I sat at the table, my new purse of gold in hand, as Stravos walked out of the inn. I felt strange, as If I was not quite sure I could believe what had just happened.

Charles shook his head as he glanced after the leaving man and then started eating. After a moment's hesitation I joined in.

As I ate I took in the room with some trepidation. I was not sure what reaction our conversation might have brought, but to my surprise we did not seem to have gotten the attention of anyone.

"What will you do now?" Charles' question brought me out of my thoughts and I looked at him, perhaps truly for the first time today. The effect Stravos had was most unsettling. I looked around the room once more, in thought. If the people in here, and there were quite a few, had known that Stravos Mercia had just been in the room, there should have been more of a reaction than this. Did his Ability do more than I believed it did? Or did he have several of that kind? I turned back to Charles.

"I need to find a Scribe's shop, but not the one just off the corner of Merchant's Lane where it turns onto King's Road." I replied, musingly.

Charles finished chewing something unidentifiable, while I had stuck with the familiar gruel so far. I gazed out over the feast in front of me and shrugged, before I started taking experimental bites from everything I could see.

"Why not that shop? The Scribe is considered highly respectable." Charles asked in between bites of food.

"He called me a thief the last time I was there, a few days back, and tried to catch me." I trailed off for a moment, considering.

"I think he thought I had a Bloodline, and took a different approach than Stravos did."

I felt there was no danger speaking of this with Charles, considering the conversation I just had with Stravos, while he was at the table. Especially if I would report my magical findings to him.

Charles managed to get something stuck in his throat and started coughing, while beating his chest. I had my doubts that the beating truly helped, but I had seen others do the same, so there might be something to it.

I considered a strange shelled creature with large blue eyes before passing it over, it was creepy. I looked for something else to taste.

"You? You were the one who bought Fire Burst some days back?"

I stared at him for a moment, thinking. While it was possible that the Guard had tried to investigate the loss of a spell book worth a gold, I thought it highly unlikely that they would use more than one person for the investigation. Charles just said bought not stole, as if he knew I stole nothing. That in turn implied that he had used his Ability on the Scribe, since I doubted the Scribe would shout thief and then just claim a misunderstanding. There would be no need for Charles to cater to my feelings after how Stravos had just dismissed my enslavement. The conclusion was that it had been Charles who almost killed me.

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Sorry. It was a mistake I should not have made."

He took a deep breath as if to steel himself.

"Tell me what I can do to repent."

It was my turn to stare. It took several moments for me to notice that my mouth was hanging open, whilst full of food. The idea of behaving in such a way made me think on what mother would have done had she seen this, and I shivered. Charles' question was contrary to my expectations, just what was his game? I peered at him suspiciously; what did I want though?

"Tell me where I can find a place to live that is not too costly but not in the slums." I took a chance, willing to see if he would be a help or not.

The smile that spread across his face made my heart skip a beat, and his eyes sparkled with mirth. If he suggested I should move in with him, I might just have to find out how Aberrant Mind worked, I mused with renewed suspicion.

Charles brought out a piece of paper and a narrow stick, nothing at all like a quill, and began to write something.

"There is an old widow that lives just down Emerald Lane, it is aways down Merchant's Lane, on the right when coming from this direction. Her house is the one past the jeweler's just before the closed old Alchemist's shop. Her husband was the Alchemist you see." Charles sighed deeply as he finished writing and handed me the note, folded in half.

"Give her that and tell her I sent you, she should be fair." Having said that, Charles nabbed a final bite of food, gave me a short nod, and walked out of the inn. I was left there holding a note and feeling as if I had ended up in a very strange and foreign world.

My experiences with mother had prepared me for things that now did not seem to hold true. It almost felt like a different reality; my years in the slums had taught me to be suspicious and careful, everyone was out to get everyone else just for a possible leg up. But now? I was uncertain where I should expect danger and what was benign. I could not keep waiting for everything and everyone to be out to get me somehow, but I could not go the other way either, and think that no one and nothing was. Unfortunately I suspected that what I lacked was experience, which only time and mistakes would earn me.

**

I stood in front of a blue wooden door, hesitating. Charles had provided both a note and a way to begin a conversation, but this was so surreal. I took a breath and knocked on the door.

I ended up knocking and waiting and knocking for quite some time, uncertain if I should just give up; eventually an old, thin, and frail looking woman opened the door to peer out at me, surprisingly we were of a height.

Her hair was thin and gray, standing in every which direction. Her eyes were almost hidden beneath heavy lids, on a very wrinkled and tanned face. Her dark eyes stared at me with a shrewdness that told me quite clearly that this old woman was not feeble of mind, though her body certainly looked like it was giving up on her.

She smiled slightly, showing teeth white enough to again remind me that this was not the slums, and spoke.

"What is the fuss, girl, banging on my door this way?" I was lost for words for a moment, but I rallied; I had fought an Unraveling Spirit and banished a murderous imp, I should not be tongue tied when faced with the prospect of talking to an old woman!

"Charles sent me, he told me to hand you this note." I handed the note over and waited.

