Tzo and Taiko stared at the coils of silver and gold and platinum wires and cabling resting on one of the flattened legs of the black pants, then the piles of glittering gems sorted by type on the other. Now that they were in as secure a location as he was likely to find, and they had the wording for the Minor Wish down, Justin had stripped all his baubles out of their seams and concealments in his Earth trousers.

“It’s not,” Tzo started, then swallowed. “Not enough to purchase the Orphan, of course, but – still -”

“I might disagree, Advocate,” Taiko said. “That is an absurd amount of liquid assets, Brother,” Taiko added, and pffpffpffed out a breathy laugh.

“- and of course the eventual per-season market value of your Mana Water exceeds it by, by -” Tzo murmured.

“A factor of twenty-ish, I think,” Justin said. “Not counting their value as Void materials, that is.”

“Which – if you could sell them all at once without crashing the price - “ Taiko continued, “would increase that by a factor of one hundred. At least.”

“Tzo? Two hundred and fifty million?” Justin said.

“Yes?” the advocate replied inattentively.

“Could that much purchase the Right Here Chloe?” Justin asked.

“What? Oh. No. No; Riku-Go’s Folly – er, the Orph – ah, your ship, had a minimum floor of one-point-two billion ri. Though a genuine opportunity to get it off the High Court’s account books might lower that. . .no, not enough to matter, no.”

“So this is effectively a billion-dollar home,” Justin said, looking around. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Even for him, that was one beast of a brag. Two-thirds of the Empire State Building’s price, or of the Burj Khalifa’s construction costs. But going by his shaky guesstimations based on what he’d seen so far, he also had an uncomfortable feeling that the Right Here Chloe’s functional square footage was approaching the range of those buildings as well. Three million square feet. Which was simply ridiculous.

Yeah, he might have pushed the Contract a little farther than he’d meant to, then. But the Dawn seemed fine with it, so eh whatever, it was probably all good.

“You were that rich!?” Taiko exclaimed.

“What? No! I had less than a hundredth of that! I meant right for impressing – uh, other people.”

Taiko and Tzo both gave him looks of disbelief. Okay, yes, he’d fumbled there, hadn’t he. ‘Sounds about right’ was the kind of nonchalantly pseudo-conceited thing he would have said. . .before. . .to get a, a, reaction. And he wasn’t – these two weren’t, by his assessment – ready to hear about whom he really wanted to ‘impress’.

As Justin mentally scrambled to find an explanation that was morally and ethically acceptable to him while still not revealing his long-term plans, understanding flashed across Taiko’s face. “Ah!” the old monk said. “Shrines and Hokyukko powers – you intend to host Demons here? But why – oh, by the Dawn, are there more items of power here beyond your Magic Fountain!? And you need – want – Demons, for guardians you can - you must bind, to secure them?”

Justin looked at him, shaking his head slightly in amazement. “Taiko,” he said, “you are a scary old man. Yes, you’re correct. There’s a Mana Well behind the secure bulkheads in the lower hold of the Here, with meditation and work rooms around it, and a Library containing magical grimoires likewise on the Chloe, next to the Spellcrafting lab. That’s partly why the Shrine areas are on that hull. The Mana Well is less important, less dangerous, in my view, than the knowledge in the Library, so it needs the most protection. Tzo -”

The advocate held up a hand to stop him. “I understand completely, Prominence,” the older man said. “No matter how honorable the retainer, how strict their oath, some temptations must be warded against by all means available. Even under less strait circumstances, the Ling Fei would not be offended by your caution in obtaining guards outside our purview. Indeed, more the opposite; it is reassuring.”

“Thanks, Tzo,” Justin said. “And of course the Ling Fei will be among the first offered the opportunity to make use of these facilities. . .in due time.”

“Do you plan to recruit the Fist and the Rod?” Taiko asked curiously.

“I’ve been considering it,” Justin said. “Do you think Master Kaji would be interested in relocating?”

“For someone of another vocation, I would say they would be a fool not to,” Taiko said, staring down at his blanket-buried feet in thought. “But Hokyukko traditionally build stronger-than-normal relationships with their local communities as a means to reduce their emotional attachments to their – charges. So he might prefer not to leave. And the Shrine of the Fist and the Rod is not – even were the Fist and the Rod to depart, to be housed elsewhere, and be replaced by another Demon, so that the Shrine's name changed - its standing would not be greatly reduced. It has a long and honorable history.”

Justin had noticed something, and brought it up: “You said another Demon, singular, even though Kim and Kon are a duo – they are a duo, right? - is that unusual?”

“It is almost unheard of,” Taiko agreed. “As a rule, Demons do not share territory, or power, or – anything, really. May-She-Remain-Bound -” Taiko reached up, then dropped his fluttering fingertips through the air, in what Justin guessed was some Stars-aligned benediction “- Kimukkanaya the Strongest is no more than a single level in power below one of the Celestial Court Themselves. Why she – cares so – for Kon the Rod is unknown, as unknown as their origins, or how and why he can return her. . .sentiments. But they have been together for many, many centuries. So long that there are children’s songs whose sources we cannot trace, warning about them, about never threatening Kon lest his Big Sister erupt in rage, but also about how to placate him with candy, or fair contests. And thereby keep Kim calm and – well, not docile, but – peaceable.”

Tzo stirred and asked, “Kokyu, what is your position on the theory that the Fist and the Rod are the heirs of the, er, ‘ancient Demon Queen’?”

