Danielle left her roommates laughing and walked around the end of the building in the actual walkway for once. A board had been put across the stairs to make a steep ramp, and a Ranger was helping a delivery man get a luggage cart down it. It was a different pair than the ones who had delivered the care packages to her room. On the ground in front of the building, there were a few Rangers standing around a pile of care package duffels near the stairs. They stood casually, but with a certain alertness that told Danielle they were guards, not just bored staff hanging around the closest excuse for action.

  She was tempted to climb the retaining wall after all, but the luggage cart made it to flat ground and moved towards her, so she slipped by and jogged up the stairs (well, the ramp) and across the pavement towards the gap between buildings one and five. On the road, the Rangers had set up a pair of tents, possibly repurposed from the voting booths now that the voting was over. There seemed to be four longish tables set up, one in front of each set of tent flaps – which was to say, two facing Danielle, and two almost hidden on the other side of the tents. The one closest to building five was manned by a pair of women in green Inside-style uniforms, like the people that had manned the busses, the equipment tables, and the lines for the Dome on Decision Day. The table closest to building one was manned by Rangers Flo and Miriam, who both waved to her as she paused between the buildings. Two girls stood in line in front of the green-uniformed women.

  “Just the person I was hoping to see,” Ranger Flo said when Danielle was close enough for normal conversation. “Could I trouble you to step around here into the tent?”

  “I dunno,” Danielle said faux-seriously, walking around the end of the table. From that vantage, she could see male rangers facing the boys’ buildings, one of them talking to a boy – in fact, to Rillian, she thought. “These tents seem to come with trouble today!”

  “How so?” Ranger Flo asked, pausing in the entrance.

  Danielle kept coming, and they stepped inside. “I got nominated for council, Ranger Anna wouldn’t let me decline, and I won the election,” she explained. A wash of mana rolled over her as the tent flaps closed. “Was that a privacy Skill?”

  Ranger Flo laughed. “Well congratulations to your building, then, they got a good representative,” she said. “And yes, a privacy Skill, or to be more precise, a privacy enhancement this time; not as strong as having one of my appropriately Skilled colleagues do it, but strong enough. SO! I need you to answer me a question with complete honesty now; you’re settling a bet, and the stakes are awkwardly high.”

  “That sounds, um, injudicious,” Danielle said.

  “No comment. The 3,000 mana question is: Given four hours to manage your output, could you have at least 35 mana available for token making today?” Ranger Flo asked seriously.

  “Oh, uh, yeah? I had to use some on shield Skills earlier, but I’m kind of saving up for – well, it was going to be tokens until I realized that lots of token-buying Rangers were going to be in town today, so I guess if you don’t use it all up, it’ll be an enhancement tomorrow. Speaking of which, as a Sent enhancer, I’d like to complain about the mass-gifting of volume-enhanced bags, and inclusion of same into the catalog. How am I supposed to practice up my Skill if nobody wants what I’ve got because you just gave them something better?” Danielle asked.

  Ranger Flo grimaced. “An entirely legitimate complaint; that’s why we have rules about letting Sent do whatever they can do for themselves. Not to say, forcing them to do whatever they can do for themselves,” she added.

  “Uh-huh. When it’s healing, or finding food, or making laws for our sorry excuse for a town, but apparently not when it’s enhancing?” Danielle said.

  “They’re breaking the rules, just like they did when they Sent you all in the first place,” Ranger Flo said. “For what it’s worth, though? I suspect you’ll figure out a way to practice regardless.”

  Danielle sighed. “Well yeah, but it’s just going to end up with a stack of enhanced bags nobody wants, all shoved under my bed taking up space. Anyway, I doubt this is what you Now Here This’d me for. What’s the urgent business?”

  “Ah, well. Like I said, we have a bit of a bet on with that Inside Skill Sharer who’s been trying to abuse the fact of your existence as a Sent, and those rules that are getting selectively broken, to get her hands on a token we really, really don’t want to give her,” Ranger Flo said. “The Sending Authority has been fighting her over this for the entire last decade, and at this point, they’re down to their literal last copy of the token. They officially need fifteen as of today, or they’ll be breaking even more rules. The argument our obstructionist friend advanced was that the Rangers officially, per the rule books, have first call on a Sent Skill Sharer, so the SA couldn’t make you do it (even if you could buy the token), because we’re short of certain tokens too, and the SA isn’t allowed to interfere with our business relationship to you.”

