True to his word, Mr. Anders let Illius go home early on Friday, even giving him a sandwich so he would have plenty of time to get ready. And so, Illius walked back to his apartment and mounted the stairs to his room on the third floor. He changed from his work clothes and climbed up to the roof to eat his sandwich. Still covered in sharply-slanted wooden gables but open on three sides to the highland air, the roof was the best part of his apartment. Flowers cascaded down the building from long planters hooked on the railings. In the back, wooden benches gave a grand view of the city and the mountain peaks.

“You’re early,” a little girl said, looking up from where she sat at a picnic bench, drawing in a sketchbook with a well-worn teddy bear beside her.

“Boss let me off early.” He took out his sandwich.

“Ooh!” Her eyes lit up. “Where’d you get that?”

“Mr. Anders gave it to me. He’s trying to get me to go to a chronicle study.” Illius opened it up and scraped the meat onto the wrapper. “You want my meat?”

The child nodded. “Why? Don’t you?”

He shrugged. “I just don’t like it.”

“Papa says real men eat meat.” She reached over and grabbed some of the meat, stuffing it in her mouth.

“What do you think?” Illius munched on his newly meatless sandwich.

She thought about it as she sat next to him, her legs swinging since she couldn’t reach the ground. “I think you’re still a man.”

Sweet Dorcas. Illius smiled slightly.

“I have to go to a chronicle study tonight too.” The child stood up on the picnic bench, then seated herself on top of the table. “They’re so boring, though. Papa says it’s disrespectful if I wiggle.”

Illius shared his own grievances. “Mr. Anders is trying to set me up with this girl who keeps coming to our shop. That’s who invited me to the chronicle study.”

“Is she pretty?”

“I guess?” Illius shrugged.

“Are you gonna go?”

“Nah.” He shook his head.

“She’s gonna be disappointed,” Dorcas said softly.

“She’ll be fine. I’m not her type anyway.”

“You’re not her type or she’s not yours?”

“Both, I guess.”

The little girl looked up at him for a moment before jumping down and grabbing her teddy bear off the seat. She held it out, the head sagging precariously off its shoulders. “So… I was thinking. I know you said you couldn’t teach me runes, but Teddy is a boy, so you can teach him, right?”

“No.” Illius shook his head. “I told you; I don’t know any. I don’t make the runes.”

“Come on,” she pleaded. “I want to learn magic so bad!”

“Shhh,” he hushed her. “You can’t learn, okay?”

“Why not?” Her lower lip started quivering.

Because you’re a girl, he wanted to say. It seemed so cruel though—so empty. “It’s not like drawing runes gives you magic anyway. The only people with magic work for the church as rune lighters or something.”

“I wanna be a rune lighter!” she exclaimed.

“No.” He shook his head. “Can you imagine how boring that would be? Just going from house to house and lighting their runes? Some of them probably stink!”

“It’d be awesome!” the child exclaimed. “Pleeeeaaaase? Won’t you teach me?”

“I can’t,” he said. “I told you. I don’t know any magic, and my boss makes all the runes.”

“You’re useless.” She hugged her bear tighter.

“Thanks, kid.” He rolled his eyes.

“How about if I just draw something, and you tell me if it’s a rune?” she asked.

“No,” he said.

“Teddy!” She held out her teddy bear and grabbed a pencil with his paws. “Teddy will draw it, and then we can both critique his work.” She said “critique” carefully. Must be a new word she had just picked up.

Illius took a giant bite out of his sandwich and shook his head.

The child drew for a minute and then held up her sketchbook. “What do you think of Teddy’s rune?” she asked.

Illius looked at it—a near-perfect doorbell rune. He leaned his head back, and for a moment just felt the wind. He hated this country. This girl could make beautiful runes—and she was what, maybe seven? She had a gift, and she could never use it.

“Dorcas?” a voice called from below. “Dorcas, where are you?”

“Up here, Papa!” the child called.

Illius tilted his head down toward the stairs as someone climbed up them.

“What are you doing up here?” A man came up the stairs. Illius froze as he saw the bright white of an enforcer’s uniform, trimmed with gold, complete with a baton hanging from his belt. Sometimes, the batons were imbued with runic magic—this one clearly had a few nasty enchantments, as the end glowed green. He stopped when he saw Illius. “Who are you?”

“Illius.” He subconsciously tugged his hat down farther over his ears. “I live on the third floor. Just came up here to eat my sandwich.”

“Come on, Dorcas.” The man picked up his daughter. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from strange men?”

“Illius isn’t strange,” she told him. “He’s a magic man.”

Illius froze, his hands going clammy. The enforcer was staring at him now. “No, that’s not right at all. I just work at a rune shop. No magic. I don’t even make the runes; I just help the owner sell them.”

The enforcer looked down at him. “Where are you from?”

“Ravenmist,” Illius answered.

“You’re new here, aren’t you? I haven’t seen you around.”

“I moved in a few months ago.”

“Why’d you move?”

“Just wanted a change of pace.” He refused to tell this guy any more. Nothing good would come of it. “Anyway, I should get going. I’m supposed to meet up with some friends at a chronicle study.”

He walked by the man, about to go downstairs, when he heard the man address his daughter again. “Did you do that?”

He paused and looked back. The enforcer pointed at the rune in his daughter’s sketchbook. “Dorcas, I warned you! You are not to dabble in magic! It’s witchcraft! It’s forbidden! Girls cannot play with magic, do you understand?”

Illius could see her shake her head quickly, tears in her eyes.

“We’re going to talk to your mother about this, and I swear if I find anything in your room like this, you are getting a spanking.”

Illius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Actually, sir, I drew the rune. I didn’t realize that she wasn’t allowed—it’s just one of the runes from my shop.”

The enforcer stared him down.

“I, uh… I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again.”

The man carried his daughter closer to Illius and glared at him. “Don’t you ever come near my daughter again. You understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” Illius nodded. “Won’t happen again. Have a good night.” He turned and went back to his apartment, not allowing himself to look back and see if the man was watching him. He got inside and sank down on the other side of the door. His stomach twisted. At least… At least he wasn’t in Ravenmist. If something happened, his mother wouldn’t be involved. Nothing would happen, anyway. He was just paranoid.