"We've been spotted!" Aswon called out, spying the watcher spirit that had suddenly popped up out of the roof and glanced their way before diving back inside. "Just a watcher spirit, but stand by in case anything else comes out."
"Am I still landing?"
"Yes Marius, bring us in, just be ready in case things get hot." Kai glanced over at Aswon, but he was silent, watching through the viewing prism for any more activity. Next to him Shimazu cracked open one eye to look around and gauge the mood, saw that everyone was still calm and then closed it again, returning to his meditation.
"Ok, I have movement." Thirty seconds had passed, and Marius was almost done with the landing, the wheels now level with the top of the grass, sending bushes and leaves wavering in the wind caused by the rotors. They were still invisible, or effectively so, thanks to the concealing spirit that protected them – but it couldn't mask all of the environmental wash from their presence. "Ah, stand by, stand by – it's Georgi. He's come out of the front door…and lighting a cigar."
They touched down, and Marius checked the sensors, seeing nothing moving anywhere nearby except for his friend, slowly drawing on the cigar until the end glowed a bright yellow before letting out a long deep smoke-filled breath and smacking his lips together in satisfaction, the yellow lights of the house casting half of his face into deep shadow. Georgi looked over in their general direction and then strode down the two steps from the porch to ground level and started to head their way – or actually a few metres off to one side, which was his best guess for their location.
He crossed half the distance between them, then stopped, taking another deep draw on his cigar and looking out into the darkness.
"Why's he stopped?"
"Because he is not stupid, Kai. He knows we have a helicopter, and is not getting any closer to invisible engines and rotors than he has to!"
"Ahh, good point. Fair. Ok, let's drop the back ramp and I'll go and say hello." Kai grabbed a flashlight and wandered down to the rear of the plane, waiting a few seconds as the ramp descended. He felt a smooth swish of air next to him and wasn't surprised to find the silent but reassuring bulk of Shimazu standing just behind him. With the ramp fully deployed, he walked down and ducked under the tail boom, turning the flashlight on to shine across the grassy meadow as he walked towards Georgi. He made sure to flex his wrist, bringing the torch up at least once to shine up into his face and illuminate his body, so Georgi could see him coming.
Marius powered down the engines and secured the systems, then headed into the back, finding Aswon and Tads in discussion.
"So, do we take out the materials now, and drop them straight off?"
"I think better to make contact first, Tads, and find out what's going on. Just in case."
"Fair enough. I suppose I can just levitate it out when we need it – it's not like they don't know we're going to be magically active!"
The team filed out, following Kai and Shimazu, with Marius sealing the ramp up behind him, then heading over to see his friend. The grass was damp, with little clusters of snow and ice scattered across the tough heather, making a patchwork quilt.
Georgi had, it appeared, headed over to the house as soon as he'd seen Kai come out, and taken a seat on an old wooden rocking chair that sat on the veranda, next to the front door. He waved them over, sitting with his cigar and rocking gently from front to back whilst he waited. As they got to the bottom of the steps, he reached out to the side and knocked on the door sharply, the sound echoing through the night like quiet gunshots.
As they waited for the door to be opened, the team fanned out a little, Kai in the centre with Shimazu by his shoulder, Tads on the other side of him, with Marius on her left, while Aswon stood next to Shimazu and Hunter on his flank. Aswon had also undone his jacket slightly, opening it far enough that his Gecko tattoo was just visible.
The door opened, and the team saw the entranceway to the house lit up with a warm, soft, orange light, walls hung with tapestries and a thick heavily-patterned carpet lying on the floor. In astral though, the doorway was covered with a shimmering black ward, blocking sight into the building entirely. Tads raised an eyebrow as she gave the ward a slightly more curious look but still found her line of sight blocked – it was certainly powerful, and that piqued her interest.
A woman emerged from the door, melding through the opaque black ward to those looking in astral, burning bright with mana. They didn't try to assense her, but she clearly wasn't masking her aura, and magic radiated from her body in all directions, a chaotic bright light that spilled out of her and faded into the night air. For those looking with more mundane eyes, she was a slender woman in her early thirties or late twenties, with shoulder-length dark hair that spilled down somewhat chaotically, framing her lean face, deep green eyes staring out at them with curiosity, whilst very faint freckles spotted her nose and cheeks. A loose robe hung from her shoulders, giving her a somewhat ambiguous shape when she stood still, but clinging to her svelte form when she moved, while delicate hands protruded from the sleeves, long and nimble fingers fidgeting as she took in the sight of them.
"Songbird, this is the crew. That's Marius, my buddy, and his friends – Tads, Kai, Shimazu, Aswon and Hunter." He pointed at them in turn, moving his hand down the line as he did the introductions. "Marius told me earlier that he's got the stuff – I'm guessing on the transport?"
"That is correct. We did not know if you wanted it bought in here, or somewhere else."
