Immediately after the word escaped my mouth I paled, Elincia wasn’t my name, where did that come from? While I was shocked, the others commented on what a beautiful name it was, but they noticed how pale I was pretty quickly, and Nellyre spoke up.

“Is everything alright Elincia? You look pale.” Nellyre was looking at me worriedly. I don’t know what it was, but something about seeing all of them worry over me caused my tears to flow.

“I… I’m sorry, so much has happened recently. I usually go by Chi.”

Everyone seemed confused, and concerned by the tears and the new name, but before they could ask me any questions about it, Shay returned and cleared her throat.

“Miss Chi, please follow me, the guild master will see you now.”

 

Shay waited for me as I wiped away my tears and stood up. Waving at everyone at the table I walked over to Shay, following her down a hallway that led away from the main hall. We turned left down a horizontal hall that opened up at the end into a room with a few people working in it. At the opposite end of the room was a short entryway to a door, which Shay led me to before stopping to knock.

 

“Kenneth, I’m coming in with Chi.”

 

Shay opened the door and walked in, turning to gesture me in. The room I stepped into was a relatively large office, the left wall had bookshelves from one end to the other, filled with books. On the right wall was a fireplace and a sitting area with three couches around a coffee table. Standing in front of Chi and Shay there was a black haired woman with glasses who looked to be in her thirties, dressed in a white robe standing in front of an impressive desk carved with dragons. Sitting behind the desk was a handsome young man with curved horns poking out of his shaggy red hair. Looking down he had orange eyes that were the color of flames, and dark red scales covering parts of his face. The man looked at me with a hard to read face while I was staring at him, and gestured for us to come closer.

 

“My name is Kenneth, the guildmaster of this branch of Night Parade, you are Chi, correct?”

 

I nodded at the guild leader and bit my lower lip nervously before speaking with a slight stutter.

 

“That’s right, my name… is Chi, and I was hoping you could help me.”

 

I spent the next several minutes explaining everything that I remembered from my encounter with Arun. After I finished explaining everything Kenneth looked at the women in white robes and addressed her. “How does it look, Liara?”

 

Liara looked at me and walked around me several times staring intensely at me before speaking to Kenneth.

 

“There are faint signs of magic on her, but nothing that suggests her body has changed, this appears to be her normal body as far as I can tell. I will look to see if I can find any accounts of similar events happening in the past, though I doubt we could do much without the help of another Genie.” 

 

Kenneth nodded at her before turning to me and tapping his chin, seemingly in thought.

 

“Chi, you are attending the Lestria college of magic correct?”

 

“Yes, that’s right.”

 

“You still have two days before the break is over then. I suggest you get some rest and take it easy, the guild fair happens on your first day back from break, and you’re welcome to apply for membership at Night Parade. I’ll let our representatives know that you may visit, and if you would like I could get a hold of the administration to let them know what happened. Faculty knowing what happened would make it easier on you, and they could help you figure things out.”

 

I was hesitant to have anyone at school know what happened, but Kenneth was right, it would make things easier. Joining Night Parade was unlikely though, seeing as I lacked an elemental affinity, and wasn’t great at martial combat either.

 

“That would be great, and I will at least say hi to the representative and see if I qualify.”

 

Kenneth nodded at me and folded his hands together, and his posture resembled my parents when they started talking business with someone.

 

“Now then, your request was to change you back or track down the Genie, Arun. I’m not going to give you any false hope here, changing you back ourselves is likely impossible. I’ve never personally heard of someone’s gender getting changed by a Genie before, we can look into it but again, I wouldn’t expect much. Now, tracking down Arun is a different matter. Genie’s are practically impossible to find normally, Arun however is someone we have a file on, and he has used ‘The Genie’s Lamp’ as a residence for some time. Trouble is finding that tavern, it’s not impossible but it would take time, luck, or both.”

 

I looked at Kenneth for a few moments, pondering what he said. Keeping my thoughts in order was difficult, and I could feel anxiety bubbling up inside of me as it sunk in that I might never change back. Kenneth pulled me back from my thoughts though when he started speaking again.

