After Alicia left, I just stood there. A scribe? As Alicia described it, it didn’t sound that good. It actually sounded bad. The rich wanting me for my abilities and I had to work for them. This sounded like my life right now.

Only, hadn’t Alicia given me a choice? She asked me to visit her and then walked away. I could go to her tomorrow or I couldn’t. If I didn’t appear would she have me captured and brought? Probably, but still. She had tried to be nice to me and didn’t behave like the other rich people I met. She didn’t have her nose in the air.

If I go together with Ari it should be fine, shouldn’t it? She would help me. Still, I should ask her. So, I turned towards her, her parents had left us already.

“What do you think Ari? Should I go?”

“You need to ask? Of course!”

“But what if it’s just like working for the Laundrial’s or maybe even worse? What if they force me to work for them?”

“That won’t happen. Besides, Alicia didn’t ask you to work for her, she asked you to join her family. That’s like being adopted. No one will be able to force you to do anything then, not without enraging one of the most powerful families in the kingdom.”

That got me thinking. If they were to adopt me, nobody would ever look down on me. But it sounded too good to be true. I voiced my doubts. “Is being a scribe such a big deal? It doesn’t sound impressive.”

“Don’t know, to be honest. But Alicia thinks so, and I have known her for a long time. She never was someone to lie and manipulate others. You should go and meet her tomorrow, I will, of course, accompany you if it’s ok.”

Her words made me feel relieved. I was worried about going there alone. “Thanks. Please come with me.”

Ari smiled at me. “All right, then we will go there tomorrow evening, right after our work ended.”

It had gotten cold and with everything decided we walked back into our home and went straight to bed.

The next day passed in a blur. The job had gotten easier for me since I worked less and ate more. I was still very thin but the dark rings below my eyes had disappeared and my face had gotten a more natural color, but was still rather white.

I scrubbed the floor, cleaned rooms and cut the flowers in the garden. Just when I was about to go clean the next room Ari walked up to me and told me: “Let’s leave, we have an important meeting ahead of us.”

I peered through the window in the room I just entered. “It isn’t even dark yet, you sure we can leave now?”

“I talked to the head servant. She gave the ok after I told her who we were to meet. So, come on let’s go.”

Ari took my hand and pulled me through the corridors and the servant’s entrance. There she let me go and we continued towards the Lachester’s mansion.

I had never been to Dawnshine. There was never a reason for me to go there, until now. I marveled at the size of the mansions. They weren’t just large houses with a garden surrounding it. Instead, the ground each of the rich families owned was as big as a city block and it was enclosed by large walls and protected by complex runic systems.

For me, the only signs of these systems were runes painted on the walls. For a moment I considered to stop and inspect them to see if I could discern their effects, but the many city guards patrolling through the streets already eyed us with suspicion. Therefore, I decided against it.

From this district, I could see the palace with its dozens of towers reaching far into the air.

Ari led the way and finally stopped in front of a large gate. Two guards stood in front of it. Both were wearing heavy leather armor. One had a magus staff on his back, the other one’s waist was adorned by two short magus daggers. They both looked like experienced mercenaries, always ready and self-assured. And grim. But when the one with the staff spoke he sounded friendly.

“Good day Ladies. How can we help you?”

Ari took a step forward and answered: “We are here to meet Lady Alicia Lachester. She has invited us to meet with her. We are Ari and Myra.”

“Ah yes, the lady mentioned guests coming. My name is Roderick by the way. Please follow me.”

He turned around and walked away, Ari and I followed. After entering through the gate, I got my real first look in the garden. It looked beautiful. The gravel path we walked on was lined by blackwood trees. Their low hanging branches formed a roof above our heads giving the whole path an eerie and magical feeling. This was heightened by the kumurukas jumping and gliding through them.

They looked like a flying squirrel. Their pelts were of dark shades so they were hard to spot as they jumped and flew around the branches. The only thing making their presence obvious was their songs. All of them were squeaking in different volumes and tones but taken together their voices produced an ethereal hum.

Behind the immediate line of trees were other wonders I could only get glimpses of. Round balls of light in all shades, enormous trees I didn’t see from the outside, floating streams of water running through the air and many more. If you live outside in the city there may be magic but I have never felt a place to be this magical.

