I walked several blocks out of the neighborhood before I set the grandfather clock down and went to my haunches. The trip had overall gone as I had planned, tell my parents that I was better off without them and then leave with my head held high. Only I had stormed out with a clock over my shoulder after finding out I had a younger sibling.

My mother had said the clock was mine, so hopefully she would leave it at that instead of pursuing criminal charges. As a Dreamer I could get away with a lot, but it still wasn’t a good image to have. I rested my forehead on the face of my watch and let the echoing ticks distract me. It helped slightly.

I had a brother, he looked to be around five years old, and my parents were getting on in their years so they might have started trying as soon as I had been kicked out. As if they were covering up their disappointment.

Tears began to burn in my eyes, and I let them flow as I sat there. Why couldn’t my parents of accepted me with open arms. I wasn’t that odd, I was deserving of love too. For five minutes and thirty-five seconds I let myself sit there. Stewing in self pity.

After I was done, I got to my feet, wiping my eyes and setting my jaw. A, er, man was standing next to me. For a moment I had thought it was a child a few years younger than me, but he had a beard. A guy with dwarfism then.

He was Solarian, with dull orange eyes and light brown hair. His eyes were kind as he looked up at me.

“Sorry if I interrupted something lad, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright,” the man said.

I analyzed the man in front of me. Short, obviously, with a wide figure that showed well defined muscles. His suit was perfectly tailored and made of expensive material. Gold trim, silver cuff links, intricate but subtle designs.

Perhaps it was all that time spent with Elina but I was gaining a better understanding of people based on their clothing.

The man was rich, rich rich, however did not flaunt his wealth to everyone, instead his clothing told only those that knew the finery that this man was wealthy.

“I am fine,” I replied back after more than a minute.

The man didn’t seem to be bothered by the long silence and just smiled a bit wider.

“Good. I had felt the earlier fluctuations of Intent and was just checking to make sure nothing bad had happened.”

He felt the Intent?

“You are a Dreamer?”

“Yes I am. My name is Arebor Arenoute.”

His name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it at the moment.

“Monty Niko.”

“Hmm, Niko, Niko. Ah from the family of spider silk traders?”

Only minutes after telling my parents I would make a name for myself, separate from them, someone had instantly connected me back to them. That was unfortunate.

“Yes.”

The man pulled out a button with the letter D on it. It was identical to the one I had only instead of bronze it was gold, the sign of a third year. Obviously he had kept it after graduation. Briefly I also played with the idea that he had killed someone with the button and was now using it to pretend to be a graduate of the Rising Dreamer Academy.

His fatherly smile was putting me off, we had just met. Perhaps though I could use him to distract me from my trip to my parents home.

“How did you sense my Intent?” I asked.

Apart from seeing it and actually feeling it with my body I couldn’t “sense” it.

“You are still new to Intent yes?”

I nodded.

“Well then your own Intent is likely blocking your sense of others. Like when you go into a new house you can constantly smell the difference between it and your own. Once you grow used to your own Intent you will be able to pick up differences when another person uses it.”

“There must be a way to mask it then?”

“Yes, with practice and if you develop your Wit to particularly be hard to notice. Like this.”

He held out his empty palm to me, for a moment making me think that he wanted me to take his hand. I wouldn’t. Then, in only a blink of time, a gold coin laid in his hand. There had been no visible Intent coming off of him. It could have been slight of hand for all I knew, except his hand hadn’t moved at all.

“How do I practice that?”

“Two things, by holding all the energy of the Intent within whatever you are using it on, and, as I hope you know, Intent has a lot to do with, well, intent, so by trying to emulate something that you fell is quiet and subtle it will be easier to hide. You let it all just flow out, which there is nothing wrong with, but if you hold it in and think of hiding, it is harder to sense.”

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I sat staring at the man for a few minutes as I thought, making up self training regimens for me to practice subtle Intent. Anything that related to a Dreamers ability was interesting to me. The man did not walk away or grow irritated, if anything his smile grew warmer as he watched me work through the thoughts in my head.

Once I was done assigning myself a schedule I then pulled out my notebook to write it down. He nodded as if in approval and still waited. After I was done I fully focused my gaze on the random man again.

“Arebor Arenoute, your name is unique and familiar.”

“I would hope so.”

“Why is it familiar to me?” I asked.

“Hmm, I was expecting most people to recognize me immediately, my stature is quite unique; but even with that and my name you don’t know who I am?”

“No.”

