Lilijoy was getting used to the gnome question. Her height was far from typical for Outsiders, and many of those from Outside and Inside assumed she must be a tall gnome or a short, skinny dwarf. She sighed.

“Nope, not a gnome. Just a really short human. I like your hair too. Do you wear it like that Outside?”

“Sometimes,” Magpie replied. “Keeps it out of the way. How about you?”

“Oh I wish! I don’t have enough to do anything with it Outside. Have you been Inside long? I finished my trial about a week ago and my trainer here is... well, I’m not sure what she is. Crazy tough, but impressive too…”

They traded stories from their Trials and Lilijoy told her about her recent training. Magpie was reticent at first, but Lilijoy’s bubbling enthusiasm swept her along, and before long, Lilijoy learned all about Runk the tree-orc and Magpie heard the tale of the Nasty Hanging Tentacle Monster, and Starcoil the spider, and all about Rosemallow and Professor Anaskafius. Lilijoy was appalled to find out that Magpie had never read Lord of the Rings and forced her to promise she would when she had time.

When their conversation had run down a bit, Magpie asked “So where do you live Outside? The translators are so good, I can’t even tell what language you’re speaking.”

Translation was woven into the fabric of the Inside from its inception, even partly covering issues such as lip movements. According to Inside legend, Guardian, or rather Guardian’s subsets, the Archons who ruled the Inside, had found that the Outsiders carried their wars and troubles with them when they visited. To keep the peace, the Archons created a magical energy that prevented misunderstandings due to language differences. Outsiders were encouraged to leave their ethnic and political differences to their own world.

The initial result had been that warring groups were better able to understand each other’s insults and imprecations, but over time it had paved the way for smoother relations and conflict resolutions. The Corp, the coalition of clans that ruled the Outside, had arisen in part due to this ability to communicate naturally.

Lilijoy considered Magpie’s question. What should she say? Everyone she knew Outside (which was pretty much just Marcus and Anda, since she could hardly claim to know the other residents of the former monastery) had told her to keep silent on anything connected to her Outside situation. But she didn’t want to alienate her new roommate either, so she decided to keep it vague.

“Oh, I’m just from the Americas,” she said. “But I don’t really like thinking about the Outside too much. Do you have a trainer yet?”

Magpie’s brow furrowed for just a moment. Lilijoy couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or concern.

“No, not yet,” she replied. “I heard that they find you in the first day or so.” She looked around the room where they were standing. “I doubt they’re going to find me in here. Plus, we really need to get some furniture. Do you want to go into town and pick some out?”

“That sounds great!” Lilijoy exclaimed. “Only…” she looked down at the floor. “I don’t have any money yet, and I’m not sure where to get any.”

“Why don’t you just transfer in some credits?”

“I don’t have any of those either.”

“Oh.” Magpie looked surprised. “Can you borrow some from your family?”

“I might be able to ask a friend… but I’d rather not. Isn’t there some way to get money Inside?”

Lilijoy had researched the Inside as best she could, though it was oddly difficult compared to researching other topics. Her favorite way to learn was through the old internet archives, but those only went up to about 2070. Since then, there had been nothing similar to the glory days of the world wide web.

Now, information systems were local, limited and tightly controlled by various clans and other interests. The internet archive and the Inside were exceptions, along with a few entertainment broadcast channels provided by the Corp. One of the most popular of those was Inside Life, which showcased the amazing opportunities of life on the Inside, from adventure to earning a living. “Come for the fun, stay for the gold!” was one of the breathless slogans repeated endlessly on the channel.

According to Inside Life, making money on the Inside was ‘easy as a walk in the forest!’ One video showed a happy couple walking down a sunlit forest path, gathering the bountiful herbs and flowers as they went. Lilijoy had her doubts about the accuracy of that assessment, as it notably lacked spiders, bees, killer lizards and nasty hanging tentacle monsters. Still, she knew that you could find coins or treasures and sell them at the auction house. She figured it couldn’t be that hard, since millions of people seemed to be able to do it.

Magpie gave her the side eye. “If you want to make a few copper, you could spend the day gathering herbs. But that’s a huge waste of time.” She pursed her lips. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll lend you a few credits now, and you can owe me a favor.”

That sounded good to Lilijoy. “Okay! Let’s go. Just give me a minute to say goodbye to my plant.”

***

It was only Lilijoy’s second time in Academy town. On her first visit she had barely paused to take it all in as she hurried through to register at the Academy.

The town was home to an even mix of about twenty thousand Insiders and Outsiders, many catering to the needs of about fifteen thousand young and mostly affluent students. Clothing shops and furniture boutiques abounded, alongside outdoor cafes, street food stands, armorers, smiths, herbalists and magic shops. The central square was full of crafters of all kinds, their wares spread out on tables alongside heaps of produce and baked goods brought into the town by local farmers and bakers.

