"Hey, Eryk," I wave as soon as I walk into his office the next morning. "Could you help me with something?"

He leans on his elbows at his desk. "Good morning. What do you need help with?" And then he coughs.

I pause, but he just tilts his head, the look telling me to speak, so I do. "So, I got stuff for writing yesterday, so I can write my letter to Karl Liffan. I've never really written with a pen and paper though, so I was wondering if you could help me so I don't mess it up. The paper was really expensive."

"Sure, come over here."

Taking my writing stuff, I trot around Eryk's desk, and he lifts me into his lap. He lays it all out in front of us and takes some time to inspect them. He rolls the pen around, peers into the ink bottle, and rubs the paper between his fingers, nodding to himself quietly, then takes up the pen, the same way he usually writes.

"Let's see..." he murmurs, dipping the tip of the pen into the ink and holding it there briefly. Then he draws it out, scratching a few lines onto a little wooden sheet and continues to inspect it. The lines look a little odd, not nice and smooth like how his handwriting normally looks. Eyes narrowing at the writing, he draws a tiny knife out of one of his desk drawers, and carefully shaves the tip of the pen, taking off tiny little pieces. He has to pause now and then when he keeps coughing. The dry, scratchy sound is a lot like Ebbin's yesterday, but not as bad. Even so, I ask if he's alright.

"Fine," he waves it off, eyes still on his work. "I'll let you know if it becomes an issue." Well, alright... He continues scratching at the pen with his knife until he's happy, and repeats his earlier test, the lines coming out better this time.

Once he's done with all that, he nods again, and finally speaks. "Not the best pen, but it'll do for your first. The ink's fine, looks standard. This paper though... I suppose it's not a bad choice since you're sending a letter to a noble, but otherwise, there's no reason you'd need such high quality paper. No wonder why you said it was so expensive. Where did you even get the money for paper like this...?"

"...Oh?" I have no idea how else to respond. There are different qualities of paper?

"In any case," he clearly discards that last thought and moves on. "Let's draft the letter," and he taps on the already marked up wooden sheet, "then we'll write it properly, once we're sure of how to do it."

"Ok," I agree.

"So, when you're writing with a pen..."

Eryk takes me through the whole process, the way to position the pen in my hand and how to move it when writing, especially how it's different from chalk. He holds my hand in his, slowly moving it the proper way, so I can get a feel for it, and then lets go and has me do it myself. It's a bit tricky, coming more from the arms than the wrists like with chalk, but between all my weapon training, writing practice, and Eryk's careful instruction, I manage it alright.

"Not bad for your first time, not at all," Eryk compliments me. I can't help but smiling at the praise.

Then the door opens, Claire appearing in the entry. She looks over at us, tilting her head slightly, and I jolt, extremely delayed. Then she smiles and giggles, while I'm scrambling out of Eryk's lap so I can greet her properly. I was so focused, I didn't even notice the bells!

"Good morning, Aria," Claire greets me, maintaining her usual grace through her curtsy, even as her shoulders tremble with silent giggles.

"Good morning, Miss Claire." I try to keep things together myself too.

"So, penmanship?" She indicates toward the pen I left in the inkwell.

"Oh, umm, sort of. I was asking for help with writing that letter, but I've never written with a pen before, so... yeah."

"That's understandable," she nods faintly. "Are you ready for your lessons, or would you rather finish?"

I nod. "Yeah, I'm ready. I can work on the letter later. Right, Eryk?"

"Well yes. But, Claire?" Eryk unexpectedly raises a hand to get her attention.

She pauses with a tiny questioning look. "Yes?"

"I was going to take Aria to the alchemy guild later. I don't intend to interfere with your lessons, but..." and he makes a kind of shrugging gesture for some reason. But that's not what I'm focused on here.

"Wait, alchemy guild?" I raise my own voice at the unexpected thing he just mentioned. "There's a guild for alchemy?" That one wasn't mentioned by name in my homework last night.

