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By the time Mark reached the semi-private 'witches' table' between the glowing stacks of giant paper flowers, Isoko had extracted enough information and Pearl had volunteered enough that Quark was able to put names to faces. Pearl Brightstaff, the tall leader of the group, the singer and guitarist. Amy Walover, the shorter drummer who had several disorderly conduct court cases against her in the last year, each for getting into fights at bars.

Uva Spike, the athletic one, the cello player, who also got into those bar fights and ended them. They were the Witches of Domal'Takela, and they had had that honor for the last two years, but they started their singing-and-monster-slaying career as the 'Witches On The Wall'. They were rather famous, though Mark had never heard of them. They had a podcast. Mark would have to watch some later. They also had video footage of them killing monsters. Mark watched that right now, thanks to Quark.

In the video the three witches floated on a black cloud down one of those green 'monster roads' between some cities somewhere, blasting down trees and monsters and singing the whole time as they flowed forward on that black cloud— But then Mark arrived at the table. Isoko instantly judged the two other people at the table, and decided that the shorter one must be 'Amy', as she smiled, saying, "And you must be Amy! Do you like the Shimmerslick's collection?"

Amy brightened, smiling back, her cheeks a bit pearly-pink, as she said, "I do! They were sold out so I had to steal Pearl's. Wonderful to meet you in person." Uva stepped away from the table a little, toward Isoko, saying, "Greetings."" Hello, Uva," Isoko said, "Pearl was telling me how you and her fought over who got to play the guitar and who was forced to play the cello."" Quite so," Uva said, looking at Pearl and grinning.

"She's too scrawny to handle that big thing." Pearl, who was lithe compared to Uva's athletic form, said to Isoko, "Sometimes I switch out for a violin, and the cello is the only one she ever bothered to learn, so I let her have her beloved instrument and decided to put that argument to rest—" She added toward Uva, "Two years ago." Amy stage-whispered, "It's still an argument."" She tells herself and anyone who will listen that it was her choice," Uva said, "But truthfully she can't handle the big ones."

Amy asked, "So who wants drinks?!" And then suddenly some servers were there with a rainbow assortment of beverages, from red apple something, to orange citrus curled into fizzy orange drink, to yellow berries over a glass, to green weeds or something muddled into a glass in the shape of a barrel, and then there were blueberries in another, and finally blackberries in the last one.

Mark opted for the blackberry drink, and that had Amy grinning and lifting her own vibrant blue drink, saying small cheers, as everyone got to drinking and Mark said hello to all of them. It was awkward, considering that this was an arranged meeting from Walaria to suss out marriage compatibility, but Mark got through it. Somehow, Mark got to the stuff that Quark had shown him about monster killing, and that was easier to handle. Drinks helped." Roadwork is great," Uva said, "Long as you can handle it.""

They call it 'roadwork'?" Mark asked, surprised and grinning. Pearl said, "There are no normal monster spawns possible inside any of the cities, but if you let it get out of control outside then they spill in, so roadwork is the normal profession for people who can do it."" Not many can do it!" Uva said, "But we were some of the best."" Ugh! I miss roadwork!" Amy said, knocking back the rest of her drink and grabbing another one from a tray that was exactly there, served exactly when it needed to be served.

Holding a bright green drink, Amy said, "The Green Run! 2047! We fucking ROCKED that shit!"" You almost lost it all for us, too," Uva said, smiling wide. Like it was an old argument, Amy happily countered, "But I won it, instead!"" What's the Green Run?" Isoko asked. Pearl explained, "The three Sea Cities—"" Ohh!" Isoko said, "Sorry, sorry… I know about it! My cousins— Oh shit. Joey and Pedro. I completely forgot about them."" What?" Mark asked.

