The Dryad 73 Ugh! Secretaries!

The five of us walked up the steps and entered the building. The two Patrolmen stopped just a few steps down from the main door. It seemed like the guards were contented enough just to stay outside near the entrance. When I looked back at them to see why they were not following, one of them commented, "We wanted to give you privacy to conduct your business. We know you will be safe inside the hall. I have never once heard of an incident happening in them." The one with the aversion to nettle then said, "That's right. You go on, we'll wait here." Then, more quietly (thinking I wouldn't hear) he added sheepishly, "This place also gives me the creeps." He turned to a guarding position while lowering his head and scratching at his neck. From this higher elevation I could tell that it was inflamed and likely uncomfortable for him.

As we pa.s.sed through the doors we found ourselves in a large hall made of polished marble. It gave of a grand impression, but to me it just felt cold and desolate. There was no life or warmth here. There was nothing that felt inviting about this place. Once the doors closed behind us, this feeling of discomfort grew. Compared to all the chaos and commotion outside, inside the building was eerily quiet. The only noise we could hear was the m.u.f.fled sound from outside. At the far end of the room was a high desk made of dark wood. The large desk could have fit three or four people but all we could see was a single man lounging behind the desk. As we approached him, the sound of snoring was able to be distinguished over the remnants of the din from outside.

The man was young with dark hair. He appeared to be the same age as what most people would guess Emily was. As we reached the desk, the man had not noticed us, which caused me to hesitate. I saw that several of the others did not know how to react to this situation, as well. Emily, on the other hand, seemed unaffected and knocked on the desk while clearing her throat. Seeing that he opened one eye, she continued. "We were looking for someone and were hoping that you could help us find them," she said striving to sound polite.

The man closed his eye again and said dismissively, "This is the magic a.s.sociation, not the lost and found. Go talk to the Patrol for help."

Emily took a breath to maintain her calm and started again. "We are here on business and are looking for Max --"

The young man let out a truly impressive, loud yawn. "-- Come back in six days."

"Why six days?" Emily asked in frustration.

To which the man, still with his eyes closed pointed to the outside door and simply said, "That."
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Emily was starting to grow extremely frustrated with the man's att.i.tude. Before she could form a reply, Gray took over. "This is very urgent business. Can you please tell us how to contact Maximus?"

"No," he said while peeking one eye open for a moment to see the new speaker.

"Why not?" Gray asked. His calm facade was still holding strong.

"I am not allowed to give out personal information without approval from one of my supervisors," he said continuing his dismissive tone.

"Can we meet with your supervisor then?" Gray asked. It was clear that he was hoping to be able to deal with someone else.

"In six days."

"This is a life or death matter. It may not be able to wait six days," Gray said earnestly.

"Does not involve me. Come back in six days," he said disinterestedly. It was clear there was nothing more urgent to him than getting back to his nap.

"We of course would be willing to pay you for your efforts," I said. I remembered how much money had power on humans and wanted to give that a try.

It did manage to make him open both of his eyes for the first time and look at us more closely. His gaze seemed to be taking in our slightly travel worn clothes. "Not worth it," he mumbled, clearly deeming us as not having sufficient funds to wake him up. I really could not say anything to counter that. We did not have much to spend. We had only been selling enough medicine to meet our needs for the most part.

"Is there anything we could do to convince you to help us?"

"Watch the desk for the next six days."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Watch the desk. Everyone else has forced this duty on me for the entire festival while they go out and have fun. My girl nearly wanted to kill me when I told her this," he grumbled. "I will probably end up single soon," he leaned further back in his chair with a sigh.

"If we help you out with the desk, will you tell us what we are looking for?" I asked hopefully.

"In six days," he said, perking up a little. His interest was to the point that both eyes were open and -if you were liberal with the term- you could even say he was sitting up.

"But we need to know now," I said, not doing any better at staying calm than Emily. "I promise that if you tell us, one of us will watch this desk for the rest of the day."

The man seemed to be thinking about it lazily, but then slowly shook his head. "She is not worth my job."

I was not able to understand what he was getting at. As my mind tried to process his statement an "uuuuh" escaped my mouth.

In what was sadly the most kind thing he had done since we walked into the building, he lethargically explained, "If I tell you anything about what's-his-face, I will lose my job. Keeping a date with my girl is not worth it. Come back in six days." I really wanted to comment on why it was more acceptable to leave his desk to complete strangers than to tell us where to find someone, but as he had closed his eyes and was already working on a snore I figured it was pointless to ask him.

I really wanted to smash the desk and make him tell me where Faun was. How could I be so close and be stuck in bureaucracy? I clenched my teeth, keeping my anger in and managing to just wave to my companions and head for the door. I will admit that my footsteps were much harder than normal. But I felt no need to apologise for that. I was more than happy to force him to delay his nap a little longer.