Delve

“You’re…famous?” Legruz asked in disbelief, hesitating there only a moment before surging to his feet exactly as predicted. “I knew it!”

“Mildly famous,” Rain corrected patiently, repeating his exact words. He and Ameliah were in the House Lomaris compound, joined by what they’d come to think of as their full adopted party in this trip to the Depths. Legruz had been leaning against Pitterpatter until his outburst, while Mora and the Brothers Beard were seated around an ornate tea table. The Fledglings plus Genn had claimed various sofas and chairs in the heavily warded sitting room. He and Ameliah had their helmets off, comfortable enough in this company and safe from wider dangers behind the defenses of house Lomaris. That comfort was challenged slightly by the way everyone was staring at them.

“You…called us here to tell us who you are?” Genn asked, brow furrowed. “Why? Why, when you’ve been so secretive up until now?”

“Because we’re leaving,” Ameliah said. “The lift departs in less than an hour, and we mean to be on it. We finished our mission, and we already turned in the keys to our house. Anything we tell you, we trust you to keep quiet until tomorrow when we’re long gone. There are things we still can’t say for our safety, but our names and who we are? That’s not a problem.”

Rain nodded. “I think it’s safe to say we’re friends, and we want our friends to know who we are before you find out some other way. Apart from that, we’ve got a favor to ask. We’ll get to that.”

“If you are leaving, I shall come with you!” Legruz declared, jabbing a finger at the ceiling.

“You can’t,” Ameliah said calmly. “If you left the city, your house would mount an expedition to haul you back or risk the other houses turning on them. Illuminators don’t go rogue. You know this. Please just sit.”

Legruz, amazingly, sat. Behind his eyes, though, the gears were visibly turning.

Rain judged it best to move on. “As I was saying, we are mildly famous, meaning that we are known to some degree to the leadership of the big three.” He took a deep breath. “My real name is Rain, and I’m captain of Ascension, which means I’m its leader.”

Still. Despite my instructions.

“And I’m Ameliah, Entrusted of Ascension and member of the Defense Council.”

Rain waited, but there was no recognition from anyone. He hadn’t really expected one, though.

“Rain…” Nim said slowly. “Such a strange name. What’s…Ascension? What language is that?”

“They’re definitely not Sadiiri, then,” Genn said, crossing his arms and giving Rain no chance to respond.

“That wasn’t obvious from the moment you met them?” Leftbeard asked.

“Like you knew,” Rightbeard said, punching his brother in the shoulder.

“Enough,” Mora said, holding up a hand. “Let them continue. And I thought they were pretty convincing.”

“Sorry, boss,” Rightbeard said.

“That’s it!” Legruz exclaimed, shooting to his feet again and making Pitterpatter meow in annoyance. “I will send one of my apprentices with you! No, two!”

Ameliah shook her head. “As glad as we’d be to have them, you know that won’t work either. Regardless of the perceived risk to any Illuminator secrets, they have families too.” She turned to address the Fledglings. “How would your parents react if you left Legruz to run off with foreigners to who knows where?”

“Not well,” Remezzo said.

“That’s understating it,” Bryz said flatly. “And I’m not leaving. I’m going to be an Illuminator. I’m going to be the very best.”

Like no one ever was?

“You see?” Ameliah said to Legruz, but not before glancing at Rain. Stay focused, was the unambiguous message. She looked back at the Illuminator. “If they were the type to up and leave everything on a whim, they’d be Guilders.”

Legruz sat again with a defeated hmph, pouting as he pressed himself into Pitterpatter’s side. In response, the giant cattipede craned her neck around and licked the full side of his head from jaw to temple. Rain didn’t bother to hide his smile as Legruz sputtered and struggled against what swiftly became a spirited grooming.

“In time, things might change,” Ameliah said over the commotion. “We’d love to have any of you. We just don’t want to piss off the Illuminators, the Entente, or any of the houses, great or small. We don’t want other organizations to feel like we’re poaching their members. Ascension has enough problems.”

“You still haven’t explained what Ascension even is,” Letraue said. “Are you mercenaries, or aren’t you?”

“Ascension is a group dedicated to awakening anyone who’s not an asshole,” Ameliah replied. “It’s not a mercenary company. We’re not for hire, especially not to fight other people’s wars. It’s not a Guild team, either, except in a technical sense. We founded it independently, and we’ve got way too many members for anyone to really think of it like that.”

“How many?” Mora asked.

Rain turned to her. “Roughly four hundred, most unawakened.”

“Four hundred?” Mora’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re telling me you’re in charge of four hundred people?”

“Responsible for, would be how I’d rather put it,” Rain replied.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t seem strong enough for that,” Rightbeard said. “You’re powerful, for sure, seen that myself, but to command the loyalty of such a large force without being gold?”

“Are you deaf?” Leftbeard asked, staring at his brother. “He said most of them are unawakened.” He rolled his eyes. “Foreigners and their kings.”

“Strength has nothing to do with it, and I’m not a king,” Rain said. “Or a lord or anything like that. Please burn that notion out of your skull. ‘Captain’ is an elected position in Ascension, and there are several members stronger than I am.” He jerked his head toward Ameliah. “Her, for one.”

