They learned little more that day, but what they had learned was enough to excite Sweetfire. The craftsman was not only willing to let them keep looking into what the Garden originally did, he was eager. The only restrictions he put on it were that he had to be there and they could only use the single console that Dav worked from.

Dav didn't mention that he could almost certainly override the Garden's controls from that console. He didn't intend to do that and he knew it would cut them off from their most likely way to easily contact Tiwaz. He also didn't want to lose access to the information; while it was slightly horrifying to see deliberate alterations on that scale, it was also interesting.

Some were worse than others, but it was clear that failure didn't just mean a failure to thrive to the ancient Kestii; it also included anything that Sophia would call a monster, anything that actively attacked those who didn't engage with it first. It was very interesting that almost every single one of the successes was either in the Garden or in one of the Hollows scattered nearby, but neither Jax nor Sweetfire had ever heard of any of the failures outside the Maze.

Anything was possible in the Maze, apparently. Some of the failures did occur there, and it wasn't just the ones that were aggressive; some of the ones that died quickly seemed somehow stabilized by being in the Maze. They never left, though, which was definitely interesting.

Their time looking through the things the ancient Kestii created in the Garden was cut short when one of the actual gardeners came through the door they'd left open behind them and reminded them of the outside world. Sweetfire handed off the notes he'd taken, then shooed them out of the control room with a reminder that they were supposed to be in the Arena that evening if it was recovered enough from the Mazestorm.

Sweetfire made a couple more stops to check on people before he led them back down the ancient subway tunnel to the Arena exit, then waved them forward with a reminder that they'd have to pay for the privilege if they wanted to enter the underground without him.

The Arena match that evening happened, but the crowd was the smallest Sophia had seen and a number of the combat teams she expected, ones that showed up almost every day the same way the Flying Stars did, weren't there. That was apparently normal after a Mazestorm and it made it easy enough to talk privately without resorting to telepathy until Sweetfire joined them shortly before their match.

There were no surprises during the match. If anything, the monsters they fought were easier than ever.

The surprise came after the match, when Sweetfire took advantage of the distraction of the next team's fight to pointedly ask Sophia if she'd "come downstairs" the following morning to open a door. It was clear enough what he meant, so they decided they'd split up; Sophia, Dav, and Xin'ri would head to Sweetfire's in the morning to help him retrieve the instructions from behind the door that locked when they left, while Jax, Ci'an, and Taika set up their next few matches and picked up a few pieces of equipment Ci'an was determined they were missing.

Like a better way for Dav to fly. She also wanted something for Taika, but that was less important, since it wasn't going to affect the show.

Dav didn't seem happy with the suggestion. He wanted to manage it with an Ability instead of an item, but he wasn't sure how to get there. There weren't any good new Abilities available for him and really hadn't been since he hit the second upgrade.

That led into a long discussion of altering Abilities for the third upgrade; both Jax and Sweetfire had a lot to say. Sophia's takeaway was that it was usually difficult to add capabilities when you went up to the third upgrade, because you had to completely understand your Grand Ability and what it did for you. It was far more likely that you'd lose Abilities as you trimmed down what you could do.

That made Sophia take a long look at all of the extra Ability Slots the Wanderer bought for her and Dav back when they advanced through the first upgrade. She'd filled very few of them, which meant that either they'd been a place to dump excess Wisps … or they were a message she didn't understand. "Is there any reason to have a bunch of empty Ability slots? I've barely filled any of the ones the Wanderer added."

Jax shook his head. "No, there's no need to buy extra slots. They're not useful without Abilities, so don't buy them before you need them."

"I'm sure I didn't hear that correctly," Sweetfire said over Jax's comment. "Too much noise here. Are there any other matches you'd particularly like to see, or are you ready to head out? On a day like today, there's no harm in leaving early."

Sophia shrugged, then looked at the others. "I haven't really been watching anyway. The fights today have been pretty lackluster."

"That's normal," Sweetfire agreed. "They will be tomorrow, too. Too many people are busy dealing with the aftermath of the Mazestorm, so the Arena organizers won't be pushing too hard. They want to have a show so that people who want to lose themselves in watching a fight still have somewhere to go, and the practice facilities will get some use, but mostly it's going to be dead." He glanced over at Jax. "You fought today, which they'll appreciate; I want you to cancel your fight tomorrow. I'd like you to meet us at my place then instead. The fixer won't mind; he expects people to cancel after a Mazestorm."

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Jax frowned at Sweetfire. "Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"We have some things to talk about, patron to sponsored." Sweetfire smiled as he put a little emphasis on the word patron. "If you want to all come in the morning, that would be fine, too; I'm just not certain how long it will take."

