Chapter 511 - The Messy Aftermath (Patreon)

I was a tree. A serene, unmoving being, swaying gently in the wind. I was not - hang on. A tree was a terrible thing to be near four phoenixes.

This was possibly the most important meeting of Auri’s life. Possibly? Maybe?

It was super important to her. There were stars shining in her eyes, even without a Celestial element, as she gazed adoringly upon the three phoenixes, talking as fast as she could. She was practically hopping from foot to foot!

When they offered for Auri to visit the homeland, I knew the trip was set in stone.

In fire? That made no sense… eh, whatever. She’d be going, and I was super excited for her! It would be like if Papilion had reincarnated me as a golden crow, and I finally got to hear about humans somewhere. I’d have to go check it out.

The broad strokes settled, Auri asked me a difficult question.

“Brrrpt?”

I shook my head. No way.

“I think it might be better if Atlas and the rest of Sanguino managed the phoenixes.” I delicately suggested. “They seem happier here than they would in our place.”

Three demanding phoenixes? I could see it now. I’d probably snap by the end of the week. Fire, chaos, destruction, Ranger squads, Sentinel teams, the whole works.

However, it wasn’t just about me. Auri had equal say in things, and I did want to try to be somewhat flexible and accommodating.

“Why don’t they come to visit, and you can show them around?” I suggested. “Show them your nest, bake them some food. Plus, you can come down here as often as you’d like and have them pamper you.”

“Brrrpt?”

“Both the phoenixes and the team to keep them happy.” I clarified.

Yikes. I’d been hoping that some time back in Sanguino, working in her bakery, would help deflate Auri’s ego a hair. It had gotten a little swollen from all the attention in the Sixth, and now even more people were going to be paying attention to her and hanging onto her every word and whim? I had hopes that she’d stay reasonable, but who knew?

Auri communicated it all back to the phoenixes - now that she was here to translate, I wasn’t quite sure where I stood with them. I could see my status being anywhere from ‘holy savior who extracted a phoenix from the clutches of a dragon’, all the way to ‘evil human who bonded with a phoenix and is keeping her captive.’ There could also be elements of ‘ewww humans we’re so much better than they are’ elf-style arrogance. Given how they had the entire capital dancing in the… talons of their feet.

The tupandactylus’s reaction when I’d mentioned I was Auri’s bonded suggested more of the second than the first, but that was before I’d told my story.

I tried to let my mind wander to better help my body keep still. I was basically window dressing here. If only the phoenixes would do some flying, I could covertly study them and see about improving [Scintillating Ascent]. I’d probably be seeing more of them at some point, and I’d try to study them then.

Actually - what was I doing here, besides potentially annoying the phoenixes by showing my face?

“Hey Auri, mind if I leave? The four of you can stay here as long as you’d like, and you know the way back. I don’t want to intrude.”

The three dismissive looks I instantly got helped settle where I was in the pecking order, and with barely a word, I was out of there.

=====================

I naturally picked up Iona, and given the late hour, we headed home. There was no need to push the System and our stats to the extreme to get home as quickly as possible. We just walked along, a newly engaged couple on an ash-lit stroll.

Despite the hour, the streets were only slightly less packed than daytime. The strong vampire culture and the ashen skies making the distinction between day and night less important meant almost as much business occurred at night as during the day. Carts and horses were tied off to poles while [Farmers] unloaded their goods, causing elegantly dressed vampires to dodge around them with a laugh.

Arachne wove a few questions out of threads as we left the city, mostly asking me what the status of the phoenixes was, what they were planning, thoughts, impressions, etc. Basically trying to get as much information as possible, since her threads had been burnt out of the phoenix’s park.

“You mentioned something you wanted to talk about…” Iona suggested leadingly.

“Ugh.” I moaned. “It’s important, but not that important… ah fuck it, let me explain before anything else happens.”

I quickly went over [Angel of Mercy], the chance to divinely ascend, and the portfolio of offers I’d glanced over. Iona’s eyes were shining at the end, and she seized my hands.

“Elaine! This is amazing! It’s fantastic! It’s the best engagement present you could’ve ever given me!” She was almost babbling she was talking so quickly. “You can join me one day! Ooooh, but… hmmmm.” She went quiet as all the implications around how I’d join her, and all the prerequisites were made clear. She’d need to be dead, and I’d need to hit a class up.

“Will you join me for eternity?” Iona asked quietly. I squeezed her hand.

I answered her question with a question.

“Didn’t we just get engaged earlier today?” I said. “Yes, I’ll follow you.”

Iona squeezed my hand back.

“Goddesses, that was today?” She asked rhetorically. I nodded, and my jumping-around addled brain made a few insane leaps of logic to end up at a decent idea.

“Do you have any objection to me turning the collar you made into a bookmark? I do need one.” I said. “Or a bracelet?”

Iona furiously shook her head.

“No, no, go ahead, I’m mortified over the whole thing.” She said. I side-headbutted her affectionately.

“It was made with love, and that’s what counts.” I said.

=================

We had a lazy lie-in. Given that we made it home a little before the sun was peeking over the horizon, we’d more than earned it. Auri wasn’t back yet.

