In a café in Regalia, three of the S-Class students sat waiting for an informant of sorts, the three being Kazuya, Vince and Jade.
“To think, the shy Leah acted first… who’d have thought?” Jade shook her head in surprise, still surprised by the fact that Leah actually confessed to Kazuya, much less kissed the latter.
Leah still went atomic if Vince or Edward teased her, and Kazuya was pulling off a very convincing thousand yard stare, showing that he was clearly surprised by things.
“You couldn’t have actually thought that she didn’t like you? Come on, you’ve been dating a week, aren’t you a bit more comfortable yet?” Vince asked with a raised eyebrow, Kazuya shaking his head with a sigh.
“I didn’t… actually want to date so early? I guess? It’s a bit complicated, but I really thought I’d at least get to be a well-known Sage before I got a girlfriend?” Kazuya wasn’t even joking, he knew he was attractive, arrogant as that sounds.
For Kazuya, it was just more important to focus on his career, being a Sage, than it was to focus on relationships.
“Actually… how is Liza taking it?” Jade asked with a frown, knowing quite well that the diminutive strongest member of the class carried quite the torch for Kazuya.
“She’s… supportive? It’s weird actually, everything is still pretty much the same, conversation wise, but otherwise… she doesn’t cling to me as much anymore, and she makes a point of being extra conscious about distance when Leah’s around.” Kazuya didn’t bother saying what he thought was going on since all three of the Sages seated in the café had an idea of what was going on.
Liza was likely being very conscious of the fact that Kazuya was ‘taken’ and as such, was backing off a bit, especially when Kazuya’s girlfriend was around.
Part of what kept things from getting too awkward was that Leah and Liza were actually good friends, and when the two were together they could actually talk and keep things civil.
Though Kazuya didn’t know what had happened, but the night he and Leah started going out, Leah went one side with Liza and they apparently had a long conversation?
Whatever was said, Kazuya did not know, and he had a feeling that even if the conversation was about him, he felt he shouldn’t know what was said.
“Eh, the first of many romance based stuff for our class eh? Hey Jade, you feel like starting another?” Vince asked, his eyebrows wriggling in a funny manner that had Jade snort a small laugh while hitting him in the shoulder.
“Ass.” Jade had no clue that Vince was being partially serious, the two males sitting at the table sending each other a look that was basically ‘see what I have to deal with’ and ‘I sympathize’.
To be fair, Vince’s words were usually eight out of ten times jokes, and Jade was starting to just believe that it was all jokes.
Kazuya was actually waiting for Jade to learn that Vince actually did like her, so that he could laugh at her for insinuating that Kazuya was blind to the affections of others when she was much worse.
This was a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
“So, where is the unluckiest man in the world anyway?” Vince raised an eyebrow, making a show of looking around in confusion when someone nearby cleared their throat, getting Vince to jump slightly as the three Sages turned to look at who it was.
“I resemble that statement.” Nero spoke with an awkward smile, his glasses being adjusted as he sat himself down in the fourth seat at the table, the three Sages smiling at their human friend.
“There you are, we’ve been waiting for the past half an hour! What kept you so long?” Hiiro asked with a smile on his face, glad to see a friend again after almost an entire year since they had last spoke in person.
“Well there was a fallen tree in front of the door to my apartment complex this morning so I ended up needing to climb out of a window to get to the fire escape, then when I was near the bottom the fire escape decided to collapse and I had to jump onto a nearby oil drum, the oil drum tipped over and I had to… okay, my morning was eventful.” Nero finally cut himself off when he noticed his three Sage friends zoning out in the middle of his explanation.
“And yet you show no sign of having been in any such situation?” Jade asked with a raised eyebrow, Nero chuckling and nodding.
“Guilty as charged, I just woke up late since I only arrived in the city a week ago.” Nero was still annoyed with the King of Lightning for ‘wasting’ his time for so long over in India, eventually even the other monks got annoyed at waiting and entered the King of Lightning’s chamber only to find the King was long gone with a note saying he had left for Eastern China to go get some anime.
Plans ruined, Nero was compensated by the monks of the Temple by having his travelling taken care of to the Empire, where the Wandering Forest was ‘parked’ outside, and where the King of Lightning would eventually be arriving.
Nero still hadn’t actually gotten an interview with either King, but at least he knew where they would be for the next few weeks.
