Chapter 251: Chapter Two Hundred Fifty Two

It felt weird to be walking around out of costume for extended  periods of time. It felt even weirder knowing that we didn't need to  WORRY about walking around in costume for extended periods of time. With  three F-rankers and probably less than a dozen or two G-rankers around  here, there weren't many things that could threaten us. We weren't  equipped to punch up ranks, but we were probably just barely Titan  Twenty level on our own now. Which meant basically no G-ranker in the  city should be a real threat, even if we didn't have Alexander with us.

We  had our costumes with us of course, since Callie was planning some kind  of vengeance spree later after we all hung out, but honestly I wasn't  too worried about that. I was interested to see some more of the local  criminal element from this side of things, and I knew Callie well enough  to trust she wasn't planning something too over the top. She wasn't the  'kill em' all and let the gods sort them out' type. For now though, we  were sticking with the civilian side of things since we had her mom and  uncle with us, not to mention Cass.

By the time we met up  with Benny, Celine, and Maria it was about two PM. My best friend looked  more relaxed and at peace than I had seen him in a long time. I hardly  recognized him when I spotted him sitting on a bench next to Celine, and  it took me a minute to figure out why. He didn't look visibly different  that I could see, but something about him had changed. It took me a  minute to figure out that my Perception was picking up things like body  language and microexpressions subconsciously and my Focus was processing  them.

I waved when he looked up, and he grinned at us,  popping to his feet. "Hey guys, you made it. And you brought Callie's  uncle and...her sister?" He looked semi-confused, and I realized that we  hadn't mentioned Amelia would be coming. The older woman looked good  for her age, probably early to mid twenties. She didn't look out of  place next to Alexander, who only looked a bit older than the rest of  us.

Amelia giggled a bit, brushing a lock of hair behind  her ear. "Calliope, your friends are so sweet. I like this one." She  held out a hand to shake Benny's with a smile. "Amelia Reynolds, I'm  Callie's mother. It's nice to meet another of her team members. You must  be Benicio. She didn't mention how tall you were. What DO they feed you  boys? You're all practically giants." Her eyes shone with good humor as  she made the comment, so not one had the heart to point out that she  and Callie were mostly just really short.

I was surprised  at the introduction though. Amelia hadn't given her last name in the  time we had been staying with her, and I hadn't expected her to keep her  married name. I supposed she wanted to keep it for Callie's sake.  Benny's eyes had gone wide when she spoke, and he held out his hand on  reflex, looking shocked. "You're...her mother? I thought her mother was  mortal? You look so young."

Amelia laughed at that, and  Benny grunted as Maria elbowed him in the ribs as she went past. Not  hard thankfully, though I saw her rubbing her elbow a bit as she smiled  welcomingly at Amelia. "Sorry about my brother." She said sincerely. "He  can be a bit prone to foot in mouth. It's really nice to meet you. I'm  Maria Cortez. This is my brother's girlfriend, who is way out of his  league, Celine."

The elf girl gave a graceful wave I was  sure she had practiced in the mirror. Maria turned to the rest of us.  "Most of you I know since I saw you in passing when everyone arrived,  it's nice to see you all." Her eyes locked on Cass as they went by and  she strolled over to offer a hands. "Hi there, I'm Maria. Sorry to say  you're the youngest now. It can be a pain dealing with all these older  types, but I'm glad it's not me anymore." She winked at the younger  girl.

Cass, for her part, just giggled in amusement and  took her hand. "Cassidy. You're still pretty old, but I guess you're not  as bad as the rest of them. I can put up with the adults for you if you  need me too. I'm used to dealing with it from my big brother." She shot  Cark an annoyed glance that was softened with a fond smile. "He's  always trying to act like he knows better than me and I should just shut  and listen."

That got a surprised laugh from Maria.  "Trust me I know." She shot her own annoyed glance at Benny and I. "I  have my own big brothers, and they always think they know better. It's  not all bad though, it helps me keep them in line. They can be kind of  dumb sometimes, so they really need it." The two of them shared a  commiserating nod that should probably have worried me somewhat before  Benny cut in.

"As much fun as this little pow-wow ISN'T."  He said with exasperation. "I was pretty sure we were going to show  everyone around the city? Any of you guys have any ideas for a first  stop? The Night Market is a no go for a family trip, not that it's even  open this early, and WCP doesn't exactly seem like the best place to  take them. Vengiollo's might work, but I don't really think Cass would  enjoy it."

Callie bit her lip. "We could go to the Druid's  Grove? Mom loves that place, and it's gorgeous. Have you guys ever  been?" Benny and I shook our heads, but Jessie looked excited. Callie  just chuckled. "Yeah, I figured it would be your scene Jess. The Druid's  Grove is the local Ascendant Farmer's Market. It's mostly H-rankers  there, though the owner is a Unity executive. They sell mortal fruit  too, but they grow most of it there and it's absolutely beautiful."

