Lunch was held in a large, communal, open room filled with long, wooden tables and backless stools arranged in neat arrays. Xanthy strode inside along with June from one of the multiple passageways just as throngs of people poured from others.

Studying the flow of traffic, food was served from the west end of the hall where a counter made from clay slapped against a hasty foundation stood. Behind that counter were several cooks dressed in the same rose brown attire but with beige aprons atop.

Cauldrons steamed from being stewed over open fire while bowls made from marquine porcelain were passed around by boys half Xanthy's age. She got hers and she picked at the solidified crumbs left by the previous person who ate on this bowl.

As soon as she and June got their heap of smoking sludge, they sat on a random part of a random table and came face to face with Jarvik.

"Oh, hey!" Jarvik said a little too cheerfully. The two children, a boy and a girl, at his opposite sides stared at Xanthy with wide, green eyes. "I did not expect to see you again."

Xanthy dropped into her stool and started shoveling the goop into her mouth. It was bland but somewhat edible. The white chunks looked and tasted so much like cleret meat. Her stomach churned as she suddenly missed her ajilte fruits. "Yeah, me too," she replied to Jarvik. "Your kids?"

Jarvik glanced at the children. "Yeah," he smiled. "Marin and Malin. Say hi!"

The children mumbled their greetings and Xanthy chuckled. "Not really into people, are they?" she chomped down on her cleret meat soup. "Which was which?"

"Malin," Jarvik pointed to the boy prodding his stew with his spoon. He didn't look older than eleven. "And this is Marin," Jarvik circled his arm around the girl's shoulder.

Xanthy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Jarvik's knack at naming children. "Nice to meet you," she blurted instead. Her teeth were scratchy from chewing so much firm meat. "What do they do around here? They are not in the weaving room."

Jarvik laid a hand over Malin's hair and tousled it. The boy slapped his father's hand away. "They are messengers, delivery personnel, and errand-runners like most children born from parents working here," Jarvik took a bite into his own food and winced. A silver band glinted from his finger.

When Xanthy studied the family further, she noted that they all wore that same type of ring around their fourth fingers. Xanthy pursed her lips. Probably not her business.

"Hey, June," Xanthy elbowed her friend who was picking at his own food. "You have to teach me magic sometime."

June looked at her with a twisted expression. "Learn on your own," he snapped. "I have my debt to work for, remember?"

"How about I halve it?" Xanthy challenged. "It seems like I will be shouldering most of the cost anyway with that pathetic pacing of yours."

"That loom is complicated. Do not judge me," June wagged his spoon at Xanthy's face before turning to Jarvik. "Are there any jobs available here?"

Jarvik shrugged. "You could try the tanning department," he suggested. "They deal with kephras feces all the time as the main component for making leather. Or you could try the hide industry where they skin animals every hour. Oh, the dyeing industry is fun as well. There have been five reported accidents of liquefied brain over the past week from inhaling fumes on a regular basis."

Jarvik shoved another spoonful into his mouth. "Your choice."

June's pallid skin went paler. "N-no thanks," he chuckled nervously. "I think I will stay here."

"So," Xanthy prodded. "Will you teach me or not?"

June rolled his eyes. "Fine," he waved his hand. "But I would not go easy on you."

Xanthy smiled. "Do your worst," she challenged. "I want to be able to view trails at the end of the week."

"So...at night?" June looked up as if calculating time. "That is the only time where we are not expected to produce those infernal textiles."

Xanthy nodded. "Night sounds good," she turned to Jarvik. "Want to join?"

Jarvik shook his head. "No, thank you," he smiled. "Gods' blessings be upon you, though."

Xanthy hoped that it was the case.

Xanthy arrived at the open field adjacent to the dining hall a few minutes after June did. The night sky was battered with shadows of tall buildings that housed the rest of the Commons employed in this compound. Xanthy, herself, got shoved into one of the numerous, humid rooms just an hour ago.

Three moons shone from the sky, lighting Xanthy's way as she jogged towards June.

"What took you so long?" June asked as Xanthy braced her knees and huffed.

Xanthy wiped at the sweat beading on her hairline. "The Warden is a tough obstacle."

The Warden in question was an old woman with a hearing as strong as a graspel. Xanthy had watched the woman patrol the grounds, the dining hall, and the living quarters with keen eyes and straight back. A metal rod as thick as Xanthy's arm was always on the woman's hands. It's going to be Pidmena's realm for Xanthy if she got caught.

June nodded. The men's building had a different Warden and given June's thief-like skills, Xanthy doubted he'd had a hard time evading his. "How much time do we have?" June inclined his head at the sky and frowned.

Xanthy stared at the stars twinkling above them. She wished she knew their names. "About an hour?" she muttered. "We need to sleep if we are going to work tomorrow."

June clicked his tongue. "How much did you make today?" he crossed his arms.

"Ten versallis?" Xanthy tapped her chin. "You?"

June snorted. "You do not even want to know."

"Come on," Xanthy grinned. "Five? Three?"

June held up two fingers and burst out laughing. Xanthy scoffed and joined him. Two versallis for a whole day! It's going to take them a thousand years to save up to a thousand. That's not even enough for Xanthy to buy a patch of land much less a house.

