Card Eighteen: Ace of Pentacles

“So you killed him again?” Leocadies remarked simply as he sipped on a cup of wine, though he never had been the one to get tipsy. He had a fairly strong tolerance. It would take much more than one cup to get him drunk, and he was sipping on it slowly, savoring the uniquely sweet taste. Feather might like this one, actually, with the insane sweet tooth he had. 

Kya, on the other hand, was merely digging into her steak, cooked all the way to well-done with its edges charred and hard. Leo never did understand why she liked her meat so dried up to the point it lost all its fat… wasn’t the fatty juices and tender flavors supposed to be the best part? What a waste. But Kya was eating it just fine, very serene and dainty even with that, and merely gave a curt nod of her head in response to his question. “Yes, I did. He was in a bit of pain after healing Cirrus so extensively. He wanted to die and be reset.”

“Ah. Yeah, that makes sense,” Leocadies sipped, sloshing the pinkish purple liquid around in his glass while he stared at his own reflection inside it. “Honestly, what do you think even happened back there? Sounds insane, thinking about it now. To think Cirrus almost turned into a monster… if news of that got out, the Udimeia would be in an uproar.”

“Well it’s not going to get out, his teammates will make sure of that,” Kya took another bite, chewing quietly and slowly before she dabbed at her lips with a napkin, Leocadies’ frowning at her with a squint. “The only person among us who has the ability to defy Cirrus’ orders and spread that kind of information around is Feather, but he doesn’t have any interest in that. He doesn’t respect Cirrus at all, but he’s not looking to humiliate him.”

“Not yet. You never know what the boss’ll be thinking next,” Leocadies sighed, frustrated glare twitching as Kya dabbed her mouth again after another bite. “Dude. Just eat. You can wipe your mouth when you’re finished.”

“No, I don’t like the feeling of my lips being stained with grease,” Kya retorted calmly, Leocadies letting out a muffled and gruff groan as he slid lower in his chair, the wine sloshing in his cup. 

“Whatever.”

“Thank you. You’re so kind.”

“Thanks.”

“Your personality sucks sometimes when you’re not around Feather, you know.”

“Thanks again. I’m just kinda in a bad mood today,” Leocadies huffed, eyes turning to stare back up at the ceiling as he took another mindless sip. “I’m so fucking blue balled.”

“Then you should stop drinking wine. You’ll make yourself worse.”

“Nah, that’s not a problem…”

“If you get drunk and sleep with someone you don’t like, I won’t comfort you,” Kya retorted again before taking another bite, Leocadies’ ginger brows twitching before he snapped up in his chair and slammed his caramel-toned arms against the table, only growing more irritated at the baseless accusation. 

“I will not sleep with someone I don’t like! You know I’ve been chaste for the past four hundred and thirteen years and seventy-four days!” he declared loudly, Kya raising an eyebrow at him as she took a sip of water.

How absurd. “Seriously? You’re keeping count?”

“I gotta know the days so I can tell Kallan when we reunite. He won’t believe me otherwise.”

“Well, who would? You used to be so hypersexual, and honestly you still kind of are…”

“Maybe. It doesn’t matter anymore,” Leocadies took one last swig of the rest of his wine, the liquid disappearing down his throat as Kya resumed her eating. She’d finished the steak and was now moving on to her salted mashed potatoes without gravy, which Leocadies assumed must taste bad. But she liked it, somehow. The woman always had been weird with her foods. She was extremely picky and would only eat certain things, and whenever she sat down for a meal, she would eat her least favorite portions first and then move on portion by portion instead of enjoying all the food at once. Leocadies, on the other hand, was a man who would eat mostly everything under the sun and who enjoyed mixing his foods together, so he never did understand her. But, well, as long as she was happy. “Is it good?” he asked curiously as he watched Kya salt her potatoes even more, frowning a bit at the sheer amount of salt that woman put on them. 

“Yes. It’s very good.”

“Glad to hear it then…”

“Thank you.”

