They woke before dawn. The giant walls of the city blocked any possible view of the sun.

  Aura and Bert left for their jobs, but David and Sophie turned a different direction than usual.

  Today they wouldn’t be entering the forest, instead they went toward the citizenship office. It stood near the edge of the district.

  It looked like an old chapel, worn but dignified, now repurposed. Faded stained-glass windows, cracked stone archways, and a crooked bell tower gave away its origins.

  A line had already formed outside, half-asleep figures hunched under cloaks. David and Sophie joined at the end.

  “I don’t like this,” Sophie whispered.

  David tilted his head. “The wait?”

  “No. How do we explain earning that much that fast?”

  He paused. I completely forgot about that. They had worked with Vierra without issue, but it definitely wasn’t legal business.

  Eventually, the doors creaked open, and the line lurched forward.

  David frantically thought of any excuses he might make, but couldn’t find anything ironclad.

  Inside, the air was musty. Wooden pews had been stripped and turned into benches for waiting. A few faded murals still clung to the walls;

  That’s when he saw it. A large stone statue of a woman. Her pedestal was worn smooth with time but not enough to hide the markings.

  Ancient script.

  He squinted, trying to recall his lessons with Aura.

  “Praise Min, the savior.” He mouthed silently. The Goddess worshipped across the continent.

  A chill brushed his spine. So this is the ever present religious figure. He couldn’t help but stare between the carved visage and the text.

  Ridiculous. He was almost certain he had seen her before. How? Where?

  Before he could dwell on it, the line moved. They reached the front.

  The woman at the desk didn’t look up. Her hair was a frizzy bun held together by what might’ve been a quill. Her robes were too tight around the shoulders and her inkwell had already spilled twice by the looks of it.

  “Names and origin.” she barked.

  “Marco. This is Sophie. We’re from Grainwick.”

  She scanned their papers, lips pursing tighter with every second.

  “You were issued temporary bands three weeks ago.” Her eyes flicked up, narrow and suspicious. “There’s no way you need replacements yet.”

  “We don’t.” David hesitated. This is it. “We wanted to buy citizenship for me.”

  The woman tilted her head and almost laughed. “It’s five hundred coins, child.”

  David nodded and the woman’s brows immediately knitted. “How in the Goddess’s name did you earn over five hundred silvers? In three weeks no less?”

  “We had most of the money by the time we arrived.” He explained calmly. Not the best argument, but the only one he could come up with.

  “Let me check.” The woman was looking around the documents.

  David’s heart plummeted. She had called his bluff.

  David opened his mouth to explain—

  But Sophie’s fingers closed around his sleeve. Tight.

  She gave a barely perceptible nod toward the cordoned section.

  “Oh by the Goddess, I’m waiting here, Leneva.” The voice was irritated, and unmistakably important.

  The man was standing in the closed-off section, reserved for the employees and leaning on a cane.

  Leneva jumped slightly hearing his voice. She immediately raised her head. “Of course Mister Hiveo! I was just about to issue the rune. I’ll be with you in a second!”

  Her voice was frantic, afraid even.

  David turned to get a better look, but the man was already walking away, as if the matter wasn’t even worth his attention. His cane echoed in the silence he had left behind.

  Leneva’s whole demeanor changed. Her face tightened, and her hands trembled slightly.

  “Go ahead.” she muttered, pushing a deep bowl forward. “The money?”

  Sophie pulled up her satchel and spilled the contents into the bowl. As soon as the last coin settled within, the bowl shone brightly.

  Leneva nodded, then pulled out a vial and dipped a thin brush in ink. “Hold out your arm.”

  David obeyed. The matter was suddenly progressing fast enough to leave him confused.

  The brush was cool against his skin, the ink tickling as it formed a simple rune in the shape of the letter ‘G’.

  The moment she finished the final line, the ink shimmered, then faded entirely into his skin. His leather armband, tight and bound with blood, loosened.

  David caught it before it slipped to the ground.

  “You’re a citizen now,” she said brusquely, already halfway up from her chair. “I’m done mister Hiveo!” She called out after the man.

  Now THAT was a tonal shift.

  He and Sophie stepped outside, blinking against the brightening morning.

  “That was... strange,” she said.

  David nodded, still thinking of the man’s voice. His confidence. His timing.

  “Yeah,” he murmured. “Did we get really lucky?”

  He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Whether that was due to the man or the statue, he wasn’t sure.

  Viera tapped the tip of her pen against the worn edge of her ledger, trying to will the numbers to make more sense.

  The ever-growing column of requested payments from Hiveo didn’t help.

