By the time we arrived at the tent where we had met Cicero the churning in my stomach had turned into terror. No matter how thoroughly I told myself my friends were fine, seeing so many dead combined with the long walk had me terrified of what we would be walking into. I'm imagining Jessie like that or having to tell Cark's sister her brother had died, was more terrifying than any bone dragon or elite fighter I could imagine.

Even Callie noticed how shaky I was, twining her fingers in mine as we walked, even without removing my arm from her shoulders. It was a slightly awkward position to walk in, but neither of us cared, too worried about friends to ignore even the slight amount of comfort that walking like this provided. Neither of us spoke at all until we made it to the tent, and I held my breath as we pushed aside the flap to find...relief.

Jessie was standing next to Randall, who was literally sitting on Way Crazy Wyatt. The G-ranked Jerk was hollering threats of bodily harm as soon as he escaped, in between demands to be set free, and seemed to see no apparent conflict between those two objectives. Cark and Sage were sitting on a pair of chairs off to one side, looking drained but unhurt. I noted a few bloody gashes in Cark's clothes that made me pretty sure Jessie had already healed some pretty serious damage on our fire calling friend though, so the fight hadn't been too easy.

As soon as she saw the three of us Jessie yelped in relief and barreled across the tent throwing herself at Callie and I first because we were closest and together. She latched onto us both and squeezed us surprisingly hard for such a tiny girl, then peeled off and jumped on Benny, who took the squeezing much less stoically, wheezing a bit at the bone crushing force until she noticed and let up. She looked over us carefully before nodding. "Good, you're all ok. I was really worried. I wanted to drag Randall to find you all, but apparently he's the only thing holding Wyatt down and despite his weirdness I didn't think any of us wanted him dead." She chucked her chin at the still screaming meathead, and even I couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous tableau.

I saw a few bodies around here too, but no one I recognized. The overwhelming force they'd brought along had clearly made the difference here, and I was gratified that our decision to take on the other three with Abel and Mel was borne out. I wasn't sure even those two could have managed in the original scenario. They'd been exhausted before the heal bursts, and the introduction of the trump card artifacts might have proved too much, especially without us there to distract Beat. Of course, I could just be humoring myself to feel important, but I was pretty sure we'd done SOMETHING.

All the dead seemed to be the robed figures, and while that was still horrible, it was much easier to push down the nausea at the sight of the bodies when I remembered they were here to kill my friends, at least in comparison to the loss of people I knew. I didn't even see any dead Jerks, which considering their penchant for stupid reckless action was actually a damn miracle. I wondered briefly if Mr. Jack-tastic might have used a wish to make sure any bodies would just happen to drop on the side of Sanctuary Hall, but I had no way to confirm the thought so I dismissed it as soon as I had it.

My ring buzzed again, another text, and having confirmed the safety of all my friends I decided to read it. I leaned down to murmur to Callie. "Hey, Natalie wants a meeting, just us, no bodyguards. I still have a few stored attacks, so I should be good if she pulls anything, at least enough to escape or signal for help. Stay here, ok?" It might have been stupid, but I was tired, and sad, and I didn't have it in me to distrust the one family member I was now supposed to be able to actually count on, at least assuming I passed her test.

Callie must have heard something along those lines in my voice, because despite looking like she wanted to argue, she bit her lip and nodded, before going up on tip toes to kiss the cheek of my mask. She squeezed my hand before letting it go. "Be safe, ok? I'll be here waiting. And if you get into trouble make some noise and I'll bring everyone running. Bet even her guards couldn't take down Mel and Abel easily." Her eyes were cold and hard as she said that last bit, and I leaned down and pulled her into a hug that might have gone on a bit too long to conceal how upset I was. She just squeezed me back, and I jumped a bit as I felt Jessie and Benny both pile on.

I could have laughed it off or made a joke of it, but I didn't. As lame as it was I kind of needed a hug from my team right now. This night had been a lot. Eventually I broke away, nodding to the others as I walked from the tent, heading around to the area where we'd seen Ronnie make his wish with Natalie. I wasn't worried about traps, they were all sprung, and the bodies made it easy to notice what spots to avoid. The circus was going to have to hire some new G-rankers, or put a lot of time into raising some from their own staff. Sanctuary Hall... well fuck those guys.

When I finally reached the spot we'd seen them, I recognized Natalie easily enough, standing in the same place with her back to me, alone and with her hood up. When she heard me coming she turned to look at me, smiling widely as she did, her face visible instead of obscured by shadow. She gave me a wave. "Hey, there's my new favorite cousin. I caught the show. Very impressive work. You have a few interesting tricks up your sleeve huh?"

