Danielle sat down and opened her Planner, muttering quietly to the System, and recorded all the instructions, tips, and suggestions that Ranger Flo had given her. Both Rangers were busy activating their Skills rapid-fire to close all Akari and Sadie’s wounds, but Flo still managed to toss out a few reminders that she wanted Danielle to put in her notes. She also went over to watch Ranger Michael take out Sadie’s stitches, and he gave her some tips about how best to use the special scissors for the task, before sterilizing them and putting them back in the kit for her.

  Danielle zipped up the kit, added a few more notes to her Planner document, then closed Planner and started trying to fit the kit into one of the bags she was carrying. Considering the way she was loaded down, it had to be one of the enhanced bags. She looked up in the middle of rearranging the bag to see Ranger Flo staring at her oddly.

  “Am I doing something else wrong?” she asked plaintively.

  “What? No, no, I was just wondering – is that a boti bag already?” Ranger Flo asked.

  “Oh, um, yeah. Just a level 1 enhancement though, I don’t know how you even noticed it,” Danielle said.

  “I saw you put something of the full outside width in, then push it to the side without making the side bulge,” Ranger Flo explained. “Let me do one last diagnostic on you before we pack up, and then I have a little business to bring up again.”

  “Oh, did the third healer decide to buy a Combat Medic token?” Danielle asked, suppressing her resistance Trait to let Ranger Flo use her Skill.

  “No – hm. One more Skill now, and then I’m done,” Ranger Flo said. “Thank you for holding that back. Anyway, Ranger Hart already earned Combat Medic the hard way, it turns out, back in his own Sending days. However, our current relationship with the state’s Skill Sharers is – how do I put this? Historically, Sent Skill Sharers tend to be ridiculously tough customers with an appreciation for what the Rangers do. For a very long time, Firmitatem’s most senior Skill Sharer was one of the Old Lions, who helped found the Rangers, so we had a pretty friendly relationship there.

  “You have to keep in mind, though, Skill Sharers are in high demand the world over, so we have a fair number out working in embassies and so on, and in the home range, there’s an order of seniority. The two most senior remaining after the Old Lions died a decade ago are not former Sent, but both of them were forced to spend time Outside while leveling. That ended up with them living in a town populated primarily by retired Rangers and Returned citizens, and they didn’t make a good impression on anyone but each other – they overlapped by about five years.”

  “Oh, they were unpopular, so now they don’t like the Rangers,” Danielle predicted.

  “Exactly,” Ranger Flo agreed. “They aren’t usually aggressive about it, but we have a tendency to be on the bottom of priority lists and so on. Now, however, they’ve heard that there’s a new Skill Sharer out here, and they’re taking the opportunity to stick it to us using a strict interpretation of the rules about Rangers seeking services from the Sent when possible. They’ve cancelled our already under-prioritized requests for certain Skills, including Combat Medic, and they’re threatening to do more. They’re also being very intrusive and insistent about demanding that we not break any other rules, such as the rules against unnecessary interaction with Sent, and the rules that say Skill Sharers have to pay for new Skill tokens the same as anyone else.”

  “So, wait, they cancelled several Skills on you, but if I don’t have those Skills, I can’t replace your token supply,” Danielle said. “Then they’re saying if you want me to get the Skills from a token so I can make the tokens you need me to, you have to charge me for it?”

  “That’s the gist of it, yes,” Ranger Flo said.

  “That doesn’t sound completely unfair,” Heather said. “I mean, you’ll have those Skills forever and be able to use them and share them with other people.”

  “Exactly. There are certain Skills these two have never picked up, even after fifty years; they just always do them using an assistant who has the Skills. That’s a level 8 thing though; it’ll be a couple years before you can do that, so for now, we have to sell you the Skill if we want you to be able to sell it back to us,” Ranger Flo explained. “They’ve hinted that they might back off on this nasty bit of politics if we gave them a few Skill tokens they want and haven’t been able to get, but there are reasons why they haven’t been able to get them – and not all of those reasons are under our control, either.”

  “If this is a lead-in to selling me a Skill, I need to point out that the mana you paid me for Combat Medic earlier is already spoken for. My mana-to-level number for my Class is already below 400, and we talked about my base level last time. I need a second Class, and I need that defensive Skill. I also need some for the catalog, and that doesn’t leave much to buy tokens with,” Danielle warned.

