The sun rose high over the no-longer-sunken city of Luthe, gleaming off the domes, sparkling from the towers, casting a shimmering reflection across the surrounding sea. For fifteen thousand years, the city had been the utopia of the Scionborn; for nearly as long, it had been an internment camp for the Traitorspawn, now renamed and reborn as Luthea, the Children of Peace.
At no time had there been more Exalted there than could be counted on one hand. Leviathan and his chosen lieutenants, the Sage of the Depths and Swims-in-Shadow, had made homes of a sort there, though Leviathan himself had not set foot in the city in centuries. The two had sometimes taken apprentices of their own, yet never more than one apiece. No Gathering had ever been hosted there, at Leviathan's insistence, for his treatment of the Traitorspawn, while technically his business, would have drawn unwelcome eyes.
The Traitorspawn themselves had produced a total of seventeen Terrestrial Exalted over a period of fifteen centuries, of whom Gavrane Tomazri had been the last. In itself this was something of a puzzle, for they were among the purest Terrestrial blood remaining in Creation; save for a few perverts and rapists, no Scionborn had mingled their genetics with the disgusting creatures since the Usurpation. The Sage of the Depths had speculated that the conditions the Traitorspawn were kept in might be to blame; their spirits had been broken, the only glimmer of resistance being the preservation of lore against the arrival of a savior. For all that the blood of the Elemental Dragons was the prime factor in Terrestrial Exaltation, a certain strength of will, a certain heroism were also requirements, and those had been in short supply in the sunken city.
But Leviathan had been defeated, and now Luthe hosted the greatest Great Gathering to be held in centuries. Besides Lunar elders from all over the West and their apprentices, several elders had arrived from all the corners of Creation to see the upstart Dreamer-of-Reason and to discuss what was to be done about present crises across the world. Key agents had arrived as well-spies from the Blessed Isle, from Thorns, from Gem and Gethamane, from Lookshy. The Sage nervously considered that as many as half the Lunars in the world might be there, and while such a force was formidable it was also vulnerable.
Not that they were the only Exalted in the city. With Tomazri as their prophesied hero, and an ally in Dreamer-of-Reason-in himself, for that matter-the Traitorspawn had taken the fight to Leviathan and to all the Scionborn. Casualties had been high, but the chaos of war had proven a forging ground. The battlefield had seethed with elemental forces. If one counted the fatalities, the Sage believed as many as a hundred Dragon-Blooded might have Exalted in a matter of a few hours. Against such a force, Leviathan himself might not have stood even without the Sage and the Dreamer opposing him. Most of them were Water Aspect-no surprise-but every element was represented, even Fire. And though the majority were in their mid-teens, a few were as old as their mid-twenties-all but confirming the "heroism" hypothesis. The older ones must have been strong-blooded yet denied a chance to demonstrate their worth until now. In truth, the Sage feared that a majority of the Traitorspawn children might Exalt from now on. Strangest of all, confirmation that the Dragon's Blood truly permeated all Creation by now: Graek, son of a Shadow-Swimmer commander, had Exalted as a Wood Aspect, though he had been slain in battle minutes later. He might have been the descendant of some forgotten rapist, but just as likely his lineage had some distant connection to the Dragon-Blooded from before the Usurpation.
And of course there were two remaining: the Dread Pirate Roberts, a Solar of unknown origin, and the even stranger creature calling herself Thousand-Faceted Nelumbo, a type of Exalt unlike anything the Sage had encountered. At least Roberts-or Xander Harris, which seemed to be his birth name-was no stranger than Dreamer-of-Reason herself, who claimed him as an acquaintance from her mysterious world. Nelumbo, however, seemed not even to be properly human, and claimed to have an Exaltation crafted by the Great Maker, or at least by his priests and through his power. The Sage was tempted to see what would happen if he tried to claim her Heart's Blood, but he worried that her mastery of martial arts would be his undoing.
"I forbid it," he said.
"You? You forbid it?" said the creature before him, with a smirk. She seemed younger than Dreamer-of-Reason, but Raksi was centuries older than the Sage himself. "Why should I permit you to deny me? Why should you keep your student from her best teacher?"
"The Dreamer will not learn from you," the Sage told her. "She will no more tolerate you than she tolerated Leviathan."
"Is that a threat?" Raksi laughed uproariously at the notion.
