Chapter 190

“Have a seat Jay,” Victor said after Walter had waved at Jay to sit.

Jay did so but began to quietly worry. Was he in trouble? Jay had thought that Carly might get in trouble, not him.

“Thank you for joining us, we won't take up too much of your time,” Victor explained gently.

Jay looked about the table. Walter looked angry. T'lly looked more relaxed. Victor seemed to be trying to keep things peaceful.

“Did you have a chance to speak with any of the children's families?” Victor inquired offhandedly.

Jay nodded, “I met briefly with each of their parents – not Cory's mother though as she's at home not feeling well.”

“And how did you rate the children?” Victor asked. Walter seemed frustrated as if he wanted to move things along but didn't interrupt Victor.

Jay smiled, “They all did very well. I was impressed actually. For a couple of kids they made some great group-mates.”

T'lly smiled briefly and Victor nodded.

“Wonderful,” Victor replied. “Now, if you would be so kind, would you please rate Carly's performance.”

The room grew quiet and Jay realized that they had reached the real reason for the meeting. They wanted to hear his opinion on her performance. Jay could say she did fine and leave it at that but he doubted that T'lly would let him get away with that. Jay decided to be honest. He was horrible at playing politics and preferred to avoid doing so altogether.

Jay started with the good stuff. “Carly saved the group in the end. I made a bad decision during combat and she saved me. I was very thankful to have her there at that moment.”

T'lly actually laughed and Jay looked at her in confusion. “Jay,” she said in her no nonsense tone of voice, “let's not play around here. You know what Victor is asking you and so does everyone else here. So just tell us. What went wrong?”

Jay sighed. No sense in trying to sugar coat it. “I think Carly took the class just to be near me. She seems to have noticed that things tend to happen around me and it seems like she wants to be part of that. I've let her know I'm not interested in being any closer acquaintances than we already are but it seems like she's not taking no for an answer.”

Jay shrugged, his palms upturned, “She isn't in to secret entrances or traps or triggers. She showed no interest in anything during the run and wasn't even really paying that close attention to what she was doing. I've been in a real dungeon with her before and she didn't act like that. I can't think of any other reason why she would have taken that class in the first place.”

No one moved to speak and the others let the silence hang there uncomfortably until Jay continued speaking once again.

“Carly was there but didn't engage with the class until the very last room, the ring event. She did not offer much help when finding secrets or solving riddles. She seemed content to let everyone else do the work as if nothing was expected of her.” Jay finally said slowly.

“And the children? How did they react to her?” Walter asked darkly. Boy was he angry, Jay thought to himself.

Jay shook his head, “At first? Not badly, but after Carly triggered a trap and dumped the group in to a pit of water they all soured on her. I don't think the children think very highly of her.”

“She...” Walter said before he paused to pinch the bridge of his nose as his stress mounted, “dumped a group of children in to a pit?”

Jay wilted under his angry gaze. “A pit of water,” he pointed out. “She triggered it when she walked past me in to an uncleared area by accident.”

Victor shook his head, “Not a good look for her.”

Walter slapped the table, angry. “Not a good look for the Guild! She was representing the Guild and this is how she acts?”

T'lly winced.

Walter quieted down and visibly took control over his emotions. A deep breath. In and out. Walter sat quietly, and listened. He motioned Jay to continue.

Jay didn't have too much to add other than what he thought Carly might have been thinking. “I think, in the end, Carly thought the class was optional and did not require her participation.” Jay said before he took a deep breath and continued, “ I also believe that she did not feel that she was representing anyone other than herself. I don't think she meant any disrespect, but she wasn't there for class, that much was clear.”

The room went quiet once again and Walter could be seen slowly stewing in his seat.

“One last question and you may go,” T'lly said.

Jay sagged in to his seat, relieved. Just one more question. Easy!

“Would you willingly take Carly in to your group, given her recent behavior?” T'lly asked seriously.

