The doors to the guild were going to close soon. Jasson knew this because the Mountain behind the door had told him. However, that knowledge mattered little to Jasson as he burned with injustice, staring at the unimpressed Jane.

“What do you mean that I don’t get any money?” Jasson said, the whine evident in his voice, “I killed all these monsters! Don’t you have any quests for slime extermination?”

Jasson kicked the bag of bugs and slime. The slime was oozing through the holes as the bag became less impressive by the second.

“We have quests from farmers.” Jane said, visibly irritated, "Perhaps if there was an active infestation, which there isn’t, you might have gotten a reward for this. If we rewarded every idiot who killed a slime, then we’d be beggars in a week. But that's not what annoys me. You accepted a quest for at least ten Herbal Flowers, and then-”

Jane slammed the table, “THEN you didn’t bring back a single one! When you were practically picking grass! If you’re looking to sell the worthless monster bits then I advise contacting a #*&^  composter you-”

Jasson started angry swiping on his phone, doing his best to ignore Jane as she continued her rant. Jane took a calming breath before she continued.

Jane said “Although there is no punishment for a Driftwood adventurer failing the quest, you will quickly find that a hungry belly is punishment enough. The churches only feed you once per- ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!”

“Wha?” Jasson looked up from his phone, “Sure, sure. Don’t get creative with my work. Gotcha.”

“You-” Jane’s demeanor flickered dangerously and some of the pens started to rattle, “I’ll put it simply, so it might slide into that entitled void you call a brain. You ONLY get paid for the quests you TAKE. Now go away. We’re closing soon and the real adventurers need to report on their quests. Security? Grog, will you see this ma- this boy out?”

The Mountain in the recliner snapped his book shut, and Jasson let out a little squeak. This had escalated faster than he’d thought, and now eight feet of massive was glaring at him.

“Wha- security?” Jasson backed up, “Come on Karen, you’re going too far. I’ll go alright. Thanks for nothing.”

Jasson stormed from the building, neck burning as he heard sniggering from the adventurers. He’d had a good signal in there too, sometimes four bars! What had he done wrong?!

Eventually, Jasson found an alley to slump in with a view of the castle. It was too late now and all the pawn shops would be closed again. Where was a church around here? 

Jasson got the feeling that they would be less inviting than the first one. Small-town churches didn’t have to deal with an endless stream of beggars like the city ones did. But what other options did he have? Even if he could get the coins out of VenGo a hundred dollars wouldn’t go that far.

Sunset came and went as Jasson fought the burning shame. Suddenly, a glow appeared in the corner of his eye. Squinting in the twilight, Jasson made out the towers of the castle. They were glowing at the tips, like radio towers, and the glow was slowly getting bigger.

“What the heck?” Jasson said, “Is that magic?”

A galaxy of floating lights drifted from the castle towers, making their way down to the streets. It was majestic, like a lantern festival in reverse, and Jasson lost track of the time as he stared. There was something mesmerizing about how it spread over the city like a blanket of light.

“I guess I messed up,” Jasson said to himself, “I’ve worked a job before. This is basically a contracting job. I’ve seen videos about those. Why did I think that they would be pleased with me wasting time? Gathering bits of monster to sell? This isn’t a game.”

Jasson sighed. He knew why. He’d gotten bored, so he wanted to make money horsing around. Nothing would come of an attitude like that.

After dumping the sack of monster parts into a gutter drain, Jasson pulled up his phone. One of the floating lights had stopped above him like a streetlight, so he had to turn the brightness of his screen up. He’d go looking for a church soon, but before he did there was a TikTik he’d-

Bzzt.

“Of course,” Jasson said. “Ten percent. I’m surprised it lasted this long.”

Groaning, Jasson turned off his phone to conserve power. If he remembered right, Kami said that he’d be able to charge it with magic. Maybe it would suck power from these floating lights?

“I really am pathetic,” Jasson said, “I can’t even go to sleep without this phone and a snack. This will be my first night going hungry too.”

Jasson looked out to where the castle towers glowed with light. The towers were so high that he could see them from most places in the city, providing a perfect landmark. They were beautiful, and Jasson could hardly believe that he’d spent all day ignoring them.

“I’ll do better,” Jasson said to himself, “I’m not the middle child anymore. This is a new life, a new story. I’m seventeen and on my own. No one to look out for me, no overpowered abilities. Just me and a world that doesn’t know what to think about me yet.”

Jasson laughed, chagrined. A little bit of the world did know what to think of him. Two days in and he’d made the prettiest girl he’d met hate him. He’d have to apologize to her tomorrow.

I swear, Jasson thought, I will make this life mine.

“It’s you, isn’t it—the one from before?” a feminine voice came from the shadows, “I’ve been searching for you. I assumed you’d be near the Guild, yet it seems you’ve ventured further than anticipated.”

Her words held no menace for Jasson, and he looked into the darkness beyond the street light. The woman’s outline grew distinct in his eyes as he made out the shimmering white of her dress and complexion. Then she walked toward him, shoes clacking as she joined Jasson beneath the magical light. Jasson sucked in a breath, eyes widening to take in as much of her as possible.

She exuded warm femininity, and her happy smile lit Jasson up like a light from heaven. She was beautiful in a way that reminded Jasson of walks in the park or a song on the wind. Even the salacious lights and shadows of the Evening did little to change her air of summer days.

“Sorry,” Jasson said, shrinking back, “you must have mistaken me for someone.”

“How humble,” the woman said, curtsying, “My name’s Clara. You distracted some thugs who were harassing us earlier. I wanted to thank you for that.”

Make a good impression, Jasson thought, roll with it.*

*(A nigh impossible feat for a teenage boy)

“Oh,” Jasson said, “You’re welcome. Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. I have a terrible memory for faces. Erm…what did I do?”

