“Do we know that Lannom kid’s parents? He seems familiar.” Raith asked as Thea returned to the classroom.

  She stopped dead in her tracks as the door shut behind her, staring at Raith for a long moment before bursting into laughter.

  “By the randy gods, I wasn’t going to say anything. I swear.”

  “Say what? What is so funny about that?”

  She made a strange snorting sound as she laughed, which made her laugh harder.

  At the wall behind her desk, she pulled the loremaster’s robe off over her head and hung it on a hook. Beneath, she wore a stylish dark green tunic trimmed in a golden pattern.

  “He’s just exactly like you were as a lad,” she said, wiping the laughter from her eyes.

  “Bullshit,” but he knew it was true even as the words left his mouth. He could feel his face turning red with embarrassment.

  “You were an insufferable little shit. Still are sometimes, I’ll have you know.”

  As she gathered her things from the desk and tucked them into a leather satchel, he quickly changed the subject.

  “Are you ready for the game next week?”

  “Yeah. I've been ready to braid up for a couple of weeks now, so this will be the last one for me.”

  “Unless we win. Then we'll be in the playoffs.”

  “Fat chance of that. We can’t beat the Snobs this year. They’re far too good.”

  First District’s skirmisher team were called the Gryphons, but everyone just called them the Snobs. Two of the players had a parent in the tier one league. All of them had the best training money could buy.

  “We’ve got a better shield,” Raith said, giving her a light jab on the arm.

  “You’re not wrong about that,” she said proudly. “A better net, too, and that’s a fact. But Deven is the best sword in the league, and so’s their staff. Regardless, if you don't braid soon they'll say you're holding off just to dominate tier four.”

  “Who cares? They already think I'm a cheater. But assuming we don't make the playoffs, I'm done after this game, too. I've found my [Class] and I need your help getting it.”

  Thea’s face broke into a wide smile.

  “Now we're getting to the good stuff. We're gonna be adventurers! Have you told Camellia?”

  His girlfriend was unlikely to take it well that he may be leaving soon. The possibility of proposing had occurred to him, but he wasn’t sure that felt right. Nobles are funny about that sort of thing, even the minor ones, and her parents had been pressuring her to break up with him since the moment they began dating. Marriage would be challenging, but so would just asking her to wait.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to handle that yet.”

  “If you’re going to break up with her, don’t be a jerk about it. She’s very sweet.”

  “You know I love her. I would never do that.”

  “Maybe not on purpose, but you can be really cold sometimes without realizing it.”

  She handed him a large cloth bag as she shouldered her satchel.

  “Here, carry this.”

  Raith immediately started digging through the bag.

  “Get out of there. It’s my mom’s clothes I need to drop off for repair. We’ll do that and then hit the Riverwalk while you tell me about this [Class].”

  They made their way down the hall in amiable silence, Thea’s hooves clicking on the marble floor. As they passed the auditorium door, the sound of muffled voices raised in anger filtered out. They paused, looking at each other in alarm. At the same moment, Raith felt his [Quest] unravel, the returning weft indicating total failure.

  Those little shits didn’t last ten minutes.

  The doors opened and an elderly, distraught Loremaster was backing out of the room with palms raised in a placating gesture. They could now clearly hear people complaining loudly about foul language, and wondering exactly what sort of lorehall they were running here. The man spotted them and his eyes narrowed.

  “Ms. Gannon, would you kindly join us in the auditorium?”

  “Run,” Raith said.

  She needed no further prompting.

  The two took off, dashing madly out the doors and down the steps. They didn’t stop until they got all the way across the square to the canal, leaning heavily on the railing and laughing while they caught their breath.

  The water in the canal was low from the long, dry summer, but still plenty deep to drown the handful of drunks who fell in each year. A team of emerald scaled hippocampi pulled a barge through the water, laden with cargo from the docks. Raith and Thea’s laughter caught the attention of a handsome, selkie man with large gold hooped earrings. He gave them a pointy-toothed smile and friendly wave as he floated by.

  “Whoo, that was fun,” Raith said.

  “Aye, but they won’t be asking me back to teach again. That’s for sure.”

  She didn’t seem too upset by the notion as she led them along the canal towards the tailor. Her demeanor wasn't that surprising, as her dad had pushed her into the job hoping she would follow in his footsteps. The street was busier than usual, with the Promise Day celebrations getting underway. It wasn’t too bad on day one, but by the end of the week this street would be impassable.

