It took far too much convincing to get Magenta to leave Noa in town instead of taking him all the way up into the mountains like a live souvenir. Fortunately, the troll was sensitive to the pain he was in, and left him at the church, but not without the promise that he'd show up in the mountains the following morning.

Which was why Noa groaned as the sun seeped through the windows. He ran his hands down his face, his left thumb having been repaired along with the rest of him by Eliaz, and pushed himself up.

He was back in the guest room Lila provided for him, and found himself staring at Conagan. “This really should be alarming,” he said to the blond.

Lila, graciously, provided a place for all the indentured servants to stay while things were being sorted. Maybe he should have mentioned something about Conagan’s actual thieving, but... Noa figured the teenager wasn't a street urchin by choice. He did slightly regret it now that the blond was invading his privacy.

“Force of habit,” Conagan said.

“So you regularly sneak into peoples’ bedrooms?” Noa raised an eyebrow.

“I... refuse to answer that.”

Noa stared. Great. Something new to worry about━a thief regularly sneaking into his bedroom. “Just promise me one thing. Don't sneak in while I'm in my birthday suit.”

“What's your birthday suit look like?”

Facepalming, Noa sighed. I need to teach them all slang, proper curses, and idioms. Not hard at all.

“Naked,” Noa said.

Conagan made an O-shape with his mouth. “I'll try not to.”

“Thanks.” Noa slipped out of bed, taking a moment to stretch his aching arms and legs. How come mending couldn't fix aches? “Why are you here?”

“Priest Olwen requested your presence this morning,” Conagan said. He opened a satchel at his hip, pulled out a rolled parchment, and offered it.

Raising an eyebrow, Noa accepted it, and broke the wax seal holding it together. He cringed at the greeting at the top of the page━Ardent Noa Kai. “Are you some sort of messenger boy now?”

“Baroness Lila said last night that we needed a mailing system. I'm seizing an opportunity,” Conagan grinned, flicking a copper coin into the air with his thumb. “Want to send a letter back?”

What a hustler... Noa eyed the boy, and found himself admiring the kid’s business sense. “You're not going to get much coin from recently freed indentured servants.”

“Okay, bye,” Conagan said quickly, dashing for the door.

“Wait!” Noa called, halting the blond. “Stop sneaking into places to deliver letters. Knock on doors.” He pointed as Conagan frowned. “And absolutely no stealing.”

“I'll...” Conagan scratched his head. “try not to.”

“At least return whatever you steal,” Noa said, and Conagan paled slightly. He gingerly pulled a bronze aether lamp from his satchel, and tiptoed towards the dresser. Setting it down with a sheepish grin, he started inching back towards the door.

“How many letters have you delivered already?” Noa asked.

“Five.”

“You have a lot to return, don't you?”

Conagan’s sheepish smile held. “Also force of habit? Mostly food.” He pulled a small loaf of bread from his satchel.

Noa deadpanned the boy.

“What? It helps my skills level to use them!” Conagan defended. After a moment longer of staring, the boy groaned. “Fine, I'll work on it, but only because I can already hear Zahur’s moral lecture in the back of my head,” he mumbled with an eye roll before making a quick escape out the door.

A smile stretched across Noa’s lips, and he shook his head. In a way, he owed his life to Conagan as well, given that the teen ran for help. Too bad he ran into trolls first.

Reading through the letter wiped that smile off. Priest Olwen insisted that Noa began his training as an ardent, especially since a high prelate was coming to town from church headquarters. Apparently Priest Olwen had something to give him. Better not be one of those drab robes he wears...

Crumpling the letter up, Noa stuffed it into his pocket, then made his way out of the room.

It took the better part of the morning to even get to the church. Breakfast was long and drawn out with how many mouths there were to feed in Mini Buckingham. At the very least, the crowd gave Noa an excuse to adamantly avoid his betrothed.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Now he pushed open the church doors, having walked the entire way. He did not look forward to the trek out to the trolls.

“Priest Olwen?” Noa asked, looking around at empty pews.

“Right here!” the priest said, scuttling from an office off to the side, cleverly hidden by a pillar. With him came an outpour of aether. “I must say, I'm very jealous about your little trinket.”

“What?”

“This!” Olwen held the lock up.

Immediately, Noa fished into his pockets like an idiot, as if another lock would be in them. Wow, dumb dumb, just go losing priceless spirit-attracting objects, he thought. “Where did you find it?”

“Loic had it on his person,” Olwen said. “Hard to miss a spirit magnet when you're a [Priest]. Besides, it'll do you more good than I for your training.”