  “If the current set of rumors crystalizes into actual plans, we’ll be discussing a new token or two with you and the Sending Authority representative on Saturday,” Ranger Flo said. “For right now, though, there’s one token you definitely can make, that we want, and we already have an official ruling from Ranger Command about how to fit that in with the ‘no unnecessary contact’ rule. The deal is, for every legitimate contact we make, each Ranger present is authorized to request one token using official funds.”

  “We’re talking about Combat Medic again now, right?” Danielle asked.

  “Correct. We’re paying full price now – five times the manifestation price for a tier 2 skill, which is 750 mana, or goods of equivalent value,” Ranger Flo confirmed.

  “I’m having trouble imagining what goods I’d find more valuable than 750 mana right now,” Danielle said. “I mean, that I could receive without announcing my weird situation to the entire camp, which I’m still not really OK with.”

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  “Well, consider this,” Ranger Flo said, pulling something out of a pocket. It looked like a draw-string pouch. The material was a bit stiff, but didn’t quite look like leather. It was big enough to hold two mana tokens, she thought, and it definitely had something inside already. “This is a volume enhanced token purse,” the Ranger explained. “It has a tier 7, level 7 enhancement that makes its usable inside volume eight times its original volume. It cost 49 mana just to activate the Skill, and more to add the enhancement that lets you call a specific item inside to your fingertips, and the one that binds the item to its legal owner. Right now, it belongs to the Rangers, and I’m authorized to use it and to transfer ownership (you need a Skill for that, but it’s the same one we all learn for interacting with the Room wards). It’s made entirely out of sturdy System materials to resist wear and tear, and contains two hidden enhancement stones. It’s perfect for a young Sent who needs to keep her unusual wealth of large mana tokens discreet.”

  “Hm. I do see how it might be useful, but do you really think it’s more useful than five tier 2 skills?” Danielle asked.

  “You don’t have to choose; Michael and I are both purchasing Combat Medic tokens on behalf of the Rangers today. You can have the pouch and 750 mana in 150-point tokens,” Ranger Flo said temptingly.

  “I hate to say it, but 750 mana probably isn’t an unreasonable price,” Cassy said, unexpectedly backing up the Ranger. “It’s probably a three-fold return, like with an ordinary mana token.”

  “I’m not arguing that it’s an unfair price,” Danielle said, “I’m arguing that I might have things that are more important to spend mana on right now. You know, like a local anesthetic Skill I just promised to consider a priority, and probably the Guided Suture one, and just maybe the enhancement Skill for that light – wait. Does one of you have the light pendant?”

  “Don’t panic, it’s in your things,” Cassy said. “It went out at about 4am, by the way.”

  “Wait, I’m confused – did you say you have Create Light Source?” Ranger Flo asked.

  “Maybe? I’ll find out on Thursday, presumably,” Danielle said. “You can see why I’m considering that maybe more Skills are more exciting than a, no offense, a luxury coin purse.”

  “Buy it, Danielle,” Akari said. “Tom was reasonably worried about carrying around 25 mana in town; if you’re going to be carrying over a thousand on Thursday, then they’re right, you need something to prevent unwelcome notice and theft. That’s what having the item ‘bound’ does, right?”

  “Correct. This purse won’t release its contents to anyone but its legal owner, and will return to your person or a place you designate if it is moved too far away from you. In short, it can’t be stolen, and nothing can be stolen out of it,” Ranger Flo asserted.

  “What if they decide to cut it open from the bottom?” Danielle asked dryly.

  “Then they’ll be dulling their knife on the metallic middle layer,” Ranger Flo said. “No one pays for a purse this expensive if it can be destroyed with a pair of scissors.”

  “Oh. Right, it’s rich people stuff,” Danielle said.

  “It’s survivor stuff,” Akari countered. “It keeps someone from taking away your Skill money, hopefully even from catching on you have it.”

  “All right, fine, you convinced me. Is the 750 for the other token already inside?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes. It’s in 150 point tokens, and of course you need two of them up front,” Ranger Flo said, reaching into the pouch with two fingers and pulling out two mana tokens. She handed them to Danielle.

