It was dark in the Redwood forest. Outside of the main trail, light came from the odd lamp post dotting the secondary paths. Benches and picnic areas waited for the next day’s visitors. A few cleaning bots picked empty cans, replaced trash bags, or otherwise ate the odd leaves fallen on varnished wood. Bio-engineered cicadas filled the night with a pleasant, muted chorus that accompanied Nestra with every nervous step. The odd traveler ignored her as she walked past. Most were corpo pawns or gleams on their way to somewhere important. Nestra had to give it to them, BaiHua Biotech Solutions had the most pleasant arcologies of them all, both in terms of appearance and comfort. A massive greenhouse occupied the entire ground level and most of it was opened to visitors so that the masses may wonder at its many creations. It was said BaiHua’s compound was entirely self-sufficient. It could survive another apocalypse almost indefinitely. It was also, unfortunately for Nestra, extremely secure. It meant she could reach it with her real identity without much concern, but she wouldn’t have access to her gear tonight. Just her demon self and the skin. The benefactor’s precise coordinates were enough to guide Nestra deeper into the forest, by which time she could feel the soothing pulse of power all portals seemed to share. She wondered how the many cleaning drones had not picked it up yet, until she reached a large specimen nestled between two artificial boulders and looked up. The portal was in the air, hidden between two branches. Portals were never fully inaccessible, which meant that she’d have to climb to reach it but it would be fine. The presence of the portal confirmed a few things and Nestra didn’t know what to think about it. First, BaiHua didn’t have the technology to detect a portal on its immediate territory. She wasn’t surprised that outer district would rely on cheap cameras to manage the space, but the inside of an arcology was another matter entirely. Maybe detecting the strange radiation she enjoyed so much was more complicated than she thought. Second, the benefactor didn’t give a shit about corpos. They were confident enough to send her here with only a small warning about not bringing weapons. They were sure she would get away with it. That was…. terrifying. Corpos paired up with the most powerful guilds. Hell, most of the key actors were high gleams themselves. And the benefactor just didn’t care. That or they were a complete moron but somehow, she doubted that. They were only a mild moron, and a well-meaning one as well. Welp, nothing to it. Nestra moved out of the path then waited until she was absolutely sure there were no patrol drones around, then she pulled off her mask. Climbing the redwood proved easy. With enhanced strength, she could hold her entire body weight with two fingers and the modified redwoods bore enough crevices on their bark for a comfortable climb. She felt the delicious power grow as she approached, and soon, a pale blue light shone on the nearby leaves. As she stopped, the two gleams somehow sensed her, the woman turning with fury and the man like he was drowning in a storm and she was a fat buoy with self-heating functions. “Officer Palladian!” he yelled. “You, err, you’re finally here!” Nestra felt caught in a storm as the woman’s furious mana invaded her personal space. A normal baseline would instinctively flinch though they wouldn’t exactly know why. The rude gesture annoyed her enough that she ignored it completely. Besides, the man had invoked the ancient rites of protection: always back up someone who claims you were going to meet in case they are being stalked. “Valerian of… House Nephrite,” she greeted. “Am I interrupting something?” “No no, I was just about to leave!” “Val, you— AAAH! Hopeless! And you, do you really know him?” the woman demanded. Interestingly, she wasn’t sneering. It wasn’t a disparaging remark. It was the question of someone fully expecting Valerian to be full of shit, which, arguably, he was. “Of course, we met during the purge in Fifteen.” “When he got his ass handed to him by a ganger instead of saving lives?” the woman spat. This was getting into dangerous territories. Nestra was too busy to get caught in a gleam argument. Baselines never came up on top. “Haha, miss Palladian volunteers in Fifteen to rebuild the peace, like I do!” “Is that so?” the woman asked. “I work with law enforcement.” Valerian’s relative was about to ask more but she shook her head instead. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not over, Val. You know what you have to do for your own sake. Please. And you…” she said, returning her glare towards Nestra. “Don’t encourage him. You’d be making a mistake.” With that last threat, she stomped away in a huff. Nestra waited until she was halfway to the lobby before turning to a sheepish Valerian. For a gleam, decorum was clearly not his forte. She admitted to being a little curious. She also knew it was a shit idea to express it, so she made to leave. “Wait! Ah, sorry, were you leaving?” “Let me walk you to your car as an apology. You brought it this time, right?” Nestra believed the best apology would be to leave her the fuck alone. That said, no one stopped gleams for random inspections so… And Valerian was kind of a good guy. “You’re most welcome.” The pair made their way to the security door and the many scanner preventing poor demon girls from smuggling out rightfully hunted frog legs of unusual proportions. “So, yeah, sorry about that. It’s… an old argument. My family doesn’t really approve of my choices, you see?” I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care. “Joining the police?” Nestra asked to be polite and because Valerian looked like a kicked puppy. “No, uh, fighting. For the people, not a guild. Trying at least. Life mana isn’t really good for offense.” It was completely useless, yeah. “My