Kalas didn't sleep well that night. He kept having nightmares about Svayna gouging him with her claws. He sighed, after waking up for the third time, and shoved his head back under his pillow. Unbeknownst to him, however, across the hall, Lyude was having nightmares of his own...

"Ng..go...away, stupid fluffpups..." Lyude mumbled in his sleep. He was dreaming of a giant pack of fluffpups, growling, and closing in on him. "S-stay back!" Lyude reached for his gun, and tried to shoot them, but to no avail. He tried again, only to be awakened by a huge explosion. Lyude bolted upright in his bed. "What's going on..." Blinking a couple of times, he discovered that there was a large, gaping hole in the ceiling of the room, and realized that he'd just Concerto'd the ceiling.

"My my, the landlord won't be happy about that..."

That morning at breakfast, there were construction crews milling all around the inn.

"I wonder what happened?" Xelha inquired as they ate.

"Uh, probably nothing...just maintenance." Lyude managed to choke out. Fortunately, he managed to erase his name from the inn records before they investigated. Xelha nodded and went back to concentrating on breakfast. Gibari and Savyna were pretty much silent throughout the whole affair. Lyude was just about to inquire as to where Kalas was when he stumbled to the table.

"Good mor-" he broke off for a yawn, "-ning. Damn construction noise...woke me up..." he grumbled as he sat down.

"Didn't sleep well kid?" Gibari asked. Kalas looked over at Gibari, who was sitting next to Savyna. He almost choked on his green tea.

"You okay Kalas?" Gibari asked. Kalas nodded.

"I'm coughfinecough" Kalas avoided looking at Savyna.

'Oh, come on! She's not gonna kill you here in broad daylight.' Talis remarked.

"Oh yeah? You'll be saying something different when we get that feather." Kalas shot back.

Talis didn't reply, but instead strayed back into Kalas's mind.

"Finally! Today's the day we go see Duke Calbren!" Xelha said. "I hope he can help us." Lyude commented. "You grew up here, didn't you, Kalas? That means you can take us to his manor." Xelha said.

"Sure, it's not too far from here." Kalas nodded.

Xelha was happy as they strolled through Balencoire. The weather was nice, the people were friendly, and they were getting closer to the End Magnus. She couldn't have possibly predicted what would happen next, though; in less than the time it took to blink, Savyna had socked Gibari with a left hook, and looked ready to kill.

"What the hell? Savyna, what's wrong wi-" Gibari didn't get to finish his sentence; he was too busy trying to dodge Savyna's lightning-fast punches.

"You guys, what's going on?" Lyude whirled around after hearing the commotion.

"Stop it!" Xelha yelled, but it was no use. Gibari finally managed to get Savyna off him, and the two were going at it fiercely, with Savyna's attacks continuously flowing, and Gibari dodging or blocking her every move. It seemed as if neither would give in.

"Savyna! If you wanna tell me something, try using words, would ya!" Gibari grunted as he caught one of her attacks with his paddle.

"Shut up!" Savyna just kept on attacking. Meanwhile, bystanders were starting to stare, and Xelha and Lyude were trying to figure out how to get them to stop. Gibari, who'd just about had enough and demanded an explanation, caught hold of Savyna's arm as she punched, and pinned her on the ground. Savyna struggled, but Gibari was stronger.

"Ng, let me GO!" she shouted, trying to twist her arms out of Gibari's grasp, but he held firm.

"Not until you calm down and tell me what's going on." Gibari replied.

"You guys, what's going on!" Xelha and Lyude came running over.

"I...don't know..."" Savyna blinked. One moment, she was filled with rage and...jealousy? Now she didn't feel anything except confusion...(and, well, maybe embarrassment). She quickly sprang up from the ground, resuming her usual stance.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Gibari looked puzzled as he released her and helped her up.

"It was strange...as if some force made a strong suggestion on my mind...to be angry."

"Strange force? You don't think this has anything to do with the End Magnus?" Xelha asked.

"No...it felt like someone I knew, someone that wasn't a stranger, but I can hardly recall...that feeling is getting fainter and fainter..." Savyna rubbed her head. She didn't remember what exactly had led to her going so out of control, but it must've been something about...

15 minutes ago

Kalas was leading the others through Balencoire when Talis suddenly spoke up.

'Hey Kalas, I've got the perfect idea! Just play along.'

"What?" Kalas didn't even have time to react before Talis put the plan into action.

"Hey Kalas, did you hear! I heard the Gibari said that he was gonna marