~ CHAPTER 12 ~

THE MAGIC OF CARING AND BELONGING, PART 2

When I got out onto the landing I realised I’d once again forgotten to ask if there was an easier way in, but I’d gotten the impression she wanted me out from under foot, so I decided I’d just have to ask later. She’d said ‘go explore’ though, so I thought I’d start by looking around the rooftop village. The fact that there were few other people around was definitely not a factor.

There were other people around, though, and I saw a few looking at me oddly when they saw me come out. It was now late afternoon, and there were several people tending to their terrace gardens. Thinking about it, it actually made sense why so many houses had gardens up here: since the town was built right up against the wall, there was no safe farmland for people to use to feed the city, so any food people ate had to be either imported by skyship at great cost, grown indoors with magic, or grown up here. That or they had to forage for it in the jungle and just hope it didn’t turn out to be some magically altered poisonous variant.

I thought about asking one of the locals about a quick way down, but decided I didn’t really want to advertise my lack of knowledge. Instead, I settled for ranging around the edges of where I could easily reach and surreptitiously admiring the streets from above. Soon enough, I came upon a series of slanted roofs and pipes that I could easily jump down into what appeared to be a kind of cave between buildings, and near the bottom I found a small gap that I could crawl through into one of the alleys. Had I been any larger I might not have fit, so I doubted this was the way the Keeper went out, but it would work for me for now.

I came out onto the street and was immediately on guard, my experience from earlier flooding back to my mind. To my pleasant surprise, though, the streets were much less crowded than they had been earlier, and people seemed to be moving with more purpose. I still heard a few comments I didn’t appreciate, but there was enough space between people now that I could avoid being bumped into, and I didn’t get the quite same aggressive feeling I’d gotten earlier.

Still, I was practiced at making myself small from real life, and despite my new body’s visual pull, it had the advantage of size compared to most passersby. Balar were usually shorter, but they had a kind of solid presence that I didn’t, so I could still somehow hide behind them.

Like that, I flitted from shop to shop, admiring their decorated signs or any wares they had on display. Few shops had windows, but occasionally I came to a raised awning that looked like it could be closed at night. Under one of these a group of Freechildren and Wildlings, with one grey-green skinned Chakrit, appeared to be enjoying an afternoon beer together, and they hooted at me as I went by. I scurried away quickly, not giving them the satisfaction of an acknowledgement.

As expected, almost three quarters of all the people I saw were either Freechildren, Eladrin, or Balar, and I saw plenty of Asyr and Wildlings as well. Together those five made up the so-called common races, all of them basically similar in size and shape to my own race, but their frequency was in descending order with supposedly around seven times as many Freechildren as Wildlings. Chakrit were the next most common race, and they were the first of the obviously inhuman races with clawed hands and feet, fangs, and tails, and with everything else slightly eerily elongated, but they were only about one in every thirty people.

I came to another shop that was selling cute looking summer dresses with a smattering of fancy blouses and skirts, and paused to admire them. I didn’t think I had enough money to replace what I was wearing, and in any case I didn’t yet have a clear idea of what stats I’d want, but I thought briefly about trying some on to see what they’d look like. After a moment, though, the thought of just casually walking in and shopping alongside other girls made me cringe.

Still, after that I was starting to think about what kind of style I wanted to wind up having. The Keeper had said to get something pretty, and I thought it would be a shame not to do my best with my new appearance, but I didn’t really have any idea what would look good.

A few minutes later I found myself casually glancing through a partially open-air stall filled with cases of rings and other intricate items. I admired a pair of silvery blue earrings shaped like crystalline teardrops, but realised I didn’t think my ears were pierced. I could probably change that if I wanted, but maybe not without doing some research first. I couldn’t imagine it not hurting, too, so there was that.

I heard a voice from close beside me. “If you’re looking for something to go with your hair, I think something like this might work well.”

I looked up, and saw a mousy looking Freechild woman only slightly taller than I was wearing what could only be described as a witch’s outfit. She had black hair fanning out under a tall black witch’s hat and was wearing what appeared to be almost the same black dress that I had on. On her face were a pair of black-rimmed eyeglasses, covering deep brown eyes. She was smiling at me, and holding out an ornamental hair clip made from a similar material as the earrings I was holding. I couldn’t help but notice the deadly looking black… knitting needles? that were tucked up her sleeve.