"Apparently," Eryk responds. Does the mean he didn't know about it before?

Neither of us expect Claire's response though. "Oh, that sounds wonderful!"

"Sorry, what?" Eryk blinks stupidly at her, coughing lightly into his hand.

We both stare while she excitedly explains. "Lately, I've been thinking of taking Aria on an excursion, since I felt it would help give context to some of what she's learning, but I hadn't been able to decide on what to do. Her homework last night was an overview of guilds, so a guild visit would be perfect!"

"Oh, that's umm..." The two of us exchange looks, no idea how to react. "Well, sure. Let's do that then," he finally decides.

"So, if that's the plan..." She purses her lips, one knuckle touching to them in thought. She stays that way for a moment, before speaking again. "I suppose you intend to change her into better clothes for the visit?"

"Yes," he confirms, and she goes on almost immediately.

"Then I suppose it would make the most sense to send for those while you finish your letter. Then she can change, and then we head out."

Eryk barely has to consider the plan before agreeing. He rings a bell to call in one of the shopkeepers, telling them to get John, and we jump right back to my letter to Karl Liffan.

Sitting in Eryk's lap, with Claire hovering over his shoulder, I feel like our usual day has gone completely off track at this point. And then John comes in, Eryk sending him to his house to pick up one of my dresses. What have I gotten myself into...?

It takes a while, between practicing my penmanship, bouncing ideas off of Eryk, and suggestions from Claire, but eventually the whole letter gets planned out, and ever so carefully written down on one of my sheets of expensive paper. All on my own. I sign it with my name at the bottom, then roll it up and address it. Eryk seals it with wax and calls in a shopkeeper again, this time directing them to take it to one of the guards at the gate to the noble district, to be delivered to Karl Liffan. Apparently, that's the normal way of contacting nobility.

With all that done, John has long since gotten back with my dress, a pale green one that I've worn before. I'm not too fond of it, mostly because I don't care for the color, and how the thickness of the skirt makes it kind of hard to move in, but I put it on anyway. Then the four of us set off into town.

"So, umm... you said the alchemy guild?" I eventually speak up, sitting in John's arms like usual, Eryk on the left and Claire on the right. "There's a guild for that? I didn't see it in my homework."

"I didn't know of it either," Eryk explains. "It's kind of a long story, but I managed to find out about it from my relatives last night. You know that powder we found? The one like soap?" I jolt a little when he mentions that so openly, but nod anyway. I have no idea why he suddenly brought up this topic. "Turns out, it's called lime. It's one of the main ingredients used in soap-making."

"..." I open my mouth, then close it again. Because him explaining that brings back the exact memory, something I'd forgotten. Irene taught me all about this already. She told me exactly how to make soap before. I already knew about lime. "That's right," I groan quietly, holding my face in my hand. "I should've remembered that."

"You know how I said nothing useful ever came out of alchemy? It turns out, lime is basically the only important discovery they've ever made."

"Not the only one," Claire unexpectedly counters, eyes narrowing at him. "Alchemists also isolated sulfuric acid from the bodies of certain magical creatures, and contributed heavily to the development of better mortars and plasters, among other things."

"O-oh," Eryk stammers. I don't even know some of those words she used... "Well..." Clearly at a loss, he apparently decides it's best not to go any further with that topic. "So, I heard someone at the metalworking guild should know where to find the alchemy guild," he starts, only to be interrupted again.

"Don't worry, I know where it is," Claire offers, and points. "It's on the shopping street, near the northwest corner of town."

"I see..." Eryk's definitely off balance here, sweating in the face of the faintly displeased expression she's been sending him since his comment about alchemy being useless. I'm guessing she cares about it, but I have no idea why, and I'm not sure if I want to ask when she has a look like that...

