We headed straight for the Pavilion when we touched down. There was no rush getting home, at least not for the four of us. Zeke headed back with Cass and Cark, and Celine said goodbye to Benny and headed for the Academy to meet up with her team. When we got to the Pavilion, it was mostly empty. We'd gotten there around mid morning, and Abel and Mel were relaxing in the stands, sharing a cup of something hot and with Alden and chatting as they watched the Pavilion members train.

When we walked in, their eyes all flicked to us, and I raised my hand in a wave. "Hey there!" I called over. "We just got back in, so we aren't here to train right now, but I wanted to stop in, check up on Pavilion business, see how everyone was." I held up a bag I'd been carrying for a while. "I also brought presents!" We'd discussed it and figured bringing even lame gifts would make Abel more likely to leave us alone the first day back.

Sure enough, at the mention of presents, the rabbit masked man's head perked up and he practically teleported to the space in front of us. Or literally teleported. It was hard to tell with Abel. Still, it made me smile to see my teacher so excited. "Presents? See, this is why you two are my favorite students. None of my other disciples bring me presents." He was practically bouncing in place as Mel laughed behind him, striding down the stands with wide steps that covered several benches at a time.

I rolled my eyes. "We're your only students, so that isn't saying much, but yes, we brought you presents." I reached into the bag, pulling out...a huge paper package full of meat. "We figured you might enjoy some new cuts to test out for the cart. We hit up Rantano's in the WCP over in Valen and got a sample of all their regularly accessible premium meats. We talked over some terms with Suki, and if you're interested she's willing to set up shipments of whichever ones you like best, for some...small considerations."

Which meant money, but buying in bulk she had assured us he would still be able to turn a nice profit. I'd expected derision or an eye roll, but to my surprise, Abel looked...touched. It was hard to tell through the mask, but I was pretty sure the man was completely dumbstruck. Mel, who had only gotten close as I explained it, gave me a warm smile. "That was very thoughtful, Solomon. Abel has been missing his sausage cart. He hasn't really had time to get a new one set up here with all the Pavilion business and the training, but it's been on his mind."

"Yeah." He said, his eyes fixed on the package in his hands. "I...thanks kid. That means a lot. Most people assumed I'd give up on the cart when I came back. Said it wasn't dignified for a powerful G-ranker to run a food stand." His voice was bitter and I was pretty sure I knew who that sounded like. Fucking Cicero, he was pretty much incapable of not being an unmitigated bastard.

Mel's jaw tightening up at the comment pretty much solidified that for me. I just rolled my eyes. "Fuck those guys. I love to cook." I put my arm around Callie's shoulders. "You think a giant thug like me gets a woman like this without serious culinary skills? If I didn't feed her there's no way she would stick around." I caught a sharp elbow in the ribs for that, but she was smirking a bit under the glare. She knew I was just trying to cheer Abel up.

The rabbit masked asshole nodded sagely. "We were wondering. You aren't good for much else." I flipped him off, and his serious expression melted into a snicker. "Seriously though, this is going to be great. I recognize a few of these meats, but I haven't had a chance to work with them much. After I left the circus I was on my own, and I didn't have much in the way of funds. The only skill I really had that I could market was fighting, which sort of defeated the purpose. I worked my way up the cuts I was able to afford now, but it wasn't anything this quality."

It made me think well of him that he put so much work into his passion, and I was glad I'd been able to help. I reached back into the bag. "Mel, I'm afraid this gift is slightly less meaningful, though no less heartfelt." I passed her a red sphere of crystal. "It's a focus crystal. The ruby was mixed with a drop of blood from an Ifrit. Not enough to make it higher than F-rank, but it amplifies the heat of flames by a quarter, and lowers the cost by a flat ten percent. We weren't sure if you had something better, but we figured it would be of some use as an offhand weapon either way."

She tossed it effortlessly into the air, catching it on a fingertip and setting it to spin. An Ascendant dropping an object that size and not being able to pick it out of the air was pretty much impossible at our rank, so no one batted an eye as she tested the balance and the weight. She focused and a candle flame bloomed in front of her, shifting shapes into a snake that wrapped her arm. She nodded. "This is fantastic. I'll need to do some training with it, but it should compliment my current weapon pretty well. Thanks, both of you."

