As we sat down at the booth across from Sage and Cark, I finally took  the time to take in my friend's appearance, and I was pleasantly  surprised. Cark had spent months looking for Cass, and even after  finding her he'd still been in fight or flight mode in some ways. The  time down here running the show and spending time with Sage had done a  world of good for the big bounty hunter though, and it was refreshing to  see him looking so relaxed and well taken care of. I'd never seen him  any other way, so I hadn't really known enough to worry, but seeing the  two different states made it obvious to see the improvement.

I  said as much directly. "This job is certainly treating you well. You  look like you're having fun. I take it you don't regret your choice to  accept your current position?" Despite how easy that was to assume I had  to ask. Cark had done a lot for us and helped us out. If he felt  trapped or limited I wanted to help. Picking a fight with one more  faction wouldn't matter, we'd prepared to pick a fight with the Flame  Riot Militia to start with anyway, so there was no reason to be afraid  of it now. I didn't say that out loud obviously, no need to start a  fight between Cark and his new girlfriend if he wasn't upset.

He  gave me a reassuring smile, clearly seeing through my intentions. "I'm  fine Shane. I appreciate you looking out for me but I have to admit I  like it here. It's a bit busier than the bounty hunter life, but it pays  better, and I talked to Burning Fist. If and when Cass manifests he's  going to pull some strings to get her to H rank and sponsored for the  Academy like you guys. H is low for that place, but she'll still  probably be pretty young still, which should help make her case,  assuming she even gets an ability."

It was hard to tell if  kids in Ascendant families would manifest an ability. If it was a full  on cultivation family it was likely, but Cark's parents hadn't been  Ascendants, which meant he could very well have been a one off. I didn't  think so though. I suspected Cass would get an ability, and probably  something similar to her bother's. If not I could always put my thumb on  the scales and help her out. I'd already made the offer for Callie's  mom so there was no reason not to tack Cass on to the list.

In  either case I was happy for him, and I said so. "That's fantastic!  Don't send her too early though, that place is a complete snake pit.  Maybe you could arrange some private tutoring from someone in town for a  while before she goes. I bet that would help prepare her. I guess it's a  bit soon to make that call though, we still have to see if she ends up  with an ability. I'm betting she will, personally, but I could be  wrong." I shot him a wink. "Statistically it has to happen eventually,  right?"

He chuckled at that, and I saw his eyes flash with  understanding at my hint. My emphasis on my opinion here serving as a  reminder that I had ways of tweaking those odds. He couldn't say  anything about that in front of Sage though, and I appreciated that  discretion. That said, he chose to move on rather than hold her  attention on the subject. "So, I've been asking around, and I managed to  swing you a few meetings. I know you were hoping to reach out to some  of the more trustworthy factions, and I managed to get you in. Mind you,  I'm functionally a nobody right now, and I had to call in a few future  favors to make even that happen. But it's a start."

He  reached into his pocked and slid over an envelope. I opened it up to  find a series of  monogrammed cards with sigils on them, each with an  address written on the back. I shot him a grateful smile. I couldn't go  into details with Sage around, but this was a great step. Regardless of  which faction supported the other candidate I would need my own to go up  against her. I should be able to make a deal with one of these groups  to work directly, which would give me access to power and resources at  the top levels of Callus and a real shot at dealing with the other  potential wishmaster.

I'd have liked to keep myself out of  the limelight and just build slow until I had a chance to get to the  top of the heap. Revealing my abilities would be much less scary if I  had the personal power to back it up, but the other candidate was  forcing my hand by having already done so. They were way ahead of me in  terms of timeline, and if I didn't catch up fast I was going to get  screwed out of my qualification to participate in the competition, my  home, and potentially my life depending on the temperment of whichever  relative happened to be here.

I slipped the cards into my  jacket, shooting a look at Sage and surprised to find her checking her  scan ring and ignoring us. That was a shock, but at a second thought I  could kind of understand. While this was important and secret to me,  Sage spent her whole life growing up around actual powerful forces in  Rajak. Without the knowledge of my ability or the stakes at play this  whole thing probably seemed like a farce to her. She probably just  assumed whatever was going on was us being over the top for our own  amusement. Like kids meeting in a parking garage because it reminded  them of bad spy movies. As much as the image hurt my pride I wasn't  going to be the one to disillusion her.

