For the first time in months Jasper had a good night’s sleep. He tried not to pass out being in a new threat and surrounded by the possible threat of the new people that stood guard over him. The couch was too soft and comfortable for him to withstand the weight that his eyelids were experiencing. He did not even realize when he had fallen asleep but the next thing, he knew his eyes were fluttering open again and he was greeted with the grinning faces of Luke and Osur.

“You talk in your sleep you know.” Luke said which caused Osur to chuckle and Jasper to growl. The other members of Thorn Skin woke up shortly after Jasper had woken up and they all started getting ready for the day. Figis stepped into the kitchen and started going through the fridge for food but seconds later he shut the door forcefully.

“The refrigerator is out! The food is about to go bad. Sabina, can you help?” Sabina sighed, pulling her small totem out of her pocket, and walking over to the refrigerator. Jasper did not know much about the technology that these guys used but it was not like they did not have refrigerators in the city that he came from.

“Why don’t you just replace the crystal? It is probably just a dead.” Jasper said before said before Sabina finished walking over to the fridge. The group looked at Jasper in disbelief before Osur answered.

“We have not used crystal power in literally like a thousand years. Lots of people have totems like Sabina does which convert our personal mana into magic that can be used to kickstart our runic technology. If it still has some amount of mana within it that is. Plus, it takes forever to charge our totems so only one of us uses theirs per week, so we have time to charge enough.” The explanation blew Jasper’s mind yet again and he could not believe that he had not noticed the amount of runic technology in the kitchen alone. There were even runes on the bookshelves making Jasper almost salivate with curiosity.

“Can I see it?” Jasper asked and Sabina raised up her totem for his inspection, but he shook his head and walked right over to the refrigerator. Running his fingers over the metal box he could feel that there was still a small amount of mana running through the runes that were thinly carved into the metal. There were two sections of the box with two different doors running parallel all the way to the top of the refrigerator. This was different than the ones that Jasper had grown up around, which was essentially a square metal box with different gears and coils in the back fueled by crystals. The one that he was looking at was more elegant in design.

NOTICE: You have discovered runic refrigerator. Would you like to imbue runic refrigerator? Y/N?

Jasper selected yes and found himself in the white space. When he did, he found five different protective circles with runes inside each of them. Weirdly enough there were no runes of magic, but Jasper had already started making the connection that runes of magic cause elemental effects to be projected outside of the material that it was carved into, so it made some amount of sense to him. Jasper raised his arms and spread his fingers. Feeling his magic start to expand from each of his digits he controlled each tendril of mana into each of the protective circles.

Slowly his magic worked in each of the circles empowering the runes within. He still could not find all of the patterns that created the circles, but he was better than he was months ago when he had first started imbuing runes. By the time he was finished the refrigerator was letting out a small buzz of power and he snapped back into reality.

“Holy heck it hasn’t made that sound in like five years!” Figis exclaimed. “What did you do?”

“He imbued it.” Sabina explained. “A runic crafters magic is specifically connected to runes and the protective circles that they use. Our totems do what they can, but over time the converted mana degrades the totems making them less effective.” Jasper stared wide-eyed at the woman who had just explained more about imbuing than Jasper even knew. Before he could think about what he was doing he had already summoned his journal and toolbelt noting down everything that had been explained to him this morning as well as the patterns that he had seen on the refrigerator.

He did not realize what that might look like to the others though who had already pulled out weapons. Jasper’s pen did not stop writing as he stared at the members of the team who were posing threateningly at him. Figis glared over his shield, While Luke pointed his spear and Osur held their hand over a glowing crystal ball that floated above their hand. Sabina was the only one not outraged and instead put herself between Jasper and the others.

“Calm down! He is just writing notes! Something crafters do regularly!” Her orders were taken in, but no one lowered their weapons yet.

“He used a skill that none of us knew he had, what if it is dangerous! I have seen castors that use books for their spells before!” Luke protested.

“Yes, they do but we already know that he’s not a castor he’s a crafter and now that I’ve seen his skills, I know he’s going to be an amazing one so put down your weapons!” Her words did not make much sense to Jasper, but the others finally lowered their weapons and made them disappear inside their pouches at their hips.

“What are you talking about Sabby?” Osur asked, making Sabina sigh with exasperation.

