3rd adventure: Rebirth

End of scene.

We'll probably have private RP sessions for when everyone gets home. I will do those with you another day, since they'll take some time.

He gets up and walks to the window and opens it up. Already noon. He walks over to to the fairy in bed, who is snoring, and drooling on herself. Her sheets are all over the bed. "Hey. You keep that up, and you'll wet the whole bed."

"Hmm?" Breeze lazily opens one eye. "Uh? What?"

"Did you sleep well?"

"Uh? No! A big guy woke me up on my day off." She brings back half of the blanket on herself and hides underneath it. "Wake me up for lunch."

"I am waking you up for brunch, Blue. it's 12pm!"

"Dinner then. We just saved the world, so we can sleep in for today."

He shrugs. "Okay." He goes to the kitchen and starts to cook breakfast for two. He cooks scrambled eggs, sausages, edible pancakes (damning himself with faint praise), and sets out two plates across from each other, and a cup of juice to accompany each.

He returns to Breeze again to wake her a second time. "You sure you don't want to get up and have brunch with me?"

The blue-haired girl lifts her head again. "Hmm? It's already dinner?" She sits up and rubs her eyes. "Feels like I just went back to sleep." A yawn escapes her mouth.

"Sure. Anyway, it'll be gone if you take too long getting up, because I'm a greedy pig."

"Carry me!" She extends her arms towards him.

He laughs and picks her up with his hand and with the grace of a gentle giant, he carries her to the kitchen and sits her down in front of her plate. He himself wastes no time getting to his own food, having been tempted by the smell when he was cooking.

"Thanks Wildfire!" She smiles at the sight of food, and hastily digs into her plate. It takes her a lot more time than Konrad, but she manages to eat everything. "Phew, that was good!" She rubs her belly. "The pancakes were also okay. You're getting better at it!"

Okay, indeed. Better reaction that I could have hoped for. "You feeling awake now?"

"Yup!" She looks outside the windows, and it suddenly dawns on her. "Hey, it's not dinner at all!"

Laughing, he reminds her, "I never said it was!"

"What?" She blinks multiple times before frowning again. "Oh, just you watch. Next time you bring a girl here, I'll have a surprise for you! You'll learn not to trick Breeze the Fairy ever again!" She then picks up a leftover piece of sausage and starts chewing on it.

"Uh-oh. What did I step into?" He's still very amused. If I ever bring a special friend over, you'll be somewhere else, sweetheart! "Hey, I can't help thinking about what Jasmine has to do with you in particular, if not all of fairy kind. Remember that orb we found in the director? You didn't make it, did you?"

"No, I didn't." She takes another big bite of her sausage. "And it's a globule!"

"Right. Hey, remember when you woke up in the woods with your brothers and sisters? Did you wake up first or last?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure..." She has to think about it. "I think I woke up somewhere around the middle? I'm not sure. Why? You think it's important?" She finishes her sausage and stands up to drink some juice from a straw.

"Maybe not. Jasmine's not you, but she looks like you. Naturally, I figure the circumstances around your awakening might be important. Or perhaps your capture...I wonder if Sonlake knows more.... Well, I'll go and speak to him about it. There's something else. It might be connected, but I don't know how. Jasmine wasn't the only one helping us fight Snicker. There was a Wind Elemental with us! It was helping her cast spells."

Breeze lets go of the straw and sits down again. "An Elemental?" She tilts her head. "I don't understand. Steve thinks Jasmine might be like a mother to me, but what would an Elemental have to do with that?"

"Oh, I wish I knew. Maybe it helped her make fairies? There's very little that the experts know about the Elementals. I think the Elementals like it that way. Tell me, have you noticed anything different about the fairies in Zest?"

"Anything different? Not really. They remind me of my brothers and sisters, except they're not my family. But they're also fun to hang out with!"

Konrad rubs his forehead. He has one foot in the conversation and the other one firmly in deep thought. "It's good that you have friends outside of Lofell. Maybe we'll go there someday. I'd like to go back to the Enclave soon, though. I want to see if I can find any differences between fairies born on different islands."

Clue: Intellligence Roll

Zeiss wrote:

Konrad realizes that everything that happened in this "dream" was a representation of the party members' mind, Snicker's, and... Breeze's?

"Well, for sure, we're going to have to talk to Jasmine again. Then we'll have to decide beforehand how long we're going to give ourselves before we pull them out - the or--love globules. Perhaps one hour will be enough..." He stops rambling. "Breeze, did you remember anything new when you woke up today?"

"Eh? No, I didn't. Oh, you remember that fight against dragony Snicker?"

"Yeah. That's why I know about the Elemental on our side. Tell me, has anyone ever made a love globule for you?"

"For me? Nope, never! I'm not even sure it's possible..." She considers the possibility.

"Well, someone who's known you for a while could give you one. Someone who loves you as much as you love me." He smiles, having a very good idea of who might want to give her one, besides every fairy she's ever met.

"The only fairy who could give me one is Fluffe, and it's... different than you and me." She's a little shy.

He shrugs. "You've known him for a while now, haven't you? Would you at least call him a friend?"

She starts to push her index fingers against each other, and lowers her head in embarrassement. "...He's my boyfriend."

"Oh, we're all well aware, dearie. I'll admit my asking you is not out of concern for how well your relationship is faring at the moment. So he's you're boyfriend. What does that mean to you?"

She keeps her head low. "It means... he's my friend, but we also do... ‘stuff’."

He finds some humor in the way she brings it up, but his mood does become grim for a moment. "'Stuff' you've read all about, I imagine? About the risks, at least."

Breeze is momentarily caught off-guard, and she raises her head, puzzled by the question. She then realizes what he means. "Oh, I asked Fedler about it, just to be sure. 'Cause, you know... she's a girl."

"Good." As long as you're not getting hurt. "Anyway. If he's your friend, and you love your friends, then you love him. It's that simple, as far as what I'm asking for. The other feelings you have for him, they're extra, but no less special. Right? A different way of loving someone is still love."

She can only look at Konrad for a few seconds before a smile makes it way on her face. "Right!" She then emphasizes her agreement with a big nod.

He chuckles. "It's uncanny how often I find myself giving advice in these matters. I should open a shrink shop! So...another question about you and Fluffy: this little thing you have going with him. Short term? Or long term?"

She starts scratching the back of her head. "I don't know. I mean, I would like it if we stayed together for a long time. Maybe. I just... didn't think too much about it. Because of work. But we still write to each other though!"

"Uh-huh. So you wanna get serious with him. Have you told him what you want?"

"...No.  And I'm not sure yet that I want to, you know, only be with him. We've been together, like really together, only when we visited Zest. Fedler said I should maybe wait a little before I decide." She pauses and then looks at Konrad in the eyes. "How do you know when you don't want to be with someone forever?"

Aww. That's cute, he thinks. He also gulps a little. "Aww Blue." Konrad uses a fingernail to carefully brush Breeze's hair aside. "You're asking the wrong...question. Let me ask you one: Does it hurt your tiny heart to be away from him?"