  “Alright, out with it. What’s so important you had to go barging into my class?”

  “The pattern I’ve been looking for is in a book at the Order’s library. I need you to go check it out for me.”

  “Well, that’s easily done.” Thea had long known of his issues with the Order, if not exactly the reason. “I’ll run by this afternoon. Hopefully, I can duck in and out before my dad hears about what happened at the school. What’s this book of yours called?”

  “The Lexicon of Exalted Patterns by Galath Stone-eye. Vandamir said it’s in the Rare and Priceless section.”

  She stopped abruptly and turned to him.

  “That’ll be a problem,”

  “Why?”

  “You can’t check out books from the Rare and Priceless section, you dope. My dad couldn’t even take a book from there. No one’s even allowed in without applying for a permit.”

  Raith rubbed his temples and looked towards the ground. They started walking again in silence while he processed this latest obstacle.

  “We can still do this. You just go in and read it, then tell me what it says.”

  “Stone-eye sounds like a dwarf's name. What language is it in?”

  “The author was a cyclops, so probably formorian.”

  “You know I don’t speak the language of the giant-kin.”

  Why does this need to be such a pain in the ass every single step of the way?

  “What do I need to do for a permit, then?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure they’d give you one. It’s mostly visiting scholars and highly ranked Loremasters like my father who go back there. Some of those books are literally priceless. If you applied, you would definitely have to answer a lot of questions about what exactly you planned on looking at and why.”

  “Dammit. In that case, we’re going to have to…”

  “Hold that thought while I run in real quick.”

  With his mind working furiously, Raith hadn’t noticed that they arrived at the tailor’s. The store was typical for the district, with a classy wooden sign reading ‘Nellie’s Needles’ and well kept storefront. Thea relieved him of the bag and left him outside to brood and look at the racks of fabric on display. One of the bolts was a dark purple fabric that seemed to have stars deep within. He rubbed it between his fingers, and it was even softer than it looked.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  An upper class, feminine voice jolted him from his reverie.

  “I see you like the night’s weave.”

  Raith turned to see a young, fashionably dressed gnomish woman standing beside him.

  “It’s very soft.”

  “It’s spun right here in Beckhaven from nettlethorn vines. Who would have thought something so soft could come from such a nasty plant? Of course, it’s the Huecrafter’s Guild who gives it those lovely colors. Only two silver per yard. We’ve got some inside fortified with ironbark linen that will turn a blade,” she gave him a considering look up and down, “but it’s quite a bit more expensive.”

  “Sorry, I’m just waiting for a friend.”

  Thea’s voice rang out from behind him.

  “If you can get him to wear that, I’ll buy it myself,” She bent low and gave the gnome a hug. “Good to see you, Janel.”

  “You too, Thea. Figured this sale would be a longshot based on…well, you know,” she gestured vaguely towards Raith, and the girls shared a laugh.

  He looked down at his beige tunic and dark brown pants. They were loose, comfortable, and clean. The fabric was spun from frogshade. A common river plant with natural cooling properties, it was perfect for hot summer days.

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  They ignored him completely, chatting amiably for a moment before saying goodbye. As they walked, two more people stopped the pair to greet Thea while he strategized on the best way to approach his idea without setting her off.

  “It seems to me like the best way…”

  Another person interrupted to say hello and he began getting irritated.

  Why in the five realms does she have to know every damn person in this city?

  After a few more minutes, they arrived at the Riverwalk. Raith peered over the railing and down the steep wall that kept the river from flooding into the city during the rainy season.

  The Pruxling River was massive, four miles across at its widest point and over three thousand miles long. It ran from the city of Dunhall on Lake Dirrin in the north, clear down to the Gulf of Yens in the south.

  Fed by countless streams from the western mountains on its meandering path, the Pruxling was the main economic artery of the Kingdom of Tethia, and Beckhaven sat right at its center. Although Raith had been awed at the size of Dunhall during his one visit, even the capital wasn’t as wealthy as Beckhaven.

  A yell echoed across the water from atop the expansive bridge of stone and timber that spanned the river. From his vantage, he could see that the cart of a dwarven merchant had thrown a wheel. Tempers were flaring after the long journey down from the mountains to the west, and [Druids] screening visitors for the Grins backed up the already congested festival traffic even further.

