Chapter 258 - A Secret Appointment

The kiss lasted only a moment, then Minnie released Finn. Finn hadn’t resisted the kiss, though he also didn’t return it either. 

Minnie’s face flushed red as she sat down in her chair, her eyes downcast out of embarrassment.

Finn touched his finger to his lips as the sensation of her warmth lingered around him.

“For the record, I was already pretty sure you liked me.” Finn broke the silence.

Minnie had a complicated expression on her face as she didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t planned to kiss him, it was simply a spur of the moment action. Eventually she only managed to ask, “…And?”

“I’m concerned that there will be negative consequences if this went any farther.” Finn replied, trying to approach the topic as objectively as he could.

“There’s precedent for relationships within the force.” Minnie said, “I looked it up. It’s frowned upon but there have never been penalties applied.”

“I meant, personal consequences.” Finn frowned, “This position is demanding, I don’t think there’s any room for distractions.”

“I-“ Minnie’s hands clenched into fists as she trembled slightly, “I promise I won’t be distracted. This job is important to me too, and you know I take it extremely seriously. It won’t be a problem- no, I’ll work even harder.”

Finn hesitated as he took a moment to digest her words. Minnie bit her lip, taking the silence as a bad sign.

“If- if you don’t like me, that’s fine too. We can forget this ever happened. You don’t have to worry about me.” She said, “Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.”

She stood up without waiting for his response, saluting sharply— an action which the team members rarely performed toward Finn. “I’ll be on my way, sir.”

Before Finn could react she had already left the room.

Finn linked his fingers together, resting his chin on his hands as he stared at the closed door, contemplating the interaction that had just happened. A soft floral fragrance lingered in the air, one that he had slowly taken to noticing over the past few weeks.

When Finn had remarked that there wasn’t room for distractions, Minnie had taken it personally assuming that he was referring to her. However the truth was, he was thinking about himself at that moment.

When he had made the remark, he was worried that any sort of relationship between himself and Minnie would be unfair to her, because she would always take third place behind his duties to work and to his team. He was worried about his new position of National Inspector and the ever growing pile of work that needed to be done.

While trying to find the words to explain this, Minnie had assumed the worst, that she had overstepped her bounds and that he was not interested in her. Finn had the opportunity to clear up the misconception, but in the end stayed silent.

“Perhaps it’s better this way.” Finn muttered softly to himself, thinking about the words that Chief Yun had often said.

The path of an Exalted is a long and lonely road.

Thinking about it, Chief Yun never talked about his family. His funeral had been held in a batch alongside the other officers who had died. Many of those officers had relatives or loved ones visit their graves, but Chief Yun’s gravestone only saw visits from other officers.

There was a heaviness in his body as he turned his mind to more pressing matters. He had an appointment with Sansen Zhao in the evening, during which he also had to come up with a solution to the Ministry’s decree to bring in Char Char.

He also had one other important appointment in the northwest side of the city that he needed to get to. He went over to a safe in the corner of the room and put in the combination. A gentle aqua blue glow emanated from two glass vials within the safe’s dark interior. Finn retrieved one and tucked it into his pocket.

The softness of Minnie’s lips lingered in his thoughts as he picked up his coat to leave.

~

“We’ve arrived. Amigara district.”

“Sir, we’re here.”

Finn woke with a start to loud rapping on the side of the rented hansom. He blinked hard a few times, eyes burning as he took a moment to find his bearings. 

He remembered hailing the cab from the station, and recalled the first few blocks on the journey. Judging by when his memory cut out, he might have dozed off for twenty minutes.

More rapping on the wooden frame from the driver who remained in his seat at the back of the cab, “Sir—“

“Yes, I hear you.” Finn said, pulling himself forward as he stepped down from the hansom. He pulled out five copper bells, placing them in the driver’s gloved hand, “Here’s extra, please stay here, I should be back within the hour.”

“It’ll cost an extra bell for the wait, sir.” The driver said, adding, “Prices are up.”

“Right… Here you go.” Finn had a cynical expression as he pulled out another coin, “Please wait here, I shouldn’t be long.”

“Absolutely, sir.”

Finn left down the street, contemplating how he hadn’t yet noticed the increase in fares. Prices were up on nearly all goods and services across the province, but thinking about it, Finn typically used police carriages for transportation and had little need to rent a cab.

It was only that this particular appointment required a modicum of secrecy.

The poor neighborhood on the north side of Noga City was as run down as it was the last time he’d seen it, right after the aftermath of the Night of Living Vines. The main difference was that there was significantly more vegetation around the streets, and the trees that lined the roads were still flush with flowers despite it being mid-summer.

After ten minutes he found himself on the destitute and empty Eckert street, walking up to the shack where he and Zwei had first met Locke.

The door was unlocked. The floorboards creaked as he walked down the narrow entrance hallway. He passed by the closed door which led down to the basement. His mind briefly wondered if Locke’s body was still there— but no, it was likely removed by the police back then.

He found himself in the sparse living area with nothing but an old stove in the corner, a few chairs and a table.

A soft haze hung in the air. Warm shafts of light peeked through the shuttered windows.

Finn’s spiritual intuition triggered as the silence swelled with soft whispers and the skittering of bugs. The shadows in the corner of the room twisted and swirled as a lanky figure coalesced into existence.

Zwei’s intelligent eyes locked onto Finn from behind his long black bangs. 

“Congratulations on your promotion, inspector.” Zwei said. There was a seriousness to the former officer’s demeanour that was different than his previous aloofness. 

