Chapter 195: Chapter One Hundred Ninety Six

The trip back down the E district wasn't too long. We had to change  into our costumes because even if I was willing to work with a faction  as a Wishmaster candidate I wanted to keep my regular identity secret  from anyone who was going to know about my Wish power, friends excluded.  It was a nice pleasant ride down to meet with the people at the Beast  Lord Garden. Since we were going to a taming faction, we even brought  all the wolves with us, or at least the three of them belonging to  Jessie, Callie, and I.

Benny had headed back to the  Academy to spend time with Celine, not that I could blame him, though he  and I made plans to hang out the day after next when we had some down  time. Callie and Jessie were planning their big day out for that day,  which I was glad about because it meant that they would have some down  time after Callie's meeting with The Nothing, however that went.

Speaking  of our blonde healer, she was sitting a distance away from us actively  sulking. I groaned aloud as I saw her pout. "Agria, we've been over  this. Your bear wouldn't have fit in this elevator, at least not easily.  We would have been cramped as hell trying to pack him in with us, and  that's IF they even let us bring him on." Which they would have, my  black card was good for plenty of things. But still, I wasn't being  ridiculous here, the bear wasn't going to fit properly. We already had  three people and three huge wolves in here.

She turned to  glare at me. "Beast Lord Garden is home to so many fun animals. Randall  is still new to being with me, this would have been an amazing bonding  experience and I could have introduced him to so many new friends. Maybe  even some lady bears. Now I have to resort to buying him a bunch of  expensive meat or something to win him over, because SOMEBODY won't let  him live at the house so I can have consistent access to him."

I  rolled my eyes. "Lily is still here with you. Stop ignoring your wolf,  you'll hurt her feelings." As if on cue (though I suspected she just  understood her name) Lily stepped up to lay her chin on Jessie's knee,  staring up at her soulfully with a low whine.

Jessie's  eyes widened in surprise and I was pretty sure slight panic. "Oh  sweetie! Have I been ignoring you? I'm so sorry." She reached down to  scratch the wolf behind the ears with glowing green fingers, an action  that the wolf very obviously enjoyed based on the rumbling she was  giving off. She looked back up to us as she pet the canine, not  bothering to stop. "So, do you have a plan for this one boss lady? Or is  this going to be another case of throwing a talented Ascendant at the  leader of the faction so she'll be nice to us?" Her tone was teasing  despite her serious words, so I knew she wasn't worried.

I  snorted, reaching my hand out to ruffle her short hair under her hood  and getting an offended squeak as I pulled my hand back. When we finally  arrived at E district she stood up and stormed off with her chin in the  air, the wolves trailing behind her. Jin gave me an amused look as he  went and I winked at my wolf, who chuffed at the gesture. That wolf was  much smarter than he let on most of the time.

When we  stepped out of the elevator I noticed immediately that something was  different. Where before golden sunshine had dyed the buildings, making  them look peaceful and idyllic, this time the entire place was washed  with silver moonlight. I looked up and sure enough it was night here, a  huge full moon hanging in the air surrounded by tens of thousands of  twinkling stars. Apparently the sky here was actually functional. I was  mesmerized for a moment as I watched the fantastical sky, but I  eventually shook it off.

Looking back down at the  buildings, I noticed that the change in lighting had completely altered  the impression this place gave off. The cold and mysterious feeling of E  district at night was completely different than the previous vibe. It  seemed much more dangerous like this, and even the lamp posts (that I  hadn't seen before) were casting a mysterious silver light.

Callie  whistled. "Wow, this place is pretty at nice, but kind of creepy. Plus  there's way less people around. It's like we're walking through a giant  mausoleum or something. I don't suppose Cark gave you direction to any  of these buildings? All I saw was symbols and addresses, which doesn't  help us much since I don't know the layout of this place well enough to  find a specific address assuming I even knew where on the buildings to  look."

My snort made her look over questioningly and I  grinned behind my mask. "Please. I can get us there easily, we're in a  high place looking down on huge buildings." I looked down at the sea of  white marble and triggered Seek Hidden, focusing on the Beast Lord  Garden building. Huge targets like this were ideal for Seek Hidden, and  it was easy to pick out the red glow especially from up here on the  platform.

I gestured down in that direction and Callie  didn't question me, she and Jessie just trailed behind, the wolves  fanning out around us in a wedge formation to keep us safe if any tried  to attack us. I wasn't sure if Jessie did that or if it was some pack  dynamic that we were included in now, but either way we were lucky to  have them. I didn't know what Jessie's chances for taming were but they  couldn't be a hundred percent, so getting all of them had been amazing.  It had probably only been so successful because goblins were assholes.