family… are mostly healers, you see. And biomancers I guess. They would rather have me join them than waste my time on battle.” “Your family works for BaiHua?” “The Nephrite are among the founding families, yeah. Grandpa is on the board.” “Guess that makes me a child of nepotism trying to escape a life of privilege, ey? A bit stereotypical.” “Then that makes two of us, only I absconded with a house.” “Do you come here often, by the way? First time seeing you here. I like visiting at night. I’m also saying this because my cousin might give you issues if she sees you alone, just saying. Maybe. She’s good people, I swear.” So nervous. By then, Nestra had walked to the elevator and waited for the lift down towards the massive outer parking garage of the arcology. She had her cover story ready. “No I, errr, today at work was… difficult.” “You heard?” Nestra asked, suddenly interested. “Of course! Well done, dispatching them without reinforcements. Wish you didn’t have to do it though.” “Some of my comrades in arms are not exactly the cream of the crop.” “Understatement of the century. And yes, I always wanted to see the redwoods since they were grown. I guess tonight felt like a really good time.” “My uncle made them! They’re great, visually. We’re studying their fire resistance.” They boarded the elevator, alone except for a short baseline woman in a suit who did her best to look inconspicuous. Valerian didn’t even notice her. “So yes, anyway, I’m also working around Fifteen. We’ve had to break fights and capture a few augmented gangers causing trouble but otherwise it’s been calm. Yours was the largest group. Be careful, there is no guarantee this was the last of them.” “I’d be surprised as well. Say, do you know if any of the gang gleams escaped?” “No, they were the priority and there weren’t many of them anyway. I think Hong Wang got them all. He was… thorough.” Nestra thought back to the Red King and his flames. Yeah that gleam wasn’t exactly subtle. “However,” Valerian said, leaning conspirationaly towards Nestra in full view of another baseline. “Rumor says many lieutenants made it out. They’re probably far away by now but you never know.” They left the lift and a traumatized secretary behind. Nestra paid the parking fee with her visor while they walked. Valerian was just so excited to talk to her. It felt weird. She wasn’t sure she wanted to add him to the list of people she ought to care about. He was a disaster in waiting. “I’ll keep an eye out,” she said. “You do that. Strong augs will be a danger to you seeing as you’re, you didn’t…” He gestured awkwardly. “Riel I’m making a mess of things. You don’t have raider combat capabilities. There, I said it.” “To be fair, neither do I.” “You’re just life, right?” “Strong life. No other affinity though this one would be all I needed. It’s just…” “It sounds selfish but… I want to fight. I know I’d be more useful as a pure healer and all, just…” “Can life mana really not be turned around? Leeching spell maybe?” Valerian shook his head. “I can buff my allies really well, or I would if they let me. They mostly want me to save mana to heal them if things go south. If only they’d let me prove myself! And, errr, maybe if I did find an aggressive use, it wouldn’t change things. I would just be ‘perverting’ my gift. Not to mention I’d need three times the effort and twice the mana of a fire spell for half of the result. I fear there is no winning here.” “Yet you still do it.” “Yeah. I… look, I want to contribute on the frontline, not in a tent at the back. I don’t want everyone to tell me how to live!” “But… I guess they’re right. I’m being selfish. I could save many more lives doing what I was born to do rather than what I want to do.” Nestra and him shared a tense silence. She’d reached her car by now, and waited by the front. For some reason, it felt wrong to cut the man off. She thought she knew why. “Am I being an ass?” he eventually said. “Why do you ask me even though we barely know each other?” “Because,” he replied with conviction, “you know what it’s like to grow up with expectations and not meet them.” “I didn’t have a choice.” “Yet I see what you mean. You don’t really need my answer. You know what I’m doing. I could have a cozy office job using my network or even work for my parents’ guild and yet here I am shooting augs in a concrete jungle. As for doing what you were born to do, nobody decided that.” “I would help more people if I picked the path of the healer.” “Fuck them,” Nestra suddenly said with feeling. “You may be expected to contribute but those folks sure as fuck don’t get to tell you how. What do you owe them? Or are you expected to spend every waking hours shoving life mana into paper cuts? Nobody’s explored life mana beyond the basics so far. We merely use it as a supplement to technology. Maybe you were born to change that. Who the fuck knows? Not me, and not your cousin. Nobody has the right to tell me to set myself on fire to warm others. Nobody is owed my sacrifice. Same for you.” “Huh,” Valerian said. “You were on fire just now, but anyway I think I see your point. And I agree. I’m holding you back. Thanks. For the candid reply. I… think I needed to hear it from someone else. Maybe I’ll become a healer eventually but… you are right. I want to explore what life mana can contribute on the battlefield. Maybe I’ll fail. Maybe not. I just… don’t want to live with regrets.” “Ok, then be careful out there and come back for a walk sometimes? I’m actually there almost every evening. Did I say that already? Oh! And, uh, not that it’s my business but… you smell of blood. A little. Do you need any help? I can heal you for free, haha.” Nestra did her best not to freeze like a deer in the headlights. Human Nestra was intact. “I’m fine. Unharmed, actually. Maybe it’s something from the battle?” “If you are sure,” Valerian replied, dripping polite disbelief.