Shadows of Self

Wax Steelpushes his way over the city; as he does so, he spots an altercation near a Pathian temple and stops. A group of people is throwing bottles and rocks at the unimposing hut, so Wax lands and intimidates them into running away. He tells the missionary inside to leave and to take any other missionaries she knows in the area. On his way out, he confronts one of the Survivorists who attacked the temple. The Survivorist reveals he did not know about the killing of the Survivorist priest; he and the others were attacking because two Pathians entered a pub and started mouthing off about the Survivor. Wax realizes Bleeder’s plan is much wider than he thought and that MeLaan is wrong—Bleeder is working with others. Wax considers she might be working with his uncle.

Wax continues to his destination, a field of carriages for hire. The proprietor finds him searching the carriages for signs of the silver paint being scratched, since he saw silver paint on the walls of the alley where he presumed Bleeder fled from the Survivorist church. The man allows Wax to look through his records, and Wax gets the sense the man is hiding something.