Jessica arrived home just in time for dinner.            “How was the temple?”            “Crowded. The new Prima droned on about bringing back the worship of Falak, the original dragon god and all this nonsense. We didn’t stick around long once Kelan showed up and started talking to him.”            “Kelan was there?”            “Yea, it seems he is rather friendly with our new local abbot. This one seems to have been sent here from… Velyki? I don’t know. Thankfully Nyman was able to run interference and we left.” Jessica paused as she said the last, but quickly moved to put stuff in her room.            &l

Conor settled in for a grind. He had promised Jessica he was going to make this work, and finally things were in place to make that possible. Work at Jackson’s may be mundane, but he knew that with enough time, his other investments would give them both the room they needed to breathe, and, eventually, to thrive.  He longed to give Jessica a life worthy of her upbringing. She had reluctantly agreed to the arranged marriage because he had potential, now was his chance to live up to that. He knew that once the deal with NewAge Gaming was complete, he would be able to start making rapid progress in his pursuits so the tedious work at Jackson’s no longer felt like a slog. Instead, it was a race to get through this one month. He pushed harder each day to accomplish tasks and his mind raced with possibilities. A highlight to his week came every Tuesday and Thursday when he would head to the Spice Emporium for sampling night. The environment was amazing as the crowds g

After two weeks of mundane life, Abby Wiess called to inform Conor that the NewAge Gaming deal was complete. Conor let out a sigh of relief. Now, to really begin to change his life. “Thank you, Miss. Wiess. As we discussed, please go ahead and set half in a corporate account for me and leave half as liquid assets. I believe in the near future I will be ready to make some business decisions so those funds will need to be ready to go.”            “Of course, Mr. Brantley. Call on us any time.”***Saturday Saturday morning dawned bright. Conor was excited because today was ApaturePhotos Scavenger hunt for the Chamber of Commerce. Hopefully today, Jessica would get a glimpse of what he had been working on for her. When he got dressed, however, she had already left for the mall. He put on his suit and went down as well.   &

The third week of November, Conor finished his Monday shift at Jackson’s and decided to visit Mr. Nuri. It was time to make Vokrizin a more concrete entity. A quick phone call confirmed Mr. Nuri was in the office and available so Conor made his way to Dreadnaught Law Firm. Once in the conference room, his team assembled.            “Well… I didn’t mean to pull you all away from your tasks.” Conor said, chagrined.            “Mr. Brantley, you may not realize this, but you are quickly becoming one of the firm's largest clients. Just the deal with young Yuri was enough to make you a VIP client. Add in your ownership of AperturePhoto and even the head partners are taking notice.”            “Hmm well if that is the case… I would like to make Vok

At noon on Monday, Ana Brooks spun into the parking lot of Jackson’s furniture in her red car. Conor came out a few minutes later and slid into the passage seat, the scent of orange blossom calming his nerves. “So, which dealer do you think we should try?” “Well, Mr. Brantley, the wyvern models tend to be solid cars for the money where the Druk dealership tends to carry more high-end cars. Abby sent me with a new company card for you so any larger purchases like this can be charged directly to the company account.” “Let's start with Wyvern then and see what they have. I don’t need to be spending my first check on a car.” A few minutes later they were pulling into a car lot. At first, every salesman popped their head up but when they saw Conor still in his Jackson’s furniture uniform most went back to what they were doing. Conor noticed one girl who looked like an intern trying to muster up the courage to come over. Every time she would start, she spun back to the desk in a nervous f