“This is a fucking mess, Laurel.”

  Annette watched Laurel’s eyes go wide at the swear. Being around the others was slowly wearing down her sense of propriety. At least in private.

  “We have a guild that is still trying to get established. We have our members making spectacles of themselves in front of half of Fort Sarken. The public is already questioning if we pulled our weight in the beast wave. There’s no way we can convince everyone in the stars-cursed city to let us do something magical to them.”

  “I’ve come to very much trust your judgment on these things Annette,” Laurel said. “But we must.”

  Annette threw herself back in the seat, her hands digging into her hair in frustration. Laurel just kept going.

  “You’re always talking about how we should be using the newspapers to ‘shape the narrative’” –Annette didn’t think the air quotes there were necessary, who even taught her those? – “How about we try printing an explanation there, we can get people to do what we need. The palace agreed we can quote them encouraging citizens to register.”

  “Laurel, Laurel. Laurel.” Annette said. “That’s right in spirit. In practice, we’ll look power-hungry at best and insane at worst. We can’t just tell everyone what’s going on and hope they make the right choice.”

  “What else? The bond doesn’t work if you try and force it. A sect tried that a couple thousand years ago, using prisoners to swell the population count, but it doesn’t work.”

  “Moving past that nightmare, we don’t force people, we need to make them think it’s their idea, make them want to do it.”

  After the initial panic, Annette had the bare bones of a plan forming in her mind.

  “We need to make it interesting, attractive, maybe even exclusive.”

  “How is ‘you’ll probably live longer’ not already attractive?”

  “Because people will assume it's a lie,” Annette answered. “It doesn’t matter if you do some magic truth vow in front of them, people still think you’re lying to sell them something.

  “What about doing like we did with the members, and getting the Flats involved first?”

  “No, we need more than a few brave souls to join in. And people in the Flats are going to be more suspicious because they know things don’t always work out. We need to be something the rich can seek out, and the aspiring will follow. When we get a critical mass involved, then you let everyone in and the first groups can still feel special because they were first.”

  Annette reached for a sheet of paper and started writing down notes as they came to her. People they would need to contact, hints they would need to drop, bribes to give out, parties to go to, articles to be profiled in. With the right amount of delicate handling it would work. She would just need to have everything just right.

  “Excellent, I’ll trust your instincts here.”

  Annette jumped at Laurel’s voice, almost having forgotten the woman was sitting in her office.

  “And in the next battle, you can trust my instincts to make us even. Now write down everything you think of and I’ll get started since you still need to pack for your trip.”

  “What?” There was no way she was leaving now. Not with a new challenge to tackle. Not with the fate of the world at stake.

  “You leave in two days, you need to decide if anyone’s going with you and make sure you have what you need.”

  “But…” she gestured down at her list. Laurel would understand, this was delicate social engineering, her specialty.

  “Yeah, when you get old enough you’ll realize there’s always another emergency that decides the fate of the world. They’re all important, but if you drop everything each time, eventually you don’t have anything left. You’re still going.”

  **********

  “Just one.”

  “No.”

  “Come on, Martin, just one.”

  “You do it.”

  “If I do it, it will be harder to keep all the critters away. We don’t want to damage such a promising ecosystem.”

  “What are you going to do with it?”

  Adam watched Devon look down, to the side, at his own hands or peering off into the distance. Anywhere but Martin’s face.

  “I’m not sure yet,” he said.

  Martin narrowed his eyes at the other man. “You seem awfully concerned for someone without a plan.”

  “Well, I mean, I know it can be used for a number of things. A catalyst for a potion, a perfect way to improve enchanting tools, clothing, a way to make armor, lighting effect–”

  “Clothes! You bastard, you’re getting me to source the material for the next atrocious suit you commission, aren’t you?”

  “Atrocious because you have no vision. Just do it and I’ll do some enchanting for your boy here,” Devon bargained while gesturing at Adam.

  “Fine.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  With no more discussion, Martin dove over the railing and into the sea, the dark water swallowing him without a splash. And leaving Adam standing around awkwardly next to Devon.

  “So,” he tried to break the silence, “I’ve never been out of the country, you know. Never even really been very far outside of Verilia.”