We make good time through town, going straight down the main western road, through the central plaza. Since Claire is leading the way, I don't have a chance to direct us away from the couple suspicious people along the way, but they seem to be staying back and watching right now, none of them jumping out and trying anything, like the man yesterday.

When we get to where the west gate is kind of starting to take shape again, I realize how long it's been since I've been by to see it. They're clearly a lot further along in reconstruction than I remember. A bunch of wooden walls have been put in place where the stone walls were blown away. They're only a little taller than an adult and don't look particularly sturdy. I guess it's more like a fence than an actual wall...

Even if they wouldn't do anything against an attack, they do squeeze the people going out through the one section they've left open so the guards can check carts and keep an eye on people easier.

There are still a ton of people moving all around the temporary fence-walls. For the most part, they're digging, lots of men throwing dirt into huge piles while others are working with animals to stack up tons of wood - these massive logs that I can't help but wonder what they're for.

Even as I watch all this, I can't help but wonder, where are they going to get all the stone from, like what makes up the walls now? They do have some already, a few huge chunks piled up on the ground beside the temporary walls. But it's nowhere near enough, and it's nothing like the stone that makes up the wall that's already there either.

I have no idea what to make of it all, so I just watch the people working while our group turns northward, and the construction disappears behind us. Once it does and we clear the destroyed area, the shopping street is the same as always. Plenty of shops on either side of the road, though they slowly get more and more run down the further north we go. Claire said that the guild is up here? How far north? Why would something important like a guild be in such a poor area?

We wind up making it to the guild building when we're more than halfway toward the north end of the street. Probably closer to two thirds. Claire points out a particular building, a little larger and better kept up than the shops around it. "That's the guild hall," she says, and we approach the front.

Still, the building looks pretty run down. There are sections where wood is missing, or extra boards are nailed over broken spots, and the entire place has this slight lean to the right, like the building itself is sagging over with age. They don't even have a sign on the front of the building, just a little rope-hung placard with... is that an animal head painted on it? It looks a little like Myra or Avara, but the snout is shorter and the ears are a kind of different shape. Is a place like this really a guild...?

After John sets me down, he opens the door for us, and Claire heads inside, Eryk and me following after.

The room we enter is surprisingly large, with a high ceiling. It probably takes up most of the building, actually. Shuffling up by Eryk's legs, there are a few people inside, all turning to look at our group.

"U-umm, hi!" a young girl with extremely bright hair chirps, though she looks both worried and excited when she does.

Eryk begins moving forward in response, raising a hand in greeting, while I stick by him and stare around. I can't see much since there's a big counter, kind of like the one from the general store last night, placed about halfway across the room, taller than me, so I can't see the rest of the room past it. But it's not quite the same, it's kind of bent, to form three individual sides, each with a big wooden sign above. I look across them, reading each off from left to right.

'Magic Guild'

'Monster Hunter's Guild'

'Alchemy Guild'

I stop, staring blankly at the one on the left, and at the man behind, currently setting down the book in his hands. There's a magic guild?! Just a step ahead of me, I catch how Eryk pauses when he glances that way, before his hand comes down on my shoulder to tug me forward, so I don't make my reaction too obvious.

Eryk speaks first. "Hi there, little one. We're here to... discuss some things with the someone from the alchemy guild, and Claire?" he directs the second part to her, since she said she wanted to use this as a chance to teach me about guilds.

"Yes, that sounds like a good place to start. I'd also like to go over the functions of guilds, and their membership." With that said, John hangs back, leaning against the wall by the door in, while the three of us approach the rightmost section of counter, the young shona girl standing behind it. When I look over the room again, I see four other people.

The man at the magic guild counter has gone back to his book. Then there's a young man sitting by the monster hunter's guild counter, at what must be a table behind the counter, because he's right across from an old woman with her hair in a tight bun. There's also an old man near the back corner of the room, but it looks like he's cleaning or something.

"S-so, umm..." The young girl gulps. "How can I help you today?"

