The next day found us rested and refreshed. We hadn't ended up challenging anyone, just enjoying our time at the Pavilion. We still needed to find the faction behind them, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Melissa was more the type of person we wanted to work with than Cicero. We hadn't interacted with her much personally, but she'd seemed pretty fair, if a bit blunt and straightforward. She left a much better impression than the top hat wearing dick who tried to make us dance like monkeys.

The presence of the other candidate would have been a huge problem for that plan, except that as far as I knew they were working with that faction just to get Cicero out. It was more than possible if we could help them with that they would take the chance to jump ship, especially since there was no way whatever faction they were working with had them interacting directly with the candidate. No large faction was g0ing to turn over full time access to an asset like that to some random small time sub-gang in a circus.

So, with lots to think about, we went home. We slept off the partying (though I didn't drink to there wasn't too much to sleep off for me) and then we decided to take the day off. We'd been rushing around trying to get things done, but entering the Pavilion meant we were at least on schedule enough that Cicero couldn't claim breach of contract. He could bitch about it, but I didn't particularly care what he was unhappy about. Callie decided that we would go down and visit Cark as well as finding a spot to house Randall where Jessie could visit him.

I brought Jin and she brought Rellia along, Jessie let Lily, her own wolf, tag along as well, and with just the three of us and the three wolves it wasn't too cramped in the back of the car. Once we were driving, I leaned back and looked up at where Jessie sat in the drivers seat. "So you excited to see your new buddy? Because that whole giant bear thing is kind of awesome, and I could tell that whole using him as a bed suggestion was partially serious. He does look like a big fluffy pillow."

Lily whined in what sounded a bit like indignation, and I raised an eyebrow. I was never sure exactly how smart the wolves were. I knew they were sentient but not sapient of Jessie's powers wouldn't effect them the same way, but it seemed to be kind of a moving target. Sometimes it seemed like they knew exactly what we were saying, and sometimes they just acted like normal animals.

Jessie groaned. "Damn it Shane. Now she's going to be all clingy and jealous for the rest of the day when I'm trying to get Randall settled in. But yes, I am excited to see him." She had a wide, soft smile on her face. "Honestly, the animal thing is my favorite part of my powers. I know I can do interesting things with plants and healing, but I've always loved animals. The ravens showed me how useful working with animal partners can be, and being around Lily showed me how much fun it was. You may have noticed that I haven't exactly been focusing on my Might as much lately."

I nodded. I had noticed that. Which was a shame because Jessie was one of the most naturally talented combatants I'd ever seen. I'd been shocked when I saw her fight Benny for the first time, and honestly I wasn't entirely sure she couldn't have passed the mirror test by herself if she'd been willing to put in the time to do it directly. Still, I could respect her desire to leave the direct combat behind. She'd been impressive but I never got any sense that she enjoyed battle, just that she was exceptionally suited for it in some ways.

Despite thinking it wasn't a big deal though, I didn't bother directly addressing it. She wasn't really aiming that at me. Callie gave her a reassuring smile. "It's fine Jess. I get it. I think you more than proved that it's a workable combat style, and if you feel more comfortable focusing on that aspect of your abilities I say go for it. I may be team leader but your powers are still your own. You write your own legend. Do what you think is best and we'll support you the whole way. Though I hope this doesn't mean you're going to stop healing us when we need it."

Jessie's giggle had a relieved quality to it. "Of course not. Though speaking of you being a team leader, we haven't really had time to hang out since we got to Rajak. Between being a tactical badass and mooning over your boyfriend you kind of left me in the lurch. Why don't we set up a day to go out just the two of us. Well, we can bring the puppies if you like, but no boys."

Callie looked kind of shocked at the suggestion, but not against it, just surprised to hear Jessie ask to spend time with her. That basically sealed the deal for me in terms of it being a good idea. I didn't interject or tell Callie she should do it though, aside from an encouraging smile that she could actually see since we were in civvies today. My girlfriend cleared her throat. "Yeah, that does sound like fun. I love spending time with Shane, but if I don't get a break I'm going to forget how to solve problems without punching them."

I put on a faux offended face. "Says my girlfriend the insatiable loot goblin. But fine, I see how it is, just toss me aside when you don't need any arm candy." I let my teasing tone drop. "Seriously though, I can hang with Benny, we haven't done anything just the two of us in ages. He spends most of his time with Celine these days." I was going to suggest they bring Celine, since Jessie and she seemed to hit it off, but it was their plans and not really my place, so I just left it at that.