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We  followed the creepily lit paths without much trouble, I had to use Leaf  on the Wind and Cloud Step up to check on our heading. It was  impossible to see the building past the other buildings from the ground  so that was our only option to prevent from getting horribly lost.  Finally though we came to the huge white marble building with the right  address. We had to look around a bit to find where address was actually  recorded, but we managed it, and the symbol on the card matched in any  case.

When we arrived I handed over the card itself to the  tall man in green robes at the front of the building, and he took it  with a solemn nod and not a word in response. His face was mostly  covered by a green mask made of some kind of smooth stone. He glanced  down at the wolves, then back up at us and gestured us inside before  turning to walk away in silence. I turned to Callie. "I'm going to  complain to management. Their doorman is way too friendly. I mean  really, how is anyone supposed to get anything done around here?"

Callie  stifled a snort of laughter, smacking me on the shoulder and making a  shushing noise. Still, the slight tension from the creepy atmosphere and  silence had been washed away. I stepped up and put an arm around  Callie, while the wolves clustered further around Jessie just in case as  we headed inside. When we stepped through the door at the back of the  entryway just inside though, we stopped in shock.

Flowers.  So many flowers in so many shades and colors it was hard to even take  it all in. Not just color, the shape was so varied and insane it was  crazy, big ones small ones, short ones, and tall ones. There were  flowers that looked like strange geometric designs, ones that looked  like paintings of animals, and some that were too strange to really  describe, but they were all somehow perfectly cohesive in overall  impression. Each disparate element was somehow arranged perfectly to sit  in the absolute perfect spot for...something.

Jessie was  spellbound. I'd actually forgotten she used to do flower arrangements  for a living. This whole place would have already been amazing to her  probably, even if not for the animals. A plethora of creatures scattered  throughout this one huge room full of plants and color. This, I was  sure, was the Beast Lord Garden in its true form. This was where the  name came from, and I could feel some kind of indescribable power in  here that I'd never come into contact with before.

I  wasn't sure what it was, but Jessie, being the one of us with the most  experience with flowers, picked it up first. "An Enchantment. This is  some kind of huge field enchantment. But it feels different right? Like  it isn't something someone made. Naturally occurring somehow? How does  that even work?" After she pointed it out I realized she was right. This  was somehow an Enchantment, but I couldn't see any runes anywhere. It  just seemed different than a traditional Enchantment.

A  melodic voice came from off to one side. "Well spotted, dear girl." We  all jumped and turned to take in the caramel skinned woman with amber  eyes and long dark curls sitting on a bench off to one side, slowly  stroking a small furry animal. When she saw us looking she offered a  gentle smile. "Hello. I hear you've arranged to meet with me. My name is  Melinda. Some call me the Beast Queen, but I find it a tad  ostentatious. Melinda is fine, or Mel if you prefer. I've never been one  for formality." She gazed down at the wolves. "Your companions are  quite lovely. Are they new friends or did you raise them yourself?"

Jessie  practically lit up. "Oh, they're recent additions to our team. We found  them out in the forest. They were living with some mean goblins out in  the forest." Her face shadowed with sadness. "There were a few others in  the pack, but we couldn't save them all. Luckily they didn't hold it  against me. Wolves are very practical like that from what I can tell.  They know that sometimes bad things happen and don't feel the need to  find someone to blame. I wish humans could be as understanding."

Melinda  gave a solemn nod. I often find a similar level of empathy toward the  actions of animals. They're more honest I think. The main difference  between humans and animals is that animals don't lie. Not to themselves  anyway. Humans lie to themselves more than perhaps anyone else."

That  was probably more true than most people would be willing to admit.  Jessie stepped forward to look at the furry critter Melinda was  scratching. "That little guy is so cute. What's his name? And what kind  of animal is he? Looks like some kind of weasel?" I realized when she  spoke that if I focused on the animal I could feel a sense of weight  that I recognized, and almost jumped out of my skin when I realized the  damn thing was an E ranker. I suspected it had been hiding it's Impact  in the way that some of them seemed to be able to do.

Melinda  smiled. "This is Travis. He's my partner. He was the first beast I ever  tamed, and he's been with me for over a century. One of the reasons my  Beast Lord Garden is considered such a stable force is because we have  two E rankers where others have only one. Travis is a Moondancer Weasel,  a particularly rare variant of beast. But enough about Travis and I,  you came here to meet with us about something important, yes? We're  anxious to hear you out. You keep excellent company so we're feeling  well disposed to you." She stroked the little creature with more power  in one claw than I had in my whole body and smiled placidly. "So go  ahead. Impress us."

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