“Now that sounds more realistic, but again, it’s good to see you man… you’ve been all over since we last me yeah?” Vince asked, Nero nodding while looking at the menu for the café, his Sage friends already promising to pay his share…
Rather, they were all going undercover as musicians/singers when they needed to, they had money from the ‘gigs’ to spend.
“Yeah, from Berlin to here, then all the way to India only to get told to come back here because the latest release of a manga just got out…” Nero complained, his source of complaint drawing confused stares from his friends, but no one said anything.
As far as Nero’s luck went, a squirrel could be a legitimate reason for the tectonic plates shifting.
“I have no clue how that works, but I have sympathy for you. That aside, we actually messaged you cause we need a bit of help.” Kazuya started, Nero raising an eyebrow, along with his cup of tea and taking a loud, obnoxious sip.
“Continue.” There was a chuckle all around before Hiiro’s smile dropped significantly.
“I’m afraid that it’s a bit… odd. See, we’re part of a mission to uncover why Sages are turning up dead here in Regalia, most of whom are three Stars in power. The only real clues we have is that each of the bodies are marked with a zero on their foreheads…” Hiiro began, already using a bit of subtle Wind manipulation to obscure their voices from any others in the café.
No human would catch it, and most Sages who could would leave them alone out of respect for privacy.
“That’s… the Null Sons you think? You need someone to watch them… not to point out the obvious, but you guys can blend in can’t you?” Nero asked with a frown, not liking this idea really.
“To a point, there are methods to detect whether someone is a Sage or not, and I don’t doubt the Null Sons have them. No, we need an actual human to go in and confirm or deny the rumours that the Null Sons are the cause.” Vince explained, crossing his arms and tapping out a rhythm as he thought as Jade nodding in agreement with his words, the Gardenia Corporation actually created some devices that detected what they now knew to be Essence within Sages.
Other than the fact that her hair went from black to platinum blonde, one of those devices was the proof that Jade was a Sage, no longer a normal human back on her twelfth birthday.
“…You really think some humans killed Sages? I mean… objectively speaking, any one of you could probably snap my spine like a twig if you tried, how could normal humans get that right?” Nero had to ask, as it was a bit off to all Sages who were in the know about the circumstances.
“There are ways to bridge the gap… well, to an extent. If caught off-guard, a human with a gun like the ones I use would be able to heavily injure, if not outright kill a Sage. The only odd thing would be that when the guns are used by humans, they need a Sage to charge them, so unless they have a willing helper, or a tied up Sage acting as a battery, there’s no way for that… it’s weird.” Vince explained once more, and finally Hiiro sighed, drawing the gazes of the others at the table.
“Nero, we honestly don’t want to involve you, but you’re kind of the only human we can go to on this and actually trust. We’ll make sure to compensate you for the trouble, and you will not need to be involved in any more than you are comfortable with, even the knowledge of the next rally location would be nice.” Hiiro explained, and Nero looked down to his lap in thought.
“…I’m in.”
Twirl, step, twirl, step, a cane swishing and twirling, Jonathan, Edward, Leah and Tony followed Yusuf while looking at him with confusion, the Maestro humming out a tune recognizable as ‘London bridge is falling down’, an old tune from before the change of names for the capital.
“You seem oddly… peppy, Yusuf… something good happen?” Edward asked as they walked on the path to the palace, Yusuf and Jonathan heading there for their own reasons, while Edward’s trio were going there to give Edward someone to walk around with.
“Sort of, I got information from Su-Li and Kim that they’re shaking down the Null Sons over in Istanbul and Venice respectively. They say the Null Sons in those areas are kind of quiet, particularly Istanbul which is very kind to Sages.” Yusuf didn’t say how the information was gained, though he had quite the giggle when he saw the picture of Su-Li applying a whip liberally to one particularly difficult ‘informant’.
Yusuf was quite the sadist at times.
“Ah, that’ll help our investigation in some manner I suppose?” Edward asked, Yusuf nodding while tapping his cane on the ground.
“Yes, a bit more info was that the Null Sons of those places seemed to want to make the trip here, to Regalia… now why would that be, unless the Null Sons here are planning something?” Yusuf implied heavily, and Edward’s face morphed into a frown.
