April arrived with a full squad of satyrs. At the center of that group was a short white haired figure that held a sense of gravity that came from more than her impressive age. Each clack of her staff sent a quiver through the air and into Fievil somehow. My connection to the Shard Weapon resonated with whatever magical nonsense Sharon the Shaman of the Nash was doing to keep the rain off the group as they traveled the streets of Ocala.
"What happened to you lot?" Sharon asked by way of greeting, as blunt as ever.
"Unexpected visitors. Might have something to do with the turn to our fine clime," I huffed out from just outside the Embassy. Jolene and Billy were glaring at the cloudy sky from under the makeshift porte cochere I'd built with liberal use of
"Didn't take kindly to someone snooping around in the air didn't they?" The woman laughed, shaking her head as if what she'd said made perfect sense. "Are you going to invite us in, or do I have to hold back this storm the whole time?"
"If my demise is to come wet and miserable, perhaps the worms will find me more appealing," April added, the first in the group to speak other than the Shaman. She was wearing her 'peacekeeping' gear; more handcuffs than were advisable and a no nonsense hairdo that showed her horns in all their terrifying glory. Of course, she was as dry as the rest of the satyr present, but she wouldn't be herself if she didn't inject unhealthy levels of melodrama.
"By all means," I said, sweeping a hand towards the Embassy.
The satyrs had the decency to look sheepish even if their leader strode forward without hesitation. April, of course, already had a blanket invitation to our Ocalan digs but she waited politely for the Nash group to enter first. There were gasps of surprise and a quiet hum of approval from Sharon.
"Rein that in before the old lady puts you in your place, Ron," Jolene sent over the comm-plant, smirking as she looked up at my face. When I felt at it, I realized I was grinning at their reactions and did my best to school my expression. Not totally, one could take pride in their and friends' efforts to spruce up what had been a strategically placed warehouse meant to contain a living crystal unbeknownst to the experimenters. A true home makeover.
"I see you've been busy," Sharon said, stamping her staff on the ground and forming a bench out of ice from seemingly nowhere. Had I not been watching the haze of blue mana moving from her staff, I was sure I would have missed it. Fievil was vividly focused on the staff, as the only coherent message the mole could send were flashes of the Shard Weapon. Or Tool. For all I'd been able to leverage out of Fievil, the Shaman had had her staff for longer and it showed even if my axe-hammer's senses were immature. She was using the thing with a subtlety I didn't think I could manage with Fievil and certainly for non-offensive applications. Or maybe you just haven't applied yourself quite right, did you think about that?
"He do that a lot?" Sharon said, snapping me back to the present.
"When there is time to think, Ron likes to do so," Jolene provided, smiling even wider at me as she took a seat beside the Shaman. Her entourage had apparently completed their work, as they rushed the tree-entwined Entity and the blonde tending to Devon there on. Only April remained, arms folded behind her back and expression as impassive as ever.
"Hilarious," I said, rolling my eyes and breaking eye contact with Jolene’s entrancing emeralds. "I think you know what I was focusing on. You aren't a Fallen, but you just used your staff to do magic. Interesting, and I am vividly curious, but I think we want to clear the air before I ask any questions."
"Appropriate way of phrasing that," Sharon chuckled. "That's why I am here. This one just wanted to talk to you about some conspiracy or other and I picked her up on the way. Her adoptive grandfather has some pull, you see."
"Il Padre did not twist my decision to come here. The facts of death are best presented in person," April said, frowning at Sharon. The old woman just waved her hand dismissively. Instead of elaborating on why she was here, she motioned for April to continue.
"The results of our investigation and the arrival of the storm have officially delayed the Conference indefinitely."
"Just like that, huh?" I asked, rubbing at my temple. Why did we sit in this self imposed prison if their deliberation was just going to lead to the most obvious result?
"Indeed. I have been instructed to keep this occurrence as silent as the grave," April continued. "The uncertainty and potential impacts are far reaching."
"Radolfo thinks it will throw up a bigger stink and panic if we start telling people that a Tendril trying to contact the foreigners got iced in the process," Sharon translated. April glared, but nodded her ascent.
"I've been instructed to investigate deeper, and broader, using the final gasps of an existence to guide my steps."
When I just blinked for a moment, Jolene came to my rescue. "She means use the clues and warnings from the Tendril to help backtrack where they came from and what they were doing trying to warn us in the first place."
"If only someone in politics would speak plainly for magic's sake," I grumbled.
"They would if you listened, boy. She wants your help with this," Sharon said.
