The Patron’s Ball - 9:47 AM

  The rest of our meal was, thankfully, uneventful. Despite being buffet food, it rivaled the kind of meal the Angel Express’ dining car could provide. It was all to keep the Patrons happy. The Avatars, too, but I wasn’t daft enough to think that our feelings were much more than an afterthought to the administrators.

  Letting out a breath and leaning back in my chair, I placed my hands on my stomach. “That was one fine breakfast.”

  “You can say that again,” Sara agreed after finishing her last bite of pancake. She had a big smile on her face, and I matched it. Putting her knife and fork down, she made sure she didn’t have any syrup on her lips before looking at me. “Are you ready to explore?”

  “I sure am,” I answered as I stood up. The moment I left the chair, my empty plate and glass disappeared and my half of the table cleaned itself.

  Her side did the same when she followed me. “I’ve been watching that event behind you every now and again,” the Angel admitted, and I turned around to see a six person tug of war with three on each side. “And I think it’s finally hit me just how big and varied this space is. There’s a lot going on.”

  “It could be a little overwhelming, sure,” I said as I joined her and took her hand. “The Patron’s Ball has always felt like a carnival to me. Plenty to see and do, yeah, but there’s so much stuff going on that everything’s trying to grab your attention all at once. Given how it seems like the Patrons have been set up with constant need to avoid boredom, it’s the perfect environment for them.”

  “I can see it,” Sara said with a nod as we moved away from the tables to stand where we wouldn’t be obstructing the flow of traffic. “There’s not much I can say about the Patron’s side of things—I’m fairly constrained on the behind-the-scenes of it all—but I can say that we’re almost constantly talking to each other. Not just within Sol Ligatus, either. Sometimes we get some really chatty ones.”

  “Honestly? Sounds rough,” I replied, squeezing her hand.

  “It can be, but I’m unknown so it’s harder for people to reach me,” she said before laughing nervously. “I mean, apparently Marishiten gets so many messages that she has to ignore most of them just because of how popular Mercury is. Skuld and Athena, too. Grandmother Hearth hasn’t said much about it, but Bethany isn’t seen so often so she’s generally safe. Could you imagine how many Patrons still manage to dig deep enough to figure out that you’re my Avatar and contact me?”

  “Gotta be a good few, right?” I asked, actually interested in this. The politics of Patrons wasn’t something I had a good insight into. If Sara was willing and able to talk about it, then I would listen.

  “It’s only one or two when we’re passing through somewhere,” she groaned as we began walking. The Angel wasn’t really even looking around now, so I knew we were back in wandering mode. “But places you’ve stuck around in? Pittsburgh and New York? Dozens managed to reach me. I usually take some time to respond. You know, think about what I want to say, and some of them just get downright mad at me for not replying immediately. I’ve had to block a lot of Patrons.”

  “I didn’t know there was a block button, but I’m glad it exists,” I said with a chuckle. “Some of them are absolutely insufferable.”

  “Right!?” she agreed, gesturing towards the ceiling. “I mean, sure, chatting with so many people can be kind of fun, I guess. It really shouldn’t be considering that most of the messages are about getting their Avatar into Sol Ligatus or trained by your group, but it’s how I feel. Even if some take it way too far.”

  “It sounds like you’ve got an example ready.”

  Sara immediately and enthusiastically nodded. “Jiutian Xuannü contacted me during the Star Spangled Shadow Invasion.”

  “She’s the goddess of war from Chinese mythology, right?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “How did she take things too far?”

  “Because not only is she a goddess of war, but she’s also a goddess of sex. Or, fertility. I’m not entirely sure which,” she said, pausing mid-step to let a chicken riding on a pig pass in front of us. We started walking as soon as our path was clear. “She found me quick-quick, too. Like, seconds after Grant joined your fight with Jean.”

  “Just jumped right in, huh?” I chuckled. “What did she want?”

  My wife started pouting and looked up at me, squeezing my hand tight and not letting go. “I’m not sure if I should repeat it.”

  “So it’s spicy, then,” I said, trying not to be amused.

