Once we got to G-district, we headed right for the Pavilion. Once we got there I found a private spot and spoke to Beric the were-tiger. He was eager to get his stats redistributed, and I picked up 15 points of Focus first thing, since he was a pure physical combatant. He had them all funneled into Might, to my absolute lack of surprise. That brought me up to 88 Focus, which helped to bring it closer to evening out with my Perception. Once it was done I did a quick check of my status to catch up on all the changes.

Wishmaster candidate status. G-rank. Ability: Beginner Wish- Five times a day grant a Beginner wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period with current statistics. Might 97 Impact 12 Fantasy 21 Vitality 71 Focus 88 Perception 90 Creation 82 Stored: 9 shadow attack, 1 fire attack, 7 triple strenth tranq blows, 4 triple strength density shifted attacks. 2 spider leg attacks, 8 heal bursts Skills: Beginner Doom Sovereign Mastery,Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Lesser Cooking Mastery,Lesser Inventing Mastery, Lesser Stealth,Lesser Balam Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery,Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing Mastery, Minor First Aid Mastery, Minor Herbalism Mastery.

I could see an accounting of all the stored attacks I had access to, and I whistled internally at the list. Those would be some damn powerful trump cards if I needed them. I also took note that I was only a few tens of points shy of a five hundred total, nearly halfway to F-rank. I was glad I'd figured out the whole attack storage thing, because I never would have been able to keep up in terms of raw output without it. Spreading myself so evenly across every stat made me much weaker in terms of individual stat values, even if it was the optimum build for my Wish power to show its worth.

Once the day's wishes were done we headed for the Pavilion itself, where Callie, Jessie, Benny, Alden, Abel, and Mel were currently holding a meeting about how to deal with the potential sea of G-rankers coming to most likely burn this place to the ground. After a discussion we all came to the conclusion that destroying the cavalcade would be the most expedient way to erase its influence and pave the way for Sanctuary Hall to take over, and the new information from Melinda made that much more likely, at least to me.

Once I got in, I introduced the three G-rankers and their nine companions. To my surprise, at least one person was already familiar. "Sloane!" Jessie squealed with excitement, tackling the other girl. Melinda's apprentice gave a small grunt as the tiny blonde barrelled into her, sweeping her up in a crushing hug. "I didn't know you were coming! This is so great, we really need the help, and you're so strong!"

Sloane, for her part, was laughing affectionately as she squeezed Jessie back. "Good to see you Agria. You'll definitely be a huge help down here. Especially given we're going to be fighting the damn healer capital of the planet. Good thing you're worth a dozen of those garbage bandage peddlers." Jessie put her down as she heard her speaking, and I could see a blush on my teammate's face at the compliment.

I raised an eyebrow, cocking my head so my confusion was visible. "I thought the Garden was all about earning your keep. Melinda didn't want to give Agria any special treatment, how did she end up palling around with the Beast Queen's personal disciple?" It occurred to me that I had taken way too much of what Melinda said at face value. It seemed like she was taking care of Jessie behind the scenes even before I revealed my ability. I couldn't exactly be mad, but it made me wonder what else I'd missed.

Sloane just shrugged. "Master can't directly interfere with newbies without breaking established tradition, but there's no rules about who can and can't be friends. Agria is a sweetie, and she has a damn useful power. She's also a fast learner. I was able to teach her the Beast Taming Mastery Skill pretty quickly." She shot my teammate a bright smile, and Jessie beamed back at her. Despite the blushing I didn't think Jessie's interest was romantic, she was just extremely flattered to have such a high evaluation from someone she respected.

"Well this is all very nice." Mel said, cutting in. "But we kind of have other things to deal with. Another thirteen G-rankers is a solid boost to our capabilities. The pavilion itself has ten of us at a level I'd be comfortable fielding in combat. The cavalcade has another eight I'd call combat capable, but they're all directly under Cicero, and we need his support if we want them to jump in on this." I could literally hear the disgust in her voice as she asked Abel. "Can you talk to him about lending aid?"

The rabbit masked man rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mel. Revenant, you act like he's pure evil. He's not going to leave us twisting in the wind. Gods, even if he wanted to, this is his place too, at this point he doesn't really have a choice on whether to join in or not. They're coming to tear down the whole cavalcade, when they come at all. His options are to help or watch everything he's worked for get destroyed, possibly dying in the process."

I cut in before Mel could snap back. "Speaking of the cavalcade, should we try to talk him into closing it? I don't think anyone here wants a bunch of civilians underfoot when the attack goes down. I know the defenses are supposed to be powerful, and I'd rather not see them all get mowed down in the crossfire." Left unsaid was my worry that Cicero wouldn't be quite as worried about civilian losses because he was a selfish dick.

"I was already planning to do so." Came a familiar voice from behind me. I jumped slightly, not having expected to hear it so soon, and spun to see Cicero stepping into the Pavilion, Emery following at a distance that seemed aimed at providing the top hatted man room to move around, while still staying close enough to step in if anything went wrong. I wasn't sure what the point of that was honestly, unless Emery was WAY more dangerous than I'd been led to believe, there was no possible way the spymaster would be able to stop Abel if he chose to attack his brother.

