The Outlands

Tess smiled as the waiter brought their food. She had come to find that, though many of the ingredients differed from what she was used to, most of the time restaurant food was remarkably similar to what was on Mael. There were a few common plants, and farm animals, but there were also a bunch of other new things to try as well.

But the menus still tended to end up with various assortments of salads, sandwiches, soups, and…well, if you could find it back on Mael, you could probably find an analogue somewhere in the Outlands.

So it was that she had ordered a sandwich with a few things she hadn’t tried yet on it. The waiter placed their food and retreated, and Tess began to eat.

“Is that…Tess?!” Tess turned to find that Maven and Amara were passing by, presumably being led to a table by the waitress that was standing next to them.

“Maven? When’d you come to the city? I mean, I just…didn’t realize you were here already, I guess. I sorta thought you’d come here when we officially started working together.”

Amara smiled. “I was bringing her here to get her settled into living on her own for a bit before she really got into things.”

Alice gave the waitress who was waiting near the two an understanding look. “Why don’t we have those two sit with us?” She said. “I’ll cover their meal, so don’t worry about that.”

The waitress gave her a relieved look and nodded. “I’ll fetch a couple of menus.” She said, and scurried off towards the back of the restaurant.

Maven grabbed one of the empty chairs at the table and sat down across from Tess. “Thank you, Lady Reshi. That’s very generous of you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Alice said, waving a hand. “Have you two met Ellie before?”

“I met Ellie earlier today, actually.” Amara replied. “But I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting this young man before.” She gave Jacob a nod. “I’m Amara Sarlienne, what’s your name?”

“Um…Jacob Ernest.” Jacob said. “Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Maven Sarlienne, her lots-of-greats granddaughter.” Maven said, standing up and giving a small curtsey. “It’s nice to meet both of you.”

“Right, I’m Ellie Los, though I’m guessing you knew that already.” Ellie said. “Nice to meet you as well.”

Maven nodded. “If you would forgive my asking, what are you all doing here? I thought you still had school for a couple of weeks?”

Tess nodded. “Yeah, there was a bit of an…incident, and today we ended up leaving early. Jacob’s a friend from school, and we began to introduce him to…well, everything after.”

An understanding look filled Maven’s face. “I see.” She said, turning to Jacob. “How are you holding up, then? This must be quite overwhelming for you.”

“Um, fine, I guess?” Jacob replied. “I’m probably gonna need more time to really…process everything later, but for now everything’s good. But…um, ‘Lady’ Reshi? Is Alice some sort of noble or something?”

Alice chuckled. “Nothing of the sort. I just happen to own a decently large business, that’s all.”

“Decently large is…one way of putting it.” Amara said, smirking. “But, yes, the whole ‘lady’ thing is just a way of being respectful, nothing more.”

“And, speaking of that, please just call me Alice.” Alice said. “Same with the rest of my party. We’re going to be working together in the future, so it’s going to get frustrating if we’re all standing on ceremony all the time. So, really, just don’t worry about it, we’re not going to care.”

“I see. I’ll do that, then.” Maven said. “Might I ask what your plan for the rest of the day is?”

Tess shrugged. “We’re playing it by ear. We were just showing Jacob around the Outlands, and we came to get food after dungeon raiding. We don’t really have a plan for what’s next at the moment. All depends on how Jacob’s feeling, I guess.”

“Um…I think I’m ready to go home.” Jacob said. “I’m going to need to shower, and I still have some homework to do, so I can’t be out all night. Plus, my parents are probably gonna get worried if I’m gone for too long, since I only said I was gonna be hanging out with you guys for a little bit.”

“Understandable.” Ellie replied. “We’ll take you home after we finish eating, then. If you want to come back here, just let us know and we’ll bring you back.”

“Oh.” Ellie said. “Death’s saying they’re working on a way to let other people go here without having to come to us each time, but that it’s not going to be ready until after we finish school.”

Jacob blinked. “You…just talked with Death? Like…right now?”

