The other players moved forward to use the crystals, I waited for one to become free, then moved up. Remembering the one from before, I removed my glove from my left hand before reaching out to touch it.

  A screen popped up before me.

  ‘Rank: Private - Rank 2’

  ‘Available missions:’

  ‘Rank 1:’

  ‘Map: the Mage’s Guild’

  ‘Map: the Docks’

  ‘Map: the Commercial District’

  ‘Rank 2:’

  ‘Map: Destrum Towers’

  ‘Map: Varsity Towers’

  Selecting the Varsity towers map mission showed a map with one of the green-flagged towers highlighted. The description said there were some anomalies with one of the higher floors and they needed someone to re-map it. The reward was set at 100 rep and 1 silver.

  I went back to the list and selected the Mage’s Guild mission. It was on my list of places I intended to visit. Two birds, one stone. This one declared itself to be a training mission, worth fifty rep only. The task was to map the college’s grounds. It seemed like an easy first mission, so I selected it.

  I walked over to the counter as I pulled on my glove. The attendant was talking to one of the players.

  “No, lad. We’re not the Wardens. You gain access to the faction store when you hit rank 3,” the player threw up his arms and stormed off. “Have a nice day,” the man said with a grin to the departing player’s back, before turning to me.

  “Hi, do you know where I can find out about guild creation?” I asked.

  “Main hall. One of the civic administrators should be able to assist with that.” Preempting my next question, he pointed to the door. “Go out, take a right, through the double doors at the end.”

  “Thank you.” I replied. “At what rep level is rank 3?”

  “Rank 2 is at 1000, rank 3 is 2500.”

  “Cheers.” I said and turned to leave.

  I turned right and could see the double doors I had been told about and started walking towards them. I passed a door with a scroll, a ship on another. On the opposite side of the courtyard one door had a shield symbol over it. Different factions I assumed. Add to the list to look into when I wasn’t on a mission. The double doors opened into the side of an elaborate foyer. There was what I would consider the reception desk of a fancy hotel immediately ahead of me. In the middle, two spiral staircases curved up to the floor above. In front of them there was another desk. On the far side from the reception area there was a large seating area, with several different groups appearing to be in the middle of discussions.

  I approached the reception desk. The woman behind it looked up at my approach, her eyes flicked to my collar.

  “Hello, How can I assist you?”

  “Hi, is this where I came to enquire about guild creation?” I asked.

  “Ahhh, no, you will be wanting the Civic Administrators." With an open hand she indicated the desk in front of the stairs.

  “Thank you.” I called out as I headed over to them.

  “Ah, Aenara! Fantastic timing!” A familiar voice called out behind me. I turned to find Commodore Thorne walking up to me. He was flanked by a pair of naval officers and he stopped just before I would crick my neck to look him in the face. “Their Majesties have some time in their schedules.”

  “Huh?” I blinked up at him.

  Seems I was just in time for my presentation to the court and refusal didn’t seem to be an option, so I didn’t fight my escort up the stairs to the first floor and through the large doors into the Royal Court. Someone had gone to great lengths to combine the colours of the two royal families. One side of the thrones was a vibrant red, on the other side was a navy blue, the colours then seemed to merge with each other leaving the thrones themselves to be surrounded in Royal Purple. The couple sat upon the thrones were dressed to match, him in a purple suit, her in a purple dress. They both also had a splash of colour from their respective homes though, his tie and her sash.

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  There were five groups ahead of us, when we joined the back of the queue approaching the couple.

  “When it’s our turn.” Thorne whispered to me. “We step forward. We bow. And then wait.”

  “Ok.” I said, apparently royal etiquette was a thing in this game.

  “You will be introduced to Their Majesties. Don’t speak unless asked a question. If asked, answer politely. Politely accept any offered gift.” he continued as the group at the front bowed and then stepped to the side and departed. “And, if you value your sanity, don’t let yourself be dragged into court politics…” I jerked my head up to the man to see if he was joking. His strained grin told me he was trying to make light of a serious possibility.

  “Sounds like a voice of experience.” I said quietly, as we stepped forward again

  “I miss the days of ship command.” he said ruefully.

