Harkness appeared a bit hurt. “Huan’s gotten in over his head again.”
Jade quickly filed the information in the appropriate places in he mind. This was useful to know, as Huan and she got in over their heads easily. “Howso?”
Harkness gestured at a chair. Jade thought for a moment, then sat. Huan rarely allowed quick explanations. However, she propped her feet up on another chair to maintain some disrespect. She had an image to keep up.
“Huan’s tracking down some haunts?” The Councilwoman asked rhetorically. “He’s gotten into some guild territory, private issues between the Watching Dead …”
“So why tell me?” Jade worried the stink of Guild politics was coming upon her.
“Because he’s more likely to listen if you bring it up.” The shamaness’s voice held a kind of odd, familiar knowningness.
“Yeah,” Jade acknowledged, “yeah that’s true.”
“Yes, I …”
“You’re trying to protect him, aren’t you?” Jade asked. The words came out of her mouth before her conscious mind formed the ideas.
Harkness blinked. For a moment, she didn’t seem to be the same electric, distant figure that annoyed Jade. She was surprised. Then she smiled.
“Yes,” the shamaness answered, “You know, he really does tend …”
“I know, I know,” Jade bit her lip. “I know. He’s always been like that, hasn’t he?”
“Since I knew him. I knew Green pretty well,” Harkness’s face was an unreadable expression as the name of Old Man Green came up. Green had helped HuanJen settle into Xai and Metris, using his decades of experience, and …
“He grabbed your ass too, didn’t he?” Jade couldn’t help but ask. Green’s sex drive and love of alchohol were infamous - they seemed to fuel his shamanistic gifts.
Harkness evaluated Jade carefully. Jade was used to holy men and women who could sense things - Huan could do it. But where Huan sememed to be able to look out of your own eyes, Harkness’ gaze made you feel pinned by two green lances. Jade, not in the best of mental states, felt a vague illness.
“Stop it,” Jade spat. Part of her mind shifted automatically, and Harkness started.
“Sorry,” Harkness’ gaze shifted, “just …”
“I’ve been a bit out of it, mystically,” Jade admitted.
“I know. Spiritual disciplines?”
“Huan’s got me doing hardcore meditations. It comes and goes, anyway … why the eye, Harkness?” Jade asked.
“Seeing how you felt.” Harkness grinned. “I know Green. I slept with him.”
” … and that makes you stand out?” Jade asked.
” … I guess it doesn’t” Harkness admitted. “You’ll talk to HuanJen? He’s trapsing on other people’s territories and doesn’t know it.”
“Hey, you know HuanJen and the dead, if …”
“That,” the shamaness noted, “is the problem.”
” … beg pardon?” Jade was feeling more comfortable around Harkness, but suddenly it had turned to confusion.
“Jade,” Harkness appeared to wrestle with some internal issue, “Huan is a nice person, he’s a good man. He also is an exorcist …”
Jade felt some oddly defensive urges arise. “He only takes down the dangerous, hell, most anything he deals with is mindless … and … that doesn’t help, does it?”
“No.” Harkness’ voice was suddenly businesslike. “He …”
“He really doesn’t get it,” Jade said distantly, playing images of HuanJen in her mind, “It’s kind of like being a Gendarme I suppose, not everyone is glad to see you. Is that it?”
“In a way, yes.” Harkness smiled. Genuinely. “He has exorcised many haunts. Even if most of them were mindless, the dead will not trust him easily. He will interfere more than he knows. Will you talk to him?”
“Sure.” Jade said, thinking, “I kinda need to anyway.”
“I …”
“Don’t ask,” Jade noted, “Leave it to me.”
She had a lot to talk to HuanJen about. One more thing wasn’t going to increase the stress.
As soon as she entered the apartment, Jade decided to put Harkness request into action.
“Huan?”
HuanJen was sitting on the apartment balcony, looking out over the city. The evening was closing in, and he’d often taken time to look out over Metris when it was late. He felt things in the City.