Jay shook his head without thought. “Not after today, no. My group needed a fifth for our graduation exercise – we took in Carly. Now I'm reconsidering that decision.”

T'lly nodded before she pointed out, “If she's kicked out of the Guild you will have to find another or be assigned someone no one else wanted.”

Jay looked surprised, “Wait a minute, you're going to kick Carly out of the Guild over this?”

“Yes!” Walter said just as T'lly shook her head and said, “Probably not.” The two traded a look before they turned back to Jay. Victor, who was not a Guild man but a priest, stayed out of the argument entirely.

“Depending on how she handles herself over the next twenty four hours she could certainly be removed from training – remember, none of you are full members yet. She could also be sent back to day 1 of training to do over the entire program. Or she could be given... additional instruction on top of her other assigned work. There are plenty of options – where things go now is entirely up to her.” T'lly explained as Walter drummed his fingers on the table.

“Thank you Jay,” Victor said as he motioned towards him with one hand. “You have been extremely helpful. You've delivered ratings for the children and Carly – would you like to hear your own?”

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Jay looked surprised which was silly – of course they would rate Jay. Everyone else in the group had been watched and rated. He felt a bit nervous but nodded, “Yes, please.”

Victor sat back and smiled, “You engaged both with your group mates as well as the available traps, triggers, passageways, and secrets. You took over the leadership role of the group when it became clear that no one else would do so even though you have no formal training in leadership. You offered advice and instruction to others without framing them as orders. When things got bad you put yourself between the enemy and the children, just as a Guild man should. Your combat abilities, while not your best skills, proved sufficient to the task at hand. I would give you high marks. And all of that is without even mentioning what you did with the loot.”

It was a long list and Jay felt both embarrassed and proud of himself at the same time. The others could see the two emotions warring for control over his face and smiled - except for Walter, who just frowned less.

“You get passing marks trainee. Now go get some cake. You are dismissed!” T'lly said in her command voice. She flashed a tiny smile at then end just to take the sting out of it.

Jay's body obeyed the command before he even realized he was doing so and he stood right up. No one else said anything so neither did Jay. He opened the door and almost walked in to the Guild guard posted on the other side of it before he pulled back and gave the guard time to move aside.

With a apologetic look Jay shrugged and shut the door behind him.

The music had calmed down and was playing a slower song. A few couples and children were dancing, arms wrapped around each other and swaying back and forth. Jay picked his way back over to the corner table.

“Jay, you're back!” Bess yelled and pulled out the chair next to her, “Sit next to me! There's cake!” she said excitedly as she wiped a bit of frosting off of her lips.

The parents of the children had gathered together at the adjacent table and Bess' table had been taken over by children. There was, just as promised, cake.

Jay sat down and Cory passed over a paper plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it. It had delicious looking creamy frosting. Jay took the plate with a smile and grabbed a fork. He quietly ate at the children's table as the kids all traded stories of their day.

There was grape juice too which didn't exactly go with chocolate cake but who was Jay to complain. He sipped his juice and chewed away at his cake happily. It was almost enough to make him forget about Carly.

The fireflies around Bess' head went red and she looked about at the other children at the table, “Ok, who Inspected me!” she demanded playfully and the children all giggled and argued over who had done it.

Jay relaxed and just let the sounds of children and conversation wash over him. He was surrounded by happiness and excitement and joy. He'd spent most of his time so far on Eden either in training or in a dungeon. This was a nice respite.

Jay was visited by numerous adults after he had finished his cake. It was almost as if they had been watching him eat and had been just waiting for him to finish.

The first gentleman had wanted to know the secret of Jay's loot ability.

“There's no secret,” Jay had explained, “I'm an Adventurer class. Upgrading treasure is one of my core abilities. The trade off is that I don't get any combat abilities really. I'm the guy you want around whenever there isn't a fight.”

The man hadn't seemed happy about that – he had thought that Jay had an easily and reproducible secret to generating magical loot. He eventually wandered off to speak with someone else.

