<~> Chapter 117

Maxwell cleared his throat. "Do we have any say in whether we accept this mission?"

Celeste pursed her lips. "I suppose you could refuse to participate, but I truly believe that this is the best opportunity to protect Luna while also giving her cover from those who might be hunting us. Besides, as a delver, the mission I'm suggesting will be very lucrative for you."

"It's not all about the money," Maxwell said firmly.

("Tell Maxwell that I want to do it,") Luna told me.

I took a step toward him. "Maxwell, Luna says that she wants to do it. Besides, we were going to delve into the Ironcastle dungeon anyway. Delving this one instead might be even better, and it aligns all our goals."

Maxwell paused for a moment before sighing. "If we are going into a dungeon, there are still a few things we need to finish taking care of in the city. I still need to have some armor commissioned for myself, and Helena needs to get her armor enchanted."

"Her impressive looking armor hasn't been enchanted yet?" Celeste asked curiously while looking at me.

Maxwell shook his head. "No, the armor smith we worked with in Fallow couldn't do it, and we haven't had any luck finding an enchanter in town that can handle it yet. We're looking for someone who can use spatial magic to make her armor adapt to her size in her umber hound form."

Callisto looked back at me. "I thought your clothes vanish when you shift."

"Only when my equipment wouldn't fit the new one. My shield and axe don't disappear and my magic rings grow with the shift," I replied.

Callisto gripped his chin. "Curious. What would be the cause of that?" he asked to himself.

I shrugged. "I don't know much about how it works yet. Luna has some ideas, but we've only been working with what she can sense. The only other people that know about my other form are the group of hunters we were working with on the trip here from Fallow and the manager of the hunter's association there."

("Oh! We meant to meet back up with Milana after the dungeon. She must have been wondering what happened to us,") Luna said to me.

I frowned. "Would it be possible to make contact with Milana? We were staying at the same inn and we were supposed to talk with her after we left the dungeon that first night. It seems with everything happening, it slipped our minds. She might be wondering what happened to us."

Celeste bit one of her fingers in thought. "I would like to keep your contact with others as minimal as possible. Even telling any outsiders that we're holding you at the castle could compromise parts of our plan."

"What about support staff?" Piper cut in. "The King suggested you would need to bring additional delvers and support staff. We're not going to be searching the entire place on our own are we?" she asked.

Callisto shook his head. "She's having trouble finding trustworthy hunters. Celeste hasn't operated out of Ironcastle for years at this point. She doesn't have many favors left."

"But you do," Celeste stated directly.

"Of course! I have quite the network of friends in the hunter's guild built up," He replied with a sly grin.

"Since we're being open about our suspicions of each other, how can we trust Callisto or any of the people he brings on? We don't know them, what's to say they won't stab us in the back like Celeste's afraid of?" Aria asked.

Callisto just shrugged. "You don't have much alternative. Trying to explore and map out the dungeon entirely alone with no information would be difficult. You don't know the people I'll bring on, but I'll be careful to pick the trustworthy sort."

Celeste grimaced. "I trust Callisto. More than anyone else, he's always been there to help me."

"Aww, big sister!" Callisto reached over and hugged Celeste from the side. He smiled and turned back to our group. "If it makes you feel better, I'm ahead of Celeste in the succession to the throne. Even if things go very well, my involvement will get us both promoted in line. If this were a powerplay from my sister for the throne, she wouldn't be inviting me to help, and I would gain arguably more from any achievements she brings back by being involved. Truthfully though, I don't wish for the throne in the first place. I would have already abdicated if the others wouldn't throw a fit over it."

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have other reasons to backstab us unrelated to the throne. Especially if the succession isn't important to you," I pointed out.

Callisto laughed. "Sure, but at that point Celeste wouldn't be able to trust anyone. The two of us have always had a good relationship, and Celeste needs me right now. I have a functioning network of contacts in the region, and Celeste only has a handful of loyal soldiers and retainers left. She wouldn't even have any idea of where to send you for your enchanting needs like I would."

Celeste nodded in agreement. "I don't begrudge you of your skepticism and wariness in this situation, but if I can't trust Callisto, we're already doomed."

"I wouldn't go that far, but I promise I'm worth the risk," he said confidently.

Maxwell shook his head. "I hate this kind of thing."

Piper patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be more in your element once we're delving into that unknown dungeon."

"Will I, though? I always looked into the challenges we would face beforehand. With the exception of Fallow's seventeenth floor, this will be the first time I'm going into a dungeon without doing any research on it," Maxwell grumbled.

Aria shrugged. "I was always the type to play things by ear and Helena was thrown into the deep end without any kind of plan at all. I feel like our team has become very well-rounded, especially with a wind mage being added to our group. Iris's magic will be useful for scouting."

("You know, Milana's water and ice magic might be good to have for delving into an unknown dungeon too. Now that we've broached the subject, I think we should ask to include her,") Luna said to our group using the rings.

"Luna thinks Milana would be helpful in the dungeon. Having a mage with water and ice magic available would be useful, according to Luna," I said.

Callisto turned his head back and forth a few times in thought. "I'll consider it if you give me some time to look into her."

"We would also be including her sister I think, she was working with Luna on lightning magic," I added.

Celeste's eyes lit up and she turned to Luna. "Lightning magic?"

Luna shyly nodded.

"Lightning magic runs in our blood, but most don't bother pursuing it. How much experience do you have with it?" Celeste asked.

("Only since we found the lightning shards,") Luna asked me to relay.

Celeste's interest faded a bit. "That's unfortunate... I had been hoping you were farther along than the basics."

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Luna shook her head. ("No! Tell her that I've been able to learn a lot with it with your help so far!")