It was hard not to wonder how she'd managed to watch the fight without anyone noticing, but I better than anyone knew how the rules could bend when you had the Wish ability. I wasn't exactly in a great mood, but she was being friendly, and there was no reason to shoot down an ally after going through so much to land her support. I shrugged at the comment. "Thanks. I didn't do that much, Abel and Mel were the real MVPs of the night." Which was true. I'd done ok in the fight with Beat, but those two had taken out the main threats.

Natalie just laughed and shook her head. "You need to get used to taking credit. In the family, what your people accomplish, you accomplish. Building alliances and spotting talent is what its all about. We can pump up anyone we find, so it takes a serious eye for potential to get ahead. Your allies were scary good, which means you've got the skills to find the right subordinates. Even if you don't really feel it, you need to keep up appearances, especially if we're going to be allies."

I cocked my head. "And are we?" I asked bluntly. "Going to be allies? Because this whole thing feels sort of...half assed. No offense, but you changed lanes pretty quick, and I'm stuck waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don't really know you, and this all seems..." I thought back to the bodies lying in the paths on the way here. "Well, not easy, but convenient?" Or maybe Cicero had just given me trust issues.

Far from being upset, Natalie looked pleased by the question. "Good. You had a problem and you came out and said it. I knew I liked your vibe. The answer is yes. This is convenient for you, but sometimes things are. We live in a world of conflicting forces. Especially for our family, it's important to remember that there are almost always things going on behind the scenes. For the moment, your relation to me makes you a desirable ally, later on...well there's no guarantees with the final prize on the line."

"Gee. Thanks." My deadpan sarcasm was so thick in my voice I was pretty sure she could HEAR me rolling my eyes. "That's comforting. You basically didn't say anything at all. 'Oh, I'm going to work with you but I might betray you later' isn't exactly a confidence booster from a prospective ally. I get that you're trying to educate me or whatever, but can I at least get some kind of guarantee? Not permanent, but some limited time contract or geas that'll make sure I don't have to worry in the short term."

Once again, Natalie seemed completely unbothered. "Of course. That's how most of us do these things. Traditionally we do it by contract directly, but since we're establishing a baseline I'll tell you what. I'll give you a wish. It's considered bad form for us to do feedback loops, but for an alliance contract that won't be pushing things." My head had jerked up a bit at that. I couldn't help it, I hadn't even considered that possibility, but it was...it could change so many things for me. I could wish for anything.

I forced myself to calm down. I couldn't wish for anything. She had the same power as me, at around the same level. She was limited in what she could give me. Still, it was an overwhelming amount of choice to put on someone on the spot. I couldn't think of what to ask for. My first wish, and I was drawing a blank. Now I knew how all of my clients felt during this part of the process. obviously I'd be paying with the contract for the alliance, so it would need to be something commensurate to that. I assumed she would be wishing for something next so we could finalize the terms on both sides too.

With those caveats, it was easier to consider but still overwhelming. What it came down to though was what I needed most. That wasn't stats, or powers, or attacks. I had a nice toolkit right now. What I needed was the ability to use it more. I'd been hitting the end of my rope with DS Mastery constantly. I could wish for an upgrade of the Skill itself, but I was on track to do that on my own, and if I did it that way I'd give up plenty of fine tuning I was looking forward to figuring out for myself.

In the end, the best move for me was a simple one, even if it wasn't as flashy as some other wishes. I fixed her with a stare. "I'll expect you to make your wish before granting mine so we can do the contracts simultaneously. But I wish for the highest Beginner Enchanting Skill you can give me. I'll be paying with a contract of alliance for the next ten years, to be cancelled in the even of the final showdown for Wishmaster occurring, and in that scenario, only after we've both confirmed the others awareness, and with a seventy two hour grace period." I watched the purple electricity begin to build as soon as I finished talking, and I knew exactly what she was seeing.

We'd discussed alliance terms already at least enough for it to be easily referred to in the cost of the wish. Natalie grinned widely. "Damn, that's air tight. In that case, I wish for a Beginner Contract Negotiation Skill. I've been dying to get that one but no one is ever willing to trade for it. I'll offer the same terms for an alliance contract as payment, with the same stipulations."

As expected, I saw the usual words flow across my vision.

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I confirmed the wish, and I felt the familiar static start to build in me. It felt different this time, almost unstable, and I could see why granting wishes for each other was a rare thing. I could already tell this was going to fucking hurt. Either way I reached out to grab my cousin's hand to confirm the wishes. It's not like I wasn't used to pain.