“Stop being modest,” Ameliah said. “He’s at least as strong as I am, depending on the situation. Also, he founded Ascension. It was literally his idea.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with me being in charge either. Like I said, I was elected.”

“And you wouldn’t have been if people didn’t believe in you and what you stand for. Stop being so damn modest and give yourself some credit for once.”

Rain opened his mouth, then closed it. “Yes, Honey.”

Nim giggled, ending in a yelp as everyone turned to look at her.

“Getting back on topic,” Ameliah said, coming to the teenager’s rescue, “Ascension formed out of the survivors from Fel Sadanis, which brings me to the other thing you might have heard about us. Do you know what happened there?”

“In Fel Sadanis?” Mora asked. “The Straal-shielded city that Lightbreaker blasted off the face of Ekrustia? That Fel Sadanis?”

“Yes, that Fel Sadanis,” Ameliah said. “We’re pretty sure it was Potentate Fecht who broke the shield, though, not Lightbreaker.”

“If you say so,” said Genn skeptically. “I’m finding this all a little hard to swallow.” He sucked his teeth, then turned to Rain. “You expect me to believe you’re in charge of four hundred people when it’s just the two of you here? Where is your entourage? Why would you come to the depths alone?”

“Because we had to,” Rain replied.

“Secret mission,” Ameliah added.

“Right, that mission of yours,” Genn said. “That explains so much.”

“We’re explaining as much as we can,” Rain said.

“Fine,” Genn said, ignoring a death glare he was receiving from his sister. “Go on then. Tell us whatever other ridiculous thing you want us to hear.”

“Have you heard of the Night Cleaner?” Ameliah asked.

Hey! Rain protested at full mental volume, though he wasn’t really mad. He’d fully expected her to pull out the nickname sooner or later. It was the one he was best known by, other than Death Zone, and of the two, he knew which one he vastly preferred.

“The Watch’s new Custodian?” Mora asked. “What about her?”

Rain blinked.

Her? Did…they hear the story from Dust or something?

“It’s you!” Nim exclaimed, pointing at Ameliah. “You’re—!”

“Yes, she is the one,” Rain said, recovering quickly and seizing the opportunity. “The Cleaner of the Night. She who scrubs in the darkness. The purger of filth and deliverer of pine-scented justi—”

“Oh, hush,” Ameliah said, elbowing him in the ribs. “Him, not me. Show them your plate.”

Already reaching for it, Rain removed the steely object from his pouch. He took out his silver Guild plate too and held up both, fanning them out so the emblems of both organizations were clear. “I’m Guild, too, incidentally. Sorry for lying about that. It’s complicated.”

“As am I,” Ameliah said, holding up her own silver plate.

“Wow,” Nim mouthed, staring starry-eyed at Rain in abject awe.

He shifted uncomfortably. That expression was a bit much, even for Nim.

Just what rumors did she hear?

“Legruz?” Mora asked after a painfully long silence. “Do those look as real to you as they look to me?”

“Of course they are real,” Legruz snapped, acting like he wasn’t shocked too—and like all his hair on the left side wasn’t sticking up and damp with cat spit. “You doubt their word? After they saved us?”

“Wouldn’t have needed saving without them,” Genn said. “Or without you, for that matter.”

“Impudence!” Legruz shouted, struggling to rise before he hesitated. “Were you not…completely correct…I would demand satisfaction.” He sat back again with a sniff. “As it is, I shall forgive you.”

Genn rolled his eyes, then looked at his sister. “Our father taught us to never trust someone once you’ve caught them in a lie. Even if all this is true, they lied about not being Guilders before. I mean, I like them, and they did save us, but you’re not seriously believing this, are you? More likely, Legruz is in on it and this is all a big joke.”

Nim made a frustrated sound. “Of course they lied before! They’re famous! And they were on a secret mission!” She pointed at Rain. “And he’s a Majistraal! If people found out—“

“Sorry, I’m a what?” Rain interrupted.

“Ignore her,” Genn said, waving a hand. “That rumor is ridiculous, Nim.”

“You say that about every rumor!” Nim shouted. “You never believe anything until it’s rammed down your throat!”

Genn clicked his tongue. “Fine! Dystees above, he’s the Night Cleaner! I believe all of this without reservation! You happy now?”

“Let’s let them finish what they wanted to say,” Mora said, leaning back in her chair to lay a hand on Nim’s arm before the sibling quarrel could escalate any further. She looked at Rain and Ameliah. “I’ve heard the rumors too, and Genn’s right that lots of them are contradictory. Will you tell us the full story?”

Rain nodded. “We’ll do you one better.” From one of his newly acquired packs—the one not stuffed with Crysts—he removed a stack of neatly folded papers and began passing them out.

“Common Knowledge: Ascension?” Bryz read, looking up from squinting at the heading. “Did you have to write so small?”

“We had trouble finding enough paper, and there was a lot to cover,” Ameliah said. “That has a full account of everything from our founding up to now, at least those details that we are willing to share.”