“Ooh, thanks. Let me see.” I took the hairclip and examined it.

[Decorative Soft Lazielite Clasp of Lesser Inspiration]

Durability 1/1

Increases Celerity and Intensity by +1.

It was a dedicated caster item through and through, but I realised that didn’t really matter just yet. If I was considering it for style, I could always find something similar with more generic stats later. I glanced around for a scanner or mirror, but couldn’t see anything.

The woman saw me looking and chuckled. “Over here.” She lead me a little ways into the shop, then handed me a small hand mirror attached to a chain.

I held the clip up to my hair and considered it, not really sure what to make of it. “It’s a little… blue, isn’t it? The whole effect.”

The woman tilted her head, considering. “You’re right, it does kind of disappear. Truth be told I think you’d look better with something a little more impactful anyway, maybe something like this.”

She handed me another item, and we considered it together, quickly abandoning it for being too bulky and moving on to something else. Before long, we’d tried a whole array of different items, laughing over the various effects they created, and she advised me on what worked and what didn’t. Eventually she picked out a simple silver clip a little longer than my outstretched hand, and we agreed it looked the best. I wasn’t sure how to wear it, but she just slipped it into my hair in a motion that was too quick for me to follow, and I was happy to leave it at that. Happy with my choice, we went to the front and I asked how much I owed.

It was at that point that I recalled I didn’t actually know how much money I could afford to spend. The vial the Keeper had given me earlier had been about half full of Ochre Gemdust, which, if I remembered correctly, was worth about three and a half times as much as my Silver Gemdust, and was certainly way more than what would be needed for some kebabs, but she’d never mentioned if she expected to get the remainder back.

The price for my pretty little piece of magical jewelry? Twelve Silver Gemdust, two more than I had in my own funds. The storekeeper looked at me apologetically, but with this many new arrivals in town, I knew better than to ask for credit.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and saw the black-haired woman smiling at me again. “Why don’t you let me cover the difference? I’m going to have to split an Ochre vial for what I’m getting anyway, so if you give me your Silver one I’m sure we can make it balance out.”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t make you do that. You’ve already spent so much time helping me! I guess I’ll just have to come back later.”

“Nonsense, I want you to have it. It looks good on you.”

I was about to protest further, but she got a sly expression on her face. “Consider it… an investment in our future good relationship on the server.”

I blinked at her, suddenly wondering if this whole encounter had been more deliberate than I’d thought. Did she want something from me? If she did I… didn’t have any particular reason not to give it to her, did I? She’d been quite nice to me after all.

She saw the change in my expression and turned back to the shopkeeper, “Lets put these together,” as she put something on the counter that looked like a cross between a ring and a long dark metal talon, or a single clawed finger from an evil villain's gauntlet. Where she’d found something like that I had no idea, let alone what it was supposed to do, but it did seem to fit with the whole theme she was going for.

A moment later she’d paid and we were headed out of the shop. I turned to her. “Thanks for that. I’ll definitely pay you back.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Just make sure you enjoy it, and keep having fun in game. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of each other if you stick around.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Oh, well, then… I will!” I clasped my hands together to show my feelings, then a thought occurred to me. “By the way, I, uh, don’t… you never gave me your name. Um, I’m River.”

She chuckled. “It’s Imura.”

“Thanks for the help Imura! Here, please accept!” I beamed at her, and quickly navigated through the menus to send her a friend request.

She crinkled her eyebrows together with a slightly bemused look as she accepted. Was I supposed to have said something different? “Thanks, and you’re very welcome. I guess we’ll see you around, then?”

“Right!” I turned to go, but stopped after a half step. “Oh, one more thing, I don’t suppose you know where Melthor’s is do you?”

“You mean the street vendor?”

“Selling kebabs?”

“Yeah, I think he’s just by the town hall. My son was there earlier, and said they were very good.”

“Great! Thanks again!”

I hopped off, feeling like the clouds were parting and the sun was shining on my steps. Well actually it was kind of dim and gloomy and the sun had long since sunk below the third story rooftops, at least as seen from street level, but something about my newly emprettied hair felt magical. It was magical actually, but they were different kinds of magic.

