The city might as well have not existed. Mav had a target, and no skyscraper nor shopping plaza nor sporting complex nor little park nor the hundreds of bars would slow him down. 

I defend the innocent. Mav approached a plaza. The next right led to his destination: the palace of the Sacred Skies guild. No matter what happens to me, I defend the weak. Nothing will distract me from –  

Then he made the right. A garden filled most of the space. A single wide walkway split the massive lawn. On either side stood dozens, if not hundreds, of different kinds of flowers, their reds, violets, yellows, and pinks contrasting the pure white sculptures that stood among them. The many figures struck heroic or intimidating poses. Little additions to the sculptures added to their wonder: fire crackled at the feet or along the shoulders and arms of Flame Dancers; water spouted from the fingertips or palms of Wave Leapers, forming fountains beneath them; Land Shakers stood amongst outcroppings of stone, sand, and tree roots, all of which created swirling patterns around them; small yet powerful fans blasted air in random directions about the Wind Weavers; and two Ethereal Leaders, a man and a woman, sat back-to-back in the center of the garden in a meditative pose. Admirers wandered the garden, some wide-eyed and mouth-agape, while others were merely appreciative of the garden’s beauty, only dwarfed by what dominated the end of the plaza. 

Even at a glance, the Sacred Skies’ palace was more impressive than the Eternal Effigy’s manor. Its front was similar to many Titanian church designs: soaring fluted columns – topped with capitals of floral arrangement – held aloft a portico which stretched the entire width of the plaza. A decorated pediment depicted several impressive people employing their Gifts; much smaller figures off in the corners held their arms out, palms upward, toward the Wielders, as if begging for or accepting whatever charity the Wielders gave. Farther behind the entrance, a massive dome topped off the palace’s roof. Plenty more statues stood along the edge of the roof and the dome, often near openings that allowed natural light to sink in. 

Mav found his jaw had slackened. He shook his head violently, then slapped himself twice on both cheeks. He had a mission, dammit! He forged ahead, eyes on the prize. But beyond the columns, the palace’s doors were huge! Weaving patterns of gold glistened along the massive doorway, which opened to an atrium that – 

Focus, Mav. Focus! 

But the atrium had a heated pool! A couple guild members leaned back, eyes closed in satisfaction, as steam wafted about the room. The warm vapors gave the place a mystical aura, slightly obscuring the paintings which lined the wall. One such painting was of a gargantuan Titan, likely one that held domain on the Wall. Its looming face had scales which either darkened or glinted due to the firelight brewing in its maw, its long wings spanned the width of the piece forming a shadow that enveloped the watcher in its shade. Mav shivered, cheeks hurting from his grin. He could actually feel like he was on the Wall, this incredible and horrifying creature bearing down on him. The way the artist utilized shading to – 

Dammit, Mav! 

He tore himself away from the paintings, eyes narrowed on the long desk against the far wall. Several receptionists sat along it, receiving information from civilians to form contracts and doling out compensation to a guild member who’d likely just completed one. A massive monitor to the left of the desk displayed the contracts, separated by “Open,” “Ongoing,” or “Closed”. Two guild members scanned through the dozens of open contracts, but only three were still ongoing. 

One of them dealt with a missing person. 

Mav couldn’t remember names for the life of him, but it was hard for him to forget a face, especially when it mattered. The young woman’s picture displayed on the contract had the same face as one of the twenty-three missing persons. And the member who’d accepted the contract had his name displayed below it. Perfect! 

“Where’s Michael Jones?” Mav asked the two scrolling members. 

The shorter, skinnier one jumped. She looked Mav up and down, her folded eyes narrowing. “Why? He hasn’t done anything wrong.” 

Oh, right. Koda had informed him through their code that Mav was supposed to act like a tourist and “accidentally” come upon information. Sacred Skies likely had a security system with its own internal video database. That lawyer shouldn’t have access to it, but she also shouldn’t have had access to Mav’s and Koda’s comms. It was better to be sly and make conversations seem natural to not give more fuel to that lawyer’s fire. 