Sage sighed. "No, Queen of Fangs. I have no doubt that you can defeat her. Leviathan, for all his power and strategic wisdom, was a brute by our standards. With preparation and aid, Dreamer-of-Reason out-thought him-and even so, she nearly still overestimated her ability to survive his assault. Against you, she would be as a child. But all the same, she will not sit at your feet and gnaw on the bones of infants at your command. She would see that as a great evil, and against you she will choose to stand even at the cost of her own life. You will have to kill her-or break her mind, which would render her a poor student indeed."
Raksi pouted; there was no other word for it. "She's that intractable?"
"She defied me to my face. She mouthed off at Leviathan. She will not kneel before you."
The Queen of Fangs grumbled under her breath. "Fine. Let us speak of other things. The Deathlords. The Silver Prince is moving here; the Mask of Winters' grasp has tightened on Thorns till none dare oppose him, and he will move soon as well. Others are doubtless acting, though more quietly, lest their rivals gain too much favor with the Neverborn."
"Undoubtedly." For all her petulant childishness, Raksi was a genius; military affairs were not her forte, but they were far from impenetrable to a mind like hers. "We may be able to make use of Thousand-Faceted Nelumbo. She claims that Autochthon needs souls to sustain his life, and has been raiding the Prince's armies for his hungry ghosts."
"Can she truly be an emissary of the Great Maker?" Raksi straightened her knee until it bent backwards, dislocating the cap to one side. "He vanished long before I was born."
"I do not care what she is," the Sage explained. "I care that she has the means to wreck the Prince's army, and possibly those of the other Deathlords."
"Valid," Raksi said after a moment. "How do we approach her?"
The Sage shrugged his skeletal shoulders. "She has one good friend here: the Dread Pirate Roberts. We must treat with a Solar-a young one, yes, but a Solar all the same."
Raksi growled and flexed her fingers back flush with the back of her hands. "Not I, then."
"No," said the Sage, hiding his relief. "Not you."
bChapter 18-Complex Polygons/b
Xander brandished the sword. "A...what did you call it?"
"A wavecleaver daiklaive," Peleps Kolohi said. "I've never seen one made from orichalcum, but it must be fifteen hundred years old or more. This was a First Age military base, after all."
"What's with the gemstones?" Xander pointed to a pair of shiny jewels set into the hilt. One was a smooth oval shape, transparent with the faintest hint of blue-green; it might have been magically-frozen water. The other was triangular, but rounded, green and carved with more facets than he could count.
"Hearthstones," she said, frowning. "Don't you know what hearthstones are? They carry some magic from the manse that created them. You'd have to be attuned, though. I don't know where these are from."
"Never run into any," he said, smiling weakly. "Do they let me breathe fire?"
"No," said the Jade Wave, "but this one lets you breathe water. It's a Stone of Aquatic Prowess. Attuned to this, you're as amphibious as I am, maybe more. The other is a Crystal of Legendary Leadership. If these are the stones that were set in this blade when Luthe sank, this might well have belonged to Amyana or Arkadi. The Crystal makes people listen to you. If I were you, I'd take this. I'd keep it for myself if it were moonsilver."
"Ahem," said Fred.
"Er. With Dreamer-of-Reason's permission, of course. But since it's orichalcum it's harder for me to attune to. Not really worth the effort. Most of these things are made from jade, for Dragon-Blooded." She poked at the transparent stone. "Honestly I don't really need this one anyway. For the Dread Pirate Roberts, I'd call it just about perfect."
"Fred?" he queried.
"Take it, Xander." She grinned at him. "I'll find one for me in here somewhere. I've got a city to run anyway. The Sage says I need to get things set up before I do, but that I probably oughta turn it over to my subjects when I get it ready. I worry about that, but he's got some good reasons."
"The point of the Thousand Streams River," Kolohi said quietly, "is to make a society that can do without the Exalted. Obviously you need to get it going the way you want it, but trying to run it yourself in the long run would be counterproductive." Fred's smile turned nervous, stretching out over her face but without increasing in any real degree of good feeling.
"Who were Arkadi and Amyana, anyway? I mean, wasn't Leviathan the admiral?" Xander was turning the sword over in his hands. "Where do they fit in?"
"Arkadi was Leviathan's Solar mate," Kolohi explained. "Lunars and Solars were made to pair off. Often it was sexual, but it could be just good friends, or siblings, or any kind of strong feeling. A few even become deadly enemies. Lust is pretty common, actually, but Arkadi and Leviathan were both strictly hetero according to the stories. So Arkadi got married to Amyana instead."
"Then I've got...and Fred's got...are we?" Xander fumbled, almost dropping the daiklaive.
