Touanne looked at Ana curiously for a long time, to the point that Ana became acutely uncomfortable. Touanne must have noticed, and filled the silence.
“Anastasia,” she said gently. “You’re level 3. How can you not know what a Growth Crystal is?”
“So you do get the messages?” Ana demanded.
“Well, yes. Of course! How else would we… but Anastasia, again, you’re level 3. I understand that you may have been sheltered, and level 3 is indeed very low at your age. So low that the only way I can see for that to happen is if you’ve given most of your Crystals away, even the ones you’ve generated naturally. But then how can you not know what they are?”
Ana felt herself close down, dropping the facade she’d been presenting. A mistake, probably, but she’d had a really shit day, and was emotionally exhausted. She became flat and calculating, and for a fleeting moment she saw that look in Touanne’s eyes, one she’d seen far too many times after showing her true self to someone. It was clear as day: Touanne wondered if she was in danger. Her eyes flicked to the door and back to Ana, no doubt wondering if she should call for the two men outside — regretting that she’d asked them to leave. But it wasn''t like she could ask a patient to undress in front of a couple of strangers, was it?
Then she relaxed, and Ana could almost imagine that she felt a wave of calm roll off the other woman.
“I’m sorry,” Touanne said. “I did it again. I pried. I let my curiosity get the better of me when I should have just answered your question. Yes, Anastasia, everybody sees the messages, in some form that they understand. It’s not just you. It’s how we interact with the System, or whatever you want to call it. The Growth Crystals, well… I don’t think that anyone knows what they are, really. They exist, and they don’t. They are in our world, and in some ethereal other place. They are experience made manifest. Here, let me show you.”
She held out her hand, palm up, and a piece of some strange material appeared from nowhere. It was smaller than Ana’s little finger, vaguely crystalline and colorless with an ethereal quality to it, a transparency which was very different from glass. It didn’t bend light; it was just not completely there. “This is a Shard,” Touanne said. “It is worth ten experience points. You should have received one around every full moon since you… became a young woman.”
“You mean puberty?” Ana asked.
“Oh, good,” Tuanne said. “You’re educated, to some degree at least. Puberty, yes. The Shards usually start appearing the month before a girl begins bleeding, two or three months before at most. Quite a useful warning, in that way,” she laughed. “They come at a similar age for boys. And then you would have received a few more every so often for accomplishing things, like gaining a Skill, or doing something in line with your Class. So, you see, that’s why I was so surprised. You really should be level 4 or 5, even if you did nothing at all except float through life.”
“The messages say that my crystals are ‘set to auto-consume.’ I’ve never seen one before.”
Touanne’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, I can’t recommend that at all! What if you need some quick money, or if a friend needs just that little bit to gain a level? You should change it to manual immediately!”
“And how do I do that?” Ana asked.
“Just… tell it to,” Touanne said. “I’m sorry. Interacting with the System is such a basic skill that it isn’t even taught, really. I’ve never… Children just pick it up.”
Touanne’s tone wasn’t at all patronizing, but Ana still felt talked down to. Which might be fair. She apparently lacked a skill that was so basic that children picked it up before they learned to talk. So she ignored the vaguely insulted feeling and brought up her Summary, then said, “System! Set my Crystals to consume manually!”
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 98.6508%">[Growth Crystals will be stored until manually consumed.]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
As easy as that. When Ana closed her Summary, interface, whatever, Touanne was grinning. As though Ana had just said or done something terribly funny. Or possibly cute. Childish.
Again, Ana ignored the embarrassment and declared, “It worked. So you can just take these things out and sell them?”
“Yes,” Touanne said excitedly. “In fact, take this.” She held out the Shard she’d brought out to show Ana. “Please. I got it for Healing you, and I’m high enough level that a Shard is practically nothing. It’s really no loss to me. Consider it the smallest of apologies for my prying before.”
Ana looked at her skeptically, but then reached out and took the Shard. “It doesn’t weigh anything,” Ana said curiously. “And it’s like I’m not really touching it, either. Like… I don’t know. My fingers stop, but there’s nothing there. Not even pressure.”
Ana thought about that message, about storing Crystals, and the Shard vanished as though it had never been. Ana felt herself flinch, and hoped that Touanne hadn’t seen. She thought about bringing a Shard out, and it appeared in the palm of her hand. “I wasn’t sure if that would work,” she said, a little flustered.
Touanne giggled for about half a second before forcing it down.
"Anastasia," the Healer said, "I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you putting your trust in me like this. I think that we should rejoin the gentlemen now, but if you have any more questions, any at all, just come find me. I will extend the same promise of confidentiality whenever you ask for it."
"I might take you up on that, Touanne," Ana said, her eyes locked on the Shard in her palm. In a burst of childish wonder she closed her hand with a flourish, storing the Shard, then opened it again to show an empty hand. "Ta-da!" she whispered to herself, and this time Touanne let herself giggle.
<hr>
Once Ana was decent and had her armor back on, with the reasoning that wearing it was easier than carrying it, she stayed in her chair as Touanne went to call the men in.
