With him was a team of guards belonging to the Duke of Greenstone. Most essence users in Greenstone were a part of the Adventure Society, but the largest group in Greenstone who weren’t was the Duke of Greenstone's household guard. They would be escorting the carriages through the delta roads to the city, where the coins would be stored in city-controlled warehouses for distribution and export.

The spirit coin trade was the largest source of income in Greenstone, with many of the major local powers involved. The Geller and Mercer families produced the coins, the Adventure Society brought them in from the wilderness. The Duke of Greenstone saw to their dispensation, managed by the Magic Society.

“G’day Clive,” Jason said, approaching the Magic Society official.

“Good afternoon,” Clive greeted, not turning away from his work. He was bent down checking the underside of a carriage.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked.

“There was an incident several years ago where the carriages were tampered with,” Clive said. “Some rather sophisticated artifice was used to suborn the magic that drives them. The drivers lost control and the carriages drove themselves away.”

“That’s kind of awesome,” Jason said.

“I know, right?” Clive said, glancing up with a grin. “The perpetrator was never caught, which is a shame; I’d love to discuss how they did it. That was before my time, though.”

“So why bother with all this?” Jason asked. “Why not just get someone with a storage power to stow the coins and move them.”

“There have been incidents in the past where the coins that went into the storage weren’t the ones that came out,” Clive said. “It happened enough times in enough coin farms around the world that now everyone uses secure transport crates.”

“That was a long time ago,” Humphrey said. “They changed the system here when my mother was still a girl.”

“Are those skimmer drivers going to be alright to go back?” Jason asked.

“No, they’ll stay until the barge is taken care of, then go back with another escort, just in case. In the meantime, they get some unexpected time at home with their families.”

“Too bad we didn’t have another driver,” Jason said. “We could have salvaged that intact skimmer for some extra coin.”

“The only one not destroyed was full of bodies that looked like they’d been out there for weeks,” Humphrey said. “I wouldn’t make someone drive that thing.”

“Good point. You want to get some juice after this? I’m all out, but Arash said he’d be at the Magic Society campus.”

Humphrey leaned in closer, speaking quietly.

“Actually, I was thinking I could maybe ask Gabrielle,” he said nervously.

Clive and Jason shared a glance and Jason put a hand on Humphrey’s shoulder.

“Good idea,” Jason said. “Go with God, my son.”

Humphrey frowned in confusion.