Cody watched as Boshi passed. She had everything he didn’t. Talented teachers to teach her math, magic and music (the 3 M’s), enough Cee to buy what she pleased (usually snack food), and most importantly straight, smooth, hair. Hair that didn’t tangle and refuse her commands like it had a life of its own. Cody wasn't envious or anything. Sure, Boshi could heal broken bones and skip the elevator queues that made many residents lives a monotonous chore. But that didn't matter, because she didn’t have the flawless sense of style that Cody did. After all how many people could pull off a standard issue, reg-13 jumpsuit, like Cody could? No one, that’s who. 

There was one thing Cody's learned wearing reg-13 outside the core, it’s that if people see you in reg-13, they just know you’re having a very bad day. So they wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a reg-13 in the first place, but Cody didn't let that bother him.

He imagined it wasn't always like that, but Reg-13 was instituted by the Inspectors so long ago that the tower's so called eternal records didn’t have the implementation records. Cody had found references to reg-13 being part of life even in the oldest records he'd come across. That meant it had been part of tower life for more than 5,000 years, which was basically forever.

Cody thought it was weird that everyone thought poorly of reg-13. After all, it provides for everyone. He'd just read the rules the other day. Reg-13 states that every resident of Chandra is entitled to a reg-13 jumpsuit, their own 3 meter by 3 meter room with basic sanitation facilities and as much of the infamous Reg-13 mush as they could desire. Personally, Cody had never minded the mush that much. Heck, with the right gravy it’s practically delicious.

Anyway, Reg-13 is one of those laws that had been worked into the very stones that make up the tower. Similar to the Struct-3 enchantments that kept everyone warm, even two kilometers above the great wilds. Cody’d heard it said that even at ten kilos up, it was still cozy as could be. Of course doing any sort of out of tower activity, like tower running, took special enchantments or you’d freeze to death and suffocate in seconds. Unless you were like Cody and you just wore your Reg-13 jumpsuit while using a quick Inhalius spell.

Cody understood why people looked down on him though. When most people see a Reg-13 jumpsuit, their first (and probably only) thought is “Oh, they’re one of the Lost”. The Lost, of course, being the people who look at their Reg-13 given lot in life and go, “eh, good enough.” They don’t learn trades, study magic or generally engage with the thriving societies that make up the different levels of the tower. Most of them get lost in the records or destroy themselves with towershine, an alcohol made from the Reg-13 mush. Cody’d never liked it much himself, but then he’d tasted real alcohol thanks to Boshi. Towershine didn’t hold a candle to an Athenian red or a Kathinite Whiskey, nevermind that the later tended to leave his throat burning.

Cody had grown up with the Lost. He didn't agree with their “meh” attitude. He didn't have much choice though as his parents died in an accident when he’d been, "but a wee little babe," as Maiven used to say. He didn't really remember either of them. Apparently, he didn’t have any other family either, because he stayed with the Lost. That’s the one thing the Lost do for the tower. They take in strays. The Lost didn’t really raise Cody though, it was more like he grew up in their presence. There were always people coming and going in the Lost. Lots of people decide that they’ve had enough of life “out there” and become Lost for a while. They’ll go into their cube (and every resident has a cube, no matter who you are on the outside) and put down roots. Some will stay inside and not come out for weeks. After all, no one can break into a cube. Cody’d heard stories of people camping out cubes though, and he’d heard it said the Inspectors used to be able to turn cubes into prisons. The idea of not being able to leave his cube still sent shivers down Cody's spine.

A sharp knocking sound roused Cody from his musings. Something had bounced off the wall he was leaning against. He looked down to see what looked like a really big tooth pick. He picked it up and realized it was the skewer that Boshi’d been taking apart. Cody looked up to see Boshi had turned around and was smiling at him.

“Hey Cody, what are you hanging around here for? You and Samus are supposed to be helping me prepare for our initiation.”

Most people wouldn’t talk to a Reg-13 unless the Reg-13 approached with cold, hard Cee in hand. But then, Boshi had never really been most people. Plus, she’d known Cody since they were, like, two.

