With the fire of the discussion ended, the room felt distressingly quiet. Kupi wanted to say some things to make Gabriel fix the relationship that had just been severely damaged, but he couldn’t find the words for it.

Gabriel, on the other hand, spent little time reflecting on the recent action and was profusely focused on the box that contained the nail, trying to find it’s nature to create a safe environment where he wouldn’t be found just by having the nail on hand.

While he was rotating the box and touching every little corner and cranny of the box, Kupi finally opened his mouth.

- I think you should go talk to her. – He said, still quite unhappy with his wording. To be honest there wasn’t a correct way to say these things, it’d always be hard.

- Oh yeah? – Gabriel asked rhetorically in a mocking tone. – I think not. – He stopped looking at the box for a moment and looked towards Kupi. – Didn’t you say that I should let her solve her own problems? That’s what I’m doing now. Let her solve her new, invented problems. I don’t really care about her. – He commented.

Although he did care at least a bit, but didn’t want to show it to Kupi, who would utilize this feeling to force him to fix this relationship and he didn’t want to always be the one to fix things. Gabriel really felt that Arabelle should have the blame or some of it at some point.

From his point of view, he was always caring for them both and taking care that nothing went wrong, and her sister always jeopardized this, with or without intention. He had done enough for a while and he also was focusing on the future, making their stay at Destin safe by spying on the person he deemed strongest inside the town.

While following this train of thought Gabriel had been searching for the mechanism that made the box safe to encase the fingernail, now in the form of mana, be it a spell or something else that wasn’t fully in the physical realm.

Although he hadn’t found anything while he looked at the box while it was at the man’s hands but there was no visible manipulation. He then realized that Kupi had been talking to him for a while now, but he hadn’t heard anything.

- What did you say? – Gabriel asked to a sighing Kupi.

- And this is why I’m leaving now. I’ll go to your sister, I may return today, tomorrow or at any other day. – Kupi seemed disappointed in Gabriel, but it didn’t affect him much this time, as the safety mechanism of the box was the only thing in his mind.

Kupi left the house and as the door closed Gabriel had a Eureka moment. He remembered the instant when he and Kupi had been captured and the lock which he was trying to pick. This had had a spell inside the keyhole, making it harder to see the spell and to unlock it.

Looking at the small sliver between the lid and main body of the box Gabriel saw it. A thread of white text which was probably the foundation of the protective magic, but the problem was that it was too small for him to read. He could probably identify a few words, but reading the whole spell was too much to ask.

The first thing that Kupi did after closing the door was remembering that he left a jacket inside, feeling the colder air outside. But he knew that if he entered back inside at this moment, he’d not only loose the respect that Gabriel had for him and make the situation worse.

So, he had to bear with it. Onto the first thing he planned to do, searching for Arabelle. He wanted to find a secure way to meet with her so that they wouldn’t commit his mistake… Maybe if he told Arabelle about it she’d do something… But it’d be better when everything about their fight has died down, at least a bit.

- Where could Arabelle have gone to… - Kupi thought to himself out loud, loud enough for a homeless man laying on the ground to hear. His eyes perked up at the thought of possible revenue.

- I think I saw something… - He said and followed to look at a hat with a few coins which was in front of him. Kupi realized what he wanted but didn’t want to be scammed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

- One coin now, one later – Kupi said as he threw a silver coin inside the hat and now looked at the laying man seriously.

- Hahaha, I remember now. The reddish girl went that way. – He pointed at a certain direction on the street. To that answer Kupi laughed.

- Do you really think that’s enough? This is a scam, so unless you want to get hurt, give me more information. – Kupi grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled it to him, putting their eyes close to each other. The man trembled a bit but managed to calm himself down.

- I… I… okay… I heard that she said something about market and cooking, but I truly don’t know anything else! Please don’t hurt me, I don’t have the money to heal myself! – And the man prostrated himself before Kupi, who left after he heard this information, leaving the man in that position. He knew where she was going.

Once Kupi made his way to the market of the town, he realized that finding Arabelle wouldn’t be an easy task. Destin had multiple shops, but only one main market, where all kinds of things would be sold. This was the main trading area for the town and Arabelle would most likely come here, probably to work on one of the many restaurants dotted around the area.

But this wasn’t a good idea according to Kupi, because they wouldn’t accept her, she’d get mad at herself, the world and Gabriel and would try something else, which would be less desirable and most likely worse than cooking at a restaurant.

He had to find her quick and maybe use a contact to get her a job, which would calm her down, keep her busy and keep her in one place, all things which Kupi wanted. But if she realized that he was ‘controlling’ her she’d leave the place and turn paranoic, trusting no one but herself.

Kupi decided that it was better to search for places where Arabelle would go to than search for her, because even though she’d stand out from other people because of her skin color, there were too many people to see well. If he went to his contacts and made sure that she got hired the situation would be more under control.

He quickly made his way to a restaurant owned by a friend of him, when they were kids, they met for the first time and a few decades had passed since. He had met him over and over again, with the same name, but changing his appearance, a practice he did to trick people into giving him things without realizing that it was the same child of years ago.

He entered the restaurant quite empty and called for his friend.

- Edd! Where are you? – He called walking to the kitchen, past some of the guests sat on tables, eating or waiting for their foods to reach them. Without an answer yet, which made him curious, he knocked on the kitchen and entered it soon thereafter.

The kitchen wasn’t very busy, but everyone there was doing something. Be it preparing ingredients for the peak hour, cooking for the guests, washing dishes, etc. This made a healthy work environment as his friend had envisioned.

When he entered few people reacted, most were concentrated on their current tasks and if they didn’t keep the attention, they might make a mistake. Only people who have trained enough or have enough experience can afford looking somewhere else and Edd would be one of those people, but Edd didn’t look at him.

In fact, Edd wasn’t there. There was a person who had similar characteristics to Edd but he clearly wasn’t him. He was pretty good at cooking. Ever since Kupi had entered he was looking at the tiny man, investigating him and after Kupi made his way towards him instinctively he talked.

- Are you Kupi? – He questioned while frying an unknown fish. Kupi nodded, wanting to know how this man knew about him. – My father, Edd, used to talk to me about you and how you helped him build this restaurant and everything. – Kupi slightly blushed, but because the man was talking while looking at the fish, which was almost ready, he didn’t notice.

- I didn’t do that much… Your father was really talented, he really knew how to cook. And I wanted a restaurant where I could eat his food. – Kupi laughed slightly at his joke and continued. – Did he also tell you about a deal?

- Yes, yes, I have a paper that I have to get first. Can you wait for me to finish this fish? – And Kupi agreed to this, so he waited a few minutes and then the man called for him.

- I forgot your name. I’m pretty sure I saw you once, when you were a baby, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in Destin. – Commented Kupi as he looked around the new room, they were in. It had a light blue carpet for the ground and white walls.

- I’m Ted and before I can complete the promise you’ve made with my father; on the note it says that you know of a password or code that you’d remember so that I can be sure it’s you and not someone else acting as you.

Kupi didn’t remember a password at all and looked puzzled. He tried to remember as best as he could, but nothing came to his mind. Still, he knew himself quite well and was pretty sure that he could guess it.

- I don’t remember exactly, but it was a joke in the style of ‘password’ or ‘code’. I know I found it quite funny then and now… I find it even funnier!

- That is… correct! Kupi, I barely know you, but I know that my father respected you, so I’ll complete his promise to you. On the note it says that it has to be completable within a month, so that’s the time I’ll give you. Now you can tell me what you want.

And so Kupi started telling him what had happened with Gabriel and Arabelle and what he wanted Ted to do.