"Oh, you can bring it in. Though…" she glanced over at Aswon, and his tattoos, "you might need to give me a minute." Her voice was melodious, smooth and flowing, yet had a power that belied her slender frame. She glanced at them astrally, confirming to the team that she was a full mage, or someone who could at least project into the astral realm somehow; giving each of them a quick glance, taking in the two weapon foci she could see as well as Aswon's tribal markings. "You vouch for them, Georgi? No offence, Marius, but I don't know you."
"None taken." Marius got in before Georgi could respond.
"Marius… I'd lend him my phone, and leave it unlocked, and go for a walk." She glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow and an appraising look, then turned back to face them again.
"Well, ok. If he trusts you, I guess I can, too."
"And if you can trust him, you can trust the rest of us," Hunter added with a smirk. "I'm even the godfather of his son!" Both Marius and Aswon turned to stare at Hunter, giving him a dirty look as he gave away what they saw as important information to a stranger. Hunter just grinned at them, as unrepentant now as he ever was. Songbird either didn't notice, or didn't comment directly, but instead gestured down the wall of the house to the left of the front door.
"If you head down the length of the house, and go through the doors at the end. I'll meet you down there." She turned and with a tilt of her head, encouraged Georgi to follow her into the house, gently closing the door behind her. Outside the team looked at each other and shrugged, then started to wander down the length of the building, filling the night air with the sound of quiet crunching as they walked along the pebbled path.
It looked, at least from a distance, like a traditional wooden house, something built to an ancient pattern and made from local materials. But as they wandered down the side of the dwelling, they could see that while the construction of the outer was timber, split and adzed logs piled up onto a frame, there were modern materials too. When they reached a window, the frame was perfectly square and recessed deeply into the surrounding material and had the one-way glass common to the rest of society. But they could also see the edge of a fine mesh filament protruding from under the logs and trimmed back around the window frame.
"Looks like capacitance mesh… detects a drop in power if you cut through it, warns the alarm system of a breach in the structure of the building," Hunter guessed. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was the same kind of mesh in the windows too. He reached up with a hand and shielded his face from the nearest of the lamps strung along the eaves that illuminated the side of the building. It took a moment for even cyber-enhanced vision to adjust to the change in light levels, but he could see the faint moiré pattern in the roof as well. "Looks like it goes all the way up. Wonder if they did the floor too?"
The building was quite long, but not that wide – a decent size room with a corridor running alongside perhaps, or a larger room that led further into the building – they couldn't tell from the outside. As they reached the end, though, they found a pair of wide double doors thrown open, leading into a garage or goods bay, small pieces of gardening equipment hanging from the walls to the sides. Just visible around the far side of the building was an extension that headed out at a ninety degree angle, leading back from the entrance door, making the whole building t-shaped.
Hunter moved over to the edge of the doors, and spotted more of the mesh embedded deep into the structure of the doors here, along with several wires that flexed and covered the gap between the door and the frame, as well as the three large and reinforced hinges that held each of the doors in place, each having a set of toothed cogs and a motor – the doors could be remotely opened and closed, it seemed, and would be pretty tough to break through with the motors locking them in place.
One thing that was clear, though, was that the doorway was unwarded – the opening of the doors had created a large break in the ward around the building, allowing them to enter without impediment, much like the side door of their own aircraft. As they crossed the threshold, a smaller door opened in the corner of the room, and Songbird and Georgi walked in. She smiled at them as they crossed the threshold, looking around the garage curiously before turning to face her.
"So – do you want to bring the materials in?"
"There's rather a lot of it. We…ran into more than we were expecting and decided to bring what we could. Lot easier to take it away than go back for it." Kai said, taking over the conversation. Marius was happy to leave it to him, especially when it came to bartering for dead creatures that had ridiculous values for some intangible reason.
"How much?"
"Well, about three full bear carcasses, and some other parts as well. Mounds about this big, "he gestured with his hands, spreading them wide, "by about this big. Couple of hundred kilos probably."
"Oh. Oh my. In that case… I'd better clear the table. And get another table. THREE bears?" Kai nodded to her. For a moment, she seemed to be in two minds about what to do, and they saw her twisting and turning from the waist, almost as if she was arguing with herself, then with a sigh, she pulled out her phone and tapped away on the keypad. The entire back wall of the garage started to retract, collapsing to one side in a concertina fashion, the mechanism the same as that used in conference centres or lecture theatres to split rooms up into smaller parts. A wave of heat washed over them as the warmth of the house rushed out into the chill night air and the light level rose dramatically as the room beyond was exposed. The team looked at the room with fascination, eyes flitting around as they were assaulted with a million things to see.
Tads could see the basis of an enchanting workshop in there – there was a small forge, some hammers and a tiny anvil, perhaps suitable for working with jewellery and smaller pieces. A small drying rack had the skin of something stretched out – perhaps a hare or rabbit, pulled taut with the skin scraped clean of all of the fatty tissue, slowly curing. Pots of herbal material were lined up on shelves, and there was a stacking collection of pestles with a row of mortars hanging on leather thongs from a rack. All over the room she could spot bits of equipment she was familiar with, seemingly laid out in a chaotic fashion that made no sense to her at all.
