Author: Wildbow

Finish Off – 24.2 | Pale

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Snowdrop felt a faint shiver.  Avery felt it through the familiar bond.

With Sight, she looked and found a connection absent.  Snowdrop’s hair had been used to make Percival the second, just like the first.  Verona, Avery, and Lucy had contributed different things to Percival’s creation.  They had paid enough attention to that connection that it had become a stronger thing.

That connection was absent, now, because doors were closed, things were sealed.  Charles was either locked into a discussion, or he’d destroyed Percival and they had to make this move now anyway.

“Connection to Percival is gone,” she murmured.  “Bit earlier than I expected.  Nicolette!?”

Avery waved.  Nicolette, who stood halfway down the room, talking to Brie, came over.

“What’s up?”

“I think they started?”

Nicolette laid down some cards.  Then, using a separate deck, she laid down a map of the region and some more cards.

“Yeah.  They started.  Some people are on their way.  Mussers, Braxton Hart, Winters.”

Verona nodded.  “Where’s McCauleigh?”

“Backed off when Grayson showed,” Nicolette said.  “Sitting outside with a few others on guard duty.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Verona said.

“We should start before those others are here,” Lucy murmured.  “You wanted to go first, right?”

“Yeah,” Avery murmured.  She frowned, glancing at Verona.  Verona, lips pressed together, gave her a quick little nod.

“Is there anyone we’re missing?  That would be helpful?” Lucy asked.

“Let me read,” Nicolette said.  She started moving cards around, laying them in rows and columns-

Avery felt a pang from Snowdrop, and responded by rubbing Snowdrop’s head.  Snowdrop, in human form, sent a note of appreciation, then walked over to the windows.

Avery looked across the room.  She wondered if the meeting room Charles was in was similar to this one.  Sootsleeves’ castle stood over the Blue Heron, with seats of all sizes around the edges of the room, many occupied by key people, and many ‘seats’ that weren’t ordinary chairs, like a giant chess piece being used as a stool, or a large music box placed on a stack of other boxes, lid open, the dancing figurine broken and lying in ruins around the rotating center pedestal, with Biscuit, Tatty, Peckersnot, and Doglick sitting on the pedestal.  Doglick perked up every time he saw friends, and then drooped as the rotating pedestal moved him so he faced the back, head tilting as he looked into the mirror on the underside of the lid, then perking up again after.

Aware, their families, Sootsleeves’ pigeons and rats, urchins, goblins, Dog Tags… all there, standing or sitting, at the edges.

Nicolette had come through, and was their liaison to the Belangers, who were set up elsewhere in Sootsleeves’ hold.  Zed had come, and was at the far corner of the room, talking to others on the phone.  Brie stood by the fireplace, jacket laid over the back of a chair, fresh tattoos running down her arms and up her neck.

There were Garricks here too, for which Avery was immensely grateful.  They came in groups, passing through, dropping off anyone who didn’t have other ways to travel.  Peter Garrick remained behind with Cliff.  Avery’s parents went between them and some of the more curious new Aware, who listened in.

The floor was a patchwork of mismatched tiles; there would be one section which was mostly consistent, with three or four outliers, and by the time you got a little further on, the outliers would be the new norm and the seeds would be planted for others.  The ceiling was high and arched, the fireplace was crammed in there, with a slightly crooked chimney, and a table extended along three quarters of the room, the head of the table framed by windows.

But at the center were tables.  It was arranged as a conference room.  The orange from the fire and the yellow-white of the early morning sun coming through the dusty window reflected onto the mess of mismatched picture frames, at least a hundred, on the wall opposite the fireplace.  It caught the light and made the glass reflect white instead of showing the odd and mismatched pictures.

Florin sat in one chair, took offered tea with a quiet thank-you from a little girl in a makeshift maid costume, then accepted milk from a stack of rodents in decreasing size, sitting on one another’s shoulders, with the smallest holding a little pitcher.  Florin let them pour, finger placed at the base of the pitcher to keep it from falling into his tea as the stack tipped forward, then helped right them.  A ‘coo’ came from above and he held up a finger.

The sugar cube dropped from the rafters.  He blocked the splash with one cupped hand and a napkin.

Thunder Bay had come promptly.  The Lord of Thunder Bay didn’t come, but that was expected.  Deb, Ann, Odis, Nicole, the Childs, the apprentice Gleaner Dav, Sourav Evans, two Whitts, Theodora, and their contract guy Sebastian were here.

Estrella had suggested she might come, but hadn’t turned up.  Jessica had turned them down.  Andrea Fulton, a lesser heroic practitioner who’d helped them when Musser had invaded, had come with her daughter.  Graubard had showed with three daughters- including one of the ones from the invasion.  Elizabeth Driscoll’s father was present, but not Elizabeth, which Avery figured was a bummer for Nicolette, at least.  The Kierstaads and Knoxes were here, which was a win in Avery’s book, when the Kierstaads had been so conflict avoidant during the Alexander-Bristow thing and the Knoxes were pretty conflict avoidant.

And there were combat practitioners from the sword moot.  Grayson Hennigar had already showed up.  The Mussers hadn’t, though Raquel was here.  The Legendres said they were coming if only to learn what they needed to do about local bindings they were maintaining, but hadn’t turned up.  There was a list of other names, key ones, who hadn’t come.

Mixed feelings there.  Some great people and some awful ones.

“Hmmm.  Not sure,” Nicolette murmured.  “I think you lose more by waiting.”

“The sooner the better, I figure,” Lucy said.  “We hit the start time.  If they haven’t arrived already, then waiting lends them power.”

The ones present were, Avery figured, the hungriest and the most wary.  Maybe that was why they were supposed to start here.

Avery nodded.  She circled around, to where Snowdrop stood by the window, looking outside.  Snowdrop had to press her cheek into glass to see at the right angle, but there was a view of the graves.  Sootsleeves’ people had handled that overnight.  Only half were buried.  Others had been placed in boxes that were slapped together for easier transportation- there was enough wood from the ruined Blue Heron to use.

Three tall, narrow windows, in three different states.  Lucy took the chair backed by dusty glass, the morning sun directly behind her.  Avery and Snowdrop sat so the rest of the table would see them backed by a window with newspaper over it.  A hundred piercing dots of light made it through the gaps of the newspaper, that was warmed to a dull orange by sun.  Verona’s window had been painted over, black paint faded to a purple-black or blue-black.  Verona had used her hand to wipe a circular spot out of the peeling paint to look out of, and as she sat, it was just over her head and the back of her chair, a circle lit not with direct sunlight, but with sunlight bouncing off the nearby brickwork.

Snowdrop became human long enough to reach across the table and pull a tray of homemade cookies, grapes, crackers and cheeses closer.  She brought about five things with her as she became an opossum, curled up in Avery’s lap, with foodstuff between Avery’s stomach and Snowdrop’s body, little opossum jaws working and making an awful mess as she ate breakfast.

Resupplied Self, after a loss.

Florin noticed them settling in and shifted position, sitting back instead of forward, holding his tea in front of himself.  Others noticed.

Lucy put a spell card on the table, then tapped her cup with a spoon.

The ringing sound filled the air.  All conversation ceased.

“I’m tempted to call this a charade,” Ann said, “and the theatricality isn’t helping that.”

Ann’s daughter was in attendance, standing against the wall behind her mother’s seat.  Ann had disapproved of the young girl taking a turnover from an offered plate, but after the girl had settled in behind her mother, some of the urchins and rats had taken to putting bowls and things on surfaces near her.  A little receptacle for umbrellas or canes with various curved handles sticking up out of the end now had a bowl perched between the handles, loaded with treats.  Within arm’s reach.

“It’s not a charade,” Lucy said.  “I’d argue this is more serious than any business we’ve put forward.  I’d ask that you please not interrupt.  We’ve called this meeting to order, we’ve offered bread and water, among other things- thank you for facilitating, Sootsleeves, and we’ve taken pains to bring you here…”

“Thank you, Garricks,” Avery added in.

“You’re paying,” Peter said, shrugging.  “No complaints.”

They weren’t paying much, but yeah.  She appreciated him saying that in that way, since it lent them legitimacy, and that was apparently Lucy’s angle.

