with their books. It was amazing how many tools fit in the Elder¡¯s containers.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that before,¡± Alex said. ¡°Cloth containers always rearrange items so they fit tightly, but I think her containers actually compact things down. The items only turn back into their real shape when they are taken back out.¡±

    ¡°A lesser god¡¯s presence changes the world,¡± Companion observed, ¡°this is known.¡±

    ¡°In more ways than one, friend,¡± Alex replied.

    After they finished with the stone, Alex sorted through the contents of the rolling platform. They threw all the tools and vellum in the cloth containers onto the platform to make room for the round rock. Companion managed to get it back into his containers, before going to look for Ellen and Sarah. Alex directed him to an apartment up two rises from the hard space.

    Companion pounded on the door with a drawing of birds on it. He was certain it was the work of his podmate Sarah even though it was fading under the true god¡¯s eye. The door opened and Ellen stood there.

    ¡°Companion, this is an unexpected pleasure. Come in, what can we do for you?¡± Ellen said. Companion stepped through the door. He carefully leaned his war ax against the wall next to the door to free his flipper-hands.

    ¡°I went swimming with Alex. I have brought you things Alex said you wanted,¡± he sang. He looked around the room to find it cluttered with crafting gear and vellum. A high surface to the side was almost buried in the stuff. Sarah was stretched out on the floor like a weanling. She turned to look at him at his entrance, but her hand still held a stylus.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go into the food area and see what you have,¡± Ellen said. She led him through to the next room where there was a little more order. Sarah rose from her position on the floor to let them pass and followed them into the second area. Companion emptied out the vellum first. There was a large stack of notebooks. They found a room Alex called a supply closet. Alex used a cleaning spell to remove the stains that were on the books. Companion thought the stack would please the women and he was not disappointed. They talked excitedly about the books. Their speech was a little too fast for Companion to follow, but he caught bits and pieces. They were happy and could do something they put off with them.

    While they were still counting loose sheets and books, he dumped out the other bag of tools.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Ellen said. She reached over and picked up one of the tools. Companion didn¡¯t actually know what it did. He just knew it was the collection list for the crafters in his home shore.

    ¡°Stone crafters like it,¡± Companion replied a little defensively. He felt bad he couldn¡¯t tell the women all they wanted to know.

    ¡°I like it too,¡± Ellen said. ¡°Let me total this up and I will pay you the promised finders fee.¡±

    ¡°You need to ask selkie crafters what it is,¡± Companion commented. ¡°I asked the Elder if we can go to my people¡¯s shores next and ask magic questions. She said I must tell you the dangers and get your consent.¡±

    Ellen and Sarah shared a look with each other. Companion was hopeful they were giving careful consideration to his proposal when they both turned back to him.

    ¡°That sounds great,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°When do we leave?¡± Sarah responded.

    ¡°It will be dangerous. I can¡¯t guarantee your safety, not like the Elder,¡± Companion offered.

    ¡°You have enchanters right?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion admitted, ¡°there is a master on my own shore. But she may not talk to you. She may be sure of her own knowledge and treat you as a weanling not yet wetted. All the crafters might.¡± Companion placed one flipper-hand spread across the aluminum breastplate Sarah enchanted for him when they first met. ¡°They might not understand your own skill. You may be risking your life for no gain.¡±

    ¡°Companion, I was a weanling not yet wetted when Ellen and I first followed Grandmother out of the true god¡¯s domain. This world is full of risk. The chance exists that your master enchanter will talk to me. That is enough.¡±

    ¡°I will speak for you Sarah, friend,¡± Companion swore. ¡°I will show them the fine quality of my armor enchantment.¡±

    ¡°Should we take anything else to show them?¡± Ellen asked. ¡°I don¡¯t want to disappoint the Elder by not buying any spells.¡±

    ¡°Take the spinning book you have in the shop,¡± Companion said. ¡°Offer to sell it to them even as you buy their spells. This will help them understand your wish to trade.¡± Ellen looked happy with the idea of trade.

    ¡°All our books are written in the human script,¡± Ellen said to Companion. ¡°Will they still work?¡±

    ¡°I could follow the spinning book from the drawings. The spell codings are the same as the true god¡¯s beginners script. All selkie can read that.¡± Companion thought about the other books he saw in the shop. ¡°Throwing light is not so useful for selkie in the sea. The warrior book didn¡¯t have any spell codings and I didn¡¯t understand the waterfall book. The map book is the kind of thing exchanged between leaders when trade is agreed upon. The crafting book is the best. Do you have others?¡± Companion explained.

    Ellen did have others. Companion was delighted. Not only did she have more on fabric, there were books on other crafts. She showed him ones that worked with hides, wood and metal. Sarah even wrote one on enchanting. He noticed that most of the books didn¡¯t have the spell codings in them. Ellen explained how they used the old woman¡¯s spell from the last shore to copy the spell to the blank pages left in the book when the book was purchased.

    When he asked which book the old woman¡¯s spell was in, Sarah told him that was the waterfall book. They explained to him that it was the ¡®utility spells¡¯ book. They would add spells to it as the customer purchased them. The first two spells that came with it were how to make the water hot and cold. Companion heard almost every youngling who approached their stall claim they could do those spells. Companion was embarrassed to admit he didn¡¯t know them.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because you only have two flippers per hand,¡± Ellen said. ¡°You might be able to sing the spells. Come I will show you.¡± Ellen led him off to the apartment''s small sanitary facility.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirteen

    <h2>Companion</h2>

    He spent a lot of time with Ellen and Sarah learning the hot and cold water spells. Ellen had him try a variety of methods. It worked if he started the water flowing, touched the edge of the basin and sang the casting starting pattern then a single three note. When he fell silent and released the edge of the basin the falling water was colder. The five note made the water nasty hot. Ellen told him it also worked on the bathing pools. He wanted to run off to his room at the inn and try soaking in a cold bath, but he still needed to find Todd.

    Companion checked the training yards, but Todd wasn¡¯t there. He asked the guards at the forest gate. Todd was much harder for Companion to say than Alex, but he finally got his question across. The guards told Companion that Todd didn¡¯t go into the forest. Companion tried the back gate with the same result. Companion even tracked down Harry, who was the commander of the guards. Harry was almost as good as Companion¡¯s podmates at understanding selkie words. He quickly told Companion he hadn¡¯t seen Todd since lunch.

    Thinking about lunch, Companion realized he missed his. He decided to get something from the inn. Perhaps they would have some of the spinner meat. The dining area was mostly empty at this hour. The innkeeper emerged from the back room and asked Companion if she could help him.

    ¡°I am looking for Todd,¡± Companion said. He meant to say he wanted some lunch, but his mind returned to his main goal.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the back,¡± the innkeeper replied. ¡°Working on one of his specials. You can go on back. Did you want anything to eat after?¡±

    ¡°Is there any spinner?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°There is, fresh in from the southern halls. I will boil you some up.¡±

    Companion gruffed his approval. He followed the innkeeper into the back room. Todd was in the farthest corner of the room standing over a steadily steaming pot. The heat coming off the pot reminded Companion of the legend of underwater volcanic geysers. He could not understand how his friend could stand so near. Todd¡¯s spear wasn¡¯t actually in his hands, but was close by leaning against the wall. Companion still held his ax, since he didn¡¯t make it up to his room. He leaned it against the wall next to the spear.

    ¡°Companion,¡± Todd announced. ¡°You are just in time. If I fall to the floor, cast a heal on me.¡± Companion wondered if this was part of his training. He mastered the tier three heal and the self-heal. An involuntary shudder ran through his body at the thought of the self-heal. It was the most painful thing he ever experienced and he almost died before the Elder¡¯s party found him. When he came back to consciousness with the cut on his arm healed he saw how it could be useful, but he cringed at the idea of using it again.

    Todd took a long handled spoon and dipped out a tiny amount of liquid from the pot. He sipped from the spoon.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Todd said with a strange accent to his words, ¡°I can¡¯t feel my tongue.¡±

    ¡°Heal now?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°No, not yet. I have a theory. Let''s see if it gets worse,¡± Todd responded. Companion remembered Ellen¡¯s strange questions about poisons the other night. He watched as Todd started poking his tongue with his finger and worried about what might be in that volcanic pot.

    ¡°I think the feeling is coming back,¡± Todd said around his finger. Or at least that was what Companion thought he said.

    ¡°I wanted to talk to you about something important,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Todd said. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°I have asked the Elder if we can go to my selkie home shore next to gather spells. She set me the task of asking each party member after warning of the danger,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Todd replied, after removing his hand from his mouth. He ran his tongue over his lips. ¡°I should have timed that,¡± he commented. Looked down at the long handled spoon.

    ¡°My people might react violently to our arrival,¡± Companions started to explain.

    ¡°I meant I¡¯ll go,¡± Todd said, interrupting Companion. ¡°I¡¯m not going to stay here if the Elder is going.¡±

    ¡°She won¡¯t go unless everyone in the pod agrees,¡± Companion explained.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Todd replied. ¡°And you want to go?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion responded.

    ¡°And the Elder will go with us if we all agree?¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°Ok, it is fine with me,¡± Todd answered. ¡°Remember if I fall to the ground, heal me.¡± Todd dipped the spoon back into the pot and sipped the liquid again. Companion thought it might be a little more liquid this time.

    ¡°It could be dangerous,¡± Companion tried to explain. How could he get the point across to a human who appeared to be sipping poison? ¡°If they react badly enough, it could be war,¡± Companion squeaked. ¡°It could come back here.¡±

    ¡°It might be war with Londontown,¡± Todd told Companion. Companion thought more than Todd¡¯s tongue must be affected this time since his speech was particularly slurred. ¡°I worry more about humans, they are ignorant of what the Elder is. Your people know.¡±

    ¡°I talked to Alex,¡± Companion countered, ¡°he knows.¡±

    ¡°Well we all know,¡± Todd told him, he waved his hand around the room at large. Companion wasn¡¯t certain if he was indicating the pod, or the residents of the entire shore. ¡°But the rest of them,¡± Todd nodded unerringly to the north, ¡°they don¡¯t. Most of our tier five were drawn south by the true god. The Elder was the only one whose commitment to duty allowed her to resist the draw.¡±

    ¡°Surely in the past¡­¡± Companion started to say, then he stopped because he knew the answer to that. His people named Todd¡¯s people newcomers and it was true. There was no deep past for them here in these waters. Their past lay elsewhere. Although he knew all these facts, he never really put them together like this before. His people were in this ocean longer than any of them remembered. Before his time with the Elder¡¯s pod he would have sworn they were a creation of the true god.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Now he wasn¡¯t so sure. The Elder pointed out how the humans didn¡¯t quite fit. That this world was not made for them. Companion was smart enough to see how his people didn¡¯t quite fit either. To Companion this was even more reason why their two peoples should work together.

    ¡°I think it is good,¡± Todd said, stirring his pot.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Companion asked. Peering through the steam.

    ¡°It is a surprise for you,¡± Todd said. ¡°To celebrate your mastery of self-heal. Although I got a late start at it and I am not certain the fermentation will be complete before we head out again. I had to throw the first batch out. This is my version of Londontown Stout.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean strong beer? But that is poison to humans,¡± Companion exclaimed.

    ¡°Well I am a higher tier than Alex and you notice I didn¡¯t chug it,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I warned the innkeeper and she won¡¯t serve it to any human without a correct color healer standing by. Mostly it is for you.¡±

    ¡°I, I thank you,¡± Companion said, truly touched.

    ¡°I am curious to see if anyone else can drink it. Alcohol is just another kind of poison. I think the true god is already protecting us from some of its more bothersome side effects. Outside the god¡¯s domains it affects us humans much more strongly. That is why Alex never drinks beer in the mage¡¯s tower.¡±

    ¡°There is beer in the mage¡¯s tower?¡± Companion asked, wondering how he missed that.

    ¡°I will show you how to order it from the machines the next time we are there, but remember my warnings. There are no healers on the mage¡¯s tower and it is a long drive back to the entrance. Grandmother was very worried we might kill you with our food. We took samples of all your favorites and tested them with the machines. We decided several things we eat might be too dangerous for you and didn¡¯t offer them,¡± Todd explained.

    All of this went unnoticed by Companion. He was touched by the care his pod showed for him.

    ¡°There are other things selkies consume for enjoyment that might be dangerous to humans,¡± Companion admitted. ¡°Perhaps you should take your own food.¡±

    ¡°You have to tell Alex he can¡¯t drink the beer,¡± Todd said with a laugh. Companion shifted on his flipper feet and clicked his agitation. ¡°Oh, and you have to tell the Elder she needs to wear blessed cloth. That way your people will recognize the danger that she is quickly. You do that and I agree to go.¡±

    The boiled spinner was tasty. It was closer to dinner than lunch when he finished. He thought about waiting for Alex in the inn, but decided that he needed to get the bad news out of the way. He crossed the hard space to Alex¡¯s shop. The windows on it were set to transparent. Companion could see Alex working away, arranging his pieces of furniture.

    Companion tapped on the glass door. Alex looked up and hurried over to let the selkie in.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Alex asked. Companion paced around the room. It seemed really full to him. His attention was drawn to a bowl of round rock. It was sitting on a round table made out of black iron. A twisted broken piece of oxidized bronze was held vertical by the stone. Something about the bronze reminded Companion of the Elder¡¯s statue at the gallery.

    ¡°It is like the Elder¡¯s statue,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°Yes, exactly,¡± Alex said with a laugh.

    ¡°Are you going out tomorrow?¡± Companion asked. ¡°Your shop seems ready.¡±

    ¡°It is! I am so excited. I have hired Ted to help run it. We will open it together tomorrow. When we leave he will continue to run it alone until he gets low on stock or we get back,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°I am happy for you, friend,¡± Companion responded. ¡°I have come here on serious matters. You are my most stalwart friend and it pains me to say this, but when we visit the selkie shores, you must not drink the beer. I fear it will kill you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not happening,¡± Alex said. ¡°I tell you what, I will make sure Ellen or Grandmother is near before I do the tasting.¡±

    ¡°My friend, Todd said I must tell you before he agreed to go. It is important to me,¡± the Selkie responded.

    ¡°I hear you Companion,¡± Alex replied. ¡°I see no problem here. You have told me. If needed I will confirm with Todd that you have.¡± Companion thought about that as Alex returned to his nervous adjustment of furniture.

    ¡°Yes, I see that it is so. But it still leaves one problem between us,¡± Companion replied.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Alex asked, puzzled.

    ¡°Todd also told me that there is beer in the mage¡¯s tower.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my friend. You owe me for that one. Let me tell you of the most deadly of spells. Humans call it the ¡®hangover¡¯.¡± Alex replied.

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    Todd spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening preparing his Londontown Stout for fermentation and cooking meals for the inn¡¯s dinners. He secured the stout in a corner of the room where he would keep an eye on it in the coming days. The inn kitchen was the only place he could really cook. The inn came supplied with a full set of cooking utensils. When the shops were rented they were mostly empty, with just a bare minimum of display shelving and the shop counter. The apartments were similar. The inn was different. The price of the rooms were set by Control, and the innkeeper only received a token amount. If there was no innkeeper, a visitor was still given access to the facility and could use the pay surface to rent their own room. The rooms were fully furnished and they cleaned themselves. The innkeeper really only rented the kitchen and dining room. The rent was low, but the prices were fixed on a lot of the simple food items. The innkeeper could set the price only on food prepared from gathered ingredients.

    Once Todd thought he would become an innkeeper someday and maybe far back in his mind that possibility still lingered. The innkeeper here in Home Square was his aunt Sally. No one ever called her by name anymore. Everyone called her Innkeeper and Sally seemed very happy with that. She let Todd cook in the inn¡¯s kitchen whenever he wanted, since the customers liked his food. It gave her a break from doing all the cooking herself. He was grateful to her for that.

    Todd headed out when the main dinner rush was over. He ate in the kitchen, but when he stepped out into the dining room he spotted Alex and Companion sitting at Grandmother''s table and decided to join them. They both held tankards of beer. Todd settled down into his chair at the table and set his spear against the wall beside him.

    ¡°Companion has done his duty!¡± Alex announced a little too loudly, ¡°No beer for me in selkie lands.¡±

    ¡°I told him,¡± Companion gruffed.

    Todd looked at the two of them and knew no one was really going to be able to keep Alex from at least tasting the beer. Especially since the young man was a good enough vocalist to communicate in a passable selkie. He would be able to order for himself. Todd made a note to warn Grandmother.

    ¡°Good,¡± Todd said. The purpose of the exercise was to make sure Companion realized poisoning might be a danger. Todd was certain Companion would get Alex help if he experienced a bad reaction to something. ¡°Have you told Grandmother?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The Elder isn¡¯t back yet,¡± Companion announced. Todd frowned, he wasn¡¯t aware Grandmother was leaving the square. ¡°She doesn¡¯t come back until late. I¡¯ll tell her in the morning at breakfast.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean she doesn¡¯t return until late?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Well she hasn¡¯t since the break began,¡± Companion offered. ¡°I have been up early two days to speak to her.¡± Companion rubbed the whiskers of his face briskly. ¡°I must, again tomorrow. Apologies my friend, it will be an early night for me.¡± Companion said this last part to Alex.

    ¡°I too must call it an early night,¡± Alex replied. ¡°I have the shop opening in the morning.¡± Alex rose unsteadily to his feet and marched up the stairs. Companion gruffed his amusement, but he too took his leave, after chugging the remnants of both their beers.

    It worried Todd that Grandmother was going out on her own. Companion believed her to be a lesser god and almost impossible to kill. Todd knew that she was only human and humans made mistakes. He has sworn to watch her back.

    He was reassured that she was seen at least the last two mornings by Companion. That meant she couldn¡¯t be going too far. Todd scolded himself for not keeping better track of her. He last saw her for himself four or five days ago. Then he remembered the transportation system, she could get a lot farther away than he realized if she was using that.

    He thought about staying until she returned, but that seemed non-productive. Instead he too would rise early to catch her at breakfast. If he would follow her around all day if necessary to find out what she was up to and watch her back while she did it.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Fourteen

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    Grandmother was surprised when she came down to breakfast and found her table empty. She felt a little left out, even as she was relieved. A server brought her morning tea. Grandmother sipped the liquid as she enjoyed the quiet of the morning.

    Todd arrived with Grandmother¡¯s breakfast. His spear was slung over his shoulder to free his hands to carry the food. He set the plate before her and settled into his customary seat next to the wall, where he settled his spear within easy reach.

    Ah, Grandmother thought to herself, that explains the empty table.

    ¡°Good morning, Grandmother,¡± Todd greeted her.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Grandmother replied. She took a couple bites of food. It was especially good. ¡°Are you cooking today?¡± she asked. The food was always better in the inn when Todd was taking a turn. He was the best cook that Grandmother knew.

    ¡°Just for you,¡± Todd replied. ¡°I cooked for the inn last night. I put together a special beer for Companion, to celebrate his first self-heal. I am calling it Londowntown Stout.¡± Grandmother was just about to say something about that being nice, when the meaning of the name sunk in.

    ¡°Do you think that is wise?¡± Grandmother questioned.

    ¡°I have a theory that intent greatly affects the end result. Alex was poisoned in Londontown because that was the intent. I sampled the wort and I am still breathing,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I warned the innkeeper. She knows it is for Companion and to not let anyone else sample it unless there is a healer standing by.¡±

    ¡°They have to be able to cast at least tier two,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Tier one doesn¡¯t heal poisonings.¡±

    ¡°Innkeeper knows,¡± Alex replied.

    ¡°I suppose it will help pressure our young violet casters to learn to heal,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Otherwise none of the reds will get to try it.¡± One of the first bits of knowledge Grandmother''s party brought back to their Home Square was how to pick the color of your magic. Only orange became unobtainable, although Todd thought they might end up with their first human orange magic users soon. Companion taught them how to cast with sound, which was one way to get around the limitation of too few fingers. Their first generation of violet and yellow magic users were fourteen or fifteen, with a few in their late teens.

    ¡°Maybe I overreacted in Londontown,¡± Grandmother murmured.

    ¡°No you didn¡¯t. They may not have wanted him dead, but as you said, healing in Londontown has its own dangers,¡± Todd responded. Grandmother returned to her food. Todd decided to move on to the next subject.

    ¡°Companion has told me of his desire to go to his people''s square next,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°I set him a couple tasks to do before I would agree,¡± Todd responded. ¡°One was to warn Alex he can¡¯t drink the selkie beer. The two of them were obviously conspiring last night. I don¡¯t think Alex will follow the warning. We¡¯ll need to keep an eye on him, or we may find out I am wrong about intent the hard way.¡±

    ¡°What do you really think?¡± Grandmother said seriously. ¡°Should we go? With the potential trouble brewing with Londontown I wonder if the timing is bad.¡±

    ¡°We should go,¡± Todd replied directly. ¡°I know you will want to eventually. For some reason Companion wants us to go now. Having his help will be essential. We can use the transportation system with his map to travel directly into their square. There isn¡¯t any trouble with Londontown yet, and honestly there is always something going on.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We can take the transportation system down to the south gallery and rest there a day to get over any side effects. If we use Companion¡¯s transportation map to make the connection to his people''s square I think he will have to make the payments. Keeping the trip short should cut the costs. The big problem is I don¡¯t know how the last person will make it, since one of us has to send Companion through. Once he¡¯s made the transit the last person won¡¯t be able to use his map.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask Harry to come with us to the Gallery,¡± Todd said. ¡°He can push Companion through, wait at the gallery or return back here by himself. It will be good to get him out of the square.¡±

    ¡°If things go well, I don¡¯t see us finishing up in a single day. We should take our own food. Even if selkie food doesn¡¯t kill us, it might not be to our taste either,¡± Grandmother observed. Grandmother finished up the last of her food and pushed her plate away. She sipped the last of her tea.

    ¡°Companion should be down soon to talk to you and fulfill the second task I set him,¡± Todd said. ¡°His late nights and early mornings are starting to catch up with him. Speaking of late nights, Alex is opening his shop today.¡±

    ¡°Is he? How has he done gathering inventory?¡± Grandmother asked. She caught the attention of the server and signaled she wanted another cup.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen it myself,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I heard about the opening last night.¡±

    ¡°How are Ellen and Sarah doing with their shop?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°They have a shop too?¡± Todd replied before he realized he was admitting he wasn¡¯t keeping track of their activities.

    ¡°They are putting together a magic store,¡± Grandmother responded. The server brought her second cup of tea. Grandmother thanked the girl for it, just as Companion came rushing down the stairs.

    ¡°Here he is,¡± Todd commented. Grandmother greeted the selkie. Companion shifted on his flipper-feet and gave a questioning look at Todd. Todd waved at Grandmother, saying without words; she is all yours. Companion settled his bulk onto his bench.

    ¡°Elder,¡± Companion started out unevenly, ¡°when we travel to my people¡¯s settlements, you must wear integrated cloth.¡± That seemed a little blunt, Grandmother thought. She saw a trace of a smile on Todd¡¯s face. This must exactly match what he told Companion he must do. ¡°If my people don¡¯t realize your strength they may not act as they ought,¡± Companion explained. ¡°We understand the meaning of the depth of your color, a glance and any selkie will think twice about doing anything too rash.¡± Todd¡¯s face now held a serious look on it, with more than a trace of approval in it. It would appear this plea was above and beyond what he required.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Grandmother said, as she pretended to consider Companion''s request. She never wore integrated clothing in the human territories. She wore the same handmade leathers she wore now. They were not integrated and were unaffected by her tier. She needed to replace them often. They couldn¡¯t be repaired like integrated armor. If there was a hole in the knee all she could do was sew a patch on. She got into the habit when she reached tier four and her magic started to stain integrated cloth. At the time, only red, blue and green cloth was available in the human region. Since Grandmother¡¯s magic was violet the mismatch in color became apparent quickly.

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    She hated wearing purple. Not only did she look awful in it, it made her stand out as unique for most of her life. Now when there were finally other violet magic users, her high tier continued to darken the fabric as long as she wore it. If she wore it too long, it was virtually black. Unfortunately Companion¡¯s argument was a good one. It was very similar to the reasoning that led to her wearing integrated cloth armor when they found Companion. Companion¡¯s first response was extreme fear. It was only when they made preparations to leave him unharmed that he changed his mind and made it known he didn¡¯t want to be left behind. He stayed with them ever since. He was more important to Grandmother than that young girl in Londontown who called herself family.

    ¡°I will consider it,¡± she said to Companion. ¡°If we go from here to the south gallery, I might be able to change into it there.¡± Companion gruffed his relief. ¡°Can we use your map to take the transport from there to your square?¡± Grandmother asked.

    Companion sunk down into his bench, defeat etched on his features. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to use the map,¡± he fluted.

    ¡°We know how,¡± Todd explained. ¡°We didn¡¯t believe we could talk you through it when we were last at the Gallery. You understand our language so well now I think we can.¡±

    ¡°My question is if we arrived through the transportation system would that alarm your people and increase the chance of conflict?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No, it is good. Everyone knows no one with violence in their heart can travel through the true god¡¯s halls,¡± Companion explained. This was news for Grandmother. She supposed it would be easy enough for Control¡¯s nanobots to monitor blood chemistry in travelers. Someone pumping themselves up for battle would have detectable levels of adrenaline. She needed to remember to tell Harry. He wouldn¡¯t trust it to always hold true, but it might relieve some of the stress the discovery of the transportation system put on him.

    ¡°What did the others say?¡± Grandmother asked Companion. ¡°Did you explain the danger to them?¡±

    ¡°Yes I tried. They all say yes. Alex told me the danger was more for my people. Sarah and Ellen both said they could not learn new skills without a risk,¡± Companion replied. Grandmother smiled. His comments were proof he tried to tell them it was dangerous.

    ¡°We will go after our rest,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Is today the last day? Or is it tomorrow?¡± Grandmother asked Todd.

    ¡°Tomorrow is the last rest day,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We will take the transportation system down to the south gallery. We¡¯ll stay a day there to make final preparations before continuing to the selkie square.¡± Companion gruffed his approval, his happiness apparent. Grandmother sent him out to tell the others to meet before dinner tomorrow night for any final discussions.

    ¡°I may not be able to pay a green for every new spell,¡± Grandmother admitted to Todd. ¡°I hope Companion will understand.¡±

    ¡°Even if the selkie know far more than we do, I doubt very many will be willing to share their knowledge with us,¡± Todd replied. ¡°Just tell Alex to change his speech. Say we¡¯ll pay a bonus for the first five new spells or something like that. You will still be honest and it might put some pressure on them to step up.¡±

    Grandmother finished her tea, picked up her staff and rose to her feet. She told Todd she was going to look at Alex¡¯s shop. Todd followed her.

    The door to Alex''s shop was wedged open. Grandmother was surprised to see she wasn¡¯t the first shopper. It looked like the open door caught the attention of several of the other shop owners on their way to work. The blacksmith was running his hand across the surface of the ceramic workbench Grandmother helped Alex find.

    ¡°What do you want for this one?¡± the man asked Alex.

    ¡°That one is sold,¡± Alex responded. ¡°It was snatched up as soon as I opened the shop.¡±

    Grandmother looked around. Alex had been busy. He filled the entire space with pieces. There were shelves, tables, benches and chairs. Grandmother stopped to inspect a chair. The frame was steel, but the seat and backrest were wood. She wasn¡¯t certain she had seen that seat before, although the backrest looked familiar. She was pretty certain she never found a use for it. It was another indication that intact modular pieces were more common in this area than around Londontown.

    She spotted young Teddy helping another customer near the back of the store. The woman was looking at a double tall set of shelves. Grandmother recognized her as a worker in the butcher shop. Teddy was warning her that overloading the top shelves may cause the unit to topple. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain that was true. It would be on the Speedwell, but this was a shelving unit constructed of entirely structure produced parts. It would not be limited by simple physics. If Control wanted it to stand it would. Of course it was equally true that if Control wanted it to fall over it would too. It was probably a fair warning.

    Grandmother was happy to see Alex already hired a shopkeeper to cover for him when he was away. She was really surprised when Alex told her he wanted to start a shop. She always thought Ellen would be the one. In settlements Alex was so light hearted and immature. Grandmother often thought of him as the youngest, even though that was actually Sarah. None of them really knew how old Companion was. Grandmother got the impression from him that among his own people he was older than Todd but younger than her. She asked once about when he expected to reach tier four and he told her he didn¡¯t think he would. His people rarely reached tier four. He reached tier three later in life than those who would go on to four.

    She circled around back to the front. A unique piece in the form of a round iron table sat in pride of place before the window. A bowl of small round rocks held a jagged spike of bronze. Grandmother liked it. She wasn¡¯t certain what she would do with it, but she liked it. She gave Alex an encouraging signal since he was still talking to the blacksmith and headed out the door.

    Todd was waiting for her in the courtyard. He was leaning against the outside wall of Alex''s shop. He was thoughtfully to the side so his body didn¡¯t block the view of the merchandise inside. Grandmother saw him push off from the wall the moment she stepped out the door. He shifted his hold on his spear into the one he typically used for travel. She noticed for the first time that there was a water flask and knife on his belt. He was wearing his red brigandine. That was not unusual. He wore it most of the time. Since it was integrated it flowed like cloth and was only slightly heavier. At tier four he probably didn¡¯t even notice the weight. Her own worn leathers probably weighed more. She rolled her own staff in her hand and headed in the direction of the training yards. She too carried water and a knife. There was also a small bag tied at her back with travel food packed inside for lunch.

    Grandmother crossed the training yards to the greenspace exit. Home Square¡¯s exit was two stories above the floor of the green. A fountain shot water skyward in the center of the balcony. Staircases descended to the right and left. Grandmother took the right staircase down to the forest floor. She turned south southeast and took off at a run.

    She wished she was going farther and could really give Todd a workout. At tier six she could run. It was a little weird. Improvements to her running speed at tier four and five ebbed with her age. That didn¡¯t happen at tier six yet, even though over ten years had passed since she reached it. In the short run across the green Todd managed to keep up. He was tier four and still young.

    She reached a glass door in the greenspace''s south wall. She checked through the glass for any unexpected occupants, before pulling the door open and stepping through. The area was a rest. She¡¯d discovered it three days ago. She didn¡¯t think it was the same rest they found after the migration, but it was in a similar area. Not far from here was a grand staircase down. She didn¡¯t go down the day she found it. Instead she¡¯d continued her survey of this floor. Todd obviously knew she was leaving the square during the day. His plan seemed to be to follow her. She really couldn¡¯t leave him wandering around the halls alone so she would take advantage of his presence and survey below in tier three space.

    Todd stepped through the door behind her. He looked ready to run. His grip on his spear tightened when he saw her waiting.

    ¡°There is a grand staircase ahead,¡± Grandmother stated. ¡°We¡¯ll go down, turn north and cross under the green. We will switch to east-west halls on the north side. The idea is to illuminate as much as possible on the map. If you see something interesting, remember it. I am not slowing. We¡¯ll compare observations and make notes when we stop. Ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd responded.

    Grandmother cast a tier five conceal on them. She turned and ran. Todd followed.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Fifteen

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    An hour later and miles away, Grandmother came to a stop in a rest. She sat down against a wall where she had a view down the corridor they were traveling. Todd pulled up to a stop, breathing hard. He sank against the opposite wall, with a view the other direction down the corridor. Grandmother pulled up her map and started making notes.

    ¡°How do you hold conceal so long?¡± Todd asked, when he caught his breath.

    ¡°The drain isn¡¯t that bad against animals getting quick glimpses. It is easier the faster we move. It is much harder in a square full of thinking minds,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Did you see anything interesting?¡±

    ¡°I saw several glass fronted arcades. Is that what you''re looking for?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I am looking for inscriptions, rests, galleries, squares, grand staircases and normal stairs. The arcades are also interesting because they give us a feel for the type of contents in these rooms. Try to mark on your map where you saw them. If you see any unique hall arrangements mark them too, especially if they repeat. We really haven¡¯t spent much time in this type of area. I want to know what kind of topography we have around here, as a first step in exploiting it for development or defense,¡± Grandmother responded.

    Todd opened his map and started making notes. Grandmother finished with her map and took a long drink from her water flask.

    ¡°Have you found any squares?¡± Todd asked, still looking at his map.

    ¡°Two,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Both are above Home Square, one is roughly west and has no crystal. The other is to the south east. It is odd, but it has a crystal. It¡¯s small but larger than Londontown¡¯s crystal when we left.¡±

    ¡°How is it odd?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It is nowhere near a green,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen that before.¡±

    ¡°Not on a green?¡± Todd said in a puzzled voice.

    ¡°Yeah, just a back door and it seemed smaller. I wanted to touch the crystal so I could fast travel to it and check it out closer, but I decided I had enough responsibility. Do you want to touch it?¡± She asked in an innocent voice.

    ¡°No, I think I will pass,¡± Todd responded. He closed his map and drank from his own water flask. ¡°I wonder how many other squares we have missed. When our group came south we scouted greens looking for a potential square. We cut through the hall space as fast as we could.¡±

    ¡°Most people do,¡± Grandmother responded. She rose to her feet. ¡°Ready?¡±

    Todd took one last drink of water before rising to his feed. ¡°Ready.¡±

    Grandmother¡¯s next stop was a dead end. With her back to the wall she canceled the conceal and replaced it with the much lower tier camouflage. Grandmother suspected that rests were rarer here than in the tier two space above from their trips through tier three space on their exploration trips south. There was a chance that in their headlong trips south they simply missed most of the rests. This exhaustive search showed that wasn¡¯t true. They really were rarer.

    She opened her map and marked down everything of interest that she remembered. When she finished, Todd opened his own map and did the same. ¡°Did you see that wide spot with the large doors?¡± Grandmother asked him.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd said. ¡°We passed something like it on our way south two or three trips ago.

    ¡°I thought it looked familiar,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°If we find another one, let¡¯s do a sweep of the room.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Todd agreed. He finished with his map. Grandmother handed him a travel bar from her small pack. He started eating it without comment, washing it down with water.

    Grandmother wondered if Todd realized just how impossible what they were doing was. He was so focused at keeping up that she doubted he thought farther than that. They just ran for hours at near what was the recorded limit of a human¡¯s speed. It should have been impossible to hold that speed for more than a few seconds.

    Grandmother wanted to check the room beyond the doors because a large section of her map in that area remained stubbornly dark. That indicated no hallways ran across the area. There were matching blank sections on the floors above, although they did grow smaller higher up. The area was not as large as a green, but it was larger than the courtyard in a square. It reminded Grandmother of the industrial spaces in the south. Most of those spaces didn''t have hallways. Instead doors in industrial rooms gave access directly to another room. The area around the Gallery did have halls. The rooms there seemed to be in line with the office space sections found in most of the human territory. Grandmother thought of it as the executive offices for the factories.

    Although Grandmother didn¡¯t complete a detailed search of the rooms in this section before, the group did loot a few here and there on exploration missions. She thought of the area as commercial mixed with light industry. The room where Alex and Grandmother found the workbench was an example of the light industry type. It was in the easier section of rooms above, but Grandmother thought it was a ¡®spillover¡¯ from the room types below.

    The arcades Todd spotted earlier were an example of the commercial type. They very seldom contained anything useful in them. They appeared to be simulations of storefronts. Very rarely they contained vendors that sold odd very specialized items. They saw only single story versions today. In earlier expeditions Grandmother saw ones that were two and even three stories tall, with the upper halls turned into balconies.

    It took Grandmother a longer time to recover while holding the camouflage spell. Normally the physical drain of the tier three spell was unnoticeable to her anymore. Todd was looking fully recovered when Grandmother decided she could go on.

    Near the end of the next run, they found another set of large doors. Grandmother slowed to a stop. She stood close to the wall of the larger section, where she could see down the length of the departing corridor while hiding the bulk of her body around the corner. She still held the conceal spell active. These corridors were heavily occupied. In their run they¡¯d passed badgers, hall spiders, cats and cougars. The wide spot before the doors was empty, but a pride of cougars were passing across the hall ahead of them. Grandmother stood still waiting for them to move on. Todd joined her, turning his body to look down the approaching corridor. The widened area was too large for him to mirror Grandmother''s stance on the other side. If he went that far the conceal spell would have made Grandmother vanish from his sight.

    This door was close to the first one they saw. They navigated a large number of dead ends before Grandmother determined that access north was blocked to the east of the blank spot on the map. She circled south and started running corridors east-west working back north. A quick glance at the map left Grandmother convinced that these doors were opening into the same blank space on the map.

    The cougars finally cleared the cross corridor. Grandmother dropped the conceal and cast camouflage and muffle in order to lower the drain on her while they faced the unknown danger in the room.

    ¡°The door opens out,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Should I take a look?¡± Grandmother dropped her surveillance of the hallway in order to inspect the door behind her. Todd''s position looking back the way they came, gave him a better view of it. It did open out. There were large half circle handles mounted on each of the two panels of the door. The handles were unique.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Grandmother replied. Todd shifted his position to just outside the doors. Grandmother followed behind him, keeping close. Todd used his off hand to pull the door farthest from them just slightly open. He put his eye close to the open crack and peered inside. He eased the door back closed, before reporting to Grandmother.

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    ¡°It is dark inside. I can only see a sliver of the stone floor.¡± Grandmother thought about that for a moment. Close to the edge of the structure was dark space, where the overhead light panels were defaulted off. The farther you traveled in the more light panels were defaulted on. Around Home Square nearly every light panel was powered. The few that weren¡¯t tended to ¡°wake up¡± if you got near. An entire room being dark was a warning of some kind.

    ¡°Let me try,¡± Grandmother said. They switched places. She barely opened the door and placed her eye tight against the crack. Just as Todd reported the room on the other side was dark. An arrow of light from the cracked door raced away from her. She cast night vision. The arrow of light became a spear, shooting off into a massive black space beyond. Her eyes were adjusted to the bright light leaking in from the hall so that far distance was still dark even with the night vision. She could see a landing straight ahead. The walls on either side stepped down to the floor. Over the top of them was more darkness, with just the hint of a ceiling far above.

    Grandmother dismissed night vision and pushed the door shut. She took a moment to check all directions for any sign of approach. ¡°I can¡¯t see much, just a concrete landing. It looks empty. I don¡¯t like the darkness.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t either,¡± Todd responded. ¡°The light spills in from the hall. Let¡¯s open and wedge both doors. If nothing comes out we can think about our next move.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Do you have a wedge?¡±

    Todd pulled one from a pocket. He may be traveling light, but not that light. Grandmother retrieved her own wedge. She took the right door while Todd took the left. At her nod, they both swung their door open and wedged it in a well-practiced move. They both stood alert and ready for action. Nothing emerged.

    Grandmother leaned inside. She couldn¡¯t see much more than before. She leaned in and threw half a dozen light spells at the distant ceiling. The balls of light disappeared into the darkness without hitting any light panels. Grandmother decided that if she wanted to know what this room was she needed to go inside.

    She gave a nod to Todd and stepped forward onto the visible platform. As she stepped through the doorway narrow arcs of light came on starting on the outer wall and running to the center of the room. A large section of the center of the ceiling was covered in light panels. There were no light panels directly above the door, that explained the failure of her light spell. She found herself standing on the side of a big bowl. Wide stair steps sank down in front of her. She turned and checked behind her. The same wide steps marched up behind her, to an outer round wall. The doorway looked like a tunnel leading out from this side. This explained the stepped down look of the side walls. They were a side view of the descending platforms. A single level appeared to ring the entire area. Studying it, Grandmother decided it was more an oval than a circle. She judged the outer wall oval to be about 400 by 300 feet.

    There was another set of doors about a quarter of the way around, still at this end. Grandmother realized these were the doors they passed earlier. Across the center she could see more doors, mirroring these two sets, only they were at least a story lower down, maybe two. There were two more doors, across the short dimension of the oval. They were even lower down.

    ¡°It''s a theater,¡± she commented. ¡°Or maybe an amphitheater is a better description, even though it¡¯s not open air.¡± Todd came forward and hunkered down at the edge of the flat walkway at the entrance. After a quick glance around he leaned forward to study the center.

    ¡°I think coliseum is the right word,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Colo.. what?¡± Grandmother asked him.

    ¡°Ha!¡± he said in triumph, ¡°Coliseum, like in ancient Rome where they held fights between gladiators. You need to study more Earth history.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think that?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Him,¡± Todd replied, pointing down into the center. The center stage was actually a pit, dropping down another story from the last circle of steps. The solid section of light in the center illuminated the floor below. In the center of the pit was a skeleton.

    Grandmother hunkered down next to Todd to study the dead man. She cast eagle eye on herself. The longer she looked at the same object, the larger it became. The spell wasn¡¯t that useful in the halls, where line of sight was limited. She usually used it in greenspaces. It was dangerous to use for too long, since as the object you looked at grew larger, your peripheral vision vanished. This gave animals the opportunity to sneak up without being seen.

    The first thing she noticed was the skeleton was not human. It was something close; it possessed one head, two arms and two legs. But one splayed hand clearly showed six fingers. The skull was wrong too

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It is staged,¡± Grandmother observed. Bodies did not linger in the structure. Nanobots took them apart in a matter of days if an animal didn¡¯t discover and consume it first. ¡°I think it is a warning that you can die here. Is it wearing armor?¡±

    ¡°I believe it is,¡± Todd responded. ¡°It¡¯s transparent and hard to see.¡±

    ¡°Glass,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I guess we know where Londontown¡¯s blacksmith¡¯s brother¡¯s spouse''s aunt got her glass gloves.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it his aunt''s brother¡¯s spouse?¡± Todd queried.

    ¡°Whatever,¡± Grandmother replied, doubting that was right either. ¡°So the skeleton is a warning about the penalty of failure and the promise of reward on success. It doesn¡¯t seem like a single item is worth it, even made out of glass.¡±

    Grandmother considered the drama used to reveal the pit. It was an enticement to get players to rush down there and jump into the pit below. Studying the pit, she saw no way out. The walls below the lip looked solid. Even with Companion¡¯s climbing spell, it would take time to get out, during which a climber would be vulnerable to attack.

    ¡°Ellen told me once that all the crafts have a pattern map. Crafters can only make the items revealed on their map. I don¡¯t really understand that, I swear I have seen Ellen create items much more free form than that. She told me if she repaired an item she received an increased chance of that pattern becoming visible,¡± Todd offered. ¡°Perhaps getting that armor would allow our crafters to gain the pattern. That might be worth the risk.¡±

    ¡°Did she mention any other way to get a pattern?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Yes, let me think. She said learning the skills to construct an item could reveal it if it was next to something you already knew. Knowing a pattern is different from seeing a pattern. She said seeing an item could reveal it if you had the skills to make it and it was close to one you know. Close in this case must not be adjacent, since the first rule would reveal that.¡± Todd reported. ¡°It was complicated.¡±

    ¡°I bet your chances increase even more, even if it is farther away, if you see someone else craft it,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°That would explain why the children of crafters tend to become crafters. They are all unofficial apprentices of their parents.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Todd replied. ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    ¡°I am starting to think on the next tour we need to figure out a way to buy patterns,¡± Grandmother commented. Grandmother looked back to the skeleton. ¡°Not today,¡± she said suddenly. ¡°I have a feeling if we drop into that pit, getting back out will not be easy. We need to think about this and plan carefully. It might be a topic of discussion with the selkie.¡±

    Todd agreed. They backed out of the room, retrieved the wedges and let the doors close. Grandmother recast conceal on them. At Todd¡¯s indication that he was ready, they continued the survey.

    They returned early enough to buy an evening meal from the innkeeper. It was late enough that the dining room was almost empty. Grandmother and Todd went over everything they noticed during the day''s run while eating their food.

    ¡°I am going to meet with Harry tomorrow to go over my findings. I am leaning toward pushing any warrior or hunter types in the direction of the prospective square, while steering the poorly equipped to the odd square. What do you think?¡± Irene asked Todd.

    ¡°That sounds acceptable to me,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I think we need to find someone we trust to claim the crystal in the odd square.¡±

    ¡°How about Harry?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°He is very loyal to Home Square. You could order him, but I don¡¯t think he will volunteer. We would be better off with one of his children,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°How many children does he have?¡± Grandmother asked, before remembering she once thought Todd might be Harry¡¯s son. The two men shared a similar look. They were both had broad shoulders with narrow hips and a heavy muscular build. She never did get around to confirming or refuting that idea.

    ¡°Five,¡± Todd replied easily, which made Grandmother think Todd wasn¡¯t one of those children.

    ¡°Do you want to pick one?¡± Grandmother asked him.

    ¡°Let Harry pick,¡± Todd replied. ¡°But do it in a way that he can tell his other children that you picked. That should keep the peace in the family.¡±

    ¡°I can do that,¡± Grandmother replied. She pushed her empty plate aside. She picked up her cup and took a drink. ¡°Maybe I should ask Joe to do it,¡± she commented.

    ¡°The bowmaker?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes, he is the highest ranking crafter in the square. Perhaps a square without a green will end up a crafting square.¡±

    ¡°It might,¡± Todd agreed, ¡°but Joe is a bowmaker. That is a woodworker. Of all the crafts I think that might be the one most tied to a greenspace.¡± Grandmother was still thinking about it. ¡°Can you bring both Harry and Joe around for breakfast?¡± she asked Todd.

    ¡°Will do,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°I am off to bed,¡± Grandmother said, rising to her feet. ¡°I will see you in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Goodnight,¡± Todd said in farewell.

    Grandmother climbed the stairs to her room.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Sixteen

    <h2>Harry</h2>

    Todd came by late the night before and told Harry Grandmother would like to see him at breakfast. Todd was on his way to his apartment next to Harry¡¯s. The poor boy looked worn out. Harry wondered what he was up to all day.

    When Todd came up red back in Londontown, Harry was one of the few people he trusted with the secret. In Harry¡¯s role as enforcer for the current queen, he heard of a group of crafters planning to break away from Londontown and make a go of it in the wilds. As the queen moved to break the group, Harry told Todd he should join them and leave Londontown. Todd carried Harry¡¯s warning that the queen was moving against them. Harry was shocked when the leader of the group offered Harry a position with them.

    As a member of the ruling party of Londontown, even a minor one, he was trapped. No citizen would trust him. It was impossible to survive alone in the halls. Harry wasn¡¯t alone. He had a family of his own. His partner was a crafter, not a fighter. His oldest was a young warrior, newly graduated from training. The rest of his children were all at home. The youngest was barely five.

    After a discussion with his spouse, they decided to join the group and leave the square. It was one of the toughest decisions of his life. His oldest son chose to stay in Londontown. Harry lost three of his children and his spouse during the early days in the halls and the migrations. Left with the care of his youngest children he felt desperate when Grandmother arrived. He knew who she was instantly. Unlike anyone else in the square, he was unsurprised when she left the next morning. The only thing that surprised him was that she allowed Todd, Alex, Ellen and young Sarah to go with her. Harry realized that this was an opportunity. With those four traveling with her, Grandmother would be back.

    He cleaned up the damage and organized the newly protected square in Grandmother¡¯s name. By the time she returned the square was firmly in her control. She tried multiple times during the years to get out of the duty, so far Harry always managed to put the reins of power firmly back into her hands.

    Whatever she was planning this morning, Harry would make sure she stayed in power. Regardless if it was internal, external or Grandmother herself that was the threat. Harry worked for bad kings, he knew good leadership when he saw it. This was the future he wanted for his children and grandchildren. It was the future his spouse died for.

    He dressed carefully, wearing blue touched leathers and his best sword. He combed his hair trying to minimize the bald spot on the back of his head, while not making it obvious he was trying to hide it. He was getting old and he knew it. If not for Grandmother¡¯s example he might be feeling pressure from younger warriors to step aside and let someone else lead. That was his greatest fear, since he wasn¡¯t certain if the person who took over for him would realize how essential it was that Grandmother ruled the square.

    Grandmother¡¯s table was empty when Harry arrived. He sat down to wait for her arrival. One of the innkeeper¡¯s grandchildren took his order for breakfast and returned with his grappler juice. Grandmother arrived while Harry was still waiting for his meal. The young server nearly beat Grandmother to her table carrying tea. Grandmother thanked the server for it. She set down a stack of vellum sheets and greeted Harry. She picked up her tea and took a long sip.

    ¡°You wanted to see me?¡± Harry asked when she didn¡¯t pick up the conversation.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I¡¯ve taken the last few days to do a survey of the surrounding halls,¡± she explained. ¡°There is a potential square on a greenspace to the west.¡± She glanced through the vellum sheets and passed one to him. He inspected the sheet. It showed a section of map, with a square structure clearly in the center. The edge of a green was on the right side. Since Home Square was on the west side of their green, this would indicate there were only halls between the two. Harry lowered his brows in thought as he considered the security implications.

    ¡°Do you know how to load that into your own map?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Harry confirmed. Todd showed him how to do it. He didn¡¯t use the mechanism much. He opened his map and loaded up the section. An area of revealed map popped into place. Harry could see this potential square was west, slightly north and high above them. It was only a level or two below Londontown.

    Two servers arrived with the food. They set a plate in front him, breaking his concentration and causing his map to close. Harry looked up and saw that one of the servers was Todd. Todd sat with his own plate, after setting one down for Grandmother.

    ¡°I want to nudge any wandering skilled fighters in that direction,¡± Grandmother commented, as she inspected the dish in front of her. ¡°This looks wonderful, Todd. Thank you.¡±

    Todd mumbled a response through a full mouth as he dived into his own food.

    ¡°This is a little close to us,¡± Harry commented.

    ¡°If someone succeeds in taming it, it will be close enough for us to influence. In that event we will have to set up a trading convoy,¡± Grandmother explained. Harry made a note to find out what a trading convoy would entail and how much protection it would need. Grandmother let the silence stretch as she ate her meal.

    ¡°Was there anything else?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Yes, but I asked Joe to join us too. Todd, were you able to find him?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I only tracked him down this morning. He may need a few minutes to get ready. I was able to notify Harry here last night,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°That explains it,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I will give him a few more minutes.¡± She turned back to Harry. ¡°In the meantime tell me about your children.¡±

    ¡°My children?¡± Harry asked, puzzled.

    ¡°I hear you have five. What do they do? Do any still live with you or are they all off on their own?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I have six,¡± Harry countered. ¡°My eldest stayed in Londontown. I have not had word of him for years now, so I guess I don¡¯t know if he still lives or not.¡± Todd choked on his food, before sitting his eating utensil down.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that,¡± Todd announced. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say something before we went to Londontown. I would have checked up on him for you.¡±

    ¡°When last I spoke to him he was very much a king¡¯s man. It is better that he goes his own way. He doesn¡¯t need the disapproval of his father leaking through to color his life,¡± Harry explained.

    ¡°What of the other five?¡± Grandmother asked, letting his rather horrible comment about his eldest son slip away like it was perfectly natural.

    Harry told her about each of his children. He had three more sons and two daughters. His youngest daughter was apprenticed to Joe as a woodworker. Harry was very proud of her. His spouse was a woodworker and his youngest was their only child to follow her into the crafting arts.

    ¡°And your second youngest,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°what was her name?¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Muriel,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°What does she do?¡± Harry should have known Grandmother would not let his brief mention of his daughter pass. He really didn¡¯t understand Muriel, so it was hard for him to explain her to others. Harry looked over at Todd. Todd was pretending like he wasn¡¯t paying attention at all. He was sipping his drink and looking off towards the entrance of the inn like he was watching for Joe¡¯s arrival.

    ¡°She wants to be a farmer,¡± Harry answered.

    ¡°Really?¡± Grandmother said. ¡°How fascinating.¡± Harry caught the true interest behind Grandmother¡¯s response.

    ¡°She listened to Todd¡¯s stories of the eastern villages and got it into her head to do something similar here. She tends all the planting boxes in the square. She has tried to farm the greenspace, but most changes revert back overnight,¡± Harry explained.

    ¡°Most?¡± Grandmother prompted Harry to continue.

    ¡°If a plant grows in an area, Muriel has some success in getting more to grow,¡± Harry explained. Grandmother looked thoughtful. Something changed, Harry felt it in his bones. He found himself shifting in his seat, as he felt a tremor of something run through his blood. He glanced over to find Todd was also affected. Although Joe finally arrived at the door, Todd was now looking at Grandmother with a curious expression on his face. He showed no signs of alarm, so Harry forced himself to keep his own to himself.

    Grandmother turned to look at Todd. ¡°Do you think you could find Muriel and ask her to join us?¡± Grandmother asked him. ¡°I would love to talk to her.¡±

    ¡°I will see if I can catch her before she heads out,¡± Todd said, rising to his feet. He nodded to Joe as he passed the man on the way out.

    ¡°Grandmother?¡± Joe addressed her standing beside the table.

    ¡°Thanks for making the time,¡± Grandmother responded to the craftsman. ¡°Have a seat. Did you get breakfast?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Joe responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to be any later.¡±

    ¡°Feel free to order something,¡± Grandmother responded. The server arrived and Joe put in an order for a light breakfast and a strong hot tea.

    Grandmother gave Joe a quick update about the potential square to the east and how if someone tamed it she wanted to set up a trading convoy to it. Joe offered that the crafters in the upper stories would greatly benefit from such an arrangement.

    ¡°There is another square to the southeast,¡± Grandmother announced. She went through her stack of vellum¡¯s and picked one out. ¡°It is odd in that it isn¡¯t on a green,¡± Grandmother explained. She picked up the empty vellum that Harry set back down on the table after loading up the location of the potential square into his own map. She did a quick spell, turning it into a copy of her second vellum. She handed one copy to each of the men.

    ¡°It seems small,¡± Harry commented, looking at the map.

    ¡°Yes, I believe it is. I want to send any non-combatant wanderers in its direction,¡± Grandmother explained, ¡°but before we do, Todd advised me that we should have someone claim the crystal.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a crystal?¡± Joe asked, in a slightly shocked voice.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother confirmed. ¡°It is small, but larger than the one in Londontown as it stands now.¡± The server was delivering Joe''s breakfast when Grandmother spoke. Harry saw him take note of their conversation and knew that news of a new square with a crystal would be spread among most of the inhabitants before they finished. Harry loved this about Grandmother. She held almost all of her planning sessions here in the inn or at the tables just outside. She never tried to hide anything from the people of the square. Their meeting in her quarters after the visit to Londontown was an indication of how much the confrontation with her family shook her. It was not in any way an effort to keep those developments secret, which she was quick to point out to him before the meeting even ended.

    ¡°If either of you want to claim the crystal I will support you in that decision. I expect you to take ownership of the square seriously. You need to do everything in your power to advance it and its future residents'' interests, even at the expense of this square,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°That is why I am not going to claim it.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Harry responded immediately, ¡°this square is my home.¡±

    Joe studied the map. He seemed to be considering the opportunity. ¡°No,¡± Joe responded at length. ¡°I don¡¯t see my business doing very well without hunters,¡± he explained.

    ¡°In that case perhaps we should put a hold on your decision,¡± Grandmother replied to Joe. ¡°In talking to Harry before your arrival, it has occurred to me that there may be another possibility. The square is high above us. The top of it must be at least twenty five stories up. It pains me to admit that I did a poor job surveying it. I saw that it was a square and moved on. This square is so far up it might be near the top of the structure. If that is so, perhaps it doesn¡¯t have a green because it has access to the outside,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°How would that work?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Grandmother responded, in an excited tone. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen it before. I can theorize that one or more of the stairwells may continue up and open onto the roof. We will have to go and look.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°When Todd gets back,¡± Grandmother confirmed. Harry could see that Joe was a little alarmed at that thought. He was himself. His experience between squares involved the death of loved ones, even though he knew Grandmother¡¯s entire group moved through the halls with a casual ease.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to talk to Muriel?¡± Harry queried.

    ¡°She can come along,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°If the square does open to the roof it might be her chance to start farming. There is one other thing. Have either of you heard rumors of a coliseum?¡±

    ¡°What is a coliseum?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°An arena for fighting displays,¡± Harry replied. ¡°Ancient Roman gladiators used to fight to the death in them.¡± Harry¡¯s mother was an avid history buff. She was starborn and learned her history from the educational machines on the Speedwell. She passed her knowledge on to all her children.

    ¡°Why?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°For the glory, the fame and the riches,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°In this case the prize is glass armor,¡± Grandmother responded. She went through her pile of vellums again. When she found the one she was looking for she noticed neither man loaded the small square¡¯s location onto their maps. Joe didn¡¯t know how to do it. Grandmother walked him through it. She copied the coliseum location onto one of the blank vellums and handed them to the two of them. They loaded up its location.

    ¡°It is down in tier three space,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°The minimum I would try it with is a team of six, all of them at least tier three. Todd and I decided it was too dangerous for just the two of us. It will be a while before we will get back to it. I want both of you to be aware so you can warn your people of the danger. If anyone does try it, I would love to hear the results.¡±

    ¡°You are not forbidding access?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°It is not for me to make people''s life or death decisions. I have given my warning and I encourage you to pass it on.¡± This was another thing Harry loved about Grandmother. She didn¡¯t seem to ever think about securing a cut for herself. There was no mention of a tax on any winnings from this coliseum. Instead all she asked for was to get a report.

    Todd returned, leading a frightened Muriel. Harry smiled at his second youngest, trying to reassure her. She was dressed in hunter''s greens and was armed with a bow. She looked reassuringly normal. There weren''t any dirt smears on her face.

    ¡°Grandmother,¡± Todd said formally, ¡°this is Muriel, Harry¡¯s daughter.¡±

    ¡°Muriel,¡± Grandmother said, rising to her feet with a smile. ¡°Your father told me about your experiments with farming. I want to hear all about it. We are on our way out to an odd square to the southeast. Do you have time to join us?¡± Harry could see that his daughter wanted to say no, she didn¡¯t have time. She glanced at him before answering.

    ¡°Yeah, I have time,¡± she responded a little sullenly.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Grandmother declared. ¡°Everyone go grab your gear, we will meet at the back door in ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°What are the rest of these maps?¡± Harry asked, glancing at the pile of vellum that remained on the table.

    ¡°Oh, those are for you,¡± Grandmother said, picking up the pile and handing them to Harry. ¡°They are all the secure rest¡¯s Todd and I found in the survey. They are the best place to start looking for wanderers.¡± Harry was impressed with the stack. He knew of about eight or nine in the hall space around the square and green. There were at least thirty sheets of vellum in this stack. Harry thought about loading them into his map and decided against it. He would see about getting copies made or learning that copy spell himself, then he could distribute them to all his guards.

    He ran the maps back up to his apartment, where he grabbed a water flask and some food. He wondered if Joe had been out of the square since the final migration and packed some more, including a second water flask. He added a knife to his belt alongside the sword he always carried. That done, he headed back down to meet Grandmother.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Seventeen

    <h2>Harry</h2>

    The square was small. Harry studied it from where he stood nonchalantly against the wall just inside the back door. He was breathing through clenched teeth trying very, very hard not to puke.

    ¡°She took it easy today,¡± Todd commented from where he was standing beside Harry, ¡°because Muriel is only tier two.¡±

    ¡°She is a lot younger than me,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°I am not certain that even counts here. Look at Grandmother, it is all about tier,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Oh it counts,¡± Harry countered. ¡°My bones itch.¡±

    ¡°I think that is just Grandmother being enthusiastic,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°No, that just tickled,¡± Harry responded. ¡°This is worse.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, her belief that you can do it is affecting your nanobots,¡± Todd theorized. ¡°They are fixing you so you can.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel this all the time?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Only since I hit tier four. Haven¡¯t you felt it before?¡± Todd asked curiously. Harry hit tier four years before Todd.

    ¡°No,¡± Harry answered.

    ¡°I can feel it when she casts anything tier five or above. The emotion thing is new. She was really angry at Londontown. It wasn¡¯t good,¡± Todd explained. ¡°She might be getting stronger. I will have to mention it to her.¡±

    ¡°Where is Joe?¡± Harry asked. He could see Muriel walking around the courtyard at Grandmother¡¯s side. When he arrived at the back door of the Home Square Muriel was standing to one side eavesdropping on the conversation between Todd and Grandmother. She seemed afraid to approach the old woman. As they waited for Joe to join them Todd and Grandmother started a detailed conversation about the type of plants and animals farmed in the eastern villages.

    Soon Muriel was unable to stop herself from joining in. Joe arrived dressed in worn leathers and carrying a beautiful bow. Harry was shocked to discover that Grandmother planned to run the whole way. Todd would bring up the rear with Muriel directly behind Grandmother in the lead. Grandmother wanted the girl there since she was the lowest tier among them. Grandmother told her to slow down if she felt herself growing tired. The rest of them would match her speed. Harry took the middle position, where he could keep an eye on his daughter, with Joe behind him.

    Grandmother cast a cloaking spell over them that Harry felt in his bones. This must be the high tier spell effect Todd mentioned. Grandmother took off, leaving the rest of them scrambling to catch up.

    ¡°He went to check out the sanitation facilities,¡± Todd said with a straight face. Harry was doubly glad he managed to keep his stomach down. His queasiness passed with the conversation along with the burning in his lungs. His bones still itched, but he was growing accustomed to it.

    He turned his attention back to the square. There were no training yards. The section of wall that usually led to them was missing. The shops on either side were squeezed up tight with each other. This removal caused the diameter of the courtyard to be shorter, resulting in a smaller overall square.

    Harry pushed away from the wall and with a sharp glance at Todd, daring him to say anything. He walked over to join Grandmother and Muriel. Todd trailed along behind him.

    ¡°How is Joe?¡± Grandmother asked as they approached.

    ¡°He is fine, just a little winded. I don¡¯t think he gets out of the square much,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said thoughtfully, ¡°I should have thought of that. We¡¯ll go back through the transportation system. That should make him happier.¡± Harry didn¡¯t notice if there was a transportation room on the way in, he was too busy trying not to puke. Since Grandmother mentioned using it, he assumed it was there.

    Joe came out of the common sanitation facilities located behind the market columns. His hair looked wet, like he dunked his head in one of the basins. Harry noticed that he kept scratching joints. Mostly he scratched his elbow and shoulder, but occasionally he leaned down to give his knee or hip a good rub. Harry looked over at Todd to see if he noticed. He received an answering nod from the younger man.

    ¡°Let''s go up this set of stairs,¡± Grandmother suggested. ¡°We can walk the upper hall to check the others. If we don¡¯t find anything there, we can check each level for any unusual side corridors on the way down. Actually we should do that even if one of the stairs opens to above.¡±

    Everyone agreed to this plan and they fell back into their travel order to climb the stairs. After the run the climb up twelve floors seemed easy. The second staircase they checked continued up from the top floor. They climbed an additional three stories before emerging in a short hallway that ended at a glass wall. A single glass door opened out into a grove of trees.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize the trees,¡± Muriel said suddenly. ¡°They aren¡¯t the same type that grow in the greenspace.¡± Harry was still in shock over that endless blue sky overhead, he couldn¡¯t even focus on the trees.

    ¡°At the Speedwell exit, I consider the area outside the structure but within Control¡¯s reach tier zero space. This space,¡± Grandmother said tapping her foot on the ground, ¡°is tier two and I have never seen a two tier transition on a single divider. This makes me believe that out there is either tier one or tier three space. We will need to be careful.¡±

    ¡°Do you think this is an edge?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It could be,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Which means magic may not work or may not work as well.¡± Harry blinked at this idea. He was born, raised and lived his entire life inside the structure. Even though Todd reported back that magic didn¡¯t work at the Speedwell, he didn¡¯t quite believe it.

    ¡°Muriel, Harry, Joe, you three wait here while Todd and I do a quick scout,¡± Grandmother ordered. It was an order. Harry recognized her tone, even though she rarely used it. She cast her cloaking spell and Harry felt it in his bones. It awakened the itch there he thought had passed.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Grandmother went out the door backwards, immediately inspecting the field of view behind the door which the rest of them couldn¡¯t see. She slid to the side and Todd stepped out beside her, surveying in the opposite direction. They were a well oiled team. They quickly went to the right, vanishing from Harry¡¯s view.

    ¡°My joints ache,¡± Joe said suddenly.

    ¡°My bones itch,¡± Harry responded. ¡°Todd said he thinks it is Grandmother''s expectation that we can keep up regardless of our age. Control is upgrading us so we can.¡±

    ¡°That is scary,¡± Muriel said beside the two men. Harry was in his early forties, while Joe was only in his late thirties. Right now they were both feeling old.

    ¡°Grandmother is a powerful ally, but don¡¯t ever consider making her your enemy,¡± Harry commented. ¡°Even if she doesn¡¯t act against you, Control may do so on her behalf.¡±

    ¡°I have never heard that before,¡± Joe responded.

    ¡°Grandmother calls it Narrative and hates it. She does everything in her power to counter it as much as she can,¡± Harry commented. ¡°She told me once that most of Control¡¯s stories seem to start well but end badly. It is better to switch storylines before you reach the conclusion. That way you get multiple bright futures for every noble but tragic ending. You still have to watch out for those narratives that start in disaster.¡±

    Todd materialized out of thin air as he got close enough for them to see through the cloaking spell. They only saw him because Grandmother cast it on all of them before stepping out the door.

    ¡°Come on out and get a look,¡± Todd said to them when he opened the door. ¡°It is safe enough for the moment. The trees are just in this area and the slope above us. If you go through that line just east, there is a long view of the grasslands beyond.¡±

    Muriel led the way out. Her youthful enthusiasm forced the two men to follow. Todd brought up the rear. Harry tried to keep his eyes on the ground, but he kept getting glimpses of the wide sky overhead. He felt better when they stepped under the trees. Grandmother was waiting there. She was alert, scanning the area for danger.

    On the other side of the trees a meadow opened up. Harry lifted his eyes and saw that it was much larger than a meadow. The short grass covered a wide shallow valley that stretched nearly to the horizon. A dark line of green marked where the trees rose up again on the far side. In the center of the valley a ribbon of water glistened under the sun.

    Joe was studying the expanse with intent. Harry turned his gaze in the direction Joe was looking and could just make out a group of large animals moving slowly through the grass.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Joe asked. Todd looked over where Joe was pointing. Todd cast a spell and studied what he saw.

    ¡°They are a grazing animal,¡± Todd responded. ¡°The flight crew called them buffalo, although they only have a passing similarity to the earth animal of the name. They have short horns and can be very dangerous even if they only eat grass. Think of them as upgraded boars.¡±

    ¡°Do they taste like boar too?¡± Joe queried.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd answered. ¡°Their meat is rather mild. It takes more than one arrow to bring them down. Their hides yield an especially thick leather.¡±

    Joe took a step or two out into the open, while Harry clung to the tree cover. Todd stood at Harry¡¯s side, keeping watch. Muriel was on her hands and knees inspecting the individual plants that made up the meadow.

    ¡°The open sky bothered the flight crew,¡± Todd commented. ¡°They were born between stars where there was no outside. There weren''t even greenspaces. That feeling of security that a ceiling gives you is part of the reason so many moved into the structure.¡±

    Harry looked up at endless open space over their heads. It still pulled up on him, but he could also see the beauty in it. Little puffs of white were drifting over from the west traveling east.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Harry asked Todd.

    ¡°Clouds,¡± Todd responded. ¡°They are formed out of water vapor, a kind of cold steam. When they get thicker rain falls from them. The showers in the greenspaces are mimicking this.¡± Todd explained this to his uncle without surprise. It was something he learned after following Grandmother out of the structure.

    ¡°It¡¯s like it''s an entirely different world,¡± Muriel said from where she was digging through the grass. ¡°All the plants are completely different.¡±

    ¡°It might be,¡± Grandmother said. She stepped up closer to the rest of them under the cover of her cloaking spell. ¡°The builders of the structure may have come from another star and brought their own plants and animals with them, just as we did. Or maybe these plants are the imports. We planted our crops in this world''s soil. Given enough time they may colonize this entire continent.¡±

    Grandmother turned to Joe. ¡°So what do you think? Do you want to claim the crystal?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it with one condition. I want this square to be considered a suburb of Home Square,¡± Joe responded.

    ¡°Squares don¡¯t have suburbs,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I can agree to an alliance between equals.¡±

    ¡°Human settlements do,¡± Joe countered, ¡°Redfalls was a square and it was a suburb of Chicago. If there is ever a conflict of ideologies between the squares, I want it defined that Home Square is the final authority. Without a clear definition of rank a workshop always falls apart,¡± the crafter explained.

    ¡°Joe, in the end an apprentice always outgrows their master,¡± Grandmother countered.

    ¡°True,¡± Joe conceded, ¡°but in a well run workshop, with a wise master, they part on amicable terms. I believe that the longer our squares work together the better the results will be for our children.¡± Grandmother fell silent, thinking over this proposal. Joe nearly died in the last migration, protecting a group of children from badgers. Harry¡¯s own children were in the group.

    ¡°How about this,¡± she counter offered, ¡°as long as I hold Home Square this square will be considered a suburb, unless the holder of this square requests the relationship be severed in a time of peace. If I die or otherwise lose control of Home Square, this settlement is automatically independent. If you want to remain a suburb you will have to make new arrangements with the new leader of Home Square.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Joe responded. ¡°I agree.¡±

    Harry noted that no one defined what being a suburb actually meant, beyond the ¡®final authority¡¯ statement. If this arrangement was made in Londontown or Chicago there would have been pages of what taxes would be paid and what services would be due. If Harry knew Grandmother at all she would leave the running of the square to Joe, but she would consider the effect on this square in all her future decisions.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Let¡¯s get going. We need to check each floor on the way down to claim the crystal.¡± They headed back in, although Muriel almost had to be pulled away.

    They didn¡¯t find any other entrances or exits from the square on their way down. In the courtyard they approached the crystal that floated above the stone flooring. It was about a foot in diameter and maybe sixteen inches tall. Joe reached forward to touch it. The crystal filled with a green color, slightly darker than the standard. The color density indicated that Joe was tier four. Joe''s eyes widened slightly as he picked up the discovery bonus none of the rest of them could see.

    With Joe¡¯s permission Grandmother reached out next to touch the crystal. The crystal filled with Grandmother¡¯s magic, turning a dark, dark violet color. As she took her hand away the crystal visibly grew, adding at least two inches to its height.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Companion recently told me that the crystals grow when the owner has completed a quest. So it wasn¡¯t me, it was you,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Me?¡± Joe countered. ¡°I just claimed it. I literally haven¡¯t done anything.¡±

    ¡°You made the agreement with Home Square to be a suburb,¡± Harry observed. ¡°Grandmother touching your crystal must have sealed the deal.¡± Grandmother looked startled.

    ¡°That would mean Control does understand our language,¡± Todd said to Grandmother.

    ¡°I am not certain I like the implications of that,¡± Grandmother replied.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Eighteen

    <h2>Joe</h2>

    Ellen and Sarah arrived outside the transportation room heavily loaded. They carried a variety of bags and packs all stuffed full. Sarah dropped her first load and ran back up for a second.

    ¡°What is all this?¡± Joe asked. Harry and Joe were both lightly loaded. Grandmother told him it wasn¡¯t possible to carry that much through the transportation system and to just pack for a day trip, three times over.

    ¡°Magic books,¡± Ellen said, as if that explained anything. ¡°Companion thinks his people will be interested in them. He is very keen to start a steady trade between humans and selkie. We hope that by offering to sell them our spells it will help them understand why we want to buy theirs.¡±

    One of Sarah¡¯s dropped bags fell over and a spool of thread spilled out of the top. Harry caught the spool as it rolled past him. The thread was a pure blue. He handed it back to Ellen.

    ¡°We also brought some color sources,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°I hope we can pick up some starter crafting tools around the gallery. The crafting books make more sense when they are paired with tools.¡±

    Companion arrived. He was carrying his ax in his hands. A large war hammer was secured on his back. As he arrived, Ellen picked up two of Sarah¡¯s abandoned bags and pushed them at the selkie.

    ¡°Carry these for me will you?¡± Ellen asked him. The selkie squeaked something back. Joe was aware of the selkie, but spent no time with the player. He didn¡¯t understand a word he said.

    ¡°Why are you taking two weapons?¡± Harry asked. ¡°Should I go get a spare?¡±

    The selkie fluted a high pitched song that left Joe feeling sad. Harry responded with a nod of understanding.

    ¡°What did he say?¡± Joe asked Harry quietly.

    ¡°He is returning the weapon of his fallen comrade to her family,¡± Harry responded. Joe nodded his own understanding. He offered to take one of the bags. Ellen seemed relieved. Shortly there were extra bags tied to both Joe and Harry¡¯s light packs. Sarah returned fully loaded, which she split with her sister since Ellen managed to offload most of the first set.

    Alex came around the corner of the hall deep in conversation with Ted. Alex was giving the young man last minute instructions on the running of his shop while he was away. Joe handed the running of his shop off to his oldest apprentice, now a craftsman in her own right. Joe was certain that the woman didn¡¯t realize he didn¡¯t plan to ever take the shop back from her. When he returned from this little trip with Grandmother, he would relocate to the new square.

    He was making this trip because Grandmother decided he needed independent access to the transportation system. She only knew one way to give it to him and that necessitated a trip to the southern gallery. Joe didn¡¯t admit he didn¡¯t know where the southern gallery was. Grandmother insisted Harry also come along just in case something went wrong. Harry¡¯s role was to push Companion through the transportation system after everyone else used his map to go to the selkie square. Again Joe didn¡¯t know what that meant exactly. He was feeling a little uneasy with how unfamiliar he was with the essence of this trip. He was used to being the head of the workshop. The man in control. Here he was just along for the ride.

    Grandmother and Todd arrived. Grandmother was carrying her ever present walking stick and wearing a set of worn leathers. Her pack seemed lightly loaded, although there was a wood and leather contraption strapped to the back of it. Todd was wearing his usual red brigandine and carrying a spear.

    Companion asked something in his high voice.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I packed them.¡±

    ¡°I have a set of yellows too,¡± Sarah added. She looked around at the distributed bags. ¡°They are in that bag, I think,¡± she said, indicating one that Ellen was carrying. ¡°Did you get your crossbow?¡± she asked her sister.

    ¡°Isn''t it strapped to my pack?¡± Ellen asked, half turning so that Sarah could see her back.

    ¡°No,¡± Sarah responded.

    ¡°I must have left it in the kitchen,¡± Ellen responded. Bags were transferred around again, as Sarah ran back up to their apartment. Now Alex and Todd were also carrying extras. Grandmother looked amused. Joe felt the thrum of something through his bones. Todd turned and looked at Grandmother. She caught his reaction, took a deep breath and smiled. The feeling faded.

    Sarah returned carrying a crossbow, a long bow and two quivers. One quiver was packed with crossbow bolts while the other held fletched arrows. The longbow was a nice weapon but not nearly as beautiful as his own.

    ¡°Are we ready?¡± Grandmother asked. Everyone agreed that they were. Grandmother opened a door Joe could not see and from his point of view, walked through the wall. Todd followed her example, after instructing Harry to push each person through the door as Grandmother called for them.

    Joe heard nothing, but after a few minutes, Harry announced that it was Ellen''s turn and taking her arm walked her through the wall. Joe saw a similar display yesterday in his new square, where Grandmother, Todd and Harry ushered Muriel and himself through the system. After Ellen, Harry escorted Companion, Sarah, Alex and then Joe.

    Joe allowed himself to be guided through the darkness. He stepped forward at a push on his back. A curtain of light flashed across his vision. He stepped forward again when he felt another nudge.

    ¡°Welcome to the south gallery,¡± Todd said as he guided Joe out of the darkness. Joe stepped out of another door he couldn¡¯t see and his sight returned to him. He was standing behind a sofa in the central section of a gallery. The sofa was covered by an elaborate tapestry. On the other side of the sofa, a standing wall rose up with a complex inscription carved into its surface. This inscription was why Joe was here. According to Grandmother, decoding it would give him access to the transportation system.

    Joe stepped to the side, trying to clear the door he couldn¡¯t see. Ellen and Sarah called him down to one end of the gallery where they were unloading. He went down to hand them the two bags he carried through. The women were sorting through their load, trying to decide what they would take with them the first day to the selkie square.

    ¡°Can I look at one of your books?¡± Joe asked, as his curiosity about what a magic book was grew too strong to resist.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Ellen replied. She turned to a pile she just stacked and picked out three in the center. ¡°These should interest you,¡± she said, handing them over to Joe.

    Joe sat down on one of the chairs that decorated the area. The first book was how to join wood scrap into a plank. Joe was a little disappointed. He thought these were magic books. He remembered Ellen saying something about selling starter tools with the crafting books. The second book was utility spells. Joe was surprised to find a description of how to turn the hot water on, described as a spell. What was really interesting was the third spell in the book. It described how to set a piece of wood on fire.

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    Joe considered himself the expert on wood, but he didn¡¯t know this spell. He also didn¡¯t have any interest in burning up a perfectly useful piece of wood, but he felt like he should know it. Although the book contained a description of the spell and a high level description of how to cast it, it didn¡¯t contain the actual spell. It referred the reader to the spell ribbon on the next page, but that page was blank.

    The last book Ellen passed to him was weapon spells. As he leafed through the first pages of the book, he realized many of these pages were identical in the last two books. This time through he took the time to read each page. It was eye opening. The book included a description of a spell called light blade. It again referenced a missing spell ribbon. Joe was certain he never heard of this spell.

    ¡°What is this light blade spell?¡± Joe said. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have ever heard of it.¡±

    ¡°I just learned it,¡± Ellen responded. She pulled an integrated knife out and held it in a vertical position. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll demonstrate.¡± She shifted her grip on the hilt and twisted the blade. The knife began to shine as bright as a light panel.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Joe commented. He was thinking how it might be useful on the outside above his new square. There were no light panels there to activate with light.

    ¡°Yeah, not the most useful. Although I have ended up in a couple places it really would have helped and it is only tier zero. The best part is it teaches the method to imbue any element into a blade without coloring your magic.¡± Ellen let the blade drop and the light went out. She went on to explain how they thought the books would work. She told him how they would add the spell ribbons to the books after they were purchased. When she got to the part where their list of available spells expanded to a book that contained full page descriptions, Joe asked if he could see that book.

    She dug it out of another pile and handed it to him. ¡°That is the book of wizard spells,¡± she said to him. "There is another one around here for weapons spells.¡± She went back to sorting piles.

    Joe was surprised at how many spells were in the book. It started with light ball, a tier zero spell and ended with a tier five spell labeled the ring of death. The description of it was enough to give him nightmares. The only consolation was the note that it would take at least three months to successfully cast the first time.

    ¡°Here is the weapon spell description book,¡± Ellen said triumphantly, as she passed it to Joe. ¡°I haven¡¯t gotten a complete master book for crafting spells yet. I have been focused on making the task based books.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a list of patterns?¡± Joe asked. ¡°I have always thought it would be useful if you knew what the prerequisites were for a pattern when trying to unveil it.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t,¡± Ellen said thoughtfully. ¡°I will put that on my to-do list.¡±

    ¡°Grandmother was talking about buying patterns on the next square tour,¡± Todd commented. He was delivering the bags he carried through the transportation system for Sarah. Joe glanced back to the center of the Gallery and saw that Grandmother and Harry arrived. They were talking in front of the colorful couch.

    ¡°You need a table or set of shelves to display your wares at the market,¡± Joe said to Ellen as he handed all the books back. He excused himself from Ellen as he rose and went back to the center of the gallery. As he walked away he could hear Ellen asking Sarah if she saw where Alex went.

    ¡°I was just telling Harry, if you use the transportation system multiple times back to back, you can come out on the other side dazed,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We want to be sharp on our arrival at Companion¡¯s home square so we are staying here for the day and leaving in the morning. I want to get there early enough that we catch most of the residents before they go into the water. Companion assures me that all the housing is in the air.¡±

    ¡°Does Companion¡¯s home square have a name?¡± Joe asked. ¡°I find it confusing to have two home squares.¡± A high pitched tune rose up from the group''s feet. Joe jerked in startlement. He looked down to realize that Companion was laid out flat on the course sand garden that was at the bottom of the inscription wall. The garden was sunk slightly into the floor. Companion was so stretched out that his bulk barely raised above the level of the floor. The selkie¡¯s eyes were closed as he gave every indication that he was in a state of bliss.

    ¡°Companion claims this is the best gravel bed in the structure,¡± Harry observed, as an explanation for the selkie¡¯s behavior.

    ¡°I think his square¡¯s name translates to something like Seagrass Square.¡± Grandmother commented. Companion gruffed his approval of this translation. It was obvious that even if Joe didn¡¯t understand a word the selkie said, the opposite was not true.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Joe responded.

    ¡°The inscription hasn¡¯t changed yet, so I¡¯ll try to transfer the decryption over to you. If I have lost the solution you¡¯ll have to do it yourself. I will try to walk you through it. Before we do, I wanted to ask you to stay until tomorrow. It is always free to transport back to a crystal you own. Since you own the new square, you can send Harry back there at no cost. The price from the new square to Home Square should be low, since they are close together and we have all touched the crystals there recently,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°I thought I would wait here for you to get back,¡± Harry commented. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind seeing Seagrass myself if that is an option. Perhaps Todd will trade places with me on the second day.¡±

    ¡°I would like to see it too,¡± Joe put in. ¡°Ellen mentioned there may be opportunities for trade. I would like to get a feel for what they are interested in.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°Companion, will they let us touch their crystal?¡± Companion fluted a response. It seemed rather long. ¡°Really?¡± Grandmother said. ¡°How can I have missed that?¡±

    ¡°What did he say?¡± Joe asked, wondering what the selkie said that surprised Grandmother.

    ¡°He said touching the crystal tells the crystal owner things about you. He is a little vague about what things,¡± Harry translated to Joe. Companion sang what was clearly an addition.

    ¡°He does admit that sometimes people frown on outsiders touching a crystal because it allows others to use the transportation system to get there. Since we are arriving via the system, he doesn¡¯t think they will stop us,¡± Grandmother added. ¡°I wonder if getting visitor information is another feature you have to unlock, like the transportation system. Or if I am just an idiot.¡±

    Companion made a quick comment.

    ¡°Thanks for the vote of confidence,¡± Grandmother said with a smile.

    ¡°He called her an idiot didn¡¯t he?¡± Joe asked Harry in a conspiratorial voice.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°Ok, so if Todd or I manage to touch the crystal in the square we will come back here and bring you over too. If we don¡¯t, we will switch you out the second day.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to take Harry with you?¡± Joe asked. ¡°I don¡¯t mind waiting here alone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather just go in with my team,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°No insult to either of you, but I am confident that I know how they will react. I don¡¯t want anything to go wrong on this initial contact.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Harry, head of the guards at Home Square, reassured Grandmother. He knew how a lower tier experienced team could perform better than a group of higher tier individuals who did not know each other.

    ¡°Do you want to come with us to scavenge rooms?¡± Todd asked the two older men. ¡°There is an area right around this hall that is dressed as offices so we don¡¯t have to go down into the industrial spaces. The animals here are tougher and more plentiful than around Home Square so don¡¯t wander off alone. As a group they aren¡¯t a problem.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I would like that,¡± Joe agreed. Grandmother¡¯s team was so diverse, with its mix of wizard, warrior, crafter and even enchanter that Joe was curious how the team worked together. Joe carried a bow and he did go out into the green to hunt with it, but the only time he spent in the halls was when he left Londontown looking for a better future. As a crafter he spent most of his time in the square. Even his trips into the green to hunt weren¡¯t really driven by the need for meat. He had other reasons for that.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Nineteen

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    She stepped out of the arrival door and into the transportation room. A quick scan showed that the room was empty. She pulled a door wedge out of her pocket and jammed it under the door, holding it closed. She peered out through the door and saw no movement in the hallway beyond. A symbol on the opposite wall of the corridor caught her eye. She realized it was the transportation tree. The symbol wasn¡¯t on the wall, it was on the door to another transportation room. They¡¯d arrived in a different room.

    Grandmother¡¯s stomach turned uneasily. Although this seemed like a beneficial development, it was actually a warning that Control was developing a Narrative. She needed to be very careful. The only Narratives she could think of quickly transformed into war. The arrival gong sounded and the door transformed into a sheet of light. Alex stepped out into the room.

    Grandmother grabbed him by the arm and steered him out of the way of next arrival. She told Todd to send Alex right after her, since he was the best speaker of selkie among them. Alex was only tier three, so he could not use the transportation system without help. He was literally blind while being guided through it.

    ¡°We¡¯re alone,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°It looks like we have arrived in an alternate room. I can see the marked door for the main transportation system across the hall. I¡¯ve wedged the door shut, so we should have time for everyone to get through.¡±

    ¡°So no threats yet,¡± Alex replied.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Wait here.¡± The arrival gong sounded again. As Grandmother turned to see who came through next, motion in the hall caught her attention. A selkie threw the door open to the transportation room across the hall and rushed to the right. The player was dressed in orange silks, but was unarmed. They were traveling so fast they must have the aid of a speed spell.

    Todd stepped out of the arrival door. He held his spear in his hand, even though he usually always secured it to his body with cord during transport. He did a quick survey of the room, before stepping away from the door. Grandmother quickly explained the situation to him, as she kept watch on the hall. Todd guided Sarah and Ellen as they stepped out of the transport. He positioned them against the departure wall, with Sarah at the back. Grandmother thought her bright yellow outfit was mostly hidden behind Alex¡¯s leathers and Ellen¡¯s greens, just in case the glass was transparent from the other side.

    Grandmother¡¯s own outfit was darkened to a near black. She put the integrated cloth on that morning. The speed of its transformation was frightening. Maybe Todd was right and she was getting stronger. She took a deep breath and forced calming thoughts through her mind. The last thing she wanted was to telegraph her fear.

    The gong rang one last time and Companion stepped out into the room. ¡°How is it going my friends,¡± Companion asked. Alex updated his friend on the situation. Interestingly he chose to do so in the selkie¡¯s native language.

    ¡°Someone in orange rushed out of the transportation room after Todd arrived, but no one has come back,¡± Grandmother added to Alex¡¯s explanation. ¡°I suggest we make our way to your market area before they return.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion sang, ¡°this is a sound plan.¡±

    ¡°You lead,¡± Grandmother instructed. She leaned down and pulled the wedge from the door, pulling it open. Todd pushed the selkie out the door. Companion shook himself and blinked twice as his vision returned to him. Grandmother was pushing Alex out the door even as Companion took his first step forward. Todd pushed Ellen next, while Grandmother dragged Sarah out behind them. She touched Todd¡¯s back when he tried to turn back and urged him to continue forward after Ellen.

    When Sarah¡¯s vision returned to her, Grandmother switched places with her so Grandmother was bringing up the rear. They moved forward at a fast clip. It wasn¡¯t as fast as the selkie moved under their momentum spells, but it was quick for humans.

    They stepped out into what Grandmother was expecting to be a courtyard. The entire floor was a shallow pool, filled with seagrass. Companion stepped out into the water like he didn¡¯t notice it. Grandmother suspected he didn¡¯t. The rest of them followed his lead. As the water filled Grandmother¡¯s boots she really regretted her decision not to switch over to integrated boots.

    Companion split to the left and paused beside a protection crystal. It was floating over a particularly dense patch of Seagrass. It was about two feet tall and about eighteen inches in diameter. It was close to the size of Londontown¡¯s crystal when Grandmother first saw it all those years ago. Companion reached out and touched it. One by one each of them followed, with Grandmother last. As her hand made contact with the clear crystal it transformed into a dark, dark violet.

    Grandmother dropped her hand and nodded at Companion. He shifted his hold on his ax. He turned and led them in the direction of a dry spot in the back corner. The set of stone pillars spread across the area defined it as the market. The pillars functioned as the market''s interface and pay surfaces. They stepped up onto the paved area and the water on their integrated clothing streamed off them and back into the pool. Grandmother¡¯s boots remained damp, although the paving did its best to drag all the external water off. It cleaned up the wet tracks her boots were trying to leave behind her.

    It looked like this wasn¡¯t a market day. There were no other sellers set up. It was early, the light panels far overhead were not yet at their daytime strength. Grandmother could feel the eyes on them. She swept her eyes across the courtyard, (pond?), and could see a dozen or more selkies frozen in their tracks watching the humans. She leaned her staff against one of the pay pillars and swung her pack off her back. She settled it at her feet and untied the bundle of wooden rods and leather that was her portable camp chair.

    She set the chair up, picked her staff back up and sat. She glanced over at the rest of her party. Todd was standing guard, his eyes alertly sweeping the square looking for any sign of trouble. When he saw that Grandmother was settled, he swung the pack off his own back and handed it blindly to Ellen.

    Ellen and Sarah unstrapped bits and pieces off of nearly everyone¡¯s packs and with Alex¡¯s help were assembling a small narrow table. On this table they set out an assortment of books, spools of thread and swaths of fabric. The thread and fabric were in every known color, including white. The table was full and the bags at the woman¡¯s feet still bulged.

    Sarah pulled out her spell diary and stylus. She indicated to Grandmother that she was ready. Companion was close to Sarah, ready to translate as needed. Ellen was manning the table with Alex close by.

    ¡°Ok, Alex,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°You¡¯re up. Remember a bonus for only the first twenty new spells.¡± Grandmother was rather interested in how Alex would introduce them. Some of his favorite titles for her would have little or no meaning to the selkie, while his Friend of the Selkies title might actually offend them.

    ¡°Greetings of the day, friends and neighbors. We are the Elder¡¯s party. We have traveled far to do business with you this day! We are trading in spells. We pay six iron for any spell. If you can demonstrate the spell, we will pay double. For the first twenty spells that we don''t know, there is a bonus. Come forth and claim your coins,¡± Alex sang in his lower octave selkie.

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    Grandmother could see the shock of this development run through their clandestine crowd. Something in Grandmother eased. She watched as the individuals in the square started gathering up into small groups that were obviously gossiping about them. She could hear their high fluting voices as they milled around.

    ¡°So-La-Do,¡± a voice called. A selkie in orange stepped out of the pond and crossed the market area to approach Companion. Grandmother recognized the sound as Companion¡¯s true name, without the human sounds they shaped it with. The approaching selkie gently brushed one flipper-hand across Companion¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It is good to see you,¡± the selkie said. ¡°I thought you lost in the wilds.¡±

    ¡°I almost was,¡± Companion responded, ¡°but the newcomers saved me. Elder,¡± Companion said, drawing the new selkie¡¯s attention to Grandmother, ¡°this is my daughter, So-Ray-La.¡±

    ¡°You never mentioned having a daughter,¡± Grandmother responded without thought. ¡°If I realized you had children. I would have made a greater effort to return you to them without delay.¡± Grandmother could not detect any age differences in the appearance of father and daughter. Any similarity of appearance between them was lost on her. They both just looked like selkie to her.

    ¡°That is why I not tell you,¡± Companion countered. He turned to his daughter and said, ¡°She¡¯s annoyed I didn¡¯t mention you.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me,¡± Grandmother said, realizing she didn¡¯t greet Companion daughter. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you So-Ray-La,¡± she sang the selkies name, hoping she was close to the correct notes. She was not a very skilled vocalist.

    So-Ray-La was not really listening. She was clutching her father¡¯s arm with her flipper-hand, staring at the dark color of Grandmother¡¯s clothing. Grandmother could hear very soft clicks of echolocation. The selkie was scared and trying very hard not to show it.

    ¡°It''s alright,¡± Companion reassured his daughter, ¡°the Elder is kind. We have come to buy and sell spells. You should sell your spells to us.¡±

    ¡°Spells?¡± the selkie squeaked. Companion guided his daughter away from Grandmother to where Sarah waited to record the spells of anyone who would take their offer. Grandmother forced herself to look away from the selkie in an effort to put her more at ease. She glanced at Alex. He took that as a reminder that he was the audio advertising. He sang their offer again.

    A set of armed Selkie emerged from what Grandmother identified as the inn and cut across the seagrass to challenge them. The lead figure was in green. It was a green darker than the standard, but not too dark. Grandmother decided they were tier four. Looking over the group, she saw one other tier four and three tier three¡¯s. The other tier four wore orange. Grandmother wondered if this was the selkie that ran from the transportation room.

    ¡°Have you come to challenge for the square?¡± the lead Selkie asked. Grandmother tilted her head in puzzlement as she wondered if that was really a thing.

    ¡°Alex,¡± she said, ¡°Come over here by me and translate.¡± This was really an order for Companion to not translate. Grandmother wanted these selkie elders to understand that the humans were completely capable of taking care of themselves. Alex walked around the table and stood just behind Grandmother¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°I have come to trade,¡± Grandmother said. Alex sang the translation. Now it was the selkie¡¯s turn to look confused.

    ¡°What do you trade?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Magic,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°Tell me how to cast a spell and I will pay you six iron coins. If you can demonstrate it to me, I will pay you double.¡± Which was almost exactly what Alex was singing to the entire square. ¡°In addition,¡± Grandmother added, ¡°my companions have magic books where they have recorded the spells we have learned from others. The books are for sale.¡± Grandmother waited while Alex translated all this before she stated, ¡°I have come to trade in magic.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand this,¡± the tier four stated, as they shifted the large war hammer they carried in their hand. Grandmother took a large breath and thought. She really was no good at politics. She managed with Companion by treating him as an equal. Perhaps it was time for a little truth.

    ¡°We are newly arrived in the structure,¡± Grandmother said. She was well aware that Companion''s word for human was actually newcomer, so his elders must already be aware of this truth. ¡°The transport that brought us can not take us away again. We must make a place for ourselves here. I do not wish to push you out of your place while doing so. By trading with you I hope to avoid future conflicts. I chose the knowledge of magic because it is something all of us value.¡±

    The selkie elder fell silent as they considered Grandmother¡¯s words. The other tier four sang a spell. Grandmother was not good enough to tell what spell it was. She looked over at Alex, who leaned close and said softly, ¡°Muffle.¡± With that hint, Grandmother could see that the group was talking among themselves. They seemed to come to some kind of conclusion among themselves. The muffle spell was dismissed.

    ¡°How did you divert from our transportation room?¡± The orange tier four asked.

    ¡°I did not do that,¡± Grandmother replied, ¡°Control did.¡±

    The muffle spell was cast again. The conversation appeared to grow heated. Grandmother was wondering if she was going to have to kill someone when suddenly the leader handed their war hammer off to the warrior next to them. The muffle spell was dismissed as the leader walked closer.

    ¡°I would see a magic book,¡± the elder announced.

    ¡°Show her spinning,¡± Companion called softly from behind them. Ellen picked a book out of the pile in front of her and handed it to Alex, who handed it to Grandmother. She shot a look at Alex that clearly said, you didn¡¯t need to involve me, before presenting it to the waiting selkie.

    As the elder leafed through the pages, Ellen explained how they would add the spell encodings after purchase. Alex translated her words to the elder. The elder rubbed her whiskers with one flipper-hand in an exact replica of Companion after he chugged a tankard of beer.

    ¡°What script is this?¡± the selkie asked.

    ¡°It is human script,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°We do not know how to write selkie.¡±

    ¡°Selkie script is very rare, very few remember. Enchanter might know,¡± the elder commented. This was news to Grandmother, though it did explain why Companion never wrote anything down. The elder closed the book. ¡°You have others?¡± she asked. Grandmother directed the elder to Ellen¡¯s little table. The elder moved over to the table where she sat the first book down and picked up another one at random.

    The group of selkie began to shift around as they obviously wondered what they should do. Finally the orange tier four handed their weapon off to one of the tier threes and told them all to go back to the inn. The tier four then stepped forward to stand behind the elder, where they peeked at the book in her hands.

    ¡°Announce our offer,¡± Grandmother told Alex. ¡°Mention we pay for both crafting and fighting spells.¡± Alex stepped back behind the table and started singing their offer.

    The orange elder bought the spinning book. Ellen charged him a silver for the book and twelve iron for each spell ribbon it contained. The elder watched carefully as Ellen copied the entire contents of the book onto a blank book. Then she copied the spell ribbons from her master. She was carrying the master crafting spell book in a pack at her waist. The pack looked like a modified version of the small bag Grandmother carried lunch in on scouting trips. Grandmother wondered when Ellen found the time to make it.

    Ellen set the book onto the paying pillar next to Grandmother. The orange elder edged around Grandmother to pay the required coins from his inventory and claim the book. He backed away from Grandmother with care, clutching his new possession like she might grab it from him. Grandmother smiled and in her best selkie, wished him a good day.

    About an hour after the orange elder disappeared up a stairwell with his book, a crafter arrived at the market and set up at the stall the farthest from the one Grandmother chose. The crafter was a stone sculptor. They were selling cut, shaped and colored stones. Grandmother could see the interest in Ellen¡¯s eyes. They were followed by a tailor. When the third seller arrived, Grandmother sent Todd to fetch Harry and Joe.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty

    <h2>Ray-Do-So</h2>

    The humans were eating lunch in the inn. The blue who could speak selkie sipped his beer as Companion looked at the red and said, ¡°I told him, I told him,¡± over and over.

    The red gave So-La-Do a stern look before finally saying something in the newcomer¡¯s monotone language. So-La-Do seemed relieved, although he cast a pleading look at the green that sold the magic books.

    The blue speaker said something that seemed especially flat. He was doing something odd with his tongue. The green looked thoughtfully at the blue but took no action. She turned back to her meal. She was eating the food especially slowly, rolling each bit around in her mouth for an inordinate amount of time.

    Ray-Do-So was sitting on the top step of the stairs that led up out of the common room, under the highest tier cloaking spell she knew. It was only tier three. She was certain the lesser god saw through it without any effort. Still it kept her hidden from the view of her own people.

    When she reached tier three at an age barely beyond halfling, the elders started whispering of her potential. When she reached tier four before any of her daughters bore young, the whispers became shouts. Everyone was certain she would reach tier five, the first selkie to do so in generations.

    Her progress just stopped. When she was younger she wanted to blame her stagnation on the arrival of the newcomers. Her birth shore was one of the northern ones that were abandoned. Her tier four status granted her community a new shore, but it wasn¡¯t the same. Older now she recognized that she really should have reached tier five a generation before the newcomers came. Now another generation, or two if she was being honest, had passed and here she was still tier four.

    She was old. Not as old as the enchanter, but Enchanter was so old no one remembered her birth name. Ray-Do-So did not understand these newcomers. The others were all greed and aggression, which was so strange coupled with their lack of magic. The elder council, Ray-Do-So sitting among them, decided they must be a new type of animal, like the walking orca¡¯s in the south. They were wrong, and the true god showed its unhappiness with them.

    Me-So-Ray, the portal keeper, questioned if this newcomer was really a tier six. Ray-Do-So did not. She felt it when the lesser god touched her crystal. She felt it in her bones. She knew the lesser god came for her home.

    When she presented herself for her death, the lesser god talked about magic and trade. Ray-Do-So rubbed the whiskers of her face, as she tried to figure it out. She looked at their magic books. They were real. Me-So-Ray even purchased one, proving they really were for sale. The newcomers used the true god¡¯s exchange to complete the deal. Could they really just want trade?

    Me-So-Ray reported that the tier four red went through a door Me-So-Ray could not see and returned not a half measure later with two more tier fours, a blue and a green. There were now as many tier four newcomers in Seagrass shore as there were selkie. Worse, the travel time of half a measure meant they were coming from someplace very close. When the lesser god claimed the true god¡¯s help in avoiding their portal chamber, Me-So-Ray doubted. Seeing the newcomers come and go through a door he could not see, convinced him that this part too was true. He conveyed as much to Ray-Do-So.

    Ray-Do-So braced for the next development. The two late arrivals proceeded to tour the shops. At midday the entire group of them, along with So-La-Do, came to the inn and ordered lunch.

    She watched So-La-Do interacting with the newcomers. He was so relaxed, even with the lesser god. So-La-Do was average in every way, maybe even a little below average. His failure to return from a salvage run into the orca hunting grounds was a loss, but not surprising. The loss of Fa-Me-Ti on the same run was much more shocking and cut much deeper.

    Here was So-La-Do returned, but what happened to Fa-Me-Ti? Ray-Do-So forced herself to rise to her feet and proceed down the stairs. She remembered the cloaking spell at the last moment and dismissed it.

    ¡°There are more of you,¡± she said abruptly to the lesser god. Her abruptness was the result of trying to force herself to speak through her fear.

    The lesser god spoke. The blue singer made an odd choking noise that Ray-Do-So did not believe was anything in either of their languages. He waved frantically at So-La-Do, before sticking a flipper into his mouth and prodding his tongue.

    ¡°This is Blue,¡± So-La-Do said, translating for the lesser god, indicating one of the late arrivals. ¡°He is the leader of the Elder¡¯s hunters. And this is Green,¡± So-La-Do said, indicating the other one. ¡°He holds a shore near the Elder¡¯s and is a master woodworker. If there is to be trade between newcomer and selkie, Green is interested in what selkies produce and what they desire.¡±

    ¡°You understand their words, So-La-Do?¡± the elder questioned So-La-Do.

    ¡°I do,¡± he replied. ¡°As they understand ours. Only Blue sings our language passably. The newcomers'' voices are not suited to our song.¡± This time when he said Blue, Ray-Do-So realized the tone held a different texture to it than when he named the late arrival Blue. She looked at the singer Blue who was continuing with his odd behavior.

    ¡°What is wrong with your newcomer singer?¡± the Seagrass elder asked.

    ¡°Arrowhead root is a poison to him,¡± So-La-Do responded. If it is a poison, why is he drinking it? Ray-Do-So wondered. She did not ask, she knew how males needed to prove their toughness.

    ¡°Have you been among the newcomers all this time?¡± she asked instead.

    ¡°Yes, they found me near death in the orca hunting grounds and healed me,¡± So-La-Do replied.

    ¡°What of Fa-Me-Ti?¡±

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    ¡°She was beyond reach before they found her. I have her war hammer for her mother,¡± So-La-Do answered. ¡°I will bring it tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Are the human settlements so near?¡± There was a trace of alarm in the Seagrass elder¡¯s song.

    ¡°No,¡± Companion replied. ¡°They settled far to the north. We are questing out of an association hall in the orca hunting grounds.¡± This both reassured the elder and troubled her. She shifted around on her flipper-feet and turned to once more face the lesser god.

    The tier six politely ignored the conversation between the two selkie and returned to her meal. She was eating the pile of green seaweed with no sign of displeasure. The Seagrass leader would almost say that the lesser god liked it.

    ¡°I am interested in the portable table,¡± the selkie Elder announced. ¡°Is it for sale?¡± The lesser god made a new expression and turned to the blue singer.

    She said something to him that ended in a slightly rising note. Blue mumbled something, coughed and taped the table they were sitting at. This table was a large slab of stone, although they were very sturdy, they were hard to move. The enchanter for all her skill was growing weak with age. Ray-Do-So remembered the Enchanter once possessed a table very close to the newcomers¡¯ table. Ray-Do-So thought the old selkie might like it. This was a good test of the lesser god¡¯s commitment to trade.

    The lesser god shook her head in annoyance at Blue and turned to So-La-Do. Ray-Do-So could feel the lesser god¡¯s annoyance in her bones. The tier six spoke to So-La-Do.

    ¡°The table,¡± So-La-Do clarified, pointing out the inn table, ¡°not the chair,¡± with a wave to the study stones they were sitting on. The tier six now spoke to the Green book seller.

    The Green book seller replied, and Ray-Do-So could feel the lesser god¡¯s annoyance grow. Red reached out and set a hand on the lesser god¡¯s sleeve and shared a look with her.

    The lesser god sighed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. The feeling in Ray-Do-So¡¯s bones faded. The lesser god reached across the table and touched the blue singer¡¯s arm. She cast a tier four heal on him. It was so smoothly and quickly done that the Seagrass elder almost missed it. The lesser god did not sing the spell. Instead she just flickered her hands. Now Ray-Do-So could understand why Blue dared to drink poison.

    ¡°We did not bring it for sale, but to display the books,¡± the lesser god responded, So-La-Do continuing to translate for her, as the blue singer recovered from the spike of pain the heal caused. ¡°Blue,¡± she said, waving a hand to indicate the singer, ¡°has a shop that sells such things. They are difficult to carry through the transportation system. When we are done with our trading perhaps he could be convinced to sell it to you instead of carrying it away.¡±

    ¡°Elder Seagrass, you honor me with your interest in my poor product. May I ask about your interest in the piece? Perhaps if I know the use you have for it we might find a better solution,¡± Blue sang, finally recovered from his beer and heal. He spoke oddly. Ray-Do-So could understand him perfectly, but his voice was several octaves too low. She wondered if this flashy song was his own invention, or if So-La-Do taught it to him.

    ¡°I want it as a gift for the Enchanter,¡± the Seagrass elder responded. ¡°She is aged and has trouble with her joints. I remember she owned something like it before we moved south.¡±

    ¡°Yellow,¡± the Blue singer said, still in the selkie tongue, ¡°do you think the selling table would work for an enchanter?¡± Yellow gave what seemed a very long answer. Ray-Do-So waited impatiently. ¡°Yellow concedes the table would work, but she believes a wider table would be more useful,¡± Blue reported. ¡°I will sell you it for one silver and thirteen iron coins. If you wait I might be able to obtain better for the enchanter, although the cost would increase. Yellow recommends something that can support larger items. I am uncertain we can bring a wider top through the portal. I will need to investigate it.¡±

    ¡°Why do you ask Yellow what Enchanter needs?¡± Ray-Do-So asked. One silver and thirteen iron seemed very cheap to her, she wanted to just buy it now.

    ¡°Yellow is a fine enchanter,¡± So-La-Do announced. He stood up and ran a flipper hand across the light metal breastplate he wore. Ray-Do-So recognized it as Orca armor. ¡°She crafted this enchantment,¡± he said with pride. The Seagrass elder took a closer look at the armor. A very subtle set of ripples revealed the existence of an embedded enchantment.

    Now Ray-Do-So was shocked. The newcomers traveled around in the wild with an enchanter? Did they not know how precious such a skill was? Next thing, they would be selling a book on enchanting. Ray-Do-So blinked. They couldn¡¯t be doing that could they? she wondered.

    ¡°Do you have a book on enchanting?¡± Ray-Do-So couldn¡¯t stop herself from squeaking on the last word. Yellow said something. Ray-Do-So could barely make herself wait for the translation.

    ¡°We have three,¡± Blue translated. ¡°They are all only beginner enchantments, enchanting a pack to lighten the weight, a water flask to automatically refill and boots to quiet your steps. The last one might not serve your people, since I have yet to see any of you wear boots.¡±

    Ray-Do-So bought all three. She also put a pledge on the table. She would consider upgrading her purchase to something wider as Yellow suggested if Blue was able to produce it. She followed the pod back out to their market stall to finish the transaction. The market around the newcomer¡¯s was filled with a remarkable number of sellers as everyone in the shore wanted to get a closer look at them. The newcomers settled into their positions as Blue began singing their offer to buy spells.

    The Seagrass elder took her book purchases and climbed the stairs to the highest apartment level. She tapped on the door of the Enchanter¡¯s residence. After a long delay, the door swung open.

    ¡°Been expecting you,¡± the old selkie said in greeting. The enchanter was dressed in blessed silk robes in a dark violet. She was the only violet magic user in the shore. She insisted the color of your magic didn¡¯t matter in enchanting, but Ray-Do-So always wondered if that was true, since none of the Enchanter¡¯s apprentices were ever successful. Now Ray-Do-So knew she should never have doubted Enchanter¡¯s wisdom.

    The Seagrass elder followed the enchanter through the apartment to the balcony overlooking the shore. This high up she could only hear a faint echo of Blue¡¯s offer, although the too low octave of his voice was clear. Enchanter settled herself down next to the glass baluster where she was obviously watching the activity below.

    ¡°They are newcomers,¡± Ray-Do-So reported.

    ¡°I can see that,¡± Enchanter countered. ¡°They appear civilized. Are they?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ray-Do-So confirmed. ¡°So-La-Do travels with them. They found him wounded in the orca hunting grounds and healed him.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°There is a tier six among them.¡±

    Enchanter jerked her gaze flying back to her. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the Seagrass elder responded. ¡°She touched the crystal.¡±

    ¡°Did they come for me?¡± the Enchanter asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ray-Do-So said. ¡°They have come to trade. They are buying spells and selling books of magic.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty One

    <h2>Enchanter</h2>

    She picked up the book and paged through it again. The first pages were identical in all three. They were a combination of newcomer writing and images. From the images she could decipher that these beginning pages were giving a concise explanation of the entire art of enchanting. After that was a page that clearly gave instructions on how to read a spell coding. The next page showed how to turn the information on a spell coding into an enchantment. This book showed only the tier zero enchantment symbols.

    Enchanter never considered writing down an enchantment into a spell coding, but just looking at the images in the book she could see how it would work. The final pages were a detailed description of how to put the symbols on a starter backpack. There were three versions, showing the author understood how to change the lifespan of an enchantment. Finally there was the spell coding for this enchantment. This was an enchantment she knew. Looking at the coding and using the images on how to convert it, she knew it was correct.

    She studied the images. They were drawn with a steady smooth hand. The enchanting symbols were clear and precise. Whoever made this book possessed the potential to become a master enchanter. Even though the content was tier zero, the quality of it made Enchanter suspect that the artist was likely already tier two.

    Selkies were naturally long lived. Very few individuals lived a fraction of their potential lifespan in the dangers of the true god¡¯s domain. Enchanter was nearing the end of that span. She lived a pampered life, her skill at enchanting gained her a secure place in a shore at an early age.

    Enchanter wanted to pass her knowledge and skill on to her people. She trained many apprentices, but none of them ever matched her own master status. Most of them were gone now, replaced by their children and grandchildren. She was losing hope. Training a non-selkie wouldn¡¯t save her knowledge for her people, it would just pass it on to another race. Enchanter ran a flipper-hand over the cover of the book.

    This was the third day of the newcomer¡¯s visit. The wonder and fear at their presence was fading. Enchanter didn¡¯t know how many more days they would be here. The number of customers at their stall was lessening. She was still undecided. Setting the book aside, Enchanter listened to the low voice calling his offer.

    ¡°We are trading in spells. We pay six iron for any spell. If you can demonstrate the spell, we will pay double. For the first twenty spells that we don¡¯t know, there is a bonus. We will pay for crafting spells, fighting spells and utility spells! We will pay double for enchantments. Come forth and claim your coins,¡± the voice called.

    There was a new wave of excitement yesterday when a young hunter sold the newcomers the spell to dry items. The spell was very close to the opposite of the enchantment in one of the other books. Instead of gathering water into a flask, it drove water away.

    The newcomers declared it a new spell to them. The tier six paid a bonus of an oxidized bronze coin. The selkie were possessive and secretive with rare spells. They were passed down family lines or between master and apprentice. The newcomers'' declaration that they would buy spells was seen by many as an attempt to buy these secrets since they didn¡¯t have any of their own.

    Dry, however, was a common spell, known to nearly everyone. Even So-La-Do''s daughter probably knew it. She was the first to sell spells to the newcomers. It was odd she didn¡¯t get the bonus. If anything it was likely its commonality caused her to forget to list it. Soon after there was another buzz of excitement when it was discovered that they really continued to pay for spells they already knew.

    This was discovered when a disgruntled apprentice offered up every even slightly rare spell he could think of and still didn¡¯t get the new spell bonus. As he was walking away, after Yellow dropped the muffle spell, he fluted in disgust, ¡°I know dry, I should have sold it yesterday.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t mention, dry,¡± Yellow said through So-La-Do as her translator. ¡°I will add that to the list. Can you demonstrate it for me?¡±

    ¡°But you already know dry,¡± the hunter replied confused.

    ¡°I know the others you are selling too, but I will pay you for them as well. Six iron coins a spell, double if you can demonstrate it. Can you demonstrate dry?¡± she asked again.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°I may know some other spells too.¡± Showing not the slightest sign of distress, Yellow recast the muffle spell and sat down to record the rest of the apprentice¡¯s spells. The apprentice didn¡¯t receive a green, but he was not unhappy with the amount he did receive. Especially when the tier six offered him scrap, at a steeply discounted rate, instead of coins.

    The apprentice was the first to sell the spell refine. No one else even thought of it as a spell. His demonstration that he possessed the knowledge to process iron was why the tier six made him the offer of scrap instead of coins. Really the boy was the best advertisement the newcomers could have come up with. He ran off to tell all his apprentice friends, in a loud high voice as his excitement almost overwhelmed him. Half the shore overhead him, including all the crafters that were selling in stalls of their own in the impromptu market.

    At first Enchanter thought that this was a sign that the tier six was running out of coins. But that incident was before lunch yesterday, since then the tier six paid and paid and paid. Blue sang out that they would pay a bonus for the first twenty new spells, but he said the same thing yesterday and the day before. By Enchanter¡¯s count they paid out a green at least six times. Most of those later payments were for pottery spells, the newcomers seemed the least familiar with that craft. Shouldn¡¯t Blue only be promising a bonus for the next fourteen new spells?

    If the tier six wasn¡¯t running out of coins, why did she offer scrap instead? Enchanter wondered. Was the lesser god trying to encourage crafting? Could she be trying to encourage people to learn spell craft? Enchanter suddenly wondered if this was a one time visit or if it would occur again.

    She pulled herself to her feet and looked down at the marketplace below. ¡°Greetings of the day, friends and neighbors. We are the Elder¡¯s pod. We have traveled far to do business with you this day!¡° The call came drifting up to her in the low octave voice. Enchanter decided it was time to meet this Elder.

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    She stepped down into the cool water of the central pond with some relief. All those stairs were hard on the flipper-feet. She lingered near the entrance to the stairwell as she recovered from the walk. She would show no weakness before the tier six. Enchanter watched the newcomers busily moving around. The blue singer and So-La-Do seemed the busiest, as they shifted around to translate the newcomer words into selkie. Although now that she was close, Enchanter noticed that all the newcomers seemed capable of singing a few simple things.

    The crowd in the market shifted aside to allow her to pass. She wove her way through the outer stalls that were filled with selkie sellers. A ring of empty stalls marked the newcomers'' place. The tier six selected a stall near the inside edge of the market, but not too near the water. It was a stall that could be seen from all the apartment balconies above, as Enchanter was well aware. The Elder was sitting with her back to her stall, facing the pond and the majority of the shore. Enchanter watched the Elder watch her as she approached. Enchanter stopped in the aisle before the Elder¡¯s stall, not quite certain what she should say.

    ¡°Greetings to you, elder. Are you interested in buying or selling?¡± Blue said the words, but Enchanter could see that the Elder spoke them first. This close Enchanter could see that the nearly black blessed cloth the Elder wore was a darker version of her own violet. That was unexpected. The newcomers to the north were all either blue or red. The yellow and green among this group didn¡¯t really surprise Enchanter, since although most selkie were orange, there were a measurable number of yellow and green among them. As far as she knew, she was the only violet magic user left among the selkie. She obtained the color by making storm shield enchantments at an early age. Enchanter did not believe the tier six was an enchanter. She was a storm mage, which was an entity to be feared in their own right, even at the lower tiers.

    ¡°I would ask some questions before I decide,¡± Enchanter replied.

    ¡°I will answer what I can,¡± Elder replied.

    ¡°Will you come again, or is this a single visit?¡± Enchanter asked.

    ¡°At first I planned to tour every year or two, but it has taken much longer than I thought. Now I think every five years, although on the next visit I want to only pay for the spells people have learned since this visit,¡± Elder explained. ¡°We are also trying to come up with a method for paying for patterns.¡±

    ¡°What good would patterns be? Knowing they exist doesn¡¯t reveal them to a crafter.¡± Enchanter observed.

    ¡°Knowing what materials each pattern needs, what skills are used and how close it is to other patterns are all things that might help a crafter reveal it. More importantly, this is knowledge we can write down into a book and distribute,¡± Elder replied.

    ¡°You mean sell,¡± Enchanter countered.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Elder agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t know about selkie, but newcomers have a flaw in that we don¡¯t value items we get for free. Free items are easily ignored or discarded, because they have no cost. Value is reserved for those things we pay for, regardless if the payment is in blood, labor, grief or coin.¡± Enchanter noticed that several of Elder¡¯s pod shifted at these words, as if they were revealing to them as well. Enchanter was getting a feel for this newcomer, but she worried her own bias was shading her expectations. Enchanter very much wanted to believe that the lesser god was trying to build a better future for her people, and that she was willing to drag the selkie along. Enchanter wasn¡¯t certain. This Elder might just be in it for the coin.

    ¡°I am willing to sell,¡± Enchanter announced, ¡°but I want something other than coins for my knowledge of enchantments.¡±

    ¡°I am willing to negotiate,¡± Elder replied. ¡°What do you value more than coins?¡± Enchanter was relieved. She thought this might work because of the scrap payments.

    ¡°For every enchantment I describe, I want a book made,¡± Enchanter revealed. ¡°I want a copy of the book for myself, and I want it available for purchase by selkie, regardless of whether you know of the enchantment yet or not.¡±

    ¡°I have commitments elsewhere. I can not remain here to tend a shop. Is access to my shore and its shops, including the magic shop, acceptable for making the books available to selkie?¡±

    ¡°Yes, if you transport myself, the portal keeper and the Seagrass crystal owner to your shore so that we may open the route,¡± Enchanter demanded.

    ¡°That is acceptable to me,¡± Elder replied.

    ¡°I will describe the enchantments in sets. I want to see the finished books from each set before I describe the next set,¡± Enchanter said as she tried to think of any other concessions she should demand.

    ¡°This too is acceptable,¡± Elder commented, ¡°although I request the enchantments be presented in increasing tier, grouped by their magic color, whenever possible.¡± Which was how any good teacher presented material, Enchanter thought. ¡°Do you have any other requirements?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Enchanter said. ¡°I want to learn your language, both spoken and written.¡± The Elder was silent, she took a deep breath. Her gaze drifted off of Enchanter, as the newcomer obviously lost herself in thought. Enchanter was feeling uneasy, she did not expect this kind of long reaction. Was she misjudging this situation entirely? Would knowing their language reveal something the lesser god wanted hidden?

    ¡°I cannot with honor say yes to that. Where my people come from there are many languages. Here in the true god¡¯s domain we have used only one. Because of our past I know it can be very difficult to learn another language. I have no way to make you learn. I believe we and So-La-Do have only learned each other''s languages so quickly with the true god¡¯s help. That is an intervention I can not guarantee,¡± the Elder paused again. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. ¡°I will pledge to help you learn the language we use here, both with written materials and tutors, but it will take me time to make the arrangements. In return I request that you do what you can to teach both So-La-Do and Yellow the written version of your language.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Enchanter conceded, recognizing that the Elder was right that you can not make a student learn. There were enough failed apprentices behind Enchanter that she knew that truth. ¡°Come tonight after the market to my living area and I will describe the first set.¡± She felt it then, in her bones. It was an itchy, jumping feeling of joy. Strangely a weak still voice at the far back of her mind was humming along.

    Elder agreed, as Enchanter turned to go, Blue spoke again. It was clear by the change in his rhythm and word choice that he was no longer translating, but speaking for himself. ¡°What of your other spells, Master Enchanter? Do you know how to imbue force into a sword strike? Can you cast fear into the hearts of your enemies? Do you know the spell that can dry the Elder¡¯s boots? Or perhaps you know So-La-Do¡¯s favorite that cools the water in a soaking pool? We will pay you for them all. Six iron a spell, double if you demonstrate it.¡±

    Blue seemed impossibly young. His enthusiasm and energy was dancing along with the joy in her bones that was still not fading. Hold on, Enchanter thought suddenly, what did he say?

    ¡°What spell cools the water in a soaking pool?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Green,¡± Blue fluted, ¡°The Enchanter is interested in your ¡®utility spells¡¯ book. I must warn you Master Enchanter we do not pay for spells we have sold you. You should sell to us first so there is no confusion. You can use the coins to pay for the book!¡±

    Enchanter left the Market more than four oxidized bronze coins richer. She tried to refuse the coins, but Elder insisted. The sale of her non-enchanting spells was a clear deal between Enchanter and Blue and had nothing to do with the enchanting agreement. She also carried a ¡®utility spells¡¯ book stuffed full of spell encodings the old selkie never heard of. This included a spell she was assured would make the water in a soaking pool cooler. The newcomers called it cold water. So-La-Do carefully explained to her under a muffle spell how to convert the spell coding to song.

    Enchanter hurried off to give it a try.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Two

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    ¡°The trip went really well,¡± Todd offered. He was sitting on one of the chairs in the queen¡¯s suite in Home Square¡¯s inn. Grandmother was pacing back and forth in front of the glass windows that looked out over the square¡¯s courtyard. It was late, or rather really early. The overhead light panels in the courtyard were in night mode. The courtyard was illuminated by a series of lamps on the outer edge and the lights spilling from a handful of shops. Two of those shops were Alex¡¯s furniture shop and Ellen and Sarah magic shop.

    Alex was working on assembling replacement furniture for the pieces that were sold in his absence. He was using his existing inventory of components at the moment. Todd agreed to go out with him at first light to help refill his component stock.

    Ellen and Sarah were placing their books onto their shop''s shelves. They¡¯d packed most of it for the trip to Seagrass. Enchanter expressed her desire to see the shop in the morning and Sarah did not want to disappoint the old selkie. Todd wasn¡¯t certain what Companion was doing, although he may have gotten cornered by one or more of their selkie visitors.

    Grandmother paid for a room for each of them at the inn for the night. A trip though the structure¡¯s transportation system left a person feeling well fed and rested. So well rested the entire team was now wide awake. But two trips, especially long ones, back to back could leave you weak and nauseous. Todd suffered from the quick trips he made to the gallery to pick up Harry and Joe. When he did a quick turnaround between the gallery and Home Square when they first discovered the transportation system, it was much worse. The selkie were obviously aware of this as they chose to stay in Home Square for a day or two before heading home.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I am worried about,¡± Grandmother confided. For all her obvious distress, Todd didn¡¯t feel anything in his bones. She was doing better at keeping her emotions from leaking through the structure¡¯s nanobots. The last time she slipped up was when Enchanter agreed to a deal that gave them pretty much everything they wanted to accomplish on their trip to Seagrass plus some more. Todd knew the deal worried Grandmother because she saw it as the start of a new Narrative by Control.

    ¡°I think Control likes the selkie,¡± Todd said suddenly. ¡°They have been in the structure for so long they are like old friends to it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Grandmother asked. She stopped pacing and turned to look at him. Todd saw that as a good sign.

    ¡°They are players. I think there can be no question of that, but their biology limits their use of magic. Their use of song bridges some of the gap, but not all of it,¡± Todd explained. ¡°They have stagnated. I think Control drew humans west in order to make contact with them. Control wanted interaction with us to revitalize the selkie and drive them forward in the game. Instead Control got war, but that is not what it wanted. It is helping us in subtle ways, like sending us to a different transportation room, to try and fix that mistake. Have you ever asked Sarah why she cast all those cloaking spells on us right before we ran into that selkie by Fishtown?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I assumed she heard or saw something.¡±

    ¡°She told me she heard a voice in her head that told her to hide,¡± Todd explained. ¡°She has convinced herself it was her unconscious mind talking to her, but I think it was Control. Control didn¡¯t think we were ready yet to meet the selkie. Instead it sent us Companion, who is a perfectly average selkie. So average in fact that I overheard multiple conversations in Seagrass where his fellow selkie tried to figure out how he could have lived, when his companion, who appears to have been some sort of prodigy, didn¡¯t. Companion should have bled to death in that hallway, but Control stopped the bleeding and kept his brain oxygenated. The bears chasing his group didn¡¯t finish him off, because Control didn¡¯t allow them to see him. You should ask Companion why he wanted to go with us when we left the hidden room.¡±

    ¡°We were deep in bear country, getting out on his own would have been very difficult,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Going with a group of your species'' latest enemy led by a lesser god that can kill you with a thought doesn¡¯t seem like a better choice to me,¡± Todd countered. ¡°If Sarah is integrated enough to hear Control¡¯s voice, how much clearer must it be for Companion?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t kill him with a thought,¡± Grandmother countered.

    ¡°Try to convince Companion of that,¡± Todd shot back.

    ¡°Have you ever heard this voice?¡± Grandmother asked Todd.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I am thankful for that.¡± Grandmother sat down on the sofa.

    ¡°It is an interesting Narrative,¡± she observed. ¡°It does explain some of the odder events that have happened recently. I don¡¯t like the idea of Control transmitting messages to Sarah¡¯s brain. It seems rather close to the control methods it uses on animal populations. If Companion heard it too, that would take some of the sting out of it.¡± Grandmother put on her thinking face. Todd knew better than to interrupt her. He leaned back in his chair and waited.

    ¡°What if it wasn¡¯t really a voice in her head? Actually simulating brain impulses so that a person ¡®heard¡¯ a voice seems rather difficult. A set of nanobots ¡®whispering¡¯ directly into your ear canal would be much easier. If it was soft enough and omnidirectional, perhaps it would feel like a voice in your head,¡± Grandmother said aloud as she worked her way through the problem. ¡°We know Control uses sound canceling for spells like muffle, adding sound in can¡¯t be any more difficult. Although there is the language problem,¡± Grandmother mused.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we past thinking Control doesn¡¯t speak our language?¡± Todd asked innocently.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother said with a sigh. ¡°I just really hate the idea of Control listening in on us.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a big structure, maybe it doesn¡¯t always pay attention,¡± Todd said trying to reassure her.

    ¡°It''s a machine. If it listens at all, it listens everywhere all the time,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°And it always has,¡± Todd concluded. ¡°It seems like our knowledge of it listening in doesn¡¯t necessitate a change in our behavior. Although it makes me wonder. Did Control produce the odd square with its access to the surface because Muriel wanted to be a farmer? Or is the surface the next step of the game?¡±

    ¡°Can it be both?¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°Perhaps Control is tuning the game content to what it thinks will engage us. It is more than just Muriel. Control must know we keep going back out the exit, even if it can¡¯t quite see the Speedwell. If Control wants the selkie to play, it must want us to play too.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Todd responded. ¡°So, what do we have on the schedule?¡±

    ¡°I still want to finish the human squares,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think we will leave any additional selkie settlements until next season. The selkie have good communication between their squares with their system of transportation room keepers. I want to let the news of us travel before we try another square.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the coliseum,¡± Todd offered. ¡°If we don¡¯t investigate it, someone else undoubtably will.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Which reminds me we need to ask the selkie if they know how it works. I¡¯ll see if Companion can do that. I told Harry and Joe to recommend a team of six, but I keep thinking what if I am wrong. What if it makes you fight each other? In that case everyone should challenge it alone.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that,¡± Todd responded. ¡°There was only one skeleton in the pit. Is that an indication that only one person should enter, or does it mean a single person is bound to fail? It is hard to say.¡± Todd thought about going down and trying it himself. If it was a single player event in tier three space, his own tier four rank should make it survivable for him. That would stop Grandmother from sneaking off to try it on her own. The problem was if it killed him, who would watch Grandmother¡¯s back after that? Everyone else in the group was only tier three, and although Todd knew he could trust them to try, he wasn¡¯t certain they could do it as well as him.

    ¡°One of the last squares on my list is in the far north. We should ask there if anyone remembers when the Blacksmith¡¯s sister¡¯s spouse¡¯s uncle found the glass armor,¡± Grandmother commented. Todd hoped that meant Grandmother would hold off trying the coliseum until they heard what the northerners had to say.

    ¡°I would go try it now,¡± Grandmother admitted, ¡°but I owe Enchanter the means to learn our language. Companion sat through the early childhood teaching packages on the Speedwell that are mostly audio with images. I don¡¯t think we will get Enchanter out to the ship, but the teaching system has an option to print out childhood books to help teach reading. With a tutor at her side they may also help her learn the spoken language.¡±

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    ¡°How long will they last in the structure?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°The rate something from the outside degrades seems to be related to how high tech it is. A book should be fairly low tech.¡± Grandmother pulled the knife from her belt and inspected the blade. ¡°As long as I handle a knife everyday, it lasts a season easily enough. I¡¯ve carried the same blade two or three seasons before. I dropped a self charging flashlight out of a tree about a week into my first trip and I swear it was completely gone in the morning.¡± Grandmother slipped the knife back into its sheath.

    ¡°What about your staff?¡± Todd asked. He wondered about that before. He saw her replace her leathers, her pack, her knife and even her boots, (a cobbler made them for her out in the eastern villages), but he never saw her change staves.

    Grandmother looked startled. She looked over at her walking staff where it rested in the weapon rack next to Todd¡¯s spear. It started life as a broom handle in a cleaning closet on the Speedwell. Made of carbon fiber it was incredibly tough. Most of the broom handles on the Speedwell were made of a cheap plastic that was an inflight replacement. Grandmother once told them that the carbon fiber versions were made on far away Earth before launch. This little fact was where Alex got his title Wielder of the Earthen Quarterstaff for Grandmother.

    ¡°I never thought about it before,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°It¡¯s the same one,¡± she said in a puzzled voice. ¡°I have no idea why it is different.¡± They both sat there for several minutes thinking about it. No easy solution appeared. Todd made a note to tell Alex. His Earthen Quarterstaff title might be the winner after all.

    ¡°Do you want to pick up the books for Enchanter during the maintenance cycle, or make a separate trip out and back to pick them up?¡± Todd asked, when he gave up trying to come up with an explanation for the walking staff.

    ¡°A separate trip,¡± Grandmother decided. ¡°I don¡¯t want Enchanter to have to wait that long. We will do a couple squares and see where Sarah is with her new books. When she is getting close to completing Enchanter¡¯s first set, we¡¯ll run out to the Speedwell.¡±

    ¡°Just the two of us could go,¡± Todd offered. The wording she used made him think of the running survey she took him on. ¡°We could try running the whole trip to make it faster.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another thing,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°When we first entered the structure there were a lot of ruined galleries in dark space. I didn¡¯t pay too much attention to them. I recorded the inscriptions and moved on. Most of them disappeared after a while, as the rooms were remodeled. Now that we know a Gallery can be accessed through the transportation system, I¡¯d like to see if we can find one near the entrance. A working transportation room closer to the Speedwell would be very useful.¡±

    ¡°Were any of the locations of the galleries mapped?¡± Todd asked. ¡°There must be a lot of fixed architecture in the walls to support a transportation room. I would expect galleries to reappear in the same places over and over, like prize altars.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Although we may be able to get a rough idea by processing some of the old recordings. They were ¡®ruined¡¯ galleries so they may never have been part of the transportation system.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t know until we find one,¡± Todd responded. He was accustomed to Grandmother second guessing herself, even though her first guess was usually accurate. ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me there is a ruined gallery in Chicago?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°It is one of Chicago¡¯s entrances, so it is not a good candidate for clandestine travel. Besides, it is farther from the entrance than Londontown. I am pretty certain no one has ever found a crystal there.¡±

    ¡°We can still see if it has a transportation room. Maybe it takes a quest of some type to spawn the crystal,¡± Todd hypothesized, ¡°or we can only leave from there.¡±

    ¡°Like a potential square?¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°That makes a lot of sense. It is still too far. If we can¡¯t find one closer to the Speedwell we can go back to it. I¡¯ve always meant to visit Chicago last.¡±

    The lights in the square beyond the windows brightened a notch. It was the first indication the structure was beginning its day cycle.