“Felix Zabas, our founder had those exact skills when the system came to this world, and he unlocked his class. He was the most talented of all of the Runic Crafters that came into that generation, outpacing the others rapidly. We all know that people of the same class can unlock different skills when they receive their class. Many of them got perception skills regarding crafting, or specific ways that they had to move their class to a specific kind of craft like blacksmithing or weaving. Others had skills specifically geared towards elemental runes or more esoteric ones. If it had not been for Felix’s flexibility and creativity humanity never would have been able to build the cities to begin with and humanity would have fallen.” Jasper stared at her taking in the story of the supposedly genius Runic Crafter.

“How do you know this stuff?” he asked her, making the other people in the room chuckle or smirk.

“Sabby is a bit of a fangirl of Felix Zabas and other Runic Crafters. You should have seen her when she unlocked a combat class instead of Runic Crafter, she was inconsolable.” Osur answered still smirking.

“I was not! Anyway, we must get started heading toward the capital building it is almost time for Jasper’s sentencing.” Everyone groaned disappointedly because this refrigerator thing had taken up all of the time that they had had for breakfast. They all scrambled into the hover bus one more time and made their way toward the capital building. Once they arrived Jasper managed to keep himself together seeing the building again, contributing to his reaction the day prior to the shock he had felt upon first seeing the structure. They rapidly moved into the building and found themselves before the council again.

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“Welcome back Mister Cartwright please step up for your sentencing.” Mena the head council member directed. Jasper did what he was told standing in front of the blue forcefield. “It is the opinion of this council that you are not a spy for one of the cloud cities. We have reached a decision on how to handle your presence in the city and will proceed when you are ready.” She looked up from her pad and raised an eyebrow as if to ask if he was.

“I’m ready councilwoman.” He responded. The council member nodded before she continued reading from her notes.

“Mister Cartwright while you are in the bounds of Undercity you will subject yourself to reeducation do you agree?”

“Yes councilwoman.”

“While you are in the bounds of Undercity you will be placed under the tutelage of multiple crafters in order to learn how to better serve the interests of Undercity do you agree?” Excitement ran through Jaspers’ bones at the thought of learning how to perform multiple crafts and gain tool proficiencies.

“Yes councilwoman!” He said with what was probably too much enthusiasm. Mena paused to raise an eyebrow at Jasper who was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet. She sighed and continued her reading.

“While you are in the bounds of the Undercity and upon reaching the appropriate level you are to be available at any time to empower any runic item that your handler reports to you do you agree?”

“I’m sorry a handler?” Jasper asked his first question of the council. It was clear that the green robed council member wanted to snap at him, but one quick look from Mena shut it down.

“Yes, while we have cleared you of suspicion, we also know that you do not share our history or values. We are also in need of someone to report our requests to you as well as give us progress reports on how you are doing in your studies both scholastically as well as crafting wise. This will give us a better understanding of what we can ask of you as you gain levels and understanding. Is this agreeable to you?” Jasper saw that they were trying to be as open and clear as possible, but something whispered in his brain that they were not being as honest as they wanted him to believe. He did not have much of a choice in this though, so he agreed.

The council decided that it would be best for him to remain with team Thorn Skin for the near future since they had done such an excellent job of keeping him within, he bounds of the law up to this point. They were directed that they would be moving into a larger apartment that would have room for both Jasper and his handler who he had yet to meet. Jasper's suspicions were assuaged slightly when the council let them know that the apartment had already been paid for by the city. “It’s just so generous!” He thought to himself.

As soon as that thought hit him though his suspicions were cranked right back up. Thoughts of what his own city was like rushed into his head. The slums, the fact that hunters and political officials were offered bribes and how resources were funneled to them. If team Thorn Skin was all that important to the council, then they would have already been in a nicer apartment with a refrigerator that worked. Which meant that he was the one that was important to them. Couple that with the spy and Jasper knew that something was up. “That’s too generous.”

He kept his face schooled so as not to give away the fact that he was suspicious of them, but he decided he would keep his eyes open for any signs of betrayal. Moments after the paperwork was signed someone entered into the back of the room where Jasper and the team had entered earlier.

“Mister Cartwright I’d like to introduce you to your handler Aaron Salinas.” The man stood at least a foot taller than Jasper himself, but he looked like he was roughly around Jasper’s age. He had blond hair, green eyes and a scar running from the left-hand corner of his face all the way down to the opposite side of his chin. He wore the standard guard uniform that Jasper had already seen on the two different bailiffs that he had seen at his meetings in the council room. Aaron reached out his hand in order to shake Jaspers and he did the same, grasping the other man’s hand in a firm handshake.

