Jessie's mood as we left the Beast Lord Garden was fantastic, and it  brightened my day to see it. She'd become more effervescent since we'd  made our pact about bringing back her brother, but this was more than  that. It was the closest I'd seen to the way she acted when we first  met, back when her brother was still alive. I couldn't help but be  grateful to Melinda for giving her this kind of peace of mind, even just  by creating that place. Jessie was one of the sweetest people I knew,  and seeing her so happy made this whole trip worth it even if we didn't  manage to find a faction to ally with.

Letting her enjoy  her mood I slipped over to Callie as the wolves padded along beside our  teammate. I lowered my voice slightly, but not enough to be considered a  whisper. "So, I heard you get directions from the door guard, guess the  new one was more talkative. Do you know if the Sanctuary Hall is close  to here? I wasn't really paying attention to the directions when you got  them." I gave an embarrassed chuckle at her knowing smirk. She knew how  prone I was to getting lost in my own thoughts.

Still,  she didn't make things difficult for me, just rolled her eyes at my bad  habits. "No. It's not a long walk. This is a pretty decent area of E  district apparently, and much like the Beast Lord Garden, the Sanctuary  Hall makes pretty good money and has lots of favors to call in. No one  is as in demand as healers after all." She turned to Jessie. "Speaking  of, do you want to show off some of your ability at the Sanctuary Hall? I  don't think Cark mentioned what you can do to them since I think he  assumed you'd prefer the Beast Lord Garden."

Jessie just  shook her head. "No. He was right. I do prefer the Beast Lord Garden. I  really hope we end up working with them, even if they aren't the faction  we join with in the end." She gave a soft smile. "They seemed really  nice. I think that's something we should prioritize. We've already seen  from dealing with that circus guy that not everyone can be trusted. I  think sticking with the group that takes care of small furry animals is  the best way to make sure we end up trusting the right people."

Despite  the ridiculous basis...that was actually a really good point. I'd seen  plenty of evidence showing me that not even all heroic Ascendants could  be trusted. Aiden was a good example of that. But in terms of tests of  character, devoting your life to the care and comfort of animals was as  good as anything I could think of. I'd been thinking about all this in  terms of benefits, and I still had that on my mind, but even though  character had always been on my mind at least a bit, weighting it a bit  heavier might not be a bad call.

I turned to Callie. "She  has a point. I don't want to commit to anything too early, but I think  the Beast Lord Garden should definitely go on the list. I know you have  your heart set on meeting Silent Dagger, but keeping them in line won't  hurt anything. That's just my two cents though." Despite being the boss,  Callie never minded when we shared our opinions. She usually welcomed  input, which is why I was thrown off by her stopping to give me a  strange look.

I waited for her to voice her thoughts, and  when she did, she sounded confused. "You...know this isn't my decision  right?" I cocked my head in confusion. She stared at me for a minute  before bursting into a fit of giggles. "Solomon. Sweetie. This is your  call. I'm here to help and weigh in, but group leader or not I don't  have any say in this. You're the one who has to live with this decision,  so you're the one who needs to make the call. I love you, but I'm not  going to give you a direction on this. I won't risk you resenting me  later if I make the wrong choice."

I blinked at that,  because it hadn't occurred to me, but then nodded. "That's fair. I guess  it was kind of shitty for me to just assume you would be making the  call. I guess I got used to you being the one to come up with our plans.  It was easier to just decide you would be the one to decide what we  would do. I didn't want to have to be responsible if I pick wrong. You  sure you don't want at least equal say?"

I wouldn't say it  out loud, but I wasn't sure I trusted myself with this call. I had  little to no foresight, and I made impulsive decisions based on my gut.  I'd gotten us into trouble too many times by following my instincts.  Callie didn't even need to see my face to know what I was thinking. She  stepped in close, putting a hand under my masked chin and tilting my  head down to meet her eyes. "Hey. I trust you. You aren't stupid, and  you aren't reckless, even if you like to think of yourself that way.  Just because you've made bad calls doesn't mean you haven't made good  ones too."

Jessie chimed in. "Yeah, don't forget you  picked each of us. You were the one who decided to trust us with your  secret, to help us grow. You decided to bring in Cark, you decided on  plenty of the things we've done that were important. Not being as good  as Nightstrike at tactical thinking doesn't mean you have bad instincts.  You have a knack for knowing the right people to trust. Out of our  whole group, I think you're actually the best person to be making a  decision like this."

