Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

We didn't stop inside the Palace. I expected to be taken to a throne room, or maybe some kind of study. Instead, Aiden brought me deep, deep into the heart of the structure, and then we left it behind to enter a deeper area.

After an hour or two of walking (ignoring everyone we passed), we came to a pair of huge dark wood doors. When Aiden pushed them open, I was expecting us to step into some kind of howling abyss. But instead, when we stepped through the door, the world fell away and we found ourselves in some kind of meadow.

It wasn't green, or pretty. In fact, meadow was a bit of an overstatement. It was a wide, flat field of grass, half drowned with muddy water, with only the odd island of overgrown greenery peeking out. As we touched down, I winced at the feeling of my feet squelching deep into the thin mud. Aiden grimaced, then nodded for me to follow and led me through the meadow towards a small, difficult to see building in the center.

As we approached, the very dim light seeping through the rainclouds currently pouring water down on us finally illuminated the small, squat building we'd come here to access.

It looked…old. A wooden shack that was barely holding together in the wind and rain. The shutters hung at odd angles, the paint on the door was peeling, and the door itself was cracked in several places, though not enough to show inside.

"This," said Aiden slowly. "Is the core of the Wishworld. The center of this whole realm. This is the Great Book Heavenly Library."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll be honest, It doesn't look like any of those things."

"Yeah, the old man is nostalgic," he shrugged. "He created this place in its larval form when he was pretty low on the totem pole. It wasn't FINISHED until much later, but the concept originated before he had the power or vision to create something grander. And he likes to keep it how it is. It's comfortable for him."

I'd heard Aiden adopt a lot of tones. Casual, acerbic, even fond. But I'd never heard the Wishmaster show…reverence. I could FEEL the respect he had for Alistair Wyndham in my bones. Aiden might not want to be the Wishmaster, but he still respected the office, or at least the man who had founded it. Turning, he reached up to rap his knuckles on the door. There was a brief pause and then someone called. "Why are you still out there, lackwit, get inside out of the rain."

Aiden laughed, pushing the door open and ushering me inside. I stepped in…and blinked. Ok, this looked a little more like what I was expecting. The inside of the place was…well, books. Just all the books.

Shelves ceiling to floor, rising up into the distance so high I couldn't see the top. And not just one level, throughout the sky of the library, small islands that looked like reading rooms floated, walls lined on three sides with shelving of their own. Directly ahead of us, to my surprise was a table that looked a lot like mine. I wondered if the form of the library had influenced me through recursion, or if my dad had somehow influenced it.

We stopped in front of the table, which was covered in books, to stare down at the figure scrawling away in yet another book. "Well?" he snapped without looking up. "What do you need, brat?"

"You sent me to get the kid," Aiden said mildly. "And bring him here."

Alistair paused. "Was that today?" He reached into a pocket, pulling out a…well watch was the wrong word. It was a small circular timepiece, but it had WAY too many dials and readouts. "Well that seems wrong," he said in concern. "I could have sworn it was two hundred years ago last time I checked that." His eyes lit up. "Wait, no, I remember." He snapped his fingers and a book appeared. He cracked it open and the interior glowed, his eyes lighting up again, but more literally this time.

"Right, Shane," he said confidently. "Sorry. Certain memories get in the way of certain research methodologies. Plus sometimes I section off parts of my brain into books to get a break." He glanced around the library with a frown. "This place is getting a little crowded. I need to make another annex."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "You say that every time I come in here. The last time you made one was two hundred years ago. Anyway, you said you wanted to meet the kid, so…here's the kid." He gestured to me like a magician showing off their assistant.

Alistair nodded, then turned to look me over. "So…you're Eli's boy," he said slowly. "That one had potential. Shame we lost him to the politics. All the smart ones jump ship. And yes, Aiden, I am most certainly including you in that assessment." His eyes, the same green as every other Wyndham I'd met, studied me carefully.