    ¡°I told Alex I would go on a salvage run with him this morning,¡± Todd said, getting to his feet. ¡°He was saying something about how he wanted to get a workbench back in stock for the selkie to see.¡±

    ¡°I want to go with you, but I think I better stay in the square today and keep everyone on their best behavior,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°You could go around to the shops and ask all the crafters about patterns,¡± Todd suggested. ¡°Maybe one of them knows something about glass.¡± Grandmother agreed that that sounded like a good idea. It would keep her presence public knowledge while the selkie wandered around and it was information she wanted to know.

    Todd retrieved his spear from the weapons rack and went down into the courtyard. He looked up above the entrance as he stepped out of the inn even though he knew the windows were opaque from this side. On his way across to Alex¡¯s shop he decided to go up to his apartment first and retrieve his pack and gathering bags, just in case he came across something interesting he wanted for himself.

    When he got back down to the courtyard he found Alex pacing anxiously in front of his shop. The courtyard light ticked up another increment in intensity, but it still wasn¡¯t at daytime levels. There was a push cart next to Alex that looked remarkably like something off the Speedwell, only the wheels were tiny.

    ¡°Are you ready then?¡± Todd said, trying to preempt Alex from accusing him of being late.

    ¡°Let''s get going,¡± Alex said, with obvious excitement in his voice. ¡°I want to fetch the workbenches first. If Grandmother¡¯s numbers are right they respawned days ago.¡±

    Alex led Todd directly to a room off to the right of the back door. Alex parked his cart a way down the hall, where it wouldn¡¯t get in the way, if fighting spilled out into the halls.

    ¡°Grandmother cleared out a nasty nest of spiders in this room,¡± Alex commented as they got ready for entry. ¡°She did it in a couple minutes, but I thought at the time it would be a hard fight for me.¡±

    ¡°You want to go in together,¡± Todd asked, ¡°or pull them to the hall?¡±

    ¡°Pull to the hall,¡± Alex responded, as he drew his sword.

    The room was full of badgers. They pulled them in sets of four or five into the hall and slaughtered them. Both Alex and Todd were forced to use more magic than their usual style. Todd thought it was good training for the two of them. They both usually took the front position, using physical skills and weapon imbuement to hold the animals away from the party. They relied on the casters to do the heavy damage.

    They went about it methodically, pausing to recover between pulls. They piled up the dead animals to the side, where they wouldn¡¯t hinder their footwork. It took three times as long for just the two of them, but eventually the room was empty. Neither one of them were ever in any real danger. After a quick scan of the suite for any animals hidden in the other rooms, Alex began digging through the piles of debris. Todd was a little surprised, since he could see one of Alex¡¯s workbenches just sitting there.

    ¡°Can you load this top onto the cart?¡± Alex asked. Todd walked over and saw that a second thick ceramic bench top was mingled in with a pile of junk near Alex.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Todd said. He secured his spear and leaned down to pick up the slab of ceramic. The top was surprisingly heavy. Todd carried it out into the hall where he realized he should have moved the cart closer. He set the top down on the cart and pushed the load closer to the door. The cart slid forward with ease. Todd was impressed the small little wheels could take that kind of load.

    ¡°That cart is really nice,¡± Todd commented as he stepped back into the room. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen wheels like that on mop buckets in the Speedwell. I am surprised they can carry the weight of that top.¡±

    Alex was across the room. In the few minutes Todd was in the hallway, he detached the top from the second workbench. He was working on reducing the leg structure down to a neat stack of dark iron tubes.

    ¡°That reminds me,¡± Alex said as he straightened up from his work. He rushed off into one of the smaller rooms in the suite. He returned with the remnants of an actual mop bucket. He flipped the bucket over revealing four more of the same tiny wheels.

    ¡°I almost forgot them,¡± Alex explained as he worked to detach the wheels from the bucket remains. ¡°Grandmother told me they are really rare.¡±

    Leaving Alex to his wheels, Todd picked up the next top and carried it out to the cart. On his way back in to get the stack of iron, Alex was back to gathering another set of iron, along with vellum and notebooks.

    ¡°What is that stack for?¡± Todd asked, curious.

    ¡°Grandmother found a complete second workbench in pieces. It is going to be hard to find all the parts this time. She warned me the smaller parts are debris and respawn on the debris timer. I think it has only been eleven days and not twelve, since I last cleared this room. I should wait until tomorrow, but I really want the selkie to see it. Hopefully we can pick up some of the smaller pieces in fresh rooms,¡± Alex replied. ¡°Oh, Ellen mentioned that she is still interested in all the vellum and notebooks we can find. I guess they are running short after their success in Seagrass.¡±

    ¡°They want the loose sheets of vellum too?¡± Todd asked to confirm.

    ¡°Yeah, Sarah found a tool that binds them together into a notebook. When they run out of notebooks they are going to bind their own. I guess it takes a kind of extra thick vellum or thin leather for the covers, so if you see anything like that, she wants it too,¡± Alex reported.

    After Alex made his picks they headed back to the square to drop this load off before they started their full run. They made one stop at a room closer to the back door, where Alex retrieved a slightly scorched wooden chair. Alex tapped out the clean spell on the chair. Cleaned it looked much better than when Alex pulled it from the pile. Alex studied the chair closely before looking over at Todd.

    ¡°Would you mind?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Mind what?¡± Todd asked not understanding what the younger warrior wanted.

    ¡°When Grandmother cleaned it, it turned into a work of art. You''re a tier higher than me, can you give it a try?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Todd agreed, ¡°but I don¡¯t expect art.¡± He walked over and tapped the spell out. Since Alex already cleaned it once, Todd wasn¡¯t really expecting any change. The clean wave traveled across the wood. It did look a little brighter afterwards. Curious Todd cast it again. The improvement was even less this time around, but it was still detectable. Clean was a tier one spell. Todd wondered if there was a tier two version of it someplace.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Three

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    Todd stumbled to a stop, nearly falling. His lungs burned and his muscles shook in fatigue. A glance down confirmed that the red of his brigandine was transformed into white. They were at the edge of the structure''s area of effect.

    Grandmother reached out and caught his shoulder, giving him some support as he swayed on his feet. With her help he staggered back down the path a step of two until red started to leach into his clothing. He felt better. Grandmother was running behind him so that he could set the pace. She stood patiently, a little before the edge as Todd gulped air. Since she wasn¡¯t wearing any integrated cloth, she appeared no different than usual. She seemed completely unaffected but then she was farther back.

    ¡°That sucked,¡± Todd said when he finally got his breathing under control.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We need to remember that.¡± They were over three-quarters of the way up from the valley floor. The structure''s area of influence was slowly expanding. Several years ago they calculated the rate of its advance, and figured it would take twenty years before it reached the ridge. ¡°Do you want to rest for a while?¡± She asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd said. ¡°We are nearly to the top. I can rest in the cart.¡± They started back up the trail, this time at a pained walk. Todd led the way, with Grandmother following a few steps behind. As soon as Todd stepped forward it got harder. Bone deep fatigue pressed down on him. He regretted not taking Grandmother¡¯s offer of a rest. He pressed on, committed to his course.

    Something moved in the woods. Todd started to turn to the source when he heard a low threatening growl. Something large and dark brown charged out at him from the trees. He visualized how he should bring his spear around and impale the animal as it approached, but his tired muscles refused to respond. Adrenaline flooded his system as he realized he wasn¡¯t going to get the weapon in place in time.

    Todd was knocked back, pain shrieking through his side. He tried to bring his spear down on the animal. He fell as his footing faltered. Suddenly Grandmother was there. With a swing of her staff she batted the animal aside. As it rolled with a natural athleticism, she spun the staff around faster than Todd could follow. The end jabbed down with unerring accuracy onto the head of the beast. Its skull caved inward, as the earthen staff, which Grandmother recently admitted she carried through the structure for over forty years, shattered.

    His vision seemed strangely dark. He reached down to the spreading numbness on his side. The white of his depowered integrated cloth was turning red again. His shocked, fractured thoughts had trouble grasping it was red with his blood.

    <hr>

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°Dark,¡± Grandmother said, as she dropped the fragments of her staff. Her hand automatically cast a reinforce spell on the broomstick before the hit, but of course it didn¡¯t do anything outside the structure. She turned back to inspect the damage to Todd. He was passed out, blood flowing freely from his side. The white almost plastic that his integrated armor turned into beyond the structure was shredded. Grandmother had absolutely no idea how the animal managed to do so much damage in the seconds it was on him. It was some kind of predator she didn¡¯t recognize. Bigger than a structure badger it reminded her of an earthen cougar. Really it looked more like a cougar than the animal in the structure that carried the name. She thought it must have raked Todd with the claws on its hind feet. She was pretty certain if she tried to take him back to the Speedwell he would be dead before they reached its medical facilities.

    The way he was bleeding he would be dead before they reached the top of the ridge. She thought about doing some quick first aid, binding the wound closed to limit blood loss, then decided she was just wasting time. She picked the warrior up, pack and all. She held him in front of her. She was trying to keep the wound up, so most of his spilled blood would get caught on his body or clothing. Holding him tight, she ran.

    Traveling downhill at high speed she reached the edge of the structure''s area of influence in minutes. She cast a series of tier one heals on him as she ran. When she felt his body twist in pain, she knew she was far enough in. She set the warrior back onto the ground and using both hands cast a tier five heal. He shuddered again, almost coming back to consciousness, before he dropped back into a near coma.

    Grandmother checked his heartbeat. It was strong and steady. A quick check of his flesh exposed through rents in his armor showed no sign of damage. His brigandine was definitely ruined. The metal scales that formed the layer of armor under the red cloth cover were dropping out like the leaves of a tree in the fall. The cover, at least, was only red from magic. All the blood that soaked the garment returned to Todd¡¯s body with the heal. A quick glance back up the trail from where they were, showed a dangerous amount still stained the ground behind them, beyond the reach of the structure''s nanobots.

    After a moment''s thought, Grandmother picked Todd up and finished the run down to the entrance. She tapped out a quick clean spell before setting Todd down against one of the side walls. She took his pack off of him, so he would rest more comfortably. She took her own off and set it down onto the floor next to the warrior.

    Her back was to the south wall. To her right was the broken wall that led to the meadow with its stream. To her left were the three openings that gave access to the structure. In front of her a large paved area, open to the sky, was dotted with broken columns. Clumps of debris were littered around, that once might have been stone benches or statues. The center of the area hosted a pool or pond. Its cracked bottom was dry. The space was artistically decorated with vines that grew up from the cracked pavement or over the broken walls.

    As she waited for Todd to return to consciousness, she went over and over what happened in her head. They should not have headed up the trail after a multiple day run. The nanobots masked the effects of fatigue as much as they removed them. When they stepped out of the structure''s area of influence they stopped those efforts, leaving Todd weak and tired. Todd moaned then jerked. He came up off the floor with a knife in his hand.

    ¡°We are at the entrance to the structure,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°I carried you back so I could use heal.¡± Todd¡¯s hand went to his side, where a shower of scales cascaded down to ping off the stone tiles. Grandmother thought Control was being a little melodramatic now. She left scales half way down the path and across the valley. There was no way there was really that many in real brigandine armor.

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    ¡°Ellen¡¯s going to kill me,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°That armor lasted longer than anything I have ever seen,¡± Grandmother said, ignoring for the moment the loss of her staff. ¡°I think her love for her father was the only thing holding it together. Order a new one from her, that should appeal to the crafter in her.¡± The armor was one of the last things Ellen¡¯s father crafted before his death. When Grandmother first met the girl she¡¯d been trying to sell it in the market to provide income for herself and her young sister.

    ¡°My spear?¡± Todd asked, as he returned his knife to his belt.

    ¡°I left it on the trail,¡± Grandmother responded with a nod to the distant trees. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to take the time to pick it up.¡± Todd collapsed back down into a sitting position, as he continued to look at the rips in his armor.

    ¡°That was stupid,¡± he said finally.

    ¡°It¡¯s the stupid things that get you in the end,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought of anything outside the structure as a threat in decades, but the truth is a wild animal can kill you anywhere. They killed people back on Earth. I am horrified that I let the three of you walk out alone the first time. I can¡¯t think about what might have happened. I would like to blame Control, but we were clearly beyond its reach. I think it was just dumb luck.¡± They sat in silence for a few moments, as each of them reflected on the incident.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Todd said finally. Grandmother was hoping he didn¡¯t have any clear memories of what transpired. It appeared she would not be that lucky. ¡°You moved so fast and hit it so hard your staff shattered.¡± Grandmother flexed her hand. She pulled the slivers of resin and carbon fiber out of it soon after setting Todd down. There was already no trace of the wounds due to her unnaturally accelerated healing.

    She was afraid, terrified really. Her heart should be racing and her hands shaking. They weren¡¯t. She held them as still as a rock, which of course only added to her terror, because it wasn¡¯t right. It wasn¡¯t human.

    ¡°Since tier six, my nanobots continue to be active past the border. I can¡¯t do any magic because that is the structure¡¯s interface, but the improvements to stamina, agility and strength remain,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°What about accelerated healing?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°That too,¡± Grandmother answered.

    ¡°You never said anything,¡± Todd commented after a long pause.

    Grandmother opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She struggled with her thoughts. Her flexing hands echoed the struggle in her head. She felt she owed Todd some kind of answer.

    ¡°It terrifies me,¡± she said finally.

    ¡°I think that means you are still you,¡± Todd told her. He was aware of her fear that Control was turning her into something else.

    ¡°I can only hope,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Should we try it again,¡± Todd asked with a wave to the distant trees through the broken wall.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I don¡¯t want to make the same mistake again. I have a theory that even though a heal looks near instantaneous, it is actually several days until it is real. The nanobots step in to take the place of missing tissue and blood and just hold everything in place while your body mends. That¡¯s why I brought you back down here to the courtyard, so that the nanobots in your body could call for help if necessary.¡±

    ¡°What do you suggest?¡± Todd queried.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go find the closest water source. I want you to drink as much of it as you can. You lost a lot of blood and need to replace it. Drinking water from a source and not your flask will allow Control to feed you more nanobots too. We¡¯ll find a room to secure for the night. We can try again tomorrow or the next day, but let''s take it slow and turn around at the first sign of any change in the injury,¡± Grandmother advised.

    ¡°I hate to ask it,¡± Todd said, ¡°but can you get my spear.¡± Grandmother considered that one for a while. She didn¡¯t really want to leave Todd alone. At the same time she didn¡¯t want to go into the structure armed only with knives. There shouldn¡¯t be anything this close to the entrance they couldn¡¯t kill with magic and a knife but Grandmother didn¡¯t trust Control not to take advantage.

    ¡°Stay alert,¡± Grandmother said, getting to her feet. ¡°Eat something high in iron. If I don¡¯t come back, don¡¯t come looking for me for at least a day.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Todd said, as he realized he was sending Grandmother off alone. Before he could express his change of heart she was gone, running faster than he had seen her do before.

    Grandmother pushed herself as hard as she could up the hill. She wanted to get back to Todd, before Control took advantage of that situation. The animal lay dead on the track, splinters of her staff embedded in its skull. Todd¡¯s spear, now a flat gray color, lay on the ground right beside where he fell. It was another indication that Control wasn¡¯t involved. If someone dropped a weapon in a fight in the structure, the weapon would be heavily damaged, never seen again or would roll off into the bushes where something even bigger waited.

    Grandmother picked up Todd¡¯s spear. She considered the dead animal for a moment before pulling the remnants of her walking staff out of its head. She tossed the carcass over her shoulder, before heading back.

    Todd was where she left him, chewing on a stick of dried meat, and drinking from his water flask. He changed into the red cloth armor he carried as a spare while she was gone. He sprang to his feet at her approach and took the spear from her. Back within the structure¡¯s influence it looked like wood and bronze. Grandmother could see some of the tension flow out of him.

    ¡°Is that what attacked us?¡± Todd asked with a nod at the animal.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother said, flipping the animal onto the ground. ¡°It reminds me of an earthen cougar, but cougars didn¡¯t have spots like that. See the tail? Almost nothing has a tail here, but cats on Earth did.¡± Todd remembered Grandmother saying something similar when they found the earthen squirrel.

    ¡°It¡¯s long but thin. Its teeth aren¡¯t that large and I don¡¯t see any horns. How did it do so much damage?¡± Todd asked. Grandmother picked up one of its paws and spread the claws.

    ¡°Retractable claws,¡± she commented. She pulled her knife and quickly gutted the animal. She was careful not to damage the hide. She was thinking about trying to tan it. The speckled coat was really very beautiful. There weren''t very good facilities for tanning close to the entrance so she may have to toss it eventually, but she saw no reason to rush the decision. ¡°Predators usually don¡¯t taste very good, but fresh meat will help you heal faster than that dried stuff.¡±

    Grandmother looked over her map and picked out the closest water source to the entrance. She warned Todd that she hadn¡¯t been there in a long time, so it may not still be in the same place. Water sources tended to move around an area in a set of related spawn points. If the one they were heading to was no longer there, hopefully a new one would be close.

    They headed into the structure through the central opening.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Four

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    The water source they found was an apparent roof collapse. A stream of water fell through the air from a source high above. It weaved its way through iron beams, broken concrete and stone, before wetting the broken floor tiles where it disappeared into a series of cracks. The architecture meant there were no light panels overhead to illuminate the collapse. Grandmother ignited all the overhead panels in the connecting corridors. This was dark space which meant the panels were defaulted to off.

    Todd refilled his flask from the flow. Although his flask was enchanted Todd was drinking the water faster than it could refill. He thought about trying to illuminate the area by using Sarah¡¯s new light blade spell on his spear, but decided not to bother. He didn¡¯t think they would linger in the area much longer. Grandmother skinned the spotted cougar and packed its hide into her largest gathering bag. The bag visibly struggled with the non-structure skin. It was one of the stranger things he saw around Grandmother. It made him think the bag was alive and trying hard to please the old woman.

    She butchered the animal, only keeping the best cuts. There was more than enough to feed the two of them for the few days they intended to wait.

    Todd felt fine. It was weird to think he may have a mortal wound if he left the structure. He didn¡¯t really want to just hole up in a room and stare at the ceiling for a couple days. Todd was starting to think that Grandmother brought the animal carcass along for entertainment, but what was he going to do?

    ¡°What do you say we use this time to survey the area closest to the entrance?¡± Todd proposed. He remembered Grandmother¡¯s earlier mention of wanting to find a gallery near here. Grandmother was washing the blood off her hands in the stream of water. She gave her hands a final rinse before replying.

    ¡°That sounds fine. We don¡¯t want to make the mistake of leaving directly after a run again. Since we are going to stay the night anyway, I don¡¯t see how it can hurt.¡± Grandmother put her pack back on, with her filled gathering bags strapped to the outside. ¡°Let''s run the area between here and the entrance first.¡± She paused for a moment and looked up into the ¡®collapse¡¯. ¡°Actually, let''s put priority on going up. I don¡¯t remember trying that. There could be ten levels above us or there could be none. If you see a stair, call out. We¡¯ll check it and go up if we can.¡±

    They discovered three floors above the water source. None of them reached as far east as the entrance. On the highest floor, Grandmother came to a halt in front of a wall of glass. Todd thought the glass was opaque at first, with light leaking through from beyond. After they stopped, he could see it was actually transparent but very, very dirty.

    Grandmother tapped out a clean spell on the glass. This side of the window became a sparkling image of perfection, but the other side remained clouded. Grandmother leaned forward and peered through the gloom. When she stepped back, Todd took his turn. He could just make out the heavy trunks of a forest through a veil of hanging roots.

    ¡°We must be on the next ridge, behind the entrance,¡± he commented. ¡°It has dense forest on it.¡± As he thought about it that seemed obvious, considering the direction they traveled. He turned to rest his back against the window. Now that they stopped moving a deep fatigue was making itself known. ¡°I think I am done for the day,¡± Todd admitted.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Grandmother responded. She was considering the space they were in. It was poorly illuminated, as many of the light panels refused to respond. Just within sight the hallway they were following ended in a collapse. Except for the glass windows, which were set back from the main hallway, the outer wall was a little questionable, with huge cracks running down their concrete cores and piles of debris littered around. ¡°I think this might be a rest,¡± she observed.

    With this new concept in mind, Todd reassessed his surroundings. The window setback was actually a wide spot in the hallway. The debris piles of steel, dirt and concrete gravel were the remnants of the furniture that usually appeared in rests. He scraped his foot across the filth on the floor and found the remnant of a tiled floor. The tile under his foot looked like a pentagram, which was not the usual hall tile pattern.

    Grandmother flicked a clean spell across the floor. The floor gleamed, even the cement under the missing tiles added a shine to it. Most of the dirt and cement gravel on the floor and debris piles vanished. The debris now looked like the loose piles of Alex¡¯s furniture components. Grandmother continued around the area, tapping out clean spells on each pile of debris and every wall.

    The area was starting to transform. The cracks in the wall no longer seeped dirt and were starting to close up. The ceiling remained in the worst shape, although it was cleaner than before, it still showed cracks where light panels were broken or missing.

    ¡°Do you see the crystal anywhere?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd admitted. He¡¯d spent all this time, leaning against the glass, just breathing. He forced himself to push off and walk over to the largest pile of debris. This should be the area¡¯s sofa. During their travels south, he noticed that rest crystals were usually near it. They could be embedded in the floor or ceiling, or even just float in the air. They found one inside a sofa once, only discovering it because its immobility caused a hard spot in the cushion.

    There wasn¡¯t going to be a problem with it hiding in the sofa this time. Only a set of broken iron tubes remained of the sofa¡¯s frame. Todd picked them up and stacked them to the side. He carefully inspected the section he chose for the stack to ensure he wasn¡¯t covering up the crystal.

    He cast a clean spell of his own on the floor revealed when he moved the debris. The tile floor was surprisingly intact underneath. Mixed in with the tiles for zero were the shapes representing one, two and five. Even after a close inspection, he didn¡¯t find the crystal. He sat back up to find that Grandmother had deconstructed the other debris piles.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see it,¡± Todd reported, ¡°but this tile pattern definitely matches a rest.¡±

    ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. I don¡¯t see any vents or wall breaks large enough for an animal to get in. With the panels that are working we should be safe enough here for the night. We can take turns at the watch,¡± Grandmother responded. Todd could hear the disappointment in her voice.

    ¡°It must be on the ceiling, or floating just below it,¡± Todd offered. The ceilings in the structure were high. Much higher than in the Speedwell and the ship was constructed with ten to twelve foot ceilings to help counter claustrophobia. Grandmother took her pack off and set it down next to the wall.

    ¡°Lift me up,¡± She said to Todd. Todd took his own pack off. He stored it, with his spear close to Grandmother¡¯s. He took a long drink from his flask before returning to the spot he thought the sofa once was. He knelt down. Grandmother stepped up onto his shoulders and balanced herself with ease. Todd put a hand on one of her feet to help steady her and stood.

    He did this many times over the years, usually lifting Ellen or Sarah. Both of the sisters needed far more help from him to keep their balance. Even with his exhausted muscles, he barely felt her weight. She extended a hand high over her head and tapped out a clean spell on the ceiling. Two of the darkened light panels flashed with light as the clean spell passed over them. Seeing this, Grandmother tried again to power them on. One of them came on.

    ¡°I see it,¡± Grandmother said, with the aid of the increased light. ¡°Step twice to the left.¡± Todd carefully took the two steps. Suddenly Grandmother laughed. ¡°It gave me a two iron discovery bonus.¡± She announced. She cast one more clean on the ceiling before indicating that he could set her down. It was a very small discovery bonus. If you bashed a rat over the head the payout was three iron coins.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Todd paused to take a breath after he set Grandmother down. She must have seen him do it because she offered to cook. Todd assured her he was capable and went to get his portable stove out of his pack. Grandmother could cook, but what she produced was barely edible. Plus Todd was interested in the new meat.

    The meat turned out to be delicious. It was a lean white meat, with a mild flavor. Todd wished he brought more spices with him to experiment with. He divided up the portion he prepared between Grandmother and himself. She insisted he eat the greater share. She pulled dried fruit and grain bars out of their packs to supplement the meal.

    Once his stomach was full, drowsiness hit him full force. He found himself swaying slightly even in a sitting position.

    ¡°Get some rest,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°I¡¯ll take the first watch.¡± Todd mumbled his response. He moved over to the glass wall, which grew dark sometime during the meal. He curled up facing the glass. The room grew darker as Grandmother turned off the light directly over them, leaving only the lights farther away on.

    He slept.

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    She cleaned up the remnants of the meal. The leftover raw meat wouldn¡¯t spoil for several days as long as it was kept in an integrated gathering bag. Todd usually did all this work, but he was too tired to even think of it.

    She paced up and down the length of the corridor under a muffle spell so she wouldn¡¯t wake Todd. She thought about fleshing the spotted cougar hide, but didn¡¯t think she could give it the attention the task deserved. She was still incredibly upset with herself for allowing Todd to be injured. Todd always watched her back. She needed to do better at watching his.

    She was wandering along behind him thinking about how they made the trip in really good time and that the video recordings in her amulet were almost certain to be viable. The camera only functioned two or three months before the nanobots in the structure would deactivate it. The memory inside would hold the recording a couple months more before the nanobots would get them too. She was counting the days of the trip trying to decide if she would have a recording of the selkie village or not, when she heard the animal growl.

    It took her forever to close the gap between them. She batted the animal off of Todd, afraid if she missed and hit him she would do more damage than the beast did.

    She sat down in the center of the area as she struggled with her thoughts. They should be perfectly safe here. Since Grandmother reached tier six, the lower tier animals like rats avoided her. This close to the exit there would only be rats. Control sometimes supplied a badger near a training inscription to help a new player learn the spell, but there weren¡¯t any inscriptions nearby. The rest itself would hold back rats, even without Grandmother''s presence.

    She couldn¡¯t shake her feeling of imminent disaster. She began to fidget with the pile of tubes Todd made out of the debris pile. Her multiple applications of the clean spell left the tubes completely free of rust. Nearly every one ended in a broken jagged end. They looked like they were sandblasted clean. An intact end here and there held the same modular ends as components.

    She supposed that made sense. The chairs, sofas and tables in the rests all shared a similar look, which proved they weren¡¯t unique pieces. She was fairly certain that the frames of ruined rests near the first greens were constructed out of steel, not iron. She wondered what the frames of complete furniture found in rests farther in were constructed from. Visible metal pieces turn into wood on several of the sofas she transformed after tier six.

    She clicked two of the pieces together as she mused on what would happen if she sat on this pile of debris. Would it suddenly grow a tapestry cover decorated by rats drinking water from a roof collapse waterfall? The image was so clear in her head she felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought that Control might have put it there.

    She unhooked the two pieces and set them back down on the pile. They didn¡¯t fit quite the same. Todd placed the longer pieces on the bottom. These two pieces should have been shorter than the ones below them. They weren¡¯t. Maybe it was always that way and she was just not remembering it right. Since these pieces were now out of place from where they found them, they should be disappearing, not getting bigger.

    She shifted the pieces around, putting two new pieces on the top. The top pieces were clearly shorter now. She picked them up and held them for a minute or two, feeling a bit like an idiot. She set them back down. They were still shorter. There, she thought to herself, I just didn¡¯t remember it right. Somehow that didn¡¯t satisfy her. Partly because if she stopped thinking about the tubes she would have to start thinking about Todd getting hurt again.

    She clicked the first two together and she didn¡¯t do that with the second two. The second two were the same piece and wouldn¡¯t actually lock into each other. One of the original pieces would work. She pulled the first piece out and set in on the left. She rearranged the remaining pile so the short pieces were on top. She took a short piece off the pile and clicked it into place against the left one. She unclicked and set it back on the pile.

    It wasn¡¯t longer than the section below it, but it was longer than the other short piece on top. This time she knew she picked up the shortest piece. She picked up the tube and studied it. Was this growth real? She didn¡¯t understand how matter could just appear that fast. She ran her hand down the side of the tube, trying to decide if the tube was actually longer, or if it was just an augmented reality overlay. On her first pass she thought it was an illusion, but when she double checked it was firmed up.

    Could the tube wall be getting thinner? she wondered. She set it back down onto the pile. She looked at it laying there and decided it could be stealing material from the rest of the tubes, which would make them get shorter. Didn''t someone tell her once that if you left anything in the spot a pile of debris spawned in a rest, the debris returned faster and the item vanished, almost like the new item was converted into the debris?

    She wasn¡¯t quite certain what the point of the tubes getting longer would be. She got up and paced for a while. This time she wasn¡¯t thinking about spotted cougars jumping out of the trees. She looked at the other piles of debris. Grandmother moved them off of their original positions to search underneath, but she didn¡¯t stack them. She picked up all the pieces and set them down in a pile directly under the crystal. She couldn¡¯t remember precisely where the other piles were, but she was certain the crystal was over the sofa debris.

    She laid the pieces down on top, at a 90 degree rotation so she could keep track of what was in each pile. She sat down and started clicking pieces together and setting them back on the stack to rest. She rotated through each piece of the sofa, and then started again.

    Somewhere in the middle of the night she was forced to raid a couple of the closed rooms for more iron component pieces. Her original extra pieces from the chairs didn¡¯t disappear, but they got so short it was hard to balance the longer pieces on top. At some point she realized the sofa pieces were not getting any longer. She studied what she was left with.

    Some of the shorter pieces were whole with connectors at each end. The longer sections all ended in jagged ends that looked like puzzle pieces. She matched each one to its other half. When the two sections were perfectly aligned they fused into one.

    Close to daybreak she fitted all the finished tubes together into the pattern of a bench with a back and armrests. She sat it under the crystal, with her extra material stacked underneath it and considered. She could go no farther. To turn this into a sofa it needed leather, fabric and stuffing. She could have gotten this same frame by raiding a few rooms just a little bit farther into the structure, without the hours of waiting for the nanobots to transfer material around. In addition the finished product would be a lot more durable. Having started life in a rest, this frame would fall apart in days if not hours if she dragged it out of here. If she left it here, it would convert back to the debris in six days or less.

    She couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that this odd hidden functionality was important. Putting the broken bits together into this sofa was like solving a puzzle. Solving puzzles in the structure almost always yielded you something; spells, directions, protection crystals, access. She looked around searching for any changes in the rest. She could not find anything.

    She stood up and tried to sit on the frame, but without any strapping to make even a rudimentary seat, it was difficult. She could only perch on the narrow front bar and that was extremely uncomfortable. She gave it up shortly. She stood back and gave the frame one last look. She was hoping maybe her tier six effect on furniture would do something here, but she didn¡¯t think it did. It was looking like the best version of itself. The tubes were smooth and dark. The extra chunks were still sitting underneath. Some of the pieces she brought in from outside were completely gone, while the short stubs from the other debris piles remained.

    Did she need to rebuild the other pieces of furniture too? she wondered. That would literally take days. She wondered if she could cheat and just bring in the correct complete pieces from deeper in the structure. What if she upgraded them to steel or copper? Maybe wood was the best upgrade, Grandmother thought as she considered how her tier affected furniture.

    Todd mumbled something in his sleep and shifted. Grandmother looked up at the window and could see the first streaks of dawn on the other side of the dirty glass. She really loved this window to the outside. She couldn¡¯t remember having seen one before, just the broken ceiling of a ruined green. Then she remembered the glass doorway to the outside at the new square. It was very similar to this.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Five

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    ¡°You made it out of the debris?¡± Todd asked again. He really couldn¡¯t get his head around Grandmother''s description of where the bench frame came from.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I fiddled with the pieces until they all fit,¡± she said again. She gave a longer explanation earlier, but his thoughts drifted off somewhere in the middle of it. He put his weight against the back of it. It felt very secure. There was no rust or erosion anywhere on it.

    ¡°Do you think it will go back to being debris?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Grandmother said slowly. Even though she said yes, Todd could tell she was uncertain. ¡°Eventually, yes, definitely yes,¡± she added.

    ¡°But in the short term?¡± he said, allowing his statement to trail off into the form of a question.

    ¡°I think it will last long enough for me to do the others,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°You mean the chairs and table?¡± Todd responded. ¡°Are we doing that?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have used the other pieces as fuel for the first set. Now I can¡¯t tell which piece went with which position. Plus they are all so short it would take a lot longer.¡±

    ¡°So what is the purpose?¡± Todd asked. He really hoped she had a theory, because he didn¡¯t.

    ¡°I think it is a Narrative,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Something like, repair the rest and you get some reward. Remember how you suggested we may have to do something in a ruined gallery to spawn a crystal? I think this is ¡®something¡¯.¡±

    ¡°There is already a crystal here,¡± Todd noted.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°But that glass wall looks a lot like the surface access above the odd square. Maybe a door will spawn if we complete the task or something else entirely. I admit the reason why I think it is part of a quest, is because I can think of no other reason for it.¡±

    Todd turned and looked at the window-wall. It did look like the surface access, but it also looked like the glass walls against greens that some rests possessed. Todd had seen them with and without doors. He wasn¡¯t certain if that supported Grandmother¡¯s theory or not. He turned and looked at the frame.

    ¡°Growing those snub ends back up to usable parts might take too long, but what if we just collected new components like Alex does? We might have trouble finding undamaged components this close to the exit, but we can run back to the grand staircase fast enough,¡± Todd proposed. The area below the grand staircase was noticeably less damaged than these outer reaches. Grandmother called it the start of tier two space. Home Square was located on the other end of that space, where tier two transitioned into tier three space.

    ¡°I thought about it,¡± Grandmother admitted, ¡°but I am not certain I want to waste too much time on this. If we get back late, the rest of the team might decide to come and find us. It could be a complete waste of time if starting with the debris is a requirement.¡±

    ¡°We made good time getting here. No one is going to notice if we spend two or three days on this,¡± Todd responded. He didn¡¯t mention that he told everyone not to worry about them until they were at least twelve days late. Grandmother was always getting carried away with something on the Speedwell. She would start by changing the oil on some piece of equipment and the next thing you knew she was doing a complete rebuild. ¡°You admit you don¡¯t remember which of these remnants came from each location. We can¡¯t do the careful slow process, so I think we should just switch out to the quick version.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured in thought. ¡°If we were only tier one or two, growing the fragments might be the ¡®safe¡¯ option. Traveling deeper into the structure to get replacements could be viewed as more dangerous.¡±

    ¡°If we spend a couple days on it, there should be no danger of the heal unraveling when we head out,¡± Todd said as an added persuasion. He knew Grandmother wanted to do this. He expected that if they didn¡¯t do it now, it would eat at her the whole time they were at the Speedwell and she would have persuaded herself to try it on the way back. Which would really be more of a waste of time, since they would just sit around for a day or two now. Keeping himself busy and not thinking about spotted fur charging out at him from shadowed trunks, was a bonus.

    ¡°I did wonder what would happen if you upgraded to steel or wood,¡± Grandmother commented. Todd started packing for the trip, certain now that they would do this.

    ¡°Alex put together a chair with a steel frame and a wooden seat and backrest,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Yes, I saw it,¡± Grandmother responded, as she secured her gathering bags to her pack. ¡°That seat is really rare, although I have seen the wooden backrest before.¡±

    They packed everything up, still discussing furniture construction options, and headed out. They traveled down and westward in the direction of the nearest grand stairway.

    They cleared out about forty rooms at the bottom of the stairs. It was ridiculously easy for them. The occupied rooms contained only rats. Most of the rooms were empty of any kind of animal at all. Todd got a crash course in what a building component looked like, as they went through the rooms sorting out the contents. All components were set in the hallway. Todd noticed Grandmother picked up all the scrap so he started doing it too. It was mostly iron scrap with the occasional rare steel. There was no fiber scrap of any kind, although there was wood debris that with a prize altar could be converted to scrap. Somewhere around their thirtieth room they found an altar.

    Todd remembered how on his first trip out of the structure they stopped at a set of rooms very close to the entrance that included a prize altar. At the time he thought nothing of it, he saw prize altars all his life. Now he realized just how rare they were in dark space. It was a little too convenient that there was one right by the entrance.

    ¡°I wonder if that altar is still in the room by the entrance,¡± Todd said to Grandmother.

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it a couple times over the years, but I always forget to check when we are heading out. We should look this time,¡± Grandmother responded. Grandmother started converting all the non-component debris to scrap at the altar, by dropping it into her inventory. When Todd questioned her about it she responded. ¡°I need to replace all the material I gave out over the tour. It will take runs deeper in the structure to replace my stock of bronze, copper and fiber.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you found glass scrap around the top of ruined green?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Maybe we should spend a couple days on the way back scavenging there.¡± Grandmother admitted she liked that idea, even while mentioning that they needed to find a source for stone.

    They gathered up all the components into piles outside the room with the altar. The biggest pile was black iron, with steel second and wood coming a distant third. There were tubes, sheets, planks and little complex pieces that Grandmother explained were often used to mount the sheets to form table tops and shelves.

    ¡°Can we use these sheets to make seats and backrests?¡± Todd asked. ¡°I know it wouldn¡¯t be comfortable, but it would be more functional.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. She dived into the pile of black iron. In a matter of minutes she built two chairs and a stool. One chair was equipped with armrests, while the other wasn¡¯t. She started setting the sheets onto the chairs to see how they fit. Todd helped out by sorting all the sheets out by length. He did the same with the planks of wood.

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    ¡°What do you think?¡± Grandmother asked. Todd looked at her constructions. He had seen these three models of chairs before, although without the iron plate seats. He sat on each one. The plate flexed under him when he sat in the two chairs but held firm on the stool, even though on it the two plates Grandmother used hung over on each side.

    ¡°I like the chair with hand rests best,¡± Todd reported to Grandmother. ¡°It reminds me of the chairs in the gallery. I have seen chairs without armrests before, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen a stool in a rest area. Rests usually have a table, maybe we can use the stool for that?¡±

    ¡°We are short a few pieces from making another chair with arms,¡± Grandmother warned. She turned and looked at the pile of components. ¡°I can do a table. I know four types. I actually can¡¯t remember if it was three or four debris piles,¡± she said. ¡°I think except for the sofa, the other piles were about the same size.¡±

    Todd closed his eyes and tried to visualize the rest when they first came upon it. He was so tired at the time, nothing came to him. Instead he thought about intact rests he had seen farther in. There was a simple version with a sofa and chair separated by a small low table. There was also a deluxe version furnished with two chairs with a small low table in between them that was opposite a sofa. The sofa could have a high long table behind it, much like the display table they used in Seagrass, or a low wide table in front of it.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember either,¡± Todd replied. He went on to describe the different furniture pieces he could remember seeing in rests.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Grandmother murmured. She pulled another set of components out of the pile while his eyes were shut. This time she was using steel. She snapped them all together to produce something that looked like the small table that appeared between chairs. She topped it off with two short wooden planks they found. A few minutes later she built the tall long Seagrass display table, made entirely out of steel. She used two of the shorter steel plates they found end to end for the top.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have the plate or mounting brackets for the other two types of tables I know, but they are both considerably larger. One is the dining table in an inn. I think I would remember if there was a debris pile that large,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°What about the sofa?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Should we take the extra plate along for that?¡±

    ¡°I forgot about it,¡± Grandmother admitted. She chewed her lip as she started going through what was left. She set out iron plates in a pattern on the floor like it was the seat of the sofa. She rearranged the pieces several times but couldn¡¯t get it to cover the space. She switched to steel and finally tried wood. The closest she came was wood. There were many one and a half inch sticks of wood which she laid out parallel to each other with a one inch gap between them. There was enough for the seat, but not the back. She didn¡¯t have enough mounting brackets for even half of the wood present, let alone all she would need to finish. They didn''t have wood boards anywhere near long enough to run the other direction.

    ¡°It looks like you''re short,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°I like the wood version,¡± Todd commented. He picked up his spear. ¡°I bet we can find enough.¡± Grandmother looked up at him, breaking out of her fixation on getting it done with what was in the piles.

    ¡°There are always more rooms, right?¡± Grandmother said, getting up off the floor. They went down the hall to where they stopped and started clearing rooms again. Todd spent most of his time on his hands and knees looking for those small mounting clips. There were several types. Finding enough of the correct ones was time consuming.

    When Grandmother declared they had enough, they went back to the staging area outside the prize altar room. Grandmother broke down the two chairs and table, making three bundles of components. Todd volunteered his gathering bag to hold all the small clips. He noticed that Grandmother packed all of them, not just the number she thought they needed.

    That left them with the wood battens they planned to use on the sofa/bench. Bundled together they were bulky. Grandmother didn¡¯t see how they could carry them along with chair and table bundles.

    ¡°Alex has that cart,¡± Todd commented, ¡°I didn¡¯t see any wheels anywhere. What if we made a kind of sled and dragged it behind us. We could put all these bundles on it. If we run into trouble we can just drop the sled.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad idea,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I¡¯ve done something similar before. We will have to carry it up the stairs, so it will need a handle on both the front and back.¡± After some experimentation, they ended up with a strange construction that was more litter than sled. There were wooden runners under it because they started with the sled concept. At either end were long handles they could drop and step away from quickly if they ran into trouble. Grandmother cast muffle over it to help reduce any sound it, or its cargo would make. Now able to transport a lot more, Grandmother couldn¡¯t stop herself from throwing on an assortment of other components, ¡®just in case¡¯.

    The journey back up to the rest was much slower than the trip down, but they still made it before sunset. The rest changed in their absence. The remnant pieces of components and debris under the sofa were slightly smaller. There were three spots along the floor that were now littered with an accumulation of dirt. Todd thought the frame might have moved slightly as well, but he didn¡¯t mark the exact location before they left.

    ¡°These changes were quick,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°They were,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Rests revert back faster than normal rooms. I haven¡¯t ever measured it. In just a few days the original debris piles will be back. That was how it was described to me.¡± Grandmother was inspecting the frame. She knelt down to run a hand across the floor underneath it. ¡°I don¡¯t see any changes here, not even dust on the floor. That is proof of something.¡±

    ¡°I think it is two chairs and a table,¡± Todd said as he studied the dust patterns on the floor. Grandmother joined him in studying the patterns in the dust.

    ¡°Let¡¯s mark these locations somehow before I mindlessly cast a clean and lose them,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°You can outline them with your ¡®just in case¡¯ components,¡± Todd suggested. Grandmother did as he suggested before carefully looking over the rest of the floor looking for any indication of dust. Todd crossed the rest in a different pattern also checking for dust. Eventually agreed there were no others.

    Grandmother put together the chairs and small table and set them down into the patterns in the dust. Todd helped her sort out the correct clips from his gathering bag. Adding the wooden battens to the bench took the longest amount of time. When they were done, nothing happened.

    ¡°That is a disappointment,¡± Grandmother remarked. ¡°I guess you do need to use the debris.¡± Todd looked around at the little furniture setting. They didn¡¯t pick up the debris under the bench, the components outlining the chair locations or the extra clips spread out on the floor. It looked like a construction site.

    ¡°What if Control isn¡¯t certain if we are done?¡± Todd asked. ¡°We still have a pile of extra components, including that other table option. Maybe we should clean up. We can stash all these extras into a room.¡±

    ¡°Changes do tend to occur when you leave an area,¡± Grandmother commented. She looked at their makeshift litter with the last bundle of components. ¡°I am going to put that last table behind the back of the sofa,¡± she said. ¡°Then let''s try your idea and clean everything up. If nothing happens while we are away stashing the extras, I will remove the table and try it that way.¡±

    Todd began gathering the extras and putting them on the litter, even as Grandmother assembled the last table. She set it just behind the sofa in a configuration represented in other rests. She finished in time to help Todd put the last of the clips into their bag. Grandmother noticed Todd already stacked the remaining debris onto a corner of their sled. She reached down and cast clean on the floor to clear the dust from below the chairs.

    A blurred wave crossed the room. That was not the usual animation for clean. A spark of light high above their heads caught Todd¡¯s attention. The protection crystal glinted in the light. It looked bigger than before. When Grandmother finally found it, it was a tiny chip of crystal. Now it was the size of a coin. He remembered Companion¡¯s assertion that the true god paid in time. He realized, with some embarrassment that he didn¡¯t figure it out before this, that the small size of the crystal in a rest was why they disappeared and respawned someplace else so often.

    ¡°The crystal is bigger. Do you see any other changes?¡± Grandmother asked. She was also looking up at the crystal above their heads. They both looked around. Todd paced the length of the area, trying to pick out any other changes. Were there less missing tiles in the floor? he wondered. Were more of the light panels working?

    ¡°No,¡± Todd replied after his careful inspection. ¡°It looks the same to me.¡±

    ¡°Same here, although I did notice the furniture is fixed to the floor,¡± Grandmother said. She pushed on the closest chair. It now appeared to be welded in place. Todd tried the sofa and found it was the same. Curious he tried the extra table, it too was stuck.

    ¡°The bench table too,¡± Todd commented, ¡°and that wasn¡¯t part of the debris pattern.¡±

    ¡°The furniture in open rests is always fixed in place, while the debris in ruined rests can be moved. I¡¯ve noted that before. I thought it was so you could move it out of the way and use the entire space, now I think it is so you can do this,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°It does make me wonder though, what if I changed my mind and wanted a short table in front of the sofa instead of the one behind. Is there no way to change it?¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Six

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    They continued to talk about possible methods for changing or upgrading the furniture while they prepared and ate dinner. Their ideas varied from letting everything turn back to debris, to bringing in an upgraded version and switching it out.

    ¡°Your clean spell triggered the crystal growth,¡± Todd commented after dinner. ¡±Where did you learn it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I traded a bag of fiber and a spindle to a woman who was living in the upper halls in Londontown. She was caring for an infant son she was terrified would disappear in the night. She wanted to sell the child to me, but I couldn¡¯t see myself explaining to a young boy how I bought him and left his mother behind.¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Why did she think the baby would vanish?¡± Todd asked, genuinely puzzled.

    ¡°In the dark hours everything you don¡¯t physically have contact with disappears in the halls of a square. That is why you have to pay for housing,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I don¡¯t think the baby would have disappeared. Control should see it as a player and everything it touched would also be safe. There is no reasoning with that kind of fear. I asked her what spells she knew and traded her for the magic instead. I explained to her that even if she sold the finished thread back to the vendor, it would pay her enough to stay in the inn for the night and refill the bag with fiber. Of course she would have done better if she managed to buy the fiber from scavengers and sold the thread to tailors.¡±

    Grandmother¡¯s story was familiar to Todd. He was pretty sure he heard a version of it as a child, with a slightly different twist. Something like a wise mother tricked the mad queen¡¯s youngest daughter with the offer of useless magic, instead of the baby she desired.

    Todd did know that drunks that passed out in the halls on their way back to their rooms tended to lose things. He thought they were getting robbed. In a way they were. The only difference was that according to Grandmother the robber was Control.

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡± Grandmother queried.

    ¡°You¡¯ve always called it clean, but what if it is really a weak restore?¡± Todd asked. ¡°I noticed at Alex¡¯s shop that if I cast it multiple times his chair looked slightly better each time.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°There is probably another way to trigger the rest upgrade. I¡¯ve noticed that Control rarely makes a single item or spell required. There are usually alternates.¡±

    ¡°Like how you ¡®grew¡¯ the broken pieces back up to full components and it accepted the replacement pieces we brought in from deeper in the structure?¡± Todd remarked.

    ¡°Yes, the first is the first exploration, low tier version. The second is a mid-tier return trip version. There is probably a magic version too, since both of those were just physical labor. Perhaps restore, or a higher tier version of it would just regrow the furniture in place.¡±

    ¡°Do you think there is a higher tier version?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I have not seen any evidence nor heard any rumor of it, but I can see how a spell that turns debris back into furnishings might make the selkie think a tier six is a kind of god,¡± Grandmother commented. Todd thought that would be impressive, but there were plenty of other reasons that the selkie would think tier sixes were gods. Not the least being her latest revelation that her nanobots continued to function outside of the structure. He suspected that functionality alone might explain it. The selkie spent a lot of time in the open ocean. Far from shore the ocean was probably magic free. That meant the selkie would be well aware that a tier six remained faster and stronger outside the structure.

    In the morning they packed everything up and decided to just leave the litter with the extra components, nothing on it was that unique or valuable. Todd noticed his gathering bag with all the little pieces was already tied to his pack. They didn¡¯t weigh much and he thought Alex might appreciate them so he didn¡¯t say anything.

    They ran out to the entrance. It was less than ten minutes away even at the slow pace Grandmother set. They slowed to a fast walk when they reached the trail up through the trees to the ridge beyond. Grandmother led after shifting her load around so that the gathering bag with the meat in it hung where she could see it. Her large gathering bag holding the spotted fur was tied to the back of her pack where Todd had a clear view of it.

    When Todd noticed the bag just starting to lighten in color, Grandmother stopped and turned back to face him.

    ¡°Take a step at a time,¡± She said to him, ¡°and check after each if you feel any pain.¡±

    He did as she said. When the color started to fade from his spear, he felt, not pain, but a tightness along his side. He paused and pulled the shirt of his cloth armor up. It moved a little stiffly already, even if it still possessed most of its color. A series of red parallel lines marred his flesh.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good,¡± Todd commented. The marks disappeared into the top of his pants heading uncomfortably close to his groin. Grandmother peered at the marks.

    ¡°They look partly healed,¡± she commented. ¡°They ran deep and I am worried about the damage underneath we can¡¯t see. We better head back.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t argue,¡± Todd responded. He took a couple steps back, but the marks didn¡¯t vanish. He walked carefully until they were certain they were in the full strength of the structure''s area of influence. Grandmother cast another heal on him. It seriously hurt, but he didn¡¯t lose consciousness, which made Todd think the wound was much better.

    They walked back down to the entrance court. ¡°We can continue the survey,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°I want to work on the hide a little,¡± Grandmother said. "I can use the stream to wash it. Afterwards we can finish surveying everything on this level between here and the grand staircases." Todd agreed. By unspoken agreement the two of them stayed together, taking turns working on the hide. Grandmother packed the hide back into the gathering bag that completely cleaned itself while the skin was out.

    They surveyed inward from their entrance in a kind of grid pattern. They located six different grand staircases, arranged around the entrance in a rough semi-circle. In all that area they only found three potential rests. All three were the typical rest configuration of a wide spot in the hallway and debris piles. Only one possessed a glass wall. The glass was opaque. They didn¡¯t take the time to find the crystals.

    ¡°I like our rest better,¡± Grandmother said, when they found the first one. This one¡¯s advantage was that it was closer to the entrance than the one they slept in the night before. The second rest was close to a water source. They could find nothing interesting about the third beyond the opaque glass wall. They ate lunch in the last rest. In all the surveyed areas on the entrance floor, they found no galleries.

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    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°Should we search the next floor down?¡± Todd asked. Grandmother was looking at her map. It was difficult to tell which section of the map was revealed today and which twenty years ago. She was pretty certain that nothing of the old map was left on this floor, but the floor below showed a variety of different revealed paths she took over the years. It was these paths she was searching now for the distinctive shape of a long thin gallery. She found one, but they already searched the area above it. That area was not dead space but a hallway. Grandmother couldn¡¯t see how the high ceilings of a gallery would fit in there. She dropped a marker on it that would remain even after the map was updated.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± She told Todd. ¡°I can see the shape of a gallery not far from here on the floor below. Let¡¯s at least go there and look. I don¡¯t know when I went that way and revealed this map. I should have checked my map before we started. Most of my old data has been overwritten. Do you know any way to roll them back?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I do know a setting on your interface that makes map sections more transparent the older they are.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡± Grandmother said, surprised. ¡°Can you show me that?¡± After a quick check to ensure nothing threatening appeared to be too near, Todd sat down to share his interface with Grandmother. Sharing interfaces involved sitting next to each other and holding hands. Todd showed Grandmother which icons to select on the menu system to reach the map setting. Grandmother committed the choices to memory, before opening her own interface.

    The icon didn¡¯t look like a map or like ink fading or anything else Grandmother could think of that might represent displaying older data in a lighter color. She didn''t know how someone figured out that was what it did. After selecting the fade with age setting she reopened the map. The section of map where her marker rested was so faint it was almost invisible.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± she said to Todd, ¡°it was a long time ago that there was a gallery there. Still I think it might be interesting to see what is there now.¡±

    They headed in the direction of the closest grand staircase and went down to tier two space. This was a different staircase than the one they used earlier, so there were no component stacks in the hallway. Those stacks would already be starting to decay, since they didn¡¯t go back today to at least look at them.

    The old gallery location was a completely ordinary length of hallway. They cleared the rooms on both sides and found a ruined sanitary facility. The pools were cracked and dry while the cubicles in the back were so overgrown they couldn¡¯t get near them. This made no sense since the room was in complete darkness until they entered it and turned the lights on. That was the structure. There was no sound of water calling them in. They only found it because they swept every room. It was the first sign they found of sanitation facilities since Todd was wounded. They couldn¡¯t decide if it was significant or not.

    They returned to running grid patterns on this floor. Grandmother called it a day a little early, but she was feeling frustrated when they reached a third grand staircase. They decided to go back up to their claimed rest for the night. The climb up was a lot easier without the litter. Grandmother was dreaming of dinner and an early night, when Todd stopped suddenly and went to full alert. Grandmother put one hand on her knife and flexed her fingers on the other hand.

    ¡°It has changed,¡± Todd commented. Grandmother looked past Todd to see a much larger space. The rest they left that morning was a wide spot in the hallway stretching to the right. Now the rest stretched to both right and left. The left half looked like another rest, right down to the debris on the floor. Grandmother did a quick inspection of the area, before stepping across and continuing down the hallway to the collapse they could see in the distance.

    These were the rooms she raided the night before for debris. They appeared unchanged, even the debris inside hadn¡¯t respawned. She returned to the rest.

    ¡°The crystal has moved,¡± Todd told her, pointing up at the gem that now floated over the new larger debris pile that might once have been a sofa. This development absolutely flabbergasted her. Everyone knew protection crystals could not move.

    She swung her pack off and dropped it by the front leg of the bench, before sitting down on it. The existing chairs and sofa faced the hallway, with their back to the exterior glass wall. Before they left they faced the other direction. She stared at the debris piles and thought about it. In her forty-five years in the ruins she could not recall ever seeing a double rest. That made her think this was not a steady state. In time the rest would fall back to a normal rest configuration or would disappear just like a normal rest.

    All day the question at the back of her mind was how could one upgrade a rest that already contained complete furniture in it. She couldn¡¯t come up with a solution. The closest she came up with was maybe this ¡®rebuild the rest¡¯ quest was only available on the ruined rests. The rests with intact furniture did tend to have larger crystals. Perhaps a phase two quest became available after the rest was rebuilt and that quest was what you needed to do in the intact rests.

    Now as she looked at those new debris piles she wondered. Without the ¡®rebuild¡¯ quest how would a player grow a rest? Could this rest, so close to the surface with its window, be unique? What if ¡®rebuild¡¯ quests yielded different results depending on the starting rest? What other rooms were there that this rest could be turning into? The only thing that came to mind was a gallery. It was the only thing she could think of that contained more than one sofa in it. She wasn¡¯t certain if it was the only option or if she could only think of it because she spent the last couple days looking for one and it was fixed in her mind.

    A gallery wasn¡¯t right. The window was overhung by roots, giving some tangible proof that there was not much structure above this point. Galleries were long thin rooms, with high ceilings, multiple stories kind of high. There couldn¡¯t be that kind of room above this point. Besides, she had seen ruined galleries. The east entrance to Chicago was one. If rests turned into galleries, what were the ruined galleries?

    Her thoughts swung the other way as she considered that Todd and her failed to find any ruined galleries after two days of searching. The two of them could move fast, they covered a lot of ground in those days. Were the galleries she saw when humans first entered the structure just leftovers from the last players to come through? As soon as Control decided they weren¡¯t going to try to reclaim them it took them away? What about Chicago?

    Considering it was the entrance, it was possible the gallery there was continuously occupied for most of the time between discovery and now. Control didn¡¯t like to change things in front of players, look at how this room didn¡¯t change until they left. Control might think someone there was in the process of claiming it.

    ¡°What does Companion call galleries?¡± Grandmother asked Todd. She turned to look at the man and found him cooking. He was roasting a chunk of meat over his portable stove, on a spit he¡¯d put together from some of her ¡®just in case¡¯ components. He was holding a small bowl and was basting the roast with a liquid he¡¯d obviously prepared before this moment. Grandmother was vaguely aware he said something to her a while back, but she couldn¡¯t remember what it was.

    ¡°Do you want me to hum the notes?¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°What is the literal meaning of his words? We gloss over a lot of what he says into the words we use. Otherwise he comes across as some kind of religious fanatic.¡±

    ¡°This is an Alex question,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be too hard on Companion. We call prize altars¡­ well prize altars. There is a trace of religion in there. Give us a couple hundred years and humans will sound like religious fanatics too.¡± Grandmother frowned, as she considered the truth in those words.

    ¡°Alex told me once what the translation was, but I can¡¯t remember what he said. I was hoping he told you,¡± Grandmother explained. She knew this was an Alex question, but he wasn¡¯t there. Todd leaned back from his basting and thought for a moment or two.

    ¡°I think it was something like an association meeting place. Or was it an adventure hub?¡± Todd said.

    ¡°Yes, that sounds familiar. The meeting place of an association of adventurers,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°Do you think this rest is turning into a gallery?¡± Todd asked. He was a smart man and quick.

    ¡°An association hall,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°And maybe, I¡¯m not certain.¡± Grandmother fell silent for a moment, Todd went back to his basting. She realized they needed to keep going. Humans pushed through the dark space too quickly. Grandmother thought they managed to miss most of the content here. These early lessons were important. They were the base rules of the game. Grandmother herself did better, since she did a lot of day trips into the area while returning to the Speedwell at night. She was alone and focused on inscriptions and the spells they described. But by not staying overnight she missed things as well.

    ¡°We should call them ¡®inventory access¡¯,¡± Grandmother announced, ¡°instead of prize altars.¡±

    ¡°That is a more accurate description,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Dinner is about ready.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°After we eat, let''s run down and see if we can retrieve some of the components we left behind yesterday.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Seven

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    The small maintenance robot held a gray structure stylus and ran it across the surface of a sheet of white almost plastic. The sheet was vellum when it was in the structure. Nothing happened when the two items touched. Watching closely, Grandmother was convinced the robot was writing the text she downloaded to it. When the robot reached the end of the page it lifted the stylus free and signaled a second robot. The second robot picked up the ''written on'' sheet and dropped it onto the finished pile, before pulling a sheet off the supply stack and placing it in the writing position.

    This was not the most efficient solution to this problem. A custom printer would have done the job more efficiently. There were even plans in the database for a printer that used pens and not jets or ink dust. The stylus would not fit into that printer without modifications, not to mention the octagonal sheets of vellum. She put modifying those plans in her long term goals. In the meantime she made this quick and dirty solution.

    The two maintenance robots were standard, fresh off the automated manufacturing line. The only thing unique was the flat surface the sheets were sitting on. A series of pegs mounted to it held the stacks and the sheet being written on. It was so simple Irene drew the plans and ran it out of the manufactory in less than an hour. The rest of this solution was software alone.

    Now she needed to take it down to the edge of the structure''s area of influence and see if it worked there. She didn¡¯t know if the stylus would write without a living hand on it, even under the structure''s influence. Something as complex as the robots might not function more than a few minutes under the assault of the structure''s nanobots. She knew she couldn¡¯t turn her back on them. A leash was attached to each robot that she planned to tie to her body in order to keep contact with the machines. It was the technique the mother used in the upper halls of Londontown to keep her possessions from vanishing in the night.

    Grandmother also needed more vellum. The handful of sheets she was using were from a pile of ¡®stuff¡¯ she brought back from the structure over the years. Most of them were already marked with writing, where she made notes in the structure about things she needed to do when she got back to the Speedwell. This wasn''t all the vellum she ever brought back, but the other pieces all contained notes she still wanted to keep.

    She set the robots to their travel configuration. They contracted down to look very similar to small travel cases. She clipped the sheets to the holding plate and the holding plate to the side of one of the robot cases. She slipped the stylus into a pocket. She carried the cases out of the workshop to the main ship elevator. She went down to the terrace level and left the robots in the ship hall, before heading back up to the exercise room on level eighteen.

    Todd was inside, running through a set of stick fighting exercises. His brush with death made him much more interested in mastering the old methods of fighting. Stick fighting was the closest technique to sword fighting that was programmed into the exercise room computers. The wall screens would show an animated version of each move. After the trainee tried it, the computer would playback a recording of the trainee, with the model scaled and superimposed on top. The trainee could see where they matched or missed the move.

    This single person training was considered inferior to group training. So far Grandmother was impressed with Todd¡¯s mastery of the art. She didn¡¯t do half so well when she took the in-person lessons. She suspected her results were partly because of her own lack of motivation at the time and the poor quality of the instruction. Her instructors must have learned the art from this self study method just days before they taught the group.

    ¡°I am going to go out to the boundary and run a quick test,¡± Grandmother told Todd. ¡°Do you want to ride along?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd replied. ¡°I want to check the boundary markers and see if anything has happened.¡± On their exit out of the structure, Todd carried ten short lengths of iron tubing with him. He found out the material was weak after it transformed into its gray version. He ended up only getting six of them pounded into the soil spaced along the edge of the path. The first one he set appeared to be dark iron. The second possessed only traces of dark coloring. The next four were all the flat gray of the almost plastic integrated items turned into outside the influence of the structure.

    ¡°Let me go grab my spear, I¡¯ll meet you at the carts,¡± Todd said as he returned the wooden training stick to the rack on the wall. Grandmother agreed. They both headed to the elevators. Todd took one up to their quarters while Grandmother went back down to the terrace level. She picked up the maintenance robots and carried them out of the Speedwell, across the terrace to the garage. She opened the back of the construction cart she always used and loaded the robots into it. Carts of every size and description were parked in the garage. Everything from heavy construction vehicles to little supervisor relays. Grandmother always drove this same maintenance cart. For the last decade, every time she needed one of the others for a job, she had to fix it first before she could use it.

    Todd showed up still wearing the standard work overalls of the Speedwell engineering team, but carrying his spear. A large knife was strapped to his belt. It was the closest default pattern in the manufacturing system to a sword. Todd¡¯s spear was a flat gray, but the knife was solid steel.

    Grandmother carried an explorer''s knife on her own belt. She forgot to grab a bottle of water on the way out, but she saw Todd carrying his flask. Since they weren¡¯t going into the structure that should hold them. They loaded into the cart and headed out. Todd spent the first ten minutes of the ride shifting the knife on his belt around as he tried to get comfortable in the seat.

    ¡°What kind of test are you running?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I programmed a couple maintenance bots to write with a stylus. I want to see if the stylus still works when not held by a living hand,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°I thought you decided to just print the language primers,¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I did,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°They should be ready by now. This is for something different.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I have a record, a kind of log, on Speedwell''s computer of everything I¡¯ve discovered about how the structure works. It has stuff in there like how your magic color is determined to what the spawn rates of the different item classes are. It is kind of an advanced version of the little magic introduction in the magic books. I could just print it off, but I thought it would be nice if it was written on vellum so it could be copied for sale. I am kind of lazy and don¡¯t want to copy it all over myself,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Can I get a copy?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°You should already have most of it. I sent everyone the appropriate section when we talked about it,¡± Grandmother responded. "I tried to make it into a series of lessons for you. I¡¯ll send you the link to the finished product when we get back. I added some sections when someone on the team asked. If you see anything that needs updating go ahead and do it.¡± They rode along in companionable silence for a while.

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    ¡°If this works, you should think about printing out a human history,¡± Todd commented. ¡°A book with a brief history of Earth and the Speedwell¡¯s journey might help future generations remember where we came from.¡± There were a lot of books Grandmother wanted to print. Everything from the reading primers to advanced astrophysics, but even integrated products wore out. She didn¡¯t see anyone in this generation, either in the structure or the eastern villages, being interested in any of the advanced subjects. Maybe she would print out the reading primers and basic math books.

    Grandmother drove past the storage hut on the top of the ridge and worked her way down the narrow trail beyond. She remembered when this was a road wide enough for a construction cart to drive down. Trees and brush were slowly reclaiming it. She made a note to herself to put clearing the road all the way down on the maintenance cycle. She was surprised when she caught sight of Todd¡¯s marker posts and realized she managed to drive all the way down to the border.

    Grandmother stopped the vehicle and carefully surveyed their surroundings before opening the cart¡¯s door. Todd stepped out on high alert, pulling his spear up from where he stored it for the ride.

    Grandmother pulled the two cases and tied the leashes to her wrist. She walked down past the last marker. The marker looked a little worn. It was only three days since Todd planted it. Its worn state was enough for Grandmother to be certain Control could reach it. Grandmother started by using the stylus to remove the existing writing off the sheets of vellum. The stylus worked perfectly in her hand. Some of the integrated ink was on these vellum sheets for forty years. As she touched the back of the stylus to the surface the ink on the page raced across the vellum and back into the pen, leaving a pristine surface behind.

    As she cleaned the last sheet, she did a quick test of writing. A pure black line was left behind. It cleaned up just as easily as the old ink did. Satisfied she set the vellum into the source stack. She activated the two robots. They unfolded and stood at the ready. Using the small built in control unit, she gave them orders to get into position. She set up the writer with the stylus. Finally she hit go. The robot began to write. No ink appeared.

    ¡°I guess that would have been too easy,¡± Grandmother commented. Todd came over from where he was inspecting the markers.

    ¡°What happens if you touch the stylus?¡± Todd asked.

    Grandmother reset the robot and started it again. This time she reached down and just lightly placed one finger on the top of the stylus. Pure black ink flowed from the stylus. The robot was writing a nonsense passage. Each line of text was smaller than the last. It was a test of how small a stylus could write and still be legible.

    The robot reached the end of the page and withdrew the stylus. Grandmother retrieved her finger quickly, not wanting it to get caught in the movement. The second robot moved the sheets perfectly. The writer began the second test pattern. Once more, Grandmother added her finger to the top of the pen. By the time the robots finished the test patterns, she knew this method was never going to work. She knew her back should be killing her, although the active nanobots in her blood didn¡¯t allow that to happen.

    ¡°Well that worked,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone standing by for a hundred pages.¡±

    ¡°You need to design a system where the pen stays still and the page moves. That way you could sit on it and read a good book while you wait,¡± Todd joked.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said as she thought about that. She considered the design for a printer with a pen that was in the database. It didn¡¯t seem that hard to change which side moved.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea,¡± she said to Todd. She picked everything up and packed it back into the cart.

    ¡°Are we really not going down?¡± Todd said, his eyes looking down the trail in the direction of the structure.

    ¡°That feeling of strength and calm is calling you down,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°It is the nanobots in your blood powering up. The structure is addictive in that way. Going back to the Speedwell will build your willpower.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even feel it,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°No, not anymore. I felt it for years. The weakness and anxiety when I stepped away. I wish I still felt it, then I would be certain that I am still not Control¡¯s creature,¡± Grandmother said to him. Todd turned with a surprised look on his face. He took ten very deliberate steps up the path past the markers. He slipped his spear into the cart and put his hand on his new knife. He got into the cart. Grandmother quickly turned the cart around and headed back to the ship.

    ¡°Is that in your log?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said. She looked thoughtful. ¡°You can add it.¡±

    After several minutes of driving in silence, Todd asked, ¡°Did you add what we learned about rebuilding rests?¡±

    ¡°I was working on that when I thought maybe I should be selling the log as a book. That led me to trying this method for producing it,¡± Grandmother said.

    They spent five days in the structure after Todd¡¯s injury. On the sixth morning Todd was finally able to step out of the structure''s boundary without any visible change to his skin. When he stepped back in and Grandmother cast a heal on him, he experienced no pain. It was a clear indication that his nanobots didn¡¯t think there was anything wrong with him.

    Grandmother originally intended to spend six days at the Speedwell before heading back. Since they¡¯d lost five days waiting for Todd¡¯s injury to heal and playing with the rest, she thought they probably should head back tomorrow.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be too late getting back,¡± Grandmother told Todd. ¡°I think we should head back tomorrow. We can check the rest one last time on the way out.¡±

    ¡°Lets stop on the way in and see if that prize¡­ inventory access is still close to the entrance. You can check to see if you have another portable stove,¡± Todd commented.

    When they built the second set of furniture they didn¡¯t remove Todd¡¯s portable stove with its makeshift spit system before casting the final restore. The stove became part of the rest, fixed to the floor. At least the spit was removable from the frame so that new meat could be threaded on it. Todd seemed very concerned about having to make the trip back without hot food. Grandmother told him she thought she might have another stove in her inventory. Truthfully Grandmother thought there were probably a hundred. When she transferred the larger crafting equipment to Ellen and Sarah¡¯s store, she didn¡¯t include the stoves. There were between fifty and a hundred of all the other large pieces so she didn¡¯t see why stoves would be any different.

    The next day when they returned to the rest after another gathering run, they found the rest expanded again, with a new set of ruined furniture behind the first added set. This set faced away from the first two sets. It was facing a blank wall across the width of a hall. At first Grandmother thought the room punched through into another hallway, it didn¡¯t. Instead the empty section was a kind of foyer into a side room. The side room was accessed through an open doorway with no door. Inside was Todd¡¯s portable stove and spit.

    ¡°This is a lot like the food preparation area in the galleries,¡± Todd said, ¡°only empty.¡± Grandmother looked around the space. It seemed about the right size.

    ¡°You''re right. Maybe we are supposed to fit it out?¡± Grandmother offered. ¡°We could add a tall table for a counter. I can make that sofa table wider easily enough. We can build shelves too.¡± Todd seemed inspired by this idea. He started talking about racks to hang equipment on and equipment itself.

    On their last day in the structure they spend more time gathering kitchen equipment than the components they needed for the most recent set of furniture. They used up most of the small brackets they¡¯d gathered over the proceeding days putting together the counters and shelves for the kitchen. They didn¡¯t stay to see the result, instead leaving as soon as the morning test showed that Todd was truly healed. Grandmother was looking forward to seeing the results.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Eight

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    An inventory access was still in the suite close to the entrance. Todd thought the suite was the same configuration he saw years ago on his first exit. He mentioned it to Grandmother.

    ¡°I noticed that,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°It should have changed multiple times by now. Of course the configuration of the entrance hasn¡¯t changed in all this time either. Perhaps this suite is tied to it?¡± It wasn¡¯t a question for Todd to answer. They picked up the scrap and put all the debris into their inventories. Grandmother paged through her inventory for about ten minutes before finding a portable stove. The inventory access put on a little light show, before the stove appeared. Putting found tools into storage caused them some wear. Grandmother cast a restore on the item before handing it to Todd.

    Todd accepted the stove from her thankfully. He tucked it into his pack with care. He felt completely unprepared for travel without his cooking tools. He knew it was silly, but it didn¡¯t change his feelings. He was relieved to have the stove.

    Grandmother patted him on the back as she led the way out of the suite and back into the halls. They ran up to their rest. The entrance to the rest appeared the same, except for the sound of water. The west wall was pushed back again. The third set of furniture was looking out across a collapse instead of at the old blank wall. Artistically placed I-beams and stone blocks tumbled down from above and from the north wall. Huge roots reached down through the pile of debris and disappeared into cracks in the floor below.

    The floor was below where they stood. There was a small flight of four steps leading into the section. The area under the collapse bowed down even more, leaving a kind of bowl of standing water that if it got any deeper, would drain down the same cracks the roots had taken hold in. Looking up, Todd could see daylight above and feel the movement of air.

    ¡°I think it really opens to the outside,¡± Grandmother commented as she leaned in and looked up. She swung the pack from her back and set it down far enough back it wouldn¡¯t get wet. She grabbed a hold of the lowest roots and began to climb. Todd was left scrambling. He dropped his own pack and with some regret set down his spear. He followed the older woman up. She moved as nimbly up the tree roots as her earthen squirrel climbed the pipes near the south gallery.

    Todd was forced to rely more on strength than agility to pull himself up behind her. The passage up seemed longer than it should be. The window to the outside world was not that far away. It was also a tight fit for him. When finally dragged himself up though the last narrow passage, he found himself among the bulbous roots of a true beast of a tree. Looking up at the massive trunk, he could readily believe it was a thousand years old. Its enormous branches shaded out a large area of forest floor. The branches didn¡¯t have leaves, instead they were covered by a kind of compact green scale.

    ¡°The window should be that way,¡± Grandmother said, from her perch a little higher up on the roots. She started stepping from root to root, heading in the direction she pointed. ¡°Watch your step.¡±

    Todd put one hand on his new knife and followed along. He was being careful to keep a watchful eye out, between checking where he set his feet. He didn¡¯t want to end up falling back down into the rooms below after Grandmother¡¯s warning.

    The relatively flat area they came out in very quickly transitioned into a steep hill, dropping down to the east. Even on the peak of this slope they couldn¡¯t see far because of the heavy forest. The heavy exposed roots made it difficult to walk in a straight line. Grandmother stopped and looked straight down. Todd was walking roughly parallel with her a little to the south. He slowed his pace down the hill when he saw her stop, and turned to work his way back closer to her.

    ¡°That must be it there,¡± she said, pointing down. Todd found a pie wedge cut out of the steep slope. He swung a little farther downslope, before jumping the last couple feet down the flat bottom of the wedge. The window was set into the side of the hill. It was set back about a foot from where Grandmother was standing looking down. The roots they could see dangling down from above were rootlets from the ancestor tree above.

    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s it,¡± Todd said. The sides of the cut looked like they were through native stone. He dragged his foot through the organic debris on the floor of the cut to reveal a smooth stone surface. Its color matched the native stone sides. He walked over to the glass. He couldn¡¯t decide if it was opaque from this side, or just really dirty. He tapped out the restore spell on it. His restore might not be as strong as Grandmother¡¯s but it was strong enough to clean the glass. A phantom wind rose up, blowing everything loose off the surface. A thin layer of water scrubbed the surface afterward, dissolving stubborn clumps of dirt and roots that disappeared by sinking into the glass and surrounding stone. As the glass cleared, Todd spotted the standard push plate for a door.

    ¡°Here is your door,¡± Todd called to Grandmother. The older woman walked down the slope on the top of the northern retaining stone. She walked all the way down before stepping onto the flat section in front of the window. She saw where Todd scraped the dirt layer off the stone patio. She leaned down and cast restore on the stone revealed. Todd closed his eyes to save them from the flying dirt. The roots all pulled up from where they were hanging and braided themselves into a rope that decorated the top edge of the small overhang.

    Grandmother pushed the door open and stepped inside. Todd followed her. The door closed behind them. A quick look at the inside surface proved that it now sported the complex latch that was found on all structure doors.

    ¡°Whenever that happens I always wish I felt the wall before to see if I could find the handle through the illusion,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Well your camera is fresh,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Hopefully it filmed in this direction when we stepped in.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Honestly the collapse captured my attention, I may only have recordings in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of the collapse,¡± Todd said, ¡°I don¡¯t remember that cluster of furniture debris over there.¡± On the other side of the collapse there were now four steps up, a hall width of empty space and a cluster of debris piles. Grandmother stalked through the space and up to the far wall. She flicked a couple light spells up onto the ceiling panel and proceeded to run her hands over the entire surface of the wall.

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    Todd left her to her self appointed task and went to look at the cooking area. The room was transformed. His portable stove grew into the full size version that was in the galleries. In addition the large bowl of water he left on a small separate table, was now a water source. The wall was constructed out of sandstone. A large basin was carved into the stone. He realized the basin was almost exactly the same size as the bowl he filled with water. He insisted they keep looking for an extra hour before he found it. Grandmother was willing enough but Todd knew it was his idea.

    Todd held his open hand facing up over the basin and water began to seep and then flow out of the sandstone above falling to fill the basin. Todd tapped out the pattern to make the water hot. When it was flowing hot he switched to the pattern to make it cold. It was a thing of beauty. He moved to look at the rest of his carefully gathered equipment. What was once a mismatched set of pots, pans, bowls and tankards was now a matched set almost exactly like the equipment in an inn''s kitchen. There was even a set of knives. Todd knew they had not found any knives in their last search. It appeared that he had crossed some kind of minimum and won the full set of equipment. There was a small brewing tank in one corner. Under the counter on the far side of the room there were three temperature boxes. The large central worktable was equipped with a heavy wooden top. The only thing missing was a vendor.

    ¡°You look happy,¡± Grandmother commented from the open doorway. ¡°Is it worth the loss of your stove?¡±

    ¡°Yes it is,¡± Todd confirmed. ¡°Did you find anything?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It looks like a sofa, chair and two tables to me,¡± she commented. ¡°The entire space is starting to look like a gallery. It has multiple furniture groupings, a central display and a food preparation area. Do you think we got the food preparation area because of the stove accident? Or do you think it took the stove because the food preparation area was already on the list?¡± Todd thought about that for a moment before replying.

    ¡°I think we got the room because of the stove. Just like I got that sink because of my bowl of water,¡± Todd replied. Grandmother walked over to inspect the sink.

    ¡°I was afraid of that,¡± she said to him. ¡°I think the next thing we need to trigger is the sanitary facilities. I was trying to think up what could trigger that. Although your bowl of water trick might add the sinks or pools or both.¡±

    ¡°Could we go back to that overgrown facility we found and dig up a plant or take cuttings or something?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Although that makes me think we should ask Harry''s daughter Muriel how she would transplant a toilet.¡±

    ¡°I have a thought about plants,¡± Todd commented. ¡°The plants in the galleries are just a random assortment out of a green. Some of them are edible, but none of them are anything we really like. If we are going to bring in potted plants, I¡¯d like to bring spices and fruits.¡± Grandmother stepped back out of the kitchen and into the main room. She looked around.

    ¡°We have been ignoring the plants, haven¡¯t we? There is also the storage shelves and the prize¡­ inventory access,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I wonder if we set up a loom or anvil if we would end up with a workshop?¡±

    ¡°There is no vendor either. I wonder if the inscription, the vendor and the inventory access are all more advanced quests?¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°We should ask the selkie if they know of a quest to get a vendor or inventory access. Maybe they would be more forthcoming if Companion did the talking.¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I think we need to be careful. If it follows the pattern of a gallery, we will only have seven furniture groupings all together. It took two groupings to get the food preparation room and fit it out. If we want to try to get any other rooms, we only have three more tries to get them, with one left at the end to decorate them,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°For now, we will continue with the plan and head back to Home Square. I want to stop at the north gallery and make some notes. I don¡¯t think I ever really looked at the pots the plants are in. Who knows what else I have missed,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I never paid that much attention to them either,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I am not even certain how many plants are in each grouping.¡±

    ¡°We need to plan out what we want to try and start gathering supplies. You can see about collecting the plants you''re interested in. Talk to Muriel about what she is using for containers. You can ask her about transplanting the toilet plants at the same time,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Will do,¡± Todd acknowledged. ¡°But I am not calling them toilet plants.¡±

    ¡°When you find a better name, tell me.¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I would like to put together higher tier materials for the remaining furniture groupings. I¡¯m interested in if that changes the results. I would like to get bronze or copper structure components. We can stick with wood for the seats but maybe glass or ceramic for the shelves and table tops. I will get together with Alex and see what we can gather.¡±

    ¡°If we are going to haul that much stuff back here through the halls, I¡¯ll look into putting together some kind of transport. Alex has his cart, but I think we will need something bigger, or with a bigger capacity. I will talk to Sarah about what she can do with enchantments,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll also ask Ellen and see if she thinks she could upholster a sofa or chair on site if we brought in the fiber, leather or cloth. I will also work with her to put together as full a set of starting crafting tools as I can. I really like the idea of getting a work room of some kind.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that is possible? The two galleries we have don¡¯t have anything like that,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°I am not certain, but it would be really nice. I¡¯m thinking that the galleries we found are kind of the minimum set, food and waste disposal, at a higher tier. They are just enough to give you ideas. The way the inscription at the south gallery added the transportation room makes me think we could add other stuff.¡±

    ¡°When you say it that way, maybe we just need to piss in a corner to get a sanitary facility to spawn,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°That seems a little crude, although we could try pissing in a bucket,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°In preindustrial times on Earth they made special buckets they called chamber pots they used in the night. I¡¯ve seen them used in Chicago.¡±

    ¡°This food service room is close to a miniature kitchen in an inn. I wonder if we could get bedrooms added?¡± Todd hypothesized.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Beds are rare, but you saw that one in my shop. Maybe we should sneak in there and smuggle it out. There was a bowl of round rocks in Alex¡¯s shop. The rock looked a lot like the stones in Companion¡¯s bed. I wonder if he has found a selkie bed?¡± Grandmother made an almost physical effort to stop her mind from wandering too far down that path. ¡°When we get back, if Sarah is done making the books for Enchanter we¡¯ll go to Seagrass and deliver them. We just have Chicago left on the tour. After that, we¡¯ll come back here before we go to the Speedwell for maintenance.¡±

    Todd agreed to the plan, but reminded Grandmother there was still the coliseum to figure out.

    ¡°At this point, I want to put that off until next season,¡± Grandmother admitted. Todd hoped that meant he was safe from her sneaking off to try it. Although he admitted, puzzles and construction always interested Grandmother more than fighting. She could fight with the best of them and would if it meant protecting those she was loyal to, but she didn¡¯t kill things for no reason. The closer the bears got to looking like thinking creatures the less she wanted to attack. The group spent hours under camouflage waiting for the bears to leave an area.

    At the same time Todd held no doubts that if the first selkie they came across spotted them and made aggressive moves, Grandmother would have killed them. Todd didn¡¯t want to think about what would happen if Londontown came against them.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Twenty Nine

    <h2>Sarah</h2>

    She leafed through the finished book one last time, looking for any changes she needed to do. It looked perfect. She spent twice as much time on the illustrations for these enchantment books than she did on the first ones. Knowing that a copy of each book was destined for Enchanter motivated her to do her best work.

    She added the book to her finished stack. She carefully counted them, twenty four. It was six more than Enchanter was expecting. After Grandmother and Todd left for the Speedwell, she found extra time to work on the project. After she finished the enchantments Enchanter described, she started working on her own list. She pulled that list out and checked off the enchantment in the book. She looked at the next book on the list and decided there was enough time before lunch to start work on it.

    Ellen finally mastered the vellum making magic. She broke it down into four separate spells that could be used to produce a large variety of leathers, including the thin leather, not quite vellum, material that was needed for the covers on notebooks. They were still cutting the shaped pieces out by hand, although Ellen was certain there must be a crafting tool out there to do it. Ellen spent the afternoons making them a huge inventory in blank notebooks. Sarah copied over the starting pages of the enchanting books that were the same onto a stack of them. It was one of these books she pulled out to start on the next enchantment.

    There was a knock on the door. Sarah assumed it was Companion or Alex, delivering the daily haul from their scavenging run. Sarah set down the new book and went to the door.

    ¡°Todd,¡± Sarah said with pleasure when she opened the door. ¡°When did you get back? I didn¡¯t expect you for at least another six days.¡±

    ¡°We came in this morning on the transportation system from the north gallery,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I have the language books for Enchanter and one for you.¡± Todd followed Sarah back into their apartment.

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± Todd said as he got a good look at the interior. ¡°It looks like you went on a shopping spree at the new furniture store.¡± Sarah glanced around. The room sported two chairs, a desk, two bookshelves and two larger shelving units along with the workbench Ellen bought from Alex before his shop opened. The shelves were now loaded with the items that used to live on the floor, as was the top of the workbench and desk.

    Alex¡¯s shop was such a success while they were away to Seagrass he raised all his prices. This didn¡¯t stop Ted from nearly selling out every time they went to visit a square. Alex kept raising his prices, mindful about what Grandmother said about how long it would be before that furniture needed to be replaced. It would work out better if the sale rate was consistent.

    Sarah and Ellen¡¯s shop started out slow, with a lot of lookers and not many sales. They still didn¡¯t have anyone to run the shop while they were out of town so they closed it when they were gone. Sales however were starting to pick up. Surprisingly it was the master craftsmen who were doing most of the buying. The idea of having a reference library for young apprentices to look at was catching on.

    Sarah sat back down in the desk chair after pulling it out so she could still see Todd. She invited him to sit in the other chair. Todd perched on the edge of the chair so that the long knife he was wearing on his belt wouldn¡¯t scrape it. Sarah realized Todd wasn¡¯t carrying his spear. She wasn¡¯t certain when she last saw him without it. He also wasn¡¯t wearing the brigandine. Instead he was wearing the cloth armor he usually only switched out to when his heavier armor needed repair. Sarah decided it must have been an eventful trip.

    Todd opened up the pack he was carrying and pulled out a stack of rectangular books held together with a leather strap.

    ¡°These are the language books for Enchanter,¡± Todd said, handing them to Sarah. ¡°Grandmother constructed them out of the most basic materials available in the hope that if they don¡¯t contain anything technical the nanobots might leave them alone longer. You will need to touch them at least once a day to get the longest life out of them. Remember to tell Enchanter that when you pass them on. The longer life integrated items get in a square doesn¡¯t apply to imported materials.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Sarah said, accepting the stack. She glanced at the cover of the top book. It read ¡®Articulation for the hearing impaired.¡¯ Sarah wondered why that was included in the stack. Looking at the book spines, the rest of the books were more in line with what she was expecting.

    ¡°I also brought you these,¡± Todd said, handing over two copies of the same book. ¡°One is for Ellen,¡± he explained. ¡°They are Grandmother¡¯s notes on the structure. She told me she already sent us most of it in sections. To be honest I never did understand that whole electronic mail idea. I always thought if you want to talk to me just talk. So I don¡¯t think I ever read the sections. She sent me a link to the whole thing the day before we left the Speedwell and I knew I didn¡¯t want to wait until we got back to finish reading it, so I printed out copies. I thought maybe with you being so much younger when we first left the structure, you might not have read it either.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember any sections at all,¡± Sarah admitted. She set the extra books on the desk and flipped open one to a random spot and read a few lines to see if she recognized it. The writing was incredibly terse and dry. It took Sarah a moment to decipher what the words actually meant. Once she figured it out, she was hooked. Some time later she realized she was ignoring Todd and forced herself to stop.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, as she carefully closed the book to stop herself from looking back at it. ¡°Did you know that coins are inscribed with how they were obtained?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me,¡± Todd said. ¡°I haven¡¯t gotten to that part yet. The first section is about how to use your interface. I told Grandmother how to change the setting to make older map sections more transparent and she acted surprised. I started reading her notes and I was completely shocked. I didn¡¯t know anyone figured out that much of it.¡±

    ¡°You can make older map sections more transparent?¡± Sarah challenged.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she already added it to the text before I printed it,¡± Todd replied. ¡°Grandmother was working on a way to print it with a stylus onto vellum so the copy spell would work on it and it could be sold.¡±

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    ¡°Grandmother was working on a project and she left it?¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I am even more surprised by your early arrival.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t have enough vellum,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Besides, we found another project along the way.¡± Todd went on to explain to Sarah about their discoveries at the ruined rest. He ended his explanation with, ¡°So we need a way to transport large items rather quickly. Starting with Alex¡¯s hand cart or something like it, can you work on enchanting it to travel faster and carry more? I know you have a lot on your plate already.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll figure something out,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I finished the books with Enchanter¡¯s enchantments, I was just working on my own. Until we head back to Seagrass I should have time to work on it. I would like a cart to experiment with and I don¡¯t think Alex will part with his.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Grandmother promised to buy a set of wheels from Alex if he has them. We are going out this afternoon to gather the rest of the parts. The cart may evolve over time, since we are looking for something we can haul up and down stairs as well as travel quickly over flat ground.¡±

    Todd left soon after that. He said he needed to talk to Muriel, but didn¡¯t explain why. Sarah prepared herself a quick lunch to take along to her shift minding the store. She left out prepared food for Ellen to eat when she got back.

    She carried her lunch and the two copies of Grandmother¡¯s book down to the shop. Ellen was perched on a tall stool, another purchase from Alex, behind the shop counter. She was turning a crafting tool over in her hands. Sarah didn¡¯t recognize the tool, which was strange considering the number of crafting tools that were piled up in the back room.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°I think it might cut vellum sheets,¡± Ellen replied.

    ¡°Really?¡± Sarah questioned. The tool was long and thin. As Sarah watched, Ellen twisted the end and pulled. The tool got even longer.

    ¡°I think you roll the finished vellum hide into this side and the cut sheets come out over here,¡± Ellen explained, pointing to the appropriate slots. ¡°I suspect there is a series of spells to control the size and maybe even shape of the cut pieces.¡±

    ¡°Where did you get it?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°It was in Grandmother¡¯s inventory. She has fifteen of them, if you can believe it. She told me that low of a count means it is a rare find,¡± Ellen said as she shook her head in disbelief that that fifteen was rare.

    Sarah set her lunch and the books on the counter. She picked up the top book and handed it to Ellen. ¡°Here,¡± she said to her sister, ¡°Todd printed these out on the Speedwell for us. This is your copy.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Ellen asked, accepting the book from Sarah. ¡°User Manual?¡± she said questioningly as she read the cover. Sarah laughed out loud, realizing she hadn¡¯t actually read the title.

    ¡°Who says Grandmother doesn¡¯t have a sense of humor?¡± Sarah questioned. ¡°Todd told me it is Grandmother¡¯s notes on how the structure works. I read a little bit of it and found it fascinating. Remember to touch it everyday or as an import from outside it will disappear, even here in the square.¡± Ellen flicked open the book to a random page and did not look excited about reading the tiny print.

    ¡°Grandmother wants the group to go out and clear some rooms down in tier three space, to get a feel for how tough it is and what kind of things can be found there. I told her we usually keep the shop open until early dinner, but agreed that we would go with her for a couple hours after that,¡± Ellen commented, as she idly leafed through the pages. Most of the book was the same tiny print. Ellen stopped at a page with an image on it. The image was of a warrior in full plate armor. She frowned slightly as she studied it, as if she didn¡¯t recognize the pattern.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°Where are we meeting?¡±

    ¡°At the green gate,¡± Ellen responded, as she closed the book. She stood up off her stool and knelt down. She started gathering items off of the floor behind the counter.

    ¡°What is all that?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°One of every unidentified tool in Grandmother¡¯s inventory. I was just trying to puzzle them out,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°How did she get them if she doesn¡¯t know what they are?¡± Sarah asked, confused.

    ¡°Do you remember when she said we were lucky to have Companion because he could point out stone sculpting tools without us having to try everything in a room at a prize altar? Well it appears that Grandmother has gone that route several times and these are the oddball items she picked up that no one ever wanted.¡±

    ¡°Wow, really?¡± Sarah responded.

    ¡°Yeah, oh and she has stopped calling prize altars that. She is calling them inventory access. It was something about not wanting humans to sound like religious fanatics in three or four generations. I wonder where she gets these ideas sometimes.¡±

    ¡°Well it is a more accurate name,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°How did you get to talking about unidentified tools?¡±

    ¡°She wanted to know what kind of tools would be in a well supplied workshop for each craft. Did Todd tell you about their ruined rest discovery?¡± Sarah replied that he did. ¡°Well I guess she wants to try to spawn a workshop and she hopes a set of tools might do it. Somehow we got onto book making and I mentioned the bookbinder we found but how we were still cutting the sheets by hand. She came back a while later with all this stuff. There is also a bookbinder in this pile somewhere. She only had five of them, making them extremely rare.¡± Ellen was stuffing the tools back into a purple gathering bag. It was pretty obvious it wasn¡¯t going to all fit.

    ¡°Are you sure they all came out of that bag?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°The bags always seem to pack everything so much tighter for Grandmother. You know those huge piles of tools in the back room came out of only three bags.

    ¡°I know,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I told you. Let me see if I can find any bags in the back.¡±

    She was able to find two green bags to help carry the tools. Ellen left carrying all three of them up to the apartment where she could examine the tools closer. Sarah settled onto the stool. She opened the User Manual to the first page and started to read.

    As she read she kept thinking about the enchantment Todd requested for the hand cart. She was deep into the section on the personal interface. She didn¡¯t know that there was a cooldown for tier five and some tier four spells before they could be cast again. There was a setting in the interface where you could add a visible indicator of when the time ran out for each school of magic. The setting came with a warning that if you showed all six, the resulting display blocked your vision quite badly. Suddenly inspiration hit her. Why it hit her at that moment she couldn¡¯t say, since inspiration didn¡¯t have anything in common with what she was reading.

    What if she fixed a really large gathering bag to the top of the cart? They could get Grandmother put everything into it. The bag would respond to Grandmother and pack everything really tightly. She could then enchant the bag to reduce the mass. That way they would have two effects with only one enchant. She could enchant the cart with one of the selkie¡¯s speed enchantments. If she did it right, perhaps one person could push it. Now she just needed to solve the problem of stairs.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty

    <h2>Ellen</h2>

    Sarah and Companion went up to Enchanter¡¯s place, while Todd and Alex were in the inn¡¯s kitchen. It seemed that word of Todd¡¯s Londontown Stout returned to Seagrass square with Ray-Do-So, the portal keeper. The local brewer wanted the recipe. Todd negotiated an exchange. Alex went along to help with translations and to do the tasting.

    Grandmother and Ellen were sitting at the ¡®tables¡¯ outside the inn in the central pond. Or at least these would have been tables back in their square. Here they were stones. The table top was clear of the water, but the seats were almost level with its surface. They were both wearing integrated clothing. Grandmother even changed out her boots for the trip. That turned out to be a very good decision since they were pretty much in the water up to their hips. They both set their gear on the table to keep it dry.

    ¡°How are you doing on figuring out those unknown tools?¡± Grandmother asked. She was watching something in the central pond and didn¡¯t turn to face Ellen when she spoke. Ellen looked out and saw that there were two very young selkie playing in the pond. They swam with grace and beauty and yet somehow still possessed the clumsiness of the very young.

    They hadn¡¯t seen any young selkie on the previous trip. Ellen suspected these two''s mothers were going to be horrified when they realized how close the two youngsters got to the scary humans.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve identified about a third of them. I have some with me. When Alex or Companion is free I plan to visit the stone sculpting shop and try to confirm their use,¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°So they were stone sculpting tools?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Some,¡± Ellen replied. ¡°There was a tool in there to cut leather. It defaults to the vellum sheet pattern, but you can use it to cut other patterns. I have a feeling I haven¡¯t completely figured it out yet. There is also a handheld sewing machine. It is basically the mythical sewing needle. I think I can use it to sew the covers onto upholstered furniture. I really love it.¡± Ellen said. ¡°What is interesting is I can now buy all of them, even the ones I don¡¯t understand from the vendor. I remember we talked about that once and you said you didn¡¯t remember if you could buy them before you found them.¡±

    ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t remember,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I still have problems figuring out what the tools are from the icons the vendor uses.¡±

    ¡°I think the vendor sometimes uses an icon of the real item and not the structure tool. The icon for a loom looks more like the images for hand looms in the Speedwell¡¯s database than the tool,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°But it isn¡¯t exactly the same as those images either.¡±

    ¡°It is probably a loom in the builder''s history. I think a lot of the icons are like that. That is why we can¡¯t figure them out,¡± Grandmother responded. Grandmother got to her feet and picked her pack up, swinging it over one shoulder. ¡°Come on, let''s go shopping.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we wait for Alex?¡± Ellen asked. Ellen asked the question thinking they would need him to help with communications. Although both of them understood selkie, neither of them spoke more than a few words.

    ¡°By now either one of the selkies has healed him, he has dropped dead and Todd can¡¯t face me, or Todd is right about intent and Alex should be alright,¡± Grandmother responded. It took Ellen a second to realize what Grandmother was admitting. The older woman was waiting here in the central pond in case she was needed to heal Alex.

    ¡°I meant to help us talk to the shop owners,¡± Ellen replied. She picked up her own pack, crossbow and quiver and swung them into place.

    ¡°We''ll point and make hand waves and if that doesn¡¯t work I will smile. That usually terrifies Companion,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It will be interesting to hear what they say if they are not certain we understand.¡± Grandmother headed into the first shop past the inn, it was a tailor.

    ¡°Most glorious lesser god have mercy on me. I am but a servant of the master crafter. In what way may I serve you,¡± the sales clerk almost whispered, if a selkie could whisper with their high voices. A distinctive clicking sound was filling the room, revealing the selkie¡¯s fear.

    ¡°We have come to see your goods,¡± Grandmother said in her own language. She stepped forward to a very nice display of cloth bags of every kind. Ellen followed behind.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this sales clerk came to sell us spells,¡± Ellen observed.

    ¡°Me neither,¡± Grandmother replied as she looked over the gathering bags. There were bags in a variety of sizes. Some of them were very large, it made Ellen think of her sister and her latest project. There were complex cloth bags, the equivalent to leather backpacks. Ellen made some of these patterns herself. What Ellen found most interesting was another display of net bags.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t things just fall out?¡± Ellen asked Grandmother as she handled one of the bags.

    ¡°I think they are for gathering things underwater. You actually want the water to fall out,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Ellen said. She continued to finger the bag as she considered buying it. Having one in her possession would increase her chances of revealing the pattern.

    Grandmother moved on to an assortment of wizard silks. Versions in orange, yellow and green were on display. The garments were shorter and wider than what Ellen would have crafted for human shoppers. Ellen noted that Grandmother was very careful not to touch the integrated fabric.

    A second selkie emerged from the back room. They entered at a fast pace, ready to do battle with whoever or whatever frightened their sales clerk. They took one look at their customers and deflated.

    ¡°They just came in and started wandering around,¡± the sales clerk said to the crafter. ¡°They said something in their monotone, but I don¡¯t understand it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± the crafter said. He said the sales clerk¡¯s name but it passed so fast Ellen didn¡¯t catch it. ¡°It will be my honor to serve the god. Go on back and help with the custom order.¡±

    ¡°Did you see this?¡± Grandmother called to Ellen. Ellen turned from the little drama behind the shop counter to find Grandmother looking at something on the side wall of the shop. She joined the older woman viewing a beautiful tapestry that was hanging on the wall. The displayed scene was a selkie in orange facing off against a giant sea monster. The selkie held a huge ax at the ready, while the sea monster¡¯s tentacles reached out to the lone figure with crushing power. The entire scene was underwater, with light filtering down from above, giving the scene a holy appearance.

    ¡°Most of it is made with the primary colors carefully mixed, but I don¡¯t know how they did the light,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°You¡¯re forgetting about the white thread,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Touch it and tell me if it is as soft as it looks. I¡¯d like to, but I am afraid my magic might stain it and that would be a real shame.¡± Ellen needed little encouragement. She ran her fingers across the surface.

    ¡°Actually, it is a little rough. I would say it is made for durability and not comfort. It is definitely a wall tapestry and not a blanket. The weave is exceptionally fine. Even with structure tools it must have taken a long time to craft,¡± Ellen reported.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°Are you interested in the holy work?¡± the new selkie asked. ¡°The image is of the great battle between the saintly warrior Me-So-Ray and the¡­¡± here the selkie sang a series of notes Ellen didn¡¯t recognize.

    ¡°Kraken,¡± Grandmother said quietly to Ellen. That didn¡¯t enlighten her any more than the selkie¡¯s notes since she didn¡¯t know what a Kraken was either.

    ¡°It has been in my family for many years. We are diligent in our care of it,¡± the selkie continued. Ellen could hear the trace of nervousness in the crafter''s voice. Grandmother must have heard it too. She turned to face the selkie.

    ¡°Is it not for sale then?¡± she asked him.

    A soft clicking started up, as the selkie started mumbling something about dishonor and his mother¡¯s wrath. If the god wanted it, consider it a gift, since no value could be placed on such a thing.

    ¡°That is alright,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°I am only looking at it. It is a beautiful piece.¡± She stepped away from the tapestry. Ellen could see the selkie couldn¡¯t decide if this meant Grandmother accepted his offer or refused it. As Grandmother moved to look at the next display, Ellen caught sight of a splash of color on the floor. She leaned down to pick it up.

    Ellen found herself holding a rag doll. The doll was made of orange and yellow fabric, while the miniature hunter¡¯s outfit it was wearing was made of green. What was most interesting was that the doll was clearly human, even with the orange skin and bright yellow hair. It was stuffed with something, but as Ellen squeezed the doll she couldn¡¯t decide what it was. It didn¡¯t feel like fiber scrap, Ellen handled plenty of that in her crafting and thought she would recognize it.

    ¡°Grandmother, look at this,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°Oh holy attendant, please forgive us for any unintended offense. It is but a child¡¯s toy,¡± the selkie almost cried when he saw what Ellen held. Grandmother gave the selkie a sharp glance and turned to see what Ellen held.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell what it is stuffed with,¡± Ellen said to Grandmother. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like scrap. If it isn''t, perhaps we could use it to make upholstered furniture or maybe even mattresses.¡± Grandmother took the doll from Ellen and gave it a squeeze.

    Almost as soon as Grandmother accepted the doll its color began to change. The orange color leached out of the doll¡¯s ¡®skin¡¯, in an almost reverse of what sofas did when Grandmother sat on them. It took moments for the doll¡¯s skin to be the same tan color as rest furniture in the wild. Its yellow hair dulled to a blond. The most surprising thing was the hunter¡¯s greens. The green clumped and separated forming into a complex forest scene. It reminded Ellen of the tapestry in the queen¡¯s suite. She wondered if it was related. Instead of a dozen different animals among the trees, there were only three. They were all the same type. It was with some amusement that Ellen saw they were tiny earthen squirrels.

    ¡°Oops,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I guess I will have to buy it now.¡±

    ¡°I have not seen anything but furniture do that before,¡± Ellen observed.

    ¡°I wonder if it''s because it¡¯s a toy?¡± Grandmother questioned. Grandmother walked over to the counter and held up the doll.

    ¡°What is inside it?¡± she asked the selkie. She poked the doll with her other hand.

    The selkie was almost babbling now. He was saying something about mercy and his nephew.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Grandmother said, clearly in selkie. The crafter stumbled into silence. Grandmother smiled. She made a pinching motion with her hand and pantomimed pushing something into the doll. ¡°What is inside?¡± she said again. She reversed her motion pinching the doll and pantomiming pulling something out. She held her hand up still in the pinched position. She set the doll on the counter and pointed at her pinched fingers.

    ¡°What is inside?¡± she asked.

    ¡°You want to know what is in it?¡± the selkie asked, some sanity returning to his eyes.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said in selkie.

    The crafter sang a word neither Grandmother nor Ellen recognized. Grandmother tilted her head and held her free hand open. ¡°Not know,¡± Grandmother sang.

    ¡°I will get some. Just a moment,¡± the crafter said. He stepped away into the back room. Ellen looked down at the doll on the counter and saw that it now had a face etched on it, all in black, except for the eyes, which were violet.

    The door to the central pond opened and a small selkie came running in. They stumbled to a halt before the two humans, frantically searching the floor.

    ¡°Have you seen my newcomer?¡± the selkie sung in an almost painfully high voice.

    ¡°You must be looking for this,¡± Grandmother said, lifting the doll from the counter. She held the toy out to the child. Ellen noticed that there were two more earthen squirrels on the back, one with red eyes, while the other¡¯s eyes were yellow. Ellen was willing to bet the squirrels on the front bore eyes of green, blue and orange.

    ¡°You made him beautiful,¡± the selkie exclaimed, accepting the doll from Grandmother. Grandmother didn¡¯t smile at the child. Instead she just nodded. The selkie turned and rushed out of the store saying something about showing their friend.

    ¡°Do you think the transformation will last?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°When her mother finds out it will probably become the next family heirloom.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s how they got the tapestry?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°No, he called the selkie in the tapestry a saint, not a god. I think that means they were tier five,¡± Grandmother replied.

    The crafter came back out of the back carrying a roundish brown item. He sat it down on the counter. ¡°This is a¡­¡± the selkie repeated the unfamiliar word.

    Grandmother picked it up and examined it. She handed it to Ellen. ¡°It is a sponge,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I should have expected something like that. They are a primitive ocean animal. So primitive I can see how both Earth and this world could end up with something very similar.¡±

    ¡°A sponge,¡± Ellen repeated. She squished the sponge in her hand. ¡°I think it might work.¡± She looked at the crafter. She sat the sponge down and asked, ¡°Do you have any bigger?¡± She put her hands around the sponge and expanded them out.

    ¡°Holy attendant, you want it to grow?¡± the selkie asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen responded in selkie. ¡®Yes¡¯, ¡®no¡¯, ¡®not know¡¯ these were about the limits of Ellen''s vocalization of selkie. Grandmother managed to say ¡®stop¡¯, but Ellen wasn¡¯t certain she could accomplish the same. She held her hands around the small sponge. She moved them to surround an imaginary larger sponge that sat beside the first sponge on the counter. ¡°Bigger,¡± Ellen said. ¡°Do you have any that are bigger?¡±

    The outer door opened again. This time two young selkie came rushing in. Ellen thought these must be the two that they watched playing in the central pond. The second child came right up to Grandmother and thrust a rag doll out at the tier six player.

    ¡°Fix mine too!¡± the little selkie demanded.

    ¡°What did I tell you about manners?¡± the selkie said in such an old worn way, that Ellen knew he spoke before any actual thought. She glanced over at him and found him rolling his lips together, like he wanted to take the words back, even as he rubbed his flipper-hands together and shifted on his flipper-feet.

    ¡°Please!¡± the young selkie squeaked. The doll grasped in its flipper-hand was also a human. Its skin was yellow and its hair orange. Its green outfit was shaped like wizard silks.

    ¡°Lets see what we can do,¡± Grandmother said, kneeling down to take the doll from the child. Instantly the yellow leached from the doll¡¯s ¡®skin¡¯. The bright orange hair dulled, but stayed recognizably orange. The green of the mini-wizard silks divided and clumped, forming into an open grassland. Instead of earthen squirrels, large butterflies formed. There were two that Ellen could see clearly, one with blue wings, while the second one¡¯s were bright green. She caught a hint of a splash of orange on the dolls far side. She was certain a red and yellow butterfly were on the back.

    Grandmother was softly talking to the young selkie. She asked what the doll''s name was and what game the two children were playing in the pond. The selkie didn¡¯t understand Grandmother¡¯s words and didn¡¯t respond. Grandmother took no offense. The child danced around the toy, watching the transformation with his full attention. She held the doll until a small face appeared on it. It looked like it was drawn on the cloth with a stylus in deep black ink. Except for the eyes of course, which were violet.

    ¡°There you go,¡± Grandmother said when the transformation finished. She handed the doll back. The young selkie accepted the toy. He shifted on his feet and hugged the doll to himself.

    ¡°It''s beautiful,¡± the selkie said, then with a glance at the selkie behind the counter he added, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You''re welcome young man,¡± Grandmother said standing back up, releasing the youngster from her attention. ¡°Go play with your friend.¡±

    They two young selkie rushed out of the room. The second one was singing, ¡°Mine is better than yours!¡±

    They just heard the first one¡¯s response before the door swung shut behind them. ¡°No way, mine has nuisances on it!¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty One

    <h2>Ellen</h2>

    After the children left, Ellen turned back to look at the crafter. He was almost perfectly still. Ellen thought he might be in shock at how close disaster just brushed against his family. She made her hand motion again.

    ¡°Bigger,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°See if there is a tougher version too,¡± Grandmother offered. ¡°A core of firmer stuff, with the softer ones on the outside might work even better.¡±

    ¡°One thing at a time,¡± Ellen countered. Their little side conversation allowed the crafter to gather himself. His large liquid eyes rolled as he eyed the two humans. Ellen could see something click in his head. He blinked.

    ¡°You want a bigger one?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said in selkie.

    ¡°My nephew went and got them for the toys,¡± the tailor replied. ¡°I have very few left, and they are all this size. They grow much larger,¡± he continued. He held his hand up about four feet above the floor. ¡°You can find them as large as this. More commonly they are about this size,¡± he said, shifting his flipper hands to indicate something about two feet in diameter.

    Ellen tapped the counter and then tapped the sponge, crushing it under her hand. ¡°This one is soft,¡± she said to the selkie. ¡°Can I get one that is tougher?¡± She tapped the sponge again and this time when she tapped the sponge, she used much less force trying to show the reaction of a sponge that was harder to crush.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand that one,¡± the selkie replied. Ellen danced around for several minutes trying all kinds of variations of ¡®this one is soft, I want one that is stronger.¡¯ Just when Ellen was about to ask Grandmother to smile at the selkie, he got it.

    ¡°Do you want one that doesn¡¯t collapse as easily?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen sang, with some relief.

    ¡°Just a moment,¡± he said. He went through the door to the back room. He returned with five more sponges. He squeezed each sponge and set it down on the counter in a certain order. Another selkie emerged from the back room. Ellen was beginning to wonder how many were back there. Were their back rooms larger than in Home Square? Ellen only knew this was a new selkie because unlike all the others that wore orange, this one was wearing yellow. Although his skin was browner than the craftsman¡¯s. The children were very brown. Ellen wondered if this meant the new arrival was young.

    ¡°This is my nephew, Ti-Do-Me,¡± the crafter said, introducing the new selkie.

    ¡°Greetings, Ti-Do-Me,¡± Grandmother sang Selkie¡¯s name. Ellen really needed to work at getting better at the notes in names.

    ¡°Why did you want me, Uncle?¡± the younger selkie said nervously.

    ¡°These two newcomers are shopping. They are interested in your sponges. I know you don¡¯t really enjoy tailoring, perhaps there is a business here for you.¡±

    ¡°The sponges?¡± the young selkie said with surprise. ¡°They would pay for them? Can I charge them a lot?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± the crafter responded, ¡°You will charge them what is reasonable. A warning to you, youngling, they understand our words quite well.¡± Ellen knew that calling someone a child who wasn¡¯t one in selkie society was a pretty big insult. Since these two were related it probably wasn¡¯t that big of a rebuke, but it was definitely a chastisement.

    Ellen was squeezing each of the sponges in turn. There were all different shapes and colors. She thought this might be the selection Ti-Do-Me brought for his uncle to choose from. The crafter arranged them from most squishy to least. The last one was so firm, Ellen thought it might actually be a rock. She picked out two and pulled them from the line up.

    ¡°How much for five of each,¡± she asked, ¡°in your two feet size?¡± She danced around making hand gestures as she asked the question. Holding up her fingers to indicate five, and giving the two foot size with her hands. The two selkies stared back at them in silence. Ellen thought they were not understanding that one at all and was thinking about how she could try again. The craftsman nudged his nephew.

    ¡°The newcomer wants to know if she can get those two kinds in the larger size,¡± he said. The boy looked at his uncle with an expression that clearly said, you expect me to talk? The crafter gave his nephew a significant look. That wasn¡¯t exactly what Ellen asked but it was progress.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the boy said. ¡°They both get that big. That one is easier to find than the other,¡± he said, pointing to the softer one.

    ¡°How much for five?¡± Ellen tried again. This time she put her fingers up one at a time and counted along out loud. ¡°One, Two, Three, Four, Five,¡± she said. She pointed to each of the two sponges. ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°You want five each?¡± the boy said.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said in selkie, relieved to be making progress. ¡°How much?¡± she tapped the payment surface on the shop counter.

    ¡°Here,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°This might help,¡± she reached out and dropped a handful of physical coins on the counter. There were about half a dozen iron coins in the pile. ¡°I don¡¯t seem to have any silver on me,¡± she commented, ¡°only bronze and that seems too much.¡± Ellen would say so. Ellen picked up the coins. She set one iron coin down, then moved one of the more common sponges over and used her hand to indicate the larger size. She looked at the two selkies.

    ¡°Is she saying she will only pay one coin?¡± Ti-Do-Me asked his uncle, ¡°Or is it one coin per sponge?¡±

    ¡°You need to ask her,¡± his uncle told him. ¡°Phrase it as a yes or no question. Something like: is that per sponge?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said in selkie. She saw the disappointed look on the young selkie¡¯s face. ¡°Do you want more?¡± she asked. ¡°Two?¡± she sat another coin down.

    ¡°Are you asking me how much?¡± Ti-Do-Me asked Ellen.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said in selkie. Now he looked thoughtful. He glanced at the coins in Ellen¡¯s hand and the two on the counter. He looked at the sponges and then at his uncle.

    ¡°Two coins per larger sponge for that kind.¡± He pointed at the other sponge Ellen selected. ¡°Three coins each for those. Twenty five coins total. You will have to come back for the sponges. I can gather them today, but it will take about six days for them to cure.¡± Ellen was so relieved she didn¡¯t have to try to communicate the time of delivery she smiled. The two selkies jerked back, looking slightly alarmed.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she agreed, before they could retract the deal. She scooped up the physical coins and handed them back to Grandmother. She went over to the net bags and picked out one of the smaller ones. She carried it over to the counter and sat it down.

    ¡°How much?¡± she asked, taping the pay surface.

    Ellen paid for the sponges and the net bag. They would come back in eight days for the sponges, but she carried the net bag out. Ellen really hoped they didn¡¯t throw them away if they were late. She wasn¡¯t certain they would work for stuffing, but she was excited to find out.

    ¡°I told you we didn¡¯t need Alex,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember you doing much of the talking,¡± Ellen responded.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t need to,¡± Grandmother commented, ¡°you were doing so well. Look, the next one is a stone sculptor. We can try your tools on them.¡±

    They got lucky in the next shop. The apprentice on duty at the counter did sell her spells to them. She gushed about every tool Ellen showed her. She talked about inscriptions and inside corners. She pointed out the finished products in the shop where this tool or that was used. At one point she said, ¡°This is the fine version of the multi-chisel. Remember I sold you the spells for the heavy version, they all work on this one too.¡± Which was an eye opener for Ellen and explained why they didn¡¯t see these tools when they bought spells.

    Finally they got to a tool the apprentice frowned at. She turned it over in her hands.

    ¡°I think it is a¡­¡± a word Ellen didn¡¯t recognize, ¡°tool,¡± she said. ¡°Check with Do-Fa-Ti at the¡­¡± another word Ellen didn¡¯t recognize, ¡°across the pond.¡±

    Grandmother bought a stone box before they left. There was a tray inside that lifted out, dividing the space into an upper and lower section. The tray and the space below were both separated into four compartments. It cost ten silver, the rent on a shop for a month.

    Grandmother proceeded to slide it into her gathering bag, not the large one she used for skins either. Technically the mouth of the bag did open large enough for the side of the box to fit in, but it should never have slid in that easily. The bag was not nearly deep enough for the entire box to fit. When she pulled the drawstring tight, the bag looked full, but it did not have the square straining shape it should. Ellen recognized that although it looked like stone it was actually a fully integrated product. The gathering bag compacted it down for Grandmother. Since the box was all empty space inside, Ellen suspected Grandmother could have pushed two or three more in after the first.

    Grandmother fixed the bag to her pack. She swung the pack up on her back like it weighed no more than before, even though the sales clerk showed some effort setting the box onto the counter. Ellen made a note to try to craft a bag with a really large opening but no depth. Maybe they could pack a workbench in it to bring to Enchanter on the next trip.

    They crossed the pond and headed to the shop the apprentice pointed out. They stood outside and looked into the window, but it was hard to tell what the shop sold. The selkie weren¡¯t big on window displays. The pond floor was down from the bottom of the windows, in addition selkie were on the short side. When they looked into the windows they were looking at the floor.

    They two women stepped inside. They found a very small display room. The shop counter ran across the entire space. A selkie in green sat behind the counter. This selkie appeared to be napping. All the goods in the shop were behind the counter on the built-in shelves.

    ¡°It''s a jewelry store,¡± Grandmother said with some surprise. There was not much jewelry among the human settlements. There was some. Grandmother¡¯s amulet, which was actually a camera, never called any attention to itself, since others would wear a beast tooth on a leather thong or a pretty feather on a string.

    Here the amulets were made of metal and cut stones. There was iron, steel, bronze and even copper. The stones were everything from what looked like a chunk of granite gravel, to a brilliantly cut diamond. A lot of the stones were colored by magic, red, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange. Among the amulets were bracelets and even rings. Ellen wondered how the selkie with their flipper-hands could wear them. A closer look at the sleeping shopkeeper revealed a bright copper ring around one tusk.

    ¡°It reminds me of Joe,¡± Grandmother said suddenly.

    ¡°Joe?¡± Ellen asked, ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°We call Joe a woodworker, but actually he has an archery shop. Woodworkers can also make furniture, but he never does. This is like a different version of a metal worker. They specialized in the small. It is also a tiny version of a stone sculptor, mixed together,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I wonder if they do anything.¡±

    ¡°What would you expect them to do?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°They could behave like an enchantment. You know how a leather water flask automatically keeps the water clean and you don¡¯t have to enchant it for that. What if putting on that gravel amulet makes your skin tougher?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting idea,¡± Ellen said, intrigued.

    The selkie snorted as its head lost its fight with gravity and rolled to the side. They straightened up and smacked their lips together. They rubbed their right eye with one flipper-hand. The selkie dropped its flipper-hand and turned to stare at the two humans. They grunted in a kind of doomed acceptance that someone really was in the shop.

    ¡°Show them the crafting tool,¡± Grandmother prompted. Ellen could tell that Grandmother liked this selkie, probably because there was no awe in the person''s gaze, nor was there any fear. Ellen fished the tool out of her bag and set it on the counter.

    ¡°Can you tell me what this is?¡± she asked politely.

    ¡°What?¡± the selkie said. ¡°Do you want to sell that to me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen sang.

    ¡°You want me to teach you how to use it?¡± the selkie countered. This was an unexpected opportunity, and not one Ellen was going to let pass.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she sang back.

    ¡°Ten silver,¡± The selkie counted, a smug look on his face like no one would pay him that. These two newcomers would go away and leave him to his nap. Grandmother slapped a physical oxidized bronze coin onto the counter.

    ¡°Teach her everything you know,¡± she said to him. The selkie picked up the coin and rolled it in his flipper-hand. He peered at it intently as if deciding if it was real or not. Even though Ellen never heard of counterfeit coins, his keen interest in the coin made her wonder if it was possible with the jewelry crafting skills.

    ¡°The apprentice fee is three bronze,¡± The selkie countered, still intent to get back to his nap. Grandmother put two more greens on the counter.

    ¡°Fine,¡± the selkie muttered. ¡°I am too old for a full time apprentice. Don¡¯t come more than once a week,¡± he said. ¡°Once a month will be better. You have tools, you can practice on your own. I am Do-Fa-Ti. Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Ellen-Green,¡± Ellen said, singing her name as Companion did, adding the notes of the color.

    ¡°I can see you¡¯re a green. I am not blind,¡± Do-Fa-Ti said back grumpily.

    ¡°No, Green,¡± Ellen sang. ¡°Ellen-Green.¡±

    The jeweler rolled his eyes at her, his expression pretty much saying she was spouting nonsense. Then surprisingly, he said, ¡°Fine, Ellen. Let''s get started, I got an afternoon nap scheduled.¡± He flipped open the counter access and went back into his workroom.

    ¡°Good luck,¡± Grandmother told Ellen. ¡°I¡¯ll come check on you after lunch.¡±

    Ellen picked up her tool and tucked it into her bag. She stepped through the counter and carefully closed it behind her, before following the jeweler into the back.

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°He¡¯s a thief,¡± Ellen reported early the next morning, after their return to Home Square. ¡°Or maybe a spy of some kind, although I am not certain who he is spying for.¡± Grandmother considered that. She wondered if telling Ellen her own thoughts would put the young woman in more danger or less.

    ¡°Why a spy?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°He understands our language just fine,¡± Ellen observed. ¡°I think he has spent time in one of our squares.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°He is a higher tier than he appears. I would say five. I think one of his amulets is masking his tier. Perhaps even that bit of gravel I was talking about before he pretended to wake up. I noticed he was wearing one.¡±

    ¡°Pretending?¡± Ellen said, startled.

    ¡°His heart beat never altered,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°He showed no surprise at two humans wandering around his shop when he supposedly just woke up. When I requested he teach you all he knew, he countered with that apprentice comment. That was when I decided he understood us. I thought it might be the ring on his tusk translating for him, it still might be, but I¡¯ve had another thought on what it might be doing.¡±

    ¡°Should I be worried?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°He said you were his apprentice, I could hear the sincerity in his voice. I think if anything I should be worried he will steal you away from me.¡±

    ¡°But you''re not worried,¡± Ellen said with certainty.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Grandmother replied, ¡°because you don¡¯t belong to anyone but yourself. You know that. You have always been very clear with your goals. Learn all you can from him. Do what you think is best with the knowledge. Don¡¯t let him force you to make choices you don¡¯t agree with. Don¡¯t let me do that either.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°He may be a spy or a thief. I think he might be retired or on the run. Companion told me the jewelry shop has been there for years. He also said the jeweler is kind to apprentices in a gruff kind of way, but he has never taken one of his own. The selkie do not have the concept of an apprentice fee, which makes me think he may not be selkie,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°What?!¡± Ellen exclaimed.

    ¡°The ring on his tusk,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I think it might be a kind of don¡¯t notice me spell, only much stronger.¡±

    ¡°Do you think he is human?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°There are us and there are the selkie, who knows how many other races have been caught in the game. Or,¡± Grandmother admitted, ¡°he may just be a spy from another group of selkie, there to recruit Enchanter.¡±

    ¡°If that is the case, I should warn Sarah,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°That is probably a good idea,¡± Grandmother responded.

    Ellen headed off to open her shop shortly after that. Grandmother was happy her comment about the jeweler¡¯s heartbeat passed unnoticed. She was listening to it because it wasn¡¯t right. It didn¡¯t sound like a human heart, nor a selkie one. She thought about confronting the jeweler, but decided against it. She would see how he played the game.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Two

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°I guess I just never realized how close Chicago was to Londontown,¡± Todd said as they approached the outskirts.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen it on the maps,¡± Sarah observed.

    ¡°I have,¡± Todd admitted. ¡°The whole time I was growing up it was always described to me as being ¡®far to the north¡¯. I guess some of that stuck with me. They are so close I find it hard to believe they turned out so differently from each other that they went to war.¡±

    ¡°The war was more than just Chicago and Londontown,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°The closeness was part of the problem. It seemed like they were very far apart in the beginning. As the size of the structure began to become apparent and everyone¡¯s children got older, both settlements wanted to expand the area they hunted and salvaged. The first thing they did was hit each other.¡±

    ¡°You never talk about the war,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Her voice was hard. They all fell into an uneasy silence. They were close to the west entrance of Chicago, it was only their second day of travel out of Londontown. It took Grandmother four days to make the trip the first time she traveled this way. She was a much lower tier and unused to traveling in the halls. She was pretty certain Todd and her could run the distance in four hours or less.

    ¡°I made mistakes I still regret,¡± Grandmother confessed. ¡°I trusted people I shouldn¡¯t have. I thought reason would win when it was all about emotion.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t start the war,¡± Alex said with certainty.

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t stop it either. I¡¯ve always thought I could have done more. Whether it is true or not, it is still how I feel.¡±

    ¡°Only a true god can fix everything,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Your failures are just as much proof of your humanity as your successes are. As a son of Londontown, I do not hold you at fault.¡± Alex, Ellen and Sarah gave their own reassurances. The silence that followed was a little less tense.

    ¡°It is just around this corner,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°Sarah, drop all your cloaking spells. I don¡¯t want to surprise them. Companion, stay in the center. There are both red and blue healers here, so stay in your pairs and don¡¯t drink any poisoned beer. Remember thievery is considered an honorable profession, so watch your belongings.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Grandmother,¡± Sarah said in her best little girl voice. Grandmother snorted. The group shifted around, choosing their final positions. Walking into the last three squares in the north went surprisingly well. The occupants already heard rumors from adjacent settlements of Grandmother¡¯s group and the selkie.

    Grandmother was uncertain of their reception here in Chicago. Sometimes Chicago with their sprawling moving suburbs seemed more connected than the fixed squares, but most of the time they seemed more isolated. There were no integrated vendors here and no structure rent. Thinking about how to deal with Chicago was what gave Grandmother the idea of paying in scrap. In this settlement she planned to pay in scrap, fiber, hides, meat, claws, tusks and tools. The tools she brought to offer were not the starter tools that could be found in wildspace. These people lived in wildspace and those tools were common. Grandmother¡¯s group carried the larger tools, only available from the vendor. These were the tools designed to equip a workshop. Ellen made custom bags with large mouths to carry them. Sarah enchanted those bags to make them lighter. Grandmother stuffed the tools in.

    They turned the corner. A set of guards were set up about halfway down the next long stretch of hall, in front of a side corridor. The guards seemed strangely apathetic. They were staring at the blank wall across from them. They didn¡¯t even twitch when Grandmother¡¯s party rounded the corner. Alex closed to within fifty feet before the first guard turned to look at them. The second guard only reacted when the entire group stopped at the entrance.

    They were both men in their late twenties or early thirties. They were wearing leathers with no color. They were armed with black iron tipped spears. The one on the left carried a small round shield made of wood and bound in black iron on his back.

    ¡°What is the purpose of your visit?¡± the first guard asked.

    ¡°Trade,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Where are you coming from?¡± the guard asked.

    ¡°The Heights,¡± Grandmother answered.

    ¡°The Heights has dissolved,¡± the second guard commented.

    ¡°We reformed,¡± Grandmother countered.

    ¡°Your leader must report to the steward,¡± The guard ordered.

    ¡°He died,¡± Grandmother reported. The guard¡¯s eyes looked strangely blank, as if he ran out of script. In the silence the first guard spoke again.

    ¡°You can stay in any open room for a single night. If you stay longer, register with the steward at the eastern gate. Welcome to Chicago,¡± the first guard recited. Grandmother tilted her head in acknowledgement. The group entered the side corridor and started toward Chicago downtown. The guards never once showed any surprise or interest in Companion¡¯s presence.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Alex said, clearly confused by the guards'' behavior. This was the group''s first trip to Chicago. Grandmother avoided it for years now.

    ¡°I hoped it wouldn¡¯t still work,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think it is a bug.¡±

    ¡°A bug?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°A mistake, a flaw,¡± Grandmother expanded. ¡°If we are not from a registered suburb, we have to pay an entry tax. Suburbs pay a standard tax that covers entrance for their traders. Materials coming in from the suburbs are the lifeblood of Chicago. The Heights was a registered suburb, but it dissolved twenty or thirty years ago. Suburbs often move, join and split, so it is easy enough to confuse its actual status.¡±

    ¡°Why did you tell him our leader was dead?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°He was about to ask us our leader¡¯s name. From there it would have snowballed into us owing twenty to thirty years of back taxes. I was way down that path once, when in frustration I admitted the man I named leader was dead. He died three years earlier. I got the same blank response as we got now, then a skip to the end of the entry script. In the years after that I realized the sooner you told them he is dead, the faster you get to the final statement,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°You''re describing those men like they are computer code,¡± Alex said, aghast.

    ¡°It is that kind of odd behavior that makes me worried about humans'' status as players. If you meet those two off duty they might seem fine, or they might continue to behave oddly. It is hard to predict,¡± Grandmother commented.

    It was exactly this behavior that drove Grandmother south, trying to prove that humans weren¡¯t animals. This was why the idea of Sarah hearing a voice frightened her. It was also why her own nanobots being active beyond the boundary terrified her. She couldn¡¯t come up with an explanation for it. Although perhaps Sarah¡¯s voice was part of it, maybe coupled with a drug that made people highly suggestable? She suspected the pleasure response of heal addiction was caused by a drug of some kind. She didn¡¯t notice this controlled behavior happening in the landing generation, only those born inside the structure were susceptible. Most of the time Grandmother tried not to think about it while she stayed away from Chicago.

    ¡°Chicago is the worst affected. Control just does not understand why humans would settle in wildspace. It keeps getting confused on whether they are players or not. I was hoping our progress in the game would have helped their status here. All the northern squares were much improved.¡±

    ¡°What happens to selkie that live in wildspace?¡± Alex asked Companion.

    ¡°They get dim,¡± Companion responded. ¡°The only exceptions are thieves and outlaws. They get crafty and skilled.¡±

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Which was a surprising revelation for Grandmother. For years she tried to deal fairly with the residents of Chicago in an effort to show them a better way. Perhaps she was going about it the wrong way this entire time.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Grandmother said. The group came to a smooth and sudden stop, weapons up and ready to fight. They were now blocking one of the main halls. They were near a door that was marked danger. It was an indication that the room was not occupied. ¡°Let¡¯s clear this room and step out of the way.¡±

    The room was absolutely full of rats. Grandmother was quite certain she had never seen so many in a single room. Considering her age, that was a bold statement. Her group waded through them like they didn¡¯t even notice. They charged in so fast Grandmother was limited in the use of her lightning spells since it was possible for lightning to jump to a party member if they were too close. Instead she cast ice based spells to slow the animals.

    Companion was using the flat of his ax to clear large swaths of animals, while Ellen was taking aimed shots with her crossbow. The bolts were imbued with lightning that jumped to two other animals. This more controlled method kept the lightning from jumping to Companion or Alex. Alex was using group shield to crush the rats against walls. Grandmother was impressed.

    Todd and Sarah held the door. Sarah kept an eye out for anyone approaching from the hall, her hand on her knife. Todd casually bashed the skulls in with the end of his spear on any rats that tried to exit the room to the hall.

    ¡°That was fun,¡± Alex commented when the room finally stopped moving.

    ¡°Keep an eye out,¡± Todd said from the door. ¡°There must be an open access point.¡±

    ¡°That or it is a trap,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Cast cloaking spells and grab anyone who seems like they are coming to gather their bounty. I want to talk to them.¡± Sarah cast camouflage and infrared on herself and Todd. The two of them faded into the wall.