Ellie nodded. “Yeah, Life, Death, and Fortune are generally paying at least a little attention to Tess and I, so it’s not uncommon for them to chime in when they feel it’s important. Especially with things like this that pertain to relations between Mael and the rest of the planes.”

“I…suppose that makes sense.” Jacob replied. “It just feels…I dunno, like a bit of a monumental thing to just…drop in casual conversation. Revelations from the gods are kinda a big deal, you know?”

Alice chuckled. “Yeah, it really shocked me, too.” She said. “I’ve sorta become numb to it at this point, but even so, it still catches me a little off-guard every time they say something like that.”

“Me as well.” Maven said. “I can assure you that this is not a normal thing here, either.”

“Actually, come to think of it, aren’t Life and Death already supposed to have a mouthpiece in the Archpriest?” Jacob asked. “Does that mean…”

“No.” Ellie said quickly. “It doesn’t make him any less legitimate. Think of it like…he’s in charge of all the religious aspects like spreading the teachings and all the bureaucracy stuff that comes with running a church. Appointed are like…well, we’re like the direct…tools of the gods. And their direct mouthpieces too, that function was just relegated to the Archpriest since Life and Death didn’t have an Appointed yet.

“The idea is that, when it comes to things that the gods want communicated to everyone, they give the message to their Appointed, who passes it on to the leader of their religion, so they can focus on that work. When it’s something that needs to be done in secret, or if it’s something that the regular people just don’t need to be involved in, or even just small things that don’t merit a big fuss, we Appointed take care of it.”

“We’re also sort of…inquisitors, I guess is the right word.” Tess added. “We make sure that nobody tries to use the religion maliciously. Just to give the people an additional guarantee that nothing that’s being taught has been corrupted in any way, you know?”

“I guess that makes sense.” Jacob replied. “It’s still just…odd that it’s you two. Doesn’t feel…real.”

Maven nodded. “I know how you feel.” She said. “The identities of Appointed aren’t really public knowledge, and so they all kinda felt…way above everyone else. You always hear these crazy stories about what they can do and…well, now you find out they’re just sort of…people too.”

Ellie smiled. “To tell you the truth, it kinda feels the same to me, like the other Appointed are all these really important, strong, larger than life people, and we’re just…two people who have barely finished figuring out what we’re doing.”

“Honestly, that’s reassuring.” Jacob said. “It’s good to know that I’m not the only one that feels a little…out of my depth, you know?”

“Right?!” Maven said. “I was starting to feel a little out of place myself, so I guess it’s nice to know that they can be nervous about stuff too.”

And from there the conversation turned to other things. Jacob and Maven seemed to get along surprisingly well once Jacob got past the whole ‘princess’ thing, and they spent an enjoyable hour or so just talking.

When they were done, Tess, Ellie, and Jacob said their goodbyes and made their way back to the guild, where Tess and Jacob changed back into their normal clothes. They took a moment to look at what Jacob had received from the dungeon, and found it was nothing particularly special, so Tess and Ellie took Jacob back through the door that led back to Mael and walked with him to his car.

“Well, um, thanks.” Jacob said awkwardly. “I…well, I dunno. I wasn’t expecting something like this when I woke up this morning, but I’m glad you’re willing to trust me with your secret. I’ll, um…talk to you on Monday, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Tess said. “We’ll talk to you then. If you have any questions or anything though, feel free to give us a call, we’ll be more than happy to talk.”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that.” He said. “Though I might just hold off until Monday when we can talk in-person. I want some time to just…think about things, you know?”

“Yeah, we get it.” Ellie said. “No rush or anything, just do things at your own pace. We’ll be ready when you’re ready, so just take your time.”

“I will, thanks.” Jacob replied, getting into his car. After a moment, the car started, and he pulled out of the driveway, leaving Tess and Ellie alone.

“He took that…pretty well, I’d say.” Ellie said. “Think he’ll warm up to the idea of coming to the Outlands more or…?”

