Passing the Torch II - [Profession/Solo/Invite]

Azix found himself less stressed with his nightly training sessions, even if he was exhausted, than before he had started. With his mind not bogged down by random worries, he could focus on finding the rest of the members to sit on the Workforce Committee. His first appointment of the day was with an old contact from his former spying days. It was actually one of Garret’s contacts, Serene, but Azix had done some work for her before. There was no guarantee that she would be interested in the work he was offering, but the orange magician wasn’t deterred from asking. He would be meeting with Serene at her office, where she ran most of her business ventures from.

When Azix arrived, he was stopped by the guards that were posted at the entrance. They briefly questioned him, but once he provided his name, they let him pass. Azix walked inside and met the receptionist at the front desk. She looked up when she heard the door open and hid a frown when she saw Azix. Juliana recognized the magician from his previous visits and knew that he was an associate of Garret’s. Her history with Garret was unknown to Azix, so the orange magician was a bit surprised when she didn’t return his smile and friendly greeting. As usual, Azix was directed to take a seat in the waiting room until Serene was ready to see him.

It wasn’t a long wait for the magician, and he was soon summoned to the familiar office that he had been in before. Along the way, Azix had to pass by the receptionist’s desk and he winked at Juliana. He entered Serene’s office, closing the door behind him. Azix greeted her with a warm smile and a respectful bow as he crossed the room to take a seat. ”It has been a while. How have you been?”

Serene placed her inkpen into its holder as she looked up from her work. There was an air of exhaustion about her face, as if she hadn’t had much sleep recently. ”It has been a while. And I’ve been busy, Marquis.” As she said that, another individual entered the room with a tray. Upon the tray were two of glasses filled with water, a pitcher and a small pill. The man set it on the desk, and the woman immediately consumed the pill while washing it down with a gulp from the glass of water. Looking askance towards Azix, she spoke again. ”From the El Nagi’s. They say it helps you stay awake. What brings the Kou Ambassador to my humble place of business?” Her words were just as tired as her demeanor.

Folding his hands in his lap, Azix looked Serene in the eyes. ”I apologize if I’m interrupting anything. I didn’t mean to take up your time if you’re busy.” She looked even more exhausted than Azix felt and he gave her a concerned look. The woman was fighting to even stay awake, it seemed she even needed herbs to do so. If Serene’s work was cutting into her sleeping hours, then it was safe to assume she wouldn’t have the time to help with Opportunity Hall.


”I’m here because I wanted to ask you a favor, but I’m hesitant now.” Azix chewed on his lip, considering if he should ask. ”You once told me that you wished to get out of the…business. If I had to guess, the legality of that profession had nothing to do with it. I got the feeling that you had developed a moral objection to it.” He paused, waiting to see if he was correct.

The woman sighed at Azix’s words before pouring more water from the pitcher into her glass. ”I’m a business woman, first and foremost, Marquis. I’ve left that type of business behind long ago. You can guess whatever you would like, as far as my motivations are concerned. I’m not bothered one way or another...” She paused, but it was not the kind of pause that signified one was finished speaking. Lifting her glass, Serene took another drink from her glass of water while looking away from Azix. ”If you’re asking me for a favor in regards to that, I’m afraid I must forward you elsewhere.” Narrowing her eyes, she turned her attention back to the magician. ”That is, if you’re looking for information, like the last time. If you’re interested in obtaining… merchandise… then you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

Azix brought his hands up defensively and shook his head. ”That’s not why I brought that up. I thought that perhaps you were looking for a way to make up for the past. If you were like me, that is. There are things that I have done that I’m not proud of. I accept what I’ve done, even if I don’t agree with the actions now.” Azix realized he was beating around the bush, which was making the situation worse. With a sigh, he got to the point. ”I’m sure you’ve heard of Opportunity Hall and the workforce program? It has grown to the point where I can no longer manage them by myself, so I’m building a committee to take over. I wanted to ask if you would be interested in joining the committee, using your business knowledge to manage the finances.”

Serene nodded slowly. ”That makes more sense. I have heard of the Workforce Program… But I never looked deep enough into it to understand how it works. Sounds like work to me. From what I understand, though, the people who hire from that program don’t have to pay the workers anything. They’re paid from internal funds? I assume, if I would be doing work for them, that I would be paid for that?” She was looking at the water thoughtfully, as if considering what he was requesting.