Honestly, the eyes were the only part I'd guessed right. Alistair Wyndham looked…old. Not beaten down or weathered. Just old. Healthy full cheeks were adorned with a snow white beard, and his hair, though very similar to the natural upsweep that my dad and I had, wasn't sandy blonde, but pure ivory. His eyes had crows feet at the corners, showing he smiled quite a bit, and he looked sweet and harmless.

He looked like a mix between someone's grandfather and a movie star. "You look older than I expected."

I didn't mean to say it, it just kind of slipped out, but as I said it I didn't regret the words. Alistair was the kind of person who valued honesty and communication. I could FEEL it in here. All knowledge was precious to him.

"I spent quite a bit longer in S-rank than most," he admitted. "I've always been patient. I could have made…adjustments. But I didn't see the point. My wife and children have long since died, and I rarely see anyone anymore. It's mostly just Aiden. Oh, and Pomp and Circumstance. They're my wisps. Though I haven't seen Pomp in some time." He glanced up into the sky, eyes fixing on a bookshelf, and one of the books glowed. "Ah, apparently I sent him out to pick up a rare Skill for me. Oh well, it's only been a century, I'm sure he's fine."

That was interesting. "So, not that I'm not excited to meet you, but I'm curious why you wanted to see me. Is this just onboarding, or did you have a specific goal."

"Both," he admitted. "I always greet the new ones. But more than that, I heard you've been having an interesting couple years. You've met several interesting deities. Suvaya I knew about, but I confess, the idea of a Heretic God is fascinating. I'd love to pick your brain. Or you could just tell me about it if you'd rather be boring."

I snorted at what I hoped was a joke. "Well, I think if you want information, I'm going to need to get something out of it. That's like…the first rule of the WCP, isn't it?"

That brought him up short, but he grinned after a moment. "That it is. What do you want?"

I'd expected that to be harder. Except…I had no idea. He was the Wishmaster, I could ask for almost anything. Power, techniques, Skills, items. I mean sure, the knowledge wasn't likely to pay for ANYTHING. But it could pay for something.

Considering my options, I thought about what I'd needed in the past. What I'd had that had changed the game. What I'd lost. And I only really had one response. "I want a defensive token," I decided. I'd used the Lady's protecting Callie, and ever since I had, I'd felt…naked. Having that divine level insurance had helped the world seem a little safer. And given where I was going and who I'd be dealing with moving forward, I wanted that security back.

"Smart," he said approvingly. "Too many people would have wished for some kind of overpowered Skill. Why didn't you?"

I shrugged. "I already have too many options. If I want an overpowered Skill I'll make one. Or at least a technique. But nothing I can get will be strong enough to protect me when I really need it. Defense is something I can't buy or make. Not at that level. Gods don't give out protection like that easily. And I suspect my information is worth it. Don't forget I'm your successor, I know the value of secrets."

"Clearly," he grinned. "Very well. You'll need to make the wish. Any particulars you'd like to hammer out?"

"Three uses," I clarified. "I don't want a one and done."

He shook his head. "Two is the highest I can go. Your information IS valuable, but not priceless. Now that I know the Heretic God exists I can find information on my own through trial and error. Is that acceptable?"

I hesitated. "No," I finally said. "I want to transfer one. One for me and one for my wife."

"That I can do," he acknowledged. "But they aren't going to be under your control. It'll have to be placed ON you. It'll activate if you're the victim of a serious attack by someone at S-rank or higher."

That wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but I was literally talking to a god. It was probably better than I should have asked for. I nodded, and he raised an eyebrow at me. It took me a second to realize what I was supposed to do, and I cleared my throat. "I wish for divine protection of the type we've just agreed on to be placed on my wife and I in exchange for a copy of the memories of my meeting with the Heretic God."

Callie had figured he might want to know about Atlas, and we'd already discussed and decided to give them to him if asked. I hadn't realized until just now how valuable the information might be, and therefore that I could get a wish, but I was satisfied with what I'd asked for.

