As we explored the marketplace, most people ignored me and Autumn unless we interacted with them directly. Other visible Seed-borne were friendly and would approach us, and the Tinkers and Alchemists were cordial as we looked over their goods, but the normal Humans’ responses to us were varied. Some were fairly friendly while others watched us carefully and looked down their noses at us.

We stayed close to one another, holding hands as we walked and keeping as much body contact as possible as we made no secret of the fact that we were a couple. As much as I was enjoying the time with Autumn though, we were making use of our time, and money, for other things as well. We bought a couple of new outfits and some Alchemist-made skin cream, conditioning shampoo, and body cleansing cream. They didn’t smell as nice as the stuff that Risha had gotten us from the food dispenser at home, but we hadn’t brought that stuff with us and it was a lot nicer than the stuff that the academy provided.

The capital’s marketplace was huge and there was stuff being sold there that came from all over Misota, and beyond. We spent most of the afternoon and early evening exploring and we still hadn’t seen everything. We were trying to decide whether to get something for dinner in the marketplace or return to the academy for dinner as we ‘got lost’ in the edges of the nobles’ district.

There were far fewer people around now and it was starting to get dark when we decided to turn around and head back toward the crowds of the market. What people that we were encountering were giving us looks that were either openly hostile or like we were a particularly rancid-smelling pile of manure that had been left in the street. I cautiously took long and deep breaths, searching the scents in the air regularly, and my ears and eyes were constantly moving and alert for anything out of the ordinary.

-= You have a tail, Snow, =- Karina’s voice informed us over comms.

As tempted as I was to joke that I’d had a tail since the day I was born, this wasn’t the time for levity and I knew precisely what she was talking about. “I know,” I whispered in a low enough voice that only Autumn and those listening on comms could hear. “He’s upwind and his scent is getting closer, not further away. It’s why I’ve had us take a few random turns along side streets. If he was just walking in the same general direction as us then his body odor, and that horrible cologne that he’s using to try to cover it up, would be mercifully fading. No such luck, I think he’s going to make his move soon.”

-= Yeah, he’s picked up his pace so he’s probably trying to catch up with you, =- Karina confirmed.

-= I have him in sight too, =- Maryn’s voice said. -= I’ll pick up my pace in case we need to use Angel authority to get him to back off. It’s probably best if you two don’t reveal yourselves unless absolutely necessary, you make wonderful bait. Oh, the nasty things that I’ve heard the nobles here saying about you once you’re out of earshot.=-

“Thank you, Maryn… I think,” Autumn muttered beside me. “Do we want to know what you have been hearing?”

-= Oh, you know, the usual for those bigots. “Demon Spawn.” “Why aren’t the Angels here to take out the trash?” “They should be with their own kind.” “This is the capital, not some hovel in the woods for animals and Fay filth.” You know, that sorta thing. =- Maryn replied, imitating their snooty noblesse speech. -= Their kind makes me feel dirty just for looking Human. =-

-= Heads up, your stalker just took a big hit of liquid courage, if he has what I think he does in that flask. =- Karina warned.

“Yeah, it’s some sort of alcohol, strong stuff too,” I whispered.

The man was closing in on us, roughly ten paces behind us as I heard him mutter, “Fucking Demon spawn,” under his breath.

I was expecting him to start yelling obscenities but at the same time that I smelled the black powder Karina warned. “He’s got a weapon!”

The bastard was going to try to shoot us in the back. I let go of Autumn’s hand and spun on my heel, my cloak fluttering from movement. The man was dressed in very fancy clothes and I had just enough time to see his hateful glare before it was replaced by a look of shock as I spun to face him and quickly closed the distance between us to bat the weapon out of his hand. The weapon looked Tinker-made but I only got a brief look at it before it was sent flying and clattered along the flagstones as the man screamed in pain.

I had reacted even as Connie said, -= You are engaging a hostile, would you like to switch your H.E.S.S to combat mode? =-

“No, Connie! We’re supposed to be low-profile here and the HESS is still top secret,” I quickly thought at my NCI.

“Demon spawned bitch! You broke my hand!” our would-be attacker yelled angrily while clutching his hand, his eyes darting around for his weapon. He quickly fell to his knees though, looking even more uncomfortable under Autumn’s glare as she increased his personal gravity.

