Skills partially calibrated, based on use.
The little message kept bothering Ana as Tor led the way out of the building. He’d promised to show her around a little before taking her to an inn he could recommend. Nothing fancy, he said, but of the three in the settlement this was the best combination of cleanliness, filling meals, and a price she could afford.
Bring the damn thing up, she said to herself. Summary, or whatever.
The System responded instantly. There was a new line under the experience counter, but she'd seen that before, with Touanne. It said [Storage: 1 Shard.] But there was a new line in her Skills, as well: Intimidation.
She didn’t have any way of evaluating what the numbers by those Skills translated into when it came to actual skill, but she knew that she was good at unarmed combat. Not national competition good, unless they allowed really dirty, really dangerous moves, but good enough to take down most people. So a 4 was probably pretty good.
The 4 next to Intimidation made her grin. She’d been pretty pissed when Tor outright asked if she was a prostitute. Fair question, in hindsight; she was wearing about half as much as the next least dressed woman she’d seen. Probably good money to be made that way, in a place like this, too, and her visceral reaction probably wasn't fair to anyone who chose that profession. And Tor had been trying to help. But the way that he’d cringed…
She’d practiced that look and that voice in the mirror for hours, and in real life situations more times than she could count. The idea that her “say that one more time” face was objectively as effective as her martial arts training was pretty damn funny, not to say satisfying.
Two hands on her arms stopped her just as she was about to walk into a table. She suppressed the urge to lash out. I’m safe here, she told herself. These are the cops. If their boss is anything to go by, she reasoned, then they mean well. As weird as it is, I have to trust these people.
“Miss Anastasia, please,” Tor leaned in and whispered. “Don’t look at your Summary while walking. People will think there's something wrong with you. And you’ll just walk into things.”
“Yeah, thanks,” she said, annoyed with herself. She should have been paying attention, but there was something about having actual metrics for how good she was that appealed to her.
Instead of taking her out the front door, Tor led Ana out the side, through a small armory and into a courtyard. One pair of men and one of women were going through exercises with swords and shields, making the purpose of the space clear.
"This is the practice yard," Tor said. "It's open sunup to sundown, to all guild members who want to use it. That means everybody in the outpost except you, so… you might want to sign up. Are you a member of a Guild already?"
"No," Ana replied, looking at the two pairs as they worked. It wasn't swordplay as she thought of it. Only one in each pair was armed, while the other wore thick, elbow length gloves, a little like those things you used to train police dogs.
"Good," Tor said. "That makes things easy. Switching affiliations can get messy."
"Is it mandatory?" Ana asked. The person in each pair with the gloves would swipe and lunge at their partner, trying to touch them or knock them down. The one who was armed would dodge, block with the shield, and strike back with the sword. No fencing there. Didn't look like there was much technique at all, only reflexes and brute strength.
"Not as such," Tor said as he led her out a gate to a side street. "But in practice, yes. You don't want to spend the next half-year being the only non-member in the settlement. It would make your life extremely difficult. Besides, it's no hardship. Life-time membership dues were set at one silver ages ago. You promise not to break any rules, not to work against the guild, and to answer the call if the guild needs you. That means defending the outpost, the odd rescue expedition, stuff like that."
Mandatory membership. Fucking awesome, Ana thought bitterly. But all she said was, "Benefits?"
"Access to all non-restricted guild services. Guild merchants and Guild craftsmen — meaning all of either, here — Guild trainers, Guild jobs, and rescue if one of those jobs goes to shit. Those are the major ones. And you can sleep in the barracks if you want to save some coin, but I don't recommend it if you can afford anything else." Tor stopped her and looked at her seriously. "You should join up. I can't stress that enough."
"So this is a company town," Ana said. "Complete monopoly."
"Not sure what a company town is," Tor said patiently, "but there are plenty of merchants. They buy from the Guild, which handles all deliveries through the Waystone, but every merchant is free to set their own prices. And the Guild does not abuse its position, I can assure you. We all want the settlement to grow, to stabilize the splinter, and if the Guild was exploitative people would simply leave at the end of the cycle and warn others off. Frankly, living here is cheaper than back in the Primes."
