Much like the rest of his place, the Peace Lord was...underwhelming.  As we entered the small but mostly empty office and I spotted him behind  the desk, the first thing I noticed was how utterly normal he appeared.  The biggest thing that stood out about him was probably his eyes.

The  icy blue of his irises clashed dramatically with his unassuming  features, giving him a sense of placid steadiness that wouldn't have  been easily discernable from his slightly crooked nose or clean shaven  but tapered jaw. It was like someone had taken the eyes out of some kind  deity and transplanted them into the guy who bagged your groceries when  you went to the store.

Aside from being dramatically  colored and slightly disdainful, his eyes also gave a feeling of cold  serenity. I could understand why they called him what they did. He  looked like nobility to me. When we walked in he glanced up to see us  and gave a welcoming smile.

Whatever you could say about  the Peace Lord, you couldn't claim he wasn't a charismatic man. That one  smile transformed his otherwise plain face into something warm and  reassuring, and even those cold tranquil eyes lit up with welcome.  "Hello there. You must be our new friends from the Academy. I heard you  children were coming to meet with me so I took the liberty of a quick  internet search. I do hope you don't mind. Please, come in and sit down,  can I get you anything? We have a wonderful soothing herbal tea that is  excellent for calming the mind if you like."

It looked  like he knew Jessie was a healer, but he didn't seem to focus on her to  the exclusion of the rest of us, making sure his warm smile encompassed  even the wolves. Callie sat down first in the chairs on the other side  of the desk with a guarded smile. I could tell he made her slightly  unsettled too, and it made me think better of my own instincts that I  wasn't the only one reacting. Far from making me feel better, seeing him  go from cold and aloof to warm and welcoming at the drop of a hat made  me much more wary of him. Anyone that good at lying had lots of  practice.

Still, we weren't going to benefit from  offending an E ranker, and especially not the one who did the majority  of healing for the whole WCP, so she just shook her head. "No thank you.  We still have the trip home after this, and it doesn't do to be too  relaxed on the elevators." I hadn't really noticed them being that much  more dangerous than anywhere else, but I wasn't going to question her  reasoning since it was probably bullshit anyway.

The Peace  Lord nodded amiably. "Of course, seeing such cautious young people does  my heart good. You can never be too careful in these uncertain times.  So, since we aren't going to be sharing a mug of tea, perhaps it would  be best to get to the main point. What can I do for you children?"

Callie  gave him the same explanation Jessie had given Melinda, telling him we  wanted to shop around for terms while we had prestige to do it with,  striking while the iron was hot. He listened, nodding along, and when  she was done, he responded warmly. "Well, I'd be happy to welcome such  fine young people. I was very impressed by your showing at the exams,  and while we are traditionally healing based, we do have a law  enforcement hall under the main Hall branch that deals with protecting  our healers. Miss. Agria could also apply for you two to be her personal  guards instead of protection for the whole Hall."

That  made sense. Relying on something as ephemeral as good will wasn't really  a strategy at all when it came to doing business. The whole 'don't piss  off the healer' thing was common sense, but common sense wasn't really  that common. People were frequently idiots and almost always assholes.  If they could get away with something, they would, or at least they'd  try. Even with Sanctuary Hall as shelter, our backing only mattered if  we were alive to complain when something went wrong.

Jessie  bit her lip now that he'd mentioned her. She'd been planning to take a  miss as the focal point of these negotiations, but his research had  derailed that. I wondered if the other had done the same research, and  decided they probably had. Melinda hadn't been surprised by Jessie's  ability or the implication that it was more than she was seeing. She'd  most likely looked into us when she'd heard we were coming, it just  hadn't really been relevant to her pitch. She wanted us to work for our  position there, regardless of our potential. I respected the hell out of  that mindset, even if it wasn't optimal for me.

She  seemed to hesitate to interrupt, but at a gentle nod from Callie, who  had noticed the same indecision, finally spoke up. "So, what do healers  who work for you receive, and what about their guards? What kind of  terms do you offer? Not to sound greedy, but we have skills and they're  currently in demand, we're shopping around for the best possible terms  after all."

I'd half expected him to pull some bullshit  guilt trip, but his smile just widened. "Of course. My healers are  extremely well compensated. We offer competitive pricing to our clients.  People who are able to come to us aren't emergency cases, they're  strong enough or have enough Vitality to be able to make it down here,  not to mention the access needed to even be in this district. As such we  don't see a need to hamstring our prices. We charge what our time is  worth, and since we're so in demand, that's a premium. I like taking  care of others, but I also like taking care of my own. We don't expect  anyone to work for free. Healers aren't medicine dispensers. We're real  people with real needs, and that's ok."

