Things moved quickly after that. Two days later, they were all in Willowrock. Esme Tillon had not just one but two of the Tokens; she’d sent people to investigate the sites they’d kicked invaders out of. Not only was there one hidden in the commander’s quarters at the site of the big battle but one of the groups that fled had abandoned their token as well as a great deal of other stuff. They’d taken the time to set traps, unfortunately, but the healers were confident the scout who found that out the hard way would eventually recover fully.
Both of Esme’s tokens also showed the Claws of Doom opposite the symbol of Order’s Council. It was obvious that whoever was handing them out had found a group of them; it couldn’t be simply random that they all had the symbol of the same Councilor. Serenity didn’t believe it was a coincidence that the Councilor whose symbol they bore had a terrible reputation, either.
It was just Serenity and Rissa in the common room of the inn, both drinking zeht. It wasn’t Serenity’s favorite drink, but the inn’s zeht was decent, reminiscent of coffee, and the warmth was nice. He hated to admit it even to himself, but the past few days with Jenna had been both wonderful and stressful. He really wasn’t ready to be a parent, especially not in a potential war zone.
Legion had Jenna for now. He had experience as a father himself; more than that, he’d been a preschool teacher. Jenna was still a bit young for preschool, but he was still the best available option. It wasn’t like Legion was ever alone.
“Should we?” Rissa broke the comfortable silence.
It didn’t take a telepath to know what Rissa was wondering; it was a topic they’d been discussing on and off for days, ever since Tirmanak arrived with Jenna. “I hate leaving things unfinished. At the same time, Jenna…”
That was the crux of the matter, after all. Jenna.
“We can send her and a contingent of Legion to the Great Library,” Rissa offered. “It should be safe. Safer than moving around the way the locals are.”
Serenity shook his head. “Not when we’re missing two groups. Those are the ones I’m worried about, both for Jenna and for the Library.”
As it turned out, Esme only knew where two of the remaining four enemies were. One was the group near Willowrock; the forces she’d gathered had been harassing them for nearly two months and were fairly confident they had a clear path to victory; it would just take time. The second, of course, was the group holed up in Stallet Academy.
Of the remaining two groups, one was a complete mystery. Viper had contacted them only a handful of times; the most recent was, unfortunately, a week before Serenity destroyed his enchanted communication system. It was likely they were still on Asihanya but Esme couldn’t help with where; she didn’t have any indication of their presence. It was entirely likely that they were pretending to be peaceful and searching while everyone else had fun distracting the natives.
Serenity counted them as the most dangerous group. He figured there was a good chance that they were led by the person who arranged the invasion; after all, they were very different from the rest of the invaders. They had an excellent cover.
The last group left few traces behind for a completely different reason: they eradicated anyone who might talk. Esme was able to sort of track them by figuring out which of her contacts stopped responding. She wasn’t the only one to figure it out; there were cities that had become ghost towns from people fleeing even the rumor of that group.
Serenity couldn’t believe that they intended to conquer an entire planet one city at a time, but whichever pieces of it they did destroy could certainly be thoroughly searched before they moved on. It was a far better approach than the Viper’s.
It was also one that Esme’s ragtag group didn’t want to handle. They had a handful of stronger people, but most were Tier Three or Tier Four and far more practiced at fighting monsters than fighting people. When he looked at it, it wasn’t that different from Serenity’s group or the one he’d gathered in Takinat to take out the Viper’s base, with one exception.
The exception wasn’t small, either. Esme’s group didn’t have anyone else at her Tier, while Serenity’s had Zanzital, Daryl, and Gabriel. Esme was probably higher Tier than Zanzital, but her Path wasn’t widespread destruction. If anything, it was the exact opposite of Serenity’s.
As far as Serenity could tell, Esme had a primarily social set of Paths; not only was she a Quest Giver but she always knew what was going on for the people around her. It was obvious how that sort of Path would be useful for a Hand. Half of Serenity’s problem was usually figuring out what was going on, and that part Esme had covered. She could then gather a group of people to handle it if it was beyond her ability to directly fight.
Serenity couldn’t do that on his own, but he was confident Esme could. It was less of a problem these days; he could depend on people like Kerr and Blaze for help.
“If we want to keep the Library safe, we can’t stop with clearing out Stallet,” Rissa whispered. Serenity doubted she even realized she was speaking out loud. She continued a little louder. “Maybe the other way, then? Maybe we should deal with Stallet Academy then leave Jenna with Legion there?”
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It was as good a plan as any, but it had one problem. “Where will she be until then?”
“With Tirmanak. He’s still hanging around; I’m not sure why but we can take advantage of it. He’s certainly good enough to keep her safe, especially if Legion is also there.” Rissa seemed to gain confidence as she spoke. “At the Library seems best; the destructive group isn’t near there and infiltrators, well, they could be anywhere, but Honoria knows who enters the Library. She’ll know if someone unexpected visits.”
