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    After eating, I went to see Zeke. After telling him what had  happened, I then spent about fifteen minutes waiting for him to stop  laughing at me. "Are you done?" I finally snapped. "I know that fate  sense steers us to the interesting, but what are the chances of this  happening? Should I be expecting someone from the cult to show up? Be  the icing on this extremely unpleasant cake?"


    "Sorry." he  wheezed. "I shouldn''t laugh. But your face is priceless. What did I tell  you about rolling with the punches kid? You couldn''t be doing that any  less right now."


    I threw my hands up. "Well sorry if I  don''t want to get straight up murdered by random nobles! This on top of  the normal nonsense that is my life would be enough to kill us all. So  please tell me that we only have to deal with one crisis at a time, or  do I need to buy a bomb shelter and reinforce it with A-rank metal."


    "First  of all." He told me with a roll of his eyes. "You could sell every  planet you''ve ever heard of and you wouldn''t be able to afford that.  Don''t let the Necromedes fool you. The Zayne clan are absurdly rich.  Secondly, I''m laughing because I just realized you missed one of the  basic points of being an Ascendant, and it''s probably been causing you  to suffer for months now."


    I sighed, knowing whatever he  was about to say was going to piss me off. He was only this gleeful when  he was taunting me, so whatever I missed must have been obvious. "What,  exactly, did I miss?"


    "Fate sense steers you toward  interesting things. Ascendants are drawn toward dramatic and life  changing events." He said in a bored tone. "Some people think it''s a  sort of conceptual gravity and that it''s more based on Impact, while  Fantasy just attunes you to the draw. Some people are more affected,  people with strong lineage tend to be tossed about on the winds of fate  quite a bit, but the main point is, crazy shit happens to Ascendants."


    I  let out an annoyed growl. "I KNOW! I literally said that to you  earlier. That''s not something I''m missing, it''s the cause of my whole  issue. Am I going to make even more of a mess by being here."


    "That''s  why I''m laughing, kid. I just told you Ascendants need to be in the  middle of craziness. Mostly you can find that anywhere there are lots of  us, big populated planets, that kind of thing." I nodded, waving my  hand for him to get to the point. "So, my stupid little nephew, what  makes you think that fate sense, or conceptual gravity, would pull you  toward an adventure, if you''re already in one? If it stacked like that  you''d have been buried in danger until you died from it."


    I  shrugged. "So what, I mean, that''s good but I don''t see what I miss..."  I froze, my eyes closing as I let out a long miserable sigh. "Please  tell me you aren''t saying what I think you''re saying."


    "There''s  an old Ascendant proverb." He said, his grin showing far too many  teeth. "Great Ascendants don''t stay at home and wait for things to  happen. They go out and happen to things."


    I buried my  hands in my face. "You''re telling me I could have avoided almost all of  the terrible shit that''s happened to me by STAYING BUSY!?"


    "I  mean, not ALL of it." He cackled. "But probably some. Think about it,  did anything bad happen during your big trip back to Valen to visit  Callie''s mom?" He shook his head in disgust.  "Honestly I wasn''t even  messing with you on this one, I just assumed you knew. This whole trip  seemed like you trying to head off as much deadly insanity as possible  by putting yourself somewhere interesting."


    Sighing again,  I slumped back in my chair. "I guess subconsciously I probably was.  Well at least it worked. What about the rest of it? You can still guard  us against D-ranks right?"


    He nodded. "Yeah, as usual.  Once you hit E-rank though the only person on this planet who won''t be  able to touch you will be the Earl. Which won''t be an issue, obviously.  But the Empire is...messy. If I fight an Earl I''m picking a fight with  his Marquis, and that''ll piss off a Duke. The chances of a King deciding  to fight me are minimal, not that I would CALL that a fight so much as a  brief moment of resistance before my inevitable demise. My basic point  is, try not to piss off the Earl."


    "I mean, I''m not trying  to piss off anyone. That Magister does WORK for the Earl though. If he  tries to kill me and you kill him I can''t make any promises." I paused.  "What about Chelsea? Aren''t you chaperoning? Ranks aside, you''re  supposed to protect her no matter what, right? Does that mean I might  get some rollover protection?"


    It was his turn to sigh. "I  wish, but the geas won''t let me. Plus I don''t need to. I have a  significant amount of control. I could kill anyone on this planet  without implicating anyone else in any way. if someone attacks Chelsea  they''ll die, assuming the blow would be lethal, and I can tell.  Otherwise I''m supposed to let her take the hit. Healing is a wonderful  thing, and she asked your mother for the full experience."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Despite  knowing he couldn''t help, I found myself putting a hand on his  shoulder. "I''m sorry." I said softly. At his raised eyebrow, I  clarified. "I know how much it has to suck to want to help and be bound  by your geas not to. I''m not going to blame you for it, but I DO feel  bad for twisting the knife. So I''m sorry, for the position my dad put  you in by being an asshole."