  Bribes. Gate passes. Discretion fees. Was that bottle of old vintage necessary?

  She exhaled sharply through her nose and scribbled a reluctant checkmark beside the last entry.

  Despite her constant work with the refugees, they were bleeding money.

  She sat back in her chair at the heart of Mason’s Retreat, the rebels’ unofficial headquarters, buried in the refugee district.

  The knock came, sharp and rhythmic. Wood on wood, three times.

  Viera didn’t move. Speak of the devil.

  She eyed the door as Hiveo let himself in, leaning slightly on his ever-present cane. His smile was dry as ever, his eyes still stern.

  “I have bad news and good news,” he said, shutting the door with a soft click.

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  “And here I thought you missed me.”

  “No. The bad first.” He walked past her and helped himself to a seat without asking.

  “Fine.” She closed the ledger with a sigh. “Go on.”

  “Remember that golden kid you found?” He raised his eyebrows. “He just bought citizenship.”

  Viera blinked, then grimaced.

  “I thought he’d take months. Damn it.” she said, her fingers had already curled slightly on the edge of her desk. “He really saved it all, didn’t he?”

  “I assume you squeezed him dry before that?” Hiveo asked, mildly interested.

  “Yeah,” she muttered. “Tell me the good news makes up for it.”

  Hiveo grimaced. “We need to recruit him. Fast.”

  She leaned back in her chair, pinched the bridge of her nose, then glanced at Hiveo through her fingers.

  Silence.

  Viera didn’t speak. Her fingers tapped a soft rhythm against the desk.

  Hiveo rolled his eyes and leaned in slightly. “I saw him reading a statue inscription.”

  “And you’re sure?”

  “Enough to take a chance. Get me some money and information on him, I’ll do the talking.”

  Viera snorted. “No.”

  Hiveo’s brow rose. “No?”

  “The kid’s weird. He took down a hunter-killer in tandem with a young girl. And he saw through my ring in the market.” She tapped the silver illusion-band on her finger. “Each time I looked at him, he reminded me of Dolen, Hiveo.”

  That made him pause.

  She leaned forward, voice lower. “He’s strange. He needs a gentler touch.”

  “Time is of the essence.”

  “No,” she said again, firmer. “Survival is. Winning is.”

  Hiveo sighed, then he gave her a slight nod.

  “Fine. He’s yours.” He stood, adjusting his coat. “But we need him quick, Viera, before the nobles realize what he knows. Those ruins could change everything.”

  She didn’t answer until he was nearly at the door.

  “I know,” she murmured. “That’s what worries me.”

  Hiveo tapped the doorframe twice with his cane, then vanished into the tavern without another word.

  Viera stayed still for a while.

  Then she reached across the desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a folded sheet of parchment.

  She kept a page for everyone she dealt with. This one was Marco’s. Not much to it. Unless you add the new information.

  Around 11. Refugee. Gatherer. Hunter… Educated in high noble linguistics.

  The longer she stared at the ink, the more it felt wrong.

  Maybe he just looks young? A malnourished frontier kid could be that short at 13, maybe 14.

  “What’s up with you, kid?” she muttered. “Is this some trick?”

  Well, not that it matters. If he has the skill, we will have him.

  Viera made a note beside his name.

  Possible lures: family money, academy fee, green girl.

  David walked the streets without the tight band around his arm.

  Now that they’d secured citizenship, he could finally make money in a legal way. All the shops stood open before him. No guards threw him out of the district.

  And yet, the city didn’t feel more welcoming.

  More alien, if anything, as Sophie couldn’t even accompany him. His family was still refugees.

  Now the main priority was to make enough and buy them out too.

  He considered selling the frostfire sword, which saved their lives back in grainwick… It would fetch a heavy price.

  Enough to buy them out. Enough for a place of their own. Maybe even enough for the academy? Probably not.

  David shook his head. He knew Aura would never part with it. Not after what she had gone through.

  He finally reached the merchant guild.

  A familiar guard looked him up and down and started toward him, a smirk on his face.

  David silently raised his right arm, eliciting a scowl. You can’t hurt me, now.

  He walked up the marble steps and entered the ornate building.

  The interior wasn’t as gaudy as he expected. A queue stretched through the middle of the room and split between many tellers. It moved by quickly

  After a short wait, David arrived at a marble desk. A short woman with an elegant dress and her hair pinned up sat on the opposite side.

  “Anything you need?” She was surprisingly polite, seeing as David entered the guild as a lonesome child.

  “I’d like to know the prices for some herbs.” He raised his hand and started counting on his fingers, pretending someone sent him for the information. “Voel, Tern, Frost blossoms, Melos and Ghora.”

