Team nine consisted of the group of four humans she'd seen on her way in. Three of them were standing about around a small table, chatting over a little pile of papers, and one was sitting, leaning back in a comfortable-looking chair, his head tilted so he could see the faces of the other.

So this was who she was going to be working with.

The sight of them was a relief.

So many humans in this stupid city had pale skin and long brown hair, cut to shoulder length, but this group mostly bucked the trend. She could almost tell them apart!

Human one was male, she thought, but his hair was longer than any other male she'd seen so far. It was down to just past his ears, and the same bright curly red as Harmony's. His pale cheeks were glowing pink, and he had small freckles covering his face and arms.

Human two was probably female. She had brown hair, tied back into a neat ponytail in a way that Jump-touch's hair would never put up with, and she was a head taller than anyone else in the group. Almost twice my height.

When she turned, her face caught the light for a moment, and Jump-touch noticed her eyes were a bright green.

Human three was male again, his head shaved bald and a scowl on his face. He was the shortest of the group, and also the skinniest, his clothes hanging off his frame and his sleeves covering his hands, pooling in his lap. He had a staff laid over his knees, and the laces on his white linen shirt were dyed bright pink.

She liked him, he was the only one who was wearing any colours other than brown and white.

The fourth was...

Jump-touch couldn't tell.

She was getting better at humans, identifying them mostly by their hair and style of dress, but this one eluded her. Flat chest, so maybe boy, but long brown hair and a skinny chin, so maybe girl? Clothing was no help either. They were wearing a long leather skirt, split at the sides, which by now she normally would have associated with girl humans, but there were other obvious not-girl humans in the room wearing the same garb, and they had trousers on underneath it.

"Eim, Yaris, Shrike and Ollie." Harmony pointed them out in turn, before turning to the group and pushing Jump-touch towards them by her shoulder.

She wished she was taller, so people would stop grabbing her like that.

"This kid," Harmony carried on, "has somehow convinced Erik that they're good to register. She has a [Pocket Zone] and no real class, so try not to get her killed, okay?"

And with that, Harmony turned and strode away, leaving four blinking teenagers and one kobold alone together.

The tallest one, Yaris if she'd got the names right, blinked down at her, a piece of paper clutched in one hand.

"Heyo kid," she took a step back, looking down and leaning against the wall, which Jump-touch saw now was covered in small scraps of paper and drawing pins.

"Ain't you a shortie." She looked up, after Harmony, "how'd you convince the ---- you were old enough?"

Whatever a ---- was, her skill couldn't translate it, only giving her a vague impression of big. Some sort of monster?

"Don't be mean to the kid, Yaris," the red-headed boy Eim- that was almost a kobold name!- pushed away from the wall, a scrap of paper in one hand, ready to be added to the pile on the table. "If she's got a class, then she must be older than she looks, right?"

He looked to Shrike for validation, but the bald human just rolled his eyes, tilting his head to look at her.

If she translated 'Eim' right, then it would mean something like a gambler, or somebody who always moved ahead, despite evidence showing them it was a bad idea. He only needed a second half, to balance it.

Yaris rolled her eyes at him, turning back towards the wall. "Not like we need a fifth, but she shouldn't hold us back too much. Can you fight, kid?"

It was strange, this human method of communication, where you didn't have to see the speaker's face or even body language.

"Yaris, don't be mean," from the skinny one with the walking cane, Shrike? She knew Shrikes, they were a sort of small bird, although she had never seen one. "She's like, seven years old, and Harmony said she had a bad class."

Hey!

"It's not bad!" Jump-touch protested, "it's super good, it's just…" she trailed off, "it's just not for fighting, I guess. But I'm really good at carrying things! and I'm not seven, I'm an adult."

"That's exactly the sort of thing a seven year old would say!" Shrike shot back, and she suddenly realised she didn't know how to respond to that, should she-

"Oh?" Ollie spoke for the first time, and if she'd hoped to identify what pronouns to use for them by sound, her hopes were dashed by their voice.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She was a bit unsure how to deal with it at all, actually. Resper didn't even have proper middle terms like Given Tongue did, and Other didn't use genders at all except for clarification.

Ollie carried on, oblivious to her thoughts, "we carry a lot of gear, kiddo. Weapons and armour, medical supplies, food, despite Eim here," Eim nodded at his name, "doing his best to keep us all in check. Ain't you gonna collapse under the weight?"

"No, it's h- magic!" I shouldn't call it 'human magic'. Just call it magic.

She shook her head, "look" she grabbed one of their bags off the floor, where it was lying discarded by an empty chair.

She staggered as she sent it to her Heart, mentally placing it on the floor next to the wooden card and coin she'd taken off the man in the chapter house only that morning. Her blanket was folded in one corner, and she had a sudden urge to summon it and wrap it around her shoulders.

This morning in that little office felt like so long ago, but only a few hours had passed. She didn't even know where in the city she was any more.

Her own backpack was there too, but she had a [Pocket Zone] now, what did she need a backpack for?

Not dying, apparently, she thought as the wave of exhaustion hit her, wavering on her feet for a moment. "I can store lots more too, about…"

She paced three paces in two directions, trying not to show how shaky her legs suddenly were, "about this much space of stuff. I don't know how tall, a bit taller than me? Can I work with you?"