“I wish I could have written less, but people need to know the full story if they want to understand where we’re coming from,” Rain said, returning to Ameliah’s side as darkness descended upon his thoughts. Writing everything out had not been easy.

Stupid Winter. Stupid perfect memory.

Unbidden, Ameliah’s hand found his and squeezed. He squeezed back hard enough to shatter a normal person’s bones.

Vatreece must have techniques for dealing with trauma. I hope she wakes up soon so I can ask her. It’s been almost a week. She seems to be getting more stable, at least.

“Wow, this is…a lot,” Letraue said, reading.

“Yes,” Rain agreed, forcing himself to reduce his grip to a more reasonable level. “Apart from the history, there’s a section in there that describes our goals, our structure, and the general codes we hold ourselves to. We don’t want any misunderstandings about who we are, where we came from, and what we mean to accomplish.”

“This will be our formal debut to the world,” Ameliah said. “We’re going to print a whole bunch of these and distribute them to cities all over. You get them early. Please don’t do anything but read them until tomorrow. After that, you can spread them around all you want.”

“Print?” Bryz asked. “As in a woodblock print? Just how many do you plan to make?”

“Never mind that,” Rain answered, finally letting go and going back for his pack. “The point is, we’re coming out of the shadows. Or maybe in from the fringes. Whatever. My Custodian status both helps and hurts us when it comes to our people not being messed with. Having allies in Xiugaaraa would go a long way toward lending us some legitimacy that’s not rooted in the big three.”

Straightening, he walked over to Mora and held out one of two envelopes he’d retrieved. “To that end, here. This is the favor we mentioned. We’d like to set up an outpost of sorts in the city, and we want to do it with the Entente’s blessing. I think you’ll find we have a lot to offer, and we’re more than happy to pay taxes. I doubt you can just approve something like this on your own, so please send it up the chain of command. Again, tomorrow, not today. It would also help a lot if you’re willing to vouch for us.”

“As long as you can afford the rent and it’s not a literal Watch outpost, I’m more than willing to vouch for you,” Mora said, taking the envelope.

“It won’t be,” Ameliah said. “The letter is very clear. Feel free to read it before you pass it on. We’re allies of the Watch through Rain, but we’re independent. We just want a place to work out of that’s close to the Delving and the Radiant Auction. We don’t plan on meddling in the city’s politics.”

“Legruz, this one is for the Illuminators,” Rain said, gesturing with the second envelope. “I doubt you’ve heard of light bulbs, but we mean to sell them. Also flashlights. A whole bunch of things, really, but those are the two that might get your peers up in arms until they understand the limitations.” He held out the letter. “Hence, a description of what they are and why they’ll never displace Light enchantments in the city.”

Legruz took it with a frown. “If you are selling such things, it is not the Illuminators you should worry about, but the Foundry. Do you have a letter for them as well?”

“If we did, it would just say ‘get bent’ in big bold letters,” Ameliah said. “Same for Havenheild, though they at least haven’t tried to kill us yet, so maybe we wouldn’t put Dunch clippings in with that one.” She held up a hand. “We’re not worried about the Bank or their subsidiaries, not in the light of day. We have a plan for dealing with them.”

Rain nodded. He didn’t doubt for a second that Luna had gotten out before the Empire finished their sweep across the continent. He also suspected the Banker would be more willing to deal fairly now that the bulk of his holdings had been seized. Ascension would be his only hope of keeping his status after the Bank’s next wealth assessment—and even that, a thin one.

“This is unbelievable,” Bryz said, looking up from the paper she still clutched. “You really went through all this? How are you still alive? How are you…functional?”

“Determination, luck, and friends,” Rain said.

“Friends we need to get back to,” Ameliah said. “Rain, the time. Remember, we need to get tickets.”

“Right, let’s wrap up,” Rain said. He wasn’t looking forward to the stress he was about to be under. The lift was said to be quite slow, which meant his trip to the surface was going to be an excruciating journey through self-inflicted anxiety. He and Ameliah had both camouflaged their palings to the point that their souls looked precisely as they had upon their descent, but the Guild shaft was called that for a reason. It emptied out inthe very house of one of the monsters they’d sensed upon their arrival in the city.

Rationally, he knew it made no difference. If Burrik proved able to see through their countermeasures, he’d see through them no matter where they came out. It nevertheless felt like they planned to take a shortcut through a bear’s den.

“You cannot reveal revelations of this magnitude and then simply leave!” Legruz cried, bringing Rain back to the present. The Illuminator was waving his hands wildly, one holding the flapping Common Knowledge article and the other the as-yet unopened letter. “I have so many questions!”

“Finally, someone who gets me,” Rain said. [Dozer, wake up. Time to go.]

[Not sleep! Guard!]

“He’s a good actor, I’ll give him that,” Genn said, scratching his chin as he watched Legruz’s antics.

[You can guard Grannybrain later. Did you hear me say it’s time to go? That means we’re leaving. This could be your last chance to play with Pitterpatter for who knows how long.]

[!!!]

*Pop*

Ameliah laughed, catching Dozer out of midair before he could launch himself at anyone. “We are going to be so late.”

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