“This stuff tastes like dirt.” Kandy frowned as he sipped the mug of coffee Jabari had made for him.

“It can be an acquired taste. However, coffee has several desirable side effects. For example, energy. You’ll feel that later.” Jabari raised his mug towards Kandy before taking a sip of his own.

“Oh, like an energy potion?”

“Perhaps. I’m unsure of your naming scheme, but it sounds like the effect of your ‘energy potion’ might be similar.”

“Hm.” Kandy looked at the liquid in his mug with renewed appreciation. “I guess I’ll give it a chance, then. Anyways, so what’s the secret solution to my Crow’s Mark problem that we had to come all the way out here for?”

Jabari’s expression instantly turned from its usual mysterious but calm form to one of intense seriousness.

“It’s time to show you the third set of tables. But before I do, you must swear, using the power of the spirits, that you will never speak of what I show you here in this cavern to another soul. The price of breaking the vow will be the destruction of your soul. You will never make it to the other side, and you will never return.”

Kandy raised an eyebrow as he swept his gaze across the cavern. As he did so, Jabari not-so-subtly shifted so that Kandy’s view of the third and fourth table clusters was blocked by his massive form.

“It’s a simple ask, Kandy. Protection for my secrets.”

“Yeah, but… destruction of my soul? That’s rough, man.”

“I will give you five minutes to decide. If you do not take the vow of silence, you will have to leave and we will part ways. Understand that this is for my personal safety.”

Kandy sighed and thought to himself. What would dad do?

His father was untrusting, manipulative. He would never agree to anything unless there was some sort of extra benefit for himself.

He would never agree to making such a vow. At least, not one that was actually binding.

But then…

What would Boom do? Or old man Philo? Or Beth? Or… Mr. Tin?

Jabari’s been nothing but nice and helpful to me since I arrived on this godforsaken desert planet. All he’s asking for is silence. Nothing more.

Kandy sighed. They’d trust each other.

“Alright. I’ll swear myself to silence. But you better not make me regret it.”

Jabari nodded. “I do not think you will be disappointed. You see, you are not the only one who has come by this world and not wanted to have the Crow’s Mark tattooed on their body. Such-minded individuals have created a method of layering a sheet of false, tattooed skin upon their body to escape scrutiny.”

“Fake skin, huh.” Kandy looked upon the table with a hint of disgust. “It looks pretty damn real to me. Like strips of flesh.”

“If it were not realistic, it would not serve its purpose.” Jabari placed the palm of his right palm upon his right arm, over his Crow’s Mark. It lit up, and a section of Jabari’s flesh began to crumple.

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A few seconds later, Jabari pulled off the fake skin layer and showed his smooth, unmarked arm underneath. “You see, I utilize this solution myself.”

“Wait, but you were able to use the Crow’s Mark to access mana, right? How were you able to do that if your Crow’s Mark isn’t… yours?” Kandy’s mind reeled as he struggled to piece the situation together in his mind.

“When it’s attached to my body, the magic that binds it to my body treats the attached skin as a part of myself. In that sense, it’s a true Crow’s Mark—just one that I can take off at a moment’s notice.”

“And the Ambassador Centers, the bird dudes, whoever. They can’t tell the difference?”

“If they know the unique mana signature the fake skin utilizes to attach to your body, then they can detect it. But that is… not impossible, but awfully close.”

Kandy took a deep breath and overcame his queasiness to grab one of the strips of flesh.

“Damn, is this real? Like, did you—?” He made some slicing motions with his other hand.

“It’s synthetic, if you were wondering. We’re not just carving bits and pieces of human flesh off of other people’s bodies. It’s one of my family’s main underground businesses. I’ll just need to find a way to match your skin color.

“A few hours should do it.”

***

Kandy, having taken off the extra coverings they’d bought in the city, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. A slight breeze from the tunnel slide’s opening softly tickled his back.

Meditation was one of the things Beth had taught him on their travels. It served a few purposes. One was to calm his overactive mind. Another was to train and grow his mana reserves.

He wasn’t sure why, but his mana seemed particularly active today. Chaotic, even. Not just his mana, either. His left knee wouldn’t stop bouncing up and down. It didn’t matter much that his mana was more active, as it only allowed for his meditation to be more fruitful.

But the bouncing knee was another issue entirely. That, and his palpitating heart. Kandy’s mind drifted to the vow of silence he’d just taken. This didn’t have anything to do with it right?

Oh wait, right. There was the coffee… yeah. That was probably it.

So then, why was he feeling so anxious?

Sat before the third cluster of tables, Jabari had his head down with a glowing gem tied to his forehead to provide him with some extra light as he poked and prodded at a paper-thin strip of fake skin floating in a vat of a dense, clear liquid. The strip of flesh slowly changed color as he did so.

Once in a while, he would raise his head to stare at Kandy for a few moments before continuing.

In all, about four hours passed by before Jabari finally untied the glowing gem from his head and called out to Kandy, “It’s done.”

Kandy took a moment to finish circulating the mana through his body before opening his eyes and standing up. He walked over to Jabari and stared in wonder at the strip of tattooed flesh.

He lifted his arm next to it. The two were identical in color.

“That’s… wow. How did you get it so accurate?”

“Observation and practice. Are you ready to try it on?”

“Yeah. So how do I do this?”

“Look at this.” Jabari handed Kandy a piece of parchment with a few lines of runes inscribed upon it. Then, he flipped the fake skin over.

The runes upon the parchment matched the ones on the bottom side of the fake skin.

“Commit the runes to memory. It will be your unique way to attach and detach the skin,” Jabari continued.

“Got it.” Kandy nodded absentmindedly as he took the parchment and fake skin. Back in his meditation corner, he gingerly placed the strip of flesh on his left arm, then slid it around until the Crow’s Mark was in the same area of his left arm as it was on Jabari’s.

“Eww…” Kandy shivered at the sensation. It was like sticking a piece of wet parchment on his arm, only way grosser.

With a press of his hand and some mana, the thin sheet of flesh integrated itself with his own skin.

“Good work. It’ll feel weird for a bit, but after it dries out and melds with your skin a bit more, you won’t even remember it’s there.”

Kandy sighed with relief. “Cool. But why’s the mark so faded? It’s not, like, super defined like yours is.”

The mark now present on his arm, compared to Jabari's, was small and almost translucent.

“It just means you need to defeat someone in a duel. Or general combat. If we don’t compete with others, the mark begins to fade until it fully disappears. It is the Crow God’s way of keeping us from resting on our laurels.”

“In that case…” Kandy grinned and drew his spear. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”