Lupi 04 - Night Season

missing jewelry, no one is opening any gates…or so we’re told.”
    Ruben looked intrigued. “You have reason to think they’re deceiving us about the medallion’s function?”
    â€œAside from the gnomish reverence for a good lie well told, you mean?” Cullen shrugged. “Not really. Under the circumstances, we have to proceed as if they’re telling the truth about it. But I’m reserving room for a doubt or two.”
    â€œA sensible precaution. I do feel strongly we must locate it…though that’s an incorrect usage of first person plural. We will not find the medallion. Agent Weaver will.” Cullen and McClosky looked at her, but Ruben didn’t give them a chance to ask how she expected to save the world. Instead, he asked her, “What have you learned about the various races here?”
    â€œThere’s a lot of them,” Cynna said promptly. “And like you said, humans rank pretty low on everyone’s list. We’re seen as useful but weak because we aren’t of the Blood. Also, I’ve got the impression not many humans here have Gifts. I don’t know why that would be true. Maybe it isn’t. But they don’t have a good Finder, do they?”
    Cullen gave her a thin-lipped look. “Quit with the modesty. Your Gift isn’t rare, but you are. I don’t know of another Finder on Earth with your strength and training, and there aren’t that many humans here. I’m not surprised they don’t have a Finder of your caliber. I do wonder why they don’t have any spells that can locate it.”
    â€œHave you asked about that?” Ruben said.
    He snorted. “Bilbo turns purple when I mention the medallion at all. Tash says she doesn’t know much about gnomish spells. Wen says the Ekiba have only the most basic search spells—their abilities lie elsewhere.”
    â€œWhat about the Ahk?” Cynna asked.
    â€œThe what?” McClosky said.
    â€œAhk. Large, tusked, bipedal, don’t like anyone who isn’t an Ahk. Warrior types with a closed culture and one of the power players here. They live in some mountains to the south. Tash’s father was an Ahk.”
    Cullen shook his head. “Guess I didn’t ask the right questions. No one mentioned the Ahk.”
    â€œWhat about brownies?” McCloskey said. “I saw some on the street. They’re supposed to be good at finding lost things.”
    He’d surprised her. Most people didn’t know squat about brownies beyond oh, aren’t they cute. “They are, but their range is real limited, and they have very little power outside their own territory. Not much power, period, which is why they aren’t considered major players even though there’s a lot of them. They’re territorial but not aggressive or acquisitive, and they can only use their innate magic.”
    â€œMeaning?”
    Cullen answered for her. “Brownies don’t cast spells, and spellcasting is Edge’s technology. Power, wealth, prestige—they’re all tied to magic here. Innate magic is respected, but if you don’t or can’t shape it, you don’t get to play with the big boys.”
    Ruben spoke. “And the big boys are the gnomes, the Ekiba, and the Ahk?”
    â€œThose are the ones everyone agrees on, yeah. And the elves, of course.” Cynna darted a glance at Cullen. “There aren’t many of them, and they mostly stay on their estates, but they’ve got power. Sometimes they use it, sometimes they don’t.”
    â€œSo we have a pastiche of power,” Ruben said, “once we leave the City. No common laws, no central authority, yet the various races trade, travel, and mingle freely. Are they culturally or inherently averse to violence, or is something else keeping them from war?”
    â€œThe elves,” Cullen said. “Though we need to get in the habit of calling them ‘sidhe.’ They hate being called elves.”
    McClosky frowned. “She? They’re all female?”
    Cullen looked disgusted, but spelled the word for him. “Pronounced ‘shee.’ I’m not sure which group of sidhe we’re dealing with here, but not the high lords—they’d be running things openly, not covertly.”
    â€œYou believe they use their influence to prevent war?” Ruben asked.
    â€œWars they don’t want, anyway. They disapprove of war on