  A small grunt escaped her throat. “She wanted me to stud you out like you were some kind of Evolution Hound,” Sara said indignantly before gesturing at me. “You! Because a warrior like you would sire powerful children, or something. She didn’t even have an Avatar, but she offered to find one almost immediately! Like, on the spot specifically to… so you could… you know, that!”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “And what did you do?”

  “Just stared at the message, for one,” she admitted, throwing her arm out wildly. “What am I supposed to say to that? I didn’t know what to do, so I just blocked her. I’m not about to give her access to my husband like that, even if no one knew we got married.”

  “For the record, I would have said no myself, but thank you for protecting the sanctity of our marriage,” I said, trying not to make that sound sarcastic. A beautiful woman with bees buzzing around her radiant hair and a snake around her shoulders did a double take at my words, but we were already gone before she could question us. “And feel free to respond the same way to all requests like that. Honestly, I’d be fielding them myself if I didn’t have a Patron.”

  “Degenerates,” Sara pouted.

  I was about to defend them by reminding her that Patrons were rewarded for filling their roles, but she already knew that. Instead, I nodded. “Yeah, degenerates. Thank you for protecting me from them.”

  “Anytime, Ant,” she replied earnestly before looking up at me. “I wonder what Kronos did against those kinds of messages. He was your most chosen Patron, right?”

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  “He was, but honestly he barely spoke to me if it wasn’t through a quest,” I answered with a shrug. “That’s what I liked most about him. Unless it was urgent, there was radio silence. Not that I would ever want that from you, though.”

  “Of course. I’m your wife,” she announced happily.

  “And I’m proud of it,” I laughed, ignoring the weird looks we were getting from those who were close enough to hear her proclamation.

  It wasn’t like it was entirely unheard of for a Patron and Avatar to develop some kind of relationship. Although it was usually one of friendship, what we had going on had happened plenty of times before. Mostly with deities who had the theme of Love in their portfolio, but not exclusively. Some looked down on that kind of thing, thinking it childish or weird. Other than the obvious power imbalance, I never really cared either way.

  Until now, but we had special circumstances and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

  As time went on and Sara paid more attention to our surroundings, the crowds started to thin somewhat. There were still plenty of bodies in the room, but more and more Patrons were going into the portals where their Avatars could compete for glory and prizes. Mostly in the form of gambling, but that was to keep everyone entertained.

  I didn’t mind getting pulled this way and that by Sara. She was getting distracted by every little thing and it was absolutely adorable. Our paths were taken seemingly at random, though I could tell from the way that she frowned that we were avoiding some areas.

  Probably places with Angelic Patrons or possibly Half-Fallen Avatars. Just because Aaron had told the trio in Syria not to take a sponsor didn’t mean all of his minions followed the same rule. I hadn’t seen anyone that I recognized from past runs, though I wasn’t sure if anyone other than the Collector himself would see through our disguises.

  Not that it mattered right now, anyway. There was nothing I wanted to do more than to follow Sara around, seeing her reactions to happenings that I had long come to expect, and make sure nothing came around to flip her mood.

  It made the Patron’s Ball all the more exciting, honestly. Almost as though I was seeing it all for the first time through her.

  “Hey, isn’t that Lucas competing there?” Sara asked excitedly, dragging me by the hand towards one of the event portals. I looked up at the screen hovering over it.

  Lucas Steel was the Drone Aficionado from Minnesota who had tried to stop me from raiding the scenario at the Mall of America, but ended up joining me instead. He had been a fun companion to work with even though I only met him through his machine, Midnight Steel. If it weren’t for the fact that he was only 15, I likely would have recruited him for combat at some point.

  “It sure is. Seems like he’s doing well for himself,” I remarked with a grin as Sara leaned against me.

  We didn’t go through into the event space to spectate in person, instead stopping nearby in order to watch the screen above the portal. This one was some kind of tournament focusing on pets and minions. Corwin would have been able to join if Jeff had come. Midnight Steel, his floating eye drone, was currently locked in combat with some sort of green-feathered monstrosity of an archaeopteryx.