“I see… you’ll share more information at tonight’s briefing?” Edward asked, Yusuf nodding with a smile as they entered the palace, the (five Star) guards slamming their spears against the floor to indicate their presence was noted, with Edward’s group splitting off from Yusuf and Jonathan with a wave.
Edward and the others, after separating from Yusuf and Jonathan, found themselves in a room near the audience chamber slash throne room, with Leah and Tony both standing very nervously before the Emperor and the General of the Empire.
The only things keeping the two shy ones of the second year S-Class from breaking out into nervous stuttering was the fact that the two were more focused on Edward, and that there was a small red haired kid smiling and practically vibrating as he stood staring at Edward.
The kid looked so happy that Tony and Leah both felt themselves calm down slightly when looking at him.
“Dad, Greg, Martin, good to see you all.” Edward said with an easy going smile, Gregory chuckling and nodding, Leah and Tony both easily noting that the men of this family seemed to all look like clones of one another, Edward being the odd one out due to his multi-coloured hair.
“Son, it’s nice to see you again, though I thought you would have let us know earlier whether you were in the area or not…” the Emperor spoke with a smile, looking to Leah and Tony with a notable movement of his eyes, cluing Edward in on what was expected of him.
“Oh, yeah, these are two of my classmates, Leah Marx and Tony Valdez, they’re here busy with the same mission I am, and well we were told to move in groups.” Edward explained while scratching the back of his head, the only reason Liza hadn’t come along was because she said she’d be taking a lazy day at their hotel.
Ordinarily they would worry about Liza feeling sad given Leah and Kazuya’s new relationship status, but considering she was watching comedies and other funny videos, she seemed fine.
“Pleasure to meet you two, and please, we’re not really in a public setting so it is acceptable to act more casually.” Gregory, the ‘Dragon’ was definitely larger than life, even if Edward was bigger than his older brother in the muscles department, there was something about both the Emperor Galahad and Gregory that made them seem… more.
“So you study with big bro? You conquer anything yet?” Martin, adorable little tyke conqueror that he was, confused Leah and Tony very much with his question, while Edward was quick to speak up.
“We’re top of our year at our school, so we conquered all of our year-mates and the students a year below us Martin.” Edward tried to explain, using his eyes, that this was how Martin understood the concept of ‘stronger than someone else’.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The message was not received, but it didn’t quite matter as the door to the private room opened, a man limping into the room with the occasional wince, shutting the door behind him.
Looking at the man, Leah’s eyes sparkled, the man had a cape which doubled as a cloak, a jacket which had buttons on both sides, with loops connecting the two sides, a pair of trousers and high boots, he also wore a tricorn hat, and had his blood red hair in a pony-tail which flopped over one shoulder, and a pair of leather gloves which were used to pull at a muffler covering his face, revealing a face only slightly different from the rest of the Valzard men.
All in all, the man looked like a pirate slash gentleman and Leah found that she quite liked the look.
“I wonder how Hiiro would feel about growing his hair out…” Leah mumbled as Edward looked to the man with shock at his state, Tony noting inwardly that the man was extremely powerful…
“Uncle Drake, what happened?” Edward shouted, the man blinking slit, orange eyes at the sight of his nephew, who he had not expected to be here… in fact-
“Why are there so many people in my room?” the man named Drake seemed very indignant about the ‘ambush’ of sorts, the Emperor of all people chuckling while scratching the back of his head…
“Ah, that’s where Ed gets that from.” Tony murmured, the two bystanders to the reunion having their own thoughts about the situation, while also hoping no attention would be given to them.
This did seem like a private affair.
“Well, we couldn’t really meet up in the throne room… Edward is busy with a mission within Regalia, regarding those disappearances and murders. Having his presence known might alert the enemy.” Drake raised an eyebrow, Galahad reacting with a chuckle of his own.
No doubt it didn’t actually matter whether the enemy knew if Edward was around or not, Edward had plenty reason to be in Regalia, it was his classmates that had issue…
And if anyone’s presence was to drive the killers away, it would have been the Kings, and yet the murders continued even with the Wandering Forest ‘parked’ outside city limits.
But hiding ones presence while pursuing a lead was a good habit to build, especially this early, so Drake ended up shrugging before he looked to his nephew with vague interest, limping past Edward and dropping himself on a nearby chair.