"If you were, you'd know it by now," Jade Wave said. "You look like you're just friends to me. But yes, Fred has a Solar mate out there somewhere, and you've got a Lunar one. Odds aren't bad that yours is here, actually. You might want to keep an eye out."
Fred blushed. "So it'll be love at first sight? The Sage never got around to this part."
"Good chance," Kolohi said. "No guarantees, though. I've heard stories of 'just good friends' and even parent-and-child or twin-sibling mates. I mean, clearly you'd know already if it were that, just that it's possible."
"If deathknights and Infernals are corrupted Solars," Xander thought out loud, "doesn't that mean Buffy has a Lunar mate too?"
"I doubt it breaks that easily," Kolohi mused. "Yeah, your friend's got a Lunar mate. I feel sorry for whoever it is. I know you care about this Buffy, but she's dangerous, and she's only going to get more dangerous."
Fred shrugged. "She doesn't seem too bad to me."
"Maybe she's the Sage's mate," Kolohi said. "He doesn't seem too interested in sex at all as far as I can tell, but maybe he just misses whoever it was."
Xander chuckled. "He'd better hide, then. Don't get me wrong, Buffy's loyal to her boyfriends, but she and Riley seemed pretty busy, and Angel's curse had her all in a twist till they broke up. Willow told me Buffy and Faith had some weird vibes going on too. That is...I mean, not that kind of vibe...er, who knows?" Fred began giggling uncontrollably.
"The point is, if her mate's an elder then odds are they can handle her." Kolohi sounded a little put out by all the laughing. Xander tried to wipe the grin off his face.
"What if it's someone like Raksi?" Fred wondered. She'd dodged a bullet herself there after the Sage told her who Raksi really was.
Jade Wave shivered. "Best to not even think about it."
Captain Redfang surveyed the wreckage of iDistant Obsidian Shores/i and groaned. His ship had lasted through the majority of the battle, only to be struck by friendly fire by the Luthea in the last half-hour. Roberts had given it his best, but finally he'd had to point out that the Captain's ship was outgunned and obsolete.
"Fred's agreed to provide you with a ship from Luthe's hangar bay," Roberts explained carefully. "I know you're attached, and all, but let's face it: if we get into another fight, with Lintha or the Skullstoners or who knows what, you're just going to get wrecked again. Why not take a ship that's more powerful than anything still on the water, outside of a Realm dreadnought?
Redfang slapped his hand against the prow, muttering to himself. It felt disloyal, abandoning his ship, but every ship died eventually. Many took their captains to the bottom with them. iDistant Obsidian Shores/i had spared him that. "You're certain the Lunar wants you in charge of her fleet?" It wasn't that there was anything wrong with Roberts taking command-just that, by what he knew, such an arrangement was rather backwards. Once, Roberts would have ruled the city, and perhaps Dreamer-of-Reason would have been his admiral.
"Pretty sure, captain. Fred's a straightforward kind of girl. She wouldn't ask if she didn't mean it." As long as no one talked about him being a god-king, Roberts exuded confidence mixed with casual friendliness, yet somehow if the subject of his appropriate status came up, he went red and started backtracking. Perhaps a little humility was to the good, yet he really needed to get over such a powerful embarrassment.
"What about Gavrane Tomazri?" The Luthea hadn't fought to be subjugated by a different Lunar, even one who claimed to care about them.
"Tomazri's been tapped for her advisory council," Roberts explained. "I think that, uh, ultimately she wants the city to be able to run itself without her. She's trying to get the system set up so that everyone has a say but the Luthea have veto power."
"Hrrm. Well, I can't fault her good intentions." Redfang had the suspicion that Luthe would hold together in the short run, or he wouldn't have stayed as long as he had. In the long run, though? There would be a civil war, and unless they played their hand very badly, the former Traitorspawn would end up as slavemasters over the beastpeople. "Honestly, though, Roberts? I'm here because I trust iyou/i. If she doesn't keep you in charge, I'd just as soon leave, free and clear. Do you really think she'd let such a powerful ship go?"
"If Luthe's not in the middle of a war right when you leave? Yup. Fred wouldn't offer what she doesn't mean."
Redfang thought that over. "Well, then, I have no reason to go. Let's see this new old ship." He'd have to get familiar with the thing. No sense being blindsided when Luthe was attacked. Because-and they had better face it-Luthe iwould/i be attacked. It was just a matter of time.