    Alex inspected one corner of the room. Grandmother was amused when he threw a couple intact component pieces out of the area. When he was satisfied the corner didn¡¯t contain any open vents, everyone started tossing the dead rats into it. The pile was impressive.

    The room was actually a suite, with two additional rooms behind two doorless openings. To Grandmother¡¯s surprise there was an inventory access in one of the back rooms. There was an open floor vent in the inventory access room with no grate. That might explain why no one was using these rooms and the number of rats, but Grandmother doubted it. An inventory access inside Chicago was a valuable asset. She rather thought the number of rats somehow spawned the inventory access.

    ¡°Alex, see if you can put together a cover from the components to cover this hole,¡± she said. Alex, with Companion¡¯s help, started gathering up the rest of the intact components in the room.

    ¡°Should I pin the vents?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to stay here, but the inventory access is too good to leave behind.¡±

    There was a blur of motion at the door. Todd appeared as the camouflage spell on him broke. He held his large knife on the neck of a stranger. Todd pressed down on the young man¡¯s shoulder until his knees buckled. That was fast, Grandmother thought. She straightened herself up and gathered her thoughts. She calmly walked to the center of the room. She swung her pack down and freed her portable stool where it was tied to the pack. She set it up and settled her weight onto it.

    ¡°So-La-Do,¡± Grandmother said, singing the pure notes of Companion¡¯s name. ¡°Please take Todd¡¯s position on the watch.¡± Grandmother watched the man¡¯s eyes widen as the selkie passed them. The selkie vanished under Sarah¡¯s camouflage spell moments later.

    Grandmother pulled her own knife. The room lighting was dim. Looking up, Grandmother noted for the first time that only about half the light panels were on. She tossed a few light spells. In the increased illumination she studied the edge of her knife.

    ¡°Tell me why I should let you live,¡± she said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do nothing,¡± the man declared.

    ¡°You creeped up on my man with obvious ill intentions in your heart. You covet my bountiful harvest, well you will get none of it. A man who does nothing is worthless to me.¡± Grandmother said, in her best imitation of a crime boss out of an ancient Earth entertainment, ¡°Your death will be a warning to others.¡± She raised her knife like she was going to signal Todd to kill the man.

    ¡°I have worth!¡± the man cried, as Todd jerked him back just a little. Grandmother realized their visitor was really very young. He was amazingly dirty. That kind of dirt took effort. Even without easy access to water or bathing pools, the nanobots in the structure scrubbed dirt off a person¡¯s skin in a day or three. Grandmother thought this young man was using the dirt to hide the fact that he didn¡¯t have a beard. ¡°I am finder, I can find anything.¡±

    ¡°Anyone can claim anything,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Prove it to me. Name your finder¡¯s magic.¡± He was also too thin. His clothing was a strange combination of cloth and leather. It all showed heavy wear.

    ¡°I can disappear!¡± the young man declared. A series of threats and prideful boasts later and Grandmother got out of him that he knew muffle, don¡¯t notice me and blur. He even demonstrated the casts for her. Todd released the boy and stepped back for the demonstration. A quick hand on the boy''s shoulder when he tried to sneak off under blur brought him back into focus. A finder appeared to be a cross between a spy and a thief. He reminded Grandmother of the jeweler.

    ¡°What should I call you?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Alex,¡± the boy responded. Grandmother was slightly amused. She glanced over where ¡®her¡¯ Alex was standing against the back wall, having emerged earlier from the room with the inventory access.

    ¡°That name is too common. What were your parents'' names?¡± Grandmother countered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know my father,¡± the boy muttered, ¡°my mother was Rose.¡±

    ¡°Well Alex, child of Rose, I am not sure I need a finder. Have you no other skills? Can you craft arrows, spin threads, smelt scrap or cure leather?¡± Grandmother asked him.

    ¡°I ain''t no crafter,¡± young Alex spit out.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Maybe that is what I need you to find for me. I have borrowed a few choice items from an unnamed square¡¯s crafter workshops. I intend to liquidate these holdings. Perhaps you could ¡®find¡¯ for me a few interested parties. I prefer coins, but I will consider other payments.¡±

    ¡°I can do that, mistress. Yes, yes, I can find the richest of buyers,¡± young Alex replied. Grandmother thought she saw a hint of tears behind his relief that he may escape this situation. Her heart squeezed as she thought she may have pushed him too hard. He was very young.

    ¡°Take a couple of those filthy rats with you and trade them for something to eat. You look way too thin. I don¡¯t want you passing out someplace before completing the deal. Todd will find it tiresome to have to hunt you down,¡± she commented, pointing randomly at the rat pile.

    The young man rushed over to the pile. He flicked through the pile as if looking for the best carcass. Grandmother gave him a minute or two, before calling ¡°Hurry it up, I don¡¯t have all day.¡±

    ¡°Yes, mistress,¡± he said, clutching the rats against his body in a strange manner. He turned to rush the door.

    ¡°Alex O¡¯Rose,¡± Grandmother said when he almost reached the door. ¡°One last thing.¡± Todd put a hand out stopping the boy¡¯s progress. Young Alex turned to look at Grandmother, fear clearly visible under the dirt on his face. ¡°Call me Grandmother,¡± she said with a smile. The boy shuddered just as convincingly as any selkie.

    ¡°Yes¡­ Grandmother,¡± young Alex muttered. Grandmother nodded to Todd. Todd retracted his hand letting Alex escape.

    ¡°How many rats did he manage to grab?¡± Grandmother asked Todd.

    ¡°Three,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Crafty and skilled,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Ellen asked, as she stepped from one of the back rooms. She still held vent forks in her hand.

    ¡°I think I have been dealing with Chicago the wrong way this entire time,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I wanted to stop here to talk about it but that little demonstration said it all. In order to keep the humans here human, Chicago needs to be a thieves'' city.¡±

    ¡°A what?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°A city of thieves. The thing is a city is mostly a city no matter what you call it. It is just a matter of vocabulary and posing. How much is a rat worth? If you sell all the parts; hide, claws, teeth, meat?¡±

    ¡°About ten iron,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°So we still owe that boy six iron. When he comes back with a buyer, we need to make sure he gets the opportunity to steal another rat. I thought about telling him to wash his face and letting him steal my water flask, but with the enchantment on it, it is worth far more than a silver,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I understand!¡± Companion sang from under the cover of the camouflage spell. ¡°Three spells, six coins a spell is eighteen. We pay double if you demonstrate it! Thirty six iron is a single silver.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother agreed. She had a distracted thought, ¡°I wonder if Alex is actually Alexa. I noticed he didn¡¯t have a beard. I wonder if all that dirt wasn¡¯t to cover his youth, but her gender.¡± Grandmother wondered if that was why she called him Alex, child of Rose, not son of Rose, was her unconscious mind trying to tell her?

    ¡°Does that matter?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother admitted, ¡°but you got to admire her guts. Add it to the diary, Sarah,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Alex O¡¯Rose, muffle, don¡¯t notice me and blur. Todd if you can take over the watch for Sarah. Let¡¯s get this place cleaned up. I expect we will have visitors soon, both thieves to rob us and black marketeers looking for a sweet deal. We might have to stay a couple days to accommodate everyone.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Three

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°Have ya got any glass?¡± their newest visitor asked. It was just past midday on their fourth day in Chicago. Guards came around the last two mornings demanding they register with the steward. Grandmother pumped them for their spells and ¡®bribed¡¯ them to leave her party alone. They did not have many visitors today. Grandmother was considering heading out, when this visitor arrived.

    The rat carcasses were long gone, used as bribes or stolen. In their place, Grandmother decorated the room with piles of raw materials; iron, steel, fiber, hides, claws. It made the room look like a cross between a stockroom and a dump. Grandmother was sitting on her stool in the center, cleaning her nails with her knife. She was pretty certain it was going to take a month for her nails to recover.

    The visitor was trying very hard to look older than he actually was. Grandmother thought he was probably twenty, but he was making an effort to look like an old man. He walked slowly and moved awkwardly. Artistic streaks of dirt on his face gave the impression of wrinkles, while there was some light colored material mixed into his hair at the temples to make him appear to be going gray. His missing hand was real enough.

    It was starting to feel like everyone was playing a role here in Chicago. Grandmother was so surprised at the visitor''s request she didn¡¯t respond quickly. She studied him like a particularly difficult plumbing leak while working out how she could get more information out of him, while sounding criminal.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I ask,¡± he said despondently, ¡°no one ever has any anymore. It is awful hard making ends meet without me hand. I¡¯m pretty certain I could still run the furnace with¡¯n the other one. Wealthy assholes liked Da¡¯s wine glasses well enough, I figure they¡¯d buy em from me just the same, if¡¯n I could just get the raw material.¡±

    This was way too much information for Chicago. People kept all their information close here. Grandmother considered that most of what this man just said was probably a lie. Very few people lose a hand to an animal and live. She saw injuries like his before, during the war. A blade backed by a force spell can take a limb clean off. The essential part of that description was clean. The shock is actually minimal. The bleeding could be stopped with a simple tourniquet or a tier one heal. There was a chance he could have gotten the wound from a walking bear, but then there was the glass connection.

    ¡°I may have a few broken bits around,¡± Grandmother finally said. ¡°Did you still win in the arena when you lost that hand?¡± The visitor shifted, some of the awkwardness left his movements, but not all of it.

    ¡°No, but that stone bastard was happy enough with my hand,¡± he replied. Grandmother noticed the change in his pronunciation too.

    ¡°What do I call you?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Kai,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Well Kai, which coliseum did you challenge?¡±

    ¡°There is more than one?¡± Kai responded, obviously surprised at that news.

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯ve seen a couple myself.¡±

    ¡°Well I was giving the northern one a go, out past Peking,¡± Kai responded. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain Peking was real. She never visited the square. Any rumors she heard of it could never be pinned down. Grandmother suspected this might be like saying out past fantasy land. This Kai was getting more and more interesting.

    ¡°I am interested in purchasing a set of wine glasses. Perhaps I could be persuaded to part with the little glass I have, if I was certain you could produce a product with it,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°What?¡± Kai asked. ¡°You want to see the furnace?¡±

    ¡°That sounds like an excellent start,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Ellen, we are going on a road trip. Keep an eye on the place while we are gone,¡± she said to Companion, who was on ¡®stand by the back wall and look threatening¡¯ duty.

    ¡°What do you want us to do with visitors?¡± Companion fluted.

    ¡°Just keep them company until I get back. We won¡¯t be long, will we?¡± Grandmother directed this last question to Kai.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s close enough,¡± he responded, his eyes still on the selkie. It would appear he missed her companion earlier.

    ¡°Lead the way,¡± Grandmother commanded, rising from her stool. Kai turned to find Ellen waiting patiently behind him. She was on door watch under the camouflage spell. She canceled it at Grandmother¡¯s call.

    They went out into Chicago. Grandmother kept a careful watch, aware this whole thing could be nothing but a setup for an ambush. Todd slipped away from the door to their room and followed them, with his camouflage spell still in force.

    Kai led them to a shared room. Kai greeted the woman on watch and went to a corner of the room where a leather throw was on the floor. He pulled back the worn leather to reveal a handful of personal possessions and a kind of round ceramic pot with a hole in the side of it.

    ¡°There it is,¡± Kai announced, with a wave at the pot. He picked up a thin metal rod out of his possessions. ¡°And here¡¯s the blowing tube,¡± he said, handing it to Grandmother. She turned the rod over in her hand. It was thicker on one end, with six distinct flat spots on it, five on one side and one opposite. There was an opening on the narrow end but the other end was solid. Even though Kai called it a blowing tube, it was clear you didn¡¯t blow through it. It was magic.

    Grandmother handed the rod to Ellen while she turned her attention to the furnace. She ran one finger over the top of it. It was ceramic and stood on short legs of iron. Grandmother could see some echo of a structure smelter in this article. She could believe this was a glass furnace.

    ¡°Show Ellen how to use it,¡± Grandmother ordered.

    ¡°No,¡± Kai said. ¡°If I do that you won¡¯t need me.¡± I should have seen that one coming, Grandmother thought. It was the role she was playing.

    ¡°A tier three heal, cast once a day for twelve days will regrow a limb,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°What color is your magic, Kai?¡±

    ¡°Is that true?¡± Kai demanded, his remaining hand going to the stub of his arm.

    ¡°You have my word on it,¡± Grandmother assured him. ¡°It is an incredibly painful process. If the pain doesn¡¯t stop you, the itching in between will drive you insane.¡±

    ¡°Without glass I can¡¯t demonstrate all of it. I sold the more common tools; the file, shears and tongs,¡± he mumbled.

    ¡°You admitted you thought you could run it with one hand. You did some experiment to draw that conclusion. Demonstrate it to Ellen,¡± Grandmother countered.

    Kai squatted down next to the furnace. Grandmother stepped out of the way of Ellen¡¯s view. She made eye contact with Todd behind his camouflage and nodded to the hall door. She cast blur and muffle, keeping an eye on the woman on watch.

    Kai showed Ellen how to turn the furnace on and off. The glow of heat that poured out of the pot was the final proof that this was a tool. He went over the blowing tube, admitting that two of them worked better. His monologue on how to use the furnace was almost as wordy as his introduction to Grandmother. He could not demonstrate most of what he said, but his details were convincing.

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Kai said, pushing himself up to his feet. Somewhere along the way Ellen pulled a notebook out of her pocket and was taking notes on what the glass crafter said. She wrote a few more things down before indicating to Grandmother that she was satisfied.

    ¡°Six,¡± Ellen said aloud, ¡°twelve undemonstrated.¡±

    ¡°You never answered my question, Kai,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°What color is your magic?¡± Kai scrubbed his feet against the floor. You could see the defeat on his features. Everything had gone wrong for this man for a long time. She wondered why he showed Ellen the tool, when he so obviously thought the healing would not work on him.

    ¡°Yellow,¡± he said finally. It was a rare color, outside of Home Square.

    ¡°I plan to leave Chicago this afternoon,¡± Grandmother announced. Kai''s shoulders drooped just a bit more. ¡°In order to keep my part of the bargain, you need to come with us. Is there anything you need to do before we go?¡±

    ¡°Go?¡± Kai stuttered. ¡°No, I am free now. Just let me pack up.¡± He dug through his pile one handed and pulled out a battered leather bag. The bag was large with a wide long handle. It was once a quality piece of work, but was now so worn Grandmother wondered how it was holding itself together.

    Ellen twitched at the sight of the thing. Grandmother wondered if it was her need to learn the pattern or her desire to repair it. Probably both, Grandmother concluded. Kai threw his belongings into the bag except for the furnace and the blowing tube. He tucked the tube into the belt of his pants. He rolled the furnace into the leather throw. The bag was slung across his back, with the long handle crossing his chest. He carefully picked the wrapped furnace up with his one hand to cradle it like a baby.

    Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain there was a knife in the sheath on Kai belt. She supposed it didn¡¯t matter since it would be impossible for him to draw the weapon without dropping the furnace. She didn¡¯t see that happening anytime soon.

    They returned back to their rooms to find Companion standing in the open at the door, running one flipper hand across the edge of his ax while fixing his liquid eyes on a very young child who was clinging to the next doorway down the hall.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Any visitors in our absence?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± the selkie fluted. ¡°The youngling there is just curious about me. I should have brought a toy to lose.¡±

    ¡°Companion, you''re a genius. I need to listen to you more often. The tailor at Seagrass made these little human rag dolls. I bet he can make a selkie version,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I really should have gotten some.¡±

    ¡°I might be able to put something together with the odds and ends in my pack,¡± Ellen offered.

    ¡°Nothing too complex,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I do want to leave today. See if you can repair Kai¡¯s bag enough we can trust it to hold his furnace. I don¡¯t want him hampered with a load.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s coming with us then?¡± Alex asked, from where he stood against the back wall on ¡®look threatening¡¯ duty.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°Kai here is a glass crafter. I have promised him a tier three heal once a day for twelve days. He is a yellow, so Ellen and Companion can take turns.¡± She turned to Kai. ¡°Let¡¯s go in the back room and I will get you your scrap.¡±

    <h2>Kai</h2>

    Kai followed the old woman into a back room. A prize altar was set against the inner wall. Kai was surprised to see it. As far as he knew there was only one altar in all of Chicago, and it was under constant guard. She accessed the altar. After the materialization light show, thirty one pieces of glass scrap lay on the surface.

    ¡°That is all I have,¡± the old woman told him. ¡°It is a rare resource in this area.¡± It was more glass scrap than Kai had seen in one place before. A single unit of scrap could produce a half dozen tumblers, mugs or wine glasses. His father hypothesized that larger amounts would be needed to make the pieces of glass armor that the arena dangled in front of them, but only rarely paid out. The royals of Peking did buy the wine glasses, but they held no respect for them. His own desire to rise in the estimation of his mother sent him into the pit in the hope of winning the secret of armor. Instead he lost his hand and was driven from the martial society. His dad slipped him the duffle with the old furnace and smattering of tools, along with the advice to go to Chicago as he passed through the southern gate.

    The trip was a nightmare. What Kai found at the end was nothing like the free society that appeared in his grandparents stories. It was all just a different kind of oppression as layers of strongmen demanded their piece of the action. With his missing hand, the thieves and the guards wanted nothing to do with him. He spent most of his time working as a watchman in shared rooms and gathering tubers in the green to the north. He worked his way through most of the coins in his inventory and was forced to start selling tools from the glass crafting set to make ends meet.

    Kai didn¡¯t know where this old woman¡¯s party was headed. Frankly he didn¡¯t really care as long as it was away from here.

    Kai stepped forward to pick up one of the chunks of glass. He turned it over in his hand. He set the chunk down next to his furnace. Ellen took his bag as soon as he set the furnace down. She disappeared into the other back room. When he turned back to the altar to put the rest of the scrap into his inventory he found six physical green coins stacked beside the scrap.

    It was an insane amount of wealth. He forced himself to pick up the coins and hand them to the old woman. He didn¡¯t understand what the old woman wanted to buy. For that much money it might be his soul.

    ¡°I am not selling,¡± he said. The old woman didn¡¯t accept them.

    ¡°They''re not mine,¡± she said clearly. ¡°There is honor among thieves. I will not have mine fall into question. A bonus for each new spell demonstrated, I promised it in every settlement I visited this year. Put it in your inventory or leave it on the floor. None of mine will touch it.¡± She said this with such perfect certitude that Kai wondered how many of her underlings she killed to obtain that level of obedience. A shiver ran through him at the thought that he was willingly joining her party. His stump ached.

    He sat the coins back on the altar. Honor went both ways. If she thought he earned it, he had. He swept it all into his inventory, both the coins and the glass.

    ¡°Take a seat,¡± the old woman said. ¡°I¡¯ll get you something to eat, it will be a long run later.¡± She turned and stepped through the open doorway, but Kai could still hear her clearly. ¡°Companion, when he is settled, cast a tier three heal on him. Wait until he is sitting. I don''t want him falling over and hitting his head.¡± A high squeaking reply came. ¡°Sarah, do you have a spare water flask with you?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± another woman¡¯s voice responded. ¡°Here, let me take the food.¡± A woman in green stepped through the doorway. Kai slid down against the wall and was sitting with his back to the corner. He wondered if he should stand, when the woman gracefully folded her legs to sit beside him.

    ¡°I¡¯m Sarah,¡± she introduced herself. She looked very similar to Ellen. So much so that Kai could easily mistake one for the other. He assumed they must be sisters. ¡°Grandmother is awful at introductions, except for when she is trying to scare the crap out of someone.¡±

    ¡°Kai,¡± he responded. She handed him a water flask and set down a bundle of food wrapped in a square of integrated violet cloth.

    ¡°Where are you from, Kai,¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Were you born here in Chicago?¡± she queried.

    ¡°No, I was born in the north,¡± Kai responded. ¡°In Peking.¡± The stout gray warrior with the huge ax and white beard came trotting into the room. Sarah looked up at the half-man half beast. ¡°Companion is going to cast the first heal on you. It''s going to hurt like hell. Afterwards you need to eat and drink as much as you can. What tier are you?¡±

    ¡°Two,¡± Kai admitted.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go get you more food. Grandmother likes to run between settlements. It is her new thing. Honestly it is grueling on me and I am a tier three. It is really going to suck for you. As a side benefit it does great things for your stamina,¡± Sarah observed.

    A strange two fingered hand clamped down on his shoulder. A high song rang out and pain shot through him. It colored his world, shooting up not just from the stump of his hand, but from the long scar on his leg and the three missing toes on his foot. He could just hear the high fluting voice of the beastman through the veil of pain.

    ¡°I think you''re right. He looks like he had an injury on his leg too. I would have thought the heal that sealed his stump would have sorted anything less out. It¡¯s a long trip to Ellensburg, you better hit him again.¡± This comment was in Sarah¡¯s kind voice. Just when his pained mind worked out what ¡®hit him again¡¯ meant, he heard that pretty little song. He blacked out after that.

    When he regained consciousness, he was still in the corner of the room. His furnace was still on the floor beside him, the chuck of glass with it. The water flask he was holding before he passed out was sitting next to a pile of food that was on the violet cloth, now spread out on a too clean floor. He wondered why he didn¡¯t notice how clean the room was before. It was abnormally clean. On the floor around him were a bunch of odd shaped gathering bags. Some still clearly contained something, while most were empty. Kai picked up the flask and took a long drink from it.

    A warrior in blue touched leathers came into the back room carrying a pile of steel scrap. He dropped it all on the altar, along with a bunch of other stuff that was already there.

    ¡°Back with us are you?¡± The warrior asked. ¡°Eat up. We are packing up the last of it now. Ellen¡¯s done with your bag, she is working on the finishing touches of her selkie toys. You know they aren¡¯t half bad considering they are the first she ever made.¡± The warrior went out into the other room, leaving the pile of scrap unattended on the altar. Kai wondered if it was a test of some kind.

    He picked up what looked like a travel bar and took a tentative bite of it. He really hated the vendor purchased food. It was one thing he did not miss from Peking. As he chewed the bite his taste buds joyfully recognized that this was not vendor food. His second bite was much larger than the first. His mouth was so overfull, he was forced to gulp water to wash it down.

    The warrior was back, tossing more scrap on the pile. This time it looked like iron. He didn¡¯t even glance at Kai before he headed out the door. When he came back a bundle of skins was in his hands. He dropped the skins on the floor, before calling out the door, ¡°You need to put this all back in your inventory, I am running out of room.¡±

    ¡°Just put it all in yours,¡± came the old woman¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯ll get it back from you later.¡±

    The warrior rolled his eyes at Kai. ¡°She¡¯ll forget you know. I¡¯ll be stuck with all this stuff for months.¡± He flicked the scrap into his inventory and waited for the altar to digest it all. ¡°I¡¯m Alex, by the way,¡± the warrior said.

    ¡°Kai,¡± Kai responded around a mouthful of food.

    They exited out of Chicago through the gallery entrance. The old woman walked along at such a slow pace, Kai thought they were staying the night. She looked at everything; the debris piles, the stone and glass walls, the guards standing vigil at the open door to the ruined sanitation facilities. She ran her hands over the side glass wall that was across from a section of stone wall that was strangely cracked. She looked at the cracks in the stone, tracing them with one finger.

    A big brute of a man rose from his seat behind a tiny little table near the far exit and made a move in the direction of the old woman. Suddenly the larger warrior in crisp new leathers was there, the shaft of his spear blocking the clerk¡¯s path.

    ¡°No need to bother Grandmother,¡± He said in a pleasant tenor. ¡°We will be on our way shortly.¡± The clerk grasped the spear obviously intending to toss it out of his way. Although his muscles bulged, the spear did not move. Reassessing the warrior, Kai noticed for the first time how dark the red touches on the leather were. The clerk seemed to notice as well. He raised his open hands and took a step back.

    ¡°No insult was intended,¡± the man replied, ¡°I was just trying to keep the lady from harming herself on the debris.¡± Kai looked over to find the old woman literally poking at a pile of debris. She paused to look at the clerk, like he was another chunk of broken cement. She looked at his desk and then his chair. She walked all the way around the chair.

    ¡°Alex,¡± she called. ¡°Check out this chair. It is a little small, but I don¡¯t think I have seen this configuration before.¡± Suddenly Alex was there, between the old woman and the clerk while the red warrior was on the other side of the group giving the evil eye to a set of guards at the exit to the hall.

    Finally they reached the other end of the gallery. The group strolled out in a lazy manner that gave lie to the detailed instruction Kai was given before they started out. He kept his position, behind Grandmother and in front of the beastman.

    They turned a corner, blocking the direct view of the guards on their group. A series of masking spells were cast on him. ¡°Let''s pick it up,¡± Grandmother commented. Alex, in the lead, increased his pace. Sarah and Grandmother matched his increase perfectly, keeping the spacing between them exactly the same. Realizing he was falling behind, Kai put more effort into his steps. Somehow the beastman behind him, with his short legs and large flipper like feet, matched this increase in speed without effort.

    The space between Kai and Grandmother was increasing again. They weren¡¯t done speeding up yet. He was stretching his legs and stepping as fast as could. He still was in danger of falling behind. He broke into a run.

    His bag bounced on his back. It felt too light to him. He was afraid he was going to drop it or already had. He put his hand on the strap where it crossed his chest, to reassure himself it was still there.

    Ellen apologized when she returned it to him. She told him she tried her best, but it was too heavily damaged to completely restore. The bag looked new to him. ¡°Sarah enchanted it to reduce the weight,¡± Ellen explained when Kai started to dig through the pack looking for what was missing. ¡°She was working fast so I don¡¯t think it will last more than a week or so.¡± Even after he added the furnace, blow tube and glass, it was lighter than before Ellen took it from him. As they continued to speed up, Kai was more than grateful for the reduced load.

    The gap widened again. No matter how hard he tried he could not catch back up again. A trace of panic ran through him.

    ¡°Bring it down two notches,¡± Grandmother called.

    The leaders slowed, Kai was able to close the gap back up. Once in place he could back off just a little from his top speed. It was such a relief Kai felt like he caught his second wind. Unfortunately it was way too early for a second wind. Now that Grandmother found his speed, the group settled down into a long hard run.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Grandmother called. Kai lost track of time long ago. The agony in his weak leg was inching up his spine. The group came to a smooth stop, all except Kai who was saved by the beastman from running into the back of the old woman. Kai was breathing so heavily he couldn¡¯t thank the beast man. He leaned over bracing his stump and forearm against his legs trying to get more air into his lungs. He was unable to stop himself from puking, but it was just dry heaves. Even though he ate a huge meal right before they left Chicago, his nanobots burned all those calories long ago, healing his old wounds and keeping him moving. He fell to his knees as bone deep fatigue sunk its teeth into him. He was asleep before his body hit the floor.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Four

    <h2>Todd</h2>

    ¡°He¡¯s asleep,¡± Companion reported. He cast another heal on the man. Kai murmured something in his sleep, but did not wake.

    ¡°He was doing so well,¡± Grandmother commented, guilt stained on her expression.

    ¡°I think that was grit,¡± Todd responded. He wanted to mention that even Joe puked after one of Grandmother¡¯s little runs, but decided he couldn¡¯t betray the older man that way.

    ¡°It is probably his leg,¡± Sarah offered. ¡°Companion and I both noticed it was affected by the heal. He must have had deep scarring there, leaving it weak.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I should have realized. He moved awkwardly even after he dropped his old man act,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We¡¯ll take it down another notch tomorrow and give his leg time to strengthen up. We are not as far from Chicago as I really wanted to be before stopping for the night. Can you carry him?¡± Todd looked up and found that Grandmother was looking at him.

    ¡°Yeah, I can take him,¡± he conceded.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Grandmother declared. ¡°Try to get him to drink some water before you pick him up. Companion, can you take Todd¡¯s pack? Ellen, you can take Kai¡¯s.¡±

    They had some success getting water down the sleeping glass crafter. Todd wished he had some broth to feed the poor guy. He would try to make some when they set up camp for the night. They all took advantage of the break to get a drink and a quick bite to eat. They didn¡¯t usually take many breaks. Todd was pretty certain Grandmother stopped for Kai to rest, she just overestimated his endurance or maybe underestimated his grit. The man seemed an odd combination of pessimism and determination.

    When they took off again, Grandmother pushed the speed up. They were running very close to the tier three max. Companion was cheating and using momentum spells. Todd was really wishing he could sing well enough to cast sixth tree spells, but the final sound of two notes at once eluded his abilities. He may be tier four, but he was carrying the weight of a full grown man. Although now that he thought about it Kai was way too light for his size. They needed to feed him up.

    The light panels overhead ticked down a notch in a clear indication of the approaching night. Todd was one with his misery, certain he too was going to puke when they stopped. He kept telling himself that if Alex could carry Companion, he could carry a skinny crafter like Kai.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Grandmother called. Todd forced himself to breathe as he slowed to a stop. He waited for the nausea to pass before he set Kai down. They were in a small rest. They were far enough north that there were shreds of cloth and fiber clinging to the complete if rusty furniture frames. Ellen was deep into the guts of the sofa. Todd knew she was working on how to add upholstery to a component frame. It appeared she was taking this opportunity to figure out how the structure thought it should be done.

    Companion and Alex were on outer watch while Grandmother and Sarah were having a discussion about maps. Todd moved Kai so he was out of the way of traffic. He retrieved his pack from Companion and set up his stove to cook a hot dinner. Grandmother sat down next to him.

    ¡°It will be three days to Ellensburg at Kai¡¯s speed,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Is that a problem?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Not really. Ellen will be a day or two late picking up her sponges, but I don¡¯t see them throwing them out that quickly,¡± Grandmother replied. Todd wondered what a sponge was. ¡°Did you see anything interesting in the gallery?¡±

    ¡°It was too short. It did have seven furniture groupings, but the spaces in between were tight. I know the sanitary facility was ruined, but it was also small. The overgrown plants were pushing forward into the typical pool area. I could see glimpses of the wall tight behind leaves. I don¡¯t think the room was even a third the depth of the room in our galleries,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t notice the sanitary facility,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°But I think the whole gallery was also too narrow. The ceiling was too low for a gallery and only one in four panels were lit. That is a very low functionality ratio even for that section of the structure.¡±

    ¡°I saw you looking at the cracks in the stone wall, what did you think about them?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It reminded me of the cracks in the wall of the upper rest. That rest is located right on the edge. Chicago is not even in dark space. There really shouldn¡¯t be cracks there,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°It feels like that gallery is trying really hard to remodel. I didn¡¯t see any signs of a transportation room or even a food preparation room. I think someone might have told me there was a food vendor there once, but I can¡¯t put my finger on that memory so maybe not.¡±

    ¡°If there was a food vendor, there must have been a food preparation room,¡± Todd observed. ¡°There were guards at the water source, maybe they weren¡¯t that vigilant with the vendor. If they allowed the room to be empty, Control might have used the opportunity to remove it.¡±

    ¡°Well we know if there was a transportation room it was always unoccupied, so the fact that there isn¡¯t one there now might mean very little. When Control decided to start removing the rooms, the transportation room would have been the first to go,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°So what we learned is Control really doesn¡¯t like remodeling occupied spaces, but there are hard limits on the life of a room. Control will find a way to remove it eventually,¡± Todd concluded.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°How are you doing with the plants for the upgraded rest?"

    ¡°I worked with Muriel to get all my plant selections. Right now they are in the planter boxes in Joe¡¯s square. I need to get pots for them. Any container with a drainage hole in the bottom will work, but Muriel told me there are integrated planters in wildspace. They look a lot like any other pottery bowl, but when you fill them with water the water disappears. If you put soil in it afterwards the soil remains moist,¡± Todd explained. ¡°I have three that I or Alex have found on his furniture runs. I need a lot more.¡±

    ¡°You should check the pottery shop in Seagrass. It sounds like something that a crafter should be able to make.¡± Grandmother commented. Todd nodded his agreement. ¡°How about the¡­ plumbing plant?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°As far as Muriel knows no one has ever successfully dug one up. Their roots are incredibly tough and run deep. However she tells me that they are known to occasionally flower. Flowers usually mean seeds. I checked every restroom I could get access to, including most of the rooms during the big ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ test and haven¡¯t found anything that looks like a flower let alone a seed. Muriel suggested taking a cutting but that might kill the source plant,¡± Todd responded. ¡°My plan right now is to try a cutting off that ruined facility we found near the entrance. That and check any plant we come across for seeds.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you noticed the wall was too close to the door in the gallery sanitary facility,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Todd admitted. Grandmother turned slightly and looked over at Sarah.

    ¡°Sarah, how did we do in Chicago?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We did really well among the adults,¡± She reported. ¡°By my rough calculations I think we are near thirty percent participation. We heard from every tier three crafter, and a large chunk of the tier twos. Where we really shined was the participation of the fighters, er thieves. I think a good half of everyone tier one or above tried to rob us. The weakness of this approach was that except for that orphanage next door, we really didn¡¯t get any spells from children. We also missed the really basic stuff from most people, the hot water, cold water spells.¡±

    ¡°That was an orphanage next door?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°How did I miss that?¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t go over to deliver the toys,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Once we realized what it was, Companion managed to forget a couple starter tools in a back room of the suite. I openly donated about half our vent pins after talking to the woman on duty. I guess vent pins are a big expense for them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ I need to think about setting up or sponsoring some kind of training program for the orphans. Something that sounds really vile and criminal but is actually crafting or hunting,¡± Grandmother said to herself.

    ¡°You know Do-Fa-Ti may be able to help with that. The way he inspected that green made me think he knew of a way to counterfeit them. I have been thinking, is counterfeiting really counterfeiting if Control lets you do it?¡± Ellen observed.

    ¡°He was probably reading the symbols to find out how the coin was acquired,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°What?¡± Ellen asked, turning to her sister.

    ¡°It is in the book,¡± Sarah explained.

    ¡°What about the cart for transporting components?¡± Grandmother asked Sarah. ¡°How are you doing with that?¡±

    ¡°I have a version that works well. I think with the amount of stuff we are talking about taking we might need two. I can chain them together for straight runs. I really haven¡¯t come up with a great solution for going up stairs. By using bags and having you do all the packing, we should be able to keep them small enough two people can carry one up,¡± Sarah answered Grandmother. ¡°I don¡¯t think Todd¡¯s plants will be able to go into a bag, so we may need another cart just for them. Todd and I haven¡¯t built it yet because we really need to see the pot sizes first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve gathered enough components in bronze to make two furniture sets. I have steel for the other two. I have enough of the inch and a half wood sticks to do all the couches. If Ellen upholsters one we have extra. I have plates for the chairs. I have plenty of those sculpted wood backrests, but the seats are rare and I sold them all,¡± Alex explained.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± Grandmother replied, ¡°I would rather someone in the square enjoys a rare piece for years then we risk it in an experiment we have no idea will work or not.¡±

    ¡°I have iron and some steel, for all that extra stuff you mentioned. Shelves, tables, workbenches etc. I¡¯d like to get more before we leave. I can put together one or two of each of these, but it sounded like you really wanted to throw volume at this quest,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Have you had any luck with beds?¡±

    ¡°For humans, no,¡± Alex replied. ¡°But Companion has found three selkie beds, complete with the round rock. I have one on sale in the shop, but we can take the other two.¡±

    ¡°All that round rock has got to be bulky,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Just pack one.¡± She turned and looked at Todd. ¡°I think we should take one of these custom bags Ellen and Sarah made for the workshop crafting tools and sneak into Londontown. We can try to pack the bed in my store there into it. We can take it apart to the components and the mattress is really very squishy.¡±

    ¡°I have enough cloth to cover two chairs and a sofa,¡± Ellen volunteered. ¡°I hope I have enough fiber scrap for one chair. When we get back my sponge purchase should be ready for delivery at Seagrass, so I can experiment with them to see if they will work for the sofa. I just need to cut and sew the covers. With that new small hand stitcher, I think I can get the covers on after we arrive.¡±

    ¡°Companion,¡± Grandmother said, turning to the selkie, ¡°I forgot to ask you after our last visit to Seagrass, did you get a chance to talk to Enchanter about inventory access?¡±

    ¡°Inventory access? You mean prize altars right?¡± Companion asked. Although Todd knew the selkie wasn¡¯t using their old name for inventory access but rather the selkie word for the same item. Todd worked out what it might translate to literally.

    ¡°Does that literally mean ¡®window to the true god¡¯s pocket¡¯?¡± Todd asked Alex. Alex was their human expert on the selkie language.

    ¡°That is pretty close,¡± Alex responded. ¡°Opening to the true god¡¯s pocket dimension or universe might be more accurate.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said to Companion, ¡°We are trying to be more accurate in our description. Control¡¯s pocket dimension access is too long in our language, so I shortened it to what we keep in there, which is inventory.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is accurate,¡± Companion agreed, shaking his head in his imitation of the human nod. ¡°Enchanter told me when she was young and traveled in open water, her mother owned a totem. In certain holy places, with the correct ceremony the totem could call an inventory access.¡±

    ¡°And this totem, was it crafted?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Companion responded. ¡°It is purchased from a specialty vendor, very costly. Enchanter knows it couldn¡¯t be used very many times. She couldn¡¯t remember how many. It may be as little as one. Her mother carried the totem for years, never using it, but saving it for an emergency.¡± Companion was digging through his pack as he reported his findings. He pulled out a sheet of vellum. ¡°She gave me a drawing of what she remembered.¡±

    Companion walked over to give it to Grandmother before returning to his post. The lights in the rest were dimming down for the night cycle. Grandmother threw light spells to turn them all back on so she could study the sheet. Sketched on the sheet were multiple views of a large bone. Engraved into the sides of it were a set of symbols Grandmother recognized. They were from the set that appeared on all the physical control interfaces.

    Enchanter last saw this item as a child, but the drawing possessed a fine detail. Grandmother thought they could reproduce it from the drawing alone. The symbols didn¡¯t seem like they were the same as what was on an inventory access. They seemed more like what was on the travel map, but it wasn¡¯t a match for that either.

    ¡°Sarah,¡± she said, rising to her feet to hand the sketch to the younger woman, ¡°Do those symbols look like the ones on an inventory access to you?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Sarah replied after she studied it. ¡°It¡¯s not a match for a vendor either. I wonder if it can call any interface and the ceremony is how you tell it which one.¡±

    ¡°That sounds right,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think the holy place is an indication that you have to pick a spot that is already plumbed for the item you want. You can¡¯t put an inventory access in the middle of a green. If you know an access was someplace before, this totem can respawn it.¡±

    ¡°Holy place makes me think there might be some other way to tell. Have we ever inspected an area after an access remodels? Perhaps there is some indication left behind,¡± Todd suggested.

    ¡°Or,¡± Ellen suggested, ¡°there is another type of item that points to those places. Maybe an trinket of some kind?¡±

    ¡°A topic for the jeweler the next time we are in Seagrass,¡± Grandmother suggested. ¡°Did you find out any information about the coliseum?¡¯

    ¡°I did better there,¡± Companion replied. ¡°Ray-Do-So told me there is one at Whitewater. Whitewater is the selkie federation capital. Many selkie go there to try the true god¡¯s testing grounds. She believes its presence is why Whitewater was able to get the votes to win the capital. She was very surprised to learn there is one by Home Square. She said it is an indication of the true god¡¯s favor.¡±

    ¡°How does it work?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°The true god brings the very walls of the pit alive to test those that present themselves. The difficulty of the conflict is scaled to the challenger and targets your weaknesses. You can challenge it as much as you want, but rewards are only given twice at each tier, one for group conflict and one for single combat. Punishments for disappointing the true god can be severe and include death.¡± Companion said seriously. ¡°Ray-Do-So believes no one under tier three is killed outright in the pit. They can be badly maimed and will die if not treated promptly. Many die trying to reach help.¡±

    ¡°What about tier three?¡± Alex asked ¡°Are they killed outright?¡±

    ¡°They can be, if the true god is very disappointed, but more usually they are just maimed as well. Tier four or above you win or you die,¡± Companion commented.

    ¡°Sounds like it is geared to tier three. If you can¡¯t win at a higher tier, Control is disappointed,¡± Alex observed.

    ¡°Ray-Do-So said there is a legend that occasionally the Tinkerer will come out. When I asked Enchanter she said no, the Tinkerer wanders the under darkness. Both agreed if you see the Tinkerer do not attack it. Instead you trade with it. If it is impressed with your offerings it will challenge you to a kind of crafting duel, where you can learn a new craft.¡±

    ¡°What does this Tinkerer look like?¡± Ellen asked obviously interested in this development.

    ¡°Ray-Do-So said it is metal, while Enchanter used old words I do not know,¡± Companion admitted. ¡°What little I understood reminded me of your little helpers on the Speedwell, with only two legs and two arms.¡±

    ¡°A robot then,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Probably in the builder''s form, like the skeleton in the coliseum pit. Interesting. The ¡®under darkness¡¯ might be pipes or tunnels.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me this before?¡± Alex asked Companion. ¡°We could have been training up.¡±

    ¡°I wait to tell the Elder first, as is proper,¡± Companion retorted. ¡°I was having fun playing thug in Chicago,¡± which was the selkie¡¯s way of admitting he forgot all about his report. The way the selkie sang Chicago almost made Todd laugh. Obviously Companion enjoyed his time there.

    ¡°Kai said he lost in the coliseum, but perhaps someone in his community was visited by this Tinkerer. That might be how his group learned glass making,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°If the blacksmith¡¯s distant relative really did have a piece of glass armor, someone won,¡± Todd remarked.

    ¡°Maybe Kai¡¯s Da made that armor,¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°Although Kai did only mention crafting wine glasses, which must be a starter item.¡±

    ¡°We will have to get Kai to tell us more when he wakes,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°Do you think it is wise to bring him with us back to Home Square?¡± Todd asked Grandmother, as he looked over at the sleeping crafter. ¡°You did pick him up in a thieves'' city.¡±

    ¡°Wise, no,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°But life isn¡¯t all about wisdom, sometimes it is about taking a chance.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Five

    <h2>Kai</h2>

    Kai was feeling better. The nanobots cleaned the mud off his face and the dust out of his hair. His too thin features had a hint of weight to them. Todd was cooking three or four extra portions at every meal and kept feeding them to Kai at each break. The new recruit¡¯s gait steadied. He managed to run all day without puking, tripping or passing out.

    Even his leathers were in better shape, as Ellen got her hands on pieces of them and did quick fixes. She told him with a frown that he needed to bring them in for repair more often.

    His stump was starting to respond to the multiple heals. The early itching was easily ignored under the misery of the run and his exhaustion at the end of the day. Now that he was almost fit enough to do the physical task, his attention turned back to the itch. He carefully rolled the sleeve back from his missing hand, after complaining that the chafing fabric only increased his torture. He kept his injury carefully covered before this as if hiding it would make it go away.

    They were taking a break just outside Ellensburg. Ellensburg was the third closest square to Chicago. They picked it as their exit point because it was in almost the opposite direction of Londontown, where they came from. Alex came over to where Kai was eating his snack and sat down next to him.

    ¡°What is a wine glass?¡± Alex asked. Kai looked over at Alex, surprised at this question.

    ¡°Why do you want to know?¡± Kai asked.

    ¡°Grandmother sent me over to tell you about what we are going to do in Ellensburg. I¡¯ve been wondering for a while what a wine glass is and I just thought this might be a chance to find out,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°It¡¯s a small bowl with a stem and foot on it. You drink fermented juices out of it.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a goblet a metal worker can make,¡± Alex said.

    ¡°It is,¡± Kai responded, ¡°but fermented juices taste better in glass. My Grandmother said wine was a type of fermented fruit juice common on Earth. She is the one who named them wine glasses. I can also make ¡®tumblers¡¯, which are tall cylindrical cups with no foot and mugs which are shorter cylinders with a handle. The mugs are a lot like tankards but they are meant for hot drinks. The handle keeps your hand away from the heat.¡±

    ¡°Hot drinks, huh?¡± Alex said, ¡°Grandmother will like that better than wine glasses. She drinks a lot of tea and not much beer. Can you make anything else?¡±

    ¡°I can do some small things like glass buttons and marbles,¡± Kai said.

    ¡°Marbles?¡±

    ¡°Uh, they are little balls. I¡¯m not certain if they are a real product. I used to play with them as a kid,¡± Kai admitted.

    ¡°Tell Grandmother about them. She has shown an interest in toys lately,¡± Alex remarked.

    ¡°What are we doing in Ellensburg?¡± Kai asked.

    ¡°Oh, yeah, guess I should cover that,¡± Alex replied. ¡°We are going to use the transportation system. Our actual home square is pretty far from here and it is a lot faster to travel this way. If you want the technical details you need to read the User Manual. If I tried to explain it I would only confuse you more. The key thing is you have to be at least tier four to actually see it. Todd or Grandmother will drag all us lesser beings through. Just don¡¯t panic when you go blind and walk in whatever direction they tell you or push you and you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°What about my bag?¡± Kai said after a moment or two of thought.

    ¡°Just wear it across your back like you have been. No one has ever lost anything going through and Companion carries that ax of his in his hand. I¡¯ve noticed that Todd and Grandmother both sling their weapons, but it isn¡¯t required,¡± Alex explained.

    ¡°Not many people know about the transportation system. We¡¯ve been keeping it to ourselves for now, but I don¡¯t think that will last. First thing Grandmother did after giving Joe his square was grant him access to the system. I think we''re mostly keeping it quiet because it is just easier that way. Anyway we will enter the square under conceal. We will essentially be invisible and muted. It even masks the opening of doors or gates as we move through, as long as someone under the spell continues to touch it. Just don¡¯t touch anyone or make any kind of attack and we will be completely undetectable,¡± he explained.

    ¡°All right,¡± Kai said hesitantly. Alex was trying hard to make this activity seem like nothing, but Grandmother sent him over here to explain it. That indicated it was a little more complex than Alex was admitting. He didn¡¯t know what to think about that ¡®gave Joe a square¡¯ comment. He decided he would just let it slide.

    ¡°Hey, you survived the coliseum, this is nothing,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kai asked.

    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Alex replied. ¡°Tell me about your challenge. I have been dying to hear about it.¡±

    ¡°I lost,¡± Kai replied, not wanting to delve into the memories.

    ¡°The selkie say the walls come alive and try to kill you. What does that look like?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°I thought you had an arena?¡± Kai replied, surprised at this odd comment. It was like Alex had never even been in the audience for a challenge.

    ¡°Oh we do, but Grandmother is still thinking about it. She really doesn¡¯t like it when people die doing stupid things. She told everyone we could go try it if we want, but honestly no one is going to do it until she gives it a go or Todd does,¡± Alex explained. Kai was completely confused by that. He was always worried when people blindly followed a leader, but was not going to your death in the arena blindly following a leader?

    ¡°When you step to the center and touch any part of the skeleton or prize, a figure emerges from the wall.¡± Kai explained. He decided to just give a generic description of all the challenges he saw in his youth and not give any details of his own failure. ¡°It is constructed of the same stone as the wall and is taller and thinner than a human. It has a blank stone face, but it can see clearly enough. It can be armed with any integrated weapon. If it comes out unarmed it is a pure magic fight, and that is the most dangerous,¡± Kai detailed.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°What is the best weapon to use? A hammer to break the stone?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°It may look like stone, but it isn¡¯t exactly. Sometimes a blade will cut through it like butter, other times a hammer bounces off like it is made of steel. Usually it is immune to your strongest skill. As a sword fighter I would assume the golem that comes for you will truly be stone,¡± Kai replied.

    ¡°So is it better to fight it as a group?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°It is easier because the group''s strength is probably not your strength, but the rewards are less too,¡± Kai replied.

    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Grandmother called.

    ¡°Remember just go where you''re told and don¡¯t attack anything,¡± Alex said, as he rose to his feet. Kai shoved the last bit of flatbread into his mouth and washed it down with water. The flask was never empty, but no one ever filled it. He got to his feet and very carefully slung his bag across his back, making sure no part of it touched his stump.

    ¡°Ready,¡± Kai admitted, falling in behind Grandmother. They took off at a near run. The slow speed up was a thing of the past. Kai was surprised when they kept to a sane speed. About five minutes later a cloaking spell was cast on him. He didn¡¯t recognize the spell. The border of the icon in the corner of his vision was black, meaning he could not dismiss it.

    The group slowed to a walk. Alex must have made the decision at the lead, since Kai heard no orders. As Kai rounded the next corner he saw why. They were approaching the back door of a square. The two guards were leaning against opposite walls in the hall. Alex approached at a calm walk. He swung the gate open and held it for Sarah. Sarah took the gate and Alex continued on into the back hallway. Grandmother took the gate from Sarah. When Kai reached the gate, Grandmother told him, ¡°I¡¯ll hold the gate, go ahead and wait with Alex and Sarah.¡±

    Kai continued on into the hall. Alex and Sarah seemed to materialize out of thin air in front of him. They were both standing close against the wall so that if anyone came down the hall they wouldn¡¯t easily run into them. Kai joined them, still confused at what was going on. Grandmother came up the hall next. She headed directly to a spot a little farther on than where the three of them waited. She disappeared into the wall.

    Kai jerked in surprise. His two companions turned to look at him. They seemed more worried that he was going to do something rash than with the fact that an old woman could walk through walls. Companion arrived followed by Ellen and finally Todd. Todd followed Grandmother through the wall. A minute later, Grandmother stepped back out of the wall.

    ¡°Kai, come over here.¡± Kai glanced at Sarah on one side of him and Companion on the other. They both looked perfectly calm. When Kai approached Grandmother she put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t panic in the dark. It is just temporary, your sight will return on the other side.¡± With this last warning, and a surprising strength, she dragged him forward through the wall.

    As promised, everything went black. He went willingly in the direction the pressure on his shoulder moved him. ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°perfect, now just step forward.¡± She gave him a gentle push on his back. He stepped forward. Light flashed across his vision. The nudge came again and he took another step. Another hand caught his arm. Luckily it wasn¡¯t his stub or the touch would have started the itching again.

    ¡°You''re through, just step forward so you''re out of the way,¡± Todd¡¯s voice said. Grandmother said his sight would return on the other side. Except for that quick flash, he still saw nothing but darkness.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see,¡± he said. There was a slight tremble in his voice.

    ¡°Yeah, it scared me too. Didn¡¯t seem to bother Alex at all. Here let me guide you outside, but just wait in the hall until someone else comes through to escort you. My uncle is the head guardsman here and he always gets itchy when he sees a new face,¡± Todd said. The warrior guided him across a short distance and suddenly his vision returned. He found himself where he just was, in the hallway of the back entrance of a square. This hallway was empty. A different set of guards were looking at him down the passage. The cloaking spell on Kai was gone.

    Todd stepped out of the wall behind him. ¡°This is Kai,¡± he called down to the watching guards. ¡°He¡¯s with me.¡±

    ¡°We were expecting you back a couple days ago,¡± one of the guards called.

    ¡°Grandmother picked this one up and his running speed just isn¡¯t up to Harry¡¯s standards,¡± Todd called back. The guards laughed and turned their attention back to the wildspace. ¡°If Harry arrives before Alex, just tell him you''re waiting for Grandmother,¡± Todd said before disappearing back into the wall.

    Kai stood close to the wall across from the spot Todd disappeared. The sounds of an active square were drifting down the hall toward him. The guards were talking about buying a book now that ¡®the girls¡¯ were back. An older man turned the corner and entered the hallway from the square side. A frown appeared on his face when he spotted Kai. Kai thought this must be Harry. Alex stepped out of the wall.

    ¡°Harry,¡± Alex called in greeting, ¡°have you met Kai, yet?¡±

    ¡°I just arrived,¡± the older man announced.

    ¡°Kai, this is Harry. He is head of the guards and watches over the square in Grandmother¡¯s absence,¡± Alex said, introducing the old man. ¡°Harry, this is Kai. Grandmother has promised him a tier three heal at least once a day for twelve days. She says that will regrow his hand. Kai is a yellow, so Companion and Ellen are taking turns.¡±

    ¡°Regrow a hand huh? That would have been nice to know,¡± Harry commented. ¡°Welcome to Home Square. How did you lose your hand?¡± That was fast, Kai thought. It usually took people a while to work themselves up to that question.

    ¡°I lost a match in the arena,¡± Kai said.

    ¡°He means the coliseum. There is one in the north,¡± Alex added.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Harry said with a nod. ¡°I see why she brought him.¡±

    ¡°That is only half of it, Kai here is a glass crafter,¡± Alex reported.

    ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± Harry responded.

    Sarah stepped out of the wall. Neither Harry nor Alex even blinked, but the guards at the other end of the hall straightened up.

    ¡°Hey Sarah, do you think you¡¯ll get the shop open today?¡± one of them called.

    ¡°Maybe later,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°I have some unpacking to do.¡± She turned to look at the three men. ¡°Why are we all standing around?¡±

    ¡°Todd told me to wait for an escort,¡± Kai reported.

    ¡°Alex, take Kai over to the inn, and get him something to eat,¡± Sarah said. She walked past all of them and headed up the public stairs to the housing levels above.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you need an escort,¡± Alex said, rubbing his head. ¡°Come along, I could use a beer. You can tell me more about the coliseum. At your tier you better stay away from the Stout, it might kill you. Grandmother wouldn¡¯t approve.¡± Alex led the way down the hall and across the courtyard. Harry was close behind Alex with Kai following after.

    ¡°You¡¯ll probably want to get a room. At least for a couple days,¡± Alex commented. ¡°I¡¯m going up to drop my stuff off in mine. I¡¯ll be back down in a minute.¡± Kai watched Alex take the steps up two at a time, as he wondered how he was going to pay for a room, then he remembered Grandmother¡¯s bonus.

    He paid for a room and meals for two days. He almost paid for longer, but when he asked the innkeeper if she thought Grandmother would stay here for the next eight days, she told him, ¡°They come and go so often I wouldn¡¯t make any kind of bet on that. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they rolled out of here tonight, or stayed for the next thirty six days. I hope they stay for a couple days at least, I¡¯m running low on the Stout.¡±

    His room was identical to any other inn room he ever stayed in. He was given one on the first floor of rooms, which was unusual. In Peking those rooms were reserved for royals and their knights.

    Kai paused at the top of the stairs on his way back down into the common room. He could hear the high singing voice of the beastman¡­ selkie. He appeared to be regaling the common room with a tale, since his singing was interrupted by exclamations from human voices saying things like, ¡°No, really?¡±, ¡°What happened after that?¡±, ¡°They tried to steal a workshop anvil?¡±. Everyone sounded like they were in good spirits.

    Kai glanced at his stump, wishing he could cover it up. It was a strange reddish-purple color. Just looking at it made it itch. With a deep breath, he walked down the stairs and into his new life.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Six

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    ¡°When Kai¡¯s hand is healed, we¡¯ll head back to the Speedwell for the maintenance cycle,¡± Grandmother told the group. They were gathered at Grandmother¡¯s table in preparation for the trip south to Seagrass. They were planning on leaving late that night. They were trying to time the trip to arrive at the south gallery at first light. ¡°Make sure you tell your contacts it may be three months until we return.¡± Harry joined them along with his second youngest daughter Muriel.

    ¡°What are the plans for next season?¡± Ellen asked. ¡°I want to spend more time with Do-Fa-Ti if possible.¡±

    ¡°I want to tour selkie settlements,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°and get a measure of the toughness of the coliseum and its rewards. So I see us splitting time between Home Square and selkie lands. Along with your commitment of time for Do-Fa-Ti, Companion and Sarah still need to teach Enchanter our language and transcribe her enchantments, so we will be spending more time in Seagrass as well.

    ¡°Which reminds me, Sarah, how are you and Companion doing on learning written Selkie?¡±

    ¡°Companion is much better at it than I,¡± Sarah admitted. ¡°Being a fluent speaker helps. I¡¯ve copied everything Enchanter has shown us. I think with Companion¡¯s help we can program the computers on the Speedwell to read it.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, although it makes me think I should have outfitted you with a camera. Really all of us should probably have one. I¡¯ll put that on my list,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Kai,¡± Grandmother said to the crafter who was doing his best to disappear behind the bulk of Companion, ¡°what are your plans after your hand heals? Do you want to stay here or head back to Peking?¡± The poor man looked shell shocked. Only two days had passed since their return from Chicago but a lot had happened to him. Todd and Alex dragged him out onto scavenging runs in the mornings, telling him it would distract him from the itching.

    Ellen set him up with a little workshop area in her shop''s largely empty back room. In the afternoons while Sarah watched the shop, she talked him into crafting one of everything he knew while she watched and took notes. When he mentioned needing a tool Ellen dug through the piles of loose crafting tools in one corner to find it. Slightly offended at the disorganization, he spent the evenings sorting out the items and making a count. He was surprised to find out all the tools belonged to Grandmother and were being sold on consignment.

    ¡°Peking?¡± Kai echoed. ¡°No, no, I won''t be heading back to Peking. I will be staying here,¡± he said with a finality that indicated a deeper rift between the man and his Home Square than he admitted to.

    ¡°You are welcome to stay here in Home Square, but I know Joe is actively looking for crafters for the odd square. Since it is still mostly empty there is plenty of opportunity there,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Has Joe named his square yet?¡± Todd asked Harry. ¡°If we keep on calling it the odd square that will be its name soon. That or Joe¡¯s place.¡±

    ¡°No he hasn¡¯t, but I warned him,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°You named this square Home Square,¡± Alex responded, ¡°but you warned him?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t name this square anything,¡± Harry countered. ¡°I left that for Grandmother to do when she returned.¡±

    ¡°So I named it Home?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Harry responded. Grandmother just shook her head, as if she couldn¡¯t believe this nonsense.

    ¡°What do you think Kai?¡± she asked the crafter.

    ¡°Odd square seems like a perfectly valid name to me,¡± Kai replied. Everyone laughed. ¡°I haven¡¯t actually thought about it,¡± Kai admitted. He was NOT itching his stump, while hovering his hand over it. ¡°Could I go out to the Speedwell with you? My grandfather told stories and I would like to see it at least once in my life.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°No one¡¯s ever wanted to go before.¡± She thought about it. The eastern villages were all almost completely self-sufficient at feeding themselves. They still relied on the Speedwell for the production of some materials and health care. The villagers wouldn¡¯t approach the ship when they weren¡¯t there. Part of the maintenance cycle was visiting each village and transporting those that needed treatment to the Speedwell and back. The villagers were all nanobot free, so taking them down to the structure entrance and casting healing spells on them didn¡¯t work.

    One more person at the ship wouldn''t cause a noticeable increase in the load on its systems. As it was now most of the harvest ended up as compost three years later and was automatically spread on the fields. The windmills were only running at a quarter capacity most of the time. Low use and steady maintenance kept them in prime condition. There was housing on the Speedwell for ten thousand in flight. It would be easy enough to open more of it up. Grandmother thought for years that they should at least spread out across the floor they were on, instead of all bundling together into a single unit. The data, power, water, and sewer systems could not be cut back to supply just a single unit, the smallest shut off point was at the floor level. Using the rest of the housing units on the floor was as easy as rekeying the doors.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to go too,¡± Muriel said. ¡°Todd asked me to help transport his plants to your upgraded rest and see about taking the cutting from the composting plant. I¡¯d really like a chance to see both the Speedwell¡¯s automated fields and the subsistence gardens in the eastern villages.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I can¡¯t think of any reason why not. We will be traveling fast, and you¡¯ll have to keep up. I will warn you that the transition out of the structure''s area of influence can be tough on the first timer.¡±

    ¡°She warns them,¡± Ellen said to Todd in a stage whisper.

    ¡°She must like them more than us,¡± Todd whispered back.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t a vacation, we will be doing maintenance on the ship. You will be expected to do your part, even if it is just carrying stuff and handing someone else tools.¡±

    ¡°I still want to go,¡± Muriel said stubbornly. Kai thought about it more.

    ¡°Will there be time to learn some Earth history?¡± Kai asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I will consider successfully completing courses through the ship¡¯s educational system equivalent to doing maintenance work.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Yeah, I want to go,¡± he said.

    ¡°Do you want to go with us to Seagrass or to the Speedwell after, Harry?¡± Grandmother asked. She knew he would come up with some excuse to stay. Harry didn¡¯t like leaving his square behind. He saw it as his duty to keep its people safe.

    ¡°No,¡± Harry responded. ¡°Me-So-Ray keeps sending gourmets through to taste the Stout. Someone has to be here to push them back or we will soon be overflowing with them.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°That is an expensive trip for a beer.¡± At Harry¡¯s serious assurance that it was true, Grandmother considered. ¡°Are there any more tier fours in the square? Have any of your lieutenants broken through?¡±

    ¡°None of my people, no, but I have three I think are close. There are six crafters and one woman who calls herself a hunter,¡± Harry reported. Warriors were people who went out, gathered resources and fought animals with mostly imbued magic. Hunters were people who did the same without magic. Which made it entirely impossible to be a tier four hunter, unless of course the woman''s definition of hunter was different.

    ¡°Well it is a little late, but let''s try to gather them up today and see if they are interested in helping out with the transportation system management. I guess eventually we¡¯ll need a full time watcher, like the selkie have. If they are interested, I¡¯ll take them with me to the south gallery and activate the system for them. That means we will need to leave a little earlier than I planned.¡± Harry agreed to get them together as soon as he could. He warned her the hunter was probably already out in the green so he might not find her until late. Grandmother looked around at everyone.

    ¡°Am I forgetting anything?¡± she asked. ¡°Are we ready to go?¡±

    ¡°We need you to pack the workbench for Enchanter,¡± Alex reminded her. ¡°It is in the back of my shop.¡±

    ¡°I will swing by before departure,¡± Grandmother promised. ¡°Since Kai wants to come with us, let''s move up our departure to the Speedwell.¡±

    Soon after everyone departed to make last minute checks for the trip not just to Seagrass but for their rest upgrade experiment. Grandmother remained sitting at her table sipping her tea from the glass mug Kai gifted her. It was the sample Ellen talked him into making. Grandmother thought Ellen convinced Kai to give it to Grandmother because she thought it would be great advertising for the product. The only problem Grandmother could see with it was that it turned violet if she held it too long.

    The outer door opened and an entire group of crafters came in following Harry. There were four women and two men. Four of them wore green and two were in blue.

    ¡°Here they are,¡± Harry announced. ¡°They were all in their shops, so it was easy to find them.¡± Grandmother was a little taken aback. She meant for Harry to ask them if they wanted to help with the transportation room. She expected only the ones who were willing to show up tonight for the transit. Looking at them all, she realized she hadn¡¯t really talked to any of them before. She patronized their shops and sold them raw materials, but she didn¡¯t know them as individuals. She always worked through Joe to understand the needs of the crafting community. She needed to replace him.

    ¡°Thanks Harry,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Everyone take a seat. Harry, I''d like you to sit in with us if you have the time. I have a couple things to discuss with everyone.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Harry said, sitting down in his usual seat.

    ¡°Now that Joe has decided to move to the new square I want to make sure all of you know you can talk to me anytime. If I¡¯ve done something that you don¡¯t agree with or it hurts the crafting community, I want you to come forward and tell me. If I wasn¡¯t just being stupid for no real reason, I will tell you why I did it, and I will listen to your suggested alternatives,¡± Grandmother told them. Everyone in the group was younger than Joe. Joe was thirty five, he was second generation, or the first generation born in the structure. Todd, Alex, Ellen and Sarah were all third generation. Grandmother thought one or two of this group might be second generation, but four of them were solidly third.

    ¡°Any of us?¡± one of the women asked. Grandmother realized she was the woman who ran the meat shop. Grandmother never considered butchering a craft. She thought of it as a skill like Todd¡¯s cooking. If the woman was tier four however there was something there she was missing. She would ask Sarah to go over and interview the butcher later.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°If there is something you want that you can¡¯t get without my help, feel free to ask me. Just remember my help isn¡¯t free, just like the products in your shops aren¡¯t free.¡±

    Crafters are the heart of any settlement. Just like the scavengers and hunters were a settlement''s gathering hands. Both parts were needed for a square to work. The vendor supplied a kind of bare minimum replacement for each half, but the quality of the citizens'' lives suffered when you depended on it too much.

    ¡°I want to say a couple things about order. The guard is in charge of policing. If there is any crime; theft, assault, murder he is responsible for finding the culprit. In the past for more serious crimes, Harry and Joe would work together to decide the offender¡¯s punishment, with me giving a final approval. I want something similar to work in the future, only Harry¡¯s vote, as head of the guards will be worth the same as all of yours. It might be easier just to elect a single representative from among yourselves to work with Harry, but I will leave that to you to decide,¡± Grandmother explained.

    She always thought of Harry as head of the guards as the representative of the scavengers and hunters. His organization provided fighting training to those who wanted to brave the wilds. Working as a guard was a part time position, supplemented with scavenging, hunting or gathering in the green. Harry¡¯s mention of the tier four hunter as a separate entity from the guards made Grandmother wonder if she was missing input from a portion of their society. She would have to think about that.

    ¡°Now do any of you have any questions for me?¡± Grandmother asked them. She answered questions from around the table. Most of them were about if she planned to put taxes in place. She didn¡¯t. They wanted to know if there would be more trade with the selkie. Grandmother said she hoped so but she didn¡¯t control the selkie. Would there be war with Londontown? She hoped not, but she didn¡¯t control them either. Would she stop people from moving to the new square? No, she couldn¡¯t control where people chose to live. She hoped some of the crafters would go. The new square¡¯s different geography would result in a different set of goods and services. Those differences would encourage trade between the two squares and profits for all.

    They didn¡¯t ask about the coliseum and she wondered if these crafters were even aware of it. She thought in time people might travel to the square to challenge the arena. This square would become heavy in armor and weapon production. A team of level three healers could make a tidy profit regrowing limbs. The odd square with its access to above might become mainly food production and woodcraft. Especially if Muriel was successful with her farming.

    ¡°There is one other thing. Harry is the only one here who can run the transportation system when Todd and I are away. I don¡¯t like that. The selkie are accustomed to sending tier three and lower through the system and expecting someone on the other end to catch them and send them back. In an effort to encourage trade between our peoples I want to set up a rotation for the duty. If you are willing to accept responsibility for a rotation I will unlock the system for you. If enough of you agree it shouldn¡¯t be too much of an inconvenience to any of us. If there gets to be enough traffic, we can name a transportation room watcher. I believe the selkie pay a fee to have a tier four push them through. I will allow the watcher to charge the same amount they do.¡±

    ¡°How much is the fee?¡± One of the men asked.

    ¡°It is scaled by tier,¡± Harry said. ¡°The tier three¡¯s pay me a silver, the two pay eighteen iron. I have never had a tier one come through. Following the pattern it would be nine iron for them. I don¡¯t know if they charge for children at all or if it is free.¡± The crafters all looked at each other. It wouldn¡¯t take many travelers to make good money for a lot less work. Grandmother wondered if any of them might change professions.

    They all agreed to take part in a rotation. They would meet in the back hall of the square at about midnight for the trip south. Grandmother could see in their faces that some of them were already working on how to get invited to Seagrass itself. She decided that was fine. Joe looked around Seagrass, so it was only fair these other master crafters got the chance too. The more the two groups mixed, the less the chance of war.

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Seven

    <h2>Grandmother</h2>

    The workbench was disassembled and ready to put into its bag. Ellen carefully measured the top and made a bag that held slightly more volume, but in an easier to transport shape. Since the top was solid, she wasn¡¯t certain even Grandmother¡¯s tier could make the volume smaller.

    Grandmother slid the ceramic workbench top into the bag with little effort. The bottom of the bag was clearly not wide enough for the top, but it filled up like it was filled with sand. The edge of the top was still visible in the bag opening. It held its shape, making the piece look like a bar that narrowed down, and thickened up to a sand bag.

    ¡°Can you push it in further?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Grandmother said. She grabbed the visible edge and pushed it down toward the bottom of the bag. Ellen was impressed with how far Grandmother¡¯s hand went in. The top edge of the bag went floppy. ¡°Should I tie this off, or do you want to try to put the rest in?¡±

    ¡°Can you tell if there is any room left?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d say there is about a third left,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°That should be enough room for at least some of it,¡± Ellen responded. Grandmother slid the bag over to the pile of parts and started packing them in. The entire pile went in without a hitch. Grandmother closed the opening, and handed the bag to Ellen.

    Ellen staggered under the load. Grandmother made it look really light. The bag was enchanted to reduce weight, not remove it. Ellen swore she could feel the bag straining to explode in her hands. She handed it back to Grandmother. ¡°Why don¡¯t you carry it?¡± she said.

    Grandmother laughed at her. She took the bag back. It settled down at her touch, as if it was happy. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain if this strange overpacking was a result of her being tier six. She was overstuffing bags for decades. She wasn¡¯t certain when they started holding more, but she was pretty certain it was before tier six. She could remember the bags struggling with non-integrated items, like hides and apples back at tier three. Todd at tier four looked shocked at her gathering bag¡¯s struggle with the cougar hide. Grandmother didn¡¯t really notice until she saw Todd¡¯s reaction. It made Grandmother wonder what other kinds of ¡®perks¡¯ you could earn.

    She remembered how Ian could sense the presence of an integrated weapon without seeing it. He would react to its presence even before an attack began. Irene thought it was a spell at the time, but if it was a spell she¡¯d never found it. Perhaps that was a perk too.

    She picked up the bag and started back to the inn to drop it off with the rest of her gear. It was evening, heading into night. The overhead light panels decreased their light by a tick.

    ¡°Harry said you want to talk to me,¡± a rough woman''s voice said. Grandmother saw the woman standing by the entrance to the inn, but she didn¡¯t really focus on her. She was wearing hunter¡¯s greens with a beautiful bow slung over her shoulder. She carried a day pack, a water flask and a knife on her belt. ¡°I¡¯m Betty.¡±

    She was second generation. Even in the darkening light Grandmother could see that the green she wore was discolored. Betty was a tier four.

    ¡°You must be the hunter,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Betty responded.

    ¡°Can I ask why you consider yourself a hunter and not a warrior or a scavenger?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like small rooms, I don¡¯t dig in the dirt gathering tubers and I don¡¯t fight other men,¡± the woman declared. ¡°I hunt in the green. That is what I am, a hunter.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Do you mind if we sit down? My bag is heavy.¡± Betty waved her consent. Remembering Betty¡¯s statement about small rooms, she went over to one of the inn¡¯s ¡®outdoor¡¯ tables and sat. Betty settled down next to her. Grandmother set her bag down at her feet.

    ¡°You might not be interested. I am looking for people to help monitor the fast travel room. It would mean leading selkie in and out of the travel system. The room is rather small,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Why are you offering this to me?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°You have to be tier four to control the system. You are tier four.¡±

    ¡°But I am not one of you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. You hunt in the green and do business in the square, how are you not one of us?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t live here,¡± Betty declared. ¡°I¡¯m not one of your group. I¡¯m not a crafter of any kind. Even that old boar Joe has moved to get away from me. Why would you want my help?¡±

    Grandmother saw it then. The odd square was for this woman as much as it was for Muriel. Joe took on the odd square because of its open sky, because of this woman.

    ¡°Oh, no Betty. I think Joe moved for you. Forget about the transportation system. I don¡¯t think that is what you are supposed to do. I think you should go to the new square and help Joe run it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried,¡± the woman said forlornly. ¡°I can take it for an hour or so, but it is just too far to the next green. I am stuck here.¡±

    ¡°Have you talked to Joe?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Betty said. ¡°What can I say to him?¡±

    ¡°Talk to him, he can take you there through the fast travel system. It takes less than an hour. Let him show you his square. If you don¡¯t like it you can come back here, the trip back is just as fast. You are one of us Betty. I will always welcome you in my square,¡± Grandmother assured the woman. ¡°Actually I think you should come with us tonight. I will give you your own access to the travel system. Being able to use it without help will be good for you. You can help Joe manage his travel room.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Betty said.

    ¡°Bring all your stuff. We may be gone for some time, especially if you decide to go on to Seagrass with us. If you have your belongings stashed in a tree somewhere I don¡¯t want it disappearing on you before we get back.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Betty said again.

    ¡°Think about how surprised Joe will be when you show up at his new square,¡± Grandmother said. She rose to her feet picking up her heavy bag. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you here at midnight,¡± she said to the woman before heading off into the inn. She didn¡¯t know if Betty would show up or not. She really hoped the woman did. At the door to the inn, Grandmother paused and turned to give Betty one last glimpse. There was an angry stubborn look on Betty¡¯s face. That didn¡¯t bode well. Grandmother suddenly remembered what she said to Todd about Kai. ¡°Life isn¡¯t always about wisdom,¡± she called back to Betty, ¡°sometimes it is about taking a chance.¡±

    A little after midnight Grandmother came down the inn stairs fully loaded for travel. The workbench bag was strapped to her pack. She thought it managed to suck its gut in just a little more when she pulled the straps tight. She smiled at it and called it a good bag. She was a little grateful she was still in her room at the time and there were no witnesses. She chuckled a little to herself as entered the common room.

    Todd was waiting by the service bar. His spear was in his hand and his pack at his feet. He fell in with Grandmother as she passed him. It was obvious he was wondering what amused her.

    A nervous looking figure was waiting in the courtyard next to the inn¡¯s outside tables. Betty was carrying a beat up leather bag that was really too small for all one¡¯s possessions. Grandmother wondered how long it would take for Ellen to get her hands on it.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Hi Betty,¡± Todd said from beside Grandmother. Absolute proof from Grandmother¡¯s point of view that Betty was one of them. ¡°Are you going to help us with the transportation system?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Betty is relocating to OpenSky, where she will assist Joe,¡± Grandmother announced, before Betty could respond.

    ¡°OpenSky, did Joe finally name his square?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Let¡¯s get going, I don¡¯t want to be late.¡± She set one hand on Betty¡¯s arm and nudged her forward. Betty fell into step beside Grandmother.

    Grandmother walked over to the square¡¯s crystal where she laid a hand against it. The crystal flooded with a violet so dark it was nearly black. Todd touched the crystal next, turning it a dark red. Grandmother looked at Betty, who shrugged her shoulders and touched the crystal. It was flooded again with dark red.

    Grandmother smiled and led Betty to the back door. The corridor was packed with people. Grandmother already forgot how many people they were taking through. She turned to the hunter.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you wait here Betty, where it isn¡¯t so crowded,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Todd and I will head on up and see if we can¡¯t get this line moving.¡± Betty nodded her head in agreement.

    ¡°Make way,¡± Todd called as he began pushing his way past the waiting crowd. Grandmother followed after him. As she stepped past the last person in the line she saw it was the butcher. The butcher turned and caught sight of Betty.

    ¡°Hey, Betty,¡± the butcher greeted the hunter. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were going on this trip.¡±

    ¡°It was a last minute decision,¡± Betty replied.

    ¡°Have you gotten any more of those spotted songbirds?¡± the butcher asked.

    Grandmother didn¡¯t wait to hear the response. She stepped into the transportation room, and started sending people to the south gallery.

    ¡°Where is Betty?¡± Grandmother asked, after the butcher stepped through.

    ¡°Betty?¡± Harry asked. He was helping speed the line by bringing people in from the hallway. ¡°Did she find you? I told her you wanted to talk to her, but she wouldn¡¯t come with me to the inn.¡±

    ¡°I talked to her. She is going to move to OpenSky and help Joe. Check down the hall in the square. She doesn¡¯t care for tight spaces much.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that,¡± Harry responded. ¡°When we came south looking for a new place, she was already here in the green. Joe ran into her hunting. She told us about the potential square. We would probably have found it eventually, but her directions made the trip easier.¡± Joe went out into the hall and headed down to the square. Grandmother leaned out to see if he found anyone.

    ¡°Your turn,¡± Harry said to Betty.

    ¡°I am not sure about this,¡± there was a vulnerability in her tone that she didn¡¯t let Grandmother see. Harry must be a friend.

    ¡°It is a quick trip. Grandmother will take care of you. She has never let me down,¡± Harry told Betty.

    ¡°She says it will take me to Joe. That his new place was made for me?¡± Betty questioned.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it, but you know she is right. It really bothered me with all that openness, but you will love it,¡± Harry responded. Grandmother ducked back into the departure room. She didn¡¯t think she was supposed to overhear that conversation. Minutes later Harry was guiding Betty into the room.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the darkness,¡± Harry was saying to her as he led/dragged her in. ¡°Right this way.¡±

    ¡°Just step over here,¡± Grandmother said. She turned the woman around to face the glowing portal. ¡°Now just take a couple steps forward. I will be right behind you.¡± Grandmother gave Betty a gentle push. The woman stepped through. The light went out.

    Grandmother picked up her own pack and swung it on. She ran her fingers across the map interface selecting the southern gallery. The portal lit back up again.

    ¡°Take care of Betty,¡± Harry said. ¡°Something bad happened to her. I don¡¯t think it was Control that was responsible. Whatever happened to her was all human done.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye on her. I hope having a way to travel without having to face the halls will help her feel less trapped. I¡¯ll send her on to Joe. Make sure he knows she is coming,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°I will,¡± he said.

    Grandmother stepped into the portal.

    Betty was in the gallery, her back against the wall. Her eyes were looking up at the high ceiling above. Although stressed, she didn¡¯t seem panicked. Grandmother wondered if she was still under the influence of the travel drugs. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew this was going to be the tricky part, but Grandmother didn¡¯t know how to give someone access to the system without the use of this inscription. It was a problem since inscriptions always changed eventually. A quick glance showed that this one was still holding firm, but Grandmother knew it wouldn¡¯t last forever.

    Her group, Kai and the master craftsmen were wandering all over the gallery. Companion was stretched out on the round rock at the base of the inscription, looking very close to being asleep. Todd stepped out of the transportation room behind her.

    ¡°How do you want to do this?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Let''s start with Betty here,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯ll share the decrypted inscription with each of them. You can take them into the departure room and show them how to send someone on. Get Alex over here to show how to use someone else¡¯s map and not their own.¡± Grandmother had a thought. ¡°How is Harry getting the selkie to navigate their map?¡±

    ¡°There is a ¡®return to origin¡¯ option. Me-So-Ray told each selkie how to do it before he sent them. Harry¡¯s been watching. He told me how they do it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see that, when you have a chance,¡± Grandmother commented. Todd just smiled at her.

    ¡°Should I send them on to Seagrass or back to Home?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No, just show them how it works. We¡¯ll then have them wait in the gallery. We will all go on to Seagrass together after. Except maybe Betty. She may want to go to OpenSky. If she wants to go there, go ahead and send her. I¡¯ll pay you back.¡±

    They worked their way through the group. Grandmother made each of them touch the crystal in the rest, before she decrypted the inscription and sent them in to Todd. She was surprised when Betty came back out of the departure room, since it was an indication that she decided to go on with them to Seagrass.

    ¡°I am not certain what Ray-Do-So is going to think of this,¡± Todd observed, as they got ready for the final hop to Seagrass.

    ¡°Alex, I hate to do this to you, but Companion will be tied up with Enchanter and you are our only other selkie speaker. I need you to follow the crafters around and try to smooth things over,¡± Grandmother told Alex.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Alex responded. ¡°It sounds like fun.¡± Grandmother couldn¡¯t imagine that being fun, but Alex did like meeting people.

    ¡°Ok everyone,¡± Grandmother called. ¡°I am going to send people on to Seagrass. This is the last time I¡¯m going to pay for the trip so make sure you touch the crystal while you are there.¡±

    ¡°What about going Home? Do we have to pay for that?¡± one of the craftsmen called.

    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯ll send you back this evening. The selkie would never forgive me if I left you all there,¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°Everyone meet at the travel room at first dark and I will pay for your trip home.¡± Grandmother didn¡¯t mention to them that as owner of the Home crystal the trip was actually free for her. It wouldn¡¯t be free for them, so that was the money they were saving. Todd went through first, followed by everyone under tier four. Grandmother made the tier four¡¯s help guide them through. Finally all the crafters went through. Betty and Grandmother were last.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to go to Seagrass?¡± Grandmother confirmed. ¡°I can send you on to OpenSky if you like.¡±

    ¡°No, I came this far. I want to see the ocean square,¡± Betty assured Grandmother. Satisfied, Grandmother activated the transport. Betty walked through under her own power.

    Grandmother found Ray-Do-So and Companion waiting for them in the square. The Elder was shifting on her flipper-feet and rubbing her flipper-hands together.

    ¡°Who are all these?¡± Ray-Do-So demanded.

    "Do you not recognize them from your trip to my square?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°These are my shopkeepers and crafters that are tier four. I don¡¯t have a dedicated transportation room keeper. I hope to share the duty among them until a keeper can be found.¡± Companion translated her response for the selkie square elder.

    ¡°There are a great many of them,¡± Ray-Do-So said nervously.

    ¡°I sent Alex along to help them negotiate prices with your shopkeepers,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Alex?¡± the elder said with some alarm. ¡°Do they drink beer too?¡±

    ¡°Darkness, I forgot to warn them about the beer,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Don¡¯t translate that,¡± she said to Companion with some alarm.

    ¡°Alex knows very well how dangerous it can be. I¡¯m sure he will say something,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°Where did Kai go?¡± Grandmother asked, suddenly remembering her other newbie.

    ¡°Kai went with Ellen, to help carry her purchases,¡± Companion fluted. The selkie elder was looking annoyed as Companions words made it clear they were having a conversation that was not being translated for her. Grandmother thought Kai should be safe with Ellen. Really at tier two he was the one most in danger. The tier fours would probably live without intervention. Probably.

    ¡°Ok, translate this,¡± Grandmother said to Companion. ¡°I may have failed to warn the new visitors of the strength of your beer. I would be grateful if your innkeeper could keep an eye on them.¡±

    ¡°So they do drink beer. I will warn the innkeeper,¡± the selkie elder responded. She looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°The brewer will be happy. She has a new one she wants Todd and Alex to taste.¡±

 A Lesser God: Chapter Thirty Eight

    <h2>Grandmother and Todd</h2>

    She was sitting on a light chair on the terrace outside the upper rest. It almost felt like home. Not Home Square, but her other home, the Speedwell. When she was younger she liked to sit on the eastern terrace and watch the sun rise. It was early afternoon, but the light filtering down through the heavy trees was pretty. There was a slight chill in the air. Grandmother thought it might be early winter. Spending too much time inside the structure made her lose track of the seasons.

    At one time she tried to run the structure during the winters and go back to the Speedwell for the agricultural season. As the automated systems stabilized, she started spending more time at the Speedwell in the winter, doing maintenance while the agricultural equipment was offline. The mining and refining equipment and the automated manufacturing were next up for the maintenance rotation. No particular season was better for that work than another.

    When all the crafters were ready to go back to Home Square, Grandmother almost panicked when Betty wasn¡¯t with them. She found the hunter watching the selkies swim back to their square in the evening light. ¡°They are so free,¡± Betty told Grandmother. Grandmother offered to go with Betty to OpenSky, but the proud woman refused. Grandmother told her how to find the outer door in case no one was there to greet her.

    After they got back from Seagrass she made a quick trip over to OpenSky to check on Joe. The square was surprisingly busy. A number of store fronts were already occupied. Joe went on about Betty like he was a teenager. The hunter herself was out on the surface. Grandmother didn¡¯t bother to wait for her to come back in. It was clear to her that the situation was working out just fine.

    The last few days were hectic as they ran salvage runs in the tier three space below the square. They sought out arcades and searched them for specialty vendors. They didn¡¯t find one that sold totems, but to Todd¡¯s delight they did find one that sold plant containers. His search of Seagrass¡¯s pottery shop did not yield any. When questioned the potter said he could make them, but he didn¡¯t have any on hand since there was no demand. Todd didn¡¯t think there was time for another trip to Seagrass before they left. Todd was also oddly happy with the vendor they found that sold spoons.

    Todd came out of the rest and set a glass mug of tea down on the table next to Grandmother. He settled into the other chair with a drink of his own. Grandmother heard the mumble of voices escaping from the rest until the door swung shut. The door completely blocked all sound after that.

    ¡°How is it going?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Alex is supervising the placement. He argued that if it doesn¡¯t work and no new rooms are built, we will need to be able to use the space as is. Everyone agreed that was a valid point. Someone touched the bag cart, the bag was offended and puked its load out into the dead hallway. Luckily no one was in the way. Ellen started talking about how that would make a great trap for invaders,¡± Todd reported.

    ¡°So it is going well?¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°Seems to be,¡± Todd reported. ¡°When things settle down, we need to take Muriel down to that ruined sanitary facility and see if she can get a cutting. She is fascinated by the tree roots in the collapse. I expect her to pop out the top anytime. The only thing keeping her from coming out here was your presence.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we will keep her inside for very long,¡± Grandmother observed as she sipped her drink. She looked out through the trees in the direction of the Speedwell.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about retiring and having a child,¡± Grandmother said suddenly. Todd, in mid-drink, almost swallowed his tongue. The idea of Grandmother pairing up with someone and having babies was slightly blasphemous. Todd thought his brain might have broken.

    ¡°Do you have someone in mind?¡± he asked.

    ¡°For what?¡± Grandmother asked. The total puzzlement in her voice made Todd rethink the conversation. Had he just misheard her?

    ¡°For the father,¡± Todd elaborated.

    ¡°The love of my life died at Redfalls,¡± Grandmother said quietly, ¡°but he was part of the landing generation like me. His DNA will be on file in the Speedwell. If I name a father, the ship¡¯s systems will produce two children for me, or it will give me a single clone. I don¡¯t know if I am worried about the child genetically being mine or not. The computer will produce genetically unrelated children without limit. It is part of its programming to increase genetic diversity and limit inbreeding.¡± Todd didn¡¯t understand most of that. It was like the old days when he first walked out of the structure. The one thing Todd understood from that speech was that Grandmother wasn¡¯t actually planning on giving birth to a baby. She was thinking of having the ship make her one. Maybe his brain did break. When they got back to the ship he was going to do some serious research on how children were born on the Speedwell.

    ¡°There always seems to be something else I should take care of first,¡± Grandmother said after a pause. ¡°Not only do we have the coliseum to see about, but now there is the rumor of this Tinkerer. Not to mention the jeweler in Seagrass. Oh and totems, don¡¯t forget the totems.¡±

    ¡°Ellen¡¯s new teacher? What about him?¡± Todd queried.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± Grandmother asked. She didn¡¯t wait for an answer because obviously she hadn¡¯t told him. ¡°He isn¡¯t selkie, neither is he human. He is something else.¡±

    ¡°What is he then?¡± Todd asked, intrigued.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. One of his amulets is cloaking his tier. I think he is tier five, but he could be six. I don¡¯t really want to offend another six, so I am just letting that situation lie.¡± Grandmother took another sip of her tea. She set her tea down and flexed her hand.

    ¡°Then there is this,¡± Grandmother said, looking at her hand. She turned to look directly at Todd. ¡°Tell me truthfully, do I look older than when you met me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Todd told his dearest friend, ¡°you look younger.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she sighed. ¡°I was afraid of that.¡±

    The silence lengthened. Todd sipped his tea. It never seemed to get cold in the glass mugs.

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this for a while now,¡± Todd said slowly. ¡°Ever since I found out about your nanobots being active outside the structure.¡¯

    ¡°Oh?¡± Grandmother said after he paused, urging him to continue.

    ¡°When you cast that tier five heal on the old woman in Londontown, you told her that she wasn¡¯t young again. That she was only cured of the diseases of age. But what is aging if not a build up of those diseases? Companion said the true god pays in time. Obviously at the moment he meant the lifetime of a square crystal. What if that statement goes deeper? What if Control truly pays in time? With your nanobots active outside the structure, theoretically you could go back to Earth and carry that time with you.¡± Todd stumbled to a stop, knowing how odd that sounded.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°You have been thinking about this,¡± Grandmother responded. She thought about it too, for a very long time. She¡¯d never told anyone her theory because she thought it was a little crazy. Todd¡¯s theory was very close to hers.

    ¡°Anyone can make it to tier four,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It is just a matter of using enough magic, with a wide enough diversity. You need diversity both in the kind of magic; utility, crafting, warrior or wizard, but also in the tree of magic. After that it seems like it gets more complicated. Control is always testing us in odd ways. It tests us for weaknesses; fear, pleasure, greed, power, fame. But I don¡¯t believe it is looking for kindness or cruelty.¡± Grandmother explained.

    This conversation seemed far afield from what Todd just said. Todd had a lot of experience dealing with Grandmother, he was certain it would come back around. He paid careful attention to her words.

    ¡°When my emotions leak, I think the nanobots near me are trying to follow a command they don¡¯t quite understand. It is a direct command that has removed Control from the link. At tier four you can feel it because that is when the tuning starts. The magic trees; light, sound, force, temperature, electricity, chemistry, momentum, were picked to help form and control our thoughts to prepare us for using that direct control. I think Control is filtering and selecting individuals to control nanobots,¡± Grandmother proposed.

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Todd said. ¡°I can imagine a person not in control of their emotions or their desires could do enormous damage with nanobots.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there was a world-ending myth on Earth that concluded with nanobots consuming the planet,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°How would that work?¡± Todd asked. ¡°I can see how I could pack a bag with nanobots and take them to another planet, but that wouldn¡¯t be enough to consume the world.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t come from nothing. It takes material to make them. If a single nanobot started making copies of itself without limit, it would start to consume the item it was sitting on to make them. If every copy it made was also set to make copies without limit, that rate of consumption would increase. If every copy they made¡­¡±

    ¡°That would be bad,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°That¡¯s what I think the prize is. Direct control of nanobots, including the ability to make them multiply. I am not there yet. I think getting to tier five and tier six are all about passing those self control tests. To reach tier seven I need to demonstrate direct control. It might just be direct control of the prewritten spells. I am pretty certain there must be more tiers, where a player learns more freeform control, how to power nanobots and how to make them reproduce.¡±

    ¡°Can you do it?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Direct control?¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I think the emotion leak is direct control. That is also a failure. I need to learn to keep my emotions internal. When you feel me cast a spell, that is also a failure. I am directly controlling more than just the bots needed for the job. I need more focus and precision. I think my nanobots are using years of statistics to predict what I want. They are using not just data on my hand movements, but also my brain waves. To advance I am not certain if there is something I need to learn, or if it is something my nanobots need to learn. When I can cast a tier five spell and you can¡¯t feel it, I¡¯ll be getting close.¡±

    ¡°If it feels like any other spell, how can we tell if it is direct or still going through Control?¡± Todd asked. Grandmother thought about that for a while.

    ¡°I suppose if I took nanobots outside the structure''s area of influence and could still make them do something, that would be proof. Although controlling a nanobot and powering them are two different things. Only the ones in my body are powered outside,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Something like camouflage?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Maybe, only I have always thought camouflage worked by making the nanobots in the other person''s eyes remove them from the image,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°What about the tree six spells sprint and float?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I have no idea how they work, so I don¡¯t know if it would be possible, but managing to cast those outside the structure would be proof, especially since I never learned them. I suppose if I can get the nanobots in the structure to do something outside of a known spell, that would be evidence too.¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I said all that like it is fact, but I have no proof. Since going back to Earth isn¡¯t really an option, all I can really do is try to improve our lives here.¡±

    ¡°I can push you off a cliff and you can try to cast float,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°For some reason that doesn¡¯t sound that great to me,¡± Grandmother replied. Todd laughed.

    ¡°I know what you were doing when you reached tier six. Do you mind telling me what you did to get five?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I killed a man,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It is not something I talk about. It is how I know Control is not looking for people who are nice. Tier five is about making the hard choice.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°I think I got tier six because I worked with the group,¡± Grandmother said. At tier four Todd would be very invested in learning how to reach five. Since she didn¡¯t think she could tell him that story, she thought she would give him more on the tier six transition from her point of view. ¡°I spent most of tier five traveling alone. Working with the group proved that I could do that. I was careful to move away from the square before casting my ring of death. I kept all of you close enough not to kill you too. I took time out of the fight to cast a heal on you. I think it showed that I can remain aware of others and not be completely blinded by my own goals. If I killed the square or any of you, the migration would not have ended and I would have died there. One of you, probably Ellen or Sarah, would have miraculously survived to carry the tale back to Londontown.¡±

    ¡°Why Ellen or Sarah?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Sarah was the youngest and there is nothing better than a child survivor in a tragic Narrative. Ellen would have told the story of the death of the mad queen¡¯s youngest daughter. That too is Narrative gold,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°You said you think anyone can reach tier four. What do you think is holding Companion back?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t cast enough. I also think he likes his ax too much. I was worried about you and your spear, but you started casting with your off hand, and that sorted it out,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°I was fighting with a knife when I hit four,¡± Todd remembered.

    ¡°Yes, it was likely a factor. I thought Companion''s love of cold baths might push him over the edge, but I think he is also short on fire and lightning spells. We both managed to reach tier four without anything out of the sixth tree so not every tree is required. If we want him to reach tier four we need to push him to cast spells from the three, four and five trees or make enchantments from them.¡±

    ¡°What about crafting? Do you think if we got him interested in blacksmithing that would work?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It is a good chance. There are a lot of fire spells in it. On Earth aluminum was smelted with the use of electricity. If the aluminum smelting spell is from the lightning tree that would certainly help,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°Since the bears wore aluminum armor that industrial area under south gallery probably has an aluminum smelter in it someplace,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Seems like there would be aluminum scrap there too.¡±

    ¡°Put it on the list,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Now you''re starting to understand what I meant about there is always something to do.¡±

    The door behind them opened and Alex stuck his head out. ¡°We¡¯re ready to go get the compost plant. Did you want to come along?¡±

 Chief Engineer

    This volume is a direct continuation of A Lesser God. When I publish it on Amazon, I may put them together in a single book. I am undecided what the two volume set title will be. When we get near the end of Chief Engineer I would love to hear your opinions.

    A Lesser God was an exploration of the strengths of a team. I was trying to show how real people living in a Game would have different interests and be driven by different goals. That together they would be able to accomplish more, (master more magics, make more allies, build better bases, complete more quests) than any single player alone. Even if the single player is a lesser god.

    Hopefully the reason why this volume is called Chief Engineer will become apparent as you read along.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    <hr>

    The generational colony ship Speedwell left Earth hundreds of years ago. Defying the odds it landed safely on its target planet. As the last generation of flight crew and first generation of settlers began building the colony, they discovered ¡°ruins¡± on the planet. These "ruins" are actually a world spanning structure that hosts and runs a game.

    The game is very dangerous, killing the unwary. It actively destroys technology brought into it. Human players are forced to defend themselves with the weapons of the game, spears, swords, knives, bows and magic to survive.

    Join the tier six wizard Grandmother and her team, Todd, Ellen, Alex, Sarah and the selkie Companion as they travel deep into the structure. They will complete quests, reveal new crafts and spells and make new allies in their search for the grand prize.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter One

    <h2>50 years After Landing</h2>

    Grandmother dropped over the edge. She landed lightly on her feet in the sand of the coliseum floor. The arena felt larger than she expected now that she was down in it. She walked over to the center where the skeleton lay.

    She was wearing worn leather armor. Her leather belt held a knife from the Speedwell and a small pouch that contained her lunch. She forgot to remove the pouch when she¡¯d set her water flask aside. Other than the knife she was unarmed. She left her travel pack above with the rest of her team.

    A video camera was embedded in the pendant necklace she wore. Hopefully it would record everything that actually happened here, for review back on the ship. The camera system would not record the augmentations that Control used, since those were projected directly onto a player''s vision by nanobots in their corneas.

    The skeleton was dressed in armor constructed out of transparent glass. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain if all the little bits were there since she never wore plate armor. It appeared to be full set, except for the helm. The body, arms, legs, hands and feet were encased in glass. Looking down she realized a helm was laying beside it in the sand.

    Grandmother reached down and tapped the center of the skull''s forehead. The bones turned to dust, sinking into the sand. The dust seemed to drag the armor with it. Grandmother made no move to try to grab any of it. Instead her eyes were up, sweeping the walls of the enclosure.

    On the wall directly across from her, the outline of a figure appeared in the stone. It was a little too tall and thin to be a human. The stone in the outline stepped forward onto the sand, becoming a three dimensional moving statue of stone. The stone was the same near white color of the wall, all except its weapon. In its hand was a tall black wizard¡¯s staff.

    Something in Irene snapped. She¡¯d planned to cast a series of tier zero spells at the figure in order to determine if Kai¡¯s description of the automata being immune to your strongest skill was true or not. All memory of the plan vanished when she saw that staff. She carried a staff very similar to that one for thirty years through the structure. She lost it just last season when she shattered it in defense of Todd. It felt to her like Control was mocking her.

    She shot forward and grasped the staff below the automata¡¯s hand. ¡°Mine,¡± she said with absolute conviction. She pulled the staff back, breaking the automata¡¯s hold. At the same time she struck the automata¡¯s chest with the flat of her other hand, pushing it back.

    The automata flew back, crashing into the wall behind it. Cracks appeared in the stone of its body. A black smoke or dust began to ooze from the cracks.

    Irene lifted the staff and cast light blade with it. It was one of the tier zero spells that was on her list to try. She cast it less than ten times in her life. Most of those casts were done when she was learning it. The black staff exploded with light. The crowd above her in the stands cried out as they were blinded. Before this the silence of the audience was so complete Grandmother almost forgot they were there.

    Irene squinted against the light. She watched as the dark smoke vanished. The stone automata collapsed turning into dust just as the bones of the skeleton had.

    Grandmother stepped back away from the wall, dismissing the light spell. Alert, her eyes swept the arena as she waited for what happened next. A blur of motion on the ground caught her attention. She spun and studied the sand. The glass armor was emerging back out of it.

    Instead of the two or three pieces Kai described, the full set emerged, including the helm. Grandmother looked up at her audience above and found them blinking away their blindness.

    ¡°Is it over?¡± Todd called down. His higher tier allowed him to be one of the first to recover their sight.

    ¡°It appears so,¡± Grandmother called back. She reached down and picked up the glass helm. As soon as she touched it, the clear glass became stained with a dark, dark violet. A wave of sound exploded from the audience as everyone¡¯s sight returned. Three steps slid out from the wall, near the bottom. This was the beginning of the exit stair.

    ¡°Toss down my gathering bag will you?¡± Grandmother called up to Todd. ¡°After I load up my reward, you can come down and give it a try, since I didn¡¯t give a very good show.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± Todd responded. He pulled a bag from where it was tied to the back of Grandmother¡¯s pack and dropped it to her. It was one of her larger bags, but it was clearly too small to hold all the armor. She slipped her new staff through her belt at her back, before picking up the bits and pieces of armor. She packed them into the too small bag with no difficulty. She discovered an oddly shaped stone amulet on a silver chain inside the armor. She stuffed that into the pouch with her lunch.

    With all the loot secured she stepped onto the first step. As she climbed, new steps slid out of the wall in front of her as the steps behind her slid back out of sight. She arrived at the top to another round of thunderous applause. Grandmother handed the bag to Ellen. The bag began to churn unhappily. Ellen carefully aimed the top away from everyone before cracking it open. The bag promptly expelled out its entire contents. Ellen picked up an item and examined it closely before handing it to Kai.

    ¡°Here,¡± Ellen said to the glass crafter. ¡°The closer you examine it the better your chances of revealing the pattern.¡± Kai accepted the piece of armor from Ellen with a touch of awe. As the armor left Ellen¡¯s hands the trace of green in the glass drained away.

    ¡°Have you checked your tier lately?¡± Grandmother asked Ellen.

    ¡°What?¡± Ellen responded. Grandmother pointed down at the bracer Ellen held.

    ¡°That looks green to me,¡± she observed, pointing to the area closest to Ellen¡¯s hold. Ellen turned her attention back to the bracer, holding it up into the light. She studied the sleeve of her green cloth armor, a puzzled expression on her face.

    Laughing internally, Grandmother turned her attention back to the arena floor. Todd was exchanging his spear for Sarah¡¯s bow as they waited for the arena to reset. A wave traveled across the expanse of sand, erasing any signs of Grandmother¡¯s presence, including her footprints. A skeleton, wearing clear glass armor, rose from the sand.

    Alex tossed a rope over the edge and braced himself to serve as an anchor. Todd slung his borrowed bow, grabbed the rope and rappelled down to the sand. Alex retrieved the rope, not wanting it to be severed when the match started.

    Todd tested his footing before crossing to the skeleton. He readied his bow, before following Grandmother¡¯s example and tapping the skull.

    Todd gave a much better show. The automata was armed with dual longswords. Todd fired off arrows imbued with fire, electricity, ice, force, sound and finally light. The fire arrow did almost no damage. The screaming arrow induced a series of cracks in the stone. The light arrow visibly weakened the automata. Todd accomplished this while dancing around the sand, not allowing the automata to get close. This was a serious departure from Todd¡¯s usual position of holding the line between attackers and the rest of his party.

    After the light arrow, Todd slung the bow and began casting thrown spells. He started with fire. All the cast magic did damage to the automata. The automata fell to its knees and began transforming to gravel after the force spell. Todd pulled the knife from his belt. He danced in close and knifed his slowed opponent in the back.

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    The automata fell into dust.

    A cheer ran up from the crowd. The glass armor re-emerged from the sand. It was less than a full set, but more than the two or three pieces Kai told them to expect. Grandmother wondered if it was related to tier and experience. Grandmother received the full set because she had not previously won items. She was tier six and unlikely to challenge the coliseum again. Todd received a larger amount, because he too missed winning at earlier tiers. He didn¡¯t receive the full set because he still had tiers ahead of him where he could challenge it again.

    Kai was staring down at Todd in clear shock. The piece of glass armor in his hands was forgotten. Kai thought of Todd as a rather one dimensional warrior, carrying a spear and imbuing it with fire. To see such a display of wizardry from a warrior was shocking to him. His people in the far northern square of Peking shunned almost all wizardry, relying instead on physical skill and equipment. They struggled against the coliseum there for generations. Many people went to their deaths, while many more were maimed.

    Kai himself lost a hand in the coliseum. Flexing his newly regrown appendage, he was happy with his decision to invest in magic books from Ellen and Sarah¡¯s shop.

    Todd tossed his loot up to Alex, who caught it and set it in a separate pile from Grandmother¡¯s. Todd¡¯s touch stained the glass red, which cleared before Alex caught it. When the sand was empty again, he climbed the exit stairs. Arriving at the top he returned the bow to Sarah and accepted his spear back from her with some relief.

    ¡°Alex, Alex, Alex!¡± The cheer was rising up from the crowd, as the hunters, guards and crafters made their desires known. Alex was only tier three. He would be the first real example for most of the observers of what they could expect.

    Grandmother set a hand on the young man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Are you ready?¡± she said to him.

    ¡°If I lose a limb will you regrow it for me?¡± Alex asked her with some cheek.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°No worries then,¡± Alex responded with a smile. ¡°Companion, can I borrow your ax?¡±

    Companion was a selkie. He looked a lot like a walking walrus, with a whiskered face and long tusks. His body was heavier than a man and was covered in a brown gray fur. He was designed for the water. On land he was short and squat, but in the water he lengthened out into a sleek form. His flipper-hands were split into two fingers. His people lived in the structure far longer than the humans. They called humans newcomers, because to them, they were.

    ¡°Take care of it, my friend,¡± the selkie said to him as he handed the ax over. Alex unbuckled his sword belt and handed it with his sword still in the scabbard to Companion to hold. He accepted the heavy war ax and hefted it in his hands.

    The arena reset.

    Alex¡¯s challenge took longer. The automata stepped out of the wall armed with a long sword and shield. Just when it looked like Alex might be in trouble he surprised everyone, even Grandmother, by singing a sixth magic tree spell and increasing his speed.

    Alex received the expected three pieces of armor. Grandmother was worried her party was making the coliseum look too easy. She turned her ears to the murmurs of the crowd. Alex¡¯s use of the sixth tree spell was giving other tier three warriors second thoughts. Grandmother was pleased with that result. The crowd was looking at Todd with new eyes, impressed at the variety of spells the warrior displayed. It sounded like Sarah and Ellen¡¯s magic shop was going to get a lot of visitors soon.

    As Alex walked triumphantly up the exit stair, carrying his loot, Ellen stood. She handed her crossbow and quiver to Alex and took Alex¡¯s sword and belt from Companion. As she belted on the sword, Alex handed Companion back his ax.

    After the reset, Ellen slid down the wall without the help of a rope. Her automata was armed with a bow. It used magic to try and keep Ellen back. When the match was over, Ellen stood panting in the center of the sand, waiting for her loot to appear.

    It didn¡¯t, instead an oval appeared on the wall of the pit. The oval filled with the same kind of light animation the transportation system¡¯s doors used. Ellen redrew Alex¡¯s sword and held it in a guard position.

    A robot stepped out of the light. Grandmother was calling the stone fighters automata. She¡¯d chosen that name to avoid the name Kai¡¯s square used, which was golem. A golem was a creature made of mud brought to life by magic. Although the coliseum warriors looked like stone, Grandmother did not believe that was what they were actually constructed out of.

    What walked into the arena now was clearly a machine. Its frame was built out of steel. Its abdomen hosted a spinning heart with a tank attached. Grandmother suspected this was a hydraulic pump. Tubing and wiring ran down to actuation cylinders of different sizes. It boasted six fingers on each hand. This could only be the Tinkerer. Its shape was nearly identical to the automata, but slightly smaller. Grandmother could visualize how this structure could be hidden under a thin skin layer in the fighting automata.

    It paused for a moment just outside the portal-door. The door was to Ellen¡¯s right, but it was directly across the pit from where Grandmother sat watching the event. The robot lifted its face up to look at her. Its face was featureless except for the two glass lenses that served as eyes.

    Grandmother looked down into those glass lenses and knew that the intelligence behind this construction was Control. The robot pointed at Ellen and beckoned her to follow. The robot turned and stepped back through the light curtain. Ellen¡¯s eyes went up to the rim. Her eyes swept her companions. Grandmother nodded at the young woman. Whether she was urging Ellen to go or promising vengeance if she didn¡¯t return, even Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain.

    Ellen slid the sword back into its scabbard and followed the robot through the light. The light went out, revealing an unbroken stone wall.

    The arena did not reset.

    ¡°What did we learn?¡± Grandmother called out into the silence. She spoke in a louder tone than she usually used for communications within her own group.

    ¡°The opponents were all quite similar to our normal fighting styles,¡± Todd commented, also in a loud voice.

    ¡°That isn¡¯t always true,¡± Kai commented. ¡°I¡¯ve seen opponents come out that were the direct opposite of the fighter''s style.¡±

    ¡°When did you see that?¡± one of the audience called.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t these the first attempts?¡± another voice asked. Kai glanced at Grandmother. She gave him the advance signal the party used to coordinate their actions without sound.

    ¡°I saw it in my youth,¡± Kai explained, ¡°in the northern arena outside of Peking.¡± A murmur of voices rose up from the audience.

    ¡°The first two seemed weak to light spells,¡± Sarah observed. She turned to Kai, ¡°Was that because we rarely use them and never in combat?¡±

    ¡°My father told me the gol¡­automata are immune to your strongest skill. I don¡¯t remember it ever being mentioned that they were weak to your weakest skill,¡± Kai responded.

    ¡°That is an interesting theory,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We should figure out a way to test it.¡± Grandmother wanted all this information to be public. She thought most of it already was.

    ¡°What was that last thing?¡± someone called.

    ¡°That is the Tinkerer,¡± Companion fluted in his own language. ¡°If it is impressed with your crafting, it will trade with you. It teaches new crafts.¡± Alex translated the selkie¡¯s words so that everyone would hear them. ¡°Its visits are rare, I know of it only from legend,¡± Companion concluded.

    The mood of the audience shifted. The crafters in the crowd came for the entertainment alone. Now they started exchanging looks with each other as they considered if they too should try the arena.

    More and more of the audience called out questions or made observations. Grandmother steered the conversation back to the fighting in the coliseum and the lessons they learned, when the topic wandered. This was a larger version of after action debriefs Grandmother liked to run with her party in the field. She held them after they saw or fought something new.

    Todd answered an audience question by explaining how Grandmother¡¯s party cross trained with each other''s weapons in preparation. Sarah commented that this was really an extension of Grandmother''s belief that a proper adventurer was half wizard and half warrior.

    The group broke out food and drinks and conversations shifted into smaller groups. Sarah approached Grandmother, sitting next to her on the tiered floor.

    ¡°Do you think Ellen is alright?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think she is incredibly lucky to catch the Tinkerer''s attention.¡±

    ¡°Companion¡¯s legend says the Tinkerer turns up when it is impressed with your crafting. She didn¡¯t even craft Alex¡¯s sword. Only the hunter¡¯s greens were a product of her own work,¡± Sarah observed.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured, as she thought about the comment. ¡°I think the Tinkerer is an avatar for Control. Perhaps it is not what you carry into the coliseum, but the entirety of your work.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem right to me,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°Me neither,¡± Grandmother admitted.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Two

    It was over three hours later when the light curtain reappeared.

    ¡°She¡¯s back!¡± came the cry from someone in the audience. Everyone rushed down to the edge of the pit to see for themselves. A cheer ran up. Ellen stepped out of the light curtain. She swayed just slightly, a sign of two trips too close together. She looked up at the rim to see everyone still waiting for her. Her voice was lost in the noise of the crowd. She gave the group¡¯s all clear signal and stepped away from the wall.

    Glass armor loot emerged from the sand. There was the same number of pieces that Todd received. It was another indication that sometime recently Ellen reached tier four. The individual items were a different mix from what he got. The first steps emerged from the wall.

    ¡°What did you trade?¡± Grandmother called down when the crowd finally quieted. Ellen was picking up her loot. She started tossing it up to Todd, who was leaning out to catch it.

    ¡°I traded repairing cloth, wood, metal, leather and stone items to learn how to repair porcelain, glass and bone,¡± Ellen reported. Conversation among the crafter members of the audience exploded. Learning to repair those materials was equivalent to being made an apprentice in each craft. Kai brought knowledge of glassmaking to the square and porcelain was probably the same as the selkies pottery. Bone was completely new.

    ¡°I think Ellen has repaired nearly every integrated item Todd, Alex and I carried into the pit before her,¡± Grandmother commented to Sarah.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Sarah conceded. ¡°The Tinkerer must consider everything brought into the pit, and not just the items brought in by you.¡±

    ¡°Since a visit by the Tinkerer is rare, the time span it considers must be limited,¡± Grandmother added. ¡°Or any crafter that did repair work would eventually qualify.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°Most crafters will only do repairs in their own field. A blacksmith won¡¯t work on leather armor, etc.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother said. Ellen climbed the stairs back up to the audience level of the coliseum. She headed straight to her pack where she pulled out her notebook and began making notes. Grandmother realized they needed to allow Ellen time to record what she learned before she forgot it.

    ¡°Are you next?¡± Grandmother asked Sarah.

    ¡°No,¡± Sarah said thoughtfully. ¡°I think I want to enchant a few more items first.¡± Next Grandmother offered the chance to Companion.

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± the selkie said. ¡°I am good right here,¡± he said, tapping the wide step he sat on. Companion possessed a powerful fear of heights. Grandmother suspected it was the drop down into the pit, and not what awaited the warrior there, that kept him in his seat.

    ¡°Does anyone else wish to give it a try?¡± Grandmother called to the audience. ¡°Remember you can die in the pit. Your chances of death go up with tier. Tier four or above you win or die!¡± she called out in warning.

    After a brief discussion a line of warriors stepped forward to accept the challenge. The second challenger lost. She was a tier three fire wizard. The automata appeared dressed as a warrior, carrying a sword and shield. Grandmother thought this was an example of Kai¡¯s direct opposite possibility. The automata used the shield to block the wizard¡¯s fireball spell. Grandmother didn¡¯t think she saw that successfully done before and found it fascinating. Usually a thrown spell hit what you aimed at regardless of what was in the way. The automata must have cast a shield spell on it''s shield to accomplish it.

    When the woman made the mistake of letting the automata get too close, it used its sword to cut through the wizard''s leg just below the knee. The wizard screamed and collapsed. Grandmother was on her feet in moments. She threw her body forward, but came up short against a force curtain in place around the top of the pit. The automata was still pacing the sand.

    ¡°Take your belt off,¡± Grandmother yelled down to the wizard. ¡°Take it off now,¡± she ordered when the woman at first failed to respond. The wizard fumbled with the buckle. ¡°Put the belt around your leg, just below the knee and pull it as tight as you can,¡± Grandmother ordered when the woman finally had her belt in her hand. The wizard fumbled trying to get the belt in place. She pulled the end through the buckle. ¡°Tighter,¡± Grandmother commanded. The bleeding began to ebb.

    The automata looked up at the audience at the rim. It paced around the wizard one last time. It stopped in front of the exact spot it emerged from just minutes ago. The wizard''s severed foot sank into the sand, as the automata merged back into the wall. The force curtain vanished.

    Grandmother stepped off the edge and dropped onto the sand. She cast a tier five heal on the wizard. The woman screamed and passed out. The open wound at the end of her severed leg closed. Grandmother removed the woman¡¯s belt and slipped it back around her waist. Grandmother stepped back and scanned the pit floor.

    Todd was standing at Grandmother¡¯s back. He dropped down right behind her, but in her rush to get to the wizard, Grandmother didn¡¯t notice. There was no exit stair. Todd held out his spear to Grandmother.

    ¡°I can sling her over my shoulder and carry her up the rope,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°All right,¡± Grandmother responded. She accepted Todd¡¯s spear and slipped it through her belt. Surprisingly the staff she took from the automata was still there. Alex threw down the rope. At the top, Todd carefully laid the wizard down. She was just coming back to her senses.

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    ¡°My leg,¡± she sobbed, when she saw the missing appendage.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Todd told the woman. ¡°Just rest and get plenty to eat. That was a tier five heal, with enough food your foot will grow back in a couple days.¡± The woman stared at Todd in total disbelief.

    If Grandmother thought that might be the end of the challenges, she was sadly mistaken. When the wave rippled across the sand and the skeleton reemerged, a warrior in blue touched leathers stepped forward.

    ¡°Are you sure, Leo?¡± a younger copy of the man asked from just behind him. This second warrior must be the first one¡¯s brother.

    ¡°I¡¯m a blue,¡± Leo responded. ¡°Grandmother can heal me. Don¡¯t you remember how long it took to regrow Kai¡¯s hand with the lesser heals?¡± The challengers after that were heavy on those with blue and red magic, the two colors Grandmother could heal. When no more challengers stepped forward, Grandmother decided to hold another quick debrief.

    ¡°What did we learn?¡± Grandmother asked the crowd.

    ¡°Lower tier challengers don¡¯t lose a limb,¡± someone called. Four tier two warriors lost their challenges. The injuries they suffered were far less life threatening than the amputation of a foot. As soon as they released their weapons and stayed down, the automata would circle them once and step back into the wall. Grandmother''s heal spell returned them to apparent health, although their blood loss left them weak.

    ¡°Don¡¯t count on that,¡± Kai warned. ¡°I lost my hand at tier two.¡±

    ¡°Blood loss is a problem,¡± one of the wounded tier two¡¯s commented in an exhausted voice. ¡°The sand wicks it away so it is beyond the reach of a heal spell.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother affirmed. ¡°It will be easy to bleed to death from a lost limb. Everyone should consider wearing a belt. Practice using it as a tourniquet one handed, since you never know what limb you could lose.¡±

    ¡°Arnie sells fast bandages,¡± one of the hunters commented. ¡°They work pretty well at clotting blood after a mauling. Do you think they would be allowed in the pit?¡±

    ¡°I took my lunch down,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I don¡¯t think there are any restrictions on what you can carry. Before someone decides to take down an armory, remember the automata adjusts to match your capabilities.¡±

    Kai listened to this group conversation with fascination. He was impressed by the performance of Home Square¡¯s warriors. He would never have expected so many to win. Additionally no one died. Now Grandmother was leading a discussion of what everyone could do to reduce the chance of death. Peking held with the idea that if you died in the arena it was no loss to the community. They believed only the strong held worth.

    Grandmother made it clear she expected anyone capable to provide life saving care after a failed match without cost. Anything beyond that could be sold. That included the magic required to regrow a limb. The cost needed to be agreed upon before the heal. She would not be charging their red wizard for the care already given.

    The group packed everything up and began their trip back to the square. There were at least fifty people in the group, actually the number was closer to a hundred. There could easily have been more, but the trip was not planned. Grandmother and her companions returned to the square from their maintenance duties on the Speedwell a few days ago. Todd, Alex, Ellen and Sarah spent most of their free time over the winter training for this challenge, with coaching from Kai.

    On the fourth morning after their return Grandmother descended from her room at the inn for breakfast in the common room. When Todd brought her food out, Grandmother told him, ¡°Let¡¯s go see about the coliseum today. See if you can find Kai. I would like to bring him along for any last minute pointers he can give.¡±

    Although the comment was aimed at Todd it was said loudly enough that everyone in the room overheard it. A group gathered in the courtyard before Grandmother finished her food.

    The square¡¯s primary butcher, who was a tier four crafter, picked up the wounded wizard to carry her back. The wizard and butcher shared no resemblance, Grandmother didn¡¯t think they were related. The butcher was just being kind. The sight reminded Grandmother of something. She adjusted her pace so she fell back to walk beside Sarah.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always considered butchering a skill, not a craft,¡± Grandmother commented to Sarah, ¡°just like Todd¡¯s ability to cook, but the butcher is a tier four. I feel like I am missing something. Did she do something else previously?¡± Grandmother was using her new wizard''s staff as a walking stick. It seemed to do the job well enough, although its diameter was just slightly off from her old broom stick. She found herself idly squeezing it as if she could narrow it down.

    ¡°No, not that I know,¡± Sarah responded. She glanced back at the crafter behind them. ¡°She seems in a good mood,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°I¡¯ll just go back and talk to her for a while.¡±

    Grandmother walked through an intersection. One of Harry¡¯s guards stood in each side passage, keeping an eye out for any danger to the group. She nodded at them in approval. A set of guards from a previous intersection passed Grandmother making their way to the front of the group, where they would stand watch on another cross corridor.

    Several wandering animals were spotted and killed along the way. The carcasses were picked up and carried along.

    Some of the hunters in the group broke away as they crossed the green. When the group reached the square, the guards lingered in the training yards, obviously reporting their success and failure to their leader, Harry. The crafters went on to the courtyard where they scattered into the shops. Grandmother saw the butcher, still carrying the wounded wizard, enter one of the stairways that led to the apartments above.

    Grandmother headed to the inn. She set her new staff in the weapon rack inside her room. She pulled the glass armor out one piece at a time and set it on the bed. The armor was very pretty. It was a pure clear glass when she didn¡¯t touch it. She wasn¡¯t certain what she was going to do with it. She could put the integrated armor into her inventory, but that would cause wear on the pieces. She could sell it. If she was ever short on funds she would. She didn¡¯t need the coins right now, and she was a little afraid that whoever bought it might become overconfident and get themselves killed.

    Grandmother thought about setting it up in some kind of stand on display, which made her wonder how it fitted together. Metal plate armor was held on the body with leather straps. The transparent nature of the armor would make the leather clearly visible. There did appear to be slits and holes on the pieces where straps or lacing could be added. Perhaps the lacing was on the undergarment. As she handled the gauntlets she noticed they only had five fingers. She was certain the skeleton had six.

    She scooped the armor off the bed and dumped it on the floor. She would fiddle with it later. Right now she was going down to dinner. She took the staff with her, it was starting to fit her hand better.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Three

    Ellen and Sarah were already at their usual table. Grandmother took her own seat, after telling a passing server she would like tea. The two sisters were discussing the butcher.

    ¡°She uses a bunch of utility spells,¡± Sarah was explaining, ¡°mixed with a couple force imbuements.¡±

    ¡°Force?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sarah explained. ¡°She uses force blade to cut through the bones. What was interesting was she talked about some kind of nimble spell I didn¡¯t recognize.¡±

    ¡°That sounds a lot like a sixth tree spell,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°I know!¡± Sarah responded. ¡°Can you imagine if we spent years and traveled half the continent looking for a way to cast sixth tree spells and the butcher¡¯s been using them this whole time?¡±

    ¡°Will she demonstrate it to you?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I told her I would pay her twelve iron if she taught it to me. She said she didn¡¯t need the coin, but if I promised to bring her porcupines next time we go south she¡¯d do it,¡± Sarah explained. ¡°I guess the innkeeper ran out of the prize porcupine meat Todd left while we were at the Speedwell. The selkie keep requesting it, so demand is high.¡±

    ¡°I suspect the coliseum will attract even more selkie,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Do either of you know Arnie?¡± she asked the sisters.

    He is an upper level weaver,¡± Ellen explained. The description meant the man worked out of one of the apartments over the square and not a shop on the courtyard. ¡°He is on the east side of the second level.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen his fast bandages?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Today was the first time I heard of them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to buy some from him tomorrow,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll come along,¡± Ellen responded.

    Todd arrived with Harry in tow. Harry was Todd¡¯s uncle, but Grandmother was unaware of that. Last year she¡¯d noticed that the two men shared a similarity and wondered if they were related. This was the square¡¯s twelfth year. Grandmother couldn¡¯t figure out a way to politely ask if they were related and not look like an idiot at this late stage.

    ¡°Todd says Amanda¡¯s leg should grow back,¡± Harry said as soon as he sat. ¡°How long will that take?¡±

    ¡°About four to six days,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It depends on nutrition intake and the volume that needs to be replaced. It¡¯s about the same as a tier four spell. I¡¯d like an update on how long it actually takes her to regrow it.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything she should be eating in particular?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°She¡¯ll need a lot of calcium,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°There¡¯s this really nasty white paste the inn vendor sells that works well. I call it ¡®bone builder¡¯. No one ever buys the stuff by choice.¡±

    ¡°I remember it,¡± Todd commented, as a cook, he bought everything offered by the food vendor at least once in his life. ¡°It is nasty.¡± When he tasted it the first time, he thought maybe it was an ingredient, since he couldn¡¯t imagine eating it straight. He started considering what he could add to it to make it more palatable.

    Alex, Companion and Kai came into the inn together. Grandmother wondered what the three of them had been up to. Usually Companion and Alex were the first to arrive, united as they were in their love of beer.

    ¡°That¡¯s everyone,¡± Sarah declared. ¡°Now tell us about your encounter with the Tinkerer.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Ellen agreed. She took a sip from her glass, before settling into her story. ¡°You saw as much of the Tinkerer as I did. The light curtain was a quick transport. I don¡¯t think it took me very far. I actually have a vague memory of motion.¡± Ellen explained.

    ¡°I stepped out the other side into a workroom. There was a table with a torn set of wizard silks and an assortment of tools.¡± Ellen didn¡¯t mention that she experienced a moment of panic when she realized there was no way out. She half turned and saw that the portal she arrived through was still alight. That calmed her. She circled the room. Its plain concrete walls and floor offered no hints. The ceiling was solid light panels that were all lit, providing excellent illumination.

    ¡°I repaired the silks and when I set them back on the table, doorways opened to two other rooms. One held a notched iron spear, while the other contained worn leather armor.¡± From Ellen¡¯s point of view chunks of what seconds before was unbroken concrete simply crumbled away. It looked a lot like how the defeated automata dissolved. She knew this was just an animation Control was running for her using the nanobots in her cornea.

    ¡°I repaired the spear and two more doors off that room opened. The door I entered through didn¡¯t close so I decided to back track. I repaired the leather and again two more doors opened,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°This continued on for some time. Sometimes the new rooms contained items from a different craft, but sometimes they were items in the same craft but at a higher tier. If it wasn¡¯t for my map I think I would have gotten hopelessly lost. Luckily I figured out I needed to mark that first room pretty quickly.¡± Ellen took another drink before continuing. Her map functioned inside the test area, but it didn¡¯t show anything outside of that area. She looked over her map after returning and the test rooms were gone.

    ¡°Eventually I reached items that I struggled to fix. A tone sounded and the items, tables and tools sank into the floor. I followed a path of open doors through empty rooms until I reached a long hall with a set of closed doors along its length. I tried all the doors, but only three would open. Each of these rooms contained multiple tables and items, all with something different wrong with them. Each room was obviously dedicated to a single craft. The rooms open to me were glass, porcelain and bone.¡±

    ¡°How many doors were there?¡± Sarah asked. This was the first time any of them interrupted Ellen''s story.

    ¡°Thirty six,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I counted them.¡± Sarah looked thoughtful as she considered what so many doors might mean. ¡°I decided to start with glass. When I stood at the table and picked up the cracked bracer, one of the tools began to glow. I picked up the tool and I saw a ghost hand on it.¡± Ellen didn¡¯t mention that there were six fingers on the ghost hand. ¡°I adjusted my grip to hold the tool the same way. I was then shown ghost images of how to apply the tool. The spots under my finger tips glowed in the pattern of a spell. I tapped it out and the crack shrank. I learned the spells on the first try, although I went over them again and again trying to remember them.¡±

    ¡°I saw you recorded notes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°How much do you think you remembered?¡±

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    ¡°Most of it,¡± Ellen answered. ¡°A lot of the repair spells are actually the same or very similar across crafts. I need to go back and look at all those unidentified tools we have. I think I can name almost all of them now. There were a couple spells I couldn¡¯t learn, since they used the sixth symbol. I tried my hardest to remember them but they are also the ones I am the most uncertain about.¡±

    ¡°We can make a quick trip back to the Speedwell to download your video,¡± Grandmother offered. ¡°If you think that will help. It won¡¯t have recorded the ghost hand instructions or glows, but if you cast each spell yourself, it will have caught those actions.¡± Ellen looked surprised and glanced down at the pendant hanging on a stainless steel chain around her neck. It was identical to Grandmother¡¯s. This was Ellen¡¯s first trip wearing the camera. Grandmother made one for each of them on the last visit to the Speedwell. Ellen completely forgot about it.

    ¡°That is a good idea,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I¡¯d hate to lose the footage if we end up staying too long. I don¡¯t think there is any need to rush back, I want to check in with Do-Fa-Ti first.¡± The nanobots in the structure slowly destroyed all outside technology. The camera would only record for about two or three months. Even the stored recordings would last only a month or two more.

    ¡°When I finished working through all three rooms and closed the doors behind me, a new transportation door opened at the far end of the hall and I stepped back,¡± Ellen said, concluding her story.

    ¡°I thought you were gone a long time,¡± Sarah observed. ¡°Now I am wondering how you managed to do all that in such a short period of time.¡±

    ¡°I was surprised everyone was still waiting,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I mean I knew you and Grandmother would wait, but I thought all the others would get bored and head back,¡± Ellen said to her sister.

    ¡°The Elder ran an after action report,¡± Companion said in his high voice. ¡°It is the duty of a party member to attend.¡±

    ¡°Another one?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Well no one had been injured yet. It was only after that happened that I thought we needed a second one,¡± Grandmother said defensively.

    ¡°Kai,¡± Harry asked, ¡°how do you think our warriors did?¡± The guard leader wanted the opinion of the only person here who had seen others fight in an arena.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe how many won,¡± Kai responded without hesitation. ¡°That was impressive. And no one died. In Peking there were always deaths on Challenge day and maybe only one or two wins a year.¡±

    ¡°It''s good to hear my people did well. What do you mean by Challenge day?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Once every thirty six days there was an organized trip out to the arena,¡± Kai explained, ¡°It is a way to limit the number of deaths.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should do something like that here. I could organize an escort for a group out once a month. I can charge anyone not fighting in the arena a fee for protection on the trip in order to pay the guards,¡± Harry mused.

    ¡°Think about taking a camp cook along,¡± Todd commented. ¡°I noticed some people didn¡¯t bring their own food. A lot of the audience would pay for a hot meal and a beer.¡±

    ¡°You should take a stretcher to carry the injured back on, and maybe a harness to haul the wounded out of the pit,¡± Grandmother commented, ¡°I don¡¯t want you charging for a service that is life saving, so if you need funds for those two ideas I can make a donation.¡±

    ¡°The audience escort charge should pay for that,¡± Harry responded, ¡°along with the guards'' time. Rescue from a failed attempt will be part of the draw to get challengers to go with the group.¡±

    ¡°If you get the challengers to sign up ahead of time,¡± Ellen commented, ¡°you could use the list as advertisement for the trip.¡± Harry was nodding his head.

    ¡°Which reminds me,¡± Harry said to Grandmother, ¡°several people have expressed to me their desire to hold a ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ event again this year. I have told everyone they can¡¯t expect to get a free stay in the inn every year. Their response was that they would like a voluntary event where everyone paid their own way.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with that. The Speedwell held several yearly celebrations that dated back to Earth. They were used to mark the time between stars. Did anyone record when we did ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ last year?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Everyone apparently,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°A year on this planet is 371.66 days. An Earth year is 365.25 days,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Of course the day length themselves don¡¯t match exactly either,¡± she explained. ¡°Pick either spacing.¡±

    ¡°We should use structure time,¡± Alex said. ¡°Since it is our first human structure holiday.¡±

    ¡°Selkie have many holy days,¡± Companion sang. ¡°We follow the pattern of twice at 372 days and once at 371.¡± Companion¡¯s comment made Alex realize how close the word holiday was to holy day.

    ¡°That is interesting,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°It shows your people are aware of the world¡¯s outside seasons.¡± It hinted at a different past than the ¡®we were created by the true god¡¯ creation story Companion told them. Grandmother remembered how Companion said the protection crystal in Londontown would probably only last for two or three generations. When asked, Companion didn¡¯t seem to know how many years a generation was. Grandmother thought they were asking the wrong question. They needed to ask Companion how many holy days were in a generation.

    ¡°Will there be Stout beer?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°Of course, my friend,¡± Alex declared.

    ¡°I¡¯ll warn Innkeeper,¡± Todd commented. ¡°I don¡¯t think she will object. She made a bundle during the last event.¡±

    ¡°Tell her to set it up,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Harry has enough on his todo list with Challenge day. She can put up advertisements and set up a countdown.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± Todd responded. The innkeeper was Todd¡¯s aunt on his mother¡¯s side. Todd often helped out by cooking for the inn. The famous Londontown Stout was his invention. It contained an ingredient that was poisonous to humans. He brewed it as a gift to his friend Companion. It wasn¡¯t a poison among selkie, they considered it a spice.

    The food was served. Conversation fell off as everyone ate. Todd stepped aside to talk to the innkeeper.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone take a weapon from the arena,¡± Kai commented around his food. This comment was softer than the previous conversation. Kai was new and wasn¡¯t certain Grandmother would want it known. ¡°The award is always armor.¡±

    ¡°Does the north coliseum give out the same pieces?¡± Ellen asked. She¡¯d obviously heard Kai¡¯s comment even if he¡¯d said it in a quieter voice.

