Empty handed, I trudged back to my carriage. The joy of the festival-goers was a personal offense to me now, even though I usually loved such things. I avoided being bumped into by the hot sweat-soaked bodies, strangers laughing and smiling at me as I passed. I could only manage a small insincere smile back, but thankfully attention spans were forever shortening as the night wore on, and my melancholy was not noted.

I walked past the town gate, out to my carriage. The smells of the stables were pungent as I searched around the dark space of my carriage bed. I found the single row of bottles filled with the tracking potion and liquor mixture. Scooping them into a small carrying tray, I backed out of the carriage. I hurried past one of the many entrance ramps to the stables. The stench became more tolerable as it was thinned with fresh air. Feet pounded on the wooden planks and a voice call after me.

"It's late!"

A small girl stood before me, her dress encrusted with filth and more patches than skirt, but not ragged or neglected. A bruise bloomed on her upper arm, shaped vaguely like the top curve of a horse shoe. She flashed a smile at me. I recognized the gaps from the missing baby teeth. The singing girl.

"It is. You should be at home, if you were a nice little girl." I scolded. It must have come across more sincere than I intended, for her face fell. I forced a grin, scraping deep within that inner well of emotion for some playful energy to give to her.

"Ya should go ta bed, ya look tired," she scolded. She rested her hands on her narrow hips. "Ya need to tell yar master that makin' ya work this late at night is downright unwarm."

I rose an eyebrow at the pseudo-swear.

"Ah, but I lost something, and I need to find it. My master would be most displeased if I did not locate it by morning." More like Mallow would be most displeased if I didn't locate her.

"You h'aint even got time to get a bath?" she asked, regarding me.

"No, hain't even for that." I mimicked her words, though not in a malicious way. Her cheeks poofed out and then made a popping sound as she exhaled.

"Thas a shame. I been hearin' from all the Assistants that the baths here are really nice. My family don't use 'em regularly since my house is closer to the river and no sense in paying when you kin wash for free, but maybe for my Age Day or something. They got bubbles and salts and stuff. You'd like 'em." She gave me a foxish leer. Was... was she picturing me in nothing but a towel? I'd never seen such a predatory expression on an elf girl before. She was going to be trouble when she got older, but for now it was more adorable than objectifying. Though... she really should like boys more her own age.

"Sure those salts would go great with the cuts I can't seem to stop getting." I brushed at some of the remaining dirt on me with the hand not holding the wooden bottle tray. "What about you, what are you doing out here? You dodged the question the first time, mischief perhaps?"

She ran a filthy hand through her hair, which instead of straightening it, just deposited brown and black flakes between the strands.

"Nah, no time for mischief, not with all of this coin coming in and outta town." She gestured at the stable. "I been here all day cleaning horses: brushing their coats, helping keep their hooves tidy, polishing horse shoes. It's hard work, but it gets me outta my regular boring chores, so it's nice."

"I've got to get going—" I faltered. I didn't know her name, how to close the conversation? I'd already paused long enough with an open mouth. Just walking away would seem abrupt. "-now." I closed my mouth and took a step to the right of the girl. I was tired.

"Thessa," she said. I heard her before I saw her, scurrying up to my side. "My name's Thessa."

"Azark. Good evening—"

"No reason I can't go with ya. My shift's over. Got nowhere to go after this except home."

Is this how ladies felt when men wouldn't take a hint? No, probably not. Worst come to worst I could send her off to her parents with a guard, most women didn't have that option with overly-eager admirers until they actually committed a crime. I decided to tolerate it for the time being; she'd probably get spanked if I sent her home with the guards.

"So what's better about these chores opposed to your at-home chores?"

"Horses are prettier. They got all kinds here, ones with fluffy fur around the hooves, white ones, black ones, golden ones, ones with speckled dots on them. Some of them are weird colors, but I noticed a few of them turned back to normal- I think the sorcerer got outta range of keeping the spell up or something." She was pointing. "Oh ya, an' I get paid. Don't get paid for stuff at home." I halfheartedly glanced at the stables. They were a hot, stinking silhouette in the night, blotting out the stars behind them.

