I'd half expected Zeke to be waiting to discuss the happenings at the circus when we got there, but when he wasn't I mentally berated myself for the thought. Zeke wasn't all knowing. His stats were insane, but he couldn't be listening to everything happening all over the planet all at the same time...probably. Even if he could processing all of it would be hellish and it didn't seem like his kind of thing anyway. Too much effort for no real reason.

Instead he was sitting on the couch with Cass, watching some show I'd never seen before about goblins or something. It was animated rather than an actual video, and I'd never seen it, but that wasn't really important right now. I nodded to Cark who went and plopped down next to his sister on the couch, the wolves following him up and snuggling with the pyrokinetic and his sister as they watched tv together.

When that was done I nodded at Zeke, who had noticed the byplay. I gestured for him to follow me out of the room, and despite raising an eyebrow in wry amusement at the request, he stood up to follow me out of the room so we could talk. I was pretty sure with his Perception he could tell how agitated I was. I was also fairly positive it was the only reason he didn't hassle me about calling a meeting with him our of nowhere like that.

When we made it into the next room he raised an eyebrow. "Damn Shane, you're jittery as hell. You look like you've seen a ghost." His tone was light, but his face was concerned. He knew I wasn't exactly panicky, especially lately, and seeing me so shaken had him worried. At the very least it seemed like he wasn't aware of the other candidate on Callus. If he knew about her the reason for my distress would be obvious.

I stared hard at him for a minute, not even paying attention to Callie entering the room behind me and stepping up to my side for support, at least aside from taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. "I ran into someone...unexpected. Are you absolutely sure there's nothing you wanted to warn me about?" I was fairly sure he had no clue, but I needed to check. Despite the geas I'd always been sure he would warn me if something really bad happened, despite some pain. If that wasn't true I needed to know. I wouldn't blame him, but it would change the way I acted going forward.

He just gave me a blank look. While I was sure a B ranker could lie to me if he chose, I knew Zeke pretty well, Skills or stats aside, I could tell when he meant something. He had no clue. I breathed a sigh of relief. He just squinted at me in confusion. "You know I can't say anything specific to you kid, but I can't think of anything specific I would need to mention. If I could mention anything. Which as you know I can't." He spoke deliberately as he said that last bit, making it clear he was answering without answering.

Now that I knew he hadn't hid it from me, I was free to move on to my next emotion. Annoyance that my B ranked guardian hadn't even detected one of the other candidates showing up on this supposedly safe planet. "Today we went to the circus to scope out the Jerks and learn what they were doing. We spotted and followed them, only to find out they were meeting with a hooded figure. A figure who proceeded to grant them a wish right in front of us. Though Callie couldn't see the sparks apparently."

He nodded absently at that last bit. "Oh that, those are a bloodline side effect, Only other Wish users can see it. As for the rest...I have no idea Shane. There shouldn't be another candidate here. They must have shown up recently. Their guardian is probably shielding them. I haven't been actively searching or anything, so that isn't a shock. Not that I'll start now. But if they're using the Jerks it doesn't sound like they're actively trying to kill you."

Which was reassuring, but only up to such a point as I could find out what she DID want. I threw up my hands. "What the hell is the point then? Why even engage with me? What is she planning?" I couldn't see what she had to gain by doing any of this. Maybe some kind of a resource grab? But why come to a tiny planet like Callus to challenge me, and why not actually seek me out? None if it made any sense.

He shrugged. "She might be trying to box you in. No telling if she even knows who you are. Taking over the local branch could be an attempt to flush you out. Hell, maybe she's trying to prove you unfit. There are more ways than dying to lose the candidate selection. Your old man is still alive and he lost. If she can completely take control of the branches on your home planet she might be able to get you stripped of your qualifications. Of course I don't actually know, which is why I can mention any of this. Once again, I can't give you direct help without violating the rules."

I exhaled in relief. I knew that Zeke would find some way to help without tripping up his geas. Sure it wasn't exactly a dossier, but I didn't care. He was still on my side. I could learn more about the other candidate, I knew where she was and what she was doing, which could very well be more than she knew about me. Even if it wasn't I was at least prepared for her. Still, there was plenty left to handle. I knew he wouldn't be able to tell me anything specific but I figured a direction was doable. "So, if you were me, what would your next move be?"

That got a wide smile from Zeke, who seemed happy I'd asked the right question. "Well now. I can't give you any advice, but thought exercises are well within my rights. Of course, if you happened to listen in as I talked all of this out to myself I couldn't do anything about it. This isn't for you though, just thinking out loud. So feel free to ignore me." I couldn't help but grin at the tone of almost malicious glee in his voice as he said that, clearly enthused about the chance to screw with the geas.

