The difference between you and me is that, at first, I didn’t know what I was getting into.

Mark Kunst, Zahl Chapter.

The flame, unnatural in its origin, at least stopped the man completely. He watched the large flame holding steady in the middle of her palm. Then, Johanna realized the tavern had fallen silent and looking up, saw everyone watching the table. She snapped back the flame, closing her fist.

“Did not expect that?” she asked with a smirk to cover her original irritation.

The man hesitated, before saying, “You are way too young to even be a sorceress. What did you call yourself? A Fire Shaper? What’s that?”

“A sorceress – a Shaper of the mana – that specializes in fire aspects.”

“Like the Burning Walker?”

“He was another Fire Shaper, I’m pretty sure. Never met him, though. Before my time, obviously.”

She realized she’d started getting the upper hand, and pressed on.

“I’m not just a small-trick sorceress too. Got additional Talents, which come in handy when you face a Deep Changed. But that little flame? It’s still useful. I killed my first Canid by shoving that one into its mouth.”

“…”

She could tell he was stumped by the exhibition of a Talent. She didn’t think just displaying that would entirely be enough, but she had to show him that she was to be taken seriously.

“I may have gone overboard. Is there a more private space where we can discuss this further?” she asked.

Miles hesitated. Then he called out, “Jeb? I’m using the side room. Bring me a new one.”

He turned to Johanna, “And you?”

“A beer sounds fine.”

The man stood up and started, but he stopped and looked.

“Mind if I bring one of my former teammates.”

“Not at all.”

He went to a table where three men looked at them curiously.

“Ulrich?”

“Need some help dealing with a sorceress, I see,” one impeccably groomed man said. The second thing she noted after his snow-white hair was the pink-tinted eyes.

“I’m thinking I need a different perspective,” Miles said.

“And you immediately thought of your old teammate. Gee, I’m flattered.”

Ulrich stood, grabbed her hand, and brought it to his lips in an exaggerated gesture.

“Always the pleasure of meeting a fire sorceress, miss Milton, if I heard you right. Ulrich Sengfield, at your service,” he said.

She could have shaken her head at the antics.

“Mrs.”

“Ah. I stand corrected. So, MB wants my advice. This is going to be interesting.”

The obvious albinism had been the first alert. And a “Level 5 thirster” was not looking like it was a specialization, one that he’d missed, starting with the lowercase “t” in it. The full descriptor, once it unfolded confirmed the intuition of a Changed.

Ulrich Johan Sengfield

Male thirster, 42 years, 2 months

Unspecialized (accountant)

Level: 5 (8000 XP needed)

5 unallocated skill points

XP: 51180

STR: 14 (2000 XP needed)

AUT: 17

AGI: 15

PER: 18 (3000 XP needed)

DEX: 15

EMP: 15

The man had a lot of experience even for his age.

Wait, an albino that is called a thirster? Is that… like a vampire? What the…

“So. You are a fire sorceress. Ulrich, you probably know more about that…”

“Do I look like an Erlang?”

“Didn’t you brag about having all kinds of your family being fire sorcerers?”

“My cousin having a small immunity to fire isn’t…”

“Fire sorcerer or not?”

“Well, okay. Cousin Sofia wasn’t a true one, not like Markus, who was dead a year before I was born.”

The name Markus brought immediately a memory from the Mages of America.

“Markus… as in Markus Sengfield?”

“Why, yes. Although if you’re a sorceress, I’m not surprised you heard about old Markus. A great-grand-uncle.”

“Read about him in the reference books, mostly. A black fire, wasn’t it?”

“Correct.”

Then she startled.

“Wait, if he’s an uncle, then you are a vamp…”

“That’s impolite,” Ulrich Sengfield tut-tutted.

A small cough interrupted them, and both Johanna and Ulrich turned back to Miles as he asked his next question.

“So. You say your flame isn’t your only Talent. Care to elaborate?”

“Got a knife?” she replied.

Miles’s eyebrows rose, but Ulrich beat him to the punch by drawing a foot-long blade and putting it on the table. Johanna picked the top between her fingers, lifting it to avoid problems, and lit it up. Flames coursed immediately down the blade, covering it down to the hilt.

Both men looked fascinated by the display. Miles reached for the blade, then pulled away his fingers, feeling the heat.

“You’re holding it,” he wondered.

“Fire sorcerers are immune to their own fire,” Ulrich told him.

“Genuine, then?” Miles asked him.

“As if the flame in Mrs. Milton’s palm wasn’t enough. But two Talents? That’s impressive for someone looking that young… unless you’re one of the Races? I’m familiar with all of northern America’s Races, but…”

“I’m from the Montana, and not Changed. I don’t think so, at least,” Johanna answered quickly.

