Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Three

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"Your name?" I glared down at the man who was filing away at papers, his spotty hands were trembling, probably riddled with arthritis. I pinched my lips together, obliging him with silence as he continued to work away. I was pretty sure he was filing just to keep himself busy. I had seen him shuffle some folders around three times now.

"Ma'am?" he asked, finally looking up at me. Recognition flickered in his eyes yet he still asked. "Name?"

"Don't you know it by now, Martin?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I'd been here nearly every day for the past five months. A breeze flew through the little crack in the window and I shuddered, pulling my scarf tighter around my neck. I curled my toes in my boots, trying to keep them as far away from the holes as possible.

"Protocol," he grumbled, tapping at the sign on the little support beam above him, where a chain-link wall was working as a border between us. At first I had found the border annoying, but now I found it wise, considering there was little restraint in me anymore that was holding me back from lunging at him.

"Okay fine," I said, giving him the finger behind my back. "Eira Arethusa Gellert."

"Age?" I sighed sharply through my nose. He asked these questions every single time. We should have been very close friends at that point, honestly. In fact, I started wondering if I should start bringing tea, we could gossip about the latest scandal, spread rumors on that new family that moved in down the road. I mean, it wouldn't have been the worst idea. I was rather short on friendly faces nowadays.

"Eighteen," I said, and then continued on when I saw his mouth open to reply. "I live in Gellert House, two blocks down from here. My sister is a commander in the war and I live alone. No parents, no family whatsoever. And no...no job."

"And have you had any work the last two weeks?" he asked this question every time too, but the repetitiveness of it didn't make me want to punch him in the jaw any less.

"Of course not, Martin," I said, leaning forward, my hip pressing into the counter. I winced, my bone was jutting through the skin, more than what it felt like it had before. This didn't come as a surprise. "If I had, I wouldn't be here."

"Well, the Department of Employment apologies for the inconvenience, and we will alert you when a job opens up," he said, already moving to put up the sign that said 'Off to Lunch', he did that after I saw him most days, as if after interacting with me he couldn't handle anyone else.

"Are you sure there are no jobs coming in?" I asked. "I don't care if they don't meet my requirements, I just...I need one." I heard the man behind me cough loudly and I shot him a glare. I was here first.

"No. As I said before, we will tell you when a job opens up." He tapped his sausage fingers on the desk and the sound went straight to my head, where a headache was already blooming along my temples.

"Martin I don't have long to wait for you to tell me when a job opens up. I'm almost nineteen." He looked up at me with a bored expression. "Please, I don't have long before I'm forced to start paying taxes and then I won't have any option but to join the army." I shuddered at the thought. I could not join the army, I wasn't strong, had no survival skills outside of this measly village. I'd be the first to die out on a battlefield. Sure, Tellie had taught me some basic skills, but not enough to kill, not enough to become a soldier.

"There are always other options, Miss Gellert," Martin said slowly. He inclined his head to the side and I felt my stomach twist. I knew what he was looking at, yet my gaze still drifted to the window. The Department of Employments building, where one looked for a job, was right outside of a dark alleyway. An infamous alleway. I saw a man enter the alley, and stop right before a woman, trembling in nothing but her underthings. She looked dirty...tired....desperate.