For the rest of the team though, their attention was more drawn to the décor and furnishings. Large posters, some a metre to a side hung over every wall, sometimes overlapping several deep – all for bands and musical acts. Concert photos, promo artwork, album covers, interview shots and more for rock, pop, folks, metal, classical and other genres were everywhere, covering acts from all over the world. Hanging from the ceiling were a half dozen guitars, with anything from four to twenty-four strings, fat necks, slim necks, wooden, plastic, metal and bone, glinting in the soft light. A set of drums were tucked into the corner of the room, next to a giant harp, and in between jars of leaves and moss were other instruments – recorders, flutes, hand-made drums of bone and skin, accordions, keyboards, a set of bagpipes that had a small tank attached to the base, harmonicas – everywhere they looked, there was an instrument, many of which they could only guess at the function of.
The left-hand wall had a desk positioned along the length, and on it was a large and complex looking set of computers and audio processing equipment, with speakers flanking the desk almost from floor to ceiling. Both Marius and Hunter had seen something similar before – back in the trideo production room at the stadium that Chun had been fighting in. Hunter, in particular, noted the size of the computer terminals bolted to the underside of the desk and gave a silent whistle – there was some serious power and storage there, indicating a multi-track and possibly fully 3d trideo capability.
Their attention snapped back to Songbird as she fished inside her robe for a small chip, flipping it to Georgi, who snatched it out of the air swiftly.
"Well now. Welcome to my studio." She walked over towards Marius – although with the roll of her hips and slender form, it was probably better to describe it as a sashay. She offered a hand to him, and he took it carefully, feeling her soft skin and long slender fingers slide over his flesh. He could feel the eyes of the others on him, and knew what they were thinking. He took a moment, fixing the image of Nadia and his son firmly in his head before he gently shook her hand, then released his grip and stepped backwards.
"Thank you. I think though, that perhaps it is most appropriate for you to continue this discussion with our team leader. I am Georgi's friend, but I am merely the pilot of our craft."
"Do you want to know the story of how we got the supplies? I hope it won't be a disappointment – though I can assure you they were all taken with clean weapons, and natural strikes. No high-tech methods were used." Kai, too, shook her hand, lingering longer in her touch than Marius did – after all, he didn't have anyone waiting for him back at home!
"We have the audio transcripts of the fight as well. I can assure you there was no gunfire." Aswon added.
"A story! Thrilling. Do you want to bring them inside then?"
Aswon and Tads headed back to the aircraft, with Marius remotely accessing via his rig and unlocking the ramp for them, and they quickly ferried in the vast mound of material. Songbird seemed to be somewhat astounded with the materials they had, not only the quantity, but also the quality of the materials – fresh and intact. They did need the extra table, and in fact a third one, before all the materials could be laid out clearly. She started to pick through the materials carefully, trying to disturb them as little as possible, and not picking anything up or moving the piles about significantly. Once the team were all inside, the outer doors were remotely closed, and the room soon started to warm back up, allowing the team to shuck off their outer layers.
"Sorry, where are my manners. Would you like something to drink? Eat? Refreshments of any kind? I can get you tea and coffee, or maybe something with a bit more kick? Some snacks?"
"Do you have any jerky at all? And I'd love a cup of coffee, thank you." Aswon asked.
"No jerky. I do have some Georgian Goulash though?"
"Yes please!" Aswon exclaimed, glad to have the opportunity to test something new. Songbird took their orders and bustled out of the studio and back into the house. As the team started to look around the room, Tads called out to them.
"Look but don't touch. This is her workshop. You notice how she carefully looked at what we bought her – but didn't pick up anything she's not paid for? We should return the consideration." Tads wasn't sure if that's exactly what Songbird had been doing, or if she was just polite – but it seemed like a good point to make, and Kai was already withdrawing his hand from where he'd been about to pick up some small reeded musical instrument.
There was a whir of motors and power-cells, and a number of drones appeared in the room, arriving through a small hatch next to the door. Robo-butlers, normally the sort of thing found only in executive housing or luxury offices started to circulate around the room, dispensing hot and cold drinks, while another drone elongated and unfolded spindly arms, before making Georgi a vodka martini and depositing a soy-cherry into the top. Songbird arrived back in the room while the drones were fixing drinks, and headed over to Aswon.
"The goulash is just warming up and it'll be bought through in a minute."
"Thank you. The drones were somewhat…unexpected?" He tried to strike a note of curiosity with his voice, wondering how she'd take it.
"Oh, they're a little odd, granted. But they free up so much time for other things, more fun and productive things. Especially when I'm doing a circulation or in the middle of some frantic scoring." She tucked a few strands of her long brown hair up behind her ear, and gave him a smile. "And truth be told, I never liked washing up anyway." She turned back to face the team. "So, want to tell me your story then?"
"Well, we can. Or I can show you, if you like. With a lot more detail?"
