“I—” I started. “I think, the way things are going, I might end up going that way. Teams are a complication of their own.”

“They are,” Tempera said. “I had a phone call earlier, offering a position. I can go right there and sign the paperwork if I want to.”

“With?”

“The Attendant, as it happens,” Tempera said.

I was momentarily lost for words. She’d been doing what I’d thought, inviting me to answer without declaring a position, but from a different angle.

“I want to wait and see how the merger with the Shepherds shakes up, how it feels after, they said not to wait too long. It’s decent money, decent exposure. A lot of decency.”

“Don’t let what I said change your mind on anything. I’m griping, it’s—”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I invited you to gripe, if we’re going to use your word. It’s interesting to hear that take on them. I didn’t know about the racist ex-villains joining. I’m curious about how they handled the Fallen there, too, in your situation.”

“I think, uh, don’t tell them I said this…”

“Of course.”

“…I think they or the people they’re taking guidance from are approaching that stance of there always being bad guys to deal with, and they’re deciding to conserve their energy. To not fight that fight. Maybe it’s right to.”

“You got a draw. That’s better than a win for the bad guys there.”

“It’s—yeah,” I said. “I tried to use reason, draw on the stuff I studied, old knowledge I had about the group. Who they were, how they operate, the families, the names. Put that information out there, so the potential recruits would know the key facts. I tried to get them to say who their leader was, pressed the issue, and of course it was the least bad one, so the argument I was gunning for didn’t have much clout, and I lost steam.”

“I picture the Fallen as a group that’s pretty comfortable defying reason.”

“Them, yes. The recruits, I think they were open to hearing it. I threw out some more information I remembered at the last second, but the Fallen were getting pretty loud, I didn’t want to start a riot, and that was more or less it.”

“And the Attendant?”

“Weren’t keen on me making a point of things when the word from on high was to let the Fallen be. I didn’t get my invite to the team.”

Tempera made a face.

“I don’t like ignoring the monsters. And I do think the Fallen are monstrous, as a collective force.”