Nobody came to save Jane, nobody even came to talk to her for the entire day. A small hatch opened in the door, twice, for lunch and dinner. It was a surprisingly nice stew with bread. The only words she heard all day were ordering her to push her tray and bowl out of the hatch.

Resigned to her stay in prison, stuck in a featureless box, Jane decided to at least use the time to train any of her skills that she could.

She began by inspecting the healing that she had undergone the day before. It was, in a word, shoddy. The bare minimum healing necessary for her to not bleed out, or to have too much chance of them opening up again. The skin was red and raw looking, and she could feel the hole in her calf where the stake had gone through. Nothing hurt, but she could feel places where things had healed slightly out of line and pulled slightly as she stretched.

She concentrated on her healing skill [Vital Hands]. There was no rush, no one was bleeding out, so she took her time to feel the mana flow through her body and out of her hands. The skill activated and her hands glowed. She felt the mana, her mana, push back into her skin. It had changed, it felt more alive as it spread itself through the barely healed wound in her leg. It took a few minutes before the glow subsided and her Skill stopped pulling on her mana, but it was worth it. Her leg was as good as new, unblemished and perfect.

It took her about an hour to cover her entire body with [Vital Hands] and by the end she had drained half of her mana and had removed every scar, spot, pimple and imperfection. She had definitely gained a few levels in her Skill and her skin had never looked so good. Other than being stuck in a cell it wasn't a bad morning.

She looked through her remaining Skills quickly in case she could train any more. Weapon Skills were out, obviously. She didn't exactly have access to a lab either so the sciences were going to be difficult too. There was no one to talk to, and without paper for notes linguistics was going to be tricky. Maybe she could make a plan to present to the council before negotiating a salary? That only left [Combat Roll], and, well. The room was barely longer than her bed so rolling was impossible. Not that that stopped her from trying. She tucked and rolled and came to her feet with her hands on the wall and her nose a centimetre further away.

With nothing else to do she lay back in her bed and stared at the ceiling until she fell asleep. It took her a while.

Before she could join the land of dreams she had a sudden realisation. She sat bolt upright and clapped her hands to her mouth.

"I killed someone!" She exclaimed, before leaping out of bed and running to the hole that served as a toilet. She threw up noisily, aiming as best she could. Once her stomach was empty and she had stopped retching Akaisha rinsed her mouth and hands with the tap above the toilet hole. She staggered back and sat down heavily on the bed.

"I actually killed people, what the hell. They weren't dungeon creatures, they were real people and I killed them," Akaisha spoke quietly to herself, tears streaming down her face. "What have I done?"

She lay down on her side, the thin blanket rolled up and hugged tightly against her chest as she cried herself to sleep.

She felt like she had only slept for minutes when three sharp knocks on her door woke her. A voice informed her that she had two minutes to get herself decent before the guards would enter. She laughed bitterly to herself as she looked at her bloodstained clothes that she had slept in. A wave of nausea hit her at the sight of all the dried blood but she forced it down. She straightened the tunic as best she could, grimacing as the fabric pulled where it had stuck to her skin.

The door opened, showing two tall burly guards, both with short cropped brown hair and piercing green eyes. Between that and their uniforms they could almost have been identical twins, only the beard on the left-hand one and the shapely chest on the right-hand one set them apart. The bearded one shook his hand a clapped a meaty fist down on Akaisha's shoulder. She nearly buckled at the blow.

"[Force Cuffs], [Parade Ready,]" he spoke surprisingly softly, Akaisha had expected a drill sergeant's bark. Chesty barked out a laugh and punched Beardy on the shoulder. Akaisha felt her wrists lock together as what felt like a ripple of mana rolled down her, through her hair and her clothes.

"Ha!" She shouted loud enough that Akaisha winced. "You kept a cleaning Skill! You old fusspot!"

"And I have yet to receive a demerit for the state of my uniform, and it takes me less time to clean than it takes you, my dear sister," Beardy grinned. The pair of siblings set off down the corridor, still bantering, as Akaisha trailed behind slightly, just close enough that she wasn't dragged along by the cuffs.

"But it's a waste of a slot, we've already got four obligatory Skills to stay in the guard, plus a few life essentials, you could have better, that's all."

