The first time Lukas attended a...meeting, Lukas didn’t know what to think. They went to a tavern in the Lower Ring, in the more prosperous part of town. Lukas dropped off Kiruna’s share of food first then headed over to the 23 Pence Alehouse.

Most of the people inside were workers with the dust of the day’s labour still thick on their sleeves. There was a drunk looking man, maybe a couple of years older than Lukas, on a small platform playing a fiddle. Lukas could almost recognize the melody, but every time the man slipped and made an ear grating screech instead of actual music drove it out of his mind.

“Lukas.” Aengus appeared at his side holding two tankards with something foamy inside. From the scent, it was either leftover Festival Beer or a poor imitation of it. “Here.”

“Thank you.” He took a sip, tasting the bitterness but with the underlying sweetness that reminded him of lavan berries early in the Season of Fire. “What’s going on?’

“My cousin isn’t here yet.” He added in an undertone, “he’ll tell you what’s going on. Come on, let’s have some dinner.”

“Your treat, I hope. I can’t afford the food here.”

“Oh Lukas, my friend, coins are the least of your worries from now on.” Aengus threw his arm over Lukas’ shoulder. “You need to put some meat on those bones.”

“Right. Well, I’m honestly having second thoughts,” Lukas sighed softly.

“Don’t be, you’re doing the right thing.”

Lukas winced when the fiddler missed another note and caused another high-pitched squeak.

“Maybe if you stop that man from playing, I’d feel much more comfortable.”

“Haha, yeah, but Luc’s always played in the 23 Pence. And no, can’t do anything about it,” he answered flatly.

The two of them found a table near the window. The night was young and the half-moon shed enough light to drown out the multihued Chaos streams above. Most establishments put out a lantern that glowed with a warm, inviting yellow light near their doors. Added to the lights spilling out from the windows and the road was dotted with little pockets of the warm light.

Deeper into the night, the streets would be filled with dangerous shadows. Not so much that there were prowlers moving about but the potholes and errant stones would be harder to stop and thus, more likely to cause a spill.

Aengus ordered a plate of sausages and roasted potatoes to go with the ale. Lukas’ mouth watered so much at the tantalizing scent that he had to gulp down his saliva several times or it would have dribbled down his chin.

“Go ahead,” Aengus offered.

Lukas barely managed to stop himself from just grabbing the meat. He placed it on his plate, stabbed it with his fork and bit out a huge chunk.

“How can you afford this?” he asked, careful to keep all the food in his mouth.

Aengus chuckled. “Well, you can save a copper penny every day for about a season and you can afford to splurge on this. On your wages anyway.” Aengus shrugged. “I have an extra job that pays well.”

“Ah.” Lukas took a bite of the potatoes, tasting the exotic spices burst on his tongue. “Is this salt?”

“Yup.”

Aengus stabbed a sausage off the platter and ate a bit though he left most of it for Lukas. Once Lukas wiped off the last bit of grease from the platter and drank the last drop from his tankard, a red-haired man with green eyes sat down beside them. He looked similar enough to Aengus that there was no doubt that they were of the same lineage.

“Good evening.”

“And here’s my cousin Ruwell, late as usual,” Aengus jested.

“Happy to meet you, sir,” Lukas said with a slight lilt in his voice.

“Yes, I’ve heard about you, of course, from Aengus. You’re one of the few auditors that haven’t been snapped up, aren’t you?”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“Your Facet. Well, Aengus told me that if it weren’t for the fact that you had so little Animus in your reserves you might have been able to qualify for Aneurin or the lesser schools. It’s a pity, isn’t it?”

Lukas clenched his fist under the table. He couldn’t deny what the man said but it opened up wounds he thought had long since healed.

“They said it would cost too much to bring my Animus reserve up and even then, since my Heritage wasn’t good enough, it would be a waste.”

“Yes, isn’t it always that?” Ruwell grunted. “The elite hoard the resources that make them stronger, more powerful, and richer, while we at the bottom are left to feed on their leavings. Do you know how many kids from the Lower Ring make it into the Imperial Academies every year?”

Lukas shook his head. Anyone who managed to enter the Academies would be set for the rest of their lives. An alumni pin from any one of them would open any door. Provided they could afford to pay for the tuition anyway. That or they find a sponsor.

“About one or two. And those kids never come back here. They are bound by so many chains that they would have to ask their new masters’ permission before they could even pick their noses.”

Ruwell’s voice was pitched low but Lukas had no trouble hearing the anger.

“Many are not sponsored because their Heritages weren’t good enough, or their Facet was useless, or some other reason like yours,” Ruwell continued. “Well, we can’t do much about Heritages and Facets but for the Animus reserve, there is a way.”

“Other than Zoi Elixirs, I don’t know what else can increase reserves.” Lukas shook his head. “Those things cost even more than the Catalyst Elixir for the Atavism Ritual! And each dose would only raise the cap by a single lumen at most!”

“Exactly. You’d need dozens just to get to the point you can advance beyond Novice and dozens more to get beyond Apprentice.” Ruwell leaned over. “That’s how the Empire controls us.”

Lukas looked at the table, at his empty tankard, and at the empty platter. His head spun from drinking and Ruwell’s words. They weren’t things he didn’t already know. In fact, he’d learned that and more during his preparatory schooling. A happier time, when his parents were still around and anything was possible.

What was it that he wanted to do? The past couple of years had buried his dreams. He wanted to be like his father who worked for Clan Esras’ home guard. The Ducal clan, one of two currently in control of the plane, technically weren’t allowed to have their own private forces under Imperial law but they were far from the Capital and the Legions didn’t really mind as long as neither clan had more than a thousand troops apiece.