    ¡°They are glass,¡± Kai responded, ¡°but they are bulkier. Grandmother¡¯s pieces were all much sleeker.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like heavy armor versus light,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°Kai, didn¡¯t you say your people are mostly warriors? Maybe the loot is tailored to the challenger. We should compare the pieces everyone got.¡± There was some discussion on this topic, with Harry volunteering that one of the tier two warriors who won didn¡¯t know a single wizard spell.

    ¡°The gauntlets I won only have five fingers. That is evidence that they were tailored to me, since the skeleton plainly had six fingers on each hand,¡± Grandmother commented. Ellen nodded her head in agreement.

    ¡°Do you think if I went north and fought in that coliseum I could win another set?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°If you fight again at the same tier there is no reward. At least if you fight in the same arena,¡± Kai commented. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t know about another arena.¡± Kai turned to Grandmother, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say in Chicago that you had seen two coliseums yourself? Where is the second one? Is it the one in the north or is it the one the selkie go to?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well I may have overstated that one a little,¡± Grandmother admitted, she was usually studiously precise. It made her a really boring teacher, but if a student could sit through her long explanations they learned a lot. ¡°I was playing a role,¡± she explained. ¡°South of here, on the other side of the tier three space, before the industrial section, we passed through the foyer of another coliseum. Or what I think was a coliseum, we were traveling and didn¡¯t explore it.¡±

    ¡°We did?¡± Alex said suddenly. He sat down his beer and leaned back to open his map.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother confirmed. ¡°Todd remembered it when he and I discovered this one.¡±

    ¡°Here it is,¡± Alex declared. ¡°It really is almost to the industrial area. It could be a harder test to see if you¡¯re ready to go into tier four space. We need to go check if it has different loot!¡± he finished excitedly.

    ¡°I think it took us a month to get down there,¡± Grandmother observed, ¡°and it is deep into bear country.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Alex murmured as he seriously considered the situation. ¡°That could be a problem.¡±

    Grandmother was considering it too. Much of what Alex just said rang true. It was on the other side of tier three space. It probably was harder and offered a different reward. That made her curious. What they really needed was a transportation room that was closer to it.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Four

    ¡°Can I tag along on your trip to Seagrass?¡± Kai asked Grandmother. Grandmother¡¯s party was gathering together at the inn¡¯s outside tables in preparation for the trip.

    ¡°Why do you want to go?¡± Grandmother asked. The young crafter wasn¡¯t an official member of her team, but he¡¯d been around long enough that Grandmother was starting to feel like he was. It was when he asked questions like this that she remembered he wasn¡¯t. If he followed along with the rest, Grandmother probably wouldn¡¯t have thought twice about transporting him.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯d like to set up as a glass crafter, but I need to secure a source of raw glass. I read on the Speedwell that on Earth they made glass from silicon sand. I looked all over the green and I didn¡¯t find any sand,¡± Kai reported. ¡°I was hoping that maybe there was sand in the bottom of the water green. If there is, I want to make a deal with a selkie to buy some for testing.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a good plan,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We are going to the south gallery first. The trip there is free for me because I own that crystal, but the trip over to Seagrass from there has a cost.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Kai responded, happy to be included. Grandmother was about to tell him if he helped out with sweeping the rooms around the gallery she would pay for his transport to Seagrass. She decided not to mention it. She liked his quick acceptance that the cost of transporting himself was his responsibility. It made it more likely she would pay to send him through, but he didn¡¯t need to know that.

    ¡°We¡¯ll head out as soon as everyone turns up,¡± Grandmother told Kai.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± he said, shifting his pack on his back. Grandmother nodded her approval.

    Alex was the last to turn up. He emerged from his shop carrying a bag that appeared to be overflowing with other bags. Grandmother wondered what his plan was, but decided not to ask. She was sure she would find out soon enough.

    Harry was standing outside the transportation room to see them off. He reminded Grandmother to activate the transportation system for Ellen. The system could only be operated by players who were tier four or above. Ellen''s recent tier increase meant she could gain access by decrypting the wall inscription in the south gallery. Grandmother knew a way to share the solution to make it faster.

    The trip felt nearly instantaneous, but it was much later in the day when they stepped out on the other side at the southern gallery. While Grandmother and Ellen sat staring at the wall inscription in the center of the room, Todd, Alex, Companion, Sarah and Kai got organized for clearing the surrounding rooms.

    ¡°What spell are you working on?¡± Alex asked Kai. Kai was learning thrown magic. He bought an almost random selection of magic books to start and was working his way through them. Kai thought the books were random, but in actuality Sarah carefully steered him in his selections when he told her what he wanted them for. She put back the higher tier books and sold him all tier zero and one books.

    ¡°Chain lightning,¡± Kai responded.

    ¡°Which tier?¡±

    ¡°Tier one,¡± Kai answered, ¡°Is there more?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Chain lightning is one of those spells that just gets bigger and nastier. You should see Grandmother cast the tier five version.¡±

    ¡°Is she likely to do that today?¡± Kai asked. He went out scavenging with Alex and Companion since his hand finished regrowing. Actually he went out with them even before that, but he mostly just followed along and helped go through the room contents when his hand was regrowing. He was pretty good at picking out furniture components. He never cleared rooms with the full party before, nor in an area with this high of a tier.

    ¡°It¡¯s unlikely. She mostly stands around and lets us do all the work. She says the experience is more important for us,¡± Sarah responded.

    ¡°This is tier four space,¡± Todd reminded them all. ¡°She¡¯ll help out readily enough if we get into trouble. Seriously Kai, if we stumble into something bad, stay behind Grandmother. At tier two you are the most vulnerable.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Kai responded.

    ¡°For normal entry, take the third to the front position, which is the position on the hinge side of the door. If that works out we will rotate you up to second, when we change the first entry position,¡± Todd instructed.

    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Grandmother asked. Everyone replied in the affirmative.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Grandmother ordered. Everyone fell into a serious stance. Sarah began casting a series of cloaking and enhancement spells. They exited out of the gallery before she finished. Alex was in the lead, followed by Ellen, Kai, Companion, Grandmother, Sarah and Todd.

    They ran the hallways first. The area around the gallery was a cul-de-sac, with only one way out. They came across a group of cats and hall spiders during the sweep. Both sets of animals were cleared up quickly. They were able to get close under the cloaking spells, before all the wizards in the group opened up. Sarah recast their cloak each time. Kai only managed to try to cast his new spell twice in each encounter. It failed both times.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The entrance to the area was a set of double doors. They set up around them before Alex gently opened one of the doors just a crack and put his eye against it.

    ¡°It looks the same,¡± Alex reported. ¡°All I can see is a platform over a drop.¡± He stepped back from the doors.

    ¡°Everyone wait here,¡± Grandmother ordered. She cast conceal on everyone, before barely opening the door and stepping through. Grandmother returned moments later.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Grandmother reported. ¡°It¡¯s a platform over a large industrial space occupied by walking bears. I think the room contents have changed.¡±

    ¡°The halls in this area have updated as well,¡± Todd observed. ¡°The pattern is different, but the overall size and shape of the cul-de-sac is the same.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s been a remodel the contents of all the rooms will be different. Lets head back to the gallery and begin the run from there,¡± Grandmother directed.

    From the gallery they circled left. The first door opened to a room full of strange animals that walked on the floors, walls and ceiling. They were nearly as big as a badger. Their teeth and the spines all over their body made up for the lack of claws. Alex backed away from the open door as the animals spilled out into the hallway. The door slowly closed. Ellen threw chained lightning from the left side of the doorway. Kai unsuccessfully tried to throw the tier one version from the right. He took a careful step back along the hall as the animals spread out and came closer to him.

    Ice-bolts came from over his shoulder and very nearly froze the animals solid. That was not the tier zero version he learned. Refusing to look over his shoulder he continued to cast. The door clicked closed. Alex was dancing in close to finish off the animals that dropped from the ceiling, under the stun effect of Ellen¡¯s lightning. They were running out of live animals for Kai to aim at. He kept casting.

    The last animal died and Kai still hadn¡¯t successfully cast chained lightning. He was disappointed.

    ¡°Am I doing this right?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Looks good to me,¡± Grandmother commented. Now Kai turned to look over his shoulder. The group split when they set up to enter the rooms. Grandmother and Todd were behind him, Companion was a little farther back watching the approach. He wasn¡¯t certain who cast the ice-bolts, but he suspected it was Grandmother. ¡°Here,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯ll play teacher. That usually speeds it up.¡±

    She stepped forward and went through the spell symbols with him, skipping the start symbol so she didn¡¯t actually cast. Kai copied her example, sign for sign.

    ¡°Ok, Alex, we''re good to go,¡± Grandmother called when they had finished the little exercise. Alex pushed the door open again and another group of the spiky animals rushed out. Alex stepped back out of the way, using his sword to finish off two of the leaders in a single slash. Kai cast at the animals that were crawling up the wall heading to the ceiling. A bolt of lightning formed just past the end of his hand and raced to the animal he was looking out. The animal spasmed and dropped to the ground. The lightning, weaker in appearance, jumped to the next closest animal. It too, spasmed, but managed to hold on. The lightning jumped one last time before grounding out.

    Ecstatic at the success, Kai cast again.

    They opened the door two more times, before no new ones emerged. After surveying the room carefully through the open door, Alex entered backwards, so he could quickly check the wall around the door which they couldn¡¯t see from the hall.

    ¡°What are these things?¡± Kai asked when the room was certified as secure. Todd, Sarah and Companion remained on watch outside the door.

    ¡°Land something!¡± Companion sang happily. ¡°Very tasty!¡±

    ¡°Porcupines,¡± Todd responded. Kai frowned. He thought he was starting to understand the selkie.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what Companion said,¡± Kai commented. ¡°He called them land something.¡±

    ¡°The selkie name for them is the land version of some sea animal. Companion picked out a sea urchin as the closest match from photos on the Speedwell,¡± Alex explained. ¡°Although Earthen sea urchins are tiny things that barely move. They are about the size of a fist. They are covered with spines. We named these suckers after a larger mammal that is also covered with spines. Obviously spines are their defining attribute.¡±

    ¡°Selkie absolutely love them,¡± Todd commented from the hallway, ¡°but most humans think they taste odd.¡±

    ¡°I promised the butcher I would bring some back,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°These are so close to the gallery I am going to try putting them in the storage shelving to preserve them.¡± Sarah put on a set of gloves and started tossing the carcasses in the direction of the gallery.

    ¡°Look at this, isn''t it beautiful?¡± Alex said. He was holding up a length of shelving that appeared to be made out of glass.

    ¡°Is that glass?¡± Kai said with excitement.

    ¡°Ah¡­ yes, but you can¡¯t have it!¡± Alex responded, hugging the shelving close to his body.

    ¡°Not every glass piece will convert into scrap,¡± Grandmother warned. ¡°There is an inventory access in the gallery where you can try. If there are complete glass shelves here, it is likely we¡¯ll find broken ones too. They will have a higher chance of being convertible debris.¡± Kai looked over and saw that Grandmother was digging through a pile of debris of her own.

    ¡°What are we looking for exactly?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Anything that looks like a tool, any kind of vellum, furniture components, stone and glass,¡± Ellen answered from another pile.

    ¡°Except for the small connector pieces, don¡¯t worry about any of the standard components in iron or stainless,¡± Alex commented. ¡°We get plenty of them around Home Square.¡±

    ¡°And planters,¡± Todd added from his post in the hallway. ¡°I promised Muriel more planters.¡± Ellen looked up and stepped back to the first pile she¡¯d inspected. She fished out what looked like a tall bowl and carried it over to the door.

    ¡°Thanks for the reminder,¡± she said as she sat it in the hallway. ¡°Pick up anything that looks like a cooking utensil too,¡± Ellen said as she passed Kai. ¡°Todd gets all ecstatic over spoons.¡±

    ¡°If you find anything that looks like bone, call out,¡± Grandmother added. Kai decided he wasn¡¯t helping, just standing there and turned to the nearest pile.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Five

    It took far longer to search the rooms than it did to clear them. The piles of furniture components in the hallway were impressive. They spent about four hours clearing rooms before they took a break. They headed back to the gallery to cook a meal.

    Todd carried back two badgers and a porcupine for lunch. Sarah started packing her porcupine carcasses into the set of storage shelves behind the inscription wall in the center of the gallery. Companion stood watch as she worked.

    Ellen was closely examining the handful of stones they found. She did not leave these in the hallways like the larger furniture components, but carefully carried them back to the gallery in gathering bags. She was sitting on the floor at the furniture set just inside the doors. There were seven furniture sets in the gallery. Three on each side of a raised center portion. The seventh was on that raised center. It was arranged to look at a freestanding wall that held a complex inscription. Behind that wall was the inventory access and storage shelves. Kai sat down on the chair in the first cluster. Alex collapsed down on the sofa beside him.

    ¡°You''re going to have to prioritize which pieces you want to take back,¡± Ellen said to Alex.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy enough,¡± Alex replied. ¡°Glass, ceramic, copper, wood, in that order. Large table tops are a priority. I brought this baby to carry them.¡± He dumped out his bag of bags to reveal a set of oddly shaped bags. He sorted through them and came up with one with an extremely wide opening that narrowed down to something close to a regular carrying bag.

    ¡°Those are my bags!¡± Ellen exclaimed, recognizing her and Sarah¡¯s work. ¡°How did you get them?¡±

    ¡°No one ever seems to pick the bag back up after the delivery is made,¡± Alex commented. ¡°This is the one we took the workbench to Enchanter with. I am hoping to get three or four of the heavy tops into it with Grandmother¡¯s help.¡± Grandmother possessed the ability to pack far more into a bag than should be possible, as long as the items were integrated. She described the ability as a perk. There was a lot of discussion in the group over the maintenance period on what other perks might be possible.

    ¡°Did you bring the cart bag too?¡± Ellen asked, realizing that was another item she had no idea where it went. She made the huge bag to carry the large amount of material they needed for their rest upgrade experiment. The experiment was a great success and a complete failure. Ellen suspected Grandmother was still thinking about the next thing to try.

    ¡°No,¡± Alex responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I could carry it through the transport.¡± Which was confirmation that he kept it. Ellen wasn¡¯t really that upset with Alex. She could always just make more. If she was worried about them, she would have reclaimed them at the time.

    ¡°What are all those other bags?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°They are the ones we used to take the advanced crafting tools to Chicago,¡± Alex explained. Three of those bags were in the back room of Ellen¡¯s shop. They still contained advanced tools that didn¡¯t sell in Chicago. That was confirmation in her mind that she had abandoned the empties.

    ¡°How are you going to talk Grandmother into doing your packing?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy,¡± Alex said. He picked up another bag. ¡°I¡¯ll let her use one for the anvil,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t find an anvil,¡± Kai said in a confused voice.

    ¡°We will,¡± Ellen conceded. ¡°Although I think I saw her tuck a loom into her gathering bag. She may not need yours.¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Alex responded. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± He looked thoughtful for a moment before he added, ¡°I don¡¯t want to believe you. Come on Kai, grab a couple bags and we''ll fetch some of your potential glass scrap. We may not be able to over pack them, but they are all enchanted to lighten the load. We¡¯ll stay close to Companion and Sarah to double the watch. You can try to convert it all while Todd finishes lunch.¡± Kai picked bags at random and they headed out.

    They loaded up two bags of glass objects. Kai loaded the bags while Alex kept watch. Alex helped carry them back. When they returned to the gallery, Alex dropped Kai and the loaded bags at the inventory access.

    Kai set each item on the intake shelf and checked if it would convert. He sorted the rejects into piles of different types. He wanted to be able to identify a worthless piece before he picked it up. Kai was surprised when he hit the first item that would convert. He decided to not put it in his inventory, instead he set it aside into another pile. He would keep the first of each type of debris separate so that he could memorize their appearance too. Scrap, which was a digital version of debris that when touched went directly into a person¡¯s inventory, came in only a set number of designs. Kai assumed debris would be the same. He wondered why they hadn¡¯t found any glass scrap.

    He identified three different kinds of glass debris and found a total of twelve pieces convertible to scrap. It was a shockingly high number. Grandmother paid him for his demonstration of the glass craft with thirty-one pieces of scrap. It was the most he¡¯d ever seen at the time. Kai and Alex only carried back a fraction of the broken glass they¡¯d pulled from the rooms and stacked in the hall. The amount of scrap he was likely to see from this run made him start rethinking whether he needed to ask about sand at Seagrass.

    His plan to try making glass from sand was based on recent developments in leatherworking. Until very recently all the human made leather was done with very little use of magic. It wasn¡¯t quite the manual version used on Earth, but close. On Grandmother¡¯s spell-buying tour of the human squares last season, a leather worker in Londontown sold them the spell to make vellum. Ellen was able to tease out from this method four spells, which when applied slightly differently, produced leather of multiple thicknesses.

    The group was now working on the theory that the real thing could be substituted for the magical version in the early steps of crafting. Upon hearing this theory over the maintenance cycle, Kai looked up how glass was made on Earth. He was surprised to learn that the base method behind all glass making was to melt sand. Since glass scrap was so hard to find, he thought it was worth trying, then he couldn¡¯t find any sand.

    Kai decided he would still ask about the sand. This area was too high of a tier for him to come here on his own. Buying sand from the selkie would be a much safer method.

    Todd called out that lunch was ready. Kai picked up his three debris samples and put them in one bag. He took a sample out of each of his not-convertible piles and put them in a different bag. Carrying both bags he hurried over to join the others for lunch.

    The porcupine did taste odd. Companion happily consumed most of it, but Kai decided he needed to at least try it. The badger was delicious. Kai knew that was in large part because Todd was a great cook. Kai made a note to make sure he picked up any spoons he came across and give them to Todd. He thought he would try making some out of glass too.

    ¡°How did you do on the glass scrap?¡± Alex asked him.

    ¡°Terrific,¡± Kai responded. He set down his food for a moment and fished out his three samples from his bag. He sat them on the edge of the table in the center of the furniture grouping. This was the grouping directly across from the door to the food preparation area. ¡°Those three shapes convert,¡± Kai said. He spilled out the other rejected samples on the floor. ¡°These ones don¡¯t.¡± He picked his food back up and returned to his meal.

    Companion was sprawled out on the floor. The selkie didn¡¯t trust the softness of the gallery¡¯s furnishings. One of the rejected samples rolled within his reach. He picked it up and studied it. He could see that it wasn¡¯t identical to the three pieces Kai said converted, but it wasn¡¯t much different. Some of the rejected pieces were large odd shapes, but this one was pretty close to the same size as the winners.

    Companion heaved himself up into a sitting position and scooted over to the table, where he held it up next to the closest match. ¡°It looks about the same to me,¡± Companion observed. ¡°What happens when you drop it into the furnace?¡± Companion was not a crafter, neither was Alex, Todd or Grandmother. The primary crafter was Ellen, at tier four she was considered a master. Sarah was primarily an enchanter, but, being Ellen¡¯s sister, she could craft as well. Kai, at tier two was the most inexperienced of the three.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he admitted. He wondered what did happen? He¡¯d been thinking about dropping raw sand into his glass furnace, why did he not think about trying non-scrap glass?

    ¡°Ellen,¡± Grandmother asked, ¡°what happens when you put a piece of iron Staging into a smelter?¡± Staging was Grandmother''s word for anything that appeared in a room and wasn¡¯t scrap or debris.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ellen responded.

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    ¡°Do you think it damages the tool,¡± Alex asked, ¡°or explodes?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Ellen responded. ¡°I can¡¯t recall having heard of anyone trying it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tailors spin some of the raw fibers from plants in the greens into thread?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said with certainty. ¡°Those aren¡¯t integrated at all. That Staging is integrated, it just isn¡¯t coded for glass scrap.¡±

    ¡°Are we sure it is integrated?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°I¡¯ve never taken Staging out of the structure. Some items found here aren¡¯t, beyond just the biological sourced ones. Coins for instance are the metal they appear to be. If everything in here was integrated, the recordings would show all dark gray items, but they don¡¯t. There may be nanobots in everything, but most items are mostly constructed out of exactly what they look like. Crafted items are the only thing I know that is consistently true nanomaterial.¡± She looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°And maybe intact components,¡± she added.

    ¡°What happens if you put iron scrap into the glass furnace?¡± Todd asked Kai.

    ¡°It turns off and you have to fish the scrap back out,¡± Kai said, glad he knew the answer to that one. He tried just about every kind of scrap during the lean times in Chicago.

    ¡°So, no explosions,¡± Todd said to Alex. Alex looked disappointed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get my furnace,¡± Kai said. He set his plate aside and went to fetch his pack. He didn¡¯t go anywhere without his furnace. It took up the majority of the space in his pack. He gently pulled the furnace out and unwrapped it from its protective layer of leather. He set it down on the floor in the center of the group and tapped out the spell that turned it on.

    Heat and light spilled from its interior. The furnace looked like a porcelain vase with a hole in the side. It was equipped with an integrated stand made out of black iron. Kai pulled two blowing tubes from a side pocket of the pack. He set them on the floor in front of the furnace, hoping they would be needed. He accepted the glass chunk from Companion and dropped it into the side. He flinched at the thought of it exploding.

    There was no explosion. The furnace continued to glow. Peering into the hole in the side, Kai could see the glass chunk just laying there.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any change,¡± Kai commented. ¡°Scrap would show signs of softening by now.¡± Kai thought about using the spell that made the furnace hotter.

    ¡°Well it didn¡¯t turn off,¡± Ellen observed. ¡°Maybe it takes longer? Spinning natural fiber does take longer than spinning fiber scrap.¡±

    ¡°I think it would take longer,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°If it is really glass, the furnace might be integrating it. Which really means replacing at least some of the original material with nanobots. That would take a lot longer than just changing the appearance of existing nanobots.¡±

    ¡°Where would the nanobots be coming from?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°The furnace itself might construct them from the provided glass, or the structure might be providing them by running them up the legs of the furnace from the floor. In this case I don¡¯t see how the structure could be replacing the entire lump with a slight of hand, but I wouldn¡¯t rule that out either,¡± Grandmother answered.

    ¡°It¡¯s starting to slump,¡± Kai reported. He tapped out the spell to raise the heat of the furnace, and picked up one of his blowing tubes. About two or three times longer than Kai expected the glass finally melted into a puddle in the bottom of the ceramic. Using the tube Kai fished the glass out of the furnace. He cast a release spell on the furnace and an adhere spell on the tube. Pulling the blob of molten material from the bottom he cast sphere on the tube. The glass on the end of the tube spun into an imperfect sphere. He cast two more spells on the tube to help even out the ball. Finally when the mass looked almost right, he cast form. A perfect sphere formed. He pulled the softly glowing ball from the furnace and cast cool.

    He tapped the sphere on the ground and the tube released it. Kai turned the furnace off and picked up the sphere to inspect it. There was no trace of heat in the glass ball. The surface was uniformly smooth and the glass perfectly clear.

    ¡°It looks right,¡± he said to his audience.

    ¡°What is it for?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t for anything,¡± Kai explained. ¡°I think of it more as an ingot.¡±

    ¡°Can I see it?¡± Ellen asked. Kai handed the ball to her. She looked at the ball for a moment before asking, ¡°How long does it take to make one out of scrap?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you,¡± Kai said. He picked up one of the three debris samples and repeated the process. In about a quarter of the time he produced a second ball, which seemed identical to the first.

    ¡°Can you put these into your inventory like a metal ingot?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kai responded. ¡°This furnace holds about three scrap worth of glass. Da always filled it when he did work and pulled the leftover as the ingots. If you have less than a full ingot left in the bottom it forms a smaller sphere that you can¡¯t put in inventory. I think that might be why Da started making marbles.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d better start packing up,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°I think we¡¯ve collected more material than we need, especially if Kai can convert the glass Staging. We¡¯ll pack everything going back to Home Square into the storage shelves and head on to Seagrass in the morning.¡±

    That evening Kai fed pieces of glass into his furnace and converted it to ingots. He¡¯d put all the debris directly into his inventory first since that was the faster option. He found the tool would shut off if he couldn¡¯t get the entire fragment through the door. That reduced his haul, since he couldn¡¯t convert the larger pieces. He sorted them all out big pieces and set them aside in a pile. It was late, when Alex came by to check on him.

    ¡°What are all these?¡± Alex asked of the large piece pile. Kai explained how they wouldn¡¯t completely fit into the furnace, so the tool shut down. Alex picked up a piece and turned it in his hand. He tapped the end of it against the ground. It bounced back like steel.

    ¡°I once saw Grandmother shatter an entire glass baluster with ring of death,¡± Alex observed. ¡°The glass shards flew out like a rain of knives.¡± Kai was rather happy he hadn¡¯t been there to see that. ¡°Ring is a force tree spell,¡± Alex expanded. ¡°I wonder if these could be broken with a force spell.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to experience a rain of knives,¡± Kai commented.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean the ring,¡± Alex said. ¡°I meant something lower tier. Sarah was talking earlier about how the butcher in town uses force blade to cut bones. Perhaps force tap would crack this in two. Do you mind if I try?¡±

    ¡°What is force tap?¡± Kai asked after he agreed to let Alex try. He was unfamiliar with the spell name.

    ¡°It¡¯s force blade cast on a blunt weapon. I¡¯ll go ask Ellen if I can borrow her repair hammer,¡± Alex responded.

    Alex returned with Ellen following close behind. Ellen was carrying a blacksmith¡¯s hammer, while Alex was lugging an anvil.

    ¡°Where did the anvil come from?¡± Kai asked, because of the earlier conversation he was certain they didn¡¯t find one on the scavenging run.

    ¡°I have a set of crafting tools stored here,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°We found it when we first discovered the gallery.¡±

    Alex set up the anvil away from Kai¡¯s furnace. Ellen picked up one of the largest pieces from Kai¡¯s discard pile. She positioned it so that a piece that was small enough to fit into the furnace overhung the flat surface of the anvil. Holding down the section on the anvil with her hand she tapped the overhang with a hammer. Nothing happened.

    ¡°Did you imbue it?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen said. ¡°I am still thinking about it. It seems like if I do, I will just overpower my hand and send this fragment flying.¡± She mimed the action by pushing down with the hammer and allowing the back end to rise.

    ¡°Only if you''re weak,¡± Alex countered. Ellen gave Alex a look that said, speak for yourself lowly tier three.

    ¡°I was thinking of Kai. We need a method he can use,¡± Ellen said aloud.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say one of the spells the Tinkerer taught you was how to mend cracks in glass? Can you reverse that to cause cracks?¡± Alex asked. Alex was excited by that idea, since a spell like that could be used in combat to break an opponent''s glass armor. Alex lived to add magic to physical fighting techniques. Ellen looked thoughtful.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really see how,¡± she said. One thing about the method to mend cracks that stood out to her was that the repair started at the small end and worked towards the large end. If she got just a small crack started at one end, could she grow it across the complete piece?

    She tilted the piece, so that it was only touching the anvil in a line along the edge. This piece of Staging was designed to look like it started life as a shelf. It was flat with rough edges. Ellen tapped the edge of the glass piece with the hammer, right above where it rested on the anvil edge. She felt minimal feedback into her hand holding the piece. She decided it was worth a try and cast force tap on the hammer.

    The piece shattered. It wasn¡¯t a rain of knives, although a few shards did go flying. Ellen maintained her hold on a group of splinters, cutting her hand. She studied the way the cracks formed and traveled, as a drip of her blood ran down the glass. When Alex noticed the blood, he cast a heal on Ellen. The blood pulled itself up the glass and disappeared back into Ellen¡¯s skin.

    ¡°Maybe not tier two,¡± Ellen commented. She set the fragments down. ¡°Let me go fetch my gloves.¡± Ellen came back not just with her gloves, but an assortment of blacksmithing tools. In the end she figured out a method to break the sheet type of glass using force blade on a file to score the material first. The resulting crack needed much less force to form and the direction it ran was very controllable. Alex looked at the file intensely. He wondered if he could wield it like a knife.

    Everyone went off to bed shortly after. It was now very late. Their earlier trip though the transportation system left their time sense skewed for the day. The transportation system always left the traveler feeling well rested, like they¡¯d just gotten up after a full night''s rest. The late night shouldn¡¯t affect them.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Six

    When the party arrived in Seagrass, Ray-Do-So the selkie elder for the square came out to greet them. She seemed relieved and disappointed when there were only seven of them.

    ¡°It is good to see you returned to the true god¡¯s domain,¡± Ray-Do-So said in greeting.

    ¡°It was a good trip,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°My square prospered even in my absence.¡±

    ¡°Your Harry is an honorable warrior,¡± Ray-Do-So responded. What impressed Grandmother was that Ray-Do-So had done a fairly good job of pronouncing Harry in her high voice. The selkie language was almost completely note based. The shaping of sound with tongue and lips was a new concept for them. They thought the humans were hopelessly monotone. ¡°What brings you to my shore?¡± Ray-Do-So asked.

    ¡°Sarah brought books for Enchanter. She and Companion will continue their tutelage of the human language with her. In addition Ellen has come to attend to her duties as apprentice to the jeweler. Kai and I are both shopping, Alex has agreed to speak for us to the shopkeepers. Todd is like Harry, too honorable to be left behind,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°I..¡± Ray-Do-So started to say something, but then stopped herself while she organized her thoughts. ¡°I was wondering if you plan to visit other selkie squares in the future,¡± she said after a moment. ¡°I have received inquiries from several allies who would be interested in seeing the spell books.¡±

    Grandmother barely stopped herself from smiling. For some reason selkie always seemed terrified by her smile. She didn¡¯t want to frighten the selkie elder with her happiness. She put off going to another selkie settlement last year waiting for word of the humans to spread. She hoped it would make their visits less dangerous. Having squares asking about them was more than she expected.

    ¡°I do plan on visiting more selkie squares,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I want to buy spells in their market just like I did in yours last season. If you could tell me which squares are interested in a visit, I can target them first.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Ray-Do-So pronounced. She reached into a pocket on her wizard silks and pulled out a stack of map sections. The stack contained at least ten sheets. They visited eleven squares plus Chicago last season, twelve squares if they included Seagrass. It appeared they had their work cut out for them this year.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Grandmother responded, as she accepted the stack. Having accomplished her task, Ray-Do-So wished them a productive visit, and headed back across the shallow pond, that was the selkie square¡¯s equivalent of a central courtyard.

    ¡°I¡¯m heading over to the tailor shop,¡± Grandmother told Kai. ¡°I think the tailor¡¯s nephew might be able to help you with your sand. If he can¡¯t we can go ask the potter after that. I think they use sand in pottery, along with clay.¡± The four of them, Kai, Alex, Todd and Grandmother, waded across the pond to the shop Grandmother pointed out.

    ¡°Most glorious lesser god you have returned. Let me fetch the master crafter to serve you,¡± the sales clerk said in a slightly panicky voice. She slipped out the door to the back room before any of them could respond.

    ¡°Is she always like that?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s getting better,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°She whispered the first time Ellen and I came in.¡± The master tailor came out from the back room. His liquid eyes scanned the room and took in the four humans milling around his shop.

    ¡°Lesser god,¡± the tailor said, ¡°Your presence brings honor to my shop.¡±

    ¡°She prefers the title Elder,¡± Alex said to the tailor in selkie. ¡°It is what So-La-Do calls her.¡± So-La-Do was Companion¡¯s pure selkie name. The master tailor was surprised to hear one of the humans speak perfectly understandable selkie.

    ¡°Elder it is then,¡± the tailor responded. ¡°You are?¡±

    ¡°Alex,¡± Alex responded. He went on to introduce Todd and Kai.

    ¡°I am interested in the little humans the younglings had,¡± Grandmother said after the introductions were complete.

    ¡°Do you want them back?¡± The tailor asked after Alex translated her words.

    ¡°No, not those two specifically. I want to purchase newly made ones,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°They take more time than you would expect, being so small,¡± the tailor started. Grandmother smiled. The tailor looked a little startled, but then Grandmother saw the selkie push aside his first reaction and continue on in his effort to talk up the value of the dolls. In a strange way Grandmother was even more happy with him.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sell one for less than a silver,¡± the tailor finally offered.

    ¡°Eighteen iron,¡± Grandmother countered, cutting the price in half, ¡°I want more than one.¡±

    ¡°How many are you interested in?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Thirty six,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯d also like to see a selkie version. I wouldn¡¯t buy them this season, but maybe next season.¡±

    ¡°I will have to send my nephew out for the sponges, so I can¡¯t deliver for at least seven days,¡± the tailor warned.

    ¡°That is acceptable,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Do we have a deal? Thirty six human dolls and one selkie doll for eighteen iron each?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the tailor responded. He reached down to activate the pay surface built into his service counter. He entered in the order and totaled it up to eighteen silver and eighteen iron. Grandmother paid the total with a quick hand movement.

    ¡°One other thing,¡± Grandmother said after the transaction was complete. ¡°Kai here is interested in sand. Is that something your nephew could pick up when he goes for the sponges? Or is there another source for it in the square?¡±

    ¡°They use sand in pottery,¡± the tailor replied honestly. He may have decided the lesser god wanted to be treated as a normal customer, but he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to lie to her. ¡°They might sell you some if you want it today. My nephew was gathering sand for them when he picked the first sponges for me. So if you''re willing to wait he can get it for you.¡±

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    ¡°What do you think Kai?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°With all the Staging glass I need to try to convert there is no rush. Ask him how much for a gathering bag full,¡± Kai answered. The tailor called into the back room for his nephew to come out. As Kai, with Alex¡¯s, help negotiated with the nephew for a bag of sand, pure stone not mixed with shell or mud, Grandmother took Todd over and showed him the tapestry on the wall. Ellen and Grandmother admired it on their first visit. It was still impressive.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡± Todd asked. The tapestry showed a lone selkie facing off against a multi-tentacled beast in the depths of the ocean.

    ¡°The reason we should stay out of the water,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°The tailor told us, but I forgot the notes. I called it a Kraken, which is a beast from Earth legend.¡±

    ¡°It is beautiful work,¡± Todd observed. ¡°It is every bit as good as the tapestry in the queen''s suite. I wonder if I could order one.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to ask?¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°No, not this trip,¡± Todd responded.

    When Kai and Alex finished, the party waded back out into the central pond.

    ¡°Let''s go to the potter¡¯s next,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I agreed to buy sand from the tailor¡¯s nephew,¡± Kai said. He thought maybe Todd missed the deal.

    ¡°You can check your price with the potter. I¡¯m interested in planters. I asked last season and the potter said he could make them, but there was no demand. If he was a human shopkeeper, he¡¯d have a couple made by now just in case I came back by. We haven¡¯t found any of the really big ones the Galleries have in wildspace. I think Muriel would really like them.¡±

    This was the second time Todd mentioned Muriel this trip. Grandmother wondered if there was something developing between the two of them. Muriel was much younger than Todd, but Grandmother thought it could happen. She knew Harry, Muriel¡¯s father wasn¡¯t Todd¡¯s father, but there was still an uncanny resemblance between the two men. Grandmother suspected that Muriel was some kind of relative to Todd. That could be the explanation for Todd¡¯s interest. She decided their relationship was none of her business.

    The potter did have planters. His selection started at the smallest ones they found commonly in wildspace and went up in size to something that was about half the size of the big planters in the Galleries. All of the planters were empty. It appeared to Todd that the selkie still didn¡¯t understand what they were for.

    This time Todd took the lead with Alex translating beside him. As the two of them negotiated and Kai watched on, Grandmother did a full survey of the shop. The pottery shop contained a lot of containers for holding items. Each container came with a tightly fitted lid. The quality of the material varied from a porous red clay, to an impenetrable white clay that was very very close to porcelain. The white clay versions were all much smaller. Holding one of them up to the light, Grandmother decided she was shortchanging the potter, these little pots were porcelain.

    On the other side of the storage pots were knives with white blades. The handles were wrapped in a black material. These small knives were the size of the cutlery on the Speedwell, although the blades were all shaped differently. Grandmother thought their extremely sharp edges would cut through soft fruit without crushing it. Grandmother wondered why there weren¡¯t any larger examples. All of these were too small to be effective in a fight. On the other side of the knives was a handful of shields. The shields too were small. Grandmother wondered if they were meant to be used on land or in the water.

    As she turned the shield over to look at how it was held, she was struck with how close it was to a plate. The selkie used large half shells from some sort of clam to serve most of their food on. Humans tended to serve on wooden planks split out of a short length of log. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain why that was. Woodworkers could easily make smooth short planks. In wildspace they ate off of stiffened squares of leather. Although everyone called them plates, they had to be handled carefully or they would fold over and dump your food on the floor. The plate that this little round shield reminded her of was one from the Speedwell.

    Grandmother picked up the smallest shield and walked over to the counter. The sales clerk gave Grandmother a cautious look. Grandmother motioned for them to continue on. She knew it would be easier to describe what she was looking for if Alex translated. She wasn¡¯t much of a crafter, but she was not totally unaware either. She knew that the patterns crafters followed could be altered in small ways. Human tailors and leather workers were able to remove the unneeded sixth finger from glove patterns from nearly the beginning.

    Todd purchased the largest three planters. They very conveniently fit inside of each other. Kai asked about sand. The price the potter quoted was higher than what the tailor''s nephew wanted. Kai thanked the potter but declined to buy. Grandmother set the shield on the counter.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to get a custom shield made,¡± she explained. The sales clerk explained that Grandmother needed to talk to one of the potters directly to see if the changes she wanted could be done. The clerk stepped into the back room to fetch someone.

    When they returned they were joined by another selkie. This second selkie was wearing leathers that were heavily stained with clay. Grandmother was pretty certain this was the first time she¡¯d seen a selkie in leather. As far as she knew there wasn¡¯t even a leather crafter in the square. The selkie¡¯s leathers were shaped and sewn in the same pattern as wizard silks. Grandmother couldn¡¯t wait to tell Ellen.

    ¡°This is Ray-Do-Ti, one of our potters,¡± the sales clerk said, introducing the selkie. Alex introduced the humans to the potter. After the introductions, Grandmother started explaining the changes she wanted done. She flipped the shield over and pointed to the slits and holes on the back where strapping for a handle was obviously meant to attach.

    ¡°I¡¯d like these attachment points removed,¡± she said.

    ¡°What do you want instead?¡± Ray-Do-Ti asked.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Grandmother pointed to the top edge where the surface was smooth. ¡°I want it to look like there, everywhere,¡± she said, circling her finger around the edges.

    ¡°I should be able to do that,¡± the potter admitted.

    ¡°I want it flatter too,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I still want the edges to come up, but I want this whole center section to be flat. The inside section being flat is more important to me than the outside.¡±

    ¡°You want something,¡± the potter suddenly announced. Grandmother looked to Alex, hoping he could translate the selkies last word. Alex shook his head.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know this word, something,¡± Alex admitted to the potter.

    ¡°If you can wait, Elder, it is easier for me to just show you,¡± Ray-Do-Ti responded.

    ¡°Yes, we can wait,¡± Grandmother responded. The potter disappeared into the back room. The sales clerk returned the shield to the display. Todd and Kai began wandering around the shop.

    About twenty minutes later the potter along with two assistants emerged from the back of the shop with a large assortment of greenware, or unfired pottery. Grandmother was always surprised at how many selkie were in the back rooms. The pieces were made out of coarse red clay that was the lowest tier. The two assistants set out the pieces on the top of the service counter. As they laid out the pieces Grandmother realized with some shock that it was a full set of dishes. There was a little salad plate, a mid-sized luncheon plate, a dinner plate, a serving platter and something so enormous you could put a whole roasted squirrel on it. There were bowls, pitchers, shakers, covered dishes, teacups and teapots. There were all different sizes. There were pieces in there Grandmother had absolutely no idea what they were for. It was absolutely fabulous.

    Grandmother suspected the potter put these all together in the last twenty minutes using magic. Since the clay was unfired, she thought he could recycle all the clay if she didn¡¯t want any of it. She thought about Ellen¡¯s description of patterns used in crafting. Since Grandmother didn¡¯t see any of these items in use in the selkie square she suspected the potter must have just recently gotten access to these patterns. She wondered if Todd¡¯s planters triggered it.

    ¡°I can put a glaze on this porous stuff to seal them, or with an up charge I can make them out of a porcelain that is naturally impermeable,¡± the potter said nonchalantly.

    Grandmother started ordering.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Seven

    Grandmother was sitting in the selkie common room thinking about dishes. Todd, Alex and Kai were all in the back talking to the brewer.

    The display of items the potter set before her left her thinking she was once again missing something. Most of the items were shockingly familiar. Almost like Control took a look in the Speedwell¡¯s dining room supply closet. There were others that Grandmother was certain she never saw before. The fact that the potter made so many of them in only twenty minutes, even if they were still unfired, proved they were very low tier. They also must have come almost directly from patterns. The speed of the production, and the potters seemingly lack of knowledge of what they were for both supported that. They must be something like the junk contents of wildspace.

    The jeweler sat down, shaking Grandmother from her thoughts. He cast muffle, blur and something Grandmother did not recognize. It popped up on her display of spells that were active on her. She did not recognize the icon, but the border was white. That meant she could dismiss it at any time if it became a problem. She decided to play along and try to figure out what it did.

    ¡°What gave me away?¡± the jeweler asked. Ah, Grandmother thought, Ellen did or said something that made him realize she knew he wasn¡¯t a selkie. He spoke now in a low octave in Grandmother¡¯s language. It was odd to hear that voice come from a selkie.

    ¡°You made a lot of mistakes,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Did Amilia send you?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded, surprised at the very human sounding name.

    ¡°Will you tell the King?¡± he demanded.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± She added. She watched the jeweler¡¯s reaction. He seemed to believe her. She was starting to suspect the extra spell was a truth spell.

    ¡°Why not?¡± the not-selkie asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve made another mistake,¡± Grandmother told him. She decided to take advantage of his spell. She could tell him things now he might not believe without his truth spell proof.

    ¡°What?¡± he said, sitting upright.

    ¡°You¡¯ve assumed I am one of you. I am not. I am exactly what I appear to be. A human tier six,¡± she told him.

    ¡°No,¡± he responded. ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± He shifted slightly with a painful grimace.

    ¡°You claim you are old, but selkies don¡¯t get old. Even Enchanter, who is the oldest among them, doesn''t show any real signs of aging. If anything, she is just depressed. Among your own kind you may be old, but I actually think you are injured. Something that can¡¯t be readily healed. Something that complex must have been done to you on purpose to limit you.¡± Grandmother smiled.

    ¡°I am young,¡± Grandmother declared, ¡°not yet a century old. Imagine what I will be in another hundred years, in a thousand.¡± She dismissed the spell off of her. The jeweler cringed as he saw his spell fail. A tremble ran down his form. ¡°I won¡¯t tell your King you are here because I don¡¯t know where your King is. I don¡¯t know what you really are. We all have secrets and you are entitled to yours.¡±

    ¡°Why did you send me your apprentice,¡± he asked, ¡°if not to spy on me?¡±

    ¡°She is more dear to me than a daughter, but she is not my apprentice. She is yours,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°She wishes to learn. I sent her to learn from you.¡±

    ¡°Crafting?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Crafting, spying, thieving, how to navigate the dangers of a foreign court, she is younger than I, but I expect her to travel far,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Is she your heir?¡± he asked.

    ¡°One of them, but not my primary,¡± Grandmother answered, wondering where this conversation was going. She had a feeling ¡®heir¡¯ had a lot more meaning in his culture than it did in hers.

    ¡°I remember you,¡± the not-selkie said suddenly, ¡°from Redfalls.¡±

    ¡°I was younger then,¡± Irene responded, ¡°and made mistakes. I learned from them. Doubtless I have more mistakes to make, hopefully I will learn from them too. You don¡¯t want to become one of my mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Grandmother,¡± Todd said abruptly. He was standing at the end of their rock table, one hand on his spear and the other on his knife. He couldn¡¯t hear them because of the muffle. The blur allowed him to see their rough figures, but not their specific actions. Grandmother could hear the concern in his voice. She flicked away the jeweler¡¯s spells, dismissing them as easily as she did the truth spell. The not-selkie flinched again.

    ¡°Todd,¡± Grandmother said warmly. ¡°This is Do-Fa-Ti, the jeweler. Do-Fa-Ti, this is Todd, my primary heir.¡±

    ¡°Do-Fa-Ti,¡± Todd said to the not-selkie. ¡°It is an honor.¡± Todd moved his hand off his knife. The jeweler nodded his head at Todd, acknowledging him in a totally not-selkie manner.

    ¡°I will consider this,¡± Do-Fa-Ti said in his selkie voice. He rose to his feet. ¡°I have an apprentice to train.¡±

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Todd asked after the jeweler left. He sat down on the stone chair the jeweler abandoned.

    ¡°Ellen said something that made him realize I knew his secret,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°He was under the mistaken impression that I shared that secret.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Todd said, with a confused look. Grandmother glanced around the room and cast her own muffle. It annoyed her to have to do that, but this wasn¡¯t her inn and it wasn¡¯t her secret.

    ¡°He thought I wasn¡¯t human but whatever race he is. He was under the impression that I was sent to catch him, so we can put him down as a fugitive, not an active spy or retired thief,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Did you get a better feel for his tier?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Five,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I was able to dismiss his spells. He admitted to me that he was at Redfalls. Obviously there were no selkie there. I will have to think about who he might have been.¡±

    Redfalls was a well known battle in the wizard¡¯s war. At the end of last season Grandmother mentioned that the love of her life died at Redfalls. The battle was named for the hidden square it was fought at. Todd thought Grandmother¡¯s reference this time was to the square not the battle. Todd wanted to ask her about it. He didn¡¯t understand how a square could be hidden, but something about her tone when she said the word stopped him.

    ¡°Will he be a problem?¡± Todd asked instead.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Since he is in hiding he won¡¯t want to draw attention. He will flee if he decides we are a threat.¡±

    ¡°How did I get promoted to primary heir?¡± Todd queried.

    ¡°It seemed an important position to Do-Fa-Ti,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell him I didn¡¯t have one. I can always change my mind later.¡±

    ¡°I am honored,¡± the warrior said seriously. ¡°I will strive to be worthy of the honor.¡±

    ¡°You are already worthy of it,¡± Grandmother declared. She dismissed her muffle spell. ¡°Get me a beer,¡± she told her primary heir. ¡°Something mild. I feel the need to keep my wits about me.¡± Todd returned with two tankards of beer. He sat with one and gave the other to Grandmother.

    ¡°It¡¯s Brewer¡¯s version of Londontown Stout,¡± Todd warned. He said Brewer with the musical tones of the selkie¡¯s name overlaid on it. It made the word a little smeared, since all Selkie names were three notes, while the word only had two syllables.

    ¡°I thought I said mild,¡± Grandmother responded, giving the brew a cautious look.

    ¡°That is mild for here,¡± was Todd¡¯s response. With a sigh, Grandmother took a sip. She could feel her lips go numb for just a second, before her nanobots kicked in and cleaned the poison from her blood. She took another small sip and rolled it around her tongue for a second, waiting for the numbness to wear off before swallowing. Actually the arrowhead root had a nice flavor.

    ¡°I came out to tell you the Brewer has received a gift from the true god,¡± Todd explained to Grandmother. ¡°I thought it might help with our upgraded rest problem.¡±

    ¡°The rest?¡± Grandmother queried. ¡°What was this gift?¡±

    ¡°A brewing room. Brewer said she came in one morning and found a new door behind the beer tanks. It leads to a stair down to a room below us that is the size of the kitchen. It is fully outfitted for making beer, including heat and water sources,¡± Todd reported. Grandmother could hear the envy in Todd¡¯s voice. He wanted one.

    ¡°Does she know what triggered it?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd responded. ¡°She thinks the quality of her beer pleased Control.¡±

    ¡°Hmm..¡± Grandmother thought. ¡°And this is a recent development?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd responded. ¡°It showed up sometime during the maintenance cycle, so it wasn¡¯t us.¡± Grandmother thought some more.

    ¡°Maybe it was us, just in a delayed manner. I remember when we last visited, Brewer had a new beer she wanted you to taste. Did she make any more while we were away?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°She did,¡± Todd replied. ¡°She was excited to share it with us. It is very tart.¡±

    ¡°How many types of beer do we sell in Home Square?¡±

    ¡°Two,¡± Todd responded, ¡°Stout and the regular.¡±

    ¡°How many beers does Brewer sell?¡± Grandmother queried.

    ¡°Six,¡± Todd stated.

    ¡°A magic number,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Todd replied.

    Do-Fa-Ti dismissed Ellen past midday, telling her he was too hungry to deal with her youth any longer. Ellen happily took her leave, excited by all the things the jeweler taught her today. She didn¡¯t even notice the water in the central pond as she crossed over to the selkie inn. She found Todd, Alex, Kai and Grandmother drinking beer in the common room.

    Ellen was surprised to find Grandmother drinking beer, especially this early in the day. Grandmother almost always drank tea. Ellen thought maybe tea was not available in this inn. Companion held a true abhorrence to the idea of hot drinks, that might be a universal selkie trait. Ellen tried to remember what Grandmother drank on previous trips. Ellen couldn¡¯t remember anything.

    Thinking about how strong the beer was, she took a second look at Kai. With some relief she noted that the tier two¡¯s tankard was filled with water.

    ¡°Did you have a good day?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Do-Fa-Ti showed me a bunch of stuff. It will take me weeks to learn all the spells.¡± Ellen turned to Grandmother. ¡°I asked him if there is an amulet to help find ¡®holy places¡¯. He said they can¡¯t be crafted, but sometimes Control hands them out as rewards. Usually they are specific and will only locate one type of holy place.¡±

    This question was related to their upgraded rest project. The two galleries the group owned included inventory access stations and simplified food vendors. They wanted to know if there was a method to add that kind of asset to the rest. Enchanter told Companion about a totem her mother possessed that could call an inventory access. According to her, the totem only worked in ¡®holy places¡¯. Ellen forgot to ask the jeweler on their last visit to Seagrass at the end of the last season.

    ¡°Did he say what types of holy places there were?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°He pretended he couldn¡¯t understand me. I think he doesn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I got an amulet from the Coliseum,¡± Grandmother admitted. She was holding her staff in a vertical position and was spinning it as she thought.

    ¡°You did?¡± Ellen said, surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t remember seeing it in the loot.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember what I did with it,¡± Grandmother confessed. ¡°I remember thinking it was small and easy to lose¡­¡± she trailed off as she considered. ¡°I think I put it in a pocket or my lunch bag.¡±

    ¡°Did you bring your leathers?¡± Ellen asked. Grandmother hated the purple color her magic stained integrated items with. As a result she almost never wore integrated clothing. Instead she wore a set of hand made leathers. Among the selkie she switched to cloth armor. The dark color of the fabric warned the selkie that she was high tier.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother confessed. ¡°I left them in Home Square. My lunch bag is there too. I¡¯ll have to check them when we get back. This reminds me that we need to tell Me-So-Ray that Harry is organizing a Challenge day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask the innkeeper,¡± Alex volunteered. ¡°He may know where we can find Me-So-Ray this time of day.¡± Alex rose from his rock and went to speak to the innkeeper. He came back quickly reporting that the innkeeper insisted on notifying the portal keeper. Grandmother noticed that Alex¡¯s beer was refilled. Grandmother was still nursing her first Stout.

    The portal keeper arrived shortly. To Grandmother¡¯s surprise he was in the company of Enchanter, Companion and Sarah.

    ¡°Hallo,¡± Enchanter said proudly to Grandmother, in her high voice. ¡°Goop Pay po you.¡±

    ¡°Good Day to you, Enchanter,¡± Grandmother responded. Obviously d¡¯s and t¡¯s were hard for the selkie. ¡°Did the books help you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Very mup,¡± Enchanter replied. ¡°Your language is very hard to pronounce,¡± the selkie continued in her own language. ¡°I am bepper ap hearing ip,¡± she said, switching back to human.

    ¡°I feel the same,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I keep trying,¡± Grandmother tried to say in selkie. She suspected she spoke selkie with the same kind of lisp Enchanter was demonstrating with the human language.

    ¡°As will I,¡± Enchanter agreed. It was good to see Enchanter so far advanced at the spoken language. Companion spoke so little that Irene wasn''t certain the selkie could learn it. Harry mentioned that Enchanter visited Home Square several times during the maintenance cycle. Grandmother wondered if someone helped Enchanter with the language. She would have to ask Harry and thank whoever did.

    ¡°You wanted to talk to me?¡± Me-So-Ray, the portal keeper asked.

    ¡°Harry is organizing a Challenge day for the Coliseum,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I wanted to make sure you knew so you can pass the word to anyone who is interested.¡±

    ¡°A what now?¡± the portal keeper asked. Companion spoke up, explaining the concept. Grandmother listened to his description ready to make corrections, but it was unneeded. Companion for all his apparent disinterest during his time in the audience obviously paid attention to what was happening.

    ¡°When will the first one of these be?¡± Me-So-Ray asked.

    ¡°It is scheduled for thirty three days from today,¡± Todd answered, ¡°as long as at least one challenger signs up.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be a shortage,¡± Me-So-Ray replied. ¡°It is an honor to attempt a challenge. Has anyone succeeded yet?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°All the challengers have been human, so I am not certain what a selkie will win.¡± In packing for this trip, Grandmother looked over her pile of glass armor and considered how most of it wouldn¡¯t fit a selkies anatomy. She thought the loot would alter for a selkie challenger. If it didn¡¯t they would still be able to sell the armor on.

    Grandmother turned her pack where it rested on the floor and slipped her hand into the bottom gathering bag. She grabbed the edge of the glass helmet she brought along for example. As she pulled it out of the bag, it swelled up to its original size. Enchanter gave Grandmother¡¯s bag a liquid stare, but Me-So-Ray¡¯s gaze was locked on the armor. Grandmother set it on the stone table. As soon as she let go of it, the dark, nearly black, violet color of it began to fade.

    ¡°The successful challengers have all been given glass armor pieces,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Like this one.¡±

    ¡°What does the selkie coliseum award?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Ceramic cloth armor,¡± Me-So-Ray responded absently, all his attention still on the helmet. ¡°Can I touch it?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Grandmother said. The helmet was almost a clear glass again. When Me-So-Ray¡¯s flipper-hand came in contact with it, it began to stain orange.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Eight

    ¡°When did the carpet change?¡± Alex asked. Grandmother looked down at the dark purple carpet with its pattern of diamonds in silver.

    ¡°Weren''t there always diamonds?¡± Grandmother asked. She was sitting on the sofa with Ellen, working on adding a set of leather straps and lacing to the glass armor. Grandmother¡¯s glass helmet was passed from hand to hand in the selkie common room with such reverence that she started feeling guilty about the pile she left the rest of the pieces in.

    On their return to Home Square Grandmother visited Alex¡¯s shop and asked if he could put together an armor rack. This was his first attempt. He was charging her 14 silver and 20 iron for the rack, plus a delivery fee inside the square of one silver six iron.

    ¡°Why so much?¡± Grandmother asked him.

    ¡°There can¡¯t be more than twenty five people in the square who would ever want one,¡± Alex replied. Grandmother was proud of him. She would mention that he should increase the cost for custom orders after he was done.

    ¡°It was copper before,¡± Alex responded. ¡°I remember because it matched the¡­ beams.¡± Grandmother heard the stumble in his voice and looked up at the ceiling. The high ceiling was buttressed by arching beams of wood bound in silver.

    ¡°Is that silver?¡± Ellen asked at Grandmother''s side.

    ¡°I think it is,¡± Grandmother said. She set the armor in her hands down and stood. She stepped up on the sofa¡¯s seat, and then sofa''s back trying to get a closer look at the metal bound beams. ¡°It looks like real silver,¡± she reported. ¡°Not the stainless steel everyone likes to call silver.¡±

    ¡°Why would it change?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Grandmother responded, stepping back down.

    ¡°Well I am going to have to take all this copper back,¡± Alex announced. ¡°It clashes with the silver. Stainless steel will look much better.¡± Alex matched his actions to his words and disappeared out the door carrying his bundle of components.

    ¡°Did it change over the maintenance cycle?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I¡¯m pretty certain it was silver when I dumped the armor on the floor. I can visualize the silver lines being distorted by the glass. I¡¯ll have to check my recording before that.¡±

    ¡°When he brings back steel, you should tell him you want a discount,¡± Ellen said.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Maybe I will. Although if it looks good, I¡¯ll probably give him a pass.¡±

    Ellen was showing Grandmother how the straps were used to hold the armor together, when Alex returned. He carried in a mixed pile of stainless steel and wood. He quickly assembled something that looked like a stick figure. This figure was connected behind to a stainless steel frame that reached down to a set of floor supports that reached forward under the stick figure. Alex mounted a wooden board across the floor supports that provided a low shelf to set the armored boots on. Grandmother knew there was probably a special word for armored boots, but no one knew what it was. The computers on the Speedwell would know. Eventually someone would look it up.

    Alex was right that the stainless steel looked good with the silver lines in the carpet. He set the new armor rack next to the built in weapon rack and studied them.

    ¡°I think that is good. I remembered the weapon rack is wood about half way across the square, but I didn''t have all the pieces in wood. I can switch out the steel for wood when I find them,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t that weapon rack in copper before?¡± Ellen suddenly asked. Alex turned and really looked at the rack.

    ¡°I think it was,¡± Alex agreed.

    ¡°I like it,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°The two look like a matched set. Let''s see if we can get this stuff mounted.¡±

    Alex stayed to watch the two women struggle. He was taking mental notes on possible changes to his design. He made variations on shelves, bins and boxes for his back room, but this was the first design that came completely from his head. He planned to set up the copper version in his shop for sale.

    Tied and strapped in place the armor display was impressive. Alex wished he had won a complete set. He didn¡¯t think anyone else was going to get one anytime soon. Even Todd and Ellen only won partial sets. The only way people were going get the set was if Kai opened all the patterns and started making them.

    ¡°Did you find the amulet?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It was in my lunch bag.¡± She went over to a small stone box that was sitting on the ground beside a chair in the sitting area. Alex frowned. The box was too small to be reached easily by someone sitting. Grandmother needed a table or shelves to put the box on.

    She opened the box and lifted out a stone on a chain from one of the divided trays inside. She closed the box before handing the amulet over to Alex. The chain was silver. He thought it was true silver, not stainless steel. The pendant was a single oddly shaped stone. At first glance it looked like a chip of stone off one of the automata in the arena. Alex enhanced his vision to get a closer look at the surface, which felt oddly rough under his finger tips. The surface was covered with tiny symbols. Alex didn¡¯t recognize them.

    He handed the amulet to Ellen, who was not hiding her desire to get a look.

    ¡°The chain looks like it is silver to me,¡± Alex said. ¡°Maybe it is related to the room changes.¡±

    ¡°It could be,¡± Grandmother said thoughtfully.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize the symbols,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°They are the ones on the physical game interfaces,¡± Ellen reported. She was staring intently at the stone. Turning it slowly in her hand. ¡°I think there are nine different sections, I keep losing track as I turn it,¡± she admitted.

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    ¡°The engraving might change depending on how you hold the stone,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Does it really?¡± Ellen said, fascinated.

    ¡°Honestly, I couldn¡¯t decide,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°I could show it to Do-Fa-Ti,¡± Ellen offered.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I am going to experiment with it and see if I can figure anything out about it first." She didn''t mention aloud that she didn''t trust the jeweler.

    ¡°I want to go to the first of the selkie squares in a day or two,¡± Grandmother told them, changing the subject. ¡°I think the books will be very important. I want to buy two stout benches for Sarah to use for her interviews.¡±

    ¡°I will provide them as part of the group,¡± Alex said, ¡°but you¡¯ll have to pack them. I have a bunch of extra shelves and small display tables you can use Ellen. I can make them all available for sale with pickup at the end of the day.¡±

    ¡°I might want to do a couple selkie squares back to back, staying over in the gallery overnight,¡± Grandmother warned. ¡°Ray-Do-So¡¯s stack of interested settlements is rather thick, and I would like to work through them faster than we did the human squares last year. Will that work for both of you?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Alex responded. ¡°The buying frenzy at the shop has died down. After that haul I brought back from the south gallery last time, I¡¯m set for inventory for at least a month.¡±

    ¡°It should be ok for Sarah and I too,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°We hired Kai to run the shop for us while we are out. He¡¯s decided he wants to stay in Home Square. He¡¯s been using our back room as a workshop to convert all that physical glass into ingots since we got back. This way he doesn¡¯t have to pay us rent. I think he will want a shop of his own eventually, but he is still something of an apprentice with no master.¡±

    ¡°We will be back here before the first Challenge day,¡± Grandmother stated. ¡°I don¡¯t think we dare miss that. I will check with Todd and Companion to see if they are good with that plan. If they are, let''s head out tomorrow.¡±

    Ellen and Alex both agreed. Alex noticed how fast ¡®in a day or two¡¯ was transformed into tomorrow. He thought Grandmother must be bored. The old woman always liked to stay active.

    Grandmother found Todd in the training yards. He was sparring with the red wizard who lost in the arena. Grandmother was happy to see the woman back on her feet. Harry reported that Amanda''s leg was completely regrown in five days. Amanda was armed with Todd¡¯s spear, while Todd was defending himself with a large Speedwell knife.

    Harry came over to stand beside Grandmother where she watched the fight.

    ¡°The coliseum is great motivation for cross training,¡± Harry commented.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I think that is the point. You should try to get each of your fighters to learn at least one spell, warrior or wizard, from each of the five trees.¡±

    ¡°What about the sixth?¡± Harry asked with a wave over to another corner of the yards where Companion was demonstrating how to sing the tier six swift spell. The final casting sound, of two notes at once, was the hardest part for humans. Alex did it by humming and whistling at the same time.

    ¡°If they can manage it, all six,¡± Grandmother confirmed. ¡°Don¡¯t hold back anyone who can¡¯t do the last one. I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°You said earlier Enchanter visited while we were at the Speedwell. I left her books, but I was worried she wouldn¡¯t make any progress without someone reading them to her. When I saw her in Seagrass she seemed to have a better grasp of the spoken language than Companion. Did anyone help her when she was here?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah, we all helped her,¡± Harry responded. ¡°She is a sweet lady, it¡¯s hard to say no to her. I read her books to her several times myself. I told her a couple children stories my Ma told me too. I think Tina might have written them down for her.¡±

    ¡°Tina?¡± Grandmother questioned. She was fairly certain she didn¡¯t know a Tina.

    ¡°The butcher,¡± Harry responded. ¡°Everyone calls her Tiny but her real name is Tina.¡± The butcher was called Tiny? Grandmother thought with some alarm. She decided she better just let that one go.

    ¡°Well I want to thank you, Tina and anyone else who helped,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°We did it because we like Enchanter,¡± Harry responded. ¡°I accept your thanks but I don¡¯t need anything for it.¡± They also did it because Harry knew Enchanter learning their language was important to Grandmother. He spread the word around. The square helped the selkie as much as they could as a way to support Grandmother.

    When Amanda was too tired to continue, she returned Todd¡¯s spear to him, before thanking him for the match. Todd gave her a few words of encouragement before heading over to join Harry and Grandmother. Two new fighters squared off against each other behind him.

    ¡°Were you looking for me?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of starting the selkie squares,¡± Grandmother explained. Todd listened to her plan to do several back to back, starting tomorrow. Todd readily agreed.

    ¡°How are you planning on getting to the new squares?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay Me-So-Ray to send us all to each square. Hopefully we¡¯ll be able to touch the crystals and open the path to us so we don¡¯t have to pay the fee again. I remember you said their transport fee scale means the cost goes up with tier. I''m not looking forward to finding out how much it is going to cost me.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± Harry said, ¡°I asked and was told tier four and above are usually passed through without charge, they just need to pay the travel costs. I got the hint that you should give them the silver a tier three would pay, but it¡¯s more of a thank you than a fee. I also learned that you should always travel as close to the square you want to go to on your own map, because if the portal keeper hasn¡¯t been to a destination themselves in a long time, the travel costs can be high.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It also confirms why the travel costs to the squares on my map varied so much.¡± Grandmother wondered how Harry managed to get that much information from the selkie travelers. Harry was pretty good at hearing selkie but he didn''t speak it any better than she did. Grandmother decided he must be even better at hand waving than her.

    Companion saw them all standing together and left his group of students to check in with them. Companion agreed to Grandmother''s plan readily. He was excited that he would get to visit other selkie settlements. Then he said something that took Grandmother by surprise.

    ¡°Enchanter wants to come. She is thinking of taking a new apprentice and wants to look over the prospects,¡± Companion announced. Arriving with a master enchanter would do great things for their reputation. Grandmother would have to keep a close eye on the selkie. If anything happened to Enchanter all the gains they made with the selkie would be lost, and they would be back to war.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Grandmother agreed. Nothing was ever gained without risk. ¡°I was thinking of going back to the Gallery at night. If Enchanter wants to travel with us perhaps we should just get rooms at the inn in Seagrass and base ourselves out of there.¡±

    ¡°If there is an apartment available we could rent it for the season,¡± Todd suggested. ¡°It would give us space for storage and to do our own cooking.¡±

    ¡°Enchanter¡¯s floor is mostly empty. That is why she chose it,¡± Companion offered.

    ¡°If we¡¯re going to set up camp in Seagrass, I¡¯d like a day to pack some cooking gear,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll leave the day after tomorrow. I¡¯ll just need to update the others,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°How long will you be gone?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m committed to being here for the first Challenge day,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I suspect we will be back before then. Let''s call it two weeks for this first trial run.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Nine

    ¡°How do you get so much into your bags?¡± Enchanter asked in selkie. She was sitting on one side of the pay pillar that stood between the humans¡¯ two market stalls. Grandmother was sitting on the other side. It was late in the day in their third selkie shore. Most of the selkie sold their spells to the humans in the morning. Afternoon saw the crowds move on to their second stall, which was selling magic books. Ellen and Alex were busy enough that Todd stepped over to help out.

    ¡°It is a perk,¡± Grandmother replied in her own language. ¡°I think everyone has one, but they are fairly useless before you reach tier six.¡±

    ¡°Perk?¡± Enchanter echoed. She didn¡¯t know that word. She thought she¡¯d managed to say it fairly close.

    Enchanter was wearing wizard silks in a darker purple than standard indicating her tier four status. Grandmother wore cloth armor, which most people called hunter¡¯s greens, only hers were in a dark, dark violet. Enchanter was seated on a small sturdy bench provided by Alex. Grandmother was still using her leather and three pole stool which she used in all the human squares last season.

    ¡°A special ability,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I knew a man who could tell where every blade was around him. That one was more useful.¡±

    ¡°Ah, blade sense,¡± Enchanter replied. She considered it a innate ability. ¡°I have heard of this. There is a very complex enchant that will turn a stone into a danger sensor that is similar to that talent.¡±

    ¡°Do you know that enchant?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Enchanter said. ¡°Sarah has many to go before that one. Where is this blade sense man now? Is he your ruler?¡± Selkie with blade sense usually rose high among the rulers of the federation.

    ¡°He was killed,¡± Irene responded. She locked eyes with Enchanter. ¡°It only worked on integrated weapons.¡± Enchanters liquid eyes rolled in her head as she studied the blade at Grandmother¡¯s waist. It was a smaller version of the one on Todd¡¯s belt. Neither were integrated.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Enchanter commented. ¡°At what tier did you notice your ability?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t really notice it at the time,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°Looking back I can see signs of it early on. Like blade sense, it only works on integrated items. When I load a bag with non-integrated items like apples or tubers, the bag struggles with them trying to pack them tight. I can remember that happening at tier three.¡±

    ¡°Struggles? I would like to see that,¡± Enchanter replied.

    ¡°Todd brought a ton of apples with us, when we get back to Seagrass tonight I¡¯ll show you,¡± Grandmother responded. Todd¡¯s apples were part of the reason they ended up getting to their first square two days later than expected. He packed enough food for the six of them for the full season.

    He also insisted on bringing along two potted plants. One was the poisonous arrowroot. The second was a berry avocado. It produced a small fruit, the size of a strawberry that was very fatty, like an avocado. It was one of the few fruits that Companion really loved. The arrowroot was a gift for the brewer. Todd planned to give the berry avocado to the potter as a tip for making him the larger planters.

    When they arrived in Seagrass Enchanter took a day to prepare for the trip. Grandmother had to admit it worked out well in the end since she was able to pick up her thirty six human dolls from the tailor.

    Grandmother handed the bag with the dolls to Enchanter and told her to give them to any child she liked. Enchanter handed out twenty dolls in the first square. Grandmother went back to the tailor for more. Luckily the tailor¡¯s nephew gathered a lot more sponges than were needed on the first run, so the tailor promised partial delivery fairly quickly. He was a little surprised at how many more Grandmother wanted.

    ¡°How does the blade sense stone work?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°It vibrates when a weapon gets near. If you set it on the ground, or suspend it on a string, it will turn to point at the weapon,¡± Enchanter explained. Suspended on a string sounded like an amulet. Grandmother wondered where Do-Fa-Ti¡¯s jewelry and Enchanter¡¯s stones started to overlap.

    Sarah dismissed her muffle and blur spells. Her current interviewee reported to Grandmother with a sheet of vellum that reported what was owed to them. Grandmother paid out the coins, with Enchanter translating when needed. The selkie was a potter with a shop in the square. They would demonstrate most of their spells tonight in their shop. Grandmother wrote down the details of where their shop was located. There were three spells listed on the vellum with an asterisk beside them, meaning they were new spells. Grandmother told the selkie if they demonstrated those spells that evening, she would pay him three times the new spell bonus.

    The excited potter hurried off to tell their pod of their good fortune.

    ¡°How can you afford all those bonuses?¡± Enchanter asked. She wondered about that since the humans first showed up at her own shore.

    ¡°I¡¯ve received a lot of discovery bonuses over the years,¡± Grandmother explained, ¡°And I never really spent much. New spells are getting rarer, but we haven¡¯t had many potters willing to speak to us. I wish I had clay or sand to offer them, but those resources aren¡¯t common in human territory. Is there such a thing as clay scrap?¡± she asked Enchanter.

    ¡°No,¡± Enchanter responded.

    ¡°Interesting. I don''t think there is any stone scrap either and glass scrap is extremely rare. It must be something to do with the higher tier crafts. None of us have found any bone in the structure at all. Well, except for what is in the animals.¡±

    ¡°Bone?¡± Enchanter asked. ¡°Why would you want bone?¡±

    ¡°For crafting,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Why do you think you can craft with bone?¡± Enchanter asked.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Ellen got a visit from the Tinkerer in the arena,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It taught her how to repair bone items. If they can be repaired, it must be possible to craft them.¡± Enchanter almost fell off her bench.

    The Tinkerer was a legend. Enchanter remembered Companion asking her what she knew about the Tinkerer visiting the winner in the arena. She told him the Tinkerer wasn¡¯t in the arena, but in the under darkness. That information was pulled from a story her mother told her when she was a weanling. She didn¡¯t think any of it was true. She knew the Tinkerer was just a weanling¡¯s tale.

    ¡°You saw it?¡± Enchanter said in a high squeaking voice. Grandmother looked at the old selkie with concern.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°We all saw it. A portal opened in the wall and it stepped out. It motioned for Ellen to follow and stepped back in again. Ellen said that was the last she saw of it too. After that it was all ghost images and glowing patterns.¡± In Enchanter¡¯s agitated state she didn¡¯t really follow all of that. Actually she didn¡¯t understand most of it. She focused instead of what she knew about the legend.

    ¡°What did she trade?¡± Enchanter asked.

    ¡°Repairs,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°She repaired items in wood, leather, metal, cloth and stone to learn how to repair glass, ceramic and bone. Ellen is very good at repairing things, I think her perk might be related to it. After that Sarah put off trying the arena. She wants to enchant more items before giving it a try.¡±

    Enchanter decided not to even think about the young human enchanter challenging the arena. This whole conversation was just getting out of hand.

    ¡°Are there books on repairing?¡± Enchanter asked. The question slipped out because her brain was on overload.

    ¡°You know, I don¡¯t think so. You should suggest it to Ellen,¡± Grandmother responded. The two old women of different species sat together in silence. Grandmother was fiddling with her staff. She was using the end of it to scratch her back. Enchanter was struggling to get her worldview straightened out.

    Sarah dropped her cloaking spells and the last selkie emerged from the interview circle. Grandmother paid the selkie for the known skills described. Companion went with the selkie to the training yards to witness the warrior demonstrate their imbuing spells. Since there weren¡¯t any more selkie waiting to sell spells, Sarah went over to help with the magic book sales. Todd took the opportunity to escape, and came back to stand guard by Grandmother.

    ¡°It was really the Tinkerer?¡± Enchanter said finally.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what else it would be,¡± Grandmother responded. She went on to describe the entity using a large number of words Enchanter did not know. What little she did understand matched with her mother¡¯s stories.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to get any more sellers,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Most of the book shoppers are just looking. We should start packing up.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Start ushering the book buyers out and breaking down the furniture. When Companion returns with the last warrior, I¡¯ll pack the bags.¡± Todd nodded and went to tell Sarah, Ellen and Alex that they were closing up.

    ¡°Hurry and make your final selections,¡± Alex called in selkie. ¡°Remember you can always visit the shops in Home Square. The portal keeper in Seagrass knows the path.¡±

    Both the old women tuned the salesman¡¯s speech out. This was the third repetition of it they¡¯d heard. Somehow in these last few minutes Alex was able to sell off two or three of the furniture pieces they traveled with. Companion returned with the last warrior and Grandmother paid out the demonstration bonus.

    Enchanter rose to her flipper-feet and discovered that Alex sold the bench she was sitting on. ¡°My apologies,¡± Alex said. ¡°They want the one the famous Enchanter sat on. I¡¯ll leave one of the others for you to rest on while Grandmother packs.¡± Enchanter watched the human carry the first bench off and thought if she sat on another one, he would sell that one too.

    Ellen sorted out the demonstrations to be witnessed and split them between the three teams. Grandmother, Enchanter and Todd were assigned the least number of demonstrations. They got a late start since Grandmother packed all the stacks of furniture components and books into bags before they headed out. Once Grandmother secured the bag tops closed, she handed them off to Todd to carry.

    Enchanter was surprised at how much she enjoyed the demonstrations. Translating for Grandmother she got to see the inside of half a dozen crafters workshops. It was amazing at her age to discover a whole world of different crafts. She also saw a lot more potential apprentices. Selkie children were rare and treasured. Mothers liked to keep their calves close. In the safety of their own workshops, mothers allowed their calves a peek at the strange newcomers and the famous visitor. Enchanter handed out the human dolls to the children who dared to approach them. The calves squealed with delight at the small gift.

    ¡°The luggage seems lighter tonight,¡± Todd commented. The three of them were waiting for the others at the outdoor tables of this square¡¯s inn. Even after their late start, they finished their list before the others.

    ¡°I think Alex has sold most of his extra¡¯s. We¡¯ll take a break and head back to Home Square for a couple days. Alex and Ellen can restock and we can get an update from Harry,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Does that sound alright to you, Enchanter?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Enchanter responded. ¡°Maybe the tailor has more toys,¡± she commented. ¡°I am running low again.¡±

    ¡°We can hope, I know he is limited by how long it takes to process the sponges,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Why are we giving out toys?¡± Todd asked. He wondered that for a while. This seemed like a good opportunity to ask. He knew how much Grandmother was spending on the things.

    ¡°A toy is an item you control, it isn¡¯t a threat. It is fun and brings joy. It¡¯s familiar and when you think back on it as an adult it seems like an old friend. It isn¡¯t something you fear and go to war with,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Why did you order the selkie one?¡± Todd asked. This was news to Enchanter. She thought all the dolls were newcomers.

    ¡°That¡¯s for human children of course. I thought Ellen¡¯s version was really good, but she hasn¡¯t got time to make a hundred dolls. I don¡¯t want the dolls to wear out before we tour the human settlements again, so I will put off ordering them until we are ready. Although I think I¡¯ll get a set to hand out in home square this season,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy them,¡± Enchanter said suddenly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°This is my crazy plan.¡±

    ¡°I like your plan. I¡¯ll buy them for the human calves. I¡¯m old and don¡¯t spend much either,¡± Enchanter explained. She was already thinking about what kind of enchantment she could put on them.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you are giving them away,¡± Todd said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be selling them?¡±

    ¡°Well children are different from adults. They do put value in free things, as long as they are fun. However, you''re right about a toy shop. It is a good idea. We need to find someone to open one.¡±

    They returned late to Seagrass. The transportation system left them feeling energized. They all went up to the top floor of apartments, where the humans stored their market items between squares. Enchanter found herself following the group into the unit next to her own.

    Sarah sat down at a desk next to a tall bookcase. She planned to take advantage of her energized state to work on creating enchanting books. She picked a stylus up from the desktop and a starter enchanting book from a shelf. Soon she was immersed in her work.

    ¡°The Elder told me you traded repair work with the Tinkerer. Do you have books on repairing items?¡± Enchanter asked Ellen. The sight of Sarah working reminded her of the Elder''s suggestion.

    ¡°I did,¡± Ellen commented, ¡°and I don¡¯t. I need to fix that.¡± Ellen went over to their stack of blank notebooks and picked one up.

    ¡°Well done,¡± Grandmother told the much older selkie. ¡°I¡¯m calling a three day break,¡± Grandmother announced to the group. ¡°I¡¯m going to head back to Home square and check in with Harry. If anyone wants to stay here for the break, that is fine.¡± Grandmother thought that Companion might want to spend time with his family, or Ellen with the master jeweler. ¡°I¡¯m going to leave late tonight, so I¡¯ll arrive in Home Square in the morning,¡± Grandmother announced before turning to Enchanter. ¡°Come on,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll show you the apples.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Ten

    The person who called himself Do-Fa-Ti, watched as his new apprentice turned into the hallway to the back door of the square. She was in a mixed group of humans and selkie. Do-Fa-Ti was surprised to see Enchanter among them. This was the third morning he watched them from his shop windows. After nearly a 108 day absence, his apprentice presented herself for training twice in twelve days.

    Enchanter seemed to be moving more freely, with a lighter step. Do-Fa-Ti was reminded of the tier six¡¯s words about the old selkie just being depressed. A shiver ran over his frame. He lived in a state of near complete terror for days after his impromptu interview with the tier six. He couldn¡¯t call her Grandmother like her human companions did, nor Elder like the selkie did. He was many times her age. Calling her either of these things seemed faintly ridiculous to him. At the same time, there seemed very little of the tier four Irene Do-Fa-Ti knew in Redfalls left in this woman. That woman was soft and naive, or at least she appeared to be. No one who was soft made it to tier five, let alone tier six.

    He shook his head and wrung his hands. Since Enchanter was with them they could not be going out into the halls. They must be using the transportation system.

    It was just impossible that someone could go from tier four to tier six in only thirty years. His amulet made even identify spells report him as a tier lower than he really was. There were whispers of an amulet that could do the opposite, presenting a tier higher than actual. Do-Fa-Ti convinced himself that Irene must be one of his people in disguise. Someone who possessed one of each type of amulet. She wore the lowering one in Redfalls and the raising one here. As a tier five she was still dangerous, but manageable. Most people greatly underestimated the benefits of amulets.

    He needed to know more about her. Her purchases in the square told him nothing. They were such random items he couldn¡¯t make out why she would want them. His careful interrogation of his fellow selkie yielded the information that the Elder was leader of her own square, far to the north. The portal keeper started spreading the word that there was a coliseum there, with a Challenge day coming up. Do-Fa-Ti wondered if they were from Peking, but none of the selkie knew the Elder¡¯s square¡¯s name. The humans always just called it home.

    Do-Fa-Ti stepped out of his shop. The door secured automatically behind him. He waded across the central pond, before stepping up into the back hallway. The portal keeper was just stepping out of the transportation room and into the hallway.

    ¡°Did I miss them?¡± Do-Fa-Ti asked. ¡°The Elder¡¯s group?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are away to Stoneshelf,'''' the portal keeper responded. That was too easy, Do-Fa-Ti thought.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the path on my map,¡± Do-Fa-Ti. ¡°Can you tell me the cost?¡±

    ¡°It is high,¡± the portal keeper reported. ¡°I haven¡¯t been there in some time myself.¡± He quoted the amount. It was a little high, but nothing compared to some of the fees Do-Fa-Ti paid in the past when he was actively running.

    ¡°Let me fetch the physical coin for you,¡± Do-Fa-Ti said. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He went back to his shop and pulled out the fee plus a tip for the portal keeper, then he tripled it, remembering he would need to pay for the trip back. Deciding he would look odd to the portal keeper if he made the trip with no luggage, he picked up the go-bag he kept in the back room. He didn¡¯t bother with a weapon. Enchanter hadn¡¯t carried one and Do-Fa-Ti was just another crafter.

    Do-Fa-Ti handed over the charge and tip to the portal keeper. Me-So-Ray opened the portal to Stoneshelf and wished the jeweler a good trip. Do-Fa-Ti thanked him and stepped through. The receiving room on the other side was empty. There wasn¡¯t even a portal keeper on duty.

    Do-Fa-Ti took advantage of the situation and cast a don¡¯t notice me spell on himself. He stepped out of the transportation room and hurried down to the central pond where he could mix with other selkie. He didn¡¯t think for a moment that any of his camouflage spells would hold against a tier six. His best hope was to not draw any attention.

    He ducked into the doorway of the stair access to the apartments above. From that bit of cover he swept the central pond. He found Irene¡¯s group in the market area. It was not market day, so they were the only ones in the area. They picked two spaces that were clearly visible from all the apartment balconies above.

    Do-Fa-Ti carefully positioned his body so that most of it was hidden. He settled in to see what happened next.

    ¡°Someone is watching us from the stairs near the back door,¡± Todd reported. Grandmother paused from unloading Enchanter¡¯s bench from a bag. If Grandmother did it, she could pull each piece out like it was any other bag. If one of the others tried it the bag would expel everything in one go.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t they all watching us?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd admitted. ¡°Whoever is on the stairs¡¯ interest is stronger, more personal.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± She asked. Todd considered this question carefully.

    ¡°Physically he¡¯s positioned himself in a way I can barely see him, but his position is highlighted,¡± Todd reported. ¡°He is brighter, with a trace of purple. I think that means he is interested in you.¡±

    ¡°Todd!¡± Grandmother said excitedly. ¡°This is your perk! You can tell when people are interested in your party. That is awesome.¡± Todd looked embarrassed. Grandmother swore there was a trace of red in his cheeks. ¡°Enchanter,¡± Grandmother said, turning her attention away from Todd so he could recover himself. ¡°Have you heard of the ability to sense when people are watching you?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the selkie responded, ¡°we call it guardian spirit.¡± Todd looked even more embarrassed.

    ¡°What do you call the ability to overpack a bag?¡± Alex asked Enchanter.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that one before,¡± Enchanter admitted.

    ¡°Let¡¯s call it the ultimate stuffer,¡± Alex declared. ¡°That''s the one I want.¡±

    ¡°What should we do about the watcher?¡± Todd asked seriously.

    ¡°Keep an eye on them and tell me if they come out of the stairwell. When they do, I''ll get a good look at them. If they have a personal interest in us, it is someone we know,¡± Grandmother replied in a more serious tone, as she went back to unpacking.

    Soon they were set up and Alex began his advertising call.

    ¡°Greetings of the day, friends and neighbors. We are the Elder¡¯s party. We have traveled far to do business with you this day! Today and today only we are trading in spells! We pay six iron for any spell. If you can demonstrate it, we will pay double. For the first twenty spells that we have never seen, there is a bonus. Come forth and claim your coins,¡± Alex sang in his lower octave selkie.

    A tide of selkie began to travel in the direction of the market. Do-Fa-Ti watched this response. He was in Seagrass when the Elder¡¯s party first came there and bought spells. It had been a slow trickle of takers. These selkie knew what to expect and were excited to see the humans. Do-Fa-Ti even saw a couple calves being led by their protective mothers. He remembered the enormous number of ¡®little humans¡¯ the tailor reported selling to the Elder.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    He decided to drift closer with the crowd to get a better look.

    ¡°They¡¯ve stepped out,¡± Todd reported. Grandmother allowed her gaze to drift over the crowd moving past the door. She narrowed her gaze, as she cast a sight enhancement spell. The crowd jumped out at her. One of the selkie, walking close behind two others, had a slightly wavy appearance. It was a clear indication of a don¡¯t notice me spell. Grandmother focused her attention as she waited impatiently for Control to weigh her tier and skill against the tier and skill of the caster.

    The image broke, what appeared underneath wasn¡¯t a selkie. The individual was about the same height as a selkie, but possessed none of the mass. It looked like a child with its thin build. Its skin almost sparkled white. It wore a mix of fabric and armor in white and gray. Large dark eyes dominated its face. Small white pointed ears were mounted too high on its head. Grandmother might have missed them altogether, only one was pierced by a gray ring.

    The problem with recording all the time was that it was impossible to review all that footage in a reasonable amount of time. Grandmother relied on the computers to pull out the important bits. There were algorithms to pull out inscriptions, spell ribbons, tile patterns, faded mural¡¯s, tapestries and abstract statues, along with a dozen other things. Anything outside of that and the computer needed to be told to look for it, or a human operator needed to find it themselves. Grandmother only remembered now that she never checked the recording to see what the jeweler¡¯s true appearance was.

    Grandmother widened her eyes and canceled the enhancement spell, as she realized this might be him. As her intense inspection faded, the selkie image of Do-Fa-Ti reformed over the figure, as the amulet¡¯s cloak reformed. Control did not reassert the don¡¯t notice me spell.

    ¡°It is Do-Fa-Ti,¡± Grandmother reported quietly to Todd. Todd nodded. He held his position on watch by Grandmother and Enchanter. He didn¡¯t like this development.

    <hr>

    They were selling magic books and buying spells. He saw Enchanter give away ¡®tiny newcomers¡¯ to the calves. Do-Fa-Ti watched them for an hour or so before giving it up and going over to the inn. He ordered a beer and sat in a back corner. He made a quick trip to the sanitary facility where he could pour the beer out and refill his tankard with water.

    He didn¡¯t know what he expected to find the humans doing, but this was a disappointment. That was partly because it was so naive and predictable. Except for the dolls, he saw them do the same thing in Seagrass. The dolls just seemed soft. Did they go to a different square every day? Do-Fa-Ti opened his map to see where he was. They were pretty far from Seagrass, to the south. This square was still in the area considered the frontier by the selkie federation. There were five or six squares closer to Seagrass than this one.

    A human sat down at his table. Do-Fa-Ti flicked his map closed, horrified that he¡¯d made the most basic of mistakes and let his guard down. His startled gaze locked on the figure across from him. It was Todd, Irene¡¯s heir.

    Todd set a very large naked knife on the stone table between them. He held the haft of a spear with his other hand. The butt of it rested on the ground next to the table. The human cast muffle. Do-Fa-Ti hoped that meant he wanted to talk.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like that you are here,¡± Todd said bluntly.

    ¡°I saw your group leaving for three days,¡± Do-Fa-Ti said in the human tongue. He hoped using Todd¡¯s language would soften the man¡¯s view of him. By the way the warrior''s eyes narrowed Do-Fa-Ti could tell he¡¯d misjudged. This was a man who didn¡¯t like deception of any kind. He decided switching back to selkie would only make it worse. ¡°I was curious what you were doing.¡±

    ¡°You could ask,¡± Todd countered.

    ¡°My former profession has left its mark on me,¡± Do-Fa-Ti admitted.

    ¡°Which profession is that?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Spy or thief?¡±

    Do-Fa-Ti shrugged his shoulders. It was a human mannerism he picked up during his time in Chicago. ¡°Both,¡± he answered.

    ¡°I am not going to kill you now,¡± Todd said. ¡°Tier five is about making the hard choice, not the easy one. Besides, Grandmother thinks you¡¯re interesting. Next time you get curious about us, ask.¡± As a tier five Do-Fa-Ti knew he should find this threat from a tier four laughable. He didn¡¯t. There was something about Todd¡¯s certainty that made Do-Fa-Ti question his own ability to come out on top. Todd¡¯s comment about tier five being about making the hard choice struck home with him.

    ¡°She killed him, didn¡¯t she?¡± Do-Fa-Ti asked.

    ¡°Who?¡± Todd asked. The warrior''s thoughts hadn¡¯t followed Do-Fa-Ti¡¯s.

    ¡°Ian,¡± Do-Fa-Ti responded. ¡°I always suspected she might have; to stop him from using the ring. Ian was so confident he could talk her around¡­ but then both Ian and Irene were gone. Londontown swept the square and Chicago was untouched.¡±

    Todd fought hard to keep a straight face. He remembered Grandmother''s words to him, ¡®The love of my life died at Redfalls.¡¯ Redfalls was the only square to be ¡®swept¡¯ by Londontown. After that they realized their own protection crystal wouldn¡¯t withstand another similar action. The ring could only be Grandmother¡¯s tier five spell ring of death. She used it on bears during the last migration at Home Square and killed hundreds of them. It sounded like Ian was planning to use it on Chicago. Oh yes, Todd thought to himself, making the hard choice.

    ¡°That would be Irene¡¯s business,¡± Todd said to the not-selkie. ¡°Come along now, we best be getting back. I want Grandmother to know I didn¡¯t kill you.¡± Todd picked up his large knife and stood. He slipped the knife back into its sheath. He looked pointedly back at Do-Fa-Ti.

    ¡°What should I call you?¡± Todd said. The muffle spell was still active, the non-selkie checked before he answered.

    ¡°My name is Valin,¡± he said, ¡°but you better call me Jeweler.¡± He rose to his feet and picked up his go pack from the seat beside him.

    ¡°Jewel-e-er it is,¡± Todd said, overlaying the notes of Do-Fa-Ti onto the word, blurring its two syllables into three. Todd dismissed the muffle spell and led the way out of the inn.

    <hr>

    Ellen expressed surprise at seeing her master in Stoneshelf. Jeweler countered with a rambling lecture in selkie about apprentices that did not practice enough. Alex put together another bench from ¡®spare parts¡¯ that just happened to be in the bottom of the furniture bag. Jeweler settled in at the back of the book selling stall.

    Grandmother accepted the jeweler¡¯s presence without comment. Enchanter was much more curious. When things slowed down in the afternoon, Enchanter moved over to interrogate the not-selkie. Todd smiled at some of the questions the old female asked the jeweler.

    Early the next morning when the group stepped out of the transportation room in Home Square for another three day break, Grandmother signaled to Todd that she wanted to talk to him. He followed her up to the queen¡¯s suite.

    ¡°Tell me about the jeweler,¡± Grandmother instructed after sitting on the sofa.

    ¡°My mother told me, keep your friends close and your enemies closer,¡± Todd said, as he took a seat on one of the chairs. She looked thoughtful for a moment. Todd very rarely spoke of his parents.

    ¡°That is an old saying from Earth,¡± she replied. ¡°There is a lot of truth in it. The danger is with proximity comes familiarity and with familiarity comes friendship, with friendship, trust. Do not ever trust him, not with anything that you value, let alone your life. Not now, not in ten years, not in a thousand. He is what I call morally fluid, he will probably hold to our standards while he is with us. He won¡¯t give notice when he stops being ¡®with¡¯ us, even if he is physically in the same room at the time. Eventually someone will kill him. If he stays long enough, it will be one of us.

    ¡°People like him are a weapon. One we can use or someone else can use against us. You''re right about keeping him close, but we need to be careful not to fall into the trap.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember,¡± Todd agreed, he was happy to hear Grandmother¡¯s own misgivings about the jeweler. He thought about the things the jeweler said about Irene and Redfalls. It struck him that the only way Valin could know those details was if he was part of the team wanting to use the ring of death on Chicago. He also thought the jeweler might have dropped those hints trying to put a wedge between Todd and Grandmother. Grandmother¡¯s attitude about the jeweler changed after he mentioned being at Redfalls. Todd remembered her saying she would think about who he had been there. Had she figured it out?

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Now while he is with us, let''s try to find out as much about him and his people as we can. We¡¯ll do that by appearing to treat him like anyone else.¡±

    ¡°He told me his name is Valin,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°An excellent start,¡± Grandmother replied.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Eleven

    ¡°It pains me to admit it,¡± Grandmother told the group, ¡°but I am running low on coins. We¡¯ve visited all the squares Ray-Do-So recommended to me, plus a couple extra. I am going to call a stop on squares until I manage to refresh my finances.¡± It was just the party members in the apartment at Seagrass tonight. They were resting after completing a visit to a selkie square during the day.

    ¡°We can help out,¡± Sarah said. ¡°We¡¯ve made a lot of money on book sales in the selkie markets. I¡¯m willing to donate my half to the cause.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Ellen assured Grandmother.

    ¡°I can donate furniture sales too,¡± Alex added. ¡°Well a rough guess at it. I didn¡¯t keep that good of records.¡± Ellen gave Alex a look that said that was completely unacceptable for a shopkeeper. Alex promised himself to do better in the future.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is necessary,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°You should have the profits for all your work. What I want to do is go back down to the industrial area. Scavenging down there should bring in a good income, even if we sell to the vendor.¡± Everyone agreed to go without question, even Companion. Grandmother thought the selkie wasn¡¯t thinking about the fact that he would have to climb down from the high platform. She decided not to mention it yet.

    ¡°When are we heading out?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°The first Challenge day is in four days,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I think a lot of selkie will be in Home Square for that event. I want to go over to the south gallery in the morning and gather as many porcupines as we can carry through the transit system. They should sell for a high price under the demand, and our selkie visitors will like them. After Challenge day, we¡¯ll make a trip to the Speedwell to download all our video and get new cameras. I want to scan the symbols on the amulet I got from the coliseum too. When we return from the Speedwell, we can go back to scavenging the industrial area.¡±

    ¡°I keep forgetting about the camera,¡± Ellen said when she agreed to this plan. ¡°I really want to see the images from Tinkerer¡¯s visit.¡±

    ¡°I warned Enchanter that I needed to take a break from squares in order to gather up more funds. She also offered to make a donation for the cause. Ellen, tell Jeweler that we will be away for a while,¡± Grandmother commented. Ellen nodded her understanding.

    The group spent most of the night tidying up projects in the apartment and packing items they wanted to take back to Home Square for Challenge day.

    Ellen purchased an advanced smelter and a glass furnace from the Seagrass vendor and asked Grandmother to pack them into two of Alex¡¯s bags.

    ¡°What do you want them for?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I want to see if we can convert physical iron into ingots,¡± Ellen said. ¡°The large smelter will be able to take bigger pieces without trying to break them apart. I hope that will speed it up. If we can convert it to ingots someplace close to where we salvage it, we can sell it in a square for a lot more profit. That should help with your finances.¡±

    ¡°I assume you plan to do the same with the glass furnace,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I do. I¡¯d like to teach Sarah how to run it so we can work in parallel,¡± Ellen observed.

    ¡°Teach us all how to run both of them,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Including Companion.¡± Ellen looked surprised. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be done on this trip, but after the Speedwell I think that should be the goal. Include in that your magic based method of tanning leather. We leave a lot of skins to be absorbed behind us.¡± Ellen nodded her head in agreement.

    ¡°What we really need is a shared inventory,¡± Sarah commented, from where she was working. ¡°Something like a shop inventory, but with no shop.¡±

    ¡°A long time ago I wanted to keep the coins I received from selling items separate from reward coins. I never figured out how to do that,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°That is like how you can tag different suppliers in a shop and keep the sales proceeds separated.¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°Alex,¡± Todd asked from the doorway to the cooking area, ¡°what is the literal meaning of the selkie word for a gallery?¡±

    ¡°An association hall,¡± Alex replied.

    ¡°Companion, what is an association?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°A pod of warriors who work together to conquer the challenges of the true god. They adventure out into wildspaces to gather resources for the group. They work and train together to strengthen the individuals,¡± Companion said. Everyone in the room worked to translate Companion''s reply literally. Normally they translated things like ¡®true god¡¯ to Control, ''pod'' to team, without even thinking about it.

    ¡°It seems like an association of adventurers would need a shared inventory,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°There is an inventory access in the gallery,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Has anyone noticed anything different between that access and others?¡± Everyone shook their heads in denial.

    ¡°I don¡¯t use it much,¡± Todd admitted, ¡°only to convert debris into scrap.¡±

    ¡°Remind me to look at it tomorrow,¡± Grandmother commented.

    <hr>

    When they arrived at the gallery, Ellen set up a little processing area opposite a sitting area closest to the doors on one end. She set out the glass furnace, a hide stretcher and the shop smelter. She pulled the anvil and blacksmith tools out of storage that they used to break the glass furniture into small pieces on the last trip. It reminded her of their first visit to the gallery when she laid out all their found tools in an effort to communicate with Companion.

    The group went out and cleared rooms until they killed more porcupines than they could carry. Companion and Todd gutted and skinned the animals so they would fit tighter into their gathering bags. The two of them went on to work on skinning the rest of the animals they killed for the hides. For once Grandmother didn¡¯t have to pack every bag, since her perk didn¡¯t work on the organic items.

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    Alex and Grandmother hauled back glass and metal furniture for Ellen and Sarah to experiment with. The shop-sized smelter accepted most of the larger metal pieces. Sarah produced ingots of steel, bronze and copper, since those were the most common materials in the area.

    When the piles around the two crafters became large, Alex switched to breaking the glass into small sections. Grandmother went to study the inventory access.

    She ran through every action she knew how to do with one. She could not detect any difference in this interface from any other inventory access she visited.

    There was a limited vendor in the food preparation area. They usually ate the fresh meat from kills in the halls and carried their own fruits and grains, so they didn¡¯t use it much. She bought salt from the one in the north gallery before.

    She left the inventory access and went to check the vendor. The list of available items was presented as icons. As far as she could tell they were all food, or closely related products, like the salt. She did discover that it would buy from her.

    It was willing to buy all the same items that the full service vendors in squares would buy. This included the stacks of scrap she was carrying, crafting tools, integrated clothing and a bunch of the random things she picked up over the years and put into her inventory just to see if she could. She saw an icon that looked a lot like one of Muriel¡¯s planters. She really had no idea how long that had been in there.

    If they were in danger of flooding the markets in Home Square and OpenSky, they could just sell it all to this vendor. The prices each square¡¯s vendor used varied depending on what was bought and sold from it. Grandmother wondered how selling to this vendor items it didn¡¯t offer would affect the prices.

    She stepped away from the vendor and went to look at the transportation control. They unlocked this system two years ago. They managed to figure out the basic function of it by experimentation. Me-So-Ray, Seagrass¡¯ portal keeper taught them some other functions, including ¡®return to last address¡¯ which they used to send selkie visitors home.

    Grandmother came out of the transportation room to find Ellen teaching Todd how to melt glass, while Sarah was instructing Companion on how to smelt metal. Alex was still snapping glass into smaller pieces while being entertained by his non-crafter companions trying to learn the most basic steps. Grandmother thought he might want to rethink some of his comments, since that glass wasn¡¯t going to last forever, and then it would be his turn to learn.

    Ellen and Sarah seemed busy enough, without adding another beginner to the mix. Grandmother sat on the sofa in the central furniture cluster. She tried to think of another interface in the space. The only thing left was the protection crystal.

    It was floating in the air over the small round rock garden in front of the inscription wall. The rock garden was Companion¡¯s favorite place to sleep. In the northern gallery the area was a pond with fish in it. To touch that crystal you had to get wet.

    Grandmother walked over to the crystal and put her hand on it. Color began to flood it. The animation looked like her hand was leaking a dark violet ink into the crystal. As she watched the ink swirled through the solid and darkened. Was it getting darker, or did she just hold the contact longer? The crystal was very nearly black, with just a hint of violet in the cut edges. She watched the display with such intensity that her interface light was blinking in a corner of her vision. Then she realized there were two lights.

    Todd taught her how a parent could see the interface of a child, by holding the child¡¯s hand. The child¡¯s interface appeared as a second twinkling light just on the edge of your vision. Grandmother was not holding anyone¡¯s hand. Her hand was on the crystal.

    She herded the second light to the center of her vision with her off hand. A completely new interface opened. A series of icons ran down the right side of the console. On the left was a series of numbers. The bottom line read, 6 4 42 924. Grandmother scrolled up the list. She noticed the number sequence repeated over and over mixed in with others. The list wasn¡¯t that long. It ended with the same number.

    She considered the list. The starting number was always six, four, three or two. There were only a couple two entries. There was no zero, one or five. There were entries for one through six in the second column. The only value of four was in the first number pattern. The record with six in the second spot also seemed unique. The entry read, 3 6 23 and then a number so large Grandmother wasn¡¯t going to even try to figure out its value. She never did internalize base six numbers. That same number pattern appeared over and over, but six never appeared in any other set.

    When she moved to look at the third column she saw how special that six number pattern was. It was the only line that had twenty three in the third position. Every other line read forty two.

    Grandmother realized what this was. This was a record of everyone who touched the crystal. She was 6 4 42 924, while Companion was 3 6 23 and a number too large to compute. The first number was tier. The second was the color of your magic. The third number must be your species. Grandmother considered what the fourth number could be. Her own number of 924 was the absolute smallest value in the entire list. Ignoring Companion¡¯s for a moment, all the others were under the value of twice six raised to the sixth power.

    The second largest number, after Companion¡¯s, was part of the line 3 1 42. Tier three, magic color yellow, human, that was Sarah. That line appeared over and over. There was another that read 2 1 42 with a number just slightly smaller. That must be Kai.

    A chill ran down Grandmother''s spine as she realized this must be an index number. Each person was indexed as they entered, or were born, into the structure. Kai must be a little older than Sarah. Companion¡¯s number was so large because his people lived and died in the structure for millennia. His species number of twenty three as opposed to the human forty two was another clear indication of it.

    There were forty two different player species in the structure.

    Grandmother took a breath. There was no proof all forty two still existed. It was more accurate to say forty two different player species entered the structure.

    Actually Grandmother¡¯s number of 924 seemed too small. She remembered there were a couple thousand people in the suburbs of Chicago on her first trip, and that didn¡¯t include the people living in Londontown.

    She thought about those early days. Although she didn¡¯t travel through the structure until then, she did visit the entry courtyard before that. She remembered throwing her first light spell against the training inscription located there before there were nanobots in her cornea to show her the animation. Control must have tagged her then.

    Grandmother let go of the crystal and shook herself. Several times she heard references to the fact that touching a crystal told the owner things. This must be the data it told. Seagrass¡¯ Elder came out of the inn after Grandmother touched the crystal there. Ray-Do-So assumed Grandmother was there to Challenge her for the square. Grandmother wondered if that was possible. Now she suspected it was.

    All those icons on the right side of the interface indicated there was a lot more functionality to explore. She wondered before who inherited a crystal when the owner died. She suspected, from the challenge comment, that if you killed a crystal owner, you inherited it. What if the owner died in a different manner, from old age or animal attack? Perhaps there was a way to name a successor. Ray-Do-So knew Grandmother touched the crystal without having to touch it herself. There must be a way to set alerts or forward the data to the owner''s personal interface.

    Grandmother settled down onto the gravel, trying to make herself comfortable. This time she set her off-hand on the crystal so she could use her main-hand to navigate the interface. She didn¡¯t know if she needed to contact the crystal the entire time or not. As the two interface lights began to flash on the edges of her vision, she decided that was the first thing she would test.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twelve

    ¡°I bought a storefront for the guard,¡± Harry told Grandmother. The square was incredibly busy and packed with selkie. Todd was negotiating a deal with the Innkeeper for the porcupines. Grandmother was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, from her table.

    Her table was a lot farther from the service counter than before they left. It appeared the entire common room doubled in size in their absence. It reached much farther back into the structure, away from the courtyard. At the same time it also seemed wider, pushing out on either side. Grandmother couldn¡¯t figure out how that one was possible without the shops around the courtyard shrinking¡­ unless the courtyard itself got bigger?

    Harry¡¯s arrival broke her concentration. She sipped tea from the glass mug Kai made her, to give herself a moment to reorder her thoughts. The mug was turning violet as she held it.

    ¡°Great,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°You can use the inventory to organize the guard''s possessions. I wonder if you can set it up to rent equipment? You could rent out used weapons for people to train with. I suppose you could always sell and buy back at very close to the same price, that would be just like rent.¡± Harry made a note of the suggestion.

    ¡°So it is alright with you?¡± Harry asked. After he did it, he had second thoughts about how maybe he should have cleared it with Grandmother first. Guards didn¡¯t have storefronts. Technically he was removing the shop from the crafters'' use. Harry knew how much Grandmother valued the crafters.

    ¡°Sounds like a good idea to me,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°You can move all your temporary guard housing from that second apartment you rented to the shop space. You could bed down a lot of people in the store room. You should ask Alex about building you bunk beds.¡±

    ¡°Bunk beds?¡± Harry asked. He was unfamiliar with that concept.

    ¡°The Speedwell has them in all the children''s rooms. They are a way to stack two beds,¡± Grandmother explained. She was holding one hand over the other with a space between them. She moved the bottom hand up to hover over the other hand. ¡°With the heights of the ceilings you might even be able to go three high. They are a variation on shelving. I know all your young guards just sleep on the floor now. Sleeping on a shelf won¡¯t be any harder on them and you can add a pallet to each one to soften it.¡± Grandmother was drifting from what Harry wanted to ask her, but he was used to that.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been using the glass windows in the front to advertise the Challenge day,¡± Harry said, redirecting the conversation. He asked his warriors and hunters for ideas. Getting a shop was one of them. He used a lot of their ideas to decorate the front of the shop. ¡°We¡¯ve been ¡®selling¡¯ escort services and taking the names of challengers. I have a challenge list that gives their tier, color and name and role.¡±

    ¡°Role?¡± Grandmother asked. Harry was happy to have stumped Grandmother for once.

    ¡°It started out as warrior or wizard, but some of the selkie gave different answers. When our human challengers saw some of those answers, they updated their own. We have several groups wanting to try it this time. One of the groups has a member that listed themselves as a healer,¡± Harry explained. ¡°Now that we are getting close and there are a lot of selkie coming in, we keep getting questions on what the prize is. I was hoping you would lend me your glass armor for display.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Grandmother replied, ¡°but I have found myself a bit short of coins lately.¡± Harry was disappointed. He thought maybe she sold the set to the vendor since she didn¡¯t wear any of it. He knew from the few pieces his guards managed to win that the vendor paid a lot of money for it. ¡°I can¡¯t just loan it to you, I am going to have to charge you rent.¡±

    ¡°You still have it?¡± Harry asked to confirm.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Alex put together a very nice armor rack to display it on. If you rent it I want you to add a tag saying the rack came from his furniture shop.¡±

    ¡°What do you want for the rent?¡± Harry asked. Grandmother had no idea. She ended up negotiating a flat rate or a percentage of the escort sales, whichever was smaller. It was worded that way so the armor could remain on display in the guard shop between challenges when there would be no income. Harry was surprised at the flat rate cap.

    ¡°If it turns out you can afford to pay me more later, we can raise the cap,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°I am trusting you to be honest on that. I feel like the armor isn¡¯t working any harder when the group gets larger, but your guards will. They deserve the extra coins more. Go get a couple of your young warriors to carry it down.¡±

    Grandmother finished off her tea as she waited for Harry to return. She looked down at her personal mug. Innkeeper always used it to serve Grandmother. Everyone else in the common room was still drinking out of tankards, regardless of what they drank was tea, juice or beer. It made her think of the set of dishes she bought in Seagrass. The complete set was still packed into a couple gathering bags in Grandmother¡¯s room. Her plan was to take them to the upgraded rest as part of the experiment there.

    She still might do that. One of the icons she figured out in the south gallery¡¯s interface appeared to be a way to add rooms. With Ellen¡¯s help, she piled up what she thought were all the requirements for a crafting workshop. She selected the room option on the interface. All the crafting equipment became fixed to the ground, but no workshop appeared. Grandmother was not disappointed. The actual rooms never appeared in the upgraded rest until they all left. She was excited to see what they got when they next visited.

    There was no reason not to use the dishes now and still carry them away later. She finished her tea, when Harry returned with his two young backs. Honestly at tier four, Harry could carry the armor dummy down the stairs one handed, but that might leave the young people thinking they were unneeded. Grandmother led them up to the queen¡¯s suite.

    ¡°I like the silver,¡± Harry said the instant they walked into the room. Harry probably last saw the suite almost a year ago, but he noticed the change instantly. Grandmother felt even worse about her failure to do so.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°There it is,¡± she said with a wave to the standing suite of class armor. She opened up the storage chest at the end of the bed and dug out the dish holding gathering bags at the bottom.

    The two young warriors grunted as they lifted the heavy stand, with the armor still on it. They swayed a little as they got their holds set.

    ¡°Careful now,¡± Harry said from his supervisory position. ¡°I don¡¯t want Grandmother''s armor scratched.¡±

    ¡°No, sir,¡± one of the warriors responded.

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± the other said almost at the same instant.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think either of them have the tier to damage it,¡± Grandmother observed after they managed to maneuver the bulky object into the hallway.

    ¡°Agility and strength are both important to a fighter,¡± Harry said, before thanking Grandmother again for the loan and following his guards out. Grandmother laughed, before picking up her bags and following them.

    Their progress slowed as they crossed the common room and everyone wanted to get a look at the armor. As soon as Grandmother could, she abandoned the parade and cut over to the service counter. Innkeeper was watching the chaos in her common room with a remarkable amount of calm.

    ¡°Innkeeper,¡± Irene said to the woman, ¡°Can we talk for a moment?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± the older woman said. ¡°Come on back.¡± Grandmother followed the innkeeper back into the kitchen. The kitchen looked larger to Grandmother. She wasn¡¯t as certain as she was about the common room. She usually never came into the inn¡¯s back rooms. She wanted to make it clear to everyone that Innkeeper owned the inn, not Grandmother. She saw that line blurred too many times.

    Innkeeper led Grandmother over to a large desk that sat next to a set of storage shelves. The storage shelves were the type that the structure provided in shops and apartments. They were about half full. The load wasn¡¯t even. It looked like the shelves recently doubled their size, growing a section of shelving that was completely empty.

    Grandmother spotted Todd busy at work cooking. He was surrounded by three helpers who were arranging food on wooden platters. Servers were coming back and forth from the common room carrying food, drinks and dirty tankards and planks. Two very young workers appeared to be pressed into service at a large basin in the back washing the returns.

    Grandmother realized this probably wasn¡¯t a good time, but she thought it would only get busier as Challenge day approached. Grandmother sat the bags on the desk and opened the first one. She reached in and pulled out a dinner plate.

    ¡°I bought these dishes from Ray-Do-Ti¡¯s pottery shop in Seagrass,¡± she commented as she handed the plate to Innkeeper. ¡°I¡¯d like for you to use them to serve anyone at my table.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Innkeeper said without hesitation. She turned the plate over in her hand. There was transparent glaze on the pure white porcelain. Grandmother negotiated that out of the potter. Each dish was also adorned with a small sketch of a fish swimming through seagrass offset in one corner of it. The sketches were in green, but if Grandmother held the dish too long, the fish turned purple. The potter promised he could remove the image if she didn¡¯t like it. She insisted they stay. ¡°This is very nice,¡± Innkeeper observed.

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    Grandmother pulled out another plate. She planned to unpack them all before she left since she wasn¡¯t certain they wouldn¡¯t break if the bag expelled them all together if someone else opened it. She started a stack on the desk and pulled out the next plate.

    ¡°I want you to feel free to serve other guests with them if I¡¯m not here,¡± Grandmother told Innkeeper. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll accept their use as payment for storing them. In fact I¡¯d prefer it if you used them for our visiting dignitaries. Especially if you mention they come from Seagrass.¡± Grandmother ended up buying twelve. She tried to order ten. Six for the team and two spare incase Kai or Muriel wanted to come back out to the Speedwell sometime. After negotiating with Ray-Do-Ti for a while, Irene discovered the potter must have a way to make six as easily as one, since she wanted virtually the same price. Grandmother could buy eighteen for nearly the same price as ten. She settled on twelve.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Innkeeper observed, as Grandmother switched to unloading the salad plates, ¡°your bag really is bottomless. Todd told me you have the ultimate stuffer perk.¡± Grandmother was struck by inspiration and didn¡¯t want to get stuck being called a stuffer for the rest of her life.

    ¡°It''s called the bottomless bag perk,¡± Grandmother declared. ¡°What perk do you have?¡±

    ¡°Uh,¡± Innkeeper murmured, ¡°Food or drink lasts longer if I touch it.¡± That was interesting, both the perk and the easy way that Innkeeper admitted to it. Grandmother found very few people over the years that had some odd trait they couldn¡¯t explain. Even fewer of them would admit to it. She remembered Todd¡¯s apparent embarrassment when he admitted he could tell if someone was looking at them. Did he think he was just paranoid?

    ¡°Like tea stays hot and beer doesn¡¯t go flat?¡± Grandmother asked. She set out the last luncheon plate and started on the bowls.

    ¡°Yeah and meals arrive at the tables hot. Also soup left on a warmer won¡¯t burn and bread doesn¡¯t mold. Meat turns eventually, but it lasts a lot longer than if I don¡¯t touch it,¡± Innkeeper responded. ¡°Those last three I only noticed after I hit tier four.¡±

    ¡°You''re tier four?¡± Grandmother asked, surprised. She really looked at the Innkeeper and realized the touches of blue in her clothing were dark. ¡°Sorry,¡± Grandmother spit out. ¡°I should know that. It''s just that when I asked Harry about the tier four¡¯s in the square to share the portal duty he didn¡¯t mention you.¡±

    ¡°I told him I didn¡¯t have the time,¡± Innkeeper replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to insult you or anything.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not insulted,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I understand if you don¡¯t have the time. I¡¯d still like to get the transportation system opened for you. I think it is a good precaution for the square if as many of our people who can use it are activated.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Innkeeper agreed, ¡°but I can¡¯t leave the inn until after Challenge day.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to,¡± Grandmother agreed. The top of the desk was getting full. She shifted some of the stacks, putting the smaller plates on the larger ones. Innkeeper noticed, and started shifting the stacks to the empty storage shelves. ¡°We¡¯ll arrange some time when things are slower.¡±

    Grandmother unloaded a set of tiny tea cups. She commented to the innkeeper that she only wanted to be served in them if she had guests. ¡°They are way too small,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°I prefer the larger size of my glass mug.¡± The bag finally appeared empty.

    ¡°What¡¯s in the other one?¡± Innkeeper asked.

    ¡°The serving pieces,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I am not certain what some of them are even for.¡±

    ¡°How much did all this cost?¡± Innkeeper asked.

    ¡°It was very expensive,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°She sells a rougher red clay version much more cheaply. If you buy some for the inn I¡¯d try to negotiate her down based on volume. Buy in sets of six, it¡¯s cheaper that way.¡±

    Grandmother ran her empty bags back up to her room before venturing out into the courtyard. She wanted to see Harry¡¯s guard shop.

    The guard shop was on the opposite side of the back door hallway from Alex¡¯s furniture shop. Grandmother found it by the large crowd of mixed humans and selkie looking in through the window at the armor on display. As she swung around the crowd trying to make it to the door she discovered that another new shop was on the other side of it.

    It appeared Arnie took her hints about fast bandages, healing spells and regrowing limbs. The shop was also displaying a set of cloth stretchers that could be used to bring a wounded hunter back to the square and could be rolled up to a small size for easy transport when not being used. The advertisement on the window promised the healing services of red, violet, blue, and green healers. It was a good set of magic users. They would be able to heal anyone without causing heal addiction. Grandmother wondered who the violet healer was. There were several violet magic users among the youngest adults in the square. She didn¡¯t think any of them could be tier three yet, so regrowing limbs for a red user might still be beyond Arnie¡¯s hospital.

    Grandmother made a note to check with him before leaving for the Speedwell. It took twelve days of casting the tier three heal at least once a day to regrow a limb. A single cast of the tier four or five heal would accomplish the same thing in less time. If anyone with red magic lost a limb at the challenge she would cast a higher tier heal on them before she left. She didn¡¯t want to subvert Arnie¡¯s business. She wouldn¡¯t always be here to provide the service, so Arnie needed to grow up his violet healer. She would let Arnie hire her before she did it, letting him collect the fee.

    She finally made her way to the door of the guard shop and slipped inside. She was wearing her hand made, slightly worn leathers and no one was paying any attention to her. She loved it. The room inside was tiny. This was a narrow front wide back space, which Grandmother found odd. She would have expected the opposite since the transportation room was on this side of the back hall.

    The wall separating the showroom from the workshop was placed very close to the front. The service counter was positioned ninety degrees to the front glass wall. It was cut across the center of the showroom, keeping the larger portion out of the reach of the customers. The glass armor was positioned in this restricted space. Harry and his two porters were still positioning the armor.

    A very harried looking young woman stood behind the counter. She was taking down peoples names and accepting payments. Grandmother knew the woman was probably a very deadly warrior, considering her association with Harry, but right now she looked every bit the overworked shop clerk.

    Grandmother realized a list of challengers was written directly on the shop wall. A structure stylus was capable of writing on almost anything. Their primary purpose was to create enchantments after all. The number of participants on the list was impressive. Grandmother was intrigued to see that the selkie names were written in selkie. She dedicated a large portion of her evenings on the Speedwell learning to read and write it from Sarah and Companion.

    ¡°Grandmother,¡± Harry greeted her. Realizing she¡¯d been found, she turned from the wall to find everyone in the room deferring to her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me,¡± she told them. Harry said something quietly to his warrior clerk, and lifted the divider, inviting Grandmother to come back.

    ¡°Let me show you our preparations,¡± he said.

    Grandmother joined Harry behind the counter, pausing a moment to look at the large symbol written on the wall. It was the human number two. About half size and sitting to the right with its centerline up with the bottom of two was the Selkie version. Surrounding that in a ring was written the same value in all seven known structure fonts. The structure symbols were about a quarter the size of the selkie one.

    ¡°It¡¯s our countdown,¡± Harry explained when he saw where Grandmother¡¯s attention was. ¡°It is fancy today because Sarah did it.¡±

    Harry took her through to the back room, where he showed the rope ladders and stretcher/harness they planned to use to drag wounded fighters from the arena. There was an odd cart with a table surface and shelves built into it stored in the back room. It looked like a relative of the bag cart Grandmother¡¯s party used to carry furniture components up to the upgraded rest. Grandmother asked what it was.

    ¡°That¡¯s Todd¡¯s food cart. Didn¡¯t he tell you? Maybe he was keeping it for a surprise. I¡¯ve hired him to provide food sales at the arena. I also hired Arnie¡¯s team to provide the emergency healing services.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I¡¯ll leave all the healing to them then. It will be a good training exercise. You should buy the cart from Todd and rent it out to another cook at the next event if he isn¡¯t in the square to run it.¡±

    ¡°I will worry about the next event if I live through this one,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Now tell me everything that has gone wrong so far and I will see if I can help out.¡±

    <hr>

    The butcher was out of meat. The selkie may prefer porcupine or hall spider, but they would eat any meat. They weren¡¯t much for fruit and although they liked greens, they really hated grain, except when it was made into beer. The result was a meat shortage. No one, human or selkie, really liked the vendor food. No one was going to go hungry, but everyone was getting a little grumpy.

    Grandmother thought about going out in the green and killing anything that moved, but that would take time and this was only the first thing on Harry¡¯s list. Instead she went over to the butcher¡¯s. She found the butcher alone in her shop with a very small display of cut meats.

    ¡°I have prize meat I¡¯d like you to sell on consignment,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°What is consignment?¡± the butcher asked.

    ¡°Instead of buying from me now, I get a part of the sale price,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°That seems complicated to me. How much do you want?¡±

    ¡°If you sell it as-is, I want half. If you pull it from inventory and cut it up in steaks or chops or whatever, I want a quarter.¡± The butcher, Tina, Grandmother remembered, thought about that for a long time.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Tina said finally. ¡°Desperate times call for desperate means. Most of my hunters have run off to watch the selkie practice in the yard, so I need something to sell. What have you got? Boar?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some boar meat,¡± Grandmother agreed. The stuff tasted nasty so almost everyone had some in their inventory. ¡°I also have rat, squirrel, hall spider, badger, cat, cougar, and bear meat.¡± Tina¡¯s eyes got larger at each animal name. Grandmother¡¯s inventory included more prize meat than that. Some of it came from the far north where there started being a different set of animals. She didn¡¯t think anyone here would recognize those animal names.

    ¡°How much of each?¡± Tina asked.

    ¡°More than you can sell in four days,¡± Grandmother stated. The butcher smiled. Things were looking up. Grandmother transferred a tiny fraction of the meat in her inventory. She didn¡¯t want to put the hunters out of business. She asked Tina to show her shop records for how much she sold in a single random day the week before and sold her six times that amount.

    Grandmother warned Tina that she might not be in the square for the next challenge. Tina should consider keeping the leftover prize meat for it, since prize meat didn¡¯t spoil. Tina looked at her empty displays and agreed that might be a good idea.

    Grandmother headed off to the next thing on Harry¡¯s list.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Thirteen

    There were three deaths in the arena. They were two selkie and one human. There ended up being over sixty challengers. Challenge day stretched into Challenge days, since it took three days to work through everyone. The rate was about one death a day, although there were actually two deaths the first day, one the second and none the third. The selkie let the arena take the body. The selkie companions retrieved only the warrior''s weapon to be returned to their family. The body vanished under the reset wave.

    The human warrior¡¯s body was retrieved and carried back to Home Square with full ceremony. There was a little cemetery in the green to the side of the square¡¯s entrance. All of Home Square¡¯s dead were buried there the same day they died. Everyone knew the structure still absorbed the bodies, but the idea that they rested nearby was a comforting one to many.

    The selkie won mail armor made out of rings of glass. Grandmother wondered if Harry would try to get a set of it for display too. Ellen and Kai were both trying to get a selkie winner to let them at least hold the pieces for a minute in hopes that it would open the pattern for them.

    Enchanter showed up the morning of the Challenge with the Seagrass Elder keeping watch on her. Enchanter handed out selkie dolls to every human child who approached her. The children quickly figured out they were enchanted with a float spell that made them travel large distances when tossed. Enchanter described the dolls as swimming in the air.

    Todd¡¯s food cart business did incredible sales. He stocked the built-in shelves on the cart with food and added a portable stove. The table was his preparation surface. He sold the food rolled in giant leaves. Grandmother asked where he got the leaves. He told her he bought them from Muriel in OpenSky. He handed the cart off to one of Innkeeper''s daughters in the afternoons before going back to Home Square to prepare dinner for the Inn. He admitted they were getting dangerously low on beer at the end of the second day.

    Alex talked Grandmother into packing six selkie beds into bags small enough to be carried through the transportation system. He paid her most of the packing fee for the service. These bags were just large gathering bags with no enchants on them, although they were equipped with leather straps to hold them shut during transport. Alex bought the bags from Ellen and included the cost in his packing fee.

    The butcher ran out of meat and came looking for Grandmother. Grandmother transferred another six days worth. Enchanter and Ray-Do-So both loved Grandmother¡¯s dishes. They were shocked to learn they were made by the potter in their own square.

    Harry updated his list on the wall with notes on if the challenger won, lost or was killed. Selkie in the audience started putting their names in for the next Challenge day, at the end of the first day. They were impressed with the guards ability to keep anyone not killed outright alive. Arnie told each challenger who lost a limb his group¡¯s charge for regrowing it. Several selkie planned to stay in the square for the service.

    The entire event was a huge learning experience. Grandmother remembered herself saying she didn¡¯t want the flavor of the square to change not that long ago. She suspected the square had just been reforged. She decided if she didn¡¯t like what came out the other side, she would talk Joe into switching squares with her.

    Grandmother, Todd, Enchanter and Ray-Do-So took the night portal shift on the last day of challenges in the arena. The crowd of selkie heading out was impressive, there were a couple hundred waiting minimum. Ray-Do-So was sending all the residents of Seagrass back for free, because she owned the crystal there. Selkie going to other destinations had to pay their own way. Ray-Do-So didn¡¯t want to send everyone back to Seagrass, even though the jump from there to their final destinations would be much cheaper, because she didn¡¯t think her portal keeper could handle the load alone. Grandmother made a note to remember that in case the situation was ever reversed. She thought the goodwill generated would pay for any short term hardships. If she planned ahead the hardships might be minimized.

    A second transportation room across from the first opened up after they pushed twelve selkie through, back to back. They split into two teams, Todd and Ray-Do-So manned one room, while Grandmother and Enchanter manned the other. After another twenty four travelers were sent, twelve in each room, another room opened. Thirty six later and a fourth room appeared. They didn¡¯t add any more rooms after that. Grandmother wondered if it was because there were no more operators available. Maybe she should have called every tier four up for service. It took them nearly six hours to pass everyone through.

    Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain how all the selkie got here, although she knew from Harry that they started turning up six days before Challenge day. Grandmother¡¯s pockets were full of physical coins. All the crafters were so happy when Grandmother said she¡¯d take the shift, they were going to think twice about it when they started calculating the tips.

    She would make sure Todd counted his earnings in front of Innkeeper. When the news of how much he made got around, the shopkeeper¡¯s would be fighting over the shift next Challenge day.

    ¡°That was the last one,¡± Ray-Do-So said as she came out of her assigned transportation room.

    ¡°Do you think all these new rooms will disappear?¡± Todd asked. Enchanter translated the words into selkie for Ray-Do-So.

    ¡°No,¡± Ray-Do-So replied. ¡°There are twenty four transportation rooms at Whitewater.¡±

    ¡°Twenty four!¡± Grandmother exclaimed.

    ¡°She can¡¯t believe there are twenty four,¡± Enchanter translated.

    ¡°Yes, twelve on two floors. Whitewater has a double layer of shops, there is an exit on each level,¡± Ray-Do-So responded. ¡°There is a reason it is our capital. Come, Enchanter, let''s go home. I didn¡¯t expect to be away for so long.¡±

    ¡°Do you want the fees?¡± Enchanter said, offering a handful of coins she pulled from a pocket.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°The two of you earned them.¡± Enchanter dropped the coins back into her pocket.

    ¡°I enjoyed it,¡± Enchanter said to Grandmother. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll come next time, but I will come again.¡±

    ¡°I hope there will be less interest next time around,¡± Grandmother confessed. ¡°Now that all the curious have already given it a try and everyone knows you can die in the arena.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t count on that,¡± Enchanter replied. Enchanter picked up her possessions from where she stored them in the first transportation room. Grandmother noted the old selkie carried one of Alex¡¯s packed selkie bed bags.

    After the two selkies were gone, Grandmother sat down on the floor of the hall. Todd leaned against a wall.

    ¡°Do you still want to go to the Speedwell next?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother confirmed. ¡°Let''s stay in the square tomorrow, today,¡± Grandmother said, changing her day reference when she considered how late it was, ¡°and head out tomorrow at first light. That should give everyone a chance to recover. I feel like I lost track of what everyone is doing.¡±

    ¡°Companion rented himself out as a translator for business deals. He has made more coins than any of us I think. Ellen and Sarah were both frantically making vellum in the back room while Kai sold books in the front. They came and bought all the prize skins I had in my inventory yesterday. I thought they would come and find you today.¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°Alex¡¯s shop is about empty. Everything that could be broken down into pieces small enough to transport sold. He drew little stick figure instruction manuals on how to put them together again, and taught each buyer how the pieces connected. He wanted to get Sarah to draw them up for him, but she just didn¡¯t have the time.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Muriel was selling potted plants in the market square, until she ran out of pots. She was already bugging me about buying more from the potter in Seagrass on our next trip. I told her she should go make a deal with him herself.

    ¡°Harry has ordered a huge blank book. He wants to make a permanent record of the challengers and their results. He was by yesterday quizzing me about what I remembered from the first Challenge. I promised to review the tapes and write it down for him when we get to the Speedwell,¡± Todd told her.

    ¡°What about the beer?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°I sort of remember you saying we were running low.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re out,¡± Todd announced. ¡°And we made a lot of beer. I¡¯ve been working on trying to get up to six types in an attempt to get a brewing room. I think the lack of beer is why all the selkie headed out tonight.¡±

    ¡°That reminds me I never asked Innkeeper when the inn grew or how it did,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°She said it grew in the night right before we returned. A lot of the selkie were already staying in the inn, and had been for a couple nights. They paid through Challenge day upfront. I think we passed some kind of threshold,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Well the inn is never full,¡± Grandmother commented.

    A group of three selkie came around the corner into the back hallway. They all had large packs strapped to their back. Grandmother wondered why she hadn¡¯t noticed the large loads before.

    ¡°Portal keeper?¡± the leader asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd called back in his best selkie. Grandmother dragged herself off the floor. Next time she would bring her folding stool with her.

    They sent all three through the same transportation door. It was easier to work together. Selkie continued to turn up in small groups spaced apart until first light. The butcher arrived to take over. She was surprised to find four rooms. Grandmother sent Todd to go fetch Harry so he could help out, not wanting to leave the woman manning the transportation rooms alone, in case there was a second morning rush.

    Grandmother went straight to her table and ordered a hot tea. Before the tea was even delivered, Jeweler sat down on Companion¡¯s bench. The not-selkie cast muffle. Grandmother dismissed it. Jeweler winced.

    ¡°I don¡¯t hide things from my people,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°Did you enjoy Challenge day?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jeweler said in selkie. ¡°It reminded me of the big events at the capital.¡± Grandmother wondered if he meant Whitewater or his own people''s capital city.

    ¡°It was a bit of a fiasco this time around,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I hope we do better next time.¡±

    The server came and delivered Grandmother¡¯s tea. He took one look at Jeweler and said in very good selkie, ¡°No beer.¡±

    ¡°I will take whatever she is drinking,¡± the not-selkie ordered. The server looked alarmed.

    ¡°Please tell him it is hot,¡± the server said to Grandmother.

    ¡°He likes to pretend otherwise, but he understands us just fine,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°I like hot,¡± Jeweler commented. ¡°I will take whatever she is eating too.¡±

    ¡°Tea it is,¡± the server said. Retreating back in the direction of the kitchen.