"Because [Freshen Up] your makeup is essential maybe?"

The argument sounded well-worn, with the two of them going through the motions of an old difference of opinion more than anything with any real bite. Akaisha was shown into a room for questioning and her cuffs were flicked onto the table without them stopping the back and forth. She could still hear them as the door swung closed, going on about who was the most vain for having vanity Skills.

Akaisha slumped over her arms, still stretched out in front of her. She was still trying to process the fact that she killed two people. She reminded herself that it was self-defence, that she would have been robbed and raped and possibly killed anyway, and that helped a bit but she still felt awful. She was left to stew for at least a quarter of an hour before the door opened. The same lady who had interrogated her two days ago entered and sat down.

"Are you ready to tell the truth? Who are you, with which gang are you, and what was your plan?" She asked without preamble.

"I never meant for anyone to die," Akaisha sighed.

"Right, so we're getting somewhere. So what happened, then?"

"I went for a walk, to clear my head. I had an offer, for a job or something like one. So I left the orphanage, and the letter from the council, and just wandered around the market." The interrogator looked like she wanted to interrupt but thought better of it. "I bought some food from a stall as I walked. Some kind of kebab I think? It was delicious, I remember that much. Anyway, I carried on walking, with no particular destination in mind. I got thirsty so I stopped in the first place I saw. I was lost in thought as I nursed a beer, or whatever passes for beer in that place. A guy tried to invite me up to his room, but I said no. Then I left to go back to the orphanage. As I left a group of guys accosted me." Akaisha paused, and swallowed. She was about to get into the bit where she got into a fight. The fight in which she killed two people. Just thinking about it threatened to make her throw up again. She fought it back down and cleared her throat. “The big one, he said his name was Banda, told me to give him all of my stuff and to kiss him if I wanted to go. I refused, obviously. Then the small one got too close. I grabbed the blade and we fought. I stabbed him and ran, but I was lost and they got me hemmed in. I lured them up the stairs in the house, that’s how I got Banda. I was just trying to escape when you turned up and arrested everyone. I’m grateful for that by the way. I could have done without the time in a cell, but I was probably going to die back there.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She paused at that thought, as she realized that not only did she kill people, but that without the guard showing up she would probably have been killed. It was a sobering thought. Not worse than having killed people, but still. She’d had scares before, near misses in a car or that time that she was scuba diving and a shark got a bit too friendly, but nothing like that fight.

“That’s your story?” The Investigator asked, a sceptical eyebrow raised. “You are still maintaining that you are little orphan Akaisha, and it was all self-defence. Well, it’s a strategy I’ll give you that.”

“Don’t you have a Skill for truth detection or something?” Akaisha wondered aloud.

“Of course, just as you almost certainly have a Skill for lying. And so I register you as telling the truth, which tells me that either you are, or that you believe that you are or that your Skill is high enough that it beats mine. So not a lot really.”

“I don’t have a lying Skill though, or even many Skills really. You must have seen them. Although you don’t think that my status is real so why would you care.”

“Exactly. Now you are faced with a choice. Either tell us the truth and give up the rest of your gang, we will be so happy to have two off of the streets that we might even forget about you, or carry on like you have been and I’ll have to send you to Moj’it.” The guardswoman leant menacingly over the table as she threatened Akaisha. Or at least she tried to, however as Akaisha had no idea what Moj’it was she just looked confused instead of afraid.

“Oh come on,” the exasperated woman shouted. “You are trying to make me believe that you don’t know what Moj’it is, really?” Akaisha shook her head. “The most notorious prison around? In a deep bowl, with only one area where it’s feasible to climb in or out, where everyone is left to rot with only periodic deliveries of food and basic supplies. You are pretty enough, you will probably survive with just the ‘three lays’.” She grinned evilly as she explained. “First day you check the lay of the land, second day you lay out someone from one of the biggest factions, and on the third you lay with someone important in the biggest faction.”

“That’s horrifying! Why do you subject people to such a thing?” Akaisha asked, shocked at the casual way the woman described so many human rights violations. Not that they were really a thing here.

The interrogator just shrugged and sat back in her chair. “A few years in there and most people come out desperate to never go back in, it works.”

