The purple-orange moon hung high in the sky, just beginning to wane. Only a few clouds drifted by slowly, and the city's rooftops were bathed in colorful, slow-swirling moonlight. Iris was perched atop a wooden awning near a hanging street lantern, reading A Layman's Introduction to Wizards, Witches and Threadbearers

The streets were quiet, but not quite empty. Most passers-by were alone and moved quickly, while the occasional groups only spoke in hushed tones. Even still, a distant, muffled raucous could still be heard from the western-most edge of the city, where adventurers in the bar district partied leading up to the Grand Hunt. Iris was too absorbed by the chapter on sorcerers to be distracted by the distant sounds.

"Almost every sorcerer bears either the Arcane or Matter thread, commonly both. An Arcane Sorcerer typically amplifies and condenses mana, life force or another energy into a physical medium to be molded. A Matter Sorcerer instead uses an existing source of matter as their medium, these sources can range from abundantly available resources like stone to rare material like crystal, and the sorcerers tend to specialize in one or two substances. Sorcerers tend to have a pragmatic dedication to pursuing mastery over their medium, and wield it with a precision and deadliness that rivals that of swordsmen.

Like many of the designations in this book, sorcery is ultimately a doctrine of how to approach abilities, training, and goals. Sorcery principles are frequently borrowed or shared by other doctrines, and principles from other doctrines are frequently mixed with sorcery--"

The lantern went out. Iris peered at it through the sudden darkness, a thin smoke trail from the extinguished lantern swirled around a lamplighter's pole as it retracted from the lantern and closed the hatch behind it. On the handle-side of the pole was a tall, lanky man in a long dark coat, and behind him was a trail of extinguished lanterns.

"Hey!" Iris called out.

The lamplighter looked up in her general direction, "Sorry miss, gotta save oil." He continued on to the next lantern.

Iris sighed and stuffed the book into her bag. She could find another place to read, but guessed that as it got later she'd have to move further and further towards the bar district for light. Instead she blipped atop the building across the street and looked out across the moonlit rooftops as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She spotted a spire in the distance, far from the highest point in the city but still towering above its neighbors.

She jogged across the rooftop until she reached the gap above a walkway and blipped across. Gentle gusts of cool wind were moving in from the north, and fewer people were on the streets. Her boots clunked on the shingled rooftops as she ran, leapt and blipped.

She appeared on the rooftop of a long rectangular building, at the far end of which was a square, two-floor tower with a sharply angled roof that finished in a tall metal spire. Around the base of the angled roof below the spire was a wooden ledge just wide enough for a person to sit.

She plotted a course up the tower as her mana recharged. She started with a window sill, then handholds on a decorative trim, and another window sill before finally making the last blip to the ledge. She played it out in her mind and pictured each step of the process again and again.

With a chain of blips that zigzagged across the tower, she appeared on the ledge with precarious balance. She wobbled on her toes with arms outstretched as a less than gentle breeze caught her robe. She fell back first against the angled roof, planted her feet on the ledge and slid down until she was sitting with her knees at her chest. After a moment to breathe, she laughed at herself.

Her eyes wandered over the rooftops as the wind blew loose hairs around her face. Like many parties, Iris and her teammates were going to leave the city tomorrow, the day before the Hunt officially began. This would give them a chance to break off from other teams and cover ground to their first quests, saving time and trouble on the first day. It also meant this was their last night in the city for a while.

Iris didn't mind it, in fact she was eager to get started, and adventuring was all she wanted to think or care about right now. That was the problem, though, as she was supposed to meet Milo at the Badger before she left. If she woke up early tomorrow there would technically be time, as her party wouldn't depart until the afternoon, but she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She was overwhelmed and stressed out, if she wanted her head in the game she would need to wake up tomorrow wholly focused on adventuring, and more than anything her mind needed a long night out on the rooftops to decompress for that.

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She sighed, and looked down at the purple drawstring sack at her waist, "what do you think?"

The bag said nothing.