That wasn't something I'd considered.  "I...I guess I did. It didn't feel like that. Picking you I mean.  You're my friends. I just trusted you. I wasn't trying to build some  perfect team or something. Hell, I didn't even know Clockwork's power  when I decided to bring him along." I turned to Callie. "Alright. I'll  make the call. You're right that it's mostly to do with me anyway, and  it wouldn't be fair to put that on you. But don't think this means I  want to be in charge."

Her smile was gentle. "I know,  love. You have too much fun rushing headfirst into situations. I'd never  ruin it by forcing you to think through everything you do." She winked  at me to show she was kidding, but then pulled to a stop. "In any case,  we don't have time to go on about it. We're here." She gestured up at  the building. "Man, the outside of these gets way less impressive after  you've seen a few of them. You'd think that they would personalize the  street view a bit. It's so boring when they're all the same."

We  had come within hearing range of the door guard as she said that, and  the average looking man in the gray robe looked at us in amusement.  Callie realized she'd accidentally brought another person into the  conversation and apologized for the offensive comment. The man just  waved it away. "Don't worry. I feel the same. Unfortunately the Deacon  has forbidden customization of the outside of the buildings. They used  to allow it, but too many forces tried to use perspective and building  tricks to exceed their allotted space."

I could see how  that would have been a problem. I was still surprised the Deacon had  been capable of enforcing that directive. I also wasn't sure HOW one  would redisign and standardize a building facade when the building  already existed, but they probably had a guy for that. With an internal  shrug I reached into my pocket and slipped out a card, passing it to the  door guard, who took it with a small nod. "Hi there, we're here for a  scheduled meeting with the Peace Lord."

He smiled  reassuringly. "Of course. You are expected. Please, come in. Sanctuary  Hall welcomes all visitors, though I admit, a personal meeting with the  Lord himself can be difficult to come by, given how busy he is. The  Lord's particular brand of healing is exceptionally effective on almost  any brand of injury, even those coming from enemies whose wounds do not  normally heal at all, so he is quite in demand."

A chill  went down my spine at that. I hadn't known that there WERE enemies who  made wounds that didn't heal. That sounded like a terrifying power, and I  made a mental note to watch out for that kind of thing in the future.  The last thing I wanted was to go to sleep after a fight and bleed to  death from a small cut or something. Sometimes the powers that  Ascendants had terrified me a bit.

The  guard led us into the interior of the Sanctuary Hall, and the first  thing I noticed was...there wasn't much to notice. Not that there was  nothing in there, but just that it was all fairly unimpressive.  Sanctuary Hall wasn't as enchanting as Beast Lord Garden, or as imposing  as the Flame Riot Militia. It was actually kind of homey. Comfortable  carpets lined the floors, done in warm tones and obviously prioritizing  function over form. The walls were lined with soothing pictures and the  variety of furniture scattered around the place was a series of mixed  and matched couches and chairs that looked downright snuggly.

All  in all the place was one of the most welcoming and inviting places I  could imagine, and the complete lack of anything surprising was a  surprise in and of itself. When we all stopped to stare the man in the  robe laughed. "Ah, I'm assuming you all expected some cavernous throne  room or something? Most people who come here are thrown off by how  humble the surroundings are. The Peace Lord likes to put patients at  ease. He believes comfort and accessibility is far more important than  gauche displays of wealth or power."

While  that might have sounded judgemental or snippy from some people, the  robed man delivered the indictment of the other forces with a sort of  peaceful ambivalence that made it clear that while he was proud of the  man he chose to work under, he didn't judge the other forces for their  own decisions. It was the sort of condescension that only absolute  perceived moral superiority could give someone, and only the fact that  it was obvious that he attributed that superiority to his boss and not  himself kept it from coming off as unbearably smug.

I  wasn't entirely sure I liked these people much. While being so 'humble'  and 'helpful' was nice and all, the vibe of this place was aloof and  snobby rather than the ascetic thing I think they were going for. Not  that it was surprising. I doubted an E ranker was close enough to mortal  to really understand how normal people thought anymore. This was less  like someone being a saint and more like watching a saint in a badly  written movie. It was all flash and no substance.

I  wondered how I'd come to that conclusion after such a short period of  time and decided it was probably those weird instincts that seemed to be  a result of my Fantasy stat. Whatever it was, it put my back up, and I  had to try my hardest to keep the unease out of my posture as we drew  closer to our meeting with the Peace Lord. I just hoped any discomfort  was seen as nervousness at meeting such a big shot. As we stopped at a  wooden door in the cozy hallway, I ran out of time to think about it.  Well, E ranker meetings were never boring at least. It would be  interesting to see what this one was like.