“…By the rules of hospitality, we’ve hosted, there are certain rights afforded to that.  Please allow us to open this,” Lucy said.

After Mr. Hall, Musser’s lawyer guy, had sort of trounced them on that front during the meeting with Musser, Graubard, and Durocher, Lucy had apparently read up on that stuff.

“That’s how you want to do this?”

“It is.”

“It’s customary,” Sebastian said.

“Such is your right.”

“Given the faces at the table, it might help if some practitioners announced themselves,” Mrs. Graubard said.  “Eliana Graubard.  Head of the Graubard family.  Dollmakers.”

“Sorry,” Sebastian said.  “Sebastian Harless, contracts.”

“What do you contract with?”

“No, I mean, I write and handle contracts.”

“You helped with what they brought before Musser.  The deals with markets?” Graubard asked.

Sebastian nodded.

Some of the people who were standing by the walls moved closer, to be in earshot.

“What we’re fighting for is the future,” Avery addressed the group.  “It’s been the question hanging over this region.  What next?  How do we want things to be?”

Many eyes were on her.

They’d had Nicolette help them look into possibilities, but there was enough ground to cover that she’d figured they needed Wye too- to bring the other Belangers on board.  Doing readings, figuring out how best to start this out.  A read on each player in the region- not all dwelling in the region, anymore.  But people who had interests here.  Who could be convinced, who couldn’t?

Avery swallowed, then continued.

“There was a magic school here, with students coming in, sometimes from far away, but usually because they had money or talent.  People who’ve been in charge of it, I’d say, are the people who were basically trying to decide the future of where this whole area goes.  In other places, that decision’s already been made, change is harder.  I think we’re really close to having that happen here.”

Lucy spoke up next.  “A lot of what we’ve been fighting and doing has been trying to stop someone from making a shitty call, creating a shitty status quo that’ll be a hundred times harder to budge.  Maybe with Charles making the deal, that status quo is in place, but things are still green and pliable.”

Lucy turned to Avery and Verona, asking, “Brief history, background, you think?”

“Sure,” Avery said, hand on Snowdrop.

Lucy nodded.  “Alexander Belanger, who ran this school when we got here, was a person with good ideas, about cooperation, problem solving, and building something.  But under that was something really damaged, scheming, and conniving.”

“We’re going that far back?” Verona asked.

“I figure we’d have to.  He perpetuated this sometimes subtle, awful side of the practitioner establishment, where scheming and being ruthless is how you get ahead.  Where if you aren’t screwing others over, you should be screwed over and gotten out of the way.  He abused and pressured our friend Nicolette, his apprentice’s apprentice, pushing her, and forswore his own nephew.  Basically putting him through hell on earth.”

Nicolette was nodding at Lucy’s words.

“A gentle hell, maybe, because Nicolette helped him, but yeah,” Avery added.

Verona spoke up, “Alexander fought over the school with Bristow, who represented a different side of it.  Money grubbing, greedy instead of ambitious.  Alexander didn’t care much about the Innocent- what some of you guys were before being made Aware.  Bristow used them.  Used Aware like some of you, here in this room.  Bristow’s friends used them.”

“Where are they now?” Wallace asked.

“Dead and gone,” Lucy said.  “We were part of that.”

“Part how?” Brayden’s dad asked.

“John, a Dog Tag that was in Kennet but isn’t anymore, shot Alexander.  Because if he hadn’t, Alexander would have done something to take over Kennet,” Lucy said.  “I summoned John to the school, for protection, but a part of me knew what might happen.”

Jasmine went from standing with her back to Lucy to twisting her upper body, looking at Lucy.  Lucy didn’t flinch away, but her expression… that looked hurt.

Jasmine didn’t look away, after.

Verona said, “Bristow… he was messing with us.  Attacked Kennet, did a lot of damage that took us months to recover.  Put people at risk.  Because he thought doing that would mess with Alexander.”

“Arguably, it did, given how Alexander ended up,” Florin commented.  “Florin Pesch, by the way.  Puppeteer, which means I specialize on those who control people.  But I’m here for my other management skills.”

“Why?” Jeremy asked, from the sidelines.  “Why did hurting Kennet hurt Alexander?”

“It didn’t, directly,  but it was a messy series of power plays.  Long story.  Maybe we explain the particulars later, if you want to get into that later?” Verona offered.

“Okay.”

Verona resumed.  “As part of that, we got into a contest, him trying to strip me of magic, me doing the same to him.  Putting pressure on one another.  He was fighting Alexander.  I got the edge, partially because he was distracted, he lost power, couldn’t fight Alexander, couldn’t win, and decided getting captured by fairies and imprisoned for longer than human lifespans was better than facing defeat.”

“I’m Grayson Hennigar, battle practitioner, I knew Bristow,” Grayson said.  “And you sent brownies after him.”

“Sure,” Verona said.  “But I was a then-inexperienced practitioner with a fair bit of power, he picked a fight with me when he was already distracted with Alexander… and he decided to walk into the brownies’ kitchens.  I’m not denying involvement, but I’m not taking full responsibility either.”

“Musser followed after,” Avery said.  “I guess I’d say that instead of being greedy or ambitious, exactly, he was… he had what greed and ambition get you.  Power, wealth, everything else.  But he wanted more.  I… he- I know that sounds like more greed and ambition, but-”

She stumbled, trying to articulate it.

“He thought that what he had entitled him to everything he wanted, basically,” Lucy said, arms folded.  “He had the worst of Alexander’s thing where he’d screw over those he thought of as lesser, Bristow’s way of preying on Innocents.”

“Had?  Past tense?” Grayson asked.

Lucy nodded.

“How many more are there?” George asked, interrupting Grayson.

“A couple million, depending on how you look at it,” Toadswallow said.  He’d taken a seat at the table to Avery’s right.  “Practitioners?  You could find a family of five here, an independent one there.  Group of thirty there.  Six or seven in Kennet, depending on whether we count our prisoner Anthem Tedd…”

Anthem stood on the sidelines, hands in pockets, dipping his head in a nod.

“…Thirty or so in Thunder Bay.  You humans add up to quite a sum, even a small share of that sum being practitioners adds up.  How many are bad?  A question for the philosophers, sir.”

“And how many of you are there?”

“I’d wager a guess, but the young ladies are talking, perhaps it’s best to focus on what needs focusing on.”

“Right,” George said.  “Sorry.  Still figuring this out.”

The oldest practitioners, like Graubard, looked restless at the interruption.

“I don’t mind fresh eyes on an old set of issues, though,” Avery said.  She had to put her hand on Snowdrop to steady the opossum as she shifted position, tucking one boot under her butt on the chair.

“My question had a second part, though,” George said.  “How many more get removed or kidnapped or killed or… whatever?  In the course of all of this?  How many more are in line?”

“That’s part of what we’re doing here,” Avery said.  “Hmmm.  Can you let us finish before questions?  I’ll get to that.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“About Grayson’s question… I didn’t get the full picture when Sootsleeves gave me the rundown,” Avery said, turning to Matthew.  “Musser, according to people who were on the battlefield, is gone too?”

“Good as,” Matthew said.  “He was being kept in the hole in the blood goddess’ chest, and he was still there when she got poisoned and imprisoned in a box by the Wild Hunt of Winter.”

Avery nodded, taking that in, trying to formulate what she wanted to say.

“None of this was by design,” Lucy said.  “The people dying.  But I think it shows the stakes.”

Avery nodded.  “Musser, if he’d won, would have been the one in charge of magic, Others, and practitioners from east of Winnipeg to just west of Ottawa.  Including Toronto.  Including Kennet.  What he wanted to do while he was in charge?  He wanted to enslave people like Toadswallow there, or Ramjam, or these guys…”

She indicated the Dog Tags.

“Or Alpy, or…”

“Others,” Deb said.

“Or humans, even,” Lucy added.  “Arranged marriages.  Ruling over areas with enough control that they’re forced to cater to his whims and designs.  For practitioner families, that’s establishment.”

“The definition you’re giving, you’re phrasing this this way for the sake of the Aware in the room?” Hennigar asked.  “That might get tiresome.”

