Jayden woke up groggy and disoriented.

Somehow he knew it was morning, even though there was no natural light in the room. It felt warmer, and he could hear noises out on the street; people running around, carts rolling past, the occasional knock and bang.

The room was completely dark, but he remembered a lantern sitting on the side of the desk. He felt his way along the wall to the desk, found the lantern and lit it.

Jayden looked around the room. It was pretty sparse. He wondered what he should do while he waited for Maggie to come back. The only real thing of interest was a book on the desk.

He knew how to read. It was pretty important for a skiff trader - otherwise you could be cheated really easily.

His father had taught him to read in Solari, and Felix had made sure he knew how to read at a basic level in all three of the major languages. But this book seemed to be written in a language that Jayden didn't know.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Well, there was nothing else to do in the room, so he started to page through the book.

He wished he had a paper and pen to decode the letters. E and A were the most common letters in Solari. If he could write out all the unique characters, he'd be able to count which characters repeated most often. Then he might be able to work out some common words, and get a better sense of the language.

Jayden's mind was deep in the task when he heard footsteps in the corridor outside the room, rapidly drawing closer. He wondered if he should try to hide? Before he even had time to think further, the door swung rapidly open.

Maggie stood there, breathing hard. She looked up at him as he held the book.

Jayden felt a little embarrassed. Maybe it was private? But Maggie's eyes lit up. "Oh good! You know how to read. That's gonna make this so much easier."

"Yes, but...", Jayden started, but Maggie interrupted, "Sorry, we don't have time to go into detail.", she said, shoving a piece of paper into Jayden's hand. "Just read the instructions and try to memorise as much of this as you can, because this is what you're going to be doing for most of the day."

"But I can't...", Jayden replied

Maggie interrupted again, "Look, you'll have to get started at something or they're going to find you out. So buckle up bucko. Let's get out there."

And she dragged him out the door.