[Valesilver Pin]

Durability 1/1

Increases Spirit and Perception by +1.

I’d wound up getting stats that were pretty much as universal as you could get. Spirit wouldn’t be any use to me if [Runemaster] wound up being an exclusively physical class, but I didn’t think the likelihood of that was very high, as even the most physical oriented classes I knew about usually had at least some use for Mana. Perception increased things like my critical strike chance and would make a big difference in efficiency if I wound up getting any healing Skills, but it was also just generally useful all the time by improving my ability to see details.

Following the witch-woman’s advice, I found the kebab stand in the town hall square, and, after standing in line for a few minutes, was able to snag a few from the last batch before the vendor closed up shop. I discovered the reason the Keeper had given me Ochre Gemdust instead of the more reasonably valued Silver was because the stand had had a buy three get one half off deal if you paid with the more convenient currency. Unfortunately, in the rush of new arrivals all day, the vendor had wound up raising his prices, and what the Keeper had given me was only just able to cover it. I imagined that by that time tomorrow he’d have had to rethink his strategy, once the player chefs started popping up, but for now it seemed he could enjoy his profits.

I quickly stashed the meat in my inventory, out of the way so I could safely crawl back through the city-cave and clamber up to the Keeper’s landing. I still had to move quickly to keep it from losing too much heat, but at least this way I could use both hands and it wouldn’t get dirty. Even still, by the time I made it back to the top the trip had left me breathing heavily. I guess even with my new body’s muscles, clambering up three stories was a tall order. I laughed internally, thinking about how only a few hours ago I’d been worried about scaling a single tiny fence.

As I reached the top I settled down for a moment to catch my breath, turning to dangle my feet over the wall I’d just climbed. I’d been facing the wall as I went, and the sun had been on my back for the last few stages of the climb, but as I turned I almost forgot the reason I’d started to sit down in the first place. Even though the sun had been invisible from down below, up here it was still well above the trees, and now I was staring right at it as its rays pierced the afternoon air, radiating through golden clouds and illuminating every single one of the little crystals I could see floating above the walls like gleaming stars descended from the sky. I felt like it was starting to get tired at this point, but oh my gosh, this is the reason why we play VR games!

Maybe this was also why the Keeper kept her doorway so high up. If so, I decided, I honestly couldn’t blame her.

“Pretty spectacular isn’t it?” I heard a voice beside me. This was starting to become a pattern.

I glanced to the side and saw a tall Eladrin man… that was redundant, they were all tall, it was their thing. He wasn’t looking right at me, but was positioned in such a way that he could both appreciate the view, and watch me at the same time. Appreciate the views, then. I could respect that, but it did leave me in a little awkward of a position. I decided the view took precedence. “Oh man, yeah!”

He chuckled. “It’s like this almost every day. If you keep coming back you’ll get to see plenty more sights like this one. Those of us who live up here can sometimes forget how spoiled we are.”

“Maybe, but I find it hard to believe I’d ever get tired of this.”

“No, you’re right. By the way, I saw you here earlier climbing down, and now I see you coming back up the same way. You don’t have access to stairs?”

I shook my head. “Um, well there are stairs, leading up from the canal, but it’s kind of a long trip you know?”

There was a pause, then: “Oh those old things! Wow, I didn’t realise anyone used those. I guess you new arrivals are bound to go exploring though.”

“Yeah, um, no. Well, actually someone showed them to me earlier.”

“Yeah, see, I was wondering about that. I can appreciate sharing the view and all that, and you youngsters do like to explore, but uh… it’s not like this area is exactly public property, you know? People have their gardens up here, like to relax with their neighbors, always know who’s coming and going. If you were visiting someone up here, wouldn’t they have a way up of their own?”

“Hah. Well, yeah. You’d think. I’m sorry, I would have asked her earlier, but I guess I kinda forgot. I didn’t mean to bother you. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s no problem. If we’re going to be seeing a lot more of you around from now on, I’ll just have to pass the word along. I was just wondering, you know, who it was?”

“Oh, ok, yeah. No, I’m just visiting the Keeper.”

Another pause. “The who?” He sounded confused.

“Oh you know… little green haired Mistborn lady covered in tattoos? Actually she’s pretty big now that I think about it. Sort of brown-green? And brown eyes. You must have seen her at some point?”

