I found my friends waiting for me outside the entrance of the Travelers Guild, in the same spot that we had gathered together that morning. It looked like I was the last person to arrive. None of the party had the disappointed faces that I'd seen on the other people that had failed, so I was counting that as a good sign.
"How did everyone do?" I asked, hoping that everyone had passed their exams. The others all exchanged glances.
"Well-" Grace began. She had a serious look on her face which was making me nervous, but then she cracked a smile. "We all passed!" There was some excited screaming going on as we all celebrated this huge victory.
"What did you place?" The others all had jobs with a lot of people in them so I expected there would be a larger range of placements. Sarah was the first to tell me.
"Fourteenth out of fifty!" I gave her a high five.
"That's so awesome Sarah! You're way up there!" Derek spoke up next proudly poking out his chest.
"Ninth out of thirty!" That was really good as well but the others continued on with Laura. She lacked the same kind of pride in her face as Derek and Sarah but I could tell that she was happy.
"I'm ranked twenty-five out of sixty-eight." We all celebrated her accomplishment before Grace told us her ranking.
"I was number five out of one hundred twenty-seven." My jaw dropped to the floor, that was exceptional. I gave her a big hug and we both screamed in excitement again, I turned to Tim to hear what his answer was and he was just smiling softly.
"It doesn't really matter does it?" I grabbed both of his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye before giving him a single nod. He sighed and gave his answer. I was number two out of thirty-seven." I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze.
"That's awesome buddy!" He rolled his eyes at me and shoved me away playfully.
"Thank you, but now it's your turn. We all told you ours so it's only fair." I understood his reasoning and took in a deep breath it was a little embarrassing because now I had to be a part of some ceremony at the end of the week.
"First out of ten," I said quickly. The others just looked at me in surprise.
"You were first?" Laura asked me and I nodded my response. There were another couple seconds of silence before Tim let out a big woohoo breaking it.
"That's my Todd!" He said this while punching the air. It was funny watching someone be more excited about my accomplishment than I was but I didn't hate it. The others began celebrating as well.
"That's so amazing Todd you should be really proud of yourself!" Grace said. I thanked her, but then Derek hopped on my back.
"Look at you man!" He said while ruffling up my hair. "Doing big things, making moves, shaken things up!"
"It really is cool!" Sarah added. "But why were there only ten passes was the exam that difficult?" She asked and I shook my head.
"No, it's just that not a lot of people pick my job when they come here so there area lot less people taking the exam in my category. The test was really hard though." I looked intently at Tim who knew exactly what I was talking about. "How about we all go out tonight to celebrate our successes?" I asked hoping that they would say yes. I really wanted to get out there and have some fun after the long weeks of working and studying.
They did of course because they had all accomplished the same feat as me. We decided we'd go to the travelers' tavern because that was pretty much the only place to go around here to have some normal fun. So we headed that way.
Once we reached the heavy wooden door of the tavern we pushed it open and were greeted with celebratory cheers. The barkeeper was smiling ear to ear.
"Congratulations Travelers! You have taken your first step in the service of this great country of ours!" I had no clue what he meant by that but it didn't matter I was here to drink and have fun with my friends, not talk. I thanked him still though and ordered a drink. "Anything for you alchemist boy!" He winked at me before going to grab me a brew.
Tim and Grace got one as well and the others ordered some food. The barkeeper took the order back to the kitchen then rejoined us at the counter.
"So-." He began. "I heard a certain someone is going to have a special place at the ball!" He said the last part in a sing-song voice.
"What ball?" I asked him. The man just laughed for a minute then looked seriously at me.
"What do you mean what ball? The one after the tag ceremony? All of the people that pass their exams get to go and there's dancing and food oooh you're going to love it I just know it! Have you picked out your outfit yet?"
"Outfit?" The man behind the counter rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Yes, outfit alchemy boy! You have to look good for your date!" Tim started coughing a little bit at that moment it appeared that some of his drink had gone down the wrong pipe.
"Date?" I continued my questioning. I was slightly annoyed I did come here to celebrate but I wound up stuck trying to get answers out of this guy instead. Sarah, Derek, and Laura were all in the corner talking to the local minstrels who had just finished a song so they weren't privy to this conversation.
"Yes, date. Do I really have to explain everything to you? You have to bring a date because the top scorers have the first dance. It's tradition, and it's fun so you better find someone soon. Like this young lady." He motioned over to Grace who laughed a little bit at the thought.
"Sorry Todd but someone already asked me, tough luck man." I rolled my eyes at her because I already knew that Grace hated to dance.
"Who asked you out?" I asked her.
"Believe it or not it was Jake. I figured it would be fun so why not?" Then a thought just dawned on me.
"Wait you already knew about the ball and you didn't tell me?" She just shrugged her shoulders.
"I honestly thought you already knew, I talked to a lot of travelers today and they gave me the four one one. Figured you had done the same." The others had walked up to the bar to get their food so they had heard my question as well.
"You didn't know man?" Derek asked me which I responded to with a silent head shake. "Oooh well, you better get on it, man! You're running out of people to ask quickly!" I asked him what he meant but Sarah spoke out instead.
"We all already have dates!" She smiled at Derek and that's when I realized. 'Those two have been getting awfully close lately haven't they?' I looked between the two of them as if to ask if they meant what I thought they meant. "Yes, we're going together. I swear Todd for someone as smart as you are you can be really slow sometimes." They all had a quick laugh at my expense I didn't mind though.
"What about you Laura you already have a date too?" The sixteen-year-old nodded her head.
"Yeah, Sean asked me. He's only a year older than me and he's kind of cute." I tried to think of how anyone could find Sean cute. I mean he wasn't ugly but I had never thought about him being cute. I turned to look at Tim who raised his hands up defensively.
"Hey don't look at me! I am currently dateless, which won't change unless someone asks me out." I looked him up and down. He was tall, dark, and handsome. 'No way he won't have some pretty girl on his arm at this thing.'
"Well, I'm sure you'll have girls clamoring over themselves trying to win that date slot with you!" He just laughed at my words for a few seconds.
"Well, thanks for your vote of confidence. If you'll excuse me I'm going to go get a little air it's kinda hot in here." The Cleric got up to leave but I asked if he wanted some company. "Yeah, sure if you'd like." He gave me a small smile. I followed him out of the door with my drink in hand. I guess at some point the barkeeper must have refilled my cup because I know that I'd drank more than what was in it right now. Tim and I stepped out into the cool night air.
The moon was giving off enough light right now for us to see, plus there was a little bit of light coming from the tavern behind us.
"You feeling any better dude?" I asked him.
"Yeah sorry I appreciate you coming out with me, nice night isn't it?" I agreed with him and we just stood there in silence for a while looking up at the night sky. I was still thinking about the days events and how I would now have to find a date. 'I don't even know any girls out here aside from Master and my party members.'
I figured I would really need to start asking around so I don't embarrass myself at the ball.