The pounding of a hammer against wood rang out into the street, drawing curious gazes from passing people who saw a young, concentrating blonde boy who’d smile and wave at them before getting back to his work. The more observational of them would also notice the tall lithe boy leaning against part of the fence that was under construction and a berobed wizard sitting next to him with a book. A strange group, but nothing so strange for anyone to interrupt their own business to investigate.

“You know,” Alder shouted over the sound of his hammering. “I’m happy to do the work, but a hand would be appreciated.” he said earnestly.

Louie scoffed, “I found the job and supplies.”

“And I transported them here,” Alys said, without looking up from her book. “Besides, manual labour is hardly the work for a wizard.”

“Weak arms,” Louie stage-whispered to Alder and wiggled his own arms in mockery. Alys glared at him from the corner of her eye, then hmphed and turned up her nose, returning to her book.

Some time passed in silence, Alys with her head in the text, Louie leaning back against the fence and whistling as he looked towards the sky, and Alder continuing the actual work. Inexplicably they all realized something at about the same time; this was a pleasant, peaceful moment.

“What’re you reading, anyway?” Louie said, ruining it.

“Introduction to Spellwork,” replied Alys plainly, without inflection.

When she went quiet again and it was clear she wasn’t going to elaborate, Louie waved his hand, gesturing for her to go on. Alder noticed this and chuckled.

“You must be bored,” he said good-humouredly.

“Shut it,” retorted Louie with a quick frown and disparaging glance.

Alys looked conflicted, her desire to lecture and her dislike of Louie warring in her mind for a few moments, before her obsession with all things arcane decidedly won. She set a small cloth bookmark on her page and gently shut the book, placing it on her bag next to her as she stood up.

“When I spoke about casting to Alder earlier, I implied it was very fluid. The caster has an intent and through willpower they create a tangible effect. However, there are specific spells as well, typically named after the wizard and the effect of the spell.” She put her left hand in front of her, holding it flat, and then set the index finger of her right hand on top of it near the wrist.

“For the purpose of this lesson, think of mana like clay. A wizard can carve their intent,” she dragged her finger from her wrist to her fingertips, as if creating a gouge in something. “into the very fabric of magic. This makes it easier for other wizards to cast, as there is already a path for them to follow. However, this makes spells much more rigid compared to the incredibly versatile applications of free casting but also stronger as the intent has been focused further than an individual could accomplish on their own.” she steepled her hands in front of her. “Imposing a lasting mark into the world itself through sheer willpower is also one of the most difficult tasks a wizard can attempt, and is a mark of honour.”

Louie raised his eyebrows and bobbed his head slightly in a ‘not bad’ expression. Alder, who’d paused his work when she stood, applauded again.

Alys’s smile widened just a bit, and they spent the rest of their morning in companionable silence.

A few hours passed and noon arrived.

“Whew,” Alder finished hammering a nail in and stepped back, wiping sweat off his brow. “Getting pretty close now,” he remarked, eyeing the last stretch he needed to assemble.

“Well, better get to it, we’ve gotta finish today.” said Louie, who had gone from leaning on the fence to sitting on it.

“Snippy,” said Alys snidely. Louie made a mocking face at her which she scoffed and rolled her eyes at.

“Well,” Alder interjected before they could really get going, walking over to them. “I think it’s about time for lunch.” he squinted up at the sun as it sat almost straight above them, then looked at Louie.

“What?” he asked quickly.

“Know anywhere nearby?” continued Alder, plainly asking what he’d implied.

No matter how long it takes to prepare, even the most mundane thing can be forgotten; they had all neglected to bring food.

Louie sighed, got up off the fence and held out his hand to Alder. “Money,” he said.

Alder shrugged, “You’ve already got mine.”

Louie frowned slightly but accepted the answer. He moved his hand to Alys. She squinted at him. “It is polite for a man to treat a lady to her meal.”

Louie didn’t even blink, keeping his hand held out to her. Annoyed, she nevertheless reached into her bag and pulled out a silver coin, holding it up in front of herself and Louie eyed it.

“I understand that this is more than a meal around here would cost, but I’ve only got silver at the moment,” she daintily placed it in Louie’s hand, and he quickly squirreled it away into a pocket. “I’ll be expecting my change.”

“What are you implying,” growled Louie, body language becoming slightly aggressive. She raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

“Come on, guys,” Alder stepped between the two for what felt to him like the millionth time, even though it couldn’t have been more than a handful that he’d done it. “You can’t fight forever.”

“I doubt that,” said Louie as he turned and stalked off, vaulting himself over the fence.

Louie watched him go for a bit, then turned to Alys, who had shaken her head at him and returned to reading.

“You shouldn’t goad him like that,” he said sternly.

“I don’t like him,” replied Alys, turning up her nose.

“You could at least try to get along.”

Alys sighed, but a look at Alder told her she wasn’t going to win any argument they had.

“Fine.” she said, then suddenly snapped her book shut. “Say, do you want to play a game?”

-Break-

Louie had gone to Pauly’s Place, a deli he’d heard only used a small amount of skeptical meats, and grabbed some sandwiches. Each one had cost two copper, and as he left he looked at the eight copper coins he’d received as change for the single silver and scowled, placing it separately from his own funds before heading back.

All in all, the trip had only taken about fifteen minutes, and when he made it back to the others he saw them sitting across from each other on the grass, a small wooden board between them covered with whtie and black shapes. In front of the two were two stacks of the objects, though Alys’s was considerably taller and sturdier than Alder’s, which looked like they would toppled over with an errant gust of wind. The blond boy was scratching the back of his head as he stared at the board in thought. Alys patiently waited.

Louie grinned slightly and snuck up behind Alder, putting his finger to his lips when Alys noticed him. She rolled her eyes, but didn’t warn Alder.

“What’s all this?” asked Louie from right behind him, making him startle and bump the board which caused his pieces to collapse.

“I win,” Alys said, a small smile on her face.

“What? No fair!” Alder protested.

“Should’ve been paying more attention,” said Louie as he set the bag of food down to one side of the board and sat with it, taking one of the sandwiches out and passing the bag to Alder, who did the same and moved it to Alys next. She thanked Alder, then raised an eyebrow at Louie. He paused mid-chew and gave her a confused look, before rolling his eyes and taking out the change from his pocket.

“Your change,” Louie said with a sarcastically over-polite tone.

“Thank you.”

Alys and Alder continued to play while they all ate, and Louie watched them go at it. Unsurprisingly, Alys won every time, though she seemed to enjoy the easy games nonetheless.

After they finished eating and Alder handily lost again, Louie spoke up and broke the silence they had been sitting in.

“Alright, back to it you,” he clapped Alder’s shoulder, who stood up, stretched, and returned to the fence without complaint, before taking up his spot across from Alys and staring at the board now between them.

“So what’s this, then?” he asked, and Alys noticed a spark of genuine curiosity under his flippant demeanor.

“It’s called Tower,” Alys said after a few moments of quietly studying him. “You play by-” Louie interrupted her with a casual wave of his hand.

“I got it by watching,” he said, moving one of his white pieces a few squares ahead of its starting point nonchalantly, posture relaxed. His eyes, though, remained sharp and intelligent.

Alys gave him an annoyed look for being rude, then analyzed his move. She’d make her point by thoroughly defeating him. Then she realized that it was a surprisingly smart move for a first time player. She moved a piece of her own.

They continued playing for a bit, before Alys nonchalantly used a more advanced technique. Louie interrupted immediately.

“What was that?” he asked, eyes snapping from the board to her. She was slightly shocked by the abruptness of it, but explained her move.

“It’s called recruiting. When you have your pieces arranged like this,” she gestured to her side of the board, where three single-block pieces sat around a double-block piece, “you can take the singles off the board and add them to your tower. It’s a quick way of starting a foundation.”

Louie stared at her, and she got the sense he was trying to tell if she was making this up and cheating, before seeming to come to a conclusion.

“I see,” he said, face melting into a lopsided grin, and returned to the game. He lost soon after that, but when they began their next game, Alys saw that he immediately incorporated recruiting into his strategy. A genuine smile blossomed on her face, but Louie, despite his uncaring appearance, was too focused to see it. They played to the rhythm of Alder’s hammer until the sun began to set.

-Break-

“I’m done,” Alder called over, admiring his handiwork.

There was a ‘clack’ of finality as Alys made her game-winning move. “Almost close this time,” she teased Louie, who had started hunching over the board an hour ago. He stretched his back and got up.

“Right, let's see it then,” he said, and turned to look over Alder’s work. He knew nothing about carpentry, of course, but he’d had to piece a few things together, and confidence counted for a lot.

He walked up and kicked it, and when it held firm, nodded his head.

“Good enough,” he began to make his way to the backdoor of the house. “I’ll get our pay.”

After he’d walked out of earshot, Alder walked up to Alys and said, in a low voice, “He doesn’t seem prickly for once.”

“A game is an excellent way to relax,” Alys said, and Alder got the feeling she was speaking from experience.

They stood next to each other, Alys watching Louie talk to the owner as he tried to haggle over every single copper, and Alder watching Alys with a bemused expression.

“You’re smiling,” he said. And she was. It was small, more a smile of contentment than great joy, but it was there. She quickly wiped it off her face.

“I’ve never played with anyone before.” she said quietly, the smile beginning to slip from her face.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Alder said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Alys waved his apology off. They lapsed back into silence, now both watching Louie as he animatedly explained how he had tested the fence himself, and the grumpy old woman raised her cane as if to smack him.

Unprompted, Alys spoke up again.

“He’s not so bad, I suppose. When he’s not talking at least.”

Alder looked at her again and beamed.

“If only he could learn to shut up,” he joked, and they laughed together as Louie accepted the offered pouch, their first job together as a group finally finished.