“No, he hasn’t,” Mav said. “I just, you know, I’m a big fan of guilds. I wanted to ask him questions about what you guys do, and stuff.” 

A perfect recovery. They’d never suspect anything now. 

“A Peace Keeper, a fan of guilds?” the other one, a buff man, said slowly. 

“Yeah,” Mav said. “I’m a fan of a lot of stuff. You guys, Gauntlets, noodles.” 

The woman raised an eyebrow. “One of those is very different from the others.” 

“But they all make me smile.” 

They shared another look, then the man laughed. 

“If you like guilds, why not join one?” the man said. “You didn’t have to sell your soul to the government.” 

“Easy,” the woman said, placing her hand on his elbow. 

“I don’t see it that way,” Mav said. “We’re all here to help people. As a Peace Keeper, I can do that and travel the country. It’s a win-win.” 

“But you got to go where they tell you,” the man said. “And when they tell you. If you save up enough money in a guild, you can take vacation time and travel wherever and whenever you want.” 

“It doesn’t really matter where I go. I just want to go.” 

“Jeb, stop trying to recruit a Peace Keeper,” the woman said. 

“I’m not! I’m laying out his options. Besides, we couldn’t host a Peace Keeper going AWOL.” 

“Actually, I don’t swear my oaths until next week.” 

“Oh,” Jeb said. “In that case, want to join Sacred Skies?” 

“Jeb!” the woman said. 

“They trained me for two years,” Mav said. “Taught me so much. I won’t desert the Peace Keepers.” 

Besides, they’d told stories of Deserters – people who trained as a Peace Keeper but never swore the oaths. Those who had once been siblings-in-arms only mocked and ridiculed them. Not to mention how difficult it was to find use their Gift in any beneficial way, as most places refused to employ Deserters. Most eventually turned to crime and were hunted down and executed. 

“The boss wouldn’t accept a Deserter, anyway,” the woman said. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jeb said. “So why do you want to talk to Michael? If you just want to learn more about the guild, we can tell you.” 

Mav had almost forgotten why he’d talked to them in the first place. Titans, this “being smart” business was hard. 

“Oh, I heard about some of the stuff he’s done,” Mav said. “So I wanted to ask him some questions about the place.” 

They appeared doubtful, but Jeb slowly pointed toward the entrance. “He’s in the pool, the guy on the left.” 

Mav thanked them, said goodbye, and charged across the hall. The man on the left side of the pool had black skin and a damp, small afro. His eyes were closed, face toward the water, looking relaxed. 

Casual, Mav.  

He had to organically get information from this man without it appearing like he was looking for it. Be a tourist, act casual, but still maintain a level of professionalism expected from a Peace Keeper. That was how he could discover what he was looking for. 

So Mav jumped into the pool. 

Michael and the other guild member exclaimed at the sudden splash. 

“What are you doing?” Michael asked, an angry edge to his voice. 

“I wanted to talk to you,” Mav said. 

Michael’s mouth worked for a couple seconds in silence, his brow furrowed and nostrils twitching. The man was clearly angry about something more than getting a little splashed. The other guild member slowly left the pool. Great! Now nothing could interrupt Mav. 

“I’m a tourist, first time in town,” Mav said to fill the silence. “Real big fan of you guys and I heard about some of your work and I had a sudden-and-completely-random-with-no-other-motive-in-mind thought to come and ask you about them. Has there been any recent work you’ve done that you’ve found interesting?” 

“You’re...” Michael began, his anger seeming to morph into confusion. “You’re not supposed to be in here.” 

“But the door was open.” 

Michael blinked. “The pool.” 

“Oh, sorry! It looked comfy, though.” 

Michael stared at Mav, eyes calculating. He seemed almost surprised with himself when he next spoke. “... Is it?” 

“On my face, but the water doesn’t go through the uniform. Keeps my heat in, everything else out, you know? They wouldn’t want me in Yaros waters freezing to death, would they?” 

“I suppose not.” 

“Wait... this pool’s for guild members only, isn’t it? I’m so sorry!” 