Her warm tone was enough to convey her appreciation even through the mask. We passed Alden his present (a selection of Valen microbrews) before I turned to face Abel with the question that had been on my mind almost since we left. "So. What is in store for the last two weeks?" I asked with a forced casual tone. "I know we aren't training today, but I figure knowing what's coming will help us prepare."

To my surprise, the grin I got this time wasn't exactly entirely malicious. There was a hint of the usual sadism, but it was also part genuine excitement. "Well, I was planning to have it be a surprise, but we're going to take a trip down to one of the dark districts. It's one of the more out of the way ones, so we won't be running into anyone too powerful. No E-rankers will be in this one, and any F-rankers Mel and I should be able to handle between us. But it'll be a live combat situation that we aren't likely to be able to recreate."

I froze. That was...terrifying and amazing at the same time. Even an out of the way dark district seemed dangerous as hell, but the chance to experience that kind of environment was definitely exciting. "Wow. Really? But isn't the whole thing with the dark districts that anyone can show up there? What if we run into someone too strong for us?" I knew that they wouldn't be able to take every F-ranker, or even a bunch of them together. E-rankers I was less worried about with Zeke around.

Abel just shrugged. "It's unlikely this territory will have too many people with real potential. There's almost nothing valuable there. It's kind of an agreed on newbie spot. Not just G-rankers, or there would be no point, but anyone with real power and experience will be in one of the other districts. Plus the Beast Lord Garden should have people down there who can help you out. Hell, Sloane and the other two will probably be sent along with you."

Mel held up a hand. "Listen. This isn't going to be entirely safe. We'll do our best to watch out for you, but there will be real danger in these next two weeks of training. We won't force you to do this part. You can always say no and stick with sparring. We just thought live combat would help temper you guys some, and you've been learning quite a few things that you could use experience putting into practice."

"That does sound useful." Callie said uncertainly. " I definitely see why it would be helpful. Can we get back to you? I want to talk it over with our team first, if that's ok." I hadn't even really considered that. Leaving the others up here to go put ourselves in horrible danger would definitely suck for them, and no way was I ok taking them with us knowing what we knew. Talking it out was a smart plan, even if I really hoped we ended up doing it.

Abel just waved the question off. "Of course. Like you said, it's not a today problem. Think it over. Just know that you two are more than skilled enough for us to be comfortable taking you down there. Your teamwork is extremely refined, and both of you are dangerous in your own right after so much training. We wouldn't have suggested it if we didn't think you were ready."

"Doesn't matter." Mel cut in. "That's a problem for future you to worry about. For now, you're all home and it's good to see you." She turned to yell over the the Pavilion members training. "Hey, can you lunatics take a break for a bit. We haven't had a good party in weeks, might as well celebrate the kids homecoming." She turned to Alden, who was seated nearby, cracking into a microbrew that Zeke had mentioned was pretty decent. "Hey, old man. You have enough refreshments stocked around here for a spur of the moment bash?"

The bearded man, looked contemplative. "I...don't know. I'd have to check my stashes. I'm probably good on booze, but my soda stores have been running low. Someone keeps raiding them. I have no clue who, but probably someone with high Perception because I keep them stashed away pretty well. Anyway, give me a minute to grab what I've got." He turned to Abel. "What about food? You think you can handle that?"

My masked teacher grinned. "Obviously." He looked down at the meat in his hands. "I don't really want to waste the time making new sausages during a party, but even if I haven't had the time to open my shop I still have some stock on ice I can use." He grinned at Mel. "I'll take the money out of Pavilion funds, but don't worry, I'll only charge at cost since this is a party for me favorite disciples."

She rolled her eyes, waving him off, but didn't argue as the three of them scattered to get ready. As we watched them leave I turned to blink at Callie in surprise. That had escalated quickly. She just grinned and shrugged. "From our first night here, I can assume they like to throw parties. I guess we've kept them too busy to have time for them during training, so having one now seems like as good an idea as any. Besides, I think they want to make sure we end our vacation on a good note." She looked around in amusement. "I'd be shocked if it takes them more than an hour to get set up."

I turned and looked back over at Jessie and Benny. "Think we have time to go pick up the puppies? I miss Jin." My big furry buddy might not be too insane by Rajak standards, but G-ranked wolves wandering Valen would have been enough to touch off a riot. Even though leaving them behind had been the right choice, it was still going to be nice to see my wolf. I hadn't even realized how used to having him around I'd gotten until he wasn't there. From her expression Callie felt the same, and we headed over to talk to Jessie. If we were going to party, we should have the whole team around.