“It’s important,” Avery replied.  “A lot of the words and ideas we use, like being forsworn, or how we talk about people like Musser or Alexander, they’re loaded, they come with assumptions.  But forswearing is torture.  I don’t think Lucy’s wrong in how she talked about Alexander, or Verona about Bristow.”

“We use the words we use because it keeps things short and sweet.”

“Too sweet, though?” Lucy asked.  “Alexander sentenced his own nephew to a lifetime of torture.  A life the universe wants to prolong so it can hurt him more, because that’s what forswearing is.  Musser sacrificed his son in the Carmine Contest that put Charles Abrams on the Carmine Throne.  These are people who want to shape the future.  We’re deciding how we want to shape it.  That’s why we brought you here.”

“It’s an issue if we try to start fresh but the words we’re using are loaded with bad ideas,” Verona said.

Avery thought of the items they’d been gifted by Miss.  Avery had gotten notes on the Forest Ribbon Trail.  Lucy the weapon ring.  Verona had gotten the quill pen, that let her manipulate words.  But the pen had broken before summer was over.  Avery wondered what Verona could’ve or would’ve become if she’d kept with that, with the way Avery had gone down her course and Lucy down hers.

“Is that why we’re here?” Grayson asked.  “To relitigate words?”

“To talk about the future,” Avery said.  “Kennet ended up being involved in a lot of what happened, Now-”

“Arguments could be made that the Belangers were involved for a lot of what happened,” Grayson said.  “Hell, the Hennigars were, if you want to look at how we were on the sidelines, watching objectively.”

“That’s thin,” Verona replied.

He shrugged.  “World doesn’t start and end with you three.”

“How many conversations have you had with the Carmine Exile?  Before and after he took the throne?” Lucy asked.

“How many conversations have you had with the Aurum, before and after he took the throne?”

“Like, four-ish?” Verona suggested.

Lucy counted, “One talk after we awakened, the time we attempted to apprehend Maricica and she pulled Faerie bullshit, the end of Summer, and when-”

Lucy glanced at Avery.

Avery, one hand on Snowdrop, moved her hand, thumb touching the scar near her hipbone.

“When we tried to call an Aurum contest and I got shot because he pulled some B.S.,” Avery said.

“But we’re talking about the Carmine, not the Aurum,” Lucy said.

“That’s not my point,” Grayson said.

“What’s your point, then?” Lucy retorted.

“It doesn’t connect.  He is, or should be a nonentity.  He’s an oversight in the system, took power, and when we attempted to address that glitch, you got in the way.  You blocked us from taking a final territory and screening him out.  You confronted Musser.”

“Technically it was Durocher who ruined Musser.”

“You three challenged him to bring details to light,” Graubard said.

“If everywhere you go, you smell shit, check the bottom of your shoe,” Grayson said.  “And if everywhere you three go, the Carmine finds successes and great men fall?”

He spread his arms.  His chair creaked as he leaned back on the back two feet of it.

“The Carmine needs to fall,” Lucy said.

“So much,” Verona said.

“Now we’re redefining Kennet going forward, as part of our plan,” Avery said.  “The Seal is flawed.  It’s too all-or-nothing.  We tested the waters with making changes and pushing the Carmine out with the Sword Moot, but we’re looking at something bigger.  We have reason to think the Carmine is indisposed right now, tied up in talks with Ottawa.  What we want is to make a deal, here.  For sharing out responsibility for the Aware…”

Some people had entered.  Two middle aged men, with wavy brown hair, then Basil Winters and his mom.  No Braxton Hart.  Raquel glanced at them, then approached the table.

“It’s up to you all, to decide how you want to handle that,” Lucy said.  “If you want to be on board, or if you want to work with us on this.  But I think what we’ve been doing has been rough, and if we don’t sort things out, it’ll be the Carmine deciding the way forward.”

“Getting back to what George asked earlier,” Avery said.  She indicated George for those who didn’t know him.  “We’ve had a whole slew of people going to war, fighting over this region, and being toppled.”

“It’s messy,” Verona said.  “There should be a point where enough have died, enough have fallen, enough friends are lost, and you’ve got to question the status quo.”

Raquel had leaned in, waiting for a pause in conversation, and whispered, “The new arrivals are Mussers.  That’s Gabriel and Darius.  Members of two different branches, so they probably haven’t decided on a new family head.”

Avery nodded.

“You made your argument to me last night,” Mr. Knox said.

“What Verona’s saying?  A big, massive chunk of what’s been happening has been an argument- or a demonstration, that something needs to change,” Lucy said.

“We want a better convention, before Forswearing,” Avery said.  “A new establishment, so the harshest and most inflexible parts of the Seal ease up.  Something where even a normal broken promise leaves outs.  A clearer middle ground, between being Innocent and being Awakened, where the Aware have more freedom, where Others can maneuver a bit better, too.”

“And what does that have to do with the current situation?” Graubard asked.

“International community backs Chuck?” Verona asked.  “Okay that’s fine-”

She’d paused just a moment, to let people stir and get a bit riled up.

“-if we make an arrangement that leaves him with no effective power.  We’re not technically defying the international community, since Chuck stays, borders aren’t moving, hell, we’re taking stuff off the Carmine’s plate.”

“All the stuff,” Avery said.

“The sword moot would make a collective declaration and arrange to handle the cases that would cross the Carmine’s metaphorical desk, with other groups being able to chime in,” Lucy said.  “And combat practitioners would stay on primarily as that, and as backup and reinforcement against Others that the community at large agrees to handle.  The Carmine role in things gets phased out.”

“Our handling of Awareness has to change, as part of that,” Verona said.  “Otherwise, there’s too much reason to prey on people and target the vulnerable, and I know some of you jackasses are already doing that.”

Lucy added in, “Or removing other people from the sword moot and move closer to being a dominant power.  There’d be a collective responsibility over Aware, agreed on as part of this whole deal.”

“You want everyone here to sign on to that collective responsibility,” Mr. Knox said.  “Not just the sword moot?”

“Well…” Lucy said.  She glanced at Avery.  “I think people here will want to sign on.”

“Will we, now?” Graubard asked, arching an eyebrow.

Lucy was still looking at Avery.

Okay.  Avery supposed she was taking the lead, here.

She wasn’t sure how to go about it.

“There’s a thing that I’ve been sitting with for a while,” Avery told the room, drawing on the thought process that had brought her here, spelling it out.  She shifted position, both feet tucked under her now, both hands on Snowdrop, leaning forward a bit.  “I talked with the Page of Suns a while back.  Before Kennet found.  Garricks can tell you who he is.  Major guy on the Paths.  I’m thinking he might actually be important enough a lot more practices should be paying attention to him.  He’s a bit cryptic, but I think he knows stuff on a, hmm… a really fundamental level.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“He asked questions.  Leading ones.  If the Paths are where things other realms don’t want, where unimportant things go, then why look into them?  Why does it matter?

“Something or someone can be viewed as unimportant, low-priority, ignored, and still have a lot of value or meaning,” Avery said.  She met her parents’ eyes, flashing an apologetic smile.  Not the easiest thing, to bring up something so touchy.  “I don’t think even my fellow practitioners back in Thunder Bay have paid much attention to the fact there’s a fairy market on the fringes of the city.”

“There are fairy markets in lots of places,” Florin said.

“Exactly!  There’s a lot out there.  Individuals, small markets, modest-sized markets.  Some of you were with Musser, taking over whole sections of Ontario and even he didn’t realize what was out there.  Lords didn’t.  The closest we got was Milly Legendre and her family ousting small goblins from the region she controlled.  A lot of them didn’t listen.  They found places to hole up and made the gamble that one to three goblins the size of a hamster weren’t worth the thirty minutes it would take even a Lord to track down, dig up, and eradicate.”

“Maybe if she’d had time,” Grayson said.  “What does this matter?”

“Those were the same markets they made contracts with, to make Kennet inconvenient to stake a Lordship claim in,” Graubard noted.

“Sure, yeah,” Avery replied.  “But this isn’t a repeat of that.  These small markets, tucked-out-of-the-way individuals, the scattered Others who get ignored or treated as unimportant?  They -and Kennet- have one thing you don’t.”

“If it’s that they’re ignored, you ruined that by paying attention to them, didn’t you?” Grayson asked.

