Getting back to Valen was shockingly easy. We had the money to just hire an air shuttle back at this point, not to mention our positions as the winners of the freshman treasure hunt had everyone hoping to get in good with us. We avoided using the Unity's in house shuttles, and as such avoided Midknight and Annie. There were a lot of options, but in the end we got a ride from Callie's uncle, who decided to come back for a visit once he heard we were going and offered us use of his personal air shuttle for the trip.

I expected Callie to shut that down fast, but apparently their calls had been going well, because she seemed fine with it, and was even excited to have him along. And she was in a good mood for the whole day until we finally met up with Alexander at his air shuttle. As we arrived at the landing site, I was forced to stop and stare at the conveyance we were going to be using to get back home. "Okay." I said, pointing at the thing. "Why the hell is that thing so...that." Words failed me as I gestured at the air shuttle dismissively.

Alexander, who was out of costume like the rest of us, just snickered. "Well, I have something of a reputation to maintain after all. Besides, it's not THAT bad." He cast a contemplative gaze to the air shuttle, which in defense wasn't BAD, so much as just...a lot. The whole thing was made of pitch black metal, and despite being a similar shape to the last one that was where the similarities ended.

The black metal was jagged and dramatic looking, and scrolled through with traceries of gold the made the dramatic design choices all the more striking. The inside was plush and lined with red velvet and it had dark, thick, red curtains blocking off the empty spaces on the sides, also velvet, with gold pull ropes that made it obvious how those would be opened and closed. It was basically the most over the top thing I'd ever seen in my life, and that was a pretty big list considering all the places I'd been as an Ascendant.

Callie snickered. "Sorry Uncle Alex. It's just kind of much. But it's fine, we know that your people are more likely to get something like this for you to use. We just appreciate not having to spend chits to get back. We have cash on hand, but trips like this are damn expensive and it's better to save the money when we can." She looked him over with amusement. "So, you seem a bit dressed up for a trip back home. Looking forward to seeing anyone special?"

Alexander cleared his throat. "Not at all, it's just been years since I've seen Amelia. I don't want her to think I've become some kind of layabout." Callie and I did our best not to snicker at the obvious crush he had on her mother. I wasn't sure exactly how that would work out given his identical features to her cheating ex-husband, but she'd known them both for years so maybe it wouldn't be a problem for her.

We turned to see the others approaching to climb inside. Benny, Jessie, Zeke, Cark, Cass, and Celine, and six wolves. We'd brought Cark and his sister along because Callie had mentioned the little girl to her mother who apparently insisted. I'd have been down to invite them either way. Cark was a great guy and Cass was a blast to have around. Plus having the kid around was a breath of fresh air. Kept us all a little more human.

Celine waved slightly, seemingly shy about riding home with all of us, or just being her normal taciturn self. Benny looked over the moon she'd agreed to come with. He put an arm over her shoulder. "Hey guys, hope we aren't late. Had to grab some things. So what kind of time are we looking at for travel here? I remember it was crazy fast last time. Like two hours or so. Will this one be as fast?" He sounded excited for the trip, which I got. It had been pretty intense last time. I wondered if the drapes would make it better or worse?

We all climbed in, and as usual the space inside wasn't cramped at all. This thing was swanky, it had all the same spatial expansions as the elevator compartments in the WCP, even better ones than most of the cars we'd been in. We all took seats on the plush black sofas. Alexander gave an expansive gesture. "Sit wherever you like. Anyone who wants to can open the curtains, there are barriers to prevent windburn and stop falling, but honestly past the first ride watching countryside blur past too quickly to see gets pretty old."

I slumped into the comfortable couch and smiled at Alexander, who'd chosen to sit nearby. Callie had gone to talk with Jessie, so it was just us. He cleared his throat again, lowering his voice before speaking. "Shane. I'd like to thank you. Calliope mentioned you were the one who suggested she give me a call. Getting to know her has been...nice. I never got to spend time with her as a girl, my relationship with my brother being what it was. I never thought I would have the chance to spend time with her like this." We both knew that lowering his voice did nothing, but all of our Focus was decent enough that we could avoid just constantly hearing everything with supernatural levels of fidelity.

"It's fine." I assured him, my smile turning wry. "If it makes you feel better, you don't owe me anything for it. I did it for Callie. I was pretty sure she would regret not getting to know you just because of her dad. She hates letting him control her, and that's what it would have been. She deserved to make her own choice, and you deserved a chance to prove your intentions. Seems like it worked out well for everyone. I should be thanking you for training her. She's mentioned you've been giving her some exercises to do and they've been helping her polish her shadow combat skills."

