Chapter 6
Katherine stood at her usual spot near the bar counter in the guild as she prepared to make the morning announcements. Yesterday she had given everyone a chance to take up simple jobs and they proved themselves by completing the jobs with relative ease.
"Firstly, for those of you who haven't noticed, we have two new members." Katherine said.
Damone and Alaska did their best to smile with all eyes on them.
"Secondly, I just wanted to say good job to everyone on completing their jobs yesterday." Katherine continued. "You all did great in building up public relations despite some trying their best to make enemies."
"The bar was not my fault." Merric mumbled.
"I have to accept responsibility for that. I got ahead of myself on a bad tip off." Alaska raised her hand.
"Don't beat yourself up; I'm also searching for my brother so I know that it's easy to let your emotions get the best of you." Jinx spoke.
"Well, I don't have any more announcements. I'll leave the jobs requests on the bar counter, you can decided amongst yourselves again." Katherine said before going upstairs.
Raphael and Sou went to the bar first trying to find the best job available. In a repeat of what happened yesterday they both grabbed the same request.
"So we're doing this dance again?" Sou muttered.
"You don't learn do you?" Raphael scoffed.
"Settle this like yesterday?" Sou questioned.
"It is the only fair and honourable way." Raphael replied feeling confident after winning yesterday.
"Rock, paper, scissors"
"Yes!" Sou exclaimed victorious.
"Impressive that someone like you saw through my plan." Raphael admitted defeat.
"I had a gut feeling you would throw rock again." Sou smirked.
With Sou and Raphael gone, Faith and Kori went through the jobs. The events of yesterday taught everyone that unless they wanted to get involved in the budding rivalry they better stand aside until the game was done.
"So Kori, do you want to go on a job with me today?" Faith asked.
"Only if you promise to make Kipper behave, I didn't like that prank he tried to pull." Kori replied.
"Kipper, what did I tell you about pulling pranks?" Faith shot the Exceed a look of disappointment.
"Sorry Faith, I'll behave today." Kipper crossed his paw over his heart.
At a table in the guild Alaska was sitting with Merric, apologizing for getting him in trouble with Katherine.
"Hi, do you want to go on a job together?" Jinx asked walking up to Alaska.
"What about your partner?" Alaska responded.
"He seems to have forgotten about me in his little rivalry." Jinx sighed.
"I'll be happy to go on a job with you." Alaska smiled.
"I didn't catch it yesterday but how old are you?" Jinx asked.
"I'm twenty one." Alaska answered. "I didn't lie at the bar."
"Hey, that's the same age as me." Damone spoke taking a step back into the guild. He was standing outside to have a smoke.
"NO SMOKING in the guild hall." Katherine's voice rang from upstairs.
"Sorry." Damone shouted and stepped back out.
"How does she do that?" Jinx marvelled.
"I think she may be psychic or something like that." Merric theorized.
"A word of advice Alaska, don't mention age around Katherine." Jinx whispered.
"I've heard." Alaska chuckled.
"Oh, did you get your guild mark?" Jinx asked.
"Yeah." Alaska responded showing off the gold guild mark on her right wrist, underneath her white sweatband.
"Huh, I'm just noticing this now but you have tattoos on your left hand." Merric pointed out.
"Cool, can I see?" Jinx exclaimed.
"They relate to my magic, royal magic which is like card magic." Alaska showed Jinx her hand.
She had four tattoos, one on each knuckle on her left hand representing the suits of a deck. The spade, the heart, the club, and the diamond. The spade and club were solid black, but the heart and diamond were just outlines of the shapes in black.
Jinx and Alaska then went to pick a job leaving Merric at his table.
"Ah man, did I miss it. I wanted to show my guild mark off too." Damone said walking by the table.
"You can show me." Merric sighed.
"Check it out." Damone turned around and lifted his dashiki to show the red guild mark located between his shoulder blades. "Awesome right, where's your?"
Merric pulled back his jacket sleeve to reveal the black guild mark on his right forearm.
"Since most of the others paired up to do a job, how about we do?" Damone asked.
"Can't, Katherine is going out today and someone has to hold down the fort. Apparently we had visitors yesterday when no one was around." Merric revealed.
"By visitors you're talking about the broken window." Damone looked to the window in question which was currently covered by plastic.
"Luckily the alarm spell went off and the person didn't make it inside." Merric said. "We don't know if someone was trying to break in or some kids broke it by accident."
"Well, good luck with house sitting my friend." Damone waved as he went to select a job.
"Merric, thanks for agreeing to stay here today. I still have more bills to pay and a meeting with the mayor." Katherine smiled as he rushed downstairs and out of the guild.
Once alone Merric transferred his huge collection of books from his bedroom to the guildhall and continued his reading.