”Yes, the workers receive funding internally. Until it was proven that the program would be successful, a majority of the funding came from myself. Now, the program is funded through the state, however I still contribute. I felt people would see the workforce initiative in a more favorable light if they didn’t have to train and pay the workers.” When Serene asked about payment, Azix gave her a quick nod. ”Of course you would be paid for the work you do.”

Serene drummed her fingers against the desk and hummed. ”I suppose if I’m doing that, it would clear up some of my funds for other things as well… I was trying to cut down on how much hired help I used… Hmmm. I’ll have to see if the numbers are enough. You know. The pay.” Just as before, she showed a shrewd frame of thought as she spoke. ”You wouldn’t happen to have a range that this position would be paid, would you? If I knew right away, I could give you a more definitive answer.”

Azix rubbed his jaw as he mentally calculated how much funding Opportunity Hall received and the total expenses. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to recall that information at the top of his head, however he had recently analyzed the budget with Gilda. With the net income in mind, Azix split it a few ways, accounting for each position in the committee, while leaving enough for the program to expand in the future. After calculating how much he could afford to pay her, Azix gave her the numbers. It was a decent amount of money for managing an organization’s finances.

Serene wrote down the figure and pulled out a drawer from her dresser, obtaining a file from it. She began to read some of the details on it, and was writing in the margin of one of her files. Rubbing her temple a bit more, she looked back up to Azix. ”Alright, I’m in. There will be some information I need to know, though…” She spent the rest of the evening asking Azix information in regards to what she would be doing, who she would be reporting to and who would be reporting to her, as well as where she would be able to go to view the current fiscal state of the initiative’s funds. Once she got the information she was looking for, she stood up and walked around the desk.

Holding out her hand for a shake, she would wait for Azix to grasp it before holding on tightly. ”Ah, I have another question… Garret… How is he doing? Is he ha… Is he doing well… With that woman?” She looked towards the magician with the best pokerface she could muster.

Azix arched a brow at her question, unsure of how to respond. He knew that Garret was in a relationship with Yua, but he hadn’t expected Serene to know that information. ’Why does she want to know?’ Her expression was that of indifference, but her tone said otherwise. ’She must have had feelings for him…

He gulped and pulled his hand free from her grip, running it through his hair nervously. ”He’s...fine. Last I heard he was helping with the reconstruction from the rebellion.” He glanced at the floor, avoiding her gaze. ”Anyway, it’s getting late. I should probably go. Don’t forget to meet with Gilda at Opportunity Hall when you get the chance.” He gave a small bow and excused himself to head home.

---

The next day, Azix stopped by Opportunity Hall to inform Gilda that Serene would be joining her on the committee. He explained that Serene would be overseeing the finances and that she would be dropping by at some point to introduce herself. After asking a few questions to make sure she understood Serene’s role, Gilda seemed eager to meet the woman, trusting Azix’s judgement.

Afterwards, Azix gathered the files of every worker that had been trained as staff and took them upstairs to his office. He spent a few hours going through each file, paying attention to their performance ratings. The ratings were a system devised by Gilda in the early days of Opportunity Hall, where the manager of each “station” was required to rank each worker’s performance. The system made it easy to track which roles the workers performed best in. After being trained at a station, the worker was also surveyed for their enjoyment of that particular field.

Azix had to admit, it certainly made deciding who would be a good candidate to replace Gilda as the receptionist easier. Not that he had doubted the effectiveness of her idea, he just hadn’t had the opportunity to use it in such a scenario. By the time he finished his initial overview of the files, he had several files set to the side as possibilities. Each of the candidates had rated a high enjoyment of working at the office and had been rated highly by Gilda or Kylar.

Now that he had his final list of candidates, he called Gilda and Kylar into his office. When they took a seat across the desk from him, he passed them the files. ”So, I believe one of these seven would be a good receptionist. You two have more experience working with these individuals, so you should be involved in the final say.”

Gilda and Kylar both nodded, going through the files and discussing each candidate. Azix listened to their opinions and after an hour of deliberations, they narrowed the list down to three candidates. ”Alright, setup an interview with each for tomorrow and we’ll make the final decision then.”

