“Have a nice day!" One of the bartenders called out as Zoe and a couple other patrons left through the wide and rather heavy metal doors.

Zoe waved her hand over her shoulder as she tried to remember the directions she was given the previous night. Down the road, take a left down Forge, was it? Then right at the pink library — something Zoe was still quite excited to see, and then she’d end up at the royal office.

What a ridiculous name for something to begin with, Zoe thought. The royal office. She chuckled as she shook her head. Pompous? She wasn’t sure what the right word to describe it was. They could have named it something more approachable — immigration offices?

But, maybe people thought the same way about Foizo’s council when they first arrived, too. Some mysterious group of strangers hidden away behind the scenes trying to manage an entire city on their own. It was a little pompous in its own way, she supposed. She was just used to it.

To the people here, in Injellar, the royal office was just the same as any old store. An inn or tavern, a furniture store or an alchemy shop. Just a normal part of their day to day life.

Or perhaps not, if the woman Zoe spoke to the previous night had never had to go to one. What were they for, anyway? Buying homes, renting homes. Were they just real estate agents, or were they something more? Why would Zoe have to go visit one on her first day here, but somebody who’d lived here — Zoe assumed, all their life never even know where one was?

Maybe she did know where one was, Zoe realized. The woman didn’t say she’d never been to any royal office, but that she’d never been to one around the inn. Was she knew in the district? Moved for work, or for some other reason? And somehow managed to avoid needing to visit the office?

Could she have done what she needed at an office further away, got her permit or lease or whatever it is that she got to move here, and then not checked in with the office nearby? Zoe’s mind raced with possibilities about what the office would be, and she almost missed the street she had to turn down.

It was a narrow street, wide enough for maybe two people abreast with a bit of jostling at the elbows. Marked not by identifying the streets, but by actual signs hung on poles at the street corners. Maybe not everybody in the capital had the identify skill, for some reason so they needed to be accommodating? Or it just wasn’t worth enchanting every single road in a city of this scale.

Either way, it was a very welcome sight in the city, compared to Foizo’s complete lack of any street names at all. Did they have street names, internally? The town was small enough, maybe they just hadn’t found a need to actually label them yet. It was continuing to grow though, and in time maybe they’d put up signs of their own for people to find their way around better?

What size did a town need to reach for it to be worth investing in labelling streets? There was a cost to it, of course. With a handful of streets, the cost wouldn’t be worth it. Just point at the building and off somebody went.

But as the town expanded and grew, addresses would become more and more complicated. Was there some formula that people used to know when it was worth actually labelling roads? If directions to a random building take an average of so many steps, then it was time to stick some labels on?

Zoe was ripped out of her rambling thoughts by the appearance of a large, very pink building at the end of a street after she passed through some sheets hanging from somebody’s window. She expected a library made of some pink hued wood — similar to what she’d used in her own home.

But no, that would be a wooden library. What Zoe had laid her eyes on was a pink library. Formed from what seemed like the very essence of the colour pink. Solid, flat, consistent pink. Windows broke up the otherwise impeccable pink walls, made of some pink stained glass and peering in to the much nicer looking internal structure.

Dark, somewhat purple wooden walls with bookshelves made of a similar colour wood. Hundreds of books filled the shelves, creating a smattering of colour that just barely cut through the intense pink exterior as she focused on the windows for a moment.

“Pink library.” Zoe whispered to herself. “Right.”

A man walking down the road pulling a small cart full of fresh vegetables chuckled. “Pink library.” He said.

“Pink library.” Zoe nodded, continuing down the road to her right. Pass two districts, George said, and then the office would be on her right.

Walking down the road that separated districts was beginning to be one of Zoe’s favourite things to do in the city. To her left were colourful, magical buildings. Translucent crystals that looked far bigger on the inside than their exteriors would have Zoe believed. Stores that floated off the ground, with steps or even in the rarer case magical elevators that lifted people up into the store. If she just looked to her left, the world seemed magical and incredible.

But if she looked to her right, she could almost convince herself she was transported to a steampunk universe instead of the magical one she’d found herself stuck in. Hot forges with the sounds of metal smashing into metal ringing out as blacksmiths worked on their projects. Plumes of smoke that rose out of the dozens of chimneys and pipes hauling some kind of liquid around. Oil? Water? Zoe wasn’t sure, but it was beautiful in its own way.

Soon, she passed through to another district. The magical whimsy and rugged metallurgy replaced with the much quieter rumblings of alchemy pots being moved around and hammers pounding on wood. A short walk later and she found herself squished between the raucous cheers of some kind of sporting arena and the grating noise of chains rattling against each other. Zoe wasn’t sure what from, but if the smell was anything to go by it seemed that district had a number of wild animals being held either in chains, or in chain link fence.

Before long, she found her way to the end of those districts and into another new one she hadn’t seen before. Buildings made of white marble, covered in designs embossed in gold. Dragons and warriors, fishers and athletes on full display in gold opulence.

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To Zoe’s right, almost at the very edge of the district division was a relatively small building. A single story with a flat roof, and not much wider than a small family owned restaurant. Above the front entrance, set in the middle of the front wall were gold embossed letters marking it as the royal office.

Zoe opened the door and walked in. Plain wooden chairs lined the walls to the left and right of the entrance, with a long counter stretching almost the entire width of the building about a dozen feet into it. Along the back were several rooms with glass walls letting Zoe peer into the offices of several workers sitting at desks slaving away at large stacks of paper. In one of the rooms, somebody sat at the chair opposite the worker having a chat about something that Zoe couldn’t hear through the closed glass door.

