Wish upon the Stars chapter 106

The next day found my team all up on the top floor of the hatchery  meeting with Jessie. She'd taken the rest of the night off to spend time  with Cassidy and eat and generally just relax a bit. The siege had been  hard on everyone and it seemed like the right call to just relax a bit.  I'd spent the evening with Callie, just talking, telling her how I was  feeling about everything and then once I was fed up with babbling just  sitting together and watching the stars, which were infinitely more  visible out here than in the city.

Most  of today had been spent relaxing too, at least for us, but Jessie had  been working with the raven's and had all three of them out combing the  forest to identify every nearby faction. As expected, Callie wanted to  see what was going on nearby before any of us moved out, and Jessie was  more than happy to check out the surroundings. I think she felt like she  hadn't done enough during the siege, though personally my ribs and I  were well aware of how vital she was to that whole battle. No one is  more important to a team than the healer.

Regardless,  she seemed thrilled when we all arrived, Cark tagging along with Callie  and I and Grimmengap meeting us up there. She was nearly bouncing with  excitement. "You're here! I've been watching the woods nearby and even  close to us I found out so much! I don't know who everyone is but I  think with Celine's sources and the research she's already done we can  put some names to faces." She held out her fist for the elf girl to  bump, which she did, though she seemed almost confused by the action.

Celine  and Jessie had bonded over their mutual love of trees, and it was  amusing to see my outgoing teammate engage with the taciturn elf. Though  admittedly Celine had put a ton of work into this hunt, and she seemed  energized now that we were getting ready to start putting in the work.  She was still as stoic as ever, but her eyes burned with energy as she  addressed us all. "While Agria may not be able to identify everyone  involved my files on the notable participants this year are extensive.  One of the first things a noble learns is cultivation of sources." She  nodded to Jessie. "If you can describe the nearby participants I can do  my best to fill everyone in."

Jessie  gave a serious nod, her face smoothing out and her eyes glowing green  as she slipped back into the drivers seat of one of the ravens. "Can do.  Ok, first up the closest group is a set of three. All dressed in yellow  and blue. A short bearded guy with green hair, a tall dark skinned guy  with really heavy bracelets on, and a smaller girl with short red hair. I  haven't seen most of their abilities, though the girl looks like she  might have some kind of teleportation power. She's been spending must of  her time in the branches of the trees nearby scoping out the area."

Celine  blew out a breath. "One of the notable teams. The Wavestriders. The  shorter man with the beard is Boreas, a wind ability user with a noted  Might focus. He does powerful bursts and is a bruiser in head to head  combat. The teller man is Raleigh. He can change the weight of things he  touches. He uses those bracelets as blunt weapons, mostly by dropping  them on people's heads. He also carries a hammer most of the time. The  two of them are fairly high up the Might rankings, and are usually  together."

She  bit her lip, looking out into the treeline. "Astara is the last one.  Teleportation with a notable lean toward Fantasy. She's extremely  skilled at tracking and is one of the bigger threats in the hunt. If  they're nearby we need to find out what's on their list. Agria, did they  notice your raven? Can you keep them under surveillance and try to get a  peek at what objects they're looking for?"

As  expected, they hadn't. Jessie was cool as a cucumber during actual  jobs, and she hadn't given away a thing. A fact she confirmed  immediately. "Not at all. No one ever looks at normal sized birds, and  the ravens have such good eyes I can stay well away from them. I'll have  that one lurk around for a bit to see if they take the list out. In the  meantime I can move onto the other two if you're ok to keep going?"  Celine indicated that she was and the glow faded from Jessie's eyes  before reigniting.

She  had switched birds, and her brows furrowed at whatever she was seeing  in this one. "The next closest guy is alone. He's really big and not  wearing a mask, his hair is long and red and he's pale and covered in  dark tattoos. Lot of chains on him. He's riding a motorcycle somehow, no  clue how he got it out here...and he just drove it through a tree. Like  literally through one. Like a ghost or something. Guessing that's his  ability."

Celine  winced. "That's Fisher. Real name as far as I can tell, he doesn't  bother with costume's or codenames. His style is closer to Mr. Cark's.  He's...very dangerous. His ability is intangibility as far as I can  tell, also Fantasy geared. He's got a fearsome reputation on campus  already, and is one of the highest ranked on the Fantasy leaderboards  among the freshman. He's another one we want to avoid if at all  possible."

Callie  nodded. "I've heard of him actually. You're going to want to hang back a  bit Jessie. He's on the Perception rankings too, I saw him when I was  doing my test. You still have one more raven out right? Hopefully the  last one won't be aimed at anyone who will give us trouble. They can't  all be terrifying competition." She sounded like she was joking, but I  could tell from the stress in her tone that she was really hoping the  final raven was a dud.