XXXXX
Alaska and Jinx had taken a job that involved sorting out books at the Edelweiss Library. Specifically the sorting off books that dealt with magic. A shipment of magic books had just come in and the less than magically inclined staff members were somewhat uneasy about dealing with the books.
When Alaska and Jinx arrived at the large building they found it was filled with shelves upon shelves all containing different books. There were colourful paperbacks, tomes, dictionaries and encyclopaedias mostly.
The two were on the far end of the library and had several shelves to fill with the books and a system to follow while cataloguing the books.
"The only good thing about this place is the smell of crisp paper." Alaska said as she pulled out tissues and began dusting off the books.
"Dusting the books is not part of our job description." Jinx noted.
"Sorry, I'm an absolute clean freak." Alaska apologized.
"It's alright; I suppose cleaning the books is an implied condition." Jinx replied as she copied Alaska.
"Hey you there, I want whatever books you have on fire magic." A voice called out.
The person in question had midnight black hair tied in a fishtail that fell on her mid back. Her bangs that were swept to the side had streaks of red, blue, silver and green. The pale skinned blue eyed girl wore a blue mini jacket over a white shirt with blue frill skirt and white knee high stockings, blue boots. On her hands she had blue leather fingerless gloves.
"I'm sorry?" Jinx responded.
"I don't know how much clearer I can be. I want books on fire magic." The girl said.
"You're going to have to come back another day." Alaska said.
"I just got in from Hargeon today and have to take a train back later. I can't come back another day." The girl retorted.
"Listen up…" Jinx paused.
"Elizabeth Fiore." The girl said picking up on what Jinx was wanting.
"I'm Jinx and this is Alaska." Jinx introduced. "Listen up Eli, I was taught to be respectful to others and your tone is anything but."
"I apologize Alaska; I should be respectful to my elders." Elizabeth apologized.
"What about me?" Jinx asked.
"How old are you?" Elizabeth replied.
"15." Jinx answered.
"Well, I'm 16; you should be respectful to your elders." Elizabeth smirked.
"Let's calm down." Alaska spoke up. "No need to allow things to escalate beyond this."
"So why can't I have any books on fire magic." Elizabeth asked.
"Because I said so Eli." Jinx smirked this time.
"Actually, we're in the process of sorting out the books and cataloguing them." Alaska explained. "We're from a wizard guild and this is our job."
"How long do you think it will take you to do all this?" Elizabeth questioned.
"The entire day." Jinx said.
"If I help you we'll be able to get it done faster." Elizabeth sighed.
"This is our job, we couldn't ask you to help us." Alaska responded.
"You're not asking, I'm offering." Elizabeth corrected joining them.
"If you're trying to worm your way into the reward, too bad, it's already been paid to our guild." Jinx revealed.
"I don't want your money. I just want books on fire magic." Elizabeth retorted.
"Why are you so hung up on fire magic books?" Alaska asked.
"It's not something I share with strangers." Elizabeth shook her head.
"Do you want the books or not?" Jinx stared.
"My father was an earth and fire mage. I haven't seen him in years; I don't even know where he is. I want to learn earth and fire magic because of him, starting with fire." Elizabeth spoke.
"If we work hard and don't take many breaks, we can get everything ready and you can borrow the books you want." Alaska said.
"So what guild are you guys from? I was under the impression that Edelweiss didn't have any." Elizabeth inquired.
Thus began Alaska explaining about the Howling Winds guild, everything that she had heard from the other members since she joined.
XXXXX
The Edelweiss City museum was one of the larger building in the city, being a good tourist attraction, the Victorian style building was always kept in its best possible condition.
Damone sighed as tucked away all his cigarettes into a brown leather pouch on the waist of his pants when he saw a large no smoking sign at the entrance of the museum. Since he was taking a job at the museum, he had to abide by their rules.
Taking a walk into the museum, he noticed that the museum was highly devoted to the artistic history of Edelweiss. Which made sense since it was art that put the city on the map. Artefacts and relics that detailed the history of the city were displayed in glass cases scattered around the museum while the walls were adorned with paintings.
"Let's see my job is to meet up with the curator and transport something for her." Damone mumbled as he began looking for the curator.
The curator was an elderly brown haired woman in her fifties wearing a grey pantsuit.
"Hi, Madam Curator, I'm from Howling Winds." Damone introduced himself.
"Hmmm, let me see the request." The curator asked.
Damone produced the job request and handed it to the curator. She pulled out a pair of modified gale force glasses and examined the request.
"Thank you, this is my signature here. I have some business to take care of first, paper work to fill out. If you would wait right here, I'll be back now." The curator requested.
Damone just nodded as he wandered around the area checking out the different displays. He wandered over to a display that featured a palette and a brush. He stared at the display unsure of its importance.
