Hope

Elizabeth stared at Irwyn’s back as he left the room, trying hard to maintain her strained smile. She was glad he had been so distracted by the blatant ongoing epiphany that he most likely did not notice.

She looked down at the rest of her unfinished meal. It tastes so bland, to the point she subconsciously craved something more flavorful. Irwyn might have had a point about the addiction. But that was fine. She would not be controlled, not even by her own desires. Sharpen your will like a blade, her father had once said. For a true mage never bends nor breaks.

And so she would abstain from it, no matter what. She would not show weakness, even before herself. She would improve, bit by bit, until even her parents would have to tread carefully.

“Still, less than an hour,” she sighed in exasperation, feeling unfamiliar bitterness at the back of her throat.

“I should point out that he has attempted it with a much firmer foundation than is usual,” Dervish, who did not bother hiding himself now that Irwyn was gone, tried to comfort her, though the man’s voice still revealed as little emotion as ever.

“It took me almost two days to puzzle it out, even if that was years ago,” she crossed her arms with a frown. “He took what, 3 hours to get to 4 intentions? That’s just plain ridiculous!”

“It is,” Dervish stared her down with his usual complete blankness. “but is talent often fair?

Elizabeth glanced at him and calmed down to think. It was such a strange sensation to be… beaten. She searched and could not remember the last time someone was just… more talented at magic than her. She had all the resources available to know that she was statistically above even most prodigies. Yet Irwyn… Irwyn - without the advantage of the years of education -seemed to be already catching up to her in mere days.

“Am I beeing envious?” Elizabeth realised, wide-eyed.

“Possibly,” Dervish nodded without a moment of hesitation, as straightforward and honest as she always knew him to be.

“Is this… how everyone else has been feeling around me?” she took a deep sigh.

“Almost certainly,” her guard simply nodded. “Though if it allows your ladyship to feel any better, his rapid growth will likely slow down soon. Irwyn is simply catching up to bottlenecks in abilities that he simply did not know he already had the capacity to master. His raw control will restrict his growth to a similar speed as your own in my estimation.”

“Fine,” she sighed again, though it did make her feel a bit better. “In that case, I will not let off the training. I just have to put in even more effort to keep my lead.”

“If your ladyship wishes for night exercise, I do have a few suggestions,” Dervish nodded, not denying her. Competition was, after all, an excellent multiplier for growth.

Another couple days had passed in training. The routine had settled into a daily match in the second half of their morning-to-dusk sessions. For now, Irwyn had lost all of them just through the sheer difference in mage battle experience, however, he knew that he was getting much closer to winning. Just being able to imbue multiple intentions was making a massive difference, even though it still took Irwyn a bit too long to do that on more than a few constructs at the same time.

It was just a matter of time before he managed to win, at least he believed so. Winning more often than losing would be another matter entirely though, he knew.

However, he was not meeting with Elizabeth for once. He had successfully managed to convince her that bringing her along would be greatly detrimental to the kind of socializing he would be attempting to do. Namely, it was finally time for his scheduled meeting with Desir exactly a week after arriving in Abonisle. And bringing someone unknown to an introductory first meeting was just not something you do.

The actual area for the meeting was a bar near the very edge of the central-most districts. It was actually rather far away for Irwyn as it was not close to the gate he had been using to enter the inner districts thought. At least he did not have to take any rides up the elevators as - of the many floor levels of the central areas - this particular establishment was at the ground ‘floor’.

The business itself was called ‘The Serendipitous bar’, at least according to the sign at the front. Upon entry, Irwyn immediately realised that it was no cheap drinking hole like most bars in Ebon Respite he had seen. No, it was a very clean and spacious place. Besides the bar itself, it was split into several open booths on the sides that looked like they were designed for semi-discreet meetings, as well as a large open space in the middle.