“Hmm…” he sounded thoughtful. “Nope. Thinking about it, I can’t say that I have seen anyone like that. Brown-green hair and tattoos? I only know of one Mistborn who lives up here, and even if she had tattoos, her hair is even bluer than yours is.”

“Huh, weird. I guess she really must have another entrance somewhere. Um, well do you know Portlan Mason then? He was the one who showed me the stairs.”

“Portlan? Oh yeah, I know him. Buys lots of Cloudsage Root. I didn’t know he lived up here, though.”

“Hmm.” I frowned. “Now that I think about it, I don’t actually know where he lives. I think he’s some kind of assistant though? Anyway, he knows who I am.”

“Hah, and I’ve known the man for years.” He laughed. “Just goes to show how little we know about people’s lives, right? Anyway, if you know him, then I’m sure it’s fine.”

That was a relief. I turned to smile up at him. “Great! That’s weird though. Anyway, I should probably be going, or my supper will get cold.” I clambered to my feet, then gave the man a little nod before heading towards the Keeper’s sanctuary.

I knew this was another mystery, but right then I had other things on my mind. Very important other things. Namely: my stomach. I realised I hadn’t actually eaten anything in all the time since I’d logged in, and it had been more than six hours by this point. Those biscuits didn’t count, and the Sunfruit had been more like a sticky pulpy drink you had to peel. Supper was waiting, and after that, my Rune inscription.

I descended the familiar dark cozy staircase, noting the somewhat obvious lack of any doors besides the one I was going to go through, then knocked when I reached the bottom. The Keeper was expecting me this time, and I heard her call “Come on in!” almost immediately.

With a happy skip, I pushed inside. The Keeper looked across at me from the kitchen. “Do close the door behind you dear.” She smiled in greeting.

In front of me, I saw she had moved the little table to the centre of the room between the two chairs, and it now more or less filled the space, at least insofar as it would be difficult to navigate around. It wasn’t really adequate for a supper table, but she’d placed her tray on it anyway, and on that was a small pot filled with something steaming. The smell was incredible. Warm and savory. It filled the air, making the whole room feel inviting. I almost wanted to say “I’m home!”, but I wasn’t quite sure how she’d respond.

Instead, I settled for “Oh man that smells amazing!” as I closed the door.

I turned back to see the Keeper appraising me from across the table, wiping her hands on her apron. “Did you find them alright?”

“Yup!” I beamed, and reached into my inventory to pull out the kebabs. Then I frowned “Um, where can I put these?”

“The tray is clean.”

It was only after I’d put the kebabs down that I realised I’d never actually made the hand gesture to open the menu, or even gone through the menu at all. The inventory had just been there when I wanted it. I was just starting to get excited about that, when I felt a pair of warm arms wrap around my shoulders, and the Keeper’s head playfully knock against mine.

I could hear the warmth in her voice. “Welcome back. It looks good on you.”

“Thanks!” I hugged her back.

~ ~ 26/1/1/17:36 ~ ~

Status: [River]

Class: [Novice Mistborn Magical Martial Artist]

Location: [Cowl’s Landing - The Keeper's Sanctuary]

Health 35/39 ~ Mana 29/40 ~ Stamina 24/41 Equipped Skills (6/8):

[Force Infused Palm]

[Myriad Fists]

[Imbued Defence]

[Unarmed Discipline (Passive)]

[Body Conditioning (Passive)]

[Elementary Ingredient Preparation (Passive)] Statistics:

Defence +8

Resistance +4

Constitution +4

Willpower +4

Endurance +4

Spirit +1

Perception +1 Equipped Items (3/8):

[New Arrival’s Simple Dress]

[New Arrival’s Simple Shoes]

[Valesilver Pin] Other Skills:

[Inscribe: Rune of the Creator Flame (0/1)] Other Items:

[Special Edition Founder’s Token]

[Novice Healing Potion]

[Novice Mana Potion]

[Small Pouch]

[Small Iron Key]

[Sugary Biscuit]x2

Active Quests:

[Acquire Ancient Flame-Seared Ink]

[The Ancient Keeper of Runic Magic (Part 3)]

[State of Becoming]