“They stayed,” Verona said.  “They’ve endured a lot of hassle and abuse, they’ve been ground down, even, threatened.  But they found a place to hole up and they stayed… and a whole lot of you didn’t.”

“They outnumber you.  Us,” Lucy said.  “They have more numbers, they cover more ground.  They add up.”

Verona said, “The Aware are out there, and we think they outnumber practitioners.  People who know the supernatural is real, but can’t or don’t really grapple with it.  Most don’t have anything special to them, as far as supernatural tools or abilities, but some do.  They can be hassles for practice, they can be obstacles for a tooth fairy trying to collect her quota, or a goblin raiding a house for food.”

“They are, by the Seal, lesser considerations.”

“They are, by your current handling of the Seal, lesser considerations,” Lucy said.  “Under our approach, they become something more meaningful.  They’re going to be around, and if you mess with them and we find out, we retaliate and seek retribution.”

“And others have signed on already,” Avery said.  She gave Snowdrop a prompt through the Familiar bond.  “So it’s not just us.  It’s-”

Snowdrop, getting up, becoming human, and drew a fork, plunging it into the table with full overhead swing.

It became Cherrypop.

“Rah!”

“You can’t be serious,” Graubard said.

Snowdrop took a piece of meat from a platter and put it in Cherry’s mouth.  When Cherry looked up at her, Avery got Cherry’s attention and held up a finger.

“Hey,” Verona said, leaning forward.  “They outnumber you.  They cover more ground.  They have claim, by virtue of being here.  What do you have?  As far as I can tell, they count for more.”

“Until a hundred of them are wiped out by one of ours,” Grayson said.

“Goes back to the Legendre issue,” Avery said.  “That takes time, effort, and with markets talking to other markets, fairies working tentatively with goblins, heroic spirits helping to guide Others?  If you go after one settlement, you’d better be prepared to go after all of them.”

“I think you come out worse than you would if you didn’t try,” Lucy said.  “Having to protect all your properties against attack from a diverse set of enemies?”

Grayson sighed, running his fingers through his hair.  “Wards are a thing.”

“Sure, but it’s nice to have internet and power, isn’t it?” Verona asked.  “Roads in and out?  Maybe you can put your place in a bubble, spend power to keep some clever fairy from poking a hole in it and getting some troublemakers in, but how shitty will it be, no TV or internet, no power, no water?  Having to teleport in and out to avoid having some goblin spike strip ruin the tires of a nice car?”

“Weigh the costs,” Lucy said.

“The benefit, if you cooperate,” Avery said, “is resources.  Interconnected markets, Aware as resources and a pool to tap into.  They’re willing to back us, on diminishing the role of the Carmine.  Help, instead of hurt, on all those fronts.  Information sharing.  Instead of a Lordship defined by one person, it can become a region defined by thousands.”

“Not especially interested,” Grayson said.

“So you know, this is something we’re going to do, barring some serious reason not to.  It’s a question of whether you’re on board.”

“Again, not interested.  I don’t think this carries the weight you want it to.”

“On that note, actually,” Florin said.  “Sorry to cut you off before you take your turn, Grayson, I think we’d all benefit from checking the metaphorical scales we’re using to measure that weight.”

“You’re playing your games, Florin?” Grayson asked.

“Mr. Knox?” Florin asked, with a smile.

“If I could interject?” Avery asked.  “I had a thing I wanted to say, tying back to what came up earlier.”

“Go ahead.”

“Musser was the worst of Alexander and Bristow.  He was them after ambition was rewarded, greed fed.  The bad stuff still there, rewarded and fed.  What I’m proposing is the best aspects of them.  Cooperation, connection, problem solving.  Getting key, overlooked elements like Aware working together to be greater than the sum of their parts.”

“Thank you,” Florin said.  “Then, Mr. Knox?”

“I talked with them last night, and talked with family members before the Finder family came to pick me up.  If we have sufficient numbers today, and the terms remain what they were when we discussed them, the Knox family is in.  Innocents and Aware will be respected and given due consideration, the organized markets will get my acknowledgement and tacit support, I hope to get consideration there as well.”

“What did they offer you?” Mrs. Graubard asked.

“What are you offering me?” Mr. Knox asked, heated now.  “I helped.  My daughter helped.  We backed Bristow and we got nothing for our trouble.  We backed Musser and got nothing.  We helped out of expectation of rewards, prestige, and repayment and we’ve gotten less than nothing.  We’ve been set back.  The area is backsliding into the pre-Seal days when monsters lurked and people had to stay cooped up in their homes at night.  I don’t get the impression you’re trying to fix this.”

“We tried and-”

Mr. Knox banged a fist on the table.  “No!  No, forget all that.  Right now, what are you doing, except trying to maneuver to an acceptable position around a region where the Carmine Exile rules by some perversion of the system?  I know you’re not strong enough to stop him yourselves, so you’d need help, and you sure haven’t called me, or anyone I know, to get that help.  Ergo, you’re not trying.  So what the hell are you offering?  Graubard?  Hennigar?  Mussers?  You’ve been quiet.”

The two Mussers were middle aged.  A bit of Abraham, a bit of Reid.

“Catching up.  You began before everyone was present.”

“By the rules of hospitality-”

“It’s ideal to wait,” the older of the two men said.

“Unless we’re pressed for time.  The Carmine should be tied up in bureaucracy right now.  We have a limited time window.”

“Not so limited you can’t blather on,” Grayson said.

“Right, but still limited enough to call for certain shifts in expectation for rules of hospitality.  It’s different to show up late at a war meeting than a book club.”

Serves you right for trying to show up late to throw your weight around.

“Let’s move on before we get into more back-and-forth,” Florin said, flashing a smile.  “Going down the table, Kierstaads?  Generalist dabblers, studying executions and other dimensions of practice- range, presentation, subtlety, and so on.”

“Interested.”

“I see Nicolette standing behind Mr. Kierstaad.  Augur.”

“I’m in.  I was Aware, once.  Homeless and crazy, spirits flooding my head.  Let’s do better for anyone else in that situation.”

“Zed Sadler, I think it was?  Technomancer apprentice to Raymond Sunshine.”

“Yes.  More information from the small markets and communities is great, a kind of unofficial Black Box, sharing details about any problems across the network, and like Nicolette, I was once Aware.”

“Same,” Brie said, next to him.

“Mrs. Fulton?”

“I’m in, if it means the Fultons can move back into the region.”

“Driscolls?”

Elizabeth Driscoll’s dad.  Historian.  Ten year old Dom had been their point of contact with Musser’s group during the big invasion.

“Interested but not committing yet.  More to discuss.”

“Anthem?”

“Have they completely broken you, Anthem?” Grayson asked.

Anthem smiled, one eyebrow raised.  “Want to step outside and see how broken I am?”

“If you’re going to be on your knees before anyone, I’d prefer it be me.”

“Anthem?” Florin asked.

“I like Driscoll’s wording.”

“Of those still in the area, the three Oni practitioners are interested in anything that gets them more power and points of contact…”

Avery glanced at Hollow Yen, who was hanging back.

“…Bringing us to the Thunder Bay contingent, to which I belong.  I’ll add my own name.  I’m interested in seeing this play out, if people will have me.  I know I spoiled things before my exit, earlier.  Sebastian, of course?”

“Yes,” Sebastian said.  “I’ve been working with the small markets and Kennet.  It’s good business, I want to see where it goes.”

“Dav?”

One of the Gleaners.  Small practitioners from Thunder Bay who cracked open magic things for the power inside.  Avery had messaged Jason, the head of that group, but Jason didn’t like to get involved with anything that wasn’t work, so he’d sent an apprentice.

“If things get difficult, we leave.  If this makes things less difficult, we stay.”

“Raquel,” the younger of the two Mussers said, interrupting things.  “A word?”

“No,” Raquel replied.

“If this could wait?” Florin asked.

“No, it won’t.  It pertains to your mother.”

Raquel paused.

Avery leaned over.  “Need backup?”

Raquel shook her head.  Then she stepped outside.

Florin kept going down the list.  “Mrs. Scobie.  Elementalist of Thunder Bay…”

“You have a better offer?” Nicole asked Grayson’s end of the room.  “Money, power?”