He excused Gilda and Kylar with a wave, letting them get back to work. He gathered the files into a stack and took them downstairs to file them away again. While he was wandering the shelves of the record room, placing the files back in their correct spots, he heard Gilda greeting someone in the front room. He stopped what he was doing when he heard her call his name.

Azix walked out to see a man slipping out the front door. Gilda smiled and she was clearly excited by something. ”That was one of Oroloham’s men. He said that they finished the reconstruction of Kios. He said they’ll start work on Trylor next week.”

Azix was overjoyed by the news and he ran over to hug Gilda, lifting her off her feet as he swung her around. ”That is great! I can tell the villagers they can move back now.” He set her down and laughed. ”I’ll be back tomorrow.” With that he took off for his house.

When he arrived, he shared the news with Viri, Janus, Gillus and the Grumptoes. They shared his excitement and helped him make plans to move within the next couple days. Once they had a solid plan figured out, Azix sent the others out to spread the news and help everyone get ready. When they left, Azix collapsed into a chair with a sigh, noticing how tired he was. Sadly, it didn’t seem like he would be getting sleep anytime soon. His week had just gotten a lot busier, even though he had crossed a few things off his to-do list.

---

The next day, Azix woke up early so he could get to Opportunity Hall before the candidates arrived for their interview. He ate breakfast with the Kios Council, listening to the stories of their adventures the night before. The villagers were happy to be moving back and were prepared to make the journey as soon as possible. After finishing the meal, Azix gave them money so they could rent out enough wagons to make the move and then headed into the office.

When the candidates arrived, they were interviewed individually by Azix, Gilda, and Kylar in the magician’s office. Each interview took an hour and all three seemed equally qualified for the position. Once the interviews were done, the candidates were dismissed and informed they would hear back soon. Then, Azix, Gilda and Kylar sat down by themselves to decide who would be getting the job.

They made their decision by lunch time, settling on a young woman named Genevieve. Gilda sent a messenger to inform the young woman that she got the position, while Azix went out to search for Brandus. Azix found the man at a restaurant that he was known to frequent, already eating, and the magician sat down to join him. After placing his order, Azix folded his hands on the table. ”I wanted to talk to you about something. You’ve done a good job around Opportunity Hall. How would you like to sit on the Workforce Committee? I’d like you to oversee the expansion of the program, spreading its influence outside of the Capital and gaining more contracts.”

Brandus finished chewing, which gave him time to consider Azix’s offer. ”So I’d pretty much do what I already do, with a few more duties?” Azix nodded and Brandus hummed to himself in thought. ”Sure, it sounds like fun.”

Azix smiled, ”Excellent. Now, that just leaves one last seat to fill. When you get a chance, report to Gilda so she can brief you on her expectations.”

---

After lunch, Azix walked across town to Oroloham’s Construction hall. He told the receptionist he was looking for the man and sat down to wait. After waiting for a bit, Oroloham came out to greet him. ”Azix! It’s been a while. How are you doing?” He waved for the magician to follow him back to his office. ”What can I do for you?’

Azix sat down across from Oroloham with a smile. ”I’m doing good. I stopped by to ask you a favor. I’m forming a committee to oversee the workforce program. It’s gotten too big for me to manage myself, especially with my duties as Ambassador to Kou. I was hoping you would like to join the committee. I need someone in charge of the workers, responsible for making sure they are performing well and also are being treated well. You have experience in the business and the workers have reported that your stations have the best working conditions.”

Oroloham arched a brow at Azix’s request and twirled his fingers through his beard. While he ran his own business and oversaw many employees, he had never directly handled employee relations. ”I appreciate that you thought of me, but I don’t think I’d be right for the job. How about a counter-offer? One of my employees would be better suited for the role. If you give me time to train someone to replace him, I would be willing to spare him to your cause. Is that acceptable?”

Azix nodded, ”If you think he would be right for the job, then I’ll trust you. Send them to Opportunity Hall to meet with Gilda when they are ready.” With business concluded, Azix shifted in his seat and changed the topic to lighter topics.

---

With the members of the committee decided, Azix passed the torch to Gilda to oversee the program. In between helping the villagers move, he helped her with the transition in leadership. By the end of the week, most of the members of the committee had begun their new duties and the villagers had been moved in. A massive weight was off Azix’s shoulders now and freed him up to pursue his interests. Of course, it had been a while since he was without so many responsibilities, so he’d have to remember what his interests were.

[1500+/1500]