She carefully thinks about the answer to that question. "Most of the time, no. Except... when I'm alone, and I think about our time together. Like when I'm in my bed, and I'm going to sleep."

"And when you're alone, whether it's in your bed, or anywhere else, what time together are you thinking about? Those moments with him that give you joy, lasting happiness? Or something more shallow and fleeting?"

"I... don't know." She thinks about it some more. "I like to think about the jokes we make, or our strolls in the forest. Is that good?"

He shakes his head. "'Good' is subjective, it depends on what you want. And...yeah, I think that means you want to be with him forever, kiddo. Just like Fedler and Mihai."

She smiles. "You think so? But how do you know this? I thought you and Aemilia wasn't for forever."

"Heh." There's a pause. "Well, what we have--had. We thought some things, and we thought wrong. Honestly, it was a relief to us both, but it doesn't always play out that way. Without that want for a life with someone, you're just friends being more intimate with each other than with others. Nothing wrong with that. But it's important to be honest with the other person, and with yourself."

Stop talking nonsense, Other Konrad.
It's not nonsense, it's the truth. You need to listen.

"Ooh..." Breeze is now sitting with her arms around her legs and her chin on her knees. "Then I hope that whatever I want is the same thing as Fluffle.  I don't want to hurt him." She lowers her head, and in a lower voice, she adds, "And I don't want to be hurt either."

"That sounds like a conversation for another time, Blue. You can always stay cooped up in here and eat eggs and pancakes every day..."

"Nah! We also gotta work sometimes if we want to keep eating. And we still have to continue being awesome heroes!"

He nods with gusto. "Damn right we do! We live on the edge! I'm gonna clean up here. You going to hang out with some fairy friends today?"

"Eh, I would like to, but I haven't met any fairy that lives in Highwind. But you guys are my friends, so I can hang out with you instead! Oh, I should go see Steve and make sure he is okay after yesterday..."

"Yeah, he definitely needs some company. See ya."

She waves her hand. "Thank you for lunch!" After which, she flies away through the window.

He smiles at her as she leaves, and as soon as she flies out, he finds the Fondness magazine, and starts flipping through it. (no, not for that! I swear.)

Steve is setting up for the party later. Fedler and Zelk are cooking the roast. Mihai is off brooding somewhere, next to some plant.

Someone knocks, and the muffled voice from behind the door seems to utter - "David Deburgurak?"

Steve answers the door. Sarcastically. "David? David Deburgurak? Is that you? It's been so long! It is I, your old comrade Pepi Purchance Pepperton the Third! What brings you to my door you old rogue?"

Konrad just looks at him confused. "What?"

Steve laughs.

"Hey Steve. Great to see you. How's the food coming?" - Konrad asks, 6 hours before dinner.

"It's coming; come in out of the cold. Can I get you something to drink? I still have a bit of that whisky you brought last time."

He steps aside so Konrad can come in.

He steps in. "Oh, sure. Pour me a glass."

"You got it. Hey everybody, Konrad is here!" He walks towards the kitchen to get that drink.

"Just stopping in to say hello. I got an errand to run, and your place was on the way." - He walks into the kitchen and looks at what Zelk and Fedler are working on.

They're taming that roast beef. "Konrad?" says Zelk, surprised. "Eh." Fedler simply nods at him and goes back to work.

". . . ."

"Hello, ladies. Hey, mind if I lend a hand?"

"I thought you had an errand to run." Steve hands Konrad the drink.

"I'm on a flexible schedule." - Konrad takes a sip, then eyes it with a passing intensity.

"You can peel the potatoes," replies Fedler. She gestures at a corner of the kitchen where there are many vegetables ready to be sliced up.

Konrad tips an invisible hat and starts to peel potatoes.

"Where's Breeze?" asks Zelk after some time.

"I thought she was with you."

Mihai glances over, with a look of deja-vú.

"She flew off on her own to see Steve two hours ago. Didn't she stop by?"

"She probably got distracted by something shiny," says Zelk. "She won't get lost; this is her town after all."

"Yeah, she's still well within her usual time. I'll be shocked if she doesn't show up in another couple of hours."

"I wonder if there's a song about potatoes. Might make this go faster..."



One hour later, most of the cooking is done; at least what can be cooked in advance. Fedler will do the rest later. She goes to sit down beside Mihai to have a nap in her chair.

Konrad has since pounded that whiskey. "Zelk, do you have a minute? I need some advice."

She raises an eyebrow. "Sure. We need to go buy some more drinks anyway. You'll carry the bottles." She takes her jacket and gets ready to leave the apartment.

"Oh, now that sounds like my area of expertise."

Steve moves go too. He looks at Mihai, seeing if he wants to go, but the brooding man just waves him off.

"I just figure since you knew Steve in the Citadel, and given his...reputation, well, perhaps it inspired some ideas for practical humor? "I don't want to spoil anything by talking about it in front of the prank specialist.""

Zelk turns to Steve and tells him, "I think Konrad is subtly telling me he doesn't want you to come with us. Can you keep an eye on the roast? I think Fedler is out anyway."

Mihai glances over, but quickly loses interest

Steve is disappointed, but nods. "I can do that." He rehangs his jacket and takes off his scarf.

She adds to Steve's attention, "Oh, don't bother the plant. And don't forget to water Mihai."

"Have fun."

She's then off to the market with Konrad.

Steve laughs and waves them off, shutting the door behind them when they go.

"How you doing over there? Need some water or something?"

"Maybe some scotch, but i'm fine, thanks." - he gets up from the chair, and goes check the roast. - "And i was looking forward to peeling those, too."

"Think he's gonna get back at you for the underpants?"

"He'll try and that's all that matters." - Steve checks the available liquor - "We are out of scotch, but we have whisky and a little wine."

"Ah, don't worry. Shouldn't drink before dinner anyway."

The black mage plunks down a glass of water in front of Mihai. "In case you change your mind." He then sits down on the couch with his own water, from which he sips. "So, what's on your mind? You've been quiet even for you."

"Just..." - Mihai holds the glass without lifting it, and lightly taps on it - "...people left behind."

Fedler still sleeps soundly.



Steve sighs and twirls his own drink. Frowning, he says, "He's still alive because of us. No one else could have had that outcome. At least that we know of. We made the difference."

Mihai is slightly thrown off as he looks at Steve, then returns his gaze to the glass - "Yeah, probably. All that's left is wait for the..." - he vaguely frowns - "...White Mages and researchers."

"Yeah, probably. A lot of bother to find out what Breeze already told them."

"I'll be very surprised if they can find anything that matters, that she wasn't already." - he scoffs quietly - "I just hope they don't rough him up, while they jerk us around."

Steve sips some more water and nods.

Mihai sips some more water after staying quiet for a while.

"We should write his sister a letter, explaining what happened. I'm sure she'll get told by someone but she might appreciate something a bit more human from us."

"Speaking of, i don't know if she knew she was supposed to be getting him back yesterday."

"What do you mean? Why would we deliver him out of nowhere? Wouldn't she need to make arrangements to accept him?"

Mihai looks at him, and considers - "Maybe. But considering all the secrecy, i wouldn't be surprised if only the Warden was told."

