This chapter takes place roughly after Chapter 36 in SFTD.

If there was one thing the Mystics were always about, even back when they were still known as Priests, it was solidarity. Thinking on that, it made Maria's heart go out to the Sectoid that tended to shadow their group.

Almost whenever they were in the Commons, she would notice Arachne show up and simply... sit alone in a corner of the room. Sometimes she would watch the other Mystics work on their art projects, but she never moved to engage or talk with any of them. Strangely, she didn't seem any more uncomfortable when Jax was in the room. Or more comfortable, for that matter. Maria got a vibe of distant loneliness from her, and it made her feel like she should do something about it.

Such was the case when she found herself chaperoning the Mystics again as this week's theme was watercolors, most of them engaged in free range creativity. Bastet herself was experimenting on how she could color one of her most recent statues to give it that "watercolor aura," in her words, and the Twins? Off in their room, naturally, still hard at work. Maria was glad for their industriousness, even if she wanted to see them more often.

Walking around like a teacher observing her students, she tried to not make it too obvious when her gaze panned up and she watched Arachne. She was back to observing them all again at the far side of the room. Their gazes met and Arachne quickly backed down, eyes focused on some other part of the room. Again, she felt sympathy for the lone Sectoid. She hadn't seemed to fully learn English yet—not that it mattered to Maria so much, of course. ADVENT was still fresh in her mind, as much as she avoided using it. If it was to connect with an ally in need? She would be perfectly fine with it.

Gently telling the Mystics to continue working, Maria strode over to where Arachne was sitting, elegantly crouching down to her eye level. "Arachne? Would you like to join us? At the very least, I can offer you a chair to observe at a closer distance."

Arachne slumped slightly against the back of her chair, not meeting Maria's gaze. It was a while before she spoke. "At least offer me the dignity of observing from a distance so I do not seem like a desperate fool, wanting to be accepted."

Well, the situation was worse than she thought. Arachne was putting up a front but Maria could see clear as day that she was devastatingly lonely. She crossed her arms. "You would only seem like a desperate fool if we were not willing to accept you, Arachne. I speak for everyone when I say we would be more than glad to have you with us, as part of the group."

"Everyone?" Arachne finally looked at her, with an expression that Maria guessed was the Sectoid version of disbelief. "Even your Warlock? He has sympathies for the lot of you because you are his own. I can't imagine his reaction should he come back and see I am mingling with your clique."

"Warlock Tessura and I are as equals. If he had objections, he would have to run them by me first and foremost—but of course, that assumes that he would have them in the first place." Maria offered a gentle smile. "I have known my Warlock for almost twenty years, now. He would gladly accept you into his ranks, and has only kept his distance as to not pressure you."

Arachne looked at her for a long while at that, but eventually she relented, hissing out a sigh. "I have no interest at the moment in joining in creating art pieces—if anything, I would like to learn a thing or two from your Tailors to keep my uniform maintained. But if you so insist... I will take a closer perch to watch them from."

Maria's smile grew and she stood back up to full height. "We would be glad to have you. Feel free to take your current chair and drag it closer. Consider yourself invited to the group proper as well."

Arachne gently moved her head in a way to suggest she was rolling her eyes, but regardless, she picked up her chair and brought it closer. She still sat farther away than Maria would've liked... but it was a start, and she wouldn't begrudge it.

Maria was about to go back to observing the Mystics when the door to the Studio opened. She half-expected Jax to be on the other side, but instead, it was the other Twins. Benald and Pattie sauntered in, with Pattie leading the charge. "Hey, Maria! Mother Maria?" She shook her head. "Whatever. Hey, can Ben and I join your group?"

Maria blinked a few times. "I... If I remember correctly, I have seen the two of you sitting amongst ourselves. Are you not already a part of our group?"

Benald came up beside Pattie, sunglasses and bandanna hiding most of his face. "Pats here is convinced there's some kind of induction ceremony we've missed. I tried telling her otherwise but she wouldn't take it."

"Well, I mean, yeah." Pattie broadly gestured to the whole room. "They were Priests before and stuff! I bet the Mystics had to do some weird kind of ritual to get formally accepted into the group. We gotta do things properly, Ben."

He shook his head, looking back up at Maria. "Feel free to disabuse her notions. She tends to get ideas."

Maria looked between the two of them and shook her head. "There is no sort of 'ritual' or 'ceremony' or anything of the sort to join our group. So long as you are respectful and acknowledge that it is led by my Warlock and I, then you are allowed to join."

"Oh, yeah, that Jax dude." Pattie shoved her hands in her pockets, working over something in her mouth. Gum, perhaps? "Yeah, he's alright. Figure he's gotta be good if the Chief let him in, right?"

"Gotta be." Benald crossed his arms. "Commander in Chief ain't steered us wrong yet. And Jax seems like a genuine guy. Won't hear no complaints from us."

Pattie lit up. "Y'think he'd teach us how to be psionic masters?"

"Only one way to find out." Benald looked over at the watercoloring circle, who had slightly paused to observe their conversation. "Art going down today? Mind if we watch?"

"Not at all." Maria gestured gently over to the circle. "You are more than welcome to sit and watch."

Nodding, Ben walked over and picked out a chair, Pattie following behind him. It was nice to see more of the normal soldiers congregating with the group. She imagined it made the Mystics and Jax's other followers feel more included. They were always welcome, of course... but she understood if they felt like they weren't. Or simply didn't want to. Not everyone was as forgiving as Eliza was, this much Maria knew.

"Knew I saw the twins come this way."