  When it was our turn, I followed the Commodore’s lead.

  “Ms Aenara Ravenscroft. A survivor of the Indefatigable.” A man to the side of the throne announced.

  “We see she wears the mark of our Fast Tracked but we have no recollection of her aboard our ship. Explain please Commodore.” The Queen said.

  “Indeed your Majesty. She excelled, in but a few hours of awakening from the Integration she amassed sixteen merit tokens, one of which was a Gold token from the Captain of the Wayfarer. Captain Vale had written her a letter of recommendation and arranged for transport for her before the storm. She was on the bridge when the ship was lost.” The King’s head jerked up.

  “She was?” he asked. He turned to look at me more intently. “We are told that it was the captain's incompetence which led to her loss. What say you?” I looked up at Thorne who gave me a nod.

  “I’m not a sailor, your Highness. I haven’t the knowledge or experience upon which to judge the captain's skill. I can say his men respected him and followed his orders without question.” I saw some people, who had momentarily been tense, relax. “But, I don’t think any amount of skill would have stopped that Kraken from sinking us.” the court exploded into whispers.

  “That was beautiful!” An old man in an ornate naval uniform said. I’d been hastily ushered out of the room when the King dismissed us.

  “My apologies, Aenara. I should have warned you, but I thought you being genuine would garner a better response.” I blinked in shock, wait? I’d been used.

  “That wasn’t prepared?! Ha!” the old man said, his smile widening.

  “Sir.” Thorne said to the senior officer. Then turned to me “We’ve had elements claiming Captain Vale was a coward, and he sunk his ship through incompetence. Our attempts to protect his good name were doing more harm than good. When I saw you downstairs, and remembered what you had told me last night, I had to take the chance. You also needed to be introduced to Their Majesties.”

  “Infighting in the court. Functionaries of different factions trying to garner more power by dragging a good man's name through the mud, and Fleets along with it. It disgusts me, but alas, duty demands.” the old man confirmed. “His majesty vouched for Vale, so it’s being used to also undermine his confidence and authority. Excellent work, the both of you.” He turned to me. “You’ve made friends amongst the Fleet,” he said, shaking my hand. He turned back to Thorne, “Take her out the back way, best if we keep her out of the mess, if possible.”

  “I’ll try, Sir.”

  The Commodore led me through the corridors and down a different flight of stairs. “You were approaching the Civics desk earlier?” he asked as we came through one of the side doors near the seating area. “Were you after something?”

  “I was hoping to find out how to go about creating a guild.”

  “Ahh, Dana!” he called out to a woman who was sitting in one of the chairs. We walked over. “Sorry to disturb your break. I need a favour. Aenara here was looking to find out about how to create a guild, but I might have just dangled her in front of some of the more annoying members of the court, that they will probably try and interfere just to spite.”

  “Mean of you, Thorne. Guild creation requires you to have favour of the court, and one gold merit token. Merit tokens can be acquired through exceptional service.”

  “She has both.” The Commodore pulled a token from his pocket. “Least I can do for your assistance in this.” he said, passing a token to Dana. Who nodded, and pulled out a small crystal from her pocket.

  “Here you go. Use this at any public terminal and it will let you create a guild. You will need a full party.”

  “Thank you.” I said, storing the guild creation token.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  The Commodore led me out the doors and into the courtyard.

  “How can you get the favour of the court?” I asked, wondering how and when I got that.

  “Easiest way is the Fast Track program, after that it is making enough contributions to the city. Earn five gold tokens. Fifty silver, or five hundred normal ones.”

  “Do they have any other uses?”

  “That’s right, you and Sam bypassed the normal routes. Interesting friend you have there, we’re hoping he will join fleet. Most shops will take them. They can be exchanged for currency or used to buy additional training. If you excuse me, I need to get back in before Admiral Cinder does something I will come to regret.” He offered me his hand and when we shook I came away with another gold token. That’s two he has given me… three if you include paying for the guild token…surely i’m being overpaid… my eyes turned to the door to the Palace again… or maybe underpaid if I’ve just made a bunch of enemies…

  well…I got what I came here for. Time to check out the mages guild.