"That's strange if that was the case. I'll ask Sonlake about it later."

Mihai shrugs - "Yeah, i need to talk to him too."

Steve gets up to check on the roast. "Did you want a refill while I'm up?"

"I'm good. Plant looks thirsty, though."

"Oh right. I almost never remember to water that thing. If it weren't for Zelk leaving me notes it would be dead."

Mihai pours the water from his glass onto the vase, then gets up - "I'll have that refill."

The black mage ladles some juices over the roast before pushing it back into the oven. He then fills up the glasses with more water. - "Here you go."

"Thanks."

He picks up the watering can and fills it with some water too and walks over to the plant. "Here you go."

The water rains down for 40 seconds, threatening to drown the plant or cause it to rot, because Steve doesn't know how to water plants correctly.

"Hey, you're overdoing it."

"Oh really? You think so?"He stops. "How can you tell?"

"When you got water covering the whole vase by more than a centimeter, it's overkill."

"Ah. When it does that, do I wait and let it absorb the water or do I count to 20 or something? I really don't understand this."

"It's had enough for now. You'll do more harm than good if you give it any more."

"Well okay." He walks beck to the kitchen and puts the can in its spot near the sink. "Roast is coming along. Might be Fedler's best yet."

Mihai looks at it, contemplating - "It looks good. Only find out at the table, though."



"By the way, Steve..."

"Hmm?"

"The water you magic up is drinkable, right?"

"Of course."

"So if you cast Air, it's breathable too?"

"It is, but you should wait for the magic to dissipate before you breathe it. You don't want magic in your lungs, trust me on that."



"Why did you become a Black Mage, of all things? Figure Yellow Magic would have been more your thing, what with the pranking and all."

"Yellow mages are boring and tend to die a lot in battle situations. If I was going to pay off my debts I wanted a good chance of surviving my time as a mercenary and being a black mage gives me that chance."

"That's..." - he says, a little surprised - "...pragmatic."

"What? I can be pragmatic."

"Right." - he says without sarcasm. Or much conviction.

"Despite my...mixed feelings on the matter I'm grateful they took me in and taught me how not to hurt people with my Curse. But they expect us to pay them back for it and well, they are right. But if I have to do it, I'm going to live damn it."

Mihai squints as something strikes him as odd - "Don't they have to teach you regardless, if you're Cursed?"

"Yes, officially that is the case. But it's no coincidence that they steer us towards the Coins. They wisely keep an eye on us to make sure we don't back slide into Madness. It offers us a life but it also makes sure the Feathers get their use from us. If you view our land through the lens of maximizing resources, our culture makes a lot more sense right?"

Mihai considers, and it's apparent that his feelings on it lean toward the cynical, but he finally just shrugs it off - "Not like i can judge."

"It's not about judging, it's more about your perspective. I just figured it was something you'd notice since you weren't born here."

Mihai thinks about that for just a second - "...yeah, i probably wasn't."

"What do you guys do with your Cursed folks?"

"More or less what you do over here, only it's Merchant houses that run them, not the state. Upside is, it's decentralized. So they're not all rounded up in one place."

"Yeah, that definitely turned out to be the way to go given recent events. Makes me wonder what the Citadel will do about the security issue."

"Beef up security, for sure. The Asylum safeties actually worked, if not for the Director getting backstabbed." - then he thinks about it a bit more - "Small comfort, all things considered. But at least it means Snicker couldn't just drive them all berserk at will, and get away with it."

"True."

The he sighs - "An Endless that was more pragmatic and less stupid would have gotten away with it, though. If it had just waited a few minutes, Saemon would have been outside. Shit, by the end of the day it would be in Waterglass, almost unhindered. I don't think the Warden would have been able to stop it, after we'd left."

"Yes, Snicker was a vicious cunt by the end, even more so than when we first met. Did he seem, less to you? Somehow?"

"I'm not sure. But..." - he thinks about it - "Remember what Breanna said about them? They choose their role after they're born here. There was this weird thing about his voice before; it kept shifting. Maybe back at Nomad's, it was still trying to make up it's mind."

"I was thinking maybe Breeze did more damage to him back in Sonlake's office than we realized. But you bring up a good point."

"Going by what it said it was doing before we met it, it seemed like it was just curious about Conan. Then it went sightseeing around Zest's, and finally went out to sea, and fixed my sleep just because. I don't know if you heard what it said when the Kraken showed up the first time."

"If I did I don't remember. I was more concerned about the creature trying to crush us."

"Sorry, Couldn't resist. - Like it was just fooling around, all the way back to the Feathers. Like it was all on a whim."

"Like a bored child. Right?"

"Yeah, like that. It didn't really hate us or anything, just wanted to get it's fun out of us and everyone else. Even betraying us at the Monk house was just another game. It didn't get personal until Konrad rejected him, and Breeze ripped him out." - he muses - "That's how i see it, anyway."

"And Snicker would make himself the victim because of course he would."

"More like the whole thing was a tantrum." -he considers - "It didn't just choose differently, like Breanna said. It's like it was wrong in the head, compared to the mindset she had. Maybe it was just the village idiot, or maybe that 1% increase in ambient Magic really is making Phenomena born twisted."

Steve leans back on the counter and sighs. "I don't know. I don't even know where to start to find out. Would the other Endless even share that information with us, assuming they even know?"

Mihai shrugs - "I don't know. They seemed to think Snicker was normal, apart from deciding we were worth stepping on." - he leans back, staring at his glass - "Then again, we only asked one of them. Wonder what Alvo would have said."

"I'm not sure. He seemed to have more of a sense of humor than the other ones we interacted with."

"I don't think he was trying to be funny when he raised a green flaming sword at you."

"I think he was."

"Did anyone laugh?"

"I did later." - "Much, much, later."

Mihai chuckles - "Well, who knows. I'm just glad we don't have a problem with them right now. That's a lot more of a punch he was packing, than some black tendril thing."

"Yes." He looks over to the door at the sound of the lock being undone. "Hey, they are back."

After they leave the building, when they are able to speak privately, Konrad looks about conspiratorialy before starting. "I don't know if you read the reports on our interrogations to know about the dirty magazine we found, but I have to follow a lead on that."

She laughs out loud. "Knock yourself out."

He chuckles just a bit. "Good one. Listen, it was a magazine featuring fairy models. Look." He shows her the publication date, the address, whatever names are written down. "Do you know anything about this?"

"Don't take it out outside!" She looks around, embarrassed. After a quick look, she tells him, "No, nothing. Now, keep it in your pocket."

"Relax, I don't have it on me! I gave it back to the kid. And I didn't...'use' it. I'm just surprised to think I've never heard anything about this. You'd think news about the worlds first dirty magazine to feature fairies would be making the rounds."

"Well, it seems to be doing just that."

"Only a week after being printed...? Anyway, I'm going down there later to ask a few questions, and I need someone to spot me," he explains. "Be a partner, you know."

"Sure, I can do that. Not sure why you're not asking Steve or Mihai."