Oddly, unlike the  rest of his speeches, this one came across as entirely sincere. There  was passion in his voice as he spoke, and while it didn't offset the  weird creep factor, it did make me like him a bit more. I could tell  he'd made this speech quite a few times, and I could feel his  frustration at trying to make it stick in his sharp words. It was pretty  clear that lots of people wanted healers to be selfless and virtuous at  their own expense, and equally clear that the Peace Lord was having  absolutely none of that shit.

Jessie either also felt he  seemed sincere, or hadn't gotten the bad vibes I had in the first place,  so she just nodded along solemnly. "I can understand that mind set. But  if I join your faction, would I only be able to use my ability for  official jobs? I don't want to sign some contract that makes it so I  can't heal people for free any more. As much as I like the idea of being  able to make a bit of money, I still like helping people." It made me  glad to know that even if she hadn't picked up on the odd impression I  had, she'd still seen through something that I hadn't even considered.

I  knew better than to underestimate my blonde friend, but sometimes she  still surprised me. Her sneaky side was well hidden, and I knew she  liked it that way. It was easy to forget that she had a knack for  getting information and for talking to people, and you don't develop  those without being a good judge of character with a sharp mind. I saw a  flash of surprise in the Peace Lord's eyes when she asked that, and got  the feeling that he might have tried to slip something like that into  the contract, but he covered it with a placating smile fast. "Of course  not. I'd never restrict any of my recruits like that. You're free to use  your ability however you like. Though as for the contract, the details  are of course, confidential after you sign."

That in  itself was a huge red flag. Not letting your hires talk about their  terms of employment didn't seem like a great sign. Jessie just played it  off though. "Ah, well that's good then. What kind of position would I  be looking at in your organization? I'm not familiar with the way you  structure your forces, but my friend who got us this meeting had a very  complimentary power for Flame Riot Militia and managed to get an  exceptional status when he signed on. Would it be possible for me to get  something like that here?"

I was pretty sure I wasn't  going to be accepting this guy's invitation, and while it was good to  see Jessie trying to get us the best benefits here, I just wanted to  leave. The longer I stayed here the more this place creeped me out. At  this point I liked it only slightly less than the person who ran it.  Still, the guy was an E ranker, and it would have been a bad idea to  just bail. Hearing him out wouldn't hurt anything as long as we didn't  agree to any terms. I officially crossed this place off my list of  possible alliances though. Even if I couldn't put my finger on why I  absolutely wasn't willing to let this guy know about my ability.

He  leaned back with a chuckle, getting into a more comfortable position  for negotiating. "Well, now. I'm not against that, but my Sanctuary Hall  is less stratified than most forces. In order to get the position  you're looking for you would need to have some strong relation to me  personally. Perhaps I could offer you a position as my apprentice. Even  with different abilities I'm sure I could teach you plenty of things.  Maybe I can help you refine your first aid skills. Most healers use that  Skill as a foundation for ability advancements, though whatever you  mixed it with must have been unusual."

Jessie,  just put on a cheerful smile. "That's certainly a tempting offer. Of  course we still have another meeting, so I'll need to accompany my  friends there to check things out. We're making this decision as a  group, so we need to weight every option together and then discuss  things. I trust there's no rush?"

With  a casual wave he dismissed the notion. "Of course not. Take all the  time you like. I'll make sure the guards are aware that you're always  welcome here. In any case, since the offer has been made you can all see  yourselves out. I wouldn't want you to be late for your other meeting."  With that, we all made our way out of the room, heading out as quickly  as possible. I was glad to be leaving. As we turned the corner though, I  caught a glimpse of the door closing. As I did, I took in the  expression on the Peace Lord's face. All I could see was emptiness. I  got the strong impression that was his normal visage, and it made me  even more determined to avoid him.

After  we left we headed back up the elevators to make our way home. I put an  arm around Callie's shoulder as we ascended. "So. Tomorrow is our big  meeting with The Nothing. Are you excited?" I didn't bring up the Peace  Lord. After meeting him I was feeling too paranoid to be comfortable  talking about him down here. We could have that discussion later.

Callie  gave a worried smile. "I am. I'm just hoping things will go our way.  Just in case I think I have some..." She paused, clearly noticing my  reticence to talk about sensitive topics. "Requests. That I can make for  tomorrow. To make sure we can stay safe. We can talk about that later  though. For now, lets just go home, I'm tired and I just want to go to  bed." I just chuckled and pulled her tighter against me. I could  definitely agree with that plan. We had a big day tomorrow, and we'd all  need our rest.