“What are you up to Irene?” Elizabeth asked. She was sitting on a very nice component chair with a carved wooden seat. She listened to the entire interaction with Alex through the open doorway and was very confused at what was really going on here.

  “I’m opening a school for young people,” Irene told her. “I’m looking for skilled crafters who due to age or disability don’t want to work full time anymore. I am hoping to hire them to teach in the school.”

  “What was that part about buying orphans?” Lizzy accused.

  “I’ve made arrangements for the oldest children at the orphanage to attend. The manager accepted my donation to help support the remaining children longer. I was surprised to find out they don’t allow any children who reach tier one to stay. They currently only have three children who are over eight, which is the minimum age for the school,” Irene explained.

  “Is Alex too old for your school?” Lizzy asked.

  “No, I am letting adults attend if they want. I am trying to determine if someone will be hurt by his absence. I ran into him on my last trip and he appears to be making a life for himself well enough and I am not certain I should interfere. It’s Valin that is trying to convince me. He thinks Alex will make a good agent.”

  “Agent?” Lizzy said, “What does that mean?”

  “Valin is from a species that has a kingdom on one of the southern continents,” Grandmother explained. “I think he was a spy master there or something. He likes to believe he still is. His presence alone will teach the kids great things about how big the world is, even if he is completely untrustworthy.” Lizzy remembered Valin as a small diminutive white smear. Her vision was not what it used to be. She thought he was wearing a strange disguise. To hear Irene refer to the small man as another species was disconcerting.

  “So what do you think?” Irene asked. “Do you want to come teach at the school?”

  “It sounds interesting,” Lizzy replied. She unwrapped one of her crippled hands from the lovely warmth of the glass mug of hot tea the young Ellen gave her. “I don’t think I would be much help,” she admitted, showing her hand to Irene. “It doesn’t sound like you are setting this school up here and I can’t travel.”

  “Oh, well I know a spell that may help with your joints,” Irene responded.

  “Like you knew one that might help with Oliver’s foot?” Lizzy asked.

  “Yes,” Irene admitted, “like that, with very similar downsides.” Lizzy remembered Oliver’s almost crazed state from the itch when his foot was growing back in, but she also remembered his joy at being able to walk again.

  “I need to talk to my granddaughter,” Lizzy said. She shifted her weight in preparation for rising to her feet.

  “I’ll send someone to fetch her,” Irene responded. “Ellen, can you go fetch Lizzy’s granddaughter.”

  “Of course,” Ellen responded. Elizabeth didn’t realize the young woman was still in the room. Ellen quizzed her on where she could find her granddaughter and what her name was.

  After the young woman stepped out, Irene refilled Lizzy’s tea. She left the room saying, “I have to go check on my other guest,” Irene said. “I’ll be back when your granddaughter gets here.”

  Lizzy thought she might have dozed a little. She came awake to the sound of Irene talking in the other room.

  “So you lied to me about your mother?” Irene said. “How can I trust someone who would lie about their own mother?”

  “She’s like my mother. I do chores for her and she sees me fed,” came young Alex’s voice, there was both bluster and panic in it.

  “Todd?” Irene asked.

  “The cook said he's a hard worker. She was relieved someone was taking an interest in him.” Todd’s next words were a bit muffled, like he was speaking with his mouth full. “She does an incredible spice rub. I swear I can barely tell this is boar meat.”

  “That isn't helpful to me,” Irene said. “I am looking for value in young Alex here, not your sandwich.”

  “I can find you something else,” Alex said. “The right crafter must have left, I’d have found them if they were here.”

  “Can you read and write?” Irene asked.

  “Write?” Alex stuttered.

  “Yes, with a stylus and vellum. Can you write a message and send it to me when you find what I am looking for?” Irene asked.

  “I can draw a picture!” Alex countered. “A flower if I found it, a rat if I didn’t. It’s better than writing. No one will know what it means and take advantage.”

  “I like her,” Valin said.

  “Please don’t let the beast man eat me,” Alex cried.

  “You’d just give him indigestion,” Irene commented. “He’s an elf, not a beast. I need someone who can read and write. Since the cook says you're a hard worker and you did find Lizzy, I’ll sponsor you for one term at the Wizard's Tower. We’ll see after that if you qualify for the job.”

  “Job?” Alex asked in an uncertain voice.

  “Of course job, boy, what do you think I’ve been talking about?” Irene countered. “Are you interested in a job?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yes,” Alex admitted, there was a touch of excitement in her voice.

  “Well you’ll have to come with us then,” Grandmother responded. A knocking sound drifted into the room.

  “Excuse me Grandmother,” Ellen said. “This is Chloe, Lizzy's granddaughter.”

  “Come in,” Irene said graciously. “Lizzy is waiting for you. Valin, take charge of Alex. See that he collects his belongings and is ready for the trip.” Chloe came charging into the room. She knelt down next to Elizabeth’s chair.

  “Grandma, are you ok?” she asked.

  “Yes,” she said with a smile. “Irene is an old friend of mine. She’s offered me a job.”

  “Are you sure you aren’t just confused?” Chloe asked.

  “No, I am sure of this,” Elizabeth said. “It will mean leaving Chicago.”

  “You’ll always have a home with us,” Chloe told the old woman. “You don’t need to walk into the wild.”

  “I’m not killing myself,” Elizabeth said with a snort. “It’s a job at a school.”

  “What school?” Chloe questioned.

  “The Wizard's Tower,” Irene said from the doorway. She stepped into the smaller back room, carrying another chair. She set it down next to Elizabeth for Chloe to use. The seat and back on this one were made out of woven rope. Irene perched herself on a small stool she sat on earlier. “We are accepting our first class of students this fall. I am looking for independent adults to teach and tend to the children outside of class.”

  “Why do they need tending outside of class?” Chloe asked.

  “It is a boarding school. The students will live there during the term. That way it isn’t affiliated with a square or settlement, but is independent of them,” Irene explained.

  “What does this job pay?” Chloe demanded.

  “Everyone gets housing, meals and transportation to the school and back,” Irene explained. “Additionally instructors are paid forty silver a term, while residence supervisors get ten.”

  “We could get a place in a square,” Chloe said with a bit of wonder in her voice. “You should take the job.” Chloe turned to look at Irene. “When are you leaving?”

  “In the morning,” Irene replied. “I’d like Lizzy to stay with us until then, to help with our preparations.”

  “I can bring your things,” Chloe told her Grandmother. Lizzy was a bit shocked at her granddaughter's quick turn around, but at the same time a whisper at the back of her mind told her she was little more than a burden these last few years.

  Irene walked Chloe out. After she left, a large warrior in red touched leathers stepped inside Lizzy's room.

  “Hi,” he said. “I’m Todd.” He sat down in the chair next to Lizzy and started rifling through the contents of a gathering bag. “I brought you some food. Try to eat as much as you can.” He handed her flatbread rolled up around meat and vegetables. Lizzy recognized the source as a cook shop not far from her granddaughter's leather shop.

  “It’s not the boar is it?” Lizzy said, accepting the food.

  “Oh, no I bought that for Valin. He complained all the way back that it didn’t have any flavor so I decided to try it myself. I need to go back and find out what spices she is using before we leave.” Lizzy took a bite of the bread, the gathering bag kept it hot. Todd picked up her glass mug and went over to a portable stove in the corner of the room to refill it with tea.

  “Drink too,” he said, before sitting back down. He pulled another wrap out of the bag and started eating it himself. “So you knew Grandmother in the old days?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she responded. “She saved my spouse’s life once, she never admitted it, but I think she healed him in the night. She probably saved it again when she got us out of Chicago. That was during the war. Things were bad then.” Todd ate the last of his wrap before pulling another one out.

  “Was that before or after Redfalls?” Todd asked.

  “Before,” Lizzy responded. “No one heard from her for a couple years after. We were all worried she’d been killed, even Greg didn’t hear from her. When next she showed up she cast a spell on Oliver and he grew a new foot. She said she was sorry it took her so long to get there, she was working on a warehouse system. I never did know what that meant.”

  “Oliver was your spouse?” Todd asked.

  “No, he was my brother,” Lizzy replied. Todd noticed Lizzy didn’t volunteer what happened to either man. He didn’t press, he wanted to befriend the woman, not traumatize her. Lizzy finished the wrap and sipped her tea.

  “Grandmother is writing a history,” Todd said. “You should give her input from your point of view. I read it and it is a little grim in places.” Lizzy thought with all the traveling Irene did, she probably knew more about the events in the structure than anyone. A lot of those events were grim.

  “Are you ready?” Irene asked from the doorway. Lizzy wondered how much of the conversation she overheard.

  “For?” Lizzy asked.

  “The spell,” Irene explained.

  “Is that what Todd is fattening me up for?” Lizzy asked.

  “Yes, I am afraid so,” Irene admitted. “Hopefully he hasn’t eaten it all himself, since you’ll probably be hungry again pretty quickly.” Lizzy set her glass mug back down on the floor. She braced herself in the chair.

  “Ok, I’m ready,” she said. Irene began to cast. It was a very complex spell that involved both hands. Lizzy noticed that Todd shifted a bit, almost like he could feel the magic.

  Pain reached through her bones and into her muscles. Somehow it felt like a healthy pain and not nearly as bad as trying to get to her feet after she sat too long. She took a deep breath, stretching her lungs. There was no catch in her throat, forcing her to swallow a cough. Instead she could feel the oxygen flood her muscles. She flexed her hand, surprised to see how straight her fingers were. She blinked and looked up at the towering figure of Todd, who was still sitting in the chair next to her. His image sharpened as the white film over the world faded away.

  “Wow,” Lizzy said. She felt the need to move. She rose to her feet with an ease she hadn’t experienced in years. She teetered just a bit as a wave of dizziness passed over her.

  “How do you feel?” Irene asked. Lizzy took a step or two forward before turning back to face Irene.

  “Like I’m twenty years younger,” Lizzy announced.

  “I don’t think you're actually younger,” Irene said. “Although Todd here thinks you might be. I think the spell just removes the diseases of age.” Lizzy looked at her old friend in a kind of awe. Irene was revealed to her with the same sharpness she saw Todd. With some startlement, Lizzy realized that for all her silver hair, Irene didn’t look old. Her smooth skin and slim fit frame looked unchanged from her appearance all those years ago when she met the woman in Northbrook. The staff in her hand was different. It wasn’t the smooth carbon fiber of the old staff. It was the same dark color, but it was covered in a fine inlay of symbols. The ends looked like they were bound in silver.

  Lizzy sat back down. Not because she felt weak, but because her world shifted. She felt the need for something solid under her. She picked up her mug and drank.

  “We’ll stay the night to make sure you can travel. I healed Asher. He was missing most of his fingers and toes. He claims he lost them in an explosion, but I think maybe it was some kind of hard core debt collection. He swears he knows blacksmithing so I'm going to give him a chance. Hopefully the itching will be past the peak by then. I don’t want to spend any more time here than that,” Irene explained.

  “Are we leaving from Ellensburg or Londontown?” Todd asked.

  “Londontown,” Irene answered. “We’ll pick up Ed on the way out.”