Chasing Fate (Sentinel & Guide)

Chapter 51

[Fixed some typos but it's Unedited]

After bonding for the first time that day, Fate and Jack had fallen into a friendly routine. They'd agreed on spending 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening reaffirming the bond until it was strong and stable. 

That was about all the free time they had, as Jack's work caught back up to him.  Now that he was heir sentinel and done running around to retreats, he had a lot of catching up to do. Most of it was paperwork and meetings with other clan sentinels. He spent hours at the desk in the shared home office, answering emails and making calls. 

On other days he'd get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the fight gym, continuing his training and coaching the next generation of fighters. On those days Kay would be his shadow, orchestrating his time in the public eye and helping negotiate his celebrity and sentinel appearances. 

He'd even been a guest on a local radio show to interview about the whole situation, though he blithely deflected any and all personal questions about his yet-unseen guide. 

This left Fate in a strange position. As the Heir Sentinel, Jack was a public figure, not a public servant. Unlike Elliot and Neha, who needed to use their skills all day every day, Fate wasn't particularly necessary on a morning talk show or in a fight gym.

She was allowed to sit and twiddle her thumbs for exactly one day alone before Martha got hold of her. After that was a whirlwind that made Jack's packed schedule look lenient. 

The prime sentinel of the region performed many duties, but most of these only came up when all else failed. Their guides however, had a far more complex role. They maintained the relationships in the community, keeping it as harmonious as humanly possible. 

For a region as big as the Hammond's, which stretched along nearly half of the west coast, including a major and two minor cities,  it was a lot to handle. Martha had explained the delegation process to Fate on their first trip out, but there was no strict hierarchy like there was for sentinels. The guides helped where they could. 

Fate found the work surprisingly similar to her old job as an intermediary, though the clientele was markedly different. For instance, right now she was wearing her best dress (again) and having a late lunch with the mayor of the next town over, as well as the rail commisioner and the senior guides of that town, who all had conflicting views on how the project should proceed. That very same morning they'd been in the local domestic violence center, getting a read from the guide that managed the place and seeing how they could mobilize local sentinels to step in. 

Fate's head was spinning a bit. It had been three weeks of similar packed schedules, and she wasn't sure she'd ever get the hang of it. Martha was like a frog in water, every interaction went smoothly and left everyone smiling, feeling better about the entire outlook, while Fate's stiffly posed neutral face was met with general discomfort. 

Or so she thought. 

Martha appreciated having Fate around to help. It was clear that she had some room for improvement, but most of it was a lack of confidence in her environment. She was very much a natural intermediator, and very charismatic when she let herself shine. She'd received quite a few texts from her friends after their rounds praising her son's choice in guide. Everyone could tell she was exceptionally strong. It was a blessing that she was also exceptionally competent. 

Though, the papers seemed to be of a different opinion. For those in the sentinel and guide community, it was easy to see and hear about the Heir Sentinel's new guide. Word spread that she was quiet but exceptionally competent and promising in her new duties. However, the sentinel community is also very insular. The Hammonds especially do not take kindly to personal business being aired, innocuous or otherwise.