  Lucas was shown in a small box in one corner of the screen, tongue stuck out as his hands worked his drone’s controller. I knew that Midnight Steel had a rudimentary AI that could run it through combat, but this way was a lot better. The blond kid was the very picture of focus.

  Also shown was his competition, a tanned woman who was clearly shouting orders to her bird, though we couldn’t hear what she was saying. The monster swooped with talons out, and on occasion sent out gale-force winds with mighty flaps of its wings.

  Midnight Steel was fast, however. Much faster than when I had fought beside it. The drone zipped back and forth, avoiding attacks and activating its eye beam whenever it had the chance. Several fast, orange blasts of light erupted from it, and I noted a slight homing effect on them. That was definitely a new upgrade chip he had gotten during my absence, possibly from whoever his Patron was.

  The bird managed to clip Midnight Steel with one of its wings as it whizzed by, but it didn’t come away clean. Instead, the pet started falling out of the sky, and a winner screen popped up. Lucas’ face, at first surprised and then elated, enlarged to fill half the screen with his drone on the other. He gently placed the controller down before throwing his arms in the air in triumph.

  “He’s still using the Mirrored Chip to reflect damage,” I pointed out with a smile. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to keep that one.”

  “I don’t think Midnight Steel is as frail as it was back then,” Sara mused, tapping her chin with a finger. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “Do… you want to stay and say hi?”

  “Only if you want to,” I answered honestly. “You’re in charge, remember? I’m sure he’d be happy to see me, but we are incognito. Plus, it looks like he still has two more matches left before the tournament is over, assuming he wins.”

  The Angel glanced back at the screen to see that the 32-man tournament wasn’t close to finishing yet, and pouted. “Okay. No use waiting around, I suppose. Though, I do think I want to throw you into an event.”

  “Oh?” I asked, squeezing her hand. “I wouldn’t mind fighting for your honor and-or amusement, love.”

  “You already do, though.” Beaming, Sara started looking around at the events nearby. “That said, I can’t make it too easy for you.”

  “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t make it some kind of challenge.”

  She nodded, and her eyes locked onto something in the distance. “There. That’s perfect.”

  With her arm around mine, we walked through the sparse crowd past three different events before we made it to one I could have barely seen from where we started. I looked up to observe the television screen and arched an eyebrow.

  “Hit the targets?” I asked, unsure of the logic behind this one. “This is what you want me to do?”

  I watched as a trio of players, two with rifles and one with a bow, fired on stationary targets a good fifteen hundred feet away. Each of them stood behind a short wooden fence and took aim. Neither of the riflemen braced themselves, and they all fired. The result was two bullseyes while the first shooter had scored a hit on the outer ring.

  The words “Round 1 of 3 complete” popped onto the screen as things reset. This was supposed to be a fast event, unlike the tournament Lucas was taking part in, and would be over relatively quickly. There were plenty of these skill checks available for Avatars to show off while giving the Patrons with short attention spans something to focus on for a few minutes.

  “Not only do I want you to participate here, but…” Sara paused, looking around conspiratorially before leaning up on her toes to whisper into my ear. “I want you to win with one point.”

  “Win with one point?” I muttered incredulously. “Not win by one point, but with one point?”

  “That’s right,” she confirmed with a smile, putting her chin on my shoulder. Her eyes were practically sparkling. “I’ll be betting on that outcome, so you better pull through for me.”

  “Well, that’s definitely an interesting challenge,” I admitted with a chuckle as I looked back up at the screen.

  I liked my odds. Fifteen hundred feet wasn’t a short distance, but the targets didn’t look too heavy to control when I was so far away. That being said, there were other options I could use to sabotage the competition. The possibilities started running through my head.

  “Before I commit, you do realize that I’m about to go make two people who are actually interested in competing miserable, right?” I asked, turning towards her. “You’re telling me to make sure they get a big, fat zero.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m using this phrase right, but if they can’t score a single point then it sounds like what they have is a skill issue,” Sara replied innocently. “They should get good.”

  That got a good laugh out of me. “Sure, then. Let’s give it a shot,” I agreed, and Sara wasted no time dragging me through the portal.