Moore joined Cass at the Annex for all of a moment before an incident on the third floor demanded his attention. Promising to return swiftly, the man followed an older woman in Guild robes at a quick pace. From the sound drifting down from two floors up, it seemed Cass’s minor scuffle with the Silvers was small potatoes.

  Only a couple of minutes later, the woman returned with a pained expression on her face.

  “Mr. Moore sends his apologies, QuestWright, but he will be delayed from joining you until tomorrow. He said you can enjoy the rest of your day for your own pursuits, but expects you back on the class schedule tomorrow.”

  Thanking her, Cass couldn’t help grumbling to himself as he left, “ So much for beginning.”

  Since he had some extra time, he spent it visiting Rina again, before getting shooed out and walking over to the Golden Crust. He hadn’t seen Gary since their celebration together, and he missed his friend.

  But Gary wasn’t there.

  “Gary’s off drumming up business for the Bakery,” Old Galinda said as she sprinkled flour across the counter. “That boy’s got a real knack for finding us new customers. Think he said he was going to visit you before long.”

  “Oh?” Did I miss him on my walk here?

  Moving back toward the Guild, he first stopped in the Commons, where he found the ever-solid Holt hammering away.

  “Hey,” Cass said lamely. “I haven’t seen you since the Infirmary, just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”

  The muscled-out man didn’t look up. “Yeah.” Bang.

  “Were you ever able to grab some Quests from the Registry?”

  Bang. “No.” Bang. “Never got a pass.”

  “Huh, that’s strange. Did you use my name?” Chancey was already at the Petition Chamber by that point. It must’ve been Kara. Why would she-

  “No. I walked in, and the woman there seemed angry, so I left.” Bang.

  “Huh,” Why would he leave just because Kara looked mad? Wait a second. “Holt, answer me this. Are you anti-confrontational?”

  “I don’t like yelling. Too loud.” Bang.

  That was so shocking that only a single word traveled through Cass's brain.

  What?

  Holding back the laughter bubbling in his throat, he said, “Alright. Well, drop by tomorrow around ten and I’ll make sure you get set up. No angry women at the desk.” Reaching into his bag, Cass skipped past the Skreel-blooded Vellum and grabbed another. With relative ease, he created a new Delivery Quest from an old ID and then reached out with it.

  “I’m sure the GoldenCrowns could use some more horseshoes.” Holt paused long enough to take it and glow, then put it down on the box beside him.

  “I’ll be there.”

  Knowing he wasn’t going to say much else, Cass began to wander back to the Registry when he spotted a familiar figure.

  “Hey, Gary!” He shouted and waved.

  His friend waved back, “Cass!”

  Like they had when they saw each other as kids, both moved in slow motion until they finally met up in the middle. Ignoring the looks they received, the two friends shared a warm hug.

  “I went to the GoldenCrust and they said you were gone.”

  “Same here with the Registry. There wasn’t even anyone at the desk.”

  Cass reached up to put an arm around his friend’s shoulder, “Let me tell you about my day.”

  Gary smiled faintly, then motioned for them to walk. Cass regaled him with loose details of what had happened lately, only getting into the meat of the Survivor’s Tokens and the attack when he was sure no one was within hearing distance. Gary commiserated with him over Rina’s injury, and when Cass finished speaking, he looked him over.

  “So both of them know you have a Unique path?”

  “No,” Cass said as they walked through the Guild’s central area, “They just know I have something that helps me recover. Nothing more.”

  “Why is it a secret? You've got a Unique path. That should be celebrated, not stuffed under a rug.”

  “For a lot of reasons, including a warning from the Guildmaster after the first attack. Oh, hey, that reminds me. I wanna introduce you to someone.”

  The meeting between Gary and Bella went over as expected. After Cass explained who he was, and vice versa, Bella gave Gary a single sniff, huffed, then allowed him to pat her. That was all the approval he needed, leading to the second reason he’d brought his friend here. Cass smiled to himself as he made a new Quest.

  “Here you go, Gary.”

  “What’s this?” He asked when looking at the drafted Vellum. “I’ve already got a Routine Quest. I’m like, a few weeks away from getting halfway to Level six.”

