Ittindi breathed in the crisp mountain air, while he found the volume lacking the smell and sight of the city more than made up for it. Finally, a city where the streets were mostly clean, well at least cleaner than the average city. Ittindi could only expect so much as long as humans existed there would be dirtiness, and a job for him to do.  It had been some time since his personal beating, and since he lost the Young Master. It seemed that he was too weak to travel along with him, even the guild they were in was lost to the wind. Ittindi knew his mistake, he had been too eager to see him, he needed to train first. The folly of youth was to always dream big, he needed to be big. It was in that pursuit that he found himself in Era, he had decided he wanted to join the Rune Knights. Ittindi had a desire to create a clean city, whether that would be Era or another he hadn’t decided. He would need to grow stronger before he could even think of influencing an area so large.

As he walked through the city, his outfit today was reminiscent of a style from a decade far gone. His anodized gold buttons stuck out against the medium dark red on his coat’s collar, shoulders and the chest, there was a small gap at his chest, but they were almost touching each other then slowly split until at the waist where they tapered to his to the top of his hip bone on each side. A simple white button up with large white buttons underneath and a pair of lighter black slacks. The sleeves of his jacket ended with red cuffs.

Ittindi would overhear some construction workers on break or were they just waiting for their materials. Not being a workman himself, Ittindi could never tell either way they talked about how a small dragon was trying to fix the city right now. How he was in the slums attempting to make life better, though they called it a psyop by the Magic Council. Ittindi hadn’t heard of such magic, but it did pique his interest since he was considering the Rune Knights. He’d find himself walking towards the slums, it didn’t take too long to find.

Daragast was inspecting a giant pothole in the middle of the road, there were no carriages or magic cars coming through. Not exactly a surprise as Ittindi looked at the decrepit buildings and ill maintained structures, from potholes in the roads to buildings that had makeshift stilts to hold parts together. It was weird to see in such a beautiful city the stark contrast illuminated that no where was perfect. At least not yet, I’ll clean this place up too.

“Greetings, Are you Sir Daragast?”

The dragon man would turn to look at Ittindi with experienced eyes, it reminded him of the master butler at his first house. Ittindi knew a man like this would be wise, that look of experience could convey more than any politician’s speech. Daragast would smile at Ittindi and move towards him speaking.

” Why of course I am young man, who else fits my description. How can I help you?”

Ittindi hadn’t really thought what to say to that question. He knew that the man had work, but should he just ask for it directly? Or maybe first get to know him, he remembered that’s how he got into good graces with the master butler. Experienced people like to share their experiences to educate.

” I just wanted to talk to you Sir, about Era and the Rune Knights”

When Ittindi finished his sentence Daragast eyes would light up as he began to stroll and talk, Ittindi smiled back knowing that he had said the right thing.

” Well you came to the right man; we’ll start with Era. There’s a lot going on in this city, but most people seem to only care about those taken care off, not the destitute like those here.”

Daragast would gesture to the slums around them as he continued to walk down a beaten paved road, Ittindi would occasionally have to glance down to avoid tripping on the mismatch height between some of the road.

“You see the real problem is that these people don’t know how to elevate themselves. And who can blame them most can’t even read, what this area really needs is public education. We have enough money to build floating guild halls, teleporters etc. Somehow, we don’t have time to build a school to help all those down here. Is a world worth saving if even a quarter of its populace live in a slavery of conditions?”

As Daragast spoke Ittindi became a little confused, he had always been taught that the nobles had a birthright to their wealth. This man was trying to argue for people like him, had that ever happened in his life? His thoughts immediately went to his Young Master who cared for power more than any birthright or wealth. Similar in form but not substance, he’d nod his head continuing to listen to Daragast.

” You know even a poor man or women could become smarter than a noble. It’s just assumed that they are dumb, but has anyone tried...really tried to find out? I don’t think that every man here is capable of being as smart as every noble. I just think that they have a lot more potential than we’re willing to admit. I think that Rune Knights would work more efficiently if they recruited from the slums. Even without education there are leaders, and other people of character here that could help establish a stronger presence of Rune Knights. Look around, do you see any patrolling around here? They only come out when there’s an emergency to be had in the slums. If we stroll through the upper echelons of the city, we’ll find some patrolling though. Odd how that works.”

There had been times that Ittindi felt as if he knew more about life than his Young Master, or some of the others he had served since. Still, he thought it wasn’t a butler’s place to offer advice, maybe he needed to rethink what it meant to be a good servant. Daragast spoke with such passion, and for service, not the kind of service Ittindi personally wanted to do. Still, there was no higher calling than servicing others.  Daragast would continue speaking of the possibilities of scouting individuals from the slums for the Rune Knights. He spoke of economic uplifting starting with civil servant salaries and injecting that money back into the community.
That’s when Ittindi would see the most disgusting thing since entering the city. Dirty poor children, Ittindi almost put a hand over his pocket watch and wallet but knew better from Daragast’s behavior so far. He knew that the man would notice, as a result Ittindi was nervous. That’s when one of the kids would scream no fair and chase another one. Tackling the kid to the ground then slapping him saying you’re it. They must have been playing tag, that’s when Daragast would walk into the closest noodle shop.

Imagine Ittindi’s surprise when he bought every kid on the street a cup of noodles, then he’d go back outside and puff his chest up before speaking. The kids seemed to know him as soon as he puffed his chest up, they erupted in laughter and swarmed around him. They were still disgustingly dirty, as children tend to be especially poor children.

” Alright kids, I can see that you have been working hard today. So today lunch is on me theirs noodles waiting for all of you over there. Now what do we say? Also don’t forget to wash those dirty hands before you eat, you don’t want to ruin the taste of the noodles!

Ittindi stared at Daragast surprised by his kindness and experience, Ittindi hadn’t met a man like him before even if he was a dragon. He’d speak about the need to keep money in the slums if the slums wanted to improve as they reached the edge of the slums towards the proper areas of Era. Daragast would look at Ittindi smiling, his fangs baring from both his canines.

” Thanks for indulging an old man, sometimes it’s nice to just have an ear, come around again some time. I might have something better for you to do than listen”

He would hand Ittindi a bag of some money, smiling Ittindi would turn around and go to find an Inn in the slums to stay at. Better to pay his lesson forward even at the cost of cleanliness. Though that part was partially a lie, Ittindi would find himself cleaning the small inn after a couple hours. A man couldn’t change in one day after all.

WC: 1489/500