“Wait,” Michael said as Mav made to leave. “It’s... fine. It’s also for invited guests and, uh... you may enter the pool.” 

“Great!” Mav plopped back down. 

Michael’s bewilderment didn’t lessen. If anything, his confusion seemed to grow. What was going on in this guy’s head?

“I’ve worked with Peace Keepers before,” Michael said. “Never had a great experience. So I’ll admit, I’ve never seen interrogation tactics like this.” 

“What?” Mav scoffed. “Interrogation? No, no. I’m just a simple tourist right now having a casual conversation about something I’m interested in.” 

“Do you need anti-itch ointment, or something? Keep scratching like that and you’ll tear out all your hair.” 

Had he been scratching the back of his head again? Shit. If Michael discovered his lying tick, then Mav’s mission was all but over. He had to play this off professionally. 

“Oh no, I’m good,” Mav said, forcibly removing his hand from his head and sitting on it. Why was his shoulder twitching now? “Just think a bug bit me back there earlier.” 

“If you say so.” 

Under the water, Mav made a celebratory fist. Mission was still a go. 

“You did have lessons in interrogations, though, right?” Michael said. 

“Didn’t pass a single one.” 

“You don’t say?” 

“But this is just a normal conversation. I’m really curious about any work you’ve done. Especially a recent contract.” 

Michael gave Mav a long stare. Mav had seen others do this before. Whenever someone was defensive around him, and whenever he’d talked with them, there was always a point when they re-evaluated him. As if they were gauging whether they could trust him. 

“Are you a local Peace Keeper?” Michael asked. “One who works for the governor or the president?”

“No.” 

Michael watched Mav’s left hand, which made no sense. The back of Mav’s head didn’t feel remotely itchy.

“Then why are you here?” Michael asked. “Certain interesting jobs are now being handled solely by local Peace Keepers. After the festival. Anyone who looks into it won’t come out unscathed.”

“Like I said, I’m just a casual tourist having a casual conversation with a new friend,” Mav said. “But I’m not the only casual tourist here. I have two other friends who are looking around the city with me. They’re much smarter than me and they know how to see all the places we wanna go to without anything bad happening because of it.”

Michael’s brow furrowed. “Sounds impossible.”

Mav beamed. “Not when you trust them. Besides…” Mav glanced at his lap, as he was still sitting on his hand. I defend the weak. “I want to see all these places today. Tomorrow might be too late.”

Michael’s jaw set and he gave a little nod. “Alright. I started investigating a missing person six days ago. I learned quickly that three others had gone missing, too. I investigated all of them, trying to find similarities between them.” 

“You find anything about the service vehicles?” 

Michael chuckled and shook his head. “After talking to the police. They didn’t help much except allow me to look at some video feed since they were preparing for the festival today, and I couldn’t get much help from my own cohort for the same reason. After some time and… well, those service vehicles were the only clue I got. 

“That took me a day to do, and by then three more people had been kidnapped. I tailed one of the service vans the next day, but I didn’t see them take anyone. Instead, they led me to a warehouse near the Spire. But after some digging and owing a few favors to a friend in the government, I learned that the government doesn’t operate out of that warehouse. A conglomerate that owns a few businesses in the city does. I wanted to go to the branches and conduct some interviews. I felt like I was on the right track, then...” 

“A lawyer told you to stop.” 

“Miss Hicks was very thorough. Had signed documentation from the damned governor that this investigation would be handled by local Peace Keepers, which they would begin in earnest after the festival. I offered my evidence, but she told me that I would not be necessary for official investigations. But she said nothing about a casual conversation with an interested tourist.” 

“Exactly! And I’m very interested in those companies you learned about.” 

“Rossen Power, Grant Incorporated, Sekko Research, and even Dustin Cosmetics, of all places. They’re in an impressive part of town and pretty close to each other, except for Dustin. I recommend you visit them.” 

Mav squeezed the man’s shoulder. “Thank you. For the interesting information.” 

Michael nodded, a fire in his eyes. “Good luck, casual tourist. I hope you enjoy these places.”