Without saying a word, the Emperor left a bottle of rum placed right there on the table, a glass also placed, which left Drake to open the bottle, pour until the glass was filled with rum, and then Drake proceeded to drink straight from the bottle.
“…What?” Tony and Leah were in union with their confusion as to why the heck the man would pour into a glass only to drink straight from the bottle anyway.
The answer was given when the Emperor picked up the glass, taking a polite sip, waiting for his brother to speak.
“Right, nephew, you asked why I’m injured? I was training with a King.” Drake explained, and that seemed to be answer enough, the group had been on the receiving end of a beat-down from a higher ranked Sage before themselves after all.
“A King? That must have been awesome…” Edward said with a sigh of sadness at having missed the battle.
Edward would have to be very far away from the city to come near their battlefield though, and even then he’d probably die from the shockwaves.
“Sir, um… you have a hole in your stomach.” Leah pointed out, worried at the sight, realizing that the man’s jacket, dark in colour, hid the wound slightly, it still didn’t escape Leah’s senses when the man’s blood dripped to the floor.
“That I do. Try getting stabbed in the gut by a King and not come out with something like that. But don’t worry, it’ll go away.” Drake said, continuing to drink, and as the man stated, little by little the wound closed, until eventually there was only pale skin as a reminder of the wound.
Well, pale skin and a lot of blood.
“…Is there something I could puke into?” Tony asked with a raised hand, Gregory pointing to a door which likely led to a bathroom, leaving Tony to leave.
“Eh, he’ll get used to seeing injuries like that eventually. So, nephew, what have you been up to, I missed the opening of the conversation after all.” Drake said, leaving the now empty bottle of rum on the table and leaning back, an arm resting over the chair backrest as he kicked out his legs.
Edward chuckled at seeing his uncle laid out like that, no one would have expected that from the ‘Shield of the Empire’ but Drake was quite the lazy guy when he wasn’t working.
Drake claimed it was because he was a dragon, he liked booze, gold, women, and sleeping, but Galahad had long learned that it was probably just an excuse for Drake.
Leah was unfortunately having her preconception of Drake shattered, mumbling about ‘Hiiro is the one, Hiiro is the one’.
Watching the events quietly, Martin decided that his family was funny and awesome.
Even his brother’s friends were funny… Martin hoped they were strong too.
With Yusuf and Jonathan, shortly after they split off from Edward’s trio, Yusuf was following Jonathan through the palace, the younger Sage not knowing of the layout of the palace after all.
“Your mother is in the gardens along with the King of Darkness, I believe that’s who you wished to speak with?” Jonathan asked his son, Yusuf’s cane twirling once more as he nodded, Yusuf already knowing that his father would almost automatically gravitate towards his mother, and if anyone could help him find a King it would probably be another King.
“Yeah… if anyone can help me, it would be her.” Yusuf said, his face morphing into one of consternation as he and his father walked out into the nearby gardens, Yusuf’s eyes brightening at the sight of his mother brushing her hands by a sunflower with a smile on her face.
Even with the cold and snow of winter, the garden bloomed wonderfully, one of the perks of Wood Sages, of which one was a member of the Swords of the Empire, a group of ten nine Star Sages, considered the most powerful team of Sages bar the theoretical team comprising of each of the Kings.
Other than Rabia, who was smiling brightly at seeing Yusuf and Jonathan, there was another woman in attendance, seated on a nearby bench, practically lounging upon it as she held, of all things, some nightshade.
It was a fitting flower for the King of Darkness, she even had one nestled in her hair, likely courtesy of Rabia.
“Mother, it’s good to see you.” Yusuf said with an exaggerated bow, drawing a giggle from his mother who loved seeing Yusuf acting so flamboyantly.
“Oh come here son, I want a hug.” Rabia said, reaching out and making grasping motions with her hands as she pouted, drawing a laugh from Yusuf as he came over to lean downwards and give his mother a hug.
Yusuf was definitely a ‘mama’s boy’.
“Ha. Your son is kind of funny, little wind.” The King of Darkness said from her seat, her black ballroom gloves suddenly extending to cover the flower she had in her hands, storing it within her shadow.
“Oh Yusuf, you probably know who this is, but this is your aunt Clara, King of Darkness and all that.” Rabia said with a wave of the hand, prompting another laugh from Yusuf as he bowed slightly to Clara.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, aunt.” Clara’s eye twitched slightly, not actually liking the form of address.