When I glanced at April, she actually looked away. It was a strange behavior from the brazenly confident and goth demoness I'd come to expect. She still gave me the creeps, but that was fine; she was solid in my books and if she wanted help with something we wanted answers for anyway then what was I to do but provide it.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll just need to coordinate with--"
"Nu-oh," Sharon tsk-ed. "The rest of your stooges can help, but you have bigger fish to fry. And by that, I mean elementals and probably crush? Entomb? Whatever your magic juice does to mana creatures."
"Come again?" I asked, glancing to Jolene as if I'd missed something critical. The mermaid could only shrug helplessly and the silent Billy looked just as confused as his gaze jumped from me to the old Nash.
"Since you've got that fancy stick of yours, I figured you could pull your weight here in town. Really stick it to the man." When I gave her a flat expression, she rolled her eyes. "The things in the sky will periodically attack outside of their atmospheric regions and that will become more common as the hurricane gets closer. Two, maybe three days, max. This is no big secret, even if people don't talk about it because I have been making it go away all quiet like, but there is a thing called a 'greater' elemental at the heart of this storm. The one intent on unleashing mother nature's juju is this not-so-amenable fellow we call Eurus. I... could use a hand with him. In order for your help to matter, and for me to not rely on Sargon's self inflated ego, you are going to need some lessons."
I tried to process the information without diving too deep into my thoughts. There was a lot to unwrap in what she'd said, even if it overlapped with what I'd heard from those in the Allied Towns. If it was true that Sharon had been dealing with the 'greater' elementals --which I assumed were high Quotient elementals, or ones so 'roided out on their environments that they might as well have been-- then the smaller towns just had to deal with the chaff. Not to say that chaff hadn't caused the other survivor groups just as much strife as the Aberrants but these ones were seemingly part of the new 'normal' of an Attuned Earth.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"And these lessons..."
"Will take up your whole day. Just the next few, until we deal with Eurus, then you are free to upturn the status quo or whatever you young upstarts called a Conference for. If we get this cleaned up I’ll push for it to happen even if pokey here hasn’t gotten solid results.” Sharon pointed over her shoulder towards April. “So..."
"Is this where you expect me to grovel to be guided by your expert hands?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow and crossing my arms.
"Ronan, please have some self respect. I will expect you to grovel after I've imparted my unmatched wisdom," Sharon huffed.
I couldn't help it. A chuckle escaped me, as I realized the old woman had just as much sass packed into her aged body as my entire squad combined. If there was anyone that was going to respect a no-nonsense approach it was going to be me. "If you provide the Bunker Busters with support, as well as April, then consider it done. I am going to need you to clarify the best way of traveling during the storm; the rest of our people staying at the river need to be made aware of what's going on and how to defend themselves."
Sharon looked thoughtful. She stabbed her staff onto the ground, and it stayed upright even though it didn't penetrate the old concrete floor in the least. "You lot aren't very far from the city. It's not a stretch to think that we can train you and then post you up to make yourself a nuisance when the elementals come down. They have a Crystal Ward of their own, do they not?"
I gave April a meaningful glance, but she met my eyes with none of the hesitation she'd shown earlier. "We never signed an accord of non-disclosure. Additionally, if I recall, it was you that hoisted the Metier Crystal high against the cruel demands of gravity. If you'd plucked my eyes on our way to your base, then perhaps I could have been deceived. But I doubt even that."
"She does have you there," Jolene provided.
"You understood what she said?" I heard Billy ask the mermaid over the comm-plant.
As she explained her word choices for what they were, I turned back to Sharon. "I can work with that. Is there an ability that might let some of our people have better chances fighting these elementals? This was our first true fight and they seemed... less corporeal than I would have liked."
"Same elemental effects are a good start point," the Shaman answered. She pointed at Billy, who flinched, before relaxing slightly as she praised his control over his djinn legs. "We have a distinct advantage that is tool based. I would recommend overloading them with their element of choice or dispersing them enough to force their bodies into a more physical state. That is, more physical than just mana and mana turbulence."
"That's going to take some more explanation," I said, scratching my beard as I tried to make sense of the second part of her suggestions. Not the literal application since that is precisely what we'd done to the whirlpool elemental, but the correlation between physicality and mana.
"Everything I will provide once we get going," Sharon said, snatching her staff again and heading towards the door as if the 'negotiation' was completed. Vibrosense told me her gaggle of satyrs was stumbling away from Hec and Sam as quickly as they could the moment they noticed their boss on the move.
