My head was spinning. I had more than a few crazy things to deal with  right now, but I forced myself to focus on the negotiation. I figured  I'd start it with an up front question. "Ok." I said. "What exactly is  the point of all this? Why go through any of it. Why are we negotiating  at all? Your people are tough, why not just have them kick my ass and  lock me in a cell until you take over the planet or something. That  would strip me of my qualifications right?" I didn't understand the  nuances here, or how she was measuring any of this.

"It  was an option." She said. "But I decided against it for a few reasons.  What do you know about how the candidacy works? I take it not much based  on some of the things you've said. We get sent away as kids to live  away from the family, but the amount your parents can and do tell you  about the clan before your powers manifest is up in the air. The whole  blindsiding you with your nature thing is kind of an old school way to  do things, though I'm hardly surprised Elijah decided to go in that  direction."

I shrugged. "Only what I figured out on my own  mostly. Even my guardian isn't able to tell me much because of certain  outside factors." I decided that as much as I liked meeting family, I  wasn't exposing Zeke's vulnerability to someone who was basically a  stranger. "I have some guesses. I figure the point of the whole thing is  to gather our forces. Create factions we can use for...something. I  haven't really gotten that part yet."

She nodded along as I  spoke. "Close enough. Yes, it's a test of gathering resources and  allies. The part you might not know is that not all of those allies have  to be outsiders. Alliances between candidate factions DO happen, they  just usually don't crop up until later. The early phases of the  selection let the other candidates see who is and isn't worth working  with. Granted, only one of us can win, but not everyone even wants to.  From what I've managed to dig up there have been plenty of candidates  who decided to back another candidate, securing a position in the next  administration so to speak."

My eyes widened as the  implications of that dawned on me. "Oh. So you were impressed enough  that you think you might be interested in working with me. Either  backing me or having me back you? That seems a bit premature though  doesn't it? We've just barely met." Not that I was against the idea.  Having an ally would be damn useful, but despite how much I wanted to  get to know family, it seemed a bit too good to be true.

"Not  exactly." She said matter-of-factly. "You're jumping ahead a few steps.  It's more that I've decided you're competent enough to leave in the  running. Overt alliances aren't our only option. It's fine to leave  certain other candidates who have a decent opinion of you around even  without a formal alliance. Trips up your enemies and sows confusion in  the selection. I wouldn't commit to an alliance this early, but Elijah  is a scary guy, and he and my mom are on relatively good terms. Like I  said, full siblings. Having you around and owing me a favor down the  line might be agreeable. Provided we can come to an arrangement."

I  blew out a breath. "I can get behind that idea I suppose. Before we get  into the actual negotiations though, i have to ask. How do you know so  much about all this? My dad didn't say anything to me about any of it,  and made it sound like he wasn't even allowed to. How was your mom able  to share so much? Also how the hell did you find me? It seems weirdly  convenient you showed up here right now. If I did something that might  have tipped people off I need to know so I can fix it."

That  got a chuckle from my cousin. "Same answer, in a way. Most of the  candidates focus entirely on grinding up stats to go to higher level  worlds. It's the quickest way to the top after all. But my mom advised  me to travel between lower ranked planets as much as possible. It slows  down your growth but it makes your foundation far more solid. Much more  diverse allies and the chance to gather lots of info. My policy is to  search new planets I hit for signs of other candidates. The appearance  of a bunch of wishes wasn't exactly subtly when I was already looking  for it, though you picked up the whole memory trick faster than most."

I  blinked at that. "So...it was just a coincidence? That's anticlimactic,  I'm not gonna lie." Though on second thought there might be more to it.  She might have a high Fantasy stat. The instinct that came with that  stat was a useful way to find opportunities, and being on the move  constantly would give her a much better chance of stumbling on those  than most anyway and that was assuming dad didn't put his finger on the  scale. Still, I wondered exactly how many planets she'd been to.

She  seemed to dismiss the comment, not bothering to address it before  moving on. "Anyway the information I've gathered on the selection has  been the result of lots and lots travel. Enough little facts start to  add up over time. Of course, Elijah has been completely cutting you off  from even the basic family information, but that might be for your own  good as much as anything. After all, I didn't know you existed, and if  anyone in the family would it would be me or uncle Felix's son Michael."

It  was hard not to resent my dad for his secrecy and vagueness, but  thinking about it that way did make a bit of sense. He'd even mentioned  in his message that if I couldn't handle it, he wouldn't see me again.  At the time that seemed cold and brutal, but looking back it almost felt  like his way of telling me that I didn't need to do this. That he would  keep the family away if I decided to live a normal life. Not that I had  any interest in that nonsense at all, but still, it gave me some hope  that the old man wasn't the unbelievable bastard I'd painted him in my  head. Maybe he was just a regular bastard.