Alistair smiled, nodding respectfully. "Done."

I blinked. "Wait…what? What do you mean, done? Where's the lightning? The flash of light? I didn't feel anything."

"This is Wishworld," he said simply. "Reality here is what I make it. Within the confines of the Wish, all who enter here are under my influence. You wished, you paid, and now you are made whole. You may go."

The jovial grandpa smile had vanished like the wind, and he returned to his book, dipping a quill and beginning to write. It wasn't that he had been faking, it was that he had wanted something from me and now gotten it. The Wishmaster was a god of the deal. His interest in mortal affairs extended only to the wishes he granted and those he deemed worthy to make them.

Oddly…that made me feel better. I'd been so paranoid when he was being a nice old man. It just didn't fit with my image of what gods were. I sighed, then pushed back my chair. I was about to get up, but I realized that at the very least, I should CHECK what kind of protection he'd laid on me. I held up a finger for Aiden to wait, and then I closed my eyes and entered my ring of Pride.

My library looked the same as ever. Mostly. Except one difference. There was a second pedestal like the one my Chronicle sat on, a bright white stone plinth above which floated a book made of living purple flame, bound in violet lightning. In the flickers of the flames, runes and stats danced and leapt, rearranging and recombining infinitely, as if driven by the fire like an engine. I grinned down at it, then looked back at my ancestor as I left. "Thanks old man," I told him sincerely. And you know? I swore I saw him smirk a little as I got up to leave. Sneaky bastard.

Someone who wasn't me might wonder why I was so excited. I'd met my ancestor, he'd said almost nothing to me, then he'd kicked me out. Which…honestly had been what I'd expected. He was the Wishmaster. As a god centered around deals and contracts, once I was no longer relevant to him it wasn't surprising he had no use for me.

He'd answered no questions, given no advice, and hadn't even really acknowledged me as a relative with more than a passing comment. And despite that, he'd given me the most profound gift of my life.

I was sure he knew it, too. Because he could have granted that wish in a lot of different ways. An item, a blessing, there were dozens of methods of applying a defensive construct. And none of them would have been as earthshattering as the one he'd just given me. A book. A Skill (or technique?) book constructed from his power INSIDE my library. Where I could study it. Learn its secrets.

Of course, the first thing I did was try to do just that, splitting off a parallel and sending it to pilot my body back to my friends while I slipped into the library to explore this new gift. But naturally, when I got to it, I realized things weren't QUITE that simple.

The book was definitely impressive. As I stared down at it, my breath was stolen by the sheer artistry of the construction. The first thing I noticed was that despite being closed, because of the way it was designed, I could read the whole thing from above, or below, or even the sides. The runes that constructed it weren't opaque, even if they were constantly moving and shifting. Flames and lightning made up the tome, but they were mostly just SHAPED like a book, and that made a huge difference. I triggered Dantalion to study it, and I was blown away.

Mostly because the construct was shifting and changing in a way that made it feel almost ALIVE. Every symbol related to every other symbol. The first symbol in the book wasn't just the symbol before the next, it also aligned with a different effect when read in line with the one below, and diagonal. And more than that, each page was its own individual effect, and each chapter.

It was…art. Every individual instance of a rune was part of a constellation of different effects at any given moment, and all those constellations were part of a larger construction, each rune being used in a thousand ways in a thousand different patterns that were themselves making up larger patterns until-

I woke up. It was a little jarring. That was a LOT of information. My brain didn't really BEND in the way necessary to do that yet. But I knew how it could. Parallels. I needed more parallels. A lot of them. All going at once and calculating for a thousand days and- I shook my head.

Slowly. I needed to go slowly. That book was so far beyond what I could conceptualize. It wasn't just the insane cascading, overlapping patterns of formation like constructs. It was the fact that every second they were MOVING, rearranging themselves. And when viewed from a macro perspective, even THAT was a pattern. I could almost see it if I focused, almost grasp the edge of a great sprawling tapestry of constructs, all lined up in front of me in a way that showed me that the design wasn't just constructed in three dimensions. Yes, the thing was book shaped, and that was important, but beyond that, time was also a dimension the enchantment functioned in, with each second being part of an even larger array of overlapping design.