Due to my observation of the surroundings, I fell behind Ari and Roderick, until Ari called out to me and I hurried back to her side. I still glanced around but was careful now not to get left behind.

Roderick led us through the main entrance into a waiting room close by. “Please wait here, I will inform Lady Alicia of your presence.”

He left us. I turned towards Ari: “This garden is magical. I’m envious you got to play here.”

“Yeah, it was super awesome as a kid. And you haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until it’s summer and everything is blossoming. The first year I came over the water elementals living in the garden created a lake when it got hot. Only the lake wasn’t on the ground like you would expect but hovering over the treetops. We had to climb on the biggest tree to get into the water and then be careful not to fall through on the bottom.”

Ari went on and told me about the time she spent here in her childhood. It sounded magical and full of wonders. In my head, I compared it with my childhood. The difference couldn’t be more obvious. She laughed and played daily with Alicia in this garden of wonders. I spent most of my time doing chores, nothing or trying to avoid other kids.

The door opening pulled me out of my thoughts. Alicia strode into the room. Today she wore a lavish dress kept in bright colors. That reminded me, we came here directly from work. Our clothes were wrinkled. We were lucky the guards even let us in and not thought of us as thieves.

“Hello Myra, Ari, I’m happy you came. There is much I need to talk to you about. Please come with me so we can talk in a more comfortable environment.”

We stood up and greeted her. I still felt a bit nervous around Alicia. She wasn’t intimidating or anything, but her position as the Lachester heir meant she could do anything she wanted to us. Like, keep us imprisoned here. Ari wasn’t shy at all, she kept talking to Alicia about the adventures they had had when they were young. I was content with listening.

Alicia led us down corridor after corridor, everything shone in perfect cleanliness. Pictures about fantastic floating islands, gigantic titans and enormous towers hung on the wall, just beside golden chandeliers illuminating the hallways in warm yellow light. Antic vases and exotic plants stood on marble stands. Stealing just one of these exhibits will make enough money to live a comfortable life for a year or two. I couldn’t deny I was tempted but decided against it. For me, there was no way of knowing if they were secured by some magical measures.

Finally, Alicia walked towards a massive wooden door, which swung in by itself as she neared. On the inside, comfortable-looking armchairs stood around a knee-high table. We sat down on the chairs. A maid entered through the door.

Alicia said: “Let me introduce to Teresia, she is my personal maid. Can I offer you something to drink or eat?”

Ari asked for a glass of wine, I decided a glass of water was enough for me. Teresia walked off to fetch it. Alicia and Ari stopped talking about their childhood and Alicia turned towards me. I fidgeted in my seat.

She asked: “I’m sure you had to listen long enough to us brabbling about our time as children. I’m interested in your childhood, are you willing to share how it was growing up without magic? I can’t imagine it to be easy.”

She looked at me and I thought I could see a flash of fear or distress showing in her eyes. Was she imagining living without magic? “It wasn’t easy but I’m sure many children were doing worse.”

“What do you like to do in your free time?”

“Before moving in with Ari I had no free time. Since then on our days of we have watched street performers and traveling entertainers, been to festivals and hung out with a few of Ari’s acquaintances.”

I said it fast with a light stutter in my voice. Her face showed a pained expression. I understood what she tried to do. She wanted to include me in the conversation and get to know me. I wasn’t averse to her motion, but I didn’t know how to behave around her and what to say. She was just too different from anyone I had ever known. I believed she felt the same about me.

I sat in the chair my body tense and my hands interlaced with each other. Before the silence could stretch for too long Ari cut in and told Alicia about a theatre piece one particular talented group of entertainers performed. I could only envy her ability to always being able to make conversation.

Teresa returned with our drinks and placed them in front of us. We all thanked her and she left the room. After everyone had the chance to take a sip, Alicia looked at me seriously.

“Let’s talk about the reason you came here. We have ascertained you are a scribe. I’m not sure you realize how valuable having a scribe in your family is. No matter whether you decide to stay with my family you need to understand this.

“Let’s start with your ability to get a feeling about the functionality of runes. Adventurers discovered all the runes we use today in dungeons. Dungeons use them to build traps or puzzles. The adventurers weren’t able to understand them and many injured themselves or even died while trying to discern their effect. That was until the first scribe was discovered. He could give the researchers a good idea of what they were dealing with and therefore sharply reduced the risk involved in research. Today scribes still enter dungeons to discover new runes. Also, the best and strongest adventurer parties hire them to reveal the effects of particularly complex and dangerous runic systems found in the deepest layers. Every such dive can result in dozens to a hundred gold coins for you.”

