KNOCK! KNOCK!

"A few more minutes," I whimpered into the pillow, enjoying the comfort of my new bed. ‘MY NEW BED!’ The realization took my breath away. As the nightmare of my life rushed to recall itself to my mind, I shot out of the bed towards the window, one thought echoing in my skull: 'Did I oversleep? On my first day on the job?'

Mercifully, when I opened the curtains, the rays of the morning sun did not cut into my eyes, nor did they light up my new attic room. It was still dark outside - at least as dark as it could be in the city. Even at this hour, many of the windows were already lit up with magic light, and the same was true of the main streets, where street lamps defended them against the darkness. And then, of course, there were the diaglyphs, which made the city center shine the most.

"Korra? Are you up?" Mrs. Scoresby's voice came from behind the door.

"Y-yeah. I mean, yes, I am. Come on in. It's not locked," I blurted out, my voice more raspy than I would have liked, close to the snarl of an upset beast. Nothing unusual, though. That's just how I felt in the mornings - and about locking the door, apparently. It wasn't that they didn't give me a key, but when it came to locking the door last night, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't shut myself in the room, even though there was a window I knew I could possibly escape through.

"Good morning, my dear," Mrs. Scoresby said as she opened the door but remained standing in the hallway. "I'm sorry to have woken you; nothing I want you to get used to, dear. Although Liam and I know how hard it can be for people like you to adjust."

"N-no. No, it's all right. I'm grateful to you. I'd hate to oversleep."

The old woman chuckled. "Oh, so you slept well?"

"Shouldn't I?"

"You definitely should, and I'm glad to hear that you did. But you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones."

"Why?"

'I mean, I sure lucked out running into Scoresby, but that wasn't what she meant.'

"Many people who have suffered the same fate as you have trouble finding sleep in a place like this..." she said, gesturing to my room. "I found more than one huddled in the corner of the room after a sleepless night."

"Oh, I see. Then I'm really lucky. I was dead to the world all night."

Not just empty words. A quick dive into my mind revealed a number of Lattice notifications.

* You were poisoned

* You died

* You were poisoned

* You were poisoned

* You died

'Good job, Sage,' I thought towards my tail, my murderer, now casually swaying behind me. But as I began to wonder how many glyphs my new weaves had acquired, something Mrs. Scoresby said stood out in my mind.

"You had other slaves here?"

"Liam didn't tell you?" The old woman wondered, only to shake her head. "That's just like him. He never liked to talk about it. But it's something that will be better said at breakfast, don't you think?"

My ears perked up. "Breakfast?"

Mrs. Scoresby laughed. "Yes, dear. Did you think I would let you leave on an empty stomach? Clean yourself up and come downstairs before the bacon gets cold."

'B-b-bacon?'

If I hadn't known Mrs. Scoresby would find it unseemly, I would have run down the stairs as I was. But instead, I made my bed and went through the usual morning business in record time before having the best breakfast ever.

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─◇─◇─◇─

Well, it turns out that Mr. and Mrs. Scoresby, in their prime, helped more than one slave get back on their feet. More than a dozen like me had slept in that room alone before me. Did that weird me out? Not at all. I had stayed in hotels whose beds had seen more visitors than that. But what I couldn't get out of my head as I walked from Scoresby's Goods & Wares to the stables lying in the shadow of the city walls were the fates of those who had slept in mine.

'How did they fare?'

Had they managed to escape the life their masters had thrown them into, or had they slipped back into being slaves? All Scoresby told me was that some fared well, others worse. Only a few kept in touch with him, and even fewer returned his kindness.

'My case!'

No matter what, as soon as I had the ability, I was determined to show them my gratitude - to repay my dues. And honestly, I owed them more than they knew.

But I was already working on removing the threat from their lives, and mine - or I should say, others were on it, while I did my worst to act as normal as I possibly could. Even my morning trip to my first job in this world raised a few eyebrows when I sniffed my tail now and then.

* You were poisoned

Sure, it made me tired, for a moment, yet I couldn't help myself. After all, in one night, my [Tail of Poison Empress] weave got a whopping six glyphs.

─◇────────────────────────────────────────

Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Age: 27

1st Array: Slave

Master: None

Sigils: 97 - ○○○○○○

─◇────────────────────────────────────────

WEAVES: 1ST ARRAY (6/6)

Eleaden Standard Language (General): ….….... 20 glyphs - ⦿⦿

Indomitable Will (Slave): ................................... 111 glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿

Spatial Domain (General): ...................................13 glyphs - ⦿⦿

Equilibrium (General): ........................................... 7 glyphs - ⦿

Never-Dying (General): .................................. 1 → 4 glyphs - ⦿

Tail of Poison Empress (General): ............... 1 → 7 glyphs - ⦿

─◇────────────────────────────────────────

To add to my joy, the work of the Fae runes on my chest counted as an accomplishment of [Never-Dying]. Or was it the work of the weave alone, now that I had it?

‘I guess something akin to the millennia-old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg?’

Of course, by sniffing my tail, I wasn't trying to drop dead in the street - the three glyphs added to the weave were more than enough for one night, in my opinion. I only wanted to see if it was the level of poisoning that mattered with [Tail of Poison Empress] or actually poisoning your prey to death - something hinted at in the description of the weave.

Well, it turns out that the walk to the stables was too short for me to figure it out. No new glyph got engraved on my weave. Was I disappointed? No, not really. After all, I made it to the stables without a guide.

'You're not quite a lost cause yet, Korra,' I thought to myself, wiping my sweaty hands on my shorts as I stood in front of the entrance to the stables, simply named [Stables], looking up. The first rays of the morning sun had just hit the tops of the roofs.

'Just on time.'

Relief, however, quickly gave way to unease.

While knowing what could have been in store for me during my work in the stables, there were still things that would be out of my hands - so to speak. There was no telling how the scalehoofs would react to me today, or those in the other buildings who had not tasted my beast might. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Stable Master Hale changed his mind about hiring me, and if he didn’t, I couldn't help wondering who might be the one under whose wing I would be entrusted. Will it be a male or female, human or someone of another race?

So many questions weighed on my mind, not to mention the note. It burned in the back of my brain like hot coals in my pocket - so to speak. Of course I didn't keep it in my pocket, even though I had them now. However, having it in my spatial ring brought me no more ease.

'Seriously, I should have gotten rid of that piece of paper and forgotten all about it.'

In fact, I still could.

Yet I left the note where it was, and instead of destroying it, I took a deep breath and made my way to what I assumed were the offices, following in the footsteps of several people entering the stables.