"Honestly, Roberts...you're a natural at this." Nelumbo wondered if he caught the irony in her words. On the one hand, of course he was a natural; this was Solar Hero Style, after all. It was the fighting style that emerged when untrained Solars fought barehanded. At the same time, though, there was something legitimately...him...about Xander fighting in a two-fisted brawl. The boy was honest and straightforward, though his humor kept him from tactlessness. He was not conniving, nor was he a mad genius, as some of the very last tales of Solars portrayed them. Nelumbo had a hard time believing he could lie effectively if it were appropriate to do so-though of course, he was a Solar and would find a way.
In any case, she had already managed to train him through the Style's Form. Xander balanced casually on the balls of his feet, fists up, stance just open enough to entice an enemy without letting a blow through. He shone with warm radiance, this world's sunlight shaded with just a hint of cloud. If she had time, she was considering teaching him some more exotic styles, though in all honesty she rather wished he would master this one. It suited him.
She brought her foot up, and Xander blocked it with ease. It wasn't her best move-few people could survive her best moves-but it had been a solid blow and he had countered it, catching her kick in his hand. She began a punch and abruptly realized that he was already shifting to the right, hand up to block her. Though even if he missed, she would doubtless miss as well.
"See," he said, "the secret is to let them think you're stupid or crazy." The roundhouse kick he began was horribly telegraphed. There was no way she could fail to evade-his foot flashed around, suddenly accelerating into a blur, and slammed her back into the wall. "And then when they're off their guard, you do something that actually is crazy."
"What was that?" That technique was no part of the Solar Hero Style she knew. She had seen the Essence flows, but could not imagine any way of duplicating them. Emulating, perhaps, with her implants, but not duplicating.
"I don't know. Just seemed right." He offered her a hand, and she took it. She had already found that he knew not to assume combat was over.
"Well, it was right. But it isn't in my databanks. I thought my knowledge of the style was complete." Yet another limitation to escape from, she grumbled inwardly. Perhaps mastery of the Flower would bring the ability to learn these hidden techniques.
Xander shrugged. "I don't know how often I'm going to do this stuff anyway. I just got myself a cool sword."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Xander, there will be times when you cannot carry that sword about. In any case, there are other martial arts with which you can use your sword. Try not to assume too much."
"I'll do my..." Xander trailed off. "Who's that?"
Nelumbo turned to look. A pair of Lunars were strolling through the hangar bay, arguing. "The man with the beard? I would not presume to know."
"No, not...who's the girl?" The girl was pretty enough, Nelumbo supposed, but she couldn't fathom why she would draw the Pirate's attention in such a manner. She did have a pair of pointed cat ears and a tail, and like many of the Lunars aboard Luthe, she was rather revealingly-dressed.
"I cannot say I've met her," Nelumbo said irritably. "Don't let her disrupt your-" Xander turned on his heel and began to saunter away. "-training session." The girl seemed to hear his footfalls and glanced over her shoulder to stare at him before sauntering over to meet Xander.
What in the Great Maker's name was going on?
"So," Xander ventured. "You here for the big get-together? Got friends?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Good friends. That was someone I knew...a long time ago. A barbarian conqueror, now. In some ways, he's changed a lot. In others..." she sighed, "not a bit."
"A barbarian? What's a nice girl like you doing with a guy like him?"
The cat-girl smirked. "What makes you think I'm a nice girl? Name's Anja Silverclaws, and I'm a spy and assassin for the Silver Pact. Ma-Ha-Suchi's my teacher. You'd better learn fast not to judge Lunars by their cover, mister, because for all you know that could've been the girl and I could be Ma-Ha-Suchi."
"Anja?" Xander blinked. "I could swear I know you. And I could swear I don't know you the way I think I do. My name's Xander Harris, but around here I've been going by 'Dread Pirate Roberts'. It's a long story."
"Isn't everything?"
Xander let out a quick burst of laughter. "Excellent point. But no. I have the strange feeling that I'd know you anywhere."
"Of course you do," Anja said. She grinned, and yet something about her tone sounded...resigned.
"And you know I'm a Solar how exactly?" He tried to infuse that with every bit of cockiness he could manage, wondering all the while iwhy/i he wanted to. Sure, she was unbelievably cute, but he'd already been through this once with Nelumbo, and Anya was going to beat him about the head, Exaltation or no Exaltation, for doing that.
"Oh, it's easy. It's because you're completely, unreasonably attractive." Anja closed off her stance, but her arms were folded underneath her breasts, consciously or not. "I've never met you in my life, and you're goofy and only mildly handsome, so it's pretty obvious who you have to be." She put her left hand to her forehead. "Luna preserve me from inconvenient encounters with my Solar mate, but that's who you are."
