I sit down and give Kay my whole focus. I want to hear about his test and what it entailed. I can't help but wonder how different it is from my own experience. I mean, how different could they really be?

"Alright, so let me start my saying that the test was broken up into three trials and then they take some of our blood."

"Oh, they took some of my blood too. Thought that was weird." I look down at where my finger had been pricked.

"I think that is the most important part, if I am not mistaken. It is the only part that remains the same every year, so it has to have some significance, right?"

"How do you know this?"

"Well, every year we have people come in and document what the test was like. We have a lot of wonderful firsthand accounts of all the different tests."

"How fun!"

"I will have to show them to you some time." he says, nearly twitching from excitement.

I guess he really loves this kind of thing. I stare at the adorable twitching ears, resisting the urge to touch them, it would be most inappropriate.

"I'm sorry." I tell him. "It wasn't my intention to interrupt you. Continue your telling please."

"Continue my telling, huh?"

"Yes, the telling of your test"

"Oh, okay. You know you say things kind of weird, well really weird. But that is okay because I like it."

"Oh." I say and realize that I should really be careful about the way that I speak.

Coming from the pleasure gardens is nothing that I have to be ashamed of, but many people would dismiss me if they knew. Not to mention the assumptions they will make about me, and I simply cannot allow that to happen.

If I can’t make it in this world, then I will be sent home and would never get the opportunity to clear the dungeon! The thought of dying was not something I bothered to entertain either.

"No worries. It's fun! So many people here talk just the same, so it's fun to hear someone who talks differently."

"Oh, that's good then." I am still going to watch the way I talk, even if it is fun to speak in such a manner. My speech also reminds me of Nila. It was the two of us that began speaking this way together.

“It is a strange dialect though, can’t say I have heard it before. And that is saying a lot considering how many different people live in this town. I want to say it is from the west, no wait I know. You are from the far east, in the middle of the vast desert wherein lies an oasis from which you dwell.”

“That is correct.”

“Really?”

“Well, no, but I like the story. I enjoy a good tale, so let’s say that it is true.”

"Well my desert princess, going right into the test I knew that it was going to be a strange one. They had a tea set out and an adventurer sitting at a table." He speaks with a story teller’s mannerism with accompanying hand gestures.

I blink. I don't know what I was expecting, but that definitely wasn't it.

"They told me that a good adventurer at times needs to be good at taking orders."

I nod as this make sense.

"I know that many adventurers chafe at this idea, but I don't mind it so much. I want to be in a guild one day, so I really need to be able to take directions and follow orders."

"True." I say, and patiently wait for him to continue. I almost sit up straight, prim and proper, but realize that this wasn't the place to be doing that. Proper here would be to sit in a relaxed manner, I calmly fold my hands in my lap and slouch to the correct degree.

"When I hear the person say ‘begin’ I snap to attention. I say 'yes ma’am!' and wait for her to tell me what she wanted me to do." Kay takes a deep breath, cheeks blushing a little. "I had to go and fetch things for the table. Sometimes she would say the name of the item, which was a little difficult because I don't know the names of all of the fancy cups and cakes. They did have labels near some of them though so that was helpful.

"Other times she would not give me the name, but instead a description such as 'Please get me the cake with a strawberry and bow on it' and I would race to get it. They had me get them six different items, pour tea, slice cakes and then had me move along onto the next test."

I stare at him, unblinking for a moment. Huh? He had been tested on how to get things for a tea party? I would have passed that test quickly and with flying colors. How perfectly odd that Kay was made to do this sort of test while I was simply directed to run quickly. I feel that I was given the simpler task, and he was given a more complicated one.

"After that I was even more curious and concerned with what my next test was going to be."

Kay pauses taking a moment for dramatic flair, or maybe not as his cheeks started to flush. He has me even more curious as I lean forward giving him my fullest of attention.

"My next test was to, well to... Flirt."

"Excuse me?" I ask, wanting to ensure that my ears had not been so obscured by the hood that I was hearing him incorrectly. Surely he said ‘hurt’ as in they wanted to test his pain tolerance.

"I had to flirt. I had to show how I use charisma. Apparently this is because there are times that an adventurer has to be able to charm monsters, or that is how they went about justifying it."

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"Is that a skill one can learn?"

"It is!"

"Is that a skill everyone learns?"

"No, it isn't! It really, really isn't! It is quite rare actually, only a handful that I know of. Sure, it makes some floors in the dungeon easier if you can charm monsters, but it isn't something that you have to be able to do. You have to get close to the monsters in order to cast it, and I want to live."

"So they are telling you to do something that not everyone needs to be able to do?"

"Well... It is useful. But not only against monsters. There are things called adventurer meet-ups and socials. This is where you are able to gain allies for raiding parties and such. You also swap information with one another. Some people use these events to get invited to guilds, overall it is an import skill for an adventurer to have! According to the books."

"Flirting is?"

"Well, I suppose that is one way that they can test if people have high charisma."

"How did you do?"

"I was told that I was as charming as, a muddy stick!" he said, puffing out his chest and trying to look proud of this.

"Is that a compliment?"

"I have no idea, but it got the girl to laugh."

"Interesting that you had to interact with people during your exam, and mine was completely solo."

"I would agree, but you should hear about some of the tests in previous years."

"Pray do elaborate on the turn of phrase that you used to make the lady swoon. Or, well, call you a muddy stick."

"There you go with your fun way of speaking. Turn of phrase, hehe I thought that I would only hear phrases like that in books."

I blush and drop my head down a bit so that it is even more obscured by my hood. After just telling myself that I needed to be careful with the way I speak I immediately phrase things differently again.

