I sat at the table with professor Thanolin, having our normal meal of fish and rice. My dinner and his breakfast. Bibbel was still away at an evening class, or just out, I wasn’t sure which.

  “So yes, that is a good book for getting to understand classes, leveling and a few theories but it is beginner stuff. Since you are from, elsewhere, I take it these things are not normal for you?”

  “Not outside of games sir. No dreams about it. Back where I came from I couldn’t just write down classes without thinking about it thanks to a skill.” I had showed him my status writing skill which involved taking a paper, a writing implement and scrolling things down without thinking. It showed a list of my classes, [Survival] 5, [Hunter] 1, [Chronicler] 5 along with my skills and general health, which was good.

  “Adversity is a good teacher my boy, but only for skills and classes that are needed in the moment. Most people in cities do not gain levels in [Survival] at all, let alone [Hunter]. But, those were required to survive your journey. I have heard of this from those such as yourself. Put a little research into it between my teaching duties.”

  I lifted fragrant rice to my mouth as he spoke, put paused, losing a few grains as I stared at him. Setting my food down I asked, “You did that? For me or?”

  “Well, not for your benefit alone boy. I became curious and looked into the matter. I am not an expert in the subject like the headmaster is, but the college does keep records. You arrived here alone and unprepared. I would imagine only a fraction of those that this happens to survive. You say you were attacked?”

  “Yes. By a four-armed creature with just a tail instead of legs.”

  The aulterun hooted, eyelids fluttering at that. “Oh my. Sounds like a hillsec to me. They are more common in the north. But you said you were in a forest yes? Not the desert?”

  “Yes. There was some kind of stone building I appeared in and when I ran out I was not far from the forest. I kept moving till I got there figuring that if I was pursued by such a creature they would have a harder time moving in there.”

  “Quiet right. The handful of hillsec students we tend to get around here complain that the streets in Dacathus are much too bumpy for them. If not for the headmaster’s insistence on smooth floors and ramps instead of stairs there would be no hillsecs at all in the school.”

  While the pavements of Dacathus didn’t bother me many stairs did since often they were too narrow for my feet to comfortably use. I could manage though, even in the library. “Is the headmaster a hillsec then?”

  “Oh no, though there is some overlap. They are, well, I do not actually know what the race is called. I have never seen one outside the headmaster. But yes, they do move like a hillsec.”

  That gave me a bit of a chill. I was sure hillsec were perfectly reasonable at most times but my first impressions of one were not good. That said, I had invaded their home or whatever that structure was. How would I react if some stranger appeared from no where in front of me? Well, since it had happened I hoped I would be nicer but if it hadn’t happened to me before?

  I resumed eating. “What is it that you teach anyway professor?”

  “Ah, yes, we have not discussed that yet have we? Well my boy I teach natural philosophy. I have gotten to a respectable 35 [Teacher] with a few other classes under my hat. My preferences come from the study of rocks and gems even though I cannot stand being in caves. Dirt in my feathers is quiet, offensive, to my senses.”

  I had to laugh at that, nearly choking on the fish I was finishing off. “I do not know how much your class might cost to take professor but I think your telling would be most entertaining.”

  “Of course it would be my boy. I know your finances are strapped for the moment but if you have an evening free I have a physiology class this week that can be audited. See if it is a subject that interests you for next semester when maybe you can afford the fee.”

  After dinner I got back to my writing. The professor might not have seen the point at first but if I could sell such stories back home maybe I could make some extra coins here too. Enough to let me take classes around my library duties. Back home I could have done college classes if I wanted. I was an adult, I’d finished my normal studies, and was already making money for myself there. But I hadn’t felt the need then. There was always knowledge at the touch of a button. One just had to call it into a display to see it.

  This way though, with knowledge spread out and no instant source of it, I felt the urge to study. Perhaps I had picked up the love for it the first month just going to the library. Of learning to read in this world, to speak the common tongue, all of it. I wanted more, but I needed money for it.

  ————————

  Raven awoke from her nest bed at the tavern she spent the night at. The Gleaming Crest, perfect for a paracrest on the go. The menu was great too, completely for herbivores. Especially the kind like paracrest and talloni that were not mammals. Milk, cheese, butter were all no goes for them.

  Breakfast was a pleasant affair, potatoes fried in oil with some nice bread and pressed apple juice. She could see her fellow paracrest wandering in, along with some talloni and even a chelkren. The sight of green scales and a shell made her think of Mazen, hoping he was doing ok. He was probably on his feet by now, working with his new hand. Hopefully he was taking it easy even without her there to remind him.

