Morning came much too soon for Deilan’s taste. He had found himself practicing with the flow rune until late into the night, experimenting with various modifiers. So far, he had had the most luck directing it in a single direction, as it tended to be the most stable pattern. Eventually, he had been forced to stop practicing when an attempt to deposit his slate on his desk from his bed had resulted in the slate crashing into the wall at a startling velocity. He’d probably need to replace the slate.

Despite his best intentions, he did not manage to get an early start before his father started in on breakfast. Instead, light streaming from his suddenly opened shutters forcefully dragged him from sleep. While he attempted to gather his thoughts, a small laugh brought his attention to his sister once again holding the shutters open. I knew I closed those last night, although maybe I shouldn’t have.

“You know, you’re going to have to patch that wall.”

He blinked, taken aback at the sudden start to a conversation. He looked to where the pen had embedded itself last night, noticing that it had left a decent divot.

“Yeah, I can pick up the supplies when I’m out today. I didn’t even think the pen was that sturdy.”

She laughed again, shaking her head, before gesturing to the wall above the desk. A small chunk had been gouged out of the wall, with small cracks radiating from the point of impact.

“I wasn’t talking about the spot from the pen. You could probably get away with hanging some art there. Did you throw your slate at the wall? That’s probably going to take an inscription patch to get fixed up. Good thing you’ll be getting a job”

He found himself cursing under his breath, wishing he had just waited to practice outside. Those patches were expensive, as they had to balance the material with the original rune-sculpted clay’s consistency. He’d have to do what he could to hide it until he could afford the patch. Maybe hanging a blanket and calling it wall art.

Sighing, he stood and shooed his sister from the room. It took him a few minutes to wake up enough to put together a decent outfit for job hunting, and a bit longer to get washed up for the day. He entered the dining room, ready for a few encouraging words before heading out to start his new life. His mother looked up from her chair in the den, and immediately shook her head.

“I know you think it’s working, but please go shave that thing off. First impressions are important.”

He groaned, and trudged back towards the bathroom.

A short time later, he found himself on the streets of his neighborhood. The yards and buildings were well-maintained, and the streets were decently kept. The area was a newer development, a result of the boom of specialized workers and the support of inscribed items. His father had managed to turn a small kitchen into a thriving restaurant by reducing the workload with specialized equipment for prep work and cooking. His mother had a successful business specializing in water flow runes for indoor plumbing. The novelty of it had kept demand high.

All this was to say he had particularly benefited from the changes taking place in the city over the last few years. He understood that this left him with the unique opportunity, and perhaps he had a responsibility to use those opportunities to continue to add to the growth his society was experiencing. Serving a noble house, in that regard, seemed a bit regressive. The nobility stood as a monument to the old underpinnings of their society, and they often fought to restrain the rapid spread of new innovation.

On the other hand, they were the stewards of many secrets and restricted runes. Their argument, which history seemed to support, was that the unrestrained spread of destructive fractals would result in widespread destruction and death. For the most part, the nobles had kept these secrets well, only bringing trained forces to bear when an external threat presented itself. If it was a little heavy-handed, at least it worked.

For their part, the nobles seemed to be taking the shift in society with reluctant equanimity, from what his parents had to say. They monitored new inscriptions, and held a guarding force, but didn’t try to stop the advances.

Deilan was far less interested in the policing than the secrets. He could just imagine the runes he could learn working for the nobility. From there, when he was ready to move on, he could use it to do something truly unique and really demonstrate that any rune could be repurposed into something useful.

He walked along the boulevard, only vaguely making sure that he was heading towards the nobles’ district, when the smell of pastries hit his nose. He had insisted on getting going after his shave, partially in a fit of pique but mostly out of excitement. After getting moving though, he found the smells finally waking up his stomach.

There was a small cart selling the pastries. As he got closer, he noticed that most of the cart seemed to be an inscribed oven, slowly baking away. He was a bit taken aback at the concept, as it seemed much too expensive a thing to put on a cart, but further reflection made him reconsider. Being able to bring your kitchen to multiple locations in a day would give more opportunities for impulse sales, as he himself could attest. New ideas every day.

He pulled out a few coins and waited behind a small line, eventually reaching the young woman selling the pastries. He bought a small fruit-stuffed pastry, smiling as she passed the still steaming treat to him. He had to bounce it hand to hand for a moment before she gestured to a small stack of paper wraps to the side. He picked one up and quickly wrapped his breakfast, before continuing on his way.