Another chill silence spread between them as Leocadies waited for her to finish eating so they could talk further, their mutual silence not awkward in the slightest. In fact, they were both quite used to it. Leo was aware that Kya was a very quiet and reserved person, and he didn’t mind accommodating her and letting her rest her mind with no noise. In the past, whenever she’d been surrounded by things that were too loud or overwhelming, she’d often get anxious or shut down, and Leocadies had always been the one to comfort her and support her. Over time, she’d grown used to louder noises, as one was forced to do when traveling with someone as loud, impulsive, and chaotic as Feather. Their charge really did have a bad habit of never shutting up, so when it was just the two of them, Leocadies gladly let her have her peace and quiet. She deserved it. 

By the time she was finished eating, Leocadies had already had it in his mind for a while what he wanted to say, patiently watching her eat small bites of her over-salted mashed potatoes until she was done, before finally speaking up with new energy returning to his flaming orange eyes. “Oh, but Feather finally took on another student! I find that very exciting, I’m proud of him. What do you think of the development?”

“I think it’s a good one,” Kya agreed firmly while wiping her mouth, roughly brushing the thick napkin against her pale pink lips to fully remove any sort of juices or leftover mash from her face. Because being dirty just wouldn’t do for a woman like her. And when she finished, she carefully and neatly folded her dirty napkin and set it elegantly on top of her plate before situating her knife and fork in a parallel manner, Leocadies frowning at her meticulous actions before she started talking again. “I’m proud of him as well. It’s not the first time he’s taken on a student, but it’s the first time he’s actively referred to someone as such. I think this will prove to be a great learning curb for him.”

“Oh! I think so too,” Leocadies grinned cheerfully, leaning back in his chair while he draped his legs to the front of him. “I’m also really excited. Eve seems like a nice girl. She’s young, but she’s wise for her age in my humble opinion, so I see a lot of potential in her.”

“Hm,” Kya hummed, staring down at her neat-looking plate before frowning and fixing her napkin two inches in a circle before letting it go with satisfaction. “I’m not sure if I would call her wise, exactly. She’s more so just very good at reading people. But in her youth, she’s still brash and immature in other areas. She has a long way to go.”

“Uh, so you don’t see potential in her?” Leocadies scoffed, clearly a little offended by that statement as Kya shook her head. 

“No, my thoughts on her potential don’t matter. Feather has agreed to train her, and you and I both know he would never agree to do that for a person who didn’t have great spades of potential,” she explained simply, Leo cocking his head to frown at her all over again while he furrowed his brows.

“You’re allowed to have your own opinion, you know.”

“I know. I simply don’t have one on this matter.”

“Well, okay…” he sighed, leaning forward on the table as he pushed his plate in front of him to fold his arms onto the cedar wood and rest his head on them, staring off at the window that overlooked the great sea of Pearalis around them. “Jeez… honestly, tell me Kya, what do you think of Cirrus and all his new companions?”

“I think they’re a fairly competent bunch.”

“Is that it?”

“Leo, what do you want me to say?”

“Just gimme your personal opinions on each of them,” he prompted eagerly, turning his face around to smile at her from where he was resting in his arms on the table, Kya staring at his happy, warm, welcoming expressions as she began to falter. 

She never was good at expressing her own personal opinions. She never knew what she felt or thought. Sometimes, it felt like none of her emotions were her own, and that they all belonged to other people. It felt like she’d stolen the emotions and opinions of those around her sometimes, and she often tried to adopt Leocadies’ values so that she didn’t have to choose her own. And yet the man wasn’t satisfied with that. Neither him nor Feather would let her get away with fusing into the background and ceasing to matter. Those two thought she was important, and valued her wisdom. And she owed it to them to give it. 

With a sigh, she stared frustratingly at Leocadies’ messy plate while she resisted the strong urge to reach out and fix it around, the blood in her body itching and boiling. She quickly had to make herself look away, not wanting to create a scene, when she was suddenly comforted by Leocadies’ quick thinking, the man reaching around to take his fork and knife and organize them on top of the plate the way she liked, as well as folding up his napkin with a smile and placing it down just like hers was. 