"I'm wh-? Okay, I only just learned that there was any such thing as that." Okay, he could handle this. "You're pretty unreasonably attractive yourself, but it just so happens that I already ihave/i an Anya in my life, and we are ridiculously head-over-heels in love, and I'm completely certain that the idea of sharing me with someone else will make her want me horrifically cursed. So I am unequivocally inot/i going to tell you you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and would you mind joining me for something alcoholic and-wait, I wasn't going to say that." Smooth, Xander, real smooth.
"Listen, Xander, you should stick with your Anya. At least she has good taste in names." She made a frustrated face, the tiniest of frowns coupled with a bit of a pout. "If things go well, I'm going back to being a spy on the Mask of Winters in Thorns as soon as things ease up a bit. If they go badly, we're going to outright war with him. Either way, there's a solid chance I'm not going to live through the next month. And if you try to get involved with me, neither are you. I'm going to accept that I'm dying young, if I'm desperate enough I can get a sexual partner wherever the hell I want, and I am inot/i going to enter some kind of actual relationship with a guy who might conceivably care about me, and...gods, that sounds incredibly screwed up." Anja groaned under her breath. "I need a freaking drink."
This was his ch-stop that! "Come with me," Xander said, "and I'll buy you a freaking drink. We'll get horribly stinking drunk together so that if one of us should happen to make any moves on the other it'll go ridiculously badly and we will agree to never speak of it again, presuming we even remember what happened." He offered her his arm. "Besides, this whole, 'I might die tomorrow so I'm not gonna bother living today' bit? My home, if I ever get back to it, just happens to be the mouth of Hell, so I know just how overrated that is."
"The mouth of Hell, eh? And has it ever puked out monsters that took over your home and turned it into a living nightmare?" Anja was trying to say it lightly, but it was plain that she wanted to put him off. It was adorable.
"Tries a minimum of once a year, and I've helped stop them each and every time, and that was ibefore/i I was Exalted. So there. If anyone's gonna be able to help you beat this Mask of Winters guy, it's me and my friends." He glanced back at Nelumbo. "Hey! I promise I'll be back to spar with you tomorrow. I just have to put this whole 'solar-lunar mates' thing to rest, okay?"
Nelumbo didn't look at him. "Whatever," she murmured. "You don't actually have to show." Did she really think-?
"Nelumbo, I swear we're not going to do anything." If they did, why did it matter to her? It wasn't as if they had any business being together. He'd apologized, and she'd accepted. Right?
Anja sighed. "You promised me a freaking drink, and I want a freaking drink. Let's get on with it."
Nelumbo was sitting beside a pillar, curling up. Damn it, he didn't want to upset her! "Nelumbo, do you...also need a drink? Look, come with me. I swear I'm not looking to hook up with this girl, and if you're with us you can help me remember that. Come on. We're all friends here, okay?"
She glanced at him and seemed to come to a decision. One smooth motion uncoiled her off the floor. "I'm friends with you, at least. As you like. Let us go obtain a round of freaking drinks and keep each other out of trouble."
Someone was purring in his ear. Actually purring, like a cat. Xander could feel warm, smooth crystals resting against his cheek. He opened his eyes.
"Goddamnit."
What had Xander been thinking?
Fred sat in her throne, Xander and Anja-that was weird!-to one side, Nelumbo and Captain Redfang to the other, and Luthea arrayed before her. "Tomazri, I want Xander in direct charge of the military for the moment. You, on the other hand, I want to be my chief military advisor. Don't worry that you won't see action. Any time Xander is out of touch, the command is yours."
"With respect, Dreamer-of-Reason," Tomazri said, bowing, "the system you are setting up seems unnecessarily complicated."
Fred winced. "I know, Tomazri. Unfortunately I have a situation on my hands. The nature of Celestial Exalted means that they can be better than everyone else at what they do. But that doesn't give them the right to enslave other people the way that Leviathan did to you. I need Xander's competence, but I also want to be certain that you stay free. That means dividing up the lines of power. Do you understand?"
Tomazri nodded, shifting uncomfortably. "Just as you want to ensure that we do not enslave the Scionborn in revenge, and therefore have not granted us absolute rule of Luthe."
Fred tried to make a gracious bow of her head. "You have a majority on the council as long as you choose to keep it. When you believe things have stabilized, you have the right to choose to even out the numbers."
Tomazri frowned, but bowed low. "As you say, Queen Winifred."
God, this was a mess. "The rest of the new Dragon-Blooded report to Gavrane Tomazri for assignments. Probably most of you will have at least a temporary military commission, but we understand that not all of you wish to make the military your life. I'm going to be trying to establish trade relationships with other local powers, but for now we have to be ready for anyone who might try to attack us. We basically just materialized out of the ocean for all anyone knows." She raised a hand. "Any other concerns?" For once, no one spoke up. "All right then. Dismissed."
