Wish upon the Stars chapter 16

The bus ride back to the guild wasn't nearly as awkward, but it also  wasn't really noisy. We sat in silence, both thinking about things for  most of the ride, until I finally realized we were getting close and  asked. "What exactly did Ian want by the way? You made it sound really  urgent, did they get a lead or something?" I wasn't sure if I wanted  that or not. I wasn't strong enough to deal with this killer bullshit  yet, I'd been counting on a long drawn out investigation to give me time  to build power.

She shook her head. "No, no leads. But  yeah it is urgent. Apparently news of my brother's..." she winced, still  having trouble saying it. "What happened to my brother, reached the  capital. The guild master there, Nightstrike's dad, sent an F ranker  specialized in target elimination to deal with it. We got called in  because since we're on the case we're supposed to be meeting them." I  blinked. Target elimination. Which kind of sounded like a nice way to  say bounty hunter...or assassin. Which was all kinds of intimidating.

I  was confused about one thing though. "How do they have an F grade to  just send around to help. Aren't they rare? There's only like two or  three in town I think." F rankers were top of the food chain as far as I  knew. Considering how broad the gap between G and F were that made  sense. I could break into G rank after breaking the thousand point wall,  but F rank would be ten times that. Considering it would probably take  even me literal months to get through H rank one could imagine how long  it took to get someone to F rank through normal means.

Jessie  shook her head. "F rankers are pretty common in the capital. E rankers  are scary rare, there are only about a dozen on the whole planet, but  the Ascendant Academy is in the capital, and most of the teachers there  are in the high F ranks. The academy spans the entire gamut of students  from I to F, with the option to graduate once you break through G rank  or stay to become a faculty advisor. The spots are limited though, so  usually only people who manage G rank before twenty get invited from the  outer cities."

My eyes were wide. "Wait...what? How? You  make it sound like there are thousand of Ascendants there. From what I  know only one percent of people are born with Impact. Where do they find  so many people?" Not to mention the necessary renown to actually rank  them up, you couldn't farm that shit. You needed some way to genuinely  spread the fame of students to boost their reputation. School  competitions or what have you wouldn't be enough, they would have to be  out actively saving people.

She shrugged. "The capital is  huge. Most of the planets in the Conglomerate were terraformed  originally in a single encampment, and the rest of the cities grew out  from that as needed. The entire population of Callus lived in the  capital for centuries back when the planet was founded. Besides being  bigger the whole place is more developed and more organized because it  was planned for mass occupation to start. It's literally ten thousand  times the size of Valen." She saw me gaping and giggled. "Yeah I had  that same expression when I first heard that, but its nothing compared  to seeing it for the first time."

That surprised me.  "You've been there?" Jessie didn't strike me a traveler, though I hadn't  known her brother. I guessing assuming her whole princess in a tower  vibe meant she'd never gone anywhere in her life was kind of silly now  that I thought about it. "What was that like? Ten thousand times the  size of Valen is...big. There's ten million people in the city. What the  hell does a city of a hundred billion even look like?" I could hardly  imagine anything that size, it just seemed so...insane.

She  blew out a breath in remembered awe. "Huge. I went with my brother for a  conclave a few years ago. The Unity has gatherings like that when big  wigs come on planet as a greeting. Executives only of course. Alan and  Lindsey were pretty young for G rankers, so they got pretty good  treatment over there. They were past twenty so no Academy invite but the  higher ups considered them to have potential and sent them to join the  conclave as Valen's representatives." Her voice was soft and wistful  when she talked about it, and I felt bad for bringing it up.

Desperate  to change the subject I cut in. "So do you know anything about this F  ranker? Sound like they work with the guild master down there pretty  closely, so they must be higher up in the F ranks right? Or I guess  maybe just uniquely talented. I'm not sure why he would send an assassin  anyway, wouldn't an investigator have been a better investment?" I knew  shit about investigation, and while Nightstrike seemed to know what was  what her ability didn't seem geared to that kind of thing, a specialist  would have helped.

Jessie shook her head. "Politics.  Nightstrike is on the case for Valen, which means if someone swoops in  and solves it she loses all the reputation that would earn her. Solving a  case like this could pay dividends, while they can't let word spread  too far right now, once we have the killer caught or taken care of they  can release the news. Then Nightstrike comes off like a hero and gets a  ticket to F grade. The assassin is there to take care of the killer and  keep an eye on Nightstrike, because since it's gotten this far she can't  turn that down, even though I'm sure she wants to."