She made a pause to let her words sink in. With a hundred gold coins I could live peacefully to the end of my days without ever having to work again. I couldn’t fathom owning this much money. The wonder must have shown on my face because Alicia continued.

“But be careful you a risking your life by diving into dungeons. Many a scribe died in such expeditions. Another possibility for you is joining with a powerful mage or even an archmage and doing research. Scribes' natural ability to understand and build complex runic systems makes you a perfect candidate. It won’t pay as good as diving into dungeons but you will still become wealthy quickly. Also, you would participate in pushing the frontier of knowledge ahead.”

This option sounded far safer than working in a dungeon, but I didn’t like it. I would again work for someone else only this time as assistance instead of a servant. And in my experience, both were often quite similar.

“Now for the last and most revered talent of scribes, I have to give you some background knowledge. The effectiveness of spell scrolls, or to be more precise the ratio between necessary mana to activate it and the power of the resulting spell, separates a scroll into different tiers. They start at 1 and go up to 10 and after that S. The effectiveness is set by the quality of the runes drawn on paper and the mental image inscribed into it. For example, the spell scroll I created yesterday was badly drawn and I didn’t inscribe any image into it, so it was tier 1. Then you inscribed a mental image into it which brought it up to tier 3. Also, you made the spell flexible, so I could change most variables of the spell.

“This third ability lets you create scrolls that can be worth dozens of gold coins. Well, given you train drawing and inscribing the image so you can create scrolls at tier 9 or higher.

“As a scribe, you can get proficient in one or all of these abilities. No matter which you choose everyone will want you. So, you have two possibilities to choose from. Either you enter a strong family, or you hide your abilities.”

If her words were true I could either continue my life like it is now or work for the rich. Neither sounded appealing to me.

“Couldn’t I just make scrolls and sell them myself?”

“Everyone wants you, Myra. The great families are always carefully monitoring the population for any signs of an unbound scribe. Someone would find you and force you to work for them. They would take excellent care of you but they wouldn’t let you go.”

Conflicting feelings welled up inside of me. Being wanted by the most powerful people was flattering but also disturbing. I was unaccustomed to this because no one, except maybe Ari, ever wanted me. This seemed to have changed. Normally I wouldn’t believe such claims but for some strange reason, I believed Alicia. She appeared to be genuine and Ari trusted her.

Alicia interrupted my thoughts. “Again, I want to offer you to join my family. We are powerful enough that we can protect you and I promise you, you will be able to leave if you can’t stand living here. If you join us you will be a member of a great family and want for nothing.”

I wanted to believe her, I wanted a better life, wanted to be free. But how could I be sure she’d stay true to her words and wasn’t using a spell on me right now to make me more compliant? Ok, Ari would have told me if she did it. Should I just accept and hope for the best? Then I realized something. She is giving me a choice even though forcing me would be easy for her and something others would do.

“I think I’d like to sleep about it. What do you think Ari?”

“It is your decision. I can only tell you that Alicia and her family have always been nice to me. If you accept, you will have an excellent life.”

After Ari finished Alicia told us: “It is late and I’m sure both of you are tired. I know I am. So please stay here for the night. Myra, Teresia will bring you to a guest room. Once there please stay inside. This house is full of magic and runes and if you leave and have to mage vision the best thing to happen to you is to get lost. If you need anything or go somewhere there is a button you can press to summon a servant.”

As on cue, Teresia entered. I turned to leave, expecting Ari to follow me, but she wasn’t.

“I want to have a word with Ari in private. Good night Myra.”

Ari said: “Don’t worry Myra, it won’t have much to do with you and I will come soon.”

I said goodbye and left the room with a queasy feeling. What were they talking about that I shouldn’t hear? But I trusted Ari, so if the topic they were discussing was concerning me she would tell me.

Teresia asked me whether I wanted a bath prepared before going to sleep. I declined my sleepiness finally catching up to me. Once in the room, I changed into silk sleepwear which some servant put there for me. In my tired state, I didn’t appreciate how good the material felt.

As I lay there my thoughts were still on Alicia’s offer. I think I’m going to accept it tomorrow.