Her suspicions that it was more than just a bag had been growing even before it had aided her in the alleyway fight, when it moved it was with purpose and intention, and sometimes with attitude. It was capable of problem solving and seemed to understand on some level that humans need to breathe. When she stopped and focused on the void inside she could feel the same quiet presence she'd noticed on her first day with powers, like something in the dark looking back at her. She smiled at the thought that maybe the bag was alive, but was just shy.

"I wish you could have spent more time in the valley, you know" she said to the bag as she looked up at the sky, "it was boring, but it was home. I would have liked for you to get to know it."

The bag said nothing. Her mind wandered to thoughts of home, to the sun cresting over the mountains and light cascading across the wheat fields, glimmering off the pond and flickering through leaves. Faces of friends crossed her mind, the details beginning to fade.

After a while, she sighed. "You're really not much for conversation," she said, rising to her feet, "I've made up my mind, I'll drop the books off, leave a note, and come see Milo when we return. Sound good?"

The bag said nothing.

Iris leapt from the ledge, plummeting briefly before blipping and landing with her hands and feet on a rooftop. She launched into a sprint, leapt and blipped again.

She slowed to a walk as she neared the Badger. She hadn't seen it in person yet, but had seen illustrations of it and knew what to look for. She scanned the buildings along the street until she found a narrow, three story building with a badger carved into a sign above the door. All the lights were off, and the streets were empty. Taking a seat on the roof, she pulled out a slip of paper, a quill and some ink to scribble a quick note in the moonlight.

"Sorry I missed you, adventuring gets busy. I'll come see you when we get back, thanks for the books!"

"Iris?" an incredulous voice called out over the rooftops.

She quickly glanced around, but saw no one until a lantern flickered to life on the third floor balcony of the Badger. She stood and squinted her eyes, but could only make out the shape of a small human.

Milo yelped and stumbled back, almost dropping the lantern, as Iris appeared on the balcony beside him.

"Sorry!" she said, reaching out awkwardly in case she needed to catch him.

"It's okay," Milo huffed, holding his chest as he caught his breath, "what are you doing here?"

"Returning the books you checked out for me," she replied, "what are you doing here?"

"Stargazing," he said simply, pointing at the small telescope standing beside him.

"Whoa," Iris said, moving in to inspect the telescope, "I've only seen these in magazines, how did you get this?"

"I saved up for months," he said, emphasizing the last word, "I had to replace the lens myself, too, that took another month."

Iris turned and shifted her eyes around the building, "do you live at the newspaper?"

"No," Milo laughed, "I can't really see the sky from my apartment, so I come out here when I want to see the stars. Perks of the job." He hesitated, "how did you know I would be here?"

Iris was quiet for a moment, "I didn't," she admitted, "time got away from me, and we're leaving for the Hunt tomorrow, I was just gonna leave the books," she trailed off.

"Oh," Milo said, shoulders dropping, "I mean that's okay, I'm sure being an adventurer is a busy life."

"Yeah," Iris said, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest, "but listen, we'll be back in a week and I'll absolutely come visit, and you can show me that machinery you talked about, deal?"

Milo thought it over for a moment, "and I can buy you dinner?"

Iris laughed, "sure."

"Deal," he held out a hand, which she shook.

She pointed at the telescope, "can I try it?"

Milo excitedly pointed the telescope at the purple-orange moon, adjusted a dial, and stepped aside with a motion for Iris to take his spot, "just look through."

She leaned over and pressed her eye against the eyepiece. The moon filled her view, revealing the ridges of mountains and shadows of valleys along the rocky orange moon, obstructed only by the squirming veins of purple light that hung above its surface like clouds.

"Whoa," Iris whispered, "what is that stuff?"

"Magic," Milo said, "that's about all we know. At least, that's all the books in the library know, maybe someone's figured it out somewhere."

"It looks so close," she observed, then stepped back from the telescope and thought for a moment, "I guess I never really thought about how far away the moons are."

"Most people don't," Milo said, "they just see a glowing rock in the sky and stop there. There is so much to know though, and so much more to discover. Did you know some scholars theorize there are whole other worlds out there? Some even think that this moon is actually a chunk of a world that broke off and got trapped in the wake of our own. And the stars might actually be--" He paused, "sorry, I could talk about the night sky for hours."

Iris leaned against the railing and smiled, "I'll make time."