A head of black hair dropped down on my shoulder as Callie cuddled me consolingly. "Aww, don't be so sensitive. You know I love spending time with you. Just like I know you really want me to do this because you want me to take more time for myself." I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the smile tugging at my lips. She leaned up to kiss me, so I imagined she could tell easily enough even if I fought it.

Jessie groaned from the front seat. "HOW? How are the two of you getting even more nauseating the longer you're together? This is supposed to fade over time, not get worse." Lily chuffed lightly at her person's exasperated tone, and Jessie shot a quick glare at her wolf that was all she could spare. "Don't you start. Just because you're a puppy doesn't mean I don't know you're smart enough to make fun of me." The wolf just panted placidly in a gesture that looked suspiciously like sticking out her tongue at our friend.

We spent the rest of the trip just chatting, with Jessie and Callie making plans for their day on the town that I mostly tuned out because none of their ideas sounded particularly amusing to me. Callie liked to fight and loot when we were together, but Jessie was more of a cultured sort of girl, and Callie was obviously taking the opportunity to get more of that kind of thing in her life. I was perfectly fine not going to see an opera or to a botanical garden.

When we arrived we parked and Jessie bolted out of the car heading inside to see Randall, with Lily trailing behind her and Jin and Rellia following Callie and I inside father behind them in turn because we were in less of a rush. I grinned at the sign for the Rowdy Badger, still as amusing and interesting as ever, as we stepped through the door to Cark's hangout.

Our friend had taken to spending most of his time here, and surprisingly when we showed up, Sage was here with him, the two of them sitting at a booth nursing a pair of drinks and deep in conversation. They were just looking up to see what the noise was when we came through the door, and when he saw us Cark put on a beaming smile and waved us over. "Hey! You guys came over! It's always nice to see friends." His smile become somewhat wry. "Especially when they show up just in time to explain the BEAR that is now living in my back room. That sure was a surprise."

I held my hands up to indicate that wasn't on me, turning to look at Jessie, who pouted. "Oh sure, just blame me for everything why don't you? I'm the good guy here you know! I saved a poor helpless animal from being abused. Randall is a sweet and cuddly bear who wasn't hurting anyone and those thugs at the Pavilion were tormenting him for no reason at all." I chose not to point out the terrible maiming that poor sweet animal had inflicted on the blue haired guy we saw fighting him. She had a point anyway, it was a terrible thing to do to an animal.

Cark rolled his eyes. "Fine. It's not like he's been attacking my people or anything so I don't mind letting it go. He IS going to be protecting my bar though right?" His gaze was a little hungry when he said that, not that I blamed him. Having an F ranked guardian beast was basically the closest someone down here could get to a safe zone. I still had no clue where the pavilion had found Randall, but if it had been anyone but those battle maniacs they probably would have been incredibly pissed Jessie had taken him.

Though, maybe Melissa hadn't been as chill about it as she'd acted. It was hard to say. With the boost from Jessie's lifeweaving he would be stronger than ever. It was possible she just didn't feel confident whatever method she used to subdue him would work again. In any case we'd come out of that situation in the best possible shape so I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Some things I just didn't really care about the reasons for as long as it didn't effect me. Curiosity was a useful life skill in a lot of situations, but it wasn't valuable all the time.

Jessie rolled her eyes at Cark's question, but nodded. "Yes, obviously. He's not a freeloader. You're going to be housing and feeding him so the least he could do is keep you all safe. Just don't bother him too much with random problems or wake him up unless its an emergency. He's probably going to be sleeping most of the time. He's a big sleepy bear." She gave a fond smile talking about her new friend, who I imagined WAS pretty sleepy, given bears usually hibernated to store up enough energy to move their giant ass bodies, and Randall was bigger than most.

Cark nodded amiably. "Of course. No reason to disturb our protector outside times of trouble. He can just relax as long as he wants and we'll handle housing." His smile froze as he seemed to realize something. "Wait...you said we're supposed to feed him?" His voice was horrified, and I had to stifle a laugh as I saw him process what she had just said, no doubt horrified at the amount of food something that size would have to eat. Oh well, I was sure he would get over it. Having Randall around we be damn useful. Still, I was glad I didn't have to feed him.