C05-R09-3448 A.E.
Kael woke early, dressed sharply, and carried himself with purpose. His boots were clean, his shirt pressed, and his hair tied back in a neat tail. He had work to do.
Brinewatch instincts guided his feet—just like old times. Door to door. No handouts. No shame. He had survived by cleaning gutters, hauling junk, and dragging carcasses out of collapsed tenements. He didn’t need hand-holding. Just a chance.
The first door he knocked on was in the lower southern quadrant of the Grays, a few blocks from his storefront. A three-floor building, clean siding, an elderly man on the second floor who peered down from a balcony with suspicion.
“Morning, sir. My name’s Kael—”
The man shut the door before Kael even finished his sentence.
He tried again. Then again. Block after block, rejection after rejection.
Some were polite.
“Not interested.”
“We already have a guy.”
“Are you even licensed?”
Others weren’t.
“Get lost.”
“This a scam?”
“You're not on the registry. I checked.”
No one let him prove himself. No matter how earnestly he spoke, no matter how clean he looked, no matter how many times he refused to take the first ‘no.’
After his twenty-seventh door slammed shut, Kael stood in a quiet alley behind a storefront bakery, shoulders slumped. He wasn’t tired. He was confused.
Back in Brinewatch, all it took was persistence and a strong back. Here? All that got him was a sore throat and bruised pride.
He sat on a bench, opened his ArkSeal interface, and began digging.
“How to get clients in the Grays.”
“New business startup tips.”
“How to seem legit to customers.”
Searches flooded his vision with ads, articles, guides, opinion pieces. Threads on consumer scams. Lawsuits. Ratings platforms. Insurance requirements. Legal disclaimers. Arbitration boards. Professional organizations.
He clicked one article and tried to read through it, but the language might as well have been written in Ancient Celestrian. “Limited liability structure”? “Service indemnity”? “Peer-verified contractor networks”?
He rubbed his eyes and exhaled.
This wasn’t a hammer-and-nails world. This was a paper-and-policy world. If he didn’t adapt, he’d starve in the middle of comfort.
With frustration clawing at the edge of his chest, Kael opened his contacts and sent a connection ping.
“Lira Taryn.”
A moment passed, then another.
Her voice chimed into his head. “Kael? Something wrong?”
He hesitated. “I’m gettin' shut down at every turn. No one will give me a shot. I don’t think I’m doin' this right.”
“You’re probably not,” she said without judgment. “Come by. I’ll walk you through it.”
Later That Day at Taryn’s Goods
Kael arrived a little before dusk. The front gate buzzed open when he stepped into view of the camera. Inside, Lira sat behind the shop’s front desk, face buried in her ledger like always.
She looked up as he entered.
“You look like someone just kicked your pride down three flights of stairs.”
Kael dropped into the chair across from her. “That’s about right.”
She slid him a bottle of water and closed her ledger.
“Okay. Step one: you need to become an official business entity. Otherwise, you’re just a guy with muscles and a shovel—and that’s not enough for people who live inside the walls.”
“What’s it even mean to be ‘official’? There’s no guild for what I do.”
“Doesn’t matter. You don’t need a guild to be a business. You need recognition, registration, a record, and protections. Legally speaking, you don’t exist until you register with the Ashport Civil Registrar.”
Kael groaned.
“Don’t worry,” she added, pulling up forms on her interface. “I’ll help you through it. We’ll get your tax ID, business category, insurance profile, the whole thing.”
“You know how to do all that?”
“My dad made me learn when I turned thirteen. Said a good merchant knows how the system works before selling a single widget.”
"Lira Taryn requested AR Collaboration Mode. Do you accept?"
Kael was surprised by the sudden alert before his mind's eye.
"Altered reality collaboration mode will make this go a lot faster," Lira said matter-of-factly.
Kael accepted the request without another word.
Over the next two hours, Lira walked Kael through setting up a legal entity: Kael Voren Cleanup Services, LLC. Kael chose to make the business name Ashport Disposal and Recovery. They filed the necessary documents through the Arknet, paid the small fee, and verified his business as a licensed disaster recovery and waste management service.
Then came the planning: Lira mapped out nearby neighborhood associations, business owner groups, and logistical directories. She explained the power of reputation systems, online client boards, and how a handful of good reviews could change everything.
“People don’t just want muscle, Kael. They want reliability. A paper trail. Something they can point to if things go wrong. And in the age of the ArkSeal, they can research you in a heartbeat, so you have to make everything as apparent and appealing as possible.”
Kael sat back, watching her in silence for a moment. “Thanks, Lira. I would’ve drowned in this without you.”
“Of course.” She smirked. “I'll always be here to help you when you need me.”
This unprovoked declaration of loyalty embarrassed Kael and made him blush.
Kael’s lips curled faintly. “You can say the same for me. If you need somethin' from me, don't hesitate to ask.”
At this, Lira immediately smiled. "In that case..." This changed Kael's look from one of embarrassment to one of seriousness. "Feed me."
"Huh?" Kael looked confused.
"If you want to do something for me, then feed me. Take me out to eat somewhere inside the city walls. I haven't dined inside the city in years. I miss it."
"Oh, keke." Kael started laughing. "It's a little late, but I'll see if I can call a pedicab. I'll take you to this pl—" he was cut off.
"Not right now, dork. Look at me."
Kael took a good look at Lira, but all it did was compound his confusion. Lira looked fine—more than fine. She looked damned good! But she always looked good. When he thought about it, Lira was actually the most clean and beautiful person he'd seen in person, inside the walls or out. It's actually a wonder that she isn't bombarded with suitors begging for her affection everyday. But he pushed this thought to the side and replied, "So, when do you want to go?"
"That's for you to decide. Just give me enough time to get ready beforehand."
"Deal."
