“So did you sell your soul to the chipper receptionist?” She isn’t looking at me, and it’s the first thing she says when I get back, so I’m not particularly thrilled.

  “No, but she did make me more suspicious about everyone’s behavior. Especially since I’ve only been out of that in for a few days, and two charismatic people are trying to get a piece of me.” I practically snarl at Leeda.

  “Now listen here you blue bitch, I took you in as a favor to Maude. Who you are had nothing to fucking do with it. It just so happens you’re not an abject piece of shit, and you’re charming in your own right. If you weren’t a na?ve Traveler, I’d toss you out on your ear for accusing me like that and disrespecting Maude.”

  I take a heavy breath and shake my head. “You’re right, Maude deserves more trust than that, and thus, so do you. I’m sorry.”

  “Fuck. I’m mad now, and I don’t want to see you. I’m going to curse at some metal. I’ll be closing shop, so don’t feel the need to stay.” She hops off her box and head’s to the door. “You staying or going?”

  “I have some things to collect, then I’ll be going.” I grind out and I can feel my tusks itch for how bad I want to scream.

  “Wait, you know this is just anger, not get the fuck out of my life, right?”

  “I did not. It feels like I am no longer welcome here.” I sound small, but I don’t feel any stronger than this right now.

  “Maude, I swear.” Leeda shakes her head. “You’re welcome to stay, but I will be avoiding you. I’m offended and angry, but I won’t leave you homeless for it.”

  “Thanks?” I move past her and head up the stairs.

  I stuff a pack with a change of clothes, making sure I have some space for supplies in town. I still have some money until these resources resolve into . . . something. Maybe I should just live in that cave for a while. I should definitely prepare for the even that I get kicked out for good at this rate.

  After my clothes, I find the ‘samples’ I laid out for Leeda in the forge area of her shop, I take everything but the titansteel sample and head out through the warehouse door.

  I despite my best interest I stop by the guild and query about traveling supplies. The receptionist, an androgenous . . . being greets me and asks me to wait in an adjacent room for Melody. She arrives with some surprise on her face, and sits next to me on the couch with a space between us.

  “I didn’t expect to see you for weeks after the . . . lunch we had.”

  “Same, but apparently Leeda has a jealous streak or whatever. She didn’t want to see me, so the thinks I wanted to discuss have to be said to someone. Is there a more private room?”

  She stares at me for a moment. “Alright, sure. Follow me.”

  She leads me to a small, two by four meter room that has connections for various things.

  “I asked for you to be a preferred client for me. Which is why Charlie called me. You don’t have to deal with me, but I wanted to show that I’m interested in being your mentor, etcetera.”

  “Ugh, thanks. I would have definitely skipped out had they not said your name.” I take a deep breath and then scootch over to sitting next to her, pack in my lap, then let it out into a reluctant sigh. “Secret time. I’ve been acting so weird and na?ve because . . . “ Lean forward and whisper. “I’m a Traveler, Melody.”

  She doesn’t jump back, but she palms my chin and forces our faces into a studying distance.

  “That certainly explains the clueless naivete. But it’s been more than fifty years since the last reported travelers. Do you know why you’re here?”

  I sigh. “Yes and no. I’m likely one of a few dozen of travelers in this round. We have years before I need to say more, but there is more. I need to see if I can trust you with this first, okay?”

  She moves her hands to my shoulders, “I get that. Travelers plural is a huge deal. I could downplay how much your involvement in Marcrest would mean to us, but you could help us into a successful era, or ruin us in equal measure. It explains a bit of your aura as well.” She fucking winks at me.

  “I honestly can’t tell if you’re flirting with me or just being nice, but I have another question, and perhaps a presentation?”

  “I’m already interested, Zhantsa, no need to bait the hook.”

  “Fine, fine. I want to know if you have rank gated gathering quests.”

  “Hmm. Yes. And just like your wolf quest, it depends. Many materials come with inherent risk, and needs for a skill to gather that correspond with level bands. I can’t tell you if we have the quests unless I know what you’re offering, Zhantsa. Like the last one, I can’t tell you unless you have the ability to fulfill it unless you have the right rank.”

  “Ugh, why so difficult.” I start pulling things out of my aether storage. Her eyes get bigger with each item revealed.

  “Oh, well, gods and goddesses. Stop.” She puts a hand on mine. “And let me explain.” She saw my immediate need to pull back and put a hand on my arm to comfort me, yet allowing me to escape if I needed too.