“Right...” Noa said slowly, reaching out for the lock. Olwen recoiled, and slipped it into his pocket.

“I think this will be better kept here in the church. Besides, it serves as part of the proof to your remarkable story. The high prelate will be eager to hear it when he arrives,” Olwen explained, and turned back to his office. “Come, come,” he waved.

Raising an eyebrow, Noa sighed, then followed. Typical. Holding onto evidence... he thought. He took a seat in Olwen’s small office when the priest offered it, there being little more than a desk. Some books were stacked in the corner with a smaller stack on the desk.

“You really need a carpenter to make some bookshelves,” Noa muttered.

“That would be nice, yes. Only carpenter in town is older than I am. Barely even whittles anymore,” Olwen nodded, taking a seat behind his desk. “All his sons left for greener pastures. I'm hopeful, now that you've essentially liberated an entire workforce, that regular apprenticeships will start up soon,” Olwen said. He clasped his hands together, and leaned forward with a near creepy grin.

“Yeah, I see Conagan is the new mail boy,” Noa nodded. “So... if you're not giving my lock back, what are you giving me?”

“Quite a bit, actually. For starters...” Olwen trailed, pulling open a drawer with a loud squeak, then shuffling through it vigorously. “Oh, where did I put it?” he mumbled, quickly moving on to a second drawer. “Aha!” He pulled an amulet from the drawer. Noa took the round amulet offered to him.

It was smaller than Olwen’s amulet, bronze, and had a three pointed star in its center rather than six pointed.

“Symbol of an ardent,” Olwen said, Noa noting that it wasn't much different than the pin Constable Loic wore. “I should have given it to you sooner. Anyways, wear it at all times. Then come here in the evenings for your lessons and training.”

Noa dragged a hand down his face. “I'm supposed to train with Lila and Eliaz in the evenings,” he said, even if that'd only happened a couple of times.

“But you are an ardent now. Mustn't shirk your duties.”

“I didn't choose to be one.”

“Do you not believe in the Great Elorn?”

Well... Noa pursed his lips. “I guess... he did lead me to my lock,” he said. “But does that mean I have to be his ardent?”

“I will provide you with a mentor for the mentor leveling bonus.”

Noa deadpanned. I'm being bribed by a church official, he thought. That's a first.

“It is in our best interests to level up our only [Mender] in the church here, after all,” Olwen said, a twinkle in his eye.

“Clearly.”

“Indeed. So, will you accept your mantle as an ardent? It will give you as much bearing as a baron, and in time...” Olwen hesitated. “Let's just say that things will be changing very soon, and being an ardent is in your best interests, young Noa Kai.”

Noa cringed, sensing a threat behind the words. On second thought, bribery is nice, he thought.

“Hold up,” Noa said, raising a finger. “I want a mentor for me and Eliaz.”

Somehow, Olwen’s smile widened. His teeth were astonishingly straight. “I can arrange for that,” he said. “Would Eliaz like to become an ard━”

“No!” Noa said quickly, then cleared his throat. “He's newly married, has work to do, and I can't speak for another.”

“Of course.”

Reluctantly, Noa slid the leather cord of the amulet over his head. “I should go. Trolls, you know,” Noa said, standing up.

Olwen stood, and moved rather quickly around his desk to walk out with Noa. “Don't worry about using all of your aether with them. I will provide you with aether stones whenever you do healings under Elorn’s eye here in the church.”

Noa paused, turning towards Olwen. “I'm healing for the church?” he asked.

“Of course. You'll even get a stipend for it,” Olwen said.

I'll finally be making money? Noa thought, a smile growing on his face. For the first time since arriving in this world, something was finally looking up. No... no, no, no, there's a catch. There's always a catch.

“What's the catch?”

“No catch. You make a bit of coin, and the church collects the rest to continue Elorn’s good work. A ten percent stipend is typical.”

Noa facepalmed. “Ten percent? As in people pay for healings, and the church gets ninety percent?”

“Naturally. You've already accepted, what more is there to discuss?”

Who doesn't hustle in this town? Noa thought.

“Right, thanks...” he grumbled, and quickly made his way from the smiling priest and out of the church, only to be met by Magenta.

“Ah! Human bard!” Noa yelped as the troll characteristically picked him up.

“I can walk!” Noa protested, banging a fist on the troll’s hand.

“No time! You are needed immediately! Emergency.”

Noa’s stomach dropped as the troll sprinted.