As far as Jeb could tell, the Capital had not changed in the slightest since the last time he had been there. Sure, he was in a district that he had never seen before, but the overwhelming feeling of chaos remained. People rushed from building to building, nearly colliding with the vehicles that moved as though there was no regulation on where they could travel. Jeb saw businesses offering anything that he could imagine purchasing. A few more glances showed him offerings that he could never imagine.

Jeb shook himself, focusing on his goal. He was not here to window shop and admire all of the wondrous items he could purchase in another life. He was here to find a caravan heading towards his home.

Jeb looked around for anything that might lead him to where caravans congregated. Nothing stood out immediately. As he kept looking around, he remembered seeing different traveling caravans during the time the Censusmaster had taken him to the Capital. They tended to spend times in inns, at least while on the road. Jeb spotted an inn and made his way over.

He opened the door to a quiet but busy space. Nearly every table had at least one person sitting at it, quietly nursing a bowl of something steaming. Jeb walked to the counter and waved the Innkeeper down.

“Good morning to you sir,” the Innkeeper inclined his head, “would you be interested in a bite to eat?” Seeing that Jeb was about to refuse, he hurried to add, “the freezing Enchantment I have just broke down this morning, and I need to get rid of the stored food within it, so I can offer something at a very reasonable price.”

“I just ate,” Jeb replied, avoiding the fact that he did not have any money, let alone money on his person. “I would be willing to try fixing your Enchantment if you would like, though.”

The Innkeeper squinted at him. “I’m sorry to refuse, sir, but I cannot afford the price to repair the Enchantment. Thank you for the kind offer, though. If you aren’t looking for food-” Jeb held up a hand to stop him.

“Would you be willing to accept the repairs for trade?” Jeb had spent enough time following his grandfather around town to know that many people were leery of accepting aid, especially from strangers.

The Innkeeper’s eyes narrowed further. “If you are a licensed Enchanter, working for anything but Guild rates would put your membership in danger.” The unspoken comment that Jeb was clearly not a licensed Enchanter was not lost on him.

“Oh!” Jeb replied, “I’m not a licensed Enchanter. Sorry, I hadn’t meant to convey anything to that effect. I am a student at the Academy.”

For whatever reason, hearing that Jeb was a student made all of the Innkeeper’s tension fall out of him. “Ah. I’d been wondering why someone as-” he paused for a moment, clearly considering how to refer to Jeb, “well, suffice it to say that you being an Enchanting student certainly makes sense. Let me guess, you would like to trade repairs for a meal?” He gave a knowing grin at Jeb, “I remember my own days as an Apprentice. Even though my master fed me enough to keep me growing, I never turned down an offered bite.”

Jeb nodded, more out of politeness than any real desire to eat something. “That had been my hope.”

The Innkeeper shrugged. “I suppose there isn’t much you can do to make the Enchantment more broken. Come on back,” he said, gesturing for Jeb to come behind the bar.

The inn’s kitchens were as clean as the front had been and spoke of an Innkeeper who loved the work. Jeb felt drawn to the freezer and realized with a start that he suddenly had access to his Status again. His Magic Skill was screaming at him that there was a piece of broken Magic in front of him. It could have saved the effort. Jeb could tell with a single glance what was wrong with the Enchantment.

For whatever reason, the Enchanter who had made it initially had used an incredibly soft piece of metal. As water condensed and froze on it, the lines of the Enchantment slowly warped until they were no longer functional. Despite that, Jeb was fairly certain that he could recreate the Enchantment himself, since it seemed shockingly similar to one of the Enchantments that he had learned the previous term.

“Could you get me a sheet of steel?” Jeb asked the Innkeeper without turning around.

“Can you give me any more details than that?” the Innkeeper replied patiently.

Jeb turned around, broken Enchantment in hand. “Something the thickness of an average bucket would be perfect. As far as dimensions, something about as large as this piece would be ideal.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Would this work?” the Innkeeper asked, pulling a small plate of metal from a shelf.

Jeb took it and looked. “This should work,” he said, nodding and turning back around to face the slowly warming freezer. Thankfully, whoever had made the freezer had done a much better job insulating it than they had with the Enchantment. Jeb wouldn’t be dawdling in replacing it, but it was nice to know that he was not under any particular rush to finish.

As he went to begin Enchanting it, he reached out absently for an etching tool like he would usually use to inscribe an Enchantment into a piece of steel. As his hand found nothing but air, he remembered where he was. Hmm, Jeb thought to himself, how can I Enchant this without making a physical mark?