Which was why I had blacked out. I was doing too much. Trying to brute force something I had no chance at brute forcing. Scowling, I reached out for my staff. I called the object to me, then carefully set it above the book. Not interfering or even interacting, I wanted to avoid setting it off, if that was possible.

And this was why I'd been so grateful to my ancestor. The old man had made this book a PART of my library. Not in a 'stolen authority' kind of way. Like he'd loaned it to me for my collection. And since the library and my staff could work together to simulate different Skills and patterns, it would be perfect for reverse engineering this book…eventually. I set the Wisdom of Solomon to processing. And winced.

The book was changing too fast. To build an appropriate model, it would need to first build a model of each configuration, then try to line them up in the right way to create the overarching construct in spacetime. Which I had zero idea where to even start on. But before all that, I'd need to get a copy of each individual sequence of the book. And considering that my staff was having trouble calculating even one or two runes…that wouldn't happen soon.

Grimacing, I created another parallel to keep watch. Then I waved my hand and constructed a table full of empty books. "Alright," I told me. "You know the drill. The staff is going to take down every rune. Try to figure out which of them belongs to which sequence and put them together as best you can. Figure out how long until we get repeats, and then figure out if those are consistent. The staff is building the patterns, but you need to build the pattern of patterns."

Despite all that, and the fact that it would take me probably YEARS to crack this at the current pace. I was excited. Even the partial decryption was going to expand my understanding of Skill construction by leaps and bounds. And not just mine. My staff wasn't just stimulating, it was learning. And the more it learned the more it learned how to learn.

That wasn't all of it though. He hadn't just given me one of these. He's also given CALLIE one. And since my wife and I were connected at the soulular level (technical term I'd just made up), I could access hers too. Maybe it was different. Or maybe it wasn't, which would probably be better, because I would be able to compare and contrast (somewhat, without another staff it seemed unlikely to be that easy, but a man could dream).

I was about to return to my body, go find my wife, and then have her escort me into her soul space…and then I realized. Why would I need to do that? Our souls were connected by the bond. Truly, deeply, madly connected. We could share anything if we wanted to.

Soul spaces were…well, part of the soul. They were Domains, or pseudo Domains in our case. So since our souls were connected, why couldn't our soul SPACES?

I focused on the bond, closed my eyes, and then tried to PUSH myself between one space in the next. It didn't work. I tried again. Nothing. I kept at it for a minute or two, until I heard a knock on the door. Except I was currently inside my soul, so there shouldn't BE a door here. I opened my eyes to find that one had materialized.

It was set into a wall that had just been shelves previously, a large pair of gilded double doors, white at the top and bleeding darker to grey and then black as it approached the floor. A series of strange curved and twisted windows flowed down it, individual cells in a design that formed a familiar symbol. My well of wishes. There was another knock. I frowned, walking over to the other side of the room and pulling the door open slowly, ready for anything even if I knew what this PROBABLY was.

Sure enough, my wife was waiting on the other side, her eyebrow raised. "You know we can TALK telepathically?" she pointed out, her arms crossed in front of her in annoyance. "You could have just ASKED me to let you in."

I blinked. "I…did not consider that. I was kind of distracted. I assume you noticed-"

"The purple book made of flames and lightning sitting on the altar in my temple?" she finished dryly. "Yeah, it came up. I assume you're going to tell me what that's about? Because I've been getting a flood of excitement through the bond with no context." I explained the books and where they came from, and she seemed a little on the fence about if she was happy I'd used half of my wish for her. When I pointed out it was based on a memory I only had because of her link to Atlas, she caved and just said thank you, giving me a soft kiss and the kind of smile that still tied my stomach in knots even after years together.

