'There's no way this ends well.' Thought a nervous barkeeper, who was currently pacing around the room pinching the bridge of his nose.

Not long ago Palm had stashed away the stolen suit in his storage room under many, many boxes of random junk in an attempt to fully conceal it. After a lot of contemplation and hesitation, he opened the door to greet the two people who had been waiting outside.

"Hey Palm, can we get a minute of your time?" asked the friendly giant who had stuck his head through the door as soon as it was half-open. "I know it's sort of sudden but it's really important."

"...Yeah man, come on in." Palm replied, gesturing for the two to enter. The larger man immediately took large strides into the centre of the room scanning the area like a hawk, following him a well-dressed woman waked slowly.

Closing the door behind them the barkeeper spoke, "Sorry, uh, I wasn't expecting guests any time soon. I would've put more effort into cleaning up if I knew you would be here, take a seat." In truth he was still half-tempted to ask them to leave, but his fear of displeasing a member of the royal family kept him in check.

Noah seemed unabashed by his lack of warning, replying, "Don't worry man, we won't take long, we'll be out of your hair soon."

'No point fighting him on this.' Theda commented idly, 'He doesn't seem like he'll take no for an answer.'

"Alright." the barkeeper sighed sitting down at a large round coffee table, the other two following suit. "What do you need?"

"Thanks Palm, I was hoping to ask you a favour. We were thinking of doing some civilian interviews of how people are dealing with the changes in the city." Noah started, "The princess here will ask you some questions and then we'll air the whole thing, it's to reassure the people that we care about their well-being. We'll pay you as well."

He blinked slowly upon hearing the request, he was expecting them to be here over the accident that happened in his bar not too long ago, maybe to force him to pay for mental therapy or something. Not for a press conference.

'Really Palm?, Why would the princess be here if it was just to ask for recompense?" Theda deadpanned. Alright maybe it was a bit of a leap in logic, but with all that had happened recently he felt like most days he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. At least he was in the clear, for now.

"Don't worry about any favour Hercules, I'll be more than happy to help." Palm said cheerfully.

"I'll count it as a favour anyway." the larger man responded, "After all you did to help me you deserve it, and please call me Noah."

"Sure...Noah" the barkeeper replied sheepishly, he had knocked the man out and put his only child in danger, if it were him he would have held a grudge.

Palm then engaged in casual conversation with the bodyguard as the princess began to set up some complicated recording equipment. He asked how the man's life had been at war, and in return received plenty of questions about his bar and why he had decided to run one in the first place. Eventually the topic got around to games and it triggered a small stream of excitement in the barkeep.

"Is that Dragon Bushido 8?" Noah exclaimed pointing at an arcade cabinet in the far left corner. "I used to own all the prequels when I was younger."

"Your goddamn right it is. I traded an arm and a leg for number eight, and it wasn't even working properly when I got it." Palm replied smugly, "I also managed to snag a mint condition guide book for a pretty good price."

The war hero practically grew stars in his eyes at his words, "You're going to have to show me once this interview is done, I heard they finally revealed who the hooded figure from the second game was in it."

The barkeeper flinched after remembering that the book was sitting directly on top of a certain power suit. "Maybe another time man, I'm pretty busy. I will give you a hint though, think Gaarpon fighter."

"No way." Noah responded his eyes widening.

"If you two are done" Eva spoke frostily for the first time since she arrived, "Can we begin?"

"Sorry princess." Noah apologised, "Don't worry Palm we'll blur your face and change your voice in post."

He replied with a deep breath, exhaling slowly whilst nodding to the two people opposite him.

"Do you think that you deserve to be in Checkmate?" Eva asked.

'Hey Palm I think she can see me.' Theda spoke at almost the exact same time, their voices overlapping.

The barkeeper froze in shock, his mind short-circuiting. Immediately his first instinct was to start panicking but he quashed that feeling as quickly as it came, instead focusing on the question that the princess had just asked him.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"That's a tough question." He responded slowly, "I suppose when I first got here I thought I deserved it, I'm not too sure now though. Maybe not?"

He tried to mentally signal to the spirit that they could have this conversation later when he wasn't being interrogated but she was having none of it. She proceeded to float directly on top of the table, blocking his line of sight to the person asking him questions. Palm tried his best to keep his emotions from showing on his face but it was an uphill battle.

'It's just that her eyes keep flitting over to wherever I'm at and then she starts squinting.' Theda continued, 'Like she isn't sure what's there but she can see something. You have to call off the interview.'

His mask broke for a split second and confusion showed as he retorted, 'What!? That would make me look suspicious and besides I-'

"What's your opinion on the current changes in the city" Eva pressed, interrupting the conversation unknowingly.

"Bad," the barkeeper spoke without thinking, before immediately regretting his words.

"Oh, how so?" the princess replied narrowing her eyes.

