Felinis: This chapter is brought to you by angst! Do you like being emotionally torn apart? Try angst! Angst is the equivalent of eating sour-cream for three straight days while you slowly slip into insanity because your professor still hasn't given you a grade on your final project! Angst is when you curl into a ball of emotional stress because you feel you've disappointed the people you love most in life while eating sour-cream. Angst is sour-cream!

"What do you mean we can't visit Zaphias? You said we could visit after our job in Hypionia." Yuri yelled at Felinis who was going over the books with her thick glasses. "We finished that forever ago so we can leave now."

"That was before I learned we had giant fucking sky whale and thought you guys were gonna be gone a month. Bills have shifted. There is a shift in the balance and therefore we cannot go just yet." Felinis scolded as she adamantly waved her finger. Saying giant fucking sky whale was fun. "Plus, didn't we just learn that Dahngrest is possibly an incident away from a huge war?"

Yuri pouted. "Even more reason to vacation while we still can."

She adjusted her lenses. "That's like saying 'well a giant monster has yet to invade the city so we might as well take the day off and eat waffles'."

Yuri just looked at Felinis like she'd grown a third head. "That makes no sense."

"Only because you lack the foresight to see that if you take a break to eat waffles then the monsters will come and eat all the grain; and then nobody can have waffles on waffles day." It made perfect sense from her standpoint. He still gave her a look. "The answer is still no. There is nothing you can say to change my mind." Actually, if Yuri confessed that he'd like to reenact several of the racier scenes from her favorite novels she'd bend.

He smiled devilishly. "Then I'll go over your head."

Felinis wrote some of her notes. "I already talked about it with Karol. He agreed with me once I made him sit through the logistics." Logistics of course meaning blackmail and heavy teasing. Felinis didn't normally do that, but Karol was young and needed lessons here and there.

Yuri smacked the table. "Damn it!" As his palm harshly collided with the old coffee table the rickety structure fell apart. The inkwell Felinis was using to write with spilled all over her papers and somewhere in the universe an accountant died. Of course, the man died of unrelated circumstances as he was mauled by an Eggbear while on his way to buy some milk. Still, an accountant had just died. "…Woops. Sorry Fel."

Felinis looked at him and then narrowed her eyes in cold fury. "Leave before I impale you on the sharp end of my broom." Yuri quickly backed away and she picked her fallen items up in and stared bitterly at the broken coffee table. Well, there went this month's fern budget along with her records for the months spending. And she was so close too (for both goals). Felinis had even narrowed her choices down to five species of fern. But, now she had to invest in a new coffee table and write new papers.

Ooh, maybe she should start a slow redecoration plan? Yes, bit by bit she would make the guildhall absolutely fabulous! But, for now she would stare bitterly at the broken table and loathe its existence.

For forty minutes.

When the fury finally subsided, Felinis finished her work and let herself cool down. Yesterday was rough. She'd spent the whole rest of the evening thinking back on all her mistakes and trying to burst out in manic laughter like a crazy person. Gil was a more innocent mistake. Felinis had liked him, because of his brain. She liked the Spark guild because it was the opposite of where she had run from.

Action wasn't for her. Felinis wasn't meant for fighting or heroics. It was best she kept to the sidelines and cheered from her desk. But, in a guild with no action and everyone trying so hard to be like family Felinis had felt suffocated. So she ran. She never fantasized about Gil. He was just someone to aspire towards. But, the others were for the same shallow reasons she had now. Gil reminded her that she was a coward. He reminded her that she was useless. And the others reminded her that she had shit taste in men.

And she ran from all of them. Maybe she should just run away now before things got too messy? If she left for another guild or maybe even another city maybe she'd be fine. Perhaps she should get a job at a bar or restaurant? Some of her family friends might be willing to offer her work.

But, who was she kidding?

She wouldn't do that. If she did that meant leaving her safe little bubble. A bubble that had kept her alive and well since he shattered her apart. She sighed heavily. Felinis would wait for that bubble to collapse and for her security to fall, because otherwise she had no reason to leave. She never wanted to leave. But, she would.

All bubbles pop. All races had an end. And everyone on the whole fucking planet either gets destroyed by emotions or conquers them.

Felinis rose from her seat and went upstairs. Tonight was another meeting at the Yuri Lowell fan club and she was not missing out on it.

The four waited for Felinis to leave before starting. "So what is it old man?" Yuri asked as he leaned back in his chair. Felinis would have a fit if she saw this. "You find anything good?"

Raven poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip. Cheap wine was better than no wine. "Not as much as I'd like. From what I gathered these choker wearing fellas are playing it safe. Harry only got his lead 'cause some moron blabbed a little."

Judith sighed. Of course. It was never that easy. "What about Felinis?"

Karol turned his head in surprise. "What about Felinis? She's one of us."

Raven sighed. "I was pretty sure she was safe but..."

"What she do?" Yuri asked sternly. If Felinis was a real threat than he had no choice but to do what was needed for the guild.

Raven pulled out some papers. It had been a pain hunting the loose and broken trail of Felinis's past employment. A fair amount of guilds had closed since she had been a member or some didn't even remember her to begin with. "The girl's got quite a background." Raven had to backtrack multiple times through guilds and districts. Felinis was good at being an anomaly and an enigma. Raven himself didn't want to believe she was a threat, but he knew masks could be so good anyone could be fooled. Everyone started leafing through the papers. "Been kicked out of at least eight guilds due to conflict."

Karol piped up first. "I've been kicked out of lots of guilds. That doesn't mean anything."

Judith put down the papers she had on hand. "Left without notice from almost six others under mysterious circumstance. Sorry Karol, but that seems suspicious."

Raven agreed and added. "One time she assaulted a local noble's son. Fair amount of the guilds imploded after she left." He pointed out some court notices for restraining orders. "Some literally."

Karol wanted to keep faith though that this was all misunderstanding. "But, it could all just be coincidence." Karol looked desperately at Yuri in hopes he could provide a small hope. "And it still doesn't mean she did anything."

"Sorry kid." Raven hated this. But, the fact was the deck was stacked against Felinis. "But, the evidence points towards Felinis being a mole for Leviathan's Claw." He wished the information hadn't lead him here, but it had. "The guilds she worked at that were competing against Leviathan's Claw or Ruins Gate fell apart usually after she left. A lot of the others were supporters. And she's got quite a few restraining orders towards groups in the eastern district." Raven took a large sip of wine. He didn't want to be sober right now. Sure he wasn't well tied with Felinis, but the idea of having a traitor with them hurt.

Karol looked heartbroken. The first person to join their guild was a spy? This whole time Felinis had been managing things! Maybe, she'd been secretly giving this new group information about their routines and locations. Maybe, all the advice she'd given him was just to gain trust. Maybe, that was where Felinis went every night. To tell secrets and plan against them. "What do we do?"

"Let's keep a close eye on her." Yuri said bitterly. "If Fel is a threat I'll cut her down." The raven-haired man sighed. "Until then she's one of our own." He wanted to have faith that this was a more than it seemed. Besides, Repede didn't put his trust in just anyone.

Everyone stood by this idea. Because even if Felinis was still somewhat a stranger they liked what they had gotten to know.

"If Felinis is a spy we'll need to keep her from getting more information on us. But, how?" Karol pondered.

"Well, that's easy. She just needs to not be able to report anything." Judith said. "And if she was out of town there'd be no way to get a report out."

A grin spread on Yuri's face. "I say we visit Estelle in few days."

Felinis: I'm not sure why I write anything. I'm not sure if I'm real. The magic eight ball says I'm a mass hallucination of my friends.