Lukas’ father, Terrence, had been an auditor, checking logistical supplies and making sure that they were the correct amount and weight for what was paid for. He also checked if the Imperial coinage was of the correct weight and composition. It wouldn’t do to deliver shaved coins to the bank and be punished for it. Terrence could not only tell how much something weighed just by looking but he could also see how many individual coins there were in a pile and how much it was worth.

Of course, Terrence started out with more Animus in his reserve than Lukas did, hence, according to his master, worthy of training. Maybe it was his mother Kiriko’s lineage that made Lukas turn out the way he did. She wasn’t the best mother, especially after father died and she had to bring up a then eight-year-old Lukas and five-year-old Kiruna, alone. The overwork killed her, or at least, that’s what Lukas figured out when she couldn’t get up from bed one morning.

Lukas looked up to Ruwell and Aengus. The younger cousin signalled the serving maid, a slender woman whose decolletage was deep enough to show ample cleavage. Aengus ogled her, of course. She left after flipping her hair and gave Ruwell a sultry glance. The young man, for his part, ignored the girl and leaned back against his seat, while staring at Lukas.

“Are you ready to challenge the Threads of Fate?”

“What do you need me for anyway?” Lukas asked.

“You’ve already helped Aengus but we thought we’d give you the chance to really help. And of course, receive the proper rewards for your participation.”

“What…what rewards?”

He waited for the serving maid to return with three tankards of ale then he glanced around surreptitiously. When he was satisfied that nobody was paying attention to them, since most were wincing at Luc’s playing, Ruwell leaned down, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a glass vial the length of his thumb.

“Is that?” Lukas gasped.

The liquid inside was clear, like water from a deep well, but there were little sunbursts of light suspended in the liquid. The hues changed from green to blue to purple every blink of the eye. What colour it changed to was a bit random, sometimes a blue sparkle would turn purple or green with no fixed pattern but the rate at which it changed was the same.

“A novice level Zoi Elixir,” Ruwell whispered. He took Lukas’ hand, placed the tiny vial in his palm and closed Lukas’ fingers over it. “A thank you for your efforts. Make sure you have Animus in your reserves when you drink it. Don’t just let it dissipate in your guts: gather the sunbursts with your Animus and pull it back to your core.”

“But, but, this is worth at least a silver mark!”

“A mark and five pennies, actually, depending on who you buy it from and who’s willing to sell it.” Aengus said laconically. “Drink it here, please.”

“I, er, I don’t have enough Animus,” Lukas stuttered. “I barely have a tenth left.”

“Why so low?” Ruwell asked with a frown. “I thought you could reuse your Animus as long as you touched what you were weighing.”

“Oh, uhm, I always go to the cartridge shop every evening.”

“Oh, I see. Well, please make sure you drink this. Don’t try to sell it; I know it’s tempting to but just don’t. You’ll get yourself caught by the Constables,” Aengus said.

Lukas nodded numbly. In his hand was something worth three years rent. It was the amount he needed to pay for a satisfactory Catalyst for Kiruna too. In his hand was something he needed years to save for. And it only let him increase his cap by a single lumen. He’d need fourteen more of these before he could advance. At his current rate, if he saved a couple of copper pennies a day, he needed twenty-eight more years of saving to be able to advance.

His hands started trembling so much that he quickly shoved the vial into his pocket lest he drop and break it.

After a while, when his nerves settled, he said, “You didn’t tell me what you wanted me to do for your, uh, group? How many of you are there anyway?”

“I can’t answer that.” Ruwell said with a smirk, “But we are growing by the day. Good evening, Lukas. Aengus will tell you what we need from you as we need them.”

With a nod of his head, Ruwell stood and left.

“Thanks,” Lukas said.

“Go home,” Aengus snorted. “I’ll see you at Mazer’s tomorrow.”

“Good night.”

Lukas left the tavern, hand in his pocket gripping the vial tightly. His eyes darted at every shadow and he twitched with every errant sound. He stuck to the main road, avoiding the back alleys for fear of being accosted. It took him twice as long to get home, and when he did, he heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

Kiruna was already asleep in her bed, snoring fitfully in her blankets. The Season of Fire was ending in a few weeks and the weather would soon turn colder. That meant more clothes, blankets, and fuel for the fire pit. He settled down beside Kiruna and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, he was woken by his enthusiastic sister.

“Big bro! Big bro!” Kiruna squealed, “I made a whole silver penny yesterday!”

Lukas blinked at her, too stunned for the words to register. “Huh?”

“Look, look, look!”

She presented her hand with the penny on her palm. It was a small round coin with milled edges and a square hole in the middle. It was a silver penny alright. There was no mistaking it for anything else--the shape alone gave it away. The copper penny was a little triangular coin while the copper mark was a square. Both with rounded edges.

“Where did you get this?” Lukas gasped. His hand trembled as he reached for it. Last night he got a vial worth fifteen of these and now his sister had one.

“A gor..uh..beau…uh, a very pretty lady gave it to me for the lanyards!”

“What?” Lukas gaped at his sister. “You overcharged her by that much?” His heart pounded hard in his chest. If whoever that was found out about it, who knew what kind of trouble they’d be in?

“No, silly. She said she didn’t have anything smaller even though I said I didn’t have change. She just gave it to me.”

“Oh.” Lukas shivered. He hoped it wouldn't lead to trouble, but well, good things were happening to them now. He ruffled Kiruna’s hair despite her protests.

Perhaps the Threads were going their way now.