“There. That better?” he smiled helpfully, Kya’s pale face flushing a little pink, flattered by the actions. However, she still had to reach out and take Leo’s napkin that hadn’t been as neatly folded as hers, fixing it before placing it down as it had been before. But instead of calling her out or making it a big deal, Leocadies just gave a small laugh, resting his head on one hand with his elbow propped up on the table while he smiled at her. “There you go. Now, tell me, what are your thoughts on the kids?”

Her blood red eyes stared at the man feeling a little ashamed by her own needs, her gaze tilting down to stare back at the plates before she averted her eyes to her lap. “They’re all talented people. Cirrus especially has grown leagues since we last saw him. He is no longer the pushover prince we once knew. Jayce may be a problem, as he seems like someone who will clash a lot with Feather, so we can expect a lot of arguing. I admire Eve’s tenacity and her optimism, as those are both traits I like and appreciate in others. Achitha is much like me, I think, so I find her a c    alming and reliable presence to be around and am excited to work with her. Though, more than anything, I guess I am just rather surprised that Cirrus doesn’t recognize us. I’m much more taken aback that he doesn’t recognize you specifically, Leo,” she clarified, the lion-like man smiling at her from where he was leaning. 

“Oh, yeah. Well, I did cut my hair. Chopped it all off.”

“I guess that’s true. You used to have that ridiculously long braid.”

“How was it ridiculous? Cirrus’ braid now is longer, and your hair is just as long as mine used to be,” he smiled, before impatiently tapping his fingers along the table while his legs kept moving underneath him, the man feeling rather fidgety. “Ah, but anyway. I have to admit, Cirrus did impress me. He’s still passive, but he has a bit more of a drive now, at the very least. If his all-knowing eye is to say anything about that.”

“Feather clearly called Cirrus’ all-knowing eye a weak and immature version of the real deal.”

“So? I still find it impressive that he learned it at all!” Leocadies protested with a laugh, not about to let Feather and Kya’s harsh realism get him down. Still, he looked down at his own calloused hands, humming a bit to himself as he found his thoughts running amok. This new part of the journey he’d found himself on by Feather’s side… he hadn’t been expecting it at all. To think he’d be here someday, to think that he’d be supporting his avoidant leader in actually stopping the apocalypse and reality’s collapse… it was a place he had thought he’d never be. Sure, Feather had a prophecy of his own, the very one Ruba had given him all those centuries ago… but he had been avoiding it for so long. The centuries had passed, their traveling partners had changed and shifted, Feather’s path never stopped winding and instead only continued to grow longer, and longer, and longer… but now, at the confrontation of a crossroads, Feather had finally chosen the path of responsibility. He would no longer be idle in reality’s fate. And for someone as strong as he was, who was perhaps the strongest person to have ever lived with the concept of anything being under his beck and call… that was exactly where he should be. “Yeah, I’m excited. I can’t wait to see what this journey brings,” he sighed rather dreamily, Kya turning up to glance at him with a slight look of surprise. 

But she quickly looked down again, smiling solemnly to herself as she ducked her chin with a nod. “Yes. I agree. I’m excited as well. My intuition is telling me that I am now on a new kind of adventure, one that will lead us all to great paths in life,” she offered with a smile, Leocadies joining her with a grin of his own. 

“Sure, yeah. That sounds nice.”

“It does. Feather will become this world’s salvation, just as he was once mine,” she sighed, touching the red broach on her chest while she smiled at it warmly, Leocadies watching her with a fond gaze. 

“I’m glad. I’m happy for you, Kya.”

“Thank you.”

“This will be a long path in front of us.”

“It will.”

“But we’ll be okay.”

“We will indeed.”

“Haha,” Leocadies laughed chipperly, moving his head to be held by both of his hands as he squeezed his caramel cheeks at the woman. “And Feather will lead us all to victory. I think his real story starts now.”

“Indeed… his real story…” Kya faltered, holding onto her blood-colored broach as her intuition shook. His real story… his real story was only just beginning… and she sensed that it’s end… would be endless…