Tawna still found the story of that day exciting and amusing whenever she looked back on it. Of the four people exploring the dream world, she had spent the most time with Skyl. She was also a far better storyteller than Bordon, so her description painted a vivid scene in Livia's mind.
Livia deeply envied the halfling.
"Mr. Skyl must be a good man. Since he's a good man, what he's doing must also be a worthy cause. We should help him." Livia gazed toward the Tower of Tomes in the dream. "One day, I'll reach that place."
Both Bordon and Tawna offered her encouragement.
"I heard from Zim that you've been here for a long time," Bordon said, scratching his head. "Are you usually busy? We hardly ever see you."
Livia's cheeks turned scarlet. She could hardly admit that she had once suspected the Tower of Tomes of being some kind of all-natural, additive-free cult. That would make her sound terribly disloyal.
"I have been rather busy," the merchant's daughter said vaguely before breaking into a bright smile. "Don't worry, though. From now on, I'll come here every day. I'll keep kindling candle flames, so you two had better be careful or I'll leave you behind."
Bordon rubbed his earlobe with an honest, bashful expression.
"I'm not very smart. I can't read, and I can't afford books, so there's no way I'll ever catch up with you."
"It's all right," Tawna said with a laugh. "I don't know many words either. Fortunately, Mr. Edgin is willing to teach me."
The young stablehand's words filled Livia with guilt. She remembered her brother Andrei once telling her that not everyone in the world had been given the same opportunities and advantages they had.
Livia had not understood him back then. She was a little bird living inside a gilded cage, unaware that the birds in the forest still had to gather every twig needed to build their nests.
"Mr. Karpin, do you still live in Daggerford?"
"Just call me Bordon!" The stablehand seemed overwhelmed by the honor, and his youthful cheeks turned red. "No one has ever called me 'mister' before. Oh, and yes, I still live in Daggerford. Lady Morwen is doing a little better now, and the castle still needs someone to care for the horses. She was kind enough not to send me away."
"In that case, Bordon, a courier from Waterdeep may come looking for you in a few days." Livia's eyes shone brightly. "I'm sending you a present. We're friends now, so please don't refuse it, and forgive me for being so forward."
Bordon nodded mutely.
Tawna's eyes lit up, and she shamelessly held out her hand.
"I want a present too!"
Faced with the halfling cook's glittering, beetle-bright eyes, Livia could not bring herself to refuse. She was delighted to have made another friend.
"Of course! You'll receive a present as well!"
The three of them laughed without a care in the world, acting like children whose combined ages did not exceed ten, despite the darkness separating them along the dream world's silver-cast road.
Livia privately marveled at how unpredictable fate could be. She could barely leave her home, yet she was still able to enter dreams and make friends.
Then she thought of Zim.
The roguish boy was about the same age as Livia, but their personalities could not have been more different.
Zim had invited the merchant's daughter to meet him privately, then left the dream before giving her any chance to refuse. Livia's physical condition made it impossible for her to go outside alone, much less arrange a meeting with Zim somewhere in Waterdeep.
Over the next few days, Livia threw herself back into her studies.
Bordon had told her that gathering lights inside the skull did not necessarily require theoretical study. Inspiration was all that mattered, which meant any creative work could produce candle flames. The young stablehand had accumulated inspiration by apprenticing himself to a carpenter.
Tawna was learning tavern songs and musical instruments from the bard, which allowed her to gather candle flames as well.
Livia still felt that intellectual work suited her better. Everyone had their own path.
The next day, Zim came to ask when they could meet. Once Livia explained her circumstances, they had no choice but to abandon the idea.
"By the way, Zim, what do you do to accumulate candle flames?"
Zim gave her a long look, turned his head away, and muttered, "I'm learning how to pick locks."
"What?"
"Nothing. I said I carve stone."
"So you're a craftsman's apprentice." Livia's tone immediately became much warmer and more approving.
"Right," Zim replied irritably.
He was only a thief, and not a particularly good one. Compared with a genuine professional rogue, he was utterly insignificant. Even within that disreputable profession, he was nothing more than a small-time nobody. He could never hold his head high in front of a beautiful young girl.