  “Really? Well I can sympathize. My sect elders had to kick me out of the workshop a time or two. That’s how I ended up meeting Martin and your terror of a leader. Along with their little gang of friends.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “A tournament at the Eternal Archive. I competed with the enchanters. Then the battle maniacs fought each other while we watched. Ended up roped in with them when they went off gallivanting, and the night ended with half a mountainside destroyed. Good times.”

  “Half a mountainside?”

  Before he could get any more stories out of Devon, Martin launched out of the water, an emerald banner trailing behind. When he alighted on the deck Adam could identify it as some sort of massive plant, glittering in the sunlight.

  “One complete stalk of Diamond Kelp, cleanly harvested. You’re welcome.”

  Without any fanfare the boat started moving away from the shimmering patch of ocean. They spent the evening discussing past adventures and filling Adam in on what to expect when they reached landfall. He mostly listened. There were no exploding mountains in his backstory, though the other men at least appreciated the scraps he’d gotten into as a kid in the Flats, and then a student at the University. He went to bed that evening with a smile on his face, and the hope that his luck would hold and there would be no storms on their journey.

  *******

  Annette walked into the kitchen staring down at the list in her hand. “Esther, we need to talk about the ordering for the next month.” When she didn’t hear anything in response she looked up to find Esther staring at her strangely, Lucy sitting at a table in the far corner munching on a cookie while flipping through a children’s book.

  “I know, sweetheart. That’s why we spoke about it yesterday.”

  Annette looked back at her list and flipped the page over where ‘discuss supply orders with Esther’ was neatly crossed off. “Right, of course, my apologies Esther.”

  “Not at all, dear. Now sit down and drink a cup of tea before you run off to the next thing on that list of yours.”

  She let the mothering happen, and sank down beside Lucy, a cup of tea appearing instantly in front of her. The rich aroma seeped through her, relaxing muscles she hadn’t realized were clenched. A cookie was thrust into her face and she ate that too. After a few minutes of contented silence, snack fully consumed, she rose to leave.

  “Thank you for the reality check, Esther.”

  “Any time Annette.” The older woman paused in her stirring and came over to give Annette a firm hug. “We’ll all miss you. But we’ll also all survive the experience. Take some time to enjoy the trip and see something wonderful, okay?”

  Annette could only nod in agreement and hug the woman one more time.

  “Okay, I’m off to set the chore list, wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” Esther said with a wink.

  A few hours later, as she was wrapping up for the day, George slipped into her office and sat down across from her. She didn’t know how to respond. George had been polite in their interactions thus far but she couldn’t recall speaking more than a sentence at a time. Thinking back on it, she wasn’t sure anyone in the sect had. Having a former member of a secret Laskarian magic police wandering the sect was uncomfortable at best. Guilt sent blood rushing to her face. She was the Quartermaster, and she wouldn’t be able to say what George spent his days doing.

  When the silence stretched past awkward and into confusing, she had to say something. “Good afternoon.”

  “Good afternoon,” the quiet man replied. He said nothing after that.

  “Can I help you?” Annette finally asked after another painful stretch of silence.

  “You are going to explore the nearby hidden realm, yes? I would like to request to join the expedition.”

  His gaze went back and forth, eyes flitting to Annette, then around the room, then back to Annette, but otherwise perfectly still. It was an embarrassing moment when she realized he was nervous, but the lack of change in his body language was hard to read. Then she felt guilty again for being embarrassed, because she knew exactly how he learned that skill.

  “Why do you want to come?”

  “I have been completing small tasks for the guild in the past months, alongside my chores. That has been somewhat routine and I would like to try something new.” There was a flash of something in his eyes that Annette couldn’t quite place. “I would like to see magic that is simply existing, and not bent for anything terrible.” He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with how much that revealed. “I would also hope to prove myself as a loyal member of the sect.”

  Laurel had told her to bring someone else if she wanted. And it meant she wouldn’t have to be so nervous about traveling alone. “Very well. We leave the day after tomorrow, at dawn.”

  He stood and gave her a half bow. “I will be ready.”

  She slumped back in the chair, running her hands across the velvet upholstery. Strange, very strange, but maybe a good thing all told. She ran through the list on her desk one more time before heading down to dinner. There was one more task to complete before she left and she would tackle it tomorrow.

