“Well, I do have one more thing to ask about this young lady,” Orman Susten hadn’t gotten off Jaid’s back just yet. And as soon as their orders were taken, he asked the burning question on his mind. “Kada, is she your, err, current flavor of the month?”

“Hah?! What the hell are you talking about, dad?!” Kada nearly fell out of her seat, so off-put by such a surprising question and the implications that came with it.

“Orman…” the man’s ex-wife shot him a look. “You know you shouldn’t be so brazen and direct with these sorts of things.”

“What?! I was just curious!” the man shot up both hands in his defense. “Is it wrong of me to ask about my daughter’s dating life?”

“Hmph, well tact was never your strong-suit,” Rianne took a sip from her drink. “But I am curious as well.”

“Mom!” the daughter was suddenly riddled with embarrassment from her parents prying. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, Jaid and I certainly aren’t dating. Why would you even think that?!”

“Well, from our perspective, it seems you’ve pretty much given up on the Drazah boy,” Rianne suggested. “Which is quite the shame in my opinion. He’s a king now, after all, and if you were to marry, then we’d be royalty, Kada. Royalty!”

Her father then cut in. “Your mother’s inflated ego aside, since you don’t tell us about your personal life, the only way we get any updates is from the media. So in a lot of the pictures recently you’re always with a different girl, and looking mighty friendly at that.”

“There’s been the girl with her hair looking like it has animal ears. Then there was the brooding one that’s dressed all in black. And I’m pretty sure the latest one is part squid or something. You have some unique tastes, Kada.”

“Not that I’m here to judge,” the man was quick to add that qualifier. “You can date whoever you want. But then you bring a normal, friendly, not-evil looking woman to have a meal with us. So I was thinking maybe you were here to introduce her in a more formal capacity—brought her to meet your parents.”

“Well while I appreciate the support, I think,” Kada’s voice trailed for a second. “I’m not currently involved with anyone officially, alright?! Life’s uhh, really complicated right now with everything going on, but I wouldn’t say that I’d given up on anything either.”

“Okay, alright, I’ll drop it!” her father caved, probably partially due to appetizers being set down in front of them right at that moment.

But now that the Susten’s had concluded their family drama for the time being, the other clan at the table took their turn like clockwork. “Well how about you, Xard, any man in your life at the moment?”

“Wha-huh?!” the young man in question’s entire face went pale and his eyes nearly rolled out of his head, finding it impossible for his brain to process the question he’d just heard. After snapping back to reality, and replaying the words in his mind to confirm he wasn’t hearing things, he finally muttered, “Sorry, err, I just never expected you to ask about that, mom.”

“Well, we did say that we accepted who you were the last time we met, didn’t we?” Pozzy reminded him. “And after getting to know the Zalksins, how wonderful they are, we’ve come to understand and embrace the idea of you being in an openly gay relationship and possibly getting married one day. We’ve also been enlightened by what a family with two fathers could look like. While you couldn’t have children yourself, you could always adopt or consider surrogacy!”

“Of course you would go to that…” While Xard didn’t seem to hate her words, there was still a twinge of obvious annoyance.

“Is that not an idea you like?” Jaid’s own curiosity got the better of her, so she butted into the conversation.

“No, I’m not against the idea of having kids one day,” Xard clarified. “But my mother, she’s… well she’s always been, to put it bluntly, a bit baby crazy. She’s always talked about how much she’s wanted grandchildren, and it’s part of why my coming out as gay hit her so hard, since she thought it’d never come to be.”

“I just want a little one to spoil again, is that so horrible?!” Pozzy immediately protested. “It broke my heart when Xard started acting independent, like he didn’t need his mother anymore. So yes, I was a bit hurt when I thought I’d never get the chance again, but it doesn’t have to be that way! We could have the big family I’ve always dreamed of!”

“Well, in a way, I guess it is like we have a child running around,” the knight only added fuel to the fire. “Drimini is basically Drim’s daughter, wouldn’t you say? And we all sort of share the responsibility of monitoring her development. I’m sure no one would mind if your mom took a turn looking after her, and the girl would probably love someone new to spoil her. If the fact that she’s partially made of plants doesn’t bother you, that is.”

“No, not at all!” Pozzy’s eyes lit up at the prospect.

“Well, I could have a clone bring her right now,” Jaid offered. “I still have one at the compound, so it would only take a few minutes if I hitched a ride from Valen.”

“No, you shouldn’t encourage her!” Xard buried the suggestion. “We’d never see Drimini again.”

“Yes, let’s not put too much pressure on them, dear,” Qurt Randex added his support, and then to noticeably change the topic away from such matters, he mused, “So clones, huh? I guess we did see you use them during the tournament. It sounds like a very convenient power. Probably the one I’d find the most useful if I were to choose. Definitely has a lot of practical everyday applications.”

“Yeah, I have no complaints,” The Paladin had become proud of it. “It took me a while to accept the ability, since I struggled with the idea of being a Fiend, but now it just feels like an extension of myself.”

