“As a modern, progressive company,” RENA began, sounding like someone reading from a script - which was true in a way, I supposed. “We here at Dimen-X hold ourselves to certain standards. In accordance with these standards, our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team - hereafter referred to as the DEI team - has laid out certain guidelines it sees as beneficial to furthering the fair treatment and full participation of employees and customers, particularly the historically oppressed, discriminated, and underrepresented. As an employee of Dimen-X, we hope you will support these efforts.”
I groaned. “RENA, I know for a fact I watched those goofy sensitivity training videos before I left, so there’s no way I’m due for another speech already. Do you realize where I am? What do you think I did? Sexually assault a monster? Pay my female innkeeper less than my male innkeeper?”
Cadoc gave me another strange look.
“Not at all, Miles,” the artificial intelligence said, with its synthesized voice. “It has only come to our attention that you have - by certain definitions - hired an employee, this ‘Cadoc.’ At first, the company was worried that this would be viewed as slavery, since you are not paying him.”
“Slavery! RENA, you’ve got to be joking. I didn’t kidnap him! He’s here of his own free will.”
“Our lawyers determined that this does not matter. An unpaid worker is, for the most part, considered a slave, by law, which is an illegal practice, as you may know. However, we decided to categorize it as an unpaid internship, instead, which is perfectly legal. Because if it was slavery, we would be providing food and shelter. Since we are not, it does not, in our view, fit the criteria of slavery. Our lawyers believe that this would hold up in court, in the worst case scenario.”
Doesn’t that make an internship worse than slavery? “Cool, awesome, not a slave. So the problem is?”
“Well, Miles, our DEI department is not saying, explicitly, that there is a problem. Only that, your group is now entirely made up of white men. Couldn’t you have recruited a woman?”
“Did you see a woman around?” I was gesturing wildly at the grass and trees around us, and I knew RENA could see.
“Yes, Miles. I believe her name was Anwyl.”
“Her? You would prefer I took the homicidal maniac?”
“Homicide is not strictly against company policy, but sexism is.”
Somewhere along the way, I had started clenching my fists. “So what, I’ve gotta watch another sensitivity training video? That might be hard to do, RENA.”
“Of course not, Miles. All of our DEI initiatives are voluntary, for the time being. We only hope that in the future, you will consider recruiting an intern who is from a less represented group.”
“So being from… a far away land doesn’t count as underrepresented?”
“That was not factored in.”
Corporate interference in another fucking dimension. I’m going to lose my mind.
Tom wouldn’t stand for this nonsense. Some of the tension left my shoulders. Well, at least it’s voluntary. Although I don’t like the sound of the ‘for the time being’ bit.
“As it is voluntary,” I started. “I will simply promise to keep an eye out for possible, less represented… interns. Does that work, RENA?”
“Absolutely, Miles. Dimen-X appreciates your efforts, as always.”
I’d had enough RENA time for the day. I stood up, attempting to brush the dirt off of my pants. Instead, it had the effect of smearing the dirt into the soot and ash that stained them, dirtying my hands in the process. I wiped my hands on the grass.
“Just now,” Cadoc said. “Were you arguing with a goddess?”
“She was being unreasonable.”
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Cadoc shook his head in disbelief. “You are perhaps the bravest man I have ever met. Did she ask something of you?”
“She wanted me to take a woman into our party. Or a minority. Something like that.”
He twisted his lips and eyebrows in a look of strained thought. “The whims of the divine are strange indeed. But did I hear correctly that you owe her something? Are your debts owed to a deity?”
Hesitantly, I nodded. “Yes.”
Cadoc chuckled. “I can see why you cannot escape them, then.”
“Yeah, not paying is not really an option. So we should probably get a move on.”
-
The trip back to Eraztun was mostly uneventful. Cadoc insisted on stopping every hour or so to practice his magic, and encouraged me to do so as well. It seemed like a waste to me, as I basically only got twenty uses a day, but he said that practice would increase my abilities, so I relented.
“How does that work?” I asked.
“No idea, friend. But it’s probably like using your muscles.” He flexed as he said this, like a bodybuilder before an invisible crowd. “The more you use them, the bigger they get, and the more weight you can carry. Magic is like that. The more you use it, the stronger it gets, and the more mana you can use before needing to rest.”
Of course, the mana used to light a fingernail was negligible, so the whole discussion seemed academic, in my case. I practiced anyway, since Cadoc made us stop even if I didn’t. Besides, lighting fires was fun.
Cadoc had been really excited about his magic, but the more he used it, the less impressive it seemed. Starting fires at a distance had some real utility - I was still thinking of possible uses - but what were you supposed to do with the ability to summon a stick?
He started to become concerned as well. I caught him muttering to himself. “Why can’t I get it to shoot out? Or swing around, or something?” His movements became shorter and more forceful with each attempt, but he was always back into a good mood when we headed off again.
