The stars fade out, leaving only empty black. Pain and panic turn to sleepy peace. Who can say how long she was drifting?

Regardless, in the space between breaths, she is drifting no longer. Instead, she's sitting comfortably in one gee, in a soft chair on an elaborate rug on some kind of tower. The landscape all around is terrestrial and bucolic - rolling green hills, pastoral rivers, and friendly-looking forests.

An old woman in a bright floral dress smiles warmly and gestures to a fancy porcelain tea set on a round table between them.

"Would you like some tea before I explain things, dearie?"

It doesn't actually hurt that much, surprisingly. Her lungs don't even burn.

She doesn't expect to wake up.

She definitely doesn't expect to wake up anywhere besides the Shrine's infirmary.

She's in her usual silver-white dress with the decorative golden circuitry, unhurt. She jumps, her hand flying to her wrist, but Cupil is right where he should be, the polymemetic alloy of his body coiled up around her arm.

She can't think of any plausible chain of events that start with getting blown out into space and end with her... wherever this is. She's never been down to Arcadia but something about this environment doesn't fit with even that.

"Um, tea... sure... tea is... good?"

She pours two cups of something soothing and slightly minty.

"The unfortunate news is, you have died. I do not know what was next for you, if anything, before fate brought you to me, but now your next destination is something else. I am here to answer your questions and explain."

This news... has implications, which Eefina will think about later.

"How did this happen? Where are we? Who're you?"

"Oh, we're in my domain, such as it is. I'm afraid you can't stay very long. The nature of this world is such that there is an imbalance. The powers of two extremes of magic have grown and grown, and a Demon Lord will inevitably arise to threaten another world in another universe, a force of immense darkness and destruction. They could destroy it, left unchecked. Fortunately, the same process that means the rise of a Demon Lord is near also allows the summoning of a Hero - one who is fated to oppose the Demon Lord and receives great power with which to save the world. Why exactly you are fit to be this Hero, I do not know. But I know it means you have something special, be it a clever mind or sheer determination, or something else."

Something special? Eefina's hand unconsciously goes to her chest, hovering nervously over her Shard of Nothing.

"And I'm... this fated hero?" This is like something right out of one of her Dynamic Novels! "Is this real? This seems like it could only happen in a dream." She pinches herself and yeeps when it hurts. "...what kind of great power? I like to think I'm a pretty talented mooncaster and I've been training in case the Elders needed to send me down to Arcadia after all, but... I'm just some girl."

"It's as real as I am. I know it might be overwhelming... Well, the nature of the world you're meant to save is very different, but you will have advantages within it - you will learn and grow in the ways that people do very quickly, you will find magic easier to learn, you will have the potential to become truly mighty given time and trials. And you will receive a unique power unlike any other in that world - a power that no other can truly match. I can make it one suited to you in particular. For example, I understand you have magic of your own already? In the normal course of things you would be cut off from it by this transfer, but keeping it in some form is well within the remit of a Unique Skill."

"Cut off from the moons? Um, yes, that, would... make sense. Yes, please, I'd like to keep what I can."

"I will make it so. I do regret that you're losing what you've known before - all I can do beyond molding your Unique Skill is try to give you context for what comes next."

"Please do. What is my mission, specifically?"

"Grow as powerful as you can. Gather Skills, materials, and allies. Prepare for the rise of the Demon Lord, find them, and defeat them so that they cannot bring ruin and death and an age of darkness to the world."

Tea Lady explains the basic idea of Skills, Dungeons, and the Winds of Magic (especially their sometimes-metaphorical nature) while she's at it.

This is both fascinating and fascinatingly familiar.

"Are the fundamental principles of this world narratively derivable or are they instead derived from narrative? Are writers of stories tapping into something deeper or is there a sort of convergent memetic evolution applicable to the psychology of a creator, do you know?"

This pause to take some sips of tea is possibly a taken-aback sort of pause.

"...You will not be steered too far wrong if you act as though the world follows a certain sort of narrative," she carefully says. "The fundamental nature of this world is something I think best discovered for yourself. And I can offer very little insight on worlds other than my own, I'm afraid."

"That's interesting too! But okay. I guess that's not something I need to know. What about allies and factions? Do you have leads for me? What things are going to be near my insertion point?"

"The world is vast, and the number of nations and kingdoms too many to summarize given that your arrival will be somewhat random. You'll appear relatively near civilization, and not in any immediate danger. I loosely suggest you become an adventurer and raid dungeons to grow your skills and power rapidly, but you could take another path and find opportunities there too. If you seek strong allies, look among adventurers - if you seek wise allies, visit universities and colleges. If you wish for true comrades-in-arms, those you meet along your journey are narratively likely candidates."

"That makes a weird kind of sense. Okay. Is there anything I need to know to get adventurers to take me seriously or to find a dungeon?"

"I hesitate to give you too much advice - your outside context is part of your suitability as a Hero, and telling you exactly what steps to take robs the world of that chance... Be observant. Your Unique Skill will be powerful, but not necessarily an immediate sign that you are something beyond. Learn to use a weapon before adventuring - I'll nudge things so you find one. Take reasonable risks. Demon Lords can hide quite effectively, some of them. You won't have trouble with languages - being a Hero takes care of that. Claiming the status of Hero would gain you status and power and support, but risks making it obvious to the Demon Lord where you are and what you can do."

Eefina nods solemnly.

"Okay. I already have a weapon I know how to use, though, so you could maybe nudge something else."

"He is rather distinctive, but as you wish. Not a weapon."

"Thanks," she says, petting her wrist. "I think I'm ready, then? Or at least, I'm not going to get readier."

"In that case, I'll let you finish your tea, and then- Good luck."

When she seems to be done with the tea, she finds herself on a long wooden bridge, over something that straddles the border between lake and swamp. The edges of the bridge aren't visible. There's a faint and hard-to-identify sort of background noise one way down the bridge.

Is this nudge-related? Eefina is going to find out!

She smooths down her dress in a habitual motion and goes to investigate the noise.

It becomes clear that a woman wearing heavy, dark clothing is running down the bridge in her direction! And visible in the distance are what might be more figures, though a slight mist hanging over the bridge somewhat obscures them. The figures in the distance are what's making that noise, which is almost like a lot of really heavy footsteps.

Hm, what's going on here?

Eefina doesn't jump to conclusions. She peers at the woman, and at the figures behind her. What are they feeling? Does the woman look angry, anticipatory, scared, bored? What about the figure behind her, are they following, chasing, or something else?

The figures in the distance are too far to make out any detail on- They don't even quite look human.

The woman is scared and tired. She's a few hundred feet away - sees Eefina, glances backward, curses, and turns to head for the side of the bridge and look down, as if wondering whether to leap over.

Eefina dashes forward and catches the woman with a hand to her shoulder, trying to be comforting even as she asks, "Who are they?"

"-Rotula Guard! They're after me for - taxes-"

The figures are starting to resolve now. Not humans, but humans riding some huge four-legged beast, tall and muscled with a grotesque looking head. They're carrying swords, and spur their mounts into a charge.

Eefina is only academically familiar with the concept of taxes, but charging someone down with spears on some kind of riding beast seems excessive no matter how much money this woman owes them.

What do they do if she just stands in the middle of the bridge, directly in their path. Are they willing to trample an innocent bystander?

The woman resumes running away.

The bridge is wide enough that they could go around her, but a strange outfit and strange confidence is not something to disregard, even if she's not carrying a badge like the local Adventurer's Guild uses. And she's not going to outrun them. They pull to a stop.

"Stranger, we are duly appointed officers of the state of Rotula Omali! This bridge and the lands surrounding it are under our authority, and we're pursuing a fugitive, troublemaker, and thief! Who are you to stand in our way?"

"Someone who prefers to prevent violence where possible. If I capture her for you gently can you promise she won't be harmed?"

"...If you gently capture her, we will take her to a jail cell in the city to await trial."

"Is she accused of a crime other than not having enough money? Unless she is an unrepentant murderer, I would feel quite betrayed if I captured her for you and later learned she was executed or otherwise disproportionately punished."

"She's suspected in several thefts and one possible arson. My orders are to bring her in. I don't know who you are or where you're from, but you'll find it hard to make a living in Rotula if you stand in the way of the law."

"I suppose that's true. Consider this a matter of curiosity then. Is punishing her for her crimes important enough to justify going through an innocent to get to her?"

"The only reason we're not going around you is because I'm not sure if you're secretly an A-rank adventurer or something. I'm starting to suspect you're not."

Eefina glances behind her, at the still fleeing figure of the tax-evading woman.

She stares at the lead guard for a long moment, then shrugs. "Very well."

She turns, and mirror-smooth chrome metal flows like water out of the right sleeve of her dress. In less than a second, it forms up into a discus shape, and Eefina leaps, whirling around in the air to fling the discus with considerable force. It screams down the bridge with a disconcertingly friendly 'shweee' noise, and then, just when it looks like its about to slice the woman's head from her shoulders, it melts into a blob and swallows her head with a dull splat-glorp.

Blinded, deafened, and suffocating, the woman isn't going to get much further.

"After you," Eefina says to the guards.

...This is definitely getting reported to someone with enough Librarian levels that they've probably heard of whatever-the-fuck-that-is.

They brought a spare horse. They tie her to it in a stable position, and tie the spare horse to the lead man's horse.

He makes a judgement call on the general principle of maintaining the goodwill of powerful strangers.

"Thank you for your assistance. We were likely going to catch her anyway, but you saved us from taking a swim and the risk that someone would accidentally drown. There is still a reward for assisting the Guard in the apprehension of criminals. I can take a Sign registration of you, so you can claim it later."

Eefina calls Cupil back to her. It is briefly a melon-sized chrome sphere that looks like someone drew a cute cartoon face on it, before it melts back into a coil under Eefina's sleeve.

"That would be lovely."

Eefina does want to follow them anyway, just to make sure their captive is handled humanely if nothing else.

"I'm Sergeant Forsul, by the way. May the dawn shine on our meeting."

Sergeant Forsul brings out a small black stone with a finger-sized depression in it, a sturdy metal rectangle with some kind of swirly symbol on it, and a very small knife, and presents the knife to her, then holds out the stone and card.

"I'm called Eefina, or 'Fina if you have trouble pronouncing that."

Eefina studies the three items briefly, and thinks she's figured out what she's supposed to do with them, but did Tea Lady actually say that secrecy was one of her mission parameters? No, she didn't. This isn't Arcadia and she isn't the scion of a lost civilization, here.

"I'm guessing I'm supposed to prick my finger and put it on the stone, right?"

"Yes, exactly, and then I 'tune the card to you. You've never used one before? Islander?"

"Spacer, actually."

This language doesn't have that word, but she's quick enough to invent it based on the construction of 'islander' and the word for 'absence'. Still probably sounds like nonsense to them, though.

She pricks her finger and presses her blood into the divot without complaint.

They look at her strangely. It's not clear if she guessed correctly on the construction.

The little card acquires a dull coppery coloring and a long string of numbers.

"Excellent, that's all set. In case you're not aware, it's customary but not, technically, required for adventurers to register with the Guild and openly wear Guild badges. You will have trouble accessing many common adventurer services without one. And if you have any trouble entering the city or don't wish to buy an entry permit, we can have the reward brought out to you with a bit of delay."

"Do adventurers need entry permits?"

"Officially registered adventurers still need to declare their entry and pay tariffs if applicable, but the badge acts as a permit, yes."

"Then I suppose I would probably like to register with this Guild. For now, I'll accompany you, so there's no confusion."

