“No new lair, but good XP,” Ira said as the last swirling light deposited Alton next to the Gatepost Recall Stone. That one looked like a yellow globe encased in a blue spiral. Each Recall Stone had originally been found at the centre of tier two and greater zones. The first one they’d seen was twin spiralling columns, and Jonas had learned that each one was different. Sometimes only by a few details, but the Stones came in a bewildering variety of shape and colours.

The Royal Labyrinth Company apparently had once tried to get a Stone across the Great Gilded Gate to London, to see if it was possible to set your Recall location on Earth. Not only did the Stone fail to work, but even after it had been moved back to into the Labyrinth, nobody had been able to set their Recall on it ever again. Whatever anchor it offered had been destroyed by being brought out of the Labyrinth.

That useless Stone was now the most expensive sculpture on Earth, in the Kew Palace’s gardens of the King.

“Not too much traffic now,” Alton commented, taking stock of the Gate clearing. There was a single wagon parked next to the Gilded Gate and a pair of Professionals unloading it into the Gate to London.

“They probably finally finished the backlog of Power Stones. Things are finally back to normal for the Labyrinth,” Jonas said.

“Time to behave as normal Professionals. I wonder if cousin Luther is back,” Guss added.

“Probably not. Their boss said they had a lot of lost time to catch up. But we can check later,” Laura said.

“Let’s find one of those brokers and dump our gear. I’ll keep the robe and Guss’ staff at the bank though, in case any of us has to take a Profession with Aether/Offense or Support skills. No sense in trying to learn those skills the hard way if we have some way of picking all the possible ones faster,” Jonas said.

“We don’t have that many of those items,” Guss said.

“No, but we should keep any we find, just in case.”

Guss wasn’t surprised when they found no less than three gear brokers within a block of the Gate clearing.

“Makes sense, since most people would come back using either Fast travel with the Gate or Recall at the Stone. But be careful, they probably offer the lowest prices for those looking to dump their items quickly.”

Seeing as they only had barely half a dozen random items of very low levels, the various brokers ended up offering a half a pound for the whole set. One even offered a single shilling per item, arguing that the market was flooded with months of items and the refurbishers in London needed time to process those goods. Rather than argue, Jonas ended up selling the lot at the last broker.

The only good news was the bags. There was a better market for exotic bags like the ones they’d gotten from the boars, even if the bags themselves had no special properties beyond having a descriptor. That broker ended up offering 6 shillings each for the four bags. Matching bags like those were rare.

“5 shillings for each of us, and 4 shilling for the team fund,” he said, splitting the total among the team members.

“Lodging is going to eat that and more,” Laura complained.

“Probably not. I mean if we go back on Sunday evening, we need a single night. Most of those inns are used to have people who will sleep outdoors most of the time, so they can’t gouge them.”

“Or they make them pay for the luxury,”

“Not going to argue. Let’s see what we get first,” Jonas said.

They found a moderately large inn further into Gatepost, interestingly titled “The Frozen Hog”. Jonas wasn’t surprised to learn that the aforementioned hog was apparently a denizen of a tier three zone that the owner had hunted with his team for quite a long time.

“We’ve all semi-retired for now. Paid off my debts and invested in this when they liquidated the old Royal Company. I still get there with a few friends from time to time, to hunt those things for my special,” said the Massive Spotter. “Thank the Lord, the raw components don’t spoil for months unless you send them to London.”

“Is that any good?” Alton asked.

“The taste is very different from what you’d expect of an albino boar that lives on a glacier. Have you ever eaten some of the stuff they make in the Indies?”

“Hmmm, no,” Alton replied. The rest of the team shook their heads in denegation as well.

“Well, even without anything else on the plate, it’s as burning as the cooking they make there. It’s something that needs a strong palate. Want some tonight?”

“Not this time. But on another stay, maybe.”

“So, room for six, fifteen shillings without the dinner,” the innkeeper said. “Got only two of those,” he added.

“And with dinner – not the frozen hog meat special?” asked Jonas.

“One pound, room, dinner and tankard of ale,” the man replied.

“No price for the heroes of the Gate?” he pushed.

The innkeeper laughed.

“I run a business. Can’t make an honest living if I start giving discounts for every famous Professional. But you won’t find better prices in all of Gatepost.”

Jonas quickly looked around to check for the rest of team’s approval, before confirming.

“We’ll take that then.”

After collecting the coins, the man pulled out a box and fished six keys with a wooden fob listing “XIV” on each.

“There you are. Dinner starts at seven until eight.”

The number fourteen room ended up being rather small, with three beds with a double bed system. It was apparently now used to pack more beds in a room by stacking them. That looked much better than the system of single beds offered in inns around the country where you still had to share with whomever was traveling along, even if they were not of your family.

“Going to London to see her Highness. And get those work passes,” Jonas announced. “Anyone else?”

“Going to see if I can find better brokers,” Guss said.

“Shopping for gear,” Laura said.

Ira wanted to check entertainment, Alton and Jonathan were going to learn more of the town’s layout. The team ended up dispersing on their own errands, leaving Jonas to make his way back to the Gate.

“Greetings, Sir Sims.”

“Your Highness,” the Aetherist replied.

“So, what brings you to St. James?”

“Checking with… the head office?”

Princess Charlotte let out a small laugh, waving around the boudoir in which she was currently sitting. There was a small escritoire with a few papers on it, but nothing suggesting a working office.

“I assume that’s true. And that I’m the company’s manager then. How was your first real trip to the Labyrinth?”

Jonas started to explain the plan of using Othary as a base to level without having to compete with any other team.