“The pleasure is yours. But, I doubt you’re here just to see your mom, I mean, she says you visited just last week.” Clara asked with a raised eyebrow, Rabia looking up from her wheelchair to her son to see if he would confirm or deny Clara’s words.
“Guilty as charged, I’m here to discuss my future plans with you, Aunt Clara.” Again Clara’s eye twitched, and Yusuf’s sadistic smile said he knew exactly what he was doing.
It was only that he was Rabia’s child that prevented Clara from tormenting Yusuf.
“Oh? And you think whatever plans you have cooked up are worth the attention of a King?” Clara asked with a raised eyebrow of curiosity.
“Well, it was either I take my plans to the top of the food-chain, or risk said ‘top’ catching wind of my plans and deciding to obliterate an eyesore, regardless of my relations to my mother.” Yusuf pointed out, Rabia frowning at even the insinuation that anyone would hurt her son, and Jonathan remaining stoic and quiet as he let his son speak.
“That sounds a bit alarming, you know, if I were someone who could actually be bothered by you. Sounds like you’re going to be doing some questionably legal or even straight out illegal things, and you want permission before doing so?” Clara asked, already having an idea as to what Yusuf was actually asking.
“The Baqri are moving once more, they plan to have me take over as head of the family so that they can once more take assassination contracts.” Yusuf got that bit of information out of the way first, Clara raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, it seems like your family wants to be wiped out considering I’m part of the reason they stopped… and what, you’re going to let them start that shit again?” Clara asked, wisps of Darkness floating off of her as monstrous growling was heard, the source being the shadows of the bench she sat upon, two feral eyes staring out from there.
“To an extent yes. I am not strong enough to rein them in, so why not let them do what they want… at least, until I can rein them in, and direct them in the way we want.” Yusuf’s words, spoken with a sheen of sweat on his brow on account of nervousness, seemed to pull through and Clara’s shadows calmed down, the eyes of her Manifestation slowly closing from within her shadow.
“I heard the ‘we’ there. You want me to let the Baqri live, in exchange for being able to direct them in the future?” Clara asked, with Yusuf raising a finger.
“Exactly. Plus, if there are any missions we find… issue with, I could leak the details of the mission to you and you could prevent it, within reason of course… if I let every mission get sabotaged, they’d eventually figure out what we would be doing.” Yusuf pointed out and Clara rolled her eyes.
“You’re more than a few centuries too young to be telling me how to go about sabotage. I’ve done more than a few hostile takeovers of companies back when I was starting out. But I see your point, having a network of assassin’s pulling off jobs that I need done, unconnected to me… yeah, it could work.” Clara nodded, seemingly satisfied with what she had come to terms with.
“I see. I’d like to have leeway until I reach seven Stars, as I’d only really be able to exert any force over the family around then.” Yusuf reminded, the King of Darkness rolling her eyes and nodding.
“I get it, I get it… seriously, like mother like son with you two… If one of your kids come to me for help with the Baqri I’m just going to wipe the family out next time.” Yusuf smiled nervously, not understanding the reference to his mother, but able to guess from the implications…
Yusuf was also very nervous because Clara was definitely capable of wiping out the Baqri by herself.
“Anyway, I need you to wait until the end of the International Juniors. The King of Lightning would be a very useful person to talk to for you.” Clara said, standing up and sauntering off, Yusuf having the state of mind to not look at the King as she walked away.
“She really has a nice ass, doesn’t she?” Yusuf looked to his mother, raising a fist and then a single thumb in agreement.
Jonathan just rolled his eyes while giving off a small smile.
“Kids huh… wonder how mine is.” Clara wondered aloud, thinking to her ghoulish son… and then shrugging.
“Probably still staring at nothing whole day.” Clara was not a kind woman really, and her own son preferred the company of the Witch of Ireland than hers… or the lack of company of said Witch.
Witch, with a capital B whenever Clara felt vindictive, was practically a corpse that forgot to die, and Clara’s son emulated the woman much too well…
“He’d probably be a monster if he ever left that damn place though.” Clara noted with a bit of pride, lazy and boring her son may be, but he was no weakling.