  She needed to head down into the scholar ward. Perhaps right to the college. If someone there wasn’t able to help her with the scroll then surely they would know someone in the area who could. First though she needed to check in with the local guild hall. It was in the guild district of course, towards the west side of town.

  Raven had never been to the Dacathus adventurer guild before. Last time she had been in Dacathus had just been a pass through, not on anything that could be considered a job in the area. This wasn’t a sanctioned one either, but if she was considering moving she needed to at least show proper procedure when doing anything job related in town. It was on her own coin but the scroll did pertain to a quest so it counted in her mind.

  When she got outside she stopped to once more breath in the city air. It had rained overnight, something she had not seen in a long time having been living in the desert-adjacent city of Terath. It was nice, even accidentally stepping in a puddle as she walked. Even if the people were mostly different here the feel was the same. Folks heading to and from jobs. People carrying heavy loads.

  The sounds of construction on the street added to the cacophony. Raven remembered it from her youth, the pounding of nails into wood. Many of the buildings here were made of them. Only the older, more grounded structures were of stone. Wood was much more available here and didn’t have to contend with sudden sand storms to scrape them up, making them a better choice than the more expensive stone.

  The guild itself had a much more lavish exterior than Raven was used to. Of course in Terath exteriors were simple for a reason, sand storms could be brutal on pigments and any soft materials. The awning advertising the guild was brightly painted with what was likely retired swords embedded in the frame.

  Inside there were a scattering of adventurers. Some were sitting at small tables, one was up by the counter talking to the talloni clerk, while two more were over by the wall studying a board. Raven stepped in behind the human man who was talking with the clerk.

  “Look,” the man told the clerk, “I need a better paying option. The last job didn’t pay nearly enough.”

  The clerk flipped through some papers and shook their head, “Sir, according to our records you are not part of any party. Solo adventurers are typically offered protection and small escort contracts.”

  “So put my name into the party system then.”

  “It is, but no established groups are looking for someone with your specific, talents. As long as you are in town come check back again tomorrow to see what we have available.”

  The man grumbled and peeled off from the counter, nearly bumping Raven in passing. He didn’t even apologize as she watched him leave, her sail high.

  “Can I help you?” The clerk asked.

  She turned her head around, having watched the man leave. “Oh yes. I’m from the Terath guild, in town briefly and thought I would stop by. Is there anyone in the guild here I can talk to about old and crumbling scrolls? I have one in a jar that my own guild cannot touch at the moment.”

  “The guild does not employ that service but we do send such things to the library. There is a restorationist there.”

  Raven’s sail sagged with her relief. “Alright. Where can I find them? I’m afraid this will be on my own coin as my guild did not see fit to pay for this. I just think it is important to a quest.”

  The clerk just looked at her. “Doesn’t matter to me. Name?”

  “Raven, out of Terath.” She held out a small guild seal.

  “Alright. I’m registering you as a visitor. You’re welcome to check the board for small claims while you are here but unless you transfer I am not handing out assignments.”

  “Do you have directions to the library?”

  It was south, in the scholar ward of course, but directions allowed her not to waste time getting there. The streets were starting to dry as she left the guild, but the scent was still in the air. She imagined it would smell more like the beasts of burden and general people odors at most times, but after a rain it was clean and crisp.

  Raven made her way down the streets, away from the adventurer guild. The guild ward itself had much nicer streets than where she had spent the evening. Smooth stones, shining buildings, and the occasional luxury shop. The scholar ward by contrast felt old, but well kept together. More stone buildings, many of which looked to be apartments and townhouses. There were also more cafes and small eateries. She even spotted the Groundpounder Bakery that she had been told about.

  She’d passed by another small cafe when Raven finally spotted the library building. Stone and wood combined almost seamlessly as it rose into the air. Stepping inside the building her nose was assaulted at once by the smell of books. Leather, paper, ink. It made her smile even as she looked at the librarian behind the reception desk. A small civith with black fur.

  “Hello.” Raven greeted, “I heard there is someone here who can do restoration and recovery work?”

  The small woman peered up at her, sitting on her hind legs with her paws on the counter. “Yes. We do. Are you a student?”

  “No. The adventurer guild pointed me here. I don’t have a voucher, so any fees required for this service will be from my own coin.”

  “I see.. Well, we won’t know what to charge until the job is done. Where can you be reached?”