He shakes his head. "Because I can't take them. They're a little out of focus right now. They need time to mellow out after yesterday."

"...And not you?"

"I'm fine," he lies. I'm fully functional. "Look, maybe you should just stay behind. Steve wants companionship right now, and there's no one closer to him than you."

"When are we going to investigate that maganize then?"

"I am going to investigate this today. Still need someone to tag along. Someone who's not easily distracted, who's not getting over any recent terrors, and no one who they might need by their side."

She raises an eyebrow.

"So, do you know where Naomi lives?"

Zelk immediately stops walking and looks over Konrad, as if she was examining him. "Wait, that's what you were after."

He stops after her and looks over his shoulder at her. "I'm serious." He is. "She's the best candidate." That's not untrue, but...

Zelk rolls her eyes, and starts walking again. "Of course. Look, if you're looking for some company, why not go to a tavern instead?"

"Do you think I'm doing this to come onto her? I'm not going down there to investigate simply because I'm a perv."

"Why then? And don't tell me it's because she's the most suited for this job."

There's a break in his mental stride when she asks, but he picks it back up and remains composed. "She and I need to catch up. Privately. I'm only killing two birds with one stone."

Zelk shakes her head and then sighs. "Well, I'm not giving you her address. And I'm certainly not going to act as a messenger between you two. You want to speak to her, you can do so this evening."

"As if I'd rely on someone else to speak on my behalf! I'd rather spend the week going door-to-door and...wait what?"

"What what?"

So, she'll be there. I guess...alright. "Fine, then. If you're not going to direct me to her, then will you at least stand in for her? We have to look into this. If real fairies are modelling for this magazine...well, you've met Breeze. You understand."

"Sure, sure, I'll come. Are you sure their offices will be open?"

"You never know. Some places like to open later. We'll at least be able to check their regular hours."

"Let's get the booze first."

"You wanna grab a hood to wear?" he japes.

"No need. You'll attract all the attention."

"Wonderful! And you're welcome."

When the two reach the bottle store, Konrad decides to buy something for his private store. When they reach the offices, they learn that they are closed until the 23rd. While he wonders what kind of security is installed, Zelk turns around and starts walking back towards her apartment.

"Isn't there supposed to be a skeleton key that opens every door in the town?"

Zelk sighs. "Sounds like the beginning of one of Steve's ideas..."

Konrad picks up a rock...and drops it. He examines the keyhole and only learns it's a regular tumbler lock. He scans it...just normal locked door, left alone for at least 12 hours. No magic around... He sighs. "I guess it can wait until the 23rd."

He checks the regular hours and hurries up to Zelk on her way back to Steve's apartment.

The party meets at Konraod's place at noon. The sky is clear, and the curfew has finally been lifted; it's as if the asylum incident hadn't happened. Fedler and Mihai sit down at the table while Breeze opts to sit on the hunter's shoulder instead.

"So..." Mihai looks around the party. "...Jasmine"

Steve sits across from them after setting down the plate of sandwiches. "She really saved our bacon in there." He takes a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich and bites into it.

"Question is, how do we contact her again?" Mihai says.

Konrad takes a bite out of a sandwich and leans back on the sofa. The room smells faintly of smoke. "I have an idea. How many orbs did we put into Saemon?"

"Yeah, that's the obvious one," Mihai points out. "Four, plus the one he already had."

"Would the amount make any difference, do you think?" Steve wonders.

"We try one at a time," Mihai suggests.

"Exactly," Konrad continues. "We get as many as we had the first time it happened and then we put in one at a time."

"Breeze," Mihai inquires. "Still got the spare you made at the Asylum?"

"Uh?" The fairy amusingly looks into her pockets. "No, I gave it to one of you... I don't remember who."

"Well, I don't have it," Fedler informs everyone.

Konrad pulls it out and shows everyone. He shrugs. "Must have... slipped my mind."

Mihai continues."Whatever. That one's empty, so it goes first. The ones after that will be charged, though." Mihai plucks out his own orb, to check its condition again.

"Are you sure it will work with an orb that hasn't been given to someone already?" Konrad inquires.

"I assume that's why it's first." Steve looks to Mihai.

"It better," Mihai replies. "Othwerwise, we'll need to put our own into someone's head. I'm not too thrilled about having someone else's memories inside my mind, or vice-versa. That's probably one of the things Blackcliff was warning about, when he told me what a hell life in his Circle would be."

"Oh, I thought he was talking more about the normal life stuff but that is a good point," Steve says.

"There was more to it than simple commitment," Mihai adds. "I'm sure of that much. Especially after Caspar's talk of vessels."

"Hang on. What's this about a 'circle'?" Konrad asks.

"The people that fight the thing possessing Lavoie," Mihai answers.

"They are the ones who lead the Coins, among other things," Steve adds.

Konrad appears thoughtful for a moment. "Oh...I see. This is some sort of upper eschelon of leadership in the Coins. Am I to assume they simply chose not to let me know?"

"I'm still not sure who that Jasmine is..." Breeze says.

"All we know for sure is she looks a lot like you," Mihai tells her. "That's why we need to know more."

"I think she's who you were born from but we didn't have a lot of time to chat," Steve notifies her. Then to Konrad, "They didn't let me know either. I only heard about it from Mihai."

Konrad grunts in understanding. "I may have a clue. At the very least, it's a curiosity. At best, another lead we could pursue. I don't want to cause any alarm, but when we were fighting the demon, there was an elemental with us."

"An Elemental?" Fedler repeats. "What do you mean?"

Fascinated, Breeze grabs a sandwich and listens to the conversation like if it was a play. This makes Fedler hungry, and she grabs a bite too as Konrad begins his explanation.

"I couldn't see it, but on a hunch I wanted to get an inkling for myself of just what Jasmine meant when she told us she could help. There was a shift in the ambient flow of magic on a focal point. The way the wind moved wasn't natural, it had to be something beyond what mere humans are capable of."

Just to make sure, Mihai plucks his orb out again to check it once more. "Still hasn't recharged..." he mutters. "The Globule ought to insulate us from each other's memories, but we're still taking a risk."

Konrad continues. "I gave this some more thought, and I decided if I was sure it wasn't like anything mages are capable of, then it couldn't be green magic either. There was an Elemental, in the flesh or perhaps in spirit, helping us in the fight. Perhaps there's a connection between the fairies and the Elementals?"

"Elementals only stick with you for any period of time if you want to become a Green Mage," Mihai says.

"That's what I thought too," Konrad agrees. "She said she was dead. Quite a morbid thing to declare. Maybe she's trapped in time, so to speak. Perhaps when whatever happened for her to be as she is now, she was studying to become a green mage? And being aided by an elemental?"

"Fairies are born of Desperation. Breeze was likely born of hers. As to what happened to her, she said it her herself. She died."

"How can I be born from her desperation if she died...?" Breeze wonders.

"This would be a whole lot easier if we could just ask her."Mihai says. "Breeze, any idea what happens if we stuff more than one globule in our heads again?"

The blue-haired girl stops eating for a second and ponders the answer to Mihai's question. "Hmm, I'm not sure. Saemon was a special case."