Fred waited for the Dragon-Blooded to file out of the room, then let herself sag down onto her elbows. "It's not easy being Queen."
"It could've gone worse," Xander said, chuckling. No one else got the pun. "At least you're you and not Cordelia."
Fred shared a brief moment of slightly uncomfortable laughter. Cordelia hadn't known what she was getting into, and that iwas/i funny, but the memories of Pylea were still raw. "Training sessions with Nelumbo going okay?" A strange back-and-forth series of looks passed between Xander, Nelumbo, and Anja. Well, they were going to have to sort that out between themselves and Anya.
"Xander is performing acceptably," Nelumbo said after a few moments. "He's quite talented."
"What about you?" Xander asked. "Got any new tricks up your sleeves?"
Fred grinned. "You betcha." She closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling her skin...ripple. A white opalescent carapace, ribbed and jointed, melted out of her skin, coating her, replacing her clothes just as if she were shapeshifting. It was skintight, perfectly melded to her body, which itself was not as skinny as it had been a few weeks ago.
Xander gulped nervously. "Er...yay! Good for you, I mean!" Served him right. Well, she wasn't going to succumb to his charms. Anja clapped. Even Nelumbo gave her an approving half-smile.
"That looks very...protective," said a voice from the door. "It's form-fitting and attractive and if I were remotely interested in women I'd say it looked extremely sexy on you. Which is to say I'm not sure I like you wearing it around my Xander." Fred blinked. Who was that, and what did she have to do with Xander? "I know, I know, you've forgotten all about me. Don't worry. I'll explain."
Xander groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Hi, Anya. Please don't be angry."
"Why should I be angry? You haven't already done something with Fred, have you?" She glanced around the room. "Or with any of these other attractive women here?" Captain Redfang groaned under her breath and shook her head. "Don't worry, Captain. I know a man when I see one. Although I don't know whether Xander does. Speaking of which, Xander, I'm glad you remember me, but it's rather surprising."
Xander seemed to be trying to look anywhere but at Anya, which was understandable if they were really together. "I didn't at first. I don't know why, but I forgot you completely. And then suddenly I remembered you again. New trick up my sleeve."
"Well, it's a good one. I'm Exalted too now. I'm not really supposed to talk about it but I managed to wangle this mission to come investigate the city because I spotted you here in the Loom. Everyone here is supposed to forget afterwards, the real me anyway."
Nelumbo sighed. "You and I both, it seems. Come with me if you're not alone, and I'll arrange matters so you don't get in trouble. How does that sound?"
Anya grinned-genuinely, so far as Fred could tell. "Extraordinarily convenient. Don't get to thinking that you can fool me about things, though. If this is a trick, you're in for it." Then she took a deep breath. "They still don't really trust me out on my own. This is a sort of training mission, and I'm here with a keeper. By the way, Xander, I'm very sorry. They tell me that it's not really legal, but it's sort of binding anyway, in a mystical kind of sense." She gestured at the door, and a tall, square-jawed woman with close-cropped brown hair followed her in. "Xander...come meet my wife."
Anja wiped her forehead and elbowed Xander in the ribs. "Pick up your jaw and accept her apology. Then make your own."
"...so anyway. I'm very sorry, Anya. I swear it was before I remembered who you were with Nelumbo. And with, um...Anja Silverclaws, she was...well, we're kind of married too." Anya continued scowling. She didn't seem at all convinced.
"He really shouldn't remember you inow/i," Siaka said. Iron Siaka. Not Ebon Siaka, which was going to be nearly as confusing as Anya and Anja. "I still don't think you should've shucked your identity, iLoki/i."
"Shush," Anya told her...wife. This was getting complicated fast.
"Loki?" Xander asked. "You're disguising yourself as the god of evil? The male god of evil?" Iron Siaka looked alarmed.
"He wasn't evil," Anya grumbled. "Stop paying attention to those comic books. He was a trickster. And Loki probably gave birth to more kids than he sired. Anyway, Siaka, you didn't want me disguising myself as a Lunar in the first place, but you see they're everywhere, right?"
"Yes," Siaka said reasonably. "They're everywhere. And sooner or later one of them will ask you to change shape. Especially if they think you like to be a man."
"You argue like a married couple," Anja put in. "And I'm Xander's Lunar mate, not his wife. I'm not really sure what I even think of him, yet, except that he's sexy."