“He will be your handler and escort you at all times while in the city or otherwise. He will wear plain clothes so as not to bring attention to you. If you have any issues with him as your handler at any time you are to issue a report to any member of the team Thorn Skin or any member of government including guards or clerks and he will be replaced. If you report your handler for impropriety of any kind and he is found to have taken retaliatory action towards you or anyone else to retaliate against you for said report, he will be prosecuted to the extent of our laws. Do you understand your rights regarding your handler as they have been read to you?”

“I understand councilman.” Jasper responded to the man in blue robes.

“Over the following six months you will be expected to take tests regarding the laws and history of our city to gain full citizenship. At such a time as you have passed each test you will be required to take the oath of citizenship which is required of all non-birthright citizens. You may not willfully or maliciously break any laws during your six-month probationary period. If you do so your handler will be within his rights to place you in custody and report, you directly to this council. During this six-month period, you are required to maintain residence within the city and specifically within the domain provided to you by this council. Do you understand the expectations required of you over the six-month probationary period?”

Jasper affirmed his understanding and waited as Aaron signed some paperwork and added his fingerprints to it. After that Jasper was fingerprinted and his set was added to the paperwork. The whole experience, including paperwork, took just under two hours, but by the end of it everyone involved looked exhausted proving that no matter where you went bureaucracy was draining. When everything was finished with the council the team, Jasper, and his handler all exited the capital building heading back to the lot where they had parked the hover bus.

“Hey, I’ve got my own ride, so I’ll take Jasper to the new apartment while you guys get your own apartment packed up.” Aaron said sounding far more casual than his demeanor would suggest.

“Or since we didn’t expect to be moving today and it’s kind of Jasper’s fault you guys can come help us pack up how does that sound?” Luke said to the new addition of their group. Aaron rubbed the back of his head and groaned.

“Alright fine take my first chance to get to know my new charge.” He joked. “Alright Jasper do you want to go with me or stay with your friends?” The question confused Jasper, thinking that he was supposed to always stay with him, so he asked about it. “I am not your stalker or your bodyguard although since you are a crafter you may find me working in that capacity at times if I notice a threat. Other than that, I am mostly just a babysitter to make sure you get to all your classes on time. So yes, just go with your friends I will be right behind.”

“Not friends!” Figis exclaimed but started motioning for Jasper to go ahead and get on the bus. As soon as they were all on the bus Osur looked at Jasper and mimed pen. Simultaneously the group started talking about the day as if none of them had a care in the world. Jasper summoned his toolbelt and handed his pen over to Osur who wrote something on their upper arm. When they finished writing they turned their arm towards him, and Jasper read the word “Listening,” before pointing behind them where he knew his handler was following.

He did not know why Osur had decided to warn him about that, but in that moment decided that he could at least trust them even if he were not sure that he could trust the others. It did seem that they were talking so loudly to keep his handler from thinking anything was wrong, but he was not a mind reader and the only one that had warned him was Osur. For now, he would mistrust the others less. Jasper nodded his understanding but did not join the conversation until they were all back at the apartment.

Both vehicles parked on the street, and everyone piled into the building. Everyone started packing up their own rooms with boxes that had already been dropped off outside their door courtesy of the council. Jasper was tasked with packing up the books and helping Aaron carry the furniture downstairs. Luckily, everyone in the apartment had superhuman strength and dexterity so it was easy enough to get everything down the stairs in under an hour. Not long after that the team was packed up inside the bus and ready to move out. Unfortunately, there was not enough room inside the bus for Jasper this time, so he was forced to ride with his handler.

The two sat in silence as they flew the much smaller hovercar through the city. Aaron knew his way to the new apartment already so this time he took the lead. Every time his handler moved to look around or take a sharp turn Jasper would flinch which finally caused Aaron to break the silence.

“You are a jumpy guy. You know I am not going to hurt you, right? You kind of hold my career in your hands right now so that would not make much sense.” He said, reminding Jasper of the rights that had been read off to him earlier that day.

“Yeah, sorry. I just don’t know you.” Jasper almost whispered.

“You don’t really know the team either and you seem to get along with them well enough.” Jasper rolled his eyes at that.

“You remember the whole trial where I literally attacked them yesterday and they have been my guards until you were put in charge of me?” Aaron chuckled smiling over at Jasper before turning his attention back to the sky ahead of him.

“Yeah, that is true try not to do that to me all right? I am honestly here to help you.” His words and smile seemed so genuine that for a moment Jasper really did want to trust him, but Osur’s warning reminded him that he should not. “Looks like we are here. Ready to see your new home?” he asked and pulled onto the roof of an apartment building even larger than the one the team had just moved out of.