Xard’s father leaned further into the conversation, “Do your clones ever have trouble distinguishing themselves from one another, or possibly try to claim themselves as the original? There were some old movies we used to watch with premises like that? Actually, are we talking to a clone right now, or are you the original.”

“Honestly…” Jaid had to lean back for a moment to think. “I’m not really sure anymore. I’ve made so many clones, and almost never exist just as one person these days, so it’s hard to say—definitely lost track at some point. Even if I am a clone, we all feel like the original unless we have an altered body, so I doubt there’d ever be some sort of insurrection.”

“Though it can be a bit overwhelming when one of the clones is recalled and we absorb the rest of their memories, especially if they’ve been active for a while. But we do confirm that none of us are in any particular danger before doing so, since we know it can be hampering. It’s well worth the tradeoff, though, since I’ve been able to get so much work done for the group—catching up on my multi-year absence, I guess you could say.”

“How very fascinating,” Qurt had genuinely hung on every word. “The life of a Fiend is certainly an interesting one. And admittedly, we hadn’t given it the proper credence and understanding after Xard had his change. We didn’t even try to view things from his perspective, one of our many failings. But how about you, son? How has your work with the group been going?”

“Erm, I’m not sure you’d like to hear the specifics on that,” the redhead refused at first. “From what you’ve heard from the news, I’m sure, the work I do isn’t as humanitarian and peaceful as many of the other For Hires. I wouldn’t want to upset you.”

“Well, we already know about a lot,” his mother openly admitted. “And while I can’t say we exactly condone everything you do, we understand the reasons that you’re doing it. Ever since you told us you wanted to be a cop, we’ve been preparing ourselves to see you in the line of danger, performing acts that would be criticized, and even taking the lives of others.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I can’t say that I wouldn’t wish a simpler life for you, but you’re following your own dreams, and your own justice. Whether as a police officer or a Fiend vigilante, we support you in what you choose to do. As parents, however, we just hope that you’re taking your own safety into consideration, because we have to worry about you.”

“That’s, um,” the redhead’s voice cracked, clearly holding back a flood of emotions. “It means a lot to hear you say that.”

“I do have to ask, though, son,” Qurt raised another issue. “What happened to your left arm? It certainly wasn’t that small the last time we saw you. Did you completely give up on exercising it?”

“Err, that, right,” Xard struggled on how to explain it. “Well, me and a few other Fiends took a trip to space recently to another planet, and it uhm, may have, just a little bit…” his voice got quieter as he looked away, unable to meet their eyes. “...been bitten by an alien monster. That, um, caused an infection, which made the arm basically have to be removed and regrown.”

There was a stunned silence, his parents fully unable to process the ridiculousness they’d just heard. Eventually it was Kada’s mother who broke the silence. “So what about you, Kada, did you go to space too?” Though her voice sounded more curious than concerned.

“Ehh, nah, they wouldn’t let me,” the woman grumbled. “Something about how my power could accidentally cause catastrophic failure and kill us all.”

“That’s too bad,” Rianne consoled her. “But I’m sure you’ve been on plenty of other exciting adventures.”

“Yes, Kada, how has the Fiend-thing been going,” her father followed up.

“You actually want to hear about that?” the daughter raised an eyebrow. “But you always said that you still didn’t accept that side of me and never wanted to know anything about it.”

“Well, what can I say, times have changed,” Orman tried to persuade her. “This Fiend parent support group thing has been good for me. Allowed me to accept a lot of things I was wrong about before. I can tell how the resort business is going, just one look around tells me all I need to know. But we want to know about all of your life. So what crazy, dangerous stuff have you been doing?”

“Eh, it’s not as exciting as the others,” The Mermaid didn’t even feel motivated to report on it since she’d already been upstaged by space madness. “Pretty much all I’ve been doing is exploring ancient ruins from lost civilizations looking for some mystical woman who gave us our powers in the first place, so that we can confront and question her about some things.” After she said it out loud, the concept did sound more exciting than she’d felt actually doing it the last few months.

“Oh, you mean the woman who’s been speaking directly in our heads,” the man tapped his own noggin.

“Yeah her!” Kada excitedly threw a pointed finger in her father’s direction, confirming his assumption.

“Hmm, you’re right, maybe I don’t want to hear about it!” Orman acted distressed but then started to laugh, playing it off as a joke. “It’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that some woman caused all this. Wonder if she’s got a bunch of worshippers like you guys do here.”

The eyes of all three Fiends lit up at the same time—their original purpose for meeting with the pairs of parents dawning on them once again. “That’s right, I totally forgot! That’s why we’re here!” Kada was on the verge of shouting. “What the mawhging zjik were you doing with the Fiendnatics?!”

“Language, young lady!” Orman Susten expressed his immediate disapproval of his daughter's crass inquiry, more worried about that than explaining why he and the other present parents had been mulling around with a cult.