"A trid entertainment spell?" Songbird enquired, looking intrigued.
"Similar – a phantasm."
"Oh, even better – I can record it then!"
Tads glanced down at her wrist as it buzzed and saw the message from Kai, glancing over to him to confirm his suggestions. When he nodded, she turned back to Songbird.
"Or, we can go one step further if you want, and we can give you a mind-link of the experience."
"You can? Marvellous! Can I have both? Oh, let me get ready!" She sprang into action and started setting up microphones on booms around the room, ensuring that there was at least one per two people, and flipped on the power to the massive mixing and engineering desk, and started to adjust the controls and feed in inputs. "Ok, just talk amongst yourselves for a minute while I get the levels sorted out, will you?"
They did, Marius chatting to Georgi, while the others questioned Tads on her ability to hold up both the phantasm and cast the mind-link spells, allowing Songbird to experience the attack from multiple points of view, and working out who was going to go first. When Songbird was ready, she sat in front of them all cross-legged with some old-fashioned paper, covered in parallel lines in her lap, and selection of pencils laid out next to her right leg. There was also a keyboard sitting to her left, a pair of fat cables snaking across the floor to the mixing desk.
Tads started, conjuring up the image of the forest and their walk through it, trying to recreate the scene as faithfully as she could, with the rest of the team adding in their observations to help her shape the illusion as they went. Songbird started to make notes, scribbling in the margins of her paper and drawing a series of dots and lines on the main section, humming to herself from time to time. Occasionally she would ask them to 'rewind' the action, trying to clarify what was going on, or how people felt at that time.
Kai watched her carefully, making mental notes of her actions and questions, trying to establish if there was a pattern or anything in particular that she was curious about – but she seemed to have no particular focus. Some of the time she wanted to know about the temperature, or the colour of the leaves, or how cold it was – other times it was if they were hungry, or tired, or expectant. The questions sometimes asked about the most innocuous of things, and sometimes they were blunt questions about the team and their desires.
Aswon, however, was watching her with a different objective. As she scribbled her notes down and worked on transposing the emotions and actions into some kind of musical score, he watched as power started to gather around her. Slowly her shamanic mask appeared – either she wasn't capable or was choosing not to mask herself, or there was too much power to mask easily. Her nose elongated and grew in size, firming up to become beak-like, while her eyes seemed to get further apart and glow with a deep lustre. Behind her the air shimmered, and he thought he could see flickers of flame and feathers gently undulating in the air behind her shoulders.
'Huh. Phoenix?' he thought to himself. 'Not that I'm any better off… I have no idea what that means. Doesn't feel toxic though.'
His thought process was cut off when she asked Tads to stop for a moment, and switched her questioning to Marius and Hunter, wanting to know how they felt about this, what they had been doing. When she found out about their frantic burst into action that sent her off into another frenzy of note-taking and writing.
Shimazu, too, was watching her carefully, reading her aura passively and trying to get a feel for her. She certainly seemed emotional and outgoing, and all of her actions and expressions seemed consistent – she felt fundamentally honest to him. He thought that was a good thing – they could at least trust her to be playing on a fair table, though he then reminded himself that that meant she would be extremely blunt and forthright too, if need be. She rolled to her feet, and looked down at her simple robe that was wrapped around her.
"My, this won't do at all. This is all wrong, at least for this song." She raised her hands overhead and then flung them down her body, and her form rippled and shifted, the robe dissolving into a studded leather jacket and jeans, chunky biker boots cladding her feet, while chains appeared around her neck and rings enclosed her fingers. Her hands rose up her body, reversing the previous movement and her lips were stained a deep lustrous purple while stark red makeup highlighted her eyes, fading off to a blue on the side of her face.
"A thunder calls in this mountain; High and cold past and future comes; The shadow above us became; Encroaching death ahead" Her voice was high but powerful, bursting forth from her without warning, and ending just as quickly.
She hummed to herself, then laid out the sheets of paper in front of her and grabbed at the keyboard instead, slinging it over her shoulder with a strap. With a few presses on the controls she modified the program and then started to stab at the keys, laying down a drumbeat. A few more key-presses and that started to loop, and then she played, the wailing of an electric guitar accompanying her voice as she sang. Once more her voice sang out, the lyrics filling the room and the music reverberating through their chests. Just as abruptly she stopped, and scribbled down a few changes and modifications to her notes, then tried a few different chords, singing the same lines in several different keys.
"Sky is clouded; Breath in the mist; Spirit cries; Blood for the grist…"
She scribbled some more, then waved for Tads to continue, shutting off the music and watching with rapt attention as they recreated the battle scene in intricate detail. Several more times she stopped them and tested another line of music or string of lyrics, though more and more she was just listening and taking notes, filling up page after page with new musical content. When they were done, she stood watching them for a moment.
"Great – that was fantastic. And I think I really got a feel for what you had to go through to get it now, as well. Obviously there's a lot more here than I was expecting – so, what are you after?"