"We''re all done in here," the Healer called out the door, then returned to Ana''s side, though she remained standing.
The Captain took his own seat behind the desk while Tor remained standing. "Thank you, Touanne," Falk began. "Your invaluable help is, as always, appreciated. Miss Anastasia, I trust you are at least somewhat better now?"
"Much better, thank you," she said demurely.
"Yes, well. You should know that Barlo and myself have had a very interesting conversation about your circumstances."
Cold suspicion crept up Ana''s spine. There was an implication in those words that she didn''t like at all. Her pack was by the stairs. Tor was in the door, but Ana wasn''t that big, and she was slippery when she needed to be.
Trying to keep her face and posture neutral, Ana prepared to move.
"I should leave," Touanne said and stood, throwing Ana off. Now she was in between Ana and the door as well. "This is private business, I''m sure. It was lovely meeting you, Ana, despite the unfortunate circumstances. You will come by my shop soon, won''t you? It’s on Main Street, but you can just ask anyone, really, and they can point you my way. If nothing else I want to make sure that the healing is coming along as it should."
"I will. Thank you for your help," Ana said, following the other woman with her eyes as she left the room, closing the door behind her. She should have taken her chance.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Tor took Touanne''s seat, looking open and relaxed. "We''ve figured out who attacked you," he said. "I recognize the armor, to be honest. Just didn''t have a name to go with it."
"We are also well aware that you haven''t been completely forthcoming with us," Falk said. "But I want you to understand: you are not in any trouble at the moment, though I do urge you to be more completely honest with us from now on."
"I''m not sure —" Ana began, trying to resume her appearance of simple innocence from before, but a look from Falk told her that he saw through her facade. "Fine," she said instead, relaxing her face and dropping her voice to her natural alto. "What do you want from me?"
"How about you start over from the beginning."
Ana scowled and sucked her teeth while she thought. The more she looked at Falk the more convinced she became that lying to him was useless, or at least that he''d know if she did. Fucking levels and Skills and Abilities…
"All right. I got dropped in here last night, from somewhere you''ve never heard of, together with a kid I was protecting. We were attacked by three men. I killed them, but Nic didn''t make it. I slept in their camp, took what I needed, and hiked out of the forest hoping to find a road, or at least some signal. No such luck."
Ana looked at the two men, but Falk just gestured for her to go on.
"I found the road. A while later I was attacked by two assholes. The one whose armor I''m wearing was a Ranger, the other one was a Rogue, I think. Named Larry or something, like I said."
Tor nodded. "I talked to Draver, and two troublemakers left by the south gate yesterday."
"Right. Well, Larry tried to grab me, then punched my head into the ground a couple times, so I did what I had to. The Ranger was a smarmy shit who kicked my ribs in and thought he could do whatever he wanted to me, so I killed him too. I took what I could carry, just barely made it here, and if you hadn’t brought Touanne I’d be dying on the floor right now. Good enough?"
"That will do, I think. I can tell that you''re holding something back, but I have no doubt that you''re the victim in this situation, as well as the poor child you came here with. Now, to be fully honest, Barlo had you figured before he brought you up here. You are not the first lady companion to be taught how to defend their charge, either. But, have no worries. We shall not be spreading any gossip, shall we, Barlo?"
"No, sir," the younger man confirmed with a sincere smile.
"The important thing here is that I am quite satisfied that, while you have by your own report killed three unknown men who were certainly up to no good and two members of our small community, you are not to blame. You certainly believe that you acted in self-defense, and I do not intend to take any action but to congratulate you on your skill and good fortune in surviving. Any of their possessions that you have you may keep as damages and compensation for your trouble. That said…" He took a long pause. "Since you''re new here with no way to leave, I assume that you will want to join our community, at least for a time. The alternative is to take your chances in the wild. And because you have not come here through approved channels, that being the Waystone, for the sake of that community I will be placing you on probation. I will expect you to behave, and I am asking Barlo here to keep an eye on you and show you around. Mister Barlo is an honest young man, and I hope that this will not be a problem. Now, Miss Ana, I am very pleased to have met you though, as Mistress Touanne said, I wish the circumstances might have been kinder. I regretfully have work to do. You may go."
Tor brought Ana out of the office. “Sit down, would you?” he said. “I want to talk some more with you before we leave.”
There were the stairs. Her pack, light as it was, stood right beside them.
Ana sat. There was no point in making a run for it or antagonizing the guy, since she was apparently in the clear. Once she was seated he continued, still standing. “The first thing I want to tell you is, and I cannot stress how important this is, that you need money. Everybody here is hoping to get rich, and charity is difficult to find on the regular. So, I need to ask you some uncomfortable questions. I promise that I have your best interest in mind, right? So I want you to answer me honestly, and to not get angry.”
Ana was already unhappy, but didn’t protest. "That depends on the question, but I''ll try."
“First, how much money do you currently have?”