"If you're a member of the Guild," Ana said.
"If you're a member of the Guild," Tor conceded. "But since you normally can't even come here without being a member, that's rarely a problem."
"All right, I get it," Ana said after a short pause. "Let me guess: fuck up, break the rules, and you're out of the Guild. Is that right? You basically have to be a member to survive here, so dangling expulsion over people's heads keeps them in line."
"It's pretty effective, yes," Tor said matter-of-factly. "But expulsion is one step down on the scale from execution. Simply messing up isn't enough. You have to be a real cunt — sorry, a real villain — to get kicked out, instead of just fined, demoted, or thrown in the cells to think about what you did."
“Fine. I’ll sign up." She couldn't buy or do anything without being a member, apparently, so what the hell else was she supposed to do? Run off and live like a wild woman, lawless in the forest? Try to make her way somewhere else, even though these people insisted that there was nowhere else to make it to?
Tor relaxed a little. “That’s good to hear,” he said. “In that case, let me be the first to welcome you to the Bluesky Guild, even if it’s not official quite yet. I was going to show you Administration anyway, so we’ll get you signed up once we get there.”
Tor took her on a circuitous route, showing her the most important locations in the settlement. It wasn’t large, but there were plenty of stores, taverns, and other businesses catering to adventurers, as befitted what was essentially a frontier town. Tor seemed well known, though perhaps that was to be expected in such a small community. Many of the people they met greeted him by name; more stared curiously at the unfamiliar woman. Maybe it was her hair? She hadn't seen any other side cuts so far.
Or maybe not. "Hey, Torden. How often do new people arrive here?"
"Four or five times per cycle has been the norm. Sending anything living through uses way more mana than sending goods, so the Guild likes to gather two dozen people at least before they send anyone through."
"Right. And I'm the only new girl."
"Makes you stick out, yeah. Another good reason to join up. Gives you something in common with everyone else."
During the tour, Ana realized quickly that the comments about her being at a low level were very much justified. The average seemed to be around level 9 or 10, though it varied greatly with some being in the 20s and the lowest, a young man — a boy, really, who couldn't have been older than fifteen — being a level 5 Apprentice. It looked like only small children would normally be Ana's level. According to Tor there was not a single actual child in the whole splinter, though that was going to change soon, with one of the farm girls and a tavern maid being unmistakably pregnant.
“It’s a good sign for a new splinter!” Tor said cheerfully. “They would have both known by the time the last cycle ended, but they chose to stay. Gives everybody some confidence in this place, you know?”
“Torden, what is a splinter, exactly?” The name gave Ana some ideas. Wild, crazy ideas. But she needed to know, especially if she was going to be stuck here for several months.
“Exactly? No idea. It’s a little bit of the world separate from everything else. Like an island, only it’s surrounded by nothing instead of water. You should go to the edge, sometime. It’s not far.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“What’s there?”
“Nothing at all,” Tor said, his eyes faraway for a moment. Then he snapped back. “That’s the whole thing about it. You must have seen the mountains in the distance, right? You’ll never reach them. They don’t exist. Keep walking towards them and the world just… fades out. The air gets thicker and thicker until you can’t move anywhere except back the way you came. It’s a strange feeling. Harmless, though. Everyone should try it once.”
The settlement was regularly laid out, with straight streets running parallel and perpendicular to each other. There were two wide central streets: Main Street, which ran roughly south to north from the gate where they’d entered, and Cross Street, which ran roughly east to west. The two crossed at the eastern third of the main square, with the Waystone dead center in the cross. As they walked north along Main street, the same way they’d come before, Tor made sure to point out Touanne’s shop, a green and white two-story wooden building with lots of windows and low bushes in front. It showed signs of having been recently touched up, even among the general newness of the settlement, and there was a sign featuring a mortar and pestle over the door.
"Why do you call her the midwife?" Ana asked as they passed. "She's like a doctor and pharmacist, isn't she?"
Tor looked at her with blank incomprehension.
"Healer and… apothecary?" she tried instead.
