"So I have to pick a class. But I can change later, right?"

"You can take levels in something different." She studied his face. "You really don't remember how this works?"

Vonn shook his head.

She marched, so authoritative that Vonn felt compelled to follow. "I'm pretty sure we had this talk years ago, fuzzbutt, but here goes. You present something you made at a shrine, and accept what it gives you. Which depends on what you offered."

He thought of one rack of candles in the shop that had looked uneven, discolored. "What do you think of Engineers?"

She shrugged. "The gods made it start being an option, so they must think it's important. But it's the latest shiny thing. Now a bunch of people will jump into it with no idea what they're doing." Her ears drooped. "Making low-quality items while you're young and enthusiastic and haven't got the proper skills is not a great idea."

So that's what Vonn, the real one, had been doing. "But somebody has to master it, if it's ever going to be useful to people."

Tazo stared out into the swamp, looking at trails of smoke filtering up from a forge and through the trees. "It's your first day to use the System. So now's the time to rethink your life. If your heart's really set on making gadgets, get good at it, okay?"

There'll be a historic opportunity, very soon, System had said. Vonn had taken over for someone with aspirations, and it seemed that this Engineer class was new to the world. He said, "I won't be useless to... to the shop, will I?"

"No, if anything you'll get more useful if you've got access to any relevant skills at all. I wouldn't go Farmer; leave that to the Humans."

She'd given him another few questions, but there wasn't time to ask all the ones he had. "I want to go ahead with Engineer. So I need an item to show off."

"Any of your scrap projects ought to do."

He shook his head. "No, it ought to be something I made. Today. If I had woodworking tools I could knock something together."

"Urika's, then." She led him toward the water, and a bridge.

It spanned the river maybe thirty feet above the waterline. Green vines and roots snaked out from either bank and met in the middle, woven together with a spiderweb of ropes and planks. Broad enough for at least three people, or for the one cart that a dark-feathered birdman was trundling along toward the far side.

He was drawing curses from the other travelers, who were mostly Vulin. Vonn headed for the bridge and was just in time to catch sight of the Aves again, when a cartwheel broke. The hand-sized wheel wobbled and bounced off the ropes.

Vonn lunged to grab it. Air whooshed through his ears and time seemed to slow for an instant. He was disoriented but holding the bridge ropes in one hand and the wheel in the other. "Agility, huh?" he said to himself.

[Wooden Wheel, low quality] was the world's comment.

The Aves sang a low, frustrated note. He grabbed the bridge with one taloned hand, and tried to jiggle the cart to stand on three wheels. But a passing woman banged into it, threatening to upset the whole cargo, sacks of bread.

A man glared at him and said, "Get a barge!"

Vonn said, "You should probably back up. Can I carry some of that?"

Behind him, Tazo snorted. "Yeah. Let us do the lifting. Or hire somebody who can do it better. Hey, Human!" She flagged down a man that Vonn hadn't noticed.

Vonn stood face to chest with his old species. If the man was five foot six or nine, then Vonn was maybe four foot six. His whole sense of scale was off. "Whoa."

Tazo told the man, "The nice bird here would like to buy you a drink if you help us get this cart back off of the bridge. Right?" She looked toward the Aves.

The bread-bird grumbled but fished out a few copper coins. His hands were talons without much of a palm in between, and they were attached to glossy black wings as though he were wearing a loose-sleeved robe. A look at him showed Vonn the profile: [Aves Male]. Very little info.

The bird looked crossly at Vonn. "What are you staring at? Here, split this money if you can help me."

Vonn reached into the wagon, lifted one of the bags, and wobbled under the weight. Tazo snatched it and found a smaller one to hand him. The big man shrugged and took one in each hand.

Together, with the Aves holding one more bag, they struggled across the bridge past the gauntlet of foot traffic. Vonn tried to smile and apologize a few times as they banged into people. But they made it. "Where are you taking this anyway?"

"My shop. There." The Aves pointed uphill, making Vonn groan.

Several winding streets of dirt and an attempt at gravel followed the steeply sloping riverbank. Wood-reinforced stairs had been cut into the hill. With trouble they all climbed them, and found a restaurant with a sign showing a crossed hammer and feather.

"Never been here," Tazo said, sniffing the warm, humid air. It smelled of rotting plants.

The interior was plain wood, set up like a bar but without bottles visible. Vonn set his load down and wobbled backward. "Oh! I brought this." He had stashed the broken cartwheel by slipping it through his belt, where it dug into his ribs.

The baker groused, "Not much good to me without the others. And now somebody will steal the cart. It was bad enough hauling that thing south to the bakery, empty."

Vonn accepted one shiny copper coin, and realized he had no pockets. "I doubt anyone will take it with three wheels. Maybe I can fix it!"

"After you get your class, maybe," said Tazo. "Which you should be working on."

"Right. Wait, why were you carrying bread to a bakery?"

"This is my new restaurant," said the shopkeeper. That made more sense, though there wasn't much on display yet.

"Oh. See you later, mister!" He let Tazo drag him outside. It was kind of exciting to know this village was big enough to have a such a place.