Of course I knew he still wouldn't be able to say much. If it was easy as pretending I wasn't around he'd have done it ages ago. I was pretty sure he would still be paying a price, I just hoped it would be a smaller one. I waited for him to continue, and the deep breath he took to prepare himself made me pretty sure this was going to hurt him more than I'd like, but despite feeling terrible I didn't stop him. I might be in real danger, my friends might too. Zeke was willing to suffer a bit to keep us safe and I had to respect that. He could handle it.

He focused on me, and I saw the mark I'd seen before start to glow again, though his face didn't change. "If I were you I would look into the current political climate in the WCP around here. I would consider that one E ranker taking over one territory wouldn't be nearly enough to sway anything like the Rajak branch. I'd wonder if perhaps the current situation might be advantageous for some larger party that might have a bigger impact on the branch as a whole, and impact that might allow this new element to benefit."

As he spoke, his voice got tighter, more strained, and his teeth began to grit, clearly starting to suffer from the same pain as before, though seemingly less severe. Despite the obvious discomfort though Zeke didn't stop. "I might also point out that your new friend obviously had to tell some of her new allies about her abilities. It might be necessary to reach out to a faction yourself to counter that influence." He grimaced in pain, finally stopping his speech as the geas called his words to a halt for violating the terms of his deal.

Despite that I gave him a grateful smile. I knew how rough this was for him, but he was doing it anyway and it had definitely paid off. I personally would have never considered allying with a local faction. Telling my friends was one thing, but the idea of outing myself like that was completely absurd. However, in this situation the reasons for it being so stupid were somewhat mitigated. I couldn't be pressured by higher level Ascendants because of Zeke, at least not E rankers, and I could find someone who could actually protect me from F rankers.

That wasn't to say it was a certainty. I'd have to see if I found a faction worth trusting, I definitely wasn't going to just randomly confide in some people I didn't know to get out of danger. That would just be shooting myself in the foot later on down the line. It wasn't important, we could figure that out later. For now I caught Zeke by one shoulder and Callie caught the other. As the geas faded he dropped like a puppet that had his strings cut. His body had been wracked with painful spasms and he'd been putting his all into resisting it, having nothing to keep him standing once the tension was gone.

I panicked a bit. "Zeke! Are you alright?" I hadn't expected even an oblique hint like he'd given us would have done this much damage. I felt a flash of guilt. I'd known he would get at least a bit hurt doing this, but I hadn't stopped him. I turned to Callie. "Help me get him over to the chair over here." We carried my Uncle's limp form over to the big overstuffed armchair off to one side of the room, setting him down gently, though not gently enough to avoid the loud groan of discomfort as his aching body made contact with the surface of the seat.

My Uncle gave a painful chuckle once he'd caught his breath. "I'm fine kid. man, Eli is such a dick sometimes. I should have known he would make the punishment for violating the geas unbearable. He's still pissed about that Void Ravager I left in his closet when we were in the C ranks. I don't know what he's so fussy about, it's not like his face didn't grow back after a year or two." He saw my expression and snickered. "Don't take things so seriously kid. When you're as old and powerful as we are a bit of pain just keeps things interesting. Eli isn't some dastardly traitor or evil sadist, this is just how we interact."

I blinked. I hadn't actually considered that. I'd thought Zeke was a victim of my dad who he'd tricked and taken advantage of, but he was right. The mindset the two of them had was so divorced from mortality that I literally couldn't comprehend it. I couldn't imagine inflicting that kind of pain on Benny, and I knew he'd feel the same. Still, I noted with discomfort that I was much different than I had been as a normal person. Who knew how far that would go. I gave him a worried look. "How much of that is-"

He cut me off. "Recursion? Who knows. You'll find as you get older you try not to ask that question. Those of us in the higher ranks are fighting a constant battle with our legends to maintain ourselves. Looking back and seeing how much ground we've lost isn't a healthy way to live. Ascendants aren't mortals kid, we aren't even really human. For better or worse we're all just the heroes of our own story. But stories skip over a lot of things. They cut out the boring parts. Same with us, we lose the uninteresting parts of who we are."

He gave me a sad look."You need to decide which parts aren't important to you, and hold onto the ones that are. It's the best any of us can do. But as for the parts that are gone? Don't dwell on those too much. I've seen people a lot more powerful than you lose themselves second guessing the person they've become. Being an Ascendant means power, but it also means weakness. We are what they make of us." And with that ominous declaration he rolled over and went to sleep. I stared down at him uneasily. I had a lot to think about.