Jessie  shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. I don't know who is who. But the last  raven I have out is following a pair of small guys in cloaks. They're  quiet and careful, and I keep losing them, but they don't seem overly  threatening in any direct way." She looked at Celine. "No real  identifying features. Are they any people you can think of that fit that  description? I realize that you don't have much to go on."

It  was honestly a relief when Celine responded. "No. Nothing just based on  that. Keep an eye on them if possible, the fact that you've lost them  at least once isn't reassuring. I would suggest rerouting the raven  following Fisher to search for other targets. He's likely to notice it  and I doubt he's going to expose his list anytime soon." She looked to  Callie. "Assuming that works for you, I realize you're the one in charge  of this operation. I don't mean to step on any toes."

My  girlfriend was pretty much the opposite of petty however. "Not at all. I  agree. I know how scary his Perception is and that raven could be  looking for other possible threats. You heard her Agria, peel off and do  a sweep for any more incoming hunters." Jessie gave a salute and cycled  back to another raven, obviously peeling off the specified bird. Callie  turned to the rest of us. "So, with all that in mind we need to figure  out what our next move is. I have a decent idea of where we should go  from here but I'm open to suggestions."

Cark  looked out over the clearing from the opening in the hatchery. "Hard  call. Depends on the overlap from the lists. If it's a common thing we  need to leave people here to play guard for the stuff we've already  gathered. We have two items down and if those are things others will  need we can't leave them unattended. If it's uncommon than the two we  have are unlikely to be on anyone else's list, much less the people  nearby, and we can play offense. Celine, do you know how much the lists  coincide?"

The  elf girl sighed. "No. They purposefully kept the lists from everyone.  It's one of the aspects of the hunt that they conceal to make it more  difficult, a second layer of security in case anyone finds out where the  location is ahead of time. Your point is well made though. I know there  is at least some overlap, because they mention that as a warning, but  I'm not sure exactly how much of our list will appear on the others.  Thinking about it though given the sheer number of participants and the  scarcity of Ascendant materials I would guess even if the overlap is  small we'll have quite a few people after us."

That  was less than ideal. Clearly Callie thought so too. "I hadn't  considered that. But it fits with what I was thinking. We need a small  team that can track and hunt out there. G rankers with combat potential  who have mobility and the skills needed to find and identify materials.  Some of them will need more and we can call in backup, but initially I  think Solomon and I should head out as a scouting party. That work for  you?" She raised an eyebrow at me inquiringly.

It  did work. It sounded like a great way to spend my time actually. But it  wasn't something I could do just yet. It was a new day, which meant I  had new wishes. "I'm in, but I have something to do first. Tony, you  free for a quick chat buddy? Wanted to go over that thing we talked  about yesterday." I tried to be as vague about it as possible, but I saw  his face light up as he got what I was talking about, and Callie  obviously understood too.

She  gave me an encouraging smile. "Sounds good. I'll wait outside and we  can get going as soon as you guys finish your talk." She gave me a smile  before heading downstairs, and I gestured to Tony who followed me  outside. Jessie in the meantime went back to filling in Celine about all  the details of what was nearby, presumably to make sure we had a decent  idea of where everything was for her next report, but it distracted the  elf and her team enough that I knew they wouldn't overhear my upcoming  talk with Tony. I still brought him downstairs and then outside though,  just in case.

We  made it outside and he turned to me. "Ok. Is it time? You said it was  going to be soon but I didn't think it would be this soon. You can  really fix her? I just need to wish for it?" He looked so excited I was  surprised he could stand still and I just chuckled. He noticed and took a  few calming breaths. "Sorry. This is just a big deal. So all I have to  do is say the words? I wish my sister was free of any Heartripper  influence? Does that work?"

Wish detected. Grant wish? I confirmed as usual. Stat points sufficient. Requirements: 10 Focus, 10 Impact, 10 Fantasy, 10 Might. Compensation required. I  was a bit surprised at how many points were needed for the wish  actually. Wishes on mortals were usually pretty cheap, and it was  shocking they'd done enough to her to warrant ten Impact in the repair  wish. That said it was definitely affordable and well within my reach.  That was a load off my mind. I'd been worried I wouldn't be strong  enough yet. "Alright. Looks like we're a go. All we need to do is sort  out payment. I'd like to wave it but these premade wishes are pretty  strict. So. Let's get to haggling." I was determined to get him the best  deal I was capable of.