“Oh, thinking of your family? That’s not like you, Miser.” Clara froze, shadows instantly forming around her as a massive scythe appeared within her hands, the King of Darkness spinning to face the being who had just spoken…
Cu, her Manifestation, was already leaning over her protectively, snarling at the man who just gave a soft smile, slowly clapping gloved hands together.
“Calm Miser, I mean you no harm, you know that, don’t you?” Clara, now covered in her Clad, the Dread Armour, stared at the white haired man with fear in her eyes.
There were very few that Clara feared… very few. Even the Elementals didn’t give her any fear, with their being forces of nature more than living beings.
The Fair God was one of only five beings Clara feared, and he stood before her with that same genial smile, adjusting his odd circular glasses for a moment, allowing Clara to see through the tint of the glasses and see the perpetually sad blue eyes of the God.
“So you say Fair God, but I’m not really a Hermit anymore, am I?” Clara asked, the God in human form tilting his head in thought, removing his glasses and letting them hang from his breast pocket, and it was this action that let Clara ‘calm down’ as her scythe disappeared, along with her armour.
Cu remained growling at The Fair God though, quickly switching to a whimper as the God looked in his direction, the beast disappearing into Clara’s shadow to retreat.
“No you aren’t, technically. But once a Hermit, always a Hermit. I’m checking up on all of our members, a sabbatical of sorts… by the way I go by Faire now, with an ‘e’ at the end.” Clara raised an eyebrow, the name truly simplistic for the strongest being Clara had ever seen.
“Faire? Dumb name, but alright… so, checking up on all the Hermits then? So you know that Uther is dead?” Clara asked, Faire nodding as he walked closer, placing a palm on the King of Darkness’ shoulder before nodding in a ‘follow me’ gesture.
“Yes, I know the Old King is dead… a sad thing it is, but knowing the man, I can understand why he chose to die.” Clara blinked, before nodding, understanding what Faire was saying.
Honestly speaking, Clara knew that Uther should not have died from old age, even as old as that man was, his Diversity should have made him nigh-immortal.
Diversities such as those were a near automatic placement into the Hermits, which was the case for Clara, and four of the five she feared.
Heck, Faire was the first Hermit and the one who created the group… as a result of getting into a fight with the other two ‘Gods’ of the group.
The result was obviously Faire’s victory, powerful as those two were, they were nothing before the Fair God.
“So he just couldn’t anymore huh? Makes me wonder how the Witch lasted so long…” Clara wondered aloud, she was the oldest of the ‘Kings’ but the second youngest of the Hermits, with the youngest being the Demon Lord.
But even the Demon Lord was a century or two older than Uther, and yet all of the Hermits remained.
“It’s part of the madness which afflicts us… Do not deny it Miser, but no Hermit is entirely sane, we obsess, and our obsessions drive us to remain in a world where we should have departed long ago.” In a sense, Clara could agree with Faire’s words, it seemed to be a ‘logical’ enough reason as to why the Sword God and the Beast God remained alive yes, but some…
“What is the obsession of the Witch then?” Faire rolled his eyes at Clara’s question, the Miser lusted after wealth because her power based her longevity on her ‘wealth’.
As for the Witch-
“Your mother is obsessed with loneliness. Or rather, the elimination of loneliness. Why else do you think none may die in her lands?” Faire’s answer had Clara bite her bottom lip in annoyance, not liking how the answer painted her mother in a good light when all she could remember was being neglected by her mother.
“If she hates loneliness so much, why did she leave me so alone?” Clara asked, and Faire looked to her, unsure of how valid his words would be when he was just a ‘bystander’.
“Your mother hates loneliness yes… but your mother is also emotionally stunted, she seeks to gather people to her side, but does not know what to do beyond that. Your mother is quite the sad existence.” Left unsaid by Faire was that the King of Darkness had quite the sad figure as a father as well…
Oh well, Faire wouldn’t say anything about that for now.
“Come on, I know a good ice-cream shop nearby.” Clara raised an eyebrow, following Faire outside of the palace despite her confusion.
“You know, I always wondered why you get me ice-cream every time we meet.” Yes, Clara was terrified of the man, but that was usually only until the man revealed his intentions.
Never had Faire actually done something violent to Clara, except for at her initiation to the Hermits.
“Eh, you just seem like you need it.” Faire said, waving off Clara’s question as him just responding to a whim.
Of course Faire would buy her ice cream, it was a grandparent’s job to spoil their grandchildren, right?