There were only a few patrons considering it was still morning so finding Desir was not difficult. The man was no longer covering his face but his blue eyes, one of which looked slightly but distinctly uncanny, were unmistakable. Now that Desir was no longer wearing his cloak and shawl it was apparent that the man was not much older than 20, if even that, bearing undeniably handsome sharp features.

His left hand was also in a cast and sling, resting on the table of a booth he had chosen.

Irwyn approached, Desir himself sat in a way that he was easily visible from the entrance and even waved Irwyn over with his intact hand.

“Great mornin’,“ Desir greeted before Irwyn even sat down, grinning widely.

“Good morning,” Irwyn nodded back, sitting opposite to his blue-eyed acquaintance.

“Settling in well to the city life?” Desir asked.

“I have been doing quite well,” Irwyn nodded, raising an eyebrow. “However, you seem to have run into some trouble while resettling.”

“Ah, this,” Desir shrugged awkwardly, glancing at his in-cast hand. “My own fault, unfortunately. If it happened while working I could have gotten compensated and broken bones are too expensive to properly heal with magic from my own pocket. But we can talk business in a moment, let’s order something first,” he raised his hand, waving at the lone waitress manning the bar during low traffic. “What do you drink?”

“I dislike alcoholic beverages,” Irwyn replied. Desir raised an eyebrow but then shrugged as the waitress reached them.

“The usual for me and a Birell for my friend,” Desir pointed to Irwyn. “Put it on my tab,” The waitress nodded and left without even needing to write anything down. “Non-alcoholic beer,” Desir explained at Irwyn’s raised eyebrow. “That’s probably the closest thing to water they serve.”

“Fair enough, thank you,” Irwyn sighed. If he hated it he could always just politely pretend the drink wasn’t there.

“So, you told me last week that you had some people to meet,” Desir broached. “Did that go well?”

“Yes, I would say things went better than expected,” Irwyn nodded honestly. “My old mentor had the strings to get me in contact with some rather well-connected people,” or at least something along those lines as far as Irwyn could guess. He did not know what Old Crow had actually done.

The waitress was already coming around with their drinks, placing two large tankards in front of them. Desir winked at her, which was reciprocated before the woman left them be. Irwyn took an experimental swallow, it was quite bitter which he did not like much, while the other man took a swig.

“Well, I suppose we should not overdo it with the small talk,” Desir said after an appreciative sigh. He tapped the side of a table and Irwyn felt magic activating from an enchantment present there. The already few sounds of the surroundings completely faded while a slight visual distortion appeared around their open booth. It was still very possible to see the shapes of people moving beyond it but reading lips would be beyond anyone’s capability.

“Yes,” Irwyn nodded. “I have done some research myself,” though not nearly as much as would have been ideal. “But please explain the factions to me.”

“I work with the Old Ibis,” Desir nodded and explained without hesitation. “As I have told you last week, our faction has by far the best mages and we have many connections to high society. If you have some yourself now, that is only more reason to join us. We perform fewer jobs but do mostly things with significant payouts so you don’t have to spend your days doing grunt work. Our Fowl also offers a considerable monthly exclusivity sum just for not working with any of his 3 rivals.”

“Old Hummingbird, or the Singing Man as most people call him, has the next most mages after us. He deals mostly with middle-class businesses and has a big stake in entertainment; gambling rings in particular. It is certainly the faction that we have the most conflicts of interest with.”

“Old Thrush and Old Crane concentrate their influence mostly at the outermost parts of the city. Abonisle does not quite have any slums, however, the two of them have grasp on much of the poorer areas and some places more middle class. They have minimal conflict with us.”

“Fair enough,” Irwyn nodded. “That’s along the lines of what I have been able to find out from the outside,” though that was a bluff considering he had skimmed on research to focus on his magic.

Which he absolutely did not regret considering the 3 intention invisible flame barrier surrounding him at the moment. It was not just the empowerment of 2 defensive intentions either; because the barrier required a lot more power to manifest multiple intentions, it also had a lot more power actually available to defend him with - a good chunk more than any of his old 1 intention spells – which made it significantly better in most regards.