Isoko shook her head, indicating it wasn't an issue, but Mark was concerned and she saw that, so she said, "They were going to be in Crytalis for a side-Ball at some Grand Guard mansion or something—" She told the witches, "My cousins are in the Grand Guard by the Meteor Sea. Out of Rocktower, but the Green Run is Redbridge, Martock, and Ardano, right? The three cities of the Meteor Sea."" Those are them!" Amy said. Mark asked, "So what's the Green Run?"

Isoko almost answered, but Pearl wanted to answer, and so Isoko decided to let that happen, to see what Pearl would say. Pearl smiled a little bit and then said, "The major cities of the Meteor Coast, the Sea Cities, have a 950 kilometer race between the major cities and their outposts every year, which is more like a 500 kilometer race, with 450 kilometers of circling. It's a 10 day event, in the High Summer, at the worst of the monster spawns, and it takes place on the greenways between the cities.

You have to get from Ardano, which is to the west of Domal'Takela, to Redbridge, which is the entrance to the Rocktower cities and Rocktower itself. The Green Run is a historical route these days, but before the Reveal and Earth and hovercars and Castellan it was the only way to get supplies back and forth between nations—"" Unless you were good enough to have the dragons ferry supplies," Amy said. Uva countered, "The dragons specifically didn't carry salt, though. They did a lot, but not that.

It was 'beneath them'."" The Green Run was a salt run," Pearl said. Uva took over, telling Mark and Isoko, "Salt was the entire basis for the Green Run, because humans needed to trade salt from the Crytalis area to other places. It's a whole big part of history, and why this area was the capital. The salt flats are about 300 kilometers south of here. Okuana killed them several times, but Aluatha opened holes between the ocean and some cenotes and just brought the salt production further inland."

Pearl nodded along, and then continued, "The three of us carried a literal ton of salt from the starter zone just outside of Crytalis to all the cities of the Meteor Coast, picking up more 'goods' for 'trade' from the Sea Cities —just 200 kilo weights in barrels— and eventually made it to the gateway to Rocktower. It was the most grueling thing I have ever done."" It was fucking awesome," Amy said." It was awesome, Pearl," Uva said, readily siding with Amy.

Amy smiled and high-fived Uva, who slapped hands with her in turn. Pearl rolled her eyes, telling Mark, "For us, it was a whole lot of killing and singing, for 18 hours of every day, in a rotating measure with all of us taking breaks as we could, and then we made it."" Three person team!" Amy announced.

"Adamantium Cup! WOOO!"" There's a higher rank for soloists," Uva said, "But we couldn't do that."" Completing the Green Run at adamantium rank got us noticed by Second Princess Walaria," Pearl said, "And now we're here, singing for Domal'Takela instead of singing for our supper at any of the dive bars of the Meteor Coast." Amy scoffed, "Oh don't listen to her! She thinks we would have been poor if we didn't take this gig!"

Uva smiled, saying, "If nothing else we could have sold that Adamantium Cup for a pretty leaf."" Never!" Pearl said, "That is ours, forever, and it's not even adamantium." She told Mark and Isoko, "It's just painted that way." Mark kinda loved their energy, so he asked, "So it was 10 days in the Wilds of Aluatha?"" Mostly tamed Wilds, but yes," Pearl said." It was still roadwork!" Amy complained at Pearl.

Mark smiled, feeling like he was really connecting to normal people as he said, "It gets bad right outside of the cities… but I kinda miss it. Now I'm on reserve all the time."" Oh my Freyala," Isoko said, smiling a little, "I couldn't imagine doing a normal monster run these days."" I think we did a month of circuits," Uva said to Amy and Pearl, though it was kind of a question.

"Maybe two months? Before we figured out how to really work together."" It was one month," Pearl said, happy to say that. She told Mark and Isoko, "18 circuits around Redbridge— That's where we're all from."" That's right!" Uva said, "We only went out once and then we figured out how to work together."" And then it was roadwork every other day," Pearl said.