One of the workers waved at Zoe from behind the long counter, beckoning her over to the right. “Hello, how can I help you today?” They asked as Zoe approached.

“I’m visiting and I think I’ll be sticking around for a few years maybe, so I wanted to get a place of my own to stay at. I was thinking I’d buy something, but somebody I met suggested I try renting from somewhere? I’m not sure what my best option would be, really.” Zoe said.

The worker nodded, his short gray hair falling over his eyes. He pushed it aside behind his ears and pulled out a paper from below the counter. “Well, we’ve got a number of options for you.” He pulled one paper from the stack and pushed it towards Zoo.

“This is our home ownership agreement. It’s a fairly basic contract, but the main stipulations are that you need to commit to being a resident here for at least five years to own a home. If you leave before then for longer than a month, you need to either provide adequate reasoning or pay a fine of one thousand gold pieces. Adequate reasoning being perhaps a family emergency that warrants your moving, or transferring your residence to another royal owned city for meaningful work. That sort of thing. You may stay longer, without needing to notify us.

“There are a number of other restrictions, but most of them are the same as if you weren’t to buy a house. Don’t commit any crimes, don’t incite political violence. Normal stuff. Finding a home for you would likely take upwards of about five months, and your five year residency minimum would begin from that date, not today.

“Rental would be simpler, we should be able to find somewhere for you within two weeks, but it could take upwards of a month. And you would need to sign this agreement here.” He pulled out another paper from the stack and pushed it towards Zoe. “It’s all basically the same, but with one year term increments, and you will be required to either renew your agreement or deny it one month before the end of your agreement. Does that all make sense?"

Zoe nodded. “I think so. How much does buying a home cost, and how much would rent be if I were to go that option?"

“It depends on where you’re wanting to live. Do you have anywhere in mind?" The man asked.

Zoe shook her head. “No, not really. Somewhere on the cheaper end, I guess. Maybe somewhere without a lot of noise and smelly stuff, I guess?"

The man nodded. “Well, noise and smell are two contributing factors to the price, usually. But for something on the more affordable side of the spectrum without being too close to any disturbances, I can’t say for sure until we’ve actually found somewhere for you, of course. But buying a home would probably be around fifteen hundred gold, and rent would likely run you about twenty gold per month. With a two hundred gold deposit, given back when your agreement ends.”

“Do I get anything back when I leave in five years, if I buy a house? Or am I just basically leasing it?” Zoe asked.

“That’s a good way to put it, I suppose. Yes, you would be as you say, just leasing it. You would get nothing back when you leave. The house is yours and you’re free to modify it as long as you stay within any local regulations. But you do not get any cut of the price when we sell it to the next resident, no.” He explained.

“Hmmm.” Zoe hummed. Fifteen hundred gold was a bit more than she had at the moment, but not out of reach if she took a quick trip back to Flester’s Might for a week or two. Twenty gold a month on the other hand would let her live in town with fewer restrictions and she’d be set for a few years. The only question was whether or not she wanted to have a home in the capital, she supposed.

“What counts as living here, exactly? If I own a house here but only show up to it every month, is that not living in it?" Zoe asked.

“As I said, your agreement is broken if you leave for more than a month at a time.” The man answered.

“So I could stop by for a few minutes every month, and that would be fine?” Zoe asked.

“I see, no. You are considered to be in the city if you stay here for longer than a month. You may leave for up to a month, but when you return, you must stay in the city for at least a month or you are considered to have deserted your residence.” The man explained.

“What about renting? Do I have the same freedoms to modify my house as I please?” Zoe asked.

“No, you may make minor modifications — painting the interior walls, hanging up paintings or cupboards. But anything more significant than a few small holes in the walls will need to be approved, which is a rather low priority request, I’m afraid.” He explained.

“Alright, that’s fine honestly. I think I’ll go for the renting option then, that sounds much better, I don’t think I’ll be sticking around for more than a few years honestly. At least not all at once.” Zoe said.

“Excellent. Then I’ll have you sign these papers here.” He said, pulling out a few more sheets from the stack of paper and adding it on top of the rental agreement he already shared. He took back the other sheet with details on home ownership and summoned a pen that looked identical to the one Zoe used in the guardhouse at the gate. “You’ll also need to pay your deposit today, if that’s alright?”

“Yup. That’s fine. A few weeks, you say then?" Zoe asked, taking the pen and reading through the papers.

“Should be. Like I said, it could be upwards of a month but not too much longer usually.” The man said.

Zoe nodded as she flipped through the pages. They were all much the same as what the man explained, though nowhere near as succinct. Most of it was already stuff she’d agreed to when she first entered the city, which was an odd thing to her. Would anybody be renting a home in the city who hadn’t already signed the agreement she did?

One of the pages was a questionnaire asking about what kind of home Zoe was interested in, and she filled it out to the best of her ability. There were a few questions she didn’t know how to answer, but the man assured her she could just leave them blank.

When she was finished signing, Zoe summoned a few gold squares and handed them over. The man took the coins then stamped the papers and placed them in a basket beneath the counter. “Wonderful. We’ll contact you as soon as we have more details for you. Expect it to take two to four weeks, so make sure you have accommodations until then.”

“Thank you very much!” Zoe bowed her head as she turned to leave.