"Oh?" I said. We paused at the line in front of the town gate. They were letting revelers in and out with a quick check. The town hadn't quite locked down for the night. I dug through my sash and pulled out my identification papers.

"And the horse shoes are real neat. A lot of them have engravings on them so they leave a mark in the dirt roads. Some are just pretty, like flowers or patterns or something. Others are their names. I saw some real foreign ones, like Wishid Fatima. How cute is that? Wishid. I think that would sound good. Wishid Thessa."

"Ah, you'd have to have an Enchanted Daughter and name her after yourself, since you are clearly not Enchanted." My mind ran through the rankings as I moved my weight from one foot to the other impatiently. Mallow needed me to start searching now; why did this line have to be so long? No, don't panic. Think about something else.

"You know Thessa, Wishid is the lowest, the least amount of magic. Wishid Fatima probably only has a city apartment and country home, a nice carriage, and a small fleet of horses. She doesn't rule a city like Blythe."

"I'd be happy to be the weakest of the sorcerers if it means I don't have to clean stables ever again to earn extra coin."

"Ah, true that." I handed the guard my papers. He read them and handed them back without remarking. His face lit up when he saw Thessa.

"Evenin' Thessa," he said. "You showing this man around town?"

"Nah, I'm helping him find somethin'." She said. "He's sort of clumsy so he lost it."

I was what now?

The guard examined me.

"I trust you'll treat Thessa right Mister Azark. Make sure she gets home to her parents before it gets too much later."

"I've actually said goodbye to her several times, but she is reluctant to leave me to my own devices." I explained, exasperated. Grumbling behind us prompted us to move forward. The guard let me pass, and the noise level picked up as we found ourselves in town again. Thessa didn't mind; she just shouted to ensure she was heard.

"If you're going to find something, why are you carrying all of those potions?" Thessa asked me, dodging and darting even more now that we were in the city and people kept trying to cut between us.

"They're tracking potions."

"An' you're going to drink ALL of them to find one lil thing?" Her eyes bugged out in shock.

"They're not very potent." I thought back to my yellow-lettered sign I used for sales. Potent was right there in my own handwriting.

"Is your Master a Wishid?"

I paused. I didn't say his rank often since usually I dealt with ungifted who saw the world in simple terms of enchanted and the ungifted; further delineation was moot as far as they were concerned.

"Fushon is a Whimsight," I said. A thoroughly middle-of-the-road ranking. Enough to have Assistants, but not so powerful as to be counted among the sorcerer elite that everyone gossiped about.

"Where's that one rate? I h'aint an Assistant like you, so I don't know all of 'em," she asked. My boot stuck a little to a spilled snack on the cobblestone. I yanked my foot away, and strands of sugary confection stretched while crumbly, buttery crumbs scattered. The smell made me sick when combined with the stink of the sweat and waste from the packed city.

It was still a good ten minutes until I would reach the yard. I had to get rid of her before then, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it where she wouldn't simply come back to me. It was so crowded in the city people pressed in on me from both sides in the hot night. A small black dog sniffed at my pocket that held the orange. I swatted it, and it retreated, though it kept its large eyes on me.

I needed to get rid of Thessa. But how to do it subtly?

I listed off the ranks to give myself a chance to think uninterrupted.

"From the top... there's of course the Sublime Cosmotic Incanteror."

"He keeps the universe aligned and makes the sun shine." Thessa recited, her trademark accent not infringing on the respectful recitation. "It's said that instead of him using heat from the sun like all sorcerers, he keeps it lit with his magic, that's how powerful he is."

"See, you know the only important one, no need for me to tell you the rest." I teased. She swatted at me and I sidestepped, the bottles in my tray clinking softly against the small wooden frame. "Okay, okay, so next is the inner circle, those that orbit the Sublime Cosmotic Incanteror directly. You can tell someone is really high ranking if Cosmotic is in their title. They don't really matter to us, though, since they never leave Majikast."

"They stay where it's warm."