"It was really good money, but the bars were better for my soul." Amy said, "Now we sing together and I'm ripping monsters apart from afar— OH! Telekinesis and Witchery. That's me!"" True Brawny and Witchery," Uva said, indicating herself with a thumb at her chest." Witchery and Bolt," Uva said, gently placing a hand on her own chest." How does that work?" Mark asked." Which part?" Pearl asked, smirking a little." All of it!" Mark asked. Isoko added, "The Witchery part, mostly.

Mark has a theory that the System Itself— The System s, I mean— are all witchery but on a grand scale." Amy instantly said, "I think it kinda is!" Uva scoffed, saying, "No it is not." Pearl said, "We saw the documentary you all sent out, and from what I saw… I think it could be." Uva exclaimed, "Pearl!" But Amy laughed, then said, "I'm right!" Pearl told Mark and Isoko, "We've had many discussions about this, and it does sort of fit the kind of Witchery that we work in, but also not.

You have to understand that every coven is different, and every witch is different. Most of us have 'Witchery' as our Natural Skill, or some variation of that—"" My aunt is a Naturalist," Amy said, "She got it from my great grandmother. I got Witchery, though."" I started off with Seeker," Uva said, "But I was so close to Uva and Pearl that it eventually up-Skilled into Witchery."

Mark had so many sudden questions, but hearing 'Seeker' reminded Mark of their reception at the Grand Port of Aluatha, so he first asked, "They called me Deepseeker when they introduced me when we docked today—" The girls all focused, highly interested.

"—but I have no idea what that meant. I take it, you do?" The witches let Pearl answer." It's a term reserved for those who have sought out the greatest of answers to the deepest of questions, and who have actually found something real. Something True," Pearl said.

"All of those who ventured to Endless Daihoon, who came back with knowledge and deep purpose, are Deepseekers. That is why Mistress Walaria wanted us to make this connection here, because we three witches are young, and we need a territory. Right now that territory is Domal'Takela, but it's a rotating position for up-and-coming witches, and we've been here for two years already. We will not be allowed a third. Even if you don't take us as your wives, we are Witches of Civilization, and we need to have a patron."

Pearl said, "I am versed in social magics, and in battle magics." Uva said, "I'm still a Seeker in my soul, and a capable cook and homemaker looking to become a mother." Amy said, "I'm a certified accountant." Pearl said, "Please consider We Witches on the Wall for your organization, Blackleaf, and for yourself." There was a lot to talk about, but honestly… That was enough, Mark decided. Mark said to them, "I'll keep in touch. It was a pleasure to meet you— Oh. The Resurrection guy. What's his deal?""

He's been a prisoner here for a while now," Amy said, knowing exactly how it would affect Mark and getting through the answer quickly. Mark suddenly felt a lot worse about everything. The air felt colder, too. Maybe it actually was colder because Isoko was frowning right beside Mark. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation." It was his reluctant choice," Uva said.

"Memphi and the Central Cities released that story about the Resurrection Ghost being a person and so every normal person was looking for him, while all governments thought he was a myth. You should know that his story of what happened has never changed, so either he has been mind shackled, or brainwashed, or it really is how he says it is."

He went into the Tutorial to get away from the battle, distraught at all of the death, and then he came back and he saw his father's gnawed corpse on the ground, and his Power activated. After that he was on the run for several months, hiding from Cultists and from everyone searching for him. The Cultists got closer than everyone else, and Hank eventually forced Jessie to turn himself in to the Church of Malaqua. From there, he ended up here. He has tried to escape a few times, but by then he was a firm prisoner."

Empire Aluatha has kept him as well as anyone can keep a person." Mark's frown deepened. Pearl continued, "He's still very young and with a lot of opportunity ahead of him, but only under deep protection from Aluatha, or other, similar strong powers, meaning those with a city of strength behind them, and those with the personal power to keep him secure. He is incapable of defending himself except in the most basic of ways."" He can't throw a punch to save his life," Amy said, a little disgusted.

