“Inside, Ser,” said Briarrshi, motioning to an empty room in front of her with a head nod.

“It’s Serri, actually,” Seren protested. She shuffled forward a few steps to stand in the archway, but didn’t go in all the way. By this point in the journey, it felt as if she had sprinted from the berth area, and warring within her was hunger, thirst, and fear. Stopping in front of a room that had Testing Quarters #13 written out in five different languages was not helping the situation. “And I want to get my satchel from my ship.”

“Oh?” The older woman smiled broadly this time, wide enough to flash her teeth, and Seren caught the shape along with the color. Red, from the circular gemstone in her upper right tooth. Were she and Jo from the same culture? Or were gemstones and etchings too different? Briarrshi shook her clipboard in Seren’s face.

“Please, show me your identification papers so I can confirm your name. I know you are needing a license, so I won’t ask for that. Afterwards, your established status will allow you the freedom to roam in areas otherwise off-limits to new and unknown beings.”

“I don’t have those,” Seren said, thoughts more fixated on what she had in the shell. Her satchel, with spells stolen from her father and dad, in an unlocked area where she couldn’t see what was happening. At the thought of someone finding them, a sharp twist wrenched her stomach. “Bri, I need to get something from my ship.”

Her answer was two thin eyebrows raised at her.

“My name has not been ‘Bri’ for many years, no matter what irrepressible pirates may decide to call me. Again, you’re to call me Briarrshi or Berth Manager, nothing else.”

“Briarrshi, please,” Seren begged, her hands together. “I need to get my satchel, I don’t feel right without it.”

The older woman tapped her finger against her cheek, not making eye contact. She stopped and gave a curt nod.

“Very well. If you go into the room and stay there, I’ll order a subordinate to retrieve it.”

Seren winced. That wasn’t at all what she wanted.

“It’s my ship, so I should get it.”

“If it’s your ship, you would have a license since you were already in the sky. Before I led you here, Captain Juji told me a tall tale of him taking you up into the sky for your unique voyage. I don’t buy it.” Briarrshi’s eyes narrowed. “Or maybe the truth is that you’re transporting stolen goods.”

“I guess it’ll be okay if I leave it…” she watched Bri, trying to read the woman’s body language. Did the berth manager really think the shell had stolen cargo? If there wasn’t a license on the ship, could she even find the original owner? Seren coughed. This topic was too dangerous to continue.

“I mean, on second thought, I’m sure there are rules here against entering ships and stealing things, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Briarrshi rolled her eyes.

“Go inside. I need to check on something.”

One last step and she was over the threshold. A soft puff of air was her only warning that the entrance door behind her was being wrapped up in dark blue thread, sealed off completely with no gaps to look through.

“Rude,” she muttered, shooting the door a dark glare. The room itself wasn’t an awful place to be. Tiny, but only a little more than her shell, and here there was a desk and two chairs in the middle.

She sat on the wooden chair furthest from the door, hands on her knees as she tried to remember which twisted, narrow tunnels had taken her further from her ship. It was hard since her mind was still full of all the new beings she’d seen in the hallways. Most of them looked like her and Bri, no tails and skin instead of fur, but even so, what wonders and ranges everyone took!

One being had been half snake, the upper half of their body covered in tiny scales that shimmered like small rainbows, even under the dimmer light inside. They’d flicked a long black tongue out at her and she’d responded immediately in the same manner, wishing her much shorter pink tongue was just a tad lengthier. Others they’d passed had included a big, burly, person with two short horns rising from a mass of curly hair, three people that Seren assumed were siblings since she didn’t think white was that common an eye color, and a staff member that had rolled their way down the corridors in a chair with wheels, deftly avoiding beings and items around them.

Fun… but none of that would be helpful in leaving. She closed her eyes and imagined scrubbing away her memories, painting the inside of her brain black. Footsteps glowed gold in the darkness, retracing their steps and outlining walls. A right turn in the beginning, under an archway painted dark blue. Two hallways after that, then swinging right and immediately left. Or was that a third right?

She blinked, and began to trace the route on the table in front of her.

“Ser, don’t.”

There was no question of who the command had come from. Seren looked up to see Briarrshi now standing in the hallway and blocking the open doorway.