"Well, we like money of course," Kai responded with a smile. "But we're happy to do trade in kind for a lot of things, and given that Georgi speaks highly of you, we'd even consider stuff for later – whether that be orders for the future, or credit of some kind."
"I see. Well, I'm sure I have something." She stopped herself, then tilted her head to one side. "Actually, I'm PRETTY sure I have something you'd like – but I'm not certain. I can see several of you have weapons imbued with magical potential – but I've not been able to get a read on you. I know you've looked at me and checked me over…" she turned her head and winked at Aswon, "and I appreciate your restraint – as you've not pried beyond that. I'd ask you to reveal yourselves, so that I may assess what it is you might want, that I can provide."
"That seems fair enough. Ok… look away. I mean, go ahead – not look the other way." Kai grinned, and then dropped his masking, revealing himself to Songbird. She gave him a glance and saw the raw power radiating from him, at least as powerful as she was, if not a touch stronger. Kai waited a few seconds and then raised his mental defences again, becoming just another guy with no particular magical talent to speak of, at least to most observers. Gesturing to Aswon, she turned to see the merc drop his own defences, and reveal his own powers, roughly as strong as she and Kai were. Shimazu followed, and she swallowed visibly as she took in the concentrated mana that radiated out from him, more powerful than she was by a considerable margin. Tads followed up with a similar showing, and for the first time since they'd met her, she seemed to lack confidence. A quick glance at both Marius and Hunter, and a look of relief as neither of them displayed any magical prowess, at least let her know that she wasn't losing her touch entirely. Shimazu watched her body language shift slightly though as she took in that the team had not just one mage, but that fully two thirds of the crew were magically talented, and were as strong as she was – at their weakest. He couldn't decide if she was more impressed or intimidated, but she certainly was rethinking her options now.
"Well, that's not what I was expecting… but I'm pretty sure I have something that will definitely interest you. Now, in terms of raw cash – well, the amount and quality of stuff you have bought me, I can see the initial offer is insultingly low. Let me see…." She tapped at her pearly white teeth with the end of her pencil as she assessed the massive pile of materials in front of her. "I can offer seventy-five thousand, for this. Or somewhere below that, and goods to that value, if you wish?"
"Unfortunately we do have some costs that are not avoidable – such as our fuel. So I think we have to ask for about fifty in cash. But I think we'd be interested in seeing what you have for the value on the rest?"
"Sure, Kai. Just hang on…" She moved to the back of the room, and pulled out her PDA again, entering a long code into the handset, before lifting up a poster to reveal a sophisticated looking control panel. After bending and putting her eyes into the optical scanner and placing her hand on the palm scanner, one entire section of the wall opened up, revealing a vault-like chamber beyond. She came out a moment later holding a sheet of music paper, similar to the one she had worked on previously – but this one lacked the scribbles and notes they'd seen so far. It also, unmistakeably, carried a live magical effect of some kind, glowing brightly in the astral plane.
"This is what I was thinking about using some of those lynx parts for, if you're interested in selling those. It's a fairly simple stealth spell, designed to let you move around without detection." She turned the page so they could see the staves, showing a complete absence of musical notation. "It's a moderate level spell that I've been working on, but lets you sneak around with most people being unable to hear a thing.
"And how do you use it?" Kai asked, leaning closer to examine the paper with interest.
"Oh, you just tear it, straight down the middle – make sure you're touching the target you want to affect. It's a single use spell, obviously – once it's ripped, it's used up."
"But how long would it last?"
"As long as you wanted – just don't put the torn bits down. As long as you keep them on your body, it'll keep powering the spell."
"And what about the backlash from the casting? I've seen similar things, and encountered them used once or twice – and nobody that makes them likes them being used, as you get hit at the most awkward moments, just when you're in the middle of something – then WHAM!" Aswon clapped his hands together loudly, making his point. "Just as you're trying to heal someone, or while you're fast asleep, a magical slap hard enough to give you a nosebleed."
"Ahh, yes – common if you're not practiced. But there are techniques to get around that. My stuff takes a while to prepare, but doesn't do that on the use or activation." She gave a proud little smile, then pointed at her instruments. "Can you imagine – if I was on stage and singing, and someone used something and it gave me a nosebleed? How unprofessional would that be!"
"That's impressive then… and I understand why you make them available to sell, if that's not a factor. So – how much would something like that cost?"
"I'd ask around fourteen thousand for that, given the time taken to prepare and create it." She sounded a little defensive, but Aswon nodded in approval at the price, and she seemed to relax a little at his lack of outrage or outburst. "Do you want to see other stuff?" He nodded to her, then moved to perch on the back of the sofa, sipping at his coffee. Things were going to get interesting it seemed.
Songbird took the sheet of paper back into the vault, and returned with a small silver tuning fork, demonstrating how one of the tines had a little notch in it, allowing it to be grasped in the hand and broken off with a sharp motion, casting a 'sonic wail like an opening riff' at a designated target. This was more powerful than the stealth spell, perhaps as much as half again, and had a price tag of twenty thousand Nuyen.
