Chapter 26: Workforce registration

 Baliel led Orion to the Unemployment Office. It was a good and sturdy building. Orion had offered more repairs to be made on it just last month. He hadn't thought back then that he will be entering it as someone who wanted to get a job. 

"It is going to be just fine, we have an address now," Baliel must have mistaken Orion's wavering glance for something else, to try and calm him down like that. 

"I am certain that we will get jobs too," Orion said, and they entered the building. Inside, everything was sterile, as one might expect from an office building. The receptionist took one look at them, and spoke. 

"Registrations can't happen without an address," she said, and Baliel looked at Orion. The Fey was carrying their key with the card in his bag. 

"We have an address for the next couple of days," Orion handed the key and card, and watched as the receptionist smiled brightly. 

"Ok, then fill in these forms, and you will be registered. Drop the one copper coin fee in this box," the woman pointed at a big box that was on her desk. Orion fished out the two copper coins, showed them to the receptionist, and then dropped them into the box. A rune on the box glowed, and two receipts were spat out. "Give the receipts back to me with the forms. Take your time, the information in the forms is important for the employers."  

"Thank you," Baliel said, and he took the forms as well as two pens. They went to a nearby table, and Baliel began to fill in his form energetically. Orion was not as excited.

There were the standard questions. Like high, weight, gender, and the like. Then, there were other questions. Questions to which Orion couldn't answer truthfully. How was he to admit that he had gotten through Westermire Academy with top honors, and he was now homeless? Who would believe him?

He wrote down self-taught in the education bracket. In the language skills, he wasn't shy to list all the languages he knew. All five of them. In the previous work experience, he wavered.

 As the local lord, he had done his best to govern his land. This had been his work. Because he took it seriously, he agreed to be a beggar for a week. Yet, he couldn't write down: local lord in the bracket. So, he wrote none. 

His form looked sparse, compared to Baliel's. At this point, Orion just hoped that the elf would agree to make another rune, so they could be out of the elements for the entire duration of Orion's week as a beggar. 

Not that I will go hungry.

Orion thought bitterly. He knew that because he was not entirely abandoned, he had it better than other beggars. He had even started off with a loaf of bread, which was the standard wage for a day's work on the streets. 

 I will change that. No longer will I be blind to the plight of the homeless. 

"Are you done?" Baliel asked, and Orion nodded. He couldn't think of anything else to fill in his form. They stood together, and went back to the receptionist. Handing the forms, the two waited for her to check them over. 

"A gardener and a translator? Are those your preferred jobs?" She asked, and the two nodded. "Then, your registration is complete. Come back tomorrow in the afternoon to see if someone has taken interest in you." 

The two left then, with Baliel having a bounce to his step. 

"You bring good luck, Fey," the elf said, as he clapped Orion on the shoulder. "First, I eat home cooked food, then, I get a place to sleep for five whole days! Now, I am even searching for a job, all thanks to you." 

"You deserved a lucky break," Orion murmured. Many deserved that break, to be truthful, but Orion couldn't help them as a beggar. 

"Well, you are alright, Fey. Say, when we find jobs, do you want to keep on bunking together with me? To be able to afford more things?" Baliel sounded wistful. Orion envied his enthusiasm. It had taken a day of walking the docks, for him to go and sit by the church. 

"There is something I have to tell you..." Orion said, but then Baliel chuckled. 

"I can smell the magic on you. If you really wanted to hide, you should have changed your name, your lordship," Baliel said, and clapped Orion on the back again. 

"You knew who I was the whole time?" Orion asked, eyes wide. 

"Well, at first, I was pissed off. Look at the lord, begging at the corner, making fun of the rest of us," Baliel's eyes hardened, but then softened again. "But then I decided to play along and see what you will do. When you bled for the rune, I knew you weren't doing this to mock me, or the rest of the homeless. I knew that you are doing this to understand." 

"I wish that I wasn't so blind, back when I was surrounded by riches," Orion said, and Baliel chuckled. 

"Yes, well, until not so long ago, I, too, walked by the homeless and thought that they brought it on themselves. I was a gardener for a rich house. Had a good life. Then, a single rose bush withered, and the lady chased me away from the house, the town, and finally, the realm," Baliel shook his head, as if to clear it from the bad memory. 

"Because of a single rose bush?" Orion asked, eyebrow high. 

"Just one. You'd think, when you hear her hiss and spit venom, that it was her firstborn," Baliel sighed then, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. The lord had much to think on.

 Had this incident had happened in Fairstar, then he would have asked the lady to explain herself. Yet, it had not. There was nothing he could do for the other realms. His influence didn't stretch that far.