“My. Name. Is. Serri.” She cocked her head to the side. “And don’t what?”

“Captain Juji said you were naïve, not stupid.” There was a pause before she continued, slightly muffled, as she turned for one last look out and to the left. “You know what I’m referring to.”

Hands that had been on the table clenched moved to where they wouldn’t be commented on.

“Tell me,” demanded Seren, eyes narrowing in either determination or anger; both feelings were rolling through her right now and neither was a clear winner. “What does it mean that I’m a gift? Why is it important that I’m a ‘blank slate’?”

“Any explanation I give negates your status.” A slight bell rang out, and the moment it did, Briarrshi spun away from the doorway, snapped her fingers at the open arch to re-thread it, and took the seat across from Seren. The clipboard lay face-down nearby. “Listen carefully, I can only say this once. You’re going to deliver a letter I give you, and you’ll have to trust that everything will be explained to you when you get your license.”

“Pay me.”

Briarrshi blinked, pulling away from Seren.

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

“What did you demand?”

Seren felt sweat beading on her forehead, but all of her father’s negotiation skills were solid; she knew that from years of hard-won lessons and being taken advantage of. She straightened her back, looked Bri square in the eyes, and pressed her lips together. While she had no idea what was going on, there was an imbalance in the warm air; Bri needed her, and she needed money for engine repair.

“Pay. Coinage. Money. This seems important, so pay me what I’m worth to you.”

Briarrshi stood up and slammed a fist onto the table.

“How dare you—”

“How dare you!” snapped Seren, repeating the words as she jumped up and leaned forward. “You expect me to do something for you with no gain—”

“Captain Juji—”

“Captain Juji helped me and I helped him; that was an equal exchange!”

The two of them glared at each other from across the table. Seren breathed deeply and didn’t look away. Briarrshi was the first to turn.

“Fine. You’ll be paid ten eyes after you deliver the message.” Bri sneered. “Or I could pay you in towers.”

Eyes? Towers? She didn’t know what the currency was here, but it sounded like eyes were what she wanted.

“Five eyes before I deliver your letter and five after,” Seren said without hesitation. “That’s fair.”

“No. As a messenger you can’t carry anything but the letter.” Briarrshi looked to the doorway, then back to Seren. “The rules: do nothing until you give your message. Don’t talk to anyone, eat nothing, don’t listen to anything. Just get there and deliver it.”

“How can I find this place if I can’t ask for directions?” Seren folded her arms over her chest. A fire blazed within her. Determination. “Stop being all mysterious and tell me what’s going on.”

“I’ve told you all I can.” Briarrshi cracked her right fingers against her left hand. The long, slender digits wove in and out, but with every pass Seren’s vision grew blurrier. The woman in front of her became a dark brown smeared with white, and then that further blended into a shapeless color. “And will.”

“What?!” Seren jumped up, knocking the chair to the floor. Stepping backwards put the wall against her back and it helped, knowing what was behind her. “What did you do?!”

“Don’t panic.” There was a pop. Sweet lavender was wafted under her nose. “Gather your senses and look down. You still have sight.”

Part of her wanted to refuse the order, but a larger, more panicked part of her soul simply wanted to see again. And she could… at her feet. The section of soft, spongy floor was quite clear. From her toes she saw a straight path out of the door, but nothing to the left, right, or behind her. Bri couldn’t be seen in the room either, but she hadn’t left. Lavender lingered in the air amid measured breaths.

“What did you do?”

“Think of this as a long thread you’re following to the end. Walk along it and it’ll take you to the temple.”

Seren blinked, but nothing in her vision changed. Everything around her was a blur of color, and the only clear spots were on the ground.

“I’ll put your coins in your ship.”

“No!” She didn’t trust Bri, not after the woman had stolen her sight. And the thought of someone else in her shell made her ill. “Give it to Jo.”

“First Mate Jo?” There was a pause. “Not Captain Juji?”

She didn’t answer that. With Jo, at least the woman had treated her like another being. Had even answered questions. The captain... being treated like an object wasn’t nice, and she was associating him with Bri, someone else who was keeping secrets too close to their chest.

