My Infinite System.

Lucian shoved himself into the first inn he found that still had the air of being busy enough to care one more stranger.

The room was dim, and the conversation clattered with the boots on the floor. The servers took trays around and around the tables with stern faces. Lucian took a bar seat and let his shoulders fall loose.

Cael’s voice curled into his bones.

”This is one of the lower planes of the Primordial Expanse. Dense, crowded and useful. Power still matters, but rank does not crush every street on sight. It is a good start. It is a place to hide until you are ready to move.”

Lucian tapped once on the wood. ”Hide for how long?”As long as you stay quiet,” Cael said. ”The higher planes notice noise. This one notices coin and trouble first.”

Lucian watched the bar.

Two stools down a man paid with a flat disc of dull silver marked around the edges with a local sigil, and another woman paid with thinner chips of the same metal. The server checked each on the black plate with a quick scrape before pouring the respective drink.

Lucian produced a matching disc under the edge of the counter and set it on the bar when the server reached him.

”Drink,” he said.

The server tested the disc and nodded, and poured a dark pour into a thick glass. Lucian took it and drank, bitter and strong, fine.

Finished half of it when a woman sat beside him.

She did not ask first, she simply took the stool, ordered herself a drink and met his eyes as she waited.

”You’re new,” she said.

Lucian glanced over. ”Is it that obvious?”

”Yes.”

”All right.”

She smiled at his blunt acceptance. Her hair was cut short, and a thin scar traced along the edge of her neck, and her coat looked more frayed than flamboyant.

”Which house are you from?” she asked.

Lucian set his glass down. ”What do you mean?”

She studied him for a beat. ”You’re in Keth-Arel. So which house? From another city, then. Fine. Which house sent you?”

”None.”

That got her pause.

Then she chuckled once over her nose. ”A Free.”

She said it like a label, not an insult. She smiled even as she did so.

”I’m one too,” she said. ”Bending down to people and taking orders were never my strong suits.”

Lucian turned more towards her. ”A Free.”

”No house, no line, no crest on the door. You work, you fight, you leave, you stay. Depends on the day.” She took her drink from the server and took a sip. ”Name’s Tallen.”

”Lucian.”

”Just that?”

”Yes.”

”Good. Long names get remembered.” Tallen set an elbow on the bar. ”So what brings a Free into Keth-Arel? Work or trouble?”

”Neither yet.”

”That’s a luxury.” She watched the room through the mirror behind the bottles. ”Most Frees arrive already owed to someone. Or hunted. Or selling a skill they shouldn’t advertise.”

Lucian drank again. ”And you?”

”I run routes. Small ones. Messages. Packages. People who need to move without house eyes on them.” Tallen shrugged. ”It pays. Sometimes it even keeps me alive.”

Cael’s voice curled in quietly.

”Useful contact. Keep it shallow.”

Lucian ignored the advice enough to stay in the talk. ”This city always this loud?”

”This is calm,” Tallen said. ”Wait for shift change at the river yards. Or a house dispute in Upper Walk. Then you can’t hear your thoughts.”

”Who sits at the top here?”

She gave a sideways look. ”You really are new.”

”I asked.”

”Magistrate Oren holds the civic seat. The houses hold everything else that matters. Veyrn blood in the east quarter. Sallis contracts on the docks. A few lesser names fight over the scraps between them.” Tallen spun her glass. ”Frees stay out of those fights if they like walking without a limp.”

”And if they don’t stay out?”

”Then they stop being Frees and start being examples.”

Lucian nodded once.

A loud argument flared near the door and died just as quickly when a Watch coat entered. Captain Ryn most likely, by the look of his lower officers. They scanned the room, found no worth their paperwork and left.

Tallen clicked her tongue. ”Watch has been twitchy all week.”

” Why?”

”Rumors. Something stirred beyond the lower planes. Houses are buying information at bad prices. When houses get nervous, the Watch gets heavy. When the Watch gets heavy, Frees get stopped for breathing wrong.”

Lucian kept his face neutral. ”Sounds like a good time to stay quiet.”

”Best time,” Tallen said.

She finished half her drink and tapped the counter for another. The server took her coin without talk.

”You have a place yet?” she asked.

”Working on it.”

”There’s a boarding house on Reed Street. Ask for Old Henn. He rents to Frees and doesn’t sell names on the first day. Second day depends on the offer.”

”I’ll keep it in mind.”

Tallen turned on the stool to face him more directly, ”You’re careful. It’s good. Careful Frees last longer. But careful only works if you know what not to touch.”

”What should I not touch?”

”House politics. Temple debts. Anything sealed with a crest and a smile.” She held his gaze. ”And if someone offers you protection for free, walk away. No one protects a Free for free.”

Lucian almost smiled. ”You don’t.”

”I’m not offering protection. I’m talking because you’re new and you haven’t lied badly yet.” Tallen stood, dropped another chip on the bar and smoothed her coat. ”If you need a route run, ask around for me. If you need a fight, ask someone else.”

”I’ll remember.”

She began to go and paused. ”One more thing. People who arrive with no house and no story still make a story fast. Decide what yours is before someone else does.”

She left out the front and joined the street crowd.

Lucian stayed with his drink.

Cael spoke again.

”She read you as ordinary. Keep it that way. The lower plane gives you cover only while you look like you belong in it.”

”I know.”

”Keth-Arel is dense enough to hide a flare if you stay measured. Move up too fast and the wrong eyes turn.”

Lucian turned the glass in his hand. ”I need local ground before I make any move.”

”Then start with a room. Not allies. Not fights. A room.”

Lucian finished the drink and left the bar, retreating into the street.

Reed Street was easy enough to find once he’d asked one vendor and ignored a second who tried to overcharge for the answer. The boarding house sat between a tool shop and a closed laundry. Old Henn turned out to be a thick man with a short pencil behind one ear and no interest in life stories.

”One room. Two nights paid up front. Noise after third bell and you’re out,” Henn said.

Lucian paid with the same local disc stamp and took the key.

The room was small, and clean enough. One window over an alley. One bed. One chair. He set the lock, stood by the window and watched the city pass.

Keth-Arel did not know his name.

That still held.

Cael stayed still for a while. When he spoke, it was brief.

”Rest. Watch. Learn the streets. When you are ready, we move.”

Lucian sat on the chair and looked out on the lower plane city that had yet to try and claim him.

” Not yet.”

Outside, the boots passed in the alley. A seller shouted about grilled fish. Somewhere further off, a bell marked the hour.

Lucian listened and did not rush the next step.