After I finished explaining though, she paused to look up at the door. "Also, I didn't know we could do this. Did you know we could do this?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. Though it'll be damned useful. You can come down here to train and work on your techniques. With your new form you'll have to build an arsenal of them, and this is the perfect place."

"You're not wrong," she admitted. "So, are you gonna come in or what? I assume that you want to look at the book directly?" She glanced past me to where my staff sat above my copy. "Seems like you're already hard at work cracking the code. How long are you thinking, couple months?"

I snorted. "How about a couple years? Or possibly decades. This isn't something I can rush. I'll learn a lot in the process, but this…Cal, this is so far beyond anything I've ever seen. I can't even put it into words. It's almost a living being. This is like me building those walkie talkies that kids use out of strings and a pair of cups and then someone handing me a scan ring. It's…nominally the same as what I've been doing, but the scale is so absurdly different that you can barely even call them the same process. I thought I was impressive, honestly, at least with techniques. But past a certain level I'm not sure Skills and techniques are even different things. I guess they never were, given the way the library records them and things like sold paths."

Shaking my head in disbelief I laughed. "That's something for another time. I tried to brute force this earlier and knocked myself unconscious. INSIDE my soul. Slow and steady is the best course of action here. Why don't we go and take a look at yours. See if it's the same. Or if I can even tell."

We laughed, and I slung an arm over her shoulder, the two of us passing through the door from my soul to hers. When we entered, I looked over the temple that was her soul space. And I spotted a new stained glass window. Blinking, I stared at it for a moment before turning to smile at her. "Is that what I think it is?" It was an image of us huddled together, her head resting on my chest as we closed our eyes.

"Yeah," she grinned. "I felt like it was just…right to have it here. I considered using it to bind a page, but the pages reinforce certain aspects of your abilities. And I think that one would just empower the bond. Which I like, but I'm not sure I want it to be my FIRST page, you know?"

I nodded. "I can see that. We can always use it later." I squeezed her against me. "It was an important memory for me too. Now, let's go take a look at this book." We set off down the purple carpet towards the altar where the book sat, burning merrily away. Somehow, I doubted we were going to get any real answers from it right now. But hey, at least it was a pretty decoration.

Aiden escorted me back to the suite of rooms my people were staying in. The walk was…informative. The WCP reminded me of nothing so much as a walled city. It wasn't a building, for all the it was in one piece. Huge towering chambers, spatial manipulation, artificial sunlight, parks, there were amenities inside the palace that I hadn't seen in actual cities, and the walls themselves were at LEAST A-rank materials.

The tour was educational and very entertaining, but the company sucked. If I hadn't been communing with my wife and studying god level skill engineering, I might have been offended.

Once we arrived, he dropped me off with a casual wave and vanished, leaving me alone to push the door open and slip inside. My family was waiting. Chelsea, Callie, mom, dad, Zeke, Uncle Sam, and my grandparents. My grandfather let out a sigh of relief when he saw me, but my dad just rolled his eyes. "I TOLD you he'd be fine. If the old man wanted to hurt him he wouldn't need a summons. You know how powerful gods are within their Domains."

My dad shrugged. "He was fine. Like I said. Though now that we're here…I think it might be time to talk about picking your cabinet."

I blinked at him. "My…what now?"

"Your cabinet," he repeated. "You know, the people who do most of the day to day work while you're Wishmaster?"

"But…Aiden said that he does everything?" I said slowly. "He hates it. Says its the worst job of all time. He literally mocked me for taking over and went on about how much work it is." I was poleaxed. Was the previous Wishmaster messing with me?

My dad snorted out a laugh. "Because Aiden is a control freak. He trusts almost no one. Have you seen him spending time with anyone? Talking to any friends? He's a miserable paranoid lunatic. That happens when you completely dominate an entire generation through the threat of overwhelming violence. I didn't think you took any of that seriously. I mean yes, he hates the job, but it's mostly his own fault. People just don't call him on it because he scares them."