Lilijoy spent several minutes cataloging new smells, thankfully mostly pleasant, and observing the comings and goings of, what seemed to her, vast swarms of people of all shapes, colors and sizes. Eventually, Magpie grew impatient and pulled her into the mix. What followed was several hours of new experiences. She sampled fruits and vegetables and got into several conversations with the various beings selling them while Magpie stood by impatiently. Lilijoy was so pleased to match experiences to her vast catalog of knowledge, she could hardly contain herself.

“Did you taste that plum, Magpie? So sweet! Oh, and the oranges, and the bananas and the radishes. And the broccoli was so proud of itself!”

That last comment garnered a very strange look, but Lilijoy didn’t care. She was already onto another stand. Finally, Magpie had to pull her away from yet another long conversation, this time with a crafter behind a table full of woven baskets and macrame. As Magpie guided her from the square, Lilijoy couldn’t stop talking about what she had learned.

“Did you know that there is a skill for weaving stuff together called textiles? But it’s really hard to get, ‘cause it’s the top-level skill, and so most people have one or two of the low-level ones, like hand weaving, which is knotting, weaving and braiding. Mr. Sennit offered to teach me the Hand Weaving skill just now if I come back sometime. He was really nice. Did you know that the square gets a lot more crowded than this? All the students are on Experience week, and when they get back tomorrow it will be super crowded ‘cause they all want to sell their stuff and get new gear and stuff.”

Magpie interrupted when Lilijoy finally stopped to breathe.

“That’s sort of interesting, I guess. Can we get a couch or something now?”

Lilijoy could tell that she wasn't nearly as excited about the square. She figured that was because Magpie was a normal Outsider and had probably seen things like it before. She badly wanted to ask Magpie all about her Outside life and was kicking herself for saying she didn’t like talking about it. I’ve got to come up with a better story, she thought. I’ve still got two more roommates to meet, plus all the other students.

It turned out that furniture was not terribly expensive Inside, not that Lilijoy had much to compare it to. They managed to get everything they needed, a couch, table and chairs, as well as a small rug and cushions for a handful of silver. Lilijoy had wondered how they would ever get it all back to the room, but the furniture crafter had an arrangement with the Academy and assured them it would all be delivered.

“Now you owe me three silver and forty-two copper,” Magpie announced. “And a favor of course."

Her eyes took on a distant look. "This has been fun and all, but I feel like stretching my legs. See you back at the room!” she called as she vanished in a burst of speed.

Lilijoy looked after her in amazement; even with Flash, she wasn’t sure if she could match that pace. Deciding to stay in town for a while longer, she wandered back to the market square. The weaver, Mr. Sennit, was still at his little booth, threading some kind of reed through a star-shaped frame. He was a small brown skinned man with long white hair neatly coiled in a braid running down his back. She stood watching him for several minutes, enjoying the slow growth of the pattern of woven strands as it unfolded. Eventually, he glanced up and gave her a wink.

“Back so soon, poki?”

“My friend left, so now I have time to watch you weave, if that’s okay with you?”

“Sure, sure,” he said. “You can ask me questions if you want. These old hands can do their task without much help.”

Over the next hour, Mr. Sennit showed Lilijoy several techniques for binding reeds, husks and grass into structures, and allowed her to sit cross-legged on the ground behind his little stand and practice simple Hand Weaving techniques. While she practiced he told her more about the craft.

“My people have practiced this art for a thousand years. We make ropes and nets, even bind wood together to make buildings. From the simple grass comes a whole world, like magic. Magic in your head goes into the grass, eh? Look here, poki..” He held up a length of yellow string. “… see some string. One thing, simple thing.” He wiggled it in the air to make his point. “But I got some magic up in here,” he said waving a hand over his head. In a flash, he wrapped the string around itself, looping and twisting it between his fingers, until it formed a five-petaled flower. Just as fast he pulled the ends and it was just a string again. “Where’d the flower go, eh? You think ‘bout that for a bit.”

Lilijoy wasn’t sure what to think about his demonstration. “Mr. Sennit, the flower didn’t go anywhere. It’s just a string.”

He clucked his tongue and sighed. “Poki, you look again.” He took out a red string and made the same flower pattern, this time slowly. “Watch careful-like, okay? You learn this one.” He had to do it several times before she understood the technique, and it still took her several tries to recreate the form under his tutelage. At last, she held a red flower, formed from a single string.

“Where’s the flower? You hold it, right? It’s real, right?” She nodded, still wondering what point he was trying to make. He looked at her skeptically, and then reached over and gently prodded her shoulder. “Where are we? Right? Right? This real, huh?”

“We’re Inside, so it’s kind of real, I guess?”

“Yup, and Outside? That real too? How you even know?” He took her flower and held it in front of her. “You go Outside, this still real?” He pulled the ends, making it a length of red string again. “Where’d the flower go? This time you think longer, come back another time.”

He turned back to his weaving, still speaking.

