“No one is going with you,” Mazingwe growled. Seth seemed completely unbothered. He merely tilted his head before replying with a nod. “That would be my first choice as well.” The high gleam still stood between them. Wait, Mazingwe was defending her? “You see, humans need their packs and little Nezhra is still very young and she would be very sad if those bonds were broken. And her being sad would make me very, very angry. Were you not about to break those connections?” “This is the best option. The best one I could think of.” Mazingwe’s aura flared ever so slightly. Seth was still aloof. “Shinran would have protected her. And before I reconsider anything, what happened to the people outside?” “You ate my Kero nuts. Does Stib know you’re a demon?” “No. But we are not having children yet! We are only at the love-making phase of courtship!” Seth said, very proud of himself. He gave her exaggerated thumbs up. Nestra facepalmed. “Seth. Seth Seth Seth. You’re also an asshole. It’s deception from people I’m supposed to be kin with I hate. Do you realize you’re doing to her what…” She was about to say: what their father had done to her mom but that would be a lie. Her demon… actually not a father. A genetic material provider and a sexual abuser on the same level as Zeus. “I… but I don’t know how to tell her.” “Either you come clean with her or you break up.” Nestra crossed her arms. She wouldn’t bulge. “... Can you help me… break the news with her then? I like Siobhan Stibbons very much. I wouldn’t mind, you know…” He shuffled on his large legs. It would be comical if he were not at least evenly matched with Shinran. “Make a family. Some of us stay with their partners for a lifetime. It’s considered… very challenging to do. And… a little kinky.” “You are such a bunch of weirdos.” “You are one of us, Nezhra.” “Fine. I’ll help, promise. Ok. Well. I have more questions. First, I assume I was supposed to fit in as… an immature demon. Right? Like a cuckoo?” “Yes! Well, yes, but we don’t kill other children!” “Yeah only stop more from being born… Anyway. Why don’t I have a core? Isn’t that expected? I even have a core as a demon.” “Ah! Yes. Well. I did talk to the coven’s envoy about it. You’re not going to be happy.” “I’m not fucking happy.” “Oh yes. It was very difficult for you. Ah, you see, the ambient mana on earth wasn’t enough to sustain your life.” “It has increased since then but… still not enough.” “I was doomed to starve? And your genitor didn’t see it fit to, I don’t know, ANTICIPATE THAT?” Seth looked down, dejected again. “A very callous man,” he finished. “I’ll fucking kill him.” “Not happening for two millennia, at least.” “I’ll be patient and very vindictive. Ok. So. Why no core?” “You had the decoy one. Your body cannibalized it to survive.” Nestra slammed the table. Seth winced and grew more stooped. He shook his head from side to side in a weird, distressing move. “I am sorry, Nezhra.” “DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA?” Once again, Seth deflated. Guilt filled Nestra mid scream. She was wailing on the messenger here. He had nothing to do with it. “Ok. I will stop screaming at you since you apparently were only just sent here by a coven, whatever it is—” “A group of women of the People.” “Yeah. That. But seriously, Seth! Wait, is that even your real name?” “Sereth is my real first name! Seth is a cute nickname! Do you like it?” he asked, excited again. He was kind of tiring to deal with. “Yes. Seth. Very nice, now I appreciate you… trying your best… to keep me happy.” “There are rules I have to follow, sorry. Or I would do more. I cannot hamper your growth by pampering you.” “Ok, sure. But you’d better believe that from what I’ve seen so far, I intensely regret being born as one of you.” Seth sat on the ground with a piteous groan. “This isn’t going like I thought it would be going.” “You got balls eating my Kero nuts…” “I’m sorry! I was too stressed!” “...And eating half of my shrimp...” “I have to tax you if you use me as a beast of burden. Those are the rules!” “Yes yes sorry. I shall provide more good food as an apology.” Seth stared at her, mouth wide open. “Well, yes, maybe, if you want, I’ll get my own anyway stop interrupting me. What I want from you is…. sparring.” “Sparring. You teach me how to fight like a member of the People.” She crossed her arms while he seriously considered her options, then she dug into the ramen because being so angry took a lot of energy. She was half done with the skewers by the time he came to a conclusion. “It would not break any rule I can think of since it wouldn’t be considered pampering. However, I have to tell you that normally, we learn how to fight from our host species. Mostly via hunts.” “Are you familiar with the term ‘murder investigation’?” “No! Well, yes, but you miss the point. There are plenty of legal ways for you to attack host kin.” “There would be if I were a fucking gleam, yeah?” But in fact, she had a way. Maybe. In fact, Gorge had mentioned it. She could always become a masked gleam. All she had to do was use that and a full body suit while out in public. No one would suspect unless she talked too much. “That is acceptable since I can teach you how to form a physical core anyway. I will prepare for sparring since otherwise I might hit you a little too hard.” “That would be painful.” “Briefly, yes. Very well. Oh! This is human bonding but between us! Ooooh I love this culture so much.” “Ah yeah, so, you grew up in another civilization? On another world? How does that work?” Seth shrugged, the movement exaggerated. He moved his head a