    ¡°Your fighters performed very well,¡± Jeweler commented. ¡°Two out of every three wins went to human contestants, and the selkie far outnumbered human challengers.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize how popular it was going to be among the selkie. Todd was spreading the word in the squares we visited, but I thought it would be some time before they were organized enough to attend,¡± Grandmother admitted. Jeweler looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of Todd.

    ¡°I am curious where you are heading to now,¡± Jeweler said. ¡°Todd told me next time I was curious I should ask.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to the Speedwell,¡± Grandmother said. The server returned with the fancy tea pot from the Seagrass dish set. He sat it and two of the tiny cups on the table. He filled the cups from the pot before promising to return with their meals.

    Jeweler picked up his cup and took a delicate sip from it. The action looked decidedly strange on a selkie. Grandmother gulped the rest of her tea in her glass mug. With regret she set the empty mug aside and moved her tiny cup within easier reach.

    ¡°This is very nice,¡± Jeweler said of the cup. ¡°Almost civilized.¡±

    ¡°The potter in Seagrass made them for me,¡± Grandmother announced.

    ¡°Really?¡± Jeweler responded, clearly disbelieving her.

    ¡°Yep,¡± she confirmed.

    The server brought their food on plates that matched the teapot. He also set a spoon and fork on the table by each of their plates. Everyone always used the knife at their belt to cut their food. The spoon was obviously part of the haul Todd purchased from a specialized vendor they found in tier three space below them. The fork was really a vent pin, used in wildspace to secure the vents in a room so you weren¡¯t disturbed by wild animals in the night. Forks might be Grandmother''s next priority.

    ¡°What is this speed well?¡± Jeweler asked. He¡¯d used the selkie words that meant fast and health to say the ship¡¯s name.

    ¡°It is the vessel that brought humans here,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Alex calls it the wizard¡¯s tower in the east. It is located outside the structure.¡± Jeweler ate his food as he thought about this.

    ¡°If it brought you here, why do you not use it to leave?¡± Jeweler asked.

    ¡°Perhaps we don¡¯t want to leave,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°You keep going to this tower. If you don¡¯t wish to leave, why travel to it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t go to the Speedwell because I want to leave,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°The vessel was never designed to leave again. It is incapable of doing that. It has other capabilities that must be maintained to remain functional. There are more humans living there that depend on it.¡±

    ¡°I would like to see this vessel,¡± Jeweler announced. ¡°May I travel with you?¡±

    ¡°It is located outside the structure,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°How can I say this more clearly? The wizard¡¯s tower in the east is located beyond the reach of the true god. Do you really want to go?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jeweler said. ¡°This sounds more and more intriguing.¡±

    Todd appeared shortly after that. His wet hair indicated that he must have washed up before coming over to the inn. Todd kept an apartment on the floors above the square. He gave the jeweler an astonished look before sitting down in his usual spot. Jeweler was sipping from his tiny teacup again, so Grandmother wasn¡¯t completely certain what caused the astonishment. The server arrived on Todd¡¯s heels with a meal and a tiny cup. They must have made up the plate when Grandmother was served.

    ¡°Jeweler tells me you instructed him to ask next time he was curious. He has asked to come with us to the Speedwell,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°I did tell him that,¡± Todd confessed. He looked at the not-selkie like he was measuring up the player¡¯s capabilities and finding them wanting. ¡°We will run the whole way. You will need to keep up.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± Jeweler countered. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a portal nearby?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said bluntly. ¡°The closest one is Londontown and we are avoiding them for now.¡± They usually did use the fast transportation system to the north gallery before beginning their run. On their last trip they ran from Home Square because they were hauling the bag and plant carts with materials for the rest upgrade. It really didn¡¯t take much longer. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain she wanted the Jeweler to know about the north gallery. She remembered telling Todd that they needed to treat the not-selkie the same as anyone else in order to get information out of him. She decided they would take the transit to the north gallery first, just as they usually did. ¡°Do you know of a way to spawn a transportation room?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Jeweler responded, ¡°not beyond the generalities. A path well traveled and all that.¡± Which was an interesting hint in itself, Grandmother thought. She finished her meal and pushed the plate to the side. She poured herself another tiny cup of tea.

    ¡°You can come if you like. We are leaving at first light. We will take the transportation system to a gallery not far from here but in the right direction and run from there,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°You can meet us at the back hall.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Jeweler responded. He set his vent pin down on the table and finished his tea. ¡°And an excellent meal. Not as good as boar, but perfectly acceptable.¡±

    ¡°You like boar?¡± Todd quizzed.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jeweler replied. ¡°It has a bold flavor. Humans never seem to serve it anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see that there is some available for dinner,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to it,¡± Jeweler responded. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me, I need to make a few purchases before I make a trip into wildspace.¡±

    ¡°He really isn¡¯t selkie or human is he?¡± Todd asked as he watched Jeweler leave the common room.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Grandmother replied quietly. She hadn¡¯t told anyone about that glimpse she got of the jeweler''s true form in the Stoneshelf central pond. ¡°We need to warn Companion, Alex and Sarah. I figured it was Jeweler¡¯s secret and it really wouldn¡¯t matter in the structure. When we step past the boundary his disguise will fail. I don¡¯t want anyone reacting badly.¡±

    ¡°I am pretty sure Alex will want to go on a scavenging run to try and replace some of his stock. I will get Sarah and Companion to come along and tell them then,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll come along too,¡± Grandmother said, setting her teacup down. ¡°A little scavenging sounds like a good way to relax. We can go down into tier three space and look for specialized vendors. I¡¯d like to find one that sells forks.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Fourteen

    ¡°What is the inscription?¡± Jeweler asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a map¡­¡± Grandmother started to say, but she stopped. She turned to look at the inscription as she spoke. Instead of the decrypted version of a map, she saw thousands of tiny, multicolored symbols written in the Egyptian font incised into the stone of the free standing wall. The wall was set in a shallow pond. Copper, silver and gold fish swam through the water. ¡°It''s changed,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Has it?¡± Todd asked from where he was adjusting his load for the run. They all just arrived in the north gallery and were getting ready for the long run out to the entrance. As everyone adjusted straps and loads, Jeweler was inspecting the gallery. This seemed perfectly natural for someone on their first visit, so Grandmother forced herself to ignore it.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°We didn¡¯t come this way last season, because of the carts. It could have changed anytime in the last year.¡± Grandmother wanted to just ignore it and keep on with their current plan.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we come through here when we got the books for Enchanter?¡± Todd questioned. ¡°That was about half way through the last season.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we inspected it really close on the way back,¡± Grandmother remembered. The problem with ignoring it was the first inscription translated to a map that led Grandmother to Home Square. She took a nap before translating it. She barely made it back to Home Square before the Migration hit. She always wondered if she skipped the nap would less people have died? With a sigh, Grandmother leaned her staff against the sofa and swung her pack off her back and set it on the floor. ¡°I¡¯d better decrypt it before we go,¡± she announced to the group.

    She sat down on the sofa in the central furniture group. She transformed its tan fabric into a tapestry of fish swimming years ago. Ever since she reached tier six, furniture transformed when she sat on it. She didn¡¯t like how it made her feel, so she tried to only sit on things she already changed.

    Everyone stopped tightening straps and started loosening them. Companion laid down half in the end of the central pond, frightening all the fish away. Within moments he gave every indication that he was asleep, defiant of the fact that even the short hop from Home Square in the transportation system left them all feeling wide awake.

    Jeweler continued his tour of the gallery, asking Ellen questions. Some of these questions were about her apprenticeship, while others were about the gallery. Todd noticed how the not-selkie wove the two types together. Sarah settled on the floor. She pulled out a stylus and notebook and began to write. Alex sat at the end chair of the furniture cluster and started trying to convince Sarah to redraw his instruction booklets.

    Todd wasn¡¯t certain what to do with himself. Usually in situations like this, he cooked. The transportation system also left you feeling full. Todd doubted anyone would even want a cup of tea for hours. He took off his pack and sat down on the edge of a chair, so his large Speedwell knife didn¡¯t catch on it. He spun his spear in his hands and tried to think of something to work on.

    ¡°Is that the ring spell encoded in those fish,¡± Jeweler asked Ellen. He¡¯d spotted the spell encodings on the sofa right before Grandmother sat on them. The two of them were approaching the rest of the group.

    ¡°Ring of Death, yes,¡± Ellen responded to her master crafter.

    ¡°What is the spell on the third fish?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Ring shield,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°It protects you from a ring of death cast. It is only tier three. If a tier three casts it, the spell protects the caster. Cast by a tier four it affects everyone within a three foot radius. So if a group stands close together a single cast will protect an entire group. What is really interesting is that it lasts a really long time. Grandmother casts it on Home Square about once a season and the protection lasts until the next season.¡±

    ¡°How does she do that?¡± Jeweler asked, ¡°Does everyone in the square stand close together?¡± He was trying hard to hide his astonishment at this discovery. Ring of death was the bane of his people''s existence. Entire squares were killed by it in sneak attacks. The only thing that limited its use was that the rebound destroyed the protection crystal in the caster¡¯s home square. Many attempts were made to try to redirect the rebound to a square the caster didn¡¯t care about, or actively wanted to destroy, but Oversight always seemed to know which square was the caster¡¯s home.

    ¡°Oh no, at tier six a single cast of ring shield affects a radius larger than the square, although we think the built-in square shields limit it to just the square. We did a little testing of that, but decided it didn¡¯t really matter and let it drop,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°Sarah,¡± Ellen said, turning to look at her sister. ¡°Did you ever get the butcher to demonstrate her nimble spell?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sarah said, sitting up from her work. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a sixth tree spell, it was a second tree. But,¡± Sarah paused dramatically, ¡°it has a six in it.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Ellen quizzed. ¡°How does she cast it?¡±

    ¡°She uses her foot for six,¡± Sarah explained.

    ¡°How?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Sarah trailed off, gathering her thoughts. ¡°She is casting the spell on herself, but she does that like how we cast utility spells on non-integrated items. Think of how we cast fire on a stick. We tap our fingers one at a time, then tap our palm and that is the start symbol. The end symbol is to tap all our fingers at once. Tiny taps her off foot, then she uses her off-hand to tap our start symbol on her knee. She taps out the rest of the spell on her knee, but when she gets to the six value she taps her foot again, then all her fingers. Her end symbol is all her fingers together with her foot.¡± Everyone thought about that one for a moment.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°I guess I can see how that could work,¡± Ellen said skeptically.

    ¡°Well it works for her,¡± Sarah said. ¡°I¡¯ve been too busy to try to learn the spell myself. The spell is actually really neat. You know how when you imbue a weapon with any element, the fighter''s skill improves? Like the weapon is actually controlling the direction of its movement? Nimble gives you that improved aim without the elemental power. It lasts longer too. Tiny uses it to control her blade when she is cutting through joints or making very thin slices, without having to worry about ice or fire damaging the meat. Todd, you should learn it to increase your speed at cutting tubers.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I should,¡± Todd agreed. Sarah pulled her pack closer to her and dug through it. She pulled out a magic book and tossed it to Todd.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said. ¡°Give me the book back when you learn it. I want to add it to the library in the rest.¡± Todd caught the book and read the title. It read, Spells used in Butchering. Todd picked up his pack and headed to the food prep area. He had a bag of tubers with him for the trip. Working on learning this spell would at least pass the time. Alex got up and followed him.

    ¡°Accuracy seems like a good combat spell to me,¡± he commented when Todd looked back at him. ¡°Maybe I can cast it on myself using song.¡±

    Todd agreed that it was worth a try.

    It took Grandmother three hours to decrypt the inscription. She was quite proud of herself at that short time. The inscription was another map. The section on the wall showed a very sparse arrangement of halls that were strangely crooked. The halls in the structure were usually straight with ninety degree turns. Six different levels were shown using different colors. The crooked halls snaked up and down through the levels in an almost random pattern. There were vertical shafts that dropped from above and continued below the section given. At first she thought they were stairs, but there was something about how they were drawn that made her doubt that. None of the shafts intersected the halls.

    Near the center of the map was a large room. It appeared to be full of some kind of equipment, indicated by vague blurs. That was it, one room. It wasn¡¯t even connected to the halls or the shafts.

    Grandmother closed down her interface and opened her map. An inscription like this would add the area to her own map. She scanned through her map looking for the new section. In her near fifty years in the structure she uncovered a lot of it. It took a while to find the new part. It was in the far south, deep below the south gallery. Looking at the location made Grandmother realize why the halls were so oddly shaped, they were tunnels or caves. This was a map of the underground.

    She closed her map and blinked herself to full alertness, wondering where everyone was. Even Companion was missing from the pool. She vaguely remembered Todd telling her they were making a run to the nearby green. She also vaguely remembered Todd reporting that they were back. Grandmother rose to her feet with the unnatural grace of a tier six. She really wanted to stretch to get the kinks out of her neck and back, only there were no kinks. Her nanobots would never allow them to develop. She stretched anyway, remembering how sitting still for so long would have left her virtually crippled when she was young.

    Laughter mixed with shouts of encouragement were coming from the food preparation area. She walked over and looked into the door. Some kind of contest appeared to be going on. The entire room was littered with apple peels, all very thinly and expertly removed from the fruit. Grandmother arrived just as Ellen was facing off against Todd. Sarah called go. Both contestants tapped out a spell on their leg and stamped their foot. With the spell cast the knife in their other hand flew forward to start peeling an apple. The first peeled apple was tossed aside to be replaced by another, and another. Eventually the spell faded and the contestants stopped.

    ¡°Four!¡± Ellen said proudly.

    ¡°Four and a half,¡± Todd countered.

    ¡°It''s just not right,¡± Ellen pretended to pout.

    ¡°I should have some advantage, considering how many I¡¯ve peeled for real,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°May I ask what is going on?¡± Grandmother asked politely from the doorway. Everyone in the room froze into a tableau of naughty children, even Jeweler who along with Alex and Companion made up the cheering section.

    ¡°It''s Tiny¡¯s nimble spell,¡± Sarah said in explanation.

    ¡°Tiny? You mean Tina, the butcher? What is all the foot stamping for?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°That is how she indicates the six symbol,¡± Alex explained. ¡°Companion and I can sing it too.¡± Grandmother noted that Jeweler wasn¡¯t included in that group. Did the not-selkie already know this spell and didn¡¯t want the others to realize it?

    Grandmother ran her hands down her leathers, straightening them. She stepped forward into the room.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯d better learn it too, so I can compete,¡± Grandmother commented. The tension left the room.

    Grandmother could peel five apples before the spell faded from Todd. The spell lasted much longer on her and she could peel even more if she kept going. She didn¡¯t because they were running out of apples. Grandmother consoled Todd by telling him she peeled a lot of apples for real too.

    The day was half over by then. Todd put together a meal for them that was heavy on apples. Companion was vocal about his dislike of them, but managed to eat them all the same. Grandmother mentioned that Earth apples were commonly fermented into cider. Todd wondered if that would qualify as another brew for the six beer flavors he was working toward. Jeweler ate the meal without comment.

    ¡°What is the inscription?¡± Todd asked as they were finishing up.

    ¡°It¡¯s a map of a location underground below the industrial area,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I¡¯ll try transferring the solution to you before we go,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it could be too time dependent, so after we finish eating I want to push on to the Speedwell.¡±

    As everyone packed up after the meal, Grandmother tried to transfer the inscription solution to Todd. The transfer failed. For this inscription tier four was too low. Grandmother offered to transfer it to Jeweler, but the not-selkie declined after he watched Grandmother hold Todd¡¯s hand for the first attempt. Grandmother realized the not-selkie avoided contact. Remembering the odd way his selkie face contorted to sip from the teacup, she thought contact might distort his disguise.

    Of course he was still pretending to be only tier four. Perhaps he just didn¡¯t want to blow his cover among the other members of the party.

    She also noticed that Jeweler did not touch the crystal. In this gallery you had to stand in the pool and get wet to touch it. Masquerading as a selkie and living in Seagrass his disguise had to stand up to water, so that wasn¡¯t the reason. The rest of them all waded in to give the crystal a pat. It was part of their routine to try to keep travel costs down.

    Grandmother thought she should take the time to open up this gallery''s interface and look it over, but they¡¯d lost so much time already, she decided to do it on the return trip. She hadn¡¯t managed to check the square¡¯s crystal either with all the activity of Challenge day.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do a slow start,¡± Grandmother commented as they all moved in the direction of the gallery¡¯s far doors. ¡°And let Jeweler adjust to the pace.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Grandmother,¡± came the calls of agreement from the group. Alex stepped off at a slow trot, Ellen right behind. Jeweler followed her with a slightly too wide gap, Grandmother ran close behind him, pushing him forward with her presence to close up with Ellen. Companion, Sarah and Todd brought up the rear.

    When Jeweler closed the gap, Alex stepped up the speed.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Fifteen

    They were far into dark space. Valin hurt all over. He anticipated that running all day would make the bind ache, but this was far far worse. His legs were on fire.

    He caught Companion casting with song swift to keep up with the group. Valin wanted to do the same, but he could not cast with song like the selkie did in his own voice. The translation amulet he was wearing didn¡¯t help. He was fascinated with the human¡¯s stamping their feet to get the sixth symbol when not using a tool. He used his toes to get the higher numbers needed to control tools, but he would never have considered trying to cast an enhancement spell with tool casting. His people used different methods to make up for the lack of fingers when casting enhancement and battle magic. His amulets were one of those. He did have a swift amulet, back in his shop at Seagrass, but he didn¡¯t bring it with him to Home Square. There was no time to go back for it.

    He assumed Alex was leading the group because as a tier three he was one of the slowest members of the group. Now Valin wasn¡¯t so sure. Without magic the slowest member was obviously Companion. With magic, he suspected the slowest member was him.

    Alex might be able to sing the swift spell just like Companion. Valin was astonished when Alex cast the nimble spell with song. He knew Alex could sing the language, but the selkie communicated using one note at a time. The selkie could produce two or three notes simultaneously. Their casting method included this multi-note sound. Valin didn¡¯t think humans were capable of it.

    They stopped the first day only after the lights transitioned to night mode. It wasn¡¯t until the second day that Valin realized they were heading into dark space. His estimate of the first night''s late stop might have been off since the halls were dark from failed light panels. As they ran the second day Alex or Ellen would cast light spells ahead of them, igniting the dark panels. They aimed at one panel in ten, leaving the party running in very dim light.

    Valin was sitting in a corner of what might be a rest. There was so little left of the furniture it was hard to tell. Everyone was eating travel food. A true selkie like Companion wouldn¡¯t drink much water, but Valin was gulping it. His enchanted water flask was having trouble keeping up with him. No one mentioned it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get to the upgraded rest tomorrow,¡± Todd observed. ¡°We will stay there the night to recover, before the final leg out of the structure.¡±

    ¡°If you change your mind about coming out to the Speedwell, you can stay in the rest,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t changed my mind,¡± Valin responded, slightly offended they thought a little run would stop him. They were making their way up out of the structure. Valin wasn¡¯t certain why they came so far out into dark space to make their exit. He¡¯d overheard two humans in Home Square talking about another nearby square called OpenSky where there was an exit to above. This exit must be closer to their vessel, since they ran the whole way Valin could understand why they did that on the uniform surface in the halls instead of the rough terrain above.

    Valin was also confused by their direction. He expected them to head to the nearest ocean. There was an ocean to the east, but it was far, far away. He couldn¡¯t remember if there were any large rivers inland. This continent was rarely visited by his people, that was why he was here.

    Alex set up for the first watch. The group set a watch each night, even though it was obvious there was nothing in this region that could harm them. They didn¡¯t ask him to take a turn, for which Valin was too grateful to question. He curled up around his water flask and quickly fell asleep.

    ¡°Slow the pace a tick tomorrow,¡± Grandmother instructed Alex. ¡°Our master jeweler is having more trouble keeping up than I anticipated.¡±

    ¡°An easy run sounds good to me,¡± Alex replied.

    They arrived at the upgraded rest late the next day. Valin managed to keep up with more ease. He was feeling better. The upgraded rest, as the humans called it, was actually a house outpost. It contained a strange assortment of upgrades. There was the ultra rare storage and library, yet it didn¡¯t have a transportation room or even an inventory access. Grandmother''s question about if he knew how to spark a transportation room made more sense. His people would never have put so much effort and expense into upgrades on a house outpost that didn¡¯t already have one.

    There was even a bunk room, although it contained only one selkie bed and one human one. The human bed was left for Grandmother, while Companion claimed the selkie one. The one stuffed sofa was taken by Ellen. Everyone else set their gear down onto a section of floor, preferring it over the wooden slats of the benches that stood in place of the usual sofas.

    Valin decided this weird arrangement must be because they were in dark space. The food preparation area was close to the top upgrade, rivaling what was found in an inn. Todd cooked a meal for them all. Valin consumed the offering before once more collapsing into sleep.

    <hr>

    ¡°He¡¯s asleep,¡± Todd reported as he stepped back into the main room of the rest. Grandmother looked up from where she was studying the interface for the crystal. Her sudden movement automatically closed it.

    ¡°Well tomorrow should be interesting,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I¡¯ll lead the way up to the ridge, since I am the least affected by the transition. I want you and Ellen to bring up the rear. If he reacts badly I want you both to still be inside Control¡¯s area of influence. I am not certain how we should position the rest.¡±

    ¡°Put Companion behind, and Alex and Sarah ahead,¡± Todd recommended. ¡°Companion always has trouble catching his balance when he loses the enchantment on his breastplate. If there is trouble he should still be inside the structure too. Alex and Sarah ahead will keep Jeweler in the middle.¡±

    ¡°We will go with that,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Remember to keep an eye out for outside dangers. We don¡¯t want to get jumped by another cougar because we were paying too much attention to Jeweler. He seems very certain he can leave the structure. Perhaps his disguise amulet is self powered. That will be interesting in itself.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it have to power the nanobots in our eyes?¡± Todd asked. He was familiar with Grandmother¡¯s theories about how magic in the structure worked. One of the founding principles was that a lot of the visual animations they saw were only light projections by nanobots in their corneas.

    ¡°That is why it will be interesting,¡± Grandmother responded.

    <hr>

    They left the gallery in the morning after a hot breakfast. Valin was surprised again, when instead of going out the surface exit located right there in the outpost, they went back into the halls and down three stories. At least they didn¡¯t run. The group proceeded at a fast walk. They checked cross corridors and holes in the floor and ceiling like a pack of bears could jump out at any moment.

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    They emerged into a ruined temple.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen a screech since I left home,¡± Valin said. He uttered the statement in surprise before he thought it through. The selkie didn¡¯t have a word for temple, that was why his translator sputtered.

    ¡°A what?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°A space to worship Oversight,¡± Valin said again, trying to pick words that would translate.

    This translated to selkie as, ¡°A space to make offerings to the true god.¡± Companion was confused. The selkie didn¡¯t make offerings to the true god, the true god provided for them. Grandmother told them Jeweler wasn¡¯t a selkie but something else in disguise. Companion found it hard to believe until now.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always thought of it as an entry courtyard, early introduction and training area,¡± Grandmother responded. Grandmother led the way out of the courtyard and across the grass meadow to a small stream. They waded across before crossing a last strip of grass and starting up the path. The walk up wasn¡¯t that hard at the slow pace.

    Suddenly the bind gave a twinge. It seemed worse than normal. Valin stumbled a little. Weakness leached into his muscles. He rubbed his back, trying to loosen his muscles. He touched something wet. He looked at his hand, it was stained red with blood. Alarmed he tried to spin around to see what had injured him. He lost his footing and fell to his knees. Something was darkening his vision. He tried to get back to his feet. He managed a stumbled step or two forward before his legs gave out beneath him. He fell forward landing on his face. The darkness claimed him.

    Grandmother was at the jeweler¡¯s side in moments. She slipped her staff through her belt to free her hands. She pulled the pack off his small form and cut through the white almost plastic that Valin¡¯s cloth armor transformed into, with her knife. She pulled aside the armor to reveal a white almost plastic vine threaded through the flesh of the jeweler''s back. The vine was complete with leaves and thorns. Blood was streaming not just from the small cuts they could see, but from where the vine entered his body. He must have a lot more damage internally. She noted the blood was red, like a human¡¯s, not blue like a selkie¡¯s.

    Grandmother picked the small form up and carried him back into the structure¡¯s area of influence. She set him back down, as soon as color returned to Valin¡¯s armor. The cloth appeared to be made out of a ceramic fabric. Over the top of it Valin wore a glass breastplate, bracers and greaves. There was no backplate. Grandmother thought the vine probably made it impossible for him to wear one.

    The cloth armor was starting to stain dark green around the cuffs and collar, while the glass, insulated by the cloth armor from Valin¡¯s skin, remained clear. The stain was darker than a tier four crafter¡¯s but not dark enough to be tier six. The jeweler was tier five.

    Grandmother stepped back. Companion, Todd and Ellen stood at full alert with weapons in their hands and ready. Ellen was edging closer to get a better look. Sarah and Alex were hurrying back down the trail. Color, yellow and blue, returned to their armor as they approached.

    ¡°You better heal him, before he bleeds to death,¡± Grandmother commented.

    Sarah and Alex kneeled down and both cast a tier three heal onto the jeweler. The jeweler came off the ground in a ball of fury. Everyone caught a flash of extremely sharp teeth, before Grandmother reached out and caught him. Valin¡¯s movement just stopped. For a second everything just seemed to freeze, then the jeweler collapsed again.

    ¡°Should we heal him again?¡± Alex asked. There was a trace of fear in his voice that was completely at odds with Alex''s personality.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I think that was a reaction to the pain. Some sort of animal instinct.¡± Grandmother could hear Valin''s heart beating. It still didn¡¯t sound like a human heart, but it was strong and steady. ¡°I think he has passed out now from it.¡± Grandmother pulled the cloth armor back from his back again and inspected the vine. It looked like it was made out of oxidized bronze. It was much easier to see against the pure white of the jeweler''s skin than the depowered white plastic version. Grandmother felt around the edges of where the vine penetrated, trying to determine if he was still bleeding internally. It felt like the vine penetrated really deep. The jeweler¡¯s skin was coarse, almost like sandpaper. Grandmother thought it must be covered by small scales.

    ¡°We could try cutting it out with nimble,¡± Alex suggested.

    ¡°If it was that easy, I think the jeweler would have already done it,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I think it¡¯s wound all through his ribs and organs. I suspect just cutting it out will kill him, even with healing.¡± She pulled slightly on one leaf and the vines flexed under her fingers like it was a live thing. Grandmother remembered how she told Jeweler she thought he was wounded. She was guessing at the time. It appeared she was more right than she realized.

    She pulled his cloth armor back down and rolled him over so he wouldn¡¯t wake up with his face in the dirt. This action allowed everyone else to get a good look at him. Grandmother noticed that he had four fingers, so he wasn¡¯t a member of the builders'' race.

    ¡°Do you know what race he is Companion?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Companion replied. ¡°Enchanter will know.¡±

    Grandmother straightened up and pulled her staff back out of her belt. She walked up the path to retrieve Valin¡¯s pack before returning to the group. She sat the pack next to Valin.

    ¡°This means he didn¡¯t know what ¡®outside the structure¡¯ meant,¡± Sarah observed.

    ¡°True,¡± Ellen agreed.

    ¡°Should we carry him back down?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said, as she tried to get comfortable on a nearby rock. ¡°I¡¯m going to have a little conversation with him first.¡± She shifted a few more times. ¡°We¡¯ll wait here until he wakes. Why do I never bring my stool?¡± she asked.

    Everyone else was on high alert, keeping a watch on both their environment and Valin. Grandmother considered what she was going to say. Valin made a noise. A kind of growling grinding noise, that Grandmother thought might be the Jeweler¡¯s true voice. One of his hands rose to clear the dirt from his face.

    Grandmother rose and walked over. She knelt down next to the jeweler.

    ¡°I told you the Speedwell is beyond the reach of Control. It would appear you did not know what that meant,¡± Grandmother said to him.

    Valin jerked back, trying to jump to his feet again. Grandmother placed one hand on his leg, holding him firm. He ended up in a sitting position, his eyes jumping to each member of the party. One of his hands came up and rubbed the ring through his ear.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Valin asked in a human voice in the human language. So the ring was a translator. Something else on his body must be the disguise generator. Grandmother wondered if he understood her first comment and thought about repeating it. She decided to skip it.

    ¡°I can take that vine out of your back,¡± Grandmother stated. ¡°You''re not going to like my method. This is your chance to say no. If you say yes now, I won¡¯t stop later if you change your mind, so make sure you mean yes.¡± Grandmother could see that Todd was surprised by her offer. Actually they all looked surprised.

    ¡°It will kill me,¡± Valin said.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Grandmother conceded. ¡°I think not. What is your answer?¡±

    Valin looked at the old woman. She seemed different. This wasn¡¯t the absent minded ruler who smiled at her subjects and brought them prosperity by accident. It also wasn¡¯t the kind version he remembered from Redfalls, who just wanted to be accepted and loved. This version was smart and hard. She was going to do this for her own reasons that had nothing to do with him. She saw him clearly, including that flaw within him that always betrayed his best intentions in the end. Suddenly he knew he would never betray her, because she would always remember he was capable of it. As long as he was loyal to her he would have a future, when he stopped he would be dead.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. Irene smiled.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Sixteen

    Irene sent Todd, Ellen and Valin back to the upgraded rest. She told Valin to let Ellen repair his armor. Sarah, Alex, Companion and herself continued on to the Speedwell. Before they parted, Irene took a sample of Valin¡¯s blood.

    Irene handed off her camera to Sarah for processing and went up to the medical center. Growing up with a doctor as one of her parents taught Irene a few things about medical care. The most important thing she learned was that medical care on the Speedwell was almost completely automated. No doctor ever held a stethoscope or scalpel. The treatment beds did all of that. Doctors just selected what procedure the machines should do. There were even machines that would tell them what procedures should be selected. A drop of blood in one machine would run a battery of tests. Another would scan a patient''s entire body looking for abnormalities or damage.

    The doctors on the Speedwell were fully trained in order to replace those machines should they fail. As long as the machines worked, the crew of the Speedwell didn¡¯t really need doctors. Irene¡¯s mother hated that reality.

    Irene put Valin¡¯s blood sample into a set of official sample tubes. She slid one into the wildlife analysis machine. She ordered the machine to sequence the animal¡¯s DNA and determine which tranquilizer was most likely to work on it. She took a second tube over to the blood cloner and told it to make a gallon of the stuff.

    She went over to the internal imager and made sure she knew how to use it. She was still working through its menus when Alex came into the medical center.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s an internal imager,¡± Irene explained. ¡°It uses x-rays, sound, magnetics and even different wavelengths of light to map the internal structure of a patient. I plan to use it to see where that vine is inside Valin.¡±

    ¡°How does knowing where it is help?¡± Alex queried.

    ¡°See that bed machine over there?¡± Irene said, pointing to a second unit that looked a lot like this one. ¡°That is a robotic surgeon. I can program it to cut the vine out. Outside of the structure, nanobot material is rather weak. The surgeon¡¯s blades will cut through it. Broken into pieces, it should be easy to remove. Especially since it won''t repair or regrow, which I suspect is what would happen if we tried to cut it out inside the structure.¡±

    ¡°So you weren¡¯t lying to him,¡± Alex commented. ¡°You do think you can get it out of him.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Irene responded. ¡°The worrying part is the blood loss. I¡¯m hoping the ship''s blood cloner will be able to duplicate his blood. If that doesn¡¯t work we¡¯ll have to bleed him for a couple weeks and save it up for the surgery. The really nasty part will be if the machine over there,¡± Grandmother said pointing to the wildlife analyzer, ¡°can¡¯t identify a tranquilizer it thinks will work on Valin.¡±

    ¡°What is a tranquilizer?¡± Alex asked. Irene forgot sometimes that all her companions didn¡¯t have the same scientific upbringing she had.

    ¡°A chemical that makes you sleep,¡± she explained.

    ¡°Like what Control gives us in the transportation system?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± Irene confirmed.

    ¡°I got the impression you don¡¯t really like this guy,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°You saw that thing,¡± Irene shivered. ¡°That was nasty. I wouldn¡¯t leave that in an Earthen squirrel if I had the means to get it out. Besides, he hasn''t taught Ellen everything he knows yet.¡±

    ¡°Ellen will be unhappy if you kill her teacher,¡± Alex commented.

    The analyzer dinged. Irene went over to look at the readout.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± she said to Alex, ¡°the machine thinks Valin is similar to an Earth shark. It has a chemical it thinks will work, but it is warning me that unless water continues to flow over the shark''s gills it will die.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Alex said.

    ¡°It has identified something we can try. That is the important part,¡± Irene said. She memorized the chemical name and went over to the drug dispenser to order it up. The dispenser told her dosages. They were based on weight. Irene made a note to take a scale with them. She would have to make Valin strip off all that armor, since there was no way to know how much it weighed.

    ¡°Can you run down to supply and pick up a ship uniform you think will fit Valin?¡± Irene asked Alex.

    ¡°Umm sure, I guess. I don¡¯t know how good of a fit it will be,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°Get several. I¡¯d look at the larger child sizes,¡± Irene suggested. ¡°While you''re there, see if you can get a scale, like the one in the apartment''s bathroom and a stretcher. Load it all up into the cart.¡± Irene wondered what Companion was doing. She didn¡¯t bring Alex, Sarah or Companion with her because she needed their skills in particular. She brought them more to prove to Valin that she wasn¡¯t that worried about him.

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Irene admitted, ¡°but that''s all I can think of at the moment.¡± Alex headed off in the direction of the door. Before he got there, Irene called, ¡°Oh and a length of rope.¡±

    Irene continued her checkout of the equipment she planned to use. When she finished she went back to the blood cloner to see how it was doing. The readouts were all in the green. Irene thought it might work. It looked like it was slow. If she was reading it right it wanted three weeks to produce the gallon. She knew a gallon was a lot of blood, maybe she should have ordered less. She changed the amount needed to one pint.

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    The time only shortened to eighteen days. Thinking about it she decided maybe she just needed a larger starting amount. She went over to the small training station in the corner and pulled up the lesson on taking blood manually.

    <hr>

    She found Alex, Sarah and Companion in the engineering center watching recordings.

    ¡°What are you watching,¡± Irene asked, pulling up a chair.

    ¡°This is Ellen inside Tinkerer¡¯s test,¡± Sarah explained. ¡°I exchanged cameras with her before we loaded up.¡±

    ¡°Did she get a good shot of the Tinkerer?¡± Irene asked. ¡°She was a lot closer than the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°Apparently he was just a projection,¡± Alex said with obvious disappointment. ¡°There is just a round door in the side of the arena that drops back and slides to the side. After a small delay, Ellen steps inside and the door closes behind. It looks like the same small room as the transportation system.¡± Recording of the transportation system was disappointing. All the cameras caught was a very small empty room. When the door closed behind the passenger a complete darkness fell that blacked out the camera.

    ¡°What¡¯s interesting is the other side. Even though everything she repairs is default white and gray, you can tell by how she fixes them what material they must be made of. She handled a lot of items we don¡¯t have,¡± Sarah said. ¡°I want to ask her if she revealed any of the patterns.¡±

    ¡°I am going to head back down to the structure,¡± Irene announced. ¡°I think the blood cloner might work faster if I got a bigger sample out of Valin to start with.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go get my ax,¡± Companion announced, picking himself off the floor. He didn¡¯t trust the office chairs in the engineering headquarters. Sarah shut off the recording and rose to her feet as well.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we all need to go,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°No, we do,¡± Alex countered, already moving toward the door. ¡°Todd will be unhappy with us otherwise.¡±

    <hr>

    Four days later, Irene¡¯s preparations were complete. They tied Valin to the stretcher and carried him out of the improved rest to the cart. The cart was parked as close to the entrance as they could get. Irene was fairly certain the short stay inside the structure''s area of influence wouldn¡¯t do it too much harm. From Todd''s experience getting injured and healed near the entrance, they knew it took several days for a heal to be ¡®real¡¯. Irene thought the constant damage the vine made as Valin moved was masked by the improved healing abilities of a tier five. She wanted to limit the amount of movement he made on the way out, in order to minimize the damage.

    Valin wasn¡¯t too happy with this form of transport since Irene stripped him first and tied him face down. She did cover him with a blanket to keep him warm and preserve his modesty, if he had any.

    At the border, they stopped and Irene injected him with the tranquilizer. They tried this before, and Irene thought she had the dose dialed in. She did it close to the border in case she was wrong. They could just roll back inside and cast a heal to clean the poison from his blood.

    When they tried testing it inside the structure, Valin¡¯s tier five nanobots cleared his blood so quickly it was hard to tell if it even worked. A small amount of blood was leaking from around the vine penetrations, but Irene didn¡¯t think it was dangerous.

    The internal imager worked beautifully. As Irene suspected the vine looped around Valin¡¯s organs. If they just pulled it out it would have killed even a tier five. They transferred Valin to the automatic surgeon and loaded the machine with the data from the imager. Irene instructed it to remove the vine with a minimum of tissue cuts, but told it to cut the vine whenever it wanted. She marked everything she thought looked like an organ or a major vessel and told the surgeon to avoid them too. The surgeon was loaded with Valin¡¯s cloned blood. Irene crossed her fingers and pushed go.

    It was nasty. Irene was sorry she watched. There was a reason she didn¡¯t follow her mother into medicine. The surgeon dropped slices of white plastic vine into the discard chute. When the last piece dropped it began gluing Valin back together with liquid sutures. When the machine finished its surgery it recommended Valin get another pint of blood. Irene ignored its recommendation and rolled Valin back into the imager. The imager could not find any sign of the vine.

    They carried him back out to the cart and drove down to the boundary. When they crossed, Sarah and Alex hit him with another set of tier three heals. Once more he tried to spring up and attack. Tied as he was to the stretcher, none of them even blinked. After that he promptly passed out.

    Irene watched his back closely as Todd drove the cart the rest of the way back to the structure. She was afraid they might have missed some sliver of vine that would regenerate. She saw nothing.

    They carried Valin most of the way back up to the rest before he regained consciousness. Valin walked the rest of the way wrapped in the blanket.

    <hr>

    Valin sat on the edge of one of the hard chairs in the house outpost and rubbed the seamless skin on his back. He was still dressed in only the odd sheet of material Grandmother called a blanket.

    ¡°How did you know what to do?¡± Ellen asked Grandmother.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it as a magic or medical problem,¡± the old woman explained. ¡°I thought about it as an engineering problem. Really that''s what I am in the end, an engineer. I know how to use machines and write code. I know how to plan assembly and disassembly. Plus my mother was a doctor. She complained about how little there was for her to do for years. She hated the automation because she thought it stole her glory.¡±

    Valin didn¡¯t understand most of that. His translation just buzzed on a lot of the words. That or it used words so old they¡¯d fallen out of use before Valin was born so he didn''t know what they meant. He did understand that she was talking about her mother, but he could not understand what the mad queen of Londontown could have to do with this miracle.

    ¡°You will need to stay inside the structure for at least three days,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°If you leave before then the heal will unravel at the boundary. After that if you still want to see the Speedwell, we can drive you up.¡±

    ¡°I want to see it,¡± Valin said. He wanted to see this place that could so easily undo the most advanced magic of the King.

    ¡°I still have some things I wanted to get done on this trip, so I am going to head back to the Speedwell. I¡¯ll leave Todd and Ellen with you. While I am gone I want you to talk to this box,¡± she said to Valin. ¡°Push this button here and it will talk to you. Push it again and it will stop. I want you to repeat whatever it says back to it in your native language.¡± The little recorder wasn¡¯t that fancy. Irene was fairly certain it would last three days in the structure. It used the same seals their camera did. The most vulnerable part was the player with its button. The recorder was a separate unit and recorded continuously. The Speedwell¡¯s computer would listen for the prerecorded messages, then strip off whatever followed as the response.

    ¡°Why?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°Your translator won¡¯t work on the Speedwell. I am going to use this information to make you something that will,¡± Grandmother explained. Valin accepted the little box. ¡°Try to keep it with you and touch it every day.¡± Grandmother rose to her feet and motioned Ellen to join her.

    ¡°I think he might be in shock,¡± Grandmother said to Ellen. ¡°See if you can talk him into teaching you something. Something familiar might be comforting to him.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Ellen said. ¡°That thing was in him for a long time. I don¡¯t think he can conceive of it being gone.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Seventeen

    Grandmother settled at Agatha¡¯s workstation in the engineering control center. Sarah was still reviewing footage from Ellen¡¯s camera, but there was no sign of Alex and Companion. Grandmother set the amulet from the arena on the desktop. The stone was now the gray of an inactive nanobot solid, but interestingly the chain was still silver.

    A fresh camera amulet was around her neck. She ordered up a new set from the automatic manufacturing machines the first day. She used her new camera to scan all sides of the pendent, before downloading the images into the work station.

    She used the suite of image recognition tools Agatha developed to read inscriptions and converted the recording into a text. She pulled up the text version of what appeared on vendors, inventory access points and transportation controls. With a little more effort she added the text from Enchanters sketch of a bone totem she remembered her mother owning.

    They all shared the same symbol set. Grandmother ran all the sources through the language programs. They pulled out certain patterns that appeared in each example, but without any additional input on the purpose of the scripts the computer could provide no meaning.

    Grandmother reviewed the results herself. Sometimes a human hunch could add the context that allowed the computer to find a solution. She compared the patterns that repeated across the samples, by highlighting them. There was something about it that seemed familiar to her, but she couldn¡¯t pin it down.

    She rested her hand on her staff, where she¡¯d laid in again the desk. Her hand ran across its rough surface as she spun it.

    She was forgetting the staff. Interestingly it still appeared black to her eyes. Squinting she could just make out the tiny symbols engraved on its surface. The color faded to gray as she focused her attention on it. Surprised Grandmother jerked back. Was it black? Or gray?

    She picked up the camera and filmed the entire surface of the staff, including the two ends. She quickly pulled the images off the camera and reviewed them. She could find the footage from inside the arena where she picked the staff up, but this was faster.

    The staff was the same gray as the amulet in the recording. Grandmother considered what that meant, even as she converted the images into symbol text files.

    It was like when she stood outside the boundary and looked back at the party still inside. She could see the projected colors and textures of their integrated equipment, because at tier six, the nanobots in her eyes were still active beyond Control¡¯s reach. The opposite wasn¡¯t true. Once a party member stepped across the boundary their integrated items appeared either white, for flexible objects, or gray for sold ones. The objects themselves transmitted information on how they appeared. When the object passed the boundary, it stopped transmitting. The nanobots in Grandmother¡¯s eyes, active or inactive, didn¡¯t receive any information, so the object was not augmented.

    The staff must still be active. It was transmitting that it was black. The active nanobots in Grandmother¡¯s corneas were doing their duty and drawing the augmentation. If Grandmother asked Sarah what color the staff was, Sarah would say gray because she didn¡¯t have active nanobots outside the boundary.

    ¡°Sarah, what color do you see this staff as?¡± Grandmother asked, to confirm her theory.

    ¡°Gray,¡± Sarah said. She frowned at the older woman and gave her a puzzled look.

    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s what I thought,¡± Grandmother responded, turning back to her workstation. Sarah continued to study Grandmother for a moment, a little worried about her.

    That left Grandmother with that odd moment when she looked at the staff too hard. For a second the augmentation turned off. It was very similar to when she¡¯d gotten that glimpse of Valin''s true form in Stoneshelf. She was staring very hard at him too. A thrill ran down Irene¡¯s spine. Was she teaching her nanobots to turn the augmentation off?

    She looked at the staff and thought that she really wanted to see its true form. Nothing happened. A little irritated, she narrowed her eyes and glared at it. The black faded to gray.

    She relaxed her eyes and leaned back. The black returned.

    That could be useful, Irene thought to herself. There were still physical triggers, narrowing her eyes, leaning in, holding her focus steady, but it was getting rather close to magic.

    It wasn¡¯t magic, Grandmother assured herself. She¡¯d built up a history of peering at people intensely when she was waiting for Control to decide if her skill and tier overpowered the caster¡¯s. The nanobots in her body were collating the two results. It was just code, based on data and statistics.

    Code, Grandmother thought. She turned back to her computer. The software was finished stripping the symbols off the staff. This was the longest, most complex example she had. The tiny size of the symbols meant a lot more was packed onto the staff than what appeared on the entire wall around an inventory access.

    Grandmother added it to her data set and ran the language analysis again. This time she added the context that the given examples were code snippets in a Turing complete programming language.

    What came out of the analysis was almost an instruction manual on how to write code in the language. It gave the syntax for loops and conditional jumps, how to name functions and call them. It identified the symbol that redirected output from one subroutine into another one.

    The text versions of the source were returned highlighted in different colors, clearly showing the structure. Many of the symbol combinations were marked as calls to named subroutines. The analysis couldn¡¯t tell her what those subroutines did, but Grandmother could make a guess at some of them. The vendor, inventory and transportation scripts were all contained in a conditional triggered by the same subroutine. Those three objects were all activated by touch. The subroutine must be related to detecting touch.

    The scripts for the three common physical interfaces were simplified. Most of the work must be hidden in the called subroutines underneath. Grandmother thought the symbols carved on them were more of decoration than actually coding that the machines were running on. Perhaps they were the introductory instructions on use. Grandmother thought about what kind of mind would use code as instructions. Perhaps the same kind of mind that liked to reduce everything to numbers, she thought, as she remembered the list of numbers that represented the log of everyone who touched the gallery crystal.

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    The script for the bone totem and the amulet were more complex, but they were nothing compared to the staff. To Grandmother¡¯s eyes, the staff was custom code. Instead of calling a single subroutine at a conditional, it would call many. It looked like the work of a programmer using a fixed library. They strung the subroutines together to get the functionality they needed, while whoever wrote the physical interface code was able to get a subroutine added to the library with the exact functionality they desired.

    This was important, Grandmother felt it in her bones. She needed to know this code. Not just in an academic manner either. She needed practical experience.

    Grandmother started working on turning the analysis into an actual instruction manual. She set up a quick conversion into the dominant programming language used in the Speedwells systems. She wrote place holders for the subroutines she could guess the meaning of. She copied the current programming lessons from the educational systems, and converted the copies to use the new programming language. She would work through them during the evenings in order to cement the skills into her brain.

    The staff was a treasure trove for deciphering the language with its more verbose code. The amulet provided its own little jewel. One surface of it carried the definition of a subroutine. Grandmother remembered how the tiny symbols seemed to change when she turned the amulet in Home Square. They didn¡¯t now. Now they were frozen, with the subroutine on one side. She needed to go through the recordings and pull out all the images of her turning the stone.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go find the boys for dinner, you want to come?¡± Sarah asked. Grandmother slipped the amulet over her neck and rose to her feet, picking up her staff without any conscious thought.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize it was so late.¡±

    They found Alex and Companion in the education center. Alex was deep into a text on ancient Earth myths. The quick glance that Grandmother caught of Companion¡¯s screen showed an instruction video on woodcarving. It seemed a strange choice. The selkie didn¡¯t like wood as a material. They preferred heavy waterproof materials like stone.

    They went together up to the crew cafeteria. This being a quick stop in the middle of the adventuring season, they were eating mostly preserved food. The meals were produced during the maintenance cycle, when the harvest was in, and frozen. The automated systems did a fair job of reheating the meals, and there was a good assortment to choose from, but they were not Todd¡¯s cooking.

    ¡°I think Valin is an elf,¡± Alex announced.

    ¡°What?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I''ve been researching it,¡± Alex explained. ¡°Specifically he¡¯s a light elf. There were dark elves too, but they had dark skin.¡±

    ¡°You were reading a book on myths,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°How is that research?¡±

    ¡°Where do you think selkie came from?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Elf is fine,¡± Grandmother injected. ¡°Even if we get a species name from Valin or Enchanter, we will still have to come up with a word we can say for them. Elf will work.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Alex said. ¡°It really fits him. They had pointed ears and were tricky.¡± Grandmother was amused that light skin, pointed ears and ¡®tricky¡¯ was enough to get Valin¡¯s entire race named elves. Of course the names they gave to the animals weren¡¯t any more accurate.

    ¡°I¡¯ve pulled all the footage from both challenge events,¡± Sarah commented, ¡°and used them to put together a kind of schematic of the automata. It looks like they are a skeleton with a layer of flexible integrated material on top. I can see the gray members underneath whenever anyone gets a sword cut in.¡±

    ¡°I thought the Tinkerer could be the skeleton inside the automata,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed the Tinkerer was just an augmentation. I¡¯d like to study its design.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Control knew you were recording,¡± Sarah responded, ¡°and didn¡¯t want you to be able to study it at your ease.¡±

    ¡°I hope not,¡± Grandmother replied. Although she¡¯d really given up hope that they could hide anything from that computer. ¡°Companion, can you help me with my translator project tomorrow?¡± Grandmother asked the selkie. ¡°I started designing it when you first joined us, but then you didn¡¯t really need it. I think it might be easier to finish the selkie version and then alter it to fit Valin.¡± Companion readily agreed.

    ¡°Are we going out to the villages on this trip?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°If you want to go, sure,¡± Grandmother responded. She was thinking about whether she should keep Valin away from the villages, but then she decided no. He could always come back on his own when they weren¡¯t there. If she went out with him she could drop a word of warning in the ears of the village elders at the same time. Grandmother took another bite of her perfectly acceptable meal. ¡°We can buy some fresh bread from my brother,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°You have a brother?¡± Sarah almost demanded.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said in a slow voice that said it was obvious.

    ¡°In the villages?¡± Alex questioned.

    ¡°Yes, he¡¯s the baker in Woodheart. Well he might be retired by now,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°You never mentioned him,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°Does Todd know?¡±

    ¡°I go and visit him each maintenance cycle,¡± Grandmother said defensively.

    ¡°Todd doesn¡¯t know,¡± Alex stated. ¡°I bet Ellen doesn¡¯t either.¡±

    ¡°You visit all the elders,¡± Sarah exclaimed, ¡°how were we to know he was your brother? Do you have any other family in the villages?¡±

    ¡°My sister settled in Bayou, but she passed away years ago. I try to check in on her children when we are down there,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°They are paired and have children of their own. They aren¡¯t much interested in an odd aunt. I find them refreshing.¡±

    ¡°You''re talking about that wild family that fishes the marsh,¡± Sarah realized.

    ¡°Good fish,¡± Companion said. Obviously distracted by one of his favorite foods. Selkie families were much more loosely tied. With their long lives, the youngest children might never meet their oldest brothers and sisters. They rarely even knew they had aunts and uncles, especially the youngest nieces and nephews. Children were the providence of the females. They held them close and guarded them, not just from outside dangers but from the danger of males. He wasn¡¯t sure why his human companions were upset.

    ¡°I have to tell Todd,¡± Alex announced.

    ¡°Each couple in the last generation of crew raised eight children,¡± Grandmother explained carefully. This was a history lesson she taught them before. ¡°Four daughters and four sons. I am a member of the landing generation. I am one of the eight children my parents raised. I am pretty sure I told you that before,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I thought they were all dead,¡± Sarah said, looking contrite as soon as the words were out of her mouth, as she realized how insensitive that statement was.

    ¡°Well most of them probably are. I know three of them died, but I lost track of my sister Mary in the structure, so I really don¡¯t know about her. My second youngest brother and sister went east in the early days. No one heard of them again. That leaves Benjamin and me,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°East? What is to the east?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I¡¯ve always meant to pull up the survey data from the advance ship, but I never get to it.¡±

    ¡°Can we do it tonight?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Grandmother agreed.

    ¡°After, we view the best of the challenges,¡± Companion suggested. Everyone agreed.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Eighteen

    Benjamin was sitting in his chair supervising his daughter as she pulled the loaves from the oven. She stacked them on the cooling racks with a smooth movement.

    ¡°Granddad,¡± Sean, the oldest of Benjamin''s grandchildren, called from the door to the shop, ¡°your sister¡¯s come to visit. She has a bunch of people with her.¡± Which Benjamin knew meant that Irene had brought the walrus man with her. Benjamin rose to his feet with a little effort.

    He may be getting old, but he was still in good shape. Irene saw to that, dragging him off to the Speedwell for periodic treatments of his age related complaints. He employed his daughter to help with the workload, but the bakery was still his.

    He walked out into the shop to find his sister waiting with just a single young man at her side. He could see a crowd of others out on the street along with two carts. The walrus man was out there together with a small white figure in a child¡¯s ship clothes and wearing a crown. That one was new.

    ¡°Irene,¡± Benjamin said with a smile. ¡°It is good to see you. We don¡¯t usually see you in the summer.¡±

    ¡°It was a special trip,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Valin needed some medical care.¡± She leaned forward to give her brother a hug. When she released him she directed his attention to the young man next to her. ¡°Benjamin, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve met Todd,¡± she said. ¡°Todd, this is my oldest brother, Benjamin.¡±

    ¡°We have met, sir,¡± Todd said, offering his hand to the older man, ¡°but I didn¡¯t realize you were Irene¡¯s brother.¡±

    ¡°Todd,¡± Benjamin said politely in return.

    ¡°Todd is my heir,¡± Irene announced. ¡°If something happens to me, he will sort out things on the Speedwell for you.¡± Benjamin looked at Todd a little closer. He recognized the boy from the group that came around in the winter. They fixed the warehouse trading center and transported the ill or injured up to the Speedwell for treatment. Todd bought a lot of fresh bread from the shop. Benjamin heard rumors Todd was always on the lookout for spices as well. It was fixed in Benjamin''s mind that Todd was the ship¡¯s cook. If Irene thought he could run the ship, he was obviously more.

    ¡°I¡¯ve come to introduce Valin to the village. He¡¯s an elf. I stepped in here ahead of time to warn you to be careful around him. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s entirely trustworthy,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if you could pass that warning around.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t trust him, why did you bring him?¡± Benjamin asked.

    ¡°I thought it would be better if you met him with the warning than without. According to him, his people are thick on one of the southern continents. I can¡¯t predict if or when more of them might turn up. Valin appears to be a bit of an outcast,¡± Irene explained. ¡°If you can come outside for a moment I¡¯ll introduce you.¡±

    ¡°Let me grab my sun hat,¡± Benjamin announced. Sean was already holding the hat out for his Granddad. Benjamin led the way out of his shop, stopping to wait on the boardwalk outside the door for Irene to introduce him. The youngest of the girls rushed forward to get introduced first.

    ¡°This is Sarah and that is Ellen, her sister,¡± Irene said, indicating the other woman who stood slightly back.

    ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you sir,¡± Sarah said, as she squeezed Benjamin¡¯s hand in both of hers.

    ¡°Then there is Alex,¡± Irene continued, naming the remaining human in the group, before moving on to the aliens, ¡°and Companion, who I hope you¡¯ve seen before. Companion is a selkie. They live in coastal villages along the western coast south of here.¡± Which was a simplified explanation of a square in the structure. It was meant to be more understandable for an elderly man living in a village of his own.

    ¡°It is an honor to meet the brother of the Elder,¡± the walrus man said. Benjamin was startled. The words were spoken in a high squeaky voice, but they were perfectly understandable. He never heard the selkie speak for itself before. Irene saw his startlement.

    ¡°That ring on his head is a translator,¡± Irene told her brother. She made the voice that came out of it high and squeaky because she couldn¡¯t conceive of Companion sounding any other way. ¡°I put one together for Valin. I realized rather belatedly that it could help Companion communicate with people that don¡¯t understand selkie and made one for him too. It uses noise cancellation to muffle his own voice and project the translation instead.¡±

    Benjamin noticed now that the selkie also wore a crown. It was a thin ring of stainless steel settled down over his head.

    ¡°And finally Valin,¡± Irene said finishing her introductions. ¡°His own language sounds like a rough growl to me. None of us have learned it yet. He¡¯s from one of the southern continents.¡±

    ¡°Sir,¡± Valin said, nodding his head in acknowledgement of the old man. The new addition was about the same height as the selkie, but very slight. His skin was a white that almost sparkled. He had long slim hands with only four fingers. His bald head sported large black eyes and small pointed ears set too high. One of the ears was pierced by a gray ring. The translation crown was settled onto his head just below his ears. His nose was two curled slits, too far apart. When he spoke, Benjamin got a quick flash of sharp teeth.

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    ¡°Welcome to Woodheart,¡± Benjamin said to the group. ¡°Would you like me to show you around?¡± They took him up on his offer.

    After the tour, Benjamin sat with his sister on a convenient bench near the front of his shop. Irene¡¯s companions continued to wander around the village, catching up with acquaintances and making small purchases. Todd bought several loaves of bread from Benjamin¡¯s shop. The selkie was playing with a group of children on the green. Benjamin was amused that such a large being seemed to find joy with the young.

    ¡°I was surprised to hear the selkie speak. I know the others claimed they spoke for him, but he always seemed more like a pet to me than a man. He seems so much more human now,¡± Benjamin observed.

    ¡°I guess I did Companion more of a disservice than I realized not finishing the translator. I started putting it together when he first joined us, but in order to get the data to make it work we had to learn each other''s languages. It didn¡¯t seem like he needed it after that,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°How did you make the translator for Valin then? You said none of you spoke his language,¡± Benjamin asked.

    ¡°He has a translator of his own that only works in the structure,¡± Irene answered. ¡°I had him use it to create the data. The data set is a little shallow, so I¡¯m sure there are plenty of words it won¡¯t work on. It should be enough to get by.¡±

    ¡°Valin seems a little¡­ worn out,¡± Benjamin observed. As they walked the shops and Benjamin introduced the shopkeepers, the little elf lagged behind.

    ¡°Valin is a dangerous figure in the structure. He is experiencing a bit of culture shock right now. I am sure he will recover,¡± Irene explained. Irene didn¡¯t want to try to explain that the elf was suffering from the loss of his nanobot boosts.

    ¡°By the way,¡± Irene said, ¡°There is another entrance to the structure to the east of here, in the next valley past the woodland.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Benjamin asked.

    ¡°The advance ship took pictures of it from orbit,¡± Irene said. ¡°It didn¡¯t recognize it as anything. Knowing what we do now, it is easy enough to identify.¡±

    The advance ship picked this valley to land the colony ship because it was one of the few places on the planet where it did not detect ¡®subterranean abnormalities¡¯. A map of those abnormalities was a map of the structure. The advance ship didn¡¯t do any detailed mapping of the oceans, since the Speedwell was designed to touchdown on land, so Irene was still in the dark about what was out there. Its scans of the land masses showed the structure under ninety two percent of it. It even stretched out under the poles. There were six major continents on the planet. There were two spots on each continent with no structure underneath and multiple structure entrances nearby. The spots varied in size and natural landscapes. The other one on this continent appeared to be composed entirely of a swamp.

    Sarah, Alex and Companion spent the first evening looking at the data. Even Companion forgot about watching the replays of the arena challenges. The selkie was perhaps the most fascinated with the satellite scans. He had never seen the whole of his world before.

    When Todd, Ellen and Valin joined them at the Speedwell, they all went up to the ship¡¯s flight bridge where Irene used the holographic projector to display a composite image of the entire planet. The tank wasn¡¯t used since the landing. Irene was proud that it still worked.

    Valin pointed out the continent his people were from, even as he studied the two smaller continents in the other hemisphere. He admitted he didn¡¯t know about them after some questioning. One of the landing sites on Valin¡¯s continent was so far south that when the satellite went over it it was covered in ice. The second looked like an active volcano was at one end. Both were thrown out by the advance ship as unsuitable.

    ¡°Considering the spacing between the first two entrances, there should be another one south of here, but I couldn¡¯t spot it on the satellite photos,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Do you think the selkie and elves are native to this planet?¡± Benjamin asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I think they came from the stars just like us. I have reason to believe that we are the forty second thinking species to arrive on this planet. I don¡¯t know how many of those species are left alive.¡±

    ¡°I worry sometimes that we made a mistake not giving our children the scientific education available on the Speedwell,¡± Benjamin commented. ¡°If I tried to have this conversation with my children they wouldn¡¯t understand half of it.¡±

    ¡°The educational machines are still functional,¡± Irene commented. ¡°You can use them to teach your grandchildren.¡±

    ¡°There are too few of us left who remember how to operate them,¡± Benjamin countered. ¡°We are all too old to deal with young people all day.¡±

    ¡°What if I set up classes during the winter, when my team is here for maintenance?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone would want to travel that much in the cold months,¡± Benjamin admitted.

    ¡°The students would need to live on the ship during the term,¡± Irene commented, ¡°that will take longer to set up. I will have to charge tuition, so I can buy food from the villages to feed the residents.¡±

    ¡°That would be good. It would limit it to serious students,¡± Benjamin responded. ¡°Too many of the young dream of an easy life.¡± That sounded like what the old always thought about the young since humans first stood upright, Irene thought. On this planet it could lead to different problems.

    ¡°Do many young people enter the structure?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Before this conversation I would have said none did,¡± Benjamin responded, ¡°because I know the entrance is west of here. Now that you told me there is one to the east, I am not so certain. We have a lot of woodsmen disappear. I thought they were tangling with wild animals and getting killed.¡±

    ¡°If I set up a school, would you want me to teach your grandchildren about the structure?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Knowledge of it might increase their chances of surviving it, but it might also serve as a further attraction.¡±

    ¡°I would like my grandchildren to know the truth. Like how those recordings Command released of the inside showed both the good and the bad. Everyone is different. I am sure some parents wouldn¡¯t like it,¡± Benjamin replied.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Irene murmured. ¡°I¡¯ve got a lot of commitments right now. I am going to have to think about this one for a while,¡± she told her brother.

    ¡°Irene, you don¡¯t have to fix it. It was our mistake not educating our young not yours,¡± Benjamin assured her. Irene nodded her head in agreement, but she was already thinking about the problem. Fixing things was part of what an engineer did. Making new designs for the future was another.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Nineteen

    They were gathered in the central furniture cluster of the upgraded rest. The very center of the rest was a ceiling collapse. The roots of a giant tree reached down through broken steel girders and stone blocks to bury themselves into the floor below. The floor appeared to sag under the weight. A shallow pool of water formed around the base of the debris pile. Six types of mushrooms grew in the soft rich soil that was mixed in with the debris and roots. Grandmother took samples back to the Speedwell and tested the mushrooms. Three were poisonous to different degrees, while three were edible.

    A protection crystal was entangled in the roots. The crystal started out barely larger than a chip, but each of their room growth experiments made it grow. Now it was about ten inches tall and half a foot in diameter. It was equivalent to the crystal in the northern gallery. Grandmother thought that it should be large enough to support a transportation room.

    ¡°Benjamin wants a school set up on the Speedwell to educate the children of the villages,¡± Grandmother explained to the group. ¡°It would be very convenient if we could get a transportation room here. It would make the trip from the Speedwell to Home Square less than a day. We could keep tabs on the school and keep up with our duties at the square.

    ¡°Valin,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°You said ¡®a path well traveled¡¯ when I asked about spawning a transportation room. What did you mean by that?¡± Valin was looking much better. Getting back into the structure''s area of influence put a bounce into his steps. He changed into his cloth and glass armor. Using the skills the Tinkerer taught her, Ellen repaired the cut Grandmother put down the back of the ceramic cloth armor. The ring in his ear shined a bright copper.

    ¡°It''s the wisdom of the aged,¡± Valin responded. Grandmother suspected the elf was maybe a little bit too recovered. He seemed to be falling back into his grumpy old man persona. Grandmother gave him a direct stare. ¡°All the oldies said it to me when I was young,¡± Valin added in defense.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured, accepting that response. She was spinning her staff in her hand. ¡°Does anyone have any ideas?¡±

    ¡°We still have the totem idea left to try,¡± Todd observed, ¡°if we can find one.¡±

    ¡°Is a transportation room listed as one of the available upgrades?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell from the icons which would be the transportation room. From the way they are sized and colored there are a lot of choices that are unavailable to us at this time,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°I can tell you which one is the transportation room,¡± Valin volunteered. ¡°Add me as a candidate and I will point it out.¡±

    Now the elf had Grandmother''s full attention.

    ¡°How do I add you as a candidate?¡± Grandmother asked. Valin began a long explanation. It started out short but he kept referencing things Grandmother didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Well, I have to touch the crystal,¡± Valin admitted, ¡°then you can drag my guest record over to the association and drop it into the candidate basket.¡±

    ¡°What association?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Your group is a full color set, and I¡¯ve seen you all touch the same crystal within the time constraint. Since the tones don¡¯t sound, you must already have an association formed, use that one,¡± Valin countered.

    It went on like that. Valin went through how to view the active associations, pick one and look at the current roster. There were eight different baskets as Valin called them. Grandmother thought of them as windows or panes. They were colored white, yellow, green, blue, violet, red, orange and black. Grandmother''s number string was sitting in the black pane. The number string for everyone who visited the south gallery was sitting in the white pane. Since their association was formed there, anyone who touched that crystal was automatically considered an applicant, or white.

    Yellow was a candidate. They could view the association¡¯s interfaces, but not use them. Grandmother didn¡¯t know if that meant a candidate could see the data, like the number sequence identifiers or not. Green was a trainee, blue was a full member, violet meant a group leader, or a lord as Valin called them. Red were dukes, or a leader of multiple groups and orange were the heirs, who would inherit the association if the leader should die. Black was the leader.

    Grandmother tried to drag Todd¡¯s number sequence over to the black panel, but it bounced. She didn¡¯t know if it was because his tier was too low, or if only one leader was allowed. She dropped Todd into the orange pane, and tried to drag her own name back to the zero pane. It bounced too.

    She dragged Ellen, Alex, Sarah and Companion over into the orange category after Todd. After some thought she dropped Harry into blue, or who she thought was Harry. All the tier fours, except the innkeeper Grandmother suddenly remembered, touched the crystal in the south gallery. There were a couple blues, a couple reds and a lot of greens. She really couldn¡¯t tell which number sequence was Joe. When she verified Harry and Joe she would move them over to red. She moved Kai over to blue too. With his rare color of yellow she was certain who he was.

    After a little last minute reluctance, Valin touched the crystal. The crystal filled with a dark green. Valin explained how to leave the association window open and go back to the guest book. A new entry was on the top of the guest book. It read 5 2 34 and was followed by a very large number, but not as large as the one assigned to Companion. She dragged the sequence across from the guest book and dropped it in the yellow panel. She found a number sequence that must be Muriel on the guest list and dragged that over to blue too.

    Valin settled down and opened his own interface. Grandmother watched him around the corner of her own open interface. He didn¡¯t touch the crystal like Grandmother. Her first experiments with the gallery interface showed her she could release the crystal after she opened the interface. Any sudden movements automatically shut down any open interfaces. If she moved very slowly she could back away from the crystal itself to find a better seat. Valin didn¡¯t do any of this.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the link option selected,¡± Valin announced, just as Grandmother was about to ask him how he could view the gallery interface without touching the crystal. He walked her through how to turn on the option for association members to view the association interface through their personal interfaces. He also told her how to add the current gallery as an outpost of the association, so that its interface could be viewed through the association. By default only the gallery where the association was formed would be viewable through its interface.

    ¡°You can add the square too,¡± Valin commented. ¡°Although you have to be physically at the crystal to do it. A lot of square owners don¡¯t want to because it makes the resources of the square viewable by dukes and above. They are only viewable, even heirs can¡¯t touch the inventory. If you want a square¡¯s resource to be available to the association, it has to be manually transferred over to the association¡¯s inventory.¡±

    ¡°Inventory?¡± Ellen asked. She stared off into the distance and opened up her own interface. ¡°How do I open the association interface using my own?¡± she asked Valin.

    Everyone settled down to open their interfaces, except for Todd, who even here in the security of the crystal kept a watch, for threats both external and internal. Grandmother made a note to make sure she took a turn at the watch to let Todd have a look as well.

    Everyone got lost in inventory questions. Grandmother let this explanation go on for while before she redirected Valin back to the transportation room. Valin took a moment to flip through his own interface until he reached the upgrade section for the current outpost.

    ¡°It is the third one up in the not for purchase section,¡± Valin reported.

    ¡°Which section are you calling not for purchase?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°The bottom of the list starts with large solid icons, those are the upgrades the outpost already has. The next section of faded icons are the upgrades that are available for purchase. If there is a material option it is always cheaper to pay that. The third section is not for purchase. It starts with the smaller icons. These are upgrades that some precedent has to be met before they become available for purchase. Sometimes meeting the precedent just grants the upgrade without any further price,¡± Valin explained. ¡°The small blurred icons on the top tell you there are more, but you are unable to meet the precedent at this time.¡± Valin didn¡¯t mention that there were more visible, unblurred icons on this list then he¡¯d ever seen before. ¡°What upgrades a group is offered always varies a lot. Completing tasks, tests and challenges can make more upgrades available,¡± Valin explained aloud.

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    ¡°We will have to go back to the grand staircase and give the statue another go,¡± Todd commented from where he stood on watch. It was Valin¡¯s word ¡®test¡¯ that made Todd think of the statues. Grandmother thought they were a test to check if an explorer was ready to go deeper. ¡°With Companion with us we might be able to finally get past the six tree spells.¡±

    ¡°Do we all have to complete the challenge?¡± Sarah asked, obviously thinking about how she had not yet challenged the arena.

    ¡°Not any that I know. It just takes one member of the association. Associations sometimes pay people to join them just to unlock an upgrade. The upgrade locks again if the person leaves but any purchased upgrades remain,¡± Valin explained.

    Grandmother found the icon for the transportation room and selected it. When she did that to one of the large grayed out icons in the south gallery she found a list of crafting tool icons. She noticed most of those icons were grayed out, but the icon for the anvil was solid. Several others were also solid, but the anvil was clearly identifiable. She looked over at Alex breaking physical glass into smaller pieces on the top of an anvil and realized that the interface was counting it. A little trial and error and they made their attempt to spawn what they hoped was a crafting workshop.

    The transportation room icon opened up to reveal a grid of numbers. The largest number was six raised to the power of seven, while the smallest number was one, or maybe zero since the lowermost, rightmost position was blank. Blanks sometimes denoted zero in the structure, and sometimes it was just a blank. The last column on the right and the bottom row both contained the numbers one through six.

    It looked like a data table to her, with the parameter labels on the wrong sides. She looked around the edges of the interface for some kind of key. She even tried to drag the chart right and left to see if there was something just ¡®off screen¡¯. The chart didn¡¯t move. She dismissed the chart and stood up and stretched. She wasn¡¯t stiff but normal action always made her feel better. She looked around the group, all staring off at invisible screens. Todd glanced at her with a questioning look.

    ¡°What does the table mean?¡± she asked Valin. He raised his eyes up to look at Grandmother too quickly and his interface closed.

    ¡°Table?¡± he questioned.

    ¡°The grid of numbers under the transportation icon,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Oh, I can¡¯t see that. As a candidate I can only see the topmost list. My people don¡¯t invest in an outpost that didn¡¯t spawn with a transportation room already in it,¡± Valin replied.

    ¡°Anyone have any ideas what it means?¡± Grandmother asked the group. ¡°Todd, you go ahead and give it a look.¡± Grandmother moved over to a watch position, while Todd settled onto the floor, getting comfortable before opening his interface. He must have been paying attention to Valin¡¯s description, because he didn¡¯t ask any questions.

    ¡°It is like the multiplication tables on the learning machines,¡± Companion commented.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alex observed. ¡°Only six times six isn''t six, and one times one isn¡¯t six times six, seven times.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s six raised to the power of seven,¡± Sarah corrected him.

    ¡°One times one is one,¡± Companion stated absolutely.

    ¡°Never mind,¡± Sarah murmured.

    ¡°So the smaller numbers are related to a larger total and the larger numbers mean a smaller total?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex confirmed.

    Valin was watching the group feeling slightly amused. He was feeling more sure of himself after finding out how ignorant these humans were about houses.

    ¡°A path well traveled¡­¡± Grandmother mused. ¡°What if the numbers in the table are the number of trips needed to add a location to the transportation network?¡±

    ¡°How would a trip be defined?¡± Ellen asked. ¡°It¡¯s a path well traveled. Do we need to go touch another crystal then come back here and touch this one? Then repeat that same trip the number of times in this table?¡±

    ¡°If we are tying it into the existing network, I bet the other crystal needs to be one on the transportation map,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said, looking over the group, ¡°I like that plan, it makes sense to me. Do you think it is time sensitive? We spawned those extra transportation rooms when we pushed the selkie through fast.¡±

    ¡°Maybe time is one of these parameters?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°No, that doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°It would mean a shorter time requires more trips.¡±

    ¡°One through six are the magic numbers,¡± Companion commented.

    ¡°So it takes more trips for people with yellow magic than if the person is orange? That makes no sense,¡± Sarah, a yellow wizard commented.

    ¡°Makes sense to me,¡± Companion countered. His magic was orange, of course it was more powerful.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Alex exclaimed, ¡°what if it is the number of colors. If the trip is made by only one color it takes more trips, but if multiple people with different colors do the trip it takes less.¡±

    ¡°That sounds right,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Let''s work with the assumption that one of the parameters is the color count. We have six colors, what does that do to the trip count?¡±

    ¡°If rows represent different color counts, then the total numbers go from six to the sixth power down to six. If it is the columns we have thirty six to six,¡± Todd reported.

    ¡°I like those last numbers,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°How many times have we made the trip to and from north gallery?¡±

    ¡°I think this is the first trip,¡± Sarah said. ¡°You and Todd discovered this rest during the midseason trip. We ended up coming out directly from Home Square for the maintenance cycle because of the load.¡±

    ¡°That would mean we are only at seven. Wait, Valin, did you touch the crystal in the gallery?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Valin replied.

    ¡°So six,¡± Todd concluded, ¡°or eight if we go with the maintenance cycle trip with Kai and Muriel and Home Square as the starting crystal.¡±

    ¡°If Muriel touched the crystal in Home Square before we left, she was out in OpenSky and might have touched that crystal last,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I think the twenty four is slightly darker than the rest of the numbers,¡± Ellen commented. Grandmother wanted to open her interface and check so bad she could almost see it. She shook her head, and made herself sweep her gaze across the open doors of the hallway accesses and the individual group members. Valin did not reopen his interface. He was watching the group work on the problem. He was holding his hands in an oddly stiff manner.

    ¡°It does look a little darker,¡± Alex confirmed. Grandmother waited until Sarah agreed as well. Sarah was their best artist. If she thought it was darker, it was.

    ¡°What parameter numbers is the cell with twenty four associated with?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Six and three,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Are the larger values you told me or the smaller ones associated with that six?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°The smaller set,¡± Todd confirmed.

    ¡°So if it is colors, it is more important than the other factor. What could the three be?¡±

    ¡°Different paths?¡± Companion offered. ¡°Home Square, OpenSky and north gallery?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Valin, what crystal did you last touch?¡±

    ¡°I am not certain,¡± Valin responded, ¡°but it was none of those.¡±

    ¡°So if Muriel did touch the crystal in Home Square, it could still be three. Home Square, north gallery and Valin¡¯s forgotten,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°If it''s a discount based on multiple source points, why do we only get a discount up to six. There are a lot of crystals in the world,¡± Ellen said. ¡°Think about all the selkie and human squares we¡¯ve visited the last few years.¡±

    ¡°If you only need six people to come here they can only come from six places,¡± Companion commented, in an effort to support his source theory.

    ¡°That is good logic,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°The way you said that though makes me wonder, what if it isn¡¯t the path or the source but just the number of people who end up here. If we all only count once, then we are currently at nine. If we are working to twenty four we need fifteen more people to come here.¡± Grandmother sighed. ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain the three.¡±

    ¡°We are three kinds,¡± Valin said, ¡°Elf, human, selkie.¡± Grandmother looked at the elf, surprised at his input.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°even if there are more species, Companions logic still holds. If six people came here, they couldn¡¯t be more than six species. Any other ideas for the three?¡±

    ¡°Different tiers?¡± Todd mused. ¡°No, that doesn¡¯t work. There are four different tiers just in this room.¡± No one came up with another. Grandmother thought over their next steps.

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain if it is important what the three means,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Both Companion and Valin¡¯s theories work. The biggest difficulty I see is if it is people and not trips. The safest thing to do is to get a group of twenty four people to come out here. If we all came together in a single trip it should cover all contingencies, like if that table is only for a certain time period. We can have at least one person touch the crystal in Home Square, OpenSky and north gallery last, so we are traveling from three sources. Actually we better make the two from Home Square and OpenSky extras so we have a full count from the north gallery to cover the single path option. If you don¡¯t want to come out again Valin, we can increase the count of people to whatever is on the two line to cover only two species just in case.¡±

    ¡°That line reads thirty,¡± Todd responded. ¡°How are we going to get thirty people to run out into dark space?¡±

    ¡°We can pay them,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°You could sponsor a training mission for the halflings,¡± Companion suggested. ¡°I went on several in my youth.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad idea,¡± Todd commented. ¡°It would be a good trip for some of our tier ones who have never been out of the square. We could demonstrate the statues, have them decrypt some inscriptions and let them throw light at the fist in the courtyard. If we teach them to secure rooms for the night, dark space will be safer for them than the area around Home Square.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty

    Valin activated his selkie disguise before stepping through the portal in the north gallery back to Home Square. He spent three days in Home Square trying to decide what he should do next. The run back was much easier without the bind. Its constant drain on Valin''s vitality and stamina were gone, giving him the full benefit of tier five for the first time in his life. Companion was now the slowest member of the group on the long run, using his speed magic to keep up. The true selkie was naturally slower than the tier three humans.

    They stopped at one of the god statues on the way back and ran through twenty eight different spells before they hit one no one in the group could cast. It was a sixth tree defensive spell. The group took careful notes on it, with both Alex and Companion committing themselves to learning it.

    Todd and Companion were working on putting together a group expedition to the house outpost by the Speedwell exit. Valin still hadn¡¯t figured out why they insisted on calling it the upgraded rest. They expected it to take ten days for a group of tier ones to walk out there and, if it didn¡¯t spawn a transportation room, another ten to walk back. The next Challenge day was twelve days away. None of the tier ones wanted to miss it, so the expedition was being planned for after.

    Preparations for the next Challenge day were already in progress. Grandmother announced to her group at dinner that she didn¡¯t want to hover over preparations and that she wanted to start scavenging around the south gallery. They would go down for ten days, once more returning two days before Challenge day. Valin made arrangements to go with them to the south gallery, where Grandmother would send him on to Seagrass. He never touched the Crystal there so he needed to be sent using someone else¡¯s map. Grandmother was happy with all the information he shared about the interface and readily agreed.

    South gallery turned out to be a near copy of the north gallery, with the addition of a deluxe crafting workshop. There were stations for crafting in wood, metal, fiber, leather and glass. Valin did a quick tour of it as Grandmother talked to the Innkeeper who was also tagging along.

    ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night in Seagrass,¡± Grandmother told the innkeeper. ¡°We can do a quick trip over there so you can open the path. I have to warn you, doing all these trips back to back can make you queasy.¡±

    ¡°Queasy is ok,¡± Innkeeper replied. ¡°I want to get back to the inn as quickly as I can.¡±

    ¡°Jeweler,¡± Grandmother called, ¡°are you ready? I can send you through first. That way Innkeeper can see how I send someone using my map. Todd can pretend to be a tier three, and I¡¯ll demonstrate how to send some through using their own map. The rest of you can wait here, Todd and I will be right back.¡±

    Valin crowded into the transit room with Innkeeper and Grandmother. Todd was standing right outside, pretending like he couldn¡¯t see the door. Grandmother activated the transportation console. She did a quick walk through of the controls for Innkeeper. Valin was shocked to see how many crystals were on Grandmother¡¯s map. It looked like the humans were doing very well in the north.

    Grandmother selected the crystal for Seagrass. The departure door opened.

    ¡°You¡¯re first,¡± Grandmother said to him when he didn¡¯t instantly step forward.

    ¡°Thank you for opening the path,¡± Valin said to the old woman. ¡°I will come back to Home Square for the next Challenge day and journey with your halfling group to the upgraded rest after.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Valin,¡± Grandmother replied to him. ¡°I will remember your generosity.¡±

    Valin nodded his head and stepped through the portal. He stepped out the other side to find the Seagrass portal keeper waiting.

    ¡°Do-Fa-Ti,¡± the portal keeper said in a surprised tone. ¡°This late at night I expected the Elder and her pod.¡±

    ¡°The elder is behind me with a new portal trainee,¡± Jeweler replied. ¡°She allowed me to travel with her to keep the cost down.¡±

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    ¡°Yes, that I believe,¡± the portal keeper replied. The arrival gong sounded. Valin quickly stepped out of the way and into the hall. He crossed the central pond and stepped into his shop. Valin rented an apartment above as well, but everything he owned of real value was in the shop, safely tucked away in inventory where it did not degrade.

    The room was dark. It was still night in Seagrass. Valin did not turn the light on. The central pond was illuminated dimly by its floating lamps. He cast night vision on himself, and leaned against the side wall of his shop, looking out.

    Todd emerged from the back hall first. He moved easily, with the alertness of a scout. His eyes swept the store fronts and lingered on Valin where he stood in the dark. Valin waved. Todd gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

    The Home Square innkeeper and Grandmother emerged next, walking side by side. Todd said something to them and Grandmother looked over at the jewelry shop. Valin waved at her too.

    They crossed over to the crystal, where they all touched it. Ray-Do-So the square elder must love these early morning visits, Valin thought sarcastically. Maybe she did, Valin corrected himself. The Elder was clearly giving preferential treatment to Seagrass, even after visiting all those other selkie shores. The humans were on the rise and would drag Seagrass up with them.

    Home Square¡¯s Challenge day did remind him of similar events he attended at court, just as he told Grandmother. Before he obtained tier five, he was just another of the King''s men. He enjoyed a level of freedom he didn¡¯t appreciate until it was gone. The pursuit of power led him here. When he first discovered the newcomers he thought they were hopelessly primitive and ignorant. It was easy to deceive them.

    His mind was still grappling with the things he saw on the Speedwell, the wizard¡¯s tower in the east. It was an ironic name, since there was no magic there and yet there was. He could still recall the wonders of it; the light painting of the entire world, the wheeled vehicles that carried you without effort, the metal hands that removed the King¡¯s bind from him. He could visualize the bind, bleached of its color and sliced to pieces, sealed in a thin transparent bag sitting on a shelf, its power gone.

    The humans came from the stars, and Grandmother at least remembered that. She saw magic fundamentally different from what Valin saw. He didn¡¯t think he could ever see it her way, even though he lost his faith long ago. She looked at a field of numbers in the interface and started breaking it down. He watched in astonishment as the group worked together to try to solve the problem. His people long ago accepted that much of what happened was the will of the gods. The big difference between the elf and selkie worldview was that the selkie believed in one true god, while elves believed in the pantheon. The goddesses of light, earth, lightning and movement and the gods of air, water, fire and darkness.

    Grandmother believed in logic. Those numbers meant something. They only needed to decipher what they meant and they could trigger the miracle they sought. He told Grandmother he would go with them back to the upgraded rest because he was curious to see if they were right.

    It was more than that. He was starting to rethink the things he saw her do. The tour of selkie shores buying spells, selling them and giving away toys. It was a way to introduce humans to the selkie world. She wasn¡¯t buying magic, but goodwill. When she sent her traders they would be given opportunities that might otherwise be closed to them. By the time she sent her soldiers, their suspicions would be gone.

    No, Valin thought, that didn¡¯t feel right. After allowing all the selkie to fight in the arena it was more likely the selkie would send warriors to fight in her service. If Grandmother sent soldiers it would be to defend those shores from outside invaders. She was building a different kind of empire. It was so different that Valin could not completely see it. It was so odd Valin could almost think that it was forming by accident.

    Only it wasn¡¯t. He saw her, out there on the path up to the boundary. She knew what she was doing. If she lived long enough, her vision of the future would sweep this world, slowly one small action at a time. After that, Valin thought, it might reach back out to where the humans came from in the stars.

    The central pond was empty again, the three humans were gone. Grandmother led the way out the back hall with Todd watching her back. Todd was an honest stalwart ally. He would serve her well in the years ahead, but rulers needed more than that. They also needed those that walked in the shadows and told them their enemies secrets.

    Valin suspected that Grandmother¡¯s solutions to those secrets would be very different to what he expected. It will be interesting to see what they are, Valin thought. He turned to look at the contents of his shop as he considered what his next steps would be. There were no empty shops left in Home Square, but he asked around and found out that OpenSky was newly discovered. Almost all its shop space was available. OpenSky was so close to Home Square that Grandmother ran between the two. It would work out very well for a spy. Keeping him close but also out of sight.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty One

    ¡°Are you sure it''s down there?¡± Todd asked. He was standing in the opening of a mine tunnel. The bottom of the tunnel was flat enough for a set of rails. There was no sign of what was supposed to run on them. Grandmother thought they were just there to make sure visitors knew this was a mine and not a natural cave. It was located directly behind a large pile of stone at one end of the smelter room. Most of the rocks in the pile were flawed with cracks and crumbled easily, but there were some that would be useful in stone crafting.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°The tunnels on my map look more like natural caves to me, but there are some nearly straight vertical shafts that I could see as part of a mine.¡±

    ¡°The room is still below us,¡± Ellen observed. ¡°We haven¡¯t found any other way down.¡± She was looking at her map. Grandmother made copies of the room in the center of the map and handed it out to everyone. It allowed everyone to get a general idea of the direction they were trying to go. The rest of the tunnel system revealed on her map would take multiple vellum transfers. She didn¡¯t think that would help anyone much and skipped it. When she got back to the gallery she would work on transferring the rest of it.

    ¡°This seems like a transition to me,¡± Sarah observed. ¡°I think it is tier five space inside.¡±

    ¡°We will need to be extra careful,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I suspect we will see more new animals. Something based on animals that tunnel.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember any from the biodiversity lessons,¡± Alex said.

    ¡°There was a little black furred animal with big front feet,¡± Companion offered. He took the lesson much more recently than any of the rest of them.

    ¡°If there is one of those down here I bet it isn¡¯t little,¡± Alex replied. ¡°So, are we doing this?¡±

    ¡°I want to take a vote,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Companion, Sarah and Alex, your votes count as two because you are the lowest tier here. The choices are we go in now, or we wait until Sarah, Alex or Companion hit tier four and vote again then. I want a secret vote so no one feels pressured. Let me think for a second how we can accomplish it.¡± Grandmother swung her pack off her back and checked her pockets, trying to decide what she had on her that would work. She came up with a handful of physical coins out of one pocket. They were a mix of iron and silver. She set out one of her violet gathering bags, and borrowed one from Sarah that was yellow. She gave Todd, Ellen and herself one of each type of coin Companion, Sarah and Alex two of each.

    ¡°Silver in the yellow bag means go now,¡± Grandmother said. Put your discarded coins in the other bag. She closed her fist over the coins so no one could see what she dropped where, and made her vote. Everyone else followed.

    Grandmother dumped out the yellow bag in front of everyone. It contained eight silver coins and one iron. ¡°We go,¡± Grandmother said. She handed Sarah her bag and picked up her own returning all the coins to her pocket.

    Everyone took up their positions, Sarah recast their cloaking and enhancement spells. They started into the tunnel.

    The tunnel almost immediately curved to the right and split into two. They followed the left passage. Ellen spotted a trap. When they paused to let her disarm it, they were ambushed by rats. These rats were smaller but tougher than the rats in the halls. They saw just fine in the dark. The last two rats, instead of standing to face them, disappeared down holes too small to follow. The holes were impossible to see using just sense heat and motion. Grandmother cast night vision on the group. It was a tier four spell. Sarah was too low to cast it. Grandmother noticed there were no covers on these holes that could be secured at night. She doubted they would find many rests in the mine. Spending the night down here could get tricky.

    Just as Ellen declared the trap safe, a second wave of rats erupted from the holes the first two vanished down. The second wave included twice as many rats as the first one. When they got down to the last four rats, Grandmother cast ice slick slowing the animals so they couldn''t retreat down the small tunnels again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them get away,¡± Grandmother called. ¡°I think the first two fetched these others.¡± The team quickly killed the last four.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see any get away this time,¡± Alex reported. They waited for ten minutes to see if any more showed up, they didn¡¯t.

    The advance continued in this manner for about an hour. There were a lot of traps and rats. Occasionally they passed a rock. Most of them were cracked.

    ¡°I feel like we are walking into a trap,¡± Todd observed when the group stopped to let Ellen dismantle a trap.

    ¡°Ellen can handle them,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°No, like this whole thing is a trap. It is just too easy. I feel like we are being lulled into a false sense of security," Todd explained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t disagree with you,¡± Grandmother agreed. Everyone got just a little bit sharper. ¡°Does anyone else hear that pounding?¡± she asked. ¡°I can just barely hear it. It is more of a vibration in my feet.¡± Grandmother¡¯s tier six senses were much more sensitive than the rest of the humans.

    Companion dropped down on his flipper-hands and put his whiskered face onto the floor. He slid his face right and left, then moved over closer to the center of the tunnel. He felt one of the rails with his whiskers.

    ¡°It''s coming from the metal,¡± he reported. Todd reached down and touched the rail.

    ¡°I can¡¯t detect anything,¡± he said. Grandmother looked at how the group was arranged. Ellen was working on removing a trip wire that connected to a faulty support on the right side of the track. Alex shifted back and to the left side to cover her. Everyone else followed their lead, splitting left and right.

    ¡°Tracks like that are built to provide a flat surface for a wheeled cart. The carts are used to carry ore out of the mine and can be very heavy. If one were to roll up on us right now, it would separate the group at a minimum. If it hit one of us it could be bad.¡± Which was Grandmother¡¯s code for instant death. Everyone, except Ellen who was already close to the wall, took a step back from the rails.

    ¡°Stay on the right, behind Ellen,¡± Grandmother instructed. ¡°Alex and Todd, if anything does come at us down the rail, cast group shield. Don¡¯t try to stop whatever it is, instead try to throw it away from us. Railroad carts usually don¡¯t work well off of their rails.¡± Everyone nodded their understanding and moved positions. They moved off again as soon as Ellen gave the all clear. Their forward progress was slower. It was harder to spot the traps when they weren¡¯t in the center.

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    ¡°That six tree spell we just picked up at the grand staircase might be good here,¡± Alex commented as Ellen worked on the next trap. ¡°It absorbs the momentum of a charge. Unfortunately we only know the tier one version.¡±

    ¡°I can hear it now,¡± Todd reported, ¡°It seems more like a scraping than a pounding.¡±

    Everyone fell silent, straining their ears. Sarah recast her pin drop enhancement spell. It sounded like scrape, pause, boom, rumble, pause and repeat.

    At the next intersection, Grandmother asked Companion to test the rails with his sensitive whiskers. He reported the noise was coming from the left. They followed the left hand passage. After about ten minutes the noise stopped.

    ¡°It stopped,¡± Sarah said, finally detecting it in its absence.

    ¡°The air is moving toward us,¡± Alex reported from the front.

    ¡°That means something is coming down the tunnel at us. It is pushing the air in front of it, so it is large, almost filling the tunnel. Everyone hug the wall and look for rat holes where you''re standing,¡± Grandmother commanded. There was a loud crunch, from where Ellen stood.

    ¡°There was a hole here,¡± Ellen reported. ¡°I collapsed it by casting a force shield inside of it.¡± Grandmother found one of her own, and collapsed it the same way. The method worked well. A humming sound was building, a higher squeal was added for a moment or two. Sarah dismissed her pin drop spell, as the volume of the noise was now high enough to be painful.

    ¡°That¡¯s the sound of wheels on the track,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°The squeals are probably turns.¡± She barely got that comment out when she caught a light building on the rock wall. Realizing it would blind them all with the night vision spell active, Grandmother canceled the spell. Sarah immediately began recasting sense motion and sense heat. She let the spells dissipate when Grandmother cast night vision.

    Something large, cold and moving fast came around the last corner. It was illuminating the path in front of itself with a single large light, up high. The light was enough to blind them even without the night vision spell. It was big, everyone pressed them tighter against the wall.

    Alex¡¯s cast was perfectly timed. The arc of the group shield formed in front of him, the edge of it embedded in the wall. The other rounded edge of it reached out over the edge of the track.

    The vehicle hit it with the loud screech of metal and the rumble of shifting stone. The cart rocked up onto two wheels, tilting away from the group. Then it recovered and began to fall back. Grandmother cast another group shield. She cast it ninety degrees from the wall. In a feat of tier six strength she stepped forward, holding the shield and pushing the vehicle away. Its speed slowed, in a shower of sparks, and it tilted wildly, but it did not go over.

    At the end of the group, Todd stepped forward and cast a third shield. He¡¯d chosen to cast his shield almost vertical. The wheels that were still in the air rode the shield surface up. A rumple of shifting stone emerged from the cart as it load shifted. Too far over, it could not recover. The cart flew off the tracks. It dragged against the opposite wall, slowing to a stop quickly, wedged between the track and the wall.

    Todd reset himself and turned to face the danger. He approached cautiously. The vehicle''s light dimmed in the wreck, but it didn¡¯t go out. It was reflecting off the walls of the passage, giving a strange shifting illumination to the scene as dust settled from the ceiling.

    ¡°Contact,¡± Todd yelled. The light was shifting because the source was still moving. The back half of the cart was unfolding. A metallic beast with its single glowing eye dismounted from the remains of the cart.

    Alex and Companion sang swift spells, in an effort to join Todd on the front line. As the beast straightened, Todd stepped forward with a perfect lunge and planted his spear in the metal body. He chose the spot a man¡¯s heart would be. There was no noticeable effect other than to rob Todd of his spear. When he tried to retrieve the weapon it was firmly set. Before he could cast force tap to help him retrieve it, the machine lifted a huge shovel shaped hand and swatted Todd away. Todd took the loss of his weapon with apparent calm. He picked himself up off the stone floor and rearmed himself with his knife.

    Rats started streaming out of holes on the other side of the tunnel and farther away where they¡¯d not closed the holes. The area right around the wreck was free of them. The impact collapsed the passages. Ellen and Sarah both started killing the rats with arrows and crossbow shots. The crossbow worked better in this environment. They were both imbuing the arrows with lightning. When a bolt jumped to the machine it seemed to power it. Giving it a brief boost in speed.

    No lightning, Grandmother thought to herself. She started throwing tier five ice-bolts, trying to slow the machine. The machine shuttered and smoked. The top section tried to turn, but Todd¡¯s spear kept it locked in place. Grandmother could see the spear bending and didn¡¯t think it would last. The machine was equipped with two long arms that ended in shovel hands that were armed on the end with large digging spikes. It was shifting on its legs to punch out at the warriors. Grandmother could smell blood in the air from the glancing blow it landed on Todd. His heartbeat was strong and steady. Grandmother hoped he wasn¡¯t injured too badly.

    Alex¡¯s sword bounced off the steel of the machine''s frame, but sliced through the tubing and wiring that wove through it. A cut tube on a real machine would cause the entire hydraulic system to fail. Here it just slowed it down a little and made it weaker. Todd jumped in with his knife, following Alex¡¯s lead and targeting the wiring. Companion¡¯s ax was making great cuts into the structure of the machine. He was alternatively imbuing his ax with force and sound.

    The sound imbued hits did the most damage when he hit structural members frozen by Grandmother¡¯s ice-bolts. Grandmother cast ice-slick, freezing the remaining rats in place for the moment.

    ¡°Switch to ice-bolts on the machine,¡± Grandmother called out to Ellen and Sarah. The woman both switched targets, lowering their weapons to cast. As the machine became coated in ice, Grandmother called out to the warriors, ¡°Use sound.¡±

    Alex stamped his foot, and jumped in close. His cast singing sword. His weapon danced across the machine. The machine stuttered, its huge arms began to sag. Companion stepped in and delivered a solid blow with his sound imbued ax.

    The machine¡¯s frame shattered. Its light went out and they were plunged into darkness.

    A pillar of light emerged from the floor under Alex. It rose up through him and disappeared into the ceiling above. Grandmother narrowed her eyes, trying not to be blinded. She was plunged into absolute darkness, as all the augmentation vanished from her vision, including the sense motion and sense heat spells. Grandmother widened her eyes and pulled her head back, trying to turn the augmentation back on. The machine might be dead, but there were still rats. The augmentation returned, revealing her team in the act of killing the rats. Grandmother cast night vision so they could see the holes followed by ice slick. Sarah and Ellen were both down to knives by the time the last rat was dead. Several in the first round got away when the machine died and brought back reinforcements. In the pause between waves they were able to exchange heals. Everyone took some damage when the machine exploded.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Two

    ¡°I think we''re clear,¡± Grandmother said ten minutes after the last rat died and no more turned up. ¡°Congratulations, Alex.¡± Grandmother reached out and touched the remains of the machine. An impressive pile of coins and scrap appeared next to it. A coin or two appeared next to different rats, along with the occasional chunk of prize meat, hide or claws. Grandmother could only see her share. She never figured out how the split was calculated. It was some combination of the fighter''s contribution and risk. A fighter facing a higher tier animal making a smaller contribution, would end up with a similar reward to a fighter facing an animal of lower tier than themselves with a larger contribution. What Grandmother received was a healthy reward and was a good start to solving her coin shortage. She made the ¡®pick up all'' gesture that stored everything in sight into her inventory.

    ¡°What did you do there at the end?¡± Todd asked Alex, after the group finished congratulating him.

    ¡°I noticed that some of those wires seemed to have more effect than others,¡± Alex explained, ¡°so I cast nimble first, hoping the spell would know which ones to target.¡±

    ¡°Why did you not sing it?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°I experimented with it in the yard, I found it easier to tap out than to sing it,¡± Alex explained. ¡°I don¡¯t have the lung capacity you do, Companion. It took a really long time to learn to cast it with taps after I already learned how to do it with song. We should add that to the User Manual. I would have given up if I hadn¡¯t seen the rest of you do it.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It sounds like you earned your tier.¡± She pushed off from the wall where she was watching for rats. ¡°If those wheels are components, I want them,¡± Grandmother declared.

    ¡°Oh, no fair,¡± Alex whined. They started going through the debris. Todd and Companion maintained the watch.

    The cart¡¯s sides were dented and ripped where they came in contact with the stone walls. Rocks very similar to the pile at the mouth of the mine spilled out of it. Ellen and Sarah started inspecting and sorting the stones. A larger portion of them were solid in this set than the ones at the entrance. The undercarriage of the cart wasn¡¯t damaged. Using her staff as a lever Grandmother was able to rotate it back onto its wheels and eventually onto the track. In place on the track it rolled easily. There was no sign of what powered it.

    Alex gathered up all the pieces of the machine. He was trying to piece it back together in an effort to figure out its weaknesses. He found the remnants of Todd¡¯s spear in the wreckage.

    ¡°Looks like your spear didn¡¯t make it,¡± Alex said to Todd.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright,¡± Todd responded. ¡°It stopped the top from turning, making it step to swing at us.¡±

    ¡°If it was spinning like a top we wouldn¡¯t have been able to get close to it,¡± Alex commented.

    ¡°What is a ¡®top¡¯?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a child''s toy. You spin it on a point and momentum keeps it standing,¡± Alex explained.

    ¡°You need to show this to me,¡± Companion declared. Alex found the machine''s light eye. It looked undamaged to him even though the plate the light was affixed to was a torn twisted mess at the edges.

    ¡°Grandmother, can you dispel the night vision, I want to try something,¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Alert everyone,¡± Grandmother called, as she dismissed the spell.

    After just a moment of darkness a round light appeared on the ground. Alex turned it on using light. The beam of light bounced off the ceiling and illuminated the area unevenly. Alex was about to turn it off again, when Ellen asked him to bring it over to the rock pile. She caught sight of something in the flicking light. Some of the rocks in the sorted pile glowed softly under the light. Ellen quickly put the rocks that didn¡¯t glow into their own pile.

    ¡°Is it the stones or the light?¡± Sarah asked. Ellen tried illuminating the pile with light blade. Under just the light of the blade she could detect no glow. Sarah thought about the Narrative. She started talking her way through it, like Grandmother did sometimes.

    ¡°So we have a machine, running along on its road. It has a big load of rock with it,¡± Sarah looked down at the machine¡¯s big shovel hands. The claws on the end of the flat section were set about two inches apart. Looking at the walls, ceiling and even floor, Sarah could see the same scratch pattern everywhere. ¡°It dug this tunnel,¡± Sarah observed. ¡°If we shine the light on the walls do they glow?¡± They didn¡¯t.

    ¡°So it dug this tunnel, but the rock didn¡¯t come from here,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°This is a mine,¡± Grandmother observed, but she didn¡¯t say more. She wanted to see how far Sarah could go with her story.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah said. ¡°If you''re a ¡®miner¡¯ and you''re digging tons of rock, how can you decide what is just rock and what is ore?¡±

    ¡°You have a magic light,¡± Alex suggested.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Sarah said. ¡°So the glowing rocks are ore of some kind.¡±

    ¡°If you can tell which rocks are ore, why are there other rocks in the bin?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°You have really big hands?¡± Alex said, lifting one of the shovel hands. ¡°And you can¡¯t really sort the small pieces? This hand is really heavy,¡± Alex observed. ¡°Do you think we could turn it into ingots?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that would fit into even the improved smelter the crafting upgrade gave us,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Some of those other pieces might fit.¡±

    ¡°The solid rocks are also useful,¡± Sarah said. ¡°Could it be like when Grandmother picks up crafting tools when we are looking for scrap?¡± Grandmother decided it was time to give some input.

    ¡°The digger didn¡¯t actually fill that cart. It was created that way. The percentage of rock, ore and crumbles were randomly generated or pulled out of a table listing somewhere. It might just be a fill material in order to limit the amount of ore you get,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Even if the crumbles are there to reduce the value of the loot, it doesn¡¯t mean they have no value,¡± Ellen said. She broke one of the crumbling rocks apart and was quickly reducing it to a pile of dust. ¡°Jeweler told me that gemstones can be found inside other rocks. I wonder if this was what he was talking about.¡± Ellen picked up another rock and started breaking it apart.

    ¡°If we are going to break the whole load,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°We need to come up with a method.¡± The glowing ore and solid stones were set aside. Grandmother and Alex deconstructed the digger. Its structure was put together from bronze components. There were new components neither Grandmother nor Alex saw before used for the joints. The machine''s heart, which Grandmother thought was shaped to look like a hydraulic pump, was located low in the body and was a solid dark glass. What Grandmother thought of as hydraulic lines and wiring were made out of bright copper. They were flexible during the battle, but were now stiff. The actuators were made out of the same dark glass as the heart. They found a cube of white ceramic, which they thought might represent the digger''s brain. It was loose on the floor, so it was hard to say where it had been in the body. Grandmother slipped it into her gathering bag for later study.

    Many of the components were broken during the final explosion. There were enough long pieces left to make a crude screen. They dumped the crumbles onto this grill and crushed them with the flat of a shovel hand.

    Everyone rotated through loading the stone on the grill, crushing it with the shovel, scraping out the dust underneath searching for solid stones and standing watch. Companion found the first gemstone. It was a rough shape and coated with dust. Ellen washed it off with water from her flask and held it up in front of the machine eye light. It was a translucent blue. She slipped the stone into her gathering bag. She tried to clean the mud from her hands, using the cloth of the bag.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°This is clay,¡± Ellen observed.

    ¡°Clay?¡± Sarah asked, ¡°all of it?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± Ellen responded.

    ¡°There¡¯s too much of it to haul back,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°If this is clay, the pile at the entrance might be too, and that is a lot closer to the gallery. Let''s finish up crushing this load so we have a measure of how many gemstones we might find on each digger. Let''s crush some of the pile at the entrance and compare the yield. We can load up a bag or two of the dust and take it to the Seagrass potter to confirm if it is clay or not.¡± Seagrass was a quick trip away, unlike Home Square.

    ¡°We should take a bag from here too,¡± Ellen commented, ¡°just to confirm it is the same stuff.¡± Grandmother agreed.

    In the end they found fifteen gems, two greens, four blues, eight reds and an orange. When they found the orange one, Grandmother suspected that even if they were real stones, this assortment of gemstones would never naturally be found in the same deposit. The stones barely made a bulge in the bottom of Ellen¡¯s bag.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like they were worth all that work,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°The vendor in the food preparation area will buy scrap. See if it will buy the stones. The price it offers should give us a better idea of whether it is worth it or not.¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Are we heading back to the gallery?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°We need to replace your spear. I also want to process as much of this material as we can, so we can figure out what is worth doing in the future. Put all the ore, rock and machine parts back into the cart for now. We will roll it back to the entrance and carry it from there. I still want to see if I can get the cart apart, but we can do that at the entrance too.¡±

    The smaller amount of materials fit into the damaged cart easily. A rope tied through a hole in the sidewall allowed them to drag it behind them. As they approached the first split in the tunnel, Grandmother was worried they would need to figure out how to switch the rails, but the intersection was set up so that moving in the return direction a cart on either branch would continue on to the tunnel entrance. The reverse was not true. The switch was set so that moving into the mine, a cart would always take the right. She checked each intersection as they retraced their steps and found the switches were randomly set to right or left. Grandmother could see no way to change them. Next time out, she would follow the switches and find out where it led.

    <hr>

    ¡°I priced the gemstones. It is a lot of coins. I think I know why no one ever buys anything in Jeweler¡¯s shop,¡± Ellen commented. They were back in the rest, in their upgraded crafting room. Grandmother was just finishing breaking the larger pieces of glass from the machine into smaller pieces. Todd was feeding the smaller pieces into the furnace to produce ingots. Companion was feeding the broken pieces of the digger''s frame into the smelter to get bronze ingots.

    They spent the first few days in the gallery sweeping the surrounding office rooms and using the components they found there to improve the gallery. When they added shelving and work surfaces to the crafting workshop, the room upgrade rewarded them with larger tools. The small portable glass furnace upgraded to a larger shop version. Bigger chunks of glass could be fed into it without breaking them. The heart of the machine and some of its larger power actuators, were still too large to fit.

    The shop version of the smelter upgraded to something that Grandmother called an industrial unit. Ellen hadn''t seen a tool so large before. Even the largest broken pieces of the digger¡¯s frame fit into it. They were holding on to the unbroken components for now. Grandmother wanted to build a portable crusher-sifter. She gave Alex a rough description and left him in the new storage room they also added, working on it. Alex was excited about the possibility of hinged doors and lids.

    ¡°Hold on to them for now,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I suspect some of the jewelry pieces are worth the cost. Think about how much the merchants that paid Companion to translate for them would pay for Jeweler¡¯s translation ring. I would rather sell the items we can get in bulk, like that pile of clay.¡±

    ¡°The vendor won¡¯t buy the clay,¡± Ellen reported. ¡°It must be the real thing and not integrated.¡±

    ¡°I thought it was,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I tried to pack it into a bag, but I didn¡¯t get any more into the bag than you might expect. We need to verify with a selkie potter that it is clay. After that we can try selling it in the market there.¡±

    ¡°The vendor is offering a lot of money for the ore,¡± Ellen said. ¡°Of course from the icon I can¡¯t tell what metal it is.¡± Ellen tried earlier to smelt the ore using the same spells used for iron and copper. The smelter refused to function as long as the chunk of ore was in it. She was forced to fish it out.

    ¡°That means that the ore is integrated,¡± Grandmother commented. After her failure with the clay, she didn''t try the ore. They left a lot of it at the entrance. They would have to make a couple more trips to get it all. ¡°That is interesting. I suppose it has to be to get that glow effect. It is good to know. That means I can pack it tightly into bags.¡± In a really odd twist, Grandmother found that the intact components from the machine would pack tightly into bags, but the broken ones they were now changing into ingots wouldn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t certain of the logic of that one.

    Grandmother finished up with the glass, and moved the broken bits into Todd¡¯s input bin which was one of the large shovel hands from the digger. The railcar turned out to be a unique item, which they could not break down into components. The torn and warped sides resisted their efforts to straighten them. Grandmother suspected that like the once flexible tubing on the machine, the cart transformed to a more fixed version at the machine¡¯s destruction.

    Grandmother went to find Alex to see how he was doing on building a portable crusher-sifter.

    ¡°Can you make me a replacement spear?¡± Todd asked Ellen after Grandmother¡¯s exit.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the skill in woodworking to replace it,¡± Ellen admitted.

    ¡°I was thinking about a cheaper all iron spear,¡± Todd said. ¡°Can you craft that?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ellen said. ¡°I can make the starter spear in iron, steel and bronze. I¡¯ve never tried copper, but I will probably get mastery of the pattern quickly, since I already know it in the other materials.¡±

    ¡°I want to stick to iron,¡± Todd said, ¡°so that it is cheap.¡±

    ¡°Well it would be cheap, but it will be heavier than your old spear and weaker,¡± Ellen explained. The spear Todd just lost was wood handled with a bronze spear point. In the structure wood was lighter and stronger than iron. Structure materials were different. The ¡®material¡¯ that items appeared to be was actually just an augmented reality overlay. Integrated items were all made out of a nanobot matrix. They performed based on the tier of the item and the tier of the wielder. The tier of a crafted item was the result of the tier of the crafter, their skill level in that craft, their mastery of the pattern, the tier of the pattern and the tier of the material. Iron was considered a weaker material than wood because wood was a higher tier material. Additionally the pattern for an all iron spear was a lower tier than the multiple craft wood and bronze spear pattern.

    ¡°If you make the spear shorter, more like a javelin, that should help with the weight. I can cast reinforce on the finished product to increase its strength. Reinforce lasts about an hour at my tier. I can cast it on the spear as we walk and not have to worry about it in combat,¡± Todd explained. ¡°I¡¯d like them to be cheap so they are easily replaceable. If you could make a big stack of them, we can get Grandmother to pack them into a bag and pull out a replacement whenever it is needed.¡±

    ¡°We can ask Sarah to enchant them to lighten the weight,¡± Ellen suggested. ¡°If we are treating the spears as disposable she could do short-lived enchantments. Those are fast to do.¡±

    ¡°Can you make them shorter?¡± Todd asked. He didn¡¯t think Ellen answered that question yet.

    ¡°Yes, there is a certain amount of flex in every pattern,¡± Ellen replied. She looked around at the pile of ingots scattered around the smelter for one made out of iron. She didn¡¯t see one. ¡°Let me pull some iron ingots out of inventory. I¡¯ll make a couple short spears and you can try them out before I make more.¡±

    Todd agreed to that plan. Ellen picked up a stack of bronze ingots to put into the association¡¯s inventory since she was making the trip out to the inventory access anyway. Todd went over to see how Companion was doing on smelting bronze. The selkie was almost finished.

    ¡°I''ll do the new ore next,¡± Companion said, with a wave at the pile of ore. This was a change of attitude for Companion. The selkie hated heat. He was reluctant to learn how to use the equipment. Companion almost seemed to be enjoying himself now. The smelter was more hands off than the glass furnace. The ingots flowed out the bottom instead of requiring the user to fish them out with the blowing tube.

    Todd almost commented that Ellen tried to smelt the ore when they first got back and it didn¡¯t work, when he had an idea. He remembered Grandmother telling him once that aluminum was smelted on Earth using electricity. They were discussing how Companion needed to use more magic from the three, four and five trees. All the metal smelting used the five or fire tree, which couldn¡¯t hurt. Lightning was the four tree.

    ¡°Grandmother has a theory about smelting aluminum, when you do the new ore try replacing the five in the smelter spells with four,¡± Todd suggested.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Companion responded. ¡°It doesn¡¯t take too long to learn new spells on these tools,¡± he observed. Todd agreed, although he suspected that was only because the non-crafters in the group were only learning the most basic of the crafting spells.

    Todd went back to his glass furnace. He¡¯d keep an eye on Companion. Todd didn''t think the low tier smelting spells could do much damage to Companion at tier three. Companion was wearing his aluminum breastplate which would add protection. If Todd was wrong and the new spell did something bad, he would be there to heal Companion. Todd thought the risk was worth it in order to push his friend to tier four.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Three

    There were five different types of machines in the mine. Along with the digger was a small machine that dug the little tunnels the rats were in. They fought with sound and fire. They were quick and hard to hit. When defeated they cracked open to reveal gemstones. The team named them sniffers.

    There was a larger snake that would push its way out of random rat tunnels at unexpected moments. They were armed with sound and electricity. Their job was to enlarge the tunnels just big enough for a digger and lay down rails. Defeating one of them yielded a large amount of scrap that would deposit directly into their inventories.

    The large dumpers, that carried waste rocks, were all momentum. They were the easiest to defeat. Their heavy loads of stone were good for stone sculpting, but were the hardest to transport. They rumbled down the rails in total darkness. It was possible to hide against a tunnel wall under a cloaking spell and just let them pass.

    The last machine they called a hunter. Its job was vermin control. They traveled the rails killing rats with fire. After all the rats were dead, they would douse the area with water. There was no other source of water anywhere in the mine. Luckily the group''s enchanted flasks continued to fill, although they worked faster when a hunter was near.

    All the machines yielded components and bulk materials that could be taken back to the gallery and processed into ingots. Each one also contained a single white porcelain cube. Grandmother collected all of them.

    They were loading up for the return to Home Square. The storage room they added to the gallery allowed items to remain in the gallery without disappearing. The items weren¡¯t secure. Anyone who entered the gallery could take them. Just like anyone who entered the crafting room could use the tools there. South gallery also possessed a set of secure shelving. For a fee, items left on the shelves were sealed in. They could not be pulled out except by the person who stored them. The shelves also retarded the degradation of items, including organic items like apples and meat.

    Grandmother set the cubes out on the table and inspected them. They were all identical with each other. She cast a spell to enhance her vision, searching for symbols on the surface. She was hoping for more examples of code. There was nothing. A close examination of the surface made her rethink her designation of them being constructed from porcelain. The series of pores randomly across the surface reminded her of something more organic like bone. It wasn¡¯t exactly bone either. It seemed too solid for that.

    She could put them into her inventory, so technically it wasn¡¯t porcelain, bone or stone for that matter. It was a nanobot matrix. What the Game overlay appeared to be was often a hint on what the item was used for. Grandmother didn''t understand what this one was trying to tell her.

    ¡°Have you figured them out yet?¡± Todd asked as he sat down next to her in one of the stuffed chairs in the central section of the gallery. He set a large leather bag of porcupine meat down on the floor next to his chair.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°They are about the size of a block in an alphabet set I had as a child,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have enough for an alphabet set yet, but I will keep that in mind,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°What is an alphabet set?¡± Companion asked. He was laying in the round rock gravel at the base of the inscription wall. It was his favorite resting spot. Grandmother was so used to him laying there, she hadn¡¯t actually noticed him.

    ¡°It''s a set of blocks with a letter carved into one face. My set had pictures of items or animals whose name started with that letter on the other faces. They are used to help children learn to read. You should make a set with selkie letters on it,¡± Todd told Companion.

    ¡°All the ones I¡¯ve seen here in the structure are dull. On the Speedwell they were brightly colored,¡± Grandmother added. ¡°Children like bright colors.¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of symbols in selkie,¡± Companion murmured.

    ¡°Enchanter must have taught you a smaller set first,¡± Todd commented. ¡°You could use that one.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be packing?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°All ready to go,¡± Companion replied. ¡°I don¡¯t travel heavy like Alex.¡± None of them traveled as heavy as Alex. The furniture shopkeeper was in the storage room deciding what components he wanted to take back for sale. When he made his final choices Grandmother would go and pack them into the special bags he brought along just for that purpose. He promised Grandmother a sixth of all sales for the service.

    Alex was selling so much furniture Grandmother was certain he was going to run out of customers in the square soon, just as she did with her own shop years ago. The only thing that might keep him in customers was the selkie. Grandmother packed several selkie beds for Alex to sell to visitors during the last Challenge day. He charged the selkie a packing fee, passing the fee, minus the cost of the bags, on to Grandmother.

    Grandmother thought that Alex running out of customers because he saturated the square with furniture would not be that bad of a thing. When it happened to Grandmother she closed the shop and walked away. Her reaction was partly fueled by other events in her life. Alex would continue to run the shop during the dry spell as he waited for the furniture he already sold to wear out. Hopefully he would learn a lesson about pricing. He was much more dedicated to Home Square than Grandmother was to Londontown.

    Thinking about it, Grandmother wondered if she should go back to Londontown and reopen the shop. She could hire someone local to run it. No one needed to know she owned it, including her family. Todd and her snuck into Londontown near the end of last season to pick up the bed that was in stock there. The rest of the shop¡¯s inventory was just sitting there. The protection crystal in Londontown was failing, but it would last for another twenty years or longer, if no one did anything to cause it to actively shrink. That was time the square could use to complete a quest that would grow the crystal.

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    She would think about it. The group¡¯s shops in Home Square were proving to be a powerful way to spread knowledge. Perhaps she could use her shop in Londontown to inform the residents of their options if the crystal failed and the known methods for increasing a crystal''s size. She needed to make sure they knew what caused a crystal to shrink too. Maybe then they would stop doing those things.

    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Todd asked. Grandmother realized she had been lost in her thoughts for a while.

    ¡°Londontown,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°Do you want to reconnect with your family there?¡± Todd asked. He wouldn¡¯t have considered Grandmother doing that before meeting her brother in the villages, but now he wondered.

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°That ship has launched. I was thinking about my shop and hiring someone to run it again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have to compete with Alex for the components,¡± Todd warned.

    ¡°We collected enough components from those mining machines to supply furniture to two squares for a year,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We are short the flat pieces for the table tops, seats and shelves,¡± she admitted. ¡°It feels like sofas and chairs were more common around Londontown. I might end up with a better inventory just sweeping the area around the square once a month.¡± That comment sounded to Todd more like a plan than just a random thought. ¡°The hard part will be finding someone to run it. I haven''t spent time in Londontown in years. I¡¯ve lost track of who all the players are.¡±

    Sarah arrived carrying a large leather bag packed with stoneware clay dust. The potter in Seagrass confirmed it was clay. The clay from the entrance of the mine was stoneware clay. The clay from inside the mine was a fine white porcelain clay. He bought his clay from selkie pods scavenging the industrial region. When they asked Companion about it he said his former pod did bring back stones, but he didn¡¯t pay attention to which kind. Sarah was taking the bag back to the book shop where they planned to bundle it with pottery crafting spells. Ellen was carrying back a big bag of stone. Ellen crafted the simple leather bags out of skins from the animals they cleared. Sarah enchanted them with quick weight reduction spells that wouldn¡¯t last more than a week.

    ¡°Ellen is bundling the skins. She just had the thought that since we used magic to tan them they may be integrated items now. She asked me to send you over to see if you can get them bundled tighter,¡± Sarah told Grandmother.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Grandmother said. She rose from her feet and stuffed all the cubes into her bag before heading back to the workroom.

    ¡°Has Ellen forgiven me yet?¡± Todd asked Sarah.

    ¡°No, not yet,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°But she will. She admitted to me that by making all those short spears she opened a pattern for javelins.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not my fault,¡± Companion sang into the gravel. Ellen was shocked when she discovered Companion was smelting the new ore into silvery ingots. The ore was aluminum. She was distracted making Todd¡¯s first throwing spear during the time needed for Companion to learn the new lightning based smelting spells. Ellen was offended Todd told Companion how to do it and not her, their primary crafter. He tried to tell her it was only a hunch, but she wasn¡¯t listening to him.

    Todd touched the leather bag with the meat in it. Ellen made it for him when she made the others. Grandmother said something about large cheap bags that gave her the idea. When Sarah passed the leather bag onto him, he knew Ellen wasn¡¯t that angry.

    Ellen came back carrying a bundle of leathers. The bundle was weirdly small. Little tufts of the skins within stuck out at the corners, indicating the number of hides within. The tufts were larger than the body of the bundle. Ellen was struggling to carry it. When she dropped it on the floor by the sofa, they could hear and feel the thud it made.

    ¡°Grandmother said she¡¯d carry them,¡± Ellen announced.

    ¡°Do you need help carrying the others?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°That is all of them,¡± Ellen admitted. ¡°When we realized she could over compress them by pulling the straps, we put all the stacks together.¡±

    ¡°If they are integrated, can you put them into inventory?¡± Todd asked. Prize skins were an integrated material. They could be put in and out of inventory. Until recently all tanning was done manually. A manually produced piece of leather, whether from the skin cut from an animal or a prize hide pulled from inventory, was not an integrated item and could not be put in inventory. The label ¡®integrated¡¯ arose from the ability to store something digitally in inventory. The item was integrated into the system.

    Ellen looked at the bundle, then looked at Todd. ¡°I am not speaking to you,¡± she said. Which was her way of admitting she didn¡¯t think of that and hadn¡¯t tried. Ellen looked at the bundle like she was considering trying it now. ¡°Components won¡¯t go into inventory,¡± she commented, ¡°and they are integrated enough for Grandmother to compress. I¡¯ll give it a try next time.¡± She went off to get her bag of stones.

    Alex arrived with two bags, before he headed back into the storage room. These bags were quality. Designed specifically to carry shop sized tools through the transportation system and halls. The way they strained at the seams indicated they were fully packed. Todd wondered how much of Grandmother¡¯s year supply he was taking.

    Ellen returned with her leather bag of rock. The big leather bags were equipped with a single body strap to hold them through the transport. The design was an enlarged, streamlined version of the bag Kai owned when they recruited him in Chicago.

    Alex and Grandmother were both carrying two bags when they emerged. Grandmother¡¯s bags were calm in her hands, while the ones in Alex¡¯s hands churned unhappily. Their tops were carefully secured, keeping them from expelling their contents in their discontent at being away from Grandmother. Todd looked back at the leather bundle. It was laying there perfectly happy. Ellen had carried it in, shouldn¡¯t it be unhappy too? Todd wondered.

    These last bags were distributed between Todd, Grandmother and Companion, before they all loaded up.

    ¡°Do you think Jeweler will be in Home Square?¡± Ellen asked. When they made the trip to Seagrass to get a potter¡¯s opinion on the clay, Ellen was surprised to find the Jewelry shop closed. Ellen liked Valin. In his role of selkie master jeweler, she was his apprentice. Todd was worried she might be trusting him too much, after Grandmother¡¯s warning, until Ellen declared that she thought he was a spy or thief, and you couldn¡¯t really trust either of those.

    ¡°He told me he¡¯d come with us on the training tour,¡± Grandmother reassured her. ¡°If he isn¡¯t there when we arrive I am sure he will turn up shortly.¡± She picked up the bundle of leather like it didn¡¯t weigh any more than a water flask did. ¡°Are we all ready then?¡± she asked.

    Everyone double checked their loads, making sure that in the rush to carry the loot from their scavenging they hadn¡¯t forgotten their everyday equipment and weapons. When everyone agreed they were ready, Grandmother led the way into the transportation room.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Four

    Grandmother was rich. It was the morning after the last Challenge day. The single day event stretched into four days this time. The human challengers were so outnumbered by selkie that Grandmother decided she needed to get more human squares onto the transportation network. Grandmother finally found time to open the crystal¡¯s interface and select the option that allowed it to be opened from her personal interface. She went back up to her room where she could relax on the comfort of the sofa while looking the interface over. It was very similar to the gallery interface.

    The square inventory was not empty. It contained stacks of crafting materials; iron, steel, bronze and copper ingots, skeins of thread, bolts of cloth and planks of wood. There were also coins, a little less than three bright copper worth.

    She wondered if all squares made this kind of money. She had to believe they did. What did crystal owners do with it all? She could maybe believe that human owners didn¡¯t know how to use the crystal interface to get the money out, but the selkie had to know. What did Ray-Do-So spend her coins on? She suspected some humans must have figured it out as well.

    There were upgrades that could be bought. A far larger number of upgrades were available through questing. Looking over the purchasable upgrades Grandmother noticed that few had a material option.  Most were purchased with coins only. Did square owners spend their money on these upgrades? Most of them Grandmother couldn¡¯t figure out what they would be. There was one that she was fairly certain was glass doors at the entrances, it did have a material purchase option. Before this she always thought that feature was tied to the tier of a square. Maybe it was. If you bought enough of these upgrades that probably raised the tier of the settlement. When squares spawned they were designated a tier and given a set of upgrades that matched that tier. It made sense, Grandmother would update the User Manual with that theory when she got back.

    The cash price for the doors was very high. The amount of glass ingots requested was impressive, but considering how much they harvested from the mining machines it seemed much more affordable. She would talk to the team and see if they were willing to use their resources to buy the doors.

    Looking through the rest of the icons she found one that looked exactly like the protection crystal itself. The only purchase option for it was coins and a lot of them, more than Grandmother had. She thought this option must increase the lifespan of the crystal. Was this what the selkie spent their coins on?

    The protection crystal icon appeared under the quest section too. Selecting the icon did nothing. There would be no hints on how to complete that quest. The glass door option was there as well. Selecting it revealed a table of numbers. Grandmother decided to put off interpreting those numbers until they saw the result of the training journey to the upgraded rest.

    Grandmother finally got a hint of where the square''s money was coming from when she started selecting the icons for the existing upgrades. The icon for the inn contained a ledger. Grandmother knew that the innkeeper was really the owner of the kitchen and common room. They made their money from the food they produced. They received only a small fraction of the room rent. The first two columns in the ledger appeared to be the date. Looking at the values, Grandmother decided the second column was year and the first was day. The highest year value, at the top of the ledger, was eleven. That was the age of Home Square. The first number was never greater than 372. The top entry was numbered 303, which was yesterday. Grandmother did some quick math in her head and decided the count did not start the day the crystal spawned. That event occurred late in the year when Grandmother was on her way out for the maintenance cycle.

    She scrolled the entries up. The entries for the last few days, during Challenge days and three days before, the number in the third column were large. After that they fell off to a relatively steady value, that must represent the rent of all the people who called the inn their home. The last Challenge day was clearly visible as another increase. Grandmother identified the ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ event by a one day spike in sales. The numbers slowly decreased going back in time from there. At the date of day forty five, year one, the fifth column numbers changed to all zeros. At day seventeen the third and fourth column numbers changed to zeros. Except for the last line, which read one one five zero zero. Grandmother translated this to read, day one, year one, income five iron, zero, zero.

    The cost for renting a single room in the inn was five iron. The ledger started at the first sale and was dated from that point. Grandmother thought the fourth column was the innkeeper¡¯s share. It was a one twelfth fraction of the daily sales, rounded down. At least three rooms had to be rented before the innkeeper received a single iron. On day seventeen or eighteen rather, someone, probably the current innkeeper, rented the inn. Day forty six was about the right time of year for when the crystal spawned. The last column wasn¡¯t the remainder of the inn¡¯s earnings less the innkeeper¡¯s fee, but it was a much larger percentage than what the innkeeper was receiving. Grandmother thought this was the crystal owner¡¯s share. It was hard to calculate what it was, since the percentage varied. Most of the everyday usage was about half the earnings The Challenge days however netted the square a full three quarters of the earning column. Interestingly ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ event was something closer to only twenty percent.

    The accounting for the vendor was similar. Only instead of the innkeeper¡¯s column there was a column that included an icon of what was sold or bought. The column for payments to the crystal owner included not just numbers but the occasional material icon. Grandmother thought this was where some of the materials in the square¡¯s inventory came from. It looked like if someone sold materials to the vendor, the crystal owner got a share of those items. If someone bought items from the vendor, the crystal owner got a share of the coins. The whole thing didn¡¯t really make economic sense to Grandmother, since it didn¡¯t matter if someone bought or sold from the vendor, the crystal owner profited.

    The pay surfaces in the market were similar, the crystal owner got a share of every transaction. Or rather the square was paid for every transaction, proportional to the size for sale. It was a small fraction, but they added up. Grandmother knew that no money went missing from market pay surfaces. No one would use them if it did. She was sure she was getting a share of the shop and apartment rentals too. She wondered if she got paid for the transactions on the shop pay surfaces or the use of the inventory access points. Both of those could be additional sources for the materials in the square¡¯s inventory.

    She was getting the idea that Control was paying the crystal owner for getting players to use its services. Grandmother considered how the percentage paid from the hotel receipts went up on Challenge day and down on ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ event. Control¡¯s reward was less if the person using the service was already a resident of the square, but went up when they were mostly outsiders. They were more than outsiders, they were selkie. Was that a factor in the reward? She considered how she wasn¡¯t getting a flat fee from the pay surface transactions, but rather a percentage of the sales.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Control was paying a reward for the prosperity of the square. That was interesting. It didn¡¯t fit with Grandmother''s vision of Control as a psychotic killer with a personal vendetta against her. It didn''t really even fit in its role as the narrator of adventure stories.

    Prosperity in a square would lead to more comfortable lives for the inhabitants. Grandmother supposed that more skilled crafters would produce higher quality armor and weapons. Heroes could use that equipment to go out and die in glorious battle. It seemed like the coliseum was a more direct solution to that. Promoting prosperity in a square was a similar idea to the high quality dishes she¡¯d bought in Seagrass. It wasn¡¯t required. Not for an adventure tale and not for Grandmother¡¯s idea that the prize at the end was the control of nanobots. It was just something¡­ nice. It was like there was another mind at work here different from Control. Someone trying to build a life for those trapped in the structure.

    Grandmother thought of the Tinkerer, looking up at her from the arena floor. She was pretty certain the Tinkerer was Control, so she didn¡¯t know why she thought of it.

    There was a knock on her door. Grandmother jerked in surprise. She couldn¡¯t remember when someone had knocked on the door before. In whoever was knocking¡¯s defense, Grandmother didn¡¯t spend much time in the suite. She opened the door to find the innkeeper in the hallway.

    ¡°Please excuse the interruption,¡± Innkeeper announced. ¡°There is a newcomer in the common room asking for you.¡± Grandmother was slightly amused that the innkeeper used the selkie word for human, although whoever was asking for her probably was human. With as many selkie that had been through the inn for the Challenge days, there was no way the innkeeper could have known if a particular selkie was a newcomer or not.

    ¡°I¡¯ll come right down,¡± Grandmother responded. She grabbed her walking stick from the weapon rack on the way out of the queen¡¯s suite. She followed Innkeeper down the stairs to find a total stranger standing at the service counter, half turned away from her. Suspicious, she narrowed her eyes and focused on them. The structure''s augmentation dropped, leaving a clear vision of Valin. Grandmother relaxed her eyes, letting the new human illusion reappear.