A young boy ran up to Jay – not one of the children that had been in the ruins that day but a younger boy. He was maybe five or six years old and he tugged on Jay's armor until Jay looked down and caught sight of him.

“Hi there! What's going on little guy?” Jay asked with a smile.

The boy looked up with an excited face, “Are you rich?” the child asked rudely, too young to understand that his question was rude.

Jay shrugged, “Maybe? I guess it depends on who you compare me to?”

The boy laughed, “You're silly!” he said and ran off screaming as a friend of his ran around the table and chased him. A small group of children then ran with them over to the other side of the room, giggling loudly.

Jay smiled and watched them run. They were so young. Jay suddenly felt incredibly old even though he was barely an adult himself.

A middle aged woman then approached Jay. She had brown hair with hints of gray and wore her hair up in a bun. She peered at Jay with faded hazel eyes. “Jay, is it?” she asked even though everyone in the room by then knew who he was.

Jay smiled and nodded as he played his part in the conversation game. “I am, and you are?”

“Phyllis. I'm the grandmother of one of these little boys, whichever one is named Cameron that is,” she said with a smile.

Jay updated his guess on her age. “You'll have to forgive me but you don't look old enough to be anyone's grandmother.”

Her eyes widened at Jay's social faux pas but then she smiled. One shouldn't talk about a woman's age after all, but Jay had done so in a way that complimented but did not offend. “Why thank you! I'll get right to the point – what do I have to do to get you to run my grandson through a ruins?”

Jay pursed his lips for a moment and shook his head. “You want him to have a chance at a magical item I take it?”

The woman smiled and nodded and Jay tried to explain to her why that wouldn't work.

“I usually fight in dungeons, not ruins or ring events which tend to be safer. I wouldn't know where to take him. The priests seem to know that stuff. Also, I don't always upgrade loot – it happens when it happens, I have no control over it. So even if I could find a place to bring him he still might not receive a reward. He'd be better off with the priests,” Jay pointed out.

The grandmother did not appear entirely convinced and peered at Jay as if she were trying to decide if he was blowing her off or being frank with her. “Well what if all of that were taken care of and all you had to do was go with the group? What do you usually get for a dungeon?”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “I usually start the negotiations with a floor of 5 gold.”

The grandmother looked a bit stunned and quickly glanced at his boots, his outfit, and his belongings in confusion. He didn't look like he was made out of gold.

Jay didn't laugh though. It wasn't a joke and when the grandmother realized how expensive Jay's services usually were she reconsidered and quickly thanked Jay for his time before she returned to her table. Jay saw her hold a frantic conversation with a couple of other adults before they all turned to look at him.

Jay was slowly coming to terms with being stared at by people. He tried to relax in his seat as the children around him played. Another child walked up to him and tugged at his armor.

“Hi there!” Jay said.

The boy looked at him seriously as he tried to remember what he was supposed to say.

“Walter says to tell you...auction?” the boy repeated.

Jay slapped his forehead. He had the auction that night! What time was it? After lunch certainly, possibly almost dinner time by now. Jay stood up and the children all made sad sounds.

“Don't go!” they all yelled but Jay smiled and slowly disentangled himself from the table. He said his goodbyes to the parents. He made sure to say goodbye to Cory, Neiman, and Bess as well. A woman wearing a blue hat was waiting for him at the double door entrance to the room.

“Can you help me to the courtyard please?” Jay asked politely and the woman smiled and nodded. She walked off down the hallway and Jay followed along quietly behind her. As they walked away the noise from the function room gradually diminished until he could no longer hear it at all.

Jay needed to eat something for dinner and then get everyone together for the auction that night.

Jay nodded as they entered the courtyard and he was able to see the setting sun. He had been right, it was close to dinner time. He paid for a cart and hopped in. He would be back at the Guild just in time for dinner if traffic were light.