"Well, we're already off our usual patrol for her. If you can keep up with horses at the trot, you're welcome to follow us."

...that's a little daunting.

"I can. I'd rather ride with one of you, but I won't insist on it."

One of the other riders speaks up. "We've no more spare horses - and there's being polite, and there's riding two to a saddle." ('two to a saddle' has vague sexual implications in this language).

The sergeant shoots a halfhearted glare at him. "We'll make a quick stop at the Guild branch outside city walls to give your description and let them know you helped the Guard," the captain assures her.

The implication is hard to miss. Eefina giggles nervously, visibly blushing. "Be that as it may, my dignity should survive it and my legs will thank me for it later, so on balance I think I'd still prefer it... but as I said, I won't insist."

They have a muttered conversation. The tied-up woman tells Eefina, "Don't trust them, lass!"

Then the sergeant says, "I'd be more comfortable giving you a lift if I know what exactly your... Weapon...? Is."

Eefina's gaze flicks to the woman for half an instant, but she doesn't otherwise acknowledge her. If these men aren't trustworthy then Eefina definitely doesn't want to let them alone with the captured woman. If she shouldn't trust them, that's all the more reason to stay close to them.

Liquid chrome flows down her arm and forms into the melon-sized sphere with an engraved cartoon happy face on it. "Cupil? He's a pseudo-autonomous polymemetic alloy utility drone bound to my will. I've had him since I was little."

This language isn't really set up for words like that - she's able to say them all, but it's a very long phrase.

"That's... Extremely unusual. Unusual is worrying, frankly. There's a lot of stuff out there, and it's impossible to know how it all works. I have no way of knowing whether your Cupil will interact strangely with my equipment, or suddenly go rogue, or whether it's having some subtle effect that will be harmful to us without our noticing."

"It's not unusual where I'm from. There're dozens like him in my home; our Elders tend to give them out to well-behaved children without fuss. I really don't think you need to be worried."

She pulls Cupil's sphere form into a hug and he goes squishy in her arms, his engraved face shifting to a ^-^ expression.

He stares closely at her.

Either she's not very high level in bluff-type skills, or she's extremely high level in them. In the former case it's alright to give her a lift, in the latter case she can probably convince him of whatever she wants.

"Right, let's get you seated. We'll take you as far as the gate, at least."

"Oh good! I mean, thanks."

Cupil dives back into her sleeve and she blushes as she meets the guard she'll be sharing a mount with. Which is better than knowing him well enough to not blush, really. What if these guys aren't on the level?

They have her share with the one female guard in the group, who has a bow-and-arrow in addition to her sword. She nods politely and doesn't say much.

The pace is a bit faster than a solid jog as they return. The guards will start sharing gossip and stories (while still staying alert) with each other after a while if she doesn't make conversation.

The guard's gender is not actually relevant to Eefina in this situation, so that doesn't actually help! But its still fine.

What are they gossiping about? Eefina will chime in if engaged in conversation but otherwise remains silent.

They're talking about plays and books, and nice places to eat, and a long-term increase in the injury and death rate of the local dungeon, whether more skirmishes with Waste Raiders are likely, and the rumor that a famous S-Rank Adventurer is in the region-

"Hey, Eefina, right? You seem like an adventurer."

"I was in training to be, I guess. The Elders of the Silver Shrine thought they might need to send me on a mission, but the mission never actually came to be. This is the first time I've been away from home."

"Oh, dear. Strange enchanted items, a mission from elders, in a strange land the first time away from home..."

"Aye, that's an origin story. We'd better closely watch what you do next, eh?"

Eefina opens her mouth to protest, fails to come with an actual argument several times, and then closes her mouth, stymied. It's not like they're wrong.

"We're only teasing. Sort of. Like I said before, there's a lot of strange things out there - maybe you're ordinary by your standards and you'll be astounded the first time you see a fire mage or martial artist."

"I've heard of those things, but who knows, I still might!"

"Hopefully there's no culture clash. Every time we get adventurers from really far-out places they, like, think it's fine to murder someone if you pay blood money in recompense, or are mortally offended by the idea of anyone singing at night and get violent when we don't ban it for them, or something like that."

"Oh, yes, we're going to enforce the local law, miss - even if it doesn't seem right to you. Just to make that clear."

"It's clear."

The Elders prepared her for this, at least. She doesn't like it but, just action will not protect you from unjust law, act accordingly.

Gossip turns to peoples' friends and boy/girlfriends. The runaway woman is still sullenly silent.

They pass a train of wagons going the opposite direction. They get to the end of the bridge and start traversing a cobblestone road that goes over only somewhat less swampy terrain that's been shored up somehow.

A high stone wall is visible on the horizon with buildings peeking above it.

Eefina perks up and watches the walled town encroach. She's never seen anything like it, at least not with her own eyes.

"An impressive sight, yes? Rotul City, home to the famous Rotul Academy, home of the venerable Galil Shipbuilders' Guild, and a trade hub, the largest market in a thousand miles!"

Impressive isn't the word Eefina would use, but its certainly a novel experience.

"Is Rotul best known for its Academy? I've never heard of it."

They collectively harrumph. "Well, we've already established that you're very foreign. You'll find it has a good reputation for growing your Skills quickly."

Right, the abstraction conceit used to track character development in her Dynamic Novels is supposed to be literally extant in this world. Something to keep in mind.

Apparently there are a bunch of buildings outside the wall, too. They're a lot shorter and more haphazard, but there's houses and shops and people walking around.

"Adventurer's Guild out-city branch is right there, so we can drop you off," the leader says, indicating a two story building surrounded by a tavern on one side and a 'loot liquidator' on the other.

"Thanks for the ride," Eefina says, dismounting.

Under her sleeve, Cupil doesn't move, except to pinch off an exceedingly tiny droplet of himself. Turning towards the Adventurer's Guild, she subtly flicks the droplet free. It tucks itself into a fold of the captured woman's clothes, and being non-magical, should be undetectable.

With a friendly wave back at the party of guards, Eefina enters the Guild building.

Inside the Guild building is an open area. There are some tables and chairs along the left wall, some big notice boards festooned with various papers along the right wall, a and a few bank-like booths as well as a sort of back entrance some distance back, with an accompanying line. There's a dozen people in line, mostly wearing outfits with lots of leather and belts, including colorful individuals like a man in a huge set of heavy armor, looking irritated, two women in bright white robes carrying exquisitely carved staffs, an extremely short and very long-bearded man with a truly enormous hammer slung along his back, and an androgynous someone who appears to be part rat or mouse.

So many new things and kinds of people!

Eefina manages to only spend a moment geeking out, then starts looking for some indication of where to go to register as an adventurer.

There's a sort of receptionist at the head of the line who asks what her business is in a cheerily polite voice! (And has already reported someone in unusual garments arriving to the security team waiting in an unobtrusive side room, just in case.)

"What do I need to do to register as an adventurer?"

"Oh, welcome! If you'd like to join as an E-rank adventurer, all you have to do is take a Skill assessment to demonstrate that you meet the minimum standards, agree to our terms, and pay the sign up fee and the first month's dues. It's nine silver coins a month for an E-rank badge and the sign-up fee is also nine. Then you will get a badge attuned to you, which will serve as your identification for all Guild services. If you lose your badge, there is a significant fee to replace it.This will permit you dungeon access during normal hours. Unfortunately E-rank adventurers aren't eligible for many perks, but once you advance further you can look forward to Guild services like banking, equipment storage, and reserved Boss time slots, as well as preferential service for city entry and at businesses displaying this marking," she indicates a small sigil that's sort of like a DNA strand, if it was a lot more angular and only twisted once. "If you can't afford the first month's dues you can sign up for special entry into the Rocky Shore dungeon. Every loot drop you gather in a special entry run must be handed over and will be paid out at Guild bulk rates if you exceed your initial dues and sign-up fee."

"I see! Okay. You'll have talk to a Sergeant Forsul about the fee. I helped his squad catch a fugitive and he promised me a reward would be forthcoming. What's involved in a skill assessment?"

"Unfortunately we don't have a policy of collecting dues from anyone but the adventurer in question! A skill assessment is simply an analysis of a standard skill report by an auditor, to determine whether you have the stats and skills necessary to take on the first few levels of a dungeon and start gaining experience without undue risk."

"That makes sense. I guess I'll wait and see if said promised reward shows up in a timely manner."

"Well, we're open every day! If you have unusual items or equipment to auction we have a solid market of adventurers to sell to and offer that service even to non-adventurers."

Eefina nods and goes to find a place to sit down and wait.

The report from the Guard comes in maybe ten minutes later. There's barely any detail in the report, just a description of her, the amount to be paid, and the ID information.

"Eefina? I have a reward for an Eefina?"

Eefina bounces over.

"Hi. I'm Eefina. That was fast."

Now she can go back to the receptionist and pay the registration fee.

The reward is two silver, six copper.

"Since the Guard has indirectly vouched for your abilities I could defer most of your initial payment if you test well on the skill assessment and sign up for a dungeon dive within the next three days."

Eefina is more than a little annoyed. The sergeant certainly made it sound like the reward would cover this fee, and then some.

But she needs the badge to get into the city anyway, so she doesn't have much choice.

"Okay, I'll do that."

Technically, he never actually said how much the reward was. Or that it would cover the fee. Perhaps he assumed she already had some money?

They take another drop of blood to generate the report. The man who reads the paper this produces is kind of unsettled at whatever it says!

"Is a 'Cu-pil' your preferred weapon? I don't see any weapon skills besides possibly 'Cupil manipulation'."

Eefina flicks her wrist and is suddenly holding a chrome bo staff.

"Cupil. I named him when I was only six years old," she admits sheepishly.

Bo staff melts and vanishes back into her sleeve.

She points at the paper, exuding curiosity. "Can I see?"

He leans back slightly. "Solid base stats, INT focus. Exotic weapon... Malleable. Yes, that'll do for weapon skill... Ah, of course."

He hands over the sheet.

"I'm a little confused about your MP reading. It's extremely high, with no clear indication as to why that might be. I really recommend you enroll in magic classes to take advantage of it - it'll make you unusually powerful for a beginner adventurer."

STR 11
DEX 15
CON 10
INT 24
WIS 13
CHA 12

HP 36
MP 252

It lists many skills, mostly at Levels one through five (but Cupil Manipulation is level 11), some of them probably quite exotic to the locals.

What it doesn't list is anything that's a direct reference to her previous magic.

That's curious. Eefina can feel her silver magic flowing through her body. If it wasn't there that would be like not having a heartbeat. Maybe her individual casting techniques are listed as separate Skills? No, doesn't look like it...

"I've studied magic, I would've thought... but yes, magic classes. ...assuming they aren't expensive?"

"I think people find taking individual courses relatively affordable if they don't have the savings to attend the academy full-time. A few silver for a two-week or one-month course, for example. And if you have any success as an adventurer, you'll be able to invest your profits into classes as a growth towards future capability."

Nod nod nod. Learning to mooncast was her favorite part of her training and this world probably has more than six kinds of magic!

"Anywho, when's the next," what was it, "Special Entry into the Rocky Shores dungeon?"

"I don't schedule that, but actually you don't need special entry since we've deferred part of the fees - you're in good standing for a week as soon as we go downstairs and get your badge, and you can just show up at any Guild dungeon. There are maps and guides in the lobby to help you choose your dungeon, and I'd strongly recommend finding a party to work with. Anyone hanging out in the lobby is likely as not looking for a party."

"Oh good! Okay. Let's go get my badge."