little bit afterward. “Just like that? I was raised with the other small ones?” “So what was that civilization like? What are they called?” “I will not tell you until you break through! Twice. Else you might let out information you shouldn’t know.” “Do the, ah, head movements mean anything?” “Ah! I’m doing it again. It just means I am excited. Sorry, the mannerism is meant to be hidden in adults of… my host kin but I have spent too much time away from them, and without a suitable mask on, I find it difficult to remember how to behave.” “Great. I am excited as well. I… actually think I’d like to spend more time with you.” “Yes yes yes! Okay! We’ll begin in a few days though. You need to rest. I have pushed you far enough.” “Oh, is this what you said you were preparing me for? The Kaiju?” “Yes. I saw the humans tampering with telluric veins with such recklessness, I knew it was only a matter of time before something attacked, and Shinran has been delving a lot since we faced each other so he wouldn’t help. Hahaha, he must be trying to kill me! I am glad I didn’t have to intervene to save you. Well done!” “Just to offset the effects of technology in terms of information sharing. It is only fair. Hmmm, I wonder if I should steal some fiber optics and a satellite.” “Just don’t do it while I’m watching my vids thank you.” After that, the conversation continued while Nestra took her time polishing off every dish on the table. Seth wouldn’t budge on sharing more about the People, portals, or other species, claiming she had to progress to the third sphere first. He didn’t seem to be in a rush, though with the speed at which Nestra was progressing, it might only be a matter of months, not years. Seth was strange when he wasn’t wearing a mask. He seemed just so happy and excited to have her around, so much that after she was done, he briefly showed her his collection of cooking tools. She was barely awake by then so he helped her through yet another portal world before dropping her home directly into her garage. She managed to drag herself upstairs before checking her message which were on her visor, miraculously intact since she’d worn it on her human mask. There were quite a few messages from Officer Kim. Too tired but… she replied, saying she’d just woken up and was wounded. Officer Kim surprisingly replied though it was around 4AM by then. “We will talk more after you have rested. There is no urgency.” Nestra felt sorry for the woman but she was far too tired to do anything. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Nestra woke up at twelve, following which she raided her own freezer and fridge like Attilla descending upon Rome. Her visor was choke full of messages and notifications, which she classified in order of how much hassle and emotional pain it would be to deal with. The first easiest call was to an unknown number since it was the only one that could possibly be urgent. Someone picked up after a single ring. “Office of Doctor Mazingwe, hello.” “Miss Palladian, hello. The doctor was just finished.” “I, errr, I can call la —” “Miss Palladian,” the doctor’s smooth voice said. It carried a certain tone she didn’t like very much. “It occurs to me we had an appointment earlier this morning?” “I was asleep. Exhausted. I literally just woke up.” “Yes, it appears you have specific needs for sleep, more so than my usual patients. I will need you at my office at 4PM. You agree, of course?” “Miss Palladian, you need a medical certificate to justify your absence anyway. One that would require you to explain why someone who faced a horde of monsters did so without sustaining a single wound.” “I’m sure I could come up with something.” “Shame, and that was my last doughnut.” “You know what? You’ve been very patient to me, Doctor Mazingwe.” “4PM sharp unless I’m summoned somewhere.” “If you are and the person is neither Shinran nor the mayor, do let me know as I would have choice words for them.” Nestra mulled over the situation. “Still can’t believe you’re Dawn Spear. Damn. You could be a leading figure in the Nairobi enclave if you wanted.” “And that is why, Miss Palladian, I am here instead. I would really appreciate it if you kept that information private since there is a rather sizable price on my head.” The next call was in house, so to speak. It came from District Fourteen’s precinct. “Yes? This is Nestra Palladian.” “Oh, thankfully you are alright. This is officer Gao from the Highway police. We found your car.” She might have met this guy in the past, at a function or something, but she couldn’t place him. Threshold had a lot of cops and she tended to stay around the anglos. “What’s left of it. You found the drone as well, right?” “Absolutely. The attorney has been very interested in the origin of the drone, especially considering your current posting. We were mostly concerned about finding you, until we had confirmation that you had been seen in Fifteen. You rushed there immediately after the incident?” “Yeah I needed to find my partner.” “I did but he didn’t make it.” There was silence for a few moments. “Damn, sorry to hear that. We knew it got bad but we didn’t know how bad. I’ll still need you to come here to make a statement, at least for insurance’s purposes. It’s not urgent though, so if you’re hurt.” “A little. Mostly tired though. I’ll definitely come early next week, if that’s ok?” “Sure, sure. Oh, we got your gear as well to come and pick up. Nice sword, by the way. Anyway it’s all in house so don’t worry, just, I have to ask, do you need protection?” Nestra considered Seth. “I’m good, I think. Unless they start