Death watched his Incarnate and felt yet another new emotion: contentment. His decision to push Serenity into Incarnation was an impulse he’d decided he was pleased with. Serenity wasn’t simply the best candidate Death had ever seen; he also had a philosophy about Death that allowed Death to enjoy his existence.
Death knew where it came from, of course; a Concept didn’t simply take on the traits of their Incarnate, they also gained their memories. Death remembered the past of the Final Reaper; indeed, he probably remembered it better than Serenity did. He simply would never speak of it.
Death didn’t speak often to begin with.
“I didn’t expect him to find one of the Lost Archives,” Dragon rumbled as he watched the illusion he kept active in his study. Death was pleased it was up; while he preferred to accompany Serenity, there were times when he thought it might be intimidating to have Death actually present. “I’d planned to wait until after he dealt with the problems on Earth before pulling him into the politics of the Order.”
“Then leave him out of them.” Death smiled; he was certain Dragon knew, even though there was no way for Dragon to see Death’s features. Death always kept them shadowed. “He is Mine, after all, for all that he is Yours as well.”
“Hmm.” Somehow, Dragon sounded doubtful. “Being named a Hand was small enough; Coyote and I could simply not mention that. Activating an Archive, even a Broken Mirror? That will attract the attention of the Emperor, among others.”
Death grinned. This was something he could manage. “Then delay him until Serenity returns to Earth. I can shield him there.” The real question was simply which form he’d take on Earth; he’d need to decide before Serenity returned. There were a great number of options, many of which blended together; surely he could find one he liked.
Dragon shook his large head. “That would only draw more attention. I can’t be involved.” Dragon seemed to think for a moment, then a wide, toothy grin split his face. “Coyote, however, can be. He’s better at making trouble than I am, in any case.”
Death wondered if Coyote would share his plans. There was no question whether or not he’d help; he liked Serenity and he liked chaos. Dragon would have to watch Coyote to make sure he didn’t also sneak something extra in, but that was always a risk with Coyote.
Death had never cared about it before.
It was too bad that the trip into the Archive hadn’t revealed anything more about what the attackers might want; Serenity strongly hoped his guess was incorrect. They simply didn’t know enough to be certain.
If Serenity was correct, it was possible that they might be in trouble. They had to have found out about the creation of the Voice somehow, and the most obvious method was that they had someone from the Order working with them. In that case, it was entirely possible that the Library would recognize that person the same way it had recognized Serenity. All of their protection might be worthless.
On the other hand, the attackers hadn’t tried that. There had to be a reason for that. Maybe it meant Serenity was wrong.
The next step had to be tracking down the attackers, which meant following the aircraft when they attacked, preferably without being noticed. As much as Serenity wanted to do it, he couldn’t keep up with an airplane; even trying would make him obvious.
Legion volunteered to take care of it. She’d scatter herself outside the city in the direction the planes left; since they all went roughly the same direction, that was easy enough. It might take a number of observations to get anywhere, but if she were pre-positioned, she wouldn’t have to move.
Serenity really couldn’t argue with Legion’s plan. It was better than his.
Serenity set himself to trying to locate those Runemasters instead. He didn’t need a teacher, but he did want someone to talk to about the symbol on the underside of the one biplane he’d gotten a good look at. Rissa decided she wanted to accompany him, more for company than for runic information, even though he knew she’d spent some time studying the book of runes he’d assembled for the Tutorials.
The first three he checked were the ones closest to the Library; none of those houses had anyone present, even though two were intact. The fourth location wasn’t a house at all; instead, it was a cafe. Fortunately, they were open; Serenity shrugged and entered. He was glad he’d traded some Etherium to Honoria for local pocket money.
The cafe was small and ornate; while one wall was brick and clearly led to the kitchen, the other walls were whitewashed stone and large windows. The windows rippled a little; however they were made, it clearly wasn’t able to make truly flat thin glass, even if it could manage windows that were eight feet tall and wider than they were tall. Strangely, the imperfections in the windows added to the charm of the location.
There were six tables, two which were clearly for larger groups and four that were set up for couples. Three were occupied; there was one couple, a man reading an oversized stack of papers that had to be the local equivalent of the newspaper, and a group of five at one of the larger tables. They were all dressed in embroidered robes that looked relatively unworn; none were new, but none showed the signs of long-term use that some of Serenity’s clothing was starting to show.
Fortunately, Rissa had insisted that they change into new clothes before they started looking for people to talk to. While they were informal, simply a T-shirt and jeans, the fact that they were nicely made, new, and foreign should be enough to get them past any clothing considerations. Rissa had even insisted that Serenity not wear his armor; instead, his Crystal Hilt hung from its sheath on his belt.