Next out was a small bonze coloured cymbal. While the sonic wail affected a specific target, the 'crescendo' spell this contained would affect a large group, she claimed. It certainly radiated power strongly, being twice as powerful as the stealth spell at least, with a price tag of twenty six thousand. A pair of vertebrae were bought out next, equally powerful but carrying a blast of pure mana energy suspended inside that could take out a living target or disrupt a spirit or ethereal creature with equal ease. The vertebrae looked to have come from some large cat – possibly a tiger or lion, based on the size.
The next item she bought out she handled carefully, holding by a leather tab that had been sewn onto one end of the strange jelly like wrinkled string.
"This is fun – but a bit tingly. It won't hurt, but it does give you a tickle – you might want to put the coffee down!" She moved over to Aswon who she'd apparently decided looked like a volunteer of some kind. With a small amount of trepidation he placed the coffee cup into Kai's spare hand and then held out his own, palm up. Songbird gently laid the moist-looking material over, and the team smiled as his arm twisted and bounced a little as tingles of electricity activated the muscles, making them spasm and shake. "It's the nervous system of an electric eel – and it keeps a tiny bit of the kick they use for hunting. Not enough to hurt, but it makes you feel all kinda funny. So you have to be careful handling it – no way I've found around that, at least without damaging the effect." Aswon had to use his other hand to clench at his bicep and force his arm down to move it away from the item, until he could break contact and remove the current from his flesh.
"And what does it do?" He looked at the jelly, seeing the power radiate out from it about as strongly as the cymbal and vertebrae.
"Well, you aim it at someone like those two, and snap it in half – and their cyber-enhancements take a dive. All of a sudden they react like an old lady, senses dulled and slowed, the world speeding past them. Instead of being a secret agent, it's more like a cleaning lady." She grinned, while Hunter and Marius shifted uncomfortably, imagining their cyberware shutting down to a powerful magical attack, leaving them flailing around without focus. "About twenty-five for this one, by the way." She returned the eel nerves to the vault and came out with one last item, a stick of waxy substance, a dull yellow-ochre colour. It was about as powerful as the tuning fork had been, but didn't betray what it did from its form.
"This is beeswax, gathered by hand from a local hive. It's used to control a pack of animals, and make them do your bidding, or to at the very least - leave you alone. I've found that hive-creatures, or things that travel in big packs or flocks seem to make the best foci for this kind of thing – and you can't get much more hive-bound than bees!"
"Huh – where was this when we needed it this morning? Would have made the fight a lot easier!" Kai muttered.
"Problem is that if we'd had it and used it, it would probably have wiped out about half the pay for the job, Kai." Aswon looked at the item again, getting a feel for the power level and looking to Songbird for confirmation. "Maybe a bit less, but certainly up around that kind of level. So it would have been safer but a lot less profitable." He turned back to Songbird and the block of wax in her hand. "Still, very useful overall. I'd certainly be interested in doing some kind of trade. Perhaps you'd value the ability to mask your aura and hide your magical power?"
"Or, I have a technique that can be used to ease the backlash and drain on spells – I don't know if it would work with how you have to cast the spells into these things when you're creating them, but it would be very useful if it does work." Tads added.
"Well, the team seem pretty happy with your wares." Kai glanced over at Hunter who was now sipping his own vodka martini, and Marius who was just finishing his second cup of coffee. "Well, most of the team. Some don't have the same focus on magic as the rest of us." Kai ignored Aswon who span round to give him an incredulous look, and carried on talking to Songbird. "I wonder though – we do have some cash in our account. If we bought these, we could maybe move them on elsewhere to shift?"
"Oh, I'm not sure about that." Her face clouded over, features fading to a neutral and non-descript expression. "I…. That is…." She took a breath, and composed her thoughts, then confirmed Shimazu's theory and just approached the issue bluntly. "I tend to be careful who I sell my wares to. I don't want the wrong kind of people using them. And no, I can't really articulate fully who are the right and wrong people."
"I think I understand." Aswon assured her. "We operate on very similar principles. As a general rule – we don't kill people. Or at least we don't take payment to do so – if someone tries to shoot us down, or engages in combat with us, then it's a matter of self defence. But we're not assassins – if that makes sense?" He stared at her until she nodded, in acceptance if not belief. "However, we have done – to my memory – at least one job exactly like that. Despite it being something we don't want to do normally. The individual in question was the leader of the local mafia, and had control of the town and much of the infrastructure, and he and his bully-boys were controlling access to basic services like food and water. Only the people that supported him, and paid a tithe were allowed to access things like the local supermarket. The town was living in fear, children were suffering, and everyone felt powerless to stop them." Aswon held her gaze, unblinking. "We weren't. And we were aware of how intentions like this can start. He's a bad man, it's justified. A slippery slope. We knew what might come of that – but we did it anyway, because we didn't want to live with being the people that just walked away and left that situation. And we've not gone there again. But that's not to say we won't – but the circumstances have to be right."