  “That sounds annoying,” Danielle said cautiously.

  “Uh-huh. Michael was in the meeting, though, and he decided to make a bet. You see, there’s also a rule saying that the Rangers cannot demand that a Sent Skill Sharer spend more mana on the service’s behalf in any given day than the standard mana pool size for their level. You might be wondering how it would be possible to do that anyway – “

  “Start with a full pool in the morning, empty it, recover mana all day, empty it again,” Danielle said. “Eat Ranger Gretel’s amazing cheese. Use mana Skills. What was the bet, already?”

  Ranger Flo grinned. “He bet that you had access to more than the 20 pool mana that rule allows us to ask you for, probably by reason of already having a mana Skill, and that if they played their cards right the SA (who doesn’t have that rule) could let us buy as many tokens as we’re allowed to right now, and still get the tokens they need afterward. If you can, then you get to do so, you get to buy the token required for the task, and you get the payment. If you can’t, then she gets all those things.”

  “Huh. She’s really going to hate me by the time I get Inside, isn’t she?” Danielle asked.

  “Probably, though not for any legitimate reason,” Ranger Flo said tartly. “It’s her own fault for trying to use you as a bludgeon against the government, the Rangers, and the SA. How long will you need after making tokens for us, to recover the extra fifteen-or-more mana?”

  “Um, none? I think? Just a second.” Danielle pulled up her Interface and checked her mana. “Yeah, I’m good,” she said. “I must be losing track of time, I’ve actually got a point more than I thought I did. I can do yours and then just go do theirs.”

  Ranger Flo’s grin returned. “You’re a jewel. Let me just go give Bea a heads up, then we’ll talk about what the Rangers want for our twenty.” She walked over to the tent entrance and leaned out of the flap; Danielle could feel the enhancement ripple around her. “Hey Bea! Plan 35 is a go!”

  One of the women from the other table turned towards the tent in surprise. “Really? That’s great, but how? Or more immediately relevant, when?”

  “In about ten minutes,” Ranger Flo said gloatingly.

  “You’re kidding. That fast?” the woman – Bea? – said with a combination of shock and excitement. “That’s wonderful! I’ll be right in, as soon as I’m done with this question.”

  Ranger Flo let the tent flap fall shut again, ending the disturbance in the enhancement. She moved to the side and set up a folding table and two chairs that had been leaning against a pile of boxes – not wooden crates for once, but normal cardboard boxes. “Have a seat,” she said, gesturing to the chairs, then sat down on the far side of the table. Danielle sat in the other chair, and Ranger Flo pulled out a sturdier box from one of the cardboard boxes next to her – this one was metal, and not cheaply made.

  The Ranger had to use the same “by the authority vested in me” speech and Skill that they used to open unassigned rooms, to get the box open, but once she had, it was obvious why: it was a strong-box full of mana tokens. Danielle could see rows of 100s, 150s, and even 300s.

  “All right, let’s talk business,” Ranger Flo said. “We definitely want ten Combat Medic tokens. Leave aside the Rangers from other stations and layers who could use them, we want to be able to sell them to established Healers and Medics in other Sending groups at the fairs. The state’s Skill Sharers are allowed to come to the fairs too, but their service has gotten a bit spotty lately, and anyway, most of them won’t sell waiting-list Skills to Sent. Which is kind of fair, from a given perspective. Anyway, ten of those obviously comes to 7500 mana.”

  Ranger Flo started laying out ten sets of tokens – a 150 and two 300s at each spot. While she worked, she said, “For the other ten, in light of the upcoming fair, we’re interested in enhancement Skills. I know you already have Lesser Expand Volume, because I saw your bag,” she said, nodding towards Danielle’s satchel. It was the bag with the ‘wild’ enhancement that kept its appearance the same, rather than the one with the volume enhancement, but Danielle didn’t correct her. “Last time we talked, though, there was some confusion about whether or not you had Create Light Source?”

  “I have confirmed that it’s unlocked,” Danielle said, “but I haven’t advanced it yet. I prioritized Flash Shield, Local Anesthetic, Purify Food, and a mana Trait.”

  “Ooh. Trait? That explains a few things. Did you pick a new Class?” Ranger Flo asked.