"He is that," Anya agreed. "And mine."
"Can we please stick to the important part?" Siaka said irritably. "I'm pissing off the pattern spiders something awful right now."
"So drop the fake i.d., 'Gavrane Elisi'," Anya argued. "I swear to you it's not doing you any good until we leave this room. I told you that if Xander remembered he'd have already told Fred and any other good friends he's made."
Siaka shrugged her shoulders and...something happened. It was nearly imperceptible, but Xander stopped feeling as if he should call her something else. "And I told you that they'd still more than likely forget as soon as he stopped reminding them."
"If they do, where's the problem? And if they don't, what are you going to do about it? Kill them all?" Anya glared, and Siaka glared back, looking as if she were considering it.
"If that's what it takes to avoid blowing a thousand years of cover? Yes!" Siaka looked about to pull out a mace from her hip and start bashing. "I don't say I'll enjoy it, but it might have to be done."
"I told you already," Xander pointed out, "Nelumbo can flashy-thing them with her aura. Everyone forgets except probably me. And her, but she's going back where she came from soon."
"I'm not sure it works that way," Nelumbo started, but Siaka was busy asking, "Flashy-thing?" before she got two words in.
"Blank their memories," Anya explained. "It's from a movie, Men in Black. They're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly. They don't exist; they were never even born."
"Anonymity is your name, silence your native tongue," Xander added. "You're no longer part of the system. You're above the system. Over it. Beyond it."
"We're 'them'," Anya finished. "We're 'they'. We are the Men in Black."
"Yet you insist on blowing our cover to Malfeas and back!" Siaka shouted. "If you know how this works, why are you screwing things up?"
"Because she figures you can flashy-thing us if Nelumbo can't," Xander said patiently. "You can, right? Erase our memories?"
Iron Siaka put her head down on the conference table.
"So," Anya said brightly, "now that we've established why she shouldn't kill you, tell me again why I shouldn't?"
"Why are you actively trying to get yourself-and more than likely me-assassinated?" Iron Siaka was back in her "Gavrane Elisi" disguise, and Anya had resumed hers as "Loki". The halls they were strolling through had been largely deserted for centuries, it seemed, though from time to time Anya spotted Lunars investigating the city. She thought they were Lunars, anyway; probably there were no native weasels or birds here.
"Xander understands discretion," Anya tried to explain. "Fred likely does too. Everything supernatural is secret where we come from. Xander and Buffy and Willow and a few others kept the secret for a good five years. Sure, people found out parts of it here and there, but then there wasn't anything supernatural enforcing it. He and Fred will keep their mouths shut and let the Mask do its work."
"And An-the Lun-Silverclaws?" Siaka punched the wall. "What about her?"
"If the flashy-thing effect didn't make her forget, and the Mask doesn't make her forget, we'll work something else out. They can't be the first Exalts who've found things out before." Anya paused. "They can't, right?"
"No," Siaka confirmed, "but the usual solution is to kill them. If they were Dragon-Blooded it'd be different. We could co-opt Dragon-Blooded. Their lives are full of secret intrigues anyway." She hesitated a moment. "And don't ask. Not even the Gold Faction does that."
"Are you sure?" Anya held her tongue for a moment. They were using some basic stealth magics to discuss these things without being overheard, but it was still a good idea to watch out for passers-by. No one appeared. "Look, it's simple, really. Keep it out of your report. I promise I won't report you either."
She didn't really expect Siaka to say, "Ok, deal," but that was exactly what Siaka did. Maybe she was getting the hang of this heavenly politics thing. "If Silverclaws starts blabbing, we kill her. At once. Otherwise, we agree to not mention a thing. That acceptable?"
"Suits me."
"Okay then. But you owe me a favor, clear?" Right. Well, Anya knew all about favors.
"To be specified later, right? And excluding anything inappropriately sexual?"
Iron Siaka nodded. "Though if you were to be interested, like you said we are...technically..." She was smiling, so it was probably a joke.
"I'm sorry," Anya said. "You're a little lacking in the penis department. Though in all seriousness if you wanted to arrange a group session the odds are pretty good that at least one of Xander's friends would be happy to-"
"Never mind." Iron Siaka gritted her teeth and strode on.
"So anyway," Anya said patiently, curling a bit of Xander's chest hair, "we've agreed not to kill you."
"I would certainly hope not," Xander murmured. "I know you know how to make that as painful as possible."