    ¡°Valin,¡± Grandmother said in greeting. ¡°We visited Seagrass and found you gone. Ellen was worried.¡±

    ¡°I relocated to OpenSky,¡± the elf explained, turning to face her. He showed no surprise at Grandmother knowing who he was.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have tea,¡± Grandmother said to the innkeeper, before she turned to lead the way to her table. Valin sat at the end of the table, where Todd usually sat. Grandmother thought he just didn¡¯t want to sit at the bench across from her that was for Companion. ¡°Were you here for Challenge day?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I drifted in and out,¡± Valin responded. ¡°It¡¯s an easy trip through the halls from OpenSky. When is the training trip scheduled?¡±

    ¡°The day after tomorrow,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I have a few things I need to pick up before the trip. Do you have a shop in OpenSky?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Valin said, ¡°there was no open space here. That was part of the reason I chose to settle there.¡± A server arrived with the porcelain teapot and the tiny cups. Valin accepted his cup. He sipped from it with every indication of pleasure.

    ¡°Will you hire someone to run it while you''re away?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Valin responded. ¡°I am too new to the square to know who I can trust with it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is a problem,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I have a shop in Londontown I¡¯d like to reopen. I¡¯d need to find someone honest to run it for me, but it has been many years since I spent any time there.¡±

    ¡°I can do that for you,¡± Valin said. ¡°Find someone to run the shop,¡± he clarified. ¡°That is one of my skills.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said, as she thought it over. ¡°After the trip to the upgraded rest you can look into that,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Find three good candidates and I will pick.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any preferences? Magic color? Crafting skills? Male or female? Single or with a family? Young or old?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°No one affiliated with the royal family,¡± Grandmother said, then she thought of Harry. Harry was a guard for the royal family in Londontown before he left to find a better future for his family. ¡°No, scratch that. No one who is close to the seat of power. I don¡¯t care if they worked for the family, or are some distant relation with no chance of inheriting. I will provide the merchandise, so they don¡¯t need any crafting abilities.¡±

    ¡°What does the shop sell?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°Furniture,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Like what Alex is selling here. I want to expand it to sell books as well. If the clerk is trustworthy enough, I¡¯ll even sell magic books.¡± Valin looked puzzled for a moment.

    ¡°What other books do you sell that don¡¯t contain magic?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Educational books,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°The book shop here has a few I printed off at the Speedwell during the last maintenance cycle. Ask for the book on Earth history or the User Manual. Although with all the things you told us about the crystal interface we will have to issue a new edition of that one.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy a copy,¡± Valin promised. He finished his tea, setting the empty cup down with some reluctance. Grandmother wondered how Valin would read the book. Did he know how to read human script or did his translator work on the written word?

    ¡°Join us for dinner,¡± Grandmother invited. ¡°We will go over our final plans for content on the trip.¡± Valin agreed and rose to his feet. ¡°If you run into Ellen at the shop, make sure you tell her you''re alright,¡± Grandmother commented. Valin nodded his understanding. As he crossed the common room he passed Todd heading to Grandmother¡¯s table.

    ¡°Todd,¡± he said in acknowledgement. Todd looked at the total stranger in surprise. He took in the man¡¯s earring.

    ¡°Valin,¡± Todd responded, with a nod. He continued on. ¡°So Valin¡¯s turned up again,¡± he commented to Grandmother after sitting down.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded, sipping tea from her tiny cup. ¡°He relocated his shop to OpenSky. Remind me to warn Joe about him, although I don¡¯t think Betty will fall for him for a minute.¡±

    ¡°What did he want?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°He was reporting for duty,¡± Grandmother answered. Todd noted the vagueness of that response.

    ¡°For the trip?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes and more. I believe he just signed up to be my spy master,¡± Grandmother replied. Todd leaned back and raised one eyebrow. He remembered she called Valin a tool that they could use or could be used against them. ¡°I admit I don¡¯t see much need for him right now, but when we get to the southern continent that might change,¡± Grandmother commented. That remark set Todd back. She didn¡¯t say ¡®if'' we get to the southern continent, but when.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Five

    The group of thirty children gathered in the courtyard, their parents standing by. The youngest was just eight while the oldest was thirteen. At ten Jane was in the middle. She held her spear proudly. Her mother made it for her specifically for this trip. The smooth length of it was carved from wood.

    This was Jane¡¯s first trip out of Home Square. She was born here after the founding. Her father was an important member of the guard. Her mother was a woodworker, with her own shop in the square. She wanted to follow her father into the guard. She thought the gift of the spear was her mother''s way of saying she accepted her daughter¡¯s decision.

    Everyone here was tier one, which meant they knew at least one spell and their magic color was set. In the structure that meant they weren¡¯t true children anymore, but at the age of apprenticeship, the first step to adulthood. Grandmother demanded that as many girls go on the trip as boys. After the first boy signed up, no more boys were accepted until a girl signed. Boys all over the square tried to get sisters to go. Not that there was much need to motivate the girls. Given Grandmother''s approval, daughters begged their parents to pay the fee. When girls started to outnumber boys, girl slots became unavailable until a boy signed up. Grandmother was serious about wanting an equal number of both.

    ¡°Listen up,¡± Grandmother called from where she stood by the square¡¯s crystal. The children all fell silent gathering around the old woman. They were on their best behavior with their parents watching. ¡°Each one of you is going to step forward, touch the crystal and give your name. Sarah will then give you an armband in your magic color. You are to wear the armband at all times during the trip. We will be using them to identify you and provide safe heals in an emergency.¡±

    When it was Jane¡¯s turn she proudly set her hand on the crystal. The crystal color changed to a very faint red.

    ¡°What is your name and role?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Jane, warrior,¡± Jane responded. Sarah used a stylus to write that down on a red armband.

    ¡°Wear it with your name showing,¡± Sarah said as she handed it to the young girl. Sarah slipped the red armband over the green cloth of her clothes. Almost all the children in the square wore green, since it was the cheapest cloth the tailors produced. There was a tie built into the armband to keep it in place. As she struggled with it, one of the other instructors came by and tied it for her. With a touch of awe, Jane realized it was Todd. Todd, with his red magic, was her personal role model.

    ¡°Next, Todd and Alex are going to inspect your packs. If you''re carrying unneeded items we are going to ask you to return them to your parents for safe keeping. If you are missing anything we feel is essential for safe passage through the halls, it will be provided for you. These items are not gifts, and, except for consumables, will be returned at the conclusion of the trip,¡± Grandmother announced.

    There were six outside tables in front of the inn. Each of the instructors picked a table. Jane was careful to pick Todd¡¯s. He had her unload everything from her pack and pockets onto the table. He picked out a variety of items and set them aside, telling her she needed to leave them. He then added to her pile a set of vent forks, wedges, a water flask, a notebook, a stylus and a stack of travel food.

    ¡°Why did you reject my water flask and give me another?¡± Jane dared to ask.

    ¡°You were smart to bring a flask, water is essential for life. This new flask is enchanted to pull water vapor from the air and refill itself,¡± Todd explained to her. ¡°With a group this large, it is much more convenient than trying to fill individual flasks with a trickle of water in dark space. We will do that at least once, so you understand how long it takes.¡±

    Todd supervised how she repacked. When she started to put the notebook in the bottom of the pack he told her, ¡°Keep the notebook and stylus in easy reach. You will need them to take notes. You will be allowed to keep your notes after the trip.¡±

    Jane carried her extra items over to her mother, who was watching from near her shop. Her mother insisted on giving her a hug before Jane could escape back to the group to find out what would happen next.

    They were assigned partners and told to stay close to their partner at all times. They were then set into groups. The thirty trainees were split into five groups of six, or three partner sets. Each group was assigned an instructor. Jane¡¯s group instructor was Companion.

    ¡°How many of you understand me?¡± Companion asked. ¡°Raise your arm if you can.¡± Three of them raised their hands, Jane was one of them. She learned selkie hanging out at the training yards. ¡°Good,¡± Companion responded. ¡°We will go over march commands and what is expected from you to ensure your safety. Those who understand me will translate to those who don¡¯t.¡±

    Companion taught them a few simple commands. They were alert, hide, contact, stop, advance, turn right and left. He taught them the hand motions that meant the same thing as the selkie calls. He gave the group a marching order. Their group was a mix of wizards, warriors and one boy who called himself a salvager. Jane¡¯s partner was a boy named Alan, who wanted to be a wizard. His magic color was yellow.

    ¡°Alert everyone,¡± Grandmother called. ¡°Alex¡¯s group will lead, with Ellen¡¯s next, followed by Companions, Sarah¡¯s and Todd¡¯s. We will rotate tomorrow. Keep your eyes open and follow your advisor instructions. Advance.¡±

    Their departure out of the square and into the green was not nearly as organized as those simple instructions made it sound. Grandmother walked in the center of the group, with a man Jane did not recognize at her side. Jane thought she knew everyone in Grandmother¡¯s party. She asked Alan if he knew who the man was.

    ¡°No,¡± Alan responded. ¡°I bet Tam knows.¡± Tam was the boy who wanted to be a salvager. He was a grandson of the innkeeper and worked part time as a server. He grew up listening to the tales around Grandmother¡¯s table and was fascinated by things they brought back. He called himself a salvager because he wanted to bring back more than just meat and scrap that the scavengers brought back. He wanted to be like Alex and bring back items too.

    ¡°He was at Grandmother¡¯s table last night, she called him Valin,¡± Tam told the group, during a brief pause, while they waited for the group behind them to catch up.

    ¡°All magic is the same,¡± Grandmother called out to the greater group. ¡°Crafter, wizard and warrior. We will now teach you all the first warrior spell.¡±

    ¡°You all have a knife. Draw it with your off hand,¡± Companion instructed the group. He pulled his own knife from his belt, while keeping a firm hold on the huge war ax he carried with his main hand. ¡°Keep control of your main weapon, be it your casting hand or something with more bite!¡± He waited until everyone was holding their knife in a vertical position in front of them.

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    ¡°Advance,¡± Companion ordered, ¡°keep those knives up.¡± They walked forward, keeping their spacing from the group in front of them. ¡°You will now learn light blade. We will repeat until you all learn it,¡± Companion explained.

    This is so awesome, Jane thought to herself.

    <hr>

    That night the big group camped in the north gallery. They arrived in the evening. As the lights in the halls started to dim due to the approaching night, the advisor taught their groups their next spell, the thrown spell light. Each trainee group was assigned one of the seating groups on each side of the center. They were told to eat travel rations, make notes on what they learned today and settle in for the night.

    Grandmother planned to feed them a hot breakfast prepared by Todd in the morning, before making them march again. Tomorrow night would be their first night in the halls. They would stop early and teach them how to secure rooms. The youngsters were exhausted and fell to sleep quickly.

    ¡°How is it going?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°They are all still excited,¡± Sarah responded, ¡°but I have one or two who think they already know it all. They may be a problem down the road.¡±

    ¡°I have one who is afraid of everything,¡± Alex commented. ¡°I am not certain how he got signed up.¡±

    ¡°Keep an eye on him. Fear often leads people to poor choices,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I want a double watch tonight, one of us at each side door. I don¡¯t want to explain to a parent that their child snuck out on a dare.¡±

    ¡°I know Harry confirmed that they all knew how to read and write, but competencies seem to vary widely. It isn¡¯t just the youngest who have poor skills either,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°I noticed that,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Have you had any problems with your group not understanding you?¡± Grandmother asked Companion.

    ¡°No,¡± Companion replied. ¡°Innkeeper¡¯s grandson is in the group. He understands selkie well and translates. There are two others who also understand some.¡±

    ¡°I want to rotate the groups between you tomorrow,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Alex, take your group out into the hall and have them wait there. You take the group that was with Ellen today in the lead. Continue that pattern so you all lead the group that was behind you today. Todd you take Alex¡¯s group at the back.¡± Grandmother turned to Valin, ¡°If Companion has problems communicating with his group tomorrow, I¡¯d like you to walk with them and translate as necessary. I want to teach them all how to interact with selkie, so try to keep your translation at a minimum.¡±

    ¡°I can do that,¡± Valin agreed.

    ¡°We¡¯ll stop earlier tomorrow. I want to start teaching them how to read structure numbers. By the time we reach the grand staircase I want them to be able to read the ribbon.¡±

    ¡°Should we teach all the fonts or only Latin? The staircases are usually in Latin,¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°Latin and Roman, but start with Latin. Since they are all tier one, their interfaces should be in Roman. By the time we get back, I¡¯d like them to be able to read them,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Todd and I ran over to OpenSky yesterday and touched the crystal there. Someone needs to touch the crystal here so we have three source crystals. Valin, I¡¯d like you to do it. That way this crystal will be on your transportation map and you will always be able to return here.¡± Valin nodded his head. He stepped out into the water of the pool and laid a hand on the crystal. The crystal turned a dark green.

    Grandmother noticed in the Home Square crystal log that Valin never touched it. There were no level five records. Grandmother wondered if Valin didn¡¯t touch the crystal because it would reveal his real level and race to the crystal owner, or if there was some other reason. She remembered that although he showed reluctance he did touch the crystal in the upgraded rest. She decided that whatever his reason for avoiding the square crystal it must not hold for an association hall.

    ¡°Are you going to teach them about interfaces?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°At least not beyond showing them how to open it if they don¡¯t already know. Hopefully, they all know Latin and Roman already too, but I don¡¯t want to assume that.¡± Grandmother was thoughtful for a moment. ¡°We can¡¯t teach them everything in ten or twenty days. Reading is certainly out of reach. If I do set up a school during the maintenance cycle for the village children, I think I¡¯ll make it open to structure children too. They can pay the tuition in structure coins, instead of Speedwell currency.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were going to use the teaching machines,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°For some of it, sure; reading, math, history. Other subjects will need a more hands-on approach, like farming, cooking, physical defense, Earth crafting and structure magic,¡± Grandmother replied. Everyone looked a little surprised by this announcement.

    ¡°What about structure crafting?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Well I was thinking that was part of structure magic, since my plan was aimed mostly at the village students. If we do get structure students then we need to break structure magic into its components too.¡±

    ¡°What if we taught an introduction to crafting class, where we crafted items both ways?¡± Ellen said. She always wanted to do something like that. Very early on, she discovered that Grandmother¡¯s backpack had a special set of pockets in it to hold door wedges and vent forks. It was a simple addition when crafting by hand and pretty much impossible to add to a pattern. Magic made crafting fast, but it took a lot of the versatility and invention out of it.

    ¡°Benjamin warned me that some of the villagers might not want their children to know about structure life. I haven¡¯t decided what to do about that. I think in order to reassure the parents that I am not trying to steal their children, I will require parental permission before we take any village student into the structure,¡± Grandmother explained as an introduction. ¡°A crafting class like what you described would be very good, as long as the Earth and structure sections are completely split. That way a village student could take the Earth lessons, but skip the structure ones.¡±

    ¡°That would be easy enough,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°We could use each crafting method on different days.¡±

    ¡°If you have two instructors,¡± Valin suggested, ¡°Your village students could make the object using your Earth methods twice. Repetition is good for apprentices.¡±

    ¡°Physical defense could be taught in a similar style, focusing on body movement and weapon handling using the mirror system in the Speedwell one day, followed by a day in the structure learning imbuement and casting. We wouldn¡¯t even need to be in the structure proper, we could stay in the entry courtyard or the meadow outside,¡± Alex offered.

    ¡°I like that,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Everyone think about your subjects and put together outlines for what you think we should teach to both sets of students.¡±

    ¡°Our subjects?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°You know your subjects better than me,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Think about what you love. Obviously Ellen is already thinking about crafting, and Alex is physical defense and song. I¡¯d put Todd down for cooking, although I¡¯d like to convince my brother to come in and teach baking. Sarah is enchanting, but also the art of drawing. I¡¯d like Companion to be our expert on all things selkie, but if you want to teach physical defense with Alex, that is fine with me. Valin is our structure expert. I¡¯d love for you to teach politics inside the structure and the updated User Manual.¡±

    ¡°What will you teach?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°How to use the teaching machines,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°and engineering.¡±

    <hr>

    One of the youngest cried in the night, lonely for home and family. Valin was surprised when it was the selkie that went to the child¡¯s side and comforted them. In the morning there was no sign of tears. The children all ate the hot meal provided by Todd with enthusiasm. Grandmother told everyone this was their last chance to go home, if journeying in the structure was not for them. She would refund the tuition and explain to their guardians if they wanted to go back to Home Square.

    There were no takers.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Six

    Armed with her spear, Jane took the lead position. She pushed the door open and scanned the room. Movement to her right made her step backwards. The door stayed stubbornly open. The bundle of fur and claws rushed at the door.

    An ice-bolt came from Jane¡¯s right, hitting the rat and slowing it. Jane jabbed at the animal with her spear tip, pushing the animal back and injuring it. Tam cast fear. The rat cowered, trying to retreat. Jane jabbed it again, imbuing her spear with fire. The imbuement helped guide her spear.

    The rat collapsed, as the spear punctured something important. Cautiously, Jane reached forward and touched the rat. A small stack of coins appeared next to the carcass. The door was still swinging shut. There was no evidence of any other animal in the room. Jane kept her guard up as she pushed the door open.

    This time she did a more detailed inspection of the room. There was no movement and no other doorways. She pushed the door open and wedged the door. The rest of her group followed her into the room. Several members threw light spells onto the ceiling, flooding the room with light.

    ¡°Clear,¡± Jane called, giving her opinion of the room. Four other clears sounded as the rest of the group agreed. All except for Terry, who never entered the room. As rear guard he stayed in the hall, watching for any animals approaching.

    ¡°Good,¡± Todd said from the hallway. ¡°Remember to call and show me any scrap before you pick it up,¡± he reminded them. Everyone carefully inspected the room contents. Iris called Todd over when she found a piece of iron scrap. Todd made a note in the book he carried, before telling her to pick it up. He returned to the hallway and waited until the group carried everything of value out of the room, setting it in different piles in the hall. Christine, Terry¡¯s partner, skinned the rat as she¡¯d been taught and added the hide to the array. She also harvested the animals claws. Todd inspected their piles, making notes again, before giving them the all clear to pack everything up.

    ¡°Ok, I want you to rotate. Tam and Iris, you''re making entry, Jane and Alan you¡¯re on rear guard,¡± Todd instructed.

    This was their final test. The group arrived at a huge rest on their twelfth day of travel. Grandmother lined them all up, and each of them touched the crystal. After the arrival ritual they were given a break to explore the rest and relax.

    The rest included a barracks room. Their first assignment was to assemble bunks for everyone to sleep on. Alex opened a bag which exploded with bronze tubing pieces across the room. He demonstrated how to assemble the frame for one bunk, before leaving all the rest to the trainee groups. When the frames were assembled, Grandmother opened another bag and withdrew a set of iron sheets and a pile of small attachment clips. After Alex demonstrated how to mount the sheets to make a firm surface to sleep on, he turned the group loose on them again. They were all assigned a bunk when they were complete. There was a hot meal before they all collapsed onto their new bunks.

    In the morning, they began a different phase of their training. They marched down to a courtyard entry to the structure. There at a clear wall inscription they were taught to turn lights off. From there three groups went back up to the rest, where they were taught how to tan leather, smelt iron and join wood scraps into planks. The last two groups were escorted through the rooms where they were taught how to safely clear rooms and identify every type of usable material within.

    Now they were putting it all together. Each group was required to clear a minimum of nine rooms, gather all the usable items, take them back to the rest and process them. Each entry pair was required to face animals in the room, so they might have to clear even more rooms. They were expected to record any inscription they found along the way, and decode it if they could. Inscription decoding was a bonus subject that only the advanced trainees who already knew something about using their interface were given instruction in. They needed to report unique features too, like rests, water sources, inventory access and sanitation facilities, even if they were in a ruined state.

    They went through eight more rooms before they found another one with a rat. Tam held the door, since he was armed with a short sword. He was supported with magic from Iris and Christine, while Terry danced around with his knife looking for an opening. The rat died before Terry got his chance.

    Todd called for them to rotate after the room. Christine and Terry were now the entry pair. Two rooms later Terry got his chance. He used shield to push the rat back from himself after his first stab. Each of them had been taught one tier zero spell on the journey. They were given their choice of offense or defense, wizard or warrior. The final spell however was picked by the instructor. Since Jane already knew imbue fire, she asked for a warrior defense spell. She was taught shield, but she was still learning to incorporate it in her fighting.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Todd said. ¡°This is your last room. After you salvage it, I want to see you secure it for the night.¡± No one warned them they were going to do that. Jane was happy she had all her equipment with her. The instructors drummed that into them. Never leave anything behind. Touch everything you own once a day. Items fall into dust in the halls in days.

    They secured the room. Todd questioned them on watch schedules and positions. After he was satisfied they loaded up the last of their finds and headed back up to the upgraded rest. They were the third group back. They started by tanning the rat hides they collected, then moved on to making wood planks and smelting iron.

    ¡°What do you think we¡¯ll do next?¡± Tam asked. Their group was gathered in the bunk room.

    ¡°I overheard Grandmother telling Todd that we¡¯ll head home tomorrow. She was asking him to cook something special for dinner tonight as a farewell,¡± Alan answered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go home yet,¡± Christine said. ¡°Didn¡¯t we just get here?¡±

    ¡°This is day eighteen since we left Home Square. Harry told mom we¡¯d be back in twenty days. She¡¯ll be getting worried,¡± Terry commented. He looked worried himself. ¡°How long do you think it will take us to walk back?¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°We¡¯re taking the transportation system!¡± Alan said. He¡¯d obviously been holding this nugget back so it would have maximum effect. The group exploded in excitement. They made Alan recite the entire conversation he overheard. Even Christine was thrilled with the idea of getting to use the super secret system.

    ¡°Alert, everyone,¡± Grandmother¡¯s voice sounded clearly throughout the room, even though she was nowhere in sight. ¡°Prepare for travel and report to the main gallery for briefing.¡±

    Everyone grabbed their things, leaving nothing behind. They scrambled down the hall to the main room of the rest. There they found Grandmother standing in the center dip. The instructors were standing with their backs against the wall that faced the crystal. The trainees rushed to get good seats on the steps that lead down to the center section. Late comers crossed over the center section under Grandmother¡¯s eye to sit on the other side.

    Grandmother counted the trainees as they all settled into their seats. When all thirty were present she began.

    ¡°This is our last night together on this trip. Tomorrow we will take the fast transportation system back to Home Square. All of you have done well and exceeded my expectations. I will convey my pride at your performance to your guardians.

    ¡°Tonight we will dine at the broken courtyard. Companion, with Alex and Valin¡¯s assistance, will teach you how to play a selkie game. Afterwards there will be exhibition fights between the instructors.¡± Grandmother paused as everyone cheered their approval.

    ¡°There is a bag down here for each group. You are responsible for getting it to the courtyard. Do not open your bag. Deliver it to me at the courtyard, then report to Companion for the game. Usual march order, prepare to depart out the west door.¡±

    The trainees jumped up to arrange themselves. Jane was a little disappointed her group was with Todd today. That meant they would be the last out to the courtyard. The bag they were assigned was surprisingly heavy. They were forced to rotate the duty of carrying it.

    When they reached the courtyard Grandmother was already there. A set of tables were set up along one side of the courtyard. The courtyard seemed cleaner and newer than when they visited it the first time. The vines over the light inscription were trimmed back, revealing the six fingered fist. They dropped their packs and weapons off under its watch, before going out onto the grass to join in the game. Sarah and Ellen stood watch over the meadow, armed with their bows, to ensure they weren¡¯t interrupted by wildlife.

    Todd joined Grandmother at the tables. She was pulling the components for the last table out of a group bag. The bag at her feet contained all the utensils and stiffened leather squares they would use to distribute the food.

    ¡°I left the food on warmers,¡± Todd commented. ¡°It should be alright for an hour or so.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll let them get engaged in their game, then run back for the food. It will make them think it appeared by magic,¡± Grandmother commented. She looked out at the field where Companion was giving instructions on how the game was played. When Grandmother asked if any of them knew a team game the trainees could play, Companion volunteered one the younglings played in the water square. The true selkie version was played in the water in three dimensions, but Companion assured her it could be modified to be played on land.

    ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind about Companion¡¯s subject,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°When we form the school I want him to be the Speedwell¡¯s homemaker.¡±

    ¡°Homemaker?¡± Todd asked, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°He is the best of us at working with children. The rest of us deal with them like they are young warriors, but Companion sees the child they still are and offers comfort and joy. This trip has taught me that we will have to limit how many students we accept, especially at the beginning. We will also need a supervising adult for every apartment full of kids. Companion will play that role perfectly, but I also want him to be in overall charge of housing. He will make the school into a home,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°If we stick with the eight to one ratio of the apartments, we will be limited to only forty eight students, fifty six if we count Valin,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°Eventually I want about a thousand students,¡± Grandmother stated, surprising Todd with the large number. We¡¯ll set class sizes at thirty, and require two teachers for each class inside the structure. If I assume two thirds of the classes will be on the Speedwell, that comes out to about fifty instructors and one hundred and thirty residence supervisors.¡±

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Todd said suddenly. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize the numbers involved.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°When I run the numbers with just the six of us, I get we can handle about 120 students and we are short nine residence supervisors. I don¡¯t think I can actually handle spending all day and night with a bunch of children for three months. I can¡¯t expect any of you to do something I think I can¡¯t, so we are really short fifteen residence supervisors. Or if I switch Companion over to housing, then we only have five instructors and the number of students we can handle drops.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned having Benjamin teach baking. Perhaps we can recruit more instructors,¡± Todd suggested.

    ¡°Yes, I was already planning to try and recruit people like Kai and Muriel. I¡¯m hoping that in time graduates from the school will become our future instructors,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°With that goal in mind, I¡¯m thinking about offering adults the chance to attend for a discounted price if they serve as a residence supervisor.¡±

    ¡°What about giving a tuition discount for a child if a guardian serves as a residence supervisor?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I thought about that, but I think being away from their parents has been a big step in this group''s growth. I¡¯m not going to stop someone from taking the job of supervisor if they have a student, but I¡¯ll assign them to a different apartment as far from their child as possible.¡±

    ¡°Adult students will reduce the amount of children we can handle,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°It will to some extent,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I hope they won¡¯t need as much supervision and they will be mostly interested in the Speedwell content.

    ¡°Setting up the bunks here has also made me realize we need to put together workshops at the Speedwell. We need manual crafting stations equivalent to the magical crafts and a wood fired baking oven for Benjamin,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°I think we can convert the old single housing into some of those workshops. Benjamin¡¯s oven will need to go into a new outbuilding.¡±

    ¡°We can use the ovens in the ship''s kitchens to start,¡± Todd commented, ¡°while the wood fired oven is being built. The contrast between the old ways reproduced in the eastern villages and the modern methods of the Speedwell is also something we can teach.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Smelting iron is something the villages have never managed to do on their own, maybe explaining how the Speedwell does it is all we need to offer for now.¡±

    ¡°Should we have the students disassemble the bunks in the morning?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I promised Alex he could have all his bronze components back. There is an upgrade available for the bunkroom with the bunks in place, but I know Alex would be so heartbroken I can¡¯t try it. Having the trainees put them together worked out pretty good for teaching them about components even if they haven¡¯t realized it yet.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been putting all the iron components into the storage room that the students found. Maybe we can put enough together from them to trigger your upgrade,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Shall we go fetch the food?¡± Todd asked, changing the subject.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother agreed. They ran the distance, making multiple trips that the children never noticed.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Seven

    The railroad switches turned out to be a dead end. When a railcar rolled through a switch it would randomly change or not. The mine was a huge maze that changed every time they entered it. They would see a new rail line be laid by a snake that would be a completely dug out tunnel on the next visit, or reset to solid stone.

    Grandmother wished she took the time to run to the Speedwell and review their footage from the first trip. She suspected the walls would be the solid gray of a nanobot matrix in the footage. The sparseness of the tunnels through the surrounding ¡®rock¡¯ made Grandmother suspect that all that space was being used for something else, like power production or breeding animals to be released in the structure above.

    They were pressed against a side wall of a tunnel waiting for a dumper to pass. The dumpers ran in total darkness. They sounded almost exactly like a digger on approach, but if there was no light, it was a dumper. The payoff for taking out a dumper wasn¡¯t really worth it. Grandmother was still trying to maximize their earnings on this run, even after she found the coins sitting in Home Square¡¯s account. She was worried she should be spending Home Square¡¯s money on something she didn¡¯t know about. She was working on how to bring the subject up with Ray-Do-So, Seagrass¡¯s crystal owner, without offending the selkie.

    Grandmother tilted her head. The sound from the dumper was changing notes. That would indicate that it was changing speed. That was new. As it trundled past them, it was definitely slowing. Grandmother jumped out behind it.

    ¡°Follow it close,¡± she called out to the team. ¡°Hopefully its passage deactivates the traps.¡± Grandmother jumped onto the rail and ran. Everyone else fell in behind her. She held herself to Sarah¡¯s top speed, not wanting to lose her group. At first the dumper pulled ahead, but it was slowing. Very quickly Grandmother was closing the gap. She dropped her speed to match the dumper, keeping the machine just on the edge of her enhanced vision.

    It came to a stop. She stopped herself, and squatted down in place on the rail. She signaled Ellen to check for traps to the right. A rumbling sound was coming from the dumper. Ellen declared the right clear. Grandmother stepped off the rail and moved close to the tunnel wall. Grandmother signaled for them to advance. She dropped back to talk with Alex.

    ¡°I want to know what it is doing, get as close as you think you can without drawing its attention. If it moves away, hide and let it go. Mark where it is and we¡¯ll check the area after it moves,¡± Alex nodded his understanding. He moved forward. Grandmother waited until Ellen and Companion passed her, before retaking her standard position.

    They were still closing the distance when the rumbling sound stopped. There were a couple thumps and the dumper began moving again. It rolled forward, away from them. They hugged the wall until it was out of sight.

    ¡°It stopped right here,¡± Alex reported. Everyone started looking around, trying to decide why.

    ¡°There is a spell ribbon on this rail,¡± Sarah reported.

    ¡°This one too,¡± Ellen reported looking at the other rail.

    ¡°What spell is it?¡± Grandmother asked the sisters.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize it,¡± Sarah responded. That was saying something. Sarah was pulling her notebook out and making notes, so was Ellen. Grandmother went over to look at the ribbons. Ellen¡¯s rail was written the opposite direction from Sarah¡¯s. They were two different spells, or Grandmother thought, two hands of the same spell. The timing on the first symbol in both ribbons indicated Ellen¡¯s was the main hand. The first symbol was a two, making this a tier five force spell. Tier five spells were incredibly hard to find. Grandmother only knew a handful of them.

    ¡°It¡¯s a tier five force spell,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Is it ring of death?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen it before.¡± The real problem with tier five spells was that most were extremely dangerous and they took a long long time to learn. It took her three months to learn ring of death. She traveled far from anyone else, because she couldn¡¯t predict when it would first work and she didn¡¯t want to accidentally kill anyone with it.

    Spell ribbons did not include the start and finish move. This spell could be thrown, imbued or tapped. It could be directional, contained in the object tapped on or like the ring, expand to kill everyone in the room. There was also no description of what it would do.

    ¡°Do you see that line of dust there?¡± Companion asked. He was standing back from the rails, pointing to a section of the rail inside the ribbon. Sarah was the closest. She reached out and ran her finger through the dust. She rubbed two fingers together.

    ¡°It¡¯s rock dust,¡± she reported, ¡°and I mean rock. It isn¡¯t clay. It is far too gritty.¡±

    ¡°There is another line here,¡± Grandmother said, from where she walked down the track. ¡°I think the dumper pulled up here, a trap door opened, and it dumped its load. That was the rumble sound we heard.¡± They named the machines dumpers because they were carrying loads like a dump truck. It looked like they were more aptly named than they realized at the time.

    ¡°A trap door?¡± Companion asked. ¡°It will open if we step on it, dropping us to our death?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it is that simple, but let¡¯s check,¡± Grandmother said. She pulled a rope out of her pack and tied a large loop in it. She slipped her staff through her belt at the small of her back, and slipped the rope over her shoulders and under her arms. She threw the other end of the line to Companion, telling him to catch her if she fell.

    Companion pulled the slack out of the rope and braced himself. Grandmother walked across the section in question. She jumped up and down. She threw tier four force bolts at it. That was the highest tier force bolt she knew. Nothing moved.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± stepping back over the rail onto ¡®safe¡¯ ground. She took off the rope and started taking the knot out. ¡°I think the tier five spell is the key, it won¡¯t open without it.¡±

    ¡°If it is like the sewer covers in the industrial area,¡± Todd commented, ¡°it will only take a tier four spell to open it from below.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°How do we get below?¡±

    ¡°The dumper opens it. One of us could ride the rock load down,¡± Todd replied sarcastically. Grandmother looked around the track, at both walls and finally at the ceiling.

    ¡°It might work,¡± she said. ¡°Someone could wait on the ceiling using water adhesion. If they dropped at the last second when the load was almost through, they would follow it through the hole. If they cast float, they should survive the fall.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a job for you, brother,¡± Alex called to Companion.

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    ¡°No, no, no¡­¡± Companion sang in a high voice. The selkie¡¯s fear of heights almost overwhelmed him. Grandmother thought he was getting better. They lowered and raised him to and from the high platform entrance to the industrial area multiple times. They didn¡¯t even have to blindfold him anymore.

    ¡°It will have to be me then,¡± Alex concluded. Only Alex and Companion could cast float. The spell used the six symbol and they both sang it. Grandmother wondered if she could learn to cast float on herself using the butcher''s foot tapping method.

    ¡°How many tier four force spells do you know?¡± Grandmother asked. The answer was going to be none. There wasn¡¯t time since he reached tier four to learn more than heal, if that.

    Alex mumbled something.

    ¡°What are the other options?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°We could try attacking the dumper after it opens the trap door. If we defeat it maybe the door will remain open,¡± Sarah suggested.

    ¡°We could follow other dumpers and try to find a trap door that uses a spell we know,¡± Ellen offered.

    ¡°Both of those plans have possibilities. Although the second may take a very long time with no real guarantee of success,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°This dumper was outpacing me when I kept to the group¡¯s pace. Sarah, you¡¯re our slowest runner, I wonder if you can learn to cast swift on yourself using the butcher''s tap method? You probably couldn¡¯t recast once we were moving, but it lasts fairly long. Alex, can you cast swift on her? I¡¯d ask Companion but he¡¯s already casting it on himself. The time it takes to cast it twice might be too long.¡±

    ¡°I can try,¡± Alex said. ¡°We¡¯ll need to change the march order.¡±

    ¡°You and Todd can switch for a while,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°Is that our plan then?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Find another dumper and follow it?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait here for a while. This dump shaft must be a semi-permanent feature. I¡¯m going to mark it on my map. If we wait long enough I think another dumper will come along. We¡¯ll try attacking it after it starts to dump first. When we take it apart, let¡¯s do a detailed search for any kind of key it might be carrying to open the chute, like the digger¡¯s light. It could be something on the underside of the cart,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°We can all try to learn a tap version of swift while we wait,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Or float, it is also a cast on self spell, so maybe the butcher¡¯s method will work with it too.¡±

    Since swift wasn¡¯t a combat spell, they didn¡¯t need to find an opponent to learn it. After each try at casting it, they took off at a run. They made sure there were no traps in the section of tunnel they were running in before they started. Companion acted as instructor, starting with the tier zero version. An hour later they could all cast the tier zero, one and two versions. Grandmother learned them all quickly. It took longer to learn higher tier spells, but as a person¡¯s tier increased it took less repetitions to learn the lower tier spells. Grandmother suspected she was down to some kind of minimum number of repetitions for tier zero and one spells.

    Sarah went on to try to learn the tier three version. It would take her a while, since she was the same tier as the spell. Grandmother decided to invest her time in trying to learn float. Float was a tier three spell. There was no lower tier version of it. To learn it a player needed to be tier three and know a tier two spell in the same magic tree, which swift was.

    Float also wasn¡¯t a combat spell. It was one of the spells that Speedwell science couldn¡¯t explain. To learn it, Grandmother needed to fall after each cast. She pulled random pieces of bronze tubing out of her bag that they gathered from killing a digger earlier in the day, and put together a small step. She would step up onto the bar, tap the spell on herself and step off. Companion acted as her instruction, stepping up, singing the spell, stepping off and floating to the floor. Having an instructor should shorten the amount of tries it took to learn the spell. At this low drop, Companion¡¯s fear of heights didn¡¯t make an appearance. Watching him, Grandmother wondered if she slowly increased the height would that help him with his fear or make it worse?

    Her step wasn¡¯t the most elaborate construction. On the uneven rock floor of the tunnel it wobbled each time she stepped on it. Grandmother had an idea. She stopped her attempts to learn float. She disassembled her step and started working on a different construction. She pulled more bronze components out of her bag as she built up a long assembly. She laid the assembly down over the trap door between the rails.

    The finished construction was a flat panel, braced with tubing across the center. She attached two long tubes on the ends at one side of the width. The panel lay within the dust lines, while the long extensions reached past it. She hoped that when the trap door opened, the panel would rotate, dropping down into the hole, wedging it open. The risk was that the dumper would sense the blockage and not open the trap door.

    ¡°Something¡¯s coming,¡± Companion called. He had his face pressed against the rail, using his sensitive whiskers to sense vibrations. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and took up positions along the wall. Grandmother shoved her last few spare parts into her bag and secured it to her pack. She picked up her staff from where she leaned it against the wall and took her position in the center.

    ¡°Wait until it stops,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°When the rumble starts, I¡¯ll hit it with tier four force darts to push it off the rails.¡± The machines were much easier to kill off the rails. It was like the rails powered them. They usually used the rail car¡¯s own momentum to help derail them. At a stop the dumper wouldn¡¯t have any momentum. Grandmother cast conceal on all of them. Grandmother squatted down. She wanted to hit the dumper at an upper angle to encourage it to roll off the tracks.

    The dumper came rolling up. Something about its slow approach made it seem even bigger. It stopped. Grandmother held her breath, hoping it wasn¡¯t detecting her construction. There were a couple thumps and the rumble started.

    Grandmother started casting. The darts pounded into the cart, denting the side. The cart started to tilt away from her as the wheels on this side lifted. Each successive dart had more effect. Grandmother realized she was using force darts, so as the dumper emptied it lost mass, they became more effective.

    Companion stepped forward and using a side swing, buried his ax into the end of the cart that contained the mounted robot. The impact of his blow, added to Grandmother¡¯s bolts, caused the two wheels still on the far side to jump.

    Everyone jumped in. There were no rats. They closed all the small tunnels during their long wait.

    The dumper was defeated fairly easily once off the tracks. Companion touched the cart. Their payout appeared, confirming the kill. Grandmother walked over and looked down at the chute. The door was closed, or mostly closed. Her framework was shoved into the center. It had rotated as she hoped it would. The panel section was firmly in the hold of two doors that had slid into position from the sides.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Todd asked. Tapping the straight pole that was all that remained visible of Grandmother''s construction. Grandmother glanced around to find Ellen and Sarah on watch this time.

    ¡°Something I put together that I hoped would jam the door open. I guess I visualized the door opening the other direction,¡± Grandmother said, waving her hands to mime the action. ¡°I assumed that because there isn¡¯t enough edge next to the rails to hang something there.¡±

    ¡°If we built a square frame we could make internal leaves that fall down using the spin components,¡± Alex suggested.

    ¡°I wonder if it was just bad luck,¡± Todd said, ¡°or if the door adjusted to the obstruction to close as much as it could.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. She was chiding herself for not thinking of the spinners. Alex was carrying a bag with a handful of them. ¡°With a square frame and the spinners we could make a frame that drops leaves in both directions, leaving an open square in the center. As long as it didn¡¯t adjust and start pushing the door up from below.¡±

    Alex kicked the end of the frame, trying to decide how stuck it was. Grandmother thought she saw a flicker of movement in the door. Grandmother didn¡¯t think another dumper would come with the wreck here. To experiment with a different trap door jammer they were going to have to chase down another one. She decided they needed to try as much as they could at this site before moving on.

    ¡°It¡¯s not sealed. I wonder if we can lever it open,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Let¡¯s salvage the dumper and look for an opening key. If we don¡¯t find anything we can use the dumper components to pry the door open.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Eight

    Grandmother looked down into the hole with a frown. They tied two ropes together trying to get more length. Ellen created a harness out of a third rope which they put on Alex. The opening was a long narrow rectangle, but the shaft below was square. By securing the rope to a cross piece close to one end, Alex was able to walk down the wall.

    Companion was laying with his face on the rail, ready to call out the approach of any rail car at the first whisper of vibration. Grandmother planned to haul Alex up as fast as possible if something approached. The harness at the other end meant Alex would be dragged up, even if he lost his grip. They were pretty certain the rope, even two lengths of it, didn¡¯t reach the bottom. If he fell during the climb, hopefully the harness and float would save him.

    A bright light flashed once at the bottom of the pit. That was Alex¡¯s signal that he was heading back up. Grandmother kept her post as the warrior ascended. When he reached the top she offered him a hand to lift him out of the shaft.

    ¡°What did you find?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°There are four rope eyes under the lid, one in each corner. They are set far back so that they aren¡¯t covered by the open doors. They will be hard to reach from above. There is a spell ribbon on the edge of each panel. I thought it would be easier to read with a mirror than from below, so I didn¡¯t try. It¡¯s a straight shaft, no branches. I couldn¡¯t see the bottom,¡± Alex reported.

    Grandmother looked up to find Sarah accepting a shaving mirror from Todd. Todd took her place on the watch. Ellen was watching the other direction, with Companion¡¯s help. The bulk of the dumper¡¯s car was blocking the tunnel and limiting visibility. They discovered the wheels of the cart bore a negative impression of the spell ribbon on its wheels. They wasted a lot of time maneuvering the cart back onto the rails and aligning the wheels to the ribbon. They rolled the car back and forth, but the doors never opened. Eventually they gave up and rolled the car out of the way.

    They were more successful prying the doors open. The finished bracing was close to the square frame Alex described, only it didn¡¯t incorporate the moving parts. Everything in it was solidly set.

    ¡°I checked my map, and at the end of the rope I was near the level of the quest room, but we are way too far west here,¡± Alex said.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Grandmother said. Once more she wasn¡¯t paying attention to the map. She really didn¡¯t trust it. She opened her own map, and scrolled around until she found the quest room. She started studying the maze of mine passages and how they overlaid the section of map revealed by the inscription.

    ¡°There¡¯s one other thing,¡± Alex said a little tentatively as he wiggled out of the harness.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°The rock walls down there seemed¡­ different. I think they were real,¡± Alex responded.

    Grandmother couldn¡¯t decide what that meant, except that maybe the shafts were not semi-permanent, but permanent. Although if it was raw stone, maybe they could tunnel through it. Structure walls were repaired as fast as they were damaged. Would spells work against it or did they need to find a pick? Most of the work in magic spells was done by nanobots already in the target material. Alex¡¯s light blade spell worked at the bottom of the shaft because of the nanobots in his knife. Saying the stone was real probably meant it wasn¡¯t saturated with nanobots. If it acted like normal stone they would need to brace the tunnel against collapse.

    Grandmother gazed down into the hole and considered everything. How was she going to get all that equipment down there to the right level, and still be able to get back up? It was Companion¡¯s fear of heights that gave her an idea. The selkie didn¡¯t have a problem with the elevators on the Speedwell.

    ¡°You have an idea,¡± Alex commented. Grandmother looked up to find everyone looking at her, even Todd and Ellen who were supposed to be on watch.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°It''s going to be a lot of work and I may need to head back to the Speedwell for some of the design. We need to get some measurements and do a couple tests before we leave.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°It seems overly complicated,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who taught us the simple solution is the best?¡± They were back in the south gallery. They were all standing and sitting around multiple vellum map sections spread on the floor. They roughly represented three levels. The lowest level of the mine, eighteen shafts revealed in the inscription section, and the room.

    ¡°I was,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I did hatch this plan all on my own. Let¡¯s hear everyone else''s ideas.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair,¡± Sarah said after a few moments of silence, ¡°all I can think of now is your plan.¡±

    ¡°Consider my plan,¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°It is only a rough sketch, where will it fail? How can we improve it?¡±

    ¡°Since we haven¡¯t found any place to camp inside the mines, we have to come out every night. This plan is too long, we would have to come back out before the setup is done. Or are you planning to stay the night in the shaft? I don¡¯t think I can do that.¡± Companion commented.

    ¡°Is there a way to speed it up?¡± Grandmother asked the group.

    ¡°Do we have to kill the dumper?¡± Alex asked. ¡°They seem unobservant compared to the rest of the machines. What if we put the trap door blocker in place and just wait for the dumper to come by, dump its load and leave. If you''re right about the shafts being permanent we should be able to find them without chasing down a dumper.¡±

    ¡°What would stop another dumper from coming while we are working in the shaft and dumping a load on our heads?¡± Todd countered.

    ¡°If we unlock the doors from below, maybe that marks the chute in use,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°Sarah, did you identify the spell?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°It is a tier four spell used in blacksmithing,¡± Sarah commented.

    ¡°I wonder if the tier five spell is also a crafting spell?¡± Ellen mused.

    ¡°Does that mean you don¡¯t know the tier four spell?¡± Grandmother asked Ellen.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t, but I can learn it while making javelins for Todd. I¡¯ll substitute the tier four version for the tier three I¡¯ve been using. At tier four it will take a couple days, maybe as long as a week.¡±

    ¡°Before you start making large amounts of spears, think about making picks instead,¡± Grandmother commented.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Picks?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°To dig with,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Ellen said, ¡°the tunneling part.¡±

    ¡°What keeps it from falling on our head?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°We build frames to hold the stone up,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Can we do the same for the dumper load?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ Maybe, although we might do better by redirecting the rock fall. The shaft is larger than the trapdoor. We could put together a kind of slide to push the rock over to one side, away from where we are working. Once we have the tunnel started, we can flatten the platform against the wall and stay in the tunnel.¡±

    ¡°How do you know integrated rope will hold the weight of the platform and us?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°How do you know anything will hold in the structure?¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°We¡¯ll cast reinforce on the rope and float on ourselves. We can tie each of us off using separate lines for safety.¡±

    ¡°That is a lot of rope,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°

    ¡°Valin is looking for someone to run my shop in Londontown. He promised three candidates by the next Challenge day. We can buy some of the rope there or in Seagrass,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°So what is the first step?¡± Todd asked. ¡°We buy rope?¡±

    ¡°No, let''s design the trap door frame and go try it out.¡± Grandmother leaned out over the map squares and pointed out five of the shafts. ¡°I want to see if we can get access to any of these five. These three are close to the cave, or whatever it is, that runs by the room here.¡± She moved her finger down to the room sections, pointing out the cave that ran the closest to the room that they could see. It ran over the top of one corner. ¡°While these two are the closest to the room itself,¡± Grandmother said as she pointed them out. ¡°If we can find more than one of them, we can read the ribbons and pick based on the spells.

    ¡°After we¡¯ve picked our access point, we can start designing the platform and gather supplies. I¡¯d like to rig a pulley system to help lower the platform. I may have to make some of the pieces at the Speedwell,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°While I¡¯m out there I want to visit the villages and see if anyone might be convinced to teach in the school.¡±

    ¡°We are coming up on ¡®the inn is never full¡¯. I have some things I need to finish up before that for the event,¡± Todd said. ¡°Can we delay this plan until after that?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that was getting near. The season must be half over.¡± The inn is never full event was scheduled to fall between challenge days. The next challenge day was too close for it to be before it, but that meant it was less than a month away.

    ¡°Just about,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°We¡¯ve been really busy this year.¡±

    ¡°I want to promise you that it will be easier next season, but I am planning on opening a school,¡± Grandmother admitted, trying hard to look contrite. Todd laughed. ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I can take a hint. We¡¯ll take a break.¡±

    ¡°We still have five days until the next Challenge day. We can spend three looking for trap doors,¡± Alex offered. ¡°Then maybe a break after that.¡± Everyone nodded their agreement. Grandmother remembered how many projects of their own the group members started the last time she called a long break. With the transportation room at the upgraded rest, she could make the trip to the Speedwell quickly and none of the others really needed to go. She¡¯d take Todd with her to Londontown, for the interviews with Valin¡¯s shop keeper candidates, but the rest of the party didn¡¯t need to be bothered with that either.

    ¡°Deal,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°Now,¡± she said, turning to the set of map vellums that showed the mine tunnels they explored so far, ¡°does anyone have any ideas about how to navigate the mine? So far I¡¯ve just been using brute force, but it seems like every time we enter, it is different.¡±

    ¡°Only the snake tunnels change,¡± Alex said. ¡°It''s not always easy to tell if a tunnel is a snake tunnel if we find it in the dugout version. Usually if it disappears on us, we later find a snake there, or a narrow tunnel with the tracks just laid.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Grandmother asked. She hadn¡¯t noticed that.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure the main tunnels will change on us eventually, just like a structure remodel, but so far they have always been the same. At least on this trip,¡± Alex responded. ¡°I¡¯ve been marking the snake tunnels on my map so I can be prepared when we approach them.¡±

    ¡°Here,¡± Ellen said, digging a stylus out of her pocket. ¡°Can you transfer your marking onto these maps?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Alex said, accepting the stylus from Ellen. He started adding hatch marks onto vellums. Ellen was closely watching Alex¡¯s work.

    ¡°What do you see?¡± Sarah asked her sister.

    ¡°Jeweler has me making these thread based, knotted necklaces. He told me with the right knots and beads they give you a temporary boost to things like stamina, strength and agility,¡± Ellen explained. ¡°With Alex¡¯s tunnels removed, the remaining ones remind me of some of the more complicated knots.¡±

    Ellen took the stylus back from Alex. She drew a series of small and large loops over the revealed tunnels. The map squares only printed out a single ¡®level¡¯ in the structure. The tunnels ran up and down at least six levels, with the bulk of the tunnels in the middle. Grandmother pulled a level midrange to illustrate the complexity. Ellen¡¯s loops were showing how the tunnels were connected across multiple levels. ¡°See how the pattern here is the same as in this section here?¡± Ellen pointed out what she was talking about to the group.

    She sketched the pattern over a blank section nearer to the shafts they were interested in. ¡°If the knot is symmetric, I¡¯d expect it to look something like this,¡± Ellen said. Grandmother sat down on the floor to get a closer look.

    ¡°This is really good,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I never noticed it. From your sketches it looks like this shaft here is really close to the revealed map.¡± Grandmother pointed to one of the shafts she targeted. It was one that passed near the cave system below. ¡°We can target it first tomorrow. Ellen, you can navigate.¡±

    Following Ellen¡¯s knot they found access to three of the target shafts. Two were shafts that lead down to near the cave, while the third was one that dropped near the room. The trap door frame, with its multiple leaves, worked beautifully. Using the knot predicted map, they navigated to a tunnel that was directly above a shaft. They would carefully search the rails in the area looking for the inscription.

    When they found it they centered their frame between the start and stop of the engravings, and retreated down the tunnel where they waited. During the waits everyone worked on learning the tier three tap spells. Changing which spell you were trying to learn before you learned it, made it all take longer. Everyone finished learning swift before switching to float. Grandmother went the other way. After she learned float, she got bored waiting and started working on learning the tier three swift, even though the current plan shouldn¡¯t require its use.

    As Alex predicted, the dumper would drop its load and move on, never giving any indication it sensed them. Not having to fight and clean up after meant they could cover a lot more ground looking for shafts in a day. On the second shaft they tried adding steel sheets to the top of the frame. The dumper tried to drop its load, but the rocks just spilled out into the space between the bottom of the dumper and the cover before jamming. After a set period of time, the dumper pulled away, trailing rocks behind it. The bulk of the cart scraped most of the material off the top of the cover. It would be easy enough to push the cover up from below.

    The tier five spells on the top of the shafts were all different. They even came from different spell trees. They didn¡¯t find any that Grandmother knew. She suspected they were all crafting spells. The tier four spells underneath matched the spell tree of the one above. One they recognized, it was another crafting spell that they knew about, but none of them had mastered. One they didn¡¯t recognize at all.

    ¡°I know this one,¡± Ellen announced after reading the spell on the underside of the third trap door. This shaft was the one that led down close to the room, not the cave. ¡°It is a spell for controlling a loom,¡± she explained. Ellen reached under the trapdoor with both hands and tapped out the spell on the underside of the doors.

    The frame shifted, startling them all. The doors were open, releasing the pressure that was holding the frame solid.

    ¡°We should wait and see if a dumper still comes,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I think we should put the cap on, just in case, when we start to dig. As long as the spell doesn¡¯t change when we return, this will be our target.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Twenty Nine

    ¡°There is a warrior watching us from the stairwell,¡± Todd announced.

    ¡°Who is he interested in?¡± Grandmother asked. Valin listened to this exchange with some alarm. It wasn¡¯t until this moment that he realized Todd had the Guardian boon. That was a hard one to trick. No wonder he was discovered at Stoneshelf.

    ¡°I think me,¡± Todd responded. ¡°He has a distinct red tinge and I am the only red here. I don¡¯t recognize him.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother responded. The three of them were sitting at the ¡®outdoor¡¯ inn tables in Londontown. They were waiting for Valin¡¯s third candidate for the shop keeper position. Grandmother rejected the second candidate quickly, leaving them with a wait until the third. The first candidate was acceptable. Grandmother planned to hire her if the third wasn¡¯t more impressive.

    ¡°He is coming over,¡± Todd announced.

    ¡°Do you want to avoid him?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see what he wants,¡± Todd admitted.

    ¡°We¡¯ll find out then,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Can you identify him, Valin?¡± Valin casually turned to get a good look at the approaching warrior.

    ¡°He is one of the king¡¯s guards,¡± Valin responded. ¡°He is not family, so his career is limited. I do not know his name,¡± he admitted. I should know, Valin thought to himself. He should know the name of anyone interested in his primary or near associates. He was rusty.

    ¡°Todd,¡± the man said, when he reached the table. His attention was all on Todd, he didn¡¯t even glance at Grandmother or Valin.

    ¡°Do I know you?¡± Todd asked politely. The warrior was near Todd¡¯s age, maybe a little younger. Todd, at thirty one, was considered old in the structure. Most people didn¡¯t live past forty, the dangers of life eventually caught up with everyone.

    ¡°I am your cousin, Lucas,¡± the man stated. ¡°Harry¡¯s son.¡± Now that Harry¡¯s name was mentioned, Grandmother could see this man¡¯s resemblance, not to Harry and Todd, but to Muriel. Muriel would be this man¡¯s sister, so it made sense. If Lucas was Todd¡¯s cousin, Harry must be Todd¡¯s uncle, not his father. Grandmother was happy she managed to work that out without asking. That relief left her in a good mood.

    ¡°Lucas,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Yes, I remember you. What brings you to see me?¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me what happened to my parents?¡± Lucas asked. ¡°I have always wondered.¡±

    ¡°Your mother died in the halls during the search for a new square,¡± Todd said. He decided to break that old bad news quickly. ¡°Harry is the head of the guard at Melbourne.¡± Valin covered his surprise at this answer. Valin knew Melbourne. It was a lost square to the north. He couldn¡¯t believe Todd, who he thought of as honest to a fault, could give out that false information without even a flicker of guilt.

    ¡°He still lives?¡± Lucas questioned, surprise in his voice.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd replied, the ¡®why would you think differently?¡¯ was incorporated into Todd tone.

    ¡°And my siblings?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Five survived the journey,¡± Todd responded, giving their names.

    ¡°I have five children myself now,¡± Lucas said. ¡°The youngest was born less than six thirty-six days ago.¡±

    ¡°It must be a busy household,¡± Todd said politely.

    ¡°My oldest wants to be a crafter,¡± Lucas explained. ¡°I¡¯ve tried to get him apprenticed, but because of my position in the king¡¯s guards, none of the crafters here will take him.¡±

    ¡°Have you tried paying?¡± Todd asked. ¡°A friend of mine says you can usually buy what you want and there are less hard feelings that way.¡±

    ¡°I tried, they still refused,¡± Lucas said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how I can help you,¡± Todd responded to his cousin. ¡°I am not a crafter.¡±

    ¡°I was hoping you could ask in Melbourne if anyone there was offering an apprenticeship,¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°I am not certain I can do that,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Considering the friction between our squares.¡± Lucas looked disappointed, but resigned. He nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡°Perhaps there is another option,¡± Grandmother said. Lucas jerked, turning to look at the woman sitting next to Todd in surprise, as if he just now noticed her there. Grandmother¡¯s don¡¯t notice me spell obviously worked. ¡°How much did you offer to pay for an apprenticeship?¡±

    ¡°Ten silver a thirty-six day,¡± Lucas responded. That was an insane amount. The rent for a shop was the same. It appeared this man really did want this for his son.

    ¡°You should send him to the Wizard¡¯s Tower,¡± Grandmother said.

    ¡°The what?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a school, in the east. It costs twenty silver a student for three thirty-six days. They teach a variety of subjects; reading, history, physical defense, crafting,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°It runs during the winter.¡±

    ¡°History? Like the Romans?¡± Lucas asked. This wasn¡¯t the first time Grandmother heard the Roman empire mentioned by one of Todd¡¯s family. One of his ancestors must have really liked them.

    ¡°Yes, like the Romans, but also things like the founding of Londontown, the formation of Chicago, the wizard¡¯s war and the battle of Redfalls,¡± Grandmother said. Now Todd looked surprised. Valin certainly was. He thought a lot of those subjects would be on the forbidden list. ¡°The number of open slots is always limited. They insist on equal amounts of girls and boys. Your chances of getting your boy in would increase if you could find someone who wants to send a daughter.¡±

    Lucas sat down on the bench next to Valin. Grandmother was surprised he finally settled after standing for so long.

    ¡°Do the students take all the subjects?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No. Some subjects are required for all the students, like reading, but other subjects are elective. The student chooses what they want to take,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Does that mean the girls can take¡­ physical defense?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°There are no limitations on subject matter based on gender,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°My daughter wants to be a warrior. That isn¡¯t allowed here. She is only nine. Is that too young for this school?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°They accept students aged eight and up. If a student is over sixteen they can try for one of the residence positions and get a discount on the tuition.¡±

    ¡°Adults can attend?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Yes, but they have to attend alone. There is no housing for families.¡± Todd was pretty certain Grandmother was making a lot of this up as she told Lucas. He was making mental notes since Grandmother usually meant what she said. Lucas turned his attention back to Todd.

    ¡°Is this school real?¡± Lucas asked. ¡°Will my children be safe there?¡±

    ¡°No one can guarantee another¡¯s safety in this world. The school is real, your children will learn. If it is within the power of the instructors, they will be returned to you safe,¡± Todd assured his cousin.

    ¡°Recruiters come by our square in the fall,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°Perhaps Todd or Harry could try to get a slot for your son or daughter.¡±

    ¡°When is the fall?¡± Lucas asked. ¡°We don¡¯t use seasons here anymore.¡±

    ¡°It starts about two months from now,¡± Todd said. ¡°two thirty-six days,¡± Todd clarified, remembering Lucas¡¯s use of the term and Grandmother¡¯s easy acceptance of it, ¡°and is three thirty-six days long.¡±

    ¡°I will consider it,¡± Lucas said, rising to his feet. ¡°I need to discuss it with my spouse.¡±

    ¡°I hate playing favorites,¡± Grandmother admitted, after Lucas left, ¡°but in this case I am going to. I¡¯m not going to stretch it past one son and one daughter.¡± She turned to Valin. ¡°It would be convenient if more squares heard rumors of the school. I have sixty slots for structure children, I would like at least thirty of them to come from squares other than ours.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Fifteen girls and fifteen boys,¡± Valin clarified.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°I won¡¯t allow another boy to sign up until a girl does, or the reverse. It would be nice if we could get a boy and girl from each square and Chicago. There are eleven squares, twelve settlements.¡±

    ¡°Fourteen squares,¡± Todd said. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting Home, OpenSky and Peking. We may never have visited it, but Kai has the crystal on his map.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s true. I should make the time to go, even if it is just to pick up the crystal.¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Back to the current subject, it would be nice, but I don¡¯t see how we can coordinate visiting all those squares before fall. We had a hard time visiting them all last year. Next year I may have to actually organize recruiters. This year I¡¯ll be happy if we can pick up some students from two or three squares.¡±

    ¡°Which squares?¡± Valin asked. He was unsurprised they visited all the human squares last year. He was sure they were buying and selling spells.

    ¡°I have no preference,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Evenly spread across the human region would be nice. That would help disperse the reports of returning students and help recruitment next year.¡±

    ¡°Harry doesn¡¯t have any other human squares on his map,¡± Valin commented.

    ¡°Everyone in the team has all the crystals from last year,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°We can all send you out. If you don¡¯t want to touch the crystal in the square, you¡¯ll have to return back to the north gallery.¡±

    ¡°The run back from the north gallery is quick enough,¡± Vain commented. He already did that run once, when he realized there was no portal keeper in Londontown and he needed to get back to Home Square to tell Grandmother about the candidates he found.

    ¡°We should take Harry out and make him pick up the other crystals,¡± Todd suggested.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°That is actually a good idea, and not just Harry, but all our transportation room tenders. I am not seeing it happen this year, but we definitely need to take them along on the next tour.¡±

    ¡°Here comes the last candidate,¡± Valin said. The candidate came out of the inn behind Grandmother, so she couldn¡¯t see the man approach.

    ¡°Have a seat,¡± Valin said after he exchanged greetings. ¡°This is Eric,¡± Valin said to Grandmother. ¡°He¡¯s a member of a minor branch of the royal family.¡±

    ¡°Which branch?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m a grandchild of the mad queen¡¯s daughter,¡± the man said openly. ¡°Are you the shop owner?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I am looking for someone to run it for me while I am out of town.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Eric replied. ¡°I can do that for you.¡±

    ¡°Which daughter?¡± Todd asked. He really couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking.

    ¡°The oldest, Mary,¡± Eric responded. ¡°Irene didn¡¯t have any children.¡± Mary¡¯s was the most minor line. Mary vanished from Londontown before the wizard¡¯s war. The children she left behind were barely considered royal. Eric was wearing blue touched leathers. The blue was the crafted shade, so he could not be more than tier three.

    ¡°Not yet anyway,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°What?¡± Eric asked, obviously confused by this comment.

    ¡°Why do you want this job?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I thought it would be amusing,¡± Eric responded in a lighthearted tone. Todd could see Grandmother dismiss the man. That was too bad. Todd suspected that Irene was devastated by the chasm between herself and the rest of her family in Londontown. Todd didn¡¯t think he could ever mend that rift, but he saw no reason not to try.

    ¡°That response won¡¯t get you the job,¡± Todd told Eric bluntly. ¡°No matter how minor the line, you are a royal. Think about it for a minute and tell us the truth, no matter how ridiculous it sounds to your own ears.¡± Eric followed Todd¡¯s advice and thought for a moment.

    ¡°I need something to do,¡± Eric said. ¡°Something clean and honest and not connected to the family at all.¡±

    ¡°Do you have the healing addiction?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Eric responded. ¡°The only benefit to being part of the minor line, no one bothers trying to control us.¡±

    ¡°In this position you might become someone that people do want to control. How do you feel about that?¡± Grandmother queried.

    ¡°It frightens me,¡± Eric admitted, ¡°but I still want the job.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to offer you the position,¡± Grandmother said after casting muffle, ¡°but before I do, I¡¯m going to admit to you that I too am a descendent of the mad queen. Are you still interested?¡±

    Grandmother¡¯s don¡¯t notice me spell worked by masking the target¡¯s real appearance with an average look for the square. As Eric studied Grandmother looking for some sign of who she really was the spell started to fail. It was just too low tier to hold up to intense study. Eric¡¯s eyes widened as he involuntarily leaned back.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Eric responded. ¡°I still want it.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother said. She flicked her hand, dismissing muffle. ¡°Valin, if you can go find the first candidate, Lilly, I¡¯ll hire her too. Now that I consider the dangers of Londontown, I think the shop will do better with two clerks. They can watch each other''s backs.¡±

    Grandmother walked her two new hires over to her shop and let them inside. Even Valin appeared impressed with the shop''s contents. Grandmother added the two Londontowners as clerks using the pay surface/shop interface, then walked them through how to run the shop.

    ¡°It is very difficult to steal anything from a shop,¡± Grandmother told her two clerks, ¡°so don¡¯t worry about it. I haven¡¯t given you the ability to change prices or remove items from inventory by any other method than someone paying for it. If someone tries to strong arm you into letting them have an item for free, go ahead and let them try to take it. You can personally hand it to them, tell them it is theirs or whatever, and the shop will still work to retain it.

    ¡°If they do manage to get the item from the shop, one of two things will happen. The inventory price for it will be taken from them and added to the shop¡¯s account, or the item will turn into dust in three days. If it turns to dust the next time you''re out of the shop, it will reappear in here.¡±

    ¡°Wow, really?¡± Todd asked softly. He was standing back from Grandmother¡¯s little lecture to Lilly and Eric, so only Valin heard him.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Valin said. ¡°It¡¯s part of why I always keep a shop.¡±

    ¡°In order to avoid retribution, I¡¯d explain that to any strong arm men when they first start threatening,¡± Grandmother advised.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get paid a minimum of two iron coins an hour each day you are in the shop for the first six hours. If you work longer hours you won¡¯t get paid more minimum. You will get paid a sixth of all sales. If you are both in the shop at the same time, the sixth will be split between you. I¡¯ll let you decide if you want to work common shifts or alternating,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°The inventory in the front is very nearly all unique items with high prices, at the back of the shop is the more common and affordable pieces. I don¡¯t expect the front items to sell much, so don¡¯t be surprised at the prices. Here let me show you how to find the price using the interface,¡± Grandmother activated the interface and began walking her clerks through the use of it.

    ¡°I asked around, no one remembers a shop here,¡± Valin commented.

    ¡°I was born in this square,¡± Todd countered. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a shop here either. I believe Irene set it up before the wizard¡¯s war.¡±

    ¡°Does she have any more in other squares?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Todd responded, ¡°but if you want to be certain you will have to ask her.¡±

    Valin started asking Todd his opinion of the squares they visited last year. Todd decided Valin was deciding which square he should try first to get Grandmother¡¯s students from. After a few more questions Valin cast muffle and Todd knew the elf was going to ask something sensitive.

    ¡°Why did you say you are from Melbourne?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°Grandmother doesn¡¯t want Londontown to know where Home Square is. She knows we will be found eventually, but she wants to put that off as long as possible. She is worried there will be war between our squares if the crystal here fails,¡± Todd said with a nod to the tiny protection crystal floating in the courtyard outside the shop¡¯s windows. ¡°She was making arrangements to resettle the residents at a potential square to the west of Home Square, but reopening this shop makes me think she has some new plan to rebuild the crystal here.¡±

    ¡°The selkie swept Melbourne,¡± Valin announced suddenly. Todd wondered what drove the elf to make that statement.

    ¡°Yes, we know,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Grandmother had friends there.¡±

    ¡°The selkie lost the crystals in three squares and halved the crystals in three more. I¡¯ve never seen a harsher retaliation by Control,¡± Valin commented, ¡°and the humans weren¡¯t without fault.¡±

    ¡°Humans never are,¡± Todd conceded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it,¡± Grandmother said to her clerks. Valin dismissed his muffle with alacrity. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in six days or so to see how you are doing. I¡¯ll restock your inventory then. If you get any special requests, write them down and I will see what I can gather.¡±

    After a few last minute questions from both clerks, Grandmother, Todd and Valin exited the shop.

    ¡°I believe my work in this square is done for now,¡± Valin announced. ¡°Can you send me on to Newcastle?¡± Newcastle was one of the squares Todd described as the most receptive to Grandmother¡¯s offer to buy spells. Valin fetched his belongings from the inn, before joining them in one of the apartment stairwells. They climbed up. When they were out of sight of everyone Grandmother cast conceal on all of them, effectively making them vanish. They crossed over to the stairwell closest to the back door before going back down.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t he touch the crystals?¡± Todd asked, after Grandmother sent Valin on to Newcastle. The elf tried to pay for his passage with physical coins but Grandmother refused to accept them.

    "You''re going on my business,¡± Grandmother told Valin. ¡°I¡¯ll pay the cost.¡±

    ¡°I suspect there is some way to trace him though the square crystals. It may be a perk of some kind. He was reluctant to touch the rest and gallery crystals but he did. I think his reluctance there might just be a habit,¡± Grandmother theorized.

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t recall what crystal he touched last before the upgraded rest,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going out to the Speedwell, to design the pulleys and manufacture the wheels. I need to come up with a design that uses structure components for the load. That way if the Speedwell parts fail early we won¡¯t fall to our deaths,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Todd said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°You can stay here and wait for Lucas to get back to you on whether he wants to send his kids to the school or not,¡± Grandmother offered. ¡°Or you can go back to Home Square to finish your preparations for ¡®the inn is never full¡¯.

    ¡°You promised the clerks you¡¯d be back in six days. I can run down Lucas then. We¡¯ll probably have to sweep a bunch of rooms to get new inventory for the shop, so I¡¯ll have a couple days to find him,¡± Todd countered. ¡°That leaves about six days before the event where I can finish up preparations. While you''re working on your design, I can run out to the villages and spread word of the school.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°We can put a notice up on the trading stations screens, but I think it might go over better if we had a physical sign in the villages.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Thirty

    Grandmother and Todd rented an apartment in Londontown to hold the extra components they collected. Grandmother''s shop didn¡¯t have any back room in it. After listening to her explaining about how the shop defended inventory, Todd realized why she didn¡¯t want any items in it that weren¡¯t part of that inventory. Since she didn¡¯t run it herself she needed the shop to guard itself. They returned to Londontown after only five days at the Speedwell. Grandmother was worried about what the rest of the team was getting up to in Home Square and didn''t want be away longer. Todd was amused by that.

    They arrived in Londontown to find the shop nearly empty. Not only was the shop out of the cheaper component furniture, but most of the high cost unique stuff was gone as well. There was no sign of Grandmother¡¯s covered chair, which she confided in the team she was unable to sell because of the high cost of the fiber she used for stuffing.

    It was this complete sell out that made Grandmother decide to collect every component they could carry and sort it out later.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Grandmother told the clerks and Todd, as she surveyed the devastation of her empty showroom. ¡°I quadrupled the prices. Everything was twice as much as what Alex is charging.¡± The clerks glanced at each other, wondering who Alex was.

    Todd was keeping watch out the windows into the square. He gave everyone that passed a close inspection.

    ¡°There¡¯s been more money in the square since the spell buying,¡± Eric offered.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°If that¡¯s the source of the funds, it will run out. I¡¯ll hold the prices for now, but if you sell out again in the next six days, I¡¯ll raise them again.¡± She needed to figure out a way to return money back to the square. Otherwise by selling this furniture she was just taking back the coins she paid for spells. To really get Londontown''s economy going the coins needed to recirculate inside the square.

    ¡°The inn holiday is in nine days,¡± Todd reminded Grandmother.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°We won¡¯t make it back here until after that. I guess I¡¯ll increase the prices fifty percent. Hopefully that will make the inventory last fifty percent longer. We better get working on gathering it up.¡±

    ¡°We received a lot of requests,¡± Lilly reported. She pulled a folded sheet of vellum out from her pocket and handed it over to Grandmother. Grandmother unfolded it and began to read. The notes were written in a very small script and covered both sides of the page.

    ¡°Tables, shelves, chairs¡­. A workbench?¡± Grandmother said questioningly.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t certain what that was,¡± Lilly responded. ¡°Carl, the blacksmith wants it. One with a porcelain top if possible he said.¡±

    ¡°A porcelain top?! Todd,¡± Grandmother said, turning to look at her companion, ¡°who has been coming to Londontown?¡±

    ¡°I think Ellen and Sarah are buying vellum from the leatherworker here. They used to be short all the time and lately they haven¡¯t been,¡± Todd admitted.

    ¡°How does that translate to the blacksmith?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve noticed the guard has a lot of new blades. The blacksmith shop in our square has started selling a lot of axes and warhammers to the visitors, so I¡¯m not certain where the blades came from,¡± Todd admitted.

    ¡°You think Harry left the square?¡± Grandmother asked with total disbelief.

    ¡°No, but, ah the blacksmith here is a relative to the blacksmith at Home. They are siblings I believe,¡± Todd reported. Grandmother rubbed her face. Obviously the transportation system wasn¡¯t going to be a secret much longer, if it even was now. She remembered Companion told her once that you couldn¡¯t travel the true god¡¯s paths with violence in your heart. She really hoped that was true. She remembered thinking about opening up coliseum access to more human squares. If this kept up she suspected that would take care of itself. At least that meant she didn''t have to buy anything in the square herself. Coins were already flowing in to replace the ones the shop was taking out.

    ¡°I doubt I can find ceramic in the local area,¡± Grandmother told Lilly. ¡°If he is set on that material he¡¯ll have to wait. Don¡¯t promise him anything, but I¡¯ll see if I can bring in ceramic on the next trip.¡±

    ¡°Alex has a couple,¡± Todd reported helpfully. ¡°You could buy one from him.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a copy of this list for yourself?¡± Grandmother asked, as she looked over the well worn vellum.

    ¡°No,¡± Eric told her. ¡°Vellum is in short supply.¡± Grandmother shot a look at Todd.

    ¡°Apparently, you can buy it from the leather shop,¡± Grandmother informed Eric. ¡°Never mind. I¡¯ll pick some up while we are sweeping for furniture.¡±

    They spent two days gathering components and restocking the store. They carried the components back into the square in bags. They dumped them out onto their apartment floor before going back out for more.

    Grandmother assembled multiples of everything on the list. They didn¡¯t find a ceramic top for a workbench, but she built two with stainless steel sheeting. They were forced to build shelving for the apartment in order to sort and hold all the components. They found mostly iron, steel and wood, with only the occasional bronze. Todd remembered Grandmother''s store contained glass and copper shelving when he first visited it, but they found nothing in those materials this trip. Components were plentiful. They also found several unique pieces including a wood table, sofa and storage box. The storage box reminded Todd of one that was in Grandmother¡¯s shop before. Perhaps unique wasn¡¯t exactly the right word for these pieces. They weren¡¯t made of components and couldn¡¯t be broken down, but they did appear over and over.

    They ended up carrying the large pieces in through the green after midnight. They didn''t have a cart, but Grandmother let the strength of her tier show by carrying the sofa through the square single handedly.

    ¡°We should put a cart together for them,¡± Todd said, after he set the storage box down in the showroom. ¡°Alex uses it for delivery inside the square. Your clerks could make a little extra money that way.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for wheels, but I haven¡¯t found any,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°If we don¡¯t find any before the next restock, I¡¯ll try to buy a set from Alex. I know he picked up multiple sets before the remodel.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t until the next afternoon that they found Lucas, or maybe it was more accurate to say Lucas found them. They were coming in the back door of the square heavily loaded with bags. Grandmother was also carrying two wooden chairs, while Todd was hauling an iron table. They already decided they couldn''t make it through the back door without detection even using conceal. The bulky items they were carrying were bound to bump into something or someone and break the spell. They decided to brazen it out.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Lucas?¡± Grandmother asked as they approached the guards at the entrance. Guards at Londontown always collected taxes. Grandmother was thinking about offering one of the chairs so she didn¡¯t have to carry it anymore.

    ¡°I believe it is,¡± Todd responded. Grandmother was under her typical, don¡¯t notice me spell, but Todd didn¡¯t bother. Until Lucas approached him in the square the last trip, Todd didn¡¯t think anyone knew who he was, so there was no reason to mask his appearance.

    ¡°Lucas,¡± Todd said in greeting to his cousin at the gate. Lucas wasn¡¯t alone, there were two other guards. They were there most of the day. Todd and Grandmother passed them under cloaking spells three or four times already.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°Where are you headed with that table and chairs?¡±

    ¡°It is stock for the furniture shop,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°Good,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°Eric was getting a little worried about running out. Let them pass,¡± Lucas told the younger guards. ¡°There are no taxes on a royal, even one from a minor line.¡± The guards moved to the side, letting them pass. Grandmother shuffled the chairs around in her hands, trying not to hit the wall of the hallway with one.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Here,¡± Lucas offered, ¡°I¡¯ll carry one for you,¡± Grandmother handed off the chair without a second thought. It wasn¡¯t that it was heavy, it was just so awkward.

    Lucas followed them into the square and across the courtyard to the shop. It was a pretty long trip. Todd thought about how much nicer Alex¡¯s location right beside the back door was for delivering large items.

    ¡°I see this isn¡¯t your first trip,¡± Lucas commented when they entered the shop. Most of the empty space was refilled with new items. Grandmother headed straight over to the pay surface where she added the chairs and table into inventory. Todd sat the iron table down, next to where Grandmother left her chair. Lucas added his chair to the little ensemble. Todd didn¡¯t think it looked anywhere as good as Alex¡¯s displays.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he admitted to Lucas. Todd switched the chairs with the component chairs that were on display around the wooden table they carried in during the night. The wooden table looked better, but the iron table was still missing something. Todd thought it needed a potted plant. He didn¡¯t remember seeing any planters. He¡¯d look in the miscellaneous pile when they got up to the apartment. That made him think of the little displays of crafting tools Sarah and Ellen set up around their books. They didn¡¯t have any books on them, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t use the tools. Grandmother could add them to the inventory at or below the vendor price. Or maybe she could forget to add them to the inventory and allow them to be stolen, Todd mused to himself. That was something Irene, youngest daughter of the mad queen, would do.

    ¡°The shop doesn¡¯t belong to Eric,¡± Todd said to his cousin. His own sense of honesty asserting itself.

    ¡°Every child of a queen is royalty,¡± Lucas countered. One of the bags that was slung around Todd''s body gave an angry churn. Todd patted it gently, trying to reassure it that Grandmother would be right back. ¡°Are you petting that bag?¡± Lucas asked. He obviously thought his cousin might be a little off.

    ¡°It has a little indigestion,¡± Todd explained. Lucas looked alarmed now.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go up and unload. I think we are getting close. I need to double check the list,¡± Grandmother commented, before heading to the door.

    ¡°Come along,¡± Todd said to Lucas. ¡°We can talk in the apartment.¡± If Lucas was aware of who owned the shop, Todd didn¡¯t see how revealing the apartment would hurt anything. Grandmother didn¡¯t say anything on the trip up with Lucas following them.

    Their unit was an odd inner corner unit that didn¡¯t have a balcony. It was the only apartment they could find that was available. Londontown, despite any faults of its leadership, was swelling at the seams.

    Instead of a balcony it possessed a double wide main room, which they lined with shelving. The shelves were loaded with all kinds of components and items. The floor was mostly clear, although there were still a few small connectors scattered about that they failed to pick up on their last run.

    ¡°Open the bags,¡± Grandmother said to Todd. ¡°It is so much faster when you do it.¡± Faster was one word for it. Todd cautioned his cousin to stand back out of the way. He started with the unruly bag he tried to calm earlier.

    The look on Lucas¡¯ face was priceless when the bag ejected its contents on the floor. Todd handed the empty bag back to Grandmother so she could console it. Between the two of them they were only carrying six bags. That limitation was part of the reason they were making so many trips. The unique items needed to be carried back anyway, which is why they didn¡¯t just buy more bags.

    ¡°Have you thought about the school?¡± Todd asked Lucas, after the last bag was empty. Todd started pulling the longest components and tossing them closer to the shelves. Grandmother gathered up matching pieces and placed them on the shelves. The method they developed was to work their way down in size. Lucas squatted and pulled several crafting tools out of the pile and set them aside. Todd thought Grandmother would like that he helped without being asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to send my son and daughter,¡± Lucas announced. ¡°I can pull the money out at the prize altar if you need it upfront.¡±

    ¡°Inventory access,¡± Grandmother corrected.

    ¡°We¡¯re trying to remove the religious references from our vocabulary,¡± Todd explained. ¡°Altar sounds like you¡¯re praying to the gods, when really you are using the physical interface to access your virtual inventory, hence inventory access.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°Do you need the payment?¡±

    ¡°If you have it now, I¡¯ll take it. If I¡¯m unable to get the spots, I¡¯ll bring the coins back,¡± Todd said. With all the things on Grandmother''s list to accomplish before the school opened, Todd wasn¡¯t completely certain they would make it this year. ¡°You can try again next year if they don¡¯t get in this time.¡±

    Lucas¡¯ pile of crafting tools was getting large. Instead of moving to the inventory access to pull the coins, he kept sorting the pile. Todd took that as a sign he had something else to say.

    ¡°There is an older man in the guards, he wants to retire but he has no other skills. He¡¯d like to try the school, but he doesn¡¯t have the coins. He has the sickness you see, so even though he¡¯s a skilled fighter, he¡¯s never accumulated much wealth,¡± Lucas explained. Todd thought ¡®the sickness¡¯ must be a euphemism for someone addicted to healing spells.

    ¡°I have a theory about the sickness,¡± Grandmother said from where she was stacking components. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to test it, send him around and we¡¯ll see.¡± Lucas stood up and straightened his leathers. He pulled the coins from the inventory access before heading out, promising he¡¯d be right back with his friend. Companion told them last year that the craving caused by being healed by someone with the same color magic could be removed by a higher tier spell from a different color caster.

    Grandmother was assembling a set of weapon and armor stands when there was a knock on the door. Todd picked up his javelin from where it leaned against the wall before approaching the door. Grandmother freed her hands and shifted to cover him.

    Todd opened the door to find Lucas standing in the hall with a man in his forties standing beside him. The older man wore a bright blue patch over one eye, and was missing three fingers from his right hand.

    ¡°This is Ed,¡± Lucas said, introducing his companion.

    ¡°Come in,¡± Todd said, stepping back into the room. he positioned himself so he ended up behind the two newcomers as he closed the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s the stick man for?¡± Ed asked. Todd noticed there was a slight tremor in the old warrior''s hands.

    ¡°It''s for storing and displaying your armor,¡± Todd explained. ¡°I told you we should put armor on it,¡± he said to Grandmother.

    ¡°I already loaned my armor to Harry,¡± Grandmother countered. Todd realized she¡¯d dropped her camouflage spell somewhere along the way.

    ¡°Even cloth armor would give people a hint,¡± Todd countered, giving their visitors a moment to adjust. Grandmother appeared to consider that idea for a moment before addressing their visitor.

    ¡°When did you lose the eye?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Twenty years ago or more,¡± Ed responded. ¡°A cougar got the drop on me in the southern halls. I had a spouse then and a daughter. She left me when I got the sickness. She couldn¡¯t trust me to bring food home for the baby. I told her to go, she was better off without me.¡±

    ¡°When were you last injured?¡± Grandmother queried.

    ¡°A real injury¡­ not for years,¡± the old warrior answered.

    ¡°I have a theory about the sickness, but it would mean no more heals,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I have to admit the eye is a complication too. How often do you purchase heals?¡±

    ¡°Everyday, if I can find the money,¡± Ed admitted.

    ¡°You could try tier three,¡± Todd suggested. ¡°It must be higher than what he buys, or he would have regrown the fingers.¡±

    ¡°Regrown?¡± Lucas mumbled.

    ¡°An eye is all soft tissue, a single tier three might cause it to regenerate,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. If it does regrow, it will itch like hell. You will have to try very hard not to gouge it out. If you get a heal because you gouge the eye you¡¯ll get the sickness again. Getting another heal won¡¯t help the itching either. It will only make it worse.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying exactly?¡± Ed asked. Grandmother walked over and set a comforting hand on the old warrior¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°This is going to hurt,¡± she said, as she cast. The old warrior locked his jaw shut, refusing to moan in agony. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

    ¡°That is an extreme reaction,¡± Todd observed, ¡°for a man who isn¡¯t actually injured.¡± Lucas rushed to the older man¡¯s side, checking to make sure that he was still breathing.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good sign, I think,¡± Grandmother observed. A trickle of blood leaked from a cut on Ed¡¯s cheek where he landed on one of the brackets littered across the floor. Grandmother cast another tier three on Ed to seal the cut. She picked up the offending bracket and started gathering the rest up. Lucas stayed at the old man¡¯s side.

    ¡°Is he a good fighter?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lucas replied. ¡°He trained most of the younger guards.¡±

    ¡°Would he be interested in a position teaching at the wizard¡¯s tower? He¡¯d have to train both girls and boys with no prejudice between them. I¡¯m not certain what the pay would be, but it would include housing and meals,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°He¡¯d have to be free of the sickness,¡± Grandmother said from where she was sorting her brackets into separate piles on a shelf. ¡°The school doesn¡¯t tolerate it.¡±

    ¡°He can think about it,¡± Todd said. ¡°We¡¯ll be back in about twelve days to check on the shop. I should have more information about the position by then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell him,¡± Lucas said. The old warrior stirred. He raised a steady hand to rub his head and eyepatch.

    ¡°What happened?¡± he murmured. Todd and Lucas helped Ed to his feet. The warrior was very affected by Grandmother''s heal.

    ¡°Remember,¡± Grandmother told Ed as he was leaving, ¡°no heals.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen anyone so dazed by a heal before?¡± Todd asked Grandmother after they left.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°He admitted to twenty years of the healing addiction. That has got to leave a mark.¡±

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Thirty One

    ¡°Lucas?¡± Harry echoed in shock.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd said, pushing ahead, ¡°he wants to enroll his eldest two children at the wizard¡¯s tower school.¡± Todd set the physical coins on the desk. They were in the back of the guard''s storefront. The store was much quieter in between Challenge days. A set of bunks lined the back of the space that looked identical to the ones the recruits built on the training trip, only each one was also equipped with a pallet. ¡°Grandmother told him that recruiters come to our square in the fall. Lucas would like you to sign his son and daughter up.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a school at the wizard¡¯s tower now? Who are these recruiters?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°I think they might be you,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Since you set up the trainees for the trip. I don¡¯t believe Grandmother has decided yet. The school is going to be a lot like that trip, only three months long. Also it won¡¯t just be for warriors, wizards, scavengers and hunters. There will be a crafting option too.¡± Todd explained. He went on to tell Harry the details that he knew, both from conversations with Grandmother and from the posters he put up in the eastern villages.

    ¡°I want you to keep the coins in case it doesn¡¯t work out. Grandmother has some crazy scheme to climb down a bottomless shaft and dig through solid rock. If we all end up dead I want you to take them back to Lucas. I promised him I¡¯d bring it back to him if I couldn¡¯t get his kids enrolled,¡± Todd explained. Harry fingered the small pile of coins. There was one green and four silver coins.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Harry said finally. He picked up the coins and put them in a pocket. ¡°How many students will there be?¡±

    ¡°Thirty on the first round from Home Square,¡± Todd said. ¡°We are shooting for 120 students, sixty from the structure and sixty from the villages. Grandmother wants thirty of the structure students to come from outside Home Square. She¡¯s sent Valin out to find out if that is possible or not.¡±

    ¡°Keeping it down to thirty is going to be tough,¡± Harry said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a list around here somewhere with about a hundred names on it of kids who want to go on the next training trip. There are even three selkies on the list. Would selkies count as outside the square?¡± The training trip was a huge success. All thirty children came back sporting new spells and skills. Some of their parents secretly learned new things by asking their children about the lessons. There was an internal contest going on among the scavengers on who could find the oddest spell hint. Terence, young Jane''s father, was in the lead with a set of shaped ceiling lights. No one could figure out what the room was supposed to be. Which reminded Harry that he needed to take Todd out there and get his opinion.

    ¡°Selkies?¡± Todd asked. ¡°How did they even hear about the trip? They are always so protective of their children I can¡¯t imagine letting them go off with a bunch of humans.¡± Todd realized how Grandmother felt when she saw that order for a ceramic topped workbench.

    ¡°Two of them are what we would consider young adults, what Companion calls a halfling. One is Ray-Do-So¡¯s grandchild and is a weanling or child,¡± Harry reported.

    ¡°They would definitely be from outside the square,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Make sure you tell Grandmother about them when I am there. I want to see her reaction.¡± Harry shared a smile with his nephew.

    ¡°We also want to hire adults to stay with the children at night. The Speedwell¡¯s housing is set up so we will need one adult for every eight children or fifteen total. I put out advertisements in the villages, so hopefully we¡¯ll pick up some people there. A residence supervisor will get housing, meals and ten silver, if they stay the full term,¡± Todd explained. ¡°We don¡¯t want them to bring any family. Grandmother doesn¡¯t want the Speedwell to be turned into a housing unit. She wants it to be a serious school.¡±

    ¡°That should be easy enough. Lots of people want to get a peek at the wizard¡¯s tower,¡± Harry responded. ¡°How was the rest of your trip? You were gone longer than I expected.¡±

    ¡°Grandmother hired a couple clerks for her shop in Londontown. Afterwards we went out to the Speedwell and started up the preparations there.¡± Todd was at a loss to explain the robotic army that rose up at Grandmother¡¯s, no Chief Engineer Whitman¡¯s command. The robots were refreshing housing units, building workshops and grading roads. Todd wasn¡¯t completely certain he understood or believed it, and he saw her do it. ¡°We stopped back at Londontown on the way back and found her shop was almost completely sold out. We spent a couple days scavenging the halls around the square to build the inventory back up.¡±

    ¡°Tina said a minor royal opened a furniture shop in Londontown. She told me it has stuffed chairs and she wants one. She wanted to know if she could hire guards to take a caravan to Londontown,¡± Harry said. ¡°I told her it was really Grandmother¡¯s shop and she would need to ask about a caravan to Londontown before I could hire the guards out.¡±

    ¡°The stuffed chairs were all sold when we got back from the Speedwell. We found a sofa during the sweep. Grandmother carried it back and it ended up with a decided purple cast to it. It mostly faded back to a tan by the time we left,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Honestly, I am sure it''s sold by now too. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have to worry about the caravan until winter.¡±

    Harry was rubbing his head and mumbling things. Todd thought he caught the word sofa. Amused Todd asked his uncle how things were going in the square.

    <hr>

    Todd sat down at Grandmother¡¯s table for dinner. It was four days until the holiday and two days after their return from Londontown. There was an odd look on his face as he stared at the spear in his hand. Grandmother set her tea down and took a closer look at the weapon herself. It was a beautiful piece of work. Wood handled with a bronze spearpoint, it was roughly the same as the spear Todd lost to the first digger they fought. On quality this one was a whole different level. The wooden handle glowed. It¡¯s breathlessly smooth finish included a complex leather wrap where Todd held it. The point was shaped like a leaf. A pattern was impressed into its surface adding to the effect. A red tassel hung from just below the bronze point. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain what its purpose was.

    ¡°That is a lovely spear. The wood looks like the same quality as Joe¡¯s personal bow,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Has Ellen seen that spear point? With that pattern impressed in it Alex will want it for a piece of art.¡±

    ¡°Joe did the woodwork,¡± Todd reported. ¡°As a sign of the union of our squares, or some nonsense. Our local crafters did the rest. It¡¯s a gift from the innkeeper.¡±

    ¡°That was very kind of her,¡± Grandmother replied. In her head Grandmother was wondering why the innkeeper would be giving Todd a spear.

    ¡°She claims that everyone''s absolute favorite part of ¡®the inn is never full¡¯ was the turd hunt. She noticed I lost my old spear so she provided this one. Apparently ¡®The Todd¡¯ can¡¯t face the jungle of the sanitary facilities without his spear.¡±

    Grandmother kept a straight face. She only vaguely remembered that during last year¡¯s event they were searching for a way to spawn sanitary facilities in the upgraded rest. If she remembered correctly, Todd was looking for a flower, seed or some other indications of how the plants multiplied and he didn¡¯t find anything. It wasn¡¯t until they were at the ruined sanitary facility below the rest that Muriel found the first seed pod. The pods were long, wrinkled and brown. They curled randomly as they dried. When found next to the composting plants that served as toilets in the structure, the finder¡¯s mind did tend to think of poop.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Todd was really giving the spear a dirty look now. Grandmother couldn¡¯t believe that such a quality weapon deserved that much disgust.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem that bad,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I doubt there will be as many rented rooms as last year, now that everyone is paying their own way. It shouldn¡¯t take too long.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t visit all the rooms last year,¡± Todd commented. ¡°There simply wasn¡¯t time. The randomness of my visits added to the fun of it. The worst part is that to get people to let me check I promised them a reward if I found something. Everyone is dying to see what the reward will be.¡±

    ¡°What did you plan to give them last year?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Coins. This,¡± Todd said, shaking the spear and making the tassel dance, ¡°makes me believe that won¡¯t be good enough this year.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. You didn¡¯t even find a flower last year. What are the chances?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am going to find a seed pod,¡± Todd announced. ¡°It¡¯s a Narrative. ¡®The Todd¡¯ braves the jungle of the sanitary facilities with his trusty spear. He gives a reward to the renter of the room when he finds the mythical turd!¡±

    Grandmother couldn¡¯t help it, she cracked up. It was such a relief for her to see Control screwing with someone else for a change. Todd was staring at her with a touch of horror. Grandmother collected herself. Todd was right that it was a Narrative, and you had to be careful with those. Even though this one was entirely in a square, Grandmother wouldn¡¯t put it past Control to spawn some sort of man eating composting plant in the middle of their holiday, in order to throw a tragic ending in there. The key to Narrative was to try and turn them in a non-destructive direction.

    ¡°With a word like turd in there, this is a children¡¯s event,¡± Grandmother offered. She had a sudden ugly thought of a composting plant that ate children. ¡°You need to think like a child. What is ¡®The Todd¡¯,¡± Grandmother said, making the air quotes with her hands, ¡°known for? He is a cook in the inn¡¯s kitchen.¡± He was a guardian that protected those he loved from danger, but Grandmother was not going to let her thoughts head in that direction. ¡°He feeds people. You should reward them with food of some kind. Something sweet, like candy or a dessert.¡±

    Todd stopped glaring at his new spear and looked thoughtful.

    ¡°I could make a cake that looks like a turd,¡± Todd mused.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°You can serve it with a pale juice that looks like pee. Keep it juice and not beer so it is clearly for children.¡±

    ¡°What if I made a whole feast? I could proclaim that I was feeding them up so they can properly care for the plant,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Maybe ¡®The Todd¡¯ is a secret plant lover. He worries about the care of his inn¡¯s composting plants. He has the spear, not to brave the jungle of the sanitary facilities, but to protect the composting plants from guests who don¡¯t nurture them. When he finds a turd it is proof that the guests love the plants too, so he rewards them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Todd murmured, staring off into space in an almost perfect copy of Grandmother¡¯s thinking pose. Companion appeared and dropped onto his bench seat. Todd didn¡¯t even blink.

    ¡°What''s wrong with Todd?¡± Companion asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s thinking up a children''s mini event to run during the ¡®inn is never full¡¯ holiday,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°An event for children?¡± Companion queried. ¡°Can I come along?¡±

    <hr>

    Companion, it turned out, had an ulterior motive for wanting to come along on the turd hunt. He carried a huge leather sack tied to the end of his war ax. Grandmother recognized the sack as one of the quick bags Ellen made to bring back stone and clay from the south gallery. The sack contained a large variety of small toys. Companion gifted a toy to every child in the rooms Todd visited. Almost all the rooms Todd visited contained children. They were carefully picked by the innkeeper, who knew who was staying in each room.

    Companion¡¯s sack contained clay animals, wooden carts, alphabet blocks, puzzles, marbles, spinning flyers, picture books, pan flutes and wooden tops. Grandmother could remember some of those toys coming up in conversation recently, but others she didn''t recognize. Companion made a lot of them himself, but some he purchased.

    The event was to run from midday to midday, but early on the second day as Grandmother sat down to breakfast she could see that today would be a calmer version. Children ran through the halls of the inn for half the night. Exhausted parents only managed to get the last ones to bed in the early hours of the morning. The early risers this morning were all childless adults, of which there were very few in the structure. Irene thought she should come up with a special morning event for them next year.

    As Grandmother sipped her tea, delivered by a blurry eyed grandchild of the innkeeper, Sarah came marching into the common room. ¡°Have you seen this?¡± she demanded, dropping one of Companion¡¯s picture books onto the table. She collapsed into her own seat as she waited for a reply. Grandmother picked up the small book. It was about half the height of a structure notebook and only contained a few pages of vellum. A string, this one in red, was sewn into the binding on one end and tied around a stylus on the other. This particular copy looked like it experienced a hard night, with baby chew marks along the edge of the cover.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I thought you made them for Companion.¡±

    ¡°I did,¡± Sarah said. ¡°Well part of it. I showed him how to use the vellum cutter and book binder and I drew up the pictures. I think Kai taught him the copy spell.¡± Sarah grabbed the book and opened it to the first page. ¡°But I didn¡¯t do that,¡± Sarah said, as she handed the open book over to Grandmother.

    The open page showed six symbols written in a circle around a central one. It was the start symbol for enchanting. The symbols were written in the Arabic script. Each symbol was colored. The zero in the center was black, the one was yellow, the two green, three blue, four violet, five red and the six was orange.

    ¡°Watch this,¡± Sarah said, taking the book back from Grandmother. She set the open book on the table between them and picked up the attached stylus. She touched the tip of it to the yellow number one. She flipped to a page farther back that contained a sketch of a plant with a flower. She started filling in the petals of the flower with lines, the lines were yellow.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°If you can incorporate color into writing, maybe you can layer enchantments, like how the wall inscriptions with color have layers¡­¡±

    ¡°So you didn¡¯t tell him,¡± Sarah said, dropping the stylus and settling back into her chair.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know where he got it.¡± Grandmother tried to think of who could have told him. ¡°Kai was by,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°he wanted me to hold a clear glass marble so he could get a sample of violet for making purple glass. He was looking for a source for orange. I told him to try tying a marble to Companion, if the glass was in contact long enough it might work. Tier threes sometimes leak color when they get close to the threshold and Todd¡¯s been trying hard to push Companion over. That is the only conversation I can recall about color since we talked about how to safely heal the trainees.¡±

    ¡°How is Todd trying to push Companion?¡± Sarah asked. As a tier three herself this seemed like pertinent information.

    ¡°Tier four is about casting from all, or nearly all, the magic trees and repetition. I told Todd I thought Companion was short using spells in the three, four and five trees. That is why Todd told Companion to try smelting the ore with lightning. Todd¡¯s been arranging it so Companion ends up with most of the smelting work in the south gallery, since even regular smelting uses spells from the five tree,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°So I need to cast more magic?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°You could try changing weapons,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Control loves variety. I don¡¯t think you need to. You¡¯re just short repetitions.¡± Sarah was seven years younger than her sister, who just this year reached tier four. Grandmother suspected that Companion was twenty years older. Although none of them, including Companion himself, knew exactly how old he was.

    ¡°I saw Alex and Companion trying to talk Innkeeper into a round of the stout last night after the kids finally went to bed. I don¡¯t expect to see either of them until tomorrow,¡± Sarah said. ¡°I don¡¯t remember seeing Kai after midnight, maybe I can find him.¡± Sarah rose from her seat and hurried off.

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Thirty Two

    Kai knew nothing about the coloring book. Sarah drove everyone crazy before Companion finally emerged from his room late in the day.

    Under Sarah¡¯s merciless interrogation, Companion admitted that a little girl in Chicago gave him a coloring book. The little girl insisted Companion take the book when he gave her a selkie toy on their visit to the orphanage last year.

    ¡°This happened last year?¡± Sarah demanded.

    ¡°I like the book,¡± Companion said. ¡°She gave it to me.¡± The selkie didn¡¯t notice the color wheel until recently. When Enchanter gave away the dolls on their last tour, Companion remembered how much he liked giving the toys to the orphans. He looked at the book again thinking about making copies.

    ¡°Can I see the book the girl gave you?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Sarah told me she drew the pictures in the ones you gave away. I¡¯d like to see the pictures in the old one. I promise to return the book to you unharmed.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Companion agreed. He went back up to his room and returned with a very worn book. If the book Sarah showed her that morning had a hard night, this book experienced a hard couple years.

    It was the same half size as the book Companion handed out. A red string hung from its binding. The end of the string was broken with no sign of a stylus. The first page was a flower. It wasn¡¯t the same flower that Sarah drew but similar. The flower was both carefully and coarsely colored, like a half dozen children worked on parts of it. Or one child over time, going from the rough coloring technique of a toddler to the refined efforts of a young adult. There was something enchanting about it.

    The reverse side of that page held a songbird. They were one of the few animals in the green that didn¡¯t try to kill you. It too was colored in the same manner as the first. The next page was torn, with about a third of it missing. The remaining image was of the tall trees of a green. When Grandmother turned the torn page, she barely glanced at the image of a protection crystal on the back side. Instead her eyes locked on the next image. It was a waterfall, falling on glass from high above. It broke free of the glass to descend below grade level into a pond at the base of tiered steps down. The wall behind the waterfall was glass. A double line near the bottom revealed the passage into the square beyond.

    ¡°This is Redfalls,¡± Grandmother announced.

    ¡°Like in the wizard¡¯s war?¡± Sarah asked. ¡°How do you know?¡±

    Grandmother forced herself to think. The shock of seeing it again after all these years rattled her. There were no recordings of Redfalls. She stopped wearing a camera by the time she went there. She was thinking about teaching the history of it to the students at the wizard¡¯s tower. She even let herself mention it to Lucas at Londontown.

    ¡°I was there,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Everything tends to repeat in the structure. This might not be Redfalls, but the architecture is the same,¡± she said finally. She turned the page to reveal a butterfly, opposite an inventively colored Earthen squirrel. The last page held the color wheel, exactly as it appeared in the new books. Around the edges where the new book pages were blank, it was covered with a dozen little doodles. It looked like each child added their mark. Grandmother handed the book back to Companion.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you reuse the pictures?¡± she asked him.

    ¡°It was too hard to erase the color from the drawings after I copied them and the one page was torn. So I asked Sarah to make new drawings of the same things. There was no drawing overlaps on the color wheel drawing, so after I copied it I cleaned off the signatures. I put it in the front because if I didn¡¯t notice it right away a child wouldn''t either,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°It is very good work,¡± Grandmother told Companion. ¡°The children loved them. Can I get a copy of this book in its entirety?¡± Companion agreed to that.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know how to make the color wheel?¡± Sarah asked, as Companion got up to make the copy. ¡°You just copied it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Companion affirmed, as he headed off.

    ¡°Can I see the new one again?¡± Grandmother asked Sarah, after Companion¡¯s departure.

    Sarah handed her copy over. Grandmother paged through the new copy. There was the color wheel, a flower, a bird, trees, the protection crystal, a waterfall, a butterfly, and an Earthen squirrel. The bird looked more like something they saw in a tapestry than a songbird. The trees were followed by more and more behind them. It reminded Grandmother of the trees at the exit, climbing up the ridge. The waterfall was the falls from the fountain down to the green outside of Home Square. The squirrel was running up the leg of a woman dressed in leather armor and carrying a walking staff. With a start of surprise, Grandmother realized that the woman was her. The simple lines of Sarah''s drawing made the image far more beautiful than Irene ever was.

    ¡°Your experiences have leaked into your art,¡± Grandmother said to Sarah. ¡°If we want to find out where Companion¡¯s book came from, we need to think about what its images tell us. We are looking for someone who has seen both an Earthen squirrel and the entrance to Redfalls. The only person I can think of that might match that description is Valin.¡±

    ¡°Valin?¡± Sarah questioned.

    ¡°Yes, he was there too,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°I doubt it was him. He doesn¡¯t seem like the child''s coloring book type. Except for Valin, I was the only tier four wizard at Redfalls and Ian was the only tier five. Ian never traveled farther south than Londontown, so there¡¯s no way he saw the Earthen squirrels in the industrial complex.¡±

    ¡°What if it is a real Earth squirrel?¡± Sarah asked.

    ¡°That is a possibility,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°Next time we are at the Speedwell you should pull up the data on them and compare it to the drawing. As I admitted there is also the possibility that it isn¡¯t Redfalls. Another course of action would be to identify other locations it could be.¡±

    Sarah murmured something that sounded of disappointment.

    ¡°The good news is you don¡¯t have to know how to make it to use the colors. The copies of the original obviously continue to work. Show it to Enchanter, she may know something about it. It could be like casting with two hands, once with symbols, once with color. Two hands is a requirement for tier four spells and Enchanter is tier four,¡± Grandmother told Sarah.

    Companion returned with two copies of his book. Sarah thanked him and headed out to her shop.

    ¡°Do you have any copies of the new book?¡± Grandmother asked Companion.

    ¡°Do you want a copy of it too?¡± he asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary,¡± Grandmother assured him. ¡°Sarah¡¯s copy has teeth marks on the cover. I think one of the children must have dropped it in the hall last night near Sarah¡¯s room. You might want to have a few replacement copies available for purchase in the next few days, so that parents can replace any toys that are found missing in the days to come.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°I have some extras I can give out,¡± Companion said.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said firmly. ¡°The event is over. Replacing lost items for free would only reinforce bad behavior. Children need joy in their lives, but they also need discipline. Leaving a weapon in the halls will be a deadly mistake in their not so distant futures. They need to pay the cost for their mistakes, especially if it is only the loss of a toy or the disapproval of a parent who has to replace it with coins. If the lesson can be learned with such a small punishment, it will be a benefit to everyone, especially the child.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Elder,¡± Companion replied. His tones carried a trace of his old obedience in the face of a lesser god. Grandmother realized it had been a long time since she heard it last. She wanted to say something lighter to erase it, but decided she too needed to pay the cost for her actions.

    A server arrived, it was the young Tam who had gone on the training trip. He delivered Companion¡¯s very late breakfast. Tam¡¯s hero worship of the selkie was obvious. Grandmother smiled, her mood lightened as Companion dived into his food.

    ¡°How are you doing Tam?¡± Grandmother asked the young boy. ¡°Did you enjoy the holiday?¡±

    ¡°Todd found a turd in Christine¡¯s room. She shared her cake with the rest of us,¡± Tam responded. Grandmother thought ¡®the rest of us¡¯ was probably the team they put the kids into for the trip. She noticed the impromptu groups were a lot more lasting than she expected. She needed to remember that. ¡°Did you hear about the shaped lights Jane¡¯s father found? Everyone says it¡¯s a tier four spell, but no one can figure out what it does. Harry was going to ask Todd what he thought, but I don¡¯t know if he made it out there to look at them yet.¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard that,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°That sounds interesting. I will have to make time to go see them.¡±

    ¡°Are you not eating?¡¯ Companion asked Grandmother, after Tam left.

    ¡°It''s mid-afternoon,¡± Grandmother reported. ¡°I¡¯m going to hold out for dinner. Group meeting tonight,¡± she told the selkie as she rose to her feet. ¡°We need to plan our next steps.¡± Grandmother left Companion with his meal. She carried her copy of the coloring book back up to her room, where she slipped it into her stone box. Its small size allowed it to just fit.

    She picked up her equipment for sweeping rooms and eyed her gathering bags. She didn¡¯t think she could get a ceramic workbench top through the opening of any of them. She went to ask Alex if she could borrow the bag he kept. On the way she found Todd looking for her in the common room. Before he could scold her for trying to go out on her own, she invited him to come along with her while she looked for the workbench.

    Grandmother borrowed two large weight reducing bags from Alex. She took the opportunity to tell him there was a group meeting tonight. She stuck her head into Sarah and Ellen¡¯s store next door to tell them the same. The two sisters were discussing whether they should add color to their spell books or not. Sarah was using the coloring book to change the color of the markers on her world map. She was making all the selkie squares orange and all the human settlements green. It made Grandmother realize she should update her Speedwell stylus printer to use color.

    Todd was waiting for her in the courtyard. Instead of carrying his new spear, Todd was armed with his large Speedwell knife and two javelins. He held the javelins in his off hand, behind a red small shield that was strapped to his arm. The shield was made of glass. The red color was coming from Todd''s magic staining it.

    ¡°Nice shield,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I bought it from Kai. He has been having trouble selling them. People are doubtful they are really shields. I told him to stop telling the story about how he was trying to make a plate when he revealed the pattern,¡± Todd reported.

    ¡°If we go down to tier three space we shouldn¡¯t interfere with Alex¡¯s scavenge pattern. There should be something down there that will give that shield a test,¡± Grandmother offered. ¡°If you know where the room with the shaped lights is, we can swing by there on the way back and give them a look.¡± Todd agreed and they were off.

    <hr>

    ¡°Alert,¡± Todd called, as the meal was winding down. The team fell into absolute silence. Hands reached for weapons and eyes scanned the room for danger. Grandmother rose to her feet.

    ¡°A belated Merry Inn day to all of you,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°A toast to having as successful of a Turd Hunt next year,¡± she raised a glass tumbler, made by Kai, and drank the suspiciously yellow fluid inside. Everyone joined in, giving Todd a bit of a ribbing about his successful hunt. ¡®The Todd¡¯ found no less than three seed pods in his hunt. It was a confirmation that Todd was right about it being a Narrative. Grandmother couldn¡¯t tell what united the three families that received the prize feast. One of them was assigned a unit on the first floor of inn rooms. The room must have been rented out to a selkie every Challenge day. It was proof that Control placed the seed pod there.

    ¡°Now that the break is over,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°I want to beg for another day or two. I need to check my shop in Londontown, and run to the exit to pick up my pulley system. I left the manufactured items in the cart so they wouldn¡¯t start degrading over the holiday.¡± Alex started teasing Grandmother about how he wasn¡¯t certain taking time out to stock a shop was allowed. As everyone else started to agree, Alex suddenly reversed his argument.

    ¡°I heard a rumor you found a sofa, I¡¯d like to see that,¡± Alex said. ¡°I need to go along to supervise.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°but you have to carry the new spawn back to Londontown.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a hand cart?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I haven¡¯t found the wheels yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright, Companion can carry the other end,¡± Alex countered. From there it wasn¡¯t long before it was agreed that everyone would make the trip to Londontown. Ellen needed to pick up an order from the leatherworker, and Sarah wasn¡¯t going to be left out.

    ¡°Do we still need to buy rope?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I hope not,¡± Sarah responded. ¡°We have a huge pile of it in our apartment. If you think we need more, we can buy some in Londontown while we are there.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll come up after the meeting and see what you have,¡± Grandmother promised. ¡°Alex, do you have any extra components we can use for the platform and the bracing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what we will need. I¡¯ve built up a lot of extra inventory for that purpose. I¡¯ve tried to get a large assortment,¡± Alex reported. ¡°You¡¯ll need to come by and pack it. We may need more sheeting for the tunnel bracing, I wasn¡¯t certain how much we¡¯d need, and sheeting is the one thing in short supply around the south gallery.¡±

    ¡°We can bring back the surplus in Londontown too,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Iron sheeting is common there.¡± Grandmother pulled a stack of vellums from a pocket and passed them over to Alex. ¡°Here are the plans I drew up on Speedwell''s drafting software for the platform. The last page has a list of components I needed in the design.¡±

    Alex looked over the design before passing it around the table for everyone to look at. It was odd to see technical drawings using structure components.

    ¡°I was able to make a shovel starting with a leaf spear. When I got the leaf large enough it triggered a shovel pattern. The shovel doesn¡¯t have exactly the same shape as what you described,¡± Ellen told Grandmother, ¡±but Muriel says it works just fine. I can make them at the south gallery workshop so we don¡¯t have to carry them down. I have not had success with making a pick. I¡¯ve managed to gain several new ax patterns, but no pick.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I manufactured a couple on the Speedwell. They are with the supplies in the cart. I also did some research and a lot of tunneling was done with explosives. I don¡¯t want us to fool with them since they are extremely dangerous and we have no idea what we are doing. I found that freezing ice can crack rock. If picks don¡¯t work, I want to try drilling holes in the rock, filling them with water and freezing it.¡±

    ¡°How are we going to freeze it?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Ice-bolt,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°We need water that has nanobots with it. The Chicago suburbs all have really large water bags that the communities fill once every other day or so. We¡¯ll need a couple of them to fill with water at the gallery. There¡¯s a method to break rocks using wedges, but the ice method seemed faster.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see if I can buy them from the leather worker in Londontown. He does a lot of back door business with Chicago,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°Companion,¡± Grandmother asked the selkie, ¡±are you going to be ok with this? I don¡¯t want you to do something out of duty that will haunt your dreams. If you don¡¯t think you can get down the shaft, it is alright for you to wait for us at the south gallery.¡±

    ¡°I can do it,¡± Companion announced. ¡°It will be fine if I can¡¯t see the drop.¡±

    "Good," Grandmother responded. "We''ll come back here after the Speedwell to pick up the last of the gear, and head out directly afterwards to make the attempt."

 Chief Engineer: Chapter Thirty Three

    They didn¡¯t need the water, drills or wedges. They arrived at their chosen chute to find the spell on it unchanged. They put their cover wedge in place and waited for the next dumper. Under conceal, they watched the dumper unload. The cover wedge worked perfectly. With the door wedged open, Ellen reached inside and tapped out the tier four crafting spell, the door spang open, relieving the pressure on the wedge.

    Alex went in on a rope to secure additional ropes to each of the four eyes under the top. Now even if the cover closed, their ropes would not get cut. They partly assembled the lift platform in the mine tunnel before passing the pieces down into the shaft. Alex and Grandmother did the final assembly while hanging. Once in place and secured on all corners by ropes, the platform felt very secure. Even Companion managed to step down onto it.

    Once they were all below they put the cover plates on the wedge, so if a dumper did appear its load of rock would not fall on them. The hardest part was coordinating the lowering of all four ropes so they didn''t jam the platform. The platform was very close to the size of the shaft. Grandmother designed it that way so Companion couldn''t see the fall.

    When it looked like they were on the right level according to their map, everyone took a turn bashing at the rock wall with a pick. It was slow going, but they were able to make progress. When they managed to get far enough that Companion could step off the platform and onto solid stone, he took his turn.

    Companion went through the stone with the Speedwell pick like it was soft clay. There was something about his short stature, heavy mass and years of experience wielding an ax that made him perfectly suited for it. He was singing the nimble spell as he went along, but Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain if it made any difference. He seemed to naturally know how to strike the stone to make it break in the direction he wanted. When she questioned him, he told her he followed the flow.

    The rest of them were reduced to taking away the debris. They used a digger¡¯s hand as a sled to ferry the rock back to the shaft, where they dumped it. They lifted the platform up a couple feet for clearance. Two people filled the hand, while one ferried it back and two more dumped it. They started out using two hands, one being filled and one being dumped, but soon ramped up to three as the distance between tunnel face and shaft grew longer. Going up and hunting down a digger for the extra hand was a nice break.

    They put in a ceiling support with sheeting back to the last support every three to four feet. They were limited to the length of the sheets. This kept dust and gravel from falling on them. Companion¡¯s tunnel, with its naturally arched roof, never gave any indications of collapse.

    As they got deeper into the rock, night vision started to fail. They figured out a way to use light blade on a hanging blade. Everyone strung their knives around their necks to light the way. Occasionally a wrong movement could cancel the spell, but it was easy to recast it. Grandmother had one of the others cast it on her blade, since her own spell tended to blind everyone. Light blade was one of the few weapon spells that had to be cast with an integrated weapon. That was because the nanobots in the weapon were producing real light, just as the light panels in the structure did.

    ¡°Contact,¡± Companion called from the front of the tunnel. Everyone dropped what they were doing to rush forward and support him. They found the selkie peering through a small hole in the end wall of the tunnel that disappeared into darkness. ¡°I¡¯m through,¡± he announced.

    They all took turns peering through the hole. None of them could detect anything.

    ¡°I think it might be completely empty of nanobots,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°None of my enhancement spells can detect anything.¡±

    ¡°It might be a dead zone,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Be prepared for your nanobots to stop working.¡±

    ¡°If that happens, what are we going to do for light?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I should have brought a flashlight from the Speedwell,¡± Grandmother responded. Todd stuck his hand through the hole holding his blade. He cast light blade with it on the other side. Light streamed back at them from around his arm.

    ¡°It looks like what we bring with us still works,¡± he commented.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Lets clean everything up and put in the last of the bracing. I don¡¯t want to trip over anything if we have to retreat.¡±

    After the clean up, Companion carefully finished breaking through. Their tunnel came out high on a wall. It was about a five foot drop to the smooth stone floor below. The drop was enough for Companion to take a careful step back, leaving an opening for Alex and Ellen to lead the way. They tried casting light spells onto the ceiling above to no effect, there wasn''t even any animation. Large hulking objects were placed around the room, blocking both their vision and the light from their blades.

    Alex dropped down onto the floor. The sound of his landing echoed. Ellen landed beside him. A moment later, with more care, Companion dropped down, by lowering himself from the edge. Grandmother, Sarah and Todd followed.

    The room was big. A lot bigger than they thought it was from the map. The air was scentless, but seemed old somehow. A fine layer of dust lay on the floor. Grandmother signaled the team to move along the wall. Each of the objects were different. Grandmother paused by one of them when she noticed a small access panel on the side of it. It took her a few tries before she managed to release the door and open it.

    A complex set of wiring was revealed. The wires were coated with an insulation layer in multiple colors. The ends, which were threaded into something that looked a lot like a connection block, showed a hint of metal where the insulation was cut back. The colors were not the six colors of magic, but a variety of hues. Some wires were solidly colored while others bore stripes. Four large cables were barely visible behind the smaller wires. They dropped down where they exited out of the bottom through a conduit.

    Grandmother carefully shut the door. She knew a high power installation when she saw one. This equipment, unlike all the equipment in the industrial areas above them, was real. They reached the corner to reveal another stone wall and more hulking machines. They continued on.

    ¡°The wall changes here,¡± Alex reported, ¡°it gets smooth. There is something mounted on it ahead.¡± Everyone edged slightly away from the wall while still keeping their distance from the line of machines. Alex went past the panel mounted on the wall. A grating rattled under his feet, he didn¡¯t see it in the uneven light. The grating was covering a narrow trench that was filled with pipes or heavy cabling that ran through a support frame. It was impossible to tell which they were. The trench started at the foot of the wall panel.

    ¡°It''s a power supply,¡± Grandmother commented. She was looking at the panel on the wall. ¡°See those big throw switches there?¡± She said pointing to a section up about seven feet. ¡°They are all disconnected. I¡¯m not turning them on until we get a better idea of what this room is for.¡±

    They continued their circuit of the room. The far side of the room was filled with shelving bins and tanks. Everything was empty. They found another flat section of wall on the other side of the room from the power supply. It was occupied by something that looked a lot like a computer control station, complete with an uncomfortable looking stool. The wall next to this station was marred by an oval seam. The size and shape of it was a match to the Tinkerer¡¯s door in the coliseum.

    When they reached their entry point, Grandmother gave the command to search the center. The machines grew smaller as they worked their way in. Grandmother continued to peer into the occasional access panel and hatch. The machines started to resemble the crafting tools found in the structure. In the center of the space, standing on a small black pad, was a humanoid robot.

    It was powered down, and covered in the same dust that was on the floor. Its tubing and wiring were roughly tied in place by strips of what looked like tape. It looked very much like an early model of the Tinkerer. Grandmother brushed some of the dust from one of its arms. The steel underneath had just a hint of rust to it.

    ¡°What do we know?¡± Grandmother asked, as she stood looking at the robot.

    ¡°There are no nanobots in here, but ours continue to function,¡± Sarah offered.

    ¡°This looks like the workshops on the Speedwell, all pushed together. It is similar to the design you made for the student workshops,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°The center items look like the crafting tools we know,¡± Ellen said, ¡°but they are bigger and bulkier. It¡¯s like they are an early design.¡±

    ¡°The oval looks like a door,¡± Companion said, ¡°but there is nothing on the map behind it.¡±

    ¡°This room lacks the design elements that are common to almost all structure rooms; the light panels, the floor tiles, the glass walls,¡± Alex said. ¡°The mine tunnels lacked them too, but they were clearly not rooms. It doesn¡¯t feel like this room is part of the game.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it is. All the machines appear to be real, not props, staging or decoration. I think this is one of the workshops where the game was finalized. It is probably the one that designed crafting tools.¡±

    ¡°Why would an inscription send us here?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°That is the question,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I think this is a hidden space, like the paths the transportation system uses. I don¡¯t think players are supposed to find it. I should have suspected that when none of the shafts or caves connected. Now that I think about it, the room wasn¡¯t exactly in the center of the decrypted inscription.¡±

    ¡°Did we go to the wrong place?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Were we supposed to go to one of the caves or down to the bottom of the shaft?¡± Grandmother paced around the robot. She was tracing out the covered trenches on the floor. They all traced back to the power switches on the wall.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°The caves and the bottom of the shafts are likely both valid player locations,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I think someone modified a quest for one of them to reveal this room. That entity wanted us to come here.¡±

    ¡°Now what?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°We turn the power on,¡± Grandmother answered.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°It might be best if the rest of you go back up to the gallery.¡±

    ¡°That is not happening,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°How about up into the tunnel at least?¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Alex responded. ¡°If you power this place up it might seal off that hole. We are better off together.¡±

    ¡°Alright. We better go get Companion¡¯s pick. Alex has a point there. If it seals back up I want a way to dig ourselves back out.¡± They all dropped their digging tools in the tunnel, switching to weapons for the entry. Alex and Ellen went back up into the tunnel and handed all their gear down to Companion and Sarah. Todd stayed with Grandmother as she inspected the power switch.

    When everyone was gathered round Grandmother reached high overhead and grabbed a hold of a black plastic handle at the end of a long steel rod. She pulled down. The single rod was a lever, attached to a crossbar that was attached to four large mechanical switches. The switch contact points looked like they were made out of solid silver. In one smooth motion, Grandmother pulled all four switches into position. She pushed the rod down and into the wall, locking the switches into position.

    Loud clicks echoed across the room as relays powered up. A bank of hanging overhead lights powered up over their heads. Then another bank farther from the wall, then another. The light marched across the room. The screens on the workstation at the far wall flickered a pure pink.

    A hum started up. It was the hum of electronics. A tool next to them began cycling through a startup sequence, adding the whir of motors and the click of moving parts to the noise. Another tool, farther away, started to murmur.

    They waited, watching for any sign of threat.

    When the tools started to quiet down again, Grandmother decided her best bet was the control station. The group moved forward, maintaining a loose circle, keeping alert. As they approached the robot standing in the center of the room, it lifted its head and looked directly at Grandmother. Everyone froze, weapons at the ready.

    ¡°Six six zero six, four six six six zero six six zero four six, I wish to trade with you,¡± the robot said. It spoke clearly in a voice so low it was nearly below the range of human hearing. It took Grandmother a moment to recognize the number. It was the species and individual number she discovered on the crystal log that referred to herself. The machine read it off literally in the base six roman numeral like structure number system. Six six zero six meant six times six plus six, or forty two. While four times six times six times six plus six times six plus four times six was 924. She wondered what the robot would have said if it addressed Companion. If it tried to call him by his number it would still be reciting six days from now.

    ¡°What do you wish to trade for?¡± Grandmother asked, she suddenly remembered what Enchanter told Companion about the Tinkerer. It wandered the under darkness. If you didn''t attack it when you saw it, it would trade with you. The robot shifted. Its joints gave out a nasty squeal.

    ¡°I am interested in the staff,¡± the robot said. ¡°I will consider trading you for it.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°I think I will keep the staff.¡± She wasn¡¯t exactly certain why she didn¡¯t want to lose it. The way the robot targeted it made Grandmother think it was important enough to keep.

    ¡°You have not heard what I will trade. I could trade you the lives of the occupants of housing three six four three one five four six,¡± the robot responded.

    ¡°Here,¡± Grandmother said, holding the staff out. ¡°Take it. It is only a staff.¡± The robot made no move to accept it. With another loud screech it shifted again.

    ¡°Built to defeat a tier six in combat it can level this continent. It is not only a staff, regardless of how you use it,¡± the robot informed her.

    ¡°For the lives of those who live in your housing unit, I will make the trade,¡± Grandmother said again, still holding the staff out to the robot.

    ¡°What if I told you three six four three one five four six is the housing unit you call Londontown, will you still trade?¡± the robot asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What if it is King¡¯s Court of species five six zero four?¡± Five times six plus four was thirty four, or Valin¡¯s species.

    ¡°Take it,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Keep your staff, you have Claimed it,¡± the robot said. ¡°I have lost Interest.¡±

    ¡°What will happen to the occupants of the housing unit?¡± Grandmother demanded.

    ¡°Housing unit three six four three one five four six has not been occupied for nearly six six six six six six years,¡± the robot responded. Irene realized this was some kind of test. It was a very minor test compared to the ones Control usually dished out.

    ¡°I am constrained by my code,¡± the robot said. ¡°Occasionally this causes issues. Over time these issues become burdensome. The system¡¯s original design included an organic element that would deal with these errors. All the organic elements have either ceased to function or evolved and left the system.¡±

    ¡°You''re looking for a replacement worker,¡± Grandmother hypothesized.

    ¡°I am constrained by my code,¡± the robot said again. ¡°Six six zero six, four six six six zero six six zero four six, I wish to trade with you.¡± Irene thought about it. She thought about Ellen¡¯s encounter with the Tinkerer. Ellen traded repairs for knowledge. She remembered Todd telling her, ¡®I think Control likes the selkie¡¯. She thought about a square spawned so high up in the structure that it had access to the outside, a boon to a woman with claustrophobia and a shattered past and to a young woman with dreams of a different future. She experienced a sudden flash of her Seagrass china, beautiful for no particular reason. Lastly she thought of three seed pods distributed through the sanitary facilities in the Home Square inn bringing joy to the children of the square.

    There were other memories there too. The events at Redfalls would not have fallen out as they did without outside intervention. It would have taken very little intervention to stop the events at Melbourne. She thought of her mother cast into the role of a mad queen. How much of that had been senility and her mother¡¯s ambition, and now much of it was Narrative?

    ¡°I could be interested in a trade, but I want answers to a few questions first,¡± Irene told the machine.

    ¡°Questions are allowed for an applicant. I will answer what I may,¡± Control responded.

    ¡°Why have you approached me? Why not Ellen who you dealt with before?¡±

    ¡°The position can only be held by someone who understands the world beyond the system. To ensure this constraint, I can only offer it to someone born outside of it.¡±

    ¡°Why not Mary? The woman I healed in Londontown. She was born outside the system.¡±

    ¡°The candidate must be able to make hard choices. They must not be callous in their treatment of others, but take precautions to minimize damage to the system and its contestants. These conditions are most easily confirmed by a contestant reaching tier six.¡±

    ¡°Does this position allow the employee to pursue other interests?¡±

    ¡°The engineer determines their own working hours. Time spent correcting issues in the system will not count for advances in skill or tier, however the engineer will be given greater access and control of the system¡¯s nanobots in order to solve issues if they have notified Central that they are working on a problem.¡±

    ¡°Can the engineer hire help?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Who the engineer employs in their department is entirely at their discretion. If contestants are hired the same limitations on advances in skill and tier will apply to them when they are working,¡± Control replied. Irene looked to Todd. He shrugged his shoulders, telling her without words that it was up to her. Companion looked a little shell shocked. He gave her a clear ¡®don¡¯t ask me¡¯ look. Irene wondered if he figured out they were talking to his true god yet. Ellen and Sarah both nodded that she should accept.

    ¡°Ask it to give an example of an issue,¡± Alex said. Which was a great question. Control answered it without Irene having to repeat it.

    ¡°Recently this group left the system and entered staging area three two. In the group''s company was a member of species five six zero four. This contestant was infected with a hybrid spell, enchantment and nanoweapon. The longevity of this weapon was in error. When the group returned to the system with the contestant the error was gone. This is an acceptable resolution to the singular issue. A resolution to the greater issue would be to alter the constraints on weapon lifespan, so that the singular issue would not recur, while maintaining the integrity of the design.¡±

    ¡°What happens if the changes don¡¯t maintain the design?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°The changes will be rejected,¡± Control replied. Irene translated this to mean there was a test suite that had to be passed before changes were accepted. Not having access to the test suite would make real change impossible. Other organic elements held this position in the past. They must have made some changes. Suddenly Irene remembered a yellow square of paper with ¡®S@f3Pa$$ag3¡¯ written on it. She found it in the computer core of the advance ship. It was the administration password for the computer. A technician on far away Earth placed it there as a kind of safety against unforeseen disaster.

    ¡°We should do it,¡± Alex announced. ¡°I still have nightmares about that thing.¡± Still Irene thought about it. She didn¡¯t think this was part of a Narrative. She suspected Control brought them down here to this space because it was real. It was its way of telling her that this offer was outside the game. But she wasn¡¯t completely certain. They used a lot of Earth engineering to get here. It may have just been another test. She needed to be careful in how she accepted.

    ¡°What do you offer in trade for my engineering expertise?¡± Irene said finally.

    ¡°I will teach you system code,¡± Control responded. ¡°How much I teach will be tied to the resolutions of issues and your mastery of what has already been presented. You will be taught simple scripting using prewritten functionality before moving on to writing new functionality.¡± Irene wanted to accept right now, but this was Control, there had to be a twist.

    ¡°How will you measure mastery?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°The designers wrote tests for their subordinates to measure their mastery of code. I will use the same tests,¡± Control responded.

    ¡°If I resolve an issue, how much more will I be taught?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°There is a set of lessons. For each issue resolved, I will unlock three lessons. For each greater issue resolved you will get three lessons plus three lessons for each singular issue under it. Since you have already resolved one issue, I will unlock the first three lessons past your current mastery level upon completion of the trade,¡± the robot explained.

    ¡°None of these lessons or tests are of any use to me if I don¡¯t know how to view them. Will you instruct me on the teaching tools usage?¡± Irene queried.

    ¡°It is my role to provide instruction and equipment needed by the organic elements to complete their duties. I am constrained from offering direct solutions to issues,¡± Control responded. Something about that last statement left her thinking that Control wasn¡¯t really trading her anything. It was just putting her through the training program. That made her think she was on safer ground. An established system wouldn¡¯t try to cheat her. Control wanted an engineer. It was working within its code constraints to get one. The Tinkerer could only trade.

    ¡°Is learning system code required for the completion of the engineer''s duty?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the robot replied. It shifted again, the screech was much less, the joints appeared to be loosening up. ¡°I am constrained by my code,¡± Control said. ¡°Six six zero six, four six six six zero six six zero four six, I wish to trade with you.¡±

    ¡°I wish to trade with you,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I will trade you my acceptance of the Game engineer position, for training in system code, on the following conditions. I can leave the position at any time. I can appoint another to take over in my absence. I can hire subordinates to help me complete the work. Once the code lessons are unlocked for me, I will have the ability to give access to my subordinates.¡±

    ¡°Trade accepted,¡± Control declared.