Mark's heart went out to the guy, but it was not that simple at all. Distrust; that was the biggest emotion swirling in Mark's mind. Isoko felt the same way. Mark said, "That's not what happened at all, so… is he a project from Aluatha or the Cultists in an attempt to… to make him legitimate? Is he a… a… I don't know?"

He looked at the witches, thought about his own weird situations that didn't make much sense, like how he was able to pull human-usable Bindings out of fish when according to Addavein and others that should have been impossible, so Addavein had suggested that his capability to extract human-Bindings from fish could be some sort of witch-thing happening, to make the translation from fish-Binding to human-Binding possible.

And yet, all Bindings were made with Sigaldry, so why were 'fish Bindings' and 'human-Bindings' different at all? And yet all magic was just institutions of understandings emplaced upon the mana by societies through repetition and self-delusion that eventually made mana do specific things when touched in specific ways. So with all of that flowing in his Mind, what Mark asked was, "Are witches fucking with the way magic works, trying to backdate stuff into legitimacy? Is that how that works?"

And then Mark kinda cocked his head as he had another thought, as he looked at the Witches on the Wall, who were standing next to each other and looking right at him. Mark asked, "Are you doing something to me right now?"" Yes to all of it," Amy said." No to all of it," Uva said. Pearl said, "All we're doing is being in the right place, at the right time, in order to prevent terrible issues from happening, and to facilitate cooperation." Mark wasn't sure how he felt about that tangle of admissions.

Isoko knew how she felt, though. All of her small distrusts finally crystallized into something she could make known. Isoko said, "This is what witches do. This is why they keep their business behind so much mysticism and obfuscation. They're social and magical weights upon the world, deciding how things orbit each other. The only real question we need to know is why you three want to work for us at the settlement.

Because make no mistake; Mark is the leader, but we're all in this together, and we won't be pawns to the slaughter. None of us will." Isoko promised, "There's going to be a reckoning with Doomo and with Dominant and with all others of their ilk, too. So! If you were with us: Where would you stand when we fracture Aluatha?" Pearl easily answered, "With the rising of Xerkona and the flensing storm of black knives that will strip away the rot of this world and Reset it to something better."

Amy added, "Hopefully Aluatha remains well-enough intact when the rot is removed, and we can all look back on what we did and tell ourselves, truthfully, that we recognized rot for rot, and not just for something uncomfortably prickly." Uva added, "But Okuana will be shattered by Dominant's death, and that will be a nightmare that will need great soothing and work to overcome.

We will be there to help with that soothing, and with ensuring that the Xerkona Empire has legitimate heirs that are kept safe until they can grow into their own power." Mark stared. Isoko pulled back, letting that answer be." Nice to meet you all," Mark said. They bowed, deeply. Mark walked away with Isoko at his side. They stepped beyond the giant paper flowers, rejoining the main party. Isoko asked Mark, "Do we trust them?"" Not yet. Maybe not ever," Mark said.

Isoko added what Mark was thinking, "But they could be useful."

"… Yeah. They're our age— I already vetted some of their stories, but they could have manufactured stories that like they're manufacturing Jessie's story."" I don't think Jessie's story is all that manufactured. More like 'massaged'. They wouldn't lie about someone being able to resurrect others; that's too big of a lie. Maybe he only revived a few hundred people? Alongside the real Resurrection Ghost?"" There have to be recordings. I'll have to check United Sapients and what they say about it all.""

They're in on it, Mark," Isoko said, almost tired.

"Might as well go to the Stone Church itself and get denied there."" Quark?" Mark asked, "Can you look into the Resurrection Ghost again, with the idea that there was… I don't know… more than one Ghost?"" There were literally millions of Ghosts," Isoko softly said.

"But it wouldn't hurt to look." Quark sounded off in Mark's ears and also on his neck so Isoko could hear, "I am looking into it now, sir, and preliminary reports say that there was an information blackout until now. They are unsealing records at this time. They have been unsealing records since the Witches' Welcome. There is discussion in popular online forums centered around how miraculous it is that 'we found him', and how the churches want to get him. Crystal Tower wants him in New Tokyo, at Crystal Tower.