Jasson shifted awkwardly on the ground as Clara walked over, pressing himself back into the alley wall.  Clara got close enough that he couldn’t look in her eyes anymore and Jasson prepared to stand. But instead, Clara gathered her skirts and plopped down beside him. Jasson felt himself blush as his thoughts chugged like an overheated old phone.

“You showed them something on your crystal,” Clara said, “something about cats.”

“Ah,” Jasson said, memory striking through the haze, “That’s right. Clever of me.”

They were criminals?! Jasson thought. I thought they were doing a TikTik challenge!

Jasson Gen Alpha coughed and said, “Why were they harassing you? The normal reasons?”

“No,” Clara said, puffing her cheeks, “they were black market buyers for an item my sister and I had. They were supposed to pay better than the guild, and we could avoid the taxes by selling to them. But they decided on bringing the difference to only a couple of silver more than the guild would pay.”

Jasson looked down at his phone and swiped, forgetting that it was off. He tried to refocus on Clara, a thankfully easy task, and completely missed the red flag.

“Anyway,” Clara said, “We’d have fought them if you hadn’t stepped in, which isn’t favorable. The {minor_plotpoint} gang would have held a grudge if we did. After that we were able to find a better buyer, so we’d like to repay the favor. Well, I say we but my sister isn’t too hot on the idea. But I insisted. You haven’t had dinner yet, right?”

Jasson’s stomach growled at the mention of food and Clara smiled knowingly.

“Come on now,” Clara said, getting up and dusting off, “No point denying it for pride.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Jasson followed her, “lead the way.”

Following Clara beneath floating lights Jasson watched the city of Stalt come to raucous life. Taverns roared into full gear and the ladies of the night waved beckoning fingers. Soldiers wandered armorless, snatched up by Lites and Laughter as if by some eldritch predator.

Sounds like she’s gonna feed me, Jasson thought, I wonder if they’d pay for a hotel?

Away from the main roads, and after a questionable number of turns, Clara led Jasson to a quietly humming tavern. A sign bearing a flying pig hung above the door, weathered and happy as it watched the guests below. Lit by several magic lights the patrons filled every seat, even the tables outside. The smell of roasting meat drifted through open windows, pulling Jasson towards the entrance.

To the right of the door leaned a woman who was unquestionably Clara’s identical twin. Except with short-cropped hair, masculine clothes, bandages on her arms, and gloves which glinted oddly in the night. She waved to Clara as they approached, scowled at Jasson, then pushed off the wall and met them halfway.

“So he came,” the woman said, “You better be right about him Clara.”

“He’s a good guy,” Clara said, then turned to Jasson, “This is my sister Petra. Petra this is…”

Jasson met Petra’s eyes and stopped dead. The tavern was well lit but Jasson didn’t need light to see her drilling into his soul. He was half surprised that her eyes didn’t glow. If Jane’s eyes had been sharp like paper cuts, then Jasson would need a trauma unit if he got on the wrong side of Petra.

It’s fine, Jasson thought, I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m not a bad guy.

Petra groaned and sighed, breaking eye contact as she turned to her sister and said “Clara, did you forget to ask for his name again?”

Clara blushed and Jasson rather courageously said “To be fair, I never offered it. My name is Jasson.”

“Well,” Petra said, holding out her gloved hand, “I can’t say if it’s a pleasure to meet you yet, but my sister did get something right. I owe you a fraction of thanks for what you did today. I personally think that you were being an idiot, but Clara has high hopes for you. Don’t let her down.”

“Of course,” Jasson took Petra’s hand, “I wil-aahaha!”

Petra practically crushed Jasson’s fingers, nearly making his knees buckle. What looked like a gem glinted on the back of her glove as she turned her hand indomitably to the top.

“Petra!” Clara said.

“Whoops,” Petra grinned evilly as she released his hand, “my bad. Forget my own strength sometimes.”

Be a man, Jasson thought, not a- Oh wow that hurts!

“It’s fine,” Jasson squeaked as he held his throbbing hand, “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

And, oddly enough, the throbbing vanished once he shook his hand out. No harm done then, although Jasson didn’t know what to think of it. Did he have healing powers?

“Be nice,” Clara said, “Did you grab us a table?”

Petra winced and said, “I didn’t think that you’d find him. So no.”

“Petra!” Clara said, “What were we going to do for dinner then?”

“We have plenty of food at home,” Petra said, “we would have eaten that.”

Ah, Jasson thought, one of those people. There goes my hotel room.

“Gods,” Clara covered her eyes, “You're embarressing me! You don’t have to be such a cheapskate, you know? We have a bunch of extra money from the sale. We can afford this once in a while. It’s not even that expensive!”

At least Clara’s nice, Jasson thought, I wonder if they know a good place to stay?

Jasson tried to scroll again and saw the dark screen. He needed to figure out how to charge it ASAP. Did he have to insert something or would it charge wirelessly?

“I’ll go see if I can find a table,” Petra said, “Force someone out if needed.”

“No,” Clara said, “That wouldn’t work. Not for long at least.”

“Umm,” Jasson said, “I really don’t care how nice the food is. What I need is directions to a church. I have nowhere to stay for the night after all.”

They looked at him, and then Petra turned to Clara and said “No. We don’t have any sp- Clara! Absolutely not! We know nothing about him!”

Confused, Jasson tried to Clara for an explanation. Clara looked victoriously at her sister as if to say that this was Petra’s fault and she couldn’t complain.

Petra held Clara’s gaze for a few seconds before throwing her hands up and saying “Fine! What do I care?”

“Come on,” Clara said, taking Jasson’s hand and sending butterflies into his stomach, “Apparently we have food at home.”