“Afiele is wonderful. And we are the rulers. We have a duty to the people and the land. It’s just…tedious sometimes. For us.”

“The Princess is stupid. I hate her. And Duchess Grishen. And I tore my sleeve.”

The boy’s eyes began to tear up. Cara thought he was trying to make himself miserable. Hurriedly, she straightened.

“Hold on, hold on. I might not be a [Performer], but did you think I could only juggle? Let’s see if I can’t at least compete with Menorome’s fun!”

“How? Do you have an artifact?”

Sasi and Culin gave Cara another look of doubt. That stung. Cara smiled at them.

“I don’t need magic. Here—watch this. One, two, three—”

Before she could tell herself she was going to break her neck, Cara did a little jump, then did a run and backflip. The two children oohed, and a few heads turned as Cara landed on the street, spread her arms, and spun.

“Tada! How’s that?”

“Do another! Do another!”

“Okay—”

This time Cara did a standing backflip. She stopped there because she felt like she had nearly missed and landed on her head. She was not that athletic. But she’d memorized that party trick. She waited for applause…

“Do another! And—and can you do a double backflip?”

“…What?”

Cara O’Sullivan saw the two stop jumping up and down on their feet. Sasi bit her lip. Cara threw up her hands.

“Oh come on. Alright, tell me.”

The young [Lord] was only too happy to shatter Cara’s ego. He pointed at the roof of a two-story house, one of the highest in the town.

“Mother took us to a [Tumbler] who back flipped off a roof, only it was higher than that. Can you go from up there?”

Cara looked up at the roof.

“…No. I can do a handspring.”

“Can you do eighty in a row? That’s the record. Well, eighty-two.”

“God fucking damn it.”

“What?”

Cara had mumbled that. She smiled innocently at Sasi.

“Nothing! Uh…I can’t do any of that.”

“Oh. Well…you can flip well for your level.”

That was them being polite again. Cara shook her head.

“No—I don’t have any levels in [Performer] or [Juggler] or [Tumbler] or whatever. I—”

“What, really?”

Suddenly, the two children were agog. They stared at Cara as if she had suddenly walked on water—

which apparently was also possible with magic. Sasi stared at the tomatoes, and then at Cara.

“You mean…you did that without Skills or a class?”

Cara O’Sullivan hesitated. And then her eyes twinkled, and she put her hands on her hips and looked skeptically at the two kids.

“Well, of course. Anyone can juggle! I can’t do twenty six, but I can do four. Anyone can learn. What, do all your fancy performers need Skills?”