  “Then this will help you get closer,” Cass said, handing it to him and watching as the man glowed for a moment with a big smile.

  He looked confused. “You want me to deliver a treat to Bella once a week?”

  “Yep.” Cass replied with a happy nod, “Something special for horses that won’t make her sick.”

  Bella canted an ear at him with a whuff.

  Cass chuckled, “No, it won’t be every day. No offense, girl, but I don’t want you to get fat.” Bella stomped the ground. “I know, we’ll start riding soon, I promise. I have a plan.”

  Gary rolled his eyes as he waved the Quest around, “Cassio Vale and his plans.” Looking at it, he chewed his lip, “Something with molasses, and maybe honey. I’ll ask around and see what’s best for horses. Wait, where’s the money coming from for this?”

  “Oh, look at the time,” Cass said, giving Bella a wink. “I think I need to get going.”

  Gary looked at the horse, “Wait, were you talking to her like she understood you? Cass? Cassio?” He called to his back as the QuestWright broke into a sprint. “Who’s going to pay for this!?”

  That evening, the sky turned dark as Cass finally followed Kara’s last instructions. He spent the second half of the day studying the QuestWright abridged textbooks she’d given him. Under the dim light of his room, he did his best to stuff the pages into something a less knowing person would call memory. Really, he felt like it was all going over his head.

  “I’m going to need a tutor, or something.” He grumbled to himself before refocusing.

  But it also naturally led to some thoughts in his mind. Ideas that focused on building things up, be they Enterprises or cities. About infrastructure and design. About those with special vocations relating to their Callings, and others who may have a Calling that doesn’t perfectly fit their preferences.

  The next day dawned with cautious optimism. He had an idea for Quests guild-wide that he wanted to push through, but it would be difficult and full of roadblocks, Mr. Moore for one. He just needed to see it through. But first, he had classes.

  In three days, his group would be done and heading off in different directions. But the friendships he’d made, with Orla, Pellin, and the beginning of one with Adya, had made the extra time taken from his life worth it.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Every morning, he still gained announcements of new Callings being revealed. And every week, new groups would form, their members filled with potential for the future. But for Cass, this small part of his life was almost over.

  His morning with Bella was nice, at least. Pushing past the melancholy trying to take over his soul, Cass picked another Intermediate set, but one far kinder to his body than that which he’d picked the day before. His updates came in, and he was suddenly eight experience richer. Almost enough for the next planned node.

  Patting Bella, he stepped out and met up with Dev’s class. The workout was lighter here as well, almost as if she was taking it easy on them in their last few days. After being told they were heading back into the Rings tomorrow, Cass met Pellin and Orla for breakfast.

  “You look better,” Orla said as she sat down. “Not that you looked bad before…well, no. You did look bad before, I take back what I was saying.” She looked across at Pellin, “And you look worse. What gives?”

  Pellin rubbed his temples. “I spent half the night trying to fix one of the Foundry’s recently arrived alchemical combiners. Whoever the previous System Engineer was, they had no mind for efficiency. One of the internal gyroscopic re-”

  “Blah blah blah, jargon jargon.” Orla interrupted. “Just say you worked all night. Nobody needs to hear all your technical-ese. You’re at least getting paid for it, right?”

  “Yes,” Pellin replied, and this time he smiled, “Quite a bit. The Guildmaster gave me a contract after I hit Level 5.”

  “What?” Orla spat out her food in shock, “Come on! I just hit Level three!”

  “Level five’s nice, ain’t it,” Cass said with an elbow bump at his friend.

  “Hell yeah, it is,” Pellin said with a smile. One that faded as his face got hit with a part of a banana peel. “That was uncalled for.” He removed it from his face as his eyes stabbed at her, “Why didn’t you throw it at Cass? He hit five too!”

  “He’s my partner,” Orla said with a smirk, “His job is to get me levels.”

  The three of them strolled into their next class and took their seats a little early. Then, Cass got a shock as someone he’d known all his life entered the room.

  “Dad?”