"You must keep working hard," Livia encouraged him.
Over the following days, Livia repeatedly encouraged Zim to put more effort into his work. The number of candle flames he had accumulated had fallen far behind the others, and there were several nights when he did not appear in the dream world at all.
A thief's schedule naturally tended to turn day and night upside down. Every time she asked, Zim made excuses about being too busy. He was starting to dislike how quickly Livia had become familiar with him, almost as if she considered herself the leader of their little group.
To be fair, Livia could indeed be regarded as their leader. Once she began studying seriously, her progress became astonishingly fast. She created at least three candle flames every day, drawing closer and closer to the Tower of Tomes while leaving everyone else behind.
She was also the most generous of them. The gifts she sent Bordon and Tawna proved enormously helpful to both.
The package Bordon had eagerly awaited contained a finely made steel sword, a set of swordsmanship manuals, a Common dictionary, and a modest sum of silver coins. It was enough for him to hire a teacher and finally escape illiteracy.
Tawna received numerous volumes of poetry, a lute, and some money of her own. She would no longer have to borrow Edgin's instrument whenever she wanted to practice.
To purchase all these things, Livia secretly sold several pieces of jewelry with the help of her maid. She had no spending money of her own, after all. Even the necklace her brother Andrei had given her was among the pieces she sold.
Her family could no longer keep their daughter completely locked away.
The improvement in their circumstances made both Bordon and Tawna extremely fond of Livia.
Zim, meanwhile, felt quietly bitter. He was the only one who had received no present because he refused to provide an address.
Zim lived in the Dock Ward among a gang of thieves. The place he called home was one of their hideouts.
He shared a cramped room with many children around his age, enduring the life of a beggar, chronic malnutrition, constant control, and regular beatings. Life at the absolute bottom always produced small-time nobodies who convinced themselves that they were cleverer and more important than they really were. It was the same kind of Walter Mitty fantasy found in every age, every country, and apparently every corner of the multiverse.
Zim had once thought he was destined for greatness. Someday, he would rise above everyone around him and become a professional rogue, perhaps even an assassin. He imagined joining one of Waterdeep's most powerful criminal organizations, the Xanathar Guild, and taking part in dangerous, glamorous jobs that would make others fear his name.
Eventually, he realized that it was nothing but a fantasy.
One of his young companions stole a single slice of sausage and was beaten to death with a belt by the gang's leader.
Meanwhile, the leader's dog ate steak every day.
That was not a life fit for a human being.
Zim looked at his companion's blood and deathly pale face. He listened to the surrounding children cry, and from that day forward, he never dared claim that he was impressive again.
The thought only seemed ridiculous now.
A month earlier, Zim had been picking pockets in the streets as usual when several thieves from a rival gang struck him from behind and threw him into the sewers. By some miracle, he survived. He also found the broken statue of the Tower, and from that moment onward, his fate began to change without him realizing it.
Zim started noticing strange phenomena around him. A straw sleeping mat would suddenly catch fire. A water jug would crack apart for no apparent reason. On one occasion, his gang leader ordered him to open a lock within three seconds and threatened to cut off one of his fingers if he failed. Zim was sweating in panic as the final moment approached, only for the complicated locking mechanism to suddenly open by itself.
He also experienced strange flashes of inspiration. He could hear wind that made no sound and see flames that gave off no light. Magical forces hidden beneath the surface of the world were responding to his bloodline, though Zim had no idea what any of it meant.
He told Livia about these incidents, and the well-read girl immediately guessed the truth.
"You're a sorcerer! How fortunate. You were born with the gift of magic."
"But I don't know a single spell."
Livia tilted her head.
"Perhaps your time simply hasn't come yet."
His time had not come yet, but Zim was running out of patience.
He wanted to escape the thieves' gang as soon as possible. If he stayed much longer, he might not survive until the next month, yet he possessed no skills that could help him get away.
The all-powerful Skyl appeared only in other people's stories. To Zim, a young thief struggling in the mud, he seemed impossibly distant.
The gods looking down from their lofty thrones would never turn their eyes toward a filthy corner of Waterdeep's Dock Ward.
Zim could rely only on himself.
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