“There is nothing I can tell, though. I don’t even know enough to try and fake it.” Akaisha shook her head despondently. “All I can say is that I really am the orphan Akaisha and that people are probably looking for me, if you could just check with the orphanage or the guards from up there. Please.”

“Yes, well, I’ll send a request for somebody to come down, I’m sure that in a few decadi it will make it through. Then just a few short months and somebody will be sent to get you from Moj’it. You’ll probably only be in a year or so inside, that’s not so bad.”

As she finished her barely veiled threat the guardswoman smirked and stood up. With a flick of her fingers, she dragged Akaisha out of her seat. Akaisha barely managed to kick the chair out of the way before she fell as she was pulled by her wrists to the door. She stumbled after her jailor, desperately trying to right herself before she was pulled off balance by the mana shackles. By the end of the corridor she was able to keep up at only a half walk half jog compared to the long strides of the interrogator. As they neared the large open space where the guards received complaints, bounty hand-ins and other administrative work, a voice rang out.

“Oh, hey Akaisha! Get drunk with my dad again?” A bubbly sing-song oasis of hope reached Akaisha’s ears as she was being dragged off to a little slice of hell on earth. Or whatever they called this planet. The guardswoman spun on her heel and strode rapidly between the desks over to the source of the voice. Akaisha twisted to follow her arms as they were yanked after the interrogator. A desk corner dug painfully into her hip as she lost her footing and fell. She bounced of off the desk and dropped to her knees. Her wrists were still following her captor so Akaisha slid on her knees across the floor to the young girl who had called her name.

An appaled Stellaire rushed over to help Akaisha up, throwing a dirty look at the woman as she did. Stellaire bent down to pull Akaisha up, her now silver blue and gold hair falling over her face. She helped her stand and flipped her hair out of her eyes before turning to the tall guard, anger smouldering in her eyes.

“How dare you treat someone like that, even if they got a bit drunk and rowdy last night!” She snapped at the woman.

“What? She is here for murder and gang warfare, not just drunk and disorderly. And anyway who are you, child, coming in here, reprimanding city guards as if you were some sort of authority?” The guardswoman replied angrily.

“A concerned citizen,” the pint-sized barmaid shouted back. “I might not have known Akaisha for very long, but I don’t see her murdering anyone, and she definitely isn’t in a gang, she’s only been in Rimwall for a couple of decadi.”

“Yeah, it was self-defence,” Akaisha added.

Stellaire whirled around to face Akaisha, but before she could say anything she was swept up in a bear hug.

“Ah Stellaire, my favourite daughter! So nice of you to come help out your old man!” Taiyo swung her around despite her best efforts to escape from his crushing affections. As he turned he caught sight of Akaisha and dropped his daughter to rush over and hug her. She gasped in pain as her wrists remained in place while she was pulled towards Taiyo.

“Hey, you were arrested too! Were you there yesterday? I’m pretty sure that I don’t remember you being there, but I did have a cup or two,” Taiyo gushed enthusiastically. Before Akaisha could answer he ploughed on, turning to address the man he came in with. “Hey Captain, come over here, this is Akaisha, the one that I was telling you about. You know, the one who drank half of my special reserve and still cleared out a new dungeon the next day. I highly recommend her!”

The short, barrel-chested man in a guard uniform with gold scrollwork on the left shoulder strode over and held a hand out to his subordinate.

“Her file,” he ordered curtly. The tall woman pulled a thick stack of paper out of seemingly nowhere and handed it over. Everyone waited in silence as the officer flicked through it. As he finished he handed it back to the guardswoman and nodded.

“Guardswoman Zellshem, I commend your diligence and hard work. However, this young lady cannot be a member of a gang and as such, it is obvious that she only defended herself. Please release her with our apologies.”’ The Captain raised an eyebrow at Zellshem, who took the hint and saluted, then snapped out a salute himself and strode off. It only took a few minutes more for someone to fetch Akaisha’s only belongings, her bag and coin pouch. They tried to give her the blade that she had fought with but she didn’t want it. Akaisha signed a few forms, increasingly uncomfortable as Guardswoman Zellshem stared at her. When she had finished Stellaire grabbed her by the arm and they left together.