Harper needed to find a teacher. Someone who was experienced enough to safely navigate the wilds and was capable of tracking and harvesting creatures. Ideally, someone that would accompany her into the woods. After all, having a hunting partner would make her hunts significantly safer.

  There were two glaring issues in this plan. The first was that she needed someone she could trust. Trust to competently teach her and to not stab her in the back. Not that she thought the latter was likely. Her most valuable items were her sword and her gun. She left most of her coin back in her room.

  Harper would pick someone who hunted in an official capacity, such as the Governor’s rangers. She would make it known to the people that knew her that who she was heading off with. It would be far too risky for someone to betray her.

  She knew this, but still didn’t like it. Chances were, anyone qualified to teach her would already have integrated at least one core. Even if the betrayal wasn’t a surprise attack during a vulnerable moment, she would probably lose in a direct fight against someone who had an integrated Domain.

  She supposed she could put in a request with the Governor to be transferred to the rangers, but she liked her current job. Plus, Gavin worked with them. Judging by his cold reception towards her, he would fight against working with her.

  Even if she did, she didn’t know how often she’d be given a share of the cores and materials, likely rarely. It would be better if she could hunt with someone outside an official capacity.

  The second problem lay in her lack of leverage. She didn't have anything that an experienced hunter would want, other than her coin and maybe the egg. Actually, there’s one other thing that might work, for a few of the men, but I think I’d rather die than go that route. Nor would she want to be instructed by a person who’d take such a deal.

  She doubted her family name or potential future title would entice anyone to have her favor. That may have worked on Magnon, but here the noble houses lacked any immediate power. They would laugh her out of the room if she tried to promise future rewards.

  That left coin and the egg. She quickly dismissed the idea of trading away the egg. Even if someone did want it, it was doubtful it would pay for as much training as she needed. Most wouldn’t even want it as a pet. They would squish the creature inside as soon as it was born, only waiting that long to ensure the core within was fully developed. Besides, it held sentimental value.

  Not that the coins didn’t hold any emotional weight. The idea of handing over her entire salary made her slightly nauseous. A few months cut off from my parent’s money and I’m already a miser. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. A portion of her pay should be enough to buy someone's time and knowledge.

  The Governor’s rangers were not an overly structured group. More a loose organization. They were given equipment, training, and authority. They had two main tasks, patrolling outside the walls and hunting down threats to the colony’s people.

  Harper suspected the Governor would have offered her a ranger position, had her skillset been more inclined that way. Her specialized skillset was also what was holding her back currently. She needed to know how to hunt.

  So, she found herself in front of the ranger’s lodge. It was a two-story wooden building near one of the gates. The lower floor at least was a public area. People could hire rangers to escort them somewhere in the wilds, hunt a creature, or acquire specific creature parts. In an area as dangerous as the southern border of the colonies, their services were in high demand.

  Hiring someone to teach her to hunt was likely an unusual request, but she doubted it would raise too many eyebrows. The first floor was entirely open, with people, both in a ranger's uniform and not, lounging and drinking on various pieces of furniture. It must work as a common room for them. She looked around, spotting a counter and a request board in the far corner.

  A few of them looked up as she entered, one of them being Gavin. He frowned in irritation once he saw her, then looked back down and ignored her. She was content to do likewise. She strode purposefully to the counter.

  On her way she passed a young labuntan man. He sat at a table and chair, making arrows. He was currently carving in a notch. He was dressed in a similar, but not identical, garb to the ranger's uniform. It was a brown leather cuirass with leather leggings. He wore similarly colored cloth clothes beneath them. Over it all, a patterned green cloak draped his shoulders.

  A longbow and quiver sat near him, as if they were his. That’s curious. A labuntan prepared as if for combat. It was illegal for labuntans to carry weapons; his owner would have to have gotten special permission. She wondered what his master was thinking. It wasn’t unheard of to use slaves for war, but there was no war here, and she didn’t see any other labuntan similarly geared up. Maybe he assists his master in hunts in a combat capacity.

  As she was studying him, he looked up, meeting her gaze for a moment, then looked back down, continuing his work. His expression was almost... defiant. She must have read it wrong. Labuntans were generally a docile people. Dismissing the oddity, she continued to the counter.

  A young woman sat at the counter. She spoke as soon as Harper arrived in front of her. “Hello, and welcome to the ranger’s lodge. What’s your name and request?”

  “Hello, I’m Harper Waspen. I have what may be an unconventional request. I would like to hire someone to help me hunt and teach me how to do so effectively. I would like to be able to keep the spoils of what we kill, but if the rates are too high, I’d be amenable to negotiating that.”

  The woman thought for a moment. “That is an odd request. What kind of rate do you have in mind? Most rangers would do an escort job for a shilling a day. That doesn’t involve actively seeking out danger and teaching someone though.”

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  That much! That’s an eighth of my salary! And a quarter of what I have left after paying necessities. It sounded like it would end up being more too. Harper grimaced. “If you had to guess, how much would you say it’d be to hire someone who would be a good teacher?”

  She considered the question. “Three shillings or equivalent a day, at a minimum, and that would be if you agreed to give up most, if not all the catches. Many rangers would not think it's worth the danger to hunt with only one inexperienced and unproven person.”

  Even if she was optimistic about the price, she’d only be able to afford a day of lessons once every couple weeks, maybe a second every month. She would not be able to save up to buy a core anytime soon if hunting didn’t work out.

  Additionally, she’d most likely have to give up anything they managed to hunt down on those days, only able to get her spoils when she hunted alone. Which negated one of the main reasons she wanted to hire someone, to have a partner watching her back.