"Right. Well, that's true," Tor said. "But she only came here at the beginning of this cycle, and took over the shop from the previous apothecary — he was kind of run out of town, for several reasons. She says she has years of experience with midwifery, though, and with two babies on the way… it's kind of, what's the word? Aspirational. Her showing up is another good omen."
On the main square Tor pointed out the temple of the Wayfarer, a large building of red and pink stone with a two-tiered, peaked roof and surrounded by well tended trees and bushes. It lay across the square from the guardhouse, dominating the eastern side of the square the way the guardhouse did the western. It was a beautiful building, and apparently the only full temple in the splinter.
“There are a few smaller shrines, and a lot of people have a little shrine to one deity or another at home, but the cult of the Wayfarer are usually the only ones who will really invest in a young splinter like this. That’s to be expected, though. The Waystones need their goddess’ blessing, after all, and they’re always willing to help any guild trying to stabilize a new splinter, so they get some special treatment when it comes to guild membership.” He paused. “If you ever need charity, they’re your best bet, but be warned. They can be pushy once you step inside.”
On the northern side of the square, to the west of Main Street, lay Administration. Built of the same solid stone as the guardhouse, it did not have a particularly large footprint, though at five stories it was the tallest building in the settlement.
“Administrative Captain Pirta lives on the top floor, the same way Guard Captain Falk does in the guardhouse,” Tor said. “The rest is all offices, with some storage in the cellar. It takes a surprising number of paper pushers to run a little place like this.”
“All right. What are those people around the Waystone doing?” Ten or so people had formed a large circle around the obelisk, keeping everyone else from stepping onto the platform. A woman stood with her hand on the stone, eyes closed and looking like she was waiting for something.
“Hmm? Oh, there must be a delivery coming through. Should be any second now if Thair — that’s the woman on the plinth — is doing her prayer.”
Even as he spoke, the world pulsed. A wave of something rippled inwards through the clouds, centered on the obelisk. The air shimmered and thickened above the pillar, followed immediately by a blinding flash and an outward rush of wind from the circle around the Waystone. When Ana opened her eyes again a dozen crates and several wooden barrels stood on the platform, where before there had been nothing.
“The fuck…?” Ana whispered. Magic. She’d been healed by magic, and now things had appeared from thin air. Magic was a thing, and all she could do was to roll with it or she’d stick out worse than she already did.
Tor laughed. “Yeah, it’s a sight the first time, I guess. Gets pretty annoying after a couple of months of blinking the spots away, I promise you, but it’s also how we get about half of our food, so what can you do?”
“Right.” The feeling of unreality that the magic had brought melted away as she felt much more familiar things falling into place. “So you rely on the Waystone to keep this whole place from falling apart and to keep people fed. And this cult of the Wayfarer, they decide who gets to have one? They control it? They must have a lot of influence here.”
To her surprise, instead of deflection or agreement, all she got out of Tor was more laughter. “Not hardly! The damn things are expensive, but anyone with good intentions can put one up and the Wayfarer will bless it. Her cult is happy to foot the bill for smaller Guilds like ours, but they don’t control it! I think they’d be honestly offended if you suggested that they do. And I’ve never once heard of her withdrawing her blessing. Don’t think that’s a thing; once it’s up, it’s up. Now come on, Administration awaits!”
Tor led her through the door of the tower. The reception was small but tastefully furnished and well ventilated, with a bench and a desk, behind which sat a serious looking middle aged woman. She was, apparently, a [Human Administrator (18)].
“Mister Barlo,” the woman greeted Tor as they entered. “Good afternoon. How can I help you?”
“Same to you, Mistress Drisa,” Tor said with a smile, “and may I say that you look lovely today, as always?”
Though the woman’s tone didn’t change, her eyes smiled. “You may, though it will do you no good. Shall I assume that you’re here because of this young lady?”
“Astute as always, Mistress Drisa,” Tor replied. “I don’t know if Captain Falk sent word already, but this is Miss Anastasia. She's an accidental, and she wants to join the Guild.”