Ana opened her purse and brought out the two bags in which she’d collected the money of the three cultists and the two bandits, respectively.
“I''m not exactly familiar with the currency here,” Ana said. “And the money in each of these two bags is different.”
“Well, let’s have a look,” Tor said. Ana carefully emptied each pouch into two separate piles on the small table.
“Well, these are regular Bluesky coins,” Tor said, pointing to the smaller pile on the right. “Looks like… five silver, sixteen copper. There’s twelve copper to a silver and twelve silver to a gold. A room at an inn will usually run you a silver per night, and another six copper if you want meals. And you’re unlikely to find cheaper food elsewhere, unless you want to live on bread and water. So you’re good for four days, if you don’t spend more than a copper or two.”
He turned to the other, larger pile. “Now, these I don’t recognize, but you should be able to exchange them at the administrative office. If you do, tell the clerk that Captain Falk will be interested to know where they’re from. I assume that they’re from the first men who attacked you?”
Ana gave a curt nod.
“Might be useful if we ever need to figure out where they’re from. Anyway, you may be able to exchange these by weight, depending on what the clerk says about them. Looks like you’ve got two gold, a bit smaller than Bluesky coins, twelve silver coins, a bit larger than ours, and these eight look like bronze. No idea what they may be worth, but I’d wager you have something like… thirty, thirty-five silver and change, here? That will keep you housed and fed for a while longer, but remember that it’s almost a hundred and fifty days until you can leave, and even then you’ll need money to get home. Which brings us to my next two questions. For the first one, please take this in the spirit that it is asked.”
The tone in his voice put Ana on edge. She had a good idea about what the question might be, and she prepared herself, very carefully, to not lash out at him.
“Ana,” Tor said, embarrassment clear on his face. “Are you a Courtesan or similar who’s hiding her Class?”
“What, a girl can’t whore herself without the right Class?” Ana’s voice could have frozen magma, and the glare she gave him was an order of magnitude harsher than she’d intended. It was just… she’d been there. At the edge, with no money and no income, and nothing to sell but what remained of her pride and her dignity. She didn’t appreciate the reminder, no matter how well meaning.
Well. Better than slapping him, she thought.
Tor still winced.
“The answer is no. I’m not doing that."
“That’s fine. I just wanted to make it clear that the option is there. Question asked and answered. In that case, do you have any skills that could make you money?”
“What’s in demand?”
“Cooks, blacksmiths, tailors, leatherworkers, anyone who makes or repairs anything can make a living here. Plenty of game in the forest, too, so hunters make some decent money. We’re a growing community based on Delving, and Delvers need many things. We also like to spend our money on entertainment after a successful Delve, so anything like that—”
Tor flinched again at her expression.
“I mean music, dancing, storytelling, things like that. My point is that any skilled job is in demand, but unskilled ones, bar one… not so much, unfortunately.”
“I got my GED,” she muttered, which obviously meant nothing to Tor. The man just looked at Ana patiently until she continued. “No,” she said. “No skills that would be of any use here. Some math, I guess.”
“Math?” Tor asked.
“Mathematics. Sums, differences, multiplication, division, all that.”
Tor nodded thoughtfully. “We can ask at the administrative office. But until you can secure a position as a clerk of some kind, without Skills you’re really limited to doing odd jobs like physical labor, or going outside. Hunting demons and clearing Delves, I mean. Me, I think you can do it. I know that you can fight, and you have most of the gear already. If you want, I’d happily give you some lessons in swordsmanship to prepare you.”
Ana''s first impulse was to refuse the offer, but she forced herself to think about it. She didn''t mind fighting if it was for a good reason. “I don’t like blades,” she said finally. “I can use a knife but I hate it.”
“May I ask why?” Tor asked.
“Because a knife is really only any good if your opponent is unarmed, isn’t it? You never want to get in a fight where you both have knives. Even if your opponent has no idea what they’re doing you’re still going to get hurt. There’s a saying where I''m from: ‘In a knife fight the loser dies on the street, and the winner dies on the way to the hospital.’ The only reason I learned was because my employer insisted. In case I was attacked by someone with a knife who didn’t know how to use it.”
“That’s some surprising insight for someone without a combat Class. Still, a sword removes some of those issues. If you know how to use your sword, you have a good chance of getting out of a fight unharmed. And even if you don’t want to carry a sword, knowing how to use one would help both against enemies who do, and if you lose your weapon and have to grab something off the ground. Swords are common. Most importantly, you won’t be fighting anyone here. Only demons, and the ones you may face don’t carry weapons. So, please, think about it. It’s not without its dangers, but it''s good money, good experience, and honestly a lot of fun with the right group.”
“Yeah. I’ll think about it." There was some sense in what he said, and she didn''t see how else she''d make a living here unless she wanted to start hooking or mugging people.
"Like I said. I''d be happy to teach you the basics, at least. And while I''m not much good with a crossbow, I know someone who’d be happy to show you how to handle that, too. Now, come on." He picked up her pack and threw it on. "I''ll show you around."