Zach went straight to the Grand Library after parting ways with Bethany. It was only a twenty minute walk from the castle and about the same distance from the Hard Fought Rest. As he walked through the streets, weaving between guards, merchants, and working folk, he felt stupid for not thinking of visiting a library sooner.

Better late than never, he thought as he climbed the stone stairs at the front of the large marble building. The Library was free to enter and just as large as the 'Grand' in the name suggested.

To Zach, the inside felt remarkably similar to the university and city libraries back home, albeit without any computers scattered about. Parallel shelves of books filled the main hall and overflowed into smaller rooms that jutted off the sides. The walls and ceiling were painted white, giving the building a bright, open feeling.

He walked further inside to the main room and noticed something on the wall above the bookcases. As he'd been told it would, the library featured portraits of the royal family. Three paintings were on prominent display, but Princess Evelyn's caught his eye first.

Zach could see the painting was woefully out of date. The lifelike and life-size painting depicted a cheerful young girl with light brown hair, vivid blue eyes, and puffy cheeks. Her expression was a teetering balance of boredom and eager excitement: she looked ready to jump right out of the frame to run and play outside.

A woman approached while Zach was staring up at the painting. She stood a couple feet to his right and said, "She was an adorable child, wasn't she?"

Zach nodded, unsure what to say. He knew better than to mention that he had just come from a visit with the very same Princess from the painting, now all grown up.

The woman continued, "That was painted when the Princess was nine years old, not long before she disappeared. During the years she was missing, seeing that portrait every day made me sad, but now it fills me with hope."

"So you work here?" Zach guessed. He noticed that the woman appeared to be about 40 and wore a long grey dress. She also had surprisingly long brown hair, its braid reaching lower than her hips.

The woman's eyes went wide, then she bowed her head and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Edith and I'm one of the librarians here. Welcome to the Grand Library."

"Uh, thank you. I'm Zach."

"So, is there anything I can help you with?" Edith asked.

Zach shuffled his feet for couple seconds as he pondered how to say what he wanted without sounding weird. He settled on, "Do you have anything on jobs and careers?"

Zach was actually looking for short-term ways to make money, but he also needed to know more about the economy and the world in general. He was also quite curious about the mysterious Fae and the three branches of magic, and hoped to learn about them too, eventually.

Edith beamed. "Looking for a path in life, I see. I figured you were about that age." Then she answered his question, "Yes, we do have some resources that will help you pick a direction that interests you. Come right this way."

Zach was ushered to a cozy alcove with a large polished table and chairs. Sunlight streamed in through a frosted glass window, illuminating the area with muted white light. Zach took a seat while Edith expertly plucked a few books from a nearby bookshelf.

"Here you go," she said as she set three small books on the table. "This one is about the applications of magic, including the careers that utilize them. This one covers various practical trade skills like wood and leatherworking."

Then she pointed at the last book, which was closer to a pamphlet in size and featured a drawing of a broad-antlered stag on its soft cover. "This is basically just an advertisement for the Guard, but it does mention the career prospects that are available to former guards. Oh, and you can keep that one for yourself. The Guard gives them to the Library by the crate-full."

"Thank you so much," Zach said, more than a little surprised at how organized the information was for a world without computers. "I'm sure these will have what I need."

Edith turned to leave, then spun back to add, "And if you need anything else, feel free to browse this shelf of self-improvement books, or come find me around the library. I'm always happy to assist a young learner." Then the helpful woman finally left Zach to his reading.

The books weren't particularly long and Zach was a quick reader, so he expected it to only take a few hours to read them all the way through. From the first book, The Magic of Our Lands, Zach learned a bit more about the three branches of magic: invocation, augmentation, and connection.

The first two types were integral parts of New Albion's society and economy. They were used by heavily magical careers like Mages and Healers, as well as by crafting trades to boost their effectiveness, like the crew that repaired the Gwendolyn Wall. Learning to use magic wasn't easy or simple, so several long-standing organizations existed to train and certify people to perform magical jobs in the kingdom.

The Mage's College focused exclusively on teaching the art of invocation magic: channelling mana into the world to control elements from ice to light to fire. Mages in training were called Conjurers and could work simple jobs like lighting lamps and keeping food cold, while full-fledged Mages worked alongside the Guard in city defense and on monster hunting missions. The College was funded by the kingdom and enrollment was free for anyone with the natural talent and sufficient dedication.