There is not a bidding war, because slavery is illegal, but there is a 'bidding war'." Quark added, "Very few people are discussing the veracity of the claims themselves." … Mark had a thought. Mark asked Quark to, "Please send a message to United Sapients, telling them that I am prepared to tell the truth of the Resurrection Ghost to many people, right here at this party, unless they give me the real truth. This is not a secret that I will allow to remain secret when Cultists could be involved." Quark beep-booped.

Mark and Isoko stood together beside some giant paper flower lanterns mostly alone, and a few people eavesdropped on them, though that was nothing new. A few of those listeners were vindicated quietly, others were scandalized. No one approached Mark and Isoko. Isoko looked at all the people looking at them, as she said to Mark, "The older I get, the more I realize that secrets are never that secret." Mark snorted.

"Even if hundreds of people know a secret, if the secret isn't allowed to stick in the public opinion then it doesn't matter."" Oh no," Isoko said, shaking her head.

"Yeah sure, the AIs control everything we see online. Sure. But that wasn't where I was going with it at all."" You weren't?"" I was going more like: Anyone can find out anything if they poke around for it enough. This stuff is hidden behind propaganda, sure, but it's still there. It's what you do after you find out the truth that matters. It's like with kaiju. Most people try not to think about the big scary monsters while some try to help against them, but they can't do much more than that and that's fine.

But some people know the secrets, and they act upon them. Most people don't even care, but some people can be the head of the spear, and that's us." Mark felt his heart thump and thump, as something warm blossomed in his stomach, as he beheld Isoko in the soft light of paper lanterns. She was blue and green and softly pink, and oh so very beautiful when she talked about taking big actions. Mark smiled softly as he agreed, "That's us."

Isoko nodded a little, eyes outward, barely seeing that Mark was feeling something very deep right now. She continued, "So this witchery shit… I have no idea what to make of all of those girls wanting to jump your adamantine bones, but other than that… What are we going to do about Jessie?" Mark felt fluttery inside. And then he looked across the party, toward Jessie and his father.

Jessie was currently flicking his thumb across the screen of a phone while Hank talked to some very posh-looking guys in fluffy outfits. Jessie was completely divorced from whatever was happening in front of him, and Hank was doing all of the lifting. Everyone seemed miffed at Jessie to varying degrees. Mark turned back to Isoko, saying, "He'll keep." Then Mark started scanning the crowd, saying, "I want to talk to that one guy, Xander, wherever he is… Hmm."

Mark didn't see him—" There he is; over by Sally and the meats." Isoko started walking that way with Mark at her side, saying, "Did Quark say anything about your publicity threat against the United Sapients yet?" Quark responded, "I am being sent on a loop, sir and madam. They are not not answering regarding your request for information about the Resurrection Ghost's media presence and history." Mark felt his emotions crash a little. He lamented, "I really miss when I was just fighting monsters, you know?

Kaiju are the best to fight, yeah, but I wanted to know how the witches managed something like the Green Run without a healer or Union. Is it a protected run, or something like that?" Isoko said, "It's a death run for most people, but the sponsors are pretty much every noble house of any real capability. It's a prestigious thing for them, and if the racers they sponsor for the Green Run die then they lose… something. I don't know the full details.

I do know the organizers don't even let you compete unless you can do a forest run for 10 hours straight. You have to have established history as a roadworker before they even let you apply to the Green Run."" Oh man.

'Roadwork'. That's a fucking awesome job."" Pedro was talking about the Green Run, actually. He invited us out to see the final day next year— Like 4 months, I mean. This year." Mark grinned.

"So, earlier, what did you mean about your cousins being in town?"" Oh yeah! They have a party next week that they wanted us to go to at the Oraka Estate, like, a tram ride away from Domal'Takela? Somewhere close. I'm gonna tell him we can't go."" We might be able to," Mark said, though he didn't believe that for a moment. Isoko smirked, and then wrapped her arm in his, saying, "Yeah right."