Konrad grins wickedly. "We could find out right now..."

"No need to get excited," Fedler comments.

Steve speaks up. "Okay then, since we still want to try, whose head are we using?"

Mihai grimmaces, then looks at Steve. "Your orb is the only one still charged right now."

"Globule!" Breeze rectifies.

"Glorbule," Mihai retorts.

"Whoever's volunteering won't be conscious for the meeting," Konrad points out. "Want to draw straws?"

"No need for that," Steve interrupts. "I'll volunteer. Mihai makes a good point. We don't know what this will do and maybe being mostly full will help somehow."

Mihai looks at him for a moment. "We don't have to do this right now. We can wait a month or two. Mine should be charged by then."

"What? Wait?" Konrad asks. "I think it's in all of our best interests to set up a meeting with Jasmine as soon as we are able."

"I'd also rather do it sooner than later," Steve continues. "I don't want to lose my nerve. I like pushing the boundaries but the danger catches up eventually."

Mihai takes a long moment to consider. "One step at a time, then. And if anything weird starts happening, Breezes pulls you out immediately."

"Agreed," Steve answers. "Just tell Jasmine hello for me if you make it."

Konrad sips some water. "Question. The blank orb is our fifth orb, yes? What if it doesn't work, and actually needs to be made with a fairie's most intimate feelings for a person and given to that person?"

Mihai replies, "The globule you're holding right now was made blank, so no. If we're gonna do it, let's do it."

"I should lay down I think," Steve says.

"Konrad, get off the couch... please."

The red mages gets off of his couch. "Alright, go ahead and get comfortable. Breeze, if you would do for this orb what you did with the first orb you gave to Steve..." He holds it out for her while Steve makes himself comfortable.

"Uh, sure. And it's called a globule, not an orb!" She takes the said object, and begins to weave her feelings into it. A few seconds later, it's done. "Here you go! One shot of love for the globule."

"Love for who?" Fedler asks.

The fairy smiles. "For all of you!"

"Ah. I love you too," Steve tells her.

Mihai takes the orb, and hands it to Steve. "Last chance to back down."

Steve takes it and rolls it around between both hands while he thinks about it. "I'm not really known for backing down when I probably should. No reason to start now. Just, if anything goes wrong and I don't make it for some reason could you tell Zelk something for me?"

"I'll get one of those early poems you wrote," Mihai tells him.

"Perfect."

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her," Konrad adds.

"Ha, more like she'll take care of you permanently."

The red mage laughs. "Now...we'll wait to pull our orbs out a half-hour from now? A full hour? The us inside that orb will need to know how long we have."

"We'll do one Orb at a time," Mihai says.

"Okay, let's do this!" Steve exclaims. He jams the orb into his forehead... but nothing happens. In fact, the orb refuses to enter his head, just like if it was a normal piece of rock. "Ouch!"

"Is it broken?" Fedler asks.

Steve rubs the spot he banged the globule into.

"Oh, was that supposed to happen?" Breeze wonders.

Konrad aims an accusatory glance at Breeze.

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Breeze says, admonishing Konrad.

"Well, we can all see that there's an inherent flaw in the 'all of us' idea," Konrad tells the fairy.

Breeze crosses her arms and goes to float opposite Konrad's side.

"Well, that answers that," Mihai says. "Unless you want to try hammering it in."

"Nah, I'm good. I'm good." The black mage sits up. "That was disappointing. "Did you guys want to try a different one?"

"Well, we're here and all." Mihai holds out his hand to take the orb.

"Here you go." The black mage puts the orb into Mihai's hand. "I wonder if our minds keep it from going in? Snicker did say the Mad patients were gone or mostly gone. Maybe it's a protection of some kind so we don't overload ourselves somehow."

Konrad says, "It's okay. I was right, but that doesn't mean I don't want this to work."

Before Mihai puts the globule in. "By the way, it's not her fault."

The orb doesn't enter Mihai's head, nor will it enter anyone else's head.

Mihai sighs. "Sorry, Konrad. Got you off your couch for nothing." He hands the magical object to Breeze.

"Before we give up completely let me have yours, Mihai," Steve tells him. "I want to make sure it wasn't just that globule."

Mihai hesitates. "Just be careful. This one has me in it." He plucks out his orb and hands it to the black mage.

"I understand, and I promise I'll do my best to be careful with it." He carefully places Mihai's orb against his head and tries to push it in. Unlike before, the globule does enter his head. For a few seconds, nothing happens, until finally his thoughts become a hazy mess. A horrible migraine settles in, and very soon, the black mage begins to lose grip of his own mind. And just as a horrible pain explodes in his head, images from an unknown city rushes into his mind. There are also faces; a middle-aged woman who is filling in some paperwork, and a young teenage girl playing with an Aspect of Light. Steve realizes that these memories are trying to replace his own, and if doesn't resist them, he will lose his own self.

Steve tries to remove the orb like he has done so before, but nothing happens. The memories try to continue to imprint themselves onto Steve's mind. He groans in pain and starts thrashing about. He yells, "Out!"

Mihai yells, "Breeze!" and rushes in to pull out the orb, alongside Konrad.

Both Mihai and Konrad try to pull out the globule out of Steve's mind, but nothing happens for them either. "Damn it guys!" vociferates Breeze. "Gimme some space!"

Mihai and Konrad do as they are told, and Steve begins to cry out in pain.

"Damn!" Konrad moves back.

The fairy urgently puts her hands on the young man's forehead, and for the next five seconds, she pulls on an invisible rope before one globule finally pops out and falls on the ground, where it rolls away until it reaches and stops against the wall. Mihai immediately picks it up, and Fedler swiftly moves to Steve's side to examine him.

"Steve, are you all right?" Konrad asks.

"Tired. And thirsty," Steve replies.

Fedler takes a look at the black mage's eyes. "We're definitely not doing that again."

Konrad goes to his fridge and gets a bottle and a glass.

Mihai goes back to Steve. "Sorry. After the other one stopped, I didn't see that coming."

"What happened?" Breeze asks, worried.

The red mage comes back with a small glass of rum and he puts it on the table in front of Steve. "It's all I've got. That is, if it's not your favorite poison. As evidenced, I have food and water."

Steve takes the rum and sips it, followed by a cough. "I saw another place, an unknown city. An old woman was there, doing paperwork. A young girl was on the floor, playing with an Aspect of Light." He describes all three in great detail.

Fedler glances at Mihai.

"The Aspect thing doesn't leave this room," Mihai tells them. He sounds serious.

"Your memory then?"

"Yeah."

"Remarkable..." Konrad's face sours. "Just what is she playing at?"

"Enough about that," Mihai says.

"Hmm...no, this isn't her fault. We actually need Saemon to get this right."

"...I'm not sure this would be a good idea," Breeze says. "Not after that."

"No, we've been doing this wrong," Konrad objects. "We need Saemon!"

Mihai sighs and facepalms. His tone becomes more irritated. "If the military release Saemon, we're bringing him back home, leaving him there, and not putting anything else inside his head."

"And how do you propose we get answers then?"