“I think he will.” Tess said. “Just give him some time to warm up to things and I’m sure he’s going to be itching to come back.”

“You’re probably right.” Ellie said. There was silence for a moment, then Ellie spoke up. “Wanna go play some games? I’ve finished all my homework, so I’m free for the rest of the night.”

“Yeah, sure.” Tess replied. “I’ve finished mine too.”

“Perfect.” Ellie said, leaning in and giving Tess a quick kiss. “Let’s go!”

---

School the following Monday was…awkward, to say the least. Most everyone, even the teachers, gave Tess a wide berth. Classes were sort of stilted, with the teachers and students often stealing glances at Tess and losing their train of thought before trying to pretend they hadn’t looked and going back to whatever they were doing. And, when she did interact with people, it felt like they were walking on eggshells, trying their best not to make her upset.

Even at lunch, where there was normally a lot of competition for places to sit, Tess and Ellie didn’t have any trouble finding one. In fact, there was a circle of empty tables around them, where no one seemed to be willing to sit. Jacob didn’t have lunch at this time either, so it ended up being just Tess and Ellie eating alone.

“Probably shoulda seen this coming.” Tess muttered. “Still feels weird that everyone’s…well, afraid of me. Even the teachers, like…I dunno, I know I made a big show of things but still, surely some people weren’t there, and rumor can’t have spread this fast, right? Were we in the news or something?”

“I checked, but no.” Ellie said. “It seems like the news outlets didn’t believe it or something. Though, given how flashy you were, I’m surprised they didn’t report something. I mean, the door you to the broadcast room is kinda verifiably shredded.”

Tess chuckled, turning her attention away from the conversation and beginning to eat her lunch. She couldn’t help but wonder what the people around her would think if they knew about the conversation she was having. Especially people like that one girl who had accused her of going against Life’s teachings.

Not that their opinions really mattered. At the end of the day, she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was doing the right thing, so the opinions of people who didn’t know the full story didn’t carry any weight to her.

Or so she told herself. It still was a little sad to be shunned by her classmates, but it was something she could deal with. It was only going to be for two more weeks, and she had more than enough friends in the Outlands, so she just reminded herself that something like this wasn’t going to seriously impact her life.

The rest of the day passed in much the same manner, and soon Tess and Ellie were heading back to the Outlands. When they arrived, they found that the door led them outside of Gramps’s office, something that usually meant he was in a meeting.

Furthermore, everything was…livelier than normal. More people were moving about in the hallways, and the quiet buzz of conversation that was always audible in the guild was much louder than usual.

“Do you think something’s going on?” Ellie asked.

“Probably.” Tess said. “I’m sure we’ll find out before we start…doing whatever we’re doing today.”

The two hurried to their usual meeting place, where Ava and The Rumors were waiting.

“What’s going on?” Tess asked. “Everyone seems…worked up by something.”

“Evan’s announced an expedition.” Ava explained. “They’re basically big events organized by the guild where people go and explore the Outlands. And between that and the rank system changes, people are getting all excited.”

“Oh, right, that.” Tess said. “When does it start?”

“A month and a half.” Alice replied. “So…do you two want to go?”

“How long do they last?” Ellie asked.

“Usually a few months.” Ava said. “Though you two will have ways to go back and forth to deal with Appointed business, so you don’t need to feel like you’re being tied down or anything.”

“Sound fun, then.” Ellie said. “I’m fine with it if Tess is.”

“Yeah, I’m down.” Tess replied. “Though we’ll probably have to double check with Maven.”

“She’s fine with it.” Ava said. “I checked with Amara, since I thought you two would be wondering.”

“Perfect. How do we sign on, then?” Ellie asked.

Jin stood up. “We go to the receptionists and do some paperwork.” He said. “We’ve yet to do ours, since we were waiting on you two deciding things, so why don’t we go do that now?”

Tess nodded, and the group left for the main room. It was extremely crowded, even the line for personal receptionists having five or so groups waiting. So, they got in line, and began to wait.