“It could be that saying yes to this makes us enemies down the line.”

“A threat?” Scobie asked.

One of the Mussers went to close the door, once they and Raquel were in the hallway.  Raquel stopped it, blocking it with her body, arms folded.  Being tough, even if they were intimidating- Raquel couldn’t quite keep from ducking her head down a bit as they stepped in closer to talk to her- or one of them did.  The other drew a chalk line at the door.

Lucy glanced at Avery.

The conversation was short.

“Mr. Childs?”

The two Mussers turned to go, and Raquel re-entered the room, scuffing the chalk as she did so.  Head down, eyes on the floor.

The Mussers didn’t re-enter the room, heading out the hall.

Grayson Hennigar’s chair scraped, and he followed.

“You decided, I take it?” Florin asked, interrupting one of the Childs.

“The Mussers have it right.  The longer I hear this go on, the less I think any of you or any part of this region is worth it.”

Grayson collected his coat, pulling it on, and strode out of the room.

Avery looked at Mrs. Graubard.  One of the more loyal of that whole contingent.

“Are you asking me, with that look?” Mrs. Graubard asked.

“Technically I was asking the Childs, but…”

“It’s a no from me, but I’m listening.”

“…bringing us to a tentative yes?” Florin asked, voice bright.

Avery fidgeted.  This wasn’t like school, where she could take her seat and take information in, getting up every hour and a bit, with gym, lunch, and possibly an errand for the council during the lunch hour.

The stakes were high, she had to be on, with people watching her every reaction.  She had to make sure that a lot of other people were behaving, whether they were Cherrypop, asleep in her lap, lying against Snowdrop’s side, or one of the opposing practitioners being sneaky.  She had to make sure people weren’t getting the wrong ideas, taking a line of thought to the wrong endpoint, or looking out for tricks they could exploit.

“And in answer to that tentative part,” Florin said, glancing Avery’s way.  “We can identify our obstacles.”

“Charles,” Lucy said.

“That’s the main one.”

“The St. Victor’s practitioners,” Avery said.

“That’s one of the fringe issues.  A handful of practitioners with a lot of power and very little expertise in wielding it, with everything on the line for them.”

“Where-” one of the parents spoke up.  “What’s the plan?  What are you going to do wi- for-?”

“Your kids?” Avery asked.

“You’ve talked about removing people.”

“I want to try to avoid hurting them,” Lucy said.  “Have you managed to get in touch?”

“About half of us.  A few of our kids are scared, wanting to leave, but they don’t think they can.  Others don’t want to leave, they’re in too deep.”

“Has anyone called Cameron?” Avery asked.  “I don’t want her to slip through the cracks.”

“She’s not answering.  We got her number from her mother’s phone.  There are over fifty messages left on read.  If she’s not answering calls from her mother…”

“There’s a third group.  The kids who want to go but don’t think they can, the ones who don’t want to go, and then Dony and maybe Travis.  Their dad went and…”

“Yeah,” Avery replied.

Dony’s dad was being put in a box to be brought back to Kennet.

“Fuck,” Verona whispered.

“We have the notes on their practices.  Names they’re prepared to call.  Those names include Lords,” Avery said.  “If we know, is there a counter?”

“There can be,” Opal Winters answered.  She was an older woman, dressed like she could attend a modern tea with the Queen.  “We’re prepared to give it to you, but we need a concession.”

“Run it by us, then,” Verona said.

“The Turtle Queen.  Let us re-bind it.”

“She’s semi-bound by the conventions of Kennet’s council.”

“Won’t last.”

“Doing pretty well, making bonds, learning to work with people.”

“She’s a virus.  One that infects information.”

“Virus or no, I like her better than I like a lot of people,” Verona said.

“We’ve been arranging the cleanup of the mess caused when the Oni and the body snatcher loosed Others from Basil’s book.  We have Countdown Cassandra, we have the Hot Blot, the Typetap Kitty, the Stuffy Head letters, but we’re missing one of the big ones.  You may revel in this… mess…”

Opal indicated the room, with its loose crowd and piles of mismatched items along the wall.

“…but we’ve made a career out of cleaning up messes.  Help us help you.  Trust us when we say there’s danger there.”

Lucy shook her head.  “Can’t the same be said for you?  I didn’t even know about Countdown Cassandra or the other thing.”

“Kitty,” Verona said, very seriously.

“But you’re binding living creatures.  Given how last night went?  Bit of a sore point.”

The Dog Tags.

“Cleaning up messes.”

“Countdown Cassandra was local, right?” Lucy asked.  “We thought she moved on?”

“She was,” Matthew said.  “We did.”

“What does it take to get you to let her go?” Lucy asked.

“I’m not interested in negotiating it with you.  I get the impression you’re invested in what you’ve spent the last year doing.  I’ve spent decades on this.  Same investment.”

“Would you negotiate it with me?”

Raymond was out in the hallway.

Avery glanced at Verona, who shrugged.  Lucy didn’t look surprised, but she might’ve heard him.

Durocher and Raymond entered.

“Disclaimer,” Raymond said, holding up a finger.  “I can’t be directly involved.  These are fraught times, the international community has made its stance clear.  I’m here because the Blue Heron fell and the person I installed as headmaster is apparently no longer with us.”

“He hasn’t been with us since October,” Durocher said.

“Basil?” Raymond acknowledged the narrow man.

“Sir.”

“Have recent events tempered your ambition?”

“I honestly don’t know well enough to say without worrying I’d be gainsaid,” Basil replied.

“I warned you about setting foot on these grounds again.  You’ve done so repeatedly, with this moment, right here, being an ongoing violation.”

“It’s not-” Basil looked like he was about to argue.  “Yes.  You’re right.”

Raymond approached the end of the table.  Durocher, sun in her face, looked tired and relaxed.

“I’m coming to the realization I may be an optimist,” the dour Raymond Sunshine said, with zero brightness in his expression.  “Things keep turning out worse than I’d imagine they could, whenever my back is turned.  I turned my back on Basil, years ago, and he nearly stole everything out from under me.  I leave this situation, thinking it’s stabilized, and months pass with work demanding my attention… only for the Carmine Exile to take the region for himself.”

“Can we help you?” Matthew asked.  “I think Kennet has been fair to you in the past.”

“And you let Charles slip through your fingers,” Lucy muttered under her breath.

“I sometimes think I’ve been forced into a position like an Incarnation,” Raymond said.  “Arbiter of capital-‘T’ Technology, no longer allowed to sleep, no life except my single-word purpose, tasked with smoothing out wrinkles and easing out knots in the fabric of things.  Deviate from my path, I cease to exist.”

Avery looked at Alpeana, who was perched on top of a birdcage on a stand, as far back from the windows and the fireplace as possible, with a slight frown on her face.  Still hurt, by how wild her hair was.

“Sucks,” Lucy said.  “But why-?”

“I’m here to smooth out wrinkles.  Things were gifted and loaned to the Blue Heron.”

“The older Belangers tracked a lot of that,” Nicolette said.  “The records are going to be spotty, some have the information in their heads and they got hurt, others had it on their computers or in notebooks, and a lot of computers and notebooks are lost in the rubble.”

“Good to know.  It’s better than nothing.”

“Can we get confirmation you are who you appear to be?” Verona asked.

“I am Raymond Sunshine, Technomancer, I was headmaster before Musser.  Custodian before Wye was temporary, de-facto caretaker of the building.  Ex-friend of the Carmine Exile.”

“I am Marie Durocher, supplicant of the cascus wilds,” Durocher said.

Avery shifted position.

“And I’ve been teacher in enough classrooms,” Raymond said, “to know when people are restless.  You’ve been at this for some time?”

“Yeah,” Avery replied.

“Come.  Use those legs, move.”

“Is this a trap?”

“My intentions are neutral.  I do not mean to trap any of you.  I have no knowledge of any subterfuge or issues that could strike you down.  I’m only here to smooth out wrinkles.”

“And we’re not wrinkles?” Lucy asked.

“No more than many others.  Nothing I see myself needing to smooth out.  Shall we step outside, walk and talk?”

Avery nodded.

“Good idea,” Florin said.