That was the main  reason I wasn't bothering to hide my identity from her. Someone like me  would be so far below her radar it wouldn't even matter. Plus we had  been the reason for Cark getting involved with the Militia, trying to  force him to hide our identities as well would make his transition of  power much harder, and we didn't want to cause any problems for him.

While  I couldn't bring up the competition, we could still ask questions about  the cards themselves. Callie decided to do just that. "Can you tell us a  bit about the people you're putting us in touch with? I'd like to be  able to do some research on these factions before we show up. Aside from  knowing what to expect it would be kind of insulting to show up with no  idea who any of the players involved are." She winced. "I probably  should have done more thorough research before we went to the Militia  headquarters honestly. I looked into the place, but mostly in a general  sense."

I put a hand on hers and squeezed, letting her  know that she was the only person who wasn't happy with how she handled  that incident.Though to be fair, I was still pretty shaken by her  breakdown after Burning Fist compared her to her dad, and even if I had  held it against her there was no way I'd have mentioned it.

Cark  nodded. "Of course. I got you four meetings. The four factions  represented aren't the strongest, but they have pretty solid positions  in larger blocs. First up is the Beast Lord Garden. The Beast Queen  inherited the place from her father, and they're an old and established  force. She's pretty moderate as far as interactions go, but she's a  tamer and supplies pets and companions for most of the people in Rajak.  No one likes to mess with her because of how useful her ability is, and I  think Jessie is going to be pretty interesting to her." He smirked at  me. "Not that I expect history to repeat itself, I know Jessie is an  integral part of your team, but The Beast Queen will probably like her."

That  sounded like a decent reasoning, so I kept my mouth shut, waiting for  him to continue. He smiled at my patience and kept going. "Next up is  the Sanctuary Hall. They're the faction with most of the healers. Peace  Lord is the E ranker in charge. He avoids conflict with everyone, and  it's commonly accepted practice not to fuck with healers, so they're a  pretty stable faction to deal with.I figured you would most want to meet  with inoffensive and peaceful factions like that since it would be  easier to have a nice discussion with them." Left unsaid was the fact  that being more neutral would probably make them less like to try any  sneaky shit, which I somewhat agreed with.

He  paused briefly before finishing. "Finally the last one I set you up to  meet with is Silent Dagger. They're a spying and infiltration  organization who serve under The Nothing. The Nothing is one of the more  mysterious E rankers. Wears layers of dense clothing that have built in  anti scan features and rarely appears, but because of that people avoid  fights with them. Bad idea to attack someone who can vanish and be  anyone. Even more than most Ascendants The Nothing is a problem if  provoked."

At our looks he chuckled.  "I know, Silent Dagger doesn't fit with the image of the other two  places, but they have a reputation for honoring their agreements and  aren't likely to turn on you. Plus the nothing is well known to be a  genius at shadow manipulation. Callie might even be able to pick up a  few tricks." He shot Callie a meaningful look. "Even Midknight isn't  better with shadows than The Nothing, not the he would ever admit it.  Those two are like fire and water and have been since Midknight got to  town. Some people even suspect there's a history there, but Midknight  refuses to comment and the nothing never answers questions about  anything."

That  was...interesting. I could tell the idea of her father having a nemesis  made Callie sit up and take notice too. I'd been worried that bringing  him up would upset her, but it seemed she still liked the thought of  putting him in his place. I mentally pushed The Nothing ahead a bit on  the list of possible alliances, but I wasn't stupid enough to commit to  something like that even in my head without some research and an actual  meeting. I wasn't worried about a direct attack right now, but it still  paid to be careful.

Which  brought up the fact that I needed to try not to rank up too quickly.  Zeke's protection was a huge part of the insurance I had for staying  safe, and as soon as I hit F rank it would be gone. There were no D  rankers on this planet, and Zeke couldn't interfere when someone was  only one rank up from me. If we broke through during this political mess  we might get killed off without even knowing how it happened. If Zeke  had to demonstrate his power early on though, people wouldn't know he  was forbidden to step in after I reached F rank here. That would be some  protection at least, even through deception.

We  talked for a bit longer and Jessie enjoyed her time with Randall. The  big bear was very affectionate and it was nice seeing our gentle  teammate look so happy. It was easy to catch her looking forlorn or  hopeless when you looked at her during times she thought no one was  watching, so seeing her so joyful when she was on her own brought a  smile to my face too. Once Cark and Sage had to go Callie and I just sat  back in the booth to enjoy our time together and pulled up our scan  rings. Might as well do that research now, there seemed to be plenty to  learn.