15 - A friendly talk

“The ThauCon Agency must decide what it is.

It tries to be a police force, an army, a secret service and a research center at once. The result is that, despite its staggering cost, it is failing.

After the Zelenian War, it was decided to enhance the Agency’s capabilities as a battle force, while offloading part of the day-to-day detective work. Instead of properly integrating with local police and Bureau B, ThauCon leaders insisted on setting up their own civilian investigation unit - a ridiculous duplication of effort which turned out shockingly ineffective in containing magical crime, as the emergence of the Syndicate Cartel proves.

The Agency, used to unlimited budget and complacent governments, is incapable of even basic cooperation. It doesn’t share meaningful data with the Alliance’s own police and intelligence bureau, its research and development is kept secret from universities, even the long-standing, vital cooperation with the Council of Loyal Mages is barely acknowledged in its official doctrine.

The Agency for Thaumological Control needs major reforms. For far too long, it was allowed to operate with an unlimited budget and no oversight. It’s time for this Assembly to step up and exert its role as supreme civilian authority.”

* Opposition leader Simart Volor, speech to the Assembly of the Alliance in year 2714, calling for a no-confidence vote

“The good news is that I have Korentis’ magical signature,” Althea says, obviously annoyed. “The bad news is that those bounty hunters should get a job more in line with their skills. Cricket farming, maybe! As long as the crickets don’t fight back. Those little bastards can be mean.”

The ghostly green shapes of Korentis and xir friend hang in midair. Korentis' fingers glow blue, and in slow motion, we see xem step toward the fuzzy outlines of the bounty hunters. They both flinch back.

The flesh-and-bone bounty hunters, standing on the opposite side of the room, don’t look happy.

“Xir magic affected us,” the old man says. “We don’t have all your fancy silver gear.”

Althea throws her arms up. “Gunner shoot you, how did you plan to capture two mages, then? With your charming personality?”

“We had reinforcements with heavier protection, but they didn’t arrive in time,” the woman answers, curt.

“And how did that…” Althea begins.

“Err, Althea,” Kaelich says, stepping between her and the bounty hunters, “let me deal with the civilians, ok? Try to follow Korentis’ trail from here. We’re probably too late to follow xem, but maybe someone saw where xe went.”

It’s clearly busywork to stop her from arguing with the bounty hunters, but fortunately Althea has some sense, and while Kaelich can’t exactly give her direct orders, she behaves as if xe could. Usually.

“Yes, ser,” she mutters, “but the locals don’t look inclined to tell us anything, and they’ll barely talk to me.”

“Try anyway,” Kaelich says, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “Ceri, go with her, I wouldn’t want… incidents with the locals.”

My heart skips a beat. After her kiss in the training room, two days ago, Althea behaved like nothing special had happened. So I did what any rational adult would do, and pretended I can’t see nor hear her.

“Yes, Corporal,” she says, resigned. She waves a hand, and the glowing reconstruction of the two mages disappears. Her fingers slowly go back to flesh and blood, while her eyes keep glowing.

“I can follow xir trail for as far as xe kept the illusion going,” she explains, “but not much past. Follow me, Ceri.”

I don't mind when Kaelich uses that silly nickname, but when Althea does my heart beats faster for no fucking reason. I take a breath and follow her out of the damp concrete room, back into the maze-like tunnels. There’s no internal lighting in the corridors, and before I can switch my helmet light on, she waves a hand and motes of green light show us the way.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Kalestrans don’t like magic,” I point out. I’m an adult and I can be professional with an attractive girl who kissed me on the mouth without explanation. No problem at all. I’ve said a full sentence, and didn’t even stumble.

“Kalestrans can throw themselves into the Endless Pit, for all I care," Althea answers. "They’re the ones who made a deal with the fucking Black Liar because they didn’t like taxes. And bounty hunters should follow. They’re two-bit thugs who make a living out of hunting scared kids, and will run away screaming if they meet a barely capable mage. I wish they had met a far more dangerous one than Korentis.”

I let her rant sink in. It makes sense, now, that she was so aggressive with them. She doesn’t like bounty hunters.

She’s always so passionate about things. And so open. So many Karesian girls I’ve met are worried to look too emotional, and Zelenian ones are worried to look too aggressive. Althea doesn’t care, she flaunts her passion like she does her magic, and that draws me like a magnet.