"Or is it warm where they stay?" I asked. "They are still unthinkably powerful. They rule over different parts of the Arcanacracy, some of it is divided by land area and some of it by responsibility, like money and war and exploration. Those sorts of agencies. Then there are the sorcerers under them, since they don't have Cosmotic in their name, they leave the capitol and are more likely to live at least some of the time in the part of Arcanacracy they oversee, but they still interact with other sorcerers more than us ungifted. They're powerful enough to have other sorcerers for Assistants."

"Wow, imagine having so much magic you have power over others with magic," Thessa said, black-nailed fingers curling with envy.

"Mm-hmm. I think they're thaucults, demicanters, magesters, and charmsters. They each do different things. The general idea is they rule over other magic users. I couldn't tell you exactly how as my master rarely deals with them directly."

I sidestepped to avoid a fairy flying blindly with a small bag of coins over their shoulder. The weight was throwing them off balance, and they veered wildly, crashing into everything. I bumped into Thessa who giggled. I righted my path. Only the road ahead mattered.

"Since they're not of the orbital set, there might actually be some of them at this party." I recovered.

"Like the guys in red with the bird faces?"

Bird faces? Oh, she must mean the pointed masks that the Arcana Enforcement Agents were wearing.

"I'm not actually sure the sorcerers that don't hold high positions in the various agencies have titles... I've never thought to ask and they've never offered..." I scratched at my chin patch, more guilt piling on in my stomach. My parents had paid so much for those tutoring lessons years ago. I used to be able to list off all of the Arcanacrastic ranks in order. I knew now I was jumbling them. But how could one hold onto info that had no impact on their day to day life? Was that even a reasonable expectation? "...then again, the Arcana Enforcement Agents must rank because they wield power over other Enchanted... It is an interesting question. Maybe..." I searched my dim memories of the charts, the neat cursive handwriting of my tutor on the crowded paper.

"Your master really keeps you in the dark. Do you need me to tell ya what a Divinis is?"

I pointed up at the manor house on the hill. "The Divinis. The first rank to really get in and rumble with the rabble." I felt confident in this one. Although I hadn't rubbed elbows with many sorcerers beside Winsor, who I had literally rubbed elbows with next to on the bench, I had spent plenty of time in Divinis ruled cities.

They had a certain gleam about them. They radiated a pride that cities without any enchanting lacked. Despite being a poor farming daughter, Thessa was relatively well fed. The Divinis that watched over her crops made sure that neither her nor her family ever suffered plague or famine. Hunger on occasion, disease for some, but the wheels of the society kept spinning.

In cities with only ungifted to protect them, animals and crops would fail all at once, leaving fields and barns empty. The hunger that ensued killed the population through fighting and desperation. Empty towns haunted only by spectral other beings, or ghostes as Thessa called them, would spring up. Damaging enough when not a single human got ill directly.

Worse than even that, an illness could sweep into town and sweep back out, carrying on its waves nearly all of the children and certainly all of their grandparents, and that's when the poison decided to be kind and leave the mothers and fathers. The twin evils that struck my home had not been that benevolent, and there had been no Divinis to protect us.

My finger tapped the potion curled safely in my sash, the slight resistance of the hidden, slender bottle setting my fluttering heart back at ease. I was safe. I wouldn't die that way.

"Rumble rabble? What?"

Thessa's words confused me at first. I inhaled, getting back into character.

"Divinis see over populations. They rule cities. They've got to be powerful enough to see to the welfare of several thousand people, keep the roads safe, keep the crops healthy, swat down any plagues that dare enter their town... and, of course..." I threw my arms out, gesturing around me.

"To throw really awesome Age Day parties!" Thessa shouted.

The sky over us exploded. I dropped to my knees, shielding Thessa with an arm. Gasps and shouts faded into laughter and applause. Thessa wriggled out of my grasp and pointed up. The night sky twisted and writhed with light, so much closer than stars. Brilliant greens and reds sparkled. Another whistle, and the sky exploded once more, this time in a blossoming flower of light.