 

“However, although tracking down Arun is possible, it would mean finding a team willing to take on a long term contract. Payment for such a contract would require negotiation between you and the team, but expect it to be high, and the standard for long term contracts such as this are fifty percent upfront, and fifty percent upon completion.”

Despair settled in as I thought about money, it would certainly be more than I could afford on my own, which would mean telling my parents what happened, and even then they were still in Hamada, and likely would be for some time.

It took a minute, but I managed to stammer out a broken up reply. “I-I don’t think I can afford that right now, not without my parents help.” 

 

Liara gave me a sympathetic smile, and Kenneth began to speak gently, as though trying to comfort me.

 

“That’s why I propose this. Speak with our representative at the fair, and do your best with the tests to join the guild. Once you’re in, take on some smaller requests, and find friends you work well with to form a team. Once you’re ready you can ask your team or the other guild members to help you find Arun, at that point most people would help you for free or at least a reduced fee, especially if you worked on other requests as you searched. After all, we’re all family in ‘Night Parade.’”

 

As Kenneth told me his idea I cheered up, and by the end I was sniffling as happy tears trickled down my cheeks.

 

“Thank you so much, I’ll do the best I can at the tests, and the next time I’m here, I’ll make sure it’s to join the guild.”

 

Kenneth smiled at me, and I heard an exasperated sigh from behind me, faintly hearing something about “saving time if the overgrown lizard had started with this.” from Shay. Kenneth told me he had something else to talk to Liara about and I left the room with Shay, following her until we ended up back in the main hall. I didn’t see Nellyre or the others anywhere in the room, so I continued following Shay. When we got back to the entrance Shay turned to me and passed me a card.

 

“If you give this to one of our representatives at the fair they should be able to run you through a couple of tests. Maybe the next time you come here you’ll be able to let yourself in.” Shay gestured to the door in front of us and walked to the front desk looking bored.

 

Having a lot to think about after my meeting with Kenneth, I decided to wrap the day up and head home after a shopping trip. Making my way out of the main guild plaza I went South, following the river that ran through the city to the market near the docks. Walking along I became lost in thought, going back to the university was going to suck. It wasn’t as if I had any close friends, but now I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone, no one would recognize me, and if I told anyone and it got out I’d never live it down, even after changing back. There’s also the problem of my skills, I did well in my general studies and magical theory, practical magic hadn’t been my strong suit though.

 

I was abruptly brought out of my thoughts when I bounced off of someone who had been in front of me. I caught a flash of orange before I landed on my butt in the middle of the road with a cry. Whoever was in front of me growled in annoyance.

 

The stranger called out in a husky voice. “Watch where you’re going you clumsy bitch!”

 

Feeling a flush of embarrassment I glared up at the woman I had bumped into. She had a muscular build with suntanned skin, standing several inches taller than me. Aside from that she had mid back length, seemingly glowing, orange hair that slowly turned yellow towards the tips. Her dark maroon eyes squinted down at me, and she crossed her arms. Speaking up again when I remained silent, she snapped me out of my thoughts.

 

“What, are you mute too? At least apologize when you bump into someone.” After looking me up and down, her gaze seemed to linger at my head, and she paused before adding a bit quieter this time. “Pull up your hood again before you draw attention to yourself.”

 

My hands flew up to my head at her words, and feeling my hair I quickly tugged my hood back over my head, covering my ears again. Quickly glancing around it didn’t seem as though anyone had noticed. Aside from a glance or two most people seemed to be avoiding the space around us. Once I knew I was safe I looked back at the woman who made me want to curl in on myself, and unsteadily got to my feet.

 

I did my best to stop my trembling and give the woman a response. “S-sorry, I wasn’t paying attention while I was walking, and thank you for letting me know about my hood.”

 

The orange haired woman waved off my thanks with a roll of her eyes, reaching an arm out to pat my head in a way that seemed completely different from how she’d been acting before.

 

The woman murmured just loud enough for me to hear. “Whatever, don’t look so scared, I’m not going to hurt you. Just be more careful so you don’t bump into someone.”

 

After that she removed her hand and walked past me, her cheeks looking a little red. Shaking my head to clear my mind I got back to looking for some food for the next few days, I couldn’t wait to get back to my bed.