“Yes?” Huan looked around. Jade felt his eyes on her, and almost as if they were in her head. For a moment she had strange flashes of Harkness’ emerald gaze.
“I had a talk …” Jade bit her lip as she walked up to her lover. “I’m not going to be subtle here. You know you’ve been prying into recent cases of possession? Well, you’re pissing some people off, stepping out of your territory, and messing up shit for Guild Esoteric and Crone Harkness wants you to back off and I think she’s right.”
HuanJen’s friendly if piercing gaze turned to one that was somewhat painned. Jade ruffled his dark hair affectionately. Touching him made her feel better.
“I just …”
“I know,” Jade nodded, “you’re trying to help. You know, you’re always trying to help.”
“Guild business,” Huan asked, pressing her hand against his cheek.
“Guild business. It’s … always Guild business, isn’t it?” Jade paused, then sat on the floor of the balcony. She quickly became glad for the fur on her buttocks.
HuanJen nodded. “I prefer it over other places. It is petty. It is territorial. But . .. everything has its places. I would rather the pettiness than grand ambition. Did I … really …”
Jade waved her hand. “You just got into something private and restricted and where you’re not the best person to be in. Gods, this is hard for you.”
“A … yes,” HuanJen looked at her, “I’m not feeling very helpful lately.”
“Oh, it’s …”
“With you.” His eyes were deep, sincere, and sad.
“Ah.” Jade nodded. “I’m not the most communicative …”
“No, you aren’t.”
Jade wrapped her arms around her knees. “I don’t want to be. I have to think some things out. Things that happened. Things that could happen. I’m working through a lot.”
HuanJen leaned forward. “Let me help you.”
His eyes made up Jade’s world for a terrible, intimate heartbeat.
“No,” Jade waved her hands, “No. I … am at the stage I have to do it myself and you know it, and you’ve been waiting so long to try … but you know you can’t.”
HuanJen nodded. “I am new to this. It is my first, deep, true love. I … intend it to be my last.”
The words hung in the air like golden light.
“I know. I think it can be. But I need time. I have to do things myself.”
“You have it.”
Jade smiled softly. “I think I have everything I need as it is … it’s not easy.”
“No, no it’s not. You’ll back off?”
” … where appropriate.”
April 24, 2001 AD, Xaian Standard Calendar
Rake walked into the Nax and looked around.
Everyone else looked back.
Then they kept looking.
Rake smiled and approached his friends in back. The Usual Tuesday group was all there: HuanJen and Jade, Slate and Garnet, Lorne and Xianfu, Brandon, Riakka and Dealer Zero, and Clairice.
They were looking at him as well.
He waited.
“Nice hair …” Clairice finally managed.
Rake touched his forehead. His usual mop of hair had been sculpted into a kind of high crewcut. A single beaded braid hung by the right side of his face.
“I …”
” … visited Eileen,” Jade and Slate said simultaneously.
“Fairly, ah, obvious,” Rake nodded, “I, ah, figured it was time for a change. I, ah, feel she’s becoming part of the group, ah, quite nicely.”
T
here was another moment of silence. Riakka quickly nudged a chair aside.
“Here, have a seat. We haven’t ordered yet.”
“I see, ah, the whole gang is here,” Rake plopped into the chair, “how is everyone?”
“We were having a fascinating discussion over what’s happened to the Xaian Wrestling Federation.”
“Oh, it’s, ah, really getting less, ah, interesting.” Rake noted.
“Well, that guy Huan got the job announcing is funny. It’s just not as interesting to see the rest of it,” Garnet said. The XWF had been something she’d really enjoyed, which was unusual as she wasn’t one for television or films usually.
“The fad … could be over,” Zero said experimentally.
Everyone turned their attention from Rake’s hair to the diviner.
“I didn’t do any readings.” Zero said guiltily. “That’s something so broad I’d get a headache.”
“Ah, not …” Rake scowled, “Let me guess, no one wanted to discuss the change in city contributions to Guild Medical or the Portal Renaming proposal. Or that incident with the traffic lights.”