"Individual items, or just one at a time?" Shrike looked interested now, but his voice was neutral, both hands still on his cane. "If it's only one item but no weight limit, I can still see it being useful for us."

"Do you need to be able to lift it, before you can store it?" Yaris asked.

"Can we do the lifting for you?" from Ollie, watching as Eim suddenly took off across the room, almost tripping at how fast he pushed off from a standing start.

A moment later he was dragging a wooden chair over, throwing himself into it bonelessly, his arms hanging over the back. "[Pocket Zones] tend to be tailored to the class, but Harmony said yours was no good?"

"It's a class for talking to people," she hedged, "Erik called it a Scholar Class?"

He nodded, "your zone is probably intended for storing writing materials and books then. Travel supplies. Five paces is a pretty reasonable size, depending on how deep it is. If we get you to level five, or if we're lucky and find a Card, we can get you a second Class or Skill too."

He put a special emphasis on the words as he said them.

"What's a Card?" she asked.

Her boon said 'a piece of stiff paper', but there must be more to it than that.

He waved his hand from somewhere behind the chair. "It doesn't matter right now, we'll explain later. Can you store magical things in there?"

Around her, Ollie stalked off to find their own seat, Shrike was watching, and Yaris had gone back to reading the little slips of paper, losing interest in the conversation.

"I only got it yesterday, I don't know yet." She eyed up the chair Ollie was dragging back. Eim's was sensible, with a wooden back, seat and legs, but this looked like it belonged in Angel's living room. It was a big plush thing, that could very easily double as a bed.

"Do you want me to store that?" she asked warily, as the monstrosity finally reached their group, the feet squeaking as it was dragged across the wooden floor.

"Give it a go," they grinned, panting slightly at the exertion and sitting down on the edge of it. The chair was padded in some sort of red velvet, and it had buttons, she noted, somewhat bewildered.

"Okay, but you'll have to get up."

Ollie stood, walking over and giving Yaris a poke in the back.

Jump-touch eyed up the chair. "It might be too wide? My room is only small."

It might be the biggest seat she'd ever seen, come to think of it, you could have fit like six kobolds on that thing.

Shrike huffed out a breath as he got to his feet, walking over, and then around it once, his cane tapping against the floor. "[Pocket Zone]'s won't normally allow you to hurt yourself. If you run out of magic trying to put something in, then it'll just bounce back, and a good meal will set you upright again. If the chair's too big then it should just fail at the outset."

Behind him, Ollie ducked into his seat, kicking off their sandals and curling their legs up onto the cushion.

"I keep saying it. Why do you talk like a fucking lunatic," Yaris turned away from the board to look at Shrike.

He started, then scowled at her. "I'm sorry I had an education, your highness." He rolled his eyes again. "I shall endeavour to use shorter words in the future, for your sake."

She scrunched up the paper in her hand and threw it at him, and he batted it away with the top of the cane, before staggering and putting his weight back down on it.

Yaris's face changed, and she closed her eyes for a second, before moving to pick up the scrunched up paper, "sorry."

"It's ok," he sighed, "I'm not helping either, and I'm still not used to this."

He hobbled over and knocked Eim in the knee with the cane, "get up you bum, I need your seat."

Eim stood, as Jump-touch inspected the chair.

"Ok" she said, looking at it, "but I might fall over."

"I'll catch you," Ollie grinned in a way she thought probably didn't signal aggression, but also didn't move to a position where they could catch her. Humans were so expressive, and yet so confusing.

Jump-touch placed her hand on one of the arms, calling that feeling of sending to her mind. This chair was meant to be in her Heart, she told it, it was meant to be there, along that wall, with the backpack she'd sent earlier sitting atop it.

No, her skill told her, too big.

Interesting.

"There's too much chair," she shook her head. "But I think I could do it if my room was bigger. I shouldn't have to lift it?"

"What if we stand the chair up on it's side?"

She considered it. "The room is square."

"How about leaning it at an angle?" Shrike offered.

She stared at the object, trying to angle it in her mind. "I think it's still too much."

Ollie nodded from their spot in Shrike's armchair, "well I guess we need to find another chair. Yaris, if you could be a dear."

"I could be a deer and fucking bite you," the tall girl grumbled. "I'm gonna go get a chair alright, and then I'm gonna come back and bloody hit you with it."

Ollie waved a limp hand at her as she walked away, still curled up on the chair.

Jump-touch stared wide-eyed at what her skill was translating for her. Were they angry with each other? They sounded angry, but their facial expressions didn't indicate anger.

Should she ask? No, that might be rude. If it came down to it and they started to fight she could… She could hide in her Heart, or behind the counter.

I should just ask. They were angry at each other, not her, and it was her job as a Cultural Scholar to sort this kind of thing out!

She looked at Ollie, lounging on the lounger, Shrike leaning back on the wooden chair, his cane across his lap. At Yaris, now coming back with a similar wooden chair under one arm, and at Eim, leaning against the paper-covered board, looking out over the room with unfocused eyes.

These were the people that she was going to work with, how exciting! There was a bit of tension in the air, but that was her job, wasn't it?

She was gonna make sure they all became friends!