It felt weird to be walking around out of costume for extended periods of time. It felt even weirder knowing that we didn't need to WORRY about walking around in costume for extended periods of time. With three F-rankers and probably less than a dozen or two G-rankers around here, there weren't many things that could threaten us. We weren't equipped to punch up ranks, but we were probably just barely Titan Twenty level on our own now. Which meant basically no G-ranker in the city should be a real threat, even if we didn't have Alexander with us.

We had our costumes with us of course, since Callie was planning some kind of vengeance spree later after we all hung out, but honestly I wasn't too worried about that. I was interested to see some more of the local criminal element from this side of things, and I knew Callie well enough to trust she wasn't planning something too over the top. She wasn't the 'kill em' all and let the gods sort them out' type. For now though, we were sticking with the civilian side of things since we had her mom and uncle with us, not to mention Cass.

By the time we met up with Benny, Celine, and Maria it was about two PM. My best friend looked more relaxed and at peace than I had seen him in a long time. I hardly recognized him when I spotted him sitting on a bench next to Celine, and it took me a minute to figure out why. He didn't look visibly different that I could see, but something about him had changed. It took me a minute to figure out that my Perception was picking up things like body language and microexpressions subconsciously and my Focus was processing them.

I waved when he looked up, and he grinned at us, popping to his feet. "Hey guys, you made it. And you brought Callie's uncle and...her sister?" He looked semi-confused, and I realized that we hadn't mentioned Amelia would be coming. The older woman looked good for her age, probably early to mid twenties. She didn't look out of place next to Alexander, who only looked a bit older than the rest of us.

Amelia giggled a bit, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Calliope, your friends are so sweet. I like this one." She held out a hand to shake Benny's with a smile. "Amelia Reynolds, I'm Callie's mother. It's nice to meet another of her team members. You must be Benicio. She didn't mention how tall you were. What DO they feed you boys? You're all practically giants." Her eyes shone with good humor as she made the comment, so not one had the heart to point out that she and Callie were mostly just really short.

I was surprised at the introduction though. Amelia hadn't given her last name in the time we had been staying with her, and I hadn't expected her to keep her married name. I supposed she wanted to keep it for Callie's sake. Benny's eyes had gone wide when she spoke, and he held out his hand on reflex, looking shocked. "You're...her mother? I thought her mother was mortal? You look so young."

Amelia laughed at that, and Benny grunted as Maria elbowed him in the ribs as she went past. Not hard thankfully, though I saw her rubbing her elbow a bit as she smiled welcomingly at Amelia. "Sorry about my brother." She said sincerely. "He can be a bit prone to foot in mouth. It's really nice to meet you. I'm Maria Cortez. This is my brother's girlfriend, who is way out of his league, Celine."

The elf girl gave a graceful wave I was sure she had practiced in the mirror. Maria turned to the rest of us. "Most of you I know since I saw you in passing when everyone arrived, it's nice to see you all." Her eyes locked on Cass as they went by and she strolled over to offer a hands. "Hi there, I'm Maria. Sorry to say you're the youngest now. It can be a pain dealing with all these older types, but I'm glad it's not me anymore." She winked at the younger girl.

Cass, for her part, just giggled in amusement and took her hand. "Cassidy. You're still pretty old, but I guess you're not as bad as the rest of them. I can put up with the adults for you if you need me too. I'm used to dealing with it from my big brother." She shot Cark an annoyed glance that was softened with a fond smile. "He's always trying to act like he knows better than me and I should just shut and listen."

That got a surprised laugh from Maria. "Trust me I know." She shot her own annoyed glance at Benny and I. "I have my own big brothers, and they always think they know better. It's not all bad though, it helps me keep them in line. They can be kind of dumb sometimes, so they really need it." The two of them shared a commiserating nod that should probably have worried me somewhat before Benny cut in.

"As much fun as this little pow-wow ISN'T." He said with exasperation. "I was pretty sure we were going to show everyone around the city? Any of you guys have any ideas for a first stop? The Night Market is a no go for a family trip, not that it's even open this early, and WCP doesn't exactly seem like the best place to take them. Vengiollo's might work, but I don't really think Cass would enjoy it."

Callie bit her lip. "We could go to the Druid's Grove? Mom loves that place, and it's gorgeous. Have you guys ever been?" Benny and I shook our heads, but Jessie looked excited. Callie just chuckled. "Yeah, I figured it would be your scene Jess. The Druid's Grove is the local Ascendant Farmer's Market. It's mostly H-rankers there, though the owner is a Unity executive. They sell mortal fruit too, but they grow most of it there and it's absolutely beautiful."

I'd never heard of it, but then, I hadn't really interacted much with Ascendant culture here when I'd lived in town, and it was a big city. I was only eighteen, so there was no reason to expect I'd seen it all here. It sounded like fun to me, and I was looking forward to picking up some ingredients, so there was no reason to refuse. "Well, I'm in." I said with a shrug. "I don't know about everyone else, but weird fruit and veggies sounds entertaining to me."

Jessie snickered. "It's not just fruit and veggies. They have flowers there too, and other interesting plants. Nothing as impressive or powerful as Melinda's garden, but plenty of things that are pretty to look at, plus I know the owner. I used to work there sometimes before I got my ability. My mom was friendly with Harvest, the executive Callie mentioned, and she was kind of my mentor in flower arranging when I was a kid." She smiled sadly. "I haven't seen her in years though. Once mom and dad died we stopped going. Reminded us of them too much."

Maria put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. I was honestly just surprised. Jessie never talked about her parents, I knew they'd died when she was young, and Alan had basically raised her. Other than that I realized I'd never heard her say much of anything about them. This was the first time I heard her imply that they might have been Ascendants, even indirectly, but it would explain how her brother and she both got powers. I knew because of my own parents that Ascendant traits could carry over slightly, though not much until you hit the higher ranks.

Seeing our friend lost in her own thoughts Callie cleared her throat. "Anyway, Druid's Grove it is. I haven't been in a while either. I really love the apples there. " She nodded to Amelia. "Mom used to take me all the time as a kid, she and Harvest are friends." She got an odd look on her face, glancing to Jessie and then her mother. "Actually, I don't think it's ever come up, but did you know Jessie's mom? I didn't realize you guys were both friends of Aunt Alyssa until just now."

Amelia smiled softly. "Not really. I think I knew her in passing though. If she's who I'm thinking of she was always a kind woman. I hadn't realized Jessica was her daughter until you mentioned it, but I see the resemblance. Piper had black hair, but there's a lot of similarity in the eyes." She gave Jessie a warm smile. "I didn't know her well, but Alyssa and she were very close and I heard nothing but wonderful things. She spoke about you and your brother often on the few occasions I did meet her. She was very proud of your talent for flower arranging."

My teammate swallowed hard, her emerald eyes swimming for a second with emotion, before she pushed it all down. Jessie was much better at controlling her emotions than her generally happy demeanor would let on. With everything decided though, we headed out, deciding to take the bus to our destination. There was a stop near where we met up (it was the same park Benny and I had met at back when I first found out about my power) and Benny and I knew the schedule by heart.

Being back on a Valen bus with my best friend was a bit surreal. It felt like it had been so long since we'd done thing, and being with so many new faces made it all the stranger. We all chatted back and forth, Amelia asking about the Academy, Rajak in general, and our adventures in the capital. Maria caught us up on how things had been back home, her break up with Zack, and how things had been around here since M-Jack left. It had been both more and less peaceful, with no lunatic shenanigans, but plenty of turf wars, even if the Unity mostly kept it from affecting the mortals.

Finally, we arrived at the Druid's Grove. We climbed out of the bus at the stop Callie indicated and walked for about two miles before we came to the right place. Jessie stopped first, having run ahead a bit, and took a deep, happy breath. "Oh wow, I forgot how much I love the smell of this place. Like earth and fresh fruit and growing things." She spun around a few times, eyes closed, and just luxuriated in the atmosphere. Then she stopped and gave us an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, bit distracted. Welcome to the Druid's Grove."

She gestured around us, and I could see why they wanted to come here. The place was a park in its own right, but where the rest of them were green and lush, this one was shades of red, orange, and yellow. It was Autumn here somehow, and the ground was thick with leaves that crunched underfoot. Among the trees were wooden tables that had an almost box like top, each holding different fruits, vegetables, and some even being packed with dirt which grew beautiful plants.

I chuckled a bit as Callie grabbed my hand, dragging me along with her as she set off toward the tables. She seemed so excited to be here, and Amelia's smile told me that she loved seeing her daughter so happy just as much as I did. As Callie began to drag me toward a table packed with dark red juicy looking apples, I began to understand where my girlfriend's appetite came from. If I'd grown up coming here I'd be hungry all the time too. I was definitely going to try one of those apples. They looked delicious.