  The disease had begun somewhere in the wildlands last year and trickled across the river, infecting several outlying farms. Entire families turned into ravening murderous lunatics. No one knew either the cause or the cure, but every measure was taken to ensure there was no outbreak in the city proper. Raith gave a shudder at the thought, while watching the city guards hurry towards the disturbance to ensure it didn’t get out of control.

  They found a bench under a massive willow tree to sit and enjoy the view of the distant mountains while they talked. All lands west of the Pruxling belonged to the kingdom of Igathe, an ancient alliance of elves and dwarves. The crystalline alpine elven cities and subterranean dwarven citadels of Igathe sat deep within the mountains, with nothing but wilds in between.

  Raith took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh breeze blowing from the vast forest across the water. It was a welcome change from the stale city air.

  “Before you say anything,” Thea said, “we’re not doing it.”

  “Listen…”

  “No you listen. I’m not helping you break into the library. That’s final.”

  “You don’t have to actually do anything. Just tell me the layout and about any locks or traps.”

  “What do I know about locks and traps? You’re the bloody thief.”

  “I don’t steal things, so technically…”

  “Yeah, I know. ‘Technically’ you’re not a thief. You're just a creepy weirdo who breaks into people’s homes to read their books.”

  That last part was a little hurtful, and Raith let the silence hang between them for a few moments. Thea broke it with a question that caught him off guard.

  “Do you think my father’s an evil man?”

  Raith scooted forward from his reclined position to turn and look directly at his friend.

  “Of course not. Why would you ask me that?”

  “He might be able to help you push an application through, and has shown you nothing but kindness. Does your hatred of the Order include him?”

  A hand clenched his heart with guilt at her words. Loremaster Gannon had always let him borrow books from his personal collection. It was years before Raith understood how valuable those books were, and how much trust he was showing some random child.

  “Your parents have always treated me like another one of their own kids and I love them to death for it.”

  “Then tell me why. I’ve never once asked you since that very first time, but I am again now. Why do you hate the Order?”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

  A cloud passed over Thea’s face and her jaw took on a familiar clench.

  “Then you’ll not have my help. And I’m seriously considering if I want to head off on an adventuring team with someone keeping such secrets.”

  She stood up and Raith followed suit, stepping in front of her before she could storm away. Thea stopped, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. Raith breathed a sigh of relief. In a proper temper she might have rammed him clear into the river for getting in her way like that.

  He had thought about telling her countless times over the years, but the words never quite came out. The respect she showed by not pushing the issue made it almost too easy to just keep the secret. But she was right. It wasn’t fair to ask her to join him as an adventurer, where they would literally be putting their lives in each other's hands, if he couldn’t trust her with this.

  Looking around to make sure there was no one within earshot, Raith whispered the words that had never been uttered to a soul outside of his immediate family.

  “I’m godlaced.”

  The confession broke a dam, flooding him with a torrent of emotions. For so long, he’d kept everyone at arm’s length, preventing anything resembling a close relationship. Well, with anyone except Thea, who’d insisted they were friends at the age of six and stubbornly refused to change her mind.

  Thea’s arms dropped limply to her side, and her mouth fell agape. She plopped back down onto the bench.

  “No fucking way.”

  She looked dazed, staring out over the river. He sat back down beside her, leaning in to speak quietly.

  “My parents found out when I was eight. I’d stopped sleeping, and my mom thought something was wrong. It was only luck that they checked my pattern before taking me to the healer and saw I have a [Divine Skill].”

  She looked at him now.

  “No, I mean there’s no fucking way. I’ve read your pattern. There’s no [Divine Skill].”

  “Remember when I went to stay with my grandpa at the monastery?”

  “You were fourteen. It’s not possible you hid this from the Order for six whole years.”

  “No, that was the second time. The year I learned the rope dart to piss off my dad. The first time was just me, Nyhm, and my mom. It was right after we discovered the skill. My mom told me that if anyone ever found out what I had, the Order would steal me away.”

  He found his voice getting unexpectedly choked up at the end there.

  Thea looked at him with pained understanding, yet still couldn’t help but make the excuses he’d heard a thousand times.