He gave it another minute or so before taking a careful bite, savoring the warmth and flavor. He absentmindedly began to eat the rest as he looked at the passing shops for anything interesting. A new shop caught his eye, as it was selling what appeared to be various sizes of inscribed tubes. Curious, he stepped closer to examine the runes. It took him a minute to decipher, but it appeared as if when activated, it would blow air down the tube towards the user. But why?

“Hi there son, I see you’re interested in our cooling tubes? Perfect for keeping the house cool in the summer, or get a smaller one for your desk! Nothing keeps a room fresh like moving air!”

Ah, so that was it. Not a terrible idea, except it didn’t have anything to keep the wind blowing when you stopped focusing on the focal rune. Not a terribly efficient system if you had to sit staring at the tube the entire time. His mind began working on a way to keep the wind blowing after activation, until the man coughed and looked at him expectantly. He gave a chagrined look and a shrug before leaving the shop, the owner seeming slightly disgruntled.

He continued on his way, brimming with optimism. But this time tomorrow, he’d have his new job and be starting his new life!

He left the Ferthing Estate in a particularly foul mood. It was his third noble house for the day, and he’d had almost the exact same result. What the heck in an introduction? Wasn’t that what I was doing, was introducing myself? At each gate, he had spoken to the guards, and they had requested his introduction to proceed to the manor itself to inquire about the job. At the Ferthing Estate, he had gone as far as to say that he was introducing himself. They had given him a strange at that, before requesting his seal. At his confused look, they had gestured for him to move along and continued guarding the gate.

Unwilling to be deterred, he made his way to the next manor on the row, the Hesling Estate. As he walked up, another man was leaving the grounds with a dejected look on his face. Deilan waited for the man to get a short distance away from the guards before hurrying up to him.

“Pardon me, but I don’t suppose you could tell me where you got your introduction to get in?”

The man seemed startled to find someone talking to him, and quickly drew to a stop.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Your introduction. I’ve been trying to apply for jobs at the noble houses, but no one will let me in without an introduction. I was hoping you could tell me where you got yours.”

The man gave him a baffled look, drawing him out of his funk.

“An introduction isn’t something you can pick up, it’s a recommendation from a trusted source to make sure you’re actually supposed to be there. Are you really just walking up to noble houses asking for a job? I’ve got to admit, that takes guts kid. Not a lot of sense, but guts.”

Deilan blushed slightly, realizing that he probably should have done a bit more research or at least asked a few more questions before brazenly making his way down here. Of course there was some sort of process. If the nobles were keepers of secrets, there’s no way they’d let someone random off the streets just walk into their homes.

“Uh, thanks for the tip. I don’t suppose you know someone I could talk to to get a recommendation?”

The man gave him an appraising look, his gaze seeming to take in everything about Deilan at once. Abruptly, he seemed to come to a decision.

“I suppose I could vouch for you. You seem like a decent enough kid, and I know Hesling is actively looking to bring on more guards. That intruder really has the house ruffled.”

Deilan started to ask about the intruder, but the man had already turned and begun heading back towards the gate. The guards nodded as he approach, but looked askance towards Deilan as he trailed behind.

“Don’t worry, he’s with me. He’s applying for a position in the guard, so maybe he’ll be standing out here with you soon.”

The guards traded dubious looks, but let the two make their way onto the grounds. Somehow, it seemed larger now that he was actually inside the gate. Trees lined the path, which took a meandering route seemingly designed to take in as much of the scenery as possible. Spread amongst the grounds were various topiary, trimmed into various geometric shapes vaguely reminiscent of runes. The weight of history seemed an almost palpable force as they drew close to the manor doors.

Just before they reached the manor doors, the man led him on a side path that followed along the wall of the building. After a moderate walk, they reached a much more humble door, and the man opened it without hesitation, gesturing for Deilan to follow him. Inside was a moderately large room with several people bustling about. If he had to guess, this was where the workers in the manor had their headquarters. A couple of people glanced at him and the man before continuing along with whatever their tasks were.

The man led him a short distance down a hallway before reaching a side door. He opened it and gestured for Deilan to enter. Inside was what appeared to be a small waiting room with a few chairs and a squat table. On one wall hung a painting of some sort of hunting scene, although he couldn’t quite figure out what they were hunting. The man patted him on the shoulder, and gestured towards the chairs.

“Someone should be by in a bit to interview you, so go ahead and wait in here for now. I think there might be three or four others being interviewed as well, so expect a bit of competition.”

Deilan smiled at the man, grateful for all he had done.

“Thank you so much for your help, I was in way over my head here. I didn’t even think to ask your name. I’m Deilan”

The man reached forward to shake his hand, smiling back.

“The name is Demaric. Good luck to you kid.”