  I nod and pull her hand into a light clasp between two of mine.

  “So, two of those lumps are a crime if unreported at that weight, two others are desperately needed items within the guild, and this crystal, at this size and fully charged is likely in the top ten most dangerous items in this building. If you intend to market these materials through the guild, I will have to commit serious relationship capital to keep it anonymous. Not like a few months extra duty, but show returns or get set back many years of commitments.”

  “Ugh, crap. Is there anything that can downgrade these setbacks?”

  “Not setbacks per say, but the charged crystal and the currency-grade ore need to be registered. Un-charged we can get some leeway on the crystal. The platinum is not currency grade, so there should be no problem with that. The copper is honestly not a problem, but the silver, gold and Electrum are.”

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  “Now, here’s where some wheeling and dealing come in: I know for a fact, that if you can fill these crystals reliably and stability, the guild will protect and anonymize your currency grade metals.”

  I nod, “I can do that. But I need assurances that the fewest people that are required know or can link my involvement to my property.”

  Her smile unnerves me. “Only I will know of the link to your property, but I need to tell the Guildmaster for this branch if we’re going to shield you from the ore with a deal for crystals. You’ll be the Imbuer for our crystal output. An extra job that you didn’t know existed.”

  “Is charging those things that rare? I . . . nevermind.”

  “Yes. There are maybe a dozen known classes that get imbuement as a skill. Exactly Zero that get them at level five. When I inspect you, all I see is a level 6 Tinkerer.”

  I chuckle, “It’s obviously more, then. Arcane Tinkerer. It’s a hybrid class.”

  “I won’t be detailing Traveler or the ‘Arcane’ portion of your class at the moment. Once you detail the larger impact of travelers in the future, I will have to share. But for now, the sheer wealth you represent will keep you protected. Lady, you are . . . an asset of unbelievable measure.”

  “You know that doesn’t help the ignorant Traveler, right? Like what’s the imbuement work worth?”

  She smiles and pats my face. I blush furiously at that familiar gesture. “A filled crystal of the size you have is worth half a platinum mina, or one fifty gold mina, not to be confused with a Platinum Talent, worth one ten platinum mina.”

  So, I would assume ‘Alaris gold’ is mina. Would a gold Talent be ten gold mina? Is there a Mythril mina? A Talent? That said, a platinum mina is worth . . . thirty silver . . . obol? Times a hundred to gold mina, times a hundred to a platinum mina?

  Three hundred thousand pounds for a fully charged crystal?!

  “Though filling a crystal that size only goes for a gold mina. The price ramps up non-linearly with clear crystal weight.”

  “What if I could get one the size of my forearm?”

  She covers my mouth and brings her breath so close that my brain can’t tell if this is supposed to be dangerous or sexual. “That is siege weapon worthy. The Empire would dump a few hundred Talents in your lap and confiscate your holdings. Wealth is fine, Zhantsa, but that kind of attention is not. Understand?” Her eyes furiously search mine for confirmation until I nod. Her head sinks to my shoulder. “I’m going to pretend you never said that.” She kisses my neck, what the fuck, then hugs me.

  “The amount of work you just put in my lap is stupendous, but I did ask for this.” She chuckles across my shoulders. Goddess help me, stop taking liberties with my personal space! You are making me unspeakably horny! “There are resource collection quests at this level,” she shakes her head, “I’ll mark you completed, anonymously, and assign you a resolution for a gold-rank unspecified resource quest, times two. Best I can do.”

  “Do it. I need stuff, I need services. Thus, I need cash.” I pocket the large crystal and proffer a few filled crystals about a fourth of the size.

  Melody’s eyes sparkle and I can tell she’s looking at my lips between bouts with my eyes. I want to kiss her too, but because she’s hot. I think she might be a Capital-sexual.

  “With the items on the table, we likely have 60 gold mina here? Mostly in charged crystals. If you want me to fund a caravan, we could get more per unit, but there isn’t enough to pull full caravan interest from other imperial commerce hubs. It would take a few talents worth to get their interest.”

  “I want to trust, and you’ve been honest with me, so . . . can I get 10 gold up front and you’re responsible for getting the rest?”

  “Lady, I can get you all sixty tomorrow. Though . . .”

  I sigh dramatically to interrupt her. I’ve been haggling with corporate law for over a year on my gaming contracts, I know what that pause means. “Are you looking for management fees or fence fees.”

