Chapter 248: Chapter Two Hundred Forty Nine

Getting back to Valen was shockingly easy. We had the money to just  hire an air shuttle back at this point, not to mention our positions as  the winners of the freshman treasure hunt had everyone hoping to get in  good with us. We avoided using the Unity's in house shuttles, and as  such avoided Midknight and Annie. There were a lot of options, but in  the end we got a ride from Callie's uncle, who decided to come back for a  visit once he heard we were going and offered us use of his personal  air shuttle for the trip.

I expected Callie to shut that  down fast, but apparently their calls had been going well, because she  seemed fine with it, and was even excited to have him along. And she was  in a good mood for the whole day until we finally met up with Alexander  at his air shuttle. As we arrived at the landing site, I was forced to  stop and stare at the conveyance we were going to be using to get back  home. "Okay." I said, pointing at the thing. "Why the hell is that thing  so...that." Words failed me as I gestured at the air shuttle  dismissively.

Alexander, who was out of costume like the  rest of us, just snickered. "Well, I have something of a reputation to  maintain after all. Besides, it's not THAT bad." He cast a contemplative  gaze to the air shuttle, which in defense wasn't BAD, so much as  just...a lot. The whole thing was made of pitch black metal, and despite  being a similar shape to the last one that was where the similarities  ended.

The black metal was jagged and dramatic looking,  and scrolled through with traceries of gold the made the dramatic design  choices all the more striking. The inside was plush and lined with red  velvet and it had dark, thick, red curtains blocking off the empty  spaces on the sides, also velvet, with gold pull ropes that made it  obvious how those would be opened and closed. It was basically the most  over the top thing I'd ever seen in my life, and that was a pretty big  list considering all the places I'd been as an Ascendant.

Callie  snickered. "Sorry Uncle Alex. It's just kind of much. But it's fine, we  know that your people are more likely to get something like this for  you to use. We just appreciate not having to spend chits to get back. We  have cash on hand, but trips like this are damn expensive and it's  better to save the money when we can." She looked him over with  amusement. "So, you seem a bit dressed up for a trip back home. Looking  forward to seeing anyone special?"

Alexander cleared his  throat. "Not at all, it's just been years since I've seen Amelia. I  don't want her to think I've become some kind of layabout." Callie and I  did our best not to snicker at the obvious crush he had on her mother. I  wasn't sure exactly how that would work out given his identical  features to her cheating ex-husband, but she'd known them both for years  so maybe it wouldn't be a problem for her.

We turned to  see the others approaching to climb inside. Benny, Jessie, Zeke, Cark,  Cass, and Celine, and six wolves. We'd brought Cark and his sister along  because Callie had mentioned the little girl to her mother who  apparently insisted. I'd have been down to invite them either way. Cark  was a great guy and Cass was a blast to have around. Plus having the kid  around was a breath of fresh air. Kept us all a little more human.

Celine  waved slightly, seemingly shy about riding home with all of us, or just  being her normal taciturn self. Benny looked over the moon she'd agreed  to come with. He put an arm over her shoulder. "Hey guys, hope we  aren't late. Had to grab some things. So what kind of time are we  looking at for travel here? I remember it was crazy fast last time. Like  two hours or so. Will this one be as fast?" He sounded excited for the  trip, which I got. It had been pretty intense last time. I wondered if  the drapes would make it better or worse?

We all climbed  in, and as usual the space inside wasn't cramped at all. This thing was  swanky, it had all the same spatial expansions as the elevator  compartments in the WCP, even better ones than most of the cars we'd  been in. We all took seats on the plush black sofas. Alexander gave an  expansive gesture. "Sit wherever you like. Anyone who wants to can open  the curtains, there are barriers to prevent windburn and stop falling,  but honestly past the first ride watching countryside blur past too  quickly to see gets pretty old."

I slumped into the  comfortable couch and smiled at Alexander, who'd chosen to sit nearby.  Callie had gone to talk with Jessie, so it was just us. He cleared his  throat again, lowering his voice before speaking. "Shane. I'd like to  thank you. Calliope mentioned you were the one who suggested she give me  a call. Getting to know her has been...nice. I never got to spend time  with her as a girl, my relationship with my brother being what it was. I  never thought I would have the chance to spend time with her like  this." We both knew that lowering his voice did nothing, but all of our  Focus was decent enough that we could avoid just constantly hearing  everything with supernatural levels of fidelity.