I wasn’t going to go back and forth with this man. If he didn’t want to tell me I would either not think anything of it or look it up later.

“Ah the lack of patience that is shown in both the very young and the very old. I am one of the eight Solar Council members. I help run the Oligarchy.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed.”

His eyes twinkled, but I was only more confused.

“Why are you here then?”

Our country was run by the Solar Council as the man said. As per usual every single thing in this country was related to the Sun. Every year one of the eight would cycle through for re-election, and the council member that was on their seventh year would be the head of the council, to mediate and break ties in voting. As the Sun State was a country of trade most of the council members were merchants or rich nobility.

During elections the council counted for one third of the votes for the newest member, nobles took up the second third and the final piece was for the common people to vote on. Dreamers, unless a council member or nobility, were counted among the common people.

“It is my re-election year. For that it is best if I am among the people so they might remember me when the time comes to put in their vote. Most commoners only interaction with the Council is in the papers, but by being more out in the open I am on their minds more, so they will likely choose the familiar option rather than a stranger.”

That seemed logical, but he was only one person, there was only so much walking a single man could do in a year right? My interest in his profession waned immediately, I had no desire to explore politics or economic markets.

“I see, thank you for your insight on Intent Councilor Arenoute. I will be heading back to the Academy now.”

He had been a good distraction from the visit to my parents, but I was done with my business in the city and wanted to get back to school to practice and experiment.

The more I sat around and did nothing the more the thoughts of my family would follow me.

“Let me call you a cab, don’t worry its on me.”

He waved his hand and almost immediately a luxurious automobile came to a halt just in front of the two of us, prismatic steam blowing from the exhaust. I was willing to bet money that this man owned the car, and if it was a cab then he probably owned the whole company.

“Get on in,” he said.

“No.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I don’t want to get kidnapped,” I said simply.

“… I’m a Councilor, Monty.”

“That means nothing to me.”

He blew out a breath, but he still didn’t look upset or angry.

“Okay, here, use this to pay for your own way back then.”

He tossed me a few bills, and even held out the coin he had conjured for me. The coin had the image of a hand on it, but wasn’t a minted Solarian coin.

“Think of it as a gift from a fellow Dreamer and alumni of the R.D.A.”

That coin had been made with Intent.

“Is this coin dangerous, does it effect my mind, or will it effect me negatively in any way?” I asked.

I had seen what Ravik could do with something conjured from his Dreamscape, and didn’t trust the man in front of me, but at the same time I wanted to study the coin.

“No, the coin will not negatively effect you, and it is not dangerous to those that I give it willingly to. It will also not effect those around you negatively unless they mean you serious harm.”

My curiosity was beating my wariness, so I took the coin from the mans outstretched hand, ready to drop it should a single thing feel out of place. It was cool, that was it.

“I hope you have a safe trip Monty, be sure to study hard.”

I still wasn’t comfortable, but I nodded and then picked up my clock and left. A few streets away I hailed my own cab, a larger one so that I could stuff the clock in the back, and had the driver take me back to the school using the money, which outside of the gold was the perfect amount for the trip.

—

Arebor Aeronoute watched as the young Dreamer left, feeling his location change within his Dreamscape due to the coin the boy now carried. Then he continued on his way through the middle class neighborhood in that part of the city.

The Helping Hand coin was in no way dangerous to the kid, in fact it could only serve to aid him. The gold represented the max amount of power the coin would use to help the boy in a time of need. Monty Niko was not the only Dreamer he had given such coins to, in fact sometimes Dreamers would come willingly to ask of a coin.

Even non-Dreamers had heard of his “Lucky Coins.” Though most of them only got bronze or silver ones.

He was getting close to the current max amount of coins he could give out, but he always liked to invest in things with potential.

Arebor pulled out a map of the area, though he had it memorized. From an alley way came four members of the police, Arebor had told them to go away when he had felt the kids Intent.

“The Origice family's home is just ahead. Remember boys, no deaths. They are only smuggling drugs from the Glass Kingdom, not human trafficking. None of you will be in any danger. Are the reporters ready?”

It wasn’t as though the journalists could walk in with them, then it would seem staged, which it was. They would have gotten a “tip” about a possible drug bust that the Council member found and be ready to appear at a moments notice.

“Yes Councilor,” the sergeant said.

The sergeant was a good man, but one of the other officers was looking down on Arebor, and not just in the literal sense. A Councilor, Dreamer, and wealthy merchant, and people still looked down on him because of a thing he had been born as. What blind fools.

“Let us go then.”