Women have mostly been a mystery to me.

Before I had my brief stint as a psyker, I had no idea how much women had going on in their minds. There are whole galaxies of thoughts clashing against each other in their heads at any given moment. The majority of which had nothing to do with the matter at hand. I found them even more confusing after being able to read their thoughts and emotions. Rare exceptions like Amanda aside.

Yet, I'm glad I had that experience.

Because I knew, without a single doubt, that there was an ocean of un-verbalized ideas behind the burning stares of the two women in front of me. Few if any of them would be pleasant for me. I had been put on a list in their heads, and they would likely find countless ways to make me miserable, if they thought they could get away with it.

For me, this was a surreal moment when two very familiar people stood in front of me with not only no recognition of me, but active hostility towards me.

For them, I was a stranger who had made a very poor first impression. Even if they had been the ones to orchestrate the situation.

I wondered if they had seen what I had done to their impostors. Where would that fall on the scales? Would they be glad that I had leveled a harsh punishment? Would they be furious they didn't get to mete out justice themselves?

If the impostors had at all been accurate in their characterization, the answer was the latter.

Given what I knew, there was already little chance of me turning their attitudes around.

So why bother to try?

I reminded myself that there was no relationship here. My mind ruthlessly crushed the flickers of joyful embers in my heart. Still felt like losing them all over again, but even that grief was fed to the cold fire inside.

And since I had made that decision, I wasn't going to let them push me around, even by proxy.

"The real Sally and Megan, I presume. I wish I could say it was a pleasure, but I can't." My voice was lifeless even to my own ears.

"Oh, why would that be, lover boy?" Megan smirked, probably some cruel barb being brewed up in her noggin.

"Why would that be our problem?" Sally spoke at almost the exact same time as Megan but I had no trouble separating out the individual statements.

"Didn't say it was. What's going on in here," I pointed at my head, I ended up poking one of my ridiculously oversized ears. "Has little to do with you two." I couldn't resist my own little dig at them. "Until you both decided to provoke me." The cold in my voice was crackling. Some part of me noted that the air was getting colder.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Amanda was smiling but that brought a frown to her face. She was noticing the differences, the little changes in my behavior. I think she was starting to understand just how foolish this little stunt was.

Hell even Nolan, as easy going as he was, reflexively put his hand on his custom revolver.

Sally showed no concern, she reacted as I knew she would. She drew her backup pistol. I noted the sure nature of her technique, but she was no gunslinger.

She was some fraction of a second slower than I was. My Omaha already lined up perfectly with her head. While she had a fuck load more training them me, she lacked a sandy to even out my raw speed.

"My new form isn't just cosmetic, and it comes with many advantages. Even with the silly ears and the Mox colors." For the first time in this mess, I let the rage I felt at the world peek out from behind the walls I used to contain it.

My expression made them all back up a step. I had no clue what it looked like to them, but it must have been a grim visage.

I knew this would end badly, and I officially no longer cared.

I had lost so much, what was one more thing?

I felt something in the air shift, and suddenly Mith was there.

He had dropped his small form. He towered over us.

We all froze for a few moments, not because his presence startled us.

We stopped because he was growling, a deep rumbling sound that warned of imminent violence. A thunderstorm couldn't have done it better.

He stepped in front of me facing the Nomads. He shifted his weight so that he was moving me backwards.

'You are hurting him! Stop!' If my mind had ears, he just blew out its eardrums.

For the first time since I had returned, I could feel another's concern for me. He somehow forced his feelings past that cold flame and into my heart.

This is when I noticed that the farmers were in the fields and had their weapons out. They were pointing them at the Nomads.

Maybe I hadn't lost as much as I thought. But I had been about to, and I was pretty sure I knew why. Sneaky assholes.

I took a deep breath, and put my pistol away.

"Okay. I get it Mith." I gave him a a smack on his flank. "Put the weapons up everyone. Please."

That got the Nomads' attention, I guessed they hadn't noticed the Farmers either.

I stepped out from behind Mith, I noted that Sally had lowered her weapon. No one wanted to shoot the dog by accident.

"Look, I get it. I really do. This was one big test and I failed. I could make excuses, but I won't. Let's just say I'm very tired of being pushed and leave it at that. I'm too much of a... Gonk to be more diplomatic." I chuckled.

They looked at each other and relaxed. Sally holstered her iron. Megan smirked like she knew this was going to happen. Maybe she did, or she was just enjoying the chaos.

Amanda's smile returned. It was her genuine smile, not the one she plastered on to talk business.

Mith calmed down and let out a big ol' yawn. He sat and grinned that doggy grin.

"I can live with that." Nolan was the first to respond. He was patting himself, like he was checking for bullet holes. I scoffed at his sense of humor. I swear it was worse than mine.

Amanda came back over to me and took my hands. She whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about how much this would affect you."

I pulled her into a hug, the first human I had hugged first, in a long time. I whispered back to her, "I swear I'll get him back, I'll get them all back." I needed to say it and she needed to hear it.

We slowly eased into a sharing of what had happened while separated. They had a rough time of it.

I called the Moxes back at my apartment letting them know I'd be back later than expected. We ate with the farmers and continued to swap stories well into the night.