  “Hey, kiddo!” His father said with a wave, cheerful as always.

  “What’re you doing here?” Cass asked while moving into an awkward half-standing position from his seat.

  His dad scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Oh, Instructor Marell asked that I speak to the class today. I hope you don’t mind, Cass. I rarely get the opportunity to leave the Grounds.”

  Orla leaned over as he collapsed into his seat. “This is your dad?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Meow…” She purred.

  “What? Dude, gross. He’s my father.”

  “Well, I’m not related to him.” She said with a flick of her hair.

  Pellin leaned in too, “You remember he’s married to the Chainmarshal, right?”

  That brought her back to reality. Instructor Marell arrived a moment later and had a quiet word with Cass’s father. When everyone was seated, she spoke up, “Hello, Class. Today I have a special treat for you. Dannil Vale has volunteered some of his time to speak about how to upgrade your Calling. Chef Vale,” She said with a nod, “The floor is yours.”

  If he thought it was going to be new information, Cass was sorely disappointed. It wasn’t word for word what they’d spoken of close to a month ago, but it was nearly so. Having only needed to speak for ten minutes, Cass’s father gave a short bow at the end of his speech, hugged his son from a returned half-seated position, then walked out the door.

  “So embarrassing,” Cass said to Pellin as he put his head down in the next class.

  “Meh, you’re his son. To me, it should be like that.”

  “You know,” Cass replied, lifting his head to look at him. “You’ve never spoken of your father.”

  “Not much to say. My mother says he died when I was about two, and that’s that. I don’t have any memories of him. It’s like…he never existed, I guess.”

  “Oh,” Cass put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry, Pellin.”

  “Thanks, Cass, but don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago.”

  Vex was as dry as always, but Cass wasn’t really interested in the Class. After spending so much time on Guild grounds and listening to Rina and Orla talk about trades and sales, he wasn’t learning much in the Class anymore. Stepping into the Registry, he found Mr. More moving several Quests among the boards.

  Cass headed over and asked, “Moving things for efficiency?”

  “No, presentation.” Moore said, pinning a dusty Quest near the top. “As Americans, we naturally look left to right, top to bottom. By placing our oldest Quests in their initial line of sight, there is a decent chance that one of our more important ones will get done first. I’ve already reorganized the other floors as well.”

  “Prioritizing?”

  Moore turned to him with a nod, “Prioritizing. Now, let’s head over to the Annex and begin what we should’ve done yesterday.”

  Before he knew it, Cass was seated in the threadbare chair, and the screen was in front of him. But it wasn’t the same screen he’d grown used to since receiving his Calling a month ago. A filter option had appeared at the bottom, and as he touched it, numbers popped up over every area in the city.

  “Ah, you’ve unlocked a modifier for your map.” Moore said as he looked at everything intently. “Do you mind if I ask what it is called?”

  “Assignment Spread Monitor. It lets me know if one area is getting fewer Quests than another.”

  Moore nodded, “Which is perfectly in line with what you told me yesterday.”

  Cass turned in his chair. “How so?”

  “You don’t like bullies.” Moore pointed at the screen, “More than likely, Gerald isn’t even aware that the majority of his Quests land in either the Grounds or the Forge. He doesn’t have the same ability. Because of his worldview being forcibly shifted by the Reshaping, his personality is more aligned with defense and returning to the lives we enjoyed before there were monsters.” When he saw that Cass was about to speak, he continued talking as if he knew what was going to be asked. “Every Path is different for every Calling. Who you are influences what options you receive, and how you receive them.”

  “So, because I don’t like bullies, I can see how some parts of Liora are getting ignored?”

  “Indeed. Let’s call it Logistical empathy.” Moore said as he leaned in closer. “This is fascinating.” He held very still for a long moment, then left, only to return a moment later with a piece of paper. On it was the exact same map of Liora that Cass had seen before him, in precise and exacting detail.

  When he noticed Cass looking at it, he made a gesture, “Reveal for a reveal. My ability is called Clerk’s Mirror. It lets me take a mental snapshot of anything I see and replicate it in perfect form.” Folding it, he placed the map within a fold of his clothing. “I’ll get this to Gerald later. Now, what do you see?”