  “WHOAH! Keep the ‘f’ word out of this. Damn. That shit is capitol crime level of bad with key resources. Dang, glad we have a private room . . . SHEESH.”

  “Look, I do want a percentage if we work anonymously through the guild, and further if you need caravans to move the kind of supplies you’re move with. That said, if you can fill a caravan, or start a caravan that I can fill, I can use your funds to fill my reserve last.”

  “And caravans are the end game?” I ask.

  “No, Imperial trade routes are. However, don’t think we want to be on the level of ‘strategic resource’ this early. Also, we should not be on the caravan level this early either. Slow ramp, using trusted couriers that are going this way or that anyway is what we should be doing.”

  “Soooo, does that mean you can get me five gold today, and fifty two the next time I see you?”

  She narrows her eyes for a moment. “Yes, but you leave all of what you’ve displayed, and you let me tell the Guildmaster that you can imbue for job postings.”

  “And the other resource jobs?”

  “You’ll get half credit, full pay. I get the public credit to post anon.”

  “You, you scheming, buoyant elf, have a deal.”

  She pulls me into a hug and squeals across my back. “Thank you for trusting me.” She says.

  “Yeeaaaah, you’re my best option. Trust is hard, and we just became friends, so . . . lets not be dumb and mess it up, kay?”

  She flicks my nose. I have a large nose, hard to miss. “deal. Gods, I thought you were never going to talk to me again.”

  “Nah, you knew. You knew I wanted you to be my history teacher and capitol ‘F’ person by another name. You just didn’t figure my teen mentality would recover so soon.”

  She studies me, gets entirely too close with her scrutiny, then backs off and chuckles. “You are way more experienced than a 19year-old Troll.”

  “Rumors and lies. How dare you.” I laugh and flick her nose back.

  ***

  I’m back into the cave with a bit of indignation and a whole lot of purpose. I have bins, buckets, a bed roll and some longer-term supplies. I plan to transition to ATC after a few days, even though my alarm hasn’t gone off. I guess I’m saturated in the new stressors of this life and I have the option to literally hide in a cave.

  My trip the my cavern lake is uneventful, no umbral bears have moved in and no other wildlife either. I pick at the veins I see with a hand tool, but noting major. I stuff my supplies into my internal storage and swim to the crystal cavern and set up camp.

  A quick lunch and I’m back out toward the Giant Bat cave. I collect some of their . . . fertilizer in my sealable bucket and shove it back into my inventory. Then it’s time to absolutely massacre the veins I find this deep before I need another break. I query the sustainability of my resources.

  //Resource Nodes: Nodes are a feature of regional areas that are both formulated for a type of resource and have an aether concentration that exceeds ambient in at least one portion of the resource area. Nodes by nature refresh their resources, where the quickness and the completeness of the refresh depend on the aether present.

  Oh fuck yeah! Replenishable wealth as long as I’m not an over-mining disaster? Let’s go. I will have to put a fucking collar on Leeda that’ll shock her if she gets too ambitious. Mmm, Leeda’d look good in a cute collar. NO! Bad Zhantsa! But also woof.

  I need to get back to the ATC and maybe spend a few days as fun time girl. The models don’t seem to mind, and it might keep me from absolutely destroying my friendships in Alaris by sleeping with the people I’m trying to be friends with.

  Speaking of! I send a message to Kiva, saying I’ll be logging over in about 8-12 hours. I immediately feel guilty for not thinking about her regularly while I’m on Alaris, but does she think of me while in the Real? Goddess are we going to have some shit to deal with during gaming season. Oh, fuck.

  Query, Alaris synch space.

  //Synch Space: Restricted information:: The Crystal Cavern and the Realm of Divinity are the only spaces within the Alaris Eternum universe that can synch with Earth (Real).

  Alaris, I think I need some habitat assistance.

  Yes. We, my brother and I, are working on a liminal space for dissonance captives. We have been working on it since I had to put you in a coma and cycle your mind through a community of my inhabitants to keep you running, but not to imprint on you. That is not a solution for anyone else and we are close to a holding space, but a true solution is possibly years out. To your original question, you will have to Synch in the ATC to participate in your games.

  Alaris, what happens when a patch or the beta ends?

  You will be shunted to the Divine or the Crystal Cavern, whichever is easier at the time, and then you will be pushed to liminal space.

  Some of my tension fades, knowing they have a solution.