'Palm I'm serous, this could be really bad.' the spirit said quietly, 'I'm going to go up to your room and stay there, but if she ever asks you about me deny everything and get her out of here, and it's better if she leaves sooner rather than later.' Not waiting for a reply she simply disappeared through several walls.

As she floated away Palm focused his gaze on the princess's face intently. For the briefest of moments he saw her lips curl downward in a small frown and her eyes shifting to the right, it was then instantly replaced by the same mask of indifference she wore when she entered his bar.

'Dammit' He thought sighing inwardly.

"Listen," the barkeep responded awkwardly "You're trying...and that's more than anybody ever asked and expected. Most of us gave up on trying to make something of ourselves the moment we stepped foot here, so all this money for education and all these jobs you've created by introducing more companies is the nicest thing anybody has done for Checkmate in a while."

Eva's gaze softened slightly as she spoke, "Then what's the problem?"

Palm thought of his grandfather, the man was never a pioneer or a genius in his field but he still managed to enjoy his life as a mechanic while he lived it. He would regale the barkeep as a child of tales of high speed races, where his grandpa saw his handiwork used to fuel the dreams of others, and he was happy for it.

"I think that there's a freedom in not having to constantly compete to be the best," Palm muttered, "If there's one thing that this place is good for it's removing that pressure, while I can't speak for everybody I certainly don't want to live like that again." Then he added with a small smile, "And you get used to the criminals eventually."

"I see..." his interviewer replied with some difficulty, for some reason Palm had the feeling that she didn't quite see things the same way he did. Then he realised why that might have been.

'I'm an idiot, I've essentially just told the daughter of the King of hard work that I'd rather be a lazy bum.' Palm thought annoyed with himself, 'And now it's probably going to be put on the news, fantastic.'

"Let me re-phrase that," He spoke hastily, "Everybody here has essentially been charged with the crime of being worthless, in the eyes of the rest of the kingdom the only difference between us and actual criminals is the fact that we don't possess their work ethic. I just think that new opportunities doesn't change that fact, so you might as well live with it."

"But, you can be better..." Eva responded with obvious displeasure, "Giving up just because you were sent here is no reason to stop trying."

"Maybe so, but the point still stands." Palm said shrugging, "You're doing a lot for a very small minority that haven't already accepted their fate, if we wanted change their would have been riots and protests but you never see any of it. It just means that people either think it's hopeless or are afraid of change."

"...Oh." she replied slowly.

"But it isn't hopeless," Noah interjected for the first time in the interview, "I think that it's just been a while since anybody tried to give this place a chance, the princess is trying to improve lives and that's never worthless. Isn't that right?"

"Noah is correct, it's all for the benefit of the people even if they can't see it right now." Eva affirmed, but her voice sounded hollow and empty to the barkeeper.

'She's been acting distracted since she walked in,' He thought, 'I wonder if something happened before this.'

A few more minor questions were asked and answered with relative ease, Palm tried his best to answer as truthfully as he could without sounding completely self-absorbed. Since he wasn't exactly a model citizen, but then again not many people in this place were. By the time they had finished the sun had begun to lazily drift toward the horizon, not quite evening but still the late hours of the afternoon.

"Well, I think that will do for now." the princess said, "Thank you for your cooperation."

"Not a problem." He replied.

The barkeepers body shook as a large hand came down to pat his shoulder. A smiling Noah said, "I can't thank you enough Palm, I'll come down myself to give you the money once we get this recording out."

As much as he wanted to refuse he wasn't exactly rich enough to say no, so after exchanging some more pleasantries he escorted the two out of his bar leaving him alone. It didn't take long for his spirit companion to float down to his side afterward.

'See, it was fine.' Palm commented.

'You sure are lucky she didn't say anything.' Theda replied, 'I'm not in the business of getting exposed.'

'Why is that?' Palm pressed, 'I mean come on, when are you going to drop the perpetual mystery act? If we're going to keep working together in future at some point I'll need answers not vague deflections.'

'...' Theda lay motionless for a few moments before speaking quietly as if afraid of eavesdroppers, 'You know how earlier when we were taking from the police armoury and I knew how to answer the suit?'

The barkeeper didn't voice a reply, simply nodding his head.

'Well, I'm somewhat linked to that sort of stuff.' the spirit answered timidly.

'...So your a weapon made by a higher being? like the suit?' Palm asked confused.

'Not really. But kind of.' She said not elaborating any further.

He tapped the side of a chair near him after she had finished speaking. More secrets, but it didn't matter. He trusted his companion to a reasonable extent, there was no reason to push for an answer unless he was in some kind of danger by not knowing. In fact she had made it clear that he would be in more danger by knowing, so the barkeeper just heaved a sigh and let it go.

Not soon afterward the pair heard heavy clattering from the storage room as a heroic figure emerged from the doorway.

'Palm! I may have accidentally torn one of your many strange books that you stacked on top of me in my escape attempt!' The power suit declared loudly. 'Is it time to begin our training yet?'

He groaned audibly, why did it have to be him.