  Danielle chuckled. “You know how you all call me Medic Falconer all the time?” she asked.

  “Yes? Oh! Are you a classed Medic now?” the Ranger asked excitedly.

  “Classed Field Medic, technically, but yes,” Danielle said with a grin. “I like being Medic Falconer, and I think everyone else should call me that, too! Anyway, I have Clear Airway and Field Triage now, and when I have mana for it,” she gestured to the lines of tokens on the table, “I’m thinking of taking Craft Clear Airway – are you familiar with that one?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Ranger Flo gave an impressed whistle, so presumably she was. “What is it with you and low-incidence, high-value Skills?” she asked rhetorically. “We’ll have to have a talk about that one next time I’m around. For today, though, I’m going to stick to the official plan and ask you to actually take Create Light Source with the mana you earn from Combat Medic tokens.”

  “What, and make a quick run to my local Access Point while you wait?” Danielle joked.

  “We’ll be taking you to the Dome, actually,” Ranger Flo said.

  “W-what? Is that allowed?” Danielle asked, sitting up straighter in shock.

  Ranger Flo shrugged. “It’s allowed when it’s for official business, and you’re properly escorted. The Sending Authority would have to take you even if we didn’t – there’s no way you’ve unlocked the Skill they need you to copy for them.”

  “People keep thinking there’s no way for me to have the things I do have,” Danielle said ironically. “You might be right, but maybe let’s reserve judgement until I hear what they actually want.”

  Ranger Flo laughed. “Well, that’s not for me to say, but do you agree to the proposition we’re making? We’ll buy 10 copies of Combat Medic, then we’ll take you to the dome, you’ll take Create Light Source from your unlocked Skills list and the Sending Authority’s requested Skill from their token, then you’ll sell us ten copies of Create Light Source and the SA fifteen copies (or as many as you’re able and they’re interested in) of the other Skill.”

  “Sure. Um, I just don’t want to be seen walking out of town between a Ranger and an SA person, so I’ll go back past my room, take a quick run, and meet you at the Dome Road, OK?”

  “Fine with me,” Ranger Flo said. “It’ll still be faster than waiting for you to regenerate mana with a Skill would’ve been!”

  “Agreed then. Shall I start on the Combat Medic tokens?”

  “One moment. We still need to talk payment,” Ranger Flo said.

  “You literally have the mana right there,” Danielle replied in confusion.

  Ranger Flo nodded. “We do, and that’s important; we can’t demand you work for other remuneration, so we need to prove that we’re able to pay in mana up front. However, we’d rather not pay in mana, and like last time, I think we might be able to offer you some other forms of payment. You might think of it as rapid-turnaround shopping instead, if you like. You’re about to earn 6,000 mana from Combat Medic alone, and another 200 each from the tier 1 tokens.”

  “Only 200? I mean, that’s a ton of mana, but if the need is that urgent, surely it should be a fivefold cost token, rather than a threefold kind, right?”

  “You are entirely correct – feel free to point that out to Bea. She’s not allowed to volunteer for it, but if she actually balks, I encourage you to also bring up your complaint about the boti bags in the catalog,” Ranger Flo said, her eyes dancing with amusement.

  “And the Create Light Source?” Danielle asked.

  “High value, but not rare,” Ranger Flo said. “Any Sent that unlocks any other enhancing Skill will almost certainly get Create Light Source as well – eventually. Long winter nights and a shortage of batteries will do that to a person. We’re just trying to speed things up for newer Sent, and those who haven’t unlocked other enhancement Skills yet.”

  “So, my own cohort – in other words, you’re asking me to help create my own competition,” Danielle bargained. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure having more than one person with this Skill in town will be a good thing come winter, but you’re also denying me the ability to control who gets that power – a source of mana tokens from sales, with all the System power that eventually implies, and also a source of influence. I still think that’s worth at least a fourfold return instead of threefold.”

  “Hmm. Is it really in the best interests of the Rangers or even the town here to let you control access to critical Skills like that?” Ranger Flo asked.

  “Have you heard what happened when I gave my nomination speech?” Danielle asked. “Wolf Pack guys and some of the more extreme Systemists are literally, provably, trying to kill me. I might need to provide mana to the people that help protect me in fights to get – I dunno, shield Skills probably. Something. Do you have another good defensive Skill to recommend, by the way?”