"As fascinating  as all this is." I said, with far more poise and tranquility than I was  feeling. "I can't help but notice none of the things you've mentioned  have been terms. If this is a negotiation then there'll be give and  take. The give here is you leaving, and hopefully taking your guards and  maybe a few robe idiots with you. So what is the take? What do you want  in exchange for bailing on this. I can't imagine the Peace Lord will be  happy to hear you left, and I don't want to cause trouble for you. But I  kind of need you to go, so what is that going to cost me?"

She  snickered at that. "Now that sounds more like the Elijah I've heard  stories about. You do have a bit of your dad in you. No sentiment, just  brass tacks." I winced at the comment. Callie was right, that did NOT feel good to hear. I didn't even hate my dad, but it made my skin crawl  to think of people comparing me to him, not to mention the added  dimension of recursion making it actively dangerous. She didn't seem to  notice thankfully, or chose not to comment. "I want a promise from you."

I  raised an eyebrow. "A contract of some kind? It obviously depends what  it is, I'm not stupid enough to agree to binding terms without knowing  the fine print." Callie put a hand on my arm, squeezing lightly, and  when I looked at her she caught my eye and flicked hers out of the  bubble. I got it immediately. "Oh, and we don't just want you to leave,  we want information on the people the Peace Lord sent."

"Good  catch." She said, nodding approvingly. " The Moonsong Glade is about to  open. The slots for it will be decided by tournament. The winner gets ten spots, and its going to require cutting through a line of this star system's best. The glade is limited to F-rank, and it's rarely accessible. To keep the higher ranking forces from just curb stomping everyone the tournament is restricted to peak G-rankers. The presumption is that participants will be able to break through before the glade opens. There's another dungeon local to the area that usually crops up, but this one has something that's important enough that everyone in the Gloryfire System will be attending, and even a few well informed  outsiders. Moonglow dew."

At my blank look she smiled.  "Moonglow dew can grant the user a point of Impact." I jolted at that,  my eyes going wide. Giving Impact was a big fucking deal. I'd never seen  anything that could increase it. Benny had even tried wishing for  Impact before, my Beginner Wish Ability couldn't even make the attempt.  It was like trying to wish for Master level Skills. Just completely  impossible with my rank.

Getting even one point of Impact  essentially made you more than anyone else your rank, making you that  much tougher and harder to hurt. It even stuck with you, because the  amount of Impact a person gained when ranking up was set. Getting one  point now meant you would ALWAYS be stronger than people your rank. I  swallowed, aware now that this wasn't something to play around with.  "So, what exactly do you want. We're obviously entering. Do you want us  to take a dive or something?"

She chuckled. "Not at all.  No need for any self-sabotage. Like I said, they'll be giving ten spots  to the winner. We want three of them if that's you. We're relatively  certain we can get the win ourselves, but if we can't, no reason not to  hedge our bets a bit. You agree, and we leave. I'll give you the  information you requested as a thank you. The Peace Lord can fuck off,  I'm not scared of that asshat. My people are strong enough to deal with a couple F-rank hillbillies, and if he tries to touch me my guardian will  smash him like a bug, which he knows."

I had the urge to  shrug and agree, but one of my dads few lessons to me during our talks  as a kid was never to show how much or little you valued the terms of an  agreement. Every payment was simultaneously priceless and worthless  until you figured out which option would benefit you the most. I  pretended to think it over for a bit before grudgingly agreeing. "I can  agree to that. But I want the same agreement. Four slots for my team if  you win. You're already considering becoming my ally, why not just use  this chance to cement an alliance?"

She stared for a few  minutes before sighing. "I suppose if you manage to get through this  you'll have proved your value here anyway. Fine. If you repel the attack  without losing control of the circus I'll accept your terms. Consider  it an audition. As for the information, there are more G-rankers here than I could bother to remember, but there are only three of consequence. Serenity, the Peace Lord's daughter, who inherited his  ability, and a pair of hired mercenaries who are on the Titan Twenty named Beat and Sever. Their abilities are shockwaves and cutting  respectively."

With that she turned and flipped her hood  back up, heading for the exit to the dome. "It was nice meeting you,  little cousin. Lets see exactly what you're capable of here, you AND  your allies. I look forward to learning more about what you can do." She  chuckled as she and her lackeys passed through the dome and out of  sight, and I turned a worried look on Callie. Something told me if these  people were so weak that Abel and Mel could handle them without issue,  she wouldn't have been so interested to see what happened. There were  only two of them in any case, and there was no telling if there were  other strong fighters around besides those three. We needed to get out  of here and go help.