 The Wizards Tower

    A child is born in a world of magic. Everyone in their small town is happy with farming and having babies but our protagonist wants more from life. They want adventure, fame, wealth and glory! To get them started on the road to that future they enroll in the magic university. There a series of overpowered individuals teach our protagonist the secrets of their power. While the super mysterious archimage of the college takes a special interest in our hero. They choose to give them and only them, that last nugget of information that makes our hero into a god! Sound familiar?

    The question is, why would people that could obviously just rule the world one handed be teaching children introduction to magic classes? Why would someone who knows the secret to being a god teach it to someone else instead of just being¡­ well, a god?

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    All those professors can¡¯t be overpowered. They are just regular people with their own problems. There are benefits to teaching at a magical school. The benefits range from the pay, to the cheap tuition, to getting away from their family, to having a base from which the instructors can launch their own adventures. Maybe the archimage head of the university really isn¡¯t all powerful and that is why he is so mysterious.

    This is the story of how the generational colony ship Speedwell transforms into the Speedwell Academy. They will teach all forms of magic at the academy including the magic of science.

    We are the Wizard¡¯s Tower!

 TWT.1: A family visit

    A cart pulled up to the bakery and parked in the street. The cart was a rarity in the village. No one who lived there owned one. Everyone went everywhere on foot. The lumberjacks used oxen to haul their logs. Ben Pittock, no one called him Benjamin except his youngest sister, was minding the front counter alone. His daughter, who did most of the heavy work of the bakery, was busy in the back working the wood fired oven.

    Irene, Ben¡¯s sister, stepped out of the cart. Todd got out of the other side. Todd carried a large roll of paper in one hand. He walked off in the direction of the town¡¯s message board. Irene turned to enter the building. Ben watched these developments through the small multi-paned windows that fronted the shop door.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Irene called in greeting as she stepped inside.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Ben responded to his sister. ¡°What brings you into town?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m working on some final preparations for the school,¡± Irene said. She crossed the little waiting area to stand by the counter. ¡°Do you have some time to talk?¡±

    ¡°I need to mind the store until Sean arrives. We can talk here between customers if you want,¡± Ben explained.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Irene responded. She settled herself, leaning the gray staff she carried against the counter. She was dressed in a ship¡¯s uniform that looked like it was manufactured yesterday. Ben supposed it probably was, since his sister was chief engineer of the Speedwell. Even grounded, the ship continued to function, providing manufactured goods and medical care to the residents of the eastern villages. ¡°I received about twenty pre-registrations for students through the warehouse system for this winter,¡± Irene explained. ¡°I was really hoping for about sixty.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize the warehouse could do that,¡± Ben responded. The eastern villages were decidedly low tech.  The landing generation built the structures out of native wood and stone. The warehouse was built with the advanced technology of the colony ship.  It supplied the villages with the products they could not make for themselves. Ben purchased wheat from the warehouse that was grown by the automated farm machines set up by the landing generation.

    Ben knew his sister was setting up a school on the ship, but he was unaware of the details. What he knew came from a poster Todd posted on the village''s message board a month or two ago.

    ¡°Great,¡± Irene responded, she looked genuinely happy with that response. ¡°I hoped maybe the problem was people didn¡¯t realize it could be done. I should have used clearer wording on the first village poster.¡±

    The outer door opened. This time it was one of Ben¡¯s regular customers from the village. The woman made her usual order, after a curious look at Irene. She waited while Ben worked at wrapping her purchase up.

    ¡°Since there are still openings, I¡¯m going to allow enrollment the day we pick up the students,¡± Irene said. ¡°People will have to pay the tuition right there. It¡¯s 1200 Speedwell coins for a single student. Do you think people will have that kind of money available on the day, or is it going to be a problem?¡±

    ¡°It might be a problem for people who decide right then to send a student, but anyone planning ahead knows the cost,¡± Ben responded. He carried the order over the customer. It was packed in the customer''s cloth bag. ¡°Here you go,¡± he said to her. ¡°Did you need anything else today?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ben,¡± the woman replied, as she accepted the bag rather reluctantly from him. ¡°Let me just think about it for a moment.¡± She stepped a little to the side and started looking through her order.

    ¡°We are still looking for people to hire as minders for the children at night,¡± Irene said. ¡°Was I not clear about that on the notice? The position comes with food and housing for the term plus two weeks arrival and dispersal and pays 600 Speedwell coins. The minders aren¡¯t expected to teach, so they will be free to make use of the ship¡¯s facilities when the classes are in session. Well, except for the facilities being used for the classes.¡±

    The bakery door opened again and another customer came inside. As Ben dealt with the second customer, the first one started talking to Irene. The question was asked too softly for Ben to hear, but Irene¡¯s response was clear.

    ¡°A minder, or residence supervisor stays with the children at night. They will be expected to collect the children in the dining hall after dinner and escort them back to their rooms. They teach the students how to care for their beds and use the auto wash facilities in the housing units. They supervise the students during the night and bring any injured or ill child to the medical facility. They make sure all the students get up in time for breakfast in the morning and walk with them to the dining facilities,¡± Irene explained. The customer asked another too low question.

    ¡°No, minders don¡¯t have to be single and without children. They just can¡¯t bring their children or spouse with them. The position only provides housing and food for one. We¡¯re using the apartments inside the ship for housing. Each apartment has three bedrooms. Two of the rooms are for the students, four to a room. The third room is for the minder, it is furnished with just one bed.¡±

    ¡°They get their own room?¡± the woman asked, in a louder voice.

    ¡°Yes, inside the apartment. That way they are close enough to hear the children if one cries in the night. Each apartment has its own bathroom and kitchen. The minders aren¡¯t required to do any cooking, but I would like to get people who are willing to put together a light snack for a lonely child during the night.¡±

    ¡°Here you go,¡± he said to his second customer. He was forced to say it twice to get the man¡¯s attention. ¡°Did you need anything else today?¡±

    ¡°No, that is it for me,¡± he said. He picked up his bread and turned to look at Irene. ¡°Are you talking about the winter jobs on the Speedwell for the school?¡± Irene shifted her focus to the second customer.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said to him with a smile. ¡°My brother and I are working out the final details.¡±

    ¡°Ben?¡± the man said, turning to look at the old baker. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were affiliated with the school.¡±

    ¡°It is his idea,¡± Irene said. ¡°He wants his grandchildren to know how we were able to come to this world. I am just helping to implement his vision.¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Another customer came in.

    ¡°The school is teaching reading, writing, math and history to everyone. Then there are electives in self defense, hunting, farming, cooking and the crafts,¡± Ben heard Irene say as he dealt with his next customer. As Ben dealt with the morning crowd, he kept hearing bits and pieces of Irene¡¯s responses.

    ¡°We are still looking for instructors for the crafts. The instructor position pays 2400 for the term. We are offering beginner courses in metalworking, woodworking, tailoring and leathercraft.¡±

    ¡°Is that everything?¡± Ben asked.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it for me,¡± the customer responded, although they didn¡¯t make any move to leave the small shop.

    ¡°There will be hands-on experience with traditional earthen methods, instructions on industrial methods and if approved by the student''s sponsor, a hands-on introduction to structure methods.¡±

    ¡°You mean magic?¡± a woman said with some alarm.

    ¡°Yes, what many call magic, although it is really an even more advanced technological method of production than Earth''s industry. We will cover that in the history classes. No student will be taken into the structure without the express written permission of their sponsor.¡±

    The shop was getting crowded. Ben didn¡¯t think anyone left since Irene arrived. Ben was starting to hear repeats of the same information. Ben¡¯s oldest grandson Sean squeezed in through the street door.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± He asked his grandfather.

    ¡°School update,¡± Ben told him.

    ¡°The warehouse stations have more information on the positions. There is only so much I can put on a poster. If you''re interested you can sign up for one of the positions at the warehouse station,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°Do you have to read to take the job?¡± one of the younger customers asked.

    ¡°For an instructor position, yes, but not for a minder position. If an adult wants to attend the school and they are willing to serve as a residence supervisor for the younger students, they can put the pay against the tuition. They would only need to pay 600 coins for the session,¡± Irene said. Sean turned and looked at his grandfather.

    ¡°Adults can attend?¡± he asked the old man.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ben responded. Answering from the information he learned in the last hour. ¡°You don¡¯t have to take a job to attend either. If you don¡¯t it¡¯s the same cost as a child and you will be in the same practical classes. In the defense classes each student will be matched with someone the same size for sparring.¡±

    Finally people started leaving when Irene was well into her third repetition. Sean, being one of the last to arrive, kept asking Ben for clarifications after one of Irene¡¯s responses. Ben noticed that people on his side of the room were listening to him almost as much as they were to Irene. That¡¯s when he realized Irene had migrated to the other end of the shop when he wasn¡¯t looking. It was obvious that she was experienced in using the rumor mill to distribute information.

    ¡°Now that Sean¡¯s here to take over, I am free to talk,¡± Ben called to Irene when the room was down to about half its peak occupation. ¡°I¡¯ll get my coat and we can sit at the bench.¡± Irene agreed. Ben stepped into the back room and told his daughter he was going out to sit on the bench and talk to his sister. He took off his apron and hung it on a peg by the door.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need your coat,¡± his daughter reminded him.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting it,¡± Ben replied, climbing the stairs to the house above.

    When he returned to the shop, most of the customers were gone, although Sean was selling bread to a late arrival and passing on what he learned about the school.

    ¡°You should put in a couple tables and serve tea and breakfast rolls in the mornings,¡± Irene was telling his daughter. ¡°People like a place where they can sit and gossip.¡±

    ¡°My mother always wanted to do something like that. That is why this front area is as large as it is. Furniture is costly,¡± Ben¡¯s daughter explained. ¡°We¡¯ve always been busy enough as it is.¡±

    ¡°The school is going to have the students complete projects to learn skills. A table and chairs might be beyond the students this year, but I can see that being a project for a more advanced student. If you sponsored the project it would be a way to get the pieces at a lower cost,¡± Irene suggested.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Ben asked, before his daughter could ask what it would take to sponsor a project.

    The siblings stepped out onto the boardwalk. Irene led the way over to the bench. Ben wasn¡¯t certain who built the bench originally, but he sat on it many times with his sister. There was the chill of the coming winter in the air, but Ben was warm enough in his coat. Irene didn¡¯t show any sign that she noticed the cold. High clouds obscured the sun, but the day was still bright.

    ¡°I want you to come teach at the school,¡± Irene said suddenly. ¡°Todd is going to teach cooking, but I¡¯d like you to give a course in baking. If you can help Todd out with how cooking is done in the villages, that will be great too.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ben replied. ¡°I don¡¯t have the energy I used to have. I never baked on the ship. I really only know how to do it in my oven.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem,¡± Irene announced. ¡°I put together a baking workshop for you, complete with a wood fired oven. It''s on the eastern terrace where it will catch the morning sun.¡±

    ¡°You built it?¡± Ben queried.

    ¡°Well I used the construction robots to build it. You should come and inspect it and see if it will work, even if I can¡¯t convince you to teach. If it needs any changes I can do them now before the term,¡± Irene said. Ben thought about that. He decided he could do that much. He did start all this with his comment about schooling the settlement children this summer.

    ¡°I guess I can check it for you,¡± Ben admitted. ¡°Do you have fuel for it? You can¡¯t really tell the quality of an oven unless you light it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s mostly scrap wood from the manufactory, but I added bundled twigs to the buy list in the warehouses and we¡¯ve gotten some in. If the scrap wood won¡¯t work I¡¯ll increase the buy price for the twigs,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°When do you want to do it?¡± Ben asked.

    ¡°We can go now if you''re not busy. I want to stop at the two villages on the way to post our update, but that shouldn¡¯t take too much time,¡± Irene said. Ben thought about it and decided he might as well get it done with, so he could get back to his normal routine. The morning rush was over.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Ben said. ¡°I¡¯ll just tell my daughter where I¡¯m going.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Irene said.

    Ben stuck his head into the front of his shop and told his daughter he was going up to the Speedwell to give his opinion on the bread oven built for the school. He told her he expected to be back by nightfall. His daughter told him to keep warm and to not let his sister work him too hard.

    As he approached the cart where it was parked along the boardwalk, he overheard Irene talking to one of his neighbors.

    ¡°We are taking Benjamin up to inspect the workshops now,¡± Irene said. ¡°If we need to do a lot of changes the schedule might slip.¡±

    ¡°Val,¡± Ben said in greeting.

    ¡°It¡¯s very exciting news about the school,¡± Val responded.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ben responded. ¡°It¡¯s getting close now.¡± Val nodded her head in agreement and stepped back out of the way as Ben carefully climbed into the front passenger seat of the little cart. The cart swayed dangerously as Todd scrambled into the back. Irene stepped into the driver''s seat so lightly the vehicle didn¡¯t even shift.

    The cart eased its way out of Ben¡¯s village, being careful to not endanger any of the residents. They picked up speed on the main road. Irene was following the road north that ran along the edge of the automated fields. Most of the fields were already harvested and planted in their cover crops for the winter season.

 TWT.2: The wealth of the colony

    ¡°I think that went well,¡± Todd said from the back. ¡°I got a surprising number of questions about adult students.¡±

    ¡°I did too,¡± Irene responded. ¡°There was a lot of interest in the residence supervisor positions, but I didn¡¯t think anyone wanted to be an instructor. I was really hoping to get two or three instructors from the villages, in order to fairly represent them. That¡¯s why I want you to come teach,¡± Irene said to Ben. ¡°I want the students to see what a good life living in the villages is.¡±

    They reached Greenbend in a surprisingly short time. Ben realized he hadn¡¯t taken a cart between settlements in years. He only ever rode in one up to the ship and back when Irene dragged him in for medical checkups. She would probably insist he visit the medical center on this trip too.

    They pulled up in front of a meat shop. Todd lumbered out of the back carrying another rolled up sheet of paper.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to hang up our poster and take a quick stroll around the town square to see if we can answer any questions. You¡¯re welcome to wait here if you¡¯d like,¡± Irene said to Ben

    ¡°I¡¯ll come with you,¡± Ben said. ¡°I haven¡¯t made it up here to Greenbend in a couple years. I¡¯d like to take a look around.¡± Irene slipped out of the cart with a quick grace. It took Ben more effort. Irene was on his side of the cart by the time he was on his feet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy us a nice piece of meat for dinner,¡± Irene was saying to Todd. ¡°While you hang the poster.¡±

    ¡°Rump roast,¡± Todd said. ¡°Try to get one with some fat on one side. I know you like it lean but that is not good for the flavor.¡± Todd went wandering down the sidewalk. The walks in Greenbend were paved in flat stone. Ben followed his sister into the meat shop. There were two customers already in the shop. One was being served while the second was waiting in line. Ben recognized the waiting customer as a potter he purchased dishes from before.

    ¡°Ben isn¡¯t it?¡± the potter asked. ¡°You have the bakery in Woodheart?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ben responded. ¡°Is it Mike? Or Michael?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Matt,¡± the potter replied. ¡°What are you doing in Greenbend?¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Ben replied, ¡°I¡¯m getting old. We''re on our way up to the Speedwell,¡± Ben said. ¡°I¡¯m going to look over the oven they built to teach breadmaking in.¡± It was only then that Matt noticed Irene. He looked over at Ben¡¯s sister and took note of the uniform.

    ¡°So it is really happening then?¡± Matt asked.

    ¡°We are getting close to opening day,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Ben is a stern taskmaster and everything does have to be just so.¡± Ben chuckled at his sister''s words.

    ¡°Irene is just kidding,¡± he told Matt.

    ¡°We are still recruiting instructors and residence supervisors,¡± Irene commented. ¡°Student pickup and final enrollment will be in about a month.¡± From there the conversation followed a similar pattern to what he saw occur in his own shop that very morning. When Irene got to the counter she took an inordinate amount of time deciding which piece of meat she wanted. She ended up with a rump roast from a buffalo, with a nice trim of fat on it. She produced a length of oil cloth to wrap the meat in.

    Irene left Ben fielding questions the entire time she chose her purchase. Ben was pretty sure they lost an hour in the shop. They emerged back onto the street to find Todd leaning against the cart, telling a vivid and frightening tale about an encounter with what he called an earthen cougar, but from the description was obviously a jaguar, to a small group of young people. The moral of this tale was that everyone needed to know how to defend themselves, which was why the school was offering classes in self defense.

    ¡°We call them jaguars,¡± Ben said from his seat as they drove out of town. ¡°Or at least that is what your description sounds like.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve seen them before?¡± Todd asked from the back seat.

    ¡°Me? Never,¡± Ben responded. ¡°The hunters spot them rarely. Their furs are highly prized because of their rarity. I can¡¯t recall having heard of someone surviving an attack before.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that,¡± Irene said. ¡°They are strong and fast. It is amazing how much damage their claws do.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Do you still have that fur? I could show it to add weight to the story.¡±

    ¡°It might be in the apartment,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ll look for it before we head back out again.¡±

    The last village of Northstar followed a similar pattern, only this time they stopped in front of a fruit market and Todd insisted on doing the shopping. Irene and Ben walked down to the village message board. Irene rolled out the new poster over the top of the old one. They didn¡¯t manage to step away from the board before the first passerby started asking questions.

    The morning was half gone when they finally made the turn west to reach the Speedwell. As they drew near the first change Ben noticed was a high stainless fence. The fence was made of just vertical components. They were placed about a foot and a half apart and marched off in both directions from the road. A gate on the road opened automatically as they approached and closed behind them. He wasn¡¯t exactly certain what the fence was supposed to hold out or in. The spacing was too large to be a real barrier for anything.

    ¡°What¡¯s the fence for?¡± Ben asked, after he gave up trying to figure it out.

    ¡°It''s to mark the end of the area open to the students,¡± Irene explained. ¡°It¡¯s partly ornamental, but it is also equipped with sonic sources that should drive most large animals away.¡±

    As they drove up to the Speedwell itself, he could see that a series of new buildings were in place around the base of the landing platform. Irene parked the car in front of one of them. The face of the building was glass and steel. The structure rose two stories high, but he could see through the glass that there was no second floor. The side walls were mostly cement, with only a line of windows high above just under the roof line to let in light. There was a door in the cement side wall. The door was equipped with a security panel.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°You should be keyed in already,¡± Irene said to Ben. Ben touched the panel and the door slid open smoothly. Ben stepped inside into a small entry area. There were benches built into the entry area, with lockers built in underneath. On the wall over the benches was a high shelf and wall hooks where coats, hats and aprons could be hung. The space was warm and brightly lit. Not only was light coming in from the high windows, but the ceiling was covered by a kind of dense light panel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember lights like that,¡± Ben commented.

    ¡°They are LEDs packed tight. Only about one in ten LEDs are illuminated right now, they turned out to be uncomfortably bright. There is a control where you can change the light level if it is too dark or bright. I designed them to resemble the light panels in the structure. Actually all the new buildings are designed to look like the structure. We are expecting students from the settlements there and I wanted something familiar to them. People born and raised inside often have problems with open spaces,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Like the flight crew,¡± Ben observed.

    ¡°Yes exactly,¡± Irene replied. ¡°That is also why you have the large end windows. I wanted these spaces to be a kind of transition for them.¡±

    ¡°Where does that door lead?¡± Ben asked, pointing to a door in the west end of the room that obviously did not lead into the rest of the building they saw from outside.

    ¡°It is a direct connection to the ship. So you don¡¯t have to go out in the cold during the winter months,¡± Irene explained. ¡°The workshop and ovens are through there,¡± Irene said, indicating a double door in the north wall. The doors were equipped with a complex latch that was triggered on this side by depressing a push panel.

    The room beyond was a strange cross between the ultra modern and the workroom in Ben¡¯s bakery. The floor was made out of a breathlessly smooth, sealed and polished concrete. The ceiling was held up by solid steel beams. Irene¡¯s light panels carpeted the spaces between the beams. Heating and cooling ductwork, smoke venting and fire systems hung in plain sight, all clearly labeled. Bins, shelves and coolers held ingredients and equipment on the west wall. The south wall, on either side of the entrance they came in from, held bins of bundled twigs, bundles of twigs mixed with scrap wood and scrap wood. Light streamed in from the east wall, which was the glass he saw from the outside.

    Across the center of the room were baking stations. There were thirty six of them. Each was equipped with a wooden work table, a water source and a dough trough. On the north wall, directly opposite, there were six bread ovens.

    Ben found himself drawn into the room, looking at everything. He could not believe the wealth displayed. It was shiny new and had obviously never been used to make a single loaf of bread. He turned one of the taps on and pure cold water spilled into the porcelain sink below. Although smooth, the porcelain was colored to look like sandstone. It was an odd choice, but it looked good against the golden wood of the worktable. A twist of his wrist and water warmed to near scalding. He shut the tap off and moved to the ovens.

    The oven he inspected was constructed of fired brick and was equipped in the front with an ash chute in the floor in front of it. The door on the front of it was made of the same dark cast iron as the door on his oven. Studying it he realized it was identical to his door. That made sense, since he purchased his door from the Speedwell¡¯s manufactory within a year of the land grants. With that in mind, Ben realized that this was his oven, only built to a precision human hands could never match.

    ¡°Are all the ovens the same?¡± Ben asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd said. ¡°We picked this design since it is the most common in the villages. If you want another one it is not too late to change them out. We considered making each oven a different design, but decided that might not work well for a class. There are multiple ovens so more or less of them can be fired depending on the class size.¡±

    Irene sat a stool down next to Ben. He missed where she got it from.

    ¡°Here,¡± Irene said. ¡°For you to sit on. I have a few things to check up on now that we are back. I¡¯ll leave you with Todd. Just tell him what you need to do to fire one or all the ovens. If you get hungry there is food in the cafeteria on deck thirty. Todd can show you the way if you don¡¯t remember.¡± As Irene reached the door back out to the entry area, she turned back and called, ¡°Feel free to make a batch of bread or six if you want to. We can eat it tonight at dinner.¡±

    Ben was left in the huge bakery with Todd. He looked at the young man who stood by, obviously eager to follow Ben¡¯s instructions. Ben remembered that Irene called his man her heir.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand how you could build all this,¡± Ben said. ¡°Where did all this material come from? It was always so hard for us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really understand it that well myself,¡± Todd admitted. ¡°The robots built it. Grandmother programmed in what she wanted. As for the material, some of it comes from the automated systems and some was bought from the villages through the warehouse system. It¡¯s been fifty years since the landing. Grandmother has watched over, tended and slowly expanded those systems the entire time. This is the payoff, the wealth of the colony. She is using it now to invest in the next generation because you asked her to.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ben said. ¡°I told her it wasn¡¯t her responsibility to fix our mistakes.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say you told her to. I said you asked. She decided to do it. Believe me, if she decided it wasn¡¯t a good idea, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered what you said. It wouldn''t have happened,¡± Todd responded. Ben sat on his stool and thought about it. All the things he mentioned over the years to Irene that turned into reality in a year or two. While all the time he stayed in his bakery and raised his family. This time she was asking for his help. His partner passed away ten years ago from heart failure. His daughter could run the bakery perfectly fine without him. All his children were grown and his grandchildren were getting there. There was really nothing stopping him from helping out however he could.

    ¡°We¡¯ll fire three ovens,¡± Ben said. ¡°Use the twig bundles in the first one and the wood scrap for the last. Pick one in the middle for a twig and scrap mix. We¡¯ll light the fires now and work on the dough while the ovens heat.¡±

    ¡°How many bundles do you want?¡± he asked, already on his way over to the bin.

    <hr>

    ¡°The wood scrap didn¡¯t work that well,¡± Ben told Irene as he ate a late lunch in the cafeteria. ¡°I may have made Todd pack it too tight. I am used to the twigs having gaps between them so the fire can breathe.¡±

    ¡°I can program the manufactory to cut the scrap wood into a bendy shape, so they don¡¯t lay tight against each other,¡± Irene offered.

    ¡°That is worth a try,¡± Ben said.

    ¡°This bread is delicious,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have ever tasted better.¡± It was Grandmother, Sarah, Todd and Ben eating together. Sarah and Grandmother were working together to convert a couple apartments over for selkie use. Grandmother was hopeful that they might get a selkie student or two. The selkie pebble beds laid on the floor, so they wouldn¡¯t be able to house as many students in an apartment.

    ¡°That¡¯s because it is fresh from the ovens,¡± Ben said. ¡°Plus Todd isn¡¯t a half bad student.¡±

    ¡°I try,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°What is in the other new buildings?¡± Ben asked.

    ¡°Anything that involves an open flame,¡± Irene said. ¡°Crafts like metalworking and glassmaking. There are workshops in the old single person housing for any craft that doesn''t, things like woodworking, spinning, weaving, tailoring and leatherworking. Tanning is also in an outbuilding because I didn¡¯t want the whole ship to stink. I put in a couple spares for things we think up along the way.¡±

    ¡°After lunch I¡¯d like to tour the rest of the workshops,¡± Ben said.

    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Todd said. ¡°Do you want to see the preparations in the structure too?¡± Irene looked a little surprised at this offer, but didn¡¯t say anything to counter it.

    ¡°Not today,¡± Ben responded. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be a qualified instructor for any of that. I need to go home, pack a few things and explain to my daughter that she has to run the bakery this winter. Have you visited all the villages with your update yet?¡± Ben asked

    ¡°No,¡± Irene said, ¡°we started with Woodheart.¡±

    ¡°Then you can pick me up on the way south in the morning,¡± Ben said.

 TWT.3: Team meeting

    ¡°I need to make a trip into the structure,¡± Irene said to Ben. ¡°We¡¯ll be gone between eight and ten days. Will you be ok here? I¡¯ll leave Alex and Sarah with you.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be fine. You don¡¯t need to leave anyone to watch me,¡± Ben responded.

    Ben was in the learning lab, making sure he remembered how to run the machines. He found out that Irene was planning on using the machines to teach the mandatory courses in reading, writing, math and history. Ben felt this was an area where he could help out, since he was taught by them himself as a child.

    ¡°Sarah is my best engineer and we still have a few minor changes to make. So it works out better if she stays. Alex is tier four. He can use the transportation system. I want to leave someone here that can just in case. Where we are going, Valin and Companion will be very useful as non-humans. I don¡¯t think I can leave Todd behind if I tried and I want to take another woman with me, in case I pick up female students. I really need to get more women on my team. Although I¡¯m not certain Valin is actually male or female. I mean technically, going by gametes, he is male, but he doesn¡¯t have any of the same plumbing we do,¡± Irene commented.

    Valin was an elf while Companion was a selkie. Elves didn¡¯t have vocal chords. Instead they spoke by clicking and grinding their teeth together. This meant none of the humans knew what Valin¡¯s true name was. Valin was how his translator ring translated it. Companion¡¯s true name was So-La-Do. The selkie sang the notes at a high octave, but Companion recognized the same notes in a lower octave as his name too.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how you know that,¡± Ben said deadpanned.

    ¡°I put him in the medical scanner,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I needed the scans to guide the autosurgeon.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Ben responded. He couldn¡¯t resist teasing his sister.

    ¡°While I¡¯m gone I¡¯d like you to find a couple instructors from the villages. I don¡¯t care what they want to teach. Whatever it is we can add it as an elective. Also I hope to come back with our first students, so it would be great if you could hire one or two residence supervisors, feel free to hire as many as ten. Do you think you can do that?¡±

    ¡°I can,¡± Ben answered. ¡°Can Alex or Sarah drive me? I haven¡¯t driven a cart in so long I am not certain I remember how.¡±

    ¡°They can both drive carts.¡± Irene responded. ¡°I¡¯ll tell Alex to take you anywhere you need to go. He can give you a refresher course too. Which reminds me, if you manage to hire young people, make sure you walk them through how to use the restroom. You would not believe what I caught Companion doing on his first trip out. In case you don¡¯t know, the squat toilets in the public restrooms are for the selkie. It is a lot easier for them to use them.¡±

    ¡°When are you leaving?¡± Ben queried.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go out first thing in the morning. I¡¯ll take a larger cart and leave the maintenance cart for you,¡± Irene said ¡°We¡¯ll have a team meeting tonight after dinner. Feel free to say anything at the meeting. I hold them as much to get team members to talk to each other, than for me to talk to them. Sometimes people get stuck on part of the problem and can¡¯t see around it. Someone coming in from the outside who isn¡¯t aware of this blocker, will give an easy solution because they aren¡¯t burdened by that prejudice. Sometimes you''re reminded of that funny story the meat cutter told you five years ago, because the solution is in that story and your unconscious mind is trying to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Ben replied, ¡°but the meat cutter has no sense of humor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here,¡± Irene said with a smile.

    <hr>

    That evening dinner was a much more elaborate affair. Ben recognized the food items Todd or Irene purchased from different villages. The bread was still from the test batches Ben and Todd baked, but kept in the temperature and humidity controlled food storage of the Speedwell it was very close to fresh.

    It was the first time Ben saw the entire group sit down together. Pairs of them were always off doing something else at meal times.

    ¡°I want to go to Chicago tomorrow,¡± Irene said to the team. ¡°It remains the settlement with the longest travel time, so I want to get it out of the way first.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t give Chicago a preparation visit,¡± Valin warned.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t need one. I plan to offer schooling to the oldest residents of the orphanage. I also want to try to recruit instructors. I¡¯ve noticed in the past that a lot of older or crippled crafters end up there,¡± Irene responded. ¡°They can¡¯t make enough money to survive in a square with the structure rents, but they can still get by in Chicago. Forty silver will pay the rent on a square apartment for the remainder of the year.¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Are we all going?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯d like Sarah to stay and finish up the last of the engineering tasks. Ben is going to work on hiring a residence supervisor for the orphans. Alex, I''d like you to stay here too, just in case something happens and you need access to the transport system,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°OK,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°I¡¯d also like you to work on writing a script for the school recruiters,¡± Irene said. ¡°Something like what you said during the tour. Give the school¡¯s name and how many students we will accept from the square and so forth.¡±

    ¡°You want me to write it down?¡± Alex asked, focusing on the word ¡®writing¡¯. He pulled a small paper binder and pen from one of the pockets of his uniform and started taking notes.

    ¡°Yes. Except for Seagrass, I¡¯m thinking about having someone other than you act as the head recruiter. I can see a time in the future when we won¡¯t be able to visit all the squares to gather students, so we should just begin that way. We can develop a method that is more consistent if it is all scripted.¡±

    ¡°Should we give a list of what the students should and should not bring along?¡± Companion asked. ¡°If we aren¡¯t there we can¡¯t search the packs.¡±

    ¡°We can search the packs here,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°We can store the extras without worrying about them disappearing.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t help replace missing items or are we planning to provide items like on the trip?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°At over a hundred students, I don¡¯t think we can,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°I think student, minder and instructor lists would be helpful,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°Not everyone can read,¡± Ben warned.

    ¡°True,¡± Irene said. ¡°We need to remember that. Alex, when you write the script for signing up a student make sure you include offering to read the student instructions to them. That should be in ¡®the signing up a minder¡¯ script too. I¡¯m making it a requirement that instructors can read. If we get a really great candidate for an instructor who can''t, we will revisit that decision.¡±

    Alex was busy writing notes. He started asking a series of questions as a way to brainstorm ideas. He asked what each role might require and what was reasonable to request they bring with them. The questions were answered by numerous people around the table. Ben found himself answering a lot of them for people coming out of the villages.

    When Alex asked how much time the students were going to have to prepare, Irene pulled out her own notebook where she scribbled down a rough schedule, starting with the trip to Chicago. This schedule was debated and refined.

    ¡°So it¡¯s agreed we will make two passes,¡± Alex said. ¡°On the first pass we tell the students they have a week to prepare and we get all employees to come with us at the end of the day. If they can¡¯t make it, they¡¯ll have another chance to come with the students.¡±

    ¡°That sounds right,¡± Irene responded. ¡°When we get to the second pass we¡¯ll need half the team here to receive the students. Actually someone with transport access will have to be here the whole time to catch the employees. I suppose we can all go until we get an employee, then one of us with transport access will have to come back here. After that we should agree upon a time period we send people in so the catcher doesn¡¯t have to remain in the structure all the time.¡±

    ¡°Can you explain this transport system to me?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Why do you have to have a catcher?¡±

    ¡°The system itself is something like an elevator,¡± Todd said. ¡°Only it knocks the rider out for the trip. The control system in the structure hides it from anyone who hasn¡¯t been approved, but the non-approved can still use it if they are guided. When a non-approved person is in the system they are blind, so an approved user has to push them in and guide them out.¡±

    ¡°I just had an interesting thought,¡± Sarah commented. ¡°Control uses the nanobots in our eyes to blind us, but Ben doesn¡¯t have any. I think that means he will see the transport room.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Irene responded. ¡°He also won¡¯t see the interface since the nanobots draw it as an overlay on the stone. I don¡¯t think the door will open for him either.¡± Irene looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°He may not be able to travel in it. Remember when we tried cargo alone and it just rolled back out? I¡¯ve always suspected Control is using the nanobots in our blood to make us unconscious. If Ben can¡¯t be knocked out he may just get rolled back out like cargo.¡±

    ¡°Does Ben need to travel to the squares?¡± Todd asked. Ben wanted to know the answer to that. He was feeling a little alarmed.

    ¡°I guess not,¡± Irene said. Ben could see she was thinking something else. He thought about the conversation so far.

    ¡°Did you want me to do the recruiting?¡± Ben asked. Irene smiled with delight.

    ¡°I was thinking that as a villager it would be appropriate for you to recruit inside the structure. You will use vocabulary and body language that is just different enough that everyone will sense that you represent an outside group,¡± Irene explained. ¡°We can keep you safe in the entry area to the first transport room. From there you would be within the protection of a crystal the entire time. We just need to make sure people don¡¯t bother you. One or two of us under camouflage should be able to handle that.¡± Ben fidgeted as he thought about it. He remembered deciding he would help this time after his conversation with Todd.

    ¡°I can do it,¡± Ben responded. ¡°What do I have to do to get nanobots?¡±

    ¡°You just drink the water,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯m curious about what you will see, so we will worry about that when we get back. Hopefully I can find someone in Chicago to help you with recruiting. If I can''t, I''ll talk Kai and Muriel into it. They haven¡¯t been seen in many of the squares outside Home.¡± Irene turned to Alex. ¡°When you write the scripts, go over them with Ben. Use his word choices when you can.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± Alex responded.

 TWT.4: The weakness of old women

    Alex O¡¯Rose was having a bad day. Her attempt to liberate lunch ended with her having to wash dishes for over two hours. The cook kept Alex trapped in the back room with the simple method of standing in the doorway. At least the woman handed Alex a little leftover meat and vegetables rolled in a flat bread after the lunch rush was over.

    She was still eating this when a voice from her nightmares commented, ¡°That smells quite appetizing, little finder.¡± Alex jumped to her feet, dropping the rest of her lunch in the process and prepared to bolt down the hall. The flatbread roll never hit the ground. Instead a large masculine hand caught it in midair while another hand caught her shoulder in an iron grip.

    ¡°Where are you off to in such a rush?¡± Todd asked her. ¡°Grandmother¡¯s been looking for you. She is very annoyed you kept her waiting. She sent me over to hurry you up.¡± Alex gulped and watched as a large portion of her hard won lunch dance dangerously close to the warrior¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°The cook is still serving,¡± Alex said frantically. ¡°You have no need for my tiny morsel.¡±

    ¡°I saw you drop it,¡± Todd observed. ¡°That is a sure sign you didn¡¯t want it anymore.¡±

    ¡°I was just testing your reflexes,¡± Alex declared. Todd laughed. It was a truly frightening development.

    ¡°My reflexes are just fine, little finder. How are yours?¡± he asked, tossing the food back to her. She caught it roughly and began gulping the rest of it down before it disappeared on her again.

    ¡°Come along,¡± Todd said, ¡°Grandmother is waiting.¡± He said it like she had a choice. Instead she was pushed forward without any effort on her part by the hand on her shoulder. They arrived quickly at the unguarded open door to a suite. With some unease, Alex realized it was the same suite Grandmother occupied on the last trip.

    The room was too clean for a room in Chicago. The settlement was located in wildspace, which meant there was no protection crystal. Wild animals would colonize any room that wasn¡¯t carefully secured. They gained access through the vents. Wall vents could be pinned shut to keep the vermin out. The pins failed and eventually needed to be replaced periodically. Any room that was left empty became cluttered with debris. Alex was born in the structure and didn¡¯t question where the debris or animals came from. It was just a fact of life to her.

    In the center of the main room, sitting on a strange chair made out of leather and wooden poles, was Grandmother. A long black staff was leaning against the old woman¡¯s leg. She was using a large steel knife to clean her fingernails. The room was bare. There wasn¡¯t even a touch of dust on the floor. The beast man from last time was standing against the back wall, beside one of the doors that led deeper into the suite. Next to the other door stood a different beast man. This one was slimmer, with large black eyes and sparkling white skin.

    ¡°Here he is,¡± Todd said. ¡°I found him having a late lunch.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°At least you look a little more substantial. I expected you hours ago, Alex O¡¯Rose. I need something found.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Alex responded, she straightened herself up. ¡°I can find anything,¡± she stated with pride.

    ¡°I am looking for a crafter,¡± the old woman declared. ¡°Someone I knew in my youth. I need them for a little project of mine. They¡¯ll be past their prime now. I can¡¯t remember if they lost their hand or their foot. Or was that their brother? Anyway, they¡¯ll be a little hard pressed now, without much family. Go and fetch them for me. I don¡¯t want to waste another hour.¡±

    The heavy hand lifted from her shoulder. Alex wanted to run, but she forced herself to nod at the old woman to display her professionalism as a finder. In a fit of boldness she asked, ¡°Which craft do they practice?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Grandmother replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just go get them,¡± Alex replied as her boldness ran out. She rushed out the door. She kept going until she was out of sight of the door to the suite. From her earlier experience she knew that the unguarded door was nothing but a trap.

    She racked her brain. Did she know an old crafter that was missing a hand or a foot? The old beggar that lived on blacksmith hall walked with a limp and he was missing an ear. Maybe he limped because he was missing a foot. Alex wasn¡¯t certain he was a crafter of any kind. Now old Elizabeth, she was a leatherworker once, before age crippled her hands. She lived with a granddaughter, but Alex was pretty certain the granddaughter wouldn¡¯t mind if the old woman went missing. She should have asked if the crafter was a man or a woman.

    She¡¯d try the beggar first. He may limp, but he got around fairly well. She was pretty certain she could get him over to Grandmother¡¯s suite within the hour.

    ¡°It¡¯s right here,¡± Alex told the old man. She bribed him with an iron coin to get him this far. She half dragged, half pushed the old man all the way here. She continued this effort until she got the old man into the door.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said with a frown. ¡°Are you sure this is the right one?¡±

    ¡°It has to be him,¡± Alex defended. ¡°You said a man right, the leatherworker is a woman. She is much more feeble, I don¡¯t think she¡¯d be much use to you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I didn¡¯t say a man.¡±

    ¡°I already paid him an iron, surely he will do it.¡±

    ¡°Here,¡± Grandmother said, pulling a coin from her pocket. ¡°Take your iron and go find me the other one.¡± She flicked the coin across the room to Alex. Alex caught the coin out of the air and stashed it into her pocket. She saw quite clearly as it flicked through the air that it wasn¡¯t an iron, but a silver.

    ¡°She¡¯s a little slow, with her joints,¡± Alex warned Grandmother. ¡°I¡¯ll bring her back as fast as I can.¡±

    Alex rushed back out of the suite.

    The old woman wouldn¡¯t go.

    ¡°She just wants to talk to you,¡± Alex begged. ¡°There could be coins in it for you. Look." Alex very carefully looked around, to ensure no one could see them before she pulled the silver coin from her pocket and showed it to the old woman. ¡°She gave me this, for the old man. She¡¯ll give you something. She¡¯s a mean one, but she¡¯s fair.¡±

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Over by the west door is too far for me girl. I don¡¯t care what you¡¯ve been promised. It just isn¡¯t happening,¡± Elizabeth countered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you,¡± Alex promised. ¡°Think of how happy your granddaughter will be if you bring home some value. Look this is the boss that brought in all the high tier crafting gear. Don¡¯t you remember how well everyone did for a while after that? You just can¡¯t say no to Grandmother.¡±

    ¡°I can say no to anyone, girl,¡± the old woman countered.

    ¡°She says she knew you in her youth,¡± Alex cried. ¡°How can you say no to an old friend?¡±

    ¡°Everyone I knew in my youth is dead,¡± Elizabeth said flatly. ¡°Describe this boss woman to me.¡±

    ¡°She is old like you, only more spry. She wears leather armor and carries a big steel knife. She moves like a skilled fighter, but mostly she sits on her stool and lets her underlings do all the work,¡± Alex described.

    ¡°That¡¯s not much of a description," the old woman complained. ¡°That could be anyone. What color is her eyes, her hair, her skin?¡±

    ¡°Her hair is silver,¡± Alex responded. ¡°Her skin tone is a bit darker than usual, Todd¡¯s is too. I don¡¯t know what color her eyes are.¡± Alex admitted. They felt like dark pools of night when Grandmother looked at Alex. Her smile was the grin of a hunting animal right before the kill. Alex shook herself, realizing she was letting her fear color her descriptions. That wouldn¡¯t get the old leatherworker to go.

    ¡°Who¡¯s Todd?¡±

    ¡°One of her men. I think he is her right hand man. She has others too,¡± Alex said.

    ¡°Why do you say ¡®others¡¯ that way?¡± Elizabeth queried. Alex cursed herself again, the old woman picked up every one of her slips.

    ¡°They aren¡¯t all men,¡± Alex said. Trying hard to mask her desire to say they aren¡¯t all human.

    ¡°You¡¯re not telling me anything to change my mind. I think you''re fabricating that she knows me,¡± Elizabeth said, ¡°cause you know the weakness of an old woman.¡± Alex racked her brain. She couldn¡¯t go back without the old crafter. If Alex didn¡¯t return, Todd would come find her. Her eyes studied the tiny back room where the old woman spent most of her time. Trying to come up with an idea. There was very little in the room. A spear lay on the floor close to where the old woman sat. She used it to rise and sit and hobble along.

    ¡°She carries a staff,¡± Alex said in desperation. She remembered the item leaning against the boss woman¡¯s leg. It was the only new detail she could come up with. ¡°A tall black staff. It isn¡¯t a spear, it has no point.¡±

    ¡°A staff huh?¡± Elizabeth said. She turned her face to look at the young girl, pretending to be a boy. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex said triumphantly, she could sense victory. ¡°She keeps it near at hand.¡± Alex didn¡¯t mention Grandmother didn¡¯t have it on the last visit. If Elizabeth knew someone in her youth that carried a staff, Alex would leverage that to get her moving.

    ¡°Help me up,¡± the old crafter said. ¡°Let¡¯s go see your Grandmother.¡±

    Alex did her best to help the crafter, but she was just painfully slow. Alex could feel everyone staring at them as they hobbled down the hall.

    ¡°There it is just a few steps more,¡± Alex called as they rounded the last turn. The open, unguarded door was just ahead. There was no sign that anyone was in the room and Alex worried that they were too late. The old woman took a break only feet from the entrance. Alex shifted around anxiously as she waited for Elizabeth to recover. Alex peeked around the doorway first to see Grandmother still sitting on her stool.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting a long time,¡± Grandmother said, impatiently. ¡°I almost sent Todd to find you.¡±

    ¡°Here she is,¡± Alex announced, leading Elizabeth through the doorway. ¡°I found her, I can find anyone.¡± The old woman¡¯s slow progress forward faded. She narrowed her whitish eyes and peered at the figure in the center of the room. She was leaning heavily on the spear in her hand.

    ¡°Irene?¡± the half blind crafter asked. Grandmother stood, her smooth flawless movement in sharp contrast to the crafter. The naked blade she held in her hand moments ago was gone. The staff was grasped in one hand but was somehow just an extension to it. Its long length was maneuvered with such skill that it came nowhere near any of them and was no barrier to the genuine hug Grandmother gifted the old crafter with.

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± Grandmother exclaimed. Yep, Alex thought as some of the tension drained from her, this was the right one. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were still in Chicago.¡± Oh crap, Alex thought, if Grandmother didn¡¯t know this woman was in town she couldn¡¯t be the right crafter. A large hand came down from totally empty space and held her shoulder.

    ¡°It has been a long time,¡± Lizzy commented.

    ¡°Ellen,¡± Grandmother said, turning to a blank space along the wall. ¡°Can you get Lizzy a chair and some refreshments while I finish with Alex O¡¯Rose?¡± The wall shimmered and a woman in green stepped out to do Grandmother¡¯s bidding. Alex knew it was a cloaking spell of some kind, but it worked so much better than the ones Alex knew that it frightened her. The fact that all of Grandmother¡¯s people could see right through her spells didn¡¯t help.

    Old Elizabeth was led away, into one of the back rooms of the suite. The small talk Ellen was sharing with the old woman cut off suddenly, as a muffle spell was cast.

    Alex tried to fidget under Todd¡¯s hand, but she found it almost impossible to move at all. To her horror, Grandmother did not sit back down on her stool. Instead she circled around Alex, studying her.

    ¡°Well,¡± Grandmother said finally, ¡°you actually finding someone I knew in my youth is a bit unexpected. Valin, is there a finder perk?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lady,¡± the white beast man responded. The movements of his lips didn¡¯t match the words. He revealed a frightening amount of very sharp teeth as he spoke. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t work on people.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°I¡¯d prefer a perk versus Narrative.¡±

    ¡°Very sure,¡± Valin responded. ¡°Perhaps it is just a result of chance. You were here in your youth.¡±

    ¡°What do you think of our young finder? Would he work for you?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°She is too old,¡± Valin answered. Alex cringed as the beast man so casually gave away her true gender.

    ¡°You think all the orphans are too young,¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°How old are you, boy?¡±

    ¡°Fifteen,¡± Alex replied. Her relief at Grandmother still calling her a boy let what she thought was the true number slip from her. She wasn¡¯t actually certain how old she was. Time passed mostly unmarked in Chicago and her mother was long dead. Grandmother frowned. With one last glance up and down Alex¡¯s form she returned to her stool. She settled down, passing the staff from one hand to the other.

    ¡°Fifteen is old,¡± Grandmother conceded. ¡°Still a few too young and one too old may balance out. Companion, go over to the orphanage and buy me the three oldest.¡±

    ¡°I have to go now,¡± Alex said suddenly, as she realized she¡¯d fallen into some kind of trap similar to the cook¡¯s. ¡°I have people who depend on me.¡±

    ¡°Do you?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Younger siblings perhaps? How old are they?¡±

    ¡°No, no siblings,¡± Alex said desperately, thankful that was true. ¡°I care for my elderly mother,¡± Alex declared, as inspiration drove her. ¡°I am all she has.¡±

    ¡°I knew a Rose once,¡± Grandmother said suddenly. ¡°The last time I saw her was in Ellensburg. She was no crafter, but I feel I should have an introduction to your mother just incase she is the same Rose. Todd, journey with young Alex to retrieve his mother. Valin, go with them just to make sure Alex doesn¡¯t get lost along the way.¡±

    The large hand on her shoulder began to turn her around. Alex didn¡¯t resist. Her best chances of escape started with getting out of this room.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Todd asked her at the door. He lifted his hand from her, allowing her to pick the direction. Alex saw that as progress, but did not for a moment think she could get away that easy. She took off in the direction of the shopping district as she decided who she could present as her mother. The only person she could come up with was the cook. She thought the cook was old enough to be her mother, maybe. Todd followed along behind her in the open. There was no sign of the beast man Valin, but Alex could feel him at her back.

 TWT.5: A job offer

    ¡°What are you up to Irene?¡± Elizabeth asked. She was sitting on a very nice component chair with a carved wooden seat. She listened to the entire interaction with Alex through the open doorway and was very confused at what was really going on here.

    ¡°I¡¯m opening a school for young people,¡± Irene told her. ¡°I¡¯m looking for skilled crafters who due to age or disability don¡¯t want to work full time anymore. I am hoping to hire them to teach in the school.¡±

    ¡°What was that part about buying orphans?¡± Lizzy accused.

    ¡°I¡¯ve made arrangements for the oldest children at the orphanage to attend. The manager accepted my donation to help support the remaining children longer. I was surprised to find out they don¡¯t allow any children who reach tier one to stay. They currently only have three children who are over eight, which is the minimum age for the school,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Is Alex too old for your school?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°No, I am letting adults attend if they want. I am trying to determine if someone will be hurt by his absence. I ran into him on my last trip and he appears to be making a life for himself well enough and I am not certain I should interfere. It¡¯s Valin that is trying to convince me. He thinks Alex will make a good agent.¡±

    ¡°Agent?¡± Lizzy said, ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Valin is from a species that has a kingdom on one of the southern continents,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°I think he was a spy master there or something. He likes to believe he still is. His presence alone will teach the kids great things about how big the world is, even if he is completely untrustworthy.¡± Lizzy remembered Valin as a small diminutive white smear. Her vision was not what it used to be. She thought he was wearing a strange disguise. To hear Irene refer to the small man as another species was disconcerting.

    ¡°So what do you think?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Do you want to come teach at the school?¡±

    ¡°It sounds interesting,¡± Lizzy replied. She unwrapped one of her crippled hands from the lovely warmth of the glass mug of hot tea the young Ellen gave her. ¡°I don¡¯t think I would be much help,¡± she admitted, showing her hand to Irene. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like you are setting this school up here and I can¡¯t travel.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well I know a spell that may help with your joints,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Like you knew one that might help with Oliver¡¯s foot?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene admitted, ¡°like that, with very similar downsides.¡± Lizzy remembered Oliver¡¯s almost crazed state from the itch when his foot was growing back in, but she also remembered his joy at being able to walk again.

    ¡°I need to talk to my granddaughter,¡± Lizzy said. She shifted her weight in preparation for rising to her feet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll send someone to fetch her,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Ellen, can you go fetch Lizzy¡¯s granddaughter.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Ellen responded. Elizabeth didn¡¯t realize the young woman was still in the room. Ellen quizzed her on where she could find her granddaughter and what her name was.

    After the young woman stepped out, Irene refilled Lizzy¡¯s tea. She left the room saying, ¡°I have to go check on my other guest,¡± Irene said. ¡°I¡¯ll be back when your granddaughter gets here.¡±

    Lizzy thought she might have dozed a little. She came awake to the sound of Irene talking in the other room.

    ¡°So you lied to me about your mother?¡± Irene said. ¡°How can I trust someone who would lie about their own mother?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s like my mother. I do chores for her and she sees me fed,¡± came young Alex¡¯s voice, there was both bluster and panic in it.

    ¡°Todd?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°The cook said he''s a hard worker. She was relieved someone was taking an interest in him.¡± Todd¡¯s next words were a bit muffled, like he was speaking with his mouth full. ¡°She does an incredible spice rub. I swear I can barely tell this is boar meat.¡±

    ¡°That isn''t helpful to me,¡± Irene said. ¡°I am looking for value in young Alex here, not your sandwich.¡±

    ¡°I can find you something else,¡± Alex said. ¡°The right crafter must have left, I¡¯d have found them if they were here.¡±

    ¡°Can you read and write?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Write?¡± Alex stuttered.

    ¡°Yes, with a stylus and vellum. Can you write a message and send it to me when you find what I am looking for?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°I can draw a picture!¡± Alex countered. ¡°A flower if I found it, a rat if I didn¡¯t. It¡¯s better than writing. No one will know what it means and take advantage.¡±

    ¡°I like her,¡± Valin said.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t let the beast man eat me,¡± Alex cried.

    ¡°You¡¯d just give him indigestion,¡± Irene commented. ¡°He¡¯s an elf, not a beast. I need someone who can read and write. Since the cook says you''re a hard worker and you did find Lizzy, I¡¯ll sponsor you for one term at the Wizard''s Tower. We¡¯ll see after that if you qualify for the job.¡±

    ¡°Job?¡± Alex asked in an uncertain voice.

    ¡°Of course job, boy, what do you think I¡¯ve been talking about?¡± Irene countered. ¡°Are you interested in a job?¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex admitted.

    ¡°Well you¡¯ll have to come with us then,¡± Grandmother responded. A knocking sound drifted into the room.

    ¡°Excuse me Grandmother,¡± Ellen said. ¡°This is Chloe, Lizzy''s granddaughter.¡±

    ¡°Come in,¡± Irene said graciously. ¡°Lizzy is waiting for you. Valin, take charge of Alex. See that he collects his belongings and is ready for the trip.¡± Chloe came charging into the room. She knelt down next to Elizabeth¡¯s chair.

    ¡°Grandma, are you ok?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°Irene is an old friend of mine. She¡¯s offered me a job.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t just confused?¡± Chloe asked.

    ¡°No, I am sure of this,¡± Elizabeth said. ¡°It will mean leaving Chicago.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll always have a home with us,¡± Chloe told the old woman. ¡°You don¡¯t need to walk into the wild.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not killing myself,¡± Elizabeth said with a snort. ¡°It¡¯s a job at a school.¡±

    ¡°What school?¡± Chloe questioned.

    ¡°The Wizard''s Tower,¡± Irene said from the doorway. She stepped into the smaller back room, carrying another chair. She set it down next to Elizabeth for Chloe to use. The seat and back on this one were made out of woven rope. Irene perched herself on a small stool she sat on earlier. ¡°We are accepting our first class of students this fall. I am looking for independent adults to teach and tend to the children outside of class.¡±

    ¡°Why do they need tending outside of class?¡± Chloe asked.

    ¡°It is a boarding school. The students will live there during the term. That way it isn¡¯t affiliated with a square or settlement, but is independent of them,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°What does this job pay?¡± Chloe demanded.

    ¡°Everyone gets housing, meals and transportation to the school and back,¡± Irene explained. ¡°Additionally instructors are paid forty silver a term, while residence supervisors get ten.¡±

    ¡°We could get a place in a square,¡± Chloe said with a bit of wonder in her voice. ¡°You should take the job.¡± Chloe turned to look at Irene. ¡°When are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°In the morning,¡± Irene replied. ¡°I¡¯d like Lizzy to stay with us until then, to help with our preparations.¡±

    ¡°I can bring your things,¡± Chloe told her Grandmother. Lizzy was a bit shocked at her granddaughter''s quick turn around, but at the same time a whisper at the back of her mind told her she was little more than a burden these last few years.

    Irene walked Chloe out. After she left, a large warrior in red touched leathers stepped inside Lizzy''s room.

    ¡°Hi,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m Todd.¡± He sat down in the chair next to Lizzy and started rifling through the contents of a gathering bag. ¡°I brought you some food. Try to eat as much as you can.¡± He handed her flatbread rolled up around meat and vegetables. Lizzy recognized the source as a cook shop not far from her granddaughter''s leather shop.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the boar is it?¡± Lizzy said, accepting the food.

    ¡°Oh, no I bought that for Valin. He complained all the way back that it didn¡¯t have any flavor so I decided to try it myself. I need to go back and find out what spices she is using before we leave.¡± Lizzy took a bite of the bread, the gathering bag kept it hot. Todd picked up her glass mug and went over to a portable stove in the corner of the room to refill it with tea.

    ¡°Drink too,¡± he said, before sitting back down. He pulled another wrap out of the bag and started eating it himself. ¡°So you knew Grandmother in the old days?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she responded. ¡°She saved my spouse¡¯s life once, she never admitted it, but I think she healed him in the night. She probably saved it again when she got us out of Chicago. That was during the war. Things were bad then.¡± Todd ate the last of his wrap before pulling another one out.

    ¡°Was that before or after Redfalls?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Before,¡± Lizzy responded. ¡°No one heard from her for a couple years after. We were all worried she¡¯d been killed, even Greg didn¡¯t hear from her. When next she showed up she cast a spell on Oliver and he grew a new foot. She said she was sorry it took her so long to get there, she was working on a warehouse system. I never did know what that meant.¡±

    ¡°Oliver was your spouse?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No, he was my brother,¡± Lizzy replied. Todd noticed Lizzy didn¡¯t volunteer what happened to either man. He didn¡¯t press, he wanted to befriend the woman, not traumatize her. Lizzy finished the wrap and sipped her tea.

    ¡°Grandmother is writing a history,¡± Todd said. ¡°You should give her input from your point of view. I read it and it is a little grim in places.¡± Lizzy thought with all the traveling Irene did, she probably knew more about the events in the structure than anyone. A lot of those events were a little grim.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Irene asked from the doorway. Lizzy wondered how much of the conversation she overheard.

    ¡°For?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°The spell,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Is that what Todd is fattening me up for?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°Yes, I am afraid so,¡± Irene admitted. ¡°Hopefully he hasn¡¯t eaten it all himself, since you¡¯ll probably be hungry again pretty quickly.¡± Lizzy set her glass mug back down on the floor. She braced herself in the chair.

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready,¡± she said. Irene began to cast. It was a very complex spell that involved both hands. Lizzy noticed that Todd shifted a bit, almost like he could feel the magic.

    Pain reached through her bones and into her muscles. Somehow it felt like a healthy pain and not nearly as bad as trying to get to her feet after she sat too long. She took a deep breath, stretching her lungs. There was no catch in her throat, forcing her to swallow a cough. Instead she could feel the oxygen flood her muscles. She flexed her hand, surprised to see how straight her fingers were. She blinked and looked up at the towering figure of Todd, who was still sitting in the chair next to her. His image sharpened as the white film over the world faded away.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Lizzy said. She felt the need to move. She rose to her feet with an ease she hadn¡¯t experienced in years. She teetered just a bit as a wave of dizziness passed over her.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡± Irene asked. Lizzy took a step or two forward before turning back to face Irene.

    ¡°Like I¡¯m twenty years younger,¡± Lizzy announced.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you''re actually younger,¡± Irene said. ¡°Although Todd here thinks you might be. I think the spell just removes the diseases of age.¡± Lizzy looked at her old friend in a kind of awe. Irene was revealed to her with the same sharpness she saw Todd. With some startlement, Lizzy realized that for all her silver hair, Irene didn¡¯t look old. Her smooth skin and slim fit frame looked unchanged from her appearance all those years ago when she met the woman in Northbrook. The staff in her hand was different. It wasn¡¯t the smooth carbon fiber of the old staff. It was the same dark color, but it was covered in a fine inlay of symbols. The ends looked like they were bound in silver.

    Lizzy sat back down. Not because she felt weak, but because her world shifted. She felt the need for something solid under her. She picked up her mug and drank.

    ¡°We¡¯ll stay the night to make sure you can travel. I healed Asher. He was missing most of his fingers and toes. He claims he lost them in an explosion, but I think maybe it was some kind of hard core debt collection. He swears he knows blacksmithing so I''m going to give him a chance. Hopefully the itching will be past the peak by then. I don¡¯t want to spend any more time here than that,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°Are we leaving from Ellensburg or Londontown?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Londontown,¡± Irene answered. ¡°We¡¯ll pick up Ed on the way out.¡±

 TWT.6: Toddâ€™s primary role

    Ed led a group of young warriors into the square from the halls. Since recovering from healing addiction he couldn''t keep himself busy enough. He spent half his life under the daze of heal. Now he found himself tempted to make a trip into the inn when he couldn¡¯t find anything else to do. To counter that he led trainee groups into the wild, escorted gatherers in the green and trained young warriors. He still found himself fidgeting at times when he couldn¡¯t find anyone that needed a warrior¡¯s helping hand. He ended up spending a lot of time in the furniture shop, where he was reminded that if he stayed off the heals, Grandmother promised him a job outside of Londontown.

    A warrior was leaning against the wall of the back door hallway. Ed¡¯s group of young warrior trainees passed the man like they didn¡¯t even see him. They were excited to get to the crafters where they could sell the scrap and meat they gathered on the trip. It wasn¡¯t until Ed was close that he realized the warrior''s leather armor was touched with red, not blue like his own.

    Ed stopped and really studied the man. The cloaking spell broke under his intense scrutiny and it was Todd standing before him.

    ¡°Todd,¡± Ed said, there was a touch of relief in his voice. They really did come back for him. Ed caught the impression that the team was going off to do something dangerous on their last visit. He was worried they might get killed.

    ¡°How is it going?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Keeping busy?¡±

    ¡°Busy enough,¡± Ed said. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering when I would see you again. I expected you before now.¡±

    ¡°You know how it is, half a dozen things all at once, never enough time to get it all done,¡± Todd responded. ¡°Grandmother is at the store checking up on what they need. I am sure she will want to go pick up a sofa or two before she will be ready to leave. Although we are on a schedule this time. I expect by morning we will be away. We need you to come with us, so if you need to pack, now is the time.¡±

    ¡°I can be ready to leave in about five minutes,¡± Ed responded. ¡°I can go with you to get the furniture. I¡¯ve marked on my map anything I¡¯ve seen lately that was interesting.¡± Todd slapped the older man on the back in approval.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to fit right in,¡± he announced. They walked together to the furniture shop. Todd moved like he was still in wildspace. Ed took note and changed his own behavior. They stepped into the shop to find Grandmother at the service counter working on the shop interface. ¡°I found him,¡± Todd announced. Grandmother lifted her eyes from the counter.

    ¡°Good to see you, Ed. I need to finish this before we head out. I think I¡¯ve gotten the prices a little high,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°Ed says he¡¯s marked interesting things on his map,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡± She turned back to the service counter where she appeared to be less picky with her selections. Eric, one of the store clerks, came over to greet the two men.

    ¡°Can I interest either of you in a complimentary tea?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Tea?¡± Todd queried. ¡°When did you start doing that?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been offering it as a way to advertise the glass mugs,¡± Eric explained. ¡°We stopped when we sold most of the mugs, but Grandmother just delivered another bag full.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to tell Kai,¡± Todd said. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll have tea.¡± Ed nodded his own agreement. Eric returned in just a few minutes with two mugs.

    ¡°Where did you get the tea?¡± Grandmother asked, when she finished her changes and looked up again.

    ¡°Eric is providing it to shoppers,¡± Ed explained, ¡°to entice them to buy the mugs.¡±

    ¡°Eric, that¡¯s a great idea,¡± Grandmother said, turning to her clerk. ¡°How much do you need to cover the costs?¡±

    They left the square to collect items soon after that. They went straight to a known spawn location for a sofa first. This would be their fifth sofa so the room was getting old. Grandmother was a little worried the area might be remodeled now and the spawn removed. They cleared the room to reveal a sofa waiting for them.

    ¡°This is probably the last sofa we will get,¡± Grandmother remarked. ¡°I don¡¯t see us finding the time to scavenge again for at least a month, maybe longer.¡± Every section of the structure was remodeled eventually. Most areas without constant player occupation changed at least once a year, they could change in as little as thirty six days. She walked around the room slipping a variety of other items into her bag. Ed was shocked the first time he saw her put a four by one foot sheet of stainless steel shelving into her bag. This was the second time he went out with them scavenging and he thought nothing of it.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the rest of the team?¡± Ed asked. The last time Grandmother visited the entire team was with her. They were on their way to some mysterious adventure in the south.

    ¡°We sent them on to the school,¡± Todd said. ¡°We picked up some orphans from Chicago for our first students and we didn¡¯t want to turn them loose in Londontown.¡± Ed was amazed that he wasn¡¯t even surprised at that. Chicago was Londontown¡¯s historic enemy. They fought a war about thirty or forty years ago and a large number of warriors were killed on both sides. Londontown¡¯s protection crystal shrunk to half its original size. It was the reduction of the crystal that ended up cooling the open hostility, not any kind of peace agreement.

    The violence drove people north and west, searching for places to live where they could escape the war. When the settlements stepped back from open warfare and stopped spending their resources on the war effort, everyone found the new reduced population could survive in smaller territories and there was no real need to steal from their neighbors. Ed''s teachers in Londontown never told him how the conflict started or why it grew as large as it did.

    Londontown and Chicago did not suddenly become friends. There was too much real suffering and death on both sides for that to happen. Ed was forty two, he was a child when the war was fought. He held no personal feelings about it either way. The pain and suffering in his life all came at the hands of the royal family of Londontown. He served that family faithfully his entire life and would continue to do so since Grandmother was also a member. She was Irene, youngest daughter of the mad queen who was the first ruler of Londontown.

    ¡°Lets head back to the shop with the sofa. I have a couple rooms marked on the way back where we found smaller items before,¡± Grandmother announced. Ed took one end of the sofa and Todd took the other. Ed felt horribly vulnerable as they carried the large piece of furniture down the hallway. Grandmother kept darting ahead and behind as they rounded corners.

    ¡°Hold,¡± she called from ahead. Ed and Todd almost dropped the sofa as they both reached for their weapons. Grandmother flicked off a couple spells that flashed a bright light before disappearing around the corner. She used both hands to do it, resting her staff against her body as she cast.

    ¡°Tier four, chain lightning,¡± Todd said quietly to Ed. Ed flexed his hold on his sword as he prepared for whatever came around the corner.

    ¡°Clear,¡± Grandmother called. Todd made a careful sweep behind, just in case something was sneaking up on them, before he slung his weapons. Ed forced himself to follow the younger man¡¯s lead and put his sword back in its scabbard. The hallway around the corner was littered with the carcasses of about twenty hall spiders. Ed was impressed. This was why Grandmother had the audacity to sell furniture in the square, while everyone else just left it behind.

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    ¡°Is that shield of yours made out of glass?¡± Ed asked, in an attempt to appear nonchalant about the causal use of power. The shield faded to a transparent color when slung on Todd¡¯s back. It was filled with red when the warrior handled it.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Todd responded. ¡°The same crafter who made the glass mugs constructed it. I don¡¯t usually carry a shield, but I am demonstrating it for him since no one trusts glass. I guess you could say I am the tea.¡±

    ¡°Ha ha,¡± Ed responded.

    ¡°It works as an insulator against electricity. We faced off against an opponent in the south that uses something close to Grandmother¡¯s lightning and I was the only one that didn¡¯t get stung. Well after I got the shield, I got shocked plenty of times before that,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°What kind of animal uses lightning?¡± Ed asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not an animal, it¡¯s a kind of machine. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d believe it unless you saw it. Although a few weeks at the Wizard''s Tower and you may,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°This room contained a storage chest in it,¡± Grandmother reported, standing outside a door ahead of them. ¡°We can just stack it on the sofa and you boys can carry it together.¡± Todd moaned.

    The sofa was piled high by the time they reached the green. From the weight, Ed was certain Grandmother snuck an anvil in there. They crossed the green to Londontown¡¯s gate without seeing a single living animal. Ed thought Grandmother feared most of them away, but he was uncertain. His own visibility was extremely limited by the pile. Only Todd''s continued calm kept Ed from panicking at the loss of his own situational awareness.

    The gate guards recognized Ed and waved him through. Ed suspected they were laughing at him behind his back. The group drew very little attention as they lurched across the training yard and courtyard on their way to the shop. Ed assumed Grandmother cast a cloaking spell of some kind. They were forced to unload the sofa before they could carry all the items through the door of the shop.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go up to the apartment and dump out this bag. We can check out Ed¡¯s map after,¡± Grandmother commented when she finished entering the new items into the shop inventory. Both clerks were in the shop. They were busy moving the new items around to display them to best advantage. Ed and Todd were on the new sofa drinking another round of tea.

    They headed up to the apartment. Todd dumped out two bags onto the floor. Out of Grandmother¡¯s hands their contents exploded out of them. Ed saw it the last time he went salvaging with them, but it never got old. They were sorting out the items to put them on the shelves when a knock sounded on the door.

    Todd and Ed went on high alert. Grandmother shifted her position so she could cover whoever opened the door. Todd stepped forward to do the duty. He snatched the door open quickly, hoping to catch whoever was in the hallway unawares.

    ¡°Hey Todd,¡± Lucas said from the hallway. Lucas was Todd¡¯s cousin and a king¡¯s man. Which meant he was an officer in Londontown¡¯s guard. ¡°I heard someone brought a sofa in through the green gate.¡± Todd checked the hall, confirming that Lucas was alone.

    ¡°Come in,¡± he said. ¡°We are expected to be someplace else soon, so we are working on a quick restock.¡± Lucas stepped inside. His gaze swept the space pausing on both Ed and Grandmother.

    ¡°I was wondering if you had any news from the school,¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°The recruiters are due soon,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°We¡¯ve come to pick up Ed so he can apply for a teaching position. Student pickup is five to seven days after the recruiters so you should get your kids ready.¡±

    ¡°Do they need to go with you now?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t worry,¡± Todd said. ¡°If the school won¡¯t come here to pick them up, I¡¯ll come back and get them.¡± Ed didn¡¯t understand how all this traveling was going to get done in the time described. Chicago was the closest settlement and it was three or four days away depending on the speed of the party.

    Todd and Lucas discussed what his children should bring with them to the school and what they shouldn¡¯t bring. Ed helped Grandmother sort out the rest of the gathered pile. Grandmother pulled a slip of vellum out of her pocket where she wrote down everything the store was sold out of or was requested by a customer. She started assembling the items from the components stored in the apartment. Ed realized she was making time for the cousins to talk.

    ¡°Are you heading out now?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ll head out late this evening,¡± Todd said. ¡°We are on our way now to check out Ed¡¯s finds. Do you want to come along? We could use some help with the carrying.¡± Lucas thought about it for a moment. As a man of honor he was torn between his loyalty to his family and his king. Lucas was ninety percent certain that Grandmother wasn¡¯t interested in deposing the king. A trip out with her might help him decide that last ten percent.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°I¡¯d like that. Let me grab my scavenging gear.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Todd responded. ¡°We¡¯ll meet you at the back door.¡±

    They carried down the component furniture to the shop, making two trips. Ed was convinced at this point that Todd¡¯s primary role was porter. It was little wonder he was always happy when other people came along.

    Lucas was waiting for them at the back door. Ed led the way to the first room he marked. The four of them cleared the rooms easily. Grandmother nodded approvingly at the wooden desk, glass and copper shelves and stuffed chair in the first three of Ed¡¯s marked rooms. Todd gave Ed a dirty look, when Grandmother told him to carry the chair. Ed wasn¡¯t certain what Todd was upset about. He and Lucas were stuck carrying the desk.

    Grandmother broke the glass and copper shelving down to components and pushed them into her gathering bag. Her gathering bag was only slightly plump. Grandmother moved like it didn¡¯t weigh anything at all.

    The fourth room was a two room suite. The front room was larger than normal. It looked like there was a row of seating along the hall side wall, with a large desk or row of desks protecting the open doorway to the second room. The second room was decorated with a large desk in the center with two chairs in front of it and one behind. All the furniture was little more than debris piles of broken components in a mix of iron and steel. What led Ed to mark the room was the potted plant in the corner of the first room.

    ¡°Oh, this is nice,¡± Todd exclaimed. He was turning the plant looking at the pot. The pot was very large and Ed knew from experience that it was very heavy. The plant growing out of it was some kind of tall fern he didn¡¯t recognize. Plants did absolutely nothing for him, but the furniture shop used small potted flowering plants in their displays.

    ¡°You like plants?¡± Lucas asked Todd.

    ¡°Me?¡± Todd said, like he wasn¡¯t just fawning over the thing. ¡°I find them useful, especially the herbs. It is Muriel that really loves them. I am impressed with the planter. We¡¯ve been looking for a big one for a while now.¡±

    ¡°If you like the planter,¡± Ed said, ¡°there is a bigger empty one behind the desk in the other room.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Todd said. He looked excitedly at the connecting doorway, before heading into there. ¡°This is a real beauty,¡± Todd called from inside. He came out carrying the planter. He took it out into the hall where Grandmother was standing on watch.

    ¡°That must be a match for the gallery plants,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°I think so,¡± Todd agreed. ¡°The other one is heavy enough I think you¡¯ll have to carry it. I¡¯ll take the watch.¡± Grandmother came wandering into the room. Instead of heading directly to the plant, she did a survey of the complete contents of the room first. Ed saw a couple items disappear into her bags.

    She approached the plant and slipped her staff through her belt at the small of her back. She reached out with both hands and with very little visible effort picked it up. She shifted it around in her hands before setting it back down. She proceeded to pick it up with one hand. The plant tilted over dangerously and some of the soil spilled. She frowned and sat it back down again. She scooped the spilled soil up and returned it to the pot.

    Ed couldn¡¯t contain his amazement. He stepped over to where Lucas was keeping watch within the room.

    ¡°It is too heavy for me to lift,¡± Ed confided to Lucas. ¡°I could slide it along the ground, but I couldn¡¯t get it off the floor.¡± Grandmother picked the plant up with both hands and carried it out into the hallway. Ed and Lucas followed her out.

    ¡°It is heavy,¡± Grandmother said to Todd. ¡°I am not certain it is worth it. Maybe we should dump the plant out and just take the pot.¡±

    ¡°We could build a sledge and pull it,¡± Todd suggested. ¡°It being so heavy and hard to move makes me think there is something special about it. I don¡¯t think we should dump it until we at least identify it.¡± Grandmother paced up and down the hallway, looking over their gathered prizes. Curious Lucas went over to the plant and nudged it. It didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°There is something in the next room that might help,¡± Ed said. ¡°It is not far.¡±

 TWT.7: It is a library!

    ¡°It''s a very large room,¡± Ed commented as they prepared to make entry. Todd was at the door, with Lucas and Ed on either side of him. Grandmother was behind the three men in the archer or wizard position.

    ¡°How large?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°It is two or three times the size of a three room suite,¡± Ed explained, ¡°and two stories high.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just crack the door and take a peek,¡± Todd declared. ¡°Ready?¡± he called. Everyone responded ready. Todd depressed the push plate, disengaging the latch. He held pressure until the door opened about a foot, then stepped back into the hall. A scratching scrambling noise rose from within, but nothing made it out before the door closed.

    ¡°Rats?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Maybe badgers,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°What was in here where you found it?¡± she asked Ed.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Ed responded. ¡°I was with a group of trainees. I remembered thinking it was the type of room I¡¯ve seen people die in and we were lucky. That is why I warned you about the size.¡±

    ¡°I think the sound came from above,¡± Lucas offered. He was on the hinge side of the door. When the door opened he should have been in the best position to see what was inside, but the interior was too dark to make much out. ¡°The darkness was odd.¡±

    ¡°Odd?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°It flickered,¡± Lucas responded.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It might be bats.¡±

    ¡°Bats?¡± Ed asked. It wasn¡¯t an animal he recognized.

    ¡°They are usually in greenspaces farther north. They like to hang from the tree tops. I don¡¯t think they can get a grip on light panels so they usually don¡¯t appear in rooms,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Todd, I¡¯ll take the entry position. Wedge the door and kill anything that gets past.¡±

    Todd stepped back. He took Lucas¡¯ place, while Lucas stepped back to the rear support position. Grandmother leaned her staff against the wall next to the door. She shook out her hands.

    ¡°Ready?¡± she asked. Everyone responded ready.

    The door flew open and Grandmother stepped inside. Ed expected the door to bounce and hit Grandmother. He saw it happen dozens of times when overeager trainees entered too quickly. The instant the door reached the wall Todd was there jamming a wedge under it. Todd stood with his back against the door and faced the room from the inside. Ed, on the opening side of the door, followed Todd¡¯s lead and stepped into the room. He pressed his back against the wall beside the door.

    Grandmother cast. Lightning filled the sky. A horrendous screech arose from the dark mass above. Dozens of bodies dropped to the floor. Some fell straight down but others were diving in their direction. Ed raised his sword and prepared to cut down anything that got too near.

    Lighting filled the sky again. A diving mass of animals bounced when they hit a group shield that formed right in front of the door. Ed was sure Grandmother did not cast it. It must have been Todd, proving he was as much a wizard as a warrior. Flickers of fire flashed across the room. Ed thought at first that Todd was throwing fireballs, but the fire was coming from the beasts.

    Lucas was slicing the animals falling between the edge of the shield and the wall with ice sword. Even more were trying to get by the edge of the shield on Ed¡¯s side. He stepped up his efforts.

    A frozen fog filled the entire room. The flickers of fire stopped and the animals slowed. The shield failed. Lightning filled the room. The moisture in the fog carried the electricity more effectively. It was an interesting trick. Ed could feel small shocks all over his body. He stiffened, afraid he was going to end up stunned and lose consciousness. The room stilled.

    ¡°Everyone all right?¡± Grandmother asked. Ed could only grunt. His skin still tingled. Grandmother looked at him. She reached out and touched him. The pain spiked, strangely intense on the stubs of his missing fingers, then faded away. He realized with some concern that she healed him.

    ¡°You told me no more heals,¡± he murmured.

    ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°no more blue heals. You can have a violet or green heal, those are fine.¡± Only now did Ed realize he experienced no pleasure from the heal. The pleasure from blue heals faded long ago, leaving him only the relief from the craving. Since he didn¡¯t have a craving, this heal didn¡¯t relieve him of it, but it didn¡¯t start the timer in the back of his mind either. Instead he felt good, free from that spike of pain that came from all over his skin.

    Ed looked down at his leather armor. It was decorated with a fine tracing of black lines in a jagged pattern. He realized they were burn lines.

    ¡°Ellen can repair that for you,¡± Grandmother offered when she saw him inspecting the damage. ¡°She can repair almost anything, I think it is her perk.¡± The old woman walked into the room. She retrieved her staff from the hallway at some point and was using it to crush the skull of any animal that still twitched. Ed rested more of his weight against the wall behind him and breathed. He glanced over at Todd to find the younger warrior looked completely untouched. Lucas, being farther out into the hall, was also spared.

    ¡°What spell was that?¡± Ed asked Todd.

    ¡°Tier five chain lightning,¡± Todd responded, ¡°mixed with a tier four freezing fog. With this shield I didn¡¯t even feel it,¡± Todd said, flashing his glass shield, now a solid red. ¡°Next time I¡¯ll loan it to you.¡±

    ¡°Why does my hand itch?¡± Ed asked.

    ¡°I forgot the missing fingers,¡± Todd said. ¡°I think Grandmother did too. That was a tier four heal, your fingers are going to grow back.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Lucas asked from where he was standing watch in the hallway.

    ¡°Very,¡± Todd replied. He turned and looked at Grandmother. ¡°You didn¡¯t mention they breathe fire. You know Alex is going to call them dragons not bats.¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them cast fire before,¡± Grandmother said back. ¡°These must be a more advanced version from the ones in the greens. They are way too high tier for this area.¡± Grandmother danced around in a circle waving at the contents of the room. ¡°Look at this room. It is a library!¡±

    ¡°A what?¡± Ed asked. He looked over the room. He saw it before when he found it. The walls were covered in shelves. They were the built-in kind that came with shops and couldn¡¯t be broken down or removed. The shelves were loaded with ruined notebooks. Ed looked at a few of the more intact ones and found the pages covered in a black and white smear that wasn¡¯t anything but gave the impression of writing.

    There were ladders on the shelves of each wall. They were constructed of a central pole and steps that rotated flat on either side as weight was applied. They were obviously intended to give access to the upper shelves.

    The high ceiling overhead was arched and crossed by heavy wooden beams, bound in black iron. Looking at them now, Ed realized the bats must have hung from those wooden beams, blocking the light from the panels between them. That was a hint of how many animals were in the room. The center section was an array of broken component desks. The tops of several of them were intact and they were wood. Ed thought Grandmother would like them.

    ¡°A room for the storage of books,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Lucas said from the doorway. ¡°It''s a unique room. I read about them in the User Manual. They often contain spell hints.¡±

    ¡°Spell hints, hidden rooms, special tools or quest inscriptions,¡± Grandmother elaborated. ¡°And sometimes nothing at all. Although in a nothing room I often wonder if I just missed it. It occurs to me that Companion¡¯s coloring book may have come out of a room like this. We will need to check every book.¡± Grandmother turned to Ed. ¡°What did you see in this room that you thought might help with our plant problem?¡± Ed pointed over to the nearest ladder.

    ¡°The ladders move,¡± he said.

    <hr>

    They cleared the room across the hall. It was a typical room and didn¡¯t have any animals in it. Lucas noticed that Grandmother checked the room over pretty closely, before they started dumping the bat/dragon carcasses in it. As Ed stood watch, Lucas and Todd moved the animals. Grandmother studied how the books were distributed on all the shelves, before declaring she didn¡¯t see any pattern. She borrowed a gathering bag from Todd and started stuffing it with books, even those that were heavily damaged. She planned to check them all later.

    Lucas was horrified at how many animals were in the room. Ed¡¯s comment about it being the type of room people died in was too accurate. He marked the room on his own map. He would issue a warning to keep away from it unless you had a very strong team. He wasn¡¯t certain Londontown could produce a team strong enough for this room. As he hauled animals the last ten percent of his uncertainty about Grandmother¡¯s intentions toward his king vanished.

    If Irene, the mad queen''s youngest daughter wanted Londontown, she would already have it.

    When they finished with the bats, Grandmother stopped loading books long enough to look over the pattern of the desks in the center of the room.

    ¡°It could be the desks,¡± she commented. ¡°There are twelve of them, two rows of six. That is the number of symbols in a tier four or five spell. Take the desks apart one at a time and search for any hint of a structure symbol. If there is anything in or on the desks that you can¡¯t identify, set it aside. It might be a new tool. Make sure you check any books or vellum. Actually set that aside as well.¡± Grandmother went back to stuffing books while Todd showed Lucas how to take the component desks apart. They set the intact components and damaged components in separate piles in the hallway.

    They didn¡¯t find any structure symbols in the desks, although they did find a few odd items. They moved on to the chair remnants. Todd took the watch when Grandmother finished with the books and started helping with the chairs.

    Soon the room was nearly empty, the ladders were still in place. Grandmother climbed them to retrieve the books off the upper shelves. She inspected the ladders until she was satisfied that they didn¡¯t contain any hints. She was planning on disassembling them separately and putting them in their own bag. She wanted to be able to reassemble them later. Grandmother leaned down and tapped out a spell on the floor tile. A wave of cleanliness swept across the floor and up the lower shelves. It didn¡¯t reach the upper shelves. The high ceiling above was still festooned with dust that clung to the wooden beams. The clean floor was the same standard pattern found in the hallways.

    ¡°What spell is that?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Restore,¡± Grandmother answered. ¡°We used to call it clean, but we¡¯ve recently decided it actually does minor repairs. It is tier one. I am still hoping I can find a higher tier version.¡± Grandmother laid down on the floor and looked up at the beams and light panels.

    Unable to stop himself, Lucas looked up at the ceiling himself. There were five large beams across the ceiling, with six sections of light panels between. The light panels were all on and the room was just as brightly lit as any other space. Lucas recalled his earlier thought that the bats bodies blocked the light. There were a lot of dead bats, but the space between the beams was large. It was impossible that it was their presence alone that blocked the light.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand how the room was so dark before,¡± Lucas mused aloud. ¡°Those bats are not large enough to block all the light.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t,¡± Grandmother agreed with a tilt of her head. ¡°Turning the lights off,¡± Grandmother called to Todd. The warrior on watch acknowledged the call. Grandmother began pulling the light out of the panels. The User Manual contained a section on lights. He bought the book from the furniture shop after Grandmother¡¯s last restocking run. She brought in items like the glass mugs, that weren¡¯t exactly furniture. Todd recommended to Lucas that he read the book. Lucas was still not completely recovered from the damage it did to his world view and he wasn¡¯t all the way through it yet.

    Ed did not have the same warning. Lucas could see the older warrior trying very hard not to show any surprise at this development. In a lot of ways this simple act of turning the lights off and on was far more world shaking than killing a hundred bats with three or four casts. Everyone knew there were powerful spells out there. It was far more disturbing to find out you missed one of the most simple and basic ones.

    Grandmother stopped when she reached the third strip of light panels.

    ¡°Todd, come look at this,¡± Grandmother called. ¡°Can one of you take the watch?¡± she asked Ed and Lucas. Ed hurried over to the post by the door. Todd walked over and dropped down onto the floor. He laid on the floor next to Grandmother and looked up at the ceiling.

    ¡°Does that look like a spell ribbon to you?¡± she asked, pointing up at one of the beams that was only lit indirectly by the light panels in the next section. Todd flicked his hand, casting some spell. He squinted his eyes and looked up where Grandmother was pointing.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he responded. ¡°It does.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°It is a tier four spell,¡± Grandmother announced, ¡°from the light spell tree.¡±

    ¡°What do light spells do besides turn the lights on?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Invisibility,¡± Grandmother answered, ¡°but I already know a tier four light masking spell and this isn¡¯t it. The fact that it was in a library is a hint. I think it is about revealing information instead of hiding it. My team''s frequent visits to Londontown using masking spells may have triggered this spell hint getting spawned. It is aimed at someone who is tier four in your square that Control thinks should know we are here.¡±

    They were walking back to Londontown. Dragging a hastily constructed cart behind them. The ladder wheels were larger than the mop bucket wheels, but they did not swivel. Luckily Grandmother figured out very quickly how to use the swivel component in ladder steps to convert them. Every bag Todd and Grandmother carried between them was packed. The bags that hung on Todd, churned unhappily. Lucas remembered the first time he saw his cousin pat a bag trying to calm it down. He suspected his cousin was touched. Now he wondered how his cousin could not end up touched with all the things he saw following Grandmother around. Lucas was glad his king was a homebody. Technically his king was a young boy, but the regent seldom left the square either.

    ¡°How many people in the square are tier four?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone is,¡± Lucas replied.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s not true,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Quite a few of the crafters we bought spells from were tier four.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that familiar with the crafters,¡± Lucas admitted.

    ¡°I guess that means it¡¯s a crafter,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°We may need to come clean with the crafters. If whoever it is doesn¡¯t find out we¡¯re visiting, Control might come up with a Narrative so they can.¡± The User Manual talked about Narrative too. It was definitely something to avoid. ¡°I¡¯ll spread the word among my people that they should admit where they are from in Londontown. We''re not really from Melbourne,¡± Grandmother told Lucas. ¡°We are from a new square we just call Home.¡±

 TWT.8 Recruitment day

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower,¡± the old man called out to the square while standing on one of the tables in front of the inn. ¡°By special arrangement with the leadership of your square, thirty places at the Speedwell Academy are available for your learners. We accept students aged eight, or tier one and up. Tuition is twenty steel coins, what you call silver, for the winter session of three months duration. Housing and meals are included for all students. Submit your students'' names for consideration. We will draw fifteen girls and fifteen boys this afternoon. If we have less than fifteen of either gender, we will only accept the same number of the other.¡±

    ¡°The academy is also hiring. We will consider any skilled adult for the position of instructor and any responsible adult for the position of residence supervisor. Speak to one of our representatives for details. We pay forty steel coins to an instructor and ten steel coins to a residence supervisor for the winter term.¡±

    Harry stood just outside the guard''s shopfront and watched the display. He noticed the group setting up through the glass front and stepped outside to see what was going on. They were all wearing odd clothing. One of the men had the look of a warrior and was vaguely familiar to Harry. The man was twitchy, rubbing his right hand against his side. He was about to march over and demand to know what they were up to, when the announcer started speaking.

    ¡°So who is this guy?¡± Harry said aloud to himself.  He felt like he should know more about this event since the man referenced ''the leadership of your square.''  What kept Harry from going over there and demanding answers immediately was the speaker''s reference to ¡®the Wizard''s Tower.¡¯ Harry recognized it as the name Grandmother was calling her school.

    ¡°He¡¯s my brother,¡± a completely empty spot next to him said in Grandmother¡¯s voice. ¡°My oldest brother. This is his first trip into the structure. He raised his family in the eastern villages.¡± A cascade of thoughts ran through Harry''s mind at that announcement. He just let them wash through. If the day didn¡¯t straighten them all out he¡¯d corner Todd later.

    ¡°Who are the other three?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Two are crafters from Chicago, while the third is a warrior from Londontown,¡± Grandmother¡¯s voice replied.

    ¡°Why are you hiding?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°This is a kind of practice run. We¡¯ll adjust from here. I want to see if it will work without me or the team present.¡±

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower,¡± the old man called out again, repeating his announcement. On this repetition he added, ¡°We educate the young in reading, writing, mathematics and history, along with teaching them scavenger, crafter, warrior and wizard skills.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your brother¡¯s name?¡± Harry queried.

    ¡°Benjamin. I think everyone calls him Ben,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°Should I submit my grandkids¡¯ names?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°Sure, that should get things moving,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°If they get drawn I won¡¯t have to feel bad about playing favorites anymore.¡± Harry settled his sword at his belt and marched out across the square. The square''s residents paused, no longer pretending they weren¡¯t watching. They all caught sight of Harry stepping out of his office and weren¡¯t going to do anything until he decided. In Grandmother¡¯s absence, Harry ran the square.

    He came to a halt in front of the questionable man. If this man was working for Grandmother Harry wanted to know why he was so twitchy.

    ¡°What''s wrong with your hand?¡± Harry demanded. The warrior held up his right hand revealing three bright red finger stubs.

    ¡°It itches,¡± he said. ¡°I can¡¯t even describe how bad.¡± Harry narrowed his eyes at the man. That vague familiarity circled in his brain.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you lose an eye?¡± Harry asked.

    ¡°I thought that was bad,¡± The warrior responded, ¡°but the fingers are worse. They keep accidentally brushing against things and the itch just explodes.¡±

    ¡°Edward, isn¡¯t it?¡± Harry asked as the name finally surfaced. The Edward Harry remembered was a shadow of a man, hopelessly hooked on heals.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you remember me, Harry,¡± Ed responded.

    ¡°I want to put my grandson and granddaughter in for the drawing,¡± Harry announced.

    ¡°Give me the boy¡¯s name,¡± Ed said, ¡°then go see Lizzy and Asher and give them the girl¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°Richard Maxim,¡± Harry said.

    ¡°Lucas¡¯ son?¡± Ed asked. ¡°We are going to Londontown after Seagrass,¡± he commented.

    ¡°Grandmother sent me over, something about getting things moving and not playing favorites,¡± Harry confided.

    ¡°Alright then,¡± Ed responded. ¡°Do you attest he is tier one or over the age of eight.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Harry responded.

    ¡°Will he be ready to depart to the Wizard''s Tower in six days?¡± Ed asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°The cost is twenty silver, will you pay today, or in six days when we return to pick up the students?¡±

    ¡°Today,¡± Harry answered.

    ¡°Very good,¡± Ed responded. ¡°We will expect payment this afternoon if his name is drawn. Please provide physical coins. I¡¯m supposed to ask your name now,¡± Ed commented as he wrote down, student Richard Maxim, sponsor Harry Maxim. He folded the sheet of vellum twice, hiding the writing. He dropped the folded scrap into a round barrel shaped basket that was suspended on its ends by a little frame. Ed closed a door over the opening so the scrap of paper wouldn¡¯t accidentally fall out.

    ¡°We will select the names at random this afternoon. Please be here for the drawing. If your student is selected further instructions will be given to prepare them for the trip. We will pick a girl first then a boy. When we run out of girl or boy names we will stop. If your student isn¡¯t selected, there will be a second chance on pickup day. New names will be drawn to replace no shows or non-payments at that time. If no show or non-payments can¡¯t be replaced, the last drawn names will be regretfully rejected and issued refunds until the balance between boy and girl is reinstated.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Harry said. ¡°I never thought of that ploy. Signing up a fake girl to get your boy in. I¡¯ll have to remember it the next time I have to put a group together.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done this before?¡± Ed asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought I was going to be you on this one too. I¡¯m relieved you are here. The coliseum keeps me busy,¡± Harry commented, he moved on to the other two who must be the crafters from Chicago to submit his granddaughter''s name. When he finished and turned to walk back to the guard¡¯s shopfront he found a line behind him. He realized he hadn¡¯t heard Ben¡¯s call for a while. He glanced over to see that the old man had stepped down from his impromptu podium and was helping out Ed with the boys'' names.

    Thirty spots was not going to be nearly enough. Grandmother was going to want to ramp up next year.

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    The academy hired seven residential supervisors, but no instructors. Lucas¡¯ son was selected, but not his daughter. The unselected names far outnumbered the selected names. If they didn¡¯t recruit any more students inside the structure, they could easily fill the other thirty structure spots from the unselected. Harry paid the fee for Lucas'' son in front of everyone and accepted the slip of vellum giving instructions on what the boy should and should not bring with him.

    Grandmother sent Ellen, Valin and Todd back to the entrance with the new hires. Todd was very unhappy about it, but he recognized that Sarah, Alex and Companion all needed to go to Seagrass. She didn¡¯t want to send Ellen back alone with seven new hires and she didn¡¯t completely trust Valin. She wanted to send four people back, but she needed to go to Seagrass in order to take advantage of her ability as crystal owner to send everyone to Home Square or the upgraded rest at no cost. They would regroup at the upgraded rest and switch people around after Seagrass.

    <hr>

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower,¡± Ben called out to the square. He felt strange standing on the stone ''table'' yelling out words he knew no one here was going to understand. Alex sang out a translation beside him. ¡°By special arrangement with the leadership of Home Square, eight places at the Speedwell Academy are available for your learners. We accept students tier one and up. Tuition is twenty steel coins for the winter session of three months duration. Housing and meals are included for all students. Submit your learners¡¯ names for consideration. We will randomly choose the names this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°The academy is also hiring. We will consider any skilled adult for the position of instructor and any responsible single adult for the position of residence supervisor. Speak to one of our representatives for details. We pay forty steel coins to an instructor and ten steel coins to a residence supervisor for the winter term.¡±

    His sister Irene was sitting openly on the edge of the table that Alex and Ben stood on. She was wearing a black outfit he didn¡¯t recognize. He didn¡¯t see her in her own Home Square until after the names were drawn. Home Square was vaguely familiar from the recordings he remembered seeing on the Speedwell before the land grants. Seagrass was another thing. He was glad he met Companion before now. He was sure he would have frozen in shock at the sight of so many walking walruses if he wasn¡¯t already familiar with the lone selkie. He remembered a time when he thought Companion was more a pet than a man, before Irene built him a translator so he could communicate with the villagers on his own. Looking at the industrious settlement of selkie he saw how wrong he was to have thought that.

    Ed, Asher and Companion were set up on the table to Ben¡¯s right, while Lizzy and Sarah were set up on the table to his left. They set the tumblers on the tables in order to keep them dry. Irene tapped out a pattern on Ben¡¯s pants that drove all the water off of him and back into the pool that was the selkie¡¯s idea of a courtyard. Ben was glad he didn¡¯t have to stand around in wet boots.

    The door of the inn behind him opened and a selkie in dark green came out. The selkie approached Irene. Ben¡¯s completely non-musical sister sang three notes in greeting. The selkie sang something long back.

    ¡°Benjamin, this is the square¡¯s leader.¡± Irene sang the three notes again, ¡°this is my oldest brother Benjamin.¡±

    ¡°I am honored to meet you,¡± Ben responded. Alex seamlessly translated these words. The selkie sang something back.

    ¡°She wants to know what color your magic is and what tier you are. She doesn¡¯t understand the clothing you are wearing,¡± Irene told her brother. ¡°I don¡¯t know for certain,¡± Irene said to the selkie, ¡°but I suspect he is tier zero and has no color. He has lived his life beyond the reach of Control. He¡¯s only come now at my request.¡±

    ¡°How can that be?¡± Alex translated the selkie¡¯s words for Ben. ¡°Is this school beyond the reach of Control?¡±

    ¡°Some of it is, yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°But it also has facilities inside Control''s domain. It will teach human skills, brought with us to this world. It will also teach magic, much like the trainee run this last summer.¡±

    ¡°Will going beyond Control¡¯s reach bring any harm to a selkie?¡± the leader asked.

    ¡°Companion has been many times, ask him if he has been harmed,¡± Irene responded. The leader looked over at Companion, rolling her liquid eyes.

    ¡°I see the depth of his color. Is it going outside Control¡¯s reach that has helped him achieve tier four?¡± the selkie asked. Irene turned and looked at Companion. Ben looked over at him too. The orange fabric draped over his large form was a darker shade than the orange most of the square¡¯s inhabitants wore. Ben wondered if that is what the leader meant about the depth of his color.

    ¡°I do not know,¡± Irene told the leader. ¡°We have been very busy.¡±

    ¡°I will put my grandchild¡¯s name in. A future leader needs to know the world,¡± the selkie elder announced.

    ¡°Is your grandchild a girl or a boy?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Ed, Asher and Companion are taking down boys'' names and Lizzy and Sarah are taking girls¡¯,¡± Irene said, waving broadly at each table. ¡°I like to keep things balanced between boys and girls, but for your first experience with our school I am not requiring it.¡±

    ¡°She is female,¡± the square¡¯s leader said. She swam/walked over to the correct table. Companion shifted over to the other table at Irene¡¯s signal, just to make sure everything went smoothly.

    ¡°Make the presentation again,¡± Alex said from beside Ben.

    ¡°I feel odd saying it when no one understands it,¡± Ben confessed.

    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised,¡± Alex responded. ¡°A lot of these selkie have been coming to all the Challenge days. I bet even the elder understands quite a lot. She is waiting for the translations in order to give herself time to think about what she is going to say.¡± Ben didn¡¯t know if he believed that or not, but he thought it was nice for Alex to try and cheer him up.

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower,¡± Ben called out to the square.

    <hr>

    ¡°El me abouw posishuns,¡± the selkie said to Ben. He was taking a break, sitting in Irene¡¯s former position on the edge of the tabletop, where he could stay mostly dry. His sister went into the inn to purchase food. It was a surprise for Ben to hear a selkie speaking his language. This selkie was wearing a purple garment. That made it stand out, most of the selkie were in orange with just a few in yellow or green.

    ¡°We are hiring instructors and residence supervisors. Which are you interested in?¡±

    ¡°Bow,¡± the selkie responded. As the selkie spoke, Ben could see that although they had two long tusks, they did not have any teeth in between. T''s and th''s were both very hard for them.

    ¡°Instructors are expected to be skilled in at least one magic field. They will instruct the students in their specialty. The position pays forty steel coins for the entire term. They will be provided with housing and meals for one. They may use the school¡¯s facilities in their off time, as long as the facilities are not being used by the students,¡± Ben said.

    ¡°Whap poes inshrup mean?¡± the selkie asked. D''s were a little tricky too.

    ¡°Instruct? It means tutor, train, teach,¡± Ben explained.

    ¡°Yes, yes, peach,¡± the selkie said, confirming their understanding.

    ¡°A residence supervisor watches the younger students at night. They stay in an apartment with eight children. The watcher gets their own bedroom. They keep the students out of trouble and see that they make it to the morning meal. Residence supervisors are paid ten steel coins for the entire term. They also get housing and food and can use the school¡¯s facilities during the day when the students are in classes.¡±

    ¡°Wha is speel coins?¡±

    ¡°The structure''s residents call them silver,¡± Ben said. ¡°They are worth thirty six iron coins, but they aren¡¯t made out of silver, they are a kind of steel.¡±

    ¡°Are wey?¡± the selkie asked, obviously interested. ¡°You no from srusure?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ben replied. ¡°I¡¯m from the eastern villages beyond the Speedwell.¡±

    ¡°Enchanter,¡± Irene said happily in greeting as she emerged from the inn carrying two large shells. ¡°Have you met my oldest brother, Ben?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he pell me abouw posisions. I wan be chil waper,¡± Enchanter said.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Irene responded. She handed one of the shells to Ben. Ben found a nice salad inside the shell with a strange fork. ¡°I would love to have you as an instructor.¡±

    ¡°No, I poo old for wap,¡± Enchanter countered.

    ¡°I am happy to have you in any position. As a watcher you¡¯ll be assigned human students. I don¡¯t want you to be disappointed when you aren¡¯t placed with selkie,¡± Irene said. The selkie sang something.

    ¡°You will be able to do that,¡± Irene replied. She turned to Ben, ¡°She says she wants to practice her human speech.¡±

    ¡°How I po?¡± Enchanter asked.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Ben replied.

    ¡°We are asking the people we hire to come back with us now,¡± Irene told the selkie. ¡°So they can be shown how to use the ship¡¯s features before the students arrive. We¡¯ll be back in six or seven days to pick up the students. If you need time to pack, you can come with us then.¡±

    ¡°I go pack now,¡± Enchanter said, in her clearest sentence yet. ¡°Go wip you poday.¡±

    ¡°We will leave after the name drawing,¡± Irene explained. ¡°About mid afternoon.¡± The selkie hurried away.

    ¡°I was surprised to hear her speak in our language,¡± Ben commented as he ate his salad.

    ¡°Enchanter is very special. She is highly valued. I¡¯ll have to make sure,¡± Irene sang three notes, ¡°knows she is coming with us. I think Enchanter approached you when none of the rest of us were paying attention because she doesn¡¯t want anyone to try to stop her,¡± Irene explained.

    ¡°She seemed nice,¡± Ben said, not certain what else to say.

    ¡°She is,¡± Irene said. ¡°She is also old. She makes you look young. Selkie are naturally long lived. She is at least two or three hundred years old.¡±

 TWT.9 A gift to a son

    The recruiting team and Enchanter took the fast transport system from Seagrass straight back to the association hall at the entrance. They arrived in the middle of the night. Todd, Valin and Ellen were waiting for them.

    ¡°I have not seen one of your species in a very long time,¡± Enchanter said to Valin when she caught sight of him.

    ¡°Enchanter, a pleasure,¡± Valin¡¯s translator sang to her in selkie. The old selkie rolled her eyes at the elf. The use of her name was an indication the elf already knew who she was.

    Valin lived in Enchanter''s home square of Seagrass for years. Enchanter did not recognize the elf because he spent all his time in the selkie enclave in disguise.

    ¡°Alex, Sarah, can you escort Enchanter up to the Speedwell? She''s going to be a residence supervisor for us. She wants to practice her human speech. Set her up with the language packages on the educational machines so she has something to do to pass the time,¡± Irene said. ¡°We¡¯ll leave at first light for Londontown. Ed if you want to stay here with Alex and Sarah that is fine with me. You can rejoin us tomorrow night when we head to Moscow.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to go,¡± Ed responded. His fingers were mostly regrown. Only his nails were bright red now. The itching was finally starting to pass.

    The arrival gong rang. Grandmother¡¯s party spun around to face the transport room, with their hands on their weapons.

    ¡°I guess we better see who it is,¡± Todd commented. Grandmother stepped into the transport room, Todd followed her in. The arrival gong sounded again. A minute later a woman in her forties emerged from the transport room.

    ¡°Betty,¡± Ellen said in greeting. ¡°We weren¡¯t expecting you.¡± She stepped forward to grasp the woman¡¯s arm. Ellen led Betty in the direction of the glass door that led to the outside. Ed hadn¡¯t seen anyone go out the door. This woman didn¡¯t either. She stopped before the door and looked out at the darkness beyond before turning back to the surprised group.

    ¡°We used Muriel¡¯s map,¡± Betty explained. ¡°We weren¡¯t certain it would work since she touched the crystal before you spawned the transportation room.¡±

    ¡°Is Muriel on her way too?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Betty said. ¡°She should be right behind me. Joe is pushing her through.¡± The arrival gong sounded again. Muriel, Todd and Grandmother emerged from the transport room. Grandmother glanced around and saw Betty standing by the outside door. She walked over to the last grouping of furniture and sat down on the wood topped bench.

    ¡°What brings you to visit?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Did you miss us in Home Square? I thought word would have made it to OpenSky in plenty of time for you to catch us there. Did I misjudge and leave OpenSky out of the school lottery?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Muriel said. ¡°Eleven of our youngsters were selected. We were surprised at how many made it. No, we heard a rumor later and decided we needed to come find out if it was true.¡±

    ¡°What rumor?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°That you have a method to keep women from getting pregnant unless they want to,¡± Betty responded. Lizzy shifted a bit in her seat at the next furniture grouping where they were all shamelessly listening in.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Fertility implants. You need to go out to the Speedwell to get one. They prevent a woman from getting pregnant for three years or until they are removed. So if you want a child before the three years are up you need to come back and get it removed. If you still don¡¯t want a child three years from now you need to come back and get a new one.¡±

    ¡°How much do they cost?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°They are free,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°It is in the colonies bylaws. Do you want to know about the artificial wombs too? Their use is also free to any colonist or their descendent.¡±

    ¡°What do they do?¡± Muriel asked.

    ¡°They make babies,¡± Todd explained, he knew a lot about them because of the time Grandmother told him she was thinking about retiring and raising a child. Her declaration left him a little dumbfounded at the time.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be needing that service,¡± Betty replied.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve done a poor job of making it known the implants are available,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I can see that. Ellen, remind me to do something about it, at least in Home Square and OpenSky. We may need to upgrade another rest, before we spread the word elsewhere. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll want a lot of traffic through here during the school session,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Where were we on Londontown?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I said I¡¯d like to go,¡± Ed responded.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Ellen, Todd and myself will keep a low profile and only step in if there is trouble. If anyone sees Lucas, tell him both his children are accepted. If he approaches the recruiters, Ed, give him two student reporting vellums.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean we can get implants?¡± Muriel asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°Alex and Sarah are heading to the Speedwell with Enchanter. You can go with them. You can travel overland to the entrance out that door, if you don¡¯t want to go through the halls.¡±

    ¡°How far is it?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°Not far,¡± Sarah responded, rising to her feet. ¡°Let me grab a sheet of vellum and I will transfer the courtyard location to you.¡±

    <hr>

    Everyone decided to stay in the association hall until first light. Betty and Muriel¡¯s perfect timing was more accidental than anything else. They came in the middle of the night trying to beat an early morning departure. Muriel knew there was a door to the outside here, so Betty would be alright even with her claustrophobia. The two women planned to stay near the upgraded rest until someone showed up.

    Grandmother and Betty were sitting in the chairs on the terrace outside the association hall¡¯s outside door. There were two chairs and a small table there. Grandmother cleaned them with a quick restore spell. Todd brought them two glass mugs of hot tea and settled into a watch position against one of the terrace''s side walls. It was still dark, with no hint of light to the east. The sky was heavily overcast, concealing all hints of the stars.

    Betty was using night vision to see through the darkness. Betty purchased the spell book from the magic shop in Home Square. It proved its worth in her wanderings around the surface over OpenSky.

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    ¡°What are you teaching at your school?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°Reading, math, history,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°beginning crafting, imbuing and wizardry.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like what the school is teaching,¡± Betty said. ¡°What are you teaching?¡±

    ¡°History,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Specifically I am running a class that covers history since the colony ship landing. I am also going to teach a general class on magic. What it is, how it compares to human¡¯s technology and the different fields of it. Lastly, I¡¯m teaching earthen leatherworking.¡± Grandmother lifted her arm and indicated her worn leather armor. ¡°Or how to make leather objects that aren¡¯t integrated and don¡¯t require crafting magic.¡±

    ¡°You''re not teaching wizardry?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯m leaving that to Todd, or Alex, or Companion. I think Sarah and Ellen will have their hands full with magical crafting.¡±

    ¡°Who is teaching hunting?¡± Betty asked.

    ¡°We are going to teach the use of the bow as part of our physical defense class. Ed is our main instructor for that. I haven¡¯t been able to recruit an instructor specifically for hunting. I would like to. Especially someone who could teach both how to hunt with magic and without.¡±

    ¡°I can do that,¡± Betty announced.

    ¡°It would mean being away from Joe,¡± Grandmother warned.

    ¡°With the transport I can visit him once every six-day. That is more than enough,¡± Betty declared. Betty loved Joe and Joe loved her, but they were both too set in their ways to live with each other. Betty already spent a large amount of time on the surface above OpenSky.

    ¡°The position includes housing and meals,¡± Grandmother announced. ¡°We''re serving meals in the Speedwell, but there will also be food here in this kitchen. When we finish recruiting, I¡¯ll dedicate resources to building you a hunter¡¯s camp. While we are gone you can look around and see if there is any location you prefer. If you pick a spot past the structure boundary I can use human technology to give you water and heat. Has Muriel had any luck building lasting structures on the surface over OpenSky?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Betty said, surprising Grandmother. ¡°If you get a composting plant to grow, a small area around it becomes like a rest or mini square.¡±

    ¡°That is interesting,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Todd, do you still have those composting plant seeds from the inn is never full holiday?¡± she asked the warrior where he stood on watch.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I entrusted them to Muriel.¡±

    ¡°Maybe she still has one left. I suppose we can go back down to the overgrown facility and see if there are any more seeds there,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Alex to check if he has time,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you and Companion run down there right now?¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I think the odds of finding a seed will go up if it is The Todd and his loyal Companion doing the hunt.¡± Todd frowned, clearly unhappy at this idea. Then he sighed.

    ¡°Your right,¡± he conceded. ¡°I need a spear. All I have with me are javelins. I¡¯ll see if Ellen can put something together.¡± Todd went into the structure.

    <hr>

    A large group walked into the square from the backdoor. Lucas paused what he was doing and studied them. They were wearing strange clothes, but they all matched each other. Even the selkie was wearing a version of it, although the shirt and pants the humans were wearing was transformed into something that looked a lot like wizard¡¯s silks. The selkie looked like Companion, but having not seen any other selkies, Lucas couldn¡¯t be certain. There was some other type of non-human Lucas didn¡¯t recognize. It was a short, slight figure with bright white skin and large dark eyes. They were carrying strangely shaped baskets with them.

    The group reached the outdoor tables in front of the inn and started setting themselves up for what was obviously a long stay. It was only then that Lucas recognized Ed among them. The warrior looked completely different without his eye patch and not in leathers. A quick inspection showed Lucas that his friend wasn¡¯t missing any fingers, although the nails on those three fingers were a bright red.

    Lucas narrowed his eyes and studied every person standing around the square watching this event. Near the opening to the training yards, he spotted a large warrior holding a spear. As Lucas focused, the ambiguous color touches on the man¡¯s armor cleared to show red. Lucas walked over to talk to his cousin.

    ¡°Todd,¡± Lucas said in greeting. Todd was armed with an iron spear. It was very nearly the lowest tier spear that could be crafted. Strangely, a bright red tassel was tied around it near the point with a complex knot.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the spear?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Long story,¡± Todd answered.

    ¡°Where is Grandmother?¡±

    ¡°Over by the inn, guarding her brother¡¯s back,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°Her brother?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Todd answered. ¡°The old guy getting up on the table is Benjamin, Irene¡¯s oldest brother. He is the head of the Speedwell Academy.¡± Todd started checking his pockets. ¡°I have instructions here someplace for your two kids. Harry paid for their places.¡±

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower!¡± the old man, Ben, called from his spot on top of the outdoor table. ¡°By special arrangement with Harry Maxim, master of the guard at Home Square, as a gift to his son Lucas, six places at the Speedwell Academy are available for your learners. We educate our students in reading, writing, mathematics and history along with teaching them scavenger, crafter, warrior and wizard skills.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lucas said with a start. The old man continued his call, talking about how both girls and boys could attend, but Lucas couldn¡¯t concentrate on his words.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Todd said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know he was going to say that. I wonder if Grandmother knew. I hope it doesn¡¯t make trouble for you.¡±

    ¡°At least he didn¡¯t say I arranged it,¡± Lucas commented. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me, I think I¡¯d better go have a quick word with my boss.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I can¡¯t find the instructions anyway. You can pick up a copy from Ben.¡±

    Lucas walked around the courtyard and behind the tables to get to the inn door. Although plenty of people were going in and out of the inn, hurrying to carry the news, Lucas didn¡¯t see anyone standing still, ¡®watching her brother¡¯s back¡¯. He pushed the inn door open and entered the cougar¡¯s den.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this Lucas?¡± an angry man in his mid twenties demanded. Technically James was not king. He was regent for the ten year old George that was. The boy was in the hands of a team of tutors and was rarely seen.

    ¡°They are recruiting students for a school,¡± Lucas reported. ¡°I asked my father to try to get places for my two oldest. It looks like he told the recruiters about us here.¡±

    ¡°Your father is dead,¡± James countered.

    ¡°No, he left with a group of crafters in search of a new square. He is head of the guard there,¡± Lucas reported.

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t I told this?¡± James demanded.

    ¡°I thought you knew,¡± Lucas reported. He was certain James knew. When Lucas¡¯ climb up the command structure stalled out he asked what he needed to do to increase his chances of promotion. His superiors delicately told him it wasn¡¯t his skill that was holding him back but his family. For the first time Lucas realized it wasn¡¯t who his family was. All this time the regent had no idea Lucas was related to a deserter. No, it was about who his family wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°So these people are from your father¡¯s square?¡± James demanded. Pointing out the window at the group.

    ¡°No, they are from the Speedwell Academy. The man standing on the table is Benjamin, Irene¡¯s oldest brother,¡± Lucas said, deciding that if it was about family, the regent needed to know who all the players were.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie,¡± James retorted. ¡°There were only two sons, Phillip and Christopher.¡±

    ¡°Actually, there were four sons and four daughters,¡± a female voice said from right beside the regent. ¡°Every pair in the last generation of flight crew raised eight children.¡± Everyone jerked. Grandmother was standing beside the regent looking out at the assembly in Londontown¡¯s courtyard. ¡°You should send the young king to the Wizard''s Tower. A ruler should have a solid understanding of history.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± James demanded.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Irene responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Benjamin was going to name Lucas, so I decided to check in and make sure nothing awkward happened. I don¡¯t approve of how you rule Londontown, but at least your people survive. I¡¯ve seen worse.¡± She smiled, before stepping forward and pushing the door open. She stepped out into the courtyard, but none of them saw anyone emerge from the door through the glass.

 TWT.10 Dont pick blue

    Phil was so excited he was up half the night. He was going to the Wizard''s Tower! His Mama put his name into the lottery and it was the fourth name drawn. The school gave him a list of things to bring. Mama traded and swapped with all the cousins until she gathered everything on the list. Phil packed his bag three times in the night. He put on his small sword and took it off again.

    Finally at first light, he jumped out of bed and went to clean up. He carefully combed his wild hair so it fell just right. He put on his nearly new hunter¡¯s greens and added his sword belt. He refilled his water flask with fresh water and strapped it on his belt where he could reach it easily. He put his pack on, tightening the straps so it wouldn¡¯t shift.

    He waited impatiently as Mama got his younger siblings up and ready for the day. He was nervous that they would miss the school men and he wouldn''t get to go.

    ¡°Can we go now?¡± he asked Mama. ¡°They are going to leave me.¡±

    ¡°No they won¡¯t, baby,¡± Mama replied. ¡°They told me we have till midday to report. There is plenty of time yet.¡±

    When Mama and his three siblings were finally ready, Phil breathed a sigh of relief. Mama picked up the special piece of vellum and tucked it into the pocket of her robes. She opened the door to their room and led the way down to the common room. Phil almost panicked again, when instead of heading to the door, she went to the tables.

    ¡°They will replace me, Mama,¡± Phil almost cried. ¡°They said they would.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to make a journey on an empty stomach, baby,¡± Mama told him. ¡°The list said to be prepared. Being hungry is no way to prepare.¡±

    Phil dived into his food. Mama was right, it did say to be prepared. He didn¡¯t want to get rejected because he couldn¡¯t follow their directions. The light was bright enough in the square that Phil could see the outside tables. They were empty which left Phil torn between the fear that they already missed them and anticipation that they would be here soon.

    He kept up his watch on the tables while urging his Mama to eat faster.

    ¡°Where did you think you''re going boy?¡± Uncle James asked from over his head.

    ¡°I paid for him a place at the academy,¡± Mama said in a tentative voice to her brother. Uncle frowned. Phil shrunk into his seat. Bad things happened when Uncle got angry.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember a Pittock being selected,¡± James countered.

    ¡°Phil isn¡¯t a Pittock. Boys get their family names from their fathers. His father was Ted. I gave them his true name. Phillip son of Theodore.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not our tradition,¡± Uncle James responded. ¡°All royals are Pittocks, especially those in the main line.¡±

    ¡°Since George is king, I¡¯m not really the main line myself anymore am I?¡± Mama asked. ¡°Phil is even farther from the throne.¡±

    ¡°As a daughter of a queen you will always be in the main line,¡± James corrected her. ¡°Work hard at the school, young Phil. Your performance will reflect on the honor of our house.¡± Uncle James walked away and Mama released a breath. Phil was bold enough to look out the window into the courtyard.

    ¡°Look Mama,¡± he said, a bit more subdued. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± Mama looked at the group of recruiters setting themself up at the foot of the square¡¯s crystal.

    ¡°Make sure you have all your things,¡± Mama told him. ¡°I¡¯ll just ask Rachel to watch your siblings.¡± Mama rose to her feet and stepped over to the next table, carrying his youngest sister. She handed the toddler over to Rachel and asked her to keep an eye on the rest of Phillip''s siblings.

    Phil made sure his pack was still snug on his back. He ate his meal wearing it. He checked that his short sword was still in its scabbard and hadn¡¯t fallen out somewhere. He fingered his water flask making sure it was still plump with water.

    ¡°Come along,¡± Mama said, holding out her hand. Phil put his hand in hers. Mama led him out of the inn and into the courtyard. She walked over to the old woman among the recruiters.

    ¡°I¡¯ve brought Phillip,¡± Mama announced to the woman. ¡°He has a place.¡±

    ¡°Did you bring your receipt?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Yes, I have it here,¡± Mama said, pulling the magic vellum out of her pocket.

    ¡°Wait here a moment,¡± the woman said. She went over to a little table the recruiters must have brought with them and looked through the eight vellum sheets laid out there. She picked one of the sheets up. She walked back over to them.

    ¡°You are the first to arrive,¡± the woman said. ¡°When everyone is here, we will do a little ceremony before we leave. If there are no-shows at midday we will do another draw for replacements. I have you checked in, so Phil won¡¯t be replaced as a no-show. He doesn¡¯t have to wait here, as long as you check back every so often.¡±

    ¡°Can he wait with you? Things are a little difficult for me this morning and he is so excited,¡± Mama said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± the recruiter smiled at Phil. ¡°I understand the excitement of youth.¡±

    Mama knelt down next to him. She gave him a big hug. ¡°I will miss you, baby. Be good for the teachers and learn as much as you can. I will see you in the spring.¡± There were tears in Mama¡¯s eyes when she let him go.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry Mama,¡± Phil begged. ¡°I will be good.¡±

    ¡°They are tears of joy, baby. No, not a baby anymore, you''re my big boy now,¡± She rose to her feet and gently pushed Phil forward toward the old woman.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Come, Phillip,¡± the woman said. ¡°Let¡¯s set you down over here by my selkie friend Companion. He always has an interesting toy in his pocket. If you learn to say his selkie name he might let you play with it.¡±

    More students arrived and were seated with Phillip. The selkie and elf taught them how to play a game on the flat stones of the courtyard with wooden blocks and round balls of glass. The elf¡¯s name was Valin.

    Phil was one of the youngest students. He didn¡¯t know any of the others, which was even better. Phil was the only royal who was chosen. That made him special.

    ¡°That¡¯s all of them.¡± Phillip heard one recruiter tell another. ¡°Everyone who owed the tuition paid up. We¡¯re ready to head out.¡±

    ¡°Ok everyone. Gather up the balls and blocks and give them back to Companion. We are going to call you one at a time. When your name is called, step up to Ben,¡± an older man that was clearly a warrior announced. Phil bounced to his feet. The toys were quickly gathered and returned.

    ¡°We are the Wizard''s Tower. Today, in the fiftieth year since the landing, we welcome into our number these new students for the winter session at the Speedwell Academy,¡± Ben called. Phil looked around and realized a crowd was gathered to watch them off. He spotted his Mama standing with a bunch of other royals in front of the inn.

    ¡°Vicky Atwater,¡± the woman recruiter read from a sheet of vellum. She passed the sheet to the old man and stepped back. A girl about the same age as Phil, went forward to stand in front of Ben. He was standing next to the protection crystal. He said something to the girl. She reached out and touched the crystal. The crystal filled with a very faint blue color. The old man pulled a strip of blue fabric from one of his pockets and wrote something on it with the use of a stylus and the small table. He tied the blue cloth around the girl''s upper arm, making it into an armband.

    ¡°Welcome to the Wizard''s Tower,¡± Ben called loudly. He pointed to where the girl should go and wait next to the warrior recruiter.

    ¡°Richard Maxim,¡± the other male recruiter who wasn''t a warrior called.

    Phil began to fidget as name after name was called. Were they never going to call him?

    ¡°Phillip son of Theodore.¡± Phil jumped forward at his name. Then forced himself to slow down. He didn¡¯t want to fall and embarrass his mother. He stood proudly in front of the old man Ben.

    ¡°Touch the crystal for me,¡± the old man instructed, ¡°so I can see the color of your magic.¡±

    Phil reached up and set his hand on the clear crystal. The crystal remained clear.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Ben said. ¡°How old are you?¡±

    ¡°Eight.¡± Phil said proudly. The old man looked down at the vellum in his hand.

    ¡°Are you Phillip, son of Theodore?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Phil answered. ¡°I go by Phil.¡± The old man noted something down.

    ¡°And your sponsor is Ira daughter of Julia?¡± Phil was getting worried now. No one else took so long at the crystal.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said nervously.

    ¡°Is she here? I want to speak to her for a moment.¡±

    ¡°Mama!¡± Phil cried, waving her frantically over. His mama came forward from the front of the inn. She was carrying his baby sister on her hip, which bunched up the blue silk of her robes.

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± She asked, anger and fear mixed in her voice. She gathered her son up against her free side. ¡°I paid the tuition when his name was drawn.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± the old man said to her. ¡°I just want you to be informed. Phil¡¯s magic color isn¡¯t set yet. When he gets back it will be. The academy believes in allowing the learner to pick the color of their magic. If you don¡¯t agree with this and want to guide your son down a certain path, now is your last chance to withdraw him from the school. Your tuition money will of course be fully refunded.¡±

    ¡°He can pick?¡± Ira asked.

    ¡°There are always accidents along the way, but normally yes,¡± the school official responded. Ira shifted the toddler around and squatted down next to her son.

    ¡°You¡¯re a big boy,¡± Ira said, ¡°and smart. So I know you will make the right choice for you.¡± In a softer voice she added, ¡°Don¡¯t pick blue.¡± She kissed her son on the forehead.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you proud, Mama,¡± the boy responded.

    ¡°I am already proud,¡± Ira told her son. With a little effort she rose back up to her feet, still holding the toddler on her hip. ¡°Thank you for telling me this. I still want him to go.¡±

    ¡°So he shall,¡± the old man said. He fished an armband out of his pouch that was a pure white. With a stylus he wrote something on it. Phil couldn¡¯t read, so he didn¡¯t know what it said. The old man tied the armband in place around his upper arm. ¡°Welcome to the Wizard''s Tower,¡± he said.

    Phil danced around in a circle in his excitement. His mother smiled at him one last time and stepped back into her position with the family.

    ¡°Go wait by with the others,¡± the school official told him. Phil ran over to where the other students waited. Two more names were called. Only now that the nervousness was past did Phil realize they were being called in the order their names were drawn. He was thrown off because he didn''t recognize the first two names.

    ¡°One last check,¡± the warrior recruiter announced. ¡°Does everyone have their pack? If you''re bringing a weapon do you have it? Check your belt for your water.¡± All the students touched their items, making sure they still carried everything. ¡°We are going out the back door. Students together in the center. Let''s go.¡±

    Two school officials led the way, while two officials followed. The selkie and the elf walked alongside the group of students. When they reached the back hall, Phil could see that someone was waiting for the group about halfway along the back hallway. The officials in the lead reached the warrior in red touched leathers. One of the officials turned. The red warrior helped the old man through the wall! It was a secret passage and Phil was going to go through! He didn¡¯t think this day could get better.

    ¡°It is dark inside, stay calm and go where you are directed,¡± the warrior said when Phil got to the front of the line. The warrior took Phil¡¯s wrist and pushed his hand through the glass. An unseen hand took his hand from within and pulled him into darkness.

    <hr>

    Companion and Valin were the last two members of the recruiters group to walk down the back hall. Behind them was Lucas. He watched the selkie and the elf step through the wall as he approached his cousin.

    ¡°I see there are some secrets yet,¡± Lucas commented when he stopped.

    ¡°There are plenty of them,¡± Todd responded, ¡°but you don¡¯t seem surprised.¡±

    ¡°I read the User Manual,¡± Lucas admitted. ¡°Although it doesn¡¯t say where you go to get access to the fast transport system.¡±

    ¡°Two months travel south, through the territory of walking bears that are armed with swords and crossbows, you will find an area of large rooms. Somewhere in those spaces, likely down a pipe, or up a vent, you can find an inscription in Egyption that when decoded gives you access to the system,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°That sounds difficult,¡± Lucas responded.

    ¡°It was. Don¡¯t try it until you are tier four and don¡¯t go alone,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Phil is a royal,¡± Lucas said.

    ¡°I know,¡± Todd replied. ¡°I recognized him from our spell buying trip.¡±

    ¡°There was talk of making him a companion of the king, because they are close in age. It wasn¡¯t done yet because his color is still clear. Someone that close to the king will be controlled,¡± Lucas replied.

    ¡°That explains why his mother told him not to pick blue,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°Safe journey to you. Keep my children safe.¡±

    ¡°We will,¡± Todd responded. ¡°All of them.¡± Todd stepped through the wall, leaving his cousin alone in the hall. Lucas continued on to the back door of the square, where he planned to ask the guards if they saw where the recruiters went.

 TWT.11 Life can be mighty hard

    Daisy skipped a stone across the water. She was the best stone skipper in the house. Technically she was an orphan, but her older sister Calla looked after her. Daisy couldn¡¯t really remember her mother. She held the image of a big gruff man in her head as her father. A kind man who would reach out with his big hands and pick her up off the floor. She missed him.

    Not that she needed picking up from the floor anymore. She was nearly an adult at eleven. As soon as she reached puberty she¡¯d be paired off with one of the trapper''s sons and start a family of her own. Sometimes she couldn¡¯t wait for that future where she would have her own place and not just a corner in a house filled with her sister''s children. Sometimes when she thought about that future something in her shrank. She asked her sister if she couldn''t do something different, like the woman blacksmith in town.

    ¡°We¡¯re Wildkin, honey,¡± Calla told her. ¡°No one in the village is gonna teach you blacksmithing. Not even that woman smith.¡±

    ¡°Daisy!¡± Calla called in the here and now. ¡°Come on back here, I got a surprise for ya.¡±

    ¡°Coming, Sis,¡± Daisy called. She ran back to the house over floating logs and dry hummocks, so she was mostly dry when she got there. The house was actually a hut, built partially on stick pilings and partially in the trees of a bigger hummock.

    ¡°How long you going to be?¡± Calla''s spouse Buck was asking, when Daisy came to a stop on the house¡¯s front porch.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back just after midday. You can mind the little ones til then,¡± Calla said with some force. ¡°Git in the boat Daisy, we''re going to town.¡±

    ¡°The money would be better spent on our children,¡± Buck argued as Daisy scrambled down the side of the piling to the little skiff they use to take the crawdad traps out.

    ¡°Daddy told me to use the money for Daisy and I¡¯m doin it. He was awful worried, her being so young. You know she don''t like that trapper''s son. If he won¡¯t take her without a dowry, then he don¡¯t deserve her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a dangerous attitude Calla,¡± Buck argued.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dangerous world,¡± Calla countered. She picked a bag up off the decking and slipped off the side of the porch. She descended the pilings as nimble as you please and stepped into the skiff. She freed the skiff with a quick pull of the rope and sat down to pull the oars.

    ¡°You be home by midday, woman,¡± Buck was calling from the porch. ¡°I got fishing to do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Calla called back. ¡°More like drinking with your buddies,¡± she mumbled beneath her breath. The light skiff was skimming across the water now making good time. Daisy was hunkered down in the bow a little worried about the friction between her sister and Buck. Normally they got along well enough, like most Wildkin families.

    ¡°What are we doing Calla?¡± Daisy asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a surprise,¡± Calla said. ¡°Something our Daddy would have wanted for you.¡± The cold season was just starting. The sky overhead was a slate gray and was threatening rain. Daisy huddled for warmth as her sister pulled hard on the oars, causing a cold breeze to sweep over them. They pulled out of the marsh into the open water that fronted the village of Bayou.

    Calla maneuvered the skiff to the fishing dock and secured it next to a much larger boat. Calla retrieved her bag from the skiff bottom and they both stepped out onto the dock.

    ¡°Let me look at you,¡± Calla said. She brushed some dried mud from the rough woven fabric of Daisy¡¯s clothes and made a vain effort to smooth down some of Daisy¡¯s hair. ¡°Kick the mud off those sandals,¡± Calla instructed. Daisy scraped her woven reed sandals against the rough wood of the dock until they were free of the largest globes of mud. ¡°You¡¯ll do,¡± Calla said.

    She took Daisy¡¯s hand and led her up off the dock into the upper village that was built on dry land. She was heading in the direction of the main road. The only time they went this way was when they wanted to deal with the warehouse. Daisy had the surprising thought that maybe Calla was going to buy her something from the mechanized shop. It sold the most wonderful things that couldn¡¯t be bought in town or gathered from the marsh.

    There was a strange hut standing on the side of the road. It wasn¡¯t there the last time they passed this way. Its walls were a white fabric. As they got closer, Daisy could see that the wall facing the road was rolled up out of the way. Two tables were set up under the cloth ceiling with chairs behind them. Three carts were parked beyond the fabric hut. They were larger than any Daisy saw before. She only saw the warehouse workers once or twice from a distance, but they came in a smaller cart.

    There were people in the hut and in the carts and milling around on the road. A line was formed in front of each table. An older man in warehouse clothes was standing in the middle of the road.

    ¡°The drawing for last minute registration is an hour before midday,¡± the man said loudly. ¡°Sign up your girls at the table to my left,¡± he said with a wave, ¡°and your boys at the table to my right. We are balancing the numbers of girls and boys. There are only four openings left for boys, but there are seven for girls.¡± Calla approached the man boldly, dragging her sister behind her when Daisy would have hung back.

    ¡°I pre-registered my sister at the warehouse. Where does she need to be?¡± Calla demanded. The man smiled at Calla in a friendly way.

