"I'm surprised you stuck around," Curt said as he, Bauph, and Xujen met up with Tera at Endyre's gates.

"I'll be honest, I considered never going to your guild's base on the way to Endyre. I'm starting to think that might've been the right move," Tera replied. "I can't believe you guys don't even have enough members to participate."

"Quality over quantity," Xujen said. "I hope the next two will be worthy of Point Blank."

"We only got today to try and convince them to join," Bauph chimed in. "So, Otto told us you'd fill us in. What do you know?"

"They're not far — just camping outside of the city actually," Tera said. "That's actually why they're trying to join a guild. One of them's banned from Endyre, but joining a reputable guild will supersede that."

"We're recruiting a criminal?" Xujen looked horrified, as if the guild didn't already have a criminal.

"Not a criminal exactly. One of our targets is a man named Mahku. He was once a dojo master at Sahnju until he got exiled about twenty-something years ago. I've only heard rumors about it though. The dojo tries to distance itself from whatever that incident was," Tera explained. "But if he's genuinely a dojo master, he's probably quite powerful. I'm interested in also finding out why he was exiled."

"As for the other guy," Tera continued. "Not much is known about him except Otto says he's from the same place as you, Curt. They're both planning to join an A-rank guild called Ancient World."

"So, any of you have a plan to convince them to join our D-rank guild that doesn't even ten members, over a well-established A-rank guild?" Bauph asked.

"We will impress them with our strength, and show them that while our guild is currently D-rank, we are more than that in talent and spirit," Xujen suggested.

"I think I can convince the Duster guy to join in," Curt said, ignoring Xujen's suggestion. "But I don't know about Mahku."

"Let me talk to him," Tera said. "Like I said, I'm curious about his exile. The dojo members that were there keep it all secretive."

Bauph nodded. "Alright then, Curt talks to the Duster and Tera talks to the exile. If that fails, then we could always fall back to what Otto would do. Let's hope it doesn't come to that — I don't fancy facing off against an ex-dojo master."

"You don't think a display of our prowess would sway them to our cause?" Xujen asked.

"Assuming we can even win in a fight against an ex-dojo master, that would just forcefully sway them to our cause," Bauph answered.

---

A thin trail of smoke from a recent campfire drifted into the clear sky just past the tree line in front of them. The duo they were after had set up camp barely an hour away from the city gates, and it seemed like they were home.

Curt could make out the sounds of a whistling kettle and some incoherent chatter. For some reason, Bauph, Tera, and Xujen were all standing behind him, waiting for Curt to make the first move as their de facto leader. Curt wasn't sure why he was hesitating. Taking a deep breath, he crashed through the bushes noisily to announce his presence.

Once he burst through the bramble, Curt watched as one of the two figures jumped in alarm, drawing and pointing what looked very much like a revolver at him. The other figure didn't even flinch, and continued to brew his tea.

Curt raised his arms as he faced the one who was pointing the gun at him. "Easy there, I'm just here to talk."

The youth's face flashed with recognition upon seeing Curt's face. Weird, Curt didn't know who he was. He looked younger than Curt, no more than a few years past twenty, with raven black hair streaked with white. Curt watched as he lowered the revolver and a smile spread across his face.

"Curt! It's you! I knew you were still alive," he cried as he barreled into Curt, revolvers still in his hands. Curt shifted, making sure he wasn't at the end of any of the revolver barrels. "When I first fell down here I had a feeling you'd be down here too!"

"Long-lost brother or something?" Bauph asked as he emerged from the bushes with Xujen and Tera behind him.

"Not that I know of," Curt said, pushing the stranger off of him. "Sorry, but who are you?"

"Oh, sorry about that. You probably don't remember me, but I was that kid you saved seven years ago. I'm Jesse, nickname's Jester," he said as he finally backed off from Curt. "I've got a lot of respect for you, Curt. Especially with that last stint you did with the Hawks' train. That was awesome, by the way. The Hawks' were all running around like headless chickens and backed off from Ore Town."

"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down there," Curt said, trying to piece together what he'd been told.

Seven years ago he saved a kid? Seven years was around the time when the Cloud Hawks really began to expand and started stirring shit up around the Dusts. Back then, Curt often raided the Hawk encampments for food and bullets. There was that one time where he was stuffing his pack full of rations and got caught. He managed to shoot the guy before he could alarm the others — but then the sound of the gunshot alarmed everyone in the camp anyways. That was quite the chase; Curt had to dodge bullets left and right, but he made it back to town with his life and his haul.

Unfortunately, his white hair made it obvious which town he was from, and the officer in charge of that encampment was out for blood. The officer took a handful of gunmen with him and paraded into Ore Town demanding him by name. No one sold Curt out, and the officer eventually took a kid hostage to lure him out.

"Show yourself, or the boy dies!" The officer had shouted.

Curt didn't want that on his conscience, so he had walked out, tossing his revolvers on the ground in front of him and raising his arms. The officer began to monologue at Curt about how worthless he was, how he didn't understand what the Cloud Hawks were doing, how he was going to kill the boy anyways just to show the town they weren't to be messed with, and so forth. Somewhere in the middle of that last threat, Curt kicked up one of his guns, caught it, and shot the guy dead. The other gunmen barely reacted in time before they ate the dust too.

Once he was done, Curt had simply left the town to lay low for a while. Could that boy have been the very same one? Curt struggled to recall what he had looked like. Black hair did sound about right, though he was sure he didn't have white streaks back then. Seven years sure was quite a while.

"Were you that kid who was held hostage in Ore Town?"