“I come here for fifty years. Worked for clan for forty. You be careful, poki, don’t learn the hard way. They want you to owe them some, maybe a little, then more, then more. Then it’s forty years stuck paying them back.”

“But Mr. Sennit, why are you still doing the same thing if you don’t owe them anymore?”

His hands twisted and wrapped the reeds over and around each other. Then he sighed and looked at her. “Take a look at this… “

Name: Weaver Sennit Level: 5

Achievements:

None

Accomplishments:

Lives Like a Cat x5

You have died 47 times

EXP: 534

Available Free Points: 0

Natural Traits

STR: 20

END: 22

SPD: 23

KA: 41

Magical Traits

POW: 2

INV: 21

VIT: 14

FLASH: 4

CHARM: SENTIENT: 12

CHARM: ANIMAL: 8

CHARM: PLANT: 21

Elemental Affinities

20% Fire (Tier IV)

22% Earth (Tier IV)

29% Water (Tier IV)

33% Air (Tier III)

(Tier IV 0-29%, Tier III 30-54%, Tier II 55-79%, Tier I 80%+)

Mana Well: 64

Mana Gathering: 7%/100 seconds

Abilities

Scan II

Close Sight II

Skills

Swimming: Upgraded Expert (VP =16)

Textiles: Hand Weaving: Illuminated Master (VP = 104)

Herbalism: Natural Journeyman (VP =5)

Teaching: Upgraded Expert (VP = 16)

Mental Deception: Natural Initiate (VP = 2)

Mental Manipulation: Natural Initiate (VP = 2)

Vending: Natural Apprentice (VP = 3)

“… you see that name? That’s what they made me call myself. I don’t mind it anymore. For forty years, if I crossed the clan they’d take my system. Take my only living. No one buying hats and baskets on the Outside, I’ll tell you that. Now they got my kid, and her kids in debt. At least this way I get a few silver a week for my family and I don’t have to do no more beach huts and villas for the rich folk. I even picked up a bit of teaching from curious folk like yourself, mostly other crafters on the square.”

Lilijoy watched the old man’s hands work.

“This isn’t right,” she said at last. “You are amazing at what you do.”

It was true too. His stand was covered with vibrantly colored woven structures. Baskets and hats were there, but also woven animals, tigers, tortoises and dolphins. There were circular wall hangings with hypnotic, swirling patterns and floor mats so beautiful she would hate to step on them.

“You need to charge more for what you make. If I had any money, I would pay you whatever you wanted.”

The old man half chuckled. “Heh. Poki, you need to get rich quick-like and hurry back here before you see other things you like. My trinkets don’t do no one no good, ‘cept maybe keep some sun out of your eyes or look pretty.”

That didn’t seem right to Lilijoy. From what she had learned from Professor Anaskafius, anyone at his level of advancement could work enchantments into their crafts.

“What about the magic part of your skills?” she asked.

“The clans didn’t like me messing around with that. They taught me how to work fast, how to make things last. Makes me good and tired to do that though, so mostly I just pass the days the old-fashioned way. No use in making more than I can sell, and my work lasts just fine all on its own.” He finished the basket top he was making, set it aside, and picked up a handful of long cords. “Still pretty cool though, eh? You want to see?”

Lilijoy could only nod with excitement. Mr. Sennit took a moment to set up the cords on a single rowed peg board. He sat quietly for a moment and even in the afternoon sun, Lilijoy could see a faint glow form around his hands. Then he began to move, and she felt an odd pressure emanating from him, almost like her ears wanted to pop, like she could lean into it. There was a rushing noise, and his hands caressed the threads stroking them, forming them like putty, and as his fingers traveled down the strands they flowed and blurred.

“Put your arm up here, quick-like,” he said out of the side of his mouth, his eyes never leaving the weaving. Entranced, it took her a moment to comply, but when she did, she felt a sensation of pushing her arm through, into, something warm and dry and oddly liquid at the same time. “All done!” he announced, and she saw a wide bracelet made of hundreds of intricate loops and knots around her wrist. She held her hand out in front of her, admiring the patterns and wondering how on earth he had managed to make it connect all the way around her wrist with no break or disruption of any kind.

“It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, and her eyes filled with tears even before the wave of emotion made its way to her consciousness. Echoes of that distant day when she had made the bracelet from cattail reeds for Attaboy, the feeling of creation that became her foundation for cultivating, filled her. Not only that, but this was the first time she had ever been given a gift to wear, aside from the ridiculous pillowcase dress she had gotten from Marcus. It was so perfect, and it looked so good on her wrist that she was overcome with a wave of happiness tinged with inadequacy.

She looked up at Mr. Sennit through watery eyes, and he was beaming back at her, his brown eyes glinting. He gave her a wink. “For luck, eh? It won’t do nothing but look pretty.”

“But I can’t pay you!” she cried.

“Oh, Poki, I see that you like. That’s all I need.” He gathered up more cords and some other materials and thrust them on her.

“Here, you go, make something nice for your friend. Come back soon, I show you a few more things.”