"It's  fine." I assured him, my smile turning wry. "If it makes you feel  better, you don't owe me anything for it. I did it for Callie. I was  pretty sure she would regret not getting to know you just because of her  dad. She hates letting him control her, and that's what it would have  been. She deserved to make her own choice, and you deserved a chance to  prove your intentions. Seems like it worked out well for everyone. I  should be thanking you for training her. She's mentioned you've been  giving her some exercises to do and they've been helping her polish her  shadow combat skills."

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He just shook his head. "That isn't  training. Just offering advice. It's quite literally the least I could  do. She's been improving rapidly from what I saw when I arrived though.  You both have. I'd heard some rumors floating around E-district about  you, but I hadn't believed them. It seems they were accurate after all.  Still, it's not just stat gain. You both walk like completely different  people. You must be working hard."

Gesturing over at  Callie, who saw me and raised an eyebrow, I smiled. "She's the one whose  been working the hardest. I've just been trying to keep up. She's  absolutely brilliant in battle. Her instincts are fantastic, and she  seems to be able to pick up when I'm in trouble like a sixth sense."  We'd been doing so much work, it was nice to finally have a chance to  brag a bit, even if I wasn't bragging about me. Callie and her uncle  were still getting acquainted, it would nice for me to talk her up a  bit, and I really was insanely proud of her.

She, as it  turned out, felt the same way. "Oh none of that." I heard her say as she  stepped up behind me. She fell sideways over the couch arm, flopping  over into my lap without any sort of warning or hesitation. I grinned at  her and kissed the top of her head as she told her uncle. "He's being  modest. Like...to a stupid degree. We've both improved a ton, but he  started literal years after I did. Stat wise we're about even, and in  terms of combat skill I'm probably a bit ahead because of my Skills and  build, but that is pretty fucking amazing on its own."

I  just shrugged. "It's not the same." I was kind of cheating. Sure, Callie  was getting her stats boosted, but she had made as much progress as I  did, and I'd been using the overlay during training for the last few  weeks. She hadn't managed to get DS Mastery past Minor. That wasn't a  shock really, it was a unique Skill no one else had ever managed to get  that I knew of. She could have wished for it, but decided against it,  saying she already had too much to work on, and had another Skill to  synergize next rank already anyway.

She just rolled her  eyes. "I appreciate the hype, but I'm not going to let you pretend  you're not turning into a total beast yourself." She paused, shouting  over to Rellia. "No offense Rel." The wolf just ignored her, which I  took to be a dismissal. "Anyway, your combat senses have been growing  dramatically. I almost never worried about getting hit anymore." I tried  to protest but she leaned up to kiss me to shut me up. "Ok, that's  enough, my uncle doesn't need to hear us argue about which one of us is a  better fighter." She cut her eyes at him mischievously. "He needs to  tell me more about that bottle of wine I noticed stashed in one of the  cupboards with a bow on it."

That drew a loud sigh from  Alexander. "Damn. I thought it was hidden well enough not to draw  attention. It's nothing. Just a hostess gift. It's good manners to bring  a bottle of wine when someone allows you into their home." He showed  absolutely no sign of distress or discomfort when saying that, which  would have been much more impressive if I didn't know how absolutely  monstrous his Perception had to be. He could have been openly weeping on  the inside and not shown even a hint of it as far as we could tell.

Callie  looked dubious, but let it go in the end. She didn't want to make him  uncomfortable, even if I imagined she was kind of protective about her  mother. Alexander seemed to have made a good impression on his niece.  The guy was just so damned polite and formal though. Callie and I  weren't formal people, so we tried our hardest to get him to loosen up  as we talked, to little success. Still, it was a nice way to kill the  time, enjoying the conversation as we sped through the air. Occasionally  one of the others would come over to chat, but they mostly kept to  themselves, with Cass excitedly watching the passing countryside as we  flew once Cark was reassured about the barriers being secure.

In  what felt like no time at all we began our final approach. Everyone  stood up to watch the descent, pushing aside the curtains as we slowed  down to land on the roof of the guild building. I felt lighter than I  had in months as we landed, and I saw Stella, Ian, Lindsey, and to my  surprise, Maria, all waiting for us on the rooftop. Once we had stopped  and the barriers dropped I grinned and bolted out of the shuttle. I  headed for Maria first, scooping up my annoying surrogate sister in a  huge hug and spinning her in a circle.

She squeaked in  outrage. "Shane, you beast! Put me down! Did you get taller somehow?  This is ridiculous, why are you and Benny so damn big. I demand you stop  growing and possibly drop an inch or two." Her voice was rough with  happiness as I put her down, only for her to get snatched up and put  through the same thing by Benny as she groaned in annoyance and gave him  a similar speech. In the old days I might have been annoyed, but this  time I wasn't upset at all. I was finally home, and that was all that  mattered. It was good to be back.

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