“Hi.” Cody replied with his usual eloquence. “I’m waiting for Samus.” Cody said looking towards the dragon rider's guild across the way. Samus’ parents were both dragon riders and Samus had been drafted to help clean up after a particularly messy excursion. Nothing dangerous, they just flew into a tellix front, and now Samus was helping her parents get the stringy, and more importantly sticky, space goop off their dragons. Samus would join them when she was done.

“The dragon’s need me first,” Samus had said. She knew they’d been planning to get together as a group to practice, but they all understood her priorities. Practice was Boshi’s idea of course. Not that Cody was complaining. Practicing with Boshi had allowed him to learn magic way beyond what he would've learned in the Reg-13 general studies or among the Lost. He wasn’t as good as Boshi, but then he didn’t spend every day studying like she did. Her studies did pay off though. Cody had seen her lift a fallen block as wide as he was tall back when they’d been clearing an easier way to their clubhouse. She spent maybe half a minute preparing a ritual circle before, bam, a rock that Samus and Cody couldn’t even budge, gently floated off the ground. They’d still had to push it, and the ritual sputtered at one point almost dropping it at their feet, but it was still impressive. Cody couldn't bind enough energy to lift a rock the size of his fist, and Samus wasn’t much better.

“Well, why are we waiting out here? We should go help out. The sooner Samus is finished, the sooner we can practice.” Boshi practically shoved Cody towards the dragon rider’s guild. Then as she approached the door she almost smashed him into the “Draconin Sky and Style Ranch,” sign. But she adroitly tugged him back as she continued to excitedly lead him inside.

Once inside Cody was assaulted by the smell of dragon. It was a little nerve wracking for Cody to be in here. Cody tended to avoid dragons. Cody had heard Samus iterate over and over that dragons were loyal, attentive and intelligent. But they were loyal, attentive and intelligent creatures the size of a house. A single misstep and Cody would need Boshi to break out the troll's toes, unicorn knuckle or whatever she used to heal broken bones and smushed legs. Samus swore that never happened, except when a person tried to hurt a dragon or their partner, but Cody still moved with caution around the great creatures.

Boshi, not so much.

"Hey Cal, how's it going today? I see Rafhael's doing better. Do you know where Samus is? We had plans." Boshi called out as she pulled Cody through the ranch. Letting go of his arm she walked over to pet the great red, who Cody assumed was Rafhael, lounging near the entrance. Even though the ranch was one of the biggest open areas within the tower, Cody still felt like the space was too small to contain the massive creatures.

Looking around while he waited Cody realized he could see Samus clamoring over a Green in the distance, her electric blue ponytail making her easy to spot. It looked like she was pulling the tellix off by hand, which didn't make much sense until he realized she was probably trying to avoid hurting the dragon. At least she was wearing coveralls. If she had better aim with her spells she could blast the tellix off, but Samus had the worst aim of the three of them.

Turning to inform Boshi, Cody saw her already moving back towards him waving goodbye to Cal and Rafhael.

"Found her," Cody said, pointing in Samus' direction as Boshi approached.

"Cool, right where Cal said she would be. Rafhael is doing so much better now. Did you know that dragons normally need weeks to recover from a case of broken scale?" Boshi supplied as she and Cody made their way across the busy ranch.

"Uhm, no?" Cody replied as they moved, keeping his eyes open to make sure he didn't step in anything. That smell had to be coming from somewhere.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Yeah, apparently it's like getting broken ribs in a human. Without magic, there isn't much you can do to treat it, but it still hurts any time you move. Luckily Samus' parents had a healer who specializes in dragons pass through and he fixed Rafhael right up. He'll be out flying again in no time. Hey Samus!" Boshi called as she ran up to the Green with Cody in tow.

"Oh hey, Boshi. Come to help me clean up Altexis? Wait, is that Cody? How did you get him to come inside?" Samus called back, pausing in her work halfway up the dragons side.

While smaller than the Red, Cody was pretty sure Samus was still a good seven meters in the air. If he didn't know that featherweight was her best spell, Cody would have been worried for her. As it was, he was currently more worried about being so close to the dragon. It looked pretty agitated, and Samus stopping her work to talk to them didn't seem to be helping.

"Of course we'll help, won't we Cody?" Boshi replied pulling him even closer to the massive being.