Oh! Edgar had opened the door when she hadn't been looking. He was still keeping it open, in fact, letting his whole court stream in while Nevermore perched on his shoulder. Maria smiled at the sight of them—Edgar was an early adopter of the notion of joining up with Jax's followers, considering the Studio was a relatively quiet place where the birds wouldn't be rustled too much. Eventually he became a staple of the area. He returned Maria's grin. "They give you trouble?"

"Not at all." She watched with joy as the ravens took their places on tables and on pre-installed shelves in the room, mingling almost like humans. When they were all through, Edgar closed the door, and she continued as he walked up. "Apparently they thought they were not one with the group before. I was unaware that we held ceremonies..."

Edgar croaked out a chuckle. "Watson tends to get it in her head that there's more to the world than it seems. Sounds poetic enough, until you get right down to what she thinks is happening."

"Ain't that right," Benald piped up, leading to Pattie punching his shoulder.

"Well," Maria replied, "if you are looking for permission to stay awhile, consider it given. You have always been welcome here."

"As if I needed to ask permission." Though Edgar's eyes were hidden, Maria was certain they sparkled just then. "But still, I appreciate your blessing, my Patriarch. I'll be in my usual spot." He walked a few paces towards it with some of his court following around him before he stopped. "Actually, do you know what would help this room out, and maybe the Commons? Beanbags."

"Beanbags!" Pattie gently beat her fist on the table. "Ben, how long ago did I say we needed those?"

"April," he replied, "but nobody wanted to hear about it because Lily hadn't gotten all the ACs installed and nobody wanted their skin sticking to them."

She crossed her arms. "I still said it first," she muttered.

"Well, I'm saying it now." Nevermore's and his eyes glowing, he looked to Maria proper. "Pass it along to the Tailors sometime, if you could. I believe it would be a great idea."

Chuckling at the exchange, Maria nodded. "I will see to it."

She could hear the door opening behind her again and she internally wondered how many times this was going to happen.

Left with relatively nothing to do in the day, Jax opted to head back to his Studio.

It had been an interesting day, watching Mordenna create and sharing some passing conversation with Eliza in the hall, but eventually even a man as outgoing as himself needed comfortable familiarity. True, he formerly thrived on PR outings, but even he needed his rest.

So when he opened the door to the Studio, he was expecting a quiet atmosphere and the company of his followers. What he wasn't expecting was what he saw inside.

Edgar and his flock were in attendance, but that was fine—they were generally quiet and he'd be lying if he said he didn't like the little omens of ill fortune. Arachne was almost sitting among those painting, so it seemed she overcame her inhibitions and fully joined them. She was quiet, so that too he would grant. The Psion Twins were there... along with quite a few soldiers he didn't take to come into this room. A circle had been formed of the twins, Leo, Clint, Banel, and Marlene... and in the corner of the room, Kalight lurked, seemingly watching over his fellow Templar.

His lingering in the door attracted the attention of the room, and it was Maria who sheepishly grinned. "My Warlock. It... seems today is a good one for company."

Stunned a moment longer, eventually Jax chuckled, entering proper and moving to take his reserved chair. "Enlisted more followers for us, have you, Maria?"

"Hey." Leo pointed a finger. "Count me out. I'm just here because Banel is."

Banel gently nudged Leo. "Oh, hush. Give it a chance—if I weren't sure I'd go mad with power, I'd take the chance to train under the Warlock."

Clint rolled his eyes. "It's a matter of principle, Banel. Besides, it would practically be cheating."

"You're just angry he's better than you are."

"And what of it?!"

Pattie snickered while Benald shook his head, leaning back. "Gotta second the second biggest guy in this room on that one. Which, by the way, now that you're here." Benald angled his head back to look at Jax. "Pats and I are interested if you'll take us under your wing. Y'know. Can't ever be too strong when we're trying to get the aliens out."

"Most of 'em, anyways," Pattie added. "Arachne's cool. And Wiki. And Schro, and all the Skirmishers and your guys... and you guys!"

Leo caught onto something in that statement and stroked his chin. "... are they really aliens if they were human to begin with?"

Jax turned his chair around to face the group. "To answer your questions—fine. I will see about training the two of you, but it will have to be mediated... and the Commander's training comes first."

"No complaints about that." Benald shrugged. "Chief's needs come before ours."

"As for the latter question..." Actually, that was a good one. Mentally, he wondered what Mordenna would argue, and that helped him come to his conclusion. "The human definition of 'alien' in common parlance relates to a species coming from outside of Earth. Considering Mordenna and I were of this planet and Fal-Mai was created on it, I would not imagine we fit the strict definition. However, by one of its sub-definitions—relating to anything suitably outlandish or uncanny—I imagine we would." He gestured. "As with many things, it is in the eye of the beholder."

Leo shook his head. "So, largely, no?"

"In essence, yes."

"Then what do we call you lot?"

"Is 'Chosen' not good enough a designation?"

"Well..." Leo rubbed the back of his neck. "Now this is just leading me into questioning if you guys classify as your own species."

As Jax launched into that particular discussion, it left him wondering. He'd never deigned to mingle with Eliza's forces before. Them seeking him out like this was rather curious. But, as Leo explained himself, perhaps it was a snowball effect. One turned to their side swayed many, and he supposed it lead up to the gathering he had today.

Still, he wasn't necessarily complaining. It felt... nice, to know the ship's opinion of him was turning. Nicer still to know it would have the knock on effect of them looking upon his followers more fondly. If anything, that was what was best about the whole situation.

Unconsciously, he smiled. It was nice to have more friends.