Kai passed back Aswon's cup, took a sip of his own, and then moved to stand next to Songbird.
"So we understand, or at least sympathise with only wanting to help the right people. But we hear you, and understand about not wanting to sell things to the wrong people, so let's just move away from that discussion, shall we?"
"Good, thank you. I have got a few more bits – but they're not as interesting." She headed back into the vault, dragging out what looked like two large laundry baskets full of magical bits, a vast array of animal parts, musical items or strangely cast metal filigree constructions. "These are just warding materials, and spell fetishes, that kind of thing. Fairly basic, but they tend to go out in bigger batches. Keen prices too, if I do say so myself."
Aswon and Tads both perked up and moved over to examine the goods, especially the warding materials – having good experience of just how much they could get through in a few hours, but how much value that could also bring to employers or people in need of services. Sure enough, when quizzed on her prices, they were also quite reasonable, certainly comparable to anywhere else they'd managed to find such things, and possibly a little cheaper when they discussed bulk purchases.
Aswon moved away from the supplies and tapped out a quick message to Kai on his PDA, not trusting his ability to whisper and not be overheard.
[Was thinking. What about scale? From dragon? Not to sell – but skilled enchanter? To make something?]
[Worth thinking. Maybe discuss after leaving. Not far from home. Easy to come back.]
Aswon nodded in satisfaction – Kai was right, they were only a few hundred kilometres from the ranch, and technically still in the same country, so it wouldn't be too bad to get back here – and now they'd made contact, it should be easy enough to do. As he thought through that process, he had an idea…
"Say, Songbird – do you have much contact with other enchanters and crafters? Other people in the area?"
"A little – mostly people who gather for me. Why?"
"Well, we're based over the other side of the country, and there's an enchanter over there that we've been getting our stuff from previously. Just wondered if you knew of him, or wanted an introduction. He's got a very different style to you, that's for sure!"
"I'm open to meeting new people and finding out new things." She smiled, and then took the proffered card from Kai, placing it down on the edge of her mixing desk.
"Great – do you have a card?"
"Even better, I've got a demo chip." She reached into a basket and pulled out a small chip in a translucent protective case, passing it over to Kai with a grin. "That's got about twenty of my pieces of work, both songs, pure musical pieces, even a jingle or two." She tapped in a quick command on her computer, and the familiar tones of an advertising jingle burst out of the speakers, the catchy beat and simple lyrics having at least Aswon and Hunter mouthing along to the slogan for the famous cola brand. Tads almost jumped as everyone joined in for the final shout at the end of the commercial.
"NUKE-IT!"
"You don't like that one? It was one of my finest pieces!"
"Don't take it personally, Songbird. Tads is an outdoors kind of person. I don't think they had trideo or even radio in her village." Aswon grinned. "In fact, I don't think they have electricity – so until she'd met us, she hadn't really seen anything to do with product placement or advertising. Sometimes we forget that she's got a very different worldview."
"And did you have electricity in your village?" She asked him.
"No – in our way, we were just as isolated as she probably was. Much warmer and drier though, I'd expect. But I've been away from home a decade more than she has, and I've been posted all over the place – so I've had plenty of time to get used to it."
"Ahh, I see."
"Don't worry about it – I don't. They have to explain things sometimes, but then so do I – like why we should be more respectful of nature, or not kill certain creatures. So it all balances out." Tads folded her arms and stared at Kai, daring him to argue with her – but he folded immediately and headed over to the drinks robot to get himself a top-up. "I am very impressed with your magical creations though. Would you be interested in comparing fomulae and perhaps seeing if we can arrange some swaps, or trades? Or even some paid study time, perhaps?"
"Sure, why don't we go get comfy on the sofa and talk magic."
Aswon was about to join them when he was distracted by a regular thumping sound coming from behind him. He turned and wandered around the couch to find the source – and spotted Georgi sitting in a rocking chair, eyes closed and drink in hand, rocking gently on a chair and tapping his foot on the floor. A large set of padded headphones were strapped tightly over his head, and he was presumably tapping along to the beat of a fast-paced piece of music. Hunter had also walked over to see what was going on, having picked up on the vibrations in the floor from the stomping. He poked Georgi until he opened his eyes, and gestured to his own head. Rather than passing over the headphones, Georgi dug into the basket next to him and pulled out a second pair, passing them over and connecting the long cable into the second output on the music system, and a few moments later Hunter had sunk into a chair and was also tapping along, his face contorted into a gurn as he played air-guitar to a piece of music actually being played on an Abkharza – a two stringed instrument played with a bow, much closer to a violin than a guitar. Not that it stopped him at all…
Marius also headed over to join them, but there were no more headphones – forcing them to turn the music down and route it through a speaker, so they could all listen in. Conversation sprung up, discussing the weather, some sporting events and the brewery local to Georgi – anything but magical themes really, and Aswon left them to it, returning back to the sofa to find Tads and Songbird deep in conversation, and wondering if an overnight stay might allow them to exchange some particularly interesting sets of notes…
Kai was touring the room, examining the posters and concert pictures with interest, while Shimazu stood motionless in the centre, his eyes open but unfocussed as he meditated and studied his own body and mind, present in only the loosest sense of the word. He saw Kai prick up his ears at something Tads had said and watched as he headed back over to the sofa to talk to them again.