  “All right, here we go then,” Danielle said, and held up each token in one hand, one at a time. Each one disappeared and was replaced with a Skill token. She held them up, label side towards Ranger Flo.

  “Very good. By the authority invested in me by Firmitatem Ranger Command, I officially declare this pouch and its current contents sold to Danielle Falconer, Exile of Firmitatem, to be her legal property hereafter; the Rangers of Firmitatem transfer and relinquish all rights of ownership and use to Medic Falconer.”

  Danielle barely got her Mana Deflector pulled into low-resistance mode in time for the Skill to take hold, but when Ranger Flo finished her official speech, she felt the mana construct hit and sink into her. “That felt weird,” she said.

  “It’s weird that you can feel it,” Ranger Michael said. “Not in a bad way, I’m just saying it’s pretty unusual.”

  “Ah. Is there anything specific I need to do now?” Danielle asked, handing over the tokens.

  Ranger Flo put the pouch in her hand. “If you put your finger and thumb inside and whisper ‘Instructions Card’ you’ll get all the details, but no, you don’t have to do it now,” she said.

  “OK. Well, as always, I learned a lot talking to you, but if we’re done here, I kind of still want to go back to our room and collapse,” Danielle said.

  “My esteemed partner needs to do a final check on Miss Sadie here, and pass out some clothes and replacement supplies,” Ranger Michael reminded them.

  “Oh, right,” Ranger Flo said, and started pulling packages out of her own boti bag. Danielle got her bags back on and settled while the Rangers passed out replacement uniform shirts and first aid supplies, and used one or two last Skills on Sadie. It was still only a few minutes before the Rangers were back at their strange bicycles, getting ready to return to base. “Goodbye for now, girls,” Ranger Flo said. “Do us all a favor and stay safe, all right? We don’t mind the occasional excuse to do business with the medic, but we prefer it when you’re fellow Healers and not patients!”

  “We also prefer less patients, to be honest,” Ranger Michael said. “That doesn’t seem to be very – “

  He paused as the radio crackled to life. “Hello?” a voice said. “Um, I need help, I think. Are there any Rangers there?”

  “This is Layer 1 Ranger Base, please give your name and the nature of your emergency,” another voice came on the radio. It sounded like the same Ranger who had initially answered Cassy.

  “I, um, fell out of a tree, and my leg really hurts and I can’t wiggle my toes,” the caller said.

  “Sounds like a possible broken bone. What’s your name, over?” the Ranger dispatcher said.

  “Oh, uh, Don. I’m between the Rooms and the river, I’m not sure how to give better directions,” the caller replied.

  “Sounds like we may as well head toward the Rooms,” Ranger Michael said. “You got enough in you for a broken leg, Flo?”

  “As long as it’s not broken in too many places, and you can cast the alignment,” Ranger Flo said. “Let’s get moving.”

  “Was the end of your sentence going to be, ‘realistic’ by chance?” Cassy asked.

  Ranger Michael laughed as he raised his kick stand. “Pretty much. Until next time!” and with a wave the two Rangers took off.

  “We should get moving too,” Danielle said.

  “We should eat something, and then get moving,” Sadie countered. “It’s lunch time.”

  “We should rebalance the bags, too,” Akari said. “I can carry stuff normally now.”

  “Carry the berries, then, and we can eat while we walk,” Danielle said.

  “What’s the hurry?” Sadie asked.

  “I’m exhausted and overwhelmed and want a bed to hide under!” Danielle exclaimed.

  “Yours has a bunch of bamboo under it,” Sadie said.

  “I was joking. I’ll settle for a soft mattress to read on and nothing dangerous happening the rest of the day,” Danielle said. “Also, I just want to say thank you for that, your pain tolerance is unbelievable.”

  “Mm. Just promise me you’ll make it so I never, ever, ever have to do that again,” Sadie said seriously.

  “I promise, if it is within my power, I will never let that happen again,” Danielle said.

  “Good. Um, except to actually save my life,” Sadie replied.

  “That would be a situation where it was not in my power to prevent it,” Danielle agreed.

  “OK, good, we’re on the same page.” Sadie nodded and reached into the salmonberry bag. “This is purified now, let’s go,” she said.

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