And then they were near Xander and Sally, and it was just them, with Lola standing further off with Eliot and some other nobles of some sort. Xander caught Mark walking his way and he looked at Mark and he saw hope on the horizon. Sally's current impression with Xander was iffy, with a rather normal amount of suspicion; nothing actually worrisome. Nothing that stopped Mark from going right up to Xander, and asking, "So you and yours want to come to the settlement, and be a part of the Kaiju Squad?"

Xander's eyes went wide. He exclaimed, "Yes, Inheritor!"" Mark," Sally said quietly.

"Aurora hasn't approved of anyone else for the Kaiju Squad."" Yup." Mark told Xander, "So you're going to have to apply and do whatever else she wants you to do, but we don't have a debuffer. Do you know about Lawful Goose out of Memphi…"

Xander eagerly explained about his previous encounters with kaiju outside of the Main Outpost, which he admitted wasn't a whole lot because the Fates managed to turn most of them away long before they ever got there, but Xander had killed several kaiju himself over the years with his Scramble and Speaker." Sometimes they're too resilient, you know?" Xander said, "They don't die from being weakened or from mixing up their legs or arms.

But one time with a bladed bird kaiju a few years ago I was able to make it slice its own legs off. Eventually it cut its own head off, too, when it tried to fly."" That's so cool," Mark said, genuinely. For a moment, Xander was proud. And then Mark asked, "Is it audio-only? What about monsters that are making too much noise to be heard by you?"

Xander had a moment like he was being pushed to the edge of a cliff, and then he steeled himself in that very same moment and said, "It's audio-only and mechanical devices don't help, and when the creatures aren't paying attention to me it's not… as solid..." He seemed to be falling off of the edge of the conversational cliff, and there were other nobles crowding in now, waiting their turn to talk to Mark, so Xander tried, "I can still do it!

I can float out there, lock them down to where they don't know how their legs or wings work, and then you can kill them fast." Mark almost said something, asking about support-versus-killer positions on the team— But some tall woman with flowing blonde hair smiled and said, "Is the cost of adamantium going to stay the same, or will you be lowering the cost for buyers for city defense?" She added, "Also, hello. I'm Lisa Gamebridge from the Russian Federation, and I purchase for New Moscow, Vartuusk, and Grogmov."

When Mark looked back, Xander was gone, and four other nobles had replaced him. Mark would talk to him later, he was sure. It was a rather involved sort of night. Mark powered through it, occasionally finding shared points of interest like kaiju battles and talk of Powers, but mostly he deferred people to Blackleaf. In a moment of quiet, Mark stood with Andria and downed the rest of his drink. He asked, "We need to hire more people for Blackleaf, yeah?""

Oh yes," Andria said, eyes alight, fully-interested in everything happening here.

"Those Russians, Lisa Gamebridge? They've had an adamantium deficit for the last 20 years and Old Russia is full of frozen kaiju. They need help. They are ripe for a lot of good things, and I'm thinking of offering them a deal, if you want to approve it." Mark could not match her energy at all, which was why he said, "I'll approve anything you deem fit to approve, Andria… But I do want to know about their countries? I thought Russia was uninhabited?""

They have resource issues that cause the Two Worlds to not recognize them as real nations," Andria said. And that was all the break Mark got, because someone else was there, talking to him about mana crystal distribution and Tartu's vines that 'Tartu captured from Okuana'. Mark was 99% sure the guy had purposefully misidentified the source of Tartu's crystal vines so that Mark could talk about Kabberjaw, but that was fine. Mark talked about Kabberjaw, but he kept to the information already in the documentary.

When Mark didn't deviate from the documentary the guy got a little miffed, but it was a polite sort of 'miffed'. Nothing rose above the level of 'business conversation'. Mark moved on to the next conversation.