Avery had the impression that Sootsleeves’ furniture was meant to accommodate a variety of types of Other, and that meant that even a chair she’d picked that looked mostly normal was a mite uncomfortable.

She passed Cherrypop to Snowdrop, who stood.  All of them got coats and things.  Avery pulled on her slightly stained tan coat with the bleached antler pattern, and a yellow scarf that faded to orange.  She kept her bag slung over one shoulder, deer mask fixed to one strap, badge on the other.

Raymond talked to Zed for a moment.  Possibly getting the rundown.

“What wrinkle is it you’re looking to smooth out, old chap?” Toadswallow asked, as they made their way down the stairs, when it looked like Raymond and Zed were done enough.  “Is it only the items?”

“Sorting out the debts and obligations of the school is one thing.  International powers would like what comes in the next few days to pass smoothly.  A transition of power, the Carmine settling in, secure.”

“You want to help that?” Lucy asked, tense now.

“I’ve listened from the beginning, through phones people had around the room.  Charles is tied into that bureaucracy.  It will probably last a little less than twenty hours.  Augurs can pin that number down with more clarity if they want, I’m sure.”

“Could,” Nicolette replied.  “But pinning things down-”

“Binds you to that conclusion, good or bad.  Often skewed to be worse for you, if the spirits don’t like being bullied.  I know.  I was best friends with an Augur for over a decade.”

“Yeah.  With the number of Aware with us right now, it’s good to spell things out a bit.”

Raymond looked back at the group, frowning.

Verona had dropped back a few paces, and was explaining for parents and kids.

“There was a point of discussion about freeing some Others?” Raymond asked.

“Countdown Cassandra and Typetap Kitty.  But that was a tangent, from us talking about the threats we’re facing.  There are a bunch of kids, they got baited into this, and their parents are back there, worried,” Lucy explained.

“He’s using kids.”

“One of them killed their dad last night,” Avery said.

“Are you bringing that up because you know my history?”

“You are giving me way too much credit,” Avery said.  “It didn’t cross my mind between you saying that and me saying what I just said.”

Raymond sighed.

“You’re making a mess that’s potentially going to leak into other areas.  Aware that are going to potentially go to Ottawa?  New York?  London?”

“Uh,” Melissa said.

Raymond turned, still descending stairs.

“I think the idea is if we want to go, we ask for company.  Someone to walk us through stuff.  But it’s not like we’re, like, walking disaster areas?”

“The Seal doesn’t have provisions for limiting Aware.  There’s not even a convention that Aware announce themselves when entering a lordship,” Sebastian said, from the back.

“Sounds good, let’s get ignored,” Melissa said, “unless we’re doing the thing Avery talked about, like, an hour ago, and we want to to use the fact we’re ignored to get an edge.”

“You’ve sent Aware out to harass Charles?”

“The less said out loud, the better.  We made a suggestion, to people we’ve been dealing with.”

They reached the foyer.  Boys in little makeshift butler uniforms, including one in an old tuxedo tee, all bowed, with three working together to haul the big door open.  Cold air blew in.

“Thank you for the courtesy, Queen Sootsleeves,” Durocher said, as they passed through.

Avery fixed her scarf and her opossum, at her neck and her shoulder.

Out into the battlefield.

The snow was thick in the air, lending it a fog-like quality.  It obscured a lot of the details, but it couldn’t hide the damage to the main building.

“He hated injustice,” Raymond said, looking at the husk of the school building.  “He cared about children, I thought.  He and I both had a bad habit of associating with the wrong people.  Maybe it’s that some of those people were as magnetic as they were.  Or as good at finding people like Charles and myself, with that specific weakness.”

“That’s the way it is, with abusers,” Jasmine said.

Raymond looked back.  He glanced at Lucy, then extended a long finger.  “Her mother?”

“Yes.  Jasmine.  Proud and angry at the same time,” Jasmine replied.

Raymond’s forehead wrinkled, wavy creases all across it.  “That might be the curse of family.”

“I think it’s the curse of this magical war, with so many people who’ve failed to step up when they needed to, leading us here.  Now my daughter has sworn she’ll pick this one last fight and… I’m sick to my stomach with fear.”

He nodded.

His eyes scanned the crowd, from behind circular, red sunglasses.  “Avery Kelly’s parents.”

“Kelsey and Connor Kelly.”

“I looked you up online back when they applied to the school.  Same jobs as then?”

“When?  Summer?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve moved to Thunder Bay.  I’m running the branch.”

“And Verona’s mother.”

Sylvia nodded.  “Very new to all of this.  Still taking it in.”

“You know a friend of mine.  Xavier.”

Avery couldn’t help but hope that there’d be some moment with Sylvia where she took in enough information, then said or did something definitive.

Verona was distracted from all of this, because McCauleigh sat on the short wall that protected a garden near the front of the ruined Blue Heron.  She’d wiped snow away, and hunched over, looking cold.

She’d lost Mal and Anselm too.  She was probably exactly what Verona needed.

But on the other hand, Raymond was talking to her mom.

“Send Julette?” Avery suggested.

Verona got her cat out of her hood and dropped Julette from a foot above ground into snow.

Julette turned human, shot Verona an annoyed look, then tromped over to McCauleigh to sit next to her.

“Why did you have to swear?” Raymond asked, quiet.

Lucy looked at him.

“I came prepared to offer incentives to drop this and go.  Power, knowledge, money.  We can drop wards at the edge of the Carmine territory, ward it off for five years.  Whatever he’s doing, I wish we could agree to leave it alone.”

“You really want to do that?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, I want to, but no, I won’t.”

“Okay, well, you probably won a lot of points with my mom, saying that, anyway.”

“I was a parent, once,” he said, forehead creasing again.

“But less points with me.  You wanting to do that is doing what you did with Alexander, Bristow, and Musser, you know?” Lucy asked.  “Letting ugliness slide, letting it metaphorically rot underneath your metaphorical nose.  It’s… catastrophic neglect, when you’re talking about people who operate on power scales that casually ruin lives?  Or things like Charles here?  You can have the best intentions in the world, but if you’re so stuck to your rules or so afraid of rocking the boat that what we see and what we get is… this?  On this scale?  It’s…”

She trailed off, lifting her arms and dropping them.

“This isn’t what Durocher arriving with Musser was,” Raymond said.

“What?” Lucy asked, surprised by the turn in the conversation.

“You persevered, you found a weakness and an ugliness in Musser that… sickens, to borrow from what your mother said.  “I knew the people he preyed on, the Crowes, but I didn’t know what he’d done until Durocher told me.  But this?  I can’t intervene like she did.”

“Then, please take this in the politest possible way, can you iron out wrinkles and then go?  Get out of our way?” Lucy asked.

“Part of why I’m here is to make sure I know enough I can explain when questions are asked.  What I can do is organize the information in a way favorable to you.  To Zed, as I assume he’s going to be involved?”

“I have family in the region.  Not in contact with me right now, but… I don’t want them dead, or in the Carmine’s reach, whatever he ends up doing,” Zed replied.

“Yeah,” Raymond said.  “Okay.  I hold a position that, while hard to envy, has one upside.  I can speak in loose terms about what the international powers want, because they act on and through me, and I have had to pay too much attention.  You have wiggle room.  Only a little, but it’s something.”

“Wiggle room?” Lucy asked.

“They secured Charles’s position.  Now, I’m not about to upset that, I’m sorry.  But I don’t have to support it either.  The catch is that by taking responsibility for it, they stabilize him, and I can say you can work around the edges and removing this or handling that won’t rock the metaphorical boat.  Let’s, for the purposes of this conversation, take Charles off the table.”

“Okay?” Avery replied, unsure.

“Taking things back to what you were all talking about.  That leaves the Lords, the Allaires, the Kims, the Ex-Forsworn, and the St. Victor’s students as considerations.  You have a new system you want to put into place, but if you do, they strike back, and with the stakes being what you set them at…”

“Goes back to the deal being tentative,” Lucy said.  “People are on board, but it’s risky to do when he’s creating feral goblins and bogeymen all over.”

“Durocher and I ran into several on our way here,” Raymond said.  “Mindless, barely formed.  Bogeymen forming without even the ability to cobble together an outfit or gather weapons.”