"Let us do our best tomorrow, okay?" Xanthy coughed into her fist, taking with it the last residues of her amusement.

June nodded. "Shall we start?"

Xanthy agreed. "What are we working on?"

"Since you are a fairy, we could start with magic channeling first," June bit his lip. "Rysteme is too advanced for you."

"Rysteme?" Xanthy asked. The word flew out of her mouth as a foreign sound. "What is that?"

June put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Umazure has three kinds of magic," he held up three fingers. "Humans can do the easiest, Maxia, while fairies cannot. Escuira is what Humans have to channel more advanced types of magic. Rysteme is the same with fairies."

"What language is that even?" Xanthy sniffed. "Those words sound complicated."

June shrugged. "If you can read tomes, most will contain terms from the Ancient language," he explained. "It is an extinct language and was instead replaced by Keijula, the language of the fairies and Ylanenla, the common language."

Xanthy wrinkled her nose. "Okay, so we are banking on the idea that I am a fairy so we should work on my..." she whipped to June. "What do fairies have?"

June scratched his head. "Well, some call the synnavaim the maxia of the fairies, so we can start with figuring out what your synnavaim is," he said. "Although, from how you look, I would say you are a brownie or a shard fairy that somehow forgot how wings work."

"Shard fairies?" Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. "How does that relate to me forgetting about wings?"

"Several fairy races hide their wings to protect it," June smoothed his hair away from his forehead. "In some races, if you lose your wings, you are dead."

Xanthy winced.

"So," June clapped his hands. "Close your eyes and call forth the magic within you."

Xanthy blinked. "What?"

June clicked his tongue. "Come on," he took her shoulders and steered her to a wall. "Close your eyes."

Xanthy did and her world plunged in darkness. "Okay, now what?"

"Magic is around us," June's voice reminded Xanthy of a tourist camp that once visited the Disfavoreds. "Sense it."

Hmm. This was all awkward. Xanthy felt silly but she took a deep breath and listened to her heart beating. All around her, huh? Well, where was it?

It was quiet. The sounds of the night were loud in her ears. Footsteps. Flapping clothes against the night wind. A distant bell clanging. Metal clicking awake. Eyes looked at her, empty and dark. A mouth grinned with malice. Xanthy's eyes flew open. Her heart ran a race in her chest.

Those sounds... That face...

"You okay?" June raised his eyebrow as he inclined his head up at her. When had he sat down?

Xanthy sighed and plopped in the ground next to him. "Nothing," she shook her head. "So I should just...feel the magic?"

June nodded. "Feel it and then, when you are ready, reach out, grasp it, and you should feel its warmth coat your veins or something," he twined his fingers together.

Xanthy exhaled and closed her eyes again. Feel the magic...

A second, ethereal sense awakened inside of her. It's like another set of eyes opened its lids for the first time. Her stomach plummeted and flew in a quick succession. Light speared through her soul, in and out. The world was flush with color, smoke, and most of all, warmth. Like June said, Xanthy felt her veins quiver when the heat touched them. So... this was magic?

"Good," June was saying. "Now that your magic is on the surface, think about that part of your soul, the synnavaim, and bring it out."

Okay. Bring it out. Whatever that meant. Slowly, Xanthy sank into herself which was like letting herself to be swallowed by a fluffy mattress. The colorful lights swirled as she did, her mind's eye trained on a solid mass of magic inside of her. What did a synnavaim look like anyway?

"Hey, June," Xanthy called. "What did you say when you made my fretboard explode?"

June hummed. "Uh, detonate?"

Xanthy nodded. "Detonate—?"

A burst of heat threw her backwards as it launched away from her veins. Xanthy rolled on the ground just as the sound of rocks crumbling and June cursing reached her eyes. Bells rang. What happened?

She opened her eyes and what she saw didn't quite make sense. She was a few distance from where she was seated a few minutes ago. From the wall June made her face, there was a huge crater that looked like someone large punched it.

Footsteps clambered into the dining hall. Xanthy pushed herself up and June was by her side to help her to her feet. Whispers topped the hiss made by the rock debris as they broke free from the main wall. Did she—?

"What in Emeria's name is going on?" a growl tore Xanthy's attention from the crater and into the woman who saved them yesterday. A frown was etched into her features as she strode towards Xanthy and June.

Xanthy inched backward as the woman loomed over her. "Explain."

A lump formed in Xanthy's throat. She put her arms forward. "I-I was just practising my magic. I do not mean any ha—"

"You cast unauthorized magic," the woman snarled and massaged her forehead. Her loose tunic and cleret's nest hair out of their braids were enough indication that she was roused from her sleep. "The Civil Guards will come. You have no idea how you put us into risk w-with your...shenanigans!"

Xanthy flinched. Oh, dear. The woman stepped forward and raised her hands when the property guards came trudging from the main gate. "You are forbidden to use magic in this compound, ever again," the woman sighed and wagged a finger at Xanthy's face. "Defy me and I will see to it that you are thrown in the Queen's dungeon and stay there all your life."

A bitter taste rose to Xanthy's throat as she watched the woman strode away along with the property guards. The onlookers dispersed as fast as they came.

June whistled. "Damn, looks like my debt will not be cut in half."

"Shut up, June," Xanthy snapped.

This was the worst. The absolute worst.