We met up with the girls and Callen back at the inn, because Callie didn't want me to see her dress before the wedding. They all seemed happy and relaxed, and I realized I felt pretty good too. A day just hanging and shopping with friends was pretty fun, though I wished we could've all gone together.
“So I ran into an old friend.” Said Callie as she plopped down next to me at the table in the inns common room. “Do you remember Annalise from the Moonsong Glade?”
I blinked in surprise. “I do. I hadn't expected many of the Glade explorers to be here. Are they looking into the purchase of that mountain?”
“Partially.” She said with a waggle of her hand. “Mostly they're using the contract we signed there as kind of a template. It's one of the largest cooperative agreements between the factions in recent history, so it's a good starting point. Most of the factions brought their signatories. In fact, Annalise told me there was going to be a meeting tonight between the signatories, just a kind of catch up session between old friends.”
Friends was a bit of a stretch, but it would be nice to see some familiar faces. This place was kind of intimidating so finding some allies would be a big comfort.
“So who came?” I asked cautiously. “Because if Templeton is there…”
She shook her head. “I asked. The Whispered Lie apparently has some issues with Lark. They deeply dislike each other, and he avoids the Vampire like the plague. Markoth and Nasha are here. Gabe came with us. Morgan brought Aida, Tracey, Satala, and Yvette. With his protection the Glade will be ok unattended for a while.” Bethy’s thralls were here, that was good, it would help her a lot.
Gabe nodded. “Valsa contacted me as well. The Empire sent her here in hopes of the same sort of reciprocity. Dralka came with her. Do you know if Harrison brought along Alistair?”
I glanced at Zeke, who shook his head. “He didn’t. You’re the WCPs representative for the younger generation. Alistair worked too closely with Templeton and people hate that family, it was considered an unwise gesture to ship him all the way out here.”
“I never asked about the sold mountain by the way.” I said, thinking of something that had been bothering me. “Isn’t the guy who bought it part of an S-rank clan?”
Zeke nodded casually. “He was.” He said in an even voice. “Now he isn’t. The Labyrinth Lord and his immediate family are dead, and the rest of their clan has been disbanded.” We all froze, staring at him.
“An S-ranker DIED?” I asked in a small voice. “And we didn’t even hear about it?”
He shrugged. “The Labyrinth Lord was responsible for his grandson’s rise to power. When Valak betrayed the five faction alliance to Hatescream and it was confirmed? Well, that Felix kid screwed Valak when he tipped his hand. He most likely didn’t expect you all to get out, but when you did…”
“We killed him.” I said blankly. That was…being responsible for someone’s death was one thing, even doing the deed myself I had practice with. But wiping out a whole FAMILY casually, and an S-rank clan at that, because of the actions of one guy?
Callie put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s ok hon. I get it, that’s a lot. But they made the right call.” I turned on her, confused and waiting for an explanation, and she just sighed. “Zeke said his IMMEDIATE family. His grandson was an A-ranker, I’m guessing his kids and spouse were all up there too. It’s not like they were killing children.”
Thinking about it like that did help. “An S-ranker not knowing one of his descendants was colluding with the BMP long term is unlikely right? Not to mention he’d have had to spend family funds on that mountain and then explain where it went.”
“We’re pretty sure they were all involved.” He confirmed. “And even beyond that, we couldn’t afford a potentially traitorous S-ranker. It was decided he was either a traitor or too stupid to live. You could consider that the first act of the war. The Judgement Pope killed them personally. His powers are tough to counter.”
I shook my head. “In any case, that’s a yes from me to the party. We can pool information about what’s going on in Tricorn, maybe figure out our next move. Speaking of, did any of you hear anything while you were out about potential allies? There are local factions here that might be useful to make inroads with.”
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“We heard some mentions.” She shrugged. “Just bits and pieces of conversations where they didn’t bother to use Stealth. Apparently there are a lot of gangs in the different sections of the city, though more of them form on the edges, where territories rubbing up against each other causes friction.”
I nodded. “I got the same impression. We caught a few conversations wandering around looking for weapons. No real idea who is who, but I heard someone mention the Death Adder Collective and the Monster Factory.”
“The Soul Song Temple came up a few times.” Callie shrugged. “And apparently the Church section of the continent has been inundated with a new group calling themselves Seven Colored Sunlight. They’re making quite a splash, though they’ve avoided enough scrutiny that no one knows who their members are. Masks and cloaks and all.”
I blinked. “That’s a really cheerful name for a street gang. Kind of cool too.”
“You would think that.” My fiancee said in a fond but somewhat scathing tone. “But maybe we can have Chelsea look into it. If they’re making that much of a ruckus then they’re bound to be pretty impressive.” She heard me start snickering and glared at me. “What?”
“Ruckus.” I repeated. “Makes you sound old, like Zeke.”
My uncle turned to glare at me. “Hey! No friendly fire! I’m not even part of this conversation.”