“I wish we had handled this in person,” I say, to clear my mind from how much I like Althea. “I don’t feel comfortable relying on civilians, especially ones which aren’t even contracted by the Agency. The fact that they’re all so bad at catching mages doesn’t help.”

Althea rolls her eyes. “Of course the worst CivInt section on Refuge would work with the worst bounty hunters. A pity I’m no good as a Seer, it would be useful, since we must do CivInt’s job.”

A young man crosses our path in the corridor, driving a loaded forklift. As he passes by us, he says something I don’t understand, and spits at Althea feet.

I’m surprised by how high the anger flares in me. We’re here to help them, and this is how they treat us?

“You fucking…” I begin, turning to him as he speeds past.

“Stop, Ceri,” Althea says, grabbing my arm. “Let’s go on. The trail goes this way.”

“But that idiot…” I begin, incredulous. I’d expected her to be even angrier than me.

“He’s not a mage and not an immediate threat,” she says. "So, not our problem."

She’s strangely calm – either she’s good at seething silently, or she’s surprisingly forgiving. Or, and I feel my jaw clench, she's used to this kind of treatment.

"It’s still contempt of a public official,” I say. “I could

“You don’t want to follow through that,” Althea says, matter-of-fact. “Drag him to the base and he’ll say he was detained for insulting a mage. People will get angry – Kalestrans, but also ThauCons. And since he won’t be charged with any crime, the bigger the story gets, the more the Agency will need a scapegoat. Which would be you, or Kaelich.”

I open my mouth to protest, but the more I think about it, the more I realize she’s right. The media loves stories about supposed power abuse from ThauCon. But usually, the Agency stands by its agents. We’d be expected to react to blatant disrespect toward one of us.

But doing it for Althea would change the matter entirely. Supporting a mage, Council or not, never makes you look good.

And that’s without considering that Althea and I might be…romantically involved.

"Korentis’ trail ends here," Althea says, ending the conversation for good.

We’re out of the warehouse now. There’s a small crowd of people glaring at us – there weren’t so many, when we came.

People always look at ThauCon agents. Sometimes, they point and whisper. But I’ve rarely seen so much open contempt as we’ve met in this skyport.

“What’s the deal with Kalestrans?” I ask. “They look like they’d eat us raw.”

“Their whole country did get devasted by a mage war,” Althea says. “I blame them for starting it. But then again, the actual people who started it are dead or pushing ninety. And it made both mages and ThauCon even less popular in what’s left of Kalester than they are elsewhere. We should get back to the team, honestly. If someone starts something… it’s not like we can’t protect ourselves, but there’s a lot of bureaucracy whenever I vaporize people.”

I stare at her in horror before realizing she was joking, despite her serious tone. Realistically, Althea can’t have any experience vaporizing people, she’s barely out of training. It's always so hard to tell when people joke.

But I also realize she’s getting nervous. Her body is way too rigid. She’s usually so self-confident, it’s a strange sight. But I can tell why she's so on edge: if you are a Council mage, whatever shit you’re involved in, you’ll be blamed for it, because no one would openly side with mages.

I never considered how unfair that is to the Council.

“We had a war in Zelenia, too,” I say. “Just twenty years ago. And people don’t spit at ThauCons.”

Well, not in my city. They burn ThauCon uniforms in Saevin, though.

Athea shrugs. “People react differently. Look, I’m not saying I’m happy about it. But if you spend time with me, you should get used to random rudeness. It’s really not worth getting worked up. It’s when civilians get in the way of my job, that I get angry.”

She looks up. A huge airship has just passed, revealing a clear afternoon sky. A pale half-moon is rising before the city’s domes. The crack is barely visible by day.

“In the end, it’s not the Mundanes' fault. Well, not completely,” Althea says, looking at the moon. And now I see her passion, burning again.

“Never forget where the true enemy lies,” she adds. “The Moonbreakers, they’re the root of it all. The Black Liar fell in Kalester. But the Exiled still holds Selenopolis, and we don’t truly know if the Unmaker still lives. Nothing will change for the better, not really, until we retake the Moon and mend the sky.”

***