  “I’m currently staying at the Gleaming Crest but I can check in here or at the adventurer guild.” Raven unslung her pack and carefully removed the jar. “There is a delicate scroll inside. Not magical but I do need to know what it says.”

  The civith woman gestured for her to put it down. “Alright. It might take a few days. I’ll have word sent to the guild as long as you show me your seal.”

  Raven pulled it free from her pocket, letting her examine it. “Good,” The woman went on, “Payment will be after the job is done but the price for service will not be known till the work is complete.”

  “Alright. Thank you.” She put the seal away, tightened her pack onto her back once more and turned to leave. She was lightly surprised to see an unknown creature in brown robes approaching the desk. She’d never seen a race like his before with a wolf-like head and tall almost rabbit ears, and whiskers. He had an odd walk to him too, almost hopping like a rabbit but she could see a striped tail of orange and black.

  “Ah good Ramjack, please take this jar down to Tick. A new restoration request for its content.” Raven heard the civith say to the new comer. Not a patron but someone who worked at the library.

  She left then, still pondering the odd looking man as she headed to the bakery to try one of the famous buns.

  ———

  I held the jar in my hands as I headed down the stairs to Tick’s restoration room. It looked old, except for the wax around the seal which seemed pretty fresh to me.

  ~What do you have for me this time?~ Tick asked, not even looking up from her work.

  “Some kind of jar. Said to have a delicate scroll inside. The request is to copy down whatever is on the scroll for the client.”

  ~Timeline?~

  “Marigold said any time you have available this week is soon enough.” She gestured with a free hand to where I should set it. “I’ll be around in a few hours if you want some more copying help, the boss said since I’m good at it any help I can give to you will be part of my duties.”

  ~Just so long as you keep shelving, I know. I’ll be ok here. You put back the books, see you after lunch~

  I left Tick to her work, wondering just what was in that jar. So far all the restorations I had brought down there were books. I guess a sealed jar was a good way to keep a delicate scroll safe though, since unlike a leather tube it wouldn’t compress.

  Much of my work day went on as normal. I didn’t even think of the jar again until I saw it on the back of the work table. It stood out amid the damaged books and unrolled scrolls. I kept looking at it each time I finished a line of transcription. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because of my own writing. In the story I was reworking for this world, prince Torrid had just found an artifact in a cave. An orb with magical power. It had been out of place too amid rocks and old bones.

  I shook my head and went back to work. No matter the strange way I got to this world this wasn’t some story. It was just my life. Still, why couldn’t I shake the idea that this jar represented a story hook?

  ——

  Towards the end of my shift Bibbel Ofspry sauntered into the library. I hadn’t seen him in here before. I knew he must study sometime but assumed it was either in his room or over in the college.

  “Hey Ears, caught you before you could head back.” The student called. It had become his nickname for me and always caused the objects in question to flatten back, almost like a double crest.

  “Need something Bibbel?” I asked, trying my best to be polite.

  “Yea. I need some history books to study for my class.”

  I sighed a bit. I still couldn’t tell if the paracrest was lazy or just liked to be difficult. “What kind of history? The section is over here but unless you want to look at every book yourself you need to help me narrow it down for you.”

  “I need something on the rise of the guilds.” His tail swished as he kept his eyes focused on me.

  I thought about that for a moment. Not a book I had seen before but I knew how the history section was organized. It only took two minutes for me to find something that fit his desire. “Here we are.” I said, snagging it from the shelf and presenting it to him. “If you need to check it out the front desk will be happy to help you.”

  The paracrest’s sail waved a bit and he uncrossed his arms. “Thanks.” He muttered, looking at the content of the book briefly before heading off to the front desk.

  I looked back at the section I had retrieved the book from. I hadn’t read much more than the history of Dacathus, and that was only small amounts while I was still translating a bit at a time. Perhaps the guilds were a bigger deal than I thought for as I searched I found several more books on the topic.

  I had never really talked to Bibbel about his studies. Most of the time it was him sniping about the food. It’s not like he didn’t have rice to eat, and he had pickled vegetables which were inedible to both myself and professor Thanolin. Perhaps if I got to know the student better we could find some common ground, at least enough to be civil in the townhouse.

  ————

  “So you are auditing my class tomorrow I hope?” The professor ventured over dinner that night. It was roasted rabbit with honey, served with rice and a side of some kind of nut-fruit mix. Even Bibbel liked that bit, just staying away from the meat he couldn’t digest.