"Uhm. Can I just wait outside?" Cody asked with a slight tremor in his voice. Usually he'd put up more of a fight before being dragged this close to a dragon but sometimes he got caught up in Boshi being Boshi. When that happened he tended to forget the little things. Like his personal safety.

"Nonsense," Boshi replied, "you don't have to climb the dragon or anything. You can just burn away the loose tellix, right Samus?"

"Oh totally. That'd be great actually. The quicker we get the tellix scoured away the less residue it leaves behind. And it's not really safe to use dragonfire indoors while people are around." Samus called from above where she'd resumed snipping off strands of tellix.

Nodding, Cody started preparing to cast his finger flame spell. This he could do. He'd done a fair amount of waste removal work in the tower. It was one of the few jobs that people regularly paid someone wearing a reg-13 suit to do. And they actually paid fairly well. If you had decent flame magic to do the work with that is. It was amazing how many things could be cleaned up with enough fire.

Firing up his finger flame spell, Cody quickly discovered that burning tellix smelled worse than wet dragon. The fumes caused him to choke until he relented and cast Inhalius, sparing himself the suffering. He had thought about casting the spell before he started, of course. But he suspected Boshi would have them working late into the night tonight, so he'd been foolishly hoping to save his energy.

While Samus was snipping and Cody was burning, Boshi was weaving spells that did both. Targeting the areas that would be especially hard for Samus to reach, Boshi carefully scoured the green dragon clean using short bursts of fire. Working together they had Altexis free of the tellix in no time. He seemed much calmer once all the sticky tellix had been scoured from his back, which Cody was grateful for.

With the Green free of the tellix, Cody looked around for the next dragon, only to realize that Samus' parents must have taken care of the rest. As he was getting ready to head to the exit, with or without Boshi, a large green head swung down in his peripheral. The Green nuzzled up against Boshi's hand while making deep, rumbling noises. Boshi laughed and pet the dragon’s nose ridges while Cody, very bravely, did not take a step back.

"Hey look. He remembers you. When was the last time you were here Boshi?" Samus asked, her head popping over the ridge of Altexis' head crest.

"Not that long ago. Last week I think? The day after Rahfael came in with his broken scales. We went to Grenshin's after. You got the hazy dayz noodlez remember?" Boshi replied as she continued to stroke the dragon's nose ridges.

"You were inside? I thought you waited outside with Cody? Whatever. Give me fifteen to get cleaned up and I'll be ready to go." Samus said as she slid down from the dragon.

Looking over at Cody as she landed, Samus added, "actually you should probably clean up too. Then we can grab an actual meal before she drags us off."

"Aww, but I even bought skewers." Boshi complained.

"And those will be great for later. But I'd rather eat something fresh. There's always a weird taste to anything left on stasis. Anyways, showertime here I come."

"You're the only one who thinks that. You guys have a good shower." Boshi replied wandering away.

Cody wasn’t surprised Samus hadn’t recommended Boshi clean up. For some reason Boshi always managed to keep clean. It was probably more magic. She did like to use magic whenever possible. Cody liked magic well enough, but to him it was a tool, just like his reg-13 jumpsuit. Plus there were some things that were better than magic. Like a nice hot shower.

Following Samus' directions Cody made his way to the showers. Seeing as he avoided coming into the ranch as often as possible, he'd never used their showers before. They weren’t too different from the sanitation facilities in his cube. The biggest difference was the size. The shower alone was practically the size of his whole cube. The showers had less pressure than his cube but it didn't take Cody long to finish cleaning up. As his suit kept almost anything from sticking to or staining it, it was still mostly clean. A quick dry-press cantrip later and it was ready to go. Once he was dry he put his suit back on then tried to wrestle his hair into something approaching orderly.

That accomplished he stepped outside feeling refreshed. Right until the smell of dragon hit him in the face. He’d never understand how Samus could sleep here.

Boshi was standing next to a nearby Gold, talking with the rider while waiting for them. It looked like he’d beat Samus out of the showers.