Other than the Crystal Hilt, which wasn’t obviously a weapon, they were both visibly unarmed. It made them fit in better with the population, which bothered Serenity. There were more people visibly armed in New York City right now than he saw in Takinat. They clearly trusted their local delvers more than Serenity did, even if he ignored the issues of the attacking airplanes. He added that to his mental checklist of things to look into; was the city still safe, or had too many fled or been killed by the attacks?
“Welcome to Aurora’s. Is it just the two of you?” The host was tall and thin; Serenity thought he was in his early twenties. He didn’t look like he worked out, but that could simply be his body type at that age. More telling was the complete lack of scars; he didn’t look like he’d ever been in combat.
Both Rissa and Serenity had visible scars, though they were little more than fine lines, since they’d been properly healed with magical healing. You had to know what to look for or it wasn’t obvious what they were.
Rissa nodded and smiled. “Yes, though we’re also looking for a Master Rinsetti? Would it be possible to meet with him?”
The host nodded. “Let me get you seated and I’ll let him know you’ve asked for him.”
They were led to one of the tables for two and each handed a menu; it was clear that they were expected to order something while they waited. Serenity kept his eye on the host, who walked over to the man sitting alone, spoke to him, and pointed out the table he’d seated Rissa and Serenity at before heading back to the kitchen area.
The food was good, but it was clearly the tea that was the real draw of the restaurant. They’d both ordered the Aurora Tea, assuming that anything that had the name of the restaurant as its own was probably worth trying, and Serenity was grateful for that decision.
For Rissa, it had some mild mana restoration properties, but it did it by encouraging the body to make more mana rather than by simply adding it, which meant it was actually safe to drink in large quantities. Serenity was confident it was high in caffeine, as well. It was too bad that neither of those worked on him anymore; he wasn’t certain if that was an artifact of his increased Tier or altered body chemistry, but he didn’t feel any increase in his mana regeneration and he’d quit responding to caffeine some time while they were closing the portals on Earth.
Fortunately, the tea was also delicious. It reminded Serenity more of a rich, expensive coffee than a tea, and it was clearly made similarly, with cream and sugar to ease down the bitter edges and enhance the surprisingly nutty flavor of the tea itself.
Serenity stared at his empty tea mug and debated if that was enough or if he should order another. He ‘d just come to the conclusion that another one would be good when the host reappeared at the table. “Master Rinsetti has agreed to meet with you upstairs, once you finish your meal.”
Well, that answered the questions. No seconds on the aurora tea, no matter how good it was.
Rissa clearly reached the same decision as Serenity. She chugged the end of her tea, set coins on the table to pay for the meal, then answered the host. “We’re ready.”
A door in the brick wall led to an inconspicuous stairwell and another carved wooden staircase. The host led them to the second floor, but the stairs continued up to a third level. The building wasn’t tall enough to have a fourth story, so that had to be where it stopped.
The door from the stairs opened directly into a sitting room; the man they’d seen reading the paper earlier sat in a plush chair reading a book, but the rest of the furniture was unoccupied. The room had wallpaper that was patterned in colors ranging from russet to cream; the furniture was upholstered in a darker brown that somehow seemed to fit with the wallpaper, while the floor was a polished light-colored wood that Serenity couldn’t identify by eye. It was a very brown room, but between the wallpaper, the pale floor and cream-colored ceiling, and the large window occupying one wall, it managed to escape being dark and depressing.
The host from downstairs waved towards a couch, then turned around and escaped through the still-open door into the stairwell.
The reading man looked up and smiled. He was clearly older than Serenity had first assumed, with the wrinkles of old age crossing his face. Despite his age, he looked vital and healthy.
It was the first time Serenity had gotten a good look at him; he looked like someone who’d seen the world and was content with what he’d seen. The attacks didn’t seem to bother him, at least not right now. “Master Rinsetti?”
“You must have gotten my name at the Runeworkers’. I think Jemma’s the only one who uses that title. Yes, I’m Old Man Rinsetti. Why are you looking for me?”
Serenity had a momentary impulse to protest that Rinsetti wasn’t old, but that simply seemed foolish. He was old, no matter how many years he had, as long as he thought he was old. “The flyers that have been attacking the city. Did you know that they have a symbol on the underside? It looks like a rune to me.”
“Hmm. That sounds like an odd place for a rune, but who knows how those flyers work anyway; they’re faster than any I’ve ever seen. What does it look like?” Rinsetti made an impatient beckoning motion with his hand.
Serenity quickly pulled a sheet of paper out of his Rift. It was a good thing he’d thought ahead and brought copies, even if he had needed to make them all by hand; carbon paper could help, but it didn’t give the detail and precision that was needed for some of the smaller shapes he could make out.
A copier or at least a printer was definitely something to add to his travel kit as soon as someone figured out how to make one that ran on mana. Serenity didn’t think he could power one himself, but that was something he’d definitely want to take up with Aide when they got back to Earth.
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