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Alfred was sitting on a stool at his counter when Skye, Tidas, and their party walked in. All were familiar, and he welcomed them with a wagging tail. Hearing the commotion, Renee emerged from the back with a wide grin on her face..

“It’s so good ta see you guys! Congratulations on yer return from the Highlands! Whatever you want: it’s on the house until the third plate! Past that, you’ll have ta pay,” Renee offered as she hugged Skye.

She was a little taken aback by Renee’s affection, but happily accepted it. Skye believed that if one could turn a foe into a friend, it was always worth it, and Renee was a wonderful example of it. As she and Alfred went off to get drinks, Skye glanced around the Cat’s Paw with a soft smile.

The familiar deep red and dark gold trim made her think of all the times that she’d ate there. After training with Shasta, they would come to the Cat’s Paw for lunch almost every day before she participated in the Mage Trials.. ‘I canna believe that was almost a year ago already..’

As Skye reminisced, Tidas was trying to keep his emotions in check. She was obviously still upset with him over hitting his brother. When they were playing with Zazzy, she had tackled him a bit too hard, too many times to be a coincidence. As they sat down at the booth furthest back, Tidas swore to himself to do his best not to agitate his wife.

‘I don’t regret what I did, so I need to own up to it.. Father’s already going to be furious with me, I don’t need my wife hating me, too..’

As Genie talked with Zas, Shasta and Lawrence chatted about how the preparations for their wedding were going smoothly now. Seeing that everyone was distracted, Tidas leaned towards Skye, and whispered; “I’m sorry that you’re mad, and I understand why, but I couldn’t just let him..”

While Tidas searched for the right words, Skye said; “Talk shit? That’s all he was doin’, husband. He goated ya, and you ran head-first into it. I dinna ken why he taunted ya into it, but ya should’ve known better!”

.....

Tidas raised his hand, and made a hushing motion as he replied; “Aye, aye, you’re right. I shouldn’t have let him get to me, but..I can’t explain it.. It’s like my anger was triggered far worse than it should’ve been. And...there’s something that I didn’t tell Genie..”

“And what would that be?” Genie asked from the other side of Skye.

Shasta and Lawrence sat on one side, and Genie, Skye, and Tidas sat on the other. Zas was far too broad-shouldered to sit next to them in the booth, so he had grabbed one of the chairs from one of the table sets in the middle of the tavern. He and Genie had just finished talking when they had heard Tidas.

Everyone stopped talking, and looked at Tidas expectantly. He didn’t want to tell everyone about Marco’s Tank trait because he didn’t want him to target them. But thinking about it now.. ‘Maybe I should warn them..’

His internal struggle was obvious to the group, so Shasta commented; “That’s not a good face, right Zas? That’s his ‘difficult to say’ face.”

Zas put his hulking elbows on the table as he smirked and replied; “Yeah, that’s the face. Looks just like when he had to tell us that the first Highland mission was extended.. Everyone was pissed.”

Skye studied her husband’s face for a few moments before she said; “Shasta and Zas are right: that’s the face. What is it that ya dinna wanna say, love? No one here will gossip. Ya ken that.”

Tidas nodded; “I know that, I’m just not sure if telling all of you will put you in danger or not.”

“From Marco?” Lawrence asked with disbelief.

“Let the bastard try something! I’ll cut up that pretty little face of his with my claws if he tries,” Shasta added.

As Lawrence looked as Shasta sideways for her comment, Tidas put his hands on the table, and rubbed them together as he said; “It’s not something I can explain.. I honestly don’t know what to even think about it. Other than it’s really fucking bad..”

“What is it, Tidas? Yer startin’ ta freak me out,” Skye stated as an icy chill began to creep up her spine.

Tidas looked around to make sure that none of the other patrons were paying attention, then glanced at his closest loved ones with a dire expression; “Marco was way too strong when I fought him, and he admitted to me that he has a Tank trait. And..”

Tidas locked eyes with Skye as he added; “He knows that I have a Shaman trait now..”

“What?! How did he find out?! Ya used it in front of him, didn’t ya?!” Skye practically bellowed.

Shasta’s eyes bulged; “Wait what?! He’s got multiple-?!”

“Shhh! Keep it down, Shasta.. You don’t want this getting out, do you?” Zas asked as he looked between Skye and Tidas.

“No we don’t. We mostly didn’t want Marco to find out, but there’s still others that we don’t want knowing,” Tidas replied.

As Alfred and Renee walked over with pitchers and glasses, Skye added; “Damn near a moot point now, though..”

“What’s pointless?” Alfred asked as he set down three pitchers fresh hard cider for the table.

“Tellin’ me husband ta keep his trap shut,” Skye quipped.