“Would you?” Xianfu asked.
“Not really,” Rake admitted, “Ah, politics, who can ignore it?”
“I can’t,” Riakka rubbed her eyes. “Try imagine what it’s like teaching Current Events? And do you know how many immigrants we get in that class? Ninety percent, easily. Through in a few fringers, and that’s a real stew.”
“At least you’re just subbing,” Zero patted Riakka’s hand affectionately.
“We still get questions,” Jade noted, “So does Rotan. I swear, the Guild needs a new webmaster. I’m tired of sending folks to the University pages … no offense.”
“None taken,” Riakka said with a smile, “They’d win the contest for Most Dull yet Complex Reading playing the part of Something Relevant. The folks doing the content are part-time retirees.”
“I win,” Clairice turned to Brandon. The Technologist rolled his eyes.
“Ah, the sport of …” Jade began, when there was the sound of a portable phone.
Among most groups of people, the owner of such a device would be obvious. Among the particular group of friends, it resulted in a near-mutal search of their persons. It is a strange principle of such devices that, even with distinct rings, people will immediately assume it is their phone active even if it doesn’t sound like theirs.
Eventually it was determined to be HuanJen’s. The mystic answered it, listened briefly with a look consternation. Then, he tucked it back in his pouch.
“Personal call. Jade?”
“Yes?” Jade asked warily.
“Just a moment. Outside?”
“No problem, let’s get our coats.”
Outside of the Nax, the street was relatively quiet. Jade leaned against the wall while HuanJen explained things.
“That was Solomon Dell.” HuanJen said.
“What’s wrong?” Jade closed her eyes. Dell had never caused HuanJen trouble, so Jade figured it was only a matter of time.
“Oh, he’s going to break the date.”
“Huh?” Jade opened her eyes.
“Oh, that’s it.” HuanJen shrugged.
Jade scowled. “Like that?”
“Yes. Why?”
“That’s awful sudden.” Jade tapped her fingers on the wall. “You know, I taked to his wife … she said he needed it.”
“You talked to his wife?” HuanJen seemed taken aback unexpectedly.
“Once,” Jade said guiltily, “Hey, you two aren’t exactly Mr. Romantic Date. I’d figured then it’d help plan things.”
“What … is wrong?” HuanJen asked.
“Nothing, just … knowing how things go with us … sorry.”
“We’ll go out on our own.” HuanJen said suddenly. “Anything you want. Anything.”
“Huan, I …”
“No.” The cleric looked at his lover tenderly. “For you. It means something for me.”
“I … thanks. We can decide later. Now, people are waiting for us.”
“Fine. Are you … well?”
“Not quite. Just … suspicious.”
“Well, yes, this is Solomon Dell, after all …”
Jade gritted her teeth. A hunter, Eileen had said …
April 25, 2001 AD, Xaian Standard Calendar
Jade was prowling the back shelves of the library at Guild Esoteric’s Guildhall. It wasn’t as large as the one at the Lyceum, the old Guildhall, but it was the best occult reference available in Metris, despite the University’s gigantic archives. If you knew, if you could feel or see, it throbbed with a kind of heartbeat.
She’d found it comforting as of late.
Feeling somewhat disconnected from the world, from the Big Picture as she affectionately call it, she found the library a reminder. It was a reminder of everyone who had come before on her path, on a thousand mirror-worlds. It was one of the places she could still feel the pulse of the world despite her confusion.
She’d also discovered an interesting body of Taoist literature among some of the odder sections. It was from what HuanJen called the “pre-Reform” period on several Earths which meant it was odd, overblown, filled with alchemical references, and were just damn strange. Still, trying to unriddle them was distracting and inspiring.
And she could use it. It was a kind of spiritual crossword puzzle.
It was ironic, of course. Unsure of her relationship, her future, her ambitions, she threw herself into the occult. There was something comforting about the idea of looking at the whole world, it made your problems seem small, so you could make sense of them easier.