Cody started looking at the pillars, a habit he’d picked up when waiting for wall running events to start. If you looked carefully, you could see the routes they'd take to avoid the worst obstacles or get the smoothest glides. He'd been staring at the walls for a few minutes when Samus emerged from the showers looking like a different person. Instead of the neatly tied ponytail and coveralls covered in dragon muck, she was wearing her casual wear. Which in her case included her trademark electric-blue dragonhide jacket(chosen to match her unique but natural hair of course) and genuine Trollhide boots (guaranteed to last two lifetimes). Technically both were part of her dragon riding gear, but Samus wore them everywhere. The magics to maintain them were the first untiered spells she'd begged Boshi to teach them.

“Boshi, say goodbye to Thobias and let’s go, I’m hungry.” Samus called out as she walked towards Cody.

“So, where do we want to go for lunch?” Boshi asked as she joined them near the entrance.

“I heard there’s a new place in town. It’s run by a Kathinite if you can believe it.” Samus suggested as they stepped out into the busy streets.

“Really? And I thought it was Kathinese. Do you think they work with the food? Would that be sanitary?" Boshi asked as they made their way towards the market, though not by his usual solo route. Cody was used to taking the lift, but Boshi always insisted they slip-step when it was just the three of them. After all, what's a little dimensional magic between friends.

"Oh totally. They're probably cleaner than we are." Samus answered while leading the way. They all knew the usual spots. Boshi had mastered the spell a couple years ago, and used it extensively, so it was mostly second hat to them by now.

"I guess. Oh, do you think they'll have a booth for chess? I hear Kathinites love chess." Boshi continued as they arrived at the local maintenance stairs. Cody plotted the route that he would take if he were to wall run up the stairs while Boshi started casting side-step. It always took Boshi a little longer when she was bringing guests, but it was still faster than Cody or Samus casting it themselves. Or having them help. That never ended well.

"That'd be cool. They'd totally kick our butts though. I hear they invented chess." Samus supplied as we slipped.

"They did? I thought it was a golden empire thing." Boshi said as she led them out of the alley into the market district. Unsurprisingly, Boshi had brought them out next to Starstruck. Waiting patiently while Boshi ran in for a quick shot of java, Cody and Samus talked about Cody's favourite wall-runner the ZDD, (the Zazzle district Diamond). The ZDD started running a couple years ago, and unlike most wall runners they always kept personal antiscrying and disguise enchantments up when they ran. Plus they wore a mask. They also weren't big on interviews. They hadn't even chosen their own name. They'd just shown up for their first race in a costume which had a diamond motif, and the name kind of stuck. No one knew what they were there for, as they never collected the prize (and didn't that raise some interesting issues the first couple times) or mention a political agenda.

But none of that mattered to Cody because they were fast. Cody hadn't seen anyone move as smoothly as the ZDD. Their movements were the epitome of efficient speed, whether they were jumping over high energy conduits, dodging other runners discharge or completely changing course to avoid a random tellix storm.

When Boshi emerged from Starstruck she was carrying, not one, but three cups of Jo, with a capital J. Cody looked at her in disappointment.

"Oh, don't worry Cody. I know you don't like coffee. Yours is a steamed milk with something called maple. It's supposed to be pretty sweet." Boshi interrupted him before he could turn down the drink, so he grudgingly accepted the steamed milk. As he took a cautious sip he had to admit, it was actually pretty good.

"Sweet. Thanks Boshi." Samus gushed as she took a long slurp of hers. "Oh yeah. This is exactly what I needed."

They walked in silence as they continued towards the diner, each of them sipping at their drinks. Cody couldn't help but appreciate the decor when they approached the Kathinite diner. It was much less grim than Cody had expected. He'd seen them doing the construction on the storefront a while ago, but it'd been covered the last time he'd been up this way. Now it was a bright green and white with a vine and flower motif. It even had a blossoming tree out front.

Stepping up to the man at the door, Boshi politely said, "For three please."

The man turned towards her with a smile on his face. A smile that froze when he saw Cody in his reg-13 jumpsuit.

"We don't serve their kind here. I'll have to kindly ask you to go elsewhere," the man said, while waving the board he was holding at Cody. Cody was already turning to go when Boshi spoke.

"Oh really?" The ice in Boshi's normally kind and cheerful voice was all the warning Cody needed to know. This guy? This guy was about to have a very bad day.