“Another issue, that,” Verona said.  “We can’t leave that lying around.  We’d want to make him spend enough power he has to eat them to recuperate like he did the undercities.  That feels bad to say.”

Raymond walked up the front stairs of the Blue Heron, several cracked down the middle.  His intent didn’t seem to be to address them from a higher vantage point like Alexander had on their first day on the Blue Heron, but to peer in through shattered doors and see the damage, while he talked.

“I said words, I’m sure, to the effect that I would protect the students of the Blue Heron.  Basil Winters?”

“Yes?” Basil asked.

“Be careful how you respond, but understand that part of the reason I was gentle with you when you tried to steal from me and sabotage me was that you were an ex-student.”

“Understood,” Basil said, curt.

“The St. Victor’s students were, in an interpretation of words and labels, students of the Blue Heron.  Different leadership, different structure, but I’ve said words and lent them weight.  So…”

He got his phone out.  He took a second.

Avery’s phone dinged.  So did Lucy’s.

Verona was off to the side, near McCauleigh, so Avery couldn’t tell.

“That email and phone number I listed.  It’s not for you, I do know you were ex-students, but-”

“Involvement,” Lucy said.

“Yes.  But if you can have any of those students send a text to or email that number?  I’ll be able to pull them out.  Actually, Zed, if you could-?”

“Yes.  I’ll handle that.”

“Rerouting to you…”

“You can save them?” a parent asked.

“Zed can.  Or he can try.”

“We don’t know exactly how many were really willing to leave,” Lucy said.  “But this is good to have.”

“What about the children who haven’t agreed to leave?” another parent asked.  “Teddy?  Kira-Lynn?  Julie?”

“You’re asking me?” Raymond asked.  He looked annoyed.  “I’ll tell you this.  If this is a failure, then, after the initial grief fades, you’ll start asking questions and analyzing details.  You’ll think of things you could’ve said, that you wished you’d said.  You’ll remember little things and connect dots.  You’ll play through things in your head on repeat, every minute or hour, until it starts to destroy your very soul.  It will do that for the rest of your life, if you had a soul to begin with, and if you’re here, caring enough to ask, I think you do.”

“Then help us.”

“I don’t know your children.  Nothing more than what a search of their internet activity says.  I don’t know you.  I don’t know their stories.  Everything I just talked about?  You figure it out.  Figure it out now.  Connect the dots, figure out the words you’ll wish you’d said, audit yourselves as parents and people.  Know your children like you haven’t before.  Be ruthless, because I promise you, if you aren’t, you’ll end up being far more unkind to yourself when everything’s done.”

There was uncharacteristic anger in Raymond’s voice, as he finished.

There were no follow-up questions.  The parents looked a little lost and frightened.

“So that’s the kids handled?” Avery asked, quiet.

“Depends on the parents who haven’t yet gotten that scared call from children wanting to escape,” Verona said.

“Those students aren’t quite ‘handled’.  They can still come after you, they may be desperate and afraid,” Anthem said, from the side.  “But you can offer a way out.  If they take it, that’s one less enemy to fight.”

Avery nodded.

“The ex-forsworn are dangerous.  He’s handing them a lot of power,” Raymond said.  “The Kims are worse.  Many students and families have visited our doors.  The Kims concern me.  I’m afraid there’s no trick there.  They’ll put themselves in your way.  They’re dangerous, as I’m sure many here found out.”

There were some nods around the group.

“The Allaires are tasked with building something.  I won’t and can’t say what, but I can say how.  The idea was, based on their communications, that they’d use the power of a Goddess’s ability to Create, capital-C, and start from there.  Without that, they’re using glamour instead.  Faster, more fragile at the start, but just as durable if it’s left alone.”

There were boos and hisses from some goblins at the mention of glamour.

Avery frowned.  She looked at Lucy and Verona.  “Any ideas?”

“Not so much… now one.  Now two.”

“Spit it out?” Lucy asked.

“I think Chuck is awful at learning from his mistakes,” Verona said.  “So the first thing that jumps to mind is that he had a big plan in mind to make a ritual incarnate, to trap Alexander and others.  You, Raymond.  But it got perverted because he was Forsworn.  Then later on, to get the Carmine throne, he called out the Hungry Choir.”

“Pulled it out of me,” Brie said, looking down at her arms.

“Another ritual incarnate.  Maybe he does a new one, has the Allaires make it, but make it big.  That’s idea number one.”

“Or?” Avery asked.

“Or he’s got all this power, all these regrets, just like you talked about, Ray,” Verona said.  “And maybe he thinks he can Create or glamour up a fix.”

“Alternate reality?” Ray asked.

“Or a wish, similar deal.  Create life, paste in what needs pasting.  Lets him say hey, I’ll do what’s necessary, use child soldiers, abuse people, wipe out whole populations, I’ll fix it later.”

“Then of course, the fix might never come, or it gets spoiled because someone challenges him or challenges it,” Lucy said.  “Lets him be the sad-sack self-pitying victim asshole, saying he was going to fix it and we stopped him.”

“Is that even possible?” Avery asked.  “A big wish?”

Lucy looked at Verona, who nodded.

“It’s more like reality alteration.  Throw up some walls, change everything within, then have glamour or Creation or whatever your reality alteration sauce is alter things that would look in, or meet what’s coming out, and you gradually expand.”

“Wouldn’t that violate the deal with London?” Lucy asked.  She glanced back, looking for Sebastian, but it seemed he was still inside.  Staying warm, maybe.

“Most of the damage is contained within his region, he could keep the fix inside the region.”

“It’s only a theory anyway,” Verona said.  “Maybe it’s the spite ritual incarnate instead.  Catch anyone coming in, even.”

“I can’t participate in this conversation,” Raymond said.  “It pertains to Charles.  You know your enemy.  I think I might go and do that inventory.”

“There are two technomancy Lords,” Avery said.

“There are,” Raymond said, pausing.  “The White Rot and the Dropped Call.”

“Any tips?”

“Hmmm.  He’s stable, secured by international powers.  I don’t think he needs the Lords anymore, and they are a wrinkle.  Basil Winters?”

“Yes?”

“You have a nephew?”

“I do.  Young.  Eight?” Basil asked his mother.

“Eight.”

“I don’t trust you, Basil.  You’re worse, Opal.  But if you two are willing to swear to avoid any subterfuge and avoid leading the boy that way, I can take your nephew as an apprentice, come time.  Teach him enough that he can add being a fine technomancer to his skills as a scrivener.  In exchange-”

“Release the two Scrivening others?  Leave the Turtle Queen alone?” Opal asked.

“You can temporarily release more than the two.  For tying up the Technomancy Lords.  If I’m noticing them poking around my technomancy setups, they’re a problem for the region, a wrinkle to smooth out.”

“Swear?”

“On a handshake,” Raymond said.

Opal nodded, walking up the stairs, then shaking his hand.

“I’m going to do my audit,” he said.  “I’ll be around.”

“Keep you company?” Zed offered.

“Sure.  And Nicolette?  You know the most about what’s going on with this arrangement.”

“I do.”

Durocher swept past them, doing her tour of the school.  She smelled like animal musk and blood.

Avery wondered if Nora would like her.

Lucy had turned around, and looked at the scattered, assembled group.

“That makes the way clear,” Mr. Knox said.  “We can still offer odds and ends to help.  Summoned Others, our own talents…”

“Okay,” Lucy said.  “Um… I think we were getting pretty wiped out by the meeting.  We still have time.  Want to take a break, snack, pee, get thoughts in order, and then reconvene?”

People seemed relieved to say yes.  Even the likes of Mr. Knox, stiff and proud, or Anthem.

One of the most important meetings we might ever have.  Deciding the future.

Sylvia stepped forward, approaching Verona, but Verona had already turned, going to McCauleigh.

Julette became a cat and hopped into McCauleigh’s lap just as Verona plunked herself down, arm at McCauleigh’s back.

The parents were talking.  This was a period of rest for, like, Verona, or Raymond, a chance to get the little things done.  But for the parents of the St. Victor’s kids, it was crunch time.

Raymond’s words had hit home, maybe.  His tone definitely had.

Maybe they’d be cruel in retrospect.