She can have a badge after reading and signing this code of conduct (which basically amounts to 'don't abandon your party in the middle of a fight unless it's actually necessary, no killing other adventurers OR random civilians EVEN IF they have good loot, and ESPECIALLY don't cheat on your Guild dues'). The Adventurer's Guild is glad to welcome her! Her badge looks like cheap, dull tin, but it's sturdier than the material lets on. It has the Guild's weird angular helix symbol on it.

There are people hanging out around the tables and chairs in the lobby. Most of them have iron badges, but a few are shining bronze, or cheap tin like hers.

This is a very reasonable code of conduct, but, "What does it mean to 'cheat' on your Guild dues?"

"The main one is 'don't hide equipment or drops gained in a dungeon to avoid paying the portion of their value owed to the Guild'. The other main one is, if someone hires you in your capacity as an adventurer for example as a caravan guard or as an escort in a level-grinding run for a non-adventurer, you owe a smaller portion of that money, too."

"How is 'in my capacity as an adventurer' defined? It seems like you'd get everyone and their brother claiming, 'oh, this doesn't really count as an adventurer job' all the time..."

"Generally, if it involves combat or the risk of combat as the most salient feature of the job. Being crew on a sailing ship doesn't count if you actually do sailing work yes we check, is one contentious one that comes up a lot. Though of course you'll defend the ship if it gets attacked. Being a passenger doesn't make you owe anything either. Skilled adventurers tend to get free ship passage, by the way, another perk of the Guild! I'll get you a copy of the full definition."

Then miss receptionist gets Eefina's signature.

Eefina pins the tin guild-plate to her dress and heads back out. She doesn't stop to talk with the other adventurers who're hanging around. Not yet, anyway. She has something else to do first.

Is getting into the city as straightforward as advertised, now?

She still has to wait in line. But she doesn't need papers or her property given more than a cursory inspection or to pay an entry fee!

Excellent.

City!

Now, which way is Cupil's missing bit leading her, and how far away is it?

The bit is that-a-way into the city, about half a kilometer away!

Eefina heads that direction at a leisurely pace, on a circuitous route, trying not to look like she's headed anywhere in particular. Its not hard. Cities have so much stuff.

This city totally has stuff! It has apartment buildings and shops and museums and restaurants and fighting rings and slave markets and shipyards and big workshops and churches and government buildings and parks and giant murals and a distinctly poorer area with a much higher proportion of nonhumans!

At least two of those things are concerning, but all of it is New Stuff that Eefina is Getting To See In-Person For The First Time.

Eventually she makes her way close enough to Cupil's droplet to see what sort of building they're keeping Tax-Evasion Woman in.

The droplet is in a depressing-looking blocky stone building a short distance away from a building labeled 'Rotula Guard Chapter House'. Second floor.

Eefina doesn't do anything obvious like stop and stare, but she doubles back to wander by several times while window shopping, until she's memorized every wall, every window, every door, and all visible security, sketching an incomplete floorplan in her head as she goes.

It's a big square, hiding a lot about the internal floorplan. Four aboveground levels. Visible security is vigilant guards on the entrances, of which there are three. They're fairly busy with servants and more guards coming in and out, and the servants are scrutinized with a device every time they pass but the guards aren't patting down every servant or directly investigating them particularly closely. The windows are too small for (humans) to squeeze through.

She stands out wherever she goes due to her unusual clothes.

She knows she stands out. That's why she's not getting a closer look. But brains take time to process information. The more she sees now, the lower the odds she trips over something stupid later.

Can she see or derive or sense anything about the servant-screening device without getting closer?

It looks like the things they use to verify the ID cards at the gate and the Guild. Not the exact same, but similar.

Not impossible to get in in person, then, but also possibly unnecessary, to achieve her current goal. Is the woman's cell outer-wall adjacent?

The dot moves down and to the center during her observations, then back up to its original spot after about an hour. She seems to be in one of the outer rooms, yes.

That'll make this easier. Having confirmed that, Eefina wanders around until she finds a shop selling writing supplies.

This two-story place located near the impressively sprawling Academy campus markets to rich students and has a lot of writing supplies. Scrolls, notebooks, loose-leaf, a format of palm-sized papers billed as 'seals'. Ink pens of varying fanciness, plus brushes and paint, pencils, chalk. Vellum, papyrus, parchment, or paper, plain or colored or scented.

It also has such conveniences as always-full pens, fancy book covers and scroll cases with protective magic, magical photocopiers, notebooks you can index and then search through, paper that will copy the entire contents of a blackboard onto itself, paper that cleans itself on command, an excessive variety of subtly different inks in little glass bottles, a sturdy scroll that draws a map of your surroundings on itself as you walk and shows your path in trailing dotted lines, Dragonfire Resistant* paper, underwater pens/paper/ink, a pen that takes dictation with supposedly excellent accuracy, and a slate you can write and draw on by visualizing what you want to appear at it.

All this stuff is so much less useful than a light screen and an analytical engine but if anything that just makes the sheer variety all the more amazing and fun.

After a minute or so, Eefina remembers why she's there in the first place, and wrenches herself away to buy the simplest, smallest amount of stationary she can in a material that'll endure being folded or rolled up real small, and the cheapest writing implement that does not need a separate ink well to work.

Once she's away from the shop, purchases in hand, she looks for a nice bench to sit down on. It must be a bench with approximate line of sight to the prison and it must be placed on non-paved ground. Can she find something like that?

The city is built pretty densely this far in, but the prison has a fair amount of space cleared around it so there are most of four streets to choose from. As far as options go, there's a few people's front gardens, a small park that's too far to have a really good view, and a restauraunt where the tables sit on stone, but there are flower gardens around.

...the park is probably safest, though if she picks that one this is going to take a while. Though 'a while' is relative. The alternative is waiting for night, and that'll definitely take longer.

Sitting down in the park, she writes, I WANT YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY, across the top of a sheet, and then, smaller, I will destroy this after reading it.

Eefina wraps the note around the writing implement, making it as small as possible. Then she feeds it to Cupil.

Cupil stealthily snakes his way down her leg, hidden by her dress and the bench she's sitting on, and then he burrows into the earth at her feet. Cupil is not designed for this. He's not actually that strong when not holding a rigid form, but he can manage.

Eefina leans back and pretends she's watching the clouds, hands folded demurely in her lap. Cupil definitely wasn't designed for this part. His artificial Spirit Field was never meant to not overlap with Eefina's biological Spirit Field, and as soon as he leaves their mutual range, a wave of disorientation washes over both as their unity is shattered. They're still connected, and indeed, that is the whole problem. Their senses are fighting against each other, dragging Eefina's perception back and forth between Cupil and her own body.

Cupil was never meant to be a remote drone, and it is only barely possible to use him for the purpose, thanks to this side-effect that the Shrine's artificers still haven't reverse-engineered. Aside from her self, of her peers only Kalirez was ever able to manage it...

Cupil's senses aren't anything like her own, either. He only really has the one: a sort of Spirit Field echolocation.

Slowly, over the course of an hour, Cupil burrows under the street, all the way to the prison, right up to the wall directly beneath Tax-Evasion Woman's window. Eefina waits for an opportune moment, then has Cupil slither up the wall and dart into a corner of the ceiling of the woman's cell.

She's unrestrained, sleeping on a bed. She has lost her hood and boots somewhere along the line. The cell is a bit cramped, but not deliberately cruel. It has a solid metal door with a large barred shutter, currently closed.

Oh, that's nearly ideal.

In that case, Eefina has Cupil take his friendly sphere shape and Tax-Evasion Woman can then be awoken by the application of parcel to forehead.

"Ow! Wha- Aaaah! It's that fuckin' suffocating goo thing!"

The fuckin' suffocating goo thing simply floats up by the ceiling with a guileless :) on its... front.

That's kind of creepy. She stares at it suspiciously, backing against the far corner of her cell.

It bobbles, indicating the parcel it dropped.

She makes a rude gesture at it, then opens the scroll, then glares at it again.

"What, you feeling some regrets?"

It can't hear what she's saying. It just bobbles at the note again.

"I'm not gonna write anything. You smuggling stuff in here might make it even worse, you know?"

Pause.

"Whatever. It's not exactly a long story. I own a house in the city. It was my mom's. She owed a decade of back taxes, she died, the property went to me. But the taxes still need to be paid. For some legal bullshit* reason I'm not even allowed to sell it without the approval of some nobleman? And he won't give permission except at a criminally low price. I thought about just packing up and going somewhere else, but my brother's a woodworker here and I think they'd just go after him next. So I got the money to make the tax payments however I could. And now, here I am."

*Lit: "Tin smoke"

Oh for fuck's sake.

Carefully, painstakingly, Eefina has Cupil shift a manipulator tendril. Shapes that aren't pre-programmed in are really hard to do, but she manages. She has Cupil pick up the note and the pen, and writes, with agonizing slowness, CANT HEAR YOU, and then, THIS WAS ALWAYS PLAN.

She backs off again, alarmed, until Cupil stops writing. Then she writes down what she just said, less some sarcasm and with the addition of and by the bloody winds don't make it worse by making them think I'm smuggling things in here!!

Cupil can't read, but Eefina can guess. She goes by memory and has Cupil tap the note where she wrote, I will destroy this after reading it.

Cupil eats the note and the pen and slithers back into the earth. The return journey is much faster, since he doesn't have to burrow a new mole hole.

Hm, so, apparently she didn't evade any taxes, she just turned to crime to make ends meet.

Annnnd she can't use the red moon to set the note on fire, right. She will just have to tear it up very thoroughly and have Cupil bury the scraps. Which she takes her time about. Can't act suspicious.

There's enough left to write a new note. She writes, Why did you tell me not to trust the sergeant and his guards? And whatever the reason is, do you still want my help? And then, Information about trouble-causing noble?

She sends Cupil off with the new note.

Guess where the guard gets most of its money? Nobles. They're mostly for protecting the property of the rich, not protecting the people. His name is Julius Salvatore.

I don't know what you can do or if you'll just end up siding with them and making things worse for me.

Hm. So, background economic incentives, rather than anything specific to the sergeant.

Eefina destroys the note and pockets the pen while she thinks. She feels a little anxious about leaving the conversation there, but she's out of paper and wouldn't want to risk a third trip anyway.

From how it sounds, this Julius Salvatore effectively revoked permission to obey the law, which lead directly to the woman's arrest. That their system of laws could allow that to happen is disturbing.

There're several avenues by which Eefina could approach this problem, but they all require more resources than she currently has. Delving the dungeon will have to come first.

Eefina gets up and heads back to the Adventurer's Guild.

Someone is following her. The streets are fairly crowded, but she keeps seeing that wolf-boy with a shock of white fur and a notch missing from his right ear. Maybe he's also going to the adventurer's guild, except wasn't he hanging around while she was in the park too?

Hm. That's interesting.

Eefina stops to window-shop some more, and waits to see what wolf-boy does.

He walks right past her nonchalantly and goes into a different shop.

Well, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. In fact, its more suspicious if he was, in fact, following her.

Which shop did he go into, is it an interesting shop? Eefina is kind of vaguely curious if and how he'll react if she follows him.

He went into a store selling "Ghur materials". Lots of animal parts in the display case - skins, teeth, bones, but there's some rocks, pieces of wood, and a few almost tribal-looking weapons and tools.

More neat things! Not the most interesting stuff, but its novel.

Eefina goes into the shop and browses the stuff. What's the wolf-boy looking at?

Jars of blood labeled with what they're from!

Wolf boy sniffs at the air, sighs, and walks over towards Eefina.

"I don't feel like playing the mutual stalking game. You smell interesting. Tret Moonwind, wolfkin scout."