It didn't matter anyway. Abel stepped forward with a wide, welcoming smile, opening his arms in greeting. "I've been back for hours and you're just now stopping in to visit? You're a terrible host. I'm surprised this place hasn't gone belly up with you in charge the last few years." He stepped forward to hug his brother, and Emery tensed until Cicero waved a hand subtly meeting his brother's embrace with a tight hug of his own.

To my shock, the mustachioed ring master stayed like that for a minute, squeezing his big brother tightly as if reassuring himself he was real. I might be misreading him again, but I got the impression that despite his double dealing personality, not all of Cicero's stated affection for his brother was a lie. Maybe her personal strength really wasn't the only reason Mel had lasted so many years sewing dissent around here.

The hug only lasted a minute though, and once he composed himself Cicero pulled back, his face melting from a peaceful expression of relief that I'd almost missed as he turned to face us, to it's usual calm, positive smile, the one I knew for a fact was utter bullshit. His eyes raked over the assembled group. "Well, it seems the lot of you have been busy. What an interesting array of allies. Tell me then, Melissa, are these here to deal with me? You seem to have suborned my new spies easily enough. Perhaps you've become more skilled at gathering subordinates yourself."

Despite the dire nature of the question he didn't sound distressed at all, perhaps reassured that Abel would come down on his side. "Yeah, she's got this revolutionary technique called not being an asshole. I was bowled over." I chimed in helpfully. Callie snorted out a laugh, and Mel raised a hand to her mask in an exaggerated cough to hide her own chuckles. "Sadly, as much as I would love to participate in a rousing game of 'kick the bastard in the hat' we have bigger problems now, and Mel is on your side, though I suspect she'd rather have her teeth pulled than admit it out loud."

Mel gave a silent shrug, her lack of commentary a clear agreement with my sentiment. Cicero raised an eyebrow, seemingly unbothered by my hostility, or at most slightly miffed. He sighed. "Well, I suppose an explanation is in order. That does explain why my brother has shown himself. Very well. Regale me with your tale." He walked over to one of the massive bench seats lining the dirt ring and sat, leaning back casually to wait.

Abel looked over at Mel, who glanced away, then at me, then at Callie. When he saw none of us were willing to tolerate talking to his asshole brother without being forced to, he sighed heavily, rolling his eyes before beginning to fill Cicero in on everything that had happened. Mel had apparently given him all the details she had, as had Callie, because his summary of the situation included quite a few things he hadn't known before (though he didn't mention the candidate or me, so Callie had held at least a few things back) but he gave a coherent and concise summary of events.

Cicero waited, listening to his brother for a few minutes, before turning to glare at Mel. "So our resident firebrand put as all in horrible danger with her recklessness and thoughtlessness, how shocking. This is what I get for tolerating your nonsense for all these years I suppose. I should have handled you years ago." To my shock, his voice was laced with actual rage, some of the first negative emotion he'd allowed himself to show in my presence.

Mel stepped forward, golden flames roaring to life in her palms. "YOU tolerated ME? You want to try to evict me yourself you cowardly fuck? I was here at the beginning of this entire place. I would have left years ago if I wasn't worried your poison would ruin the place Abel and I worked so hard to create. You're a pathetic, simpering, backstabber, and if you want to start a fight I'll gladly oblige!" Mel's tone was every bit as enraged as Cicero's and Abel was staring between them in shock and what looked a bit like panic.

Before they could actually fight though, a wave of crushing force smashed into my shoulders, and theirs too from the looks of it, forcing us all to our knees. "Enough, children." Came an authoritative voice that was barely recognizable for it's intensity. We all turned to look at Alden, who scowled through his beard at the three of them. "I've had enough. You're fucking adults, act like it. Cicero, you'll supply the manpower we need and deal with your issues with Mel later. Mel, you'll focus on the task at hand and worry about your grudges when we aren't all about to die."

His eyes flicked to Abel, who looked relieved to have been skipped. "And you!" Abel's eyes jerked up in surprise as his teacher laid into him. "If you're going to come back after so long have the decency to deal with the trouble you start. You're one of the most terrifying people I've ever trained, but you refuse to stand up to Mel or your brother and it's absurd. I realize you worried about hurting them as kids, but you aren't ten anymore. You can't just let them do whatever they want because you don't want to upset them. Stop coddling them and grow a spine."

The three of them all looked like they'd been slapped, and I thanked Zeke mentally for the mask he'd made not showing my mouth, because I was grinning at seeing them all chastised. The older man sighed in annoyance. "Damn kids will be the death of me. Now, the rest of you, gather our forces while Cicero clears this place out. Who knows how long we have before the enemy arrives." He gave us all a savage grin. "We need to make sure to show our hospitality, and thorough preparations are a necessity for a proper welcome."