I stared. This could be an illusion, but the smell of smoke and how the boom of them pressed against my ears... this was Zanthachaun fireworks. Imported. My heart began to race with conflict. Mallow... but these.... I hadn't seen these in at least ten years. They were rare and expensive, visceral and real. More hit the skies. Glancing over I saw Thessa's face in a wash of red from the exploding light show above, her small jaw dropping. She'd never seen one before.

Now was the time to lose her.

I stepped away quietly. At least I tried to. My foot landed on something soft, and a loud yelp barely registered between the booms of the Zanthachaun fireworks. I spun and saw that same small black dog, its eyes watery with betrayal at me stepping on its paw. It held its paw in front of its chest. Stupid thing! Why was it trailing me? It wasn't even a proper dog; it couldn't have weighed more than thirty pounds.

"Azark?" Thessa said. Her face lit up. "A puppy! Hey puppy, you want some?" She reached into her dress and dug around. She pulled out a small cloth sack, and from that extracted half of a potato, already darkening from the air. Wait, did she have that putrid thing the entire time she was mucking out the stables?

The dog wriggled its tail, and Thessa tossed it to the animal. It caught it in midair with a snap of its petite jaws. Since it was so small and pathetic it couldn't bite through the potato though, and dropped it on the ground. One paw held the potato down while the teeth nipped at it.

The Zanthachaun fireworks stopped, a small preview for a later show perhaps. They were expensive. The crowd dispersed, giving me and Thessa a few more feet of room. Thessa utilized this clear path to snatch my hand in hers. I raised it above her head and tried to shake her grip off, but she stood on her tip toes. Besides being annoying, it was intensely gross, as I knew she hadn't rinsed her hands since being on stable duty. Or shall I say doody. Ha.

"Let go Thessa."

"You were going to ditch me." She whined. "And I know there's ranks below Divinis. Azark, if you're not going to marry me, you at least need to tell me how to talk to other Assistants."

"For starters you don't grab them." I jerked my arm free, which sent Thessa spinning. She tripped over the potato entranced dog, who yelped again and scampered away. It twisted its lean body, grabbing a quarter of the shattered potato, before fleeing further. Good riddance to one frigid problem, though Thessa remained. She sprung back to her feet fast.

"Try not to be so handsome. So what's after Divinis? Which of these guys am I going to catch the eye of now that we're finally to ones I can actually meet?"

"I wouldn't get too confident. This situation in Blythe with so many in one place is very rare. Like I said, most cities only have one Divinis, so that's a lot of competition." I began to walk again. My nice boots were dirty. I hadn't cleaned them in several days with everything that had been going on. It made me chuckle to remember Bernard's reaction to their state.

Oh, right, I was supposed to give these to him when he helped me locate Mallow...

"Mysti are next. They tend to run businesses. A lot of them arrange trading networks in certain items... Zanthachaun imports, for example." I gestured at the after image hanging orange in the sky. I had dealt with Mysti the most. They ran the outlets for potion supplies or had Assistants that actually sold potions. They had had me arrested on several occasions. "They are really powerful and can maintain multiple spells for a long time like Divinis can, but from what I understand, they're sort of restless. Divinis get married and Mysti like to fall in and out of love, except... you know, instead of love, it's wielding power over large segments of the world we know."

"Hmmm... I'd say I'ma 'bout... mostly Divinis, a little bit Mysti." Thessa scrunched up her eyebrows. I bit back a laugh. She'd never even kissed anyone before. Were all girls like this? Did they decide they knew all about their love appetites without ever having a taste? More importantly, she was so much younger than Mallow, was Mallow a late bloomer? Or did Giants only become interested in love when their biology could back up the romantic daydreams?

Ugh. Mallow and boys.

Mallow!

How was I going to get rid of Thessa so I could search for Mallow uninterrupted? We were only a few blocks away now.

"Then we get smaller with the ruling area. There's Whimsight, like my master, Fushon. Whimsight rule over small towns. Enough to have a decent place, bakers, butchers, bankers, the tent poles of civilizations, but their towns are nowhere near cities and much more rural. It'd never get as crazy as this place, even on an Age Day."

"Since it's less crowded, that means they see ungifted more right?"