"Ooh I was right! Er, I mean, hi? Eefina Selvarn. What do you want?"

"Hi! I wanna know what's up with you. My nose tells me everything I need to know most of the time, so when it's confused I gotta take a look. Or maybe that's just me, 'cause I'm a scout. Gotta learn who, where, when, and what, that's the job and I'm good at it." He strikes a little pose and points one thumb at his chest.

...pff. What a character.

...possibly literally. You will not be steered too far wrong if you act as though the world follows a certain sort of narrative.

"Well, okay, I guess. I was on my way to the dungeon. Want to walk with me?"

"I'll walk with you, sure. You're an adventurer, then?"

Eefina shows off the tin badge pinned to her dress.

"Officially brand-new. What about you? Does being a scout take you into dungeons much?"

"Not all that much. I could do well on the daily grind, but I don't like how cramped dungeons are. I spend most of my time running ahead of caravans or looking out for trouble in the Red Waste instead."

"I see. What's it like out there?"

"Oh, don't even get me started. It's nasty. Twisted. No plants, and it's all craggy and broken ground. You know why it's the red waste? Blood. The smell pervades everything out there, and close enough to the cursed dungeon you get pools of it. The smell chokes everything, which is even worse for me than you. And dark magic fills the place. Not to mention the monsters running around, and Waste Raiders. Do not recommend. But every time I can give advance warning of a monster or raiding party coming out of it? Saves people, and I get a big bonus. What about you? Tin badge, so not yet one of the greats as far as adventuring goes, but what's your story since I'm sharing bits of mine?"

"This is my first time away from home. I grew up in... I guess you'd call it a medium-sized village. A medium-sized village that exists above the sky. Our Elders thought something bad happened to one of our warriors, and I was training to follow him and find out what, but then he came back on his own, so it turned out I wasn't needed. But I guess fate decided my training ought to be worth something after all, and here I am. It's exciting, honestly. Life in the Silver Shrine was very... predictable."

"Sounds like a cult or something. Or one of those hidden ninja villages that I'm not sure actually exist."

Eefina starts to respond, pauses. "Wow, I can't even argue with that. We kinda were. Are?"

"Cults, man. I don't go in for religious stuff. Everyone has a different version, what are the odds the one I pick is right? Anyway, I guess that explains my curiosity, more or less. If you're from somewhere above the sky whatever the dhar that means the smells that'll cling to ya are pretty different."

"I bet. You're probably right."

"So anywho. I kinda got this thing," taps badge, "on credit. So I actually need to get in the dungeon for a while. I don't suppose you wanna stick with me for that? Now that your curiosity is satisfied?"

"I'm probably above your level, honestly. But I could maybe be convinced to follow along if you'll keep satisfying my curiosity on matters as they occur to me, yeah? I'll do the same for you if something you've never seen in Silver Shrine pops up."

Aww. He's tryin' to make friends. She thinks? Yeah.

"Thanks! I'd be happy to."

"Say... you wouldn't happen to know anything about a local noble, Julius Salvatore, would you?"

"Heard of him? Yeah. There's a park named after him. Know anything about him? No. Sorry."

Oh well, it was worth asking.

"Oh, there's the gates. And I don't actually know the way to the dungeon, now that I think of it. I was going to ask someone in the Guild building, but." She smiles at him.

"Uh, I'm not exactly a one-man party and I don't know if you are. How deep were you thinking of going? Which one? What do you do, anyway? You seem like a caster of some kind. I'm usually mid-guard when I actually bother to do dungeons."

"Hold that thought."

They pass through the checkpoint, then Eefina leads the way off the road, looking for a private spot in the trees or something.

"I'm a caster, as far as I know, but something weird happened when they did my analysis, so I want to check something."

Even outside the gates there are a fair number of buildings. The city has exceeded its limits.

"Ooh. This way, I know a good spot."

He leads her to an out-of-the-way clearing in a much less manicured park, a bit off one of the footpaths.

"Nifty!"

Alright, gnarliest tree around, sorry, but you're gonna play target.

Eefina raises one hand. An orb of eerie silver light forms at her fingertips, sucking the color out of the world behind it. She aims at the tree, and suddenly sharp spikes of gray, erased space fire out from the light, as fast as a crossbow quarrel.

A dozen spikes of unreality stitch a line up the tree, bursting violently against the bark into a colorless swirl of pure nullification, destroying magic on a fundamental level and even interfering with the progression of mundane causality.

The effect shouldn't be too dramatic, since Eefina didn't put enough power into the casting to halt mundane causality, and some random tree shouldn't have enough actual magic in it to notice, let alone unravel destructively...

He flinches back, staring, as soon as she forms the... Thing.

The tree seems unharmed at first glance but her new wolfy friend is staring at it in alarm, eyes slightly unfocused.

"What did you just do?"

"Oh good! I can still do that. That was 'Eterni'. It... destroys magic by making processes... cease to exist? It's the basic attack spell my people are taught. I also know a silver healing technique, but for, like, curses, or cancer, not wounds."

"You ripped all the energy in the tree loose and it's sort of - scattering and wobbling around crazily. That sounds like a really good way to create dhar explosions!"

"Ooh really?"

"Ahem. Well, it is an attack spell..."

"Dhar explosions are not a good thing!!" His voice can get really shrill apparently! "Dhar is poison magic, corrosive corrupted magic! The Red Waste exists because the cursed dungeon turns the Winds of Magic into dhar!"

"Um... that does sound bad. But... hm. Is there any poisonous magic here, now? How can you tell?"

"You never learned windsight? It's just-" he waves a hand and squints at the tree. "-It's settling down now and I don't think there's enough non-ghyran around to make more than a trickle."

"But there is some? Then..."

Eefina frowns. Then she brightens. She holds out her hand again, the same colorless light as before. Only this time instead of explosive spikes of unreality, soft and gentle waves of glimmering silver silence pulse out and wash over the tree, utterly erasing any troublesome magical forces.

"Did that get rid of the dhar?"

Squint. "Yeah, it's gone. Huh. You are really, really interesting, you know that? What's that called, Silver Shrine magic?"

"The technique is called 'Curia', but we just call the discipline 'silver magic' because... it's silver-colored. It's kind of silly, admittedly."

She beams.

"So! I guess this means I can Eterni things as long as I Curia the area afterwards! That's good. I should have much less trouble with the dungeon than if I was limited to melee. And if dhar is such a problem, I can clean it up anywhere else I find it too!"

He's shaking his head slowly. "That could be big. Might want to test it on larger concentrations of the stuff? But this could be big. Can you teach it?"

"I have no idea, but I could try! Can you teach me 'windsight'? That seems important."

Dungeon-ward! Except she doesn't know the way, still. "And, uh, which way to the Rocky Shores dungeon?"

He looks a little bemused. "I'm not really a teacher. You'd be better off trying the Academy. Uh, it's south of the city so let's get back to the road and then turn right. You sure you don't want to get another party member or two? Big groups split the loot more ways, but can handle more too."

"That depends. How dangerous is the dungeon?"

"That's like asking, how dangerous is jumping off a building? First level, not so much, really. Fifth level..."

"Is there not much of a buffer between the monsters an unskilled beginner can kill and the ones that can kill you even if you know what you're doing?"

Eefina shakes her head.

"Time constraints. Under other circumstance I'd want to play it safe, but... unless you know of someone who'd offer a lot of coin very quickly for dhar clean-up? I'm gonna have to throw myself on the mercy of fate and either come out of it suitably improved and affluent, or very maimed." Nervous shiver.

"Nnno, I can't think of anyone who'd pay out immediately. Dhar cleanup could reclaim some land from the Red Waste, but that'd take time to realize... And no, it's a pretty consistent increase. But it's easy to get overconfident and overextended. I don't really want to see you get yourself killed, buuuut I'd feel better about accompanying you if we recruited a foreguard. Someone with heavy armor and a big shield. Foregoard in front as a melee fighter, me in the middle watching for unexpected stuff, you blasting from the back. More would be better. People party up for good reason!"

"I don't doubt it." A wrist-flick produces Cupil in bo-staff form. "Okay. I can handle melee. But it can't hurt to ask! If we don't find someone quickly, I going to have to go ahead, though."

To the Adventurer's Guild, then.

The Guild contains all the things it previously did! Maybe a few less adventurers, but there are still a few at the tables along the left side. Tret walks over and asks the lady at the front desk something after gesturing Eefina towards them.

She goes to the left side tables.

"Hi!" Eefina greets. "I'm Eefina. Are any of you hoping to party up for a dungeon run? My new friend over there thinks I need someone to help me not die while I kill things."

This gets a few laughs. One guy snorts and says, "I don't have time for an E-ranker."

Someone else - an androdynous mouse-person wearing robes, asks, "I might want to join you, I need to do runs in groups to train my aura, but I'm not really a frontline fighter either. So you're a damage caster? What's he?"

A wrist flick makes Cupil appear in bo-staff form. "I'm a generalist. I've trained a lot with Cupil here, and I've got some esoteric attack and curative magic. I meant what I said about only needing to not die while I kill things. He's a scout, he said."

"Scout? Not an adventurer?" Mouse-person tilts their head. "Eh. I wouldn't want to face down any tanky bosses without a meat shield, but two evasion-focused fighters and one blaster should work if we stay on upper levels and bring potions along just in case."

Tret heads for the tables, apparently finished with his conversation.

"Okay."

Eefina gives Tret a curious, prompting stare. "?"

"I was checking to make sure I'm actually allowed to dive with you, thought it might be different since you're just E-rank. I'm not actually a guild member. But I can, it's fine. Found anyone?"

"Yeah. Me. What dungeon are you doing?"

"Rocky Shore."

"We'll have to stay above five, we can't fight the Doom Crab with two evasive melee fighters and one caster. Er, generalist."

"I'll take your word for it. She's never been in Rocky Shore and I haven't for over a year, so you'll be our guide."

"Sure. Even loot split?" Tret shrugs and looks at Eefina.

"Even split is only fair, right? Unless you're both underestimating me way more than I think you are."

"I don't care that much about the loot, I just don't want 'Fina to run off and die," Tret says.

"I'm not estimating you at all," mouse person says. "Never seen you cast a thing. But your friend thinks you need me, we don't know each other, for the first run let's just do even split and if we party up again we can do something more merit-based next time. I go by Whisper, by the way. Not whisker. Whisper."

"Sounds fine to me. Tret Moonwind."

"Eminently sensible. Nice to meet you, Whisper."

Eefina follows their lead on what preparations they think are necessary, and tries not to be impatient about it.

Once they're finally ready, they set out as a party, Eefina filled with an eager energy.

One healing potion each, picking up a spare knife, getting big backpacks for storing loot in, and having Whisper lecture them on the enemies found in the dungeon - lots of snails, crabs, animate seaweed, and similar sorts of things. No totally submurged levels, thankfully.

It's a relatively short walk, and then they come to a set of stairs carved into a cliffside, overlooking a beach. Down on the beach set into the cliff is an enormous stone door decorated with images of seashells and other ocean imagery. They have to sign in and list the stuff they're bringing in with them before they're allowed to enter.

Whisper takes the lead, saying, "Let's head straight to level two. Nothing worth killing up here, really."

"Okay."

She holds Cupil in the shape of a short spear as they advance.

Whisper does... Something, as soon as they're inside. As long as the other two stay within about twenty feet of them, they find themselves moving just a bit quicker, cooperating better as if they know exactly what the others are about to do.

All three of them could tear through the monsters on the first floor at a dead run without even slowing down. They're simply not much of a threat. The first floor boss fares little better.