  Ranger Flo leaned back. “Hostility Sense, which you’ll unlock soon enough if it’s really that bad,” she said.

  “Recently got that one as a Career Skill from Survivor,” Danielle said. “What else?”

  “What caused the mana burst?” the Ranger asked. “Was it that boy that you said was coming after you?”

  “No, he’s still alive and after me. It was a deer,” Danielle said. “We were doing a group-hunt thing.”

  “Ah. Well, that’s, hmm. That’s good and bad; you really are worried about hostile attack, huh? Hm. Purify Food is good for poison risks, and you’ve already got a semi-passive shield. OK, how about See System Info? That’s good for spotting people who would rather you not know that they’re with a hostile org, for example, and unless they’re under a stealth Skill, you can sometimes see their System tags before you can see them,” Ranger Flo said. “Body Shield would also be good, but the natural unlock method is dangerous.”

  “Is it a token you can sell me?” Danielle asked. “Like, just as a token, not necessarily for duplicating?”

  “In theory, yes; in practice, it would require some finagling. I think for today, I’ll just have to make a note that it’s something you’re interested in, and we’ll offer it next time.”

  Danielle laughed. “Man, I never imagined I’d ever be in a position where the Rangers – any government agency, really! – would be writing down my wish list so they could better tempt me into doing business with them.”

  Ranger Flo grinned at her. “Being Sent four years early may not exactly be a privilege, but it’s got some perks, huh?”

  Danielle’s smile dimmed. “Kind of a lot of them, for me, but I’m pretty unusual, aren’t I?”

  Ranger Flo let her own smile fade. “You really are, and I’m glad you realize that. You don’t know how glad I am that you are thinking about others around you, even in the midst of worrying about your own safety. Still, though, we do need to come to an agreement regarding this 6000 mana here. The fewer tokens I have to actually give away, the happier my superiors will be. Anything in the catalog is on the table, of course; early room claims are also possible, at the standard rate of 400 mana each.”

  “Oh, right, we were thinking about that – can a room be rented or claimed or whatever it’s called by a System Org instead of one to four individuals?” Danielle asked.

  “It can, but we still have to set the individuals that can open it on behalf of the Org, so it’s usually more nuisance than it’s worth,” Ranger Flo said.

  “Ah. The org leadership can’t just assign that?” Danielle said. “Like how someone assigns you Rangers authority to open the doors of unclaimed rooms?”

  “In theory, yes, exactly like that; but it requires a bunch of Skills,” Ranger Flo said dismissively.

  “Healer Flo,” Danielle said exasperatedly, before she could move on. “Have you noticed how many Skills I pick up? Don’t just go ‘oh no, more than one Skill is involved, it’s impossible.’ Tell me what I actually need!”

  “For starters, a skill called Read System Tags, which – “

  “Is in the logistics Skill tree; I have it unlocked,” Danielle said.

  “OK, then something from the leadership tree called Skill: Deputize, which you might unlock in a few weeks – ”

  “Hold a moment,” Danielle said, raising a hand and flicking her eyes through her Interface. “I have it unlocked.”

  “Deputize?!” Ranger Flo asked. “It’s a tier 2 leadership Skill! You just got elected today!”

  “It’s in a Skill tree I unlocked at the Access Point on Thursday. I already lead a hunting party, you know? I didn’t just start being a leader for the first time today, and you know full well I’ve been level 2 a while.”

  “Uh, right. OK. So then you need Tier 1 Skill: Alter Tag, which unlocks if you do enough adding and removing tags with Skill: Tag Object; but if you have Read System Tags unlocked, you definitely have Tag Object,” Ranger Flo said.

  “True. Is Alter Tags the one that you guys are using when you assign rooms and so on?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes and no; technically that’s Transmit Skill. You’ll unlock that the moment you advance Deputize, and Deputize also allows you to imbue Transmit Skill into another member of a System org in which you have a leadership position. It doesn’t last very long, but by practicing giving them an imbuement and a Skill to transmit with it, they can unlock it in a week of training,” Ranger Flo said.

  “Wait, back up. Imbue? What’s Imbue in this context?”

  “It’s like giving them the Skill but only temporarily. In some ways it’s more like enhancing than anything; you have to include the mana they’ll use to activate the Skill you’re imbuing,” Ranger Flo explained. “You just give them the pattern to hold and trigger.”