“Very well. I’ll give First Mate Jo, of the Autumn Sky faction, your ten eyes to hold.” Bri stepped closer, and Seren could feel pressure on her shoulder. “Here. I’m placing the message in your hand. When you reach the White Temple, give it to the priest on duty. Breathe into the smoke. When that’s done, the thread I put around your eyes will fall away.”

Oh. She’d been threaded. Immediately her mind compared this new experience to how her father charmed people to follow his orders, but then the rough touch of paper pulled her attention away. Frowning, she ran the edge of her fingertips against it. It was like the book in the shellship, homemade and with larger weavings for the binding. Seren tried to look at it, bending down to hold it in front of her feet, but the blurriness returned for everything this time. Yanking the paper back made it go away.

“How long will it take me to reach the temple?”

“However long you take.” Such a non-answer. She heard footsteps, at first walking away and then coming near. “The hallway’s clear. Go.”

Not like she had a choice. Seren stood up, one hand gripping the message as the other flailed out.

“Nothing’s wrong with your balance!”

“Sorry,” she snapped, turning to glare at where the voice had come from. “It’s a little hard to have confidence in my walking when I can’t see anything around me!”

“You can’t talk to anyone while you do this.” Bri’s tone was slightly off. “You shouldn’t even be talking to me.”

Something touched her jaw. A hand. She could feel fingers lifting her chin up.

“Bri, what are you doing?”

The berth manager said nothing, and that scared her more than if she had. The fingers hardened their grip.

“Bri—” her voice turned into muffled noises as the touch around her mouth tightened. “MMMPH!”

“However long you take,” repeated Bri. There was a little push in the doorway's direction. Seren stumbled and caught her hip against the table. There was so much she wanted to say. This wasn’t the way to make friends. This treatment only created mistrust. This was scary and uncomfortable and creepy and let her go, she’d rather be charmed any day of the week!

“Mmph mm mmpgh!” she shouted/grunted as hard as she could; the sounds grew softer. And then, she took the next step out of the room… because that stupid phrase was right. If she took longer to get this errand done, then it would take her long to get answers out of Bri, work on getting her paperwork for the shellship, and find a decent engineer. Or steamhead, as Jo and Juji had named them.

The pathway in front of her stayed the same for a long while. In the beginning, every time Seren saw someone else’s feet, she automatically tried to see them, looking up and being disappointed when the smudges stayed in place. She learned to focus on the feet and ground as she walked. It was better that way, anyway. If she thought any more about how she had been silenced, robbed of will, and forced to help, she was going to erupt with rage.

Making her way down the mushroom levels led to two types of feet; workers and visitors. The people working here had simple shoes that looked to be made from cloth, stitched together with thread on the inside. Or possibly by having someone use their thread ability and then making it invisible... Although if that was true, the number of people needed to accomplish this effect was mind-boggling. Seren was more familiar with others that passed by, the boots and shoes and slippers with laces, buttons, buckles, and even a few wide ribbons. The ground remained the same, no matter where she turned or what level she was on. It stayed a soft, cream-colored off-white that gave a little under each step she took.

A sudden sharp right followed by a quick left took care of that. Suddenly she was moving on flagstones, big white circular ones spaced with other colors as rectangles. The air smelled fresher out here, although maybe that wasn’t correct. There were a lot more scents, but none of them were as concentrated as the inside had been. She stopped for a second on a pale, violet stone and enjoyed sunlight. Its warmth spread along her skin and soaked into the back of her shoulder blades. That, at least, Bri hadn’t taken away from her, even if she couldn’t hear or see. Which brought up a weird question; why hadn’t she run into anyone yet? Was Bri at a high enough level to thread a pathway that excluded other people?! Seren hopped to a dark brown stone, the color of the soil at home, then to a light blue one that reminded her of the sky. Freedom.

If Bri was that powerful, why was she working as a berth manager? Did that mean other people above her were stronger?

The stones stopped. Seren stood on the last one, a shiny, glittering pink, as she saw what awaited her. A bridge. A rope bridge with narrow slats of wood, half as tall as the mushroom and swaying above the crowded, dark buildings she’d seen when flying in.

She had to be reading the pathway wrong. Seren turned around and took a step back from where she’d come, but the light she had been following disappeared. Letting out a muffled sigh, she faced the bridge again. No mistake, that’s how she had to go.