Tret has some kind of magic themed around raw animal power - glowing amber outlines of wolves and tigers surging forward to take bites out of the monsters demonstrates that quite clearly. He pushes Eefina forward to take point at least once, just to get a gauge on her combat skills.

The monsters on levels three and four are a good bit tougher and take some actual strategy to fight. Tret seems tense and bored and is kind of reckless about it despite the tougher foes, while Whisper favors a defensive, balanced stance, pushing for sticking close to Eefina and letting her blast the monsters from a distance as the safest option.

While on point, Eefina reveals that she is a terror with a bo staff. The whirling chrome a blur as Eefina smashes multiple monsters to bits without taking a single hit herself. She holds back on the casting, using Cupil as a ranged weapon on the weaker monsters instead. Casting Eterni seems like it might do more collateral damage than she's used to it doing, especially in a dungeon.

When they get down to the more dangerous monsters, that changes, and they get to see what happens when spikes of anti-magical causality nullification hit dungeon monsters.

They explode messily, even tough ones, and don't even cause any dhar! Whisper whistles, impressed.

They also fail to drop any loot, though this might not be obvious until she does a couple dozen and it gets statistically unlikely that nothing dropped by then.

Yeah, that gets noticeable pretty quick.

"Okay, we're not imagining it. Nothing I kill with Eterni is dropping loot! Whyyyy?!"

Tret twirls a sword idly as he thinks.

"It kinda just... Disappeared all the ghyran in the tree you shot? Maybe you're disappearing monsters instead of killing them, so to speak."

"That sounds like the kind of thing that makes dungeons angry," Whisper notes, ears twitching. "Stop using it, I think."

"Yeah, I should save it for if we're ever more concerned with escaping the dungeon than getting drops. At least that means that we're really unlikely to get overwhelmed? I know an area-effect version of the technique, its just not the sort of thing one ever uses anywhere near allies at my current skill level."

"Where'd you get all these powerful skills?" Wonders Whisper. "Should I be running away, asking why you're not C-rank or better, or both?"

"Silvites are all born with an affinity for it. It's just what we're taught to be able to defend ourselves in expectation of needing to leave our... village."

"High level bloodline ability, got it." Scowl. "All I got from my bloodline is racism."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Eefina takes point again, keeping Cupil mostly in bo staff form, and they continue carving their way through the fourth floor until after they have enough loot to, even split three ways, pay all of Eefina's debts and still have plenty left over.

"Not like it's your fault."

They're not at a level where they can trivially gain so much money it can be counted as 'plenty', and 'plenty' is relative anyway, and her companions don't want to delve deeper citing risk to life and limb. After a while the dungeon starts throwing more monsters at them at once, trying to herd them towards the Boss Room. Going back up to the surface is easy enough, though, and the Guild representatives at the gates count out the loot and take 15%. They'll convert the rest into hard coin then and there if they're willing to take very slightly substandard rates for it.

Eefina now has no debt and six silver coins. Whisper wanders off saying, "See you again some time, maybe."

Tret says, "Well, that was fun. Sort of. What do you need the cash for anyway, just living your life?"

"Among other things, yes. I didn't have anywhere to stay tonight, and I'm getting kind of hungry. Wanna show me around?"

He scratches the back of his head absentmindedly. "Ah, yes, other things. My favorite luxury. I'm not the one you want for a tour of this place. I can point ya to a nice tavern and an arguably better local guide, at least."

"Aw, bored of me already?" she teases.

"Hey, I've got a life, I'm not some lost puppy that started following you!" He's teasing, too.

Rather than refute this obviously false statement, Eefina just giggles.

"At least have dinner with me. I somehow doubt you're secretly a, a Hooper and only eat moonbeams."

He grins wolfily. "You asked for it."

The place he leads her to is "The Drunken Whaler". Decorated all over with bits of ferocious-looking monsters and animals, broken pieces of boat or broken weapons, and paintings of people on boats fighting sea monsters. The waitress is eight feet tall and has large tusks and green skin. The primary things served here seem to be beer and large chunks of meat or fish. Someone is singing about a man's quest to hunt down the monster that took his leg, with accompanying drums and guitar.

Eefina gawks at the decor, and at the people, some, and at the music. She's never heard anything that... lively and authentic, before.

She'll take Tret's recommendation on what to order and where to sit.

"Before I do that, do you go for alcohol or no? Bringing you here is one thing, getting you drunk is another."

Curious headtilt.

"I've never been drunk. But this prrrrobably isn't the time to find out what it's like."

He snorts and shakes his head. "Yeah, no."

He finds a booth along the side and waves down the orc waitress. "Ranger-wolf! Hunted anything tasty lately?"

"Good to see you too, Glenda! Nope. I'm just showing Eefina here one of my favorite places to eat after a long day. No booze for her. I want some Kingsman and a nice big tuna. I'm not sure what'd be best for her, but it's on me."

"Very well! Eefina, you do not have a nickname yet. Look forward to the day I give you one! What kind of foods do you like?"

"I will! Gosh, um." They had hydroponic gardens in the Silver Shrine, so she's ever had fresh fruit and vegetables before, but why not something new? Instead of flailing in her uncertainty. She takes a deep breath and peers around at what anyone nearby is eating. She vaguely recognizes what a lot of it probably is. She picks one and points. "How about that? I'll try that."

The waitress stares for a long moment, then nods. "Very well! Karshan spicy beef with grilled broccoli, peppers, and mushroom. It will be some time before your food is ready. I will bring drinks and appetizers shortly. Look forward to it!"

When the orc is gone, Tret drawls, "So, if you were wondering, just to get it out of the way- This isn't a date. We are recent acquaintances and adventuring buddies, 'least for now, as far as I'm concerned. That said, I'd be fascinated to hear more about the Silver Shrine."

"D-date?"

Now Eefina flails a bit.

"Oh no date did I accidentally a date ask you on a eep?"

"Woah- Nope! Relax, I just said this isn't one." He laughs a bit, even if he's trying not to be mean about it.

"O-okay. Sorry. Not that I wouldn't ask you on a date, hypothetically, but I'd only wanna on purpose. Um, what'd you wanna know about the Shrine?"

"Not that I would hypothetically say yes or no to a date, I mean, it'd depend on things. Sorry. Well, what was life like, I guess? What does it mean to be 'above the sky'? Did you go flying somehow?"

"We had these, you'd call them flying boats, I guess. But they're expensive to make so we didn't have more than a few. Mostly people just never left. We grew our own food, and kept each other entertained with various arts. The Elders don't want us reminding anyone down on the... ground... that we were up there."

"Heh. Don't say 'flying boats' too loud," he jokes, gesturing at the ocean-themed decor.

Eefina starts to giggle, realizes she doesn't actually know what's funny, and tilts her head instead. "Huh?"

"This place plays up the nautical theme, right? I don't know how many actual sailors are in here but there's plenty that will talk your ear off about how awesome sailing is if you give them half an excuse."

Giggle. "Oh."

Eefina nibbles her lip thoughtfully.

"So hey, if someone who lived at the bottom of the ocean asked you what does it mean to be above the water, what would you say?"

"Uh... Hmm! I don't know, that's an interesting question. You can't float around here, so up and down aren't typical navigation options, unless you're a bird. The currents can get a lot faster, we call them 'wind'. Watch out for thrown objects, they go really fast up here. Water falls from the sky sometimes, and flows and pools like ghyran, so we don't all die of thirst. What cool underwater Skills do you have?"

"Heee. Okay. Above the sky, you can't move around at all, unless you have some kind of engine, just as a fish would plummet from the sky no matter how hard it swam. We come from the sky, same as you, so we need the air and bring enclosures of air up there with us. There are no currents at all, but just as the light of day is brighter above the water, it is even brighter still above the sky: deadly bright, so bright it's poisonous. Watch out for thrown objects; they don't stop or even slow down until they hit something, even if that takes years. It's quiet outside our enclosures, utterly bone-numbing quiet, so quiet your own blood sounds like a thundering waterfall in your ears. What cool under-air Skills do you have?"

"Sounds terrifying. I have the Windreading skill!"

"You mentioned that one! How does it work?"

"I did? Oh! Windreading is different from Windsight - one's just for air, it's the skill for telling which way the wind is blowing and the patterns in the air and whether you're upwind or downwind of something. Surprisingly useful for scouting and tracking. The other is for the Winds of Magic. You learn it if you're going to be doing sorcery with the Winds, as opposed to incantation magic or something else. It's sort of... Hard to describe? Synaesthetic? Most people see magic as colors, but I smell it half the time."

"Oh. Huh. Nifty. Magic is neat. I'm thinking about enrolling in a few magic classes. The receptionist at the Adventurer's Guild said I could, and should."

"It would be a good idea! You're decent in melee and have some wicked trump cards* with that-" glance "-The thing you did to a tree, and the other thing. Don't want to reveal your secrets for you. But I know I'd rather have someone flexible fighting by my side than a hyper-focused specialist."

*Lit: "Hidden Knives"

"So you do wanna keep adventuring with me."

"If you find someone with a Skill you've never even heard of, who lives - I dunno - in a realm of dreams and mist - and who you seem to more or less get along with personally, I'd advise you stick to 'em and become friends." He taps the side of his snout sagely, one eye closed. "I am going back to my regular work tomorrow unless you can prove you have a mighty destiny that will lead me to lots of treasure, though."

"..."

"So what's the job? That your have tomorrow. Scouting."

His ears flick. "Are you going to want to come along? Maybe don't try to die the moment you show up. It's the kind of job that works better when I'm alone, anyway. I ought to be back before long, if you're gonna miss me." He waggles furry paw-fingers with somewhat sharp clawtips at her.

"I wouldn't want to come along if I'd get in the way or slow you down. I might miss you though ooh is that our food?"

It is their food!

...Tret's tail might be wagging, if she's identifying that thumping noise correctly.

That is cute.

Okay, this smells super yummy. And it tastes super yummy. It tastes super yummy and kind of burn-y. Actually it tastes super yummy and very burn-y. NO ACTUALLY it tastes super yummy AND WAY TOO BURN-Y!!! Water! Water!

She has a glass of cool, icy water in front of her.

"-Eat some bread too! It helps with the spice."

Eefina follows this advice!

"...I think I don't like spice," she says once she's recovered.

"I didn't think you'd never had spicy food! You kind of have to take it slow. And get used to it. Spice is a kick, which is an interesting taste it makes other things taste better... Not if you have too much, though. Trade you half a salmon for your spicy dish? And you could order something else - some nice savory stew, maybe."

"Hm, actually..."

Eefina gets a thoughtful look, then leans forward to hide what she's doing with her body. She cuts off another piece of beef, then carefully wipes off the seasoned coating. Holding one on one hand and the piece of meat in the other, both start glowing silver-gray.

Then she pops it in her mouth, and makes a displeased face. "Well, that didn't work. Now its barely got any flavor. I'll suppose I'll take you up on trading half for half?"

"Sure, spicy beef and salmon are kind of opposite extremes but sure. What'd you try to do?"

"I tried to nullify the spice, but I guess I'm not skilled enough to get the spice without also getting all the seasoning and stuff too."

"If you can - conceptually, selectively nullify things - that's a lot of utility in your pocket right there, that is."

He rearranges their plates.

"I can't actually do it conceptually to nonmagical things, that's most of the problem."

Eefina tries the fish. It's not as yummy, but the lack of burning is much preferred.

"Hah, spicy~ So, what do you wanna know about the city?"

"Who's who, what's what, and where I ought to avoid making myself conspicuous. The nobles. Their politics. The biggest problems the city faces. The most-ignored problems the city faces. Where to get various more specific information if I need it."