“So many things to do.” I complained to Iona after we’d spent a few hours getting up and ready. A really lazy morning. “Need to check in with Arachne. Need to bring Artemis and Julius up to date. I think today’s one of the War Sentinel dinners, but I’m not sure exactly when they are anymore. I probably need to visit Harper for another set of gear, and get a few practice sets we can wreck. Night wants to talk… blah. How did I end up with all the social arrangements, and you’ve got nothing?” I demanded of my outgoing, social paramour.

Iona hugged me.

“Why don’t I handle Artemis, Arachne, and Harper for you?” She suggested. “We’re a team, and I think I’ve got all the information needed. That frees you up for your fun activities.”

I looked up at her.

“You’d do that for me? Really?” I asked.

Artemis barged into the dining room with a meat skewer in one hand and a mug of beer in the other.

“I heard my name!” She announced, plopping down at the table. Two sets of glares from Iona and I had her feet staying firmly on the floor.

The Lightning mage could be tamed!

“Yup. Bunch of stuff happened with Auri last night. Wanted to bring you up to speed. We might be having some phoenixes drop by as guests now and then.” I said.

Artemis froze.

“High level phoenixes? Here?” She started scarfing as fast as she could, not even waiting for the answer.

“One’s pushing 4000.” Iona confirmed.

“Fuuuuuuuck me.” Artemis said. “Elaine dear, I love you, but I hope you understand when I say I don’t want to be anywhere near wild monsters that strong.”

Julius walked in with his lunch.

“Strong wild monsters?” He asked.

Iona brought the two of them up to speed. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

“I spent my entire life hunting monsters.” He said. “I think it’s a bad idea for us to interact.”

I couldn’t blame him too much. Julius had been a Ranger lifer, a true believer in the mission and cause. He’d been an old man in a career most died young, and since the fae, he’d taken up a job as a monster hunter. Not wanting to be near phoenixes so strong there was nothing he could do about it wasn’t the craziest thought.

“I don’t want you to feel like we’re bailing out on you though.” He said. “Do you need us around?”

Iona and I shook our heads in unison.

“We’ve been looking to visit the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft for a while.” Julius mentioned. “This might be a good time for us to visit. When’s the wedding?”

“Julius!” Artemis had her best scandalized voice going. “They just got engaged, they haven’t had time to set a date yet!”

“I’ll place 1,024 arcs on it being during a full moon.” Julius offered.

We laughed at the bet, and nobody took him up on it. It was too likely.

“No chance you can just… stay in a nearby tavern?” I suggested. “I’m more than happy to pay for it, just to keep the two of you nearby.”

“It’s a touching gesture.” Artemis said. “But we’ve been here too long. I’ve been itchy for the last year, and it would’ve been terribly unfair to abandon the place before you came back. I’ve wanted to see the School for a while, and frankly, this has been planned for months. I didn’t want to spring this on you when you first came back, but our stay was only ever going to be a few more weeks, tops. This has simply accelerated our timetable.”

Julius nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry to be dropping the announcement and the action at the same time.” He said. “We’d discussed waiting until you’d perked up a bit before telling you, then giving you a week or so to say goodbye - unless you were sick of us and kicked us out early. The phoenixes are simply a really good reason to be heading out a little earlier.”

Booo. Hiss!

“I’ll never forgive you if you don’t make it to the wedding.” I muttered into my lunch.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Artemis said.

“Yeah, we’ll bring a lake with us if some phoenixes try to stop us attending.” Julius joked.

Artemis hugged me at the end of lunch.

“Healybug, I’m so proud of you.” She said. “Know that you can always swing by, and I’m always thinking of you.”

I hugged her back.

“You mean more to me than I can ever say.” I said. “You saved me a dozen times over.”

Artemis ruffled my hair.

“Nah, you did that all yourself.” She said. “I just happened to be around.”

“We’re not planning on spending forever at the School, but there’s a slim chance that’s where we’re going to settle down. Otherwise, we’ll give it a few months, maybe pop by during the wedding, and if the phoenixes leave then, we’ll be back to visit. Life’s only so long, there’s nothing like spending it with friends. That said, we’ll send you a letter if we settle down!” Julius said. “Don’t be a stranger, come by to visit!”

“Yeah! Whenever the island’s nearby, we’ll hop over!” I enthusiastically agreed. “Here, before you leave, let me write you a nice letter of introduction. It should help smooth things over. See if you can get it to a Flora, or really, anyone high up in the administration.”

But, just like that, Julius and Artemis made themselves scarce. It was unfortunate, but understood.

Iona stretched as she got up, and I spent a quick moment admiring the view. Again.

“Time to get things done?” She suggested.

“Yeah, let’s get going.” I said.

=====================

As I stepped into the Celestial Supper, I was made aware again of Immortality, and all it entailed.

Normally, being gone almost four years from a place would have it looking different. Nothing huge, nothing major, but perhaps some of the interior would be shuffled around. New decorations would be in place. The tables would be rearranged. A dozen little or big things would have changed, letting me know without a doubt that time had passed, and life had gone on without me.