I snickered at him, but turned back to Callie. “That’s not a bad idea though. With Callen along I’m sure she’d be safe enough asking around, especially with mom in town. She’s been a Saintess for ages, plus she has two abilities. I’d imagine that makes her pretty scary even by A-ranker standards.”
“It does.” Confirmed Zeke. “Your mother is infamous among people our rank. You don’t get a title like she has without making some impressions.Plus her combination of abilities is uniquely effective.”
I gestured to my uncle. “See.” I glanced over to where my sister was sitting with Bethy. “Hey Chelsea!” I didn’t raise my voice too much, without stealth it would be impossible for her to miss it.
She glanced over at me and I waved her to the table. She came over to sit with us, Bethy following behind. “What’s up?” She asked as she arrived. “I caught the tail end of that, but I was focused on something else, something about protection and street gangs? Do I need to beat someone up for being mean to you?” Her tone was serious despite the obvious teasing glint in her eye.
“Yes.” I said solemnly. “Zeke is being mean to me. Sick em’.”
She burst out laughing at that. Bethy looked outraged. “He’s what? Which one of them is Steve? I’ll totally kick his butt.”
Zeke froze, turning to glare at her. “I’m sorry, what exactly do you mean Steve? I’m an A-ranker, you can’t just purposefully get my name wrong to make me angry like you do with what’s-his-face.”
Abel, sitting nearby, threw up his hands with a strangled cry of impotent rage before burying his head in his hands. Mel patted his back, and I just chuckled, knowing it didn’t actually bother him nearly that much. He just liked to play along because it lightened the mood. I was pretty sure Bethy even knew that, but she did it anyway because it made everyone smile.
“Calm down, Steve.” I said seriously. “Bethy is just kidding around. We’re all very impressed by your breakthrough to A-rank. Making it to such a high rank with such a lackluster name is a real accomplishment.”
Callie burst out laughing at his outraged face, and he rolled his eyes before getting up and storming off dramatically. Not that he was actually upset, just playing along. “Anyway.” Said Callie, getting us back on track. “There’s a street gang in the Church district calling themselves Seven Colored Sunlight. They’re new but apparently very powerful. We were hoping you could reach out to them. Or at least ask around.”
The mask and cloak thing was a bit reminiscent of the Heartrippers, but these were actual Church natives and my bad reputation with the Cult should actually be an asset in these circumstances.
“Seven Colored Sunlight huh?” She said musingly. “Sounds like they might be supporters of the Rainbow Pope. He can use this weird energy that’s a combination of seven different types of sometimes conflicting power. He can separate it and recombine the individual parts into different types of sub-energy. Aside from you he’s probably the most versatile Ascendant I’ve ever seen.”
I blinked at that. “Is the Rainbow Pope…like, on good terms with us? Or do we have some sort of feud with him?”
“Ostensibly the Popes are all fellow disciples who get along famously.” My sister said. “Though the Judgement Pope tends to be something of a recluse, and the Twilight Pope has a serious feud with the Absolute Pope. She’s fine with the others though.”
Aside from learning about two more popes, I focused on her last comment. “Wait…is there no feminine for Pope? Like wouldn’t it be Popess or something?”
“Have you ever heard anyone use the word Popess?” Asked my sister flatly. “Because if you have I hope you slapped them. It sounds stupid. No there are two female Popes in the Church. Twilight and Daydream.”
“How many popes are there total?” I asked curiously. “That’s six that I know of.”
She chuckled. “Seven, the last is the Moonlight Pope. He’s second oldest after Judgement. I’ve never met him, he tends to be out and about most of the time. Sort of a wandering warrior type. Apparently he’s the strongest in a straight fight, though Judgement is considered the most dangerous.”
“You never answered my question. Are we ok with the Rainbow Pope?” I said, filing away all this for the future before refocusing on my target.
My sister nodded. “He’s fine. He and Grandpa get along pretty well. Grandpa is the youngest disciple, and Rainbow is next up the list, so they look out for each other. The older ones tend to talk down to them. Not out of malice or anything, but they just kind of see them as babies or juniors. Grandpa rants about it sometimes.”
“Good.” I said with a smile. “Then you can reach out to them to see if they might be interested in meeting. If they can make a rep for themselves here they must be pretty tough customers. I wouldn’t mind a little backup on our side here beyond who we have on hand.”
Mom’s suggestion to expand our social circle had implications beyond the competition. She’d all but confirmed that making friends might keep us safe in the long run, and I was going to take her warning seriously. She wouldn’t have brought it up if it wasn’t important.
My sister agreed, and when invited to our little get together tonight turned us down. She didn’t want to intrude, and despite us assuring her she wouldn’t be didn’t seem to want to come along. Bethy was happy to go of course, and Gabe, so we all agreed to meet in the common room at around eight P.M.
Once that was done Callie and I went upstairs to lie down, deciding to nap a bit before the shindig so we would be in fighting form. Or partying form, either one. Large gatherings of Ascendants tended to get out of hand, so best to be ready for anything. I had a feeling it would be a long night either way.