"That's... Kind of a lot of stuff?" He frowns. "If you want to blend in, hanging around the docks and the Academy and being foreign at people will do that. I don't follow fuss with the nobles much, honestly, but Marquise Frederick LaDecroy hires lots of demihumans and doesn't pull shit with renting work equipment and sudden firings or intimidation like most everyone else- happy workers are productive workers, he says- The dwarves are kind of a problem, I think. Something happened a while ago that makes things tense, I don't know the details. The Adventurer's Guild is maybe a little too powerful, in my opinion. And there's these stupid 'beautification' laws that my friend Ermine insists are specifically designed to move poor people into one corner of the city."

"I don't want to fuss with nobles either, but I might have to. I guess you already said you don't know much about them, though. So... who would?"

He shrugs expansively. "Can't really help you there, sorry. There's lots of people who know lots of things at the Rotula Academy?"

"It keeps coming back to the Academy, I've noticed. I genuinely should enroll there, and soon..."

"It's kind of a big deal around here. Not the only thing the city has going for it, but a pretty big one, you know? I got my first survival skills there!"

"What all do they teach besides magic? And what kinds of magic do they teach? Besides combat spells, I mean."

"Like... All of it? They teach most things somewhere in there."

Eefina laughs.

"Okay, what's popular, then? What do students tend to talk about most excitedly as what they're going there to learn?"

"Uh, recently I've heard people gush about the programs for enchanting, architecture, meteorology, and sorcery - specifically chamon. But really, there's a lot of classes."

Eefina is curious about all those things! But also she has food to eat, and is hungry. Nom nom.

When they're finished eating, Eefina wants to go straight to the Academy.

Tret points her in the right direction and then waves goodbye.

The Academy campus is very big, very pretty, and has a lot of tall buildings with flowy lines and large arches and balconies in marble and clean, bright limestone. The Enrollment office is over that way, or she could wander the gardens and squares.

Eefina is very tempted to wander the gardens and squares! But she goes into the Enrollment Office first.

There's a comfortable waiting area with large paintings of rich-looking people and scenes of attractive people having fun in classroms and laboratories, and a line of booths. Only a few are lit up this late in the day.

"I can help you over here!"

Eefina goes over there!

"Hi? I just arrived in the city, and I'd like to enroll in magic classes! What is involved in doing that?"

"Oh, welcome to Rotula!" He looks slightly puzzled. "What sort of things were you hoping to learn? I'd suggest going over your academic goals with a class advisor, normally, and I'm afraid it's a bit late in the day for that but maybe I can help you plan for an appointment tomorrow? We sell access to specific classes if you know what you're looking for, and buffet access to all classes."

"What're the rates for those options? But yes, if I'm being sensible I should probably see a class advisor. There're a lot of things I want to learn and I'm not sure how to prioritize it all."

"Rates for individual classes depend on the Skills of the teacher and the level of the class. They can run anywhere from one silver to a platinum coin or more for the most complex subjects with the highest-level teachers."

He opens a course catalog to a particular page. All the courses list specific Skills as prerequisites, and what levels you should be able to achieve by the end of the course.

"For example, this three-week course teaches Mana Self-Diagnosis and Light Magic both to level one, and it's priced at one silver and eight coppers. A buffet pass allows you to attend any course you wish, however much time you want to devote to it. For three months the price is four gold pieces. The buffet pass also includes library and facilities access fees, but not premium services like special tutoring sessions or gold-boosted office hours."

"It'll be a while before I can afford a buffet pass... Are there lodging arrangements of any kind made for students?"

"You can purchase lodging at the dorms, of course - or find a place elsewhere and commute in. Students on a budget tend to prefer the dorms, but there's a variety of housing options in the blocks surrounding our campus."

"I am definitely on a budget. Tell me about the dorms?"

"Uh - here," he locates a pamphlet about the dorms. "Small individual rooms conveniently located on campus, there are co-ed and single-gender dorms. There's shared bathrooms, showers, and laundry facilities - there are enforced quiet hours and other rules to maintain a constructive study environment that are more strict than apartments. You can have a roommate for more savings, and you have to rent for at least three months. Cafeteria service sold separately."

"How much is three months in a co-ed dorm with a roommate?"

He looks up a number. It's less than the classes.

She doesn't have enough now, but dungeon-diving earned her a lot of money for one day's work. Unless future dungeon-diving goes terribly it won't be hard to make payments for the buffet pass and the dorm if she can set up a payment plan of some kind.

Eefina is from a resourced-based allocation economy and has no idea payment plans are a thing! But she will sign up for one after the concept is explained to her.

If she's stuck paying the dorm for three months anyway, why not also the buffet pass, in that case. She'd still like to make an appointment with a class advisor tomorrow, though.

"Of course! You need to plan out your schedule! Unfortunately I don't think I can get you into a dorm bed tonight, I'm just a front desk guy, but I know a cheap inn close to here and tomorrow we can get you all set up. I can set the appointments for any time of day."

"Okay. I'll be back here tomorrow, then."

Eefina goes to the cheap recommended inn, and (hopefully) pays for a room without complications. Needing money for every last thing is starting to lose its novelty, but.

Buying a room is uncomplicated and nobody gripes about needing the bed, as long as she pays for it. Breakfast is included.

Oh good!

Okay, Eefina will head back out to the dungeon, but stay above the third floor where the challenge is trivial. If she gets in unexpected trouble she can kill everything around her with Eternes and run away, but will otherwise stick to beating up monsters with Cupil until the time for her appointment approaches.

Eefina arrives back at the Academy's Enrollment Office punctually for her appointment, and that much heavier with the coin in her pockets.

She's shuffled off into a side office with a thin bespectacled woman who has long, pointy ears. "Welcome to the Academy, Eefina! I'm Salina Goodberry, one of our class advisors. I can help you set up your schedule and plan out the prerequisites, suggest classes, that kind of thing. So, tell me about your goals here."

"I'd like as broad a basis in spell-casting Skills as possible, with an initial focus toward sensory abilities. I'd also like a firm grounding in local economics, politics, and law."

The elf goes over specific classes with her in a chain that covers the basics of enchanting, sorcery, wizardry, magical theory, and utility magic for daily life and a few common professions - plus basic economics and law courses. There's nothing specifically for politics except for a general civics course with a hefty dose of Why Rotula Is Great.

Eefina will include the propaganda course out of curiosity, if her schedule isn't too tight. She mostly would like all of that, and is just unsure what order to learn it all in if she can't attend that many classes at once.

That's what the advisor is here for! To crunch some numbers and arrange some classes! She can handle all that if Eefina will tell her how many hours a day she wants to devote to classes and out-of-class study, if she wants specific off-days, that kind of thing.

Eefina is not sure. She's worried about having enough time to go to the dungeon, given how scary this society likes to be at people who run out of money. She's willing to dedicate the majority of her time to the academy, but perhaps only a slim majority.

"The good thing about the buffet pass is that you can reschedule all you like - you won't get your money back for Gold Pass classes you stop going to, but if you can't keep up you can just scale back your class time or scale up later. The last thing we need to do before we can nail down* a specific schedule for you is get an accurate, up to date Skill report - it's used to measure your progress, qualify you for classes, build an academic history you can show to employers, and also as a metric to judge teacher and staff effectiveness."

*"Pinch out of soup"

"Okay. I guess the Adventurer's Guild doesn't share that information with you? Go ahead."

She does that.

Eefina now has a class schedule and a student ID! The first class is tomorrow at three bells (late morning) and recommends having the following school supplies, conveniently available at the campus bookstore.

Eefina would like to see her dorm room (and if applicable meet her roommate), before buying school supplies.

The dorm room is modest but pretty comfortable, with a bed, a desk, a closet, and a dresser. The halls leading to it occasionally contain students, most of them wearing either some sort of robes in a couple different styles or what is clearly "Adventurer Fashion" - not practical adventurer garb, but fashionable clothes aping the look. She's introduced to the RA, a harried-looking man with a wide smile, and he welcomes her to Badger Hall.

It turns out she doesn't have a roommate yet, but they might give her one in the two weeks between now and the end of the current organizational period. They'll send her mail with forewarning of this, if it happens.

Eefina greets the RA with a moderate amount of enthusiasm, and will keep an eye out for notice-of-roommate.

Is the room nice? She doesn't mind small, she's used to small, but she's also used to privacy, so she's a little nervous. She hopes if a roommate does show up they get along well enough that the lack of privacy is not a concern, and that the other shared facilities don't lead to any awkwardness.

After checking out her room, Eefina will go to the campus bookstore and get her school supplies.

The room has wood-panel walls, a big window, magical climate control, soft lofted beds with a desk underneath each, and is in general fairly nice but not lavish. The common areas are built to be low-maintenance rather than pretty, but make nods to comfort and aesthetics. The bathrooms and showers are gender-segregated, all magic, and very nice.

The campus bookstore is happy to take her money and give her note-taking supplies and textbooks!

Gender-segregation is new and weird. Eefina doesn't get it.

Eefina brings all her supplies and textbooks back to her room, sets them up on her desk, and then hops up into the bed to stretch out and relax for the first time in two days.

She thinks about the people she's met on this strange world so far. She definitely likes Tret. He kinda stands out in her mind, bringing a smile to her face.

After a little while, Eefina hops down to her desk and starts reading one of her textbooks at random.

Fundamentals of Enchantment is an introduction to a set of Skills used to imbue objects with useful properties. From ever-clean clothing to the lights in your home to powerful combat equipment, enchantment can achieve many things. In this text you will learn...

...All exercises covered in Fundamentals use material components. Enchanting with other Skill-based abilities uses many of the same concepts but is not covered in this introduction...

...The basic process of enchantment is the calculation and creation of a diagram, rendering materials into correct forms, and activation of the completed diagram to produce a product.

...A teacher is recommended to guide you through this exercise unless you have at least level 3 in Enchantment: Diagramming and Enchantment. First, construct a pentachromatic chain diagram according to...

Even if she can't practice it yet, just reading about it is super neat. Eefina will probably spend the whole rest of the day reading if nothing stops her.

Nothing interrupts her, except maybe getting hungry.

Oh right. Hunger.

And other related needs.

Those eventually manage to pull her attention away.

Where was the cafeteria again?

There's a cafeteria just across this nice garden. There's also a few more in various spots around campus. They scan her student ID then let her in. It's a big buffet style affair with a lot of variety, and is fairly empty right now, but there are still robed and faux-adventurer dressed people of various races getting food and eating. Apparently they operate on set hours and she almost missed dinner!

Oh. Well. That would've been bad. Now she knows!

Eefina loads up a tray with a sampling of stuff that she checks to make sure isn't spicy, and then looks for somewhere to sit.

There are some spicy things and a lot of non-spicy things! There's meats, and vegetables, and soups, and desserts, and a wide variety of (non-alcoholic) drinks like juices and milk and tea.

The tables are big and seat eight or twelve each. There are completely empty tables and tables with two or three people at them, mostly keeping to themselves or reading but a few chatting with each other.

Eefina will be so bold as to sit with one of the reading people and eat quietly.

He nods politely at her, double takes slightly at her clothes, says hello, then goes back to A Treatise on Origins and Endings.

Eefina gives him a friendly smile but doesn't interrupt his reading.

Nom! Multiple noms, even!

The food is perfectly adequate. Book guy puts a bookmark in and shuts his book after a while, and goes to get more food, then comes back and keeps eating. Students come and go. Someone announces that they're putting up the food in five minutes.