  *******

  It was only mid afternoon when Annette found herself at her parents’ house. She watched the spring flowers her mother dutifully planted in the window boxes each year stretch towards the sun, and noticed how odd it was to be back during daylight. For the last year her time had been so taken up that she’d barely managed dinner every other week, arriving well into the evening and barely staying to talk afterwards.

  Her mother was in her workshop, surrounded by dozens of dresses and jackets hanging on racks her father had cobbled together years ago with scrap wood from the manufacturers’ district.

  “Hi Mama,” she announced her presence.

  “My baby, coming to see me in the middle of the day! Is everything alright?”

  Annette reveled in the hug, breathing in the floral scent that somehow always clung to her mother despite living in a massive city, surrounded by stone and wood and smoke.

  “Nothing’s wrong. I have news is all. Where’s dad?”

  “Oh, Johnny’s ship got in a few days early. He and your father left a little while ago to have lunch at the club. And you know he and the other old men can talk for ages.

  “You have no idea how much good it does my heart to see him walking around and smiling, all because of you, my love.”

  “Mama, stop.” That much praise was too difficult to take this early. “Laurel did the magic, not me.”

  “And she would never have heard about us at all if not for you.” Her mother squeezed one more time and dropped the hug. “Now pick up a needle and help me with these, then we’ll get started on dinner.”

  Her father and wayward brother got back just in time for the roast to come out of the oven. Steam scented with rosemary and lamb had Annette salivating. Esther was an amazing cook, but something about her mother’s kitchen would always live just a little bit deeper.

  “Look what the tide washed in,” she said, once her older brother walked through the door. It had been months since she’d seen John, but he was the same as ever. A full head taller than her, with dark eyes that saw more than the rest of his face ever let on, the oiled skin on his shaved head reflecting the lamplight revealing his only vanity, and an absolutely out of control beard covering the lower half of his face in bushy, tightly coiled black hair.

  “Don’t pretend you aren’t happy to see me, Annie,” he answered with a smile, sweeping her up into a hug and swinging her around the room.

  She jabbed her fingers into his ribs in retaliation for the nickname. He dropped her with a laugh and they sniped back and forth on the way into the kitchen, where her mother had everything already set out for dinner.

  They eagerly started on the roast. The herbed lamb was one of her mother’s specialties, and it lived up to the reputation it had throughout the neighborhood. Roasted potatoes and spring carrots soaked up the juices. There was silence only broken by the scraping of forks and knives on plates while they ate. Her mother, however, was not one to drop any hint of important news about her children.

  “We’re all here now, tell us your news sweetheart.”

  Annette swallowed the bite she was chewing and decided to get things over with as quickly as possible. She could do damage control after. “I’m going away for a few weeks. I told you about the hidden realm the kids from the sect found a while back. Laurel thinks visiting will be good for my cultivation so I’m going to head there for a while to practice. I leave tomorrow morning.”

  “Is that the place where all those people got stuck and almost starved?! Why do you need to go there? I thought the magic around the city was supposed to be great, that’s why Laurel’s here in the first place isn’t it?” Her mother was nearly frantic and Annette could sympathize.

  “It’s stable now that they assembled the doorway, so I won’t get stuck.”

  Her father was frowning. “That’s far away. Will Laurel or anyone be able to help if something goes wrong?”

  She pursed her lips to keep the first reply that sprung to mind from escaping. Her family loved her and that was where this was coming from. They didn’t think she was incapable. Even if she was a cultivator now and had practiced self defense moves every morning for months, she was still their daughter and they were allowed to feel worried. It didn’t make it less hurtful. Annette took a deep breath.

  “There are soldiers monitoring it if we really need help.”

  “We? Are some of the others going with you?”

  “One of our members yes, a combat specialist.” This part was more delicate. Her parents were good people, and generally open minded, but a Laskarian with magic guns was not who they would choose as her traveling companion.

  John, who had been silent during her parents' fretting, nodded along. “You said tomorrow morning?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there. I’m still mostly packed so it shouldn’t be too much to get together.”

  “Wait, what? Why? You have a job.”

  “C’mon Annie. I can’t just let you go explore some dangerous magic thing alone. And I have shore leave for the next few months to offset all the long hauls from the last few years. It will be fun, we haven’t done anything together in ages.”

  She knew her brother, and she knew he wouldn’t back down. “Fine, be at the sect house at dawn. And don’t call me Annie”