I would have loved to walk to Ari’s house and sleep for the next 10 hours. But that wasn’t possible. Ari and I had a job. So, instead of taking a nap, we walked straight to the Laundrial’s mansion. We came in a few minutes too late and had to endure a lecture from the head servant. After getting ready, we started working.

There was little I wanted to do less than work right now. I came down from an intense adrenaline rush, the only sleep I got was enforced unconsciousness, and by now I had been awake for over 30 hours. But no one would care about that. Also, Ari was in a similar position and she didn’t complain.

I had to have a conversation with the head servant to get the number of my working days reduced. I wasn’t looking forward to this. The head servant was fair and strict, but also intimidating. What’s the worst that could happen? She telling me if I wanted reduced hours, she would reduce them to zero would be quite uncomfortable.

Nervousness and sleepiness made me clumsy. Ari had to clean up the mess I made when I accidentally pushed over a bucket filled with water. She laughed when she saw my attempts to stop the water from flowing everywhere. I felt the blood rush to my head, making me blush red with embarrassment. After a few more giggles she showed mercy, waved her hand and the spilled water rose from the stone floor and flowed back into the bucket.

“Sorry and thank you. I’m looking forward to getting home with you and just sleep.”

“Me too, believe me. I don’t know if I ever felt that tired. I don’t even want to talk. Why can’t the day just end? It would be nice to …” Contrary to her words, she started talking. That, at least, took my mind off the impending meeting.

The rising moon found me knocking the head servant’s office. A muffled voice asked me in. The office looked just like the last time I had been here. A small desk stood in the room’s center on which the head servant sat. Small paintings decorated the wall.

“Myra? I didn’t expect you to come to me. But I need to talk to you, I was just about to send for you. Well, you go first. How can I help you?” Why does she want to talk to me? That’s never a good sign.

I gathered my courage and replied, speaking fast: “Miss Ersta, I came to request to reduce my weekly working days.”

She stared at me, her face first showing wonder, then a grin and then she laughed. The head servant is laughing? Was my request that ridiculous? Her laughing subsided quickly. “Don’t look at me this worried. It’s just I was about to ask you the same. The Laundrial’s want to reduce their spending on personal. I knew you needed all the money the job gave, so I didn’t look forward to telling you, but it seems like everything is fine?”

“Yes, Miss Ersa. I’m going to move in with Ari so my rent will lighten.”

“That’s good to hear. What I am to offer you is the following. You work five days a week and your payment will be reduced by half, which means you will earn 1 silver and 20 bronze in the future. This is non-negotiable. If you don’t like it, you will have to find another job.”

What? Only half? Before agreeing to move in with Ari, there is no way I could have survived with so little. I felt like getting ripped off. The problem was that there would be always people desperate enough to take the job no matter the payment. Employers could decrease it however far they wanted to. For me, half was still better than nothing.

“I accept the offer,” I said grudgingly.

“I’m sorry, truly. It’s not my decision. But you are a lucky one. I’ll have to fire two maids.”

Before she could continue, I asked: “But not Ari, I hope?”

“No, not Ari. Two others, but I know looking for a new job and missing the income during that time will be hard on them.”

I looked at the head servant. She wasn’t old, not really. But right now, she seemed to be. Firing them is also hard on her. I never knew she cared about us that much. It saddened me to hear two of my coworkers had to leave. But I had no close relationship with anyone but Ari, so I didn’t mind it much. They have magic. They will at least have the chance to find a new job.

“All right Myra. I’m happy the conversation with you went this well. The next ones I’m going to have, won’t be. I presume you want to have the same free days as Ari?” After my nod, she continued: “All right. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be your days off. You are finished here today. Take a good rest, you appear to need one.”

I left the room in search of Ari, to tell her the news. This went far better than I thought. I had wondered what to do if she denied me. Luckily it didn’t come to that. But I wondered why the Laundrial’s were suddenly trying to cut their expenses like this. They had never seemed to be in monetary trouble.

As Ari and I left the Laundrial’s mansion she asked me: “And? How was it? I can see she accepted, otherwise you would be far more depressed”.

“What is that supposed to mean? I’m not depressed. But you are right, it went well, kind of.”

Ari giggled and replied: “Myra, I like you but you are always depressed. But who knows, maybe another two years, and I get you to be only unhappy. In all seriousness now, what did she say?”

“I’ll have the same days off as you do, but I lose half my income.”

“Uh, that’s hard. But look at the bright side, you’ll still have more money to spend than before since the rent will be far cheaper.”

We continued to talk like this, but once we entered Waterside, I got nervous. Would we make it this time? Another kidnapping attempt I wouldn’t survive. I was far too tired for it and Ari looked like she would pass out at any moment. But this time we managed it.

We staggered in through the front door. Her parents weren’t home, so we went directly to Ari’s room where she had prepared a makeshift bed for me. Without having eaten anything or getting cleaned, we fell into bed and slept.

The sun shining into my face woke me. I slept like a baby feeling fully rested for the first time in months. A shock coursed through my body, as I noticed the state of the sun. I had to be at the Laundrial’s mansion an hour ago. Then I remembered I didn’t need to work today or tomorrow. For a short moment, I considered just to stay in bed for another hour or two. But a look to the side revealed Ari had already left her bed and was up. I didn’t want to lie down while she was up doing whatever.

I got up and inspected the room around me for the first time. There were Ari’s bed and the makeshift bed I slept in. On the wall, a picture could be seen, showing a younger Ari and two more people, probably her parents. I wonder what it’s like growing up with parents. They seem so happy in the picture. Why didn’t my parents want me? Why did they leave me alone? I shook my head to get rid of these negative thoughts. I had spent enough time at the orphanage pondering this question. There was no sense wondering about it.