  “And that’s not the obvious natural unlock method for Skill Sharer??” Danielle asked. It seemed too obvious for the rest of the world to just miss, and yet, it seemed so obvious it was hard to believe the connection wasn’t there.

  Ranger Flo sighed. “If only. No, alas, it does not unlock Skill Sharer. Use specific imbuement Skills enough, and you might unlock a more general imbuing Skill; but not Skill Sharer, despite how closely related they seem.”

  Danielle sighed. “I know if something seems obvious, that probably means it’s already been tried, I just can’t figure out what I’ve done that’s so out of the ordinary. By the way, is Trait Sharer a thing?”

  Ranger Flo snorted. “According to legend, sure. It’s not a thing we actually deal with in the real world, though, more’s the pity.”

  “I guess I’ll have to make do with sharing the right Skills to push for the Trait unlocks, then,” Danielle said. “I’m thinking of giving trusted Healers low-cost access to Skill: Regen Burst, to encourage them to unlock mana Traits. Do you think it’ll work?”

  Rainger Flo raised her eyebrows at Danielle. “Yes,” she said. “Not to mention that it’s a darn useful Skill for a Healer, and obnoxious to unlock.”

  “Good to hear! The part about my plan being workable, I mean. OK. Getting back to the room thing; if I personally take Read System Tag, Tag Object, and Deputize, then I can relatively easily unlock the Skills I need to manage my org’s access to a room, right?”

  “Correct. Actually, just Deputize will allow you to authorize someone to open a room once,” Ranger Flo said. “And just Alter Tag will allow you to add them to the room yourself, as long as you’re in a System-Recognized leadership position with the org in question.”

  “Excellent. I’m going to want one under the names of myself and one of my roommates, for expanding into this fall; another in the name of my org, next door to another member’s room so hopefully people will mix up his with ours; another one or two in my name alone, for hidey holes if this assassination thing gets big; one to hold on behalf of the Shade Tree Society, again for use in fall when it’s not so obvious I’m handling crazy volumes of mana. Oh! And I’d like to pay the Rangers to handle collecting community donations for the Clinic Rooms if we can get the Healer org that’s meant to run them up and going in time for the catalog un-fair; is that a thing I can request?”

  “I’ll have to check on that while you’re in the Dome, but at a guess I’d say we could value that service at 300 mana or so, since it’s also an objectively good cause,” Ranger Flo said.

  “Hm. Could you get me a pile of school satchels to discreetly practice mana enhancements on?” Danielle asked.

  “You’ll have to ask the Sending Authority for those, but they’ll be delighted to offer payment in goods too, as I understand it,” Ranger Flo said.

  “Tell you what,” Danielle said. “Give me this mana,” she gestured at the table, “and time to work out a purchasing plan. It will involve room claims, and probably some catalog stuff, if the catalog deliveries are going to be discreet enough.”

  “They definitely are – we’re not showing anyone what anyone else is getting,” Ranger Flo said. “Well, except the roommates who will have things in their rooms. Nothing in the catalog is too big to be packed in a mundane crate, though, and all customers will have the option to have the delivery take place behind the closed door of their room.”

  “That’s good enough,” Danielle said. “For now, let us say that I am taking payment for these ten tokens in mana, and opening a tab for the Rangers, which I intend to resolve before or during the catalog fair.”

  “Hah! We can live with that,” Ranger Flo said. “Maybe I can get ahold of that Body Shield token by then. Hm. The SA might want to be the ones to pay in room claims, in that case. I’ll allow that, they won’t want to do the account thing – it’d give the hostile Skill Sharers ammunition against them. The Rangers won’t have the same problem (well, not as bad).”

  “All right. And we’re agreed on fourfold payment for Create Light Source?” Danielle asked.

  Ranger Flo sighed. “In light of how your Enhance Volume market got shot down by the catalog, and how you’re actively concerned about balance of power being a life and death situation; and in light of your generous offer to let us run a tab; yes.”

  “All right, then,” Danielle said. “We have an agreement, let me get to work here.” She started picking up 150 mana tokens and using them to create Skill tokens for Combat Medic, putting each one down in front of its pair of profit tokens. She was on the fourth one when the other woman came in.

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