"Not by smothering him with someone else's memories, for sure. Steve had a full orb in there, and mine started hijacking his mind."

"And you don't think the Coins will?"

"Yes, I don't think the Coins will. He's too important a case, and the Military know about him now. Either way, I'm not making him a lab rat."

"Yeah, this isn't safe," Steve agrees. "If Breeze hadn't pulled the orb it would have overwritten my memories completely."

"Shit, we don't need two of me lying around," Mihai adds.

"As it is I'll never forget them. Never."

Konrad gets real quiet.

Mihai sighs. "I'm sorry, Steve. I thought something like that might happen over time, but never like this. Never this fast."

"Hey, none of that; it was my choice too."

He considers something, and dread comes over his face. "And mine was drained. If it had been yours in my head..."

"Bleh. I don't even want to think about that. You probably don't either." He chuckles.

"A cat... sat in the hat. That's all the poetry I need."

"I see one more chance to do this," Konrad says. "One more try. If we don't, we'll never know. We'll never get to meet Jasmine again and get a full explanation of her connection to Breeze."

Mihai turns to Konrad. "What are you saying?"

Konrad pours himself a glass of rum. "I'm making the case against cowardice."

"You're making the case against my patience right now. Start making sense or stop wasting my time."

"I'm aware of the risks. With Saemon, there's considerably less, if any. If we want our answers, and you bet your last copper I do, we should go and see him when they let him go."

Fedler, having finished her examination of Steve, turns her attention to the conversation and calmly says, "I'm the one who has known Saemon the longest here. And no one is putting anything into his head; including the other Coins members."

"And if anyone does that behind my back, we'll have a problem," Mihai adds.

"What, are you his keeper now?" Konrad asks.

"Call it whatever you want," Mihai says. "No one puts anything inside his head. Got that?

With one hand behind his back, Konrad takes a cool sip of rum and swirls it. "Crystal."

"Good."

"Headache, everyone, headache." Steve is still feeling the effects from the failed experiment.

Mihai  sighs and looks at his orb. "Breeze, I have to put this in my head again. Shouldn't be much of a problem, but after what just happened, what do I know. Be ready to pull it out if I start flinching, ok?"

"Okay, sure Mihai," the fairy replies. She's on her guard, but the globule goes in like normal.

"I promised I would tell you all about why I'm here," Konrad says. "It's not a long story, Steve, but I don't want to force you to follow along after what just happened. Not unless Fedler has a cure for you."

"I don't mind, Konrad," Steve tells him, "as long as you don't mind me asking stupid questions occasionally when I have trouble following along."

Breeze sits besides Steve and looks at Konrad with curious eyes. As for Fedler, she casually sits down on a chair and waits for this "story". Mihai is on his feet, ever since what happened with Steve. He'll likely stay that way, as per his habit.

Konrad sits down in a chair and steeples his hands, with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair. "Alright. Well, you know what kind of life I lived before I joined the Coins. You know Kira had something to do with how I lost it."

Steve nods.

"She was with another gang with whom we started to work closely. I think she was ordered by them to get close to me, to get to the captain. They intended to betray us on a raid, with the help of two other gangs. During that raid, when we realized they were pulling out, they - and I suspect she - triggered enchantments on both of our persons to erupt in fire." He turns his face for emphasis. "Mine must have been halfway to a dud."

Breeze gasps while Mihai stares attentively. As for Steve, he rubs his chin in thoughts.

"Our crew got slaughtered," Konrad continues. "The captain died outright. I found myself drifting on flotsam when I was picked up. The arrest jogged my memory, and I desperately committed their names to memory. I wanted them all to pay for turning on us. Well now, looks like I'm not going to get everything I want."

"The three crews Snicker killed?" Mihai inquires.

"They were the targets of my vengeance. Captains, crews, ships and all. Denied to me."

"Is that really a bad thing?" Steve says. "You are free now, right?"

Konrad's eyes narrow. "'Free'? In a way; if you want to think of me as being enslaved for all these years to that desire. But if I had to pick someone else to carry out the deed, he'd be last."

"Well, yeah. Murder isn't really seen as good Konrad, even murder for revenge. I'm not saying they were good people but if you are serious about turning over a new leaf there isn't really anything stopping you from doing so anymore."

"Are you denying the..." Konrad stops. "The law isn't perfect. If they were still alive, you might have been onto something there. But that interpretation falsely assumes they weren't guilty of any wrong they had done, specifically to me."

Breeze puts a finger on her mouth and observes Konrad attentively.

"If it makes you feel any better, leaving you alive really was the end of their luck," Mihai tells him. "Besides, who the fuck is so stupid as to try to assassinate someone by setting them on fire, at sea."

Konrad adds, "Someone who knew what they were doing. Perhaps a fool, but their target was another fool."

"And now you're the fool left standing," Mihai says.

The red mage shrugs. "That'll take some getting used to."

Steve shrugs noncommittally. "What now? Where did you see yourself when you go to the end of your vendetta? Did you have any plan at all?"

"He probably planned to keep having adventures with us!" Breeze exclaims.

Konrad grins at her enthusiasm. "That's not a bad idea at all. Either way, at the end of my sentence, I hope to have my sea legs back. Maybe I'll sail for the Coins. I'd be a much better investment if they'd just let me off the leash and gave me a ship."

Mihai shrugs. "Maybe you will."

Steve doesn't look like he agrees with Mihai, but he says nothing. Fedler stays quiet, and doesn't show any interest in voicing her own opinion on the subject.

"My contract will be over in a few months, though," Mihai specifies. "So the together thing is kinda subjective."

"Oh. I didn't know that," Konrad replies. "You could renew if you want. Unless there's business elsewhere that would keep you?"

"There is. But then it's over. I've been at this shit for fifteen years."

"I don't blame you," Steve says. "You and Fedler, you guys have something special and Yen deserves a good dad."
"Whether you have them with us or not, it would be a shame for your adventures to end with fatherhood," Konrad tells him. "Is there no middle ground?"

"Mihai is a daddy?" Breeze repeats. "Mihai is a daddy!" She then flies off towards him and gives his neck a big hug.

"Uh... Thanks..." Mihai he manages to say, embarrassed.

"Not yet, kiddo! At least, I don't want to assume..." Konrad raises an eyebrow at Fedler.

Mihai sighs, barely managing to avoid facepalming. Fedler catches the way Konrad is looking at her, and despite her embarrassment, she firmly replies, "What? No!"

Steve just laughs.

"Oh...how boring," the red mage says.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Mihai interrupts. "Anyway, i think we're all caught up on who wants to do what, unless Steve and Breeze want to have a go."

"Daddy Mihai!" Breeze says, still holding his neck.

"Oh? I'm gonna have to put you through school?" He tells her.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to re-up either," Steve admits. "I'm pretty torn about it. I enjoy the work for the most part but I don't really need it to be happy. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Mihai replies.

"Well, for now, working for them means we're more in the loop that we would be before," Konrad begins. "We've still got a letter coming "soon" from Faith to the address I gave her, which is for the Coins. We get missions that go hand-in-hand with information they only share on a need-to-know basis. Which brings us to the final matter of how to handle the love globule we took from the Asylum."

