The first time Mei had come to the Gray Tower, the wide carpeted corridor leading up to it had been filled with mages waiting in line for a chance to apply for their provisional licenses. Now, there were barely a handful of them.
One of them spotted Dwayne and approached. “Head Clerk, sir. I, uh, hear you’re abolishing provisional licenses?”
For a moment, it looked like Dwayne hadn’t heard then he nodded. “Yes, to replace it with a path to a real license.”
The mage’s eyes widened. “You mean I’ll be able to go independent?”
Dwayne smiled, hiding his confusion. “So long as our assessments say you can.”
“Are those a exam kind of thing?” asked a squat man dressed in stripes and dots. “I don’t have time for studying.”
“We’ll try to take that into consideration.”
Immediately the other mages mobbed Dwayne, asking more and more questions.
“We don’t have time for this,” muttered Inge. “Do your job, Mei.”
With a sigh, Mei nodded then slipped between the mages to join Dwayne at their center. An elbow here and a shoulder there got her enough space to flourish her rifle case and plant it stock-first into the floor. The mob flinched back.
“Stand back please,” said Mei.
Before the mages could recover, Dwayne started to push through them. “I apologize for not having time to address all of your concerns, but please feel free to send them to the Royal Sorcerer’s Office.”
When he and Mei were free, Inge muttered, “Good work. Now, we just have to get past the front desk.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Okay.” Mei waved at the receptionist who blanched and scurried over to her supervisor.
Inge blinked. “Why’s she…? Dwayne, what are you doing?”
Dwayne had already stepped around the desk. “Going in.”
“Young Kalan,” the front desk supervisor moved to intercept Dwayne, “I’m afraid you’ll need to file a General Request- What?” She’d run into Mei’s outstretched hand. “You.”
“Me.” Mei pushed her back. “Stand back please.”
“You can’t do this!” The supervisor tried to push past Mei. “I have an order from the Assistant Sec-”
“Please put all your complains into a General Request Form.” Dwayne pushed open the door to the Gray Tower. “I will respond as soon as possible. Promise.”
“On the blood of my mothers,” muttered Inge as she followed Dwayne in, “why am I even here?”
Trying not to grin, Mei entered the Gray Tower.
Unlike last time, the main floor of the Royal Secretary’s Office was hardly occupied, and there was hardly anyone in the space between the door and the central staircase.
Unfortunately, that was a problem.
“Where are all the people?” Inge hissed.
“The Harvest Ball is over,” Dwayne nodded at clerk, who frowned then refocused on their work, “so most of them are on break.”
Inge eyed him. “You are far too calm.” They sighed. “Okay, Mei, you’re up.”
Mei nodded then marched up to the nearest clerk, placed her rifle on his desk, and announced, “I would like to register this.”
The clerk eyed the weapon. “What is it?”
“A buqiang,” Mei pulled her rifle out of its case, “a rifled hand cannon.”
“Oh. Cups.” The clerk’s eyes took in rifle’s long barrel and the wooden stock. “I mean… I don’t know which… Paula? What’s the registration form for a, uh, what was that again?”
“A rifled hand cannon,” explained Mei. “It shoots small metal projectiles at high velocity.”
“A crossbow?” the clerk asked Paula.
“What? Why do you need that, Mark?” Paula came over, saw Mei’s weapon, gulped. “Oh. Uh, maybe Form Thirty-Eight-Dee?”
“Wouldn’t that require listing a minimum draw strength?” Mark glanced at Mei. “Does this have that?”
Mei considered the question. “No. It uses explosions.”
Both clerks looked at each other.
Paula groaned. “We’re going to need a Form-Eleven-Oh-Three, aren’t we?”
“We don’t have any. We’d have to print one.”
“Then do that.” Paula turned to Mei and offered an uneasy smile. “We’ll have this sorted as soon as possible, ma’am.”
“Take your time.” Mei didn’t look behind her. She knew Dwayne and Inge were already gone. “I can wait.”