“You tried to shoot us in the back, so I think that makes us even,” I countered as I saw Maryn running toward us and Karina gliding down from a rooftop.

As I waited for them to reach us, I kept my eyes on our attacker and got a good look at him. He was a rather plain-looking man in his mid to late thirties with his greasy brown hair tied back in a noble’s braid. He had the rosy cheeks and nose of a man who far too often overindulged in alcohol and frown lines from what must have been a near-perpetual sneer. Just great, a nobleman with an ego. Other than what looked like a broken wrist and a similarly damaged trigger finger, he didn’t seem to be damaged.

His clothes looked to be expensive; a navy blue coat with detailed embroidery and lace cuffs overtop of a white shirt with a flouncy lace collar and lacing that seemed to be straining to hold in his gut. His trousers matched his jacket in color and material and were tucked into a pair of black leather boots that were probably custom-made. I also noticed a large bulge in the crotch of his trousers that didn’t look quite right to my eyes, like he was stuffing his loincloth. Since I had seen several noblemen during our exploration of the capital today, and none of them seemed to have more than the usual down there, I figured that it wasn’t some fashion thing among the nobles.

“I’m Angel Maryn and this is Angel Karina,” Maryn said as she and Karina approached, making sure that we could all see her Angel insignia. “What’s going on here?”

“I was doing your job!” the man snapped angrily still straining under the increased gravity. “You’re supposed to protect us from Demons!”

“I don’t see any Demons around here, only a Catkin and a Fay,” Maryn said calmly while Karina glared at the man.

“The beast broke my hand and they’re using some witchery on me!” the man snarled, gritting his teeth from the pain in his hand and the effort of trying to remain on his knees under the increased gravity that Autumn was subjecting him to. Though he did mutter under his breath, “Thrice-damned creatures shouldn’t be allowed in the city with civilized people without some sort of supervision.”

“It was self-defense; I only knocked the gun from his hand after he tried to shoot one of us in the back. The weapon is right over there, Miss Angel,” I said, acting as if I didn’t know the pair. I had heard his muttered aside, and I was pretty sure that Autumn had as well going by how she had stiffened up beside me.

Maryn was frowning as she walked over to collect the gun and when she found it that frown immediately deepened. It had a wide and short barrel and she handled it with distaste. “My dad showed me one of these once. This is a scattergun; they fire a wide burst of small projectiles, tiny balls, blades, or a mix of both. They aren’t made anymore because they’re messy and not very reliable in the long term. How far away was he when he tried to fire?”

“About ten paces,” I told her.

“If he had pulled the trigger at that range, one of two things would have happened,” Maryn said with a grimace. “Either both of you would have been filled with holes or, if the gun wasn’t meticulously maintained, it would have blown his hand off and still probably would have filled you both with holes.”

I knew that my HESS armor would have protected me if I had been hit anywhere but in the head but Autumn wouldn’t have been so lucky. Maybe our new clothes could have protected us but I wasn’t eager to test that. More importantly, he didn’t know that, or the fact that we were both Angels. We could have both been killed or, at the very least, seriously injured. In fact, death was more than likely if we hadn’t been Angels with backup. This man had just tried to murder us in cold blood.

Since there were now four of us to one of him, I took Autumn’s hand in mine again and gave it a gentle squeeze. She got the idea and released him from her gravity well. Karina had apparently heard his earlier muttered comment though since the Devilkin had been glaring at him since and now took the opportunity to speak, all while keeping her glare on the man who was starting to squirm under her attention as he got to his feet. “That sounds like attempted murder to me, Maryn. Under Misota law, Seed-borne demi-humans have the same rights and protections as Humans do.”

“Not for long,” he said with a sneer as he glared at Autumn and me. My ears flattened and my tail bristled in annoyance as he looked past us with a nasty smile on his face, waved with his undamaged hand to someone behind us, and called out, “Guards!”

A pair of footsteps approaching us from behind suddenly quickened at his call along with the clinking of poorly fitted plate armor. Maryn and Karina were watching both the fop and the men approaching from behind me and Autumn so I took in a deep breath to calm myself so I wouldn’t throttle the man in front of us. I could smell oil, sweat, steel, and leather as a voice stammered, “L-lord Nelson. W-what seems to be the trouble?”

Heather’s voice came over comms in a disgusted tone. “Snow, I think that’s Lord Samson Nelson. I heard about him through the servants, and they had nothing nice to say. He’s one of the two biggest landowners in Misota and a ‘friend’ of my father.”