The party members discuss their options and decide to put the orb in one of the secured boxes of the local bank, using the pretext that it's for their Mic business.

Konrad arrives at the restaurant in question five minutes in advance to the designated time. A waiter guides him to his table, and tells him he will come back in a few minutes after Konradh has made his choice. There are not many people in the restaurant at this time, considering the current time and day.

He orders an appetizer and a drink, and then informs the waiter he'll be waiting for someone to arrive before he orders anything else. Two o'clock comes, and Naomi isn't there. He patiently eats his chips for ten minutes. A couple with their son come in and are seated at a table on the opposite side of the restaurant. Konrad orders a beer. He waits another five more minutes, and since Naomi still isn't coming, he orders a burger.

The waiter writes down on his little pad, and leaves the red mage alone. Ten minutes later, Konrad sees a woman walking down the street, and immediately recognizes her. He floats a copper up along the window and moves it about to grab her attention. It doesn't work. She walks straight for the entrance, not giving much attention to anyone around her, and then looks around the dining room. Judging by the bags under her eyes, and her slow movements, she seems pretty tired.

Konrad drops the copper on her foot, and start floating another toward her. Naomi notices Konrad, and after a few seconds of consternation, she finally understands what he is doing. She sighs, walks up to his table while ignoring the floating copper, and sits down in front of him.

"You look like you could use some tea," Konrad tells her. "I'm still waiting for my burger, but you can have that if you're hungry."

"I'm not. What I could use is some sleep." Konrad realizes she isn't simply tired; she has a hangover, and is in a bad mood.

"Well, there's only one thing here that can help you with that." He taps the bottle he's drinking from.

She cuts him off. "What do you want?"

"I need your help with something."

She waits for him to continue.

"Not today, but soon. And there's no one else available, and I need someone willing to humor me. So, thank you for being willing to do that."

Just as Naomi opens her mouth, the waiter comes with Konrad's order, which he leaves on the table. He asks the inebriated soldier if she wants anything, which is not the case, before he leaves both her and Konrad alone. The young woman steels herself, and then says, "Look Konrad; I'm not interested in you. That's what I came here to tell you, since you didn't catch my hints yesterday."

He shakes his head. "I'm not here to argue with what you believe."

She momentarily narrows her eyes, but then brushes it off and starts getting up from her chair. "Yeah, sure. Enjoy your meal."

He gets up too. "I'm not here to change how you feel, Naomi. I'm here because I am concerned for a friend. I'm going to investigate my concerns with or without you, but having you with me would help a great deal more than you think."

"I've heard it all before Konrad. Go find someone else." She turns and walks away from him, ready to leave the restaurant.

He reaches out hand grabs her. "Dammit, I'm not talking about you or me."

Naomi's head snaps back towards Konrad, and she is now glaring at him with barely contained anger. "Let me go."

"You're going to let me tell you what I dragged you out here for first, and then you'll decide whether you'll help me. Because it's the right thing to do."

The waiter comes back right at this moment. "Is there a problem here?" he asks.

"Yes," Naomie replies, furious. "If this man doesn't let go of my hand in the next five seconds, I would like you to call for the police please." The waiter looks back and forth between the two of you. You're starting to get the attention of the other patrons.

He lets go. "I wonder if you realize how alike him you are, yourself."

She doesn't even waits for him to finish that she is already almost at the exit. The waiter then steps back in front of Konrad. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now, sir."

The red mage shoves the waiter as hard as I can and runs past him. The waiter falls on a table, and hurts himself on a broken glass; he starts to bleed from his hand.

Konrad catches up to Naomi, who has just turned into a smaller street.

"Your father!" he shouts at her.

She turns around, and Konrad sees tears of rage on her face. She clenches her hand into a fist, and yells at him, "Leave me alone!"

He slows to a walk. "If you keep walking away, I'm going to bother you for the rest of your life." He's dropped the pretense of needing her help.

"I said leave me alone!" She starts walking away from him again, wiping away the tears with her sleeves.

He considers for a moment, stopping where he is. The only sound of crunching snow is coming from her feet. Then he runs after her. "No!"

She notices it and decides to run away from Konrad. Some curious passersby look at her run past them, and then back at the red mage. He stops running. Naomi disappears from his line of sight, and the passersby now resume walking down the street. Konrad is alone.

His head falls; he turns around and heads to his apartment. "Goodbye."

Halfway there, he slows to a stop. His head feels as though a heavy weight has fallen on his mind. He stands there for a long time, a frozen statue in the cold wind. Then, his legs begin to walk on their own, as he puts one dead foot in front of the other.

It's my fault. It's always my fault.

Steve slides his key into the lock of his apartment and says, "Thanks for walking me back. Why don't you come in for a bit and hang out? I could use the company."

"Uh, sure."

The lock turns and the black mage leads the way in. He sets his hat on one of the tines of the wall wrack and drops his keys into the basket near the door. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Uh, water, i guess." Mihai shuts and locks the door. "Guess you won't have to worry about food for the day. I mean, all those sandwiches..."

"Nope, no worries. I made a lot specifically so we'd have leftovers." He heads to the kitchen and puts the sandwiches into the fridge. He pulls out a pitcher of cool water and pours Mihai and himself a glass. Walking back into the living room, he hands his friend the glass and sits on the couch with a contented sigh.

"How's your head?"

"Fuzzy from the exhaustion but otherwise fine. I need a nap more than anything." He sips his water.

Mihai sighs. "After the first one didn't go in, the second caught me off guard." He takes a sip of water.

"It caught you off guard?" The mage laughs quietly. "I'm just glad Zelk wasn't there; she'd probably still be punching me in the arm for being an idiot."

"I should probably apologize to her," Mihai mumbles.

"Maybe. But I did volunteer. It's not like you held a sword to my throat or anything."

He shakes his head a bit, absentmindedly. "I thought the Orbs might work that way, but never so aggressively. The way Breeze just makes them out of love or whatever, never crossed my mind that they could be dangerous." Then he chuckles bitterly. "Maybe we should put a sticker on them, just in case."

"What, like 'Danger - Concentrated fairy love may lead to unwanted side effects up to and including forehead bruising, forcible rewrites of memories, and death?'"

"Thinking more like our names, so they never get mixed up. That's not a bad idea either, though," Mihai half jokes. He suddenly grows pensive before saying, "The whole Vessel thing makes a fucked up kind of sense now."

"Yeah, an immortality of a sort. We still don't know what happens when you put in someone else's orb without an orb of your own. Is it even worse? The same? I'm not volunteering for that one."

"Your Orb preserves your memory, so it probably ensured you didn't lose anything. If you didn't have it..." He doesn't finish the sentence but instead mumbles, "Fucking Blackcliff let us walk around with something so dangerous, without even a warning..."

"Maybe he wanted to but couldn't for reasons we don't understand?"

Mihai shrugs. "We're starting to understand regardless." Then considers something. "If the Orbs are passed down from person to person, the Commander of the Free Feathers division of the Coins probably has one of the oldest ones. I'm starting to wonder how many people are inside that head."

