Chapter Three

Readjustments II

“How are you two beautiful young ladies doing on this fine day? Sorry to bother you, but one of you must know where a young man can buy a Meridian Academy Medallion, would you mind helping me out?”

The two elderly women sitting on the bench stopped their gossiping to stare at Claudius with disbelief.

“I don’t see why a healthy young boy like yourself can’t go out and earn one himself.” One of the women said.

“I’m just asking because-”

“Helena, you’re exactly right. Kids these days have no drive. All they care about is whatever runs through their head in that moment. They don’t know what it means to work for something.”

“Glenna, I think you’re exactly right the problem with these kids is that they just don’t have any discipline they…”

Claudius backed away, taking Forest Boy with him, and leaving the old women to their increasingly negative conversation.

“No one has said anything useful.” Forest Boy observed.

“No, they haven’t.” Claudius said. First, nobody had seen a girl walking with a limp in the area, now, no one had given a helpful answer as to where to buy a medallion, the only other lead he’d thought of to find her.

Sitting on the sidewalk outside of a bakery, watching Meridian pass him by. He was starting to think he’d bitten off far more than he could chew when the bakery door swung open and a gold and blue uniform caught his eye.

A girl around his age with blonde curls and green eyes, maybe even cuter than Thief was walking with her arm around a dejected looking girl, consoling her perhaps. The pair each held a small tray of some kind of frosted pastry.

“Hi, you’re an Academy student, aren’t you? Meridian Academy?” Claudius said as he walked up to her.

She gave a tentative nod.

“Fantastic,” He said, “My friend over there misplaced his medallion, do you know where to buy a new one?”

The girl’s wariness turned into an ice-cold glare.

“Can you help me out? I really-”

“No, I don’t know where to buy them!” She stepped in close. “Only slimy lowlifes and degenerate thieves buy their way into the Academy with stolen medallions. You know that don’t you? Those medallions don’t come out of nowhere, they belonged to someone who was robbed on the street or pickpocketed outside of a tailor, or a theatre, or a tea shop for it. You being careless enough to lose yours doesn’t mean others should have to suffer for it!” She was red in the face now and close enough to bite his nose off.

Her friend placed a hand on her shoulder, speaking softly, “It’s fine, Lily. Don’t be angry.”

The blonde girl stepped away, still glaring at Claudius, “Don’t even think about buying your way into Meridian Academy.” She stretched her palm out and a flame quickly burst to life in the middle.

“I wouldn’t dare. No, I was just wondering,” Claudius said, “Thank you for illuminating me with your answer.”

With one final glower, the blonde girl and her friend left.

“She has a good understanding of Fire. You were right to back away.” Forest Boy said.

“Backing away got us nowhere. This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Claudius said. He paced around, mumbling to himself. “Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Maybe we’ve got it backwards.” He snapped his fingers, “If looking for medallions isn’t leading us to, then maybe we should look for another thief?”

Forest Boy looked confused.

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Another blue and gold jacket passed by them, another Academy student going about their day “Tailors, theatres, tea shops.” Claudius said, following the student with his eyes.

…

The street thrived with activity while Claudius and Forest Boy sat in wait. It was a gamble, one they needed to pay off. They watched vigilantly, one by the flower shop another outside of a toy store.

The flow of foot traffic was littered with blue and gold uniforms, more frequently here than anywhere Claudius had seen in the city thus far, all of them walking in or out of the tailor. And so, they sat further down the street and waited.

It was some time before the gamble paid off.

A shrill shriek cut through the air.

A gaunt faced boy ran through the streets, shoving his past everyone while a pudgy faced boy shouted curse words at him, a pudgy boy in a blue and gold jacket.

Claudius stepped forward nonchalantly as the thief approached him. He slipped a hand into his satchel.

The benefit of waiting so long was it allowed him plenty of time to prepare.

He pulled out a clump of leaves, given the same treatment as the ones he’d used on Thief, threw them into the air, took control of them and guided them. They covered the gaunt boy’s face, blinding him and sending him tumbling to the ground where a stone disc slipped out of his hand.

He stopped it with his foot and handed it to the all too grateful pudgy boy.

“Thank you! A million times thank you!” The pudgy boy said.

“Don’t worry about it.” Claudius said. The thief was ripping leaves off his face by the fistful, but Claudius simply threw another handful each time he could see the boy’s nose and used his vitality to press them tightly. “Just trying to be a good person.”

Forest Boy finally caught up with them. He grabbed one of the gaunt boy’s arms while Claudius took the other and together, they guided him into a nearby alleyway. “Be careful. This city is a dangerous place.” He said the increasingly concerned pudgy faced boy.

Cladius felt around the boy’s pockets for anything metal, anything he might be able to Transmute and found a metal rod, which he tossed safely out of reach.

“What do you assholes want with me? Let me go!” The gaunt boy said.

“You can answer some questions for us,” Claudius said.

No, that wasn’t right. He took a deep breath and focused. He thought back to the grump owner of the Humble Dumpling, thought of his own mother when he’d broken a window, thought of the performer who had yelled at him earlier. “You’re going to answer some questions for us or else!”

It was harder than he’d expected to sound threatening, “Are you working alone? Where do you take the medallions you steal?”

“I’m not saying anything! You can’t make me talk! I won’t rat out anyone.” The gaunt boy said. It didn’t seem to be working.

Claudius gestured to Forest Boy, to begin playing his part, “It would be wise to do what he says, I have not known him long, but he is dangerous. There’s no telling how he will react if you don’t cooperate.”

“I’m not afraid of some kid.” The gaunt boy said.

“Maybe it would be best for all of us if you tell what you know.” Forest Boy said.

“No!” Claudius said, “It’s too late for that!” He nodded twice to Forest Boy, who lit a candle’s worth of flame, all he could manage currently, and brought it close enough to the boy’s stomach for him to feel the warmth.

“Woah- HEY WOAH STOP DON’T DO IT!”

“That’s just the start! Tell us what we want to know, now” Claudius said.

“I’LL TALK, I’LL TALK!”

Forest Boy his hand away.

The thief calmed down enough to explain properly. “I don’t work alone, I’m part of a ring, okay? We take the medallions to drop spots, someone meets us there and takes them to the buyers. I don’t know his name or anything.”

“Do you know a girl, short hair, long black hair, grey eyes, Transmuter?

“That’s what you want to know about? Some girl?”

“Do you know her? Yes or no?”

“Yes!”

“Where can we find her?”

The boy hesitated for a moment. Claudius slammed his palm on the wall beside his face.

“Her drop spot is in Tyr Park, by the old statue! The old headless statue! We do all our drops at sundown!”

Forest Boy and Claudius exchanged a look. Sundown didn’t leave them with much time. “Fine. Forget this ever happened and you can go. Stay here for three minutes and then leave.” Claudius thought for a moment, pinched the boy’s as hard as he possibly could and said, “And stop stealing from innocent people, asshole!”

After he’d left the alleyway, he let the vitality disperse from the leaves and freed the gaunt boy.

“That was a bit fun,” Claudius said, “It was something I read about, I wasn’t sure it would work, but if we ever have to interrogate someone again, I want to be the mean one again.”

“I’m not familiar with the laws of this city, was that illegal?” Forest Boy asked.

“Does it matter?” Claudius said.

Forest Boy didn’t reply to that. “We should head to Tyr Park as soon as possible.”

“Not yet,” Claudius said, “We need to make one stop first.”