  “[Divine Skills] are so powerful…the Templars barely prevented a second Cataclysm when Regus Mindsinger sought to rule. It’s their sacred duty to ensure any lingering power of the gods remains in check. Most people see it as an honor, and a better life than almost any parent could provide.”

  “If it’s such an honor, then why are the nobles allowed to keep their godlaced?” He asked bitterly, but they both knew the answer.

  “I still don’t understand how you’ve kept this hidden.”

  “My mother’s runecraft. At the monastery, she shaved my head to give me a runic tattoo that was covered up when my hair grew back.”

  Raith rubbed his hand reflexively over his thick brown hair, remembering how his mother sobbed as she brought the needle back to his scalp. The agony of her stitching the magic not just into his skin, but his very soul. He cried and screamed while his brother held him down. The complicated rune phrases required layer upon layer of magic. Between her tears and his screams, she kept repeating, ‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart. This is the only way they won’t take you.’

  “I’m so sorry,” Thea said, echoing his memory.

  She leaned over and gave him a hug, and he realized his eyes were wet. They released, both rubbing away tears with the back of their hand. After a moment, Thea’s eyes went wide with dawning realization and she jumped to her feet.

  “Wait, what’s the [Skill]? Can you breathe dragon fire hot enough to melt mithril? Fly so fast the very air explodes around you? Or an antimagic field like Zaysus Spellbreaker!”

  She was dancing around at this point as her imagination ran wild.

  “Shhh. No, I can’t can’t do any of that stuff.” Raith was now a bit embarrassed to tell her what the [Skill] did.

  “That’s right! You said you didn’t sleep. Wait, that can’t be it. There’s no way not sleeping is a [Divine Skill]. My uncle has that [Skill].”

  It had been so long since he’d had to explain it to anyone, he’d forgotten how.

  “It’s called [Life in Staccato]. When I use it, time stops.”

  “So everyone’s frozen in time, but you can move around and do stuff? That’s insanely powerful.”

  “No, I can’t move either. Just my mind. It’s like I’m behind my eyes and I can focus on any part of the scene in front of me. Take as long as I want to observe, think things through, control my feelings, or read the pages of a book. Or close my eyes and sleep a full night in an instant, which we obviously found out by accident.”

  “But wouldn’t your body still need the rest?”

  He threw up his hands helplessly.

  “I don’t know. It’s not like I can go to a [Pattern Sage] and learn how it works.”

  A theater of emotions played out across Thea’s face. Confusion became skepticism became disappointment, then transformed into something more thoughtful. The one-satyr performance culminated in a wide eyed epiphany.

  “That’s why you can be so brilliant and a complete dunderhead at the same time!”

  “What the heck is that supposed to mean?” He knew his skill wasn’t super impressive, but this wasn’t the reaction he expected.

  She snapped her fingers, pacing and looking at the ground. Thea was focused and on a roll now.

  “You do the stupidest, most impulsive shite I’ve ever known a man to do. Then the next second you’ve thought through a problem that would have taken me a year to figure out. That’s how you learn things so obnoxiously fast. It’s how you come up with some mad genius plan off the cuff during a skirmisher match.”

  She looked up at him with a sharp intake of breath and pointed accusingly.

  “It’s when you do that blinky thing with your eyes, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t do a blinky thing.”

  “Oh, yes you do. And I’ll be looking for it from now on, you’d best believe.” She said it like a threat. “How old do you suppose you are?”

  Like the entire rest of this conversation, the question unbalanced Raith. He’d never really thought of it like that before.

  “I guess if you’re not counting sleep, I’ve probably spent at least half my time in the skill between reading and thinking and stuff.”

  “Making you nearly thirty at the minimum. Done not a damn thing for your maturity, has it now?”

  Thea tapped her chin thoughtfully and continued before he could protest.

  “And now you’ll likely live longer than me, assuming your foolishness doesn’t get you killed.” She nodded. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

  Raith allowed himself a sign of relief. He was pretty sure he knew what she meant, but needed to hear it out loud.

  “What, exactly?”

  “You know perfectly well ‘what’. I’ll help you break into the library.”

  Raith swept her up in another hug.

  “Thank you! You’re the best, Thea.”

  “And don’t you forget it. Now, let’s get to making one of those brilliant plans of yours.”

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