I suppose if I listen and observe how others communicate my own phrasing shall become more common place. I really should have observed and practiced mimicking adventurers. Though, why would I have? I knew not that my life would spin to this direction.

"Again, it's fun! So no need to drop your head down."

I smile a little bit. "Thank you for saying so."

"Of course! It sounds like you are smiling, though I can’t see so I shall just pretend that you are."

"Pray do tell though."

"Well... Okay!" He grins. "I said 'have you looked into a mirror lately?' and she replied 'no, why?' then I said, 'because you would freeze in place." He paused giving me a goofy smile.

"And how is that a compliment?" I try to comprehend the meaning behind his words, not a pun, not a joke, honestly I could not make tails or heads of it.

"You know, because uhh, because they are so stunning that they would be stunned if they looked upon their reflection… you know the status ailment." His ears drooped precipitously at the lack of a reaction.

"That... I suppose it makes sense, but only after you explain it. One should not have to explain a pick up line."

"Oh." Kay says, reaching up and ruffling his hair. "Well, I've never flirted before."

"Why do you look ashamed of that fact?"

"Because I am 21! By this age most people have already dated, had relations, gotten married, had children and even gotten divorced!" he says getting higher pitched with each statement, until finally ending with his head in his hands.

"I... But... You look my age!"

"Well, half elves live several times longer than other races" his voice coming out as a half mutter.

"Half-elf?" I ask and tilt my head inquisitively.

"Of course, look at my ears!" He perks up a bit, tilting his head from side to side.

"At your rabbit ears? Are you half bunny-kin and half elf?"

"Bunny-kin?"

I point at the top of his head, which causes him to spin around and run to his mirror that hung on the wall next to his bed.

"Ahhh! I have rabbit ears!"

"Are you not supposed to?"

He pulls the ears down gently tugging at them “and they are, well, really soft. This must be a side effect of the spell, though they do look kind of cute don’t you think?"

"Umm... You also have a bunny tail."

"I what!" He jumps around spinning to view his tail in the mirror.

I suppose that one might be easier to ignore. I hear that most pants sold now are enchanted to accommodate for tails. They grow slits just the right size to accommodate a tail. Under-garments do the same thing.

"I didn't even notice." he rushes over to a stack of books and opens the one on top and begins rifling through it.

"Here we are, bunny feet, begin by blah blah, side-effects of the spell..." he reads to out loud, mostly to himself, "are the temporary growth of rabbit characteristics such as ears or a tail."

"I see. So a half elf. In the terms of other races that is equivalent to 14 then?"

"Yes, but that isn’t what is important right now" he brings his hands up to mimic paws “how cute am I?”

"Quite cute, but I still don’t understand why you are embarrassed at never have used wooing words on a woman before." Oh drat, I did it again.

"Well... Most boys my age begin flirting and all the other forementioned stuff."

"So?"

"You don't think I'm weird or childish."

"Not at all, just cute." Not that I had really been around others my own age. They would visit sometimes for etiquette lessons, but otherwise I didn't see them much. "Now, are you going to tell me the rest of your test?"

"Oh! I had forgotten that I hadn't finished." he sits down on the bed next to me, turning to face me.

"My last test was sending out distress signals. Those of us with magic were supposed to create lights and those that couldn't had to make a fire to set off flairs."

"Was there no tinder and matches?"

"There probably was, but I didn't really pay attention since I use magic and all. I think part of the test was to use other weapons to try to get a fire going. But like I said, I use magic so I went boom, pow, sparkles all over!"

"That's really cool!" I exclaim. I really hadn't seen magic used much, and was very impressed by it.

"Can anyone learn how to use magic?"

"Well, I suppose, but it doesn’t always make sense. You have to have the right traits and skills and such."

"I suppose that makes sense."

"Why, are you interested? I can teach you, if you have the aptitude of course."

"Well, I think it would be neat to be able to use a spell or two but I plan to be a dual wielder."

"Oh right, you did say something like that before the test right?"

I nod, making sure to exaggerate my movements to make it obvious that I was nodding. It made me feel a bit dizzy.

"So that is what my test was. Then they took some of my blood and kerpow! I got my stat sheet, well it was more of an eek, errr, tick tick tick, ding! Want to compare? Since we are friends and all."

"I would very much be pleased to do so."

"Hehe, sounds good, prepare to be impressed."

"Can you help explain what the stats mean?"

"Of course!"

We both take out our stat sheets and lay them next to each other on the bed.

Kay's sheet looked like:

Strength: 8 | Dexterity: 8 | Wisdom: 21 | Intelligence: 20 | Cunning:10

Stamina: 14 | Endurance: 9 | Agility: 14 | Charisma: 7 | Health: 90 | Mana: 200

Talents: Speed Reading(F), Fleet Retreat(F), Grimoire Mind(F)

Traits: Bonus to lightning, bonus to armor class

My sheet looked like:

Strength: 16 | Dexterity: 22 | Wisdom: 19 | Intelligence: 16 | Cunning: 24

Stamina: 22 | Endurance: 19 | Agility: 20 | Charisma: 20 | Health: 150 Mana: 150

Talents: Fox Fire (E), Pinpoint Accuracy (F), Elemental Weapons(F)

Traits: Bonus to stealth, talent for rhythmic kinesthetics

Looking at my charisma stat I am confused. When I glanced at the paper when it first came out it had read 26.

'Hush you!' I say to him. I need to name him. Umm, the town was called Xandivier so I will call him Xane. Well, actually I will ask if he has a name, 'Do you have a name.'

'Indeed that is rude, I shall call you Xane.'

He somehow gets the spelling across to me as he says the word. Oh, I like it spelled in that manner much better.