Steve shrugs. "Then it's true, right? Those old stories of fairies and things? Otherwise, how would they have the orbs, right? There's no way fairies are a recent thing."

Only showed up now, though. Like the Kraken and the Endless and the Guardian and the Shitbird...no-,[/color]" he considers, "-maybe they're older, but only now started popping up en masse."

"That's what I'm saying. We have words for these things. Old stories. It can't be a coincidence."

"Question is, do the stories come from them, or them from the stories."

"I don't know. I guess it depends on whether background magic waxes and wanes naturally. Or the nature of time itself. But that's one for the philosophers I guess."

"Yeah, i guess so. But there's one thing that still gets me."

Steve sips from his water. "What's that?"

"When we fought the dragon, we literally turned our memories into power. If Magic is reacting to people's thoughts when it creates Phenomena... heck, even if it isn't... just what else is gonna come crawling out of the woodwork?"

Steve let's that question hang in the air before changing the subject. "I...didn't want to ask in front of everyone but I have some questions, about the woman and the girl. Would you mind answering them?"

Mihai sighs quietly. "Sure. You're stuck with the memories now; it's only right." He walks over to a chair and carries it to sit in front of Steve. He flips it backwards, leaning on and supporting his arms on the back rest before waiting for Steve to fire away.

"Who are they? The girl looked a lot like you. Like maybe a sister or cousin."

"That's a coincidence. All my blood family died, or-," he trails off. "But she is family." He stays quiet for a moment while he gathers himself. "There weren't a lot of people I hung out with. I started when I was ten, a lot of my friends died off, and I started taking less well to the guys that took their place. But when i was fifteen, there was this man that showed up one day. Skilled like you wouldn't believe, he would have taken out the Wolf single-handedly and barely broken a sweat."

"Who?"

"His name was Franck. He'd come to Lofell for," he trails off, "Reasons. And i guess combat was something he was really good at, so the syndicate had a place for him. Anyway, for some reason he thought I was trustworthy, and we became friends. Like, after a year he would invite me over to his place on days off, and have lunch with his family." He falls silent for a moment, before adding, "I guess you could say he was my best friend, even though he was almost old enough to be my dad." He then finishes in a somber tone, "About four years ago now, his family was murdered by a rival syndicate. All but his little girl."

Steve gasps.

Mihai quietly taps the chair, as he looks off into the distance. "Her, they used to draw him in. He probably knew he was being set up, but still tore through them like tissue paper. My handler at the time... the woman you saw, she found out where they were keeping her, and mounted an operation to rescue her. I managed to secure her, but by the time i got back to Franck...if i'd been just a little faster, Amber might still have her dad. As it is, I'm the only family she has left. And now i'm here, instead of there for her." Somehow, Mihai is even more somber now than when he started.

"Is she still a target for her father's enemies?"

"No, that's over. We stamped those fuckers out for good." He doesn't say anything for a moment, "[color=#55bb88]But that doesn't say anything about my enemies. The ones i made when i busted out of the syndicate. Right now, she's protected. But..."

"Is that why you stay away? So they won't connect her to you?"

Mihai sighs. "In so many words. But," His eyes dart, as if trying to say something, until he gives up. "I'm going back for her. Soon as the contract ends."

"Wait, is that okay? Won't that violate whatever deal you made so you could retire?"

"I didn't make any deal, Steve. They tried to sell me out over some bullshit, and i smashed a jar of jam over Lloyd's head, and made my escape. The first thing i did was try to get to her before they did, and i failed at that too. If not for my handler..."

"Then what's keeping them from killing you right now?"

Mihai shrugs. "Part of it is they don't know where i am. Part of it is, the boss is holding them back. The guy with the grudge on me, he's the boss's son. But even he can't do whatever he pleases when he's told to back off. As Lloyd put it when we met at Waterglass, Malik said it'd be a waste of resources. So as long as I stay away, no one can really do much of anything."

"But you are going to go back and basically violate that understanding. It will be war, right?"

"I go in, get her, get out. I'm not important enough to start a war over." Then he stops himself, seemingly struck by bitter irony. "But if it comes to that, i'll cut anyone that tries to keep me from her."

"Isn't it though? Isn't she under your boss' protection?"

Mihai sighs once more. "No, not like that. I joined up when i was ten. Back then it was Malik that recruited me, to run errands and stuff. After-," he points across his chest, "The thing is, he became the boss. And my handler became someone else. Her name's Virginie - yes, like Sonlake's first secretary. She's the one i wrote to when i had to warn them about Snicker. She's the one protecting Amber. And when she wrote to me, she literally told me to come back for her, soon as my contract was over. And i was gonna go that anyway, so..."

"Why?"

"Because protecting Amber leaves her vulnerable to Griggs's scheming. And because i'm her family."

"So you are going to take custody of Amber from then on? And that's it? No strings attached?"

"I had custody of her before. I'm just taking it back, and getting the hell out of there. There's only so far the Whisperers can act outside of Lofell."

"I see. Will you need any help?"

Mihai looks down and stays silent for a time before answering. "I hope i can do it quiet. If i can't, there's only so much firepower can do against a whole crime syndicate. Especially them." Then he chuckles quietly. "Why, you're offering?"

"Not happily, but yeah, if you need some help, count me in."

It takes a while for him to answer. "....thanks. But if something happened to you, Zelk would kill me."

"Better to bring her along then. I can't see her sitting by while a young girl is in danger. Besides, it will save me the trouble of having to explain why we can't honeymoon in Lofell." He laughs.

Mihai almost laughs himself. "Well, you can. I just wouldn't recommend Villevielle. By the way, Steve?"

"Yes?"

Mihai is more serious now. "Don't tell anyone else about the Aspect."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"You didn't see a green band on her arm, right?"

"No.You guys were keeping it secret. Why?"

Mihai sighs. "Best i can tell, Frack didn't want her to be exploited. I only found out myself after he died. Remember how i tried to stall Yen being processed to the Citadel?"

"Yeah."

"I did it before."

"What, stalled?"

"When i rescued Amber, i found her with woven shackles on. I didn't know why, but after what had happened to her, there was no way i was gonna report her. Kept watch over her for months, while i kept it a secret. Finally, she told me."

"Has she had any training then?"

"She's not cursed. But she did come across an Elemental when she was a little. Long story short, her parents didn't want their child labeled a Green Mage and regulated or exploited, so they left their home and moved to Lofell."

"I see. When you bring her home, what are you going to do? The training isn't just for exploitation and all that. It's to help mages reach their potential too."

He thinks about it. "She's old enough to decide on her own now. But i won't let anyone pressure her into it. She's got a lot more than her magic." Then he gets grave as he looks off into the distance. "And she's already suffered more than she should have ever had to."

Steve nods. "I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

"Of course. But I think I need to lay down now."

Mihai gets up. "I'll leave you to it then. Let me know if you get anything weird. Even if you have to tell Zelk to come kick my ass or something."

"I will but that-probably-won't happen."

"Well, get some rest." Mihai sees himself out.