He thought about the Enchantments that most of his classmates wrought. Very few of them had any physical cues showing that they were Enchanted, as though they were able to push the Magic into a piece of material without anything physical. Jeb wasn’t at that level of expertise, he knew, but the fact remained that he should not need to physically etch the surface with his Enchantment.

A glance at his Status reminded Jeb that he had access to Least Create Fire and Least Shape Fire at that moment. Between the two of those, he was positive that he would be able to shape the Enchantment in heat on the metal. From there, he reasoned, it would be easy enough to convince the rapidly cooling piece of steel that it wanted to continue cooling.

Shielding the block from the Innkeeper’s gaze, Jeb made a small flame in replica of the Enchantment. The metal directly under it began to heat, and as the heat started to leak out into the surrounding metal, Jeb pushed with his mind to make the Enchantment set. It was a strange feeling to use both a Glyph and try to Enchant something at once. It almost felt like Jeb was trying to draw with both hands at once. If not for his Magic Skill encompassing both pieces of Magic, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to make it work.

When the Enchantment set, Jeb immediately felt the steel begin to cool. By the time that the heated parts of the steel had dropped below room temperature, Jeb was affixing the plate to the same place that the first sheet had come from. “That should be everything,” Jeb said, turning to the Innkeeper.

The Innkeeper frowned. “I didn’t see you do anything.” He opened the freezer and seemed surprised that it was cooling off again. “But it looks like you’ve done it.” Under his breath, he continued, “even if this only holds out for the day, it is still well worth a meal.” Facing Jeb, he raised his voice back to a conversational level, “what can I get you?”

Jeb shrugged. “Is there anything that this inn is known for?”

The Innkeeper smiled. “We make the best hand pies in the Capital,” he said proudly.

“One of those would be fantastic then,” Jeb said.

“I’ll have that right out to you,” the Innkeeper replied, holding open the door to the common room. Jeb took the hint and moved back outside. His going to the backroom clearly had not gone unnoticed by the other customers of the inn. One came up to Jeb as he sat at the bar.

“What were you doing in the kitchen?” he asked, tone somehow putting Jeb on edge.

“I was repairing the Innkeeper’s freezer,” Jeb replied. “Why?”

The man smiled. It was a cold smile, for all that there was joy in it. It was clearly the kind of joy that came at someone’s expense. “I heard the Innkeeper say this morning that he could not afford a Guild repair. You wouldn’t happen to be selling your services at below Guild rates, would you?”

Jeb shook his head. “No, sir, I was not.” His time with the Censusmaster had taught Jeb not to trust representatives of the law. He was beginning to get the idea that this man represented the Guild, and partial truths to representatives of the law seemed reasonable.

“Oh?” the man quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t see a receipt pad in your hand.”

“I have a number of pockets,” Jeb replied, showing the fact that his Academy uniform was, in fact covered in pockets.

The man stopped smiling. Clearly this game had gone on long enough for him. “Are you a Guild licensed Enchanter?”

Jeb shook his head. “No, sir.”

“And yet you agree that you repaired an Enchantment, in direct violation of Capital Ordinances?”

“I repaired an Enchantment,” Jeb agreed, “though I do not know if that is a violation of any ordinance.”

The man continued as though Jeb hadn’t said anything after his admission of guilt. “As this is a matter of Guild law, you will stand before the Enchanting Guild. Please come with me.”

“I’m waiting for my lunch,” Jeb replied. Looking at the early morning sun, “er, breakfast,” he amended.

“Do you think that this is a joke?” the man demanded.

“No?” Jeb replied. “Is it essential that I go now and not in a few minutes when I’ve gotten my pie?”

“Yes.” the man replied flatly.

“In that case,” Jeb said, standing up, “lead the way.”

The two began walking through the streets. Jeb followed closely behind, constantly tempted to turn and go somewhere else. Only the fact that the man kept checking on Jeb’s presence stopped him from doing so.

By the time they had finished walking, it was nearly noon. Jeb’s feet were starting to ache from the long walk, but he forgot about it when he saw what was clearly the Enchanting Guild. It was a tall building, easily five stories, and it glowed. As Jeb stared at the building, the glow started to resolve into a number of interwoven Enchantments which came together to produce the effect. He couldn’t make out what most of the Enchantments did, but what little he could understand only made light as a byproduct of whatever Magic it was working.

The man smirked at Jeb. “As you can see, we take Enchanting very seriously here in the Capital. Come inside,” he said, moving to open the door. “the Tribunal awaits.”