  “Quite the list.” She smiled at him “Give me a minute.” The woman disappeared behind a curtain.

  He waited, looking around, and that’s when he felt it. Discomfort, as if someone was watching him.

  He tried to covertly look around, but didn’t see anything troubling. The feeling didn’t let go, though.

  “Here are the current prices.” The woman came back with a slate. She placed it before him. “Can you read?”

  “Yes, thank you.” He took one look at the slate and immediately grew dizzy.

  What? No way.

  The prices were at least double what Vierra had been paying them. He’d gotten utterly scammed.

  Anger bubbled up within him. He never asked how high her cut was, exactly, but she always spoke of it as if it was maybe a few percent. Damn it.

  “Is everything alright?” The woman’s voice brought him back down to earth.

  “Y-yes.” He stammered out. “What’s the bounty for a hunter-killer?”

  The teller tilted her head. “It depends on its size, but between one and two hundred coins.”

  David felt like he could faint. So. Much. Money. And it was all gone. In the hands of that damn criminal.

  David bowed and quickly walked out of the building. He needed air.

  David rested his head against the cold stone walls of the guild. Breathe in. Breathe out.

  You only missed out on five hundred coins. Could have happened to anyone.

  He tried to calm himself, but it didn’t work.

  Worse, the feeling of being observed was getting stronger. Was he growing paranoid?

  Only one way to find out.

  He tightened his hand around the gathering dagger hidden under his shirt and turned down a side street.

  Then another, each narrower than the last.

  The noise of the main roads faded behind him.

  He ended up in an alley, long and narrow. He stopped near the middle, heart thudding.

  Then a voice spoke, smooth and amused.

  “Long time no see.”

  He spun, dagger half-drawn.

  Viera leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Her hair was blonde that day and her face looked older, but he recognized the color of her mana.

  She dared to show her face. David’s blood boiled.

  She had been gouging them since they met.

  She took one look at his face and sighed. “Cat’s out the bag, huh?”

  He didn’t answer. Just kept the distance between them.

  Viera smiled, unbothered. “Relax. I’m not here to swindle you. I just came to talk.”

  “What?” His body tensed. “Were you following me?”

  She didn’t bother denying it. “I’ve got eyes in a lot of places.”

  “I’m willing to make you a deal.” She stepped a little closer, hands out in a harmless gesture. “I can get you a well paying job.”

  Viera was fast. If she attacked him, he’d have to fully channel the claws.

  Would that even be enough?

  Talking felt like the better idea. “A job? What’s the cut—fifty percent again? Or are you aiming higher this time?”

  Vierra scowled for a second, but quickly regained her smile. “No. A fair price, maybe even generous.”

  David frowned. “Why?”

  “Why not?” Her smile widened. “You’re a smart kid. I can sense a good investment.”

  He took a step back. “No.”

  “No?”

  “I don’t trust you.”

  That seemed to amuse her. “You always this suspicious?”

  “Around shady people? Yeah.”

  She exhaled, brushing invisible dust off her jacket. “Alright, let’s skip the dance. You read ancient.”

  How does she…

  David kept his face still. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “No?” She took another step forward, this time more deliberate. “You read it. You translated it. Next time don’t mouth your secrets.”

  Silence stretched.

  David said nothing.

  Viera’s gaze didn’t waver. “So here’s the offer. Work for me and I’ll pay you well. I’ll even keep your secrets.”

  He shook his head. “It sounds illegal. I’m not getting involved.”

  “You’d rather die in the forest trying to make enough?”

  He thought of all the close calls he had with Sophie. But what if he worked with Viera and got caught by the guard? They might punish not just him, but his family too. What would happen to Aura?

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “Fine.” She nodded slowly. “How’s your pursuit of the academy going, by the way?”

  David's jaw clenched. Time in the city flew by and he had made no progress on that front.

  “I’m doing fine.”

  She studied him. Then, to his surprise, she gave a small, satisfied smile.

  “That’s great to hear. Well, I’ll see you around.”

  “Huh?” David was caught off guard.

  She stepped back, adjusting her coat. “The offer stands. You change your mind, find me.”

  “I won’t.”

  “We’ll see.” She gave him a half-wave and started walking away, boots echoing on stone.

  At the mouth of the alley, she paused, glanced over her shoulder.

  “And Kid?” she said.

  He looked up.

  “Criminal or not, this city cares little about people.”

  Then she disappeared.

  David stood there a moment longer.

  The fear of missing out hung over his head. Damn this woman. She really knew how to make his heart sting.