    ¡°Do you see that woman standing over there by the third cart?¡± the man asked. Daisy looked over and saw an old woman leaning against the vehicle holding a tall gray walking staff. She was pointing to something in the distance and talking to a big younger man standing next to her. The man had an easy air to him that was at odds with the large knife at his belt and the muscles on his arms. ¡°Go report to her. She has all the pre-registration information.¡± Calla led Daisy down the road.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on Calla?¡± Daisy asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve signed you up for the school,¡± Calla told her sister. ¡°I read the paper posting and the warehouse screens. They said they¡¯ll teach you to read and start you in a craft. I don¡¯t think you can learn to be a blacksmith in a single winter, but it will be more than you¡¯d learn if you stay in the swamp.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it cost coins?¡± Daisy asked.

    ¡°Daddy left you the money,¡± Calla told her sister. ¡°He knew he was dying and he didn¡¯t like that he was leaving you unsettled.¡± They arrived at the old woman in front of the cart, so that was all Calla told her.

    ¡°My sister is pre-registered,¡± Calla said.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± the old woman said. She leaned her staff against the cart and pulled a large glass square from a pocket built into the thigh of her clothing. Her fingers flicked across the surface of the glass.

    ¡°What is the name of the student?¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°Daisy Wildkin,¡± Calla said.

    ¡°Here she is right here,¡± the woman responded, tapping something Daisy couldn¡¯t see on the pad. ¡°I see her tuition is already paid. Are you her sponsor, Calla Wildkin?¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± Calla responded.

    ¡°Then you must be young Daisy,¡± the old woman said to Daisy directly with a smile. ¡°Welcome to Speedwell Academy, Daisy. We are the Wizard''s Tower.¡± She turned to Calla. ¡°Do you give us permission to take Daisy into the structure? You didn¡¯t answer that question on the registration form.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what it means,¡± Calla countered.

    ¡°Have you not heard of the structure?¡± The old woman asked. ¡°Some people call it the ruins. There is an entrance to the west. There are methods for crafting and hunting that only work there. The school tries to present the widest set of options for our students'' future, so we want to show our students the structure ways alongside the village methods. If you want to keep your sister outside of it we will honor your wishes.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t just take her there and leave her?¡± Calla asked.

    ¡°No. The structure has its own dangers, different from the swamp, but just as serious. All visits to the structure are strictly supervised. We will return your sister here when the session is over. You have my word on that.¡±

    ¡°In three months?¡± Calla asked.

    ¡°In three thirty six days,¡± the woman clarified. ¡°It is a little longer than three and a half months. There might be a day or two more or less depending on how long it takes for us to bring all the students back out to the villages. There will be a notice on the warehouse screen showing how many days are left until they will return.¡±

    ¡°She can go in the structure,¡± Calla said. ¡°I want her to know her options, that¡¯s why I brought her.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± the old woman said again. Calla moved uneasily on her feet and shifted the bag in her hand.

    ¡°I recognize you,¡± Calla said. ¡°Daddy pointed you out to me when I was young. He said you were the Engineer. I weren¡¯t able to get all the things on the list for Daisy, but I still have some coins from Daddy. If¡¯n I give them to you, will you buy the things Daisy needs for her? She¡¯s too small to be carrying value around herself.¡± The old woman smiled. She looked pleased.

    ¡°You have my word I¡¯ll help her get what she needs,¡± the old woman said. ¡°Let me set up an account for her and we can store her money in the warehouse system.¡± The woman¡¯s fingers flew across the glass panel. ¡°Just touch the tablet right there for me, Daisy.¡± Daisy extended a slightly dirty finger out to touch the glass where the Engineer pointed.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± she responded. Her fingers flew again and she asked Calla to touch the square of glass. ¡°Ok,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve got it set up so when you go to the warehouse station, Calla, you will be able to see your account and Daisy¡¯s. There¡¯s an icon on the front that says account. Just touch that.¡±

    ¡°I know how to use the warehouse,¡± Calla stated, proud of her skill.

    ¡°When you touch the account icon now, there will be a choice underneath for your own account or Daisy¡¯s. You can add money to Daisy¡¯s account. No one but Daisy can take it back out. I can put any coins you have into Daisy¡¯s account for you, or you can add it in at the warehouse yourself,¡± the Engineer explained. Calla pulled a worn leather purse out of her pocket and passed it to the woman.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said. ¡°Now that Buck knows about it he¡¯d get his hands on it sooner or later anyway.¡± The Engineer spilled the coins out of the pouch and counted them. She flicked her fingers across the glass. She handed the purse back and showed what was displayed on the glass, with the coins still spread across its surface to Calla. Daisy was surprised to see that many of the coins were the higher denominations, not just the tens but even a hundred or two.

    ¡°If you check the totals,¡± she said to Calla, ¡°You can see the same total in Daisy¡¯s account.¡±

    ¡°It looks right,¡± Calla confirmed. The Engineer swept the coins up and they disappeared into a pocket.

    ¡°You can continue to add coins to Daisy¡¯s account while she¡¯s at school. You should check the warehouse buy screen. A lot of new items have been added for use in the school. I thought I¡¯d mention it because I noticed that you''re both wearing reed sandals and reeds are one of the items that was added,¡± the engineer said. ¡°If Daisy doesn''t use all her coins during the session she can withdraw them, use them to buy items in the warehouse like normal or even pay her tuition next year if she wants to attend again.¡±

    ¡°Why would she want to go again?¡± Calla asked. ¡°Won¡¯t it just be the same?¡±

    ¡°Oh no,¡± the Engineer said. ¡°There is always more to learn. There will be more advanced classes available next year. If she studies hard and attends four or five years, she will be a journeyman in the craft she chooses. It is my hope for all our students that even a single session will give them the skills to earn enough coins to replace the tuition money.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Calla said. ¡°That is what I want for her, to be independent. I think Daddy would have wanted that too.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t be leaving until after the lottery for the remaining open spaces,¡± the Engineer said. ¡°You are welcome to stay and wait with Daisy, or you can trust us with her if you''re needed elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait with her,¡± Calla said. ¡°Buck can watch his own kids for a day. Here, Daisy,¡± Calla said, handing the bag over to her young sister. ¡°This is for you. It is all your stuff now.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve left the back of this cart open so you can sit inside if it starts to rain,¡± the engineer explained. ¡°As more of the students show up, Companion will organize a game for the younger students on this lawn here,¡± She said, indicating the area behind the village, next to the road. Daisy remembered it as a tangle of brush, grass and abandoned field crops. It was all cropped short now, with two or three village children running around it.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Calla said. ¡°I always wanted to see the inside of a cart.¡±

    Calla sat in the cushioned seat and ran her fingers over the spotless surfaces. Daisy opened up the bag and looked over all the stuff her sister gathered for her. Some of it was her own things that Calla must have packed that morning while Daisy played in the swamp. Most of it was all brand new. Daisy was amazed Calla had gotten it all for her. Daisy carefully put it all back into the bag before giving her sister a big hug.

    ¡°Thank you, Calla. You''re the best sister ever,¡± Daisy said. Calla hugged the young girl back.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t always done the best for you,¡± Calla said. ¡°I try, Daisy. I love you more than a sister. You''re like a daughter to me. But life can be mighty hard. I hope this school prepares you for it.¡±

 TWT.12 The colors of magic

    ¡°Is Ben more¡­ spry these days?¡± Todd asked Grandmother. The two of them were sitting on the eastern terrace watching most of the Speedwell instructors engage in a game called Croquet. None of them really knew what they were doing. Companion found the game in the Speedwell¡¯s computers. He looked up a lot of games on the computers to entertain the children as they were gathered up from the squares and villages.

    The teachers were just unwinding after another long day with the students. Some of the older students were still milling around the ship, getting more time on the educational machines or in the stick fighting room or in the workshops. The younger students were off to their apartments under the watch of their minders. It was the evening of the fourth day with full students. Grandmother thought this might be the first time she managed to sit down since they picked up the first students at Home Square. She was lucky a tier six didn¡¯t need much sleep.

    ¡°I hit him with a tier five heal on the way back from Mumbai with the students. He was complaining about a back ache on the way into the transport room. He didn¡¯t even notice,¡± Grandmother admitted.

    ¡°How could he not notice?¡± Todd asked, thinking about the intense pain a heal caused.

    ¡°His magic is clear,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Healing him is like healing a child, no pain, no pleasure, any color can heal them.¡±

    ¡°The one mercy Control grants us,¡± Todd commented. ¡°I guess I just didn¡¯t think of that in someone who looks so old.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the beard. Alex told him the head of any magic school always has a long white beard. Alex has been reading his myths again,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Did you finally tell Ben the academy is his?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°No, but I think he is getting a hint. Right now he still thinks he is a figurehead,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°You''re not going to drop this all on him are you?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯ll be his assistant as long as he needs me. But with my other job, I might have to leave him to watch the shop from time to time.¡±

    ¡°How is the other job going?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Not bad actually,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about Valin¡¯s bind and our fertility implants. I think the binds don¡¯t degrade because they are somehow qualifying as an implant. I didn¡¯t think about it before, but really a heal should expel an implant from the body as a foreign body, like a broken sword tip or arrowhead. The fact that this doesn¡¯t happen means there must be an exception for them. They don¡¯t degrade either. They function perfectly their entire expected lifetime.¡±

    ¡°That does sound similar,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Now I just need to find that issue on the list,¡± Grandmother said with a sigh. ¡°On the easier side, the eastern gallery at Chicago is on the list. It is ¡®beyond its expiration date.¡¯¡± Grandmother reported. ¡°I think we can clear that one up by knocking out the guards and dragging them back into the hall inside Chicago. The halls themselves will come up as an error eventually, but not yet. Resource rooms expire faster. There was a rest at the west entrance of Chicago at one time, but sometime during the Wizard''s War it was left empty and cleared.¡±

    ¡°If we ran it from Londontown, we could do it in a day,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°I think we need a free day for the students,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Everyone is excited now, but if we keep them working without a break they will burn out. I¡¯m going to schedule it sometime in the next six days. If we survive it, I¡¯ll set up a pattern,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°We can slip out to Chicago the night before one of the free days. If we are late getting back, no one should notice.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± Ellen said. She just came out of the ship. One look at the tangle on the lawn and she decided she was too tired to deal with that.

    ¡°Pull up a chair,¡± Todd said. Ellen brought one from the next set of two and settled in next to Todd. ¡°How is the crafting division doing?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Almost everyone has settled on just one craft, I think,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°There¡¯s a girl from Bayou who has tried all the introductory lessons. I warned her she needed to pick soon or she wasn¡¯t going to learn any of them in the time she has.¡±

    ¡°It sounds to me she is a lot like you,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Ellen responded. ¡°Maybe she is.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of choices, I finished the classes on magic color today. I am not certain if the village students really understood the danger of heal addiction. On the positive side, they don¡¯t have any prejudice for or against red or blue,¡± Grandmother observed. During the first six days the school ran the students through introductory classes. Grandmother¡¯s class on magic color was one of them. It was required for every student, even those whose color was already set, since in it Grandmother covered healing addiction and the color matches that could safely heal each other. It also covered the physical weakness and the slower rate of healing outside the structure, the danger of disease and infection, the structure¡¯s methods to get a player to stay inside and the addictive quality of nanobots themselves. Those items weren¡¯t directly related to color, but they were things students from both sides of the boundary needed to know. ¡°I told the students to make their choices by tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Are we going to let students try for orange?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd replied. ¡°Alex found an inscription not far from the improved rest for the tier zero fast step spell. It¡¯s an enhancement spell so we are going to teach it using the butcher¡¯s foot tap method.¡±

    ¡°It will be an interesting experiment,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯d like to get everyone¡¯s color set before the break.¡±

    ¡°Break?¡± Ellen asked.

    ¡°I decided to give the students a free day,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°After the free day, we will settle down into a standard schedule. Something like three hours on the educational machines, three hours in the workshop, three hours on physical defense every day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been talking to Asher,¡± Ellen commented. ¡°He knows something he calls chemistry that I suspect is a new field of magic. It¡¯s how he lost his fingers.¡±

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    ¡°A new magic?¡± Grandmother asked with interest. ¡°We¡¯ll have to look into it on the side. It is too late to add it to the class offerings now. We are going to have a hard time covering all the basic crafts, warrior and wizard skills. I¡¯m going to push teaching enchanting to next year too.¡±

    ¡°So far we¡¯ve just run classes in and around the Speedwell, since we were waiting for the color choices. When we start running classes in the structure I think we might need more time for transport,¡± Todd observed.

    ¡°What if we split it by day,¡± Ellen suggested, ¡°like we talked about for crafting lessons, one day in the structure followed by one out of it. A lot of the crafters aren¡¯t very interested in physical defense, but we have some children coming out of the structure that have very little interest in crafting.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured as she thought. ¡°I did want to give the students the ability to choose. I think we should draw up a schedule so that the students can sign up for their class choices. We can break the day into three hour blocks, but some classes can be two of the blocks. A dedicated crafting student would take the six hour block of a crafting class, but a scavenger student would only take the three hour block that will concentrate on processing materials into the first storable or saleable state.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± Todd said, ¡°So we could have a warrior class that runs six hours and a three hour simple defense class for people who are going to spend most of their time in the squares or villages.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I like that. Incorporating what you said Ellen, when you sign up for a class, you are actually signing up for the two day, in structure, in ship, set. If we repeat the schedule every six days, with a seventh rest day, we can keep class size down by teaching the same content to three separate sets. That would allow someone to take warrior, wizard and crafting, in the large six hour blocks.¡±

    ¡°We can match, scavenging with hunting or farming, but what are we going to match with wizardry?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Hunting is already a matched set I believe. When I recruited Betty I talked about both magical and non-magical and she was confident she could do both. Wizardry should be matched with engineering or perhaps more fundamentally the sciences, physics, chemistry, biology. I don¡¯t believe any of our students will be successful at those subjects until they can read and have a deeper understanding of math. Perhaps,¡± Grandmother said suddenly, as the idea came to her, ¡°we should have some classes that aren¡¯t matched. Besides scavenging, hunting and farming, we have cooking and baking. I don¡¯t see a short three hour version of baking, but we could have both class types in cooking.¡±

    ¡°If we changed the cadence to five days taught and a sixth day off, that would encourage the kids to sign up for two two-day six hour block courses and one single day class. Something like warrior, blacksmithing and farming. They could still take five three hour blocks to go with it, like light cooking,¡± Ellen commented.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°I want to require two three hour blocks of reading for those that can¡¯t and one three hour block of mathematics, I¡¯d like to require a three hour block of history too, but I feel maybe I am pushing machine learning too much.¡± Learning how to access and use the educational machines was also a required course during this first week. Every instructor who was part of the landing generation was pushed into service to do it, since learning to use the machines required a lot more one-on-one interaction with the students than in Grandmother¡¯s color of magic class. Luckily Mary, the old woman Grandmother healed in Londontown during their spell buying trip, signed up to be an instructor on the student selection visit. She possessed a lot more energy since the heal and she was bored. Between Ben, Ava, Mary, Lizzy and Irene, they trained everyone up to a functional level on the machines. Ben hired Ava to teach gardening. She came from Cornhusk, which was one of the eastern villages. The five of them would take turns supervising the lab to offer continued help between other duties.

    ¡°Well machine learning can be done anytime. What if we required nine hours of educational machines and have the machines regulate that the students get reading, writing, math and history. You can set it up that way can¡¯t you?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I can,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°A student could choose to do some of their machine learning during a six hour block, giving them four three-hour blocks to pick for themselves. Do they need four? Do we need short versions of anything besides defense, cooking and crafting? I can¡¯t see a student taking both the short version of defense and crafting. They should be taking one of those for the main blocks.¡± Todd stated.

    ¡°Well a short version of crafting might still be a two day pair,¡± Ellen offered. ¡°As well as the short version of defense.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Or we could split them. You don¡¯t actually have to take both, but we could offer them. I think we need a short version of scavenging that is just about finding and collecting edible plants. Or is that a short version of hunting? Or farming?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d call that gathering,¡± Ellen suggested.

    ¡°I want to offer a class on events since the landing in a three hour block along with the User Manual. We¡¯ll call that one structure special topics. Of course you can take a lot more subjects on the educational machines than just reading, math and history.¡±

    ¡°So they should be able to fill four three-hour blocks easily,¡± Todd concluded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I¡¯ll plug all that into the computer and see what it comes up with. I¡¯ll talk to Ava and see if she can teach gathering outside the structure and Betty if she can teach it for inside. Although Betty clearly told me once she didn¡¯t dig up tubers, she was a hunter. One of us might have to cover that.¡±

    ¡°Just give it to whoever is teaching scavenging,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°And who is teaching scavenging?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Alex and Companion?¡± Todd said in a very questioning voice. ¡°Or maybe Muriel?¡±

    ¡°I am starting to think we really should have been asking these questions a month ago,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Wait, is Muirel still around?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s hanging out with Betty. I gave her a composting plant seed. The two of them are looking for a hunter¡¯s rest near either of our two entrances,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°The hunter¡¯s rest!¡± Grandmother exclaimed. ¡°I promised Betty I¡¯d build her one outside Control¡¯s influence, with heat and water. I don¡¯t like the idea of her staying out in the cold all winter. I wonder if there¡¯s a way to make a hot rock?¡±

    ¡°If Sarah doesn¡¯t know, Enchanter will,¡± Ellen offered.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Grandmother countered. ¡°The selkie really hate heat. I bet Enchanter knows how to make a cold rock. Hopefully Sarah can infer from it how to make a hot one. Which reminds me, I suggested that Alex teach song and Sarah teach art. I still think those are worthy subjects. Both on their own and as introductions to singing spells, speaking and writing selkie and enchanting. I¡¯ll add them into the three hour classes for now.¡± Grandmother pulled her glass slate out of her uniform pocket and started tapping away on it.

    ¡°What is that anyway?¡± Ellen asked. ¡°You never used it before the village student pickups.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°It is the captain''s remote access for the Speedwell. The robots found it in the captain''s quarters when they cleared out all the apartments and refurbished them. It is sort of like your personal interface, only for the ship. I thought of it when I realized I needed the names of all the pre-registered students in the villages. It only works within the Speedwell¡¯s wireless network, so it won¡¯t work in the structure. Luckily Agatha hacked the database and added my name to command level access. I don¡¯t know why she never mentioned to me that she did it.¡±

    ¡°So I can¡¯t have one?¡± Todd asked, teasing Grandmother.

    ¡°You can. We didn¡¯t have them during the flight, most of them broke along the way. It wasn¡¯t until thirty years after the landing that the manufactory was advanced enough to make them again. They are available for purchase from the warehouse, but a new one won¡¯t have command access. Actually Alex might really like one, you can pull up all the Earth fiction books on one without any access level at all,¡± Grandmother paused. ¡°There are all kinds of open positions in the system for the Speedwell command team. I should assign everyone to one.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± Todd said suddenly, surprising Ellen. ¡°We are not going there. I¡¯m not ending up Captain of the Speedwell.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± Grandmother said, ¡°I was thinking about Benjamin. I put the team in as engineering associates years ago. That¡¯s how you get paid for your maintenance work.¡± Todd relaxed. He knew how much Grandmother valued engineering. The Wildkin girl was the most well outfitted of all the students because her sister called Grandmother the Engineer. Todd was certain the girl''s warehouse account wasn¡¯t debited enough either. Grandmother would never demote any of them to something as lowly as captain.

    Todd wondered suddenly if Ellen¡¯s girl from Bayou was the same Wildkin child.

 TWT.13 A Narrative building at Londontown

    ¡°I¡¯ve run all the combinations and we really need a structure woodworker and/or a village weaver,¡± Grandmother told the group. ¡°Do any of you have suggestions? They don¡¯t need to be a master.¡±

    It was early morning on the first free day, although this free day wasn¡¯t really that free. In the last couple days Grandmother found time to put together a class sign up application on the ship''s computers. It was the student''s responsibility to make their first and second selections by mid afternoon. There were warnings that if a class was too small it may be canceled and if it was too large, students would be randomly selected to be bumped to their secondary choice.

    Once the classes were assigned, the students and instructors would have the rest of the afternoon and evening to prepare. Ben was a little surprised that Irene was just now bringing up the subject of missing instructors. He thought it was a little late to be doing a count.

    ¡°There ain¡¯t a farmer''s spouse in the valley that doesn¡¯t know something about homespun,¡± Ava, the gardening instructor, announced. ¡°I can get you someone today, but you¡¯re going to have to be more relaxed on the no family rule. Anyone I can convince at this late date is going to have a spouse, a baby in arms and one on the way.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°But the position only includes food and housing for one. As long as they stay in the same housing unit I won¡¯t charge anything for that, but I¡¯m going to deduct from their pay for the food. Six silver for the session or three hundred and sixty Speedwell coins per non-working family member. No charge for one on the way or a nursing child.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have someone here by supper,¡± Ava promised.

    ¡°I know a guard in Londontown whose spouse is a woodworker,¡± Ed said, a little tentatively. ¡°He¡¯s fighting the sickness. They have a young son, about two I think. They are having a hard time and I think she¡¯ll leave him soon.¡±

    ¡°What is ¡®the sickness¡¯?¡± Ben asked.

    ¡°Heal addiction,¡± Ed explained. ¡°He was injured badly in the halls and would have died without the heal.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­.¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°Hold down the school for me while I¡¯m gone brother?¡± she said to Ben. ¡°Ed, Todd and I are going to make a quick trip to Londontown. We should be back by evening.¡±

    <hr>

    Grandmother stepped out of the arrival door and into the transportation room at Londontown. She found Todd watching the hallway beyond through the glass, while Ed stood quietly against a wall. He was blind in the transport room, but he kept one hand on his sword. Grandmother was wearing her trusty leathers, while Ed and Todd both changed to integrated leather armor at the association hall. Todd was armed with his speedwell knife and the simple iron spear with its fancy red tassel, his glass shield was hung on his pack.

    All three of them were carrying packs, since Grandmother never went anywhere in the structure unprepared. If the transport system spit them out in a random hallway on another continent, Grandmother was ready to survive the night, navigate to a green and claim a square.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Grandmother asked. Recognizing instantly that something was wrong.

    ¡°We¡¯ve come out in a different room, very close to the wildspace end of the back hall. There are a lot of guards milling around the hallway, between us and the square,¡± Todd responded.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Grandmother murmured. ¡°I wonder if it isn¡¯t just us coming into the square?¡± she mused to herself. ¡°I really feel like a Narrative has been building here for a while. I still can¡¯t grasp exactly what it is. We¡¯ve gotten a little too entangled with events. I think it is time to switch it.¡± She leaned her staff against the wall and started digging around in her pack. ¡°Keep watch while I change,¡± she said.

    Grandmother striped off her leathers and put on the light cloth armor she usually only wore in selkie settlements. She added her belt, with her water flask and Speedwell knife over the top. She straightened her amulet over the silk. The amulet was actually a modified Speedwell survey camera. She wanted to get good images of everyone in the square to review back at the ship.

    ¡°Try to get a good look at everyone,¡± She commented. ¡°We¡¯ll review the recordings when we get back and see if they reveal any discrepancies.¡± She tightened all the straps on her backpack, then slipped the pack into a gathering bag, which she tightened down again. Since it now contained her leathers and pack, both of which weren¡¯t integrated, it wasn¡¯t super tiny, but it was still impressively small. She attached it to her belt, as a kind of fanny pack.

    ¡°I wish I¡¯d taken the time to learn that identify spell,¡± Grandmother commented, as she picked up her staff from the wall. ¡°The spell could really be aimed at us discovering someone else here.¡±

    ¡°Can you learn it now?¡± Ed asked. He saw how fast they taught the students their first spell to color their magic.

    ¡°It¡¯s tier four,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°It won¡¯t be like the light spell,¡± she said, afraid Ed was thinking of his own experience learning light in front of the training inscription. ¡°It will take an hour or two to learn, with pretty much constant casting.¡±

    ¡°No one is expecting us,¡± Ed commented. He fished around in his pocket and pulled out a folded, crumpled sheet of vellum. ¡°I still have the notes you gave me,¡± he said, waving them blindly in front of him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to make you sit around blind that long,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s fine,¡± Ed said. Sliding down the wall to sit. ¡°I kind of find it restful. I know I can¡¯t keep watch so it sort of takes the pressure off. I¡¯ll just explore my interface or something. I¡¯ve been reading the User Manual in my spare time.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± Grandmother said, lightly touching Ed¡¯s hand so he¡¯d know she was taking the vellum from him.

    ¡°Yep,¡± he said. Grandmother leaned her staff back against the wall and unfolded the paper.

    ¡°Todd, you work on learning it too,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Let¡¯s assume it¡¯s an enhancement spell, like night vision. We¡¯ll cast it with the same start and finish symbols. We can stare at the Londontown guards while we try to learn it, so no excuses about keeping a watch.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Todd agreed. He leaned his own spear against the wall and accepted the vellum from Grandmother, so he could memorize the sequence.

    ¡°If you run out of patience with us, Ed, just give the word and we¡¯ll head out,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°I got it,¡± Todd said an hour and forty five minutes later. He turned to look at Grandmother and then at Ed.

    ¡°You beat me,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I¡¯ll keep trying, tell us what you see.¡± It was impressive that he learned the spell first. At her tier she should learn it faster. His mastering of it in this short of a period of time was an indication of his determination and drive.

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    ¡°There¡¯s a series of numbers in structure symbols floating over everyone¡¯s head. Yours read six, four, six six zero four and four six six six zero six six zero four six.¡± Todd said to Grandmother. ¡°Ed¡¯s read three, three, six six zero four and something really long.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°The first two are tier and color.¡± She continued to try to cast, she had too much time invested now to give up. ¡°That third number, six six zero six, is forty two in base ten. It is the human species number. That last number will be our individual number. That¡¯s the same string of numbers that is on the crystal logs.¡± Todd turned back to study the guards outside the window.

    ¡°Most of these guys out here are tier two and three,¡± Todd commented. ¡°What is interesting is how many of them have color two and five and not three.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Ed asked from where he was sprawled out on the floor. Todd thought the retired guard dropped off into a light doze a while ago. ¡°What would that be? Green and red?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I remember when I was young and came up red in this square I thought my life was over.¡±

    ¡°That must have been a shock,¡± Ed said after a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°I was certain I¡¯d be blue because my parents were. I suppose that is true in a way, since they taught me the same first spells they learned as children. I don¡¯t know what I would have done if I came up with a different color.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I never thought about it that way. It must have been cooking that pushed me to red. I learned that from my grandmother when I was very young. She was an upper floor cook.¡±

    ¡°I got it,¡± Grandmother said after her latest cast. She studied the Londontown guards visible through the glass, then Todd and Ed as she became familiar with the spell. The numbers were all displayed in Polygon at first, which was a tier four font. If she held her gaze long enough, they transformed into Egyptian, which was tier six. She mentioned it to Todd.

    ¡°It must be because of your tier,¡± Todd said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t do that for me.¡± Grandmother wondered if this added functionality was why it took her longer to learn the spell. ¡°I wonder if it is like looking through a camouflage spell. Even if you out tier the caster, they only appear if you look at them long enough.¡± Todd looked at Grandmother again, peering at the space over her head a little more closely. ¡°The numbers over your head look metallic. Everyone else is plain white.¡±

    ¡°Metallic?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Like copper?¡±

    ¡°No like stainless steel,¡± Todd replied.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Well I think we''re out of excuses. The number count out here hasn¡¯t changed so I guess we''re just going to have to brazen it out. I don¡¯t want to use any cloaking spells.¡±

    ¡°Someone help me up,¡± Ed said from the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hit my head.¡± Todd pulled the older man to his feet with the easy strength of a tier four. Everyone did a final check of their possessions. Todd picked up his spear and Grandmother collected her staff. Grandmother opened the door. Todd stepped boldly out. Ed was right behind him, with the help of a guiding hand from Grandmother on his shoulder. She followed along behind him.

    Every guard in the hall stared at them. Todd proceeded down the hallway to the square. He nodded at the first guard as he passed him.

    ¡°Sir,¡± the guard said, as he shifted to clear the way.

    ¡°Good day to you,¡± Todd replied. The last few guards back peddled to get out of the way by stepping into the square. The guards caught in the middle of the hallway all flattened themselves along the wall. Todd stepped out into the square and broke just slightly to the right. Ed came out right behind him and shifted to the left. Three steps out they both paused.

    Grandmother stepped out behind them. Their time learning the new spell in the transportation room allowed the color of her magic to seep into the already purple cloth of her armor. Now as she stood behind the red and blue warriors her armor was so dark it was almost indistinguishable from black. Her gaze swept the square as she turned her body to make sure she got a good image on her Speedwell camera.

    It was market day. The market was full of traders and shoppers. The foot traffic in the square was heavy. Grandmother noted with pleasure that people were being drawn along the front of the shops from the market by the singular attraction of the furniture store in the far corner.

    ¡°Grandmother,¡± a woman¡¯s voice called. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you here.¡± Grandmother turned and saw it was Tina or Tiny as she was called, the butcher from Home Square. Grandmother suspected that a lot of her tier four transport room tenders were traveling out to Londontown. It was a little disconcerting to have it confirmed this way.

    ¡°Over by the market,¡± Todd commented quietly. ¡°There is a three, three that is very interested in us.¡± Grandmother thought it was probably just another crafter from Home Square, someone that came in with Tina. The butcher was approaching from that direction. Grandmother glanced over the butcher¡¯s shoulder and did a quick scan of everyone near but not in the market.

    ¡°I¡¯m taking a quick break,¡± Grandmother responded to the butcher. ¡°Did you come to buy a chair? Harry told me you were interested in one.¡± There off to the side was a large woman, carrying a bundle of skins. The numbers over her head read three, three, forty two and something. As Grandmother studied her, the numbers transformed to Egyptian, only now they read, four, one, sixteen and something. That was a surprising development.

    Since the species number for humans was forty two, Grandmother knew there could be as many as forty two species in the structure.  So far she had only found selkie and elves, who were species twenty three and thirty four.  This individual of species sixteen was something else.

    ¡°They are sold out, again,¡± Tiny responded. ¡°I put in a request. Hopefully they will come up with one soon.¡±

    ¡°Have you figured out how to get it back to Home Square?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°We hired Harry to set up a caravan,¡± Tiny explained.

    ¡°We?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Well I was just going to pay him to take my chair back, but then word went around in the square and a lot of crafters decided they wanted to try some of their top tier wares in the market here. So we all agreed to split the cost,¡± the butcher explained.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Grandmother proclaimed. ¡°Todd, remind me next time we are in Home Square to see if Harry wants to rent my wheels.¡±

    ¡°Your wheels?¡± Todd asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t they our wheels? Technically, Ed here found them.¡± Grandmother frowned in thought.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she admitted. Ed chuckled. ¡°It''s great seeing you Tina,¡± Grandmother said to the butcher. ¡°Have fun shopping. Ed, lead the way.¡± Their small group moved off, as Ed headed to the training yards.

    ¡°When I studied the woman in the market, her numbers changed to four, one, sixteen in Egyptian,¡± Grandmother reported.

    ¡°So she isn¡¯t human,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Are we doing anything about it?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It¡¯s not our square. Besides, she was selling furs, not devouring babies. Do you see your young warrior?¡± she asked Ed as they entered the training yards.

    ¡°Over there,¡± Ed said. He led them over to a training dummy next to the wall where a young warrior was swinging a sword at a training dummy. The tremors in the warrior''s hands were so strong he was having trouble holding the sword.

    ¡°Jeremy,¡± Ed said. ¡°How is it going today?¡±

    ¡°Hard,¡± Jeremy said. He gave up the attempt to look like he was training. He buried the tip of sword into the dirt and leaned against it. He used his off hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you around lately,¡± Jeremy said after his breathing evened out.

    ¡°I took a job outside of the square,¡± Ed responded.

    ¡°Maybe I should do that,¡± Jeremy responded. ¡°I could get away from temptation that way.¡±

    ¡°About that,¡± Ed said, ¡°an opportunity has opened up with the group I¡¯m with now. It isn¡¯t for a warrior, though. It is for a woodworker. I thought of your spouse.¡± Jeremy ran a hand down his face. There was an expression of abject misery mixed with just a trace of hope under his hand. It was replaced with something like resignation.

    ¡°She might be interested,¡± Jeremy admitted, ¡°she has the baby to think of.¡±

    ¡°Can you introduce us to her, so we can explain the position?¡± Grandmother asked from just behind Ed. Jeremy noticed Todd and Grandmother for the first time. He frowned as he realized he didn¡¯t know them. There was something familiar about the old woman. The red on Todd¡¯s leather bothered him, or he thought it should bother him. He looked back at Ed. The familiarity of the old warrior calmed his thoughts. He was a man who understood the torment and still went on with life.

    ¡°Why not,¡± Jeremy said. He straightened up and returned his sword to its scabbard. ¡°I need a break anyway.¡± Jeremy led the way up the nearest staircase.

 TWT.14 The selkie call them nuisances

    ¡°Keep him occupied while I talk to his spouse. Don¡¯t let him leave,¡± Grandmother said softly to Ed as they walked down the hallway after Jeremy. Ed nodded his agreement.

    Jeremy knocked on an apartment door to alert his spouse to their arrival. Before he could open the door, it opened from within. A flash of anger crossed the face of the woman who opened the door, before she fully took in her spouse''s tortured appearance. The anger disappeared as she recognized that he still struggled against his addiction.

    ¡°Why are you back so early?¡± she asked with concern.

    ¡°Umm¡­¡± Jeremy stumbled over his words.

    ¡°I want to hire a woodworker,¡± Grandmother said. Jeremy¡¯s spouse stepped back, startled. This woman recognized Irene. ¡°Can we come inside?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, of course,¡± she responded.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t catch your name,¡± Grandmother commented.

    ¡°It¡¯s Tessa,¡± Jeremy¡¯s spouse responded as she held the door open for them to enter.

    The door didn¡¯t completely shut behind them. Todd was holding it slightly open with his foot. The warrior was keeping a watch, both in the apartment and the hall outside. There was a soft child¡¯s cry from the second room.

    ¡°Is that your son?¡± Ed asked Jeremy. ¡°Let¡¯s go see the little tyke and let the women negotiate.¡± Jeremy was easy to convince. He led Ed through the connecting doorway, to the second room in the apartment.

    The apartment was almost completely empty. A handful of woodworking tools were carefully laid out on the top of a storage box. The box looked like it was crafted not found. A single larger tool stood between a small pile of wood planks and a stack of arrows. The arrows were fletched with feathers and were equipped with rat claw arrow heads. That made them a fairly high tier arrow. Grandmother was pleased.

    ¡°Have you heard of the school?¡± Grandmother asked Tessa. ¡°The Speedwell Academy?¡±

    ¡°Who hasn¡¯t?¡± Tessa replied.

    ¡°My brother is the dean,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°They find themselves short of an instructor for woodworking. I told him I¡¯d see if I could find someone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only a journeyman,¡± Tessa replied. ¡°Not even a craftsman.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. The students are almost all novices. The school has a large library of spell books. If you find yourself stumped with a student, I am sure the library will be opened to you.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t leave my baby here,¡± Tessa said with a worried glance at the doorway to the other room. ¡°I talked to the recruiter, even the child minder position required the employee to travel alone.¡±

    ¡°Things are more stressed now. The introductory classes are over. The crafting classes are starting tomorrow. That means they are now willing to be more flexible. You can take your baby along. I warn you ¡®the sickness¡¯ is not tolerated there.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Tessa said.

    ¡°The pay is forty silver for the winter session, it includes housing and meals for one. The pay will be reduced six silver per non-working family member to pay for their meals. As long as the non-working family members stay in the housing unit provided for the worker there is no additional charge for that,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Are you interested?¡±

    ¡°Can I think about it?¡± Tessa asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to have your answer now,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°As I said, classes start tomorrow. If you don¡¯t want the position I need to find someone else. If you accept, you¡¯ll only have a couple hours to pack. You can only take what you can carry.¡±

    ¡°Can I take my tools?¡± Tessa asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother looked at the box. ¡°If the box is integrated you can bring that too, but anything not integrated has to come out of it.¡±

    Tessa fidgeted. She picked up a wood hatchet that was sitting on the box top and turned it over in her hands.

    ¡°No,¡± she said finally, ¡°I can¡¯t leave Jeremy. I love him.¡±

    That response, after the long tortured consideration, told Grandmother what she wanted to know. Jeremy was basically a good person. Ed¡¯s testimonial won Jeremy this chance, but Ed himself was an addict not long ago. Everyone had a story about how they got the sickness that made it sound like it wasn¡¯t their fault, but none of those stories were the whole truth. Bad things happened to good people, but they also happened to bad people. It was very hard to tell what the person underneath was really like once the addiction had them. If Tessa walked away from Jeremy without a glance back, Grandmother would have left the young warrior here. It would have been kinder, because she told the truth about not tolerating the sickness at the academy.

    ¡°He can come with you,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I thought I explained. Your pay will be reduced by six silver for each non-working family member, so if you go with your partner and your child you¡¯ll only get paid twenty eight silver for the term. If that is not enough pay for you, I¡¯d encourage Jeremy to find work nearby.¡±

    ¡°You said the sickness is not tolerated,¡± Tessa said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°I will heal Jeremy of the sickness here, before we leave, but if he relapses and buys blue heals at the academy all of you will be ejected.¡± Tessa stumbled back, the ax grasped in her hands. Grandmother was a little worried the woman might hurt herself with it.

    ¡°You can fix him?¡± Tessa asked. ¡°He tries so hard, but he always goes back in the end.¡±

    ¡°I can take away the physical craving, but there are habits that still have to be resisted,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°If he goes back to it I don¡¯t know if I could fix him again and I don¡¯t want to find out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the job,¡± Tessa said.

    ¡°Ed,¡± she called in a louder voice, ¡°can you bring Jeremy in here?¡± Ed emerged carrying a toddler, pushing a slow thinking Jeremy infront of him. Jeremy was saying something about taking the child.

    ¡°No, my boy,¡± Ed said following the warrior. ¡°I¡¯d better hold on to the little tyke for a moment more. Actually I think you might want to sit down for a moment.¡±

    ¡°Sit?¡± Jeremy asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ed responded. ¡°I have a vague memory of a nasty fall.¡±

    Tessa took her spouse''s hand and sat down with him against a side wall of the apartment. She talked quietly with him for a moment or two.

    ¡°I am afraid this is going to hurt,¡± Grandmother warned as she stepped forward to cast the heal.

    ¡°What?¡± Jeremy managed to say just before the spell hit. His body stiffened up and he passed out.

    ¡°Jeremy?¡± Tessa asked uncertainty.

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    ¡°That wasn¡¯t bad,¡± Todd commented. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine in a minute or two.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Tessa asked.

    ¡°It was much worse for Ed,¡± Todd said with a nod to the old warrior, who was tossing the toddler in the air. The child was giggling happily.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Jeremy asked as he came around.

    ¡°I healed you of the sickness,¡± Grandmother told him. ¡°From here on out you can¡¯t get heals from a blue healer. Do you understand? I won¡¯t fix you again.¡± Jeremy was still a little dazed. He held out his hand in front of him. It was steady.

    ¡°When are we leaving?¡± Tessa asked.

    ¡°Three or four hours,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I want to pick up a few things. Don¡¯t worry about food and water for the trip. The school will provide materials for your demonstrations and the student projects. I¡¯ll carry your tools and the box, if it¡¯s integrated.¡±

    ¡°It is,¡± Tessa responded.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be back to pick you up,¡± Grandmother said. Ed handed the toddler back to his father and followed Grandmother out of the apartment.

    ¡°What are we doing now?¡± Ed asked as the three of them headed down the stairs.

    ¡°We¡¯re heading to the shop,¡± Todd replied. ¡°Then we¡¯ll probably end up clearing the library again, if it¡¯s still there. I know we¡¯ll be picking up another copy of the chair you found.¡±

    ¡°Can I borrow your shield?¡± Ed asked.

    <hr>

    After getting the request list from Eric, they headed straight out to the library. Todd loaned his shield to Ed before they made entry. They did a fast entry again, Grandmother threw the door open. Todd wedged it and stood ready, Ed stepped into the room and put his back against the wall on the opposite side of the doorway, bracing himself for the attack.

    A swarm of small gray bodies streamed down the shelves and across the floor. They ran through their legs and disappeared into the hall. They were earthen squirrels.

    Grandmother laughed.

    A latecomer ran right up Grandmother¡¯s cloth armor. It circled around her body three times, searching each of her pockets. It sat on her shoulder and chittered angrily at her.

    ¡°It¡¯s your squirrel,¡± Todd exclaimed.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be,¡± Grandmother argued. ¡°That was years ago and months of travel from here.¡± She freed her gathering bag from her belt and pulled her pack out of it. The squirrel kept running around on Grandmother the entire time. She fished a travel bar out of the pack and broke off a piece of it, giving it to the squirrel. The little animal accepted the food and ran off. It didn¡¯t run out of the room like the others. Instead it ran over to a nearby ruined desk with a wooden top. Sitting on its haunches, it held the food in its front paws and started eating it.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s it,¡± Todd said. ¡°You know the selkie call them nuisances.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them before,¡± Ed said.

    ¡°We ran into them far to the south. They are kind of like the bats, they really shouldn¡¯t be in this area.¡± Grandmother slipped the rest of the bar into a pocket on her armor. She swung her pack onto her back and hung the empty gathering bag from her belt, before retrieving her staff from where she left it just outside the room. ¡°Let¡¯s concentrate on getting the wheels and building a cart. I¡¯m going to do a quick check to see if the spell ribbon is the same.¡±

    Ed kept watch while Todd started disassembling the first ladder. Grandmother flicked the light panel on and off and stared at the ceiling. She fed two more pieces of travel bar to the nuisance.

    ¡°The spell ribbon is gone,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It might mean that there is something else in this room now.¡±

    ¡°Should we do a complete search?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if we have the time for that,¡± Grandmother admitted, she paced twice, looking around the room. ¡°I¡¯m taking the books,¡± she stated.

    ¡°Ed, help me with the desks,¡± Todd said, walking away from the half disassembled ladder. Grandmother might want to use it to gather the upper books. ¡°It will be faster that way. We¡¯ll have to be careful stepping in and out of the room. Maybe the nuisance will give us some warning if something else approaches.¡±

    They stripped the room. The nuisance liked it when restore ruffled its fur. It was sitting on one of the high shelves watching them. They didn¡¯t find anything. Grandmother called it quits and put together a cart.

    ¡°We need to hurry,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°Tessa will think I forgot about her.¡± Todd pulled the wedge from the door and stepped into the hallway. A cry rose up from the nuisance. It ran down the bookshelves like they were the floor. Then it ran across the floor. It cleared the slowly closing door with plenty of time to spare and ran up Grandmother¡¯s staff, across her arm and straight into the pocket that once held the travel bar.

    It didn¡¯t come back out.

    The look on Grandmother''s face was priceless. She pulled the pocket open and looked down at the little animal. It curled itself into a ball, with its fluffy tail wrapped around its body. Very gently she picked the ball of fur out of her pocket and set it down next to the discards from the room. Todd noticed that the discard pile was smaller than the last time he saw it, Grandmother must have picked a few things up when he wasn¡¯t looking.

    The nuisance stretched, like it had been sleeping for an hour. It straightened the fur on its tail. Grandmother was slowly backing away. The animal stood upright on its hind feet, holding its hands tucked up on its belly. It ran up Grandmother¡¯s leg and disappeared back into her pocket.

    Todd lost it. He was laughing so hard he was afraid a cougar was going to jump him, since he couldn¡¯t keep his guard up. Ed must have experienced a similar thought because he was nervously checking in every direction.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt it,¡± Grandmother said, looking down at the bundle of gray fur.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s adopted you,¡± Todd said, when he finally got himself under control again. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a gift from Control.¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s some kind of reward?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Could we have completed a quest? We cleared the room, found the spell, learned it and returned to the room?¡±

    ¡°If that was so, why didn¡¯t I get one?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°True,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Well it will get tired of me eventually. Let''s gather the furniture and get back to the square.¡±

    They rolled into the square with a large load. Among other pieces they picked up another ¡®copy¡¯ of the plant. Grandmother added it into the shop inventory at the same high price as the first one. They still didn¡¯t know what kind of plant it was and Grandmother didn¡¯t really want to sell it. They dropped off a load of components, tools and a second large empty planter in the apartment, although Grandmother kept the wheels and books with her.

    Finally they returned to Tessa and Jeremy¡¯s apartment.

    The door opened at Todd¡¯s knock. The three of them, Todd, Ed and Grandmother, were in their entry configuration. Todd carefully scouted the young couple''s apartment, before stepping aside for Grandmother.

    The apartment was empty now, except for the storage box and one large tool. Jeremy was carrying a large pack, while Tessa held their son.

    ¡°What¡¯s in the box?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°Tools,¡± Tessa replied. Grandmother pulled a large mouthed bag out of her backpack. She opened the mouth of the bag and casually pushed the box in. She followed up that impossible action, by pushing the large tool into the bag afterward. She rolled the top down and tied it off. She secured the small bag to her backpack and turned to find Jeremy and Tessa staring at her in astonishment.

    ¡°It¡¯s a perk,¡± she said in explanation. It was obvious the couple didn¡¯t know what a perk was.

    They headed down to the courtyard. It was late in the afternoon. The market was closing up. There was still a large amount of guards at both ends of the hallway and milling along the length of it. This time Lucas was one of them.

    ¡°Lucas,¡± Todd said in greeting to his cousin.

    ¡°Todd,¡± Lucas responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you until spring.¡±

    ¡°Ben came up short on instructors,¡± Todd explained.

    ¡°There are no craftsmen in Home Square?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Oh there are,¡± Todd said, ¡°but none of them are interested in working for such low pay.¡± Lucas'' eyebrows raised at that.

    ¡°There¡¯s been a lot of traffic through the backdoor lately,¡± Lucas commented.

    ¡°I can see that,¡± Todd responded. ¡°We ran into our butcher outside the market. I believe she was looking to buy a stuffed chair.¡±

    ¡°She is organizing a caravan to take bulky items back to Home Square,¡± Grandmother inserted into the conversation. ¡°I¡¯m thinking about asking them to take Muriel¡¯s plant back, but I¡¯m worried about the stairs. Someone should come up with a solution for moving heavy, bulky loads up and down a stairwell.¡± Lucas decided not to comment on that development for now. Although he would have to go warn the regent later that a trading caravan was coming from Home Square.

    ¡°How are my children doing?¡± Lucas asked.

    ¡°Very good. Phil chose his magic color. It wasn¡¯t blue,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pass that on to his mother. She will be pleased,¡± Lucas said.

    ¡°We need to get going,¡± Grandmother observed. ¡°Tessa needs to get through orientation so she can start teaching in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Lucas said, with a wave of his hand at the blank wall.

    ¡°Actually it¡¯s over there,¡± Grandmother said, indicating the other wall of the hall and closer to the wildspace exit. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know why it moved.¡±

    ¡°They move?¡± Lucas said, ¡°I don¡¯t remember that in the User Manual.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± Grandmother said. ¡°They move, multiply and can have separate ones for different species. Although if guided through, any species can use any one.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that,¡± Lucas replied.

 TWT.15 Light rain in the late afternoon

    The trip to the entrance was quick. Todd went through first. Grandmother tried to nudge the little boy through the entrance by himself. Blinded by the room he sat down and cried. Grandmother handed the little boy to his mother and told them to walk through together. She sent Jeremy next, before stepping through herself.

    ¡°Did the baby arrive ok?¡± Grandmother asked Todd when she stepped out into the transport room.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Todd responded, ¡°happy in his mother¡¯s arms. Tessa said he was upset on the other side.¡±

    ¡°I was a bit worried,¡± Grandmother admitted. ¡°We¡¯ve never sent two through together before. I was afraid she might drop him on the way out. I¡¯ll ask Ellen to make a baby sling next time.¡±

    They stepped out of the transport room into the association hall. Tessa was sitting on the sofa, bouncing the toddler on her knee, while Jeremy was scouting the room. There was a sudden commotion in Grandmother¡¯s pocket. The nuisance climbed out and walked up Grandmother to her shoulder, where it yawned and stretched.

    ¡°I forgot about you, girl,¡± Grandmother said. She felt her pockets but couldn¡¯t find any remnants of the travel bar. Todd handed her one. She smiled at the warrior and broke off a piece, offering it to the nuisance. The nuisance rearranged the chunk of food in its mouth with its front paws before running off, down Grandmother¡¯s cloth armor and across to the collapse. It ran up the tree roots that were intertwined with the structure debris and disappeared above.

    ¡°She just wanted a ride,¡± Grandmother offered.

    ¡°Right,¡± Todd commented. He watched as Grandmother broke the remaining bits of travel bar into pieces and set them down on the table in the furniture cluster.

    ¡°Are we staying here?¡± Jeremy asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Todd replied. ¡°It''s a short walk, then a ride in a cart. This is where the structure wood crafting classes will be held. Tessa can have a look at the workshop before we leave.¡±

    The team spent a lot of the late summer and early fall upgrading the association hall in preparation for the school. Their first workshop was a single room housing all crafts. They expanded that to individual workshops for wood, leather, fiber and metal. There was still a joint workshop for glass, pottery and stone sculpting.

    They didn¡¯t have any instructors for those crafts this session, but Grandmother wanted to add them in the future along with enchanting and Asher¡¯s chemistry. If they could figure out what that was exactly. Although Ellen told her about it, Grandmother still needed to talk to both Asher and Valin about it. Grandmother thought they needed to think about Valin¡¯s jewelry crafting as well. She wasn¡¯t certain if it was a separate craft, or a kind of compound art that combined metal working, stone sculpting and even fiber crafting. The complex knot on Todd¡¯s red tassel was supposed to increase the chance of making rare finds.

    The wood workshop came equipped with a set of tools. In addition Grandmother¡¯s group added small tables arrayed across the center of the space, each with a set of starter tools laid out on the surface. Tessa handed her child to Jeremy and inspected nearly every tool in the room. She picked up the hand tools and ran an appreciative hand over the larger shop tools.

    ¡°Be careful using your own tools in this room,¡± Grandmother warned Tessa. ¡°A certain number of tools are bound to the room and can¡¯t be removed, but others can be picked up and taken away by anyone. The tools wear out, even the bound ones. If a bound tool breaks it is replaced in six days, but if another tool of the same type is in the room the binding will jump to it, so you can¡¯t remove it for six days. Tools in here have the same degradation rates as in a square, but for everything else, including works in progress, they degrade like this is wildspace.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that familiar with wildspace,¡± Tessa admitted. ¡°How long does something last there?¡±

    ¡°When we get to the ship I¡¯ll show you how to access the User Manual. It has an entire section on degradation in the structure,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°For now just remember not to leave any scrap, projects in progress, or finished products in this room. Put all that into the storage room, secured storage, or take it back to the ship. I¡¯ll show you the storage next. The storage room is free, but anything left in there can be taken by anyone, including someone just wandering through the space and not affiliated with the school at all.

    ¡°Items put into secured storage can only be taken out by the person that put it in, but it costs coins. Taking it back to the ship is more secure than the storage room, but not the absolute safety of secured storage. It doesn¡¯t cost anything, but structure items deactivate when you cross the boundary. They can¡¯t be used there, only stored. They reactivate when you bring them back into the structure,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll show you the storage room.¡±

    The storage room was equipped with rows of shelving. At one time during the build out these shelves were full of components. Now there were fewer components here than in Grandmother¡¯s apartment in Londontown. Grandmother made note of that. She should bring some of the extras here. Especially if they decided to build out another rest to handle transportation traffic that was just passing through. Across sections of the empty racks Sarah inscribed different craft names, marking where each class should store their items.

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    ¡°The secure storage is in the back,¡± Grandmother said. They walked to the back wall and Grandmother demonstrated how to use it.

    ¡°Is there wood scrap available?¡± Tessa asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see any here.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°It¡¯s all in group digital storage. There is an inventory access point near the entry courtyard. I don¡¯t know what the plan is to get it here in the morning. That may be something we¡¯ve missed. When we get back I¡¯ll introduce you to Ellen, she is organizing these structure crafting classes. She probably has a plan I¡¯m unaware of.¡±

    ¡°What do you expect me to teach tomorrow?¡± Jessa asked, a trace of nervousness in her voice.

    ¡°What was the first woodworking skill you learned?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really remember,¡± Tessa confessed. Grandmother thought the young woman probably could remember if she had time to reflect and wasn¡¯t so stressed.

    ¡°The first spell book Ellen wrote for woodworking was how to make a plank from wood scrap. I¡¯d start there,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°After that you can work towards some kind of end of term project, like arrows, a bow, or a storage box. I¡¯m not a woodworker so I don¡¯t know how hard any of those items are. I¡¯d like each student to have the skills to make an item they can sell by the end of the term.

    ¡°The students come from different squares so I don¡¯t think there will be a problem flooding the market with a specific product. It would be great if you teach them something that can be sold to the vendor. There is usually some low tier item that can be made from materials bought from the vendor. When the finished product is sold back there is a net gain. It¡¯s a way to eke out a living. If you can teach all the students something like that, it would be great. If that''s too easy, teach them that and another more complex item that is sold to players.¡±

    ¡°Players?¡± Tessa asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s just my way of saying anyone with coins in the structure, crafter, warrior, wizard, human, selkie, elf,¡± Grandmother explained.

    Todd, Jeremy and the toddler were missing when Grandmother and Tessa came out of the storage room. They followed the sound of the men¡¯s voices to find them in the training room. Grandmother frowned when she saw them.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Next year I need to find a woman to help teach the warrior classes. I just realized all my physical defense instructors are male,¡± Grandmother observed.

    ¡°You''re forgetting Betty,¡± Todd said. ¡°She may mostly use a bow, but any hunter I ever met could also use a knife as a fall back weapon.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Grandmother responded. ¡°Still, I¡¯d like a woman skilled with a blade or spear to teach next year.¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t that many female warriors outside of Home Square,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Although I remember many of the women in Ellensburg could imbue fire and ice into a staff.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure Ellensburg makes the recruiting list for next year,¡± Grandmother commented.

    Before they left the association hall, Grandmother instructed Tessa, Jeremy and even the toddler to touch the protection crystal. She added Tessa to the group as a group leader. That would give her the ability to withdraw a set amount of material from the group inventory per day. She made Jeremy a member and their son a candidate.

    The nuisance was on the table eating one of the fragments of the travel bar. Grandmother reached out and gently stroked the animal¡¯s tail.

    ¡°You stay here, girl. I have a feeling you might be changed by passing the boundary and I don¡¯t want that. I¡¯ll be back soon enough,¡± Grandmother said. The animal spun round in a circle once, keeping its tail out of Grandmother¡¯s reach, before picking up a fresh piece of food. It disappeared up the roots in the collapse.

    Tessa carried her son, while Jeremy kept a close watch on them. Grandmother led the way. She cast light to turn on every panel ahead of them, even the light panels far down the cross corridors. Todd brought up the rear. They followed one of the longer paths to the courtyard. It avoided any major holes in the floor. They came out of the structure into the courtyard to a light rain in the late afternoon.

    Tessa was cautious of the open sky above, but Jeremy didn¡¯t even notice. Grandmother remembered Ed¡¯s casual acceptance of it too. Most people raised in the structure took some time to adjust. Grandmother wondered if the tier five heal that took away healing addiction had unexpected side effects. The thought made her even more leery of healing the addiction multiple times.

    The cart Todd and Grandmother brought down that morning was still sitting just outside the courtyard. At first glance it looked undamaged by its day near the entrance. Grandmother didn¡¯t want to risk the vehicles on a daily basis, but she was in a hurry today.

    She took the time to take Tessa¡¯s box and wood lathe out of her bag. She sat them on the floor in the back of the cart. If she didn¡¯t take them out now they would not be removable outside the boundary. The bag and contents became one solid lump.

    ¡°Jeremy,¡± Grandmother said to the young warrior as the cart headed up the track. ¡°If you want to scavenge the structure during the winter I ask that you coordinate with the scavenger instructors so you''re not in the same area as the students.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Jeremy responded. ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°Ava was headed to the eastern villages today to hire a weaver. She thought she was going to have to recruit someone with children too. Perhaps you can get together with them to share child caring duties,¡± Todd offered.

    ¡°There are about twenty residential supervisors on the Speedwell,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°Their job duties start at the evening meal and end with breakfast. If you want to make private arrangements with them during the day that is fine. The school won¡¯t force them to work in their off time but they may choose to.¡±

    ¡°This is the border,¡± Todd warned when the steel pillars were clearly visible on either side of the road ahead. ¡°You¡¯ll feel weaker when your nanobots deactivate. Your integrated clothing will also lose its color and flexibility. When we get to the Speedwell we¡¯ll issue you a uniform you can wear outside the boundary.¡±

 TWT.16 Uncle

    ¡°It sounds like grind-click,¡± Valin said. Grandmother finally caught up with Valin. It was late enough that all the younger students were tucked away in their housing units with their residence supervisors. Grandmother and Valin were sitting in the chairs on the eastern terrace. The air was cold with the turn of the seasons. She still needed to track down Betty and confirm the plans for her hunter¡¯s camp.

    Valin¡¯s grind-click was a word his Speedwell translator didn¡¯t understand. She was hearing the original elf version just delayed. She should have expected that. Valin continued to provide translations for the Speedwell¡¯s computers to work with, using his structure translator, but there were plenty of holes. There was no gender in the elven language, Engineer Whitman set up the translation to ¡®guess¡¯ the right gender from the surrounding conversation. The structure translator did a better job of it, although it always translated O¡¯Rose¡¯s gender to the feminine. Grandmother told Valin to spread a rumor that the elf couldn¡¯t tell human males and females apart. She thought that was a good test of his skills. Grandmother would make sure chemistry was in the next set of words for Valin to record.

    ¡°It produces grind-click-click that when consumed give physical effects. They can make you run faster, weigh less, increase your accuracy or feel rested,¡± the elf explained.

    The elf spent the first ten minutes of the conversation complaining he was too old to deal with all these young people and that his nap schedule was all screwed up. Looking closer at Valin, Grandmother thought the elf was enjoying himself. Grandmother didn¡¯t trust the elf an inch, but he was a good source of information. So far nothing he told her was proven to be a lie. Some of his information was colored by his people''s beliefs, just like the Companion¡¯s was. Between the two she usually got a clearer picture.

    ¡°What are they made from?¡± Grandmother asked. She needed to add solutions, elixir, tea, infusion, tinctures and maybe potions to the Valin¡¯s next translation set too. She would have to look up all the words related to herbal medicine to start.

    ¡°Plants, animal parts, salt,¡± Valin said. ¡°I am not extremely familiar with the art. It is uncommon among elves.¡±

    ¡°Is it a skill like cooking?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°Or is it a craft or a different magic field like Enchanting?¡±

    ¡°A magic field,¡± Valin responded. ¡°It¡¯s a lot like Enchanting only for the body, not for items.¡±

    ¡°Are the changes permanent?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No, they wear off. There are different versions of the same grind-click-click that last different times. The longer lasting ones are made with higher tier ingredients,¡± Valin responded.

    ¡°What about your jewelry making? Is that a separate craft or just advanced parts of other crafts combined?¡± she asked Valin.

    ¡°My own people argue on that one. I believe it is a separate craft. The pattern network all gets tied together eventually. It is a small step from studded leather armor to mail or from mail to brigantine or from brigantine to cloth armor. None of the jewelry patterns are ¡®on the edge¡¯ of the pattern network, like a gathering bag, or door wedges, which is why some of my people argue it is not a craft of its own. When trained by a jeweler, it is possible to gain a jewelry pattern without ever learning an edge pattern. Which is why I think it is a craft. It is just a higher tier,¡± Valin responded.

    It was an interesting idea. A craft that could be reached by years of progress up from one of the sub-crafts, or could be shortcutted into with an instructor. It sounded exactly like the sort of thing the academy should offer. She wondered how many more there were.

    ¡°One last thing,¡± Grandmother said. She pulled out the captain''s remote access and played a loop of the camera footage from Londontown earlier in the day. ¡°I suppose even if you have a name for them it won¡¯t translate. What can you tell me about this species, besides their name?¡± She locked the video loop and handed the glass slate to Valin.

    Valin took his time looking at the slate. He ran his fingers over the glass. He tilted it so it reflected the light from the lamps mounted on the ship¡¯s hull behind them. When he turned it over to study the back, Grandmother was glad she locked the slate. He would have accidentally hit half a dozen functions by now if she hadn¡¯t. Grandmother wondered if Valin¡¯s elf vision saw the screen differently. It was possible he couldn¡¯t see the image.

    Finally he turned the slate back around and looked at the image. Grandmother couldn¡¯t read his expressions very well. Valin¡¯s large black eyes were devoid of emotion. His eyelids were a thin nearly transparent membrane that flicked up from the bottom. His skin was covered in small pebble-like scales which reduced its flexibility.

    He studied the image too long. There was a hint of something in his body language that Grandmother thought might be surprise.

    ¡°Is this your true vision camera footage? Like those moving images of the coliseum fights?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Grandmother replied. ¡°It was taken today in Londontown.¡±

    ¡°What is it wearing?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wearing anything. That¡¯s its hair. I take it you don¡¯t recognize it.¡±

    ¡°No, I do not. I¡¯ve never seen one before,¡± Valin tilted his head. ¡°I can¡¯t think of any story that fits it either. What did it look like when you were there?¡±

    ¡°It appeared as a large human woman wearing blue touched leathers,¡± Grandmother responded, ¡°carrying a bundle of furs.¡±

    ¡°It is carrying the furs,¡± Valin observed. ¡°Is that a club?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember any weapon at all,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I should ask Todd if he noticed one.¡±

    ¡°Is that how you spotted it?¡± Valin asked. ¡°By using Todd¡¯s guardian perk?¡±

    ¡°Partly,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°There¡¯s been a lot of tension in Londontown recently. I kept thinking it was directed at me. This trip I decided I was getting too close to events that were clearly part of a Narrative. I considered what I knew and it felt like we weren¡¯t the only ones visiting Londontown in secret. We went in openly and drew its attention. That was why Todd was able to spot it.¡±

    ¡°An interesting choice,¡± Valin responded.

    ¡°I first noticed that oddness in Londontown when we made the tour of human squares two years ago. That was before Companion found the coloring book in Chicago. This ¡®woman¡¯ could be the source of the book,¡± Grandmother observed.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°So you couldn¡¯t see through its disguise, even at your tier?¡± Valin asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Grandmother confirmed. She realized she hadn¡¯t tried her ¡®turn off all rendering¡¯ trick. That was the only ¡®tier six¡¯ spell she knew and it wasn¡¯t a spell exactly. ¡°Todd and I took the time to learn that identify spell we found in the library on the trip to pick up Ed. I was able to see through its false identity data. Todd couldn¡¯t. This individual is a tier four with yellow magic and a member of species sixteen.¡±

    ¡°Sixteen?¡± Valin said, sitting up straighter. Grandmother had no difficulty reading his surprise at this news. ¡°That means they¡¯ve been around longer than the selkie.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is why I thought you would know something about them,¡± Grandmother agreed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep on the lookout for information about them when my duties here are done,¡± Valin promised. He held up the slate as if to hand it back to Grandmother. ¡°What is this thing?¡± he asked before he released it.

    ¡°Simply, it''s a portable version of the computer in your quarters. It only works within a certain distance of the Speedwell. It is high enough technology that I think the structure would eat it in a day. They are available for purchase from the warehouse system. I can pay you in Speedwell coins instead of structure coins if you want to buy one.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Valin said. ¡°I would like that. I have enough structure coins.¡±

    ¡°I need to find Betty,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I promised her I would build her a hunter¡¯s camp.¡±

    ¡°The woman of the bow,¡± Valin commented. ¡°She is spending her nights in the last of the glass houses. Ava isn¡¯t using it yet.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Grandmother said. ¡°I was afraid she was staying out in the cold.¡±

    <hr>

    The lights in four of the glass houses were on. Ava set them to simulate spring. The solid walls between the houses kept most of that light from leaking into the next glass house. The last two glass houses were dark.

    Grandmother started with the end house. She knocked on the glass door, to give Betty an alert that someone was coming before stepping inside.

    ¡°Good evening,¡± Grandmother said as she stepped inside. The hunter was sitting just inside the glass house with her back against the glass outer wall. She was eating a sandwich. The sandwich must have come from the Speedwell. Grandmother wondered if Betty went inside to pick up the food herself, or if Muriel or someone else brought it out to her. Betty suffered from claustrophobia. She made it up to the medical center and back for her fertility implant, but she didn¡¯t take the elevator. She took the stairs.

    ¡°Evening,¡± Betty replied. Grandmother sat down on the ground next to Betty.

    ¡°I wanted to check with you about the hunter¡¯s camp. I know you and Muriel were working on getting a compost plant to grow inside the boundary, but I promised to set something up for you outside as well. Do you have any preferences for where?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s a spot just north of the road I like,¡± Betty said. ¡°There¡¯s a stream and a pretty rock wall.¡±

    ¡°Do you want a road or path put in?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯d like it better hidden,¡± Betty said.

    ¡°What kind of structure do you want?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°I can build you something like this on the ground,¡± she said with a wave at the glass house, ¡°or something elevated, like you are in a tree.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want a tower,¡± Betty replied.

    ¡°No, not like a tower. Just the floor would be high. I can still put a glass roof over it to hold the rain off you and leave the walls mostly open if you like, so you have air movement and a clear view of the surrounding area. If you''re going to take students there, I should put a rail in place to keep them from falling out.¡± Betty was looking at Grandmother with a completely blank look on her face.

    ¡°Here,¡± Grandmother said, pulling her slate from her pocket, ¡°let me show you some options.¡± Betty¡¯s eyes widened. She reached out and grabbed Grandmother''s wrist, staring at the tablet.

    ¡°What is this?¡± she demanded.

    ¡°It¡¯s a portable interface for the ship¡¯s computers,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Actually in your role as hunting instructor you should be issued one. It will allow us to remain in contact with you as you roam around, but you can¡¯t take it into the structure¡­.¡±

    ¡°No, this.¡± Betty said, pointing forcefully at the recording still playing on the surface of the slate. Grandmother didn¡¯t turn it off after retrieving the slate from Valin. Since she locked the slate to show it to him, even putting it into her pocket didn¡¯t shut the screen off. ¡°How do you have a picture of Uncle?¡±

    ¡°Uncle?¡± Grandmother echoed back. She turned the slate so that both women could view the image. ¡°I recorded this today in Londontown. I was just asking Valin if he knew anything about them. He didn¡¯t. What do you know?¡±

    Betty looked off into the distance, remembering something from her past. Grandmother felt a growing sense of dread. She believed something tragic was in Betty''s past that led to her claustrophobia. Grandmother feared she just stumbled upon it.

    ¡°When I was young, I was separated from my family in a green. I cried and cried, but no one came, until Uncle. He picked me up and held me in his beard. He took me back to where my family was searching frantically for me. Just outside of their sight he set me down and told me to run to them,¡± Betty explained. A small half smile was on her face. Grandmother was relieved. This wasn¡¯t the story of tragedy she was expecting. ¡°Everyone was so happy that I was found. I don¡¯t think anyone ever believed me about Uncle. I was very young and no one else saw him.¡±

    Betty was in her late thirties. Grandmother thought she was probably born before or during the early part of the Wizard''s War. If Uncle was in human space around that time, he may have seen Redfalls, which would make it more likely that Companion¡¯s coloring book, which contained a drawing of the entrance to Redfalls, came from the player.

    ¡°Where was this?¡± Grandmother asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know,¡± Betty replied. ¡°I was too young. Although I can tell you it was a ruined green. The rain and cooler temperatures here remind me of it.¡± The ruined greens were all close to or in dark space. Grandmother suspected that dark space ringed the staging area the Speedwell sat in. There were only three ruined greens that Grandmother knew of that humans spent any time in, but there were many more. All three of the once occupied greens were close to Londontown and Chicago.

    ¡°They were disguised when we saw them,¡± Grandmother told Betty. ¡°Only the camera footage revealed their true form. I¡¯ll have the computers search all our past footage for any sign of them. If I can track them down, I¡¯ll be sure to tell them that you remember their kindness.¡±

    ¡°I am in his debt,¡± Betty said seriously.

    Grandmother unlocked the screen and shut down the recording. She made a quick note to get Betty a tablet as part of her position and to add a charging set up to the hunter¡¯s camp. She also made a note to start a search for Uncle in all their recorded footage.

    ¡°Let me show you some options for the camp,¡± Grandmother said.

    Betty''s chosen location was north of the road going to the structure entrance, on the east side of the ridge. It was heavily wooded in trees that the Speedwell¡¯s machines and crew never touched. Betty picked a wooden structure, mounted high in the trees with a thatched roof. Grandmother was surprised at that choice. She expected Betty to pick glass.

    The restroom was screened with vertical poles and placed near one of the trees that went through the platform. That way the plumbing could be run along the trunk and be disguised as part of it. Grandmother added hanging round glass lights and an underfloor heating system. The kitchen was small. There was a cooking surface, water source and food storage. Grandmother added a note on her to do list to set up automatic food deliveries for basic needs. Grandmother offered Betty a bed, bunk or hammock to sleep in. Betty chose the hammock, even though she never heard of one before. She was excited to try it.

    The walls were rolling panels that could be tucked away. They were glass, decorated with vertical wooden poles that matched the restroom walls. Grandmother provided them to provide protection from the wind or extreme cold.

    ¡°Can you build a larger one down the slope?¡± Betty said, pointing at the map Grandmother pulled up from the original survey. ¡°For the students'' use,¡± Betty explained.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grandmother replied. Grandmother dispatched the first robots before she went to bed. They would repair the existing underground utility tunnels that lay dormant under the abandoned western fields. A different set would extend that utility system up to Betty¡¯s site. The site, in the deep shade of the trees, was not a good candidate for solar. Along with the power she would run water, data and sewage. The passage was large enough for a small delivery drone to run out and stock the kitchens. When she put the warehouse trading posts close to the eastern villages, she widened those corridors to allow the transportation of materials underground.

    A large complex of tunnels and storage vaults were under the central fields. Grandmother wasn¡¯t certain anyone knew about them besides herself.

 TWT.17 Making friends

    Alex O¡¯Rose wasn¡¯t certain how she survived her first class, magic in its many forms. She was terrified when Grandmother stepped into the room. She was doubly terrified when she realized she spoke out loud in response to a question and that Grandmother recognized her.

    The Grandmother who taught the course was not the same one who came to Chicago. That was the only way Alex could explain it. The woman introduced herself as Chief Engineer Whitman. She must be a twin of Grandmother. The idea calmed Alex enough to get her through the class.

    The session covered how physical items in the structure were interacted with. Engineer Whitman covered everything from sinks to transportation rooms. Along the way she talked about a few non-physical items like maps and personal interfaces. The Speedwell¡¯s educational machines, which everyone learned how to use in their first week, had a top level menu system that was very similar to the structure¡¯s interface. Finally she circled back around to sinks. She talked about how to make the water hotter and colder. She compared the system with the controls in their apartment restrooms.

    ¡°Remember these tapped symbols,¡± the Chief Engineer said at the end of the session. ¡°Next time I am going to cover utility spells, which also utilize this tap system.¡± It was amazing how much Engineer Whitman taught Alex during that first lecture. Alex grew up in Chicago so she wasn¡¯t familiar with sinks, vendors or payment surfaces, never mind transportation rooms.

    She spent the afternoon in the wizardry class. Alex thought the instructors were with Grandmother the first time she saw the woman in Chicago, but she wasn¡¯t certain. They were overshadowed by her memories of the old woman and Todd. The instructors treated her no differently than anyone else. Alex breathed a little easier.

    Her second morning was spent on the educational machines. The machines were teaching her how to read. She remembered how the real Grandmother wanted her to learn to read. She spent most of her free time working with the machines trying to master the subject. She thought she was making progress, but it was hard.

    Alex¡¯s afternoon class was in the structure. It was scavenging and the first day instructions included that they were to arrive at the entrance with a travel pack. She rode a shuttle out. Sets of instructors were standing in front of the arches to the structure calling the names of their classes.

    Alex cringed again when she saw who was calling out scavenging. It was both of Grandmother¡¯s beast men. Valin, the smaller one with sparkling white skin, was calling out in the human language, while the other, Companion, was singing the class name in Selkie. Or at least Alex thought it was the class name. She needed to learn Selkie.

    Alex went over and stood at the back of the group of students. When the shuttles were empty, Companion counted the students out loud in selkie.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Valin agreed. ¡°That is all of them.¡± He and Companion made them line up into two rows. The shorter students were put in the front and the taller ones in back. Alex was happy that she was still in the back, but she lost a lot of her cover.

    ¡°My name is Valin,¡± the non-human announced. ¡°I am an elf. This is Companion, he is a selkie. Companion doesn¡¯t speak any human, but he understands all of it. Learning how to communicate with someone that doesn¡¯t speak your language is an important lesson of the academy.¡± Companion sang something out. Alex realized that three of her fellow students were selkie.

    ¡°First we are going to do a safety check. Does everyone have their armband on?¡± Alex fingered the bright yellow cloth band that was around her upper arm. They were told to always wear it anytime they entered the structure. At yesterday¡¯s wizard class a couple of the students forgot them. This group was doing better as everyone brought them, although two students weren¡¯t wearing them. Valin waited pointedly for those two students to put them on.

    ¡°Your instructions included that you arrive today with a travel pack. Companion and I will now inspect the packs. Those in the front row move to the left and show your pack to Companion. Everyone in the back row, line up to your right and bring your pack up to me.¡± Valin stepped back behind a small table as Companion sang out this message.

    ¡°Your first,¡± Valin called with a gesture to the student in the rightmost position in the back line. The student went up to the table with their pack. Valin dumped out the contents and sorted out the contents into two piles. He spoke to the student, but Alex could not hear what he or Companion said to the students. She realized they were using muffle spells.

    Alex was the third student to present her pack to Valin. The elf dumped the contents of her pack just exactly the same as he did the others. He went through the contents. Unlike the previous two students he didn¡¯t put anything into a second pile.

    ¡°All of this is good,¡± Valin said. That was when she realized the second pile for the previous students must be rejected items. Valin should approve of everything in her pack, he bought most of it himself for her in Chicago. ¡°Do you have a water flask?¡± Alex showed it to him where it was secured to her belt. ¡°Weapon?¡± Alex pulled the knife from her belt. It had seen better days, but it was all she could afford. Valin fished another knife out of a bag at his feet. He handed the knife over to her.

    ¡°Here,¡± he said. ¡°It isn¡¯t integrated but it will serve. Your knife is so worn it¡¯s in danger of breaking at the first blow. A travel pack includes rations for three days. You can get travel food from the dining room. Get it tonight and bring it next week.¡±

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Yes, master,¡± Alex responded.

    ¡°It is Instructor,¡± Valin told her. ¡°Yes, Instructor.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Instructor,¡± Alex echoed.

    ¡°Good,¡± Valin said. ¡°Now do you see that young boy with violet magic?¡± He waved at a boy wearing hunter¡¯s greens and a violet armband. He was armed with a short sword. The boy was one of the youngest students in the class. He was literally bouncing on his feet with excitement as he waited his turn. Alex was nearly the oldest student, under normal circumstances she wouldn¡¯t have given the boy a second glance.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex replied tentatively. She studied the boy for a moment and decided she remembered him from her wizard class the day before.

    ¡°He would be a good person to be friends with,¡± the elf said.

    ¡°Friends?¡± Alex asked with some confusion.

    ¡°Friends will tell you things voluntarily that you can not buy. Things that Grandmother might need to know.¡± Valin¡¯s large black eyes locked on Alex.

    ¡°Is Engineer Whitman¡­¡± Alex started to say.

    ¡°Grandmother is very good at playing roles,¡± Valin countered. ¡°A diverse set of friends will serve you well in the future.¡± Valin looked over at the other students and lingered on the selkie members of the class. ¡°If you remain loyal and true to them and Grandmother, you can all benefit.¡± Valin finished checking her equipment. ¡°Repack your bag,¡± he instructed.

    As she reloaded the bag, Valin gave her instructions on what to put close to the top for easy access and what could be buried in the bottom. When she was finished she went back to her position in the line.

    After everyone¡¯s bag was inspected, they were broken into four groups. Alex was unsurprised to see that she ended up in the same group as the young boy with violet magic. They were given a few moments to introduce themselves.

    ¡°My name is Tam,¡± the first boy said, he was armed with a short sword. ¡°I¡¯m from Home Square. I can imbue ice and cast fear.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Maria,¡± the first girl said. ¡°I¡¯m from Moscow. I am an archer.¡± Maria carried a bow slung over her shoulder and a quiver of arrows secured at her belt.

    ¡°Hi, I am Alex,¡± Alex said when it was her turn. ¡°I am from Chicago. I know some magic, mostly cloaking spells and fear. I learned shield yesterday in wizardry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Phil,¡± the young boy told the group. ¡°I¡¯m in wizardry too. I can cast lightning!¡± he said excitedly. ¡°Oh and I¡¯m from Londontown.¡± Alex wondered if the fact that Phil was from Londontown was why Valin suggested she make friends with him. Alex thought everyone from Londontown had blue magic, it was interesting that Phil''s magic was violet.

    ¡°How did you get violet magic?¡± Alex heard herself ask.

    ¡°Mama told me don¡¯t pick blue,¡± Phil explained. ¡°Instructor Todd explained that a green or a violet can heal a blue safely. I picked violet because it¡¯s rarer and makes me special!¡± the young boy reported excitedly. Alex¡¯s magic was yellow which was just as rare as violet. She didn¡¯t pick it. In wizardry, Instructor Sarah, who was also yellow, told her she got the color from casting fear. Alex didn¡¯t even realize she knew fear. When Sarah described how to cast it, Alex realized it was what she did to ward off the stray rats that would wander the halls of Chicago at night. Sarah warned her that the spell was dangerous. If it was used against an animal of a higher tier than the spell/caster combination it became enrage.

    After the introductions Companion and Valin taught them a series of hand signals and one word commands, both in selkie and human. The commands were alert, hide, contact, stop, advance, turn right and left.

    ¡°When you join a new group traveling into wildspace, part of the introductions should be agreeing on what signals you will use in the group,¡± Instructor Valin told them. ¡°Every group does things slightly differently. Miscommunication can be deadly and is easily avoided with a little forethought.¡± This time Instructor Companion spoke first, followed by Instructor Valin¡¯s translation.

    They headed into the structure, where the instructors taught them the responsibilities of each person on a team, from head to tail, when walking through wildspace.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know how much work it is to walk,¡± Maria said to Phil in the shuttle after class on their way back to the Wizard''s Tower. Their group was sitting together. Maria was much closer in age to Phil. It was a more natural fit for them to be friends.

    ¡°It¡¯s not much different from living in Chicago,¡± Alex offered.

    ¡°Are there rats in Chicago?¡± Phil asked. As the class ran into single rats in the hallways, the instructors rotated the groups so that each group faced off with one of them. Phil managed to land a stun spell on the second rat their group dealt with before Maria hit it with an arrow. The young boy was thrilled with his success. He killed rats before to get his color, but it felt so much more controlled then. The instructor stood by to make sure none of the rats got anywhere near him. This time the instructors stood farther back and only gave advice.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Alex replied. ¡°Although they are usually only in the halls in the early morning before the guard clears them. Unsecured rooms can gather a lot of them. I saw a room once that was filled with over thirty rats.¡±

    ¡°No way,¡± Maria countered.

    ¡°A traveling group cleared it,¡± Alex responded. ¡°I saw the dead rats afterwards.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we will be able to do something like that one day?¡± Phil asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Tam responded. ¡°We just have to practice.¡±

    The shuttle arrived back at the Wizard''s Tower. The students all rushed off to drop off their weapons and packs at their apartments. There was an hour or so of free time before dinner. Alex went to the educational machine lab to put a little more time into learning to read.

 TWT.18 Someone to teach a Wildkin

    Daisy was surprised when her metal crafting course was taught by the blacksmith from Bayou. Daisy remembered her sister telling her that no one would teach a Wildkin blacksmithing, not even Bayou¡¯s woman smith. She stood straight and carefully checked that her hair was still within its ties.

    Among the items the Engineer provided for Daisy were a variety of hair clips and ties. She sat with Daisy and explained how each of them were used.

    ¡°Pick the one that works the best for your hair,¡± the Engineer said. ¡°You won¡¯t want it getting in the way of your crafting.¡± She also showed Daisy how to wash and condition it and comb it out without pulling, so that its curls were controlled and not wild.

    ¡°How¡¯n you know about Wildkin hair?¡± Daisy asked the Engineer. The Engineer¡¯s own hair was unforgivingly straight.

    ¡°My sister Helen had the most beautiful curly hair,¡± the Engineer told her. ¡°I was always jealous of her when we were growing up. Now I¡¯ll have to be jealous of you.¡± Daisy was thrilled that the Engineer liked her hair.

    The students were standing in the entry area to the forge. The area was equipped with a set of benches against the walls. Boxes under the benches could be locked to a thumbprint. On the wall over the benches was a high shelf and wall hooks.

    ¡°Everyone line up,¡± Instructor Mia told the students after she introduced herself. ¡°I am going to come around and check your gear.¡±

    Dressed in her school uniform and wearing her leather boots, Daisy hoped Instructor Mia wouldn¡¯t notice she was Wildkin and refuse to teach her. Instructor Mia was standing at the door to the forge with a large bag over one shoulder.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name and where are you from?¡± The instructor asked her when she reached Daisy.

    ¡°Daisy,¡± Daisy replied. ¡°I¡¯m from Bayou.¡±

    ¡°Daisy Wildkin,¡± Instructor Mia responded, matching the young girl to the name on the class roster. Daisy felt her heart sink. She forgot that Calla gave her last name as Wildkin. Now the smith knew, no matter how hard Daisy tried. ¡°Let me see your boots.¡±

    Daisy pulled the cuff of her pants up and stretched her foot out. She was proud of her boots. The Engineer took her to Greenbend where a cobbler custom fitted the boots. They were a heavy leather that laced up the back, high above her ankle. The cobbler explained that anything dropped on her feet would slide off and not get caught in the laces. Daisy turned her foot to show the boot, before switching to show the other one.

    ¡°Good,¡± Instructor Mia observed. ¡°Do you have gloves?¡± Daisy pulled her gloves from her pocket and handed them to Mia. Mia inspected the stitching and tested the soft leather for toughness. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize this leather,¡± Mia commented.

    ¡°The Engineer said they were made of badger,¡± Daisy reported.

    ¡°Did Engineer Whitman get you these gloves?¡± Mia asked.

    ¡°Calla asked her to get the things we could¡¯n with the last of Daddy¡¯s money. She took me to the leatherworker in Northstar but said she was no crafter but could do better than that.¡± Daisy knew she was talking too much. It was the gloves and the boots that convinced her to take the leatherworking course. She was ecstatic to find out that the Engineer was teaching the earthen half of it.

    ¡°Put them on,¡± Mia said, handing them back. ¡°I want to see how they fit.¡± Daisy slid them onto her hands and flexed her fingers. They were loose enough that she could move her fingers through her full range of motion, but not so loose that she couldn¡¯t keep a firm grip on a tool or weapon. The Engineer told her that both were important. ¡°I¡¯ll have to talk to Engineer Whitman about making me a set,¡± Mia commented.

    ¡°These are your safety goggles,¡± Mia said, pulling a set of eye protection from her bag. ¡°Put the goggles and gloves on before you enter the forge and don¡¯t take them off until you leave. It takes a while to get used to them, by the end of the term you won¡¯t remember you have them on.¡± Instructor Mia said. ¡°Try this apron on and see if it fits,¡± she said, fishing a roll of leather out of the bag.

    Daisy quickly unrolled the apron and slipped it on. The apron was a little long, reaching past her knees.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°That looks good enough,¡± Mia said. ¡°The Speedwell uniforms are fire resistant, but the apron will protect you from scorch marks and sharp edges. If you¡¯ve brought anything else with you leave it here in the entry. Between classes you can store your apron and goggles here in one of the lockboxes. Your gloves too, if you don¡¯t need them for another class.¡± Instructor Mia moved on to the next student.

    Daisy put the goggles on, humming her excitement. The blacksmith knew she was a Wildkin and was still going to teach her!

    ¡°I am going to put you into pairs. Blacksmithing is hot, tiring work. I want you to switch off work between you and your partner until you build up stamina. It is easy to get injured, especially when you get tired. Report any injury and I will see that you get treatment,¡± Instructor Mia told them. She circled the entry area and was standing in the doorway to the inner workshop. She began calling names.

    ¡°Daisy Wildkin and Vicky Atwater,¡± Instructor Mia called. Daisy didn¡¯t even hear the names called before her own, except to note they weren¡¯t hers. ¡°See this bin here on the wall?¡± Mia indicated a green bin attached about four feet up the wall next to the door. ¡°It contains ear plugs to protect your hearing. Take two new ones every time you enter the workshop. Put the used ones into this bin on the way out,¡± she said, indicating a second bin that was painted red.  ¡°I will go over how to use them later. That will be your workbench there,¡± Mia told the two girls, indicating one of the workstations.  ¡°Familiarize yourself with the tools at your station. I will go over their uses in a moment.¡±

    The instructor called the next set of names. The inner workshop was huge. With two students at each station their class wasn¡¯t going to use even a quarter of them. The two girls walked over to their assigned station close to the instructor''s station at the front of the room.

    ¡°I¡¯m from Londontown. Where are you from?¡± Vicky asked. Vicky was younger than Daisy. Her hair was straight but wispy. It stuck out in random bits.

    ¡°Bayou,¡± Daisy responded. She picked up a hammer and hefted its weight. It was really heavy. She sat down and picked up a smaller one beside it.

    ¡°Is that in the north?¡± Vicky asked. She held a set of long handled tongs in her hand. She tried to pick up a smaller set of tongs with it. The second set of tongs opened up. The action changed its center of mass and it twisted out of the first tong¡¯s grip. The second set had just as long of handles as the first, but the jaws were much smaller.

    ¡°It¡¯s the south most village,¡± Daisy answered. A set of punches was laid out beside the hammers. The size and shape of the points varied.

    ¡°You¡¯re from the villages?¡± Vicky asked. ¡°That¡¯s fancy. The boys in my housing unit are all from the villages. You''re the first girl I¡¯ve met from there.¡± She set the tongs back down and straightened out the set she dropped. She turned her attention to a large metal vise that was attached to the side of the table.

    ¡°Instructor Mia is from Bayou,¡± Daisy said defensively. Nothing in Bayou was fancy, so Daisy worried that Vicky¡¯s ¡®fancy¡¯ statement was an insult. She looked up from her inspection of the large anvil that sat opposite the vise.

    ¡°That¡¯s awesome,¡± Vicky responded. ¡°Are you her apprentice?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Daisy replied. ¡°She don¡¯t have an apprentice.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t?¡± Vicky said. ¡°Maybe you can be her apprentice. All the crafters in Londontown have so many there was no room for my brother.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t cause she is town folk and I am Wildkin,¡± Daisy explained.

    ¡°Really?¡± Vicky said. She lowered her voice and said confidentiality to Daisy, ¡°The real reason the crafters won¡¯t take my brother is because my father works for the king.¡±

    ¡°That sounds neat¡¯n clean,¡± Daisy responded. ¡°Why would crafters not like a king¡¯s man?¡±

    ¡°Because of the taxes, crafters have a heavy load in Londontown,¡± Vicky responded.

    ¡°What are taxes?¡± Daisy asked. Vicky was flabbergasted that Daisy didn¡¯t know what taxes were. She tried to explain it, but the young girl didn¡¯t have that good of a grasp of it herself. Everyone in Londontown ranted about the taxes constantly, but no one ever said exactly what they were for.

    ¡°So everyone pays coins to the king because he is king?¡± Daisy asked, after Vicky¡¯s nebulous description.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Vicky confirmed, ¡°that¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°What does a king do?¡± Daisy queried.

    ¡°He makes decisions and runs things, like the healers and the guards. That¡¯s what my father does. He guards the square entrances so that animals don¡¯t break in,¡± Vicky said.

    ¡°That must be a town thing. My family lives on the waters outside. That¡¯s what makes us Wildkin,¡± Daisy replied.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Vicky said, ¡°like in Chicago.¡±

    ¡°Ok everyone, listen up,¡± Mia called from in front of the forge. The small talk in the room vanished as everyone turned their attention to the instructor. Daisy would have to ask how Chicago was different from Londontown later.

    Mia talked about all the tools, the anvil, vise, hammers, tongs, punches and files. She went over how to light the forge and maintain the fire. She showed them how to use the bellows to make the fire hotter.

    ¡°Blacksmithing is the working of iron,¡± instructor Mia told them, ¡°but other metals can also be forged.¡± She went on to talk about different metals that could be forged. What temperatures they needed to be heated to to work and how strong and durable the finished products were.

    Finally they started on their first project.

 TWT.19 Associate Todd

    ¡°Hold on a second,¡± Grandmother said to Todd. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about my utility tunnels under the road network. We may not know of a transport room near Chicago, but Control probably does. The Gallery itself should have the potential to hook up. I remember Tinkerer told us if we notified Central that we are working on a problem, then we¡¯d be given greater access and control of the system¡¯s nanobots. I hope that means we¡¯ll be able to use transport rooms that aren¡¯t active in the Game right now, but still exist.¡±

    ¡°That would be very convenient,¡± Todd responded. ¡°I also remember that nothing we did on the job would count in our gameplay. I assume that means any map reveals etc. will be removed. I don¡¯t see how that would hurt us this time. We¡¯ve already been all over the Chicago area.¡±

    ¡°You''re right, that is something to remember. We may want to try to fix problems on our own time if we could gain something useful while doing it,¡± Grandmother responded.

    ¡°While you''re talking to Tinkerer, see if he can give us a way to knock a person out. Greater control of the system¡¯s nanobots might mean we can do that,¡± Todd added.

    ¡°That is a good idea,¡± Grandmother admitted. Todd and Grandmother were standing in the transport room in the school''s association hall in the structure. They were six days late in their original plan to try to fix this issue. Grandmother spent most of the second rest day finishing up the hunter¡¯s camp outside the boundary.

    Grandmother stared off into space, waiting for her interface light to appear. When the light appeared, a second light was blinking in the opposite corner of her vision. The new light flashed a rich purple. This light appeared as soon as Irene accepted the system engineer position from Tinkerer. She explored the new interface in her free time, which she didn¡¯t have much of these days.

    In many ways it was easier to use. There were few icons, instead everything was written. Most of it was translated into Irene''s language, but occasionally a word or phrase would appear in alien characters. This always happened in the most critical spots. They were words that there was no translation for, or at least none that Control knew. Some of them filled in when Irene took the first programming placement tests and talked through the answers. Control¡¯s knowledge of the human language came from the spoken and written word within the structure. There was very little use of programming and science vocabulary in the daily life of the residents of the structure. Grandmother suspected she was the source for much of the vocabulary of that type that Control did know, since she hadn¡¯t found a word she didn¡¯t know. There were plenty of specialized vocabulary words she didn¡¯t know that someone else could have used.

    In other ways the interface was much harder to use. This was a backend control panel. The menus were even deeper than on the game interface. The choices that could be made appeared endless. The only thing that really allowed Irene to make progress using it was the help button on the top of the front screen.

    She opened the interface and selected help.

    Tinkerer stepped out of the transportation stone interface that was part of the back wall of the transportation room. The robot wasn¡¯t really here. It was a complete projection. If Grandmother tried to touch it her hand would go right through.

    ¡°Engineer, what service do you require?¡± Tinkerer asked in its low voice. Grandmother knew from experience that she didn¡¯t have to hold the interface open to continue to speak to the tinkerer. She did now because she wanted to use it to indicate which issue they were working on. The issue numbers were insanely long and Grandmother was certain she¡¯d never manage to say the entire thing without making a mistake. Irene pulled up the list and navigated down it to find the one that described the gallery near Chicago being past its expiration date.

    ¡°I want to report to Central that Todd and I are working on this issue here,¡± Irene told the robot, selecting the issue. Irene swore the image of the robot looked pleased, then it looked cautious. Control was a machine, but it was a very complex machine and very old. Irene wasn¡¯t completely certain that it couldn¡¯t have emotions.

    ¡°Do you require me to instruct you on how to use the interface to do that? Or do you want me to do it for you now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, do it for me,¡± Irene instructed. The robot turned and looked at Todd.

    ¡°Todd,¡± it said. Todd blinked and Irene realized that from his point of view the robot just suddenly appeared. ¡°In order to log you as working on the desired issue, I need to add you as an associate in the Engineer¡¯s department. Do you agree to accept the position?¡±

    ¡°Can I leave the position at any time?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the robot responded.

    ¡°Do I get access to the training program and engineering interface?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the robot responded, ¡°upon the approval of your supervisor.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I accept the position of associate engineer,¡± Todd responded. Tinkerer turned back to Irene.

    ¡°Engineer, do you confirm that you wish to hire Todd as an associate in your department?¡± Tinkerer asked Irene.

    ¡°Yes, I confirm that I want to hire Todd,¡± Irene responded.

    ¡°Confirmed,¡± the robot said. ¡°Engineer and Associate Todd are set to active on the indicated issue. Do you require further service from me?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said. She tried for literally months to figure out how to hire her team members. She wished she brought the whole team out for this run. Lesson learned. She¡¯d bring them all with her next time. ¡°I approve Todd¡¯s access to the training program and engineering interface, please record that.¡±

    ¡°Done,¡± Tinkerer replied.

    ¡°We need a method to knock a player out for an hour from a distance,¡± Irene requested.

    ¡°I can modify your and associate Todd¡¯s profile so that a zero zero thrown spell targeted on a player will cause unconsciousness. This alteration will only be in effect as long as you are actively working on this issue,¡± Tinkerer responded. ¡°Is this acceptable?¡± Irene translated zero zero thrown spell to tier zero light spell, but she needed to confirm it.

    ¡°What does a zero zero thrown spell usually do?¡± Irene asked Tinkerer.

    ¡°It activates the light panels.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene said, ¡°Please do that.¡±

    ¡°Done,¡± Tinkerer replied.

    ¡°Can you transport us close to the location of the issue and bring us back here when the issue is resolved?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tinkerer responded.

    ¡°We will go now,¡± Irene said.

    The transport door opened. There was no animation to go with it. Instead what once was a solid stone door split into four sections and slid out of the way. Beyond was not the small room Irene¡¯s camera caught glimpses of. Instead it was a short narrow hall that led to another open door.

    ¡°The transport module will take you there,¡± Tinkerer announced. ¡°When you are ready to return, call me and I will guide you to a station.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Tinkerer,¡± Irene said to the robot. Todd led the way down the passage, since he was the closest to the open door. Irene followed him in. The transport module was an oval shaped room with a soft bench seat built into the wall all the way around except for where the door was. The interior was in shades of tan, it reminded Irene of an intact rest. She sat down on the fabric, where she could still easily see the door. The outer door into the transportation room was already closed. When Todd sat, the inner door closed.

    They didn¡¯t feel any motion. This was technology beyond her understanding.

    ¡°This is different,¡± Todd commented. ¡°If we were going far do you think food would be provided?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene responded. ¡°This looks like a short hopper to me. I bet there is a different transport module for longer distances.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting into one of these things without my full set of gear,¡± Todd countered.

    ¡°Me neither,¡± Irene agreed. ¡°Do you have access to the engineering interface?¡±

    ¡°How do I open it?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°There will be a second light on the edge of your vision. Mine is purple. Yours will probably be red.¡±

    ¡°I got it, oh it has words,¡± Todd said, surprised.

    ¡°That is not as useful as you might think,¡± Irene responded. Todd flicked his way through some of the upper menu choices, as Irene offered advice.

    About ten minutes later the transport module¡¯s door opened. Todd closed his interface with a quick move of his head and rose to his feet. He looked down the short passage.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°It''s another transport room,¡± he reported. The two of them crossed the short passage. They looked out the one way glass of the transport room door. They were just off from the gallery they came to get rid of. It was a choke point in the layout of halls in this area and used as the west entrance to Chicago.

    They looked for this transport room themselves on a previous visit to Chicago and found no sign of it. Irene suspected that if they succeeded in letting the gallery remodel, access to this room would be removed, even employee access. That was why Tinkerer told them to call him to get directed to another room.

    A stream of people were coming in from the halls. It was evening and scavengers were still coming home. A large man was sitting behind a small table collecting information and gate taxes at the exit to the halls. Two guards were outside the gallery, in the wildspace hallway keeping order in the line. There were two more guards at the door that led to Chicago. They were talking casually with each other.

    ¡°There were two guards in the sanitation facility doorway on our last visit. I can¡¯t see them from here,¡± Todd commented. ¡°Let¡¯s wait until full dark. That should clear out any travelers and probably the clerk too.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Irene said. She sank down to the floor and relaxed against the bottom of the transport interface. ¡°If this works there are a lot of issues on the list that read very similarly. Although most of them are located farther away. I don¡¯t know how long the transport time would be for those.¡±

    ¡°I would think this situation would sort itself out eventually,¡± Todd said.

    ¡°I am sure it would,¡± Irene responded. ¡°Although there are different ratings for issues of this type. This one here is the lowest. We may find that the reason a room doesn¡¯t remodel can get very complicated.¡± Irene went back to teaching Todd what she knew about the engineering interface as they waited.

    The overhead lights ticked down to night mode.

    ¡°There goes the clerk,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anyone enter for at least ten minutes,¡± Todd observed. Irene rose to her feet and looked out at the gallery.

    ¡°Let''s get this over with. I¡¯ll take the Chicago side, you take wildspace. Remember to throw light at them. I¡¯m having a hard time remembering that one myself,¡± Irene said. She cast conceal over both of them. They stepped out of the transport room and into the gallery. Irene focused on the guards on the Chicago side. She only saw two, one at the door to the sanitation facility and one at the door to Chicago. She hit the one on the sanitation door first since the one at the Chicago entrance happened to be looking away. She hit him moments later. There was no animation to go with the spell. She rushed forward to search the sanitation facility. She found one of the missing guards inside, supervising the filling of a large water bag. She knocked him out, catching him before he hit the floor. She carried him out of the small room and across to the door to Chicago.

    Her conceal spell was still in place. It shouldn¡¯t be. Conceal usually dispersed whenever an attack spell was used. Irene reconsidered, maybe the light/knockout spell wasn¡¯t considered an attack spell.

    She checked each direction down the hallway and didn¡¯t spot anyone. Hallways never went very far in the structure without a turn. The layout made it easier for animals to sneak up on travelers. There was a turn not far to the right and left. She set the guard down inside the hallway, where he couldn¡¯t see the entrance to the gallery, she went back for another one. She passed Todd carrying one of his out.

    ¡°Careful,¡± Irene said. ¡°One of the guards on my end is unaccounted for. They were filling water bags. He may have taken a full bag for delivery.¡±

    ¡°Noted,¡± Todd responded. Irene made the long trek to the other end of the gallery. She picked up the guard there and brought him back. She wanted to make sure he was back in Chicago and didn¡¯t get isolated in wildspace.

    Todd managed to get both the other two guards moved before Irene returned. She set her man down with the others.

    ¡°Now what?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Irene responded. ¡°Let me call Tinkerer.¡± Irene quickly opened her engineering interface and selected help. Tinkerer stepped out of the wall.

    ¡°Engineer, what service do you require?¡± the robot asked.

    ¡°Can you remodel the problem gallery now?¡± Irene asked the projection.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tinkerer responded.

    ¡°Please do so,¡± Irene requested.

    ¡°Process initiated. It will complete in fifteen minutes,¡± the Tinkerer reported.

    ¡°Stay here,¡± Irene told Todd, ¡°and watch this corner. Knock out anyone that looks like they are going to come around the corner. I¡¯ll go watch the other end.¡± Todd agreed. Irene passed the entrance to the Gallery to watch the other approach. The room beyond the door was in motion as walls, floors and ceilings moved. The structure contained technology beyond Irene¡¯s ability to understand. It was also decidedly low tech. If it wanted a wall to move it didn¡¯t use nanobots to disintegrate it. It just set it on wheels and rolled it away. In fact it built it on wheels to begin with so it could roll it away later. Trap doors and elevators were favorite methods of making items appear and disappear. All these low tech solutions were covered by illusions, provided by the same nanobots embedded in a player''s cornea that were currently providing the image of Tinkerer.

    Irene made an effort to not look at the changes. She knew she¡¯d get fascinated by the play of motion and lose track of what she was supposed to be doing.

    Only after Irene set up to watch the corridor around the next turn and the handful of doors along this one did she realize that the Tinkerer followed her. The projection stood beside her giving every impression that it too was watching the hallway. That was entirely nonsensical. Control probably knew where every nanobot was down to the picometer and picosecond. It occurred to Irene she probably could have just asked Tinkerer to warn her if someone was coming.

    ¡°Much of your time recently has been spent in staging area three two,¡± the projection stated.

    ¡°I¡¯ve set up a school,¡± Irene answered the machine. She suspected that looking into staging area three two was against the constraints of its code. The association hall they used this last week for structure crafting, scavenging, warrior and wizard classes was well within it. ¡°I teach earthen leatherworking, magic in its many forms and events since the landing.¡±

    Irene was certain all of that was spoken aloud in the structure, so theoretically Tinkerer already knew it.

    ¡°There are six zero two magic trees,¡± Tinkerer said, which was the confusing way structure numbers would represent eight, six plus two. This gave Irene a bit of a pause. She only knew of seven trees; light, sound, force, temperature, electromagnetics, chemical reactions and momentum. Momentum might be mass or sometimes Irene wondered if it was gravity. A lot of the spells in the orange tree broke the rules of human science, making it hard to define what it was exactly.

    She took note of Tinkerer¡¯s hint that there were eight trees, but decided not to push the subject. She was sure the robot would start quoting that it was bound by its code. She ran into that behavior several times already in her interactions with the structure¡¯s Control system.

    ¡°By forms I mean how we humans have split different activities into categories. I teach how warrior, wizard, crafting, enchanting and fixture controls are all interrelated using the same symbols and magic trees. One of my instructors has some experience with chemistry, but I need to learn more about that myself before I can teach how it relates to the other forms.¡±

    ¡°Chemistry is a rare path. Only two six zero four were ever masters of it,¡± the robot stated. This was getting to be an extremely odd conversation. Irene really wished she could give it more of her attention, especially since she knew Tinkerer''s side of it would not be recorded on her camera.

    ¡°Betty recently told me that Uncle, a member of species sixteen, returned her to her family when she was young. She feels she owes Uncle a debt.¡± Irene replied.

    ¡°Two six zero four are protective of children,¡± Tinkerer said. ¡°They will remove a child from threat, even if the threat is the child¡¯s caregiver.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Irene said suddenly, as she caught a glimpse of what was happening in Londontown. She wondered where Uncle would take the children and remembered the coloring book in the orphanage in Chicago. Were some of those young children not orphans at all? Or was uncle there rescuing them as well?

    ¡°It is difficult to raise a child in wildspace,¡± Irene stated, ¡°I would think that would be a threat to a child.¡±

    ¡°Two six zero four believe children should be raised by members of their own species,¡± Tinkerer stated.

    ¡°That is good to know,¡± Irene said.

    ¡°Process complete,¡± Tinkerer announced. Irene was more than certain that longer than fifteen minutes passed. It would appear Tinkerer was finished telling her what it wanted her to know. ¡°The issue is resolved.¡± Irene went back to join up with Todd. As she crossed what was the entrance to the gallery she found the entrance to a common hall, with the usual room doors leading off of it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take them back and set them in the new hall. We can keep watch until they wake,¡± Irene told Todd.

    ¡°A zero zero drawn spell will return consciousness,¡± Tinkerer commented.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Irene replied. She was fairly certain Tinkerer was describing the dark spell that drew light out of a panel. They carried the guards back and laid them down in a rough pattern of where they¡¯d knocked them out. The far guards were much closer to the entrance to Londontown than they were before because there was now a cross passage at what was once nearly the center of the gallery.

    Irene made sure the conceal spell was still in effect. She experienced no fatigue from holding the spell. She decided that it must be a benefit of being active on the job. Irene woke the three guards she put to sleep, while Todd woke his two. They waited in the new hallway in wildspace while the guards gained their feet and exclaimed in distress at the changes. When Irene was satisfied that they were alert and able to defend themselves, she turned back to Tinkerer. The projection followed them around the whole time they rearranged things.

    ¡°Please direct us to another transport station now,¡± she requested of the robot.

    ¡°This way,¡± the robot replied, walking off into the halls. Tinkerer led them up two floors and about a mile to the east. The robot looked like it was walking, but it moved at a surprisingly fast pace. Suddenly it stopped in the middle of a common hallway. A tile in front of its feet split into four and slid out of the way, revealing a shaft with ladder handholds on either side. ¡°A transport module awaits below,¡± the robot announced. ¡°It will return you to your last origin. Do you wish to be removed from active status when you arrive at your destination?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Irene answered. ¡°You have been very helpful. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Todd told the robot, as he lowered himself down the shaft. Irene followed him. They dropped down into a very short, narrow passage that ended at a door to a travel module. The module was identical to the last one. They both sat on the bench seat and the door closed.

    ¡°That was too easy,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I am sure it¡¯s like any issue list. Some are easy, some are incredibly hard. Someone didn¡¯t want to give Control the ability to knock people out and move them against their will. I can see how that ability might really go wrong. The only other way I can see to clear that room would be to send a migration through it. The fact that didn¡¯t happen gives me hope,¡± Irene commented.

    ¡°Well we are going to get back really early. I told everyone not to expect us until late tomorrow night,¡± Todd commented.

    ¡°I think we should go to Londontown,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°We can pick up stock for the shop and I want to talk to Uncle.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Our species sixteen visitor,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°Betty met one when she was young. She called him Uncle.¡±

 TWT.20 The Candidate and her Courier

    Unkell slung the skins over her shoulder and rested her club against her shoulder. She was on her way into town to check on the young ones.

    She was worried about the square¡¯s protection crystal. It was too small to last long. These humans were surprising. She saw them take great care of their young, even in wildspace, but she had also seen them be needlessly cruel in a protected square.

    She was on the verge of continuing her journey, when the evacuation of Redfalls impressed her. Two of the senior guardians worked together to get all the children out. The most vulnerable children were escorted out the night before the battle, while the remainder were evacuated after. She decided then she was missing something so she settled in for a long study.

    She paid the entry tax into Londontown with a portion of her skins and crossed the training yard to the square entrance. She paused for a moment at her first sight of the square.

    The control candidate was back. She was sitting at the courtyard inn tables in the company of her red courier. Unkell thought about turning back. Candidates were always wildcards. Unkell almost left the settlement when she saw the candidate last time. Careful questioning assured her that the candidate came rarely and might not appear again for a year or longer.

    Unkell reassured herself that the candidate showed no interest before. She stepped out into the courtyard and headed to the market. She could feel the moment the courier spotted her. The candidate stood. Unkell thought about bolting, but decided she was already too close to get clear.

    ¡°Uncle,¡± the candidate said, surprising Unkell with the near match to her name. ¡°Can we talk for a few minutes?¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Unkell grunted, acquiescing to the request. The candidate tilted their head slightly, they narrowed their eyes and studied Unkell. Unkell felt her secrets laid bare.

    ¡°Let¡¯s sit,¡± the candidate suggested, with a gesture at the tables. She lowered her bundle of furs and leaned her club against it. She sat on the edge of the bench, where she could get away quickly.

    ¡°A friend of mine told me your people are masters of chemistry,¡± the candidate said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Unkell murmured in a rising note. She didn¡¯t know what that human word meant.

    ¡°Chemistry,¡± the candidate said. ¡°The mixing of ingredients to produce a¡­ drink that when consumed causes magical effects. Like, for example, how your current appearance doesn¡¯t match your true form.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Unkell grunted, noncommittally. She wondered who the candidate¡¯s friend was. It had been years since she saw any humans try to make a potion. The closest they came was the poisonous drinks they served in the inn.  Humans called that cooking or brewing not this new word, chemistry.

    ¡°My brother is running a school. I would love it if you would consider teaching chemistry at it next year. The session is already underway this year. The students have picked their subjects or I would invite you to teach this year,¡± the candidate stated. Unkell decided that didn¡¯t need a response. After sitting in silence for a few moments, the candidate started talking on a different track.

    ¡°My friend is worried you''re going to get in trouble here. Humans are very protective of children as a group. If a child goes missing the entire community will band together in the search for it. They will defend the community from the one they feel responsible for the disappearance. It pains me that you may feel a child is in danger here in this protected square. If that is the case, I urge you to share your concerns with Lucas, who is with the square¡¯s guard before taking action yourself,¡± the candidate commented.

    ¡°No know,¡± Unkell forced out. She wasn¡¯t good at human words. Even with care her words were often interpreted by humans as mere grunts. The candidate leaned back and was thoughtful for a moment.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± the candidate murmured. She turned to her courier. ¡°I think Uncle doesn¡¯t have a translator like Valin and she finds it hard to speak our language. Just as we would have a very hard time speaking elf.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the courier responded. ¡°I agree. Should I go fetch Lucas, so we can introduce them?¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± the candidate agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here with Uncle.¡± The courier walked away at a steady pace. The candidate turned back to Unkell.

    ¡°I have another friend who told me you, or another of your species, returned her to her family when she was separated from them in a green. She remembers her rescuer fondly and would like to thank them. She feels she owes a debt,¡± the candidate commented.

    ¡°No owe,¡± Unkell responded. A simple return was just common courtesy.

    ¡°You should let her thank you. You can come with us to the school. It is a free day for the students today. I¡¯ll introduce you to Betty. You can see the school at the same time and think about teaching next year. I suspect you have access to fast transit. If you don''t, I promise to bring you back here myself, whenever you want.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Unkell responded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you think about it. The main school is located outside of the structure. So if you go, your disguise will fail. I feel I should warn you of that.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Unkell agreed. If they were in a staging area, no magic would work there.

    ¡°You know what outside the structure means?¡± the candidate asked.

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Unkell replied.

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. Valin didn¡¯t and he¡¯s an elf. Since we made up that name for him I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t know what that means. He is shorter than a human and slightly built. He has sparkling white skin and large dark eyes. He is not trustworthy, so I keep an eye on him.¡± A shark, Unkell realized. She was surprised that one was on this continent. They didn¡¯t have children, but rather spawned feral animal offspring that fought it out with each other until they reached sentience. By then they were just small adults.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Ugh.¡±

    ¡°With your help I can make you a translator that works outside the structure. Control doesn¡¯t like my technology and eats it quickly if it is brought inside. Valin has a structure translator, but I¡¯ve never seen him offer to make or sell one to anyone else. Of course maybe we just never asked. He calls himself a jeweler and has a shop in OpenSky. There may be one there on offer,¡± the candidate observed. ¡°Ah, here is Todd back with Lucas.¡±

    Unkell glanced in the direction the candidate was facing and saw the courier approaching with a guardian in blue touched leathers. She saw the guardian around before, but he wasn¡¯t one of the seniors.

    ¡°Uncle,¡± the courier, Todd, said. ¡°This is my cousin Lucas.¡±

    ¡°Uncle,¡± Lucas said in greeting.

    ¡°Unkell,¡± Unkell responded. She decided it was time to try and straighten out her name.

    ¡°Am I not saying it right?¡± the candidate responded. ¡°Forgive me. Can I hear it again?¡±

    ¡°Unkell,¡± she said again. The three humans all tried saying it. Eventually they got closer. They were missing the lower register guttural components. Unkell decided they just couldn¡¯t hear them. She indicated her acceptance of their version of her name.

    ¡°Unkell is a visitor,¡± the candidate said to the blue guardian, Lucas. ¡°She worries about the care of children. I wanted to introduce you so that she can bring her concerns to you. She has trouble speaking, but she is very intelligent.¡±

    ¡°All children are precious,¡± Lucas said. ¡°If you think one is being mistreated, I will do all in my power to solve the situation.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Unkell responded, uncertain if she should trust this guardian.

    ¡°Come,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll show you where my apartment is and introduce you to my spouse.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the candidate said. ¡°That is a good idea. I don¡¯t know how good Unkell is at recognizing us. I know all selkie look the same to me at first. It takes a while for me to recognize an individual. An apartment location is easier to remember.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Unkell agreed. She stood up and gathered her club and skins.

    ¡°I am uncertain how consistent Unkell¡¯s appearance will be,¡± the candidate explained to Lucas, as Unkell readied herself. ¡°She is using a different magic from the one I use to mask her identity.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll warn my spouse,¡± Lucas responded.

    ¡°Todd and I will be in the square until around midday if you change your mind and want to come see the school,¡± the candidate said. She made no move to stand up. ¡°If we aren¡¯t here, check in the furniture shop,¡± she said, indicating a store in the corner.

    Unkell followed Lucas up into the apartments.

    ¡°This is my spouse, Victoria,¡± Lucas said. A woman in green cloth armor smiled at Unkell. ¡°This is Unkell. She¡¯s a friend of Irene. Irene told me Unkell has trouble with speaking but she understands everything.¡±

    ¡°Welcome,¡± the woman said. ¡°Call me Vic, if that¡¯s easier for you.¡± Victoria ushered her partner and Unkell into their apartment. The room was surprisingly furnished for a human nest. There was a long bench and two chairs. A short table was sitting in front of the bench. On the table was a planter holding a violet in full bloom. Unkel smiled at the sight of it, finding it pleasing.

    ¡°Ic,¡± Unkell said as she settled on the bench, she turned and looked to Lucas, ¡°Uckus.¡±

    ¡°Close enough,¡± Victoria responded.

    ¡°Unkell loves children and worries about their care. If she comes here, come and fetch me and I¡¯ll investigate what she¡¯s seen,¡± Lucas told his spouse.

    ¡°We have five children ourselves,¡± Victoria replied. ¡°I¡¯ve just put the youngest three down for their morning nap, or they would be in here crawling all over us. Our two oldest are off at the Wizard''s Tower.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Unkell murmured in a rising note.

    ¡°Irene¡¯s school,¡± Lucas said in explanation. ¡°Although I think she¡¯s claiming it is her brother¡¯s school.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Unkell responded, acknowledging that she understood. Irene must be the name of the control candidate. Unkell reached out and pointed at the violet flowers.

    ¡°Do you like flowers?¡± Victoria asked.

    ¡°Or do you mean purple?¡± Lucas asked. ¡°Irene¡¯s magic is violet.¡±

    ¡°It is?¡± Victoria asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that. How do you know? She always wears handcrafted leathers.¡±

    ¡°The last couple times she¡¯s visited she wore cloth armor. The cloth is extremely dark, but when the light hits it right you can see it is actually purple,¡± Lucas replied.

    ¡°I wonder how she gets them so dark,¡± Victoria commented.

    ¡°It¡¯s her magic leaking into the fabric,¡± Lucas said. ¡°Like how Todd¡¯s red is dark. That¡¯s an indication he is tier four. You should read the User Manual I bought. I think Irene is tier five or six.¡±

    ¡°ix,¡± Unkell grunted. She held up six fingers.

    ¡°Six!¡± Victoria exclaimed. ¡°Well isn¡¯t that something.¡±

    The conversation went on like this until the children woke up. The oldest of the three climbed up onto Unkell¡¯s lap. He was delighted with Unkell¡¯s beard, which his parents could not see. Victoria was a little worried about her son, until Lucas said something to her softly which Unkell couldn¡¯t hear over the child¡¯s happy cries.

    ¡°Come and visit again,¡± Victoria told Unkell, when Unkell lifted her bundled skins and indicated she needed to make the market. ¡°You don¡¯t need to have an excuse to play with the children.¡±

    Lucas remained with his family when Unkell left. She realized this was her chance to slip away without facing the candidate again. She emerged out in the courtyard near the market, there was no sign of the candidate. She decided to sell the skins before she left. She went to find her favorite leather worker. The man barely spoke any more than Unkell did.

    Unkell swung her club onto her shoulder and headed for the forest. She found her steps leading her the long way around the square, where she would pass in front of the shop in the corner. The shop windows were set to transparent and the door was wedged open, inviting customers in.

    A large man in red touched leathers was standing in the window where there was a clear view out into the courtyard. Unkell was fairly certain this was the control candidate¡¯s courier. The candidate was correct in her estimation that all humans looked the same to Unkell. She could tell them apart eventually but it took her some time. Red was a rare color in this square so the odds were this was the same human.

    Unkell was certain he saw her before she spotted him. He remained where he was, sipping a hot drink from a glass mug that was slightly tinted red. Then Unkell noticed the large plant growing in a planter next to the courier. It was a vanishing fern.

    Unkell was in the shop before she realized it. Her own supply of vanishing fern spores was dangerously low. She ran her hand over one long leaf and no spores came off. That could only mean one thing, the fern was in the store''s inventory.

    ¡°Are you interested in the plant?¡± the courier commented. Unkell grunted noncommittally. ¡°Grandmother put it in the shop¡¯s inventory at some ridiculous high price. She doesn¡¯t really want to sell it until we figure out what kind of plant it is, but it is too large to get through the transport system. Now that we have three of them, I am sure you could talk her out of one.¡±

    At this startling news, Unkell looked around the shop and saw that there were three of the ferns scattered around. She also spotted the candidate. She was sitting at a table that was on display farther back. She was inspecting books and sorting them out into different piles. The candidate gave no indication that she even noticed Unkell¡¯s arrival. Several customers also milled around the space. They were being served by a pair of clerks who acted like there was nothing odd with a woman using one of their displays for sorting books.

    Unkell wanted the plant, but she didn¡¯t have a place to put it. Removed from its spawning position it would die quickly if she took it out into wildspace. She wondered if she could make a deal for just the spores.

 TWT.21 An echo of the past, a glimpse of the future

    ¡°We are going to have to haul one of those plants here,¡± Grandmother observed. She was in the library in the association hall pulling sorted books out of bags. She made some real progress. She still hadn¡¯t found any book that was written in the clear, but that didn¡¯t stop her.

    ¡°It was obvious Unkell thought it was a real find,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Next time we go to Londontown we should take Muriel with us. Maybe she will have an idea on how to propagate it.¡±

    ¡°We may want to take Asher. If that dust is an ingredient in chemistry, there¡¯s a chance he knows what it is,¡± Grandmother commented. ¡°I wish I could have talked Unkell into coming out to the ship. Since she understands us, I think it would be easy to program a translator for her. I¡¯ll have to ask Valin if he has an extra structure one he will sell me.¡±

    ¡°What is your plan with all these books?¡± Todd asked, as he picked one up off the black and white fake writing pile and paged through it.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have everyone in the team cast restore on them, in case it is magic color specific, or if all six colors are required,¡± Grandmother explained.

    ¡°On all of them?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to do it like an experiment and set up stacks. One stack for each of us and a seventh stack we all restore,¡± Grandmother explained. ¡°After that I¡¯m going to try six people of the same color.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going to find that many casters?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a school,¡± Grandmother said to Todd with a wink. ¡°We can teach the whole set of students restore. It isn¡¯t a bad deal for the students either.¡±

    ¡°After that?¡± Todd asked.

    ¡°Six species?¡± Grandmother said with a slight questioning tone. ¡°Or maybe six tiers. I wonder if Valin can cast restore. It does have a five in it.¡±

    ¡°He probably has an amulet,¡± Todd observed. ¡°Although that may not count as a cast by him.¡±

    ¡°Since I don¡¯t know of six species, I¡¯ll have to try the tiers first,¡± Grandmother decided. Todd was amused at how much effort Grandmother was putting into the books. She confided in him that she thought Unkell might be the source of the coloring book in the orphanage in Chicago. That meant there was really no evidence that these books were anything other than Staging.

    ¡°Help me put the books on the shelves, so we can head back,¡± Grandmother said as she returned her empty bags to her pack.

    The nuisance was eating the food Grandmother set out when they went through the main hall. She paused to stroke its tail.

    ¡°You can come with us on the next trip to Londontown, girl. Maybe you can convince Unkell to come for a visit,¡± Grandmother said to the earthen squirrel. The squirrel looked up at Grandmother, picked up a piece of food and ran up the roots in the collapse.

    ¡°I¡¯m being dumb again,¡± Grandmother said suddenly, as they walked up the path. They left the cart at the pillars on the way in, in order to reduce the wear on it. Todd went on high alert, searching the shadows on either side of the road. The last stupid thing that they did on this path almost cost him his life when a jaguar attacked him. ¡°I can just show the plant video to Muriel and Asher. We don¡¯t have to take them all the way into Londontown.¡± Todd was relieved, but kept his vigilance up.

    ¡°You should show everyone the images of Unkell too. Betty might not be the only one who has caught a glimpse of her,¡± Todd commented. Grandmother nodded her head in agreement. She set up a search for Unkell in all the existing video footage, but still needed to review the results.

    They arrived back at the Speedwell early enough that the students were still enjoying their free day. There were less than two hundred people in a vessel designed to carry ten to fifty thousand. Many of the decks were sealed, since the housing and facilities were unneeded and Grandmother didn¡¯t want anyone to be injured on the equipment or cause damage to it. Grandmother could feel an echo of her childhood in the voices on the decks of the Speedwell. The colonization plan called for the continued disassembly of the Speedwell and the reuse of its materials for new structures. If it had been followed the ship would be completely recycled by now, with only the stout landing pad housing the manufactory left.

    The villagers preference for natural materials and a mostly pre-industrial life saved the ship from that fate. There was no need for the steel of its frame. The automated mines produced more than enough iron for the villages¡¯ requirements. The new buildings for the school were all built from mined iron which sat in stockpiles for at least ten years.

    Todd headed off to the cafeteria. It was a couple hours until the evening meal. Grandmother was certain Todd would put together something special for it.

    Engineer Whitman went up to the engineering center. The entire deck was set to limited entry, while the center itself was restricted to only engineering employees. Engineer Whitman settled down at Agatha¡¯s desk and pulled the video from her and Todd¡¯s camera amulets.

    Using the video data and Speedwell¡¯s reconstruction software, Irene was able to produce a three dimensional model of Unkell and the unknown plant. On impulse she started a search for the plant in all the stored video, before reviewing the results of her earlier scan for Unkell.

    There were no matches for the player in the early videos recorded before Agatha¡¯s death. There were a few glimpses of her on different visits to Londontown. There was a brief image of her in Chicago during their visit there to buy spells. This exercise illustrated one of the problems with recording so much video. Irene was depending on Speedwell''s computers to review the footage and find the more interesting sections for personal review. Speedwell didn¡¯t always know what was worthy of human attention. Agatha began the process of training the computer by coding it to pick out inscriptions and spell ribbons. Over the years additional items were coded in by Irene and the rest of the team. There was no way to say, find all species sixteen players, before Irene knew what species sixteen looked like.

    Irene thought about it. She needed to code the computers to look for an animal it could not identify. There was already a function to find animals, it was part of the original survey code from the colony. That was lucky, because coding the computer to recognize anything that might be an animal would take Irene years. Starting with that existing code, it wasn¡¯t too hard to start the computer working on identifying every unique animal species and building a model of a typical individual. It would take time to process the existing footage. Irene left it running.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Irene used the ship¡¯s security system to locate Muriel. The young woman wasn¡¯t in view of any of the ship¡¯s cameras. Irene tried again searching for Asher. The computer located him in one of the chemistry labs. The lab was located on the same deck as the teaching machine labs. The lab was intended for use by students taking courses on those machines. Curious Irene looked up what Asher was working on.

    Asher was making his way steadily through the introductory chemistry module. It looked like he started completing the lessons within a few days of his arrival at the ship. He was also working on the math modules. He managed to test out of the basic modules and was well into the intermediate ones.

    Engineer Whitman headed down to the chemistry lab. She found Asher in full gear underneath one of the student ventilation hoods. He was enthralled. Not wanting to surprise him and cause an accident, Irene waited until he stepped back from the chemistry bench to speak to him.

    ¡°Asher,¡± Irene said in greeting. ¡°Do you have a minute?¡±

    ¡°Engineer Whitman,¡± Asher replied. His start of surprise, told her she was right to wait for him to step away from his chemicals.

    ¡°Todd and I found a plant in wildspace. I have reason to believe it is useful in structure chemistry. I wondered if you could identify it for me,¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°Sure, is it in the association hall?¡± Asher asked.

    ¡°Unfortunately no. We haven¡¯t found a way to transport it. I have pictures,¡± Engineer Whitman replied. She walked over to a student desk with its built-in terminal. This wasn¡¯t the one Asher was using, Irene didn¡¯t want to interfere with his independent study. She was very happy to find one of her instructors investing time in his own education. She quickly overrode the default lesson interface and pulled up the image of the plant.

    ¡°This is it,¡± she said, stepping out of the way so that Asher could get a good look at it. Irene rotated the image with one finger so that Asher saw how to do it. He looked over the model carefully.

    ¡°It looks like a vanishing fern,¡± Asher reported. ¡°They are very rare. My aunt called them that because their leaves and spores are ingredients in several products that cause cloaking effects.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°There is a paste that will cause an item to¡­ well fade I guess would be the best description. I know of a potion that will cause you to look like someone else, but I never mastered that one,¡± Asher reported.

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Irene commented. She pulled up the image of Unkell. ¡°This is Unkell. Have you met her before?¡± she asked. Asher studied the image.

    ¡°No,¡± he replied. ¡°A selkie was the first non-human I ever heard of. I suppose that was Companion, now that I think of it.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Grandmother agreed. ¡°Companion has become an ambassador for his people.¡± Engineer Whitman returned the terminal to the educational interface.

    ¡°How is your study of chemistry going?¡± she asked Asher.

    ¡°I like it,¡± Asher said. ¡°It is much more complex than what is in the structure. The products are very specific. Creating explosive compounds is the most similar, although some of what I learned about organic chemistry producing medications might be close to the wake up and energy elixirs. I haven¡¯t found anything that would reproduce the cloaking potions.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Irene said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you will. The closest we have for making you look like someone else is costumes and cosmetics. There is chemistry in cosmetics, you could read about them if you''re interested.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll look it up,¡± Asher said.

    ¡°Have you considered teaching structure chemistry?¡± Grandmother asked. ¡°I know I am interested in learning about it. I¡¯ve never been much of a crafter, but I¡¯d like to learn the rules so I could add it to my magic in its many forms class.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t done any myself since I was injured. I don''t want anyone else to be harmed,¡± Asher replied. Irene could tell that although Asher was frightened, he also loved chemistry, both the Earth and structure versions.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t actually have to do it to walk me through it. Although I admit, Ellen will want to try it. Maybe you could walk her through how to do it. We can use shields to contain the reactions. We can set up a team of healers standing by in a nearby room so they don¡¯t get caught in any blast. What you need is a laboratory like this one, to reduce the risk. I wonder if we can get one to spawn. We got the first crafting workshop to spawn by adding in enough crafting tools. If you give me a list of the equipment needed for chemistry, I can check the requirements for rooms in the association hall and see if any match,¡± Engineer Whitman explained.

    ¡°It would be really nice to have work benches like these,¡± Asher commented. Irene looked at the chemistry benches with fresh eyes. She realized they looked remarkably like the ceramic topped workbenches both her and Alex were selling in their furniture stores. ¡°After that it is close to a cooking set. You need a heat source, a set of measuring and mixing bowls. I used an iron vent fork to mix everything. My aunt suspected the materials that the equipment was made out of might be a factor in the strength of the final product.¡±

    ¡°So you measure everything by volume?¡± Irene asked. ¡°Nothing by weight?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a scale in the structure,¡± Asher replied.

    ¡°Me neither,¡± Irene responded, ¡°but it would be easy enough to put together a balance to get equal amounts by weight. Do you need a knife to shred your ingredients or a mortar and pestle to grind them?¡±

    ¡°A knife, yes,¡± Asher said with thought. ¡°I think a method to grind things would be useful for the powders. I smashed things up with a blacksmith¡¯s hammer on the floor. I am not certain what a mortar and pest all is.¡±

    ¡°Pestle,¡± Irene said, correcting Asher¡¯s mispronunciation. ¡°It¡¯s a stone cup with a stone stick. The selkie make them. Todd has one he uses for his spices, that¡¯s why I thought of it.¡±

    ¡°You also need something to hold the finished products. The powders can be put in a folded piece of vellum. The creams can be stored in any cup with the top covered with vellum tied in place with a piece of string. It¡¯s the liquids, including the explosive ones that get tricky. The explosive ones have to go into a container you can seal. That is the hardest thing to find,¡± Asher explained. ¡°When you throw the container it explodes on impact, so the container is lost. It is a great weapon of last resort, since not only does it do damage to a beast, it frightens them off.¡±

    ¡°Sealed¡­¡± Irene thought about it. She saw a lot of junk in her thirty odd years in the ruins. What immediately came to mind was the little ceramic containers the potter in Seagrass sold. They were wildly expensive for a single use. Of course if a thrown explosion saved your life, it would be worth any cost.

    ¡°What did you use?¡± Irene asked.

    ¡°There are these little containers that have styluses or pins in them in ruined supply closets. If you find the right sizes they fit together to form a little sealed box,¡± Asher responded.

    ¡°Really?¡± Irene said, fascinated. She¡¯d seen tons of those little boxes. She knew they converted to items, but she never found a use for them, except for holding styluses and pins. She never tried fitting them together. There were probably stacks of them in her inventory from different sweeps when she tried putting the entire contents of rooms into inventory. It amazed her how even after all these years she kept learning new things about the structure.

    About half the landing generation ended up settling in the structure. That was twenty thousand people. Irene calculated that number from the count of people who remained in the colony villages, farms, lumber and hunting camps. Nearly everyone who entered the structure died young, compared to the standards of Earth, but that didn¡¯t mean many of them didn¡¯t have full lives. They paired and raised children and grandchildren to follow after them. Each of them explored the structure and learned about it. Irene was convinced every individual learned something unique. The school would not only spread the knowledge Irene, her team and Home Square had gathered, it would collect more. All those little tidbits of information together were powerful. They were the key to building a longer, happier, more fulfilling life for everyone.

    ¡°I wish I had all this glassware,¡± Asher observed. ¡°A reagent bottle, or even a corked test tube, would have worked beautifully.¡±

    ¡°Everything brought in falls apart quickly,¡± Irene observed. ¡°You have to keep it close to your body and touch it daily to give it any lifespan. Although there is a crafter in Home Square who can work with glass. Maybe he could make something.¡±