"We can maybe do some brokering on the spell formula too, if you want. Oh – of course. I guess same deal as with the finished goods?"
"Yes, I like to get a feel for people first. Especially with some of my custom creations, I want to know who is going to use them and how."
"Well, I guess it's the same deal really. If you want to, we can help – and we only generally deal with people who have the right outlook on life. Like…" Kai gazed into the distance for a moment, before a thought popped into his head. "Like a shaman we found all the way over in north America. Way over on the western seaboard, up in the cold areas and highlands – much higher than here. We found this shaman in a cave, following up on a vision quest you see…" Kai started to tell her the tale of their encounter with Kutara Snowpiercer. Songbird grabbed some paper and started to make notes frantically, especially when Kai was describing the death of his wife and the feelings he had then, and what he'd done to try and deal with them.
"Whoa there, Kai. And Songbird… " he tutted gently under his breath, offering mock chastisement. "That's our material you're stealing. Real top quality emotional stuff there. And we've not even discussed royalties or publishing rights!"
"Hey, you can't blame a girl for listening!"
"Hmm. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but if you like stories, there's someone you could possibly meet. It's a long way to travel, but it might be workable…" Tads suggested with a grin. She was pretty sure they could make the journey to Papa New Guinea in a short enough time to get some good listening and talking in with the Quoll, and wondered what Songbird would make of the spirit.
Kai and Aswon found seats and relaxed with their drinks while Tads and Songbird continued to chat and gently negotiate for spells and formulas – clearly they were somewhat similar in both their magical techniques and their approach to life, and they got on well together. They were interrupted when Marius appeared around the cupboard and shelving unit that split the room up somewhat.
"I have been talking with Georgi, who is quite drunk now."
"I figured. It's not the first time, and I have the guest room prepared." Songbird grinned, and gave the others a quick shrug. "I don't want him driving while he's trashed, the roads just aren't good enough, even with an auto-nav. And he's too proud to let the car drive him, most of the time."
"Indeed. He said as much. How are your negotiations going?" The rest of the team gave him an odd look – wondering why he was curious about the magical negotiations, when normally he didn't really want to have anything to do with them.
"Well enough. We could make use of more time, of course. But that's always the way."
"Ja, Ja. Well, I have a suggestion – if it is not too presumptuous. Georgi mentioned that you have several rooms available. I wondered if you would be happy to host at least part of the team for the night – to give you extra time to study."
"Why?" Kai asked, getting in before Songbird could answer.
"Well, if Georgi is staying overnight, he can give you, or whoever stays, a lift into Tbilisi when he leaves tomorrow. And from there you can get a train to Baku, which is close enough to the ranch."
"Ahh, and that means you can fly home now, and get a night in at home." Aswon added with a grin as the plan became obvious. "Well, that works for me, on one condition."
"What?" Marius let suspicion cloud his voice, squinting at Aswon as the big grin formed on his face.
"You have to tell us afterwards just how Nadia reacted to seeing your new skin. I don't want to miss out on that, but a good recounting will do, I suppose."
"Frak you!"
Chuckles ran around the room, apart from Tads who didn't find the subject funny at all, and Songbird who didn't understand the reference or issue. She was distracted again as Kai leant in to her suddenly and asked her a quiet question.
"Say, do you know any spells to do with drug addiction or resistance? Or anything like that?"
"Not specifically. Possibly something that would help influence people to make decisions you wanted in general, though."
Shimazu's head swivelled down to look at Kai, his brows pushed together as he frowned.
"I think that if Marius is heading back to the ranch tonight, I will join him." His voice was flat and controlled, lacking any kind of emotion – but that in itself was a statement, as was the intention to leave Kai alone. Normally he seemed to regard it as his duty to be with him and keep Kai safe – so Kai's questions must have really annoyed him, and it seemed that this was how he was announcing his displeasure.
Soon enough, Marius, Hunter and Shimazu were heading to the tilt-wing, heading back to the ranch, leaving Kai, Tads, Aswon and Georgi to stay the night and listen to music and talk magic. Georgi soon had the headphones back on and a fresh glass, tapping away to some traditional Georgian music, while Tads sang the song of the Nenet people that she'd used when hunting the Dragonspine plant, while Songbird started to add some instrumental backing to it. Kai relaxed back into the sofa, enjoying the karaoke, while Aswon watched the subtle build up of power as Songbird performed, wondering if she was even aware of the ritual she was weaving – and wondering if she'd be interested in the breathing techniques he knew. With a voice that powerful, it could really add something to her performances…