The old woman read it and nodded to herself.

"Come inside child, and we can talk." With that she turned and walked back inside, leaving the door open for me. I followed in, closing the door behind me. I noted that there was not only a lock but two sturdy bars that could be put in place on it. I could not recall hearing either lock or the bars being moved before the door opened, and so left them as they were.

I found myself in a hallway with a door to either side and ending in stairs going upward. I could hear the clinking of pottery from the opening on the left.

The old woman was in a large kitchen, though it was considerably smaller than the one at the inn, this one was not meant to serve a crowd and thus it felt quite extravagant. She was putting mugs on a tray along with several other pieces of pottery the purpose of which I was not sure of.

"The other room dear, across the hall," she told me, shooing me ahead with the tray.

The room we came to was just a bit smaller than the kitchen, with a lush carpet and two large armchairs standing at a low table to one side; the other side of the room held a large glass container, which was almost as wide as the wall it stood against. The container came to roughly chest height with me and was full of various kinds of plants. The truly interesting part to my mind was the cylinder that stood in the center, out of which flowed what seemed to be vapor.

I stepped closer, eyes wide as if that could help me discern more. The amount of Mana the cylinder held was very high, at least several thousand. It did some intricate things to the air I could not understand, before it pulled water from somewhere, and then vaporised it, letting it flow out among the plants. This must have cost a fortune!

I turned to the old woman who was putting the tray down on the table, as she smiled at me.

"I used to work as an Herbalist, I have the profession. Nowadays I only grow things that are pleasing to the eye." She answered my unspoken question, while walking over to look at the plants. She seemed so sad as she stood there for a moment, before she sighed deeply.

"Well, let's have tea and talk!"

She turned abruptly, and walked back to the table.

She served me and herself, before sitting down to stare intently at me.

"Charles claims you are a Mage and need a place to live. That you are unlikely to kill but slightly more likely to rob me."

I blinked in surprise at the statement and the old woman chuckled. I wondered if my mind was slipping, why did I not even think of reading the note? Just days ago that would have been my first thought, suspecting treachery. Did I actually trust Charles? I could not really refute the note's claim; I was more likely to rob her than kill her.

"That is just how Charles is, don't worry about it. My name is Sharon." She interrupted my tumbling thoughts as she took a sip and waited.

"Ewynne." I was not sure what to say or do now, should I ask to see a room? How much it cost? Sharon chuckled.

"Yes, you are awkward, aren't you? You may rent the rooms upstairs, there is a separate bathroom and an office there as well as the bedroom. I want half a gold each week for it."

The price was a bit less than what staying at the inn would have cost for the same amount of time, but offered a lot more. Five silver did not seem that much comparatively, if this was what I got. The work with the guard and the more than thirteen gold I now had with me, as well as the possibility of earning more from enchanting, made me feel rather secure.

I took in the fact that I could actually get a home to live in that was not a run down shack.

Sharon showed me around upstairs, there was a bedroom at the far end of the hall, a bathroom on the left, and an office on the right. The bedroom even had a window facing out over the street. The bathroom had indoor plumbing, something the inn had not, to my knowledge, other than the drain in the bathing chamber. Just who had Charles sent me to? Though I assumed that someone who lived almost in the center of the Merchants' Quarter could not be poor, by any stretch.

After having been shown around upstairs I felt confused about where the old woman would live. When I asked about it, she showed me that there was another door in the room where we had tea. It was almost hidden from sight when closed, so smoothly did it fit into the paneling. Behind that door was another bedroom, on the far end of which was a bathroom. By my understanding of the layout of the house, it should be just to the side of the kitchen, though there was no connecting door in that direction.

While quite giddy with excitement I paid for the two weeks she wanted and got a key of my own. She asked that I kindly not make noise if I returned late, which I assured her I would not, before I left.

I ambled back out to the Merchant's Lane, not quite sure where I could find another Scribe's shop, something I was delightfully unconcerned about. There should be several considering the size of Logate, I thought.

And so I walked around, taking in the smells from the food sold at the market, and the sights, as people rushed about around me. I almost dared to call myself happy.

A young man, probably just a few years older than me came walking up, a wide smile on his face. While slightly uncomfortable by his gaze, I tried to maintain my mood and raised an eyebrow at him.

His grin widened as he threw something at me, underhand. I caught it in surprise, and he gave a jovial wave and walked away with an, 'Have an apple!', over his shoulder, before he quickly was lost in the crowd.

I had already felt the Mana in the apple as I caught it, and only a moment of concentration confirmed that while it might not be the same one as in the library, it definitely had the same magical effect on it. I tossed it from hand to hand, as I considered what to do. I noted absentmindedly that it was harder to catch the apple than I expected, an effect of my lost physical Attributes no doubt.

A few moments of study led me to believe that whatever effect the apple might have was contained. Unless it was eaten it should not be able to do anything. With that conclusion I unslung the cloth bag I wore, to put the apple in it, but I froze as my attention was drawn by the Order.

Quest!

Destroy the apple.

Reward: 400 Experience.

I grinned widely, now that was interesting.