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I'd  never heard of it, but then, I hadn't really interacted much with  Ascendant culture here when I'd lived in town, and it was a big city. I  was only eighteen, so there was no reason to expect I'd seen it all  here. It sounded like fun to me, and I was looking forward to picking up  some ingredients, so there was no reason to refuse. "Well, I'm in." I  said with a shrug. "I don't know about everyone else, but weird fruit  and veggies sounds entertaining to me."

Jessie snickered.  "It's not just fruit and veggies. They have flowers there too, and other  interesting plants. Nothing as impressive or powerful as Melinda's  garden, but plenty of things that are pretty to look at, plus I know the  owner. I used to work there sometimes before I got my ability. My mom  was friendly with Harvest, the executive Callie mentioned, and she was  kind of my mentor in flower arranging when I was a kid." She smiled  sadly. "I haven't seen her in years though. Once mom and dad died we  stopped going. Reminded us of them too much."

Maria put a  hand on her shoulder and squeezed. I was honestly just surprised. Jessie  never talked about her parents, I knew they'd died when she was young,  and Alan had basically raised her. Other than that I realized I'd never  heard her say much of anything about them. This was the first time I  heard her imply that they might have been Ascendants, even indirectly,  but it would explain how her brother and she both got powers. I knew  because of my own parents that Ascendant traits could carry over  slightly, though not much until you hit the higher ranks.

Seeing  our friend lost in her own thoughts Callie cleared her throat. "Anyway,  Druid's Grove it is. I haven't been in a while either. I really love  the apples there. " She nodded to Amelia. "Mom used to take me all the  time as a kid, she and Harvest are friends." She got an odd look on her  face, glancing to Jessie and then her mother. "Actually, I don't think  it's ever come up, but did you know Jessie's mom? I didn't realize you  guys were both friends of Aunt Alyssa until just now."

Amelia  smiled softly. "Not really. I think I knew her in passing though. If  she's who I'm thinking of she was always a kind woman. I hadn't realized  Jessica was her daughter until you mentioned it, but I see the  resemblance. Piper had black hair, but there's a lot of similarity in  the eyes." She gave Jessie a warm smile. "I didn't know her well, but  Alyssa and she were very close and I heard nothing but wonderful things.  She spoke about you and your brother often on the few occasions I did  meet her. She was very proud of your talent for flower arranging."

My  teammate swallowed hard, her emerald eyes swimming for a second with  emotion, before she pushed it all down. Jessie was much better at  controlling her emotions than her generally happy demeanor would let on.  With everything decided though, we headed out, deciding to take the bus  to our destination. There was a stop near where we met up (it was the  same park Benny and I had met at back when I first found out about my  power) and Benny and I knew the schedule by heart.

Being  back on a Valen bus with my best friend was a bit surreal. It felt like  it had been so long since we'd done thing, and being with so many new  faces made it all the stranger. We all chatted back and forth, Amelia  asking about the Academy, Rajak in general, and our adventures in the  capital. Maria caught us up on how things had been back home, her break  up with Zack, and how things had been around here since M-Jack left. It  had been both more and less peaceful, with no lunatic shenanigans, but  plenty of turf wars, even if the Unity mostly kept it from affecting the  mortals.

Finally,  we arrived at the Druid's Grove. We climbed out of the bus at the stop  Callie indicated and walked for about two miles before we came to the  right place. Jessie stopped first, having run ahead a bit, and took a  deep, happy breath. "Oh wow, I forgot how much I love the smell of this  place. Like earth and fresh fruit and growing things." She spun around a  few times, eyes closed, and just luxuriated in the atmosphere. Then she  stopped and gave us an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, bit distracted.  Welcome to the Druid's Grove."

She  gestured around us, and I could see why they wanted to come here. The  place was a park in its own right, but where the rest of them were green  and lush, this one was shades of red, orange, and yellow. It was Autumn  here somehow, and the ground was thick with leaves that crunched  underfoot. Among the trees were wooden tables that had an almost box  like top, each holding different fruits, vegetables, and some even being  packed with dirt which grew beautiful plants.

I  chuckled a bit as Callie grabbed my hand, dragging me along with her as  she set off toward the tables. She seemed so excited to be here, and  Amelia's smile told me that she loved seeing her daughter so happy just  as much as I did. As Callie began to drag me toward a table packed with  dark red juicy looking apples, I began to understand where my  girlfriend's appetite came from. If I'd grown up coming here I'd be  hungry all the time too. I was definitely going to try one of those  apples. They looked delicious.

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