“OI!” A man's shout off to the side grabs my attention and as I turn to look I see Melodiana looking in that direction as well, “Stop right there!”

The crowd has paused but it is dense enough that I can't see through it.

“I said stop right there!” the man repeats his command again, “You thieving bastard!”

“Should we get closer?” Melodiana glances over at me and I give her a small shrug.

“Probably,” I shake my head and walk to the slightly expanding ring of people.

“Pardon us,” Melodiana squeezes her way forward but is blocked by the throng of people.

“If ya want to watch get here sooner,” someone turns and sneers at her and I sigh at them.

“I don't give a damn!” The first voice shouts again and I listen to the exchange of bets going on nearby.

“We aren't here to watch,” Melodiana sighs, “So if you would kindly step aside.”

“Now lets be reasonable,” Someone else turns around and glares at us, “If you aren't here to watch just wait until it blows over, and then you can go about your business.”

“That's right,” Another person nods their head before trying to peek through the crowd in front of them.

“Now we are part-”

“Enough! She was mine!” the man shouts again, “Get over here and fight me like a man!”

“I think you ought to let us through,” I fish through Melodiana's pocket and display her emblem. The people stopping us stiffen up and look away nervously.

“Why didn't you show yours?” She huffs as she takes her emblem back and the crowd opens up enough for us to squeeze through.

“Because that would require me to open my cloak,” I readjust my scarf that has slipped down slightly, “and expose myself to the cold.”

“You came here and touched what you didn't own!” The screaming man shouts again and I take a look at him standing in the center of the circle. He is a rather bulky, squat man with light brown hair and a plain looking face. He steps forward and takes a swing at the thin blond man standing opposite from him.

“So you want to blame me for your inability to hold on to her?” the second man dodges backward and lashes out against his opponent. It is a fast strike but there isn't much weight behind it and the other man barely flinches while the scrawny man continues to goad him, “You'll find that she belongs with me now.”

“Eras later and people still behave like they own their potential spouses,” Shiva lets out a tiny displeased sigh and I just shake my head as the screaming man lands a glancing blow onto the other causing him to stagger back several steps.

Melodiana starts to step forward but I catch her elbow and pull her back to my side. She looks down at me and points at the brawling men, “Shouldn't we stop them?”

“If it gets serious,” I shrug, “Otherwise they can beat one another a bit black and blue for awhile.”

The smaller man lands another blow and there is bit of a crunching sound as his fist drives into the bigger mans face, but he barely seems to notice, what sounds like, his broken nose.

“Are you sure?” she prepares to step forward again.

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“Sometimes in these types of things neither side is right and they both deserve a beating,” I yawn, "Dargoths often settle issues with a show of strength like this, right? After a moment she nods her head and we watch them exchange more blows and insults.

The man who started the fight does eventually gain the advantage in the fight over the other man, and knocks him to the ground. Before it can devolve into a ground brawl I pat on Melodiana's elbow and nod my head at her and she steps forward, and lets out a shrill whistle.

“Alright,” She commands in a stern tone, “That's enough.”

“It isn't,” the first man makes to kick at the man on the ground in a daze.

“I said it is,” she holds up her emblem with one hand and her other rests on the hilt of her shorter sword, and he finally stops moving, “It's one thing to settle your differences through a fight, but you need to know when it is time to stop and step back.”

He clenches his fist before wiping the blood off his face with the back of his hand and spits at the man on the ground, “Fine then arrest this bastard for theft, and have him return her!”

“I don't want to deal with someones tryst," I sigh and step forward as well but stay far enough away that he isn't shouting in my ear, “I don't know what you think we can do. Even if we did take him in and put her right next to you we can't just make her accept you after all.”

“I took care of her for the past five seasons!” He roars again and Shiva scoffs in disgust, “And just as she is going hatch this bastard-” He pauses and spits multiple times.

“Hatch?” I tilt my own head to confirm if I heard that right.

“That Chilura egg was raised by me! And this bastard swoops in at the last moment and imprints on her just as she is hatching!”

…

…

Melodiana and I just look at one another in the silence that befell the crowd, and I feel another sigh on my lips. “What's going on here?” A sharp sounding woman interrupts the silence and I glance at her. She is clearly a guard and a couple of other guards follow right behind her as she shove her way into the circle.

“Good,” the man finally lowers his volume a bit, “You can take him into custody right now.”

“A parenting disagreement?” I murmur to her while ignoring him.

“Excuse me?” she blinks at me.

“Take them to the Fängers and have them see if they can sort it out,” I immediately hoist the problem onto someone else, “and I suppose the Nightingales to treat them as well.”

“Excuse me? She repeats and her eyes narrow behind her visor letting me know all of her displeasure of having some random passerby give her an order.

“Melodiana, emblem please,” I turn and look at her and she shakes her head.

“If you aren't going pull yours out of your pocket,” she complains and shows the guards her emblem, “Then why are you carrying it?”

“Because there was a lecture about not carrying it,” I voice my own complaint at the time I lost my afternoon.

“Although you can't argue with how effective it is to show it off,” Shiva finally recovers from her own shock.

“I will admit it does have it's uses,” I tut and look back at the guard that has settled down, “Either way have them treated and see if there is a Fänger that can handle the problem.”

“Yes Ma'am,” she salutes and gestures to the guards that followed her. They move and quickly gather the skinny man off of the ground while another steps over to the victors side.

“That's it!” the man shouts again, and I rub my ear through my cloak.

“Do you think he would stop shouting if I broke his jaw?” I can feel my headache getting worse from just listening to him.

“It might just make him scream louder,” Shiva sighs.

“It's all I can think of right now,” I point at him, “and no more shouting. If the Fängers can't solve a bonding issue nobody else is going to be able to do it.” I don't care which side they favor I just don't want to be around if it turns out that they can't break a bond like that, or if they refuse to do so.

I grab Melodiana's elbow and drag her out of the encirclement before he can continue to shout, and the crowd parts for us once again. “Is it fine to leave it like that?” she looks over her shoulder as we continue walking down the street.

“You stopped it before a major injury was caused,” I nod, “And frankly for the most part we are just here to help the normal guards if anything dangerous pops up. So it should be fine to let them handle it.”

“Alright,” she nods as well and rolls her shoulder while falling into step next to me.