“Lleu! Where have you been?”

As he entered the building which the runners of the lower district called home Lleu was instantly bombarded by a worried shout from a red-haired girl one year younger than him. After his dismissal from Lania Lleu had decided not to head directly home but instead had scoured the meager supply of books every well to do merchant or person he was friendly with looking for information on the expedition. Unfortunately, it turned out that specifics of what the different societies actually did when they headed north into the ruins past the mountains were very hard to find. He had come up with next to nothing so finally when the sky had already begun to darken Lleu began moving through the city towards home. By the time he arrived the sky had transformed itself into an inky blue approaching true black.

“Chez and I covered for you so Aelia won't know, you owe us big time.”

“I’m sorry Chalia, I got caught up in something.” Replied Lleu. As he was fairly confident that nobody would believe him if he said he had participated in the choosing Lleu had decided to just to keep it a secret. Since there might still be people looking around for whoever had been with the dying seer during his last moments Lleu felt not standing out was a good idea anyway.

“You got caught up in something? I swear if you were gambling on testing results… you didn't win anything did you?”

Interrupting Chalia’s last word Lleu continued, “I’ll tell you about it later, thanks for covering.”

Leaving her standing Lleu began climbing the slightly slanted winding staircase located in the corner of the building and headed to the top floor where he had a small room. Lleu was lucky enough to have his own room instead of sharing it with one to two others as his room was small and was adjacent to the slanted roof. Nobody else had been willing to live there but as the inconveniences had never bothered him Lleu had been glad to move in.

The first thing he did once the door was shut was move to the farthest corner of the room. As this corner was intersected by the slant of the roof it was even slightly difficult for him to reach but that just made it a perfect hiding spot. A single floorboard in that corner was loose and possible to take out using a knife. This was where Lleu had long stored all his valuables not that he had many, mostly the contents were assorted coins that comprised most of his savings and some jewelry he had found or been paid with.

A knock sounded on the door just as Lleu began moving the items Lania had given him into his hiding spot. He slammed the floorboard back in place and had righted himself just as the door opened and a breathless looking junior of his looked through the door.

“There's someone looking for you downstairs!” he said excitedly, “He looks important!”

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‘It cant be the people who chased me can it?’ Lleu thought as he slowly began heading down the stairs. There really was nothing to do other than see who it was.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs Lleu was met by the master of the runners, an old woman named Aelia who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the large hall in which each morning the runners both ate together and picked tasks from the task board.

Inside the hall a handful of those runners were eating an evening meal while occasionally throwing a glance backward to look at a man wearing a bright red tabard. As he recognized the symbol of the boomers embroidered on the chest Lleu relaxed, it seemed the person looking for him was sent by Lania, not the day’s pursuers.

“Lleu De’Danu?” questioned the man to which Lleu nodded.

“I don't know what he did to offend, but…” began Aelia but was interrupted as the man climbed onto a nearby table and announced.

“Having being tested and chosen as worthy the Dragon’s Flame Society is here to invite Lleu De’Danu to participate in this year's expedition.”

Stepping off the table the man turned back towards Lleu and handed him a carved token made of fine ivory.

“This is your entrance token, present it to the guards at the edge of the plaza the day of departure and they will let you in. If there is are any issues look for those of us wearing this tabard and we will help. Good night.”

As sudden as his proclamation had been the man swept out the door leaving the hall in a dead silence. A moment later the crash of Aelia falling backward in a faint woke everyone from the spell.

Cheers and congratulations flew at Lleu from every side while a few of his peers tried to wake the unconscious woman using a combination of salts and foul cheeses.

The rest of that evening went in a blur as the hall jumped from celebrating Lleu’s good fortune one minute to interrogating him the next. Although they asked about everything Lleu managed to keep most of the specifics, such as the exact events leading up to him entering the tent, back. After he had responded his story was passed around and eventually all the runners firmly believed that Lleu had met a member of the Boomers who had scouted him and insisted he come to the choosing.

Far later in the night than he was used to being awake, Lleu finally excused himself from the dwindling festivities and began the climb up towards his room. Opening the door he was met with the unexpected sight of a pillow hurtling towards his face.

“Wha…” the interrupting pillow collided with his face and fell down an angry yet exited looking Chalia.

“Why didn't you tell me you were being tested? And how did you get them to let you in?”

“It's like I told everyone downstairs, I met someone and he gave me an entrance pass. I guess I got scouted.”

This explanation was not accepted and the exited portion of her expression faded.

“If you don't want to tell me that's fine… you still should have introduced me to whoever got you in though...”

“I really didn't know until this morning, I can introduce you to the person who tested me though, next year y..”

“It’s fine Lleu.” Chalia stopped him mid promise, ”If you managed it by yourself I can too. Anyway, It's late and I need to sleep.”

As Chalia left Lleu could only scratch his head, he really wasn't sure what she had wanted from him.

Turning to the corner in which he had hidden Lania’s items Lleu felt the itch of curiosity take hold as he moved over to pry up the floorboard.