I  shot her a questioning look and she sighed. "Nightstrike and her dad  don't get along. The old guild master was powerful, but from what I know  of him he wasn't a great father. He cheated on her mother with one of  the guild members and then took his mistress and Nightstrike's half  brother with him when he left. She's actually considered an Academy  level talent, even the capital wants her, but she refuses to be  associated with him at all." I had no idea how she knew any of this, and  it must have showed because she giggled again, smirking at me smugly.  "I'm friendly and cute and a good listener. People aren't careful when I  talk to them. It comes in handy for getting gossip."

I  was more and more impressed with Jessie the longer I knew her. She was  whip smart, and even though she played the perky airhead and was even  genuinely a happy person, she knew how to use peoples perception against  them. Finally the bus stopped and we got out, heading into the guild.  We separated for a bit when we got there. I was carrying my costume in a  backpack just in case, they made sure we had them on us at all times. I  found an empty room to change, the guild had a few of them lying around  for just that purpose, and Jessie went back to the room she was staying  in.

We agreed to meet up at the  conference room Ian was waiting in, so after Jessie gave me directions,  we split up and got changed before heading up to meet the new backup.  We met back up at the invisible stairway and headed to the room in  question in full costume about twenty minutes later. I admit to being a  bit nervous. I was starting to get that this was just the tip of the  Unity iceberg, and meeting the F ranker the capital branch had sent  would in a way be my first introduction to the wider organization.

I'd  long since decided to take advantage of the unity for as long as I  could. They had a valid and well thought out method for raising low  grade Ascendants, plenty of resources they could give me, and were a  viable cover while I was in the early days of my growth.If I got  stronger as an independent it would draw tons of attention to me and  raise all sorts of questions, plus I would miss out on perfectly viable  points. Might as well get the best of both worlds, I could use the Unity  for resources and cover and use the WCP for information and trading.

Which  meant this meeting was going to be incredibly important. I needed to  keep climbing the ranks as best I could, so I needed to make an  impression on the higher ups. Which was why it was somewhat off putting  when we entered the conference room to find Nightstrike glaring daggers  at the small, graceful woman who had to be the F ranker from the capital  branch. Cap looked so relieved to see us when he noticed us come in I  had the inexplicable urge to run away. He smiled widely at us. "Hey!  Come on in you two! I'd like to introduce you to someone!"

His  eyes were practically screaming at us to help, so I glanced at Jessie  and we walked inside, closing the door behind us and feeling like we  were on death row. He gestured to the tiny, lithe form of the F ranker.  "This is Shadowthorn. The capital branch sent her to help us with the  investigation." He put on a very fake smile that made me almost positive  I was missing something. That feeling became much more severe when  Jessie stiffened, staring at the other woman in what I could only  describe as a sort of fascinated horror.

Nightstrike  sneered. "No. She's here to babysit me because my father knows it will  make me angry and I can't actually do anything about it. It's the only  reason he would send HER here." Her tone was poisonous and so cold I  felt like I was trying to eat a cyanide popsicle. Cap winced, trying to  keep his smile on his face as he basically oozed discomfort, and I got  the feeling that this person and Nightstrike had some serious history. A  feeling she confirmed seconds later when she said scathingly. "I'm  surprised you didn't bring Eric along. Why not show the little prince  how mommy works."

That  was when the situation clicked. Based on the various ways people were  acting I had to guess this was Nightstrike's stepmother, the younger  guild member his father had left her mother for when he was promoted to  the capital. I wondered briefly what kind of asshole would send his  mistress to bodyguard his daughter from his first marriage, but then I  had to admit I had no knowledge of the situation. Family drama aside she  was an F ranker. He obviously cared enough to want Nightstrike  protected, even if she seemed to wish he didn't.

Shadowthorn  sighed. "Because this is no place for a child right now, Calliope.  Look, I'm not your enemy here. I understand you don't like me. I  understand why, and I'm not stupid enough to try to change that, though I  do wish you weren't so hostile to Eric, he's still just a kid, and what  happened wasn't his fault. Regardless you ARE my sons half sister, and  even if you weren't I'm here on orders. You find the killer and I'll  take them out. The faster you do that the sooner I can go home and leave  you in peace. I'm no happier to be here than you are to have me  around."

Nightstrike  glared at her, unwilling to budge in her obvious hatred. Which I  supposed was fair, I didn't have any idea what had gone on between them.  It sounded like the guild master in the capital at least cared enough  to want someone looking out for Nightstrike that he sent somebody with a  vested interest in her survival. I had to admit it hit a bit of a sore  spot. She was in the same position I was, or at least close. A deadbeat  dad who sent a bodyguard and thought that made things ok. I hadn't dealt  with my anger at my old man over just bailing like that, but seeing it  someone else I was pretty sure I would need to soon. I sighed and  stepped further into the room. Regardless of the drama we had work to  do. Hopefully.