As Tidas flashed her a regretful expression, Genie finally chimed in; “It’s nothing to worry over, Al. By the way: do you happen to have any more of those potatoes that were served during the banquet last night? They were delicious.”

Skye’s expression immediately shifted into a happy one as she exclaimed; “I Knew that was yer cookin’! It tasted Amazin’, like always.”

Alfred beamed as Renee stood at his side; “I was the one who made the side dishes this time. How did I do?”

As Skye and Renee chatted back and forth, Tidas looked at Genie, and mouthed a ‘thank you’ his way. Genie smiled and nodded, knowing all too well how hard Skye could be to deal with when hungry And angry. If one could be handled properly, then the other was less harsh to deal with later.

After a bit of conversing, Alfred and Renee walked off to get their food started, and the six went back to discussing Marco..

It was agreed that no one would discuss either his Tank trait, or Tidas’ Shaman one. The less their potential enemies knew that they knew, the better. Plus, Tidas was convinced that Marco would lash out at the others if he found out that they knew.

Genie wasn’t talking much, which Skye noticed. She thought that it might’ve been because he wasn’t as familiar with the others as she and Tidas were. But she quickly found out that Genie had become a favorite tag along for everyone in the palace. He went hunting with Zas, trained with Shasta, discussed economics with Lawrence, and was the King’s go-to for a good game of chess since Skye wasn’t around.

He, Lucas, and Magnus had also become regular drinking buddies. Genie didn’t drink as much as them, but he could last the night, which was more than half the court could say. The three had become close companions since Genie couldn’t return home without Skye and Zazzy in tow.

As they all joked and talked, Skye asked; “Yer awfully quiet. What’s got ya miles from here?”

Genie slowly rolled his cup between his hands; “You don’t find it odd that those two have more traits now?”

“Oh, I find it highly disturbin’, but there’s nothin’ that can be done. What I dinna like is that there’s no mention of it in the Catalyst legend..”

As Skye took a drink of her cider, Genie said; “I think it mentions your Shield gaining extra traits, but the question is: why did Marco get another?”

Skye shook her head; “Not the partial copy in the palace’s records. There’s that whole bottom section missin’, so I didna know that Tidas would gain other traits. Do ya remember anythin’ else about it?”

Genie sighed; “I’m sorry, Skye, but I don’t. I only remember that part because it’s unusual for anyone to have more than one trait.”

Skye nodded as she relaxed, and added; “Marco’s got three now.. What if he’s like me? What if he gonna get all of ’em?”

Genie chuckled; “That’s a scary thought, but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about yet.”

Skye flexed in jaw out of annoyance; “Are ya daft? Of course Him gettin’ more powers is somethin’ ta worry about. But like I said: there’s nothin’ we can do about it Now. What Ima havin’ issues wit is that the first half of the legend says somethin’ about a lost kin. I thought that it was Richard, but now..”

“You think that it’s Mar-Him? Why?” Genie asked.

Right as Skye replied, Tidas listened in; “There was a line.. Somethin’ about the last kin arising, and a Chaotic Void openin’.. The magic that I sense from Marco and the Spear: they be the same. Just..dark chaos. I just keep gettin’ this feelin’, Genie.. Like everything’s holdin’ on by a thread. And Marco’s runnin’ around wit scissors.”

“Well, hopefully he’ll trip and fall on them,” Tidas commented as Alfred and Renee came out of the kitchen.

Skye smiled at her husband for his joke, a little surprised that he was listening, but he could tell that she was extremely worried..

‘How long has she been thinking about all of this? Did me telling her about Marco’s new trait start it, or just exasperate her previous thoughts? ..I guess we’ll need to talk after all of this..’

As the thought crossed Tidas’ mind, Alfred and Renee started to set plates of food down on the table. There were far more than the group had expected, and the dishes were random. Alfred had made new dishes out of the leftovers from the palace, and was using Skye and the rest as guinea pigs.

Meat pies, two types of pasta dishes, and mixed vegetable sides were piled onto the table. The only thing that was designated were the potatoes that Genie had requested, and a seafood platter for Shasta. Everything else was set out for picking.

As they clamored for plates, and started to load up on food, Alfred tapped Tidas and Zas on their shoulders and asked; “Did you two hear about the homeless problem?”

Tidas swallowed the drool pooling in his mouth before he replied; “Aye. My Father said that it’s getting better now.. That all of the shelter counts are down across the city, and that the food banks are seeing less visitors. Why do you ask?”

Alfred and Renee shared an uneasy look between them before Alfred added; “It’s not getting better, exactly.. The reason that the counts are down is because the homeless have been disappearing..”