Drisa’s eyes softened. “Oh, you poor kid. Such a low level, too. And your Class…” She rummaged around a drawer and brought out a set of papers and a metallic blue sphere set in a metal cradle. “Well, it can’t be helped. Since you’re here you’re definitely making the right decision in joining. Now, first I’ll need you to read these,” she pushed the papers her way, “or I can read them for you if needed. No shame in that, just ask. These are your rights and obligations as a member, so it’s important that you understand them before finalizing.”
Ana looked at the papers in front of her and found again that she could read them without trouble. It was just as disturbing as the first time. The papers said pretty much the same things as Tor had told her, except with more words.
“That’s all fine, I think,” Ana said once she’d finished. “What do I do now?”
“Well, first you pay me one silver,” Drisa said. Ana fished out one of the Bluesky silver coins and put it on the desk. Drisa took it, then asked Ana, "Have you understood and agreed to all the rights and responsibilities?”
“I suppose so,” Ana said flatly. She still was not happy about this.
“Very good. Now, I’ll need you to place your hand on the orb and state your full name, and it will take a copy of your Summary. We encourage you to come in and update it regularly, whenever there has been a significant change. I will ask that if you have any hidden Classes you reveal them for the purpose of this record, so that we can be of maximum help to each other. You should know that you can't fool the orb. It will know if you have a hidden Class, it just won't know the details. On the Guild’s behalf I can promise that your Summary will be kept strictly confidential outside of authorized Guild officers, though we may use the information internally to help you form teams, to choose members for rescue expeditions, or other things like that.”
“A copy of my Summary?” Ana kept her face very carefully neutral. This was a problem. There was the whole Outsider thing, though it was supposed to be hidden. The orb was supposed to see through hidden Classes, but would it see through that? Would it look more suspicious to back out now?
She didn’t even know if anyone would care that she was an Outsider, but since the System was trying to hide the information she’d rather keep it secret.
“Miss?” Drisa said to Ana. “If you would?”
Ana had been staring at the orb like it might bite her. There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silent stillness. Then her hand snapped out, landing palm down on the orb, and she quickly said, “Anastasia Cole," willing her Class to reveal itself until the recording was done.
There was a bright pulse of light, and Drisa recorded her name in a ledger before slowly saying, “Thank you, Miss Cole.” Ana snatched her hand away, and Drisa then put her hand on the orb, whispering, “Anastasia Cole.”
Surprise flashed across the woman’s face, before she schooled it back into cool professionalism.
“Very good, Miss Cole,” Drisa said, opening her eyes and locking them on Ana. She slowly removed a square piece of what looked like steel, a little smaller than one of the silver coins, from beneath the orb, and slid across the desk. “Thank you. Here is your membership token. Do. Not. Lose it. It's an administrative nightmare to replace. Was there anything else?”
“I have some coins I’d like to exchange,“ Ana said, taking the token and looking at it before putting it in her purse as she took out the other pouch of coins. The token had a stylised sun on one side, and the word “Bluesky” along the inside of the edge on the reverse, with her own full name in the center. It had a hole in the top corner, presumably so that it could be hung on a necklace if one so chose.
“Captain Falk wants to know where the coins are from, if you can figure it out,” Ana said, holding Drisa's stare. The woman had seen something, by her reaction, but was it just the Class that surprised her, or the race?
“Anything for our valued members,” Drisa said, her eyes never wavering from Ana. "Mister Barlo, if you would witness that everything goes fairly?"
"Sure," he said, oblivious to the mood in the room.
Tor hadn't been far off on his estimate. Drisa weighed up the coins, got out some tables, and did some calculations. Less the changing fee, Ana ended up with two gold coins, eight silver ones, and fifteen coppers, which Tor encouraged her to take since it was very common to make purchases in copper. That totalled up to two gold, thirteen silver, and thirty-one copper, which should keep her housed and fed for a couple of weeks at least. Ana would have been rather pleased with that if Drisa wasn't evaluating her the way she was.
"Mister Barlo," Drisa said. "I would like a private word with Miss Cole. You understand."
"Oh. Uh, sure," Tor said. "I'll be right outside," he told Ana before exiting, closing the door behind him.