Nelson pushed his way rudely past us to speak with the guards and made a show of cradling his injured hand. From their body language and the scent of fear that I was smelling from them, they were afraid of him. There was no way that Autumn and I were going to get fair treatment like this and Angels can’t directly interfere with the guards in mundane criminal matters. That smug bastard knew it too. “Take these two Demon-spawn away, they assaulted me and…”

“Assaulted you, my tail!” I snapped, barely holding back a snarl of distaste. “He tried to shoot us in the back and is interfering with an official Angel investigation!” I commanded Connie to allow my Angel insignia to show and Autumn quickly followed suit.

“What kind of investigation could you be doing in the noble’s district?” one of the guards asked nervously as he looked us over. He probably thought that we were a standard four-man team and usually, an investigation meant looking for Demon activity.

“Hmmm… I don’t know if I should be telling you this, since it’s Angel business and all…” I replied as casually as I could as I tried to think of something appropriate.

That was when Risha’s voice whispered over the comms, “Snow, repeat after me…”

Since I couldn’t come up with something convincing, I decided to play along with the Avatar and repeated her words. “We are in search of a Nazgûl. It walks among us and appears as a man, hooded and cloaked. However, it is no man. Beneath that cowl lays Darkness itself and it preys upon the unwary. A word of warning; should you see it, contact the Academy. Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey.”

The guards paled visibly, their eyes darting around. They also seemed suspiciously eager to get our encounter over with but they were too scared of Nelson to do anything about his attempted murder. They couldn’t do anything to us either though so they ended up deciding to escort the annoying nobleman to see a physician, after which they would ensure that he got home safely.

We were back at the Angel Academy and going to report our findings to our Trainer before going for dinner when Autumn asked in a whisper, “What is a Nazgûl? I can see no mention of them in the Demon database.” Phantom Wing had already split off in search of their own Trainer but Autumn was apparently suspicious enough of Risha that she wanted to make sure nobody in the hall heard her hushed inquiry.

Risha giggled mischievously as she replied in an equally hushed tone. “I should really get you to watch the Lord of the Rings movies with me, they are really good. I kind of stole the Nazgûl from those and tried to make it sound like some terrifying Demon, but like Tolkien would have said it. I wanted that noble dick to be watching the shadows for a while.”

“You succeeded,” Karina commented with a grin. “He looked like he was going to piss himself.”

“He did,” I told the others quietly while wrinkling my nose in distaste. “If he wasn’t stuffing his trousers to make himself seem more endowed you probably would have seen it. Honestly, Risha, it was bad enough that you make obscure old-world references all the time, now you’ve got me doing them for you.”

Risha put an arm around me, sidling up to me on the side that wasn’t currently taken by Autumn. “Come on, Snow. That was hilarious, and he deserves to live in fear for a while.”

I couldn’t really argue against that. The looks on his and the guards’ faces had been priceless. Still, I wasn’t happy that we had had to blow our cover. I had been hoping to get in another day or two of walking the city relatively alone with Autumn. I tried to shrug off my disappointment as I knocked on the door of the office that had been assigned to my grandmother during our stay in the capital.

“Come in,” our Trainer’s familiar voice called out.

“Storm Wing, reporting on our reconnaissance, Wingleader,” I said formally once I had opened the door and we all piled into the office. It was a tight fit for us all, especially with that large wooden desk that my grandmother was seated behind.

It took over half an hour to report the highlights of what we had observed while wandering the city. My grandmother wasn’t happy with what we had to report either. While the lower class, and many of the middle class that we had encountered, seemed to have no issues with obvious Seed-borne, the nobles were a different story. They, and anyone under their thumbs, had treated us with disdain and called us things like Demon-spawn, beast, forest filth, and a slew of other slurs.

The encounter with Lord Nelson and the guards had clearly illustrated that issue. The nobleman’s threat about Seed-borne equality had her particularly concerned when we described the incident at the end of our report. “Unfortunately, it’s the nobles who decide on laws and policy. Up until now, we have had some influence due to the past Queens’ support but it seems that is no longer the case.”

“Do you think that they would really try something like that though?” Lisbet asked with a frown.