"Yeah, because people love you and you have so many friends," I said dryly. "I can't even mention your name in public without members of the family wetting themselves. No wonder you get along so well." Besides, given the conversation about his wife, I wasn't sure Aiden was as much of a loner as he let on. Still, it wasn't pleasant news to get this late in the game.

"He's right," Zeke cut in. "I love you, bud, but if not for Sasha and I you would have no social life. You used to be more personable, but you gradually lost all ability to socialize."

Chuckling at my dad's glower, I turned to Zeke. "As fun as it is to mess with him, I really do need to know what this cabinet thing is. Because apparently Aiden didn't bother to mention it, which is either entirely expected from him or so oblivious it's hard to fathom, and now that I say it out loud I think both of those are equally likely."

"Pretty much," my dad chuckled. "But basically, the Wishmaster acts as a counterbalance to the Elder's Council, having about half the power in the WCP. But since half their job is to soak up renown constantly via their position, they can't be expected to do everything. They usually bring on a cadre of loyal supporters to handle their business inside the family. It's a useful series of positions to fill…but politically complicated."

I groaned. "Of COURSE it is. Go ahead. Lay it on me. What fresh hell is this?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's nothing absurd. There's just some…considerations. Picking your cabinet is about making alliances, forming connections, and cementing your position in the family. Part of why Aiden never bothered. But YOU could benefit from that, especially given you're probably going to be leaving on a sensitive mission soon."

"I take it I can't just pick people I already know?" I gestured to my wife and sister. "I can think of a few selections I could make right now."

"That's sweet of you," my mother said with a smile. "And your sister may be a good choice, given her unique capabilities, but you shouldn't choose ALL outsiders. One or two is fine, but some of those slots should go to politically connected dynasties, or uniquely talented individuals you want to hitch to your wagon. Plus the individual offices have different skillsets, so just picking people who punch hard is unlikely to work out well."

Sighing, I nodded. "Fine, then fill me in. What are these positions and who do I need to fill them with? I assume you guys have suggestions? This is feeling less like you checking on me and more like a strategy meeting."

She just shrugged. "It can be both. But there are seven traditional cabinet positions. Master of Ceremonies, Master of Banking, Master of Challenge, Master of Treaties, Master of Development, Master of Substitution, and Master of Secrets. Like we said, Aiden didn't have a cabinet, so it's not mandatory, but anyone with any social skills makes use of them. No one can do it all alone. Of course, if you dislike the positions, there are alternate offices that have been used in the past, or you could make up your own. But the traditional seats hold a certain amount of…weight."

"Ok…" I said slowly. "So I get Ceremonies and Banking. What about the others? Secrets is like a spymaster?"

"Basically. There's some deeper significance given the role of secrets in the wishing process." My dad confirmed. "But their job is essentially to gather information. It's a difficult office to fill because secrets are one of the few major issues with wishes."

I grimaced at that. "So are people going to expect me to pick a Wyndham optimized to granting wishes of that specific kind for each office?"

He waggled a hand. "Not necessarily. I'll cover the positions on order. As you said. Banking and Ceremonies are obvious, though I would suggest you think CAREFULLY about both. The WCP is an economic powerhouse and events are a huge part of our interaction with the outside world. They're both crucial positions."

"Noted," I said solemnly. "I'll keep it in mind, but what about the others?"

Sighing, he leaned back. "The Master of Challenge acts as your Champion. They're usually supposed to be someone close to your rank, all of the cabinet is, because they gain renown alongside you, albeit to a lesser extent. Your Master of Challenge will be your sword and shield against equal ranked enemies, and as you both grow will take a larger and larger role. When you eventually step down, your cabinet will retire with you, becoming your own household. MOST of the time a retired Wishmaster hits S-rank and his cabinet members become part of his branch."

I blinked at that. "Wait…how many members of the Elder Council are former Wishmasters?" I asked slowly.

