Sung-Il woke with sore hands, bruised ribs, and no desire to see another animal larger than Six-Ears.
Brina knocked on his door after sunrise.
"Breakfast. Then we’re going to the Guild."
"Do they have work indoors?"
"You can ask."
That was enough to get him out of bed.
She had put bread, eggs, and a large bowl of stew on the kitchen table. He sat down carefully. The pigs were grunting outside, safely behind the boards that Brina and a neighbor had nailed over the broken fence.
He looked through the window.
"I’m glad someone fixed that."
"It’ll do until we get proper timber."
"And who pays for the timber?"
Brina held up the cart driver’s written statement.
"The company that let a Moonfang loose in my yard."
"Good. I was worried you were going to say me."
"You still owe me a fence."
"I finished it. You checked."
She smiled and pushed the eggs closer to him.
After breakfast, Brina gave him a clean shirt. His own had a torn hem and mud down the back. He changed, picked up his Guild card, and followed her outside with Six-Ears at his heels.
Their first stop was the healer’s house, a short walk from the farm. Brina had promised to return about her earlier soreness. Sung-Il went in with her and explained how he had removed the leftover energy without going into the private details. The healer asked a few questions, checked Brina, and told her to keep using the ointment until the irritation was gone. She also checked the cut on Brina’s arm and changed the dressings on Sung-Il’s palms.
When they left the healer’s house, Brina took the road toward the center of the city.
"The Guild office is the other way," Sung-Il said.
"The one where you registered is. We’re going to headquarters."
"There’s more than one?"
"Several branches. The office near the gate handles new arrivals and local jobs. Headquarters handles larger claims. We need to report the transport company there."
He followed her past the gardens and workshops. A cart full of cabbages passed them, heading toward a busy loading square.
Above the roofs, Asterra’s middle tier floated high in the air.
It stood on several enormous pieces of stone, each wide enough to hold streets and rows of buildings. Bridges joined them. Sung-Il could see people crossing overhead and a cart moving between two shops. Through the gaps between the stone platforms, he could see the sky.
Higher still, a smaller group of floating platforms held the white towers he had seen on his first day.
He had noticed the floating land when he arrived. Until now, he had stayed in the streets below it. He hadn’t known where the lifts went or which buildings stood on which platform.
"What do people call the part down here?" he asked.
"The Apron. It’s the ground level. The middle tier is mostly markets, shops, houses, and Guild offices. The top tier has the royal offices, the Crown courts, and the expensive homes."
Brina’s farm was near the outer wall, where the gardens had plenty of sunlight. Farther toward the center, the floating streets cast wide shadows over the lower roofs. People had built laundries, warehouses, and workshops beneath them.
A woman outside a laundry looked up sharply.
"Mind your washing!"
A wet shirt dropped from a balcony above, struck a lower awning, and landed in the road.
Sung-Il stepped back.
"Does that happen often?"
"Often enough that you should look up before standing under a balcony."
A man on the balcony leaned over the rail and apologized. The woman below held up his shirt and told him to come down for it himself.
Sung-Il watched a passenger platform descend beside one of the floating streets. A woman aboard it was already pointing at the fallen shirt and laughing.
"Living above everyone else looks convenient."
"Until you drop your keys."
At the next corner, a baker lifted a hot tray with his bare hands. Steam rose from the bread, but he carried the tray inside without flinching.
"His gift?"
"Heat doesn’t hurt his hands."
"That’s useful."
"Keeps him employed."
They passed another shop where a woman ran a glowing finger over a cracked clay pot. The broken edges slowly joined. Its owner waited beside her with two more pots in a basket.
Sung-Il watched her finish the repair and accept a coin.
No monster. No sword. Nobody trying to kill her.
They reached the loading square. Two large wooden platforms stood beside tall stone towers. One carried sacks and barrels upward. The other had just brought passengers down from the middle tier.
The passenger platform settled level with the square. A worker lowered the rail, and people stepped off carrying shopping bags, baskets, and a folded chair.
"Do we need permission to go up?" Sung-Il asked.
"To the middle tier? No. Anyone can use these."
Brina stepped aboard with him, a woman carrying eggs, and two porters bringing an empty cart. Six-Ears settled beside his boots. The worker raised the rail around them, rang a bell, and the platform began to rise.
There was no inspection or payment desk. People were simply traveling between two parts of the same city.
Sung-Il gripped the rail as the lower roofs grew smaller beneath them.
"I’m going to stand in the middle."
"You already are."
"Good."
Another platform passed them on its way down. A man aboard it called a greeting to Brina. She asked whether his roof still leaked. He said it did, and she told him to stop spending the repair money on cards.