As Damone stared at the display he was soon joined by another museum visitor.
She had long, frizzy, dark auburn hair and freckled cheeks. She had on a worn out brown jacket over her dark blue short sleeved, button-up shirt with blue jeans and simple looking light brown shoes.
"I don't get, what are these supposed to be?" Damone asked trying to make polite conversation.
"These are supposed to be the palette and paint brush of Edelweiss's first famous artist. Historically, there's no evidence to suggest they are but some locals believe it." She answered.
"You sure know your history." Damone complemented.
"Most sixteen year olds aren't interested in the past but I find it fascinating. I'm Julia Garus by the way." She introduced.
"Damone Kemuri, nice to meet you." Damone responded.
"I know this may be a strange question but you didn't hear about something called the Sapphire of Tormire around town?" Julia asked.
"No but then again I haven't been here that long. I'm sure Katherine would know if there's something like that around here." Damone thought out loud.
"Who's Katherine?" Julia replied.
"Katherine is my guild's current leader." Damone explained.
"I didn't know Edelweiss had a guild." Julia replied.
"The guild is new so it's not really that well known." Damone stated.
Damone then took a walk as he examined more of the art that was hanging on the walls on the other side of the room. As Julia read the plague detailing the history of the palette a museum employee was walking by with what looked a very old clay pot. The employee, not being the most nimble man in the world, managed to stumble over his own feet.
As he fell to the ground the clay pot went flying out of his hand. Julia was just close enough to try and dive and hopefully catch it. She would have to stretch her back to make the catch but as a self declared history geek, it was a duty to conserve history.
Diving and arching her back to make up for the distance she needed to cover, she managed to catch the clay pot before it smashed into the floor.
"I did it." Julia winced in pain as an old back injury sent shockwaves through her body.
"Are you alright?" The employee asked kneeling down beside her.
"Take this…" Julia handed him the clay pot while remaining on ground.
"You don't look very well." Damone said rushing over. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise what was happening till you were already on the ground."
"My back, it's just an old injury acting up." Julia explained.
"Is there a hospital nearby?" Damone asked the employee.
"I'm fine." Julia protested.
"You don't look fine." Damone responded.
"The hospital is private and expensive but free clinic is pretty busy. They only take life or death situations as emergencies." The employee explained.
"And this isn't a life or death situation." Julia mumbled.
"You can come with me to our guild infirmary." Damone said. "Well technically it was a store room that just got converted into an infirmary."
"I couldn't impose." Julia mumbled.
"Please explain to the curator that this was an emergency and that I'll be back as soon as I can to complete the job." Damone requested as he helped Julia stand.
"She saved my job and this piece of history. I'll make sure madam curator understands." The employee nodded
XXXXX
In the Howling Winds guild hall Merric placed the guild forms in front of Elizabeth along with a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." Elizabeth replied before she could start reading the papers. "Do you normally offer people coffee or is this like a bribe to get me to join?"
"No, Yes, I don't know. This really isn't my job." Merric sighed.
"What do you do here?" Elizabeth asked "When I came in it looked like you were lounging around."
"I'm part of the guild, I go out on jobs, and it just so happens that today's my day off." Merric responded defensively.
At another table in the hall Alaska, Damone and Julia sat together as Julia filled in the guild forms.
"How's your back?" Alaska asked.
"Much better thanks to you." Julia replied.
"I'm not amazing at healing abilities, but I know the basics of medical care." Alaska said.
"You really helped us. I felt so ridiculous; I brought Julia here when we had no one here who had any experience in medical care. I'm glad you finished your job early." Damone stated.
"We only finished our job early because we had Elizabeth help us. It turns out she was looking for a guild to join and she liked ours so we brought her here." Alaska explained.
"I should thank her as well then." Julia noted.
"So why did you decide to join us?" Alaska asked.
"When Damone brought me here I couldn't help but notice all the books that Merric had with him. There were some rare volumes and editions. He told me they belonged to the guild. Joining the guild will give a chance to find out more on the Sapphire of Tormire." Julia revealed.
"When I treated you earlier I could have sworn your eyes were yellow-orange but now they're pale blue." Alaska noted.
"During the day my eyes are a yellow orange, during the night my eyes are pale blue. It's because during the day I can only use solar magic and at night I can only use lunar magic." Julia revealed.
"Where do you want your guild marks?" Merric asked as he tried to figure out how to use the guild stamp.
"Left forearm, yellow orange." Julia spoke up.
"I want mine blue just above my elbow." Elizabeth said. "Alaska told me about someone named Katherine; I think we should wait for her for guild marks."
"You're probably right." Merric sighed.
Authors Note:
I apologize for the delay in updating, lost track of my days.
If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.
OC submission:
OC submissions are closed for now.