He could have gone for 4, however, that took the kind of attention that could obstruct emergency casting or possibly even his capacity to navigate conversations. As he had tested, the extreme improvement in multitasking that he experienced when wielding magic was not just an addition to his focus; rather, magic just took disproportionately less attention than other activities. Still, if he was using three-quarters of his wits on magic, he would only be able to hold a conversation with that remaining one-fourth.

“We can discuss details later if you are leaning towards us in principle,” Desir said. “I uptalked you rather well so you will most likely be making a deal with the Ibis directly.”

“Yes, I do agree to at least speak with them,” Irwyn nodded. “At the moment your side does indeed seem like the best option, however, I am hesitant to agree to anything binding with merely one source as you surely understand.”

“Fair, fair,” Desir was agreeable. “I don’t have the pull to just get you in either. I can do introductions and talk my seniors up, however, it will up to you to agree with them on something concrete. You always have the option of staying an outsider for hire with no deep allegiance to nay of the 4. Which brings me to an opportunity to get started on that.”

“I am listening,” Irwyn nodded.

“So, earlier in the month, one of my coworkers got his hands on a particularly difficult lockbox,” Desir said after he glanced at the isolation spell as if to double-check and slightly lowered his voice anyway. “It’s a nasty little problem because the whole thing is enchanted to hell and back against being broken into. Which obviously means there is something valuable inside. However, the issue is that it’s all made with Flame and we don’t have any Flame mages confident enough to get it open without ruining the inside. The Fowl was already looking to just sell it off sealed when I found out and managed to talk him into giving you a shot; if you agree, of course.”

“And what would you want in exchange,” Irwyn nodded along.

“I love people that know how shit works,” Desir grinned. “I want a third of whatever you manage to negotiate for.”

“Hmm,” Irwyn considered. Third was a big cut for a middleman, however, it included more than just the job. Part of that was that it would let Irwyn get contacts and jumpstart his reputation in the Abonisle underworld. Even if he played the young Fowl angle, getting the trust to be a first choice for important, and therefore well-paying, work could take him a long time. Swooping in to do something that no one else could for one of the biggest players would be worth more than perhaps months of steadily gaining trust. Which Desir most likely already considered before asking for such a large share.

“Just this once I will agree to such terms,” Irwyn decided in the end. “When can we get to it.”

“Ideally right now,” Desir smiled wide. Though Irwyn was noticing the man was smiling almost constantly. “The sooner you have a look at it the better for the deal, frankly.”

“I have cleared my schedule for today,” Irwyn gave his approval.

“Then we can go right away,” Desir said as he finished the last of his drink. Irwyn glanced at his own mostly full tankard and decided to take another sip. Unfortunately, it got no less bitter during their conversation. By the time he got up, Desir was already talking with the waitress - based on her body language Irwyn suspected even flirting - and motioned with his head for Irwyn to follow him. The worker lead them into a section deeper in the bar where she unlocked a door for them and lead them through, locking it again right behind them.

It looked like a large-ish storage closet with limited light, though Desir clearly knew his way around it as he immediately moved a carpet out of the way, revealing a trap door. He beckoned Irwyn to go down the revealed ladder as soon as it was opened and covered it when he closed the hidden entrance behind himself. Down the ladder, there was a small chamber with a single dim magical light and an alcove with several mundane hand-held lamps. Desir reached for one, though Irwyn stopped his hand and conjured his own Light with a shake of his head.

“Good point,” Desir lightly chuckled and led the way. There was a single tunnel leading from the chamber, twisting around a bit and with a few stairs leading up. Considering that the walls of the tunnel were distinctly different from the initial chamber, it had most likely been a repurposed cellar. They really only walked for a few dozen meters before they came into a much wider opening, the rustling of sluggish water hinting to Irwyn that they were entering a sewer.