bombing runs on my house. I’d still love to know what the fuck happened because I doubt it was an accident.” “Yeah, us too. You take care now and call me when you’re ready.” Ok, that was another easy call. At least she’d get her blade back. Would have been useful to have back when facing the horde but whatever. At least she’d gotten some good practice in. The next calls were easy. Stibs was worried so she talked to her and promised to catch up soon. Aunt Claire called as well, furious to have missed Nestra and assuming she’d been home safe. The Palladians had participated in the horde cleanup until the wee hours of the morning so Nestra took solace in the knowledge their evening had been ruined as well. Gorge had unexpectedly asked how she was holding on but the asshole just exchanged a few text messages with her stating he was glad his cash cow hadn’t bought it yet. The last call for the day was by far the most difficult. Officer Kim picked up after three rings, more than expected. Her voice was raw. “First thing first, are you safe, Miss Palladian?” “Yes. I’m home. You, uh…” “I am safe as well. I have been placed on sick leave for one day and ordered to rest. Guild Affairs have taken over the case considering the gravity of the situation, as you may imagine.” All gleams, Nestra remembered. Assholes who trampled everyone they wanted but at least their hatred of the guild system, which they saw as a humiliation to the idea of a strong state, was well known. Gidung wouldn’t get off the hook. “I… just needed to know how he died. He was very precious to me as you may have surmised and they didn’t let me see him. I have to know.” “Yeah, ok. Yeah. You need closure.” One of the reasons why raiders went to great lengths to retrieve bodies. “So, our hab block’s shelter had no issues but one of the nearby blocks didn’t have one, so Shinoda led a small group towards our own since our shelter was big enough to accommodate both. They were attacked by the faster monsters. There were a lot of dokkaebi but…” “But also D-class monsters, I assume,” Officer Kim said with a resigned tone. “Yeah. I helped the group fend off mana rats so I think they mostly made it but Shinoda was in the rear guard. They took a lot of fatalities. I found him in a checkpoint. He was killed by a neosaur he managed to take out as well. He died clean and I think the body was retrieved. I was saved by Valerian. I collapsed from exhaustion a little later but I assume the body was properly recovered.” Kim gave a shaky sigh. Nestra’s excellent hearing picked up a few sniffles. She gave the woman a few moments of peace, wondering exactly how well the two had known each other. She also remembered the woman had sent Nestra to look after Shinoda and Nestra had failed. She didn’t feel particularly guilty about it. He’d gone off without backup in the name of his principles, a respectable act but also one she had no control over. Shinoda had died a warrior’s death, the best possible end if she had to be honest. It was probably a belief she shouldn’t share with other people. “That was what I was told. At least I can be certain they were honest now,” Kim finally said. “There is… one more thing. No, two things. First, there are talks of allocating more social services and less officers now that most of the surviving gangers have either been killed or captured at the end of the purge when they went to secured locations. You will make sure the transfer of authority is done properly, then I will reassign you to a task that would better use your frankly impressive skills, which leads me to my second point.” “You… are not what you seem, Palladian. I had an inkling after you killed those gangers under the hab block and last night’s events confirmed it. You do not have to deny anything. This is not a trap. I just want you to listen.” “I wasn’t sure so I ran a few simulations on a tactical AI, the results of which I kept for myself of course. According to what you did, that is, finding Shinoda alone in the middle of a horde, your chances of survival were a flat zero.” “According to a timing I confirmed with tunnel camera footage, it should have taken Valerian almost five minutes to find you after you left the refugee group behind. You survived a horde alone, without visible weapons, and without implants. To be honest, there are no implants in the market that would have saved you.” Nestra held her breath. “I will not ask more right now. I just want you to know that…” Nestra waited for Kim to finish her sentence. It took a while. “That Mr Watkins is going to be transferred to Central tomorrow. Some details were shared with me concerning the risks such a move entailed. There is a… a specific part of District Twenty-eight that an unscrupulous individual could use to get a vantage point to the back of the precinct. Police users can stop a great many things. A supersonic round isn’t one of them.” “You think someone would try to assassinate him?” “If an unscrupulous individual had the will, access to dangerous weaponry, and some inside information, a tactical AI would confirm this is the best place to do so. I would be very, very disappointed if our star witness disappeared before we nail his ass to the wall and Gidung with him.” “Alright,” Nestra said. “And hypothetically, when would that be?” “Tomorrow morning, 5AM. The Levant Project towers, which have not been finished due to financing concerns.” “And Palladian? One last thing.” “Shinoda’s funerals will be tomorrow. I took the liberty of organizing it since his estranged wife would make a political mess of it. Can I count on you coming?”