“Well, you definitively don’t look like a wendigo, there’s that,” Ulrich noted.

“So. You have Talents. Did you really fight Deep Changed?” Miles asked.

“I was not bragging. Yes, we did. More than once.”

“And you think that’s enough for the east?”

“Probably not. But that’s why we’re going to be recruiting later on.”

Miles frowned, waiting for more details, but a knock at the door interrupted Johanna. A man’s head briefly intruded.

“Miles?” he asked.

“Go ahead, Bob. Some scavenger stuff to organize. I’ll be there afterward.”

“Friend?” Johanna asked after the door closed.

“Colleague from work, not a scavenger. I was waiting for him when you showed up. But you said ‘we’?”

“There are, right now, five of us.”

“You’ve recruited already?”

“No. What I mean is that there are five Talented, of my level.”

The two men blinked in surprise. Miles whistled.

“If you are pulling my leg…”

“Why would I? It is going to be easy to demonstrate. Even Peter,” she smiled, thinking of the weapon flicker.

“Well, our old team was a bit odd, but five Talented? How is that even possible?”

“It’s complicated. Part of why I’m here, too. We’re going to try to build up a team to tackle the east coast, one step at a time. That’s why we’ve come here, rather than head straight to the coast. It’s not an easy place, you said yourself, and the amount we should bring back is going to be large. We can get money for logistics by ourselves with time, sure, but even then we need the right… tools, I should say, and above all the right people.”

“Why the East?”

“Let’s just say we know what we’re looking for, and where it is.”

“Are you sure about it? Nobody’s been there since the Fall. The ruins can be anything, with those mana concentrations. Look at Lake Nashville which replaced the old Nashville. Even without Changestorms, there’s been plenty of ruins that once looked fine, then two years later, there was nothing left.”

“The building we’re targeting seems sound enough.”

“You’ve seen it? What is it, a Talent?”

“Something like that. It’s not important for now, so I’ll explain when it’s the right time.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“You know the people and the area, right? The barkeep pointed me your way when I asked.”

“Ulrich and I, we did run here with a team for five years before we decided enough was enough. That was after our old team disbanded, after the debacle of the east coast.”

“Then that’s what I’m after. Someone who knows places that are a little dangerous, a little out of the way. Good prospect of salvage, and people who know the area, people who are not too afraid to take a few controlled risks.”

“That almost sounds like a scam.”

“Which is why we want to prove ourselves first. Right now, we need some money to establish ourselves. Then, we can talk seriously about the future, and the east coast expedition.”

“I need to think.”

Johanna exhaled slowly after she closed the door of the High and Dry. Projecting competence and authority was hard. Miles and his friend – a vam… sorry, thirster? Really? – seemed interested enough, and promised to stay open to propositions, and that’s what she was after.

They needed a lot of preparation. The Skeleton had not spoken of a time frame, but as Miles Bertram had said, or what people around Zahl had reported, ruins could decay abruptly with mana around.

Mana preserves and mana takes. That sounded like it should be a saying.

She knew the vision of the Washington ruins wasn’t from the days of the Fall, but she still had no idea of how accurate and up-to-date it was. The Ancient Power’s limits – if he had any – were unknown. No, the faster they got ready for this, the better.

“That’s a weird one, Ulrich,” Miles finally said.

“No kidding. And no, she believes in herself. She’s not bullshitting you unless she’s bullshitting herself.”

“Since when do you have a talent for that?”

“No Talent… just old-fashioned instincts. And cheating, of course.”

“Cheating?”

“Her claims about multiple Talented are genuine, at least,” Ulrich Sengfield replied instead.

“And how would you know?”

The Thirster pulled out a pocketbook, riffled, and pulled a small sheet of paper.

“Bounties. From the Montana. You know I collect those things for fun. I think I now have all those covering the California Ghost’s entire career until he vanished thirty years ago.”

Miles Bertram perused the sheet, his eyes growing in surprise.

“Johanna Milton?”

“The same one, yes. And she and her friends are labeled as significantly Talented here. Just as she claimed to be and just demonstrated.”

“She said five, not four?”

“Which is what makes it even more intriguing. Finding four Talented working together is weird, after all. But suddenly there are five of them? Where did they find another Talented, just like that? And they ran from the draft, only go head straight into the East Coast? There is definitively something going on.”

“You want me to go along with it.”

“Even if you don’t… I will.”

“Really?”

“Maybe time to call upon the spirit of the old team. I know, we’re not young bucks anymore, and that’s normally a young people’s game… but things might be a-changing, friend.”