Ari’s room was about 5 by 7 steps large and on the second floor. After I left the room I arrived in a small hallway with two doors and one stairway leading downstairs. Through the other doors are probably a bathroom and her parent’s bedroom. I went downstairs and found Ari sitting on a table and reading something.

“Morning Ari, since when are you awake? I could have slept for another few hours, and you must feel the same.”

“Hey Myra, I’m still tired, but otherwise ok. My parents woke me. They wanted to know where I have been yesterday, they were really worried,” she told me in a guilty voice.

Ari continued: “They are off working at the moment. Since both of us are awake now, do you want to go to the bakery and get something to eat? I’m famished.”

I had eaten nothing yesterday, so I was more than happy with her suggestion. We walked there and ate in leisure. That was something I was unused to. For the last two years, I didn’t have enough time to do anything in leisure. It felt nice though.

As the sun reached its zenith, we arrived back home. There was not much to do. Ari again started reading.

“What are you reading there?”

“Oh, this? It’s a beginner’s book on magic theory. We had it lying around. I never cared much about learning theory or control but the incident yesterday showed me it would be best to improve my magic.”

“Ari, how much money do your parents make? You have this house, which isn’t small and magic books, which are as far as I know very expensive.”

“My mother is working for Alicia’s mother as a maid, and they are paying well. Father is a research assistant to a tier 10 mage. His job involves mostly documenting experiments and their results. Maybe he’ll know how you were able to read the runes. This morning, we only had a few minutes to talk, so I haven’t mentioned it yet.”

Her parents would arrive in the early evening. The time until then I spent looking over Ari’s shoulder, trying to understand anything written in her book on magic. It went on and on about how to form a spell in one’s head and supply it with the right amount of mana. For someone with magic, the book’s topics were probably easy to figure out. But for me, it was like a blind person being told about colors. I understood the words written in the book, but they held no meaning to me.

When the moon was about to rise above the horizon, the door opened and Ari’s parents came into the room. Both looked plain at first sight. They were of average height, had blonde hair and had a spring to their step as they walked towards us. Her father had a small scar on his left cheek. When I paid closer attention to her mother, I felt the smile on her face radiating warmth and kindness. It was something I had never seen before, not like this. It made me feel at ease, at home, even though I hadn’t been here for more than a day.

Her father was by my side first, we shook hand and he told me: “It is nice to meet you finally. Ari talks a lot about you. Feel at home, you can stay as long as you want. My name is Ronald, by the way.”

Before I could answer her mother pushed Roland aside, hugged me and then held me at arm’s length: “You poor girl. You are far too thin. Ronald set up the stove. We need to make some food.”

Before I could protest or do anything, they both started making dinner. I stood there open-mouthed, my mouth trying to find words, but failing. Ari came up to me and said: “Yes, that’s what they are always like. My mother’s name is Senna, I don’t think she introduced herself.”

Finally, a grin showed on my face and I said: “Your parents are awesome.”

Only minutes later the sweet smell of fried meat drifted through the room. I asked them if I could help, but they declined, telling Ari and me to instead set the table. We did it and sat down.

As I watched them cook I asked Ari: “Ari, why aren’t mages doing everything with magic? You told me both of your parents could use magic, but they are cooking manually. I’m just wondering why that is.”

“If you aren’t very skilled, doing things manually is often easier than using magic. Mana is life energy and using it for spells puts a strain on your body. That’s why runic machines are used. They are powered by the city’s mana grid and only need a small initial burst of mana to function.”

That made sense. Otherwise, why would people hire maids, if they could clean the whole building with magic?

The meal was ready. It smelled delicious and tasted even better. We ate mostly in silence. I tried to remember everything from my etiquette lessons; eat slowly, take small bites and so on. It wasn’t easy, but I wanted to make a good impression on Ari’s parents.

After everyone finished eating, we talked about a wide variety of topics, from my upbringing in the orphanage to the kidnapping, to what I should pay for rent and meals. We came to the agreement they’d take half my income. I wanted to give them more, but they refused firmly. Now I can save money, instead of having to spend everything on rent and meals. What a good feeling this is.

As Ari already warned me, she asked her father about my ability to read runes. He thought for a long moment, then replied: “You are a true magicless, correct? Yes? There is a group of people who have a special understanding of runes and are always true magicless. They are exceptionally rare and called scribes. You might be one of them.”

“Scribes?,” Ari asked, “I never heard of them.”

“That’s not strange. If you go out and talk to a random person, it is more probable to meet an arch mage than a scribe. As far as I know, there are only two known scribes in the capital at the moment. Myra, you might be a third one.”

I couldn’t say anything to that. Was being a scribe good or bad? Would my life improve if I were one? Since I kept quiet Ari asked: “Is there any way to be certain?”

“Yes, there are several ways to find out, but none we can do right now. Let me think about it further.”

Through all the conversation, I wondered about one thing. “What’s so special about a scribe? You said it’s the understanding of runes. But couldn’t anyone learn how to read them? There doesn’t seem to be much advantage to being a scribe.”

“I am not sure of the details myself. The mage I’m working for once found an unknown rune in a dungeon dive he participated in. Since it was unknown and he didn’t want to risk testing it unprepared he asked for a scribe to inspect it. A scribe did so and gave us a good idea of what it did. I’m sorry but that’s all I know.”

Senna said: “As long as we are not sure you are a scribe, I think we should be quiet about it. Ronald can try to find a way to ascertain you are one, and if he can’t, I ask Lady Lachester. She has always been fair and helpful.”

We all agreed that this was the best way to go. Ari and I went to bed soon thereafter. Since I was still tired I fell asleep in minutes.