"So, the voice you guys hear, is it all...?" Jak asked. They were eating at a streetside restaurant, a big plate of a roasted blue vegetable chips in front of them. Heavily salted, it was new to Jak but he quite liked it.

"All what?" Tim asked, reaching for more chips. Jak looked around to make sure they were alone, and dropped his voice.

"All that guy. From the ferry we took. Old man, big eyebrows, scarily perceptive?"

"Oh, right, yea the voice in my head is that guys for sure."

"Who is that guy?" Alya wondered aloud. They fell into silence as none of them knew the answer. A long moonwolf tongue snuck onto the table and grabbed a chip, snout quickly following.

"Well," Tim said, "tomorrow we can leave town and head for the school. Returning students can just teleport with the travelers gate, but we have to go on foot through the forest before we can register the gate for ourselves. It's become a sort of first-year tradition. Seems a little dangerous, but I think that's the point of tradition, you know? 'I did it, so you should too' sort of thing."

"Dangerous how?" Jak asked with a frown. "Haven't we been traveling through forests most of the way here?"

"Oh, you don't know about the Mystic Forests? They are full of monsters. Not your typical wolves and bears but real monsters with magic and power." Alya shivered, and Jak could tell Tim was enjoying the storytelling. "Oh yes, apparently when the school was first started, the founders made a pact with the beastking, to have the school surrounded by the forest. The monsters can train to fight men, and the men can train to fight monsters. Win-win."

"Isn't that a little dangerous? What if people die?"

"That's sort of the point of your wing, Jak. The Elite Guards are also known as the Monster Hunters. You train to fight monsters, and to defend the crafters. You also collect body parts from the monsters, for the crafters to make magical items." Tim arrayed five chips on the table. "You're the hunter, you collect a part, say the claw of a fire-lion. You take it to the crafter," he said, pointing to another chip, "who makes an item, say a bow. He then gives the bow to an artificer," he pointed to the third chip, "who carves runes and circuits that do something-I'm-not-too-sure-yet, and that captures an enchantment from a mage," he lifted another chip, "and behold, an enchanted bow!"

"You forgot a chip." Jak pointed out.

"Ah, yea, there's also alchemists, but I'm not quite sure how they fit in just yet." Tim said, popping the last chip into his mouth.

"So what are you going to be?" Alya asked, looking at Tim. "I'm guessing not a mage or a hunter, so... do you like making things? Or designing fancy runes?"

Tim chewed thoughtfully on his chip. "I'm not sure yet. My goal was to get to the school, I haven't really thought further than that."

"What about the silver rod? What did you spend your potential on?"

Tim sat back and enjoyed the sunlight on his face. "Just being lucky, I suppose." he said with a smile. "Six months ago, I saw some pretty powerful fate-based magic. So I'm going to see if I can touch that somehow. You're right, I don't see myself fighting monsters, and there's not a magical bone in my body that I'm aware of. There's no way I'd be in this school except for that letter from the king. But I'm here, and I'll see what I can get from it." He looked over at his new friends. "I'd say I'm off to a good start."

***

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The group decided to check out the markets one last time. They bought some food to take with them on the two-day journey through the Mystic Forests, and Tim got a thick blanket to put on the ground as a bed. "This," he promised to himself, "will be the worst bed I will ever sleep on. From here on it will only get better." Jak thought about all the nights he'd spent sleeping on a pile of leaves or simply on the forest floor, but he didn't comment. They were from different worlds, and it was great that they could help each other.

As if he could read Jak's mind, Tim turned to him. "I suppose hunters need to live rough, on occasion, but I swear to you, and you Alya, that I will show you how to really live. By the end of our time at Elwind, we will be living like kings! Food like you've never experienced before! Beds woven from a thousand clouds! Clothing made from—" he was interrupted as the shop keeper politely asked them to leave and stop scaring customers.

Jak bought a plain hunting knife, it had a long blade, slightly curved, and looked easy to sharpen. He also got some clothes for him and Alya, better quality than the simple rags they had been wearing. His money was quickly going down, but he concluded it was better to have a good start than to save for now.

As they walked through the markets, Jak saw a building with a monster drawn on the sign. Intrigued they went in, grimacing at the smell. The store held monster parts of all kinds. There were also two very strong-looking guards with unkind faces, watching them carefully. Jak soon realized why. A bucket of feathers had a little card next to it, saying two gold. Per feather. A clawed monkey's paw was 15 gold. A heart in a jar was 35 gold. They looked around, fascinated, before Jak saw something across the shop. It was his club. Walking over, he saw the sign: "Troll's club. High capacity. 180g".

"That weasel!" Tim exclaimed, seeing the club they had sold for 60 gold. His outburst was cut short as they realized the guards were staring at them. Tim coughed. "Well, nothing here for us." He nodded to the shopkeeper and they left before they found trouble.

"Ok, lesson learned," Jak said to himself, "next time we get something from a monster, we find out what it's worth." Ash barked in agreement.

***

The next morning they gathered with about 80 others who had enrolled in the school. There were some tearful goodbyes from parents and friends for some, but others simply stood and waited, having already said goodbye before coming to Makerstown. Jak was practicing his fighting move, and Alya was moving a little fireball through the grass for Ash to hunt. The moonwolf shimmied into a tense crouch, then leapt onto the flame, snapping it up with his jaws. Alya laughed, let that flame disappear, and created another one further away.

Tim had a piece of bread with him, with butter on one side. He theorized that it was unlucky for it to fall on the buttered side, where it would become too dirty to eat. So he spent his time dropping the bread, and noting down in a notebook which side landed in the dirt. It was about the same for either side, and Tim was starting to regret a focus on luck, until he committed himself to taking a bite of the bread after each drop. From then on, it only fell on the buttered side once every four or five drops. Unfortunately for Tim, the bread was getting quite dirty on all sides, with the constant dropping. Still, a huge smile lit up his face, alternating with disgust as he carried out his promise and took bites of the dirty thing.