Sung-Il waited until they were out of earshot.
"You know a lot of people."
"I’ve lived here a long time."
Their platform rose past the thick stone underside of the middle tier and stopped at a landing beside its edge. The worker lowered the rail. Brina and Sung-Il stepped onto solid paving, with Six-Ears close behind.
A short street led from the landing to a large square. Across it stood a broad stone building with the Guild’s sword-and-shield sign above its doors.
"Headquarters," Brina said. "This way."
The sign was the same as the one at the branch where he had taken his test. The building was larger, with several entrances and people waiting outside each one. This was his first visit.
Green, blue, and white banners hung over the square. Workers were putting up stalls. Beside the Guild entrance, a man was fixing a large notice to a wooden board.
THE THOUSAND GIFT TOURNAMENT.
ENTRIES OPEN TODAY.
Sung-Il stopped in front of it.
FIRST PRIZE IN EACH DISTRICT: 100 GOLD CROWNS.
SECOND PRIZE: 30 GOLD CROWNS.
THIRD PRIZE: 10 GOLD CROWNS.
He read the first line twice.
"One hundred gold crowns."
"I can see it."
"Is that enough to buy a house?"
"A small one down near the farm. If it doesn’t come with much land."
He looked at the number again.
There was enough money on offer to buy somewhere to live.
"I think I like tournaments."
"You haven’t entered one."
"I like the idea of receiving money."
Brina pointed farther down the board. He made himself read the rest.
There would be one thousand entrants from each of Asterra’s three districts. The early events tested how well people used their abilities. Some tasks involved working alone. Others required a team. Combat events would follow later.
The best eight from each district would appear in a final exhibition at the Crown courts. The first trials began in ten days.
"Can I enter with the Apron?"
"You’re staying there. We can ask."
He followed her through the Guild doors.
Inside, the hall was larger than the branch office, but just as noisy. Adventurers filled the tables. Someone was arguing about a missing sword. Several receptionists worked behind a long counter, each with a line of people waiting.
Sung-Il recognized the woman at the nearest desk.
"Nessa?"
She looked up.
"Good morning."
"You work here too?"
"So I could find you at the other office tomorrow?"
"You could. The desk may change. You still have to fill in the forms."
Brina took out the driver’s statement and stepped up to the counter.
"Brina. Sung-Il. What happened to your hands?"
"Your next question should be how brave I was."
Brina put the driver’s statement on the counter.
"A Moonfang got out of a transport cart."
Nessa read the page. She asked what had been broken and whether a healer had treated them. Brina answered while Sung-Il looked around the hall.
A board on the far wall listed famous ability users, much like the one at the branch office. Here, several names had large portraits beside them.
One of those portraits caught his attention.
The woman in it wore white armor. Blue light surrounded her hand. A smaller picture below showed her on horseback among soldiers in silver armor. Their horses had blue horns.
Sung-Il moved closer.
He had seen that woman outside the city. She had been riding with the same kind of escort on the day he arrived in Elysara.
SERAPHINE VALE.
ROYAL ARCHMAGE.
UNIQUE ABILITY: INFINITE SPELLCRAFT.
"Brina. That’s her."
Brina came over after Nessa finished copying the driver’s statement.
"Who?"
"The woman I saw when I first came here. Outside the wall. White armor, blue light, a whole group of soldiers."
"That would explain the escort."
He studied the portrait. He hadn’t been close enough to see her face properly that day.
He wanted to correct that.
"Did you know who she was then?"
The question came from a woman standing beside the portrait with a notebook under her arm. She had tied her dark hair back and wore a blue coat over a simple dress.
"No. I only saw her from a distance."
"You look pleased to have found out."
"I’m interested in powerful abilities."
Brina glanced at Seraphine’s face, then at him.
"Of course you are."
The woman smiled.
"I’m Lyra Veyne. I work here."
"What do you do?"
"Research analyst. I help test abilities and work out what they can do. Pell gave me your test report."
"He could have left out the wooden dummy."
"He was quite clear about the wooden dummy."
Brina greeted Lyra. They had met before when Brina took Guild jobs. Lyra asked if they had time to talk about the changes to Sung-Il’s ability.
"In a moment." He looked back at the portrait. "I will have to try to know Ms. Seraphine better and get a closer look."
"Why?" Lyra asked.
He gave her a smug look.
"For research purposes."
Brina folded her arms.
"You could at least read the notice instead of staring."
"I read the name."
Lyra laughed and pointed to the small notice under the portrait. Seraphine would attend the tournament’s final exhibition.
Sung-Il looked toward the front doors, where the prize board stood outside.
A house. Recognition. A chance to meet the woman in the portrait.
The tournament was becoming very appealing.