The Royal Clergy was another group funded by the kingdom, but in a different way. Before Queen Gwendolyn died, she had set up a permanent interest-bearing fund so that the Clergy could train citizens in the curative arts. Using life magic, a subset of augmentation magic, Healers could repair damaged flesh and cure most any disease. Zach found it interesting that most professional Healers were over 40 years old. Apparently, life experience and compassion were crucial to the proper use of healing magic on humans.

The other application of augmentation magic was to manipulate or reinforce non-living matter. King Gildahart was particularly adept at physical augmentation magic and he had used it to build the Gwendolyn Wall. After crews had cleared the land and architects had plotted the boundaries of the structure, the King summoned an unfathomable amount of stone out of nothing but mana.

Those who wanted to learn that kind of magic usually went to the Creator's Guild for training. It was a very diverse organization, covering craftsmanship both magical and mundane. The majority of Guild apprentices were sponsored by their employer, but some wealthy merchants funded their own way.

But the most critical career managed by the Guild had nothing to do with creating goods to sell: the Purifier. Using intense focus and skill, they could separate impurities from molten metal and filter large volumes of water. The Kingdom employed dozens of Purifiers to clean the public's drinking water of all impurities.

The Magic of Our Lands also contained occasional mentions of two other organizations, the Gatehouse and the Eagle Society. The Gatehouse was very secretive and seemed to have a monopoly on teaching connection magic, whatever that was. The Eagle Society, on the other hand, was an extension of the Guard, so Zach expected to find more information about it in the Guard pamphlet.

The second book, Creation and Handicraft, featured the Creator's Guild emblem on the cover: a stone archway with a weathervane on top. But before Zach could begin reading it, there was something he had to deal with.

He looked up and across the table, at the young man sitting there, perhaps a few years older than Zach. He had arrived while Zach had been reading The Magic of Our Lands. The man wore deep red robes with an oversized hood down around his shoulders.

"Um, excuse me?" Zach started.

The man didn't react. He ran a hand through his loose dirty-blond hair, but kept his eyes on his book. Four more books lay in a sloppy ring around him, covering a full half of the table.

"Excuse me, sir?" Zach tried again.

The man finally looked up. "What?" he barked.

"Could you please stop shaking the table?"

The man blinked at Zach but the subtle shaking continued, deliberately now. The cause was the man's leg, bouncing in time to some tune Zach wasn't privy to.

"Nah. Move if it bothers you so much."

"I was here first," Zach countered. He knew it was petty to fight over this, but he didn't want to yield his comfortable reading nook to some jerk.

"And I like this seat," the man said, shrugging. "I'm fine with the way things are, but you aren't. Seems like the best solution is for you to move."

Zach was getting flustered. "Is it so hard to be courteous to other people?"

The man went back to his book. "I'm a Mage. You're a nobody," he said, as if it answered Zach's question.

Zach's jaw clenched. He didn't want to give this random asshole the satisfaction of victory, but he didn't have much choice. He didn't know exactly what a Mage could do but it definitely involved lightning and fire, and Zach wanted to stay alive and unburnt. He had felt safe within the walls of the city and most people seemed friendly, but that didn't mean there weren't dangerous people too.

And, if Zach wanted to get anything else productive done that day, he needed to let it go and get some distance, then calm down. He gathered his books and got up from the table. On his way to the bookshelf to return The Magic of Our Lands, he had to pass the Mage, who made a satisfied scoffing sound.

Oh, screw you, Zach thought, but he didn't stop walking. He returned both his books to their spots on the shelf, and pocketed the free pamphlet. He hadn't been able to read Creation and Handicraft yet, but he remembered where it was and could return on another day, when his head was cooler.

Then Zach wandered back towards the front of the library. He kept an eye out for Edith so he could say thanks, but he didn't see her again. He did see several other citizens using the library, including a group of teenagers in identical blue robes, all huddled around one huge and weathered tome.

Mages in training, Zach assumed. Hopefully not such assholes. Then he wondered if he had the natural talent to use magic, but he dismissed the thought. It took years to master magic enough to earn a living, so it wouldn't help his short-term money issues.