He could change the size and shape of the stick, with effort, but no matter what he did, it simply plopped onto the ground.
Maybe my magic isn’t so shitty after all.
While Cadoc added to his collection of sticks, I decided I would try to pour more mana into a nail. Only a small amount was needed to light it, but what would happen if I used more?
I closed my eyes, searching for that pool of energy that seemed to sit beneath my skin, everywhere and nowhere, diffused throughout my body. Even after my short amount of time in this world - although it felt like forever - the feeling was getting easier to grasp. I gathered the waters - not just a wave, but all of it that I could muster - and pushed it into my right hand, draining it from my feet, my chest, my arms. It felt like squeezing a sponge dry, and I imagined - imagined? - a dull, empty feeling where the mana had evacuated. My hand felt like it was bulging, barely able to contain the extra mana.
I had placed a nail on a rock, which sat in the grass in front of me. I focused on it, running invisible fingers along the invisible string that connected me to myself, connected my body to its forlorn fingernail. I held my hand out before me, bracing it with the other hand, like Cadoc had done. I was holding my breath.
I pushed, this time pushing out. The mana ran over the string in a instant, and the nail burst into a little flame.
It was basically the same as ever. I frowned.
Was the flame maybe a little bigger? Did it burn a little longer? Maybe. Probably. I thought so. But it was so small of a difference I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not.
There was one difference, though, that was impossible to mistake. I was exhausted.
Not physically exhausted. I got up, testing my weight on my feet, then walked around. I did some squats, pushups, picked up a large rock and threw it. All fine, all normal. But I felt empty inside - well, not the normal kind of “empty inside.” I felt used up. I felt spiritually and mentally exhausted, or something like it.
I tried to light another nail, with the normal amount of mana. Nothing happened.
So this is what Cadoc meant by needing to rest. I felt like a camel who had drained its hump, which reminded me of the Cho’l. What they did physically was a very good visual for what I was doing internally, I thought.
How long will it take to recover? I decided to ask Cadoc.
“That depends,” he said, preparing to summon another stick as we talked. “When you drain yourself entirely, it can take an entire day, or more. Draining only a little bit makes it refill faster.”
“Well that would have been good to know.”
“It’s similar to how a grazing animal which eats the tops of the grass will cause the grass to regrow quickly, but if you let the animal sit in one place, and it eats the grass completely, it will take much longer to regrow. Of course, you can train mana regeneration as well, and how long it takes to refill depends on how big your mana pool is, too. So there’s no true answer.”
“You’re full of analogies, you know that? Were you a shepherd, once?”
“I’ve done my fair share of work. The polluted do not get to choose their jobs.”
He must have poured extra mana into his attempt, because an especially long stick emerged from the air. But it fell uselessly to the ground, like the others.
He sighed. “Well, Eraztun wasn’t built in a day, as they say.”
-
Later on, we stopped again, as Cadoc wished to practice. I still felt drained, so I decided to take the opportunity to clip my nails instead. I hadn’t done that yet, not on that day.
Cadoc, when he spotted me, came over and stared. “What is that tool?” he asked me.
“This?” I asked, holding up the nail clippers. It was one of those simple metal ones you could get at any pharmacy in the country. Well, in our world, at least.
“What a wondrous device. I have always used a knife, when my nails annoyed me. I have seen body-mages who use other, more inventive methods, but this surpasses them all. Such a tool must be valuable among the higher classes.”
I stared at him. This “tool” probably cost a dollar.
“Do you really think someone would buy this?” I asked.
He tilted his head. “Why wouldn’t they? The higher classes always fret over their appearances, and certainly would never want to have long nails and risk being mistaken for a body-mage - no offense intended, you understand.”
I smiled, voices whispering ideas in my brain. “How hard would it be to find these ‘higher classes?’”
Cadoc frowned. “Well, we’re not getting into the upper tiers of Eraztun any time soon, that’s for sure. Some might pass on the roads, but the ones most likely to want to buy that off of you would be inside the walls, surely.”
Now it was my turn to frown. Cadoc just stumbled upon an idea, and I think it can work. But how?
“What about a watch?”
Cadoc shook his head. “What do you mean? Like, a guard on duty? That sort of watch?”
“Do you have clocks here? Things that tell the time?”
“What do you think we are, savages? Of course we have clocks. We have all sorts of clocks. Water clocks, sundials, all of them.”
“What about portable clocks?”
“What, like an hourglass?”
“Imagine an hourglass, but only this large,” I made a gesture. “And this thin, and it straps to your wrist, and you can take it anywhere. And it has the appearance of silver, or gold, and keeps accurate time down to the second. Would anyone buy something like that?”
Cadoc scoffed. “If they could afford such a device, then of course they would. I would, too.”
I smiled. “Cadoc, we may not need to rob anyone after all. You may have just given me an idea. As long as I can convince my goddess.”