“Makes sense. If you have the Gate… we’re already using most of the available tier two readily accessible from Grailburg. About everything else requires you to go through tier three, and once you start being able to deal with tier three lairs regularly, there’s no real reason to go back to tier two.”

“You could have people doing the power-smashing.”

“You know, that’s an idea. You probably need a good tier five, but that’s something a company might go for. Team enable services. If other companies would pay for it. Once you have your gate set, you would be good. Good thinking, Sir Sims.”

“We have also noted something else.”

“Oh? What.”

He proceeded to explain about the growth, and how Ira had problems fitting in his old gloves.

“So, you all are growing with each Milestone?”

“It looks like. It’s not that big… but then, each Milestone is still small.”

“Well, the Professional gear doesn’t have a fitting problem. It always fits, no matter what.”

“I noticed. But if we start being 7 feet tall, people will notice.”

“Can’t avoid it. Although, if it’s small, it will remain small for years. It’s not as if you get dozens of Milestones.”

“Guss has wondered if that’s why we get so much pain when Adjustment happens. I sure remember the aches I often had when I was young and grew, like, a foot in six months. Getting a quarter of an inch in seconds…”

“Something is clearly happening,” she said. “What, no one knows. We don’t think there’s anyone like you six. I’ve talked with some of the Ministers, notably of War, and…”

“And?”

“And nothing. There’s never been any hint of non-normal Professionals. Hiding who and what you are is pretty much impossible; the news about the Adapted Team and their capacity to re-open the Gate propagated like a fire in the slums. But nobody had heard anything about cases like yours before. We’re trying to get spies to look more deeply into that, but that may take years.”

“No Gate has ever been closed, you mean.”

“And we very much would like to know more about that.”

“Has the French spymaster talked?”

Charlotte made a pained face that immediately told Jonas something was wrong.

“He’s… escaped.”

“What??? I thought the Tower was pretty much impossible to escape even for Professionals.”

“So did everyone. He apparently blew a hole in a wall, which he shouldn’t have been able to in his state. A dozen of the wardens got killed during the escape. He jumped into the Thames. For a tier seven Professional, swimming in it, even under it, would be no bother, and he slipped through everyone’s attempts to catch him. Even with Lingering Death remaining, I doubt he drowned. Not if he could still break out of the Tower.”

Jonas thought about the anger that would come from Jonathan when he heard the news. Deschanel was directly responsible for the commotion in which his family and his fiancée’s had perished. But he couldn’t hide that from him. Sooner or later, it would come out. He sighed, deeply unhappy.

“Are you heading back soon?” she asked.

“We’re taking a day or two. Attend mass. Then back to Othary. We should be good enough for the last two known lairs soon, and we’ll probably do them a couple of times. Then, we’ll switch to a real tier two with higher lairs once we’re all tier three, level 85-90 or so. There’s one just next door along the Great Line, so it will be free to use as well. And you?”

Charlotte made a frowning face again.

“The King and my father made clear this time they really did not like me being too much in the Labyrinth. Father loathes the Labyrinth anyway. If it were not for its Menders helping my grandfather, he’s sure he would be King already. Grandfather’s never been very comfortable with the idea, but I could make him understand the use of gaining Milestones. But he’s starting to insist that I should ensure there’s a next in line. For the crown, that is important.”

Jonas decided he would definitively not comment on that perspective. Marrying the future Queen of the United Kingdom was one great opportunity for any high placed noble or royal prince… although many of them had lost their family’s throne to the French Hordes. But marrying one that was also a tier four Professional… and potentially immortal if Cowen’s speculations were true.

“So you are not going back?”

“No. At least for now. It’s going to take weeks of negotiations. And of course, Lord Eldon will support him.”

“I defer to your Highness for the politics.”

She laughed in answer.

“I hate those as well, but I can’t escape them, unfortunately. I’d rather roam the Labyrinth with good Professionals at my side, but I was born to be the Queen. Politics are my birth. Unfortunately.”

“Then, I will take my leave, if that pleases you.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she answered, pulling out folded papers.

“Your employment,” she added, handing the stack of papers to Jonas. “You ran away so fast, you didn’t even met the Duke last time.”

“Well…”

“Learn to appreciate parties, Sir Sims. They’re the part of politics that you can tolerate well, if any. And you will attend many more in the future.”

“If you say so, your Highness.”

"By the way, love the fur tuft on your head."

"Really?"

"It's... very Professional-style."

The slight smile Charlotte of Wales sported belied the compliment.

Jonas Mark Sims

Health: 443/443 (409)

Mind: 525/525

Endurance: 433/433 (356)

Aether: 1157/1157 (1054)

Effective level: 63

Level 33 Aetherist

Level 30 Arcanist

Experience: 28379/55000

Strength: 29

Dexterity: 26

Agility: 30

Constitution: 25

Stamina: 26

Wisdom: 28

Focus: 28

Presence: 38 (31)

Fortitude: 27

Intellect: 61 (43)

Defence rating: 31+6

20% faster levelling

10% elemental damage

Milestones: Adjustment IV, Arcanist II, Aetherist II

Skills: Flame Bolt (2), Air Burst (1), Ice Dart (1), Lightblast (0+1), Earth Grasp (0), Firefall (0), Fire Funnel (0)

Equipment: Bear-Tuft Coif (7PRE/3INT), Blue Soft Robe (3INT/34hp), Simple Leather Gloves (27aet), Simple Felt Belt (76aet), Blue Burlap Trousers (4INT), Basic Burlap Sandals (6INT/77End), Basic Focus Dagger (2INT), Old Mangled Codex (+1 lightblast)