She had a little quest to finish. She crossed with a gaggle of pedestrians and wagons. So far she'd seen the bone-and-vines Woven, Elves, Humans, Centaurs, her own kind the Aves, a few lizardfolk, and a race of fuzzy fox people. She had a dozen questions for every one of them. But instead of being a complete nuisance she snacked on the nuts and made her way to an unmistakeable temple.

It resembled an inverted basket, its wooden pillars curling around each other and meeting in a spiral. She opened the heavy door and found a pillared space smelling of pungent incense.

A robed Human with his thinning hair in a ponytail -- a glance told her he was officially a Monk class -- was writing with a quill pen at a front desk. "A youngster. Are you seeking your first level?"

"Yes, please. I want to be a Mage. I'm told I have to show off a spell?"

"Yes; in your case no tangible items are needed. Go to the altar and demonstrate, then meditate upon your goals."

Feeling slightly less clueless, she bobbed her head and walked up to an altar with a braided triad design, like Celtic art. Two other people, both Human, sat quietly on cushions. Selen picked an empty spot and tried her single spell.

The energy of the element of Wind came to her only with struggle. Without a coach she hardly knew what part of her mind could touch this new thing. Was it really an updraft if it pulled her up, or more of a downdraft countered by Newton's Third Law? Did physics even work in this world? She stood there with her wing-arms outstretched, her thoughts ceaseless and directionless.

To some extent that was how they'd always been. In a faraway world her grade school had told her parents to give their kid drugs, to make her better at sitting still in a government classroom. Instead she'd been allowed to grow in her own way, and to find her own methods for getting things done.

This new skill confused her, but it was demonstrably a real thing here. She pictured a certain abstract symbol and the act of drawing it, stilling all other thought processes until the simple mark stood bright in her imagination. She then directed all that focus toward recalling the way she'd reached into the pool of Mana, tuning it in the way that felt most natural, letting it enter reality as a bubbling along her fingers and into her wings. She spread out her feathers and gave a single magic-assisted flap, staggering forward as she did.

Aha, it worked! She hopped back into place, feeling the feather-crest on the back of her head flick higher. Oh! I'm smiling? That's what it looks like for my kind. So that was another bit of learning already.

Before she could lapse into a mental discourse on non-human face expressions, she settled down onto the cushion and focused on the goal. I want to be a Mage. I want to learn all sorts of things and find a place here, and do amazing things like flying.

Without casting another spell, she felt lighter, buoyed by something. Silver light flickered beyond her closed eyes. Then words appeared:

[You are now a Level 1 Mage! You have chosen a geas of Learning. You have the feat of Slowfall.]

It worked! She felt herself feather-grinning again, and let out a happy chirp. Now, what it all meant, she didn't know.

A mental itch caught her attention. Ah: it was an intuition just like the method for seeing the numbers behind her Health and so on. She attended to it and saw a more complete profile on herself:

[

Selen Moonlit, Aves Female

Mage 1

Physical: None

Mental: Learning 1, Wits 1, Sanity 1

Social: Charm 1

Feats: Slowfall

Skills: Literacy 2 (Learning)

These meters are based on 25 + (10 points per stat):

Health (Toughness + Will): 25/25

Mana (Sanity + Will): 35/35

Stamina (Toughness + Sanity): 35/35

Go forth and advance!

]

She returned to the man at the front and spoke quietly. "I got it! I have questions, though. Hope I'm not interrupting you."

He'd been writing, but shrugged. "It's what I'm here for, not this tedious copying. How can I help?"

"I got a 'Geas of Learning'. What's that?"

"If you strive to learn something new each day, there's a chance that the gods will tell you something interesting. I serve the god of Love, of course, so that I'm bound to try serving others each day. Naturally that's easy in my job."

Just as learning something ought to be easy in Selen's position. "I know very little about these gods," she said, shifting her weight uncomfortably. She'd grown up with just one.

"Labor, Lore, and Love. You may have your own favorite, but hard work and growth and devotion will all serve you well. Are you looking for specific methods of prayer, or the theories we have, or...?"

"I should probably save that for another time. If I'm going to learn, I should study, right? Is there a good place where someone like me can read books without being rich?"

"Your best bet is probably the Grandbridge Knowledge Society. Here at the temple we believe in basic education, so we offer training in the Literacy skill if you haven't already got that."

"I seem to already have two points of it."

The monk peered oddly at her. "For someone who's obviously just begun using the System? And who hasn't already dived into the Society's library? That's strange."

Selen winced. "Yeah, I was knocked around pretty badly the other day and feel like I've forgotten some important things. Maybe these gods are scrambling the rules on me or something, ha ha."

"The gods do not torment us, ma'am. Their actions may be subtle, but not malicious. Do you need the help of a more experienced priest?"

"I think I'm all right for now. Thank you. I might have more to ask later, but for now could you help me find this Knowledge Society?"