In that case, Eefina will head back to her dorm, pick another textbook at random, and read until she falls asleep.

This textbook outlines the history of this region of the world over the last several thousand years in broad strokes. There are a lot of little kingdoms that rise and fall with some regularity. Coastal trading cities, and cities with deep high-level dungeons tend to end up powerful and influential because trade and big dungeons both bring immense wealth. The Adventurer's Guild has a complex relationship with ordinary states and a lot of soft power in most nations. The Red Waste is a blight upon the land brought about by a past Demon Lord, called "The Corrosive". No efforts to undo it have ever worked, and some have actually made things worse.

Eefina re-reads the part on the Red Wastes a couple of times before finally falling asleep.

Sunrise wakes her the next morning, a novel if unappreciated experience. She forgot to close the curtains. But since she's up anyway she can go explore the Academy grounds for a little while!

Academy grounds has: People walking through the gardens! People playing sports in the squares! A group of long-eared slim people singing and it's actually kind of hauntingly beautiful! A short, broad, very long-bearded man standing on a podium giving some kind of speech, the gist of which seems to be complaining about certain taxes!

Ooh, she really wants to stay and listen to the singing, but actually she probably needs to hear what the short bearded man is saying about taxes, considering.

"It's as clear as a faultline that the tariffs are specifically targeted against stonework, metals, and clockwork - all products that the Dwarves of the Rotula region have specialized in for millennia! I call for an end of this blatant targeting of my people. An end to the bad-faith dealings and petty merchant politics. Remember the theft of Clan Gartow's Hold! A dishonorable judgement by a clearly non-impartial judge called in the clan's debts eight years too early - and when the envoy, Thank Hoki Gartow, politely brought up the original contract in the Court of Commerce, they summarily dismissed him! The contract was altered after the fact - a most dishonorable action! Land and wealth stolen from dwarves by one act of legal trickery or another, and these tariffs are just the latest instance of the pattern. Listen to me, fellow students - I urge you all to call for fairness and transparency in trade policy!"

He continues in this vein, with lots of examples of past evils done to Dwarves, for a while unless interrupted.

Not as useful as she might have hoped, but its always good to have more context.

Eefina waits for an opportune moment, then calls out, "Who would we call to? Who decides such policies who would listen?"

"I ask you to bring your concerns about unclear, unfair, or too-quickly-changing trade policies and tariffs to the administrative agency for trade, the Court of Commerce, as well as the most powerful assemblies of Rotula the city and Rotula Omali the state - those being the Sea Council and the House of Lords, respectively."

Well that's frustratingly lacking in specificity.

Still... perhaps Eefina will go and see if there are any convenient (and recent) compendiums about the Court of Commerce, the Sea Council, or the House of Lords available in the library she now has access to.

There are civics textbooks that talk about all these bodies! The House of Lords consists of every noble in the land, with varying numbers of votes given to the higher ranking houses. The Sea Council is elected by the powerful and rich people and Guilds of the city in an elaborate and confusing process. Together they rule the region. There's no king - merely a Grand Duke, who is elected by the other nobles and acts like a king until his death, when another election happens. The Court of Commerce is appointed by the Sea Council.  There are news archives that talk about recent appointments and decisions of the Court of Commerce! There's political gossip about which houses and power blocs are in favor! Julius Salvatore is apparently among the 'cancellists' faction, those who just want everything to stay the same and to pocket the profits they're making.

This is so unlike her own society! Or even any of the Arcadian civilizations she's studied, with perhaps the exception of Nasrad.

Okay, focus.

What else can Eefina find out about Julius Salvatore, the cancellists, and any competing factions? What else can she find out about recent appointments and decisions in the Court of Commerce? And most of all, can she spot any connections between the two?

Julius Salvatore is one of their biggest names. The competing factions are the Economists, who want to promote new industry and trade, and the Seafarers who want to pour huge amounts of money into a bigger navy. The Court of Commerce's recent actions apparently require a higher level than 0 in Political Analysis to find such connections, if there are any. The recent rulings and judgements don't seem to have much to do with the Cancellists' agenda at first glance, and there's a lot of context and referring to previous rulings and the like.

...this is worth the time. Eefina skips her trip to the dungeon today to keep reading, looking up these previous rulings in an ever-growing series of back-chaining until she has full sequences of events that she can follow forwards from beginning to end, and then cross-reference.

It's a mind-boggling mire of complexity, and information on recent events and schemes is much harder to find, but the archives can be used to piece together the general shape of how politics operates here, historically. It eventually becomes clear that the Cancellists have been on the rise for a while, and seem to use a strategy of needlessly complicated laws and regulations to prevent the other factions from taking substantial action. Over time the factions change and their goals and labels shift - the Centralists sought to reduce the autonomy of the other towns and villages Rotula Omali controls, and eventually morphed into the Conquerers, and then their current form in the Seafarers. The Economists nearly had a schism a while ago over something to do with the way money is stored and handled and moved.

The intrigues of the House of Lords cross over into the story at points, with a standout example being a prominent Seafarer family heir marrying an Economist family's daughter and this was frightening to the Cancellists so they got more aggressive about it. Affairs in other countries come into it too - this move seems kind of stupid, but in hindsight was clearly engineered to make sure the best sailors and shipmakers stay in Rotula instead of migrating to their rivals in other nations.

The Adventurer's Guild is famously neutral, taking bribes from all three factions to stay neutral and never actually siding with any of them. The Academy, too, is a player in this political scene. While not nearly as strong as the Adventurer's Guild, they're also far less neutral, and have been favoring the Economists lately. And with all the factions, money and high-level supporters are the two things that really support their power. The poor and low-level masses rarely enter the considerations of the halls of power.

She doesn't learn much about current events or recent intrigues, but from the general pattern the thing that got her attention - arcane restrictions on the sale of land and real estate - is probably part of the Cancellists' general obstruction strategy, to make it harder for the other factions to advance their goals and keep things the same as much as possible.

Also, she gained a Skill or two somewhere in her binge reading.

Gaining a Skill is still weird to experience, but also nifty and useful!

So, her jailed acquaintance was collateral damage in a deliberate trap meant to paralyze the state of the economic situation. That's disquieting. The cancellists sound like short-sighted fools, hoarding air from the hab-repair specialists, so to speak.

This is definitely a bigger problem than one woman's unjust imprisonment, and she...

...what time is it? Oh crap, her first class is in less than an hour and she hasn't even had breakfast. She does her best to clean up her research and then go freshen up herself before collecting her class materials and finding the classroom. She's going to need all the Skills she can get.

The librarians will clean up her books for her since she's been careful not to damage them and that's literally their job.

The first class she has today is 'fundamentals of sorcery - theory and cantrips'. The classroom is probably in this building? Yes, there it is. She has to nudge her student ID against the door to get it to open.

The teacher is a grey-haired and serious-looking woman, who was drawing an eight-sectioned diagram on the board at the front of the room. It's a small auditorium, with multiple tiers of desks, and only a few are still open. The other students are mostly a bit younger than her, chatting with each other. One of them smiles at her and moves his backpack off the desk to his right, then indicates the now-open spot next to him.

Eefina takes the offered seat with a smile.

"Hi. Thanks."

"Hi. Welcome to class. The basics of the basics, but we'll move on soon enough, hopefully." He seems a bit nervous.

Nervous, huh? About class? Or about something else? Or is it her?

Eefina does her best to be agreeably disarming. "I hope so too! But sometimes there can be a beauty in the basics of the basics. I think this'll be interesting!"

"I hope so. I think sorcery sounds right for me but you never know until later if something really suits you, you know?"

The teacher looks like she's almost finished with the diagram.

"Yeah," Eefina agrees. "I thought I'd be terrible at bojutsu before I tried it and it turned out that it came to me super easy."

Her attention is caught by the diagram, and she tries to understand what she can see even before the teacher starts explaining it.

"They say sorcery's safer than adventuring but not by that much... It's a great career if you get good at it, though. I think I'll like chamon."

The diagram is an eight-sectioned wheel with little cutouts at the top and bottom. Given that ghur is written in one of the sections, ghyran and chamon on two others, and it says WINDS OF MAGIC across the top, the teacher probably intends to explain the Winds of Magic.

Eefina is ready to absorb knowledge!

Her new acquaintance takes diligent notes.

The winds of magic, their teacher patiently explains, pervade everything in the world. Where they blow particularly strongly, reality finds itself... Mutable. Effects on the physical world caused by the Winds can be surprising and unforeseen, similarly, effects on the landscape of the Winds caused by changes in the physical world can be just as unpredictable. Viric is a unique Wind of Magic for being unlike the other ten, utterly stable, and almost completely immune to being affected by sorcery. Incantation magic shapes and uses viric, and it comes from within people and monsters with mana cores. The Winds enter the world from an enormous gate at the north pole and exit it through a similar gate at the south. The flow can wax and wane or even reverse, sometimes. Whoever built the gates is unknown, and they are indestructible to every attempt at destroying them that's ever been tried.

She explains the general physical and metaphorical tendencies of the different Winds in considerable rigorous detail, with several examples. She goes over the general process of sorcery - drawing the Winds either from within yourself or the world around you, shaping them into a spell, and then loosing that spell. They'll learn to cast some simple cantrips in this class, but are strongly warned not to try more advanced magic or to do experimental spells. They could be heavily fined or even expelled from the Academy as punishment for reckless sorcery.

"Sorcery is dangerous. Miscasts are dangerous. Dhar is dangerous. Allowing a Wind into you disturbs your emotions and can cause you to lose concentration on what you were doing. Spells can malform and break in unpredictable ways if cast carelessly. But for all those risks, sorcery is incredibly useful for its sheer flexibility of effect. I will now pause to take questions, please raise your hand if you have one."

Eefina tries not to visibly pout at the 'you will be expelled for experimenting on your own' rule, but that's only her first knee-jerk reaction. Probably they're right. She takes careful notes.

She raises her hand, and when called on, asks, "What is the process of allowing a Wind into you? Is it intrinsic to casting or can it happen naturally?"

"The Winds flow naturally, and are both drawn to you by particular feelings and naturally inspire particular feelings if you happen to wander into an area full of them. This is one reason why people report certain places feeling 'creepy' - concentrations of shyish tend to make one feel as if they are vulnerable, or to contemplate death, and this is perceived as a difficult to define 'creepiness' by laypeople. To deliberately fill yourself with them first you must awaken your windsight and then practice applying your will to the Winds. Windsight is personal and synesthetic, every person perceives it slightly differently, so similarly guided practice is necessary to begin casting spells. There are specially prepared rooms designed to whisk away excess Winds, for practice. Guided meditation is the traditional process to awaken one's windsight and we will make our first attempt at this by the end of this class."

Teacher takes a few questions about what exactly the Winds can do, whether they can combine them (not in Fundamentals), whether they'll focus on one Wind or multiple (they cover the basics in all eight), whether they'll be channeling Light or Dark winds (no, those are harder to work with and have their own classes).

Eefina pays rapt attention to all of this.

When it's time for them to get walked through awakening their windsight, she feels more than ready to try it.

They're made to sit in a circle around a brazier for this.

"Empty your mind of distractions. Do not worry. Do not analyze what is happening. Feel. Close your eyes. Breathe in, hold. Hold. Breathe out. See your breath moving at your will. See where it goes and where it comes from with your mind. Imagine it in such detail that you could draw a picture. Breathe in, hold. Hold. Breathe out."