“Look at what they’re trying to do with us, Lisbet, and they actually need the Angel Corps,” my grandmother replied with a sad shake of her head. “The nobles are Humans and own most of the fertile land in Misota but they’re using the Queen to try to push us into the ruins. It will keep us at arm’s length unless we’re needed to fight Demons and allow them to take over Eden Base, its technology, and the land above it. From what was said during your encounter, I suspect that once we are out of their way and no longer in the capital to influence policy, they will focus on the Seed-borne villages and the land they are built on.”

“If they took away Seed-borne rights and claim that we’re Demons by proxy, they would no longer have to treat us as people or honor the agreements that grant those villages’ autonomy and ownership of the surrounding lands. They could try to just hunt us all down and take those villages,” Heather muttered.

Karina shook her head, a grim expression on her face as she shook her head. “No. They could try but the Seed-borne would fight back. The Humans may outnumber us and Animen, Fay, and Devilkin villages may not always see eye-to-eye but if there was a common threat to all Seed-borne we would unite against it. We wouldn’t allow them to take us down one village at a time; we’d be looking at civil war.”

My grandmother nodded sadly, “Karina is right. I’ll need to discuss this with the other Archangels and Sira. We may need to alter our plans. Right now, we have everyone who is not on Demon hunts transporting everything important from Eden Base to the bases in the ruins with the veetols. It can only be done at night if we’re going to be able to keep it secret though.”

“What about using the M.I.S.Ts?” Risha asked. “They’re designed with stealth in mind and could be used day or night.”

“Right now, you’re the only one fully qualified to fly one, Risha. The rest of you need more practice in the VR training stations. Rose is still trying to decide on two more Angels to recruit to her team, maybe three since she doesn’t think that Taddick is a good fit. The other Wing Commander I had in mind has declined the offer. She’s a good team leader but she doesn’t think that she or her team are suited to special operations,” our Trainer countered with a look of disappointment.

“Actually,” I spoke up tentatively, “I think I know another team that would be good to train as a special operations team, Phantom Wing. You saw how they fight, Wingleader, they’re all about misdirection and doing the job quickly without being seen.”

My grandmother looked pensive for a moment and then a smile worked its way onto her face as her ears twitched. “You might be right, Snow. Any teams that we selected would have to be completely trained on the MISTs anyway. Maryn has promise as a team leader too; she used a good strategy today. She would need to recruit one or two more team members to round out her team though, they all fight mostly from a distance and they could use some front-line fighters.”

“Actually, I might have an idea about that too,” I admitted with a grin. “They’re not Angels, or even recruits yet but I think they could work well with Maryn’s team. Their parents are Angels and they just lack confidence in themselves. Their names are Fawn and Kyra Woodward, they have a clothing shop in the city.”

Again, my grandmother carefully considered my suggestion. “Hmmm… I knew their parents and them before I left for Serkis to raise you. I haven’t seen them since returning though with everything going on. What are the girls like now?”

“They are clever and they care about helping others. They have been helping other Seed-borne with disguises and helping to smuggle them out of the city when needed. The disguises are good too, if it wasn’t for their scents, Snowy and I probably would have thought they were Human,” Autumn offered.

“They have interesting gifts too; especially Fawn if she can use it creatively,” I added. “I could think of plenty of uses for making things objects bigger or smaller during combat, even if it does have similar restrictions to the food dispensers. And she’s half Fay, so she would probably be at least as quick and agile as Heather and Autumn once the Angel Elixir is done with her. Kyra’s wool is extremely tough and durable too. If she let it grow out a bit it would be like having built-in armor.”

Autumn spread her cloak to show off the outfit beneath. “These outfits and the cloaks are made from a cloth woven from her wool, Wingleader. It’s extremely light but it kept us warm out there and Kyra said that it could be used as light armor if necessary. Maryn seems to like both of them too and I think that she may be asking Kelsie about recruiting them, she had the same look on her face as Snowy when we were talking about using gifts creatively.”

“Yeah, if it’s as good as they told Snow and Autumn, I think we should be trying to see if we can scan this cloth to be used in the boutique booths until we can get enough HESS armor for everyone In the Corps,” Lisbet put in eagerly.

“If Kelsie is fine with it then Snow and I will go with her and Maryn later to discuss the possibility with the Woodward girls. If they accept then we’ll have to get Sira to program their nanite doses and that would have to be done at one of the bases, preferably Woodbury Base so a couple of the Marti girls can look over them while they’re changing,” my grandmother said. “Let’s not worry about that for now though. Good work, girls, let’s go get some dinner.”