    He gave me a sad smile.  "Shane, I appreciate that. But I don''t resent Eli for the things he  does. He can be a cold and calculative bastard, but he does what he  thinks is best. He loves you, and Chelsea, and your mother, and even me.  He''s just...bad at showing it now. Devils are naturally inclined to  manipulation and deception, and his bent towards contracts makes him  extremely granular in his approach. I hope someday you learn why he does  what he does, and that you can forgive him. As absurd as that might  sound now."


    "How can you defend him?" I snapped, standing  up and stalking away, only to turn and pace back. "After everything he''s  done. After all the pain he''s caused."


    His expression was  calm. "Because he''s my best friend. Because as much as he''s changed,  he''s done more for me than anyone in the universe. Because without him, I  wouldn''t have you in my life. Take your pick, kid. And partly because I  see things at a wider scale. In the grand scheme of things, a couple  decades under a geas isn''t such a big deal. And someday you''ll feel the  same."


    I wasn''t sure that was true. I wasn''t sure I WANTED  it to be true even if it was. Which, of course, made me assume it  probably was. "I can''t take this on faith." I said with a sigh. "I can''t  get past the bullshit. Mom is back, and she''s trying, and I''m trying,  but dad...he''s not. I need to blame someone. Someone needs to be the  asshole that put me through all this, and at this point he''s all I''ve  got."


    "I know." He said simply. "Hell, he probably knows.  But just because you feel it doesn''t mean its right. I understand, but  I''m just telling you my perspective." He tapped his forehead. "Kind of  wish I could tell you better. But this damned geas makes that  impossible."


    I snickered. "I thought you didn''t mind it." I  raised a taunting eyebrow, relishing the chance to poke him a bit over  something he didn''t seem to care much about.


    "I said in  the grand scheme of things it isn''t a big deal." He said flatly. "And  neither is being punched in the throat. Which I am DEFINITELY doing to  your father the next time I see him. We may be best friends, but I live  by the motto ''play stupid games, win stupid prizes''. Even if I signed  the damned geas in the first place. This has been FAR more irritating  than I expected."


    My grin widened. "I have to say, it''s  refreshing to hear you say that. The whole forgiving saintly friend  routine was touching, but it''s just not YOU."


    "I''ll have you know that I''m very forgiving." He said piously. "And I''ll kill anyone who says otherwise. No second chances."


    We  both laughed at that, and it was nice to just be back with my uncle,  hanging out and talking shit. Sure this was a serious situation, but for  once it wasn''t my serious situation. This felt more like discussing the  weather, if the weather was a terrifying hurricane about to suck up the  house we were currently standing in.


    Which  brought me to another point. I shot him a sly look. "How are things  with Anna by the way. She seemed interested. You and Stella weren''t  dating last I checked. You thinking of starting something up here?"


    My  uncle just rolled his eyes. "I don''t understand where I went wrong that  you''re basically married at eighteen, but some of us don''t feel the  need to make lifetime commitments to everyone we date. I swear, your  parents splitting up gave you serious attachment issues."


    "That''s..."  I trailed off. "Probably true, honestly. But if it did I think Callie  has them too, so it works out." I''d kind of just assumed a lot of what  pushed us together was recursion. I loved her and I didn''t mind, but  thinking about things, our respective family situations probably made us  both a bit more ready for a commitment than not. However it happened, I  was glad to have her, so I just stuck out my tongue at Zeke.


    He  snorted. "Eloquent as always. Anyway, Anna and I are spending some time  together. I doubt she''s interested in travelling the universe with me  or anything, but she''s fun to be around."


    "She''s  not going to be new auntie?" I asked, widening my eyes innocently and  batting my lashes. His unamused expression was enough to break through  my teasing and set me off in a cackling laugh. "Jokes aside, it''s nice  you found someone to talk to. I worry about how isolated you are when  we''re not around."


    His  face softened and he chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder. "You don''t  need to worry about me, kid. A bit of solitude isn''t likely to cause  much of an issue. I''ve had time to work on my craft, as well as prepare  for my final ascension to A-rank. I hit my stat limit a while ago, to be  honest, I''m just preparing for the...other, requirements. I still need  something big and flashy to..." He trailed off as his geas flashed.  "Huh, guess I can''t talk about that even casually, probably for the  best."


    I knew  better than to push, since it would only hurt him, but I was overcome  with curiosity. I knew there were other requirements as you got  stronger, things beyond just stats. I''d met them up to C-rank and a half  step into B, but beyond that was a mystery. I''d been told looking too  far ahead could stunt my growth at this level and to just focus on my  current trajectory.


    Which  was quickly approaching E-rank. In fact, I decided to prioritize that.  With everything coming, I needed to be as strong as possible. No matter  what that everything was, being at the same level as Camden was bound to  be a help. I had some stockpiled wishes I''d been planning to use for  working on the territory, but also...I realized I still had my alchemy  allotment. Elixirs were an option for quick and steady growth at this  point. Tomorrow was another day off, and I believed it was time to go  shopping.