"Your mind can see your breath. I am now lighting the flame. Breathe in, hold. Hold. Breathe out. Your mind can see the Winds of Magic, too. Hear it crackling. Feel the heat in your skin. Feel the power and passion that aqshy represents. It is blooming, flowing upward and outward, right in front of you. Breathe in, hold. Hold. Breathe out. Imagine it in such detail that you could draw a picture. It is fire, passion, heat. It is obvious. See it gathering and rising..."

The teacher keeps up the guided meditation for a while. There's definitely... Something there. Something magic, but not magic as Eefina knows it. The heat of aqshy is obvious enough, but near the end of the exercise, faint traces of other Winds catch at the edge of her awareness, too.

This is so cool.

Eefina's pretty sure she's got this. What is she supposed to do next?

The teacher said before they started that the goal today is not to do any magic. It's to get Windsight and begin practicing noticing things with it.

The teacher continues the guided meditation exercise, though she smiles encouragingly at Eefina.

Eefina wants to ask if she can have something more complicated to try to notice, but doesn't want to interrupt the meditation session.

Maybe she can sense things beyond the exercise? Like, the other students, or anything magical in the classroom?

The brazier is the most obvious, and the energy pooling and flowing around it is unmistakable, but there are other notes of energy too - knots of grey ulgu or silvery blue azyr in the students around her, nearly static traces of faintly golden chamon in the metal desk frames, a band of shining hysh entering from the windows at the left side of the room.

"I will be calling up small amounts of Winds in myself soon. If you are unable to feel the aqshy or unsure whether you're really feeling anything, that may help. If you have already gotten a feel for the aqshy in the brazier, detecting my channeling and discerning what Wind it is composed of is a good next step."

The exercise continues, with the teacher calling up streamers of random Winds at odd intervals, then naming them after a few seconds. When the brazier eventually burns low, she says, "Alright. It's time to stop meditating. Wake up, everyone! I hope that was productive for you all. You all made good progress from what I could see. Next time we'll do some more practice and start to get into the theory of spell construction, and we should be casting cantrips by the end of next week! Class is dismissed, but feel free to stay behind and ask questions for a few minutes!"

Eefina is pretty confident she's ready for the practical lesson, but she will hang around and listen to any other students' questions.

The other students are mostly wondering why it wasn't clicking for them and where they can get in some extra practice. The teacher dispenses what seems like sound advice to them on both subjects (sit in on someone doing stuff in practice rooms or analyze the natural manifestations of the Winds is the advice for additional practice).

Then if nothing distracts her, Eefina will go find a nice spot outside and continue practicing until the cafeteria opens.

The sky is a font of azyr, and so are many of the classroom buildings. Chamon and ulgu are also present. The gardens are lush with ghyran, which seems to act almost like a syrup or water compared to the air-like azyr and ulgu or the rigid and thick chamon, and-

Someone's walking towards her. She looks rich, wearing fine fabric and expensive jewelry. "Excuse me, are you Eefina, E-rank adventurer?"

Eefina suspects that she likes azyr. It's aesthetically pleasing and it feels like it calls to her. The ghyran is very pleasant too. Almost seductive. Aqshy is supposed to be the 'passionate' element, but feeling ghyran is turning her on a little.

She blinks, shaking herself out of her meditation. "Hi? Oh, yes. I'm Eefina. Hello."

"Hello! I'm Gabriella von Runestet. I heard that you have a Rare Skill that allows you to cleanse dhar, and that's something that's of considerable interest to me. You see... My son has attempted an ill-advised journey to the cursed dungeon in the Red Waste. He came back - alive, but increasingly unwell. Some of the best healers in the city have done their best for him, but dhar makes healing extremely difficult. If you truly can cleanse dhar, perhaps you could assist with his health. I and my family would be extremely grateful and there would be an appropriate reward, of course."

(The von Runestets are minor as noble houses go, but are in fact a noble house, her binge-reading will tell her. A couple of centuries old - very young by the standards of these things.)

Eefina springs up. "Of course! I would be glad to help. That sounds awful. I do have a technique that can nullify dhar, though I didn't learn this until recently. I'd intended to offer such cleansing, myself, but I haven't even spoken to anyone about that yet. How did you learn about me?"

"Thank you! I can only hope that it will make truly healing him possible - and the others too perhaps- It's a rumor going around the Adventurers' Guild. I'm not sure who started it, but I asked around my contacts to find you by name, and eventually learned that you'd enrolled at the Academy, so I came right over here, and here you are."

"Here I am."

Tret was the only one who knew. He must've spread the word for her. Nice of him. But she should remember to ask next time she runs into him, just in case it wasn't him.

"When did you want me to cleanse your son? I can do it now. I don't have class."

"Yes, as soon as possible! We can go over to my driver - also need to call the healers back-"

She fusses with the bag at her side. "Oh, please follow me back to my carriage! And thank you so much for being willing to try. I don't know if it'll work but-"

"You're welcome."

Eefina follows carriage-ward and climbs in.

"George, have Mary call Mr. Bestal back. Have her insist, please. I've found someone who can cleanse dhar."

They get in. The carriage has a very comfortable and fancy interior, and doesn't need horses (marking it out from just about every other carriage and cart in the city), and starts moving at the driver's behest.

"I don't know if you want to talk to me on the way or not. I'll gladly follow your wishes either way."

"I don't mind! So, uh, did you want to tell me the tale of why? Your son's journey, I mean."

"I suppose I should - I'm sorry, I'm not normally so ungracious a hostess but I'm very distracted- It's not that long of a tale. His friends saw some kind of pattern in the timing of the worst dhar effects, and thought there would be a couple of weeks where things would be... Calmer. They convinced themselves they could get to the cursed dungeon and uncover valuable treasures said to be within it, or in the ruins around it, and he was swept up in the excitement. It was a raid of nearly thirty, all told. Their advance to the ruins was slowed by the unspeakable weather of the Waste, and by harassment from beasts and Waste Raiders. The leader of the group bid them linger for another day or two, so sure was he that a great treasure was just under the next stone. But it wasn't. They spent twenty four days in the Red Waste in total, and experienced a storm of dark magic. Nearly everyone that came back is ill, and it only became apparent just how badly off they are weeks after their return."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Do you think they were on to something? And the unexpected delay was at fault? Or was the whole plan nonsense to begin with?"

"Any plan that involves going into the Red Waste sounds like nonsense to me!"

"I think any grand plan that doesn't involve me going into the Red Wastes once I'm ready would be irresponsible, but it's true that your son's party had no similar excuse. Unless they did? It's strange they'd go to such extremes for merely generic treasure."

"Oh, the rumors of treasure are decidedly not generic. There's said to be a royal armory full of Adamant equipment - and if anything will have survived such a long time exposed to dhar, Adamant would. It's extremely valuable, quite possibly the strongest metal in the world."

"Does someone involved in this have an urgent and specific need for Adamant, then?"

"I wouldn't know if that were the case. It's merely incredibly valuable, for most people. I suppose anything stored in the ruined city might have particular meaning to Dwarves, if I remember my history correctly."

Eefina hums thoughtfully.

"I guess that isn't really relevant to cleansing your son. I'm just a curious person by nature."

"It's perfectly alright. I did say I'd talk to you if you wish."

Eefina nods with a smile. "I just don't want to be nosy. Maybe you could tell me about any fun rumors you've heard?"

"Oh, I'm sure high society gossip would bore a young thing like you half to death!"

"I wouldn't assume you're wrong about that..."

She'll give distracted gossip about the latest parties and who was embarrassed at them, and who commissioned what artist and whether they spent an impressive amount of money on it, and the unconfirmed rumor that Count Draken's daughter (a B-rank adventurer having adventures somewhere off to the west) is dead, and stories of violent social upheaval in the island nation of Gisu which is negatively impacting the tea trade (clearly the most important part of the situation).

Nothing jumps out at her as relevant, but listening to it helps her feel out the shape of the blank spaces in her mind, the context she doesn't have about noble life. It's not actively boring, anyway.

She can also have some speculation that the marriage between this and that house might be off since the daughter's dowry was mostly in tea-related assets and oh here they are at her fancy city manor! It's certainly a fairly conspicuous display of wealth. Inside are rather a lot of precious metals and conspicuously magical things. A maid is waiting for them to arrive and bows demurely to welcome them inside, but has definitely checked Eefina for plausible threat-level.

Gabriella von Runestet is excited, frantic. "Come, come! The doctor's here, he's upstairs-"

Eefina's plausible threat level and her actual threat level are probably dissimilar, though she couldn't guess in which direction.

She hurries upstairs in Gabriella's wake.

There's a room whose walls positively shine with the winds of Hysh and Light, and when the door is opened a repulsive mist of dhar seeps out before being annihilated by the Hysh shining in the open doorframe.

Dhar is... Disgusting, like rot, an ugly corroded blackish-brown entirely unlike the wholesome and wild amber-brown of ghur.

Inside is a thicker cloud of dhar, and a young man chained to a bed, writhing around in pain, with multiple visible mutations - a grossly muscled and clawed right arm while the left is unaffected, an extra mouth on his belly, gnarled and malformed horns, patches of angry red skin- And positively reeking of dhar warring with the normal energies within him. It's a grotesque, disgusting scene, doubly so to Windsight.

Oh, and there's also a tense doctor with his own aura of Light coming from a heavy-duty staff he's brandishing as a ward against the disgusting magic.

"...If you can cleanse dhar, young one, I will attempt to right his body. Perhaps it will only end his misery, and if so, so shall it be."

Eefina flinches, a full-body shiver of revulsion. Windsight is a new sense, but a strong sense, and she feels it very intensely.

The scene itself is much less revolting, but it is certainly motivating.

Eefina hurries into the room, hands aglow with the silver void. She reaches out, and the soothing waves of Curia bloom out toward the tormented man on the bed. And in its path, dhar ceases to exist.

As dhar evaporates, more pours out of the mutated portions of the body, a deep well of it saturated so densely that Curia cannot clean it all so quickly and easily.

The doctor is clearly astonished that this is actually working! He doesn't let that stop him from moving in and performing magic of his own, efficiently attempting the same sorts of healing that have failed on this patient a dozen times before.

The mutations start to recede under prayer and chant and potion and wand and Curia.

This is draining her mana reserve, but slowly. She can keep it up for hours. And she makes sure to except the healing magic from what she's nullifying, so the doctor can work freely.

It might take hours. The dhar just keeps coming back, refreshed by the physical manifestations of its taint in the real world.

It doesn't end up taking hours, plural. Just the one. The doctor seems fairly exhausted, and tuts about triple-checking the unconscious but apparently healthy man lying in the bed.

"Amazing. Cases such as this are rare. Generally fatal in short order... Either directly or by, ah, lynching. But every indication is that he is free of corruption. There seems to be some permanent damage..."

Eefina waits for the doctor to finish, having done her part, and having no particular ability to help with injuries.

He snaps out of it after a bit.

"Thank you. What a fascinating skill. You go tell Mrs. Runestedt the good news, please. I'll be - catching my breath."

"Okay. You're welcome!"

Eefina goes to find the noble lady.

She's just outside the heavily-warded door, pacing nervously. When she sees Eefina, a hopeful look crosses her face.

"It worked."

She lets out a relieved gasp. "Oh! Oh by the Light, thank you! Is he - Safe to see?"

"I think so!"

She rushes in. She has a low conversation with the doctor and hugs her slowly waking son. Eefina is gently ushered to a richly decorated sitting room by the maid and offered tea and cookies.

And then Gabriella is back, red-eyed. "He will recover, I think. Once again, from my heart, thank you. I wish to show my appreciation to you somehow. What sort of reward might you appreciate?"

"As tempting it is to get clever about this and ask for something specific, probably you should just pay me."