  Cass turned back and focused on the map. Leaning forward, he looked over Liora like he’d done hundreds of times. “Most of the inequity is focused between the Depot and the Guild, but there are small spots throughout where nothing has been touched…ever, as far as I can tell. I’ll bet that those people have just never come to the guildhall for Quests before.”

  “Yes, I agree.” Moore added, “And what are your thoughts about it?”

  And that was the perfect entry for Cass’s vague idea. When he’d been reading Kara’s Architecture books last night, a seed had begun to spring up in his mind. A way to get the Quests done and improve the city in more ways than one. But he’d have to go out on a limb to do it.

  Taking a deep breath, he said, “That’s the thing. From what I understand from my classes, most non-combat types don’t really get above Tier 3. For one reason or another, their experience rate slows down, and they don’t have a way to make it up.” He nodded in the general vicinity of the boards, “I think we need to change how the Guild grants Quests.” He swallowed, “That is, I think the Guild may need to go through a minor change.”

  “Hello!” A distant voice rumbled.

  Moore turned in that direction and squinted, then looked back at Cass, “I’m guessing you thought this up before and are only speaking on it now. Are you certain this isn’t just a way for you to gain more experience?”

  “No,” Cass replied, shocked by the suggestion, “Not at all. I just think we’re doing things wrong. That’s to say,” He backtracked a small amount. “We could be more efficient. We always seem to have way more Civic, Trade, and Crafting Quests than we know what to do with. Why don’t we open up the Guild to more people? Give Liora a chance to come in, grab whatever Quests they want, and fulfill them according to Guild standards.”

  “Mmm, I know the answer to that.” Moore said as Holt called out a second Hello. “For Tier 1 Quests that will work just fine, but at the higher levels, where it isn’t simply paint a wall or deliver a message from one side of the city to another, we can’t expect the people of Liora to fulfill the requirements randomly.”

  When Holt said hello even louder, Cass called out to wait a moment, then sat in silence, rethinking his plan. “Then…why don’t we incentivize the Quests on the board, and open up the guild to allow more people like my friend out there to get Guild passes? I bet that if you survey Liora, you’ll find out most people don’t even know they can get one. From what I’ve seen of the Registry, it’s almost entirely populated by members of the Companies.”

  Moore seemed to consider it as he looked at the map, “That sounds like a lot of work for a new QuestWright only taking his first steps at managing a Registry floor.”

  “Well then, it’s a good thing I have a Tier 6 Maestro with me.”

  “True.” He said in his trademark dry voice. He looked away from the map, “I will consider it. For now, there’s a young man who could use a Guild pass that I need to take care of. Your meeting with the Guildmaster at the end of this week is already scheduled. Ensure, before presenting this to Gerald, that you have a plan of action ready. Only then will you succeed.” He stood up, “Am I understood?”

  Cass held back the celebration jumping around in his stomach. Mr. Moore was the first hurdle, and though it was hard to tell, he felt like the man approved of his idea.

  “Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it.”

  “Good. Now, before I leave you for a time, do you have any questions?”

  Cass thought on it, then said, “Yeah, I have a large amount of Reputation, and I’m wondering what Quest Types you think I should unlock next.”

  “How much is a lot? Be specific.”

  Cass pulled up his reputation screen, “Umm, two hundred and seventy-two.”

  When the screen closed, he found that both of Moore’s eyebrows were up. “That's a great amount for a young QuestWright.” He gave a fleeting smile, “What are you waiting for? Unlock them all.”

  “I…right.” Of course. “Thank you, Mr. Moore.”

  “QuestWright Vale,” He said with a nod as he stepped out to talk to Holt.

  Cass watched him go, then stared at the map for a long time, trying to imagine what it would look like when non-company people were free to come in and take whatever Quests they wanted. The more he stared, the less he saw things as districts and numbers. Rather, those ignored areas became possibilities.

  Things wouldn’t change overnight, but little by little, Cass could make a real difference in people’s lives. And that’s all he’d ever wanted.

  To matter.

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