“Forgot they were called the Fiendnatics, though,” he continued. “Cosmos, what a stupid name. Wait, Fiend and fanatics, I get it now! Doesn’t make it any less stupid!”

“We were just curious about them,” Pozzy Randex jumped in to answer the actual question.

“Yes, they’ve been stirring up quite the commotion the past few days,” her husband, Qurt, nodded beside her. “And as parents of Fiends ourselves, were were naturally interested in those who are fans of our children. But I don’t think any of us were prepared for how enthusiastic they were about Fiends and the culture around them.”

“I’d definitely love to pull that kind of crowd,” Rianne, expressed her envy. “But while the vibe there wasn’t bad, something still felt a little off. Almost kind of like a cult.”

There were murmurs around the table, all the other parents expressing the same cultish feeling. Kada’s mother then added a bit more insight. “And as someone who spent some time in a cult, I can say with good authority that if they aren’t officially one now, they’re certainly heading that way.”

“Wait, you spent time in a cult?!” It was shocking news to her daughter.

“Yes, did I never mention that?” the woman didn’t even seem remotely ashamed of the idea. “It was shortly after I’d left you all. I thought I was following my dreams, but I ended up being tricked. By the time I realized, I was so deeply embedded that it was hard to leave. Not the worst time of my life, but it was certainly a strange experience.”

“Did you know, dad?!” Kada looked over to her father, wanting someone else to share her bewilderment, but the man was calm and digging into his food.

“Oh yeah, I knew,” he responded eventually after he forced down his bite. “She told me a while ago once we started talking again. But the more pressing issue is you, young lady!” he waved an accusing finger at her, and then spouted with only a slight hint of joking around, “Did you go and start a cult?! Because even as supportive parents, we can’t approve of that!”

“Well we didn’t make it!” The Mermaid protested. “In fact, we’re here to figure out how to put a stop to it! The reason we came to see you, besides not knowing you all were here in the first place, was to ask why you’d been at their meeting!”

“As I said, we were just interested to see what was going on,” Qurt confirmed once more. “The meeting was advertised as open to the public, so we thought why not, since we didn’t really have anything else to do before our reservation.”

“So you’re saying that you had no real prior knowledge of the group and are not involved with them in any capacity,” Xard confirmed, wanting to leave no room for doubt.

“Nope, not at all,” his mother assured him. “There was a booth outside where you could get information, and there was some sort of signup sheet there. But since we were hungry and didn’t want to stick around to ask questions, I just grabbed a pamphlet to gloss through later. We don’t have any intention to join, but it was an interesting experience.” The woman dug through her purse and set the brochure down on the table.

“Alright, I believe you,” her son relented as he picked up the pamphlet to skim through. “But still, we ask that you all stay away from them until this matter is resolved.”

Kada then added one more tidbit, “And yeah, maybe think about checking-out soon. My staff is having a hard enough time finding rooms because of the possibly-a-cult influx without you guys hogging them. And you can always come back later. Maybe this time you could let me know, too.”

“Alright, we’ll check-out soon, sweetie,” Kada’s mother assured her. “But since you know now, I was thinking maybe we could spend some time together before we leave. Or are your hands tied with this cult thing?”

“Err, I dunno…” the resort owner pondered.

“It’s probably not something we can just set aside so easily,” Xard regretted to inform them. “But if it doesn’t take too long we could maybe take some time.

Just then, Jaid wobbled slightly, catching her head with her hands so her face didn’t end up in her food. “Sorry, my clone that was with the Drazah siblings just recalled herself. It seems everything has been worked out on their end, and they have a plan on how to handle things. We shouldn’t need to do anything ourselves, but Drim is going to address the Fiendnatics directly later tonight, so we probably want to be in attendance for that.”

“I see no reason for you all not to enjoy time with your families until then.”

And the two did just that, Kada and Xard spent the rest of the meal discussing plans with their parents on how to spend the afternoon, planning to split apart for more intimate family time. But there was one more incident that added fuel to the family-drama fire.

“Oh Orman, you’re always such a clutz. What am I going to do with you?” Rianne leaned over to help the man clean the drink he’d spilled all over himself, wiping at his shirt and lap.

“W-w-w-wait wait wait, what the hell is going on here?!” Kada’s mind melted at what she was witnessing. “I thought something was fishy from the start, and maybe I’m just crazy, but are you two back together?!”

“Err, well,” her mother blushed and looked away—damning evidence.

“Listen, Kada,” her father started. “After talking all this time, Rianne and I started to remember why we worked in the first place. Maybe we’ve been throwing around the idea with giving us another shot. And with this trip, it just happened to be more convenient to share the same room since it used up less of the package allowance.”

“Erk, I don’t know what to think of this,” the girl’s head slumped to the table, slamming into both of her hands. It was a while before she moved again, but when she’d snapped back to reality, it seems she elected to ignore the problem, and they still went out together as a family in the afternoon, but perhaps as a more complete one than she initially thought.