"As long as you keep your mouth shut. Heaven is full of this sort of back room dealing, apparently. It's a lot like several hell dimensions I've visited in that way." To Xander's regret, she pulled a blanket up over her breasts. It was a little cold, he supposed. "Also there are too many crises going on to focus a lot of effort on you. Or me, for that matter. There was some talk about Luthe screwing things up but apparently Mercury put her foot down, so no one's going to arrange to sink the city permanently or anything like that."
"Because this is what's supposed to happen?" Xander wondered idly.
"More or less," Anya agreed. "Interfering would tangle the Fate threads up too much. I still don't know when I'll get to come back and see you again. For one thing, they're still trying to work out what to do about Gem. I'm pretty sure that's where Buffy is."
"Gem? The mining city in the far South?" He was still a little foggy on his geography. Luthe's databanks were about a thousand years out of date.
"Just got conquered by an Anathema that we can't find in the Loom. By cheerleading, apparently."
"Definitely Buffy." Not only did the cheerleading match, it was a way to make things as bloodless as possible. They both knew Buffy would want that. Though how exactly she had carried it off he couldn't say.
"The trouble is, Gem isn't close to any permanent Yu-Shan portals. They're talking about opening the Calibration Gate there, but again-lots of different stuff going on. Nobody wants to have the Gate bouncing back and forth across Creation because everyone's summoning it. For one thing," Anya said with a smirk, "it screws up the economy if anything odd goes through. Sidereals are supposed to prevent that kind of thing, but it turns out they're not above making a little extra on the side. Remind me to tell you about something I've just set in motion myself."
"Wait. Anya, are you messing with the economy here?" She was going to start a depression or something making her first billion gold pieces.
"Xander, I'm a Sidereal. I iam/i the economy. The trouble is that heaven's a wreck, and it shouldn't stay that way. I hope Gunn and Tara and Wesley aren't all mucking things up while I'm gone."
"Ok, if you say so. But you were talking about Buffy." He was going to have to get up and get clean in a bit. It was good to have showers again.
"We need to get close to her. Actually, the higher-ups want her assassinated, but we can't have that. They don't know her like we do." She hesitated. "I'm not sure we're done here. I could go again."
"So could I, Ahn, but could you please-?"
"Fine, fine. I'm trying to arrange some kind of meeting with Buffy, but it can't be me. And you and Fred are tied down here. I'm not sure what we're going to do. I'm trying to work out some way to leave a message for her." Anya began to fiddle with her hair nervously. "I weave fate, and Buffy can see the future in her dreams. But I don't know how to tell if she got a message."
"Not a bad idea, though." He sat up. "Ahn, I need to get a shower. But if you want, we can shower together. How's that sound?"
"I'm up for it. As long as it's just the two of us." She popped out of bed at once, grinning.
"I've told you I'm sorry," Xander said, climbing out of bed more slowly. "I swear I didn't mean to cheat on you."
"That's what they all say," Anya said, sounding perfectly reasonable. "Say. Lunars are shapeshifters, right? We were talking about Loki earlier. Can this other Anja be-?"
"I don't know!" Xander said hastily. "I really didn't ask."
"Get her to try," Anya said. "And we'll call your indiscretions forgiven."
"Nazri," Iron Siaka grumbled, "I know that you like her. But Anya is already out of control. I've had to arrange to alter several people's memories." A little white lie-and one that might not be false, at that. "Is there anything you can do?"
"The threat of auditing seemed to worry her a great deal," Nazri said. "Perhaps we should make it a reality. Or we could simply dispose of her."
"Chejop and Ayesha both are determined to keep her around," Siaka pointed out. "Also I would have to explain to the Maidens about the bond-breaking thing."
"They're not as attached to her as you seem to think," Nazri demurred. "Though you're right that both prefer to keep her if they can, as would I. I'll arrange for an audit. It'll force her to keep her nose clean."
"Thanks, Nazri. I know you want her on your side, too. One other thing. I could use a carrot as well as a stick. I'm, ah...I'm looking to replace one of my hearthstones. Happen to know of any Water-aspected manses I could attune to?"
Nazri's tone was baffled. "Water-aspected? There are a few. Can you be more specific?"
Iron Siaka sighed. "She's so easy on the eyes, Nazri, but she's very straight. I can handle it for a few hours at a time. Don't you think?"
There was a brief pause over the link before Nazri chuckled. "I suppose that would be a carrot, wouldn't it? Please be careful, Iron Siaka. You're a credit to the Bronze Faction. I'd regret seeing you in trouble over yet another woman. I'll see what I can find."
"Thank you, Nazri."
"You're welcome. Just...don't knock the new recruit up."