While we ate in the dining hall with the members of Phantom wing, my grandmother took their Trainer, Kelsie to the side for a hushed conversation. They were gone for over ten minutes so I assumed that they were talking about the Woodward girls and some of the other things that we had discussed in my grandmother’s office. That seemed to be confirmed once we were all done eating when they each casually asked me and Maryn to go for a walk to discuss some training ideas for our respective wings.

The Woodwards’ clothing shop was closed for the night by the time that we got there but I was able to pick up their distinct scents and could tell that they were still inside. I had seen a staircase going up from the back room when we were there earlier so I figured that they probably lived up there. “They’re still here, probably upstairs,” I said quietly.

Kelsie nodded and pulled a chain that was hanging beside the door, and once she did I could hear a bell sounding from the inside of the shop. Several minutes later Fawn, who once again had her ears strategically covered, answered the door. Seeing that two of us were familiar, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Snow, Maryn, how can we help you? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Maryn assured her with a smile. “This is Phantom Wing’s Trainer, Kelsie Renard, and the Trainer for Storm Wing, Abbadine Bengal. They would like to talk to you and your sister about something.”

“A-Abbadine Bengal? The f-first Angel?” the half-Fay stammered as she gaped wide-eyed at my grandmother in sudden recognition. “I remember meeting you when I was very young but my parent’s called you Abby, I think.”

“Yes, I don’t like to advertise that,” the Angel in question replied with a smile. “I am also Snow’s grandmother. Could we please come in? We have a proposal for you and your sister.”

Fawn suddenly remembered her manners and opened the door fully, stepping aside to allow us to enter. “Please, come in. Kyra and I were about to have some peppermint tea, would you care to join us?’

Once we had accepted the offer, she led us into the workroom in the back and then up the stairs to a small living area where Kyra was sitting on one of several cushions positioned around a low table. Once the introductions were made once again and we were all settled in for a nice cup of hot peppermint tea, my grandmother let Kelsie take the lead. “You two girls must be really something, both Snow and Maryn think that you have potential, and they’re not easy girls to impress. I’m just going to come right out and say it, we would like to offer you the chance to take the Angel Elixir and join the Corps as recruits.”

Fawn froze, looking completely stunned, while poor Kyra nearly dropped her tea before managing to place the cup back on the table with shaky hands. “You… what?” the latter managed to ask after a moment. “We’re not… we can’t…”

“But you will be able to, with the nanites and some proper training,” my grandmother interrupted the stammering Sheepkin. “Do you think that your parents are the Angels they are today through some kind of destiny? They got where they are through hard work, training, and using their minds as well as their weapons and gifts. Snow thinks you have potential, and I know her well enough that that’s good enough for me.”

“You’re both smart, determined, and you want to help others more than anything,” I told them, reaching out to take one of each of their hands gently in my own. “In my opinion, those are some of the most important qualities that an Angel should have.”

“Snow’s team is special,” Kelsie said. “They will be training to be one of three special operations teams that Archangel Abbadine wants to create. Phantom Wing was just asked to become a second such team but we’ll need two more team members.”

“And I asked for the two of you,” Maryn insisted. “I want people that I know that I can depend on, who aren’t going to give up just because things are tough, and who will care about their teammates. From what I’ve seen, I think you two will do nicely. My team also plans on using stealth and deception rather than force when we can, and since I’m the only Human on our team, I believe that your skills at creating convincing disguises could be extremely useful to us for long-term scouting missions.”

It took nearly an hour to convince them. I really hoped that being part of Maryn’s team would help their confidence issues but I was still convinced that they were the right choices. More importantly, Maryn was convinced of it and wouldn’t take no for an answer. We could both see how much they wanted it, but it took some patience and determination to convince them that they were what she wanted.

Finally, they agreed though. My grandmother and Kelsie told them both to pack up everything that they wanted to bring with them and that they would contact them tomorrow night. I wasn’t sure how they were planning on getting them to Woodbury Base, since Maryn and Kelsie still hadn’t been let in on the top secret stuff yet and the veetols were doing transport runs, but I figured that my grandmother had a plan. That was all that I needed to know, if she needed me and my team for any part of the plan then she would let us know when the time was right.