  “Yes sir. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Bibbel sighed after crunching a few nuts. “It’s just a physiology class. Not too exciting.”

  Thanolin’s feathers ruffled. “And that is why you are barely passing the class?”

  The paracrest froze, lifting his eyes to the aulterun. “Uh, sorry professor. It’s just not as interesting as some of the economics and culture studies over in the west wing.”

  “Well, student, if you’d pay more attention in my class you might see how different systems arose from the different races. Tomorrow we will be discussing morphology and classifications. Try to stay awake.”

  “Economics?” I asked, finishing the last of the roasted rabbit on my plate.

  Bibbel snorted, “The study of money and the economy. It’s good for business minded people such as myself.”

  The professor hooted. “Ah yes. From what I recall it is what your father requires of you before he lets you join Ofspry Trading Company.”

  “Father says I will be cut off like this if I do not, and won’t even pay for me to live here if not for my studies.” The youth sulked.

  I chuckled a little. I had seen dramas like this play out in static shows back home before. Entertainments that were just meant to be watched and not interacted with, much like books were to be read. Of course you could always feed them into a simulation program and do what you wanted, but I found it entertaining to watch them. They played well on flat screens in a family room to gather round with your parents and siblings. Something you could laugh together with. Talk over if needed. Sometimes even cry.

  My eyes misted thinking of them and I looked away. I didn’t need to burden my roommates. Thankfully they were too busy with their own discussion about Bibbel’s study habits to notice me. I was able to wipe the gathering dampness away and go back to my plate.

  ———————

  Raven sat in the tavern of the Gleaming Crest. She was tired after picking up a pest control quest from the guild earlier. The basement of one of the storehouses had become infested with especially aggressive rodents and needed clearing. None of the locals had wanted to deal with it so she had taken it on. It hadn’t paid much but it kept her busy. She wasn’t much of a tourist.

  The only other thing she’d done that day after leaving the jar at the library was to visit the bakery. Groundpounder really did have excellent buns, though she’d have to try other places to see if they were really the best.

  Her dinner tonight was less flavorful than the buns had been, and those had just been dairy-free bread cooked to perfection. A salad of leafy greens and cuts of carrot. Filling but lacking in flavor. Terath might not have the best variety for herbivores, at least when it came to decent prices, but they did have spices. If she really did move down here she would have to consider renting a place that had space for a window box or terrace of some kind. Put in some pepper plants. The local rain would take care of them when she was off on adventure and she’d have spicy additives to look forward to when she got back.

  The guild was about the same here as it was there, and far less time under the beating sun. No sand storms, just much more gentle rain. The scent of the woods to the south would be much more welcome than the dust that normally dulled her senses. She could see herself living here. That library looked pretty inviting and from what she had gathered had good dealings with the adventurer guild. They didn’t need to employ a full time [Chronicler] to do research when they could hire the services of people in the Scholar Ward.

  It was unlikely Mazen would want to transfer here though. He might have mixed Chelkren blood of both the desert and river but he favored the sands. At least, she thought he did. Maybe if she asked, he would want to move. He seemed keen to keep her as a partner. They balanced each other out after all. And she was used to his brashness.

  There were other things to consider as well. If that mine had something valuable in it perhaps Mazen would have the funds to buy a new arm, one enchanted that would work the same as a living arm. That would keep him in the normal guild jobs. Also, it would lead to more expeditions to the mountains. Perhaps there was an old settlement and those miners found artifacts that drove them to kill each other with greed. It had been known to happen.

  That was one of the reasons she had wanted to get that scroll from the jar. She hoped it would shed light on the situation at the mine. At worst it was a dying note, or just a ledger of some kind. Payroll could even be in the mix, but she didn’t think so. Her instincts told her that a dying man had written something important on it and sealed it in there. Perhaps the story of what had happened.

  This could all be pointless though. Even if the scroll was about what happened in the mine it was so long ago that it likely didn’t matter any more. The guild was good at recovering treasures that normal people killed each other for. It was part of what made them guild members and not freelance. You never wanted to trust someone who called themselves an adventurer without a guild seal. They were likely bandits by another name.

  Finishing her salad, Raven got up from the bench she had been sitting on. The tavern was relatively quiet at this our with only a few patrons occupying the benches around her. This could be home some day. Maybe if she studied the job board more tomorrow at the guild she would have more ways to entice Mazen down here. Likely there were better, more interesting quests with better pay or more loot. He would go for that, especially if it turned out the mine quest was a bust.