"Wait," I said, interested in this training opportunity but not willing to just drop my team for the whims of someone I barely knew.
"Just get out of here, Ron!" Daniela called from across the room. "Because if you don't, I am going to punt your giant ass out the door just to follow right behind it."
"Har har," I said, rolling my eyes at the eavesdropping brunette. "I didn't say no, but there's one thing I need to do today before we go."
Sharon didn't quite growl, but it was a near thing. Her escorts flinched visibly enough that I didn't think I wanted her to get more aggravated with me.
"Just an hour, that's all I should need," I said quickly.
She met my eyes, sighed, and stormed off. Before the door shut behind her she shouted, "I'm going to be at that smorgasbord the Zebelos run. If you take too long expect a bruise on that rock solid noggin' of yours for making an old lady wait!"
"Well, that went well I think."
"Your life did not flash before your eyes. Truly a shame in any engagement," April said evenly.
It took all I had not to startle. Logically I'd seen her not go with Sharon, but somehow she'd gone unnoticed even with my senses trained on the Embassy lobby. Creepy demoness.
"Right..." I gave the debris filled lobby, puddled mess and still recovering Devon a look before glancing at Billy and Jolene. "I don't want to sound like an asshole, but do you think you guys could..."
"Clean up?" the mermaid asked, arms crossed.
"Sure!" Billy said, cracking his fingers as he summoned another of his clouds to begin gathering the bits of the ceiling with ease. Jolene sighed at how eager the young elf was to serve, but she flexed her mana to start gathering the water into an orb that hovered ominously over my head. She quirked her eyebrow at me for a moment before moving her
"When did my life get so complicated?" I whispered to myself, rubbing at my temples.
"Existential dread is always welcomed," April provided.
"No, not really." I sighed, resigned to playing catch up for the next few days as events flooded around me. "What did you need help with, April?"
"Il Padre asked for the investigation to remain on the down low. I don't think I can cover the city and follow any leads the deceased might have left for us."
"What happened to the body after I Pith Locked it?"
"It's at the Cloth Muscle training complex. There were no clues on what bits of clothing remained, and even with a rough sketch of what they might have looked like prior to death's embrace it will be tough to get a proper identification."
"There can't be that many Air Tendrils in Ocala. What about whoever they fought before slipping us a note?" I asked, mentally running through potential avenues of investigation.
"The last census was five years ago, and the Breakers were less than forthcoming with their residents," April provided. "As for the other suspect, other than a trail of lifeblood leading south of FL-40 and their presumed Fire Attunement we haven't uncovered anything else."
"So we've got nothing?"
"Not nothing," Sam said, joining our conversation after leaving Devon in Danny's hands. "I'd like to examine the Tendril again. The two of us working together might be able to put a bigger dent into any environmental clues than alone."
"Amenable," April said, bowing her head slightly towards Samuel.
"We can look into their warnings," Jolene said, Billy a step behind her. "If you are going to be busy keeping the storm at bay then we need as many eyes out as we can."
"They came to me, and now they are gone," Billy added, eyes downcast but brow furrowed. "I want to make sure their sacrifice isn't wasted."
"I'll go to my gig," Danny said from where she still sat. "And I'll take sleeping beauty with me. We'll run messages for everyone and keep an ear to the crowds. I know you lot are trying to keep this under wraps, but I'd bet my spices that someone saw something or they know about dealings you uptight law-abiding Fallen don't."
"Isn't it convention never to split the party?" I asked, my words falling mostly on deaf ears. Considering the tones everyone had used, I knew it would be an uphill battle convincing them to do something other than what they'd just unilaterally agreed on. Particularly Daniela, but that was always.
"We won't be alone. In any case, you now have the fastest means of transportation between us all," Jolene said, pointing towards the corner where Blobby hadn't even bothered to move from his meal through the whole attack and visitation. As if sensing it'd been addressed, the slime in question waved an appendage her way before folding itself back over the whole hog it was digesting. There was only half of it left. "You can be the paladin we all know you want to be."
"Ooh, she got you there, rock brain!" Daniela cackled while Devon winced, awakened from his injury induced nap.
"Such disdain for the specter of death is... refreshing," April added, tapping her chin lightly in thought.
"Fine! But expect me to say 'I told you so' when you all jinx this whole mess," I said, shaking my head as I headed up to my room.
"Where are you going?" Jolene asked, confused.
"I'm going to tinker with metaphysical forces I dubiously understand!" I called, throwing my door shut in a fashion I couldn't help but compare to the Shaman.