Pelu was very self-conscious as he sat on the bench he had found in a small grassy park. There weren't as many prying eyes here as out on the streets but he felt even more out of place. The few people who did enter the park didn't stay long after they caught sight of him eating the last of the food he had brought with him. There were no signs saying this was an exclusive garden but the looks he got told him it was. He ate as quickly as he could and walked back out to the side street he had turned onto to get to the garden. As he looked to the right he could see the gigantic main road he had been traveling on for what seemed like a full day. To his left he saw a seemingly endless row of buildings occasionally separated by smaller roads that split off to both sides. If he went back to the main road he could at least find his way back to the city gate eventually. If he went the other way he might never find his way back out. It all looked exactly the same.

As he turned to go back toward the main road, Pelu felt a hand on his arm. He turned quickly, afraid a soldier might have come to arrest him for a crime he was unaware of. Instead of the armored visage of a soldier, he found himself looking into the eyes of a young woman who looked just as out of place in this part of the city as he did. "You're a ways from home. What brings you to this part of the city?" she asked with a smile. It was the first smile he had seen on any face since he entered the city, and somehow it instantly put him at ease.

"I am far from home. Much further than I've ever been before. I came here from the village I grew up in to try to get into the Inventor’s Guild. I don't even know what it looks like or where to find it though. I just got to the city today and it's so big I don't know how anybody can find their way around in it."

As he finally voiced his concerns, Pelu began to feel how far from home he was and how lost he felt in such a large city. For the first time since he had left his home he began to doubt his plan and his abilities. He began to wonder if there even was an Inventor’s Guild and if they would even want him there if it did exist. In the sea of people that surrounded him, Pelu felt like the smiling face at his side was the only human contact he had, and he was suddenly terrified of losing that.

"Well, you're heading in the right direction if the Inventor’s Guild is what you're looking for. Though between the two of us, I wouldn't go there if I had a choice. Anyway, you won't get very close to it looking like that and you certainly can't just walk up to the front door and expect them to let you in. Some people even say there is no front door to walk up to. The only way in is to know the secret passages. Come on back to Brownburgh with me. You can have dinner with my family tonight. Maybe we can help you out a bit. Nobody gets anywhere in this city without knowing people."

With that, she started walking back to the main road, pulling Pelu along by the arm she was still holding on to. Just as he caught up to her pace she abruptly stopped and pulled him around to face her. "Oh! I almost forgot. I'm Dima".

"I'm Pelu" he sputtered as he took the hand that was thrust out to him. "Nice to meet you. Welcome to the city. Now come on." And with that she pulled him off again by his arm.

Dima hated going to the upper class parts near the center of the city. Everybody there was so rude. They thought that they were better than the rest of them just because they had money. Anybody born into the right family got money. It wasn't her fault she didn't have much. She certainly worked harder for what she had than all those rich snobs. It couldn't be helped though. Her mother had been offered a job in one of the upper class homes and needed an appropriate dress. Dima had to get it because her mother was busy with the last day of her current job and Dima had the day off. At least she only had to pick it up; the dress had been ordered a week earlier.

Stepping through the gate was like stepping into another world. A world so full of people that there was hardly room to move. Even though there were open fields on the other side of the gate, nobody stepped so much as one foot off of the cobblestone road. Pelu was nearly crushed by several ox carts before he realized that the horses and carts stayed toward the inside of the road while the foot traffic flowed more slowly along the outside of the road. He tried to strike up conversations with the people around him as he walked. Most of them ignored him, but a few exchanged pleasantries with him. It quickly became clear that people around here weren't as friendly as they were back in his village at home.

He walked silently for several minutes, caught up in thoughts of how he would find a place to stay and what he would do now that he had arrived in the capitol. He hardly noticed as he started to pass some small scattered houses, and then more densely packed houses. He was roused from his reverie as he passed into shade and discovered that buildings now lined both sides of the road that was wide enough to fit another whole house with room to spare. He was almost trampled as he stopped a moment to take in the sight of such densely packed buildings. Most appeared to be houses, though some had signs declaring the names of businesses. Mostly small shops that didn't seem to be lacking customers.

Eventually, the buildings started becoming less dirty and more ornate. Pelu could tell he was moving into a richer section of the city. Occasionally he passed small parks amid the clutter of brick and mortar. The people joining him on his long trek toward the center of the city looked different as well. The ladies wore more brightly colored dresses and the men wore felt hats instead of cloth ones. Everybody seemed cleaner.

As he drew further toward the center of the capitol, Pelu began to feel out of place. He didn't have a jacket like most of the men he now saw and some of the women were staring at him as he walked by. He was determined though, and he didn't know where to go so he reshouldered his pack and kept walking. He knew that eventually he would have to stop for directions though. Unlike everybody around him, he didn't know one building from the next and had no chance of finding the Inventor’s Guild without help. He began to get peeved at the complete lack of signs except those announcing business names. For the moment, however, his pride was too strong and he simply continued walking, hoping that the road he was on would lead him where he wanted to go.

The Inventor’s Guild was housed in a massive building in the center of the capitol, matched in size only by the magnificent palace and temple that stood nearby. Together, those three buildings formed the heart of the city and symbolized the three virtues upon which the kingdom had been established: piety, loyalty and creativity. Though similar in size, the three buildings stood in stark contrast to each other. The temple was a smooth white pyramid with a sharp spire, representing purity and communion with an emphasis on heavenly things. The palace was a thing of excesses, decorated with gold accents and statues of past leaders. The Inventor’s Guild seemed to balloon out in almost grotesque aerial alcoves that looked as though they would fall off at any moment. Smoke billowed from several chimneys that poked through the top and a gigantic wooden lattice crowned it. Hoists and cranes adorned several of the outer surfaces and some of the large doors near them stood open to the world as supplies were brought in to the upper levels.

The city radiated away from the central triad with three main roadways passing straight through to the enormous outer wall that encompassed the entire city and some of the surrounding countryside. The rest of the roads formed a complex labyrinth that was negotiable only by those who had spent years learning the intricate curves and intersections. The main roadways were packed with people and horses on both sides but the middle of each one was occupied only with a pair of narrow trenches. Over the tops of the shops and houses ran the complicated aqueduct system that branched off from a river several miles outside of the city. Once it passed the city walls it split off into smaller and smaller ducts, branching through the city like capillaries.

It was to this mass of men and mazes that Pelu arrived after his long trek. He had been able to ride along for a way with a farmer carrying his goods to a larger town for sale, and for a few days with a traveling merchant, but most of his journey had been made on foot. By the time he arrived at the towering gate he had only enough money for one night in an inn, and even then only if it was a very cheap one. He had no friends, no information, no plan, and no money. All he had was his determination and a dream.