The Grave Keeper

Vouchers

We are nearing the end of part one. Which feels weird to say, I had a nice thick backlog of chapters and now that log is just a few planks.

With how things are looking right now I'm not going to be able to upload part two immediately. So we are going to have a break of a couple of weeks or longer after the end of part one.

Cornelius wrapped his knuckles on the faded green door with a dull thud. It was the fourth time he'd done so in the last ten minutes.

Dalton, who Cornelius had to admit had been very patient, finally broke. "Why are we standing here?" The visible effort it took him to not whine the question made it come out sounding pained.

He nodded to him but kept his attention on the door. "Good job for lasting that long. You earned some points. Unfortunately, you lose those points since I told you this morning why we're here."

Dalton gave him a pleading look. "Does it really count as telling me if you do it when you know I won't be awake enough to remember?"

Cornelius sighed. "Fine." He turned away from the door slightly to face his apprentice. "They're probably going to make us wait a few more minutes anyway. We are here to collect vouchers, my apprentice." Dalton gave him a blank look. "How do you not know what those are? You should've learned about those in middle school!"

Cornelius held up a hand to stop Dalton's reply. "You know what, never mind. This is partially my fault anyway. I am your master; it's my job to teach you things." Cornelius did some quick mental math. "Plus, I think World War II was the last time a summit of this scale was called. Have you read about the Hollow-Port incident?"

Dalton nodded. "That was a small city in South America that got screwed over, right? A werewolf warlord tried to take it over, and everything went to hell."

Cornelius waggled his hand. "That's partly right. A werewolf and a vampire warlord couple that tried to take it over, and they had already conquered several other small pieces of territory, including a few small covens and packs, none of the older houses or packs, of course. But they were making a splash. Enough of one that several factions, including the mage clans, decided to stop them in Hollow Port. The problem was, none of the factions there had any holdings or dealings in Hollow-Port. In short, none of them cared about it. That was partly why the warlords decided to try and take the city over."

Cornelius's expression fell as he continued. "Dalton, you've read some of the history books, you've seen a couple duels. You've heard the stories. But you've never really seen the kind of power that the factions can bring to bear. It's terrifying. And that power combined with a lack of restraint... Half the city was destroyed. Thousands of civilians dead. After that, some of the factions were fine with the destruction. But plenty were not, and plenty of smaller powers were very unhappy. So now we have the vouchers. If a faction wants to vote on something that affects a community, they need to have vouchers from that community, or their votes will be worthless." Dalton nodded. His expression had fallen as Cornelius talked, all his annoyance at the wait gone.

"How long did it take?" He asked. "The fight? A couple of hours. Max." Dalton shuddered. The door opened, revealing a tall, thin woman in her early sixties. She was clad in a sundress and glared out at them from over a pair of heavy glasses. "Great history lesson. Did you have to give it on my doorstep?"

Dalton had jumped when the door opened, but Cornelius had kept his senses on the hedge mage since they'd gotten to the door. He smiled at the old woman. "Thank you, I'm not the best speaker, but I do think my lessons are getting better. And I'm afraid your doorstep just happened to be convenient for said lesson." The woman snorted. "You're coming to get a voucher? You're a mage; I can tell that much. What clan?" "The Knull." Bespectacled eyes narrowed. "Met a lot of assholes in the Knull." Cornelius nodded easily. "Bet you've met a lot of decent folk in the Knull as well." The woman nodded. "Fair." Her frown deepened. "I'm not even going to consider giving a voucher to someone whose name I don't know." Cornelius extended his hand. "Cornelius." She took it and gave a single firm shake. "Sicily," she said.

Cornelius released her hand and took a step back. After that, they just stared at each other. While this was technically Cornelius's first outing as a diplomat, he had plenty of experience in reading people. Sure, most of that was reading people in combat, but nevertheless, those instincts were telling him to be patient.

After a minute of slightly awkward staring, Sicily spoke in a considering tone. Patience rewarded. "You've certainly been more polite than those werewolves that came through earlier." Cornelius arched a brow. "Small pack of thugs, trying to prove their tough in a new town." The old woman spit. Cornelius saw the woman's aura shift slightly as she used a whisper of wind to guide the spittle into the dirt instead of her doorstep. "They made a few threats before going on their way." Cornelius almost asked if she knew where the werewolves were staying. But he stopped himself.

That isn't your job anymore.

"You said your name was Cornelius, and you're from the Knull clan. You that Cornelius?" He hesitated before answering. "I have... changed jobs in the clan, as you can see. But yes, I am that Cornelius."

Nothing changed in the woman's expression, but she nodded sharply. "You can count me as a voucher then. Now get, I have plants to attend to." Cornelius thanked her and started to turn, but he couldn't stop himself from asking a parting question. "Why?"

The woman looked at Cornelius, her dark eyes inscrutable. "My daughter and grandkids live in Green Veil." Cornelius nodded, then finished his turn. Sicily closed the door as he gestured for Dalton to follow. "Well, that's one down." His apprentice said. "But why did her family living in Green Veil get us a voucher?" Cornelius eyed his apprentice, an odd mix of nostalgia and old fear settling over him. He hadn't thought of Green Veil years. "I haven't given you any study work since we got to Silver Spruce, have I? Why don't you start working on a report on Green Veil? I'll expect it after the summit."

Dalton sighed. "We are at a summit for supernatural nations to discuss war against a vampire warlord. And that's still not enough to get me out of homework."

Thanks for reading!  Vote if you enjoyed, comment if you wanna, and I'll see you next week.