  Harper had the woman put down a request for her. If the woman’s words were accurate, she didn’t expect anyone to take it. She began the trip back as she considered her options. It was too much of a risk to hire a ranger. They cost much and there was no guarantee that she would learn the skills necessary to successfully hunt on her own.

  She contemplated approaching the rangers separately from the job board. Perhaps she could convince one of them to work with her without an exorbitant fee, after all, the prices the woman at the counter had given her weren’t definite, just her best guesses.

  She dismissed the idea almost as soon as she had it. The secretary would know the prices better than she would, and it might offend the rangers if she presumed to go around the process. If that happened, she could expect to pay an even higher fee than she might get currently. The troubled young woman began walking back, mulling over other options.

  Her next option was to approach independent hunters. She was wary of doing this for a number of reasons. Harper was not a good enough judge of character to take the risk. She supposed that she could ask her landlords who was known as trustworthy and who wasn’t, but she didn’t want to stake her life on what they knew through hearsay.

  Chances of running into such a person were low, but not impossible. There was also no guarantee that they would be competent teachers or charge less than the rangers. Harper seriously considered buying a book on hunting and trying to go it alone again.

  Suddenly, a rock struck her leg. Not enough to hurt, just to get her attention. She glanced over at a nearby alley. A cloaked figure stood just within, glancing around and waving her in. She recognized him, it was the young labuntan man from earlier.

  Harper hesitated. Why was he trying to meet her discreetly? Did his master send him? Or was he here on his own? Could it be dangerous? She dismissed that last question. They were in the middle of a city. She could stay near the alley’s entrance and yell for help if she really needed to. Besides, he was a labuntan, and seemingly a privileged one at that. Why would he attack her?

  Harper walked towards the alley, following the young man a short way in. He turned, tossing back his hood. He stood almost an inch over her, tall for a labuntan. His skin was light brown with lighter stripes. His hair was dirty blonde and his eyes each had at least one of his sun lenses lowered. She thought they were pale yellow behind the tinted protective film.

  He looked at her cautiously, then began speaking. “I overheard that you were looking for someone to teach you to hunt. You didn’t seem to find the prices agreeable.” His accent was the same as anyone’s here. He was probably born here in Vanax.

  Harper nodded. “Indeed. I was in the middle of considering less savory options. Why? Do you think your master would offer me a more generous deal?”

  The man stiffened when she mentioned his master. He spoke back tensely, obviously trying to keep his voice level. “No, this has nothing to do with my master. I’d like to make a deal.”

  This was something unusual, and possibly illegal. Labuntans were supposed to do as their masters commanded, not be off on their own making independent deals. Nevertheless, Harper was interested. It was worth hearing him out at least.

  “I’m listening.”

  “I would like to trade knowledge. I teach you to hunt. You teach me to read, write, and how to practice some proper aether techniques. We keep this quiet, of course.” He spilled it all out.

  Very illegal then. If she was caught teaching him, the consequences would be bad. At the least, she would lose her job and be unable to find work anywhere in Arboren. At the most, she would be jailed until her parents heard and bailed her out. That would be even worse than coming home empty-handed.

  For the labuntan, the consequences would be much more dire. Everything from flogging to execution was on the table. It was very unlikely that he would get to keep the equipment he was somehow allowed to have. Chances were, he’d spend the rest of his days doing something extremely undesirable, even for a slave. Working in dangerous parts of a mine, or acting as creature bait, were the most likely.

  “Why would you come to me? How do you know I won’t immediately go find and tell your master?” Perhaps not the most prudent question at the moment, but she needed to know.

  After a pause, he answered. “When I looked up and saw you staring at me, I saw a different reaction than most have. Many glare at me, some will look at me like a rabid dog about to bite them; there are even the rare few that pull a weapon and begin to attack me on sight. I have to pull out my permission papers constantly.

  “For those that aren't satisfied, I must take them to my master. He would have stripped me of my equipment to get rid of the nuisance long ago if it wasn’t so profitable for him. Those that don’t question me as soon as they see me, just frown in disapproval. A few like you just look at me in curiosity. Combined with your need of something that I could actually offer, I decided to take a chance.”

  She asked the next obvious question. “Why? What could you gain from learning literacy and Domain techniques? From what I’ve seen they treat your people fairly well here. Do you want to stage another slave rebellion? I will not be supporting such a conflict.”

  He shook his head quickly. “No, I won’t be doing anything like that. I swear. I won’t even spread the knowledge around, maybe to my brother at the least.”

  “Then why?”

  He sighed. “Because I hate being told I can’t. There’s no greater reason than that. I would love to be free of course, but that’s impossible.” He walked past her and peered out of the alley. “No more time for questions. I have to be back soon. Do we have a deal or not? We can hammer out details next time.”

  Harper weighed the risk. He would have no motive to turn her in. It would be mutual destruction, and he was taking the greater risk by far. “We have a deal. I work as a courier, so I can’t meet until next Frostday. I’ll have the next two days available as well. I presume you will have longer to meet than three minutes next time?”

  He turned back, his shoulders lowering in relief. I didn’t realize how tense he was. “That’s fine. I should be able to do that if I take care of some things beforehand. My circumstances allow me certain freedoms most others don’t have. Come to the forest west of the south gate just before sunrise. I’ll keep an eye out for you and meet up as soon as you come in. Wait here for a little bit, best not be seen leaving together.”

  Just before leaving, he paused. “Oh, yeah. My name’s Vayuhn. Nice to meet you Harper.” Then he was gone.