"Three," my dad said bluntly. "Desmond, Cristoph, and Warren. Warren is the youngest, and was the reigning Wishmaster before Aiden. Cristoph was before him, and Desmond was four generations ago. Cristoph's predecessor died under mysterious circumstances. It was kind of a scandal. Don't bring it up."

I frowned. "What, we've never had a female Wishmaster? Wishmistress? How would you say that."

"It's Wishmaster, because of the renown gain, and yes, we have," he sighed. "A few of them. Adalind was the Wishmaster…I want to say fifteen generations ago? She was killed in a border skirmish after retiring. Cassidy was thirty generations before her, and she died of old age."

That brought me up short. Hearing about that…it really brought home how old my family was. I mean yes, I knew S-rankers lived usually between fifty and a hundred thousand years, and that the Wishmaster office could pass on anywhere between a few decades and a few centuries depending on how big of an impact the new boss had, but still…how many Wishmasters had there been?

How OLD was the old man? Even if he was only a hundred thousand, averaging out Wishmasters to one change a century (admittedly a bit optimistic) that was a thousand potential Wishmasters. No wonder he didn't get involved in the selection.

"Anyway," my dad said waspishly. "The Master of Treaties is basically your voice in political matters. They decide where new branch locations will be founded, how many resources we funnel to EXISTING branches, and what we get in return for a branch existing in the territory of another faction. Basically they handle contracts, but on a much larger scale. The Master of Substitution takes your place for important events or when you need to be elsewhere. Like a body double.

"Finally," he said grimly. "We have the Master of Development. That's your head of research. You want something done? You give it to him and he does it. New item created? Now Skill developed? Need some lost knowledge uncovered? All of that goes to the Master of Development. The position is mostly assumed by the Wishmaster's closest advisor and confidant, because it requires absolute trust."

Frowning, I glanced around at the three of them, then at my grandparents. "You said you don't think I should fill my cabinet with outsiders, that I should use tot bind some elements of the family closer to me. I assume you have candidates in mind? And how many of the positions can I reserve for my people?"

"Well, there's nothing that says you need to have a hard number," my mother hedged gently. "We can't just come out and tell you what to d-"

"Two," my dad cut her off. "You shouldn't appoint more than two outsiders." She turned to glare at him and he shrugged. "What? It's true. No need to coddle the boy. Two is still plenty. I assumed he'll be giving at least one position to his wife, and we can consider Chelsea as one of the other five."

My sister shook her head. "Nope," she said firmly. "None of those positions suits me. I don't want a job just to ride my brother's coattails, thanks. I can make my own way. But I think the Master of Challenge should be either Abel or Bethy."

"Bethy," my wife said firmly. "A connection to Lark in an official capacity would be huge, and she's the scariest C-ranker we know. In terms of pure combat potential, the only one close to her is Abel, and he doesn't have the same political advantages. As for the other one…Crell. You should pick Crell as your Master of either Treaties or Ceremonies."

I didn't like that, and I could tell she didn't either…but I also knew she was right. Crell was one of the most devious people I'd ever met. He could talk anyone in circles, and always had a plan or an angle. Given that skillset…"Treaties," I decided. "I'll extend Crell an invitation to be my Master of Treaties. Him being B-rank won't be an issue, will it?"

"Unlikely," my dad assured me. "He only recently ranked up. He's still close enough to you that it shouldn't be an issue." He gave me a reassuring smile. "For what it's worth, those are good choices. The ones I'd have made myself."

I nodded my thanks, but then glanced at Callie and Chelsea. To my surprise neither looked unhappy. I knew Callie had wanted to be part of my cabinet, I could feel it, but she knew it was only smart to do what was best for my position. Plus, I think she was secretly relieved not to have too much more responsibility. She was already dealing with a lot.

"Alright, we'll that's two down," I said wryly. "Now we just have five to go. You mentioned some suggestions? Because I get the impression most of them are people I don't know." Or people I wouldn't like. But I left that unsaid. No need to be rude where anyone could hear. That's what the privacy of my own head was for.