Not the Celestial Supper.

They catered to Immortals and those who wanted to join their rarified ranks, and had kept the place looking exactly the same. Some places chose to constantly change things up, constantly wanting to be the ‘new delight’ to indulge in ever-changing tastes and the desire to have things be fresh and interesting.

Even the scratches and stains on the tables were the same! The occasional dent and nick in the candle holders were still there, but fortunately it avoided being uncannily off by at least having those slightly rotated and different from the last time I’d been here. Signs of life, of the place being well-used - apart from the patrons, of course, and bustling waitstaff - and not a creepy stasis field.

I entered and approached the hostess, who I didn’t recognize from before. Another new aspect.

The trappings might last, but the people, the mortals? They didn’t.

“Excuse me. I’ve lost track of time a bit. Is the War Sentinel meeting happening today?” I asked.

I got a bit of a skeptical look, which I wasn’t too surprised by. I lacked the canines and pale disposition needed to be a vampire, although my level was pulling a lot of weight. Her eyes widened a hair after a moment of thinking.

“Sentinel Dawn! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Yes, Tyrannus and the rest are in the back. Would you kindly follow me?”

She led, I followed, and wow [The World Around Me’s] expanded range in a restaurant that catered to the rich and powerful revealed a lot of interesting secrets from the other diners. It made me happy that Arachne was content to simply listen, observe, and not interfere with most dealings, savory or unsavory.

“Here you are.” The [Hostess] bowed slightly and gestured to the door. I strode through without a care in the world, most of the other War Sentinels on the other side. A quick glance showed Calamity and Depths were missing.

“Dawn’s back!” Tyrannus bombastically greeted me as I walked through the door, hoisting a bloody horn in my toast.

“Little Dawn made it back!” Queen gestured, all the cards snapping back to her hands.

“Oi! I was winning that hand!” Legion protested.

“You had a mismatched trio with no overlapping suites.” Queen primly replied.

“What does it matter? Dawn’s here, that’s far more interesting than any card game.” Calm didn’t bother grabbing his share of the pot back, simply spearing an extra-bloody steak with a knife and eating it directly. “Three and a half years? Her first deployment? She’s the only one who’s going to be talking in a minute.”

“All due respect Dawn, I’m more curious how your Legata performed.” Flood said.

“No offense taken. She had a brilliant maneuver around a Guardian I think you’d love to hear about…” I trailed off, knowing I was teasing them with the mention of a Guardian.

It had all happened recently, and Iona and I were some of the fastest people who’d been there, it wouldn’t surprise me if the news hadn’t hit Sanguino yet. Predictably, the room stilled.

“You had a Guardian called down on you all?” Flood asked with naked disbelief. “And you’re still alive to talk about it?”

“One of Queen’s cards helped.” The woman in question looked incredibly smug at the mention of her gift being used. “Let me start at the beginning. It didn’t start particularly well, as a member of my team - my fiancee now!! - had an emergency literally as we were deploying…”

Snacks were handed to me as I explained what I’d done, and my glass of wine never dipped below half. The Sentinels rarely interrupted, except to ask for a minor point of clarification here and there, little details that I’d forgotten or they found particularly interesting.

Queen was clapping at the end.

“Excellent use of my cards!” She praised. “Beautifully done! It’s a shame you can’t practice more often with them, because there’s some neat tricks around them, but that’s exactly the type of situation they’re for! Let me see if I can rustle up a few more for you.”

“The assassination was good. I wonder if I can replicate it somehow.” Legion wondered. “An illusion of healing people… don’t need it to last particularly long, as long as I can draw the target out…”

“I wasn’t trying to assassinate anyone!” I protested. “Plus, how haven’t you thought of that before?” I asked.

“Dawn’s right Legion.” Tyrannus said. “Don’t try to fluff her ego by pretending it’s something you haven’t thought of before. It’s not part of her specialty, and it does nobody here any good.”

“I’m more concerned with the start of the mission.” Flood was frowning at me. “Simply up and leaving like that? It’s a poor move.”

“Let’s discuss that.” Tyrannus said. “The Legion versus the team. When push comes to shove, and the two have competing interests, which one should take priority and why?”

Legion and Calm quickly broke for ‘Team above the Legion’, while Tyrannus and Flood went hard on ‘It’s about the Legion’. Queen took a delicate and nuanced take to it, where the multitude of competing interests had to be balanced.

The Guardian got a lot of discussion, and Flood was thoroughly impressed by Katerina’s quick thinking and decisive action.

Eventually, we wrapped up, and Tyrannus dropped one last surprise on me.

“Dawn, to celebrate most War Sentinel’s first missions, we host the Feast of Shadows. All the Sentinels are invited, it’s basically a big party. Are you interested in us doing this for you?”

I hesitated a bit. A big party wasn’t my thing, but Iona would like it, and I didn’t spend a lot of time around the other Sentinels. It could be good to get to know them more. Arachne’s method of sending messages when we were needed was extremely efficient in some ways, but it kept us out of touch in others. Only little groups like the War Sentinel’s meetings had me meeting other Sentinels with any regularity.

“Yes please!”