The moment they left the tunnel, Irwyn almost choked. The stench was bad. An unbelievably vile mixture of rot and decay. And not just ‘this is a sewer bad’ but ‘particularly horrible even for a sewer’. Irwyn had been to the sewers in Ebon Respite quite a few times and unless memory failed him it had never been anything even close to this noxious.

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Desir raised an eyebrow, seemingly not bothered by the abysmal smell.

“I don’t understand how you are this fine,” Irwyn gasped. It was not getting better.

“By far not the worst I have smelled,”

“Are we even smelling the same thing?” Irwyn managed. It was incomprehensible to him how Desir was handling it so well. Could it be… something else? Then he remembered that he was, in fact, actively running magic that improved his perception and cognition. Slightly lowering the concentration of mana in his brain made the stench slightly but noticeably better. Well, he had found another drawback of the ‘too good to be true’ technique, he supposed.

“All right, I am fine now,” it took him a few moments longer to get a grasp on himself as he was not willing to weaken his empowerment to thinking any further either. The smell was still vile but he got somewhat used to it.

“Follow me then,” Desir nodded, having the good grace not to comment on the situation.

“How far away is that place?” Irwyn asked not long after.

“A few minutes,” Desir said. “Have any more questions?”

“Well, I wonder how many people will be there.”

“Quite a few,” Desir nodded. “It’s kept at a ‘fortress safehouse’ of a sort. Bunch of people guarding and plenty of people with a stake in opening the lockbox that will want to be looking over your shoulder. Decent chance the Ibis is there himself.”

“In that case, I have to ask, how much of a description of me you have given them,” Irwyn nodded in thought.

“I am a professional,” Desir chuckled in mock offense, “Besides the Ibis, the few people that have even heard about you will just know that you are young, wield Light and Flame and are supposedly quite good. No physical descriptions. No name given.”

“In that case I have an idea,” Irwyn nodded appreciatively and reached for his pouch. Out of it he pulled out the Mockingbird mask. Something he had learned by almost accident was that, among other features, the mask actually compressed itself to fit into places too small for it up to a certain degree, which was very convenient for him as he did not possess whatever means Elizabeth used to pull things out of nowhere.

Desir watched him put it on and nodded. “Separate identities. I certainly approve and will hold my tongue though it might be difficult to maintain for long.”

“That’s fine,” Irwyn shook his head. “It will buy me time to get my bearings in the city before anyone can start going after my more public self,” and more importantly get him more time to improve in magic. Considering the last week of growth even days could make a difference if real trouble found him. “And when the deceptions breaks, you better give me a cut for selling information on me.”

“Seen right through,” Desir chuckled. “Right this way, we are almost there,” he then motioned to one of the side tunnels leading from the sewers. The entire underground structure seemed very labyrinthine to Irwyn with countless intersections and nondescript tunnels, though Desir seemed to tread it with complete confidence so it was hardly a problem.

The tunnel lead them to a relatively large chamber with an enchanted steel gate. Looking around Irwyn even saw several thin murder holes in the surrounding walls. Desir beckoned Irwyn to stay back while he approached the gate, brandishing a small token. It looked like whoever was manning the door recognized him though since there was very little fuss before the gate slowly opened and they were led through.

The guards exchanged a bit of small talk with Desir but gave them no further trouble as the gate closed behind them once more. Again, Desir lead the way across the underground complex. Complex because there were several corridors and overall the area seemed quite expansive. Soon enough they made it into another chamber - or maybe lobby would be more accurate - where several men man dressed much fancier than just guards already stood. They were also all mages as far as Irwyn could tell.

“As promised friends, I have brought you the lock breaker,” Desir approached with all the confidence and flair in the world, stretching his hand out wide in an exaggerated gesture.

“Yes, so you have claimed,” one of the men nodded and turned to stare at Irwyn. “Though I hope you understand why I might have doubts about the qualifications of a newcomer. If you would at least introduce yourself.”

And at that Irwyn smiled. Because it gave him the opening he had hoped for. He reached into his pouch, touching the silver token of a three-clawed bird foot.

Might as well make a strong first impression.