Serenity nodded. “That sounds like the best plan yet. I think Tirmanak feels responsible for Jenna, after everything.”
“I don’t think that’s all,” Rissa disagreed. “He’s pretty sure there’s a reason he’s here and that it’s not just to deliver Jenna.”
“He said that?” Serenity was surprised by that. He hadn’t gotten that impression from the daa’il.
“To Esme Tillon,” Rissa admitted. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her. She’s a little too convenient, a little too perfect, you know?”
Serenity shrugged helplessly. He didn’t know.
“I hope it’s nothing,” Rissa continued. “I-”
The door to the inn’s common room opened and Esme walked in. Rissa swallowed whatever she was going to say next. Grandma Tillon walked over to the stairs and called up to the rooms, “Raz! Get down here, youngling!”
Serenity frowned. Yelling up the stairs wasn’t exactly the most polite thing to do, especially not in a public space like this. On the other hand, every single person other than Guildmaster Tirmanak who was renting a room at the Willowrock Inn was either in Serenity’s group or working for Grandma Tillon. That made it harder to be sure the place was actually “public”.
After that display, Serenity felt confident the person in front of them was Grandma Tillon, not Esme. She was firm and determined, almost uncaring about what she looked like to others.
A similar frown crossed Rissa’s face, but neither of them had said anything by the time Raz hurried downstairs. He was out of breath when he stopped in front of Grandma Tillon. “Did it work?”
Grandma Tillon led Raz over to the table where Serenity and Rissa waited and pulled a chair out for herself. “It did. Which means we need to plan. I know the layout of Stallet Academy; I can lead. Raz, you’ll be with me, along with some others. I want you there in case there’s something else your heritage can get you into or through safely.”
“I can also look for traps,” Raz offered. Serenity couldn't blame him; being valued only because of who he was related to had to suck.
Grandma Tillon’s tone softened a bit. “I don’t expect traps, but it never hurts to keep an eye out and it can help a lot. That means you’ll be in front, however; are you comfortable with that?”
Raz nodded silently.
“Right then. You two. What I’d like to do is take you into Stallet Academy, but neither of you has ever been a student there; that means the defenses won’t recognize you as anything but an outsider. That’s the only way we’ll be able to retake the Academy, so I can’t have people who’ve never been students or teachers there with me.” Grandma Tillon tapped her fingers on the tabletop.
Serenity hesitated. He had actually been a student at Stallet once upon a time, but it was in the timeline that didn’t happen. Vengeance and Serenity weren’t really the same person; more importantly, he didn’t know if that meant the wards would recognize him or not. If he had to guess, they probably wouldn’t. He could always fool them, but that took time and energy that they might not have if they were activating the defenses in a hurry. He still knew some of the old keys and the tricks students used to get around quickly and get places they probably shouldn’t be, but that might well not be enough.
As much as Serenity hated to admit it, Grandma Tillon had a point.
“I’ve never been a student,” Raz objected. “How is that any different?”
“You’re telling me you never had any classes at the Academy? That you couldn’t let yourself through the walls by yourself?” Grandma Tillon sounded a little scornful. “That’s all we need. Any kind of recognition is enough. The odds of there being many Imperials who went to Stallet is laughably low.”
Raz looked down.
Serenity couldn’t help himself. He had to prove Grandma Tillon wrong. “You don’t have to be so hard on him. He was looking forward to training at Stallet and now that will never happen; how could he know you just meant visiting?” He didn’t pause for more than a moment. Any longer would let Grandma Tillon get a word in edgewise. “As for myself, I have been to Stallet. It’s been a long time and I doubt the defenses would recognize me, but it’s hard to be certain.”
“How long ago?” Grandma Tillon’s voice was icy.
Serenity shrugged, trying to seem relaxed even though he was fairly tense. “Most of my life ago. Long enough ago that I might as well have been a different person.”
It was true, from a certain point of view. He could just as easily have said “about ten or fifteen years in the future” and been equally as accurate.
Rissa set a hand on Serenity’s arm. He shot her a smile and turned his attention back to Grandma Tillon. She was frowning and seemed to be thinking.
“I was going to send you after the army, to try and track them down. I suppose I’ll have to ask the Guildmaster instead. You can come with us at least to the entrance; when we’re there, we can see if the defenses will let you past or not. If they won’t, you’ll have to leave. As for you,” Grandma Tillon turned to Rissa.
“I’ll be at the Great Library of Takinat with our daughter,” Rissa informed Grandma Tillon. “We’re going to ask Tirmanak to stay as well; the Library isn’t exactly a fortress. Legion and Kerr can look for the army.”