Eryk pauses, just for a moment. "Could you get us a guild member?"

She starts to deflate. "I am a guild member." We all give her a look at that one. She looks... maybe twelve years old? She has fire-red hair, clearly a foreigner. With a round face, and her short height, she doesn't even have the same kind of big chest adult women have. "I just, umm, look young for my age..." she stares off to the side as she says it, and I wince. If she's already fifteen, but still looks like that...

Claire steps forward. "I had heard the alchemy guild wasn't particularly large in Brenton," she says, as much to us as to the girl. Or... young woman, I guess? It's hard to think of her like that when she looks younger than Andy does. "I suppose it isn't too surprising they would have a limited number of members." Then she leans one hand on the countertop, and gestures down toward me.

"I suppose I should explain. Besides these two having some things to discuss, I wanted to give my student here an example of a functioning guild. So to start, what is your name? And how about you tell us about the guild, dear?" Then she sends me a look, letting me know to pay close attention, and I nod.

"Y-yes, of course!" the girl perks right back up. "My name is Ramona, and this is the alchemy guild. We are responsible for managing alchemical research, and cataloging and reporting on any important developments discovered by our alchemists."

"And what do you do here, Ramona?" Claire goes on.

Ramona puffs up her chest, hands on her hips, and says, "I'm the guild master!"

"..." Even Claire is at a loss of words for a few moments. The forced confidence on Ramona's face starts to crack when no one says anything, but Claire does finally manage. "I... see. You're quite young to be a guild master. What about the one came before you?"

"Well, uncle Joseph left after the attack on the city, so..." she scratches her head. So, she's only been here for two months?

"I see, so that's what happened," Claire sighs. "I don't suppose you could give an overview of the guild's membership hierarchy, divisions, or duties?"

"Well..." rapidly losing her earlier strength, Ramona glances across the room. "Officially... Mister- I mean, Duncan, is the only other person who works here," and gestures, over toward the corner of the room, to the old man who's wiping down the cover of a book. "All he does is keep the guild hall clean though, so... umm..."

"The entire alchemy guild only employs two people?" Eryk speaks up again in shock. Didn't the metalworking guild have five members that they sent just to keep an eye on Eryk's Independence Day party?

"Y-yeah, but, you know... we're a small guild. We don't receive much funding. And we get plenty of help with things, so we manage."

Claire rubs the bridge of her nose between her fingers and releases a long sigh, before addressing Ramona once more. "So, what does the alchemy guild do these days?"

"Like I said, we, umm- if any alchemist finds something, they report it to us, and we'll record the information." She gestures to the enormous bookshelf running the entire length of the wall behind her, with all sorts of books and papers stuffed into it messily.

"Are there any alchemists that work with the guild?" Claire presses her.

"No..."

"Are you an alchemist?"

"I... not yet? But I've been learning!" Ramona claims, this time gesturing to something beside her, though I can't see it with the tall counter in the way.

Eryk finally jumps in again, but doesn't really let up. "We came today to discuss some things we wanted to know about alchemy, if you aren't an alchemist, and you don't deal with any alchemists, who do we consult about this?"

At this point, Ramona almost looks like she's about to cry. "I can try! I'm the guild master!"

There's a short stretch of silence, the young girl taking a few deep breaths and rubbing her eyes, then standing up straighter again. This time, she speaks first. "So, what do you want to know? I'll answer the best I can."

Eryk heaves a sigh, but right before he speaks, he tilts his head like he has an idea, and picks me up. He sets me right down on top of the wooden counter, and says, "Aria?" prompting me to speak instead.

"Umm..." I stumble, looking from him, to Ramona. Sitting up on the counter, I'm eye level with her since she's shorter than the adults are. And from up here, I can see that there's a huge pile of books stacked waist-high beside her. Then I end up locking gazes with the girl, and we stare at each other for a long time, before Eryk coughs again, snapping me out of my daze. How do I explain this...?