Finn raised an eyebrow, “News travels fast.”

“The society has its connections.” Zwei replied enigmatically.

The Pearl Lotus Society was the secret society which Finn had been introduced to through the recent events around the plot to resurrect the God of Life. The members that Finn was aware of was the trade tycoon Sansen Zhao, the doctor Baolan, a dream-oriented exalted named Quinn, and the former (and now missing) Police Chief Fang. In addition, Finn and Zwei’s late supervisor Locke had been a member, and it appeared that Locke’s pathway had been somehow passed down to Zwei, who was the newest member of the society.

On a personal note as well, Finn had learned that his father had been part of this society, which was one of the reasons Finn had been initially inducted into the group. 

It had been a short but eventful month since he first was introduced to the Pearl Lotus Society, and he had only been loosely in contact with them, primarily through Sansen Zhao on matters unrelated to the society itself.

Today’s meeting marked the first real contact from the society that he had had since they worked together to stop the God of Life’s reincarnation.

“So you’re a full member now?” Finn asked, allowing a smirk to turn up the corner of his lip, “Do they pay well?”

“In the Exalted world, money isn’t an issue.” Zwei said, “Other resources are more important.”

In other words, no? Finn mused. His stipend from the police force was quite generous at six marks a week, and he imagined his promotion would result in even higher benefits. Those funds were currently sitting in his bank account. They were enough to rent a handsome house and even afford a hired maid or two. In four months at his police inspector salary he’d have enough to outright purchase a row house straight out.

If he were the type of person who enjoyed such luxuries, he could indeed live quite a lavish life off of his current salary, especially since most of his work related expenses were paid for by the police.

Zwei, on the other hand, had silently resigned from the police force, losing all the benefits that came with the title— and also freeing himself from the restrictions of holding a position.

“So what have you been up to over the past weeks?” Finn asked.

“Searching.” Zwei said.

“For Gantt.” Finn replied, having anticipated the answer, “I did what I could to track him down, but he’s disappeared.”

“I heard of your success in rounding up the monks.” Zwei nodded seriously. “He’s disappeared, but the trail isn’t completely cold. Do you know his pathway?”

Finn shook his head honestly.

“Psyche domain, Parasite.” Zwei said. “A path that specializes in infecting the mind of its victims. Parasites have a few direct attacks, but their real power comes from slowly invading the mind of their victims, causing hallucinations, twisting their perception of reality. With enough time, a Parasite can gain complete control over their victim’s mind.”

Finn nodded. This was all in line with his data on the man. “What is Gantt trying to accomplish?”

“That’s the question we’re trying to answer.” Zwei replied, “His origins are unknown, but we believe he’s from the Alisan region in the far north.”

“Alisan region?” Finn was unfamiliar with the term.

“On the northern continent past the Altic Sea, there’s Banbajan. Beyond that are the cracked lands desert region. Even further past that is Alisa.” Zwei replied, “Where he’s from is not important, though, because from what we can tell, Gantt appears to be a mercenary, hired by various lords and countries to sow discord amongst their enemies.”

“In other words…” Finn frowned, “Supporting the reincarnation ritual wasn’t necessarily about supporting the God of Life.”

“It was an attack on Noga. On Kumin.” Zwei nodded, “Which means he could come back.”

“The Pearl Lotus Society’s purpose, then…” Finn rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “Is to chase down Gantt and stop him?”

“Yes, that’s one of our primary goals.” Zwei said, “The society has chapters across the world, our chapter is specifically focused around protecting Kumin. It formed when the Banbajan chapter smuggled out two refugees from Tenyuan over two decades ago, offering them protection in Noga City.”

“Your parents.” Finn said.

Zwei nodded, “It worked for a while, and then Gantt found them. And, well… the rest is history.”

Saying these words, Zwei expression hardened, and Finn could see the conviction with which Zwei was chasing down this path. In that moment he understood why Zwei had chosen to give everything up and join the secret society.

“Gantt’s ability is subtle, and he leaves behind very few tracks.” Zwei said, “Most of his victims don’t know they’ve been affected by him, but the tampering to their psyche still leaves behind clues. Clues that I can trace, because I inherited Locke’s powers, through his sarira.”

“So you are…” Finn raised an eyebrow.

“Psyche Domain, Parasite. The same as Gantt.” Zwei nodded, “The first time we met Locke, he infected us, causing us to hallucinate and influencing our investigation. When we met him he was already close to death. Gantt had found him and infected his mind, and he was slowly losing the battle. Parasitizing our minds was his last ditch effort to continue the fight against Gantt.”

Finn thought about the encounter he had had with Ming Ru in the forest cave. He remembered how Locke had taken over his body, using his powers to incapacitate the monk. 

So then, that Locke in his mind that had saved him had simply been a remnant of the real Locke. In Finn’s time of need, the remnant had reacted in self preservation but in doing so exhausted its power. This weakened it to the point of perishing itself.

Zwei, on the other hand, suffered from the increasing psychic infection, eventually absorbing some of Locke’s sarira and becoming an Exalted himself.

“Many of Locke’s memories were destroyed, but some of the most critical ones were passed on to me.” Zwei nodded, “This is something that Locke kept to himself, not even sharing it with the society. But now it’s on me to continue.”

“I remember.” Finn said, “It was about the Calamity Mandate.” 

“Did you bring Locke’s sarira?” Zwei nodded, “In exchange for them, I’ll tell you what I know.