Taiko snorted. “The good advocate is talking around the Church’s position that said ‘ancient Demon Queen’ never existed, as a defense against the apparently ineradicable belief that not only did she exist, but was Sky Father’s consort and the mother of the cosmos. Which the Church holds is heresy of the highest, worst kind, and Jusutin,” Taiko raised his voice, “please do not ask Sky Father about it. It is a known fact that the Skylord does not want to talk about that, and will not entertain questions on the matter. Explosively so, sometimes.”

Justin put his hands up in both acceptance of the monk’s request, and in defense against his glare. “Understood. Everybody has their trigger topics. I won’t bring it up with him.”

Note to self: bring that up with the Dawn.

“As for your question, advocate,” Taiko said, settling down again,” I am inclined towards the belief that ‘Demon Ruler’ - whether ‘Queen’ or ‘King’ or else-word - was a title granted to multiple entities of ancient history in series, rather than one specific one. What is kept hidden is that -” Taiko halted a moment in habitual self-censorship, then recovered and continued “- the Fist maintains a certain amount of order among the lesser Demons of Ribe. To the degree that they will pass information to each other, and upwards to her.

“Which she also traditionally provides to her Hokyukko, which in turn is one main reason why she is granted more latitude than most. Apart from that, however - because of this capacity of hers, there is, or was, a consensus among the Stars’ clergy that as the undisputed Strongest in Ribe, she is capable of frankly terrorizing the lesser Demons into obedience, so much so that they will go against their natures. From this, the theory extends to the proposition that a ‘Demon Ruler’ is a Demon strong enough to enforce such cooperation, although in Kim’s case, as she is not as powerful as the legendary -”

“Taiko,” Justin said, a pained expression on his face. “please tell me Kim isn’t referred to as the ‘Demon Princess’.”

“Oh, Brother,” Taiko said, closing his eyes. “What else have you done?”

“Um, called her ‘Princess Kim, the best of big sisters’, and gave her some headpats? She. . .didn’t seem to mind, though. . . .”

“You touched her – then again, you were so overstuffed with Void power at the time that it wouldn’t have mattered, would it,” Taiko said, repeatedly pinching his lower lip between his front teeth, and pulling it out again as he thought.

Tzo was knuckling his forehead again, the way he had been when Justin had first met him in his office.

“You patted. . .the Fist. . .on the head,” he said.

“I thought she was just a cute street kid who deserved some better-than-decent treatment for being such a good older sibling!” Justin protested. “Oh, right; also, is it going to cause trouble if I give them some silver? I promised to give them some silver. In exchange for recommending Madame Shinbi to me and giving me directions to her Salon.”

“No, thank goodness,” Taiko said. “That won’t be a problem. They receive offerings regularly, money included.”

“Will I be able to touch Kon safely – actually, how do I manage to touch both of them safely now?” Justin asked. “Because I still think they need more physical affection. Heck, even more so, now that I know more about them! And I promised to teach Kon some stylish young people’s hand greetings from my previous home, since Kim was so insistent about not giving him candy.”

“Patted. The Fist. On the head.” Tzo repeated numbly.

“I’m. . .not sure, Brother,” Taiko admitted, pitilessly ignoring how Tzo was stuck in a verbal holding pattern. “It could be that your physical structure alone, as a Xenopote, would be sufficient to resist their chaos. Or the power formerly invested in you by, ah, ‘Book Smarts’ might be needed. Or your Hokyukko powers could compensate for that – there’s too much we don’t know to say.”

“What do they do with the money?” Justin asked Taiko,

“Buy things,” Taiko said, with a smirk.

“Oh har har, what things? Besides candy, in Kon’s case?”

“In Kim’s case, primarily alcohol. Clothes; treats. . .games at festivals; toys, which they eventually tire of and give away. The things young children usually would purchase. Except for the alcohol, of course.”

“So not a lot of money, then,” Justin said.

“No, Brother; most often they receive offerings of food. Which they do eat, yes.”

“Does anyone ever give them embroidery? Does Kim ever do any?” Justin asked.

That broke Tzo out of his trance and reduced Taiko to gape-mouthed silence again.

“What?” Justin said, honestly puzzled. “I’m pretty sure Eiko, Niri, and Norodo are going to give me some, but I’m nowhere near that close with Nuti and even if I was, there’s probably professional reasons against it. All that’s left is Kimmuetcetera, and I did meet her first, after all."

“You are, without qualification, the strangest person I have ever met,” Taiko pronounced. “I can comprehend your willingness to form a familial bond with them; you have the power and the, the, inhuman compassion for it, I suppose, but. . .the Fist. . .doing embroidery. . .for a Prominence, voidspawn or not. . . .” He shook his head. “Jusutin. Demons, let alone the Strongest, do not – do not -”

“You’ve traveled so far into madness that you’ve emerged from the other side in some bizarre realm where everything normal is turned perverse and the perverse made normal and nothing can make sense anymore,” Tzo said.

“You’re exaggerating, right?” Justin asked him, doubtfully, since Tzo sounded wholly serious.

“If you weren’t a Prominence, as your Advocate I would have you committed to an asylum,” Tzo said, his face and tone as straight as a ruler. “You want personal embroidery from the Strongest Demon in the Holy City of Ribe. You can’t get more insane than that. Sassing the Skyfather is one thing, but – this!”

“Brother, that was not a challenge,” Taiko rushed to add, correctly interpreting the look forming on Justin’s face at the words can't get more insane than that.

“Ahhh, you two just don’t know how to enjoy life,” Justin grumped.

Yeah, they’re still nowhere near ready to hear about the rest of my plans, he thought.