"Right. Out of boredom if not a sense of ownership."

"So a whimsight is what I should set my heart on."

"You do have more options," I said. "There's Shician, there's one in town right now named Lars, but he's already surrounded by pretty girls like Rorona, so I wouldn't bother chasing him." I left out how unpleasant he was.

"Ooooh, a forbidden Assistant romance?" Thessa teased.

"Nah, I like Rorona too much to put her through the misery of being romantically entangled with someone like me. I'm pure Mysti, I'd break her heart," I said. Thessa poofed her cheeks out again.

"If I were ten years older I bet I could tame you," she challenged.

"Aaaanyway—" What were they teaching farm girls these days? "Shician's cast over villages. They have lots of people working for them and comfortable wealth, but beyond the immediate boundaries of their estates they don't have much power. Both influence and magic-wise, I have it on good authority their casting range isn't long distance. That's why they can only rule over estates and not towns... While ungifted may flock to Shician's, Shician's are always the ones who have to travel when it comes to dealing with other Enchanted."

"So they're the lowest? But wait, you never mentioned Wishid."

"They're almost the lowest. Wishid have very limited sustained and ranged casting ability. They basically can only keep up one or two spells at a time. Which, of course, is more than enough for me or you, but not much in the eyes of the Enchanted World. Remember those Cosmotics at the very top who have sorcerer Assistants? Those Assistants are Wishid."

"So that Fatima lady isn't very strong? That's probably why she had a normal colored horse."

"Probably. Wishid don't generally rule over any area since their magic is so limited.

"Not all Assistants are Wishid? If you've been a Wishid all along and not told me..."

I took a step away from Thessa.

"No. A lot of us ungifted who learn to read and write end up working for sorcerers as Assistants, doing everything short of magic. Especially the middle ranks, like Divinis and Whimsight."

Her steps dragged, disappointed I wasn't a sorcerer after all, but I refused guilt. I had told her such straight out, and I wasn't a man who tended to be honest with people as a general rule.

"There's Avalons, who are ungifted who get magic temporarily. And of course, there are sorcerers that are more powerful than Wishid who have no rank at all. Like your local Winsor."

"He's gonna be a Divinis, in spite of the accident," Thessa said.

Accident?

"But he's not one yet. He doesn't actually cast over anything. So until then, he's just Enchanted One. All unranked sorcerers are Enchanted One."

"Pfft, even I knew that." Thessa said. I now knew how I was going to get rid of Thessa so I could search for Mallow. Good thing too, as I had arrived at the street where her abduction had happened.

"So, speaking of respecting magic, would you like to help me find that thing I lost?"

"Do I get a tracking potion?" she asked, rolling on her feet eagerly. I considered it but didn't know how much I'd need.

"No, but you're so fast and young I bet you don't even need it. My master had a monster-pet, a big Moon Giant."

"Oh! I think I saw one of those walkin' around the play the other day, the Proving one. I thought it was a trick. A real Moon Giant sounds dangerous. "

"She's perfectly tame, no worries." I waved my hand. "He thinks someone either got scared or got jealous and took her. So I need your help. You know what Moon Giants look like?"

"They're big and glow at night," Thessa said. "Usually seen eatin' people."

"All but that last part. Unfortunately I think she might be locked up, so if you could find anyone acting suspicious and keep them in your head until we meet again, that would be very helpful."

"Okay!" Thessa declared, bouncing from one foot to the other. I couldn't help but notice her low-quality foot wear, one of the soles flopping as she did her pacing in place. "I'll do it Azark! I'll help you and Whimsight Fushon out!"

"Thank you so much Thessa. You better get going. I'm going to cover this area."

"Giant, prepare to be found!" she shouted, getting a few weird looks. I smiled in a 'kids, right?' sort of way. Thessa took off, her patchwork dress fluttering from the force. Not the best way to read people, as any suspicious behavior would immediately be exchanged for confusion at seeing a young, smelly girl hurtling at them. That was fine. I never actually expected her to help. I wanted to get her out of the way so I could find Mallow.

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