It made Sophia's mind flash to the Wanderer, since he was the Patron the guide talked about, but Sweetfire couldn't mean that; he wasn't the Wanderer. He had to be talking about his act of sponsoring them with the Arena.

"You could come with us to our house tonight and talk," Dav offered. "There's an entrance to the underground in the back. We haven't used it, but it's there."

Sweetfire looked conflicted for a moment, then nodded. "Sooner is probably better. Let's get going."

Despite his words, he wasn't fast to leave. As they made their way out, he stopped to talk to several other teams and even made a detour past one particular vendor, who sold meat on a stick. He bought enough for everyone, and Sophia had to admit that the meat really was pretty good. She didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, he'd managed to find exactly the right spices to make it tangy but not overwhelming. She'd have to remember that particular vendor.

After they reached Arryn's place, Sweetfire insisted on walking around the building and being the last one to enter. It was odd, but Sophia didn't see any real reason to object; he wasn't doing anything, he was just looking.

When the door finally closed, Sweetfire seemed to wilt. "Finally. So, you're staying in old Arryn's place?"

"I didn't know you knew each other," Sophia said, surprised.

"He's a merchant," Sweetfire answered with a tired smile. "More than that, he's a merchant that deals in strange things. It would be odd if I didn't know him. I suppose I should have realized you were his latest sponsored group after Bai mentioned he had one, but I didn't make the connection."

It took Sophia a moment to realize why the name Bai sounded familiar; he was the automaton-looking man they met in the Registry's restaurant who happily talked to them about what he'd learned about the Maze. "I bet he'd like to know what we found out about the Garden."

Sweetfire blinked, then nodded. "You're right, he would. I'll invite him to come down tomorrow. He helps out in the Garden occasionally, especially when the Garden's instructions are hard to decipher. His Kestii is better than almost anyone's."

"Stop standing in the doorway and come sit down. Do you need something to drink? Dinner, maybe?" Xin'ri waved towards the common room. "There are couches and individual seats, but I can get you something else if you like. Arryn left all sorts of furniture."

Sweetfire made his way to the room's entrance, then paused to take in the room.

Sophia followed his gaze for a moment, then stepped into the room. It looked a little odd with the plain wooden walls covered in tapestries with circular patterns and soft magical light globes for light, but it was already one of Sophia's favorite places in Arryn's house. He'd somehow managed to find tons of different supremely comfortable seats. She could sit on a relatively small cushion or sprawl on a couch made for an individual or cuddle with Dav, all without leaving the room. The one thing the room was not set up for at all was paperwork, but she was pretty sure that was deliberate.

Sweetfire chuckled and shook his head. "I should have known he'd have a comfortable party room. I always dealt directly with him, so I haven't seen it before. This will be fine. I don't need anything right now, and it's probably better if we all abstain."

It took Sophia a moment to realize that Sweetfire assumed that Xin'ri was offering alcohol. She started to correct him, before it occurred to her that she wasn't actually certain if Xin'ri was offering booze or not. It was probably included in the offer of "something to drink," even if it wasn't limited to just alcohol.

Sweetfire dropped heavily into a seat, then looked around the group. "So, how many of you are Hallowed?"

"Hallowed?" Jax spoke first. Sophia was happy to let him handle this, so she stayed quiet. "What are you talking about?"

Sweetfire shook his head. "Sophia mentioned the Wanderer giving her Ability slots and none of you blinked. Please don't pretend you don't know; it's obvious enough that you know."

No one answered his statement. Even Jax didn't seem to know quite what to say.

"None of you are ardent followers of the Broken Lord," Sweetfire continued. "Dav and Sophia wear a complete sword as part of their Registry badges, while Amy has a necklace in the shape of the Stepped Pyramid, and both Xin'ri and Jaycen are Item Anchors."

"Why does that matter?" Sophia could understand the swords, since they weren't broken. She hadn't noticed Ci'an's necklace, but from the way her hand covered something at her neck, he was probably right. She knew Xin'ri had the Item Anchor and Jax's Mask was also of an Item Anchor, but that didn't have anything to do with the Broken Lord. Did it?

Sweetfire chuckled softly and smiled at Sophia. "Any Professional craftsman in Mazehold would know. They don't have a burn mark on their palm. There is exactly one way to move from being a Professional to a Hallow, and the Broken Lord will only do it to someone with the Item Anchor. Anyone with the Item Anchor who attends a Hallowing will be Hallowed, whether they are Professional or Called, and that comes with a brand of the Broken Sword on your dominant hand. Any devout follower of the Broken Lord attends Hallowings; it's his greatest blessing to his followers. Therefore, anyone with the Item Anchor and no brand can't be a devout follower."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.