Jesse nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that was me. You do remember me! Man, ever since I saw you take down all those guys like it was nothing, I've been practicing my own gunslinging." He deftly spun his revolvers around his fingers. "Every day since then I've been practicing my trick shots. Wanted to be as cool as you. Hoped to get good enough so that I could maybe help you out with sabotaging those Cloud Hawks. I'm trying to live up to the nickname of 'The Trick Shot Jester'."

"'Trick Shot Jester', huh? Well, I think your memories of that time are exaggerated. What I did was nothing too fancy. It was a pretty lucky shot all things considered," Curt said. "Honestly, it was maybe fifty-fifty that I'd hit you or the Hawk. But if we were both going to die otherwise, I just took my chances."

Jesse was already shaking his head. "Everyone in Ore Town knows you never take the credit for the things you've done. Anyways, I can't believe I'm still alive and you're still alive, and we're both in some land under the clouds. I was trying to avenge you — spent a couple of weeks preparing — but the Hawks were still really tense after what happened. I tried to hit one of their camps, but there was a big shot guy there or something. Tons of security. Got chased to the edge of the Dusts and I just jumped."

"How'd you survive that jump, anyways?"

Jesse grinned and pointed at the older man who was still minding his own business. He looked to be at least in his thirties, but could've been as old as his mid-fifties. His massively muscled physique made it difficult to assess his age. He was easily on par with Bauph's size, which meant he was at least twice Curt's size in all dimensions. He wore robes that were similarly styled as the ones in Sahnju, and a large rosary hung around his neck. Each bead looked like could be as big as Curt's head. Wrapped around his bald head was a blindfold.

"He saved my life," Jesse explained. "Man, you wouldn't believe it. I was falling and thought I'd be a splat on the ground when suddenly he's beneath me and a large magic circle or something appears and I'm gently set down on the ground. Magic, Curt! This place is amazing!"

The older man gestured at Curt and the others, and spoke for the first time. "My name is Mahku. I assume there is much you want to discuss, so please, sit down. I made tea for everyone."

Curt glanced down. There were four cups full of steaming tea set on a low table on the ground for them. Even though only he and Bauph said a word, the blind man accounted for Tera and Xujen.

Jesse was already sitting down with a cup in his hands. "Yeah, you got to fill me in on what you've been up to in this world. Man, you can't have been down here for long and you've already got followers. That's just what I'd expect from you, Curt."

Curt sighed as he and his company sat down. He shook his head, replying, "They're not my followers. We're just all from the same guild, which is actually why I'm here in the first place." He took a sip of the tea before him. Not his first choice in beverages, but the stuff the blind man brewed was high quality stuff.

Xujen sat in a strange, formal-looking kneeling posture as he sipped his own tea. "Delicious," he said, nodding at Mahku. "This tea even rivals the kumis the Tu'ban tribe offered me."

Tera didn't bother touching her own cup yet. She instead looked like she was evaluating Mahku. "You're Mahku?"

Mahku nodded in her direction. "You're from Sahnju, aren't you? Though I guess if you're part of a guild, you're no longer a part of the dojo."

Tera looked at him in surprise. "How'd you know that?" Curt figured no one could guess that Tera was a dojo disciple by her chic looks, but Mahku was blind.

Mahku just smiled. "I may be blind, but that does not mean I have no sense of the world around me. So, what business does your guild have with us?"

Bauph was the first to answer, his tea cup already empty. "We're from Point Blank, and we were hoping the two of you will join our guild for the Grand Guild Tournament."

"Of course I'll join Curt's guild!" Jesse answered immediately.

"I'm sorry, but we agreed to join another guild already," Mahku replied at the same time.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Well, at least Curt could say he took care of his side of the plan.

"Are you sure, Jesse?" Mahku said, frowning. "We told Ancient World we'd be joining them, and they are a reputable guild. My apologies, Point Blank, but I've never heard of your guild before."

"I'm sure," Jesse said. "It's Curt's guild so it's probably new, that's why you haven't heard of it. Anyways, I didn't like how stuffy those Ancient World guys were. I'd rather be in a guild led by a trustworthy guy than that pretentious, know-it-all."

"Very well," Mahku said. He turned towards Curt and the others. "I'll let Ancient World know that we refuse their invitation. They won't be happy, but if you are prepared to deal with those consequences, then so be it."

Curt let his shoulders sag in relief. Having willing recruits was a nice change of pace. He thanked his past self for making that shot seven years ago.

"Can you even join a D-rank guild like our's?" Tera piped up. Bauph gestured at Tera to stop talking, but she blatantly ignored him. "I'm don't think our guild has enough influence to pardon an exiled dojo master."

"So you know," Mahku said.

"Not much at least. The dojo kept the whole affair secret. I'll admit, I'm curious why you were exiled, but the important thing is we can't actually recruit you the way things stand."

"My exile is meant to be indefinite. As part of the punishment for the crime I committed all those years ago, my sight was taken from me, and I was told to never come back to kingdom. I did not desire to return anyways. My wanderings through the land has taught me more than the dojo ever could."

"What are you getting at?"

Mahku drank the last of his tea, and set the cup down. "Ever since I saved this young man who fell from the sky, I became curious about the world above the clouds. The Grand Guild Tournament offers an intriguing prize: a ticket to the Star City. There are contradictions here, and I desire the truth. For that, I need to join the tournament."

"World above the clouds? So that wasn't just a metaphor?" Xujen looked at Curt and Jesse as if they might not be human. Tera didn't seem surprised at all, instead she looked like she just had her suspicions confirmed.

"You're still not telling us if you can join our guild or not," Bauph pointed out.

"Ancient World has already prepared to pardon my exile if I join their guild. If you can convince them to still pardon me even if I join your guild, then nothing more needs to be done."

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy, thought Curt.