Avery had no idea.

Sylvia looked like she was going to come to Avery to say something, but then Avery’s parents came over.

“We’ve been talking with the Garricks.  We’re going to get Rowan and Sheridan.  We want those two safe, they want to be out of the way.  We’ll have to figure out what to do with Grumble, but it’ll be good to get him clear of all this too.”

Avery took that in, and looked her parents in the eyes.  She glanced at Jasmine, who was mad, then looked back at them.  Yeah.  She got what they were trying to convey, she was pretty sure.

They were in.  They were willing to play ball here.

“I love you,” Avery said.  “I got you.  Maybe use a blindfold for Grumble?” Avery asked.  “Or cart him over while he naps?”

“I wish it was that simple,” her dad said.

Avery nodded.

“Then we’ll get on that.  We can coordinate and communicate through Nicolette and Zed?”

“Yep.”

“Good.  Stay safe,” her mom said.

“That’s the plan.”

“You heard what Raymond said, about regrets, second guessing?” her dad asked.

Avery nodded.

There was moisture in his eyes.  “Every time I think about you in that hospital bed… that’s going to be a lifelong thing.”

Avery swallowed and nodded again.

“Don’t do that to us again.  Stay safe.  You too, Snowdrop.  We introduced you to the family, you can’t break Kerry and Declan’s heart.”

Snowdrop sneezed.

“We’d better go,” Avery’s mom said.

Then she pulled Avery into a tight, tight hug.

“Want me to take you?” Cliff Garick asked.  He turned to Peter.  “That alright?”

“Very,” Peter replied.

Cliff clapped a hand on Connor’s shoulder.

McCauleigh, sitting by Verona, was crying.  Verona had maybe cried herself out, because she wasn’t.  Or she wanted to look strong because they were trying to organize this thing.  Raquel was looking over, looking startled.

Verona’s mother had stepped away, phone at her ear.

“Raquel,” Avery said.

“My mom’s dead.”

Avery blinked.

“One falls, they all fall, I guess?”

Avery shook her head.  “How?  What?  Because of this?  Charles?”

“Weeks ago, and nobody bothered to tell me.  They didn’t want to interfere with the wedding, then I left and they weren’t in touch.  She took on a job, sort of like the original founders of the Blue Heron going after the Blue Heron god, and… didn’t make it through to the end.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m- I’m not?  I don’t know how to feel.  They came, they wanted to see if there was an angle here.  But like Grayson, they feel it’s too much hassle.  So they’re focusing efforts elsewhere.  They asked if I was willing to come back, do the marriage, said it’d be good for me and the family, I said no, they told me about Mom, and left.”

“Like an afterthought?”

“She was an afterthought,” Raquel said.  She paused.  “I don’t want to be an afterthought like that.”

“You matter,” Avery said.  “Are you along for the ride here?  Healing chalice?”

“I don’t know.  Hearing about my mother dying like that…”

“Yeah, no, I get it, I think.  Hell, I got shot recently.  Maybe, um, go to my family?  Help them get sorted?  Go to Sheridan?  Talk about podcast stuff to distract her from more serious stuff?”

“Sure?  I mean, is that a priority?”

“I’d love it.”

Raquel nodded.  She looked.  “With all the red hair, your family’s easy to spot, at least.  I’ll see if I can catch up.”

“Thank you!” Avery called after her.

She saw Sylvia making a beeline for Verona, and felt like it’d be important she back Verona up.  If things turned sour, it wouldn’t necessarily be limited to a shouting match like Verona had described.  Not with a very upset McCauleigh right there.

Basil and Opal were looking into their books.  Others were talking in groups.  Lucy was mad at the Kennet Others over the ‘one more go’ rule that had cornered her, while her mom was mad at her, leaving Lucy without a lot of places to go.  She focused on the work and preparations, surrounded by Anthem and Dog Tags.

“I’m going.”

Verona looked up at her mom.

“Whatever I do, I’m going to get in the way.  It’s more hassle than it’s worth for you to have me here, I have work to do.”

“Sure,” Verona said.

“I love you, you know?”

Verona nodded.

“Okay.  We’ll talk later.  Call me as soon as things are settled?  Let me know how you’re doing?”

“Sure.  Assuming I live, I’ll head back to the House on Half street, I guess.  McCauleigh will be there.  You don’t need to worry about the whole me having sex thing, since my fuck buddy died.”

McCauleigh, arms wrapped around one of Verona’s, squeezed.

“Don’t talk like that, okay?”

Verona shrugged.

“And- if that’s what you need to do, fine.  But I want you to come to me.”

“Let’s not-”

“In Kennet?” her mom interrupted.  She sighed.  “I’ll make short-term accommodations.  Apartment or motel.  Give us a month or two.  Then we’ll figure it out from there.  I don’t know enough yet, and I don’t like how little I know.  I’ll-”

Verona pulled free of McCauleigh and gave her mom a hug.

“-try to catch up.”

Verona nodded.

Avery reached down to McCauleigh, who took her hand.  She squeezed, and got a squeeze back.

The wind, thick with snow, blew hard enough that Sylvia and Verona’s hair was painted almost white by fat flecks.

Others were arriving.  The Goblin King Braxton Hart had turned up, realized things were decided, talked briefly with Anthem, and left.  Liberty had come, and talked Avery’s ear off, while simultaneously trying to catch up.

The Kennet group had partially recuperated.  The Others were getting ready for the next go, with some injuries.  Denizens and Foundlings were present, along with the Aware.

Clementine was by her little truck, which had braved the heavy snow.  Overnight drive.  She’d brought others.

They kept stacking up.

Lucy found her way to Avery’s side.  She’d been focused on things nonstop, barely taking a break.  Verona had napped for thirty minutes, by contrast.  Like some small weight had been lifted and she could rest.  Now she was up, hair messier than usual, eyes wide, taking things in.

“We have a shot at him, don’t we?” Lucy asked.  “One place we know he’ll be, that doesn’t require us to travel a day?”

“The chambers.”

“But what do we even do when we’re there?” Lucy asked.  “Big fuck you magic?”

“Sure,” Verona said.  “Why not?  I’m a nascent sorceress and I figure being an actual sorceress is like being ‘cool’.  You can’t call yourself one or you’re being kind of a douche canoe, but if you make it so they can’t help but call you cool, or call you a sorceress…?”

“Aren’t you supposed to get more coherent when you get a bit of sleep?” Lucy asked.

“I gotta stick with my brand, build up that reputation, until the ‘sorceress’ label sticks.  But also, I think I got it.”

“Got what?” Avery asked.

“A plan.”

“Is it a plan you can share?”

“Basically.  Rook’s.”

“Rook had a plan?”

“Ahem,” Hollow Yen said, above them.

He was sitting on top of a ruined bit of wall.  The Composite Kid; Reagan, Collins, and many others, bundled together, reworked into a… nascent Oni, like Verona was a nascent Sorceress.

“Yo,” Verona said.

“Rook didn’t leave you with the idea there’s some plan you’re meant to catch, or something you’re meant to get,” Hollow Yen said.  “And she didn’t leave you with me as some trump card.”

“Well said,” Verona said.

Hollow Yen sighed.

Verona turned to look in the direction Charles had apparently set up.  “I’ll tell you guys when we’re through the door.”

Avery, hands in pockets, looked back at the assembled group.  People, numerous, many ignored, many de-prioritized for too long.  Cast-offs.

“Just gotta get there, past everything they’re setting up,” Lucy said.

“While you were learning to fight, I was sorting that part out,” Avery said.

She borrowed Verona and McCauleigh’s help, pulling the double doors up to the doorframe, then took off her bracelet before they could fall.

The doors slammed into existence in the broken frame.

She recognized the mark.  The castle and the hand.  Hold Down the Fort.

When she looked back, everyone was looking at her.  Conversation had stopped.  Practitioners with summoned Others.  Aware, friends, past enemies.  Liberty beamed a smile, surrounded by goblins.  Others looked far too tired and wounded from the fighting- too much spent.

No words really fit.

Avery jerked her thumb toward the door.

The group moved, filing through the double doors.  Alexanderp was reacting, smiling.  The enemy augurs knew and were moving to counter.

This was it.

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