He just shook his head. "That isn't training. Just offering advice. It's quite literally the least I could do. She's been improving rapidly from what I saw when I arrived though. You both have. I'd heard some rumors floating around E-district about you, but I hadn't believed them. It seems they were accurate after all. Still, it's not just stat gain. You both walk like completely different people. You must be working hard."

Gesturing over at Callie, who saw me and raised an eyebrow, I smiled. "She's the one whose been working the hardest. I've just been trying to keep up. She's absolutely brilliant in battle. Her instincts are fantastic, and she seems to be able to pick up when I'm in trouble like a sixth sense." We'd been doing so much work, it was nice to finally have a chance to brag a bit, even if I wasn't bragging about me. Callie and her uncle were still getting acquainted, it would nice for me to talk her up a bit, and I really was insanely proud of her.

She, as it turned out, felt the same way. "Oh none of that." I heard her say as she stepped up behind me. She fell sideways over the couch arm, flopping over into my lap without any sort of warning or hesitation. I grinned at her and kissed the top of her head as she told her uncle. "He's being modest. Like...to a stupid degree. We've both improved a ton, but he started literal years after I did. Stat wise we're about even, and in terms of combat skill I'm probably a bit ahead because of my Skills and build, but that is pretty fucking amazing on its own."

I just shrugged. "It's not the same." I was kind of cheating. Sure, Callie was getting her stats boosted, but she had made as much progress as I did, and I'd been using the overlay during training for the last few weeks. She hadn't managed to get DS Mastery past Minor. That wasn't a shock really, it was a unique Skill no one else had ever managed to get that I knew of. She could have wished for it, but decided against it, saying she already had too much to work on, and had another Skill to synergize next rank already anyway.

She just rolled her eyes. "I appreciate the hype, but I'm not going to let you pretend you're not turning into a total beast yourself." She paused, shouting over to Rellia. "No offense Rel." The wolf just ignored her, which I took to be a dismissal. "Anyway, your combat senses have been growing dramatically. I almost never worried about getting hit anymore." I tried to protest but she leaned up to kiss me to shut me up. "Ok, that's enough, my uncle doesn't need to hear us argue about which one of us is a better fighter." She cut her eyes at him mischievously. "He needs to tell me more about that bottle of wine I noticed stashed in one of the cupboards with a bow on it."

That drew a loud sigh from Alexander. "Damn. I thought it was hidden well enough not to draw attention. It's nothing. Just a hostess gift. It's good manners to bring a bottle of wine when someone allows you into their home." He showed absolutely no sign of distress or discomfort when saying that, which would have been much more impressive if I didn't know how absolutely monstrous his Perception had to be. He could have been openly weeping on the inside and not shown even a hint of it as far as we could tell.

Callie looked dubious, but let it go in the end. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable, even if I imagined she was kind of protective about her mother. Alexander seemed to have made a good impression on his niece. The guy was just so damned polite and formal though. Callie and I weren't formal people, so we tried our hardest to get him to loosen up as we talked, to little success. Still, it was a nice way to kill the time, enjoying the conversation as we sped through the air. Occasionally one of the others would come over to chat, but they mostly kept to themselves, with Cass excitedly watching the passing countryside as we flew once Cark was reassured about the barriers being secure.

In what felt like no time at all we began our final approach. Everyone stood up to watch the descent, pushing aside the curtains as we slowed down to land on the roof of the guild building. I felt lighter than I had in months as we landed, and I saw Stella, Ian, Lindsey, and to my surprise, Maria, all waiting for us on the rooftop. Once we had stopped and the barriers dropped I grinned and bolted out of the shuttle. I headed for Maria first, scooping up my annoying surrogate sister in a huge hug and spinning her in a circle.

She squeaked in outrage. "Shane, you beast! Put me down! Did you get taller somehow? This is ridiculous, why are you and Benny so damn big. I demand you stop growing and possibly drop an inch or two." Her voice was rough with happiness as I put her down, only for her to get snatched up and put through the same thing by Benny as she groaned in annoyance and gave him a similar speech. In the old days I might have been annoyed, but this time I wasn't upset at all. I was finally home, and that was all that mattered. It was good to be back.