Recognition

The first response Neph saw came from the Church of Storms, rather than either of the other two churches.

It all began the following afternoon. She visited Klein during his "nap" and handed him several Beyonder Characteristics. The Black Skull Gang was not actually wealthy; they did not even have a Sequence 7-

Of course, that was normal. They were not a particularly large gang.

Klein had wanted to refuse this unexpected windfall, but Neph waved a hand and told him, "Take them.

"There's something I need your help with."

"What is it?" Klein accepted them.

"Keep an eye on Hazel Macht for me," Neph said. "If you catch her going into the sewers at night again, remember to tell me."

"-Since when did you become a babysitter?" Klein did not understand.

"I'm not doing it for her." Neph rolled her eyes at Klein. "That teacher of hers is too cautious. They haven't given her any way to arrange a meeting; all contact is one-way. And I can't keep watching Hazel."

Klein understood somewhat after hearing that. He nodded, then brought up another matter. "Mr. Hanged Man asked me to pass something on to you."

Mid-May was when Alger returned to Pasu Island to report on his work. Although he was nominally a mid-ranking member of the Church, he had actually only visited Pasu Island three times.

Once had been after finding the Azure Avenger and advancing to Seafarer, and once had been for the previous year's report. The other visit had been long ago, when, as a mixed-blood child with dark blue hair, he had been selected to join the children's choir at headquarters. But with no talent for singing, he had soon been sent away, returning to the little church on the island where he had been born