She thumbed through a carefully-copied document, looking over symbols of fire and water, decoding. Maybe her situation …
” … talk to Harkness …” someone said in a nearby aisle.
Jade rolled her eyes, and tried to get a more comfortable seat on the library stool. Some people didn’t know how to behave in a library - though admittedly this library took up a good chunk of the Guildhall, so there were some sections you could yell in and few people would notice.
Actually, she reflected, there were one or two cases where screams had gone unnoticed, and in one case, only somebody’s notepad had been found afterward. They were still investigating that one.
Harkness …
Jade’s mouth twisted into a humorless grin.
“Harkness …”
She wanted Jade to do some tasks for her? She could reciprocate. Sure she was one of the people in charge of the Guild, but you couldn’t let people in charge get too full of themselves - it was bad for everyone involved. She virtually had a duty to be disrespectful.
Jade placed the book back on the shelf, and walked out of the library.
Jade found that Harkness’ secretary was easy to convince. Then again, Jade didn’t let her have the option of saying Harkness was busy.
” … yes?” The aged shamaness looked up from her desk, then seemed taken aback at Jade’s presence. Actually surprised.
Jade felt rather gratified.
“Can I help you?” Harkness adjusted the reading glasses she was wearing.
“I wondered if you could provide me some advice?”
“Advice …” Harkness gave Jade an strange look. “This is unexpected. What brings this on?”
“You can dump tasks on me, I can dump them on you. Besides, you know what?”
“What?” Harkness asked with some exasperation.
“Except for Sister Cynthia, I don’t know any women in my profession very well. I’ve got female friends, but no one that does what I do, or plan to do. And I need some advice.”
The Crone paused, then nodded. “Both my brothers are shamans, in Piscion and Kraftbourne. I know. Well, I suppose I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to help out a fellow Guildsmember. Here, sit, what … would bring you to me?”
“How do you balance it all. Are you married?” Jade asked quickly.
“Well, yes,” H
arkness smiled, “Two husbands actually. I don’t talk about it, you know how some people get.”
“Yeah,” Jade nodded. Polygamy wasn’t unknown on Xai. It wasn’t overly common, but it wasn’t unknown. “Kids?”
“One son. He’s at the University …”
“Great …”
“Studying business.”
“Can’t win them all,” Jade grinned.
“It’s more attending those Mercantile Alliance parties that annoys me,” Harkness admitted. “Those are either overblown or dull, and the small talk is always tedious.”
“Yeah. So … look I can read you even in my state. You’ve got a lot of …power. Energy. Mana. Mojo. How do you balance it all?”
Harkness sat back and removed her glasses. She thought for a moment, and then, finally spoke.
“I’ve had people ask me that before,” the shamaness said slowly, chewing on one strut of her glasses idly, “I’ve heard it before. Especially first-timers. How do I do it …”
“Is this going to be some big mystical answer?” Jade asked cautiously.
“Well, yes.”
“Oh. See, normally I get those from HuanJen. He’s a fount of things like that.”
Harkness grinned. “I won’t tell that you’re cheating with me in the bullshit department. Look, the truth?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s not a problem.”
Jade blinked. That was HuanJen like, but more annoying than most of his pronouncements. HuanJen was sincere when he was confusing you, but Jade got the impression Harkness’ sense of humor enjoyed playing with people’s minds occasionally.
“See, that’s … not helpful.”
Harkness steepled her hands. “Look, it’s like having a maze in your head. It happens to people, to the mystics. We get split from all the thinking and meditating and insights, and at some point our old idea of ourself runs smack into what we are and are going to be. It’s normal.”
“How do I fix it?”
“It’s part of the process.” Harkness said with an unexpectedly apologetic expression. “You’re trying to take a look at the universe, the process, the Heart … in your case the Tao. What, you don’t expect to have to examine yourself seriously.”
“That’s how I came to Xai. I was sort of on a roll then.”
“And now you’re not rolling, you’re standing still and looking around.” Harkness sat her glasses down. “Things have slowed down for you lately, haven’t they?”
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