I cleared my throat. "Uh, Luna says that you might be surprised by how far she's come. She's figured out a lot about it already, and we have plenty of lightning shards to leverage."

("Hey, that wasn't what I said...") Luna said, sadly.

("It's hard for me to praise myself like that. Besides, it's true. All of what you've learned has only been through me giving you nudges in the right direction. You shouldn't give those successes to me as if I was the one who did it for you,") I replied.

Luna's ears dipped down briefly before she shook off the disappointment. ("Fine, I'll... try to limit the kinds of things I make you say for me, but I don't want you just deciding to say something else when I ask you to say something for me. Rephrasing things is one thing, but you said something completely different. That's not right...")

I frowned. ("I'm sorry... Now that you mention it, that probably wasn't a very nice thing to do.")

("As long as you try not to do that again, I'll forgive you this time,") Luna replied.

"It's rather odd to watch two people having a silent conversation," Celeste said quietly.

"You get used to it, they do it all the time," Aria said with a giggle.

"The two of them are like fumbling ....," Piper said with a laugh.

("What did she call us?") I asked Luna.

("Fumbling preteens,") Luna said with a blush.

"See! There she goes blushing!" Piper said with a smile.

Curiously, it was Celeste who had the biggest smile from the interaction. She didn't say anything, but I noticed her happy expression.

Callisto waved his hand around. "Regardless, we'll need to find some supplies. I'll look into some people who can join you and see if I can find anything suspicious on... Milana you said?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Milana."

"What about Valkin and Norrik?" Aria asked. "They know about your secret and seemed to have kept their word about keeping it, but I didn't really like the way they were treating you. Especially in the cave with the umber hounds."

I scratched the back of my head. "I don't know. Valkin seemed nosy to me. It might be best not to include them, but I don't know how they would react if we tried to split their group apart."

Maxwell sighed. "How badly were they treating you? Is it serious or something we could work around?" he asked.

I shrugged. "They seemed pretty dismissive of my skills before I shifted in front of them, and ever since Valkin has acted like he wanted nothing to do with me. Norrik was fine, despite how prickly the man was, but I don't think he would split with Valkin. The two seem close."

Maxwell nodded. "Valkin did come off as afraid of you after you came back that night."

"I'll look into all four of them then," Callisto interjected. "I would trust people who don't like you, but still keep your secrets much more than people who keep your secrets only as long as you can keep them happy."

Celeste snorted. "You would know."

"You learned that lesson too, big sister. I remember it well," Callisto replied flatly.

She shook her head with a fond smile. The scales along her face crinkled in a way that made her grin look even larger. "My lesson wasn't as spectacular of a meltdown as yours was."

"Okay, okay, enough of that. Say no more, please. I do not want to revisit that. My life was hell for a year after that," Callisto said. He shook his head and turned back to Maxwell. "I'll look into an enchanter and an armor smith for the two of you. I should have something by tomorrow. We'll need to get those projects worked on as soon as possible." He turned back to Celeste. "With everything up in the air right now, I'll need a week to have everything taken care of. I'll find another delving group whether or not I decide to hire the four that we mentioned."

"Conveniently timed to when you said you would get me another telepathy magic item," Celeste noted.

He nodded. "Of course, it's a sad twist of fate that the two of you cannot even speak to each other directly after being reunited. Finding healers that can tackle the problem more directly will take time, though. I'll have to shake a few trees and see who I can find that's trustworthy enough with a problem like this."

"Keep it healing that minimizes risks. We're in a very delicate position with Luna as my only heir," Celeste said firmly.

Callisto frowned. "That will make it harder, but I'll do as you ask. It'll take time to track someone down that can help."

Celeste nodded. "I was finding it difficult to find anyone available as well."

Luna was rubbing her throat anxiously, so I reached over and laced my fingers with hers. She smiled and squeezed my hand. ("Thank you, Helena.")

("You're welcome, Luna,") I replied.

"I may need to leave a lot of the logistics of this trip to you, Callisto. Despite having the backing of the King again, your position will smooth things better than my position will," Celeste said to her brother.

Callisto frowned with disgust. "Yes, Lady Celeste. I still can't believe he was attempting to have you replace the children you lost like that. Our father has no heart."

Celeste kissed Callisto on the forehead. "Thank you for defending me in the court earlier. It was appreciated, despite being a bit unwise."

"I am not often called wise, for good reason," Callisto replied.

"Yes, the reason being that you like to project a lack of it, despite us both knowing otherwise," Celeste said with a smile.

Callisto turned to Luna with a grin. "Big sister is trying to butter me up. She knows I've always had a soft spot for her. Don't tell the others, but she's always been my favorite."

Celeste laughed. "As if anyone would need you to tell them. Ganymede often pouted to me, saying that you liked me better than her."

He shook his head. "She's always been a bit of a brat. The youngest of us, yet the first in line to the throne."

"Have the others plotted against her in the time that I've been gone?" Celeste asked.

"If anyone would, it would be Saiph. But no, I don't think so. Despite how childish she still acts, she's shown herself to be incredibly competent. She uses her childish looks and mannerisms to hide how much of a snake she is," Callisto said with a sigh.

"So, like you, then?" Celeste asked with a sly grin.

"Maybe that's what annoys me about it, we'd work great as a team, but I just have trouble getting along with her."

Celeste nodded. "Hence the pouting."

"Bah, let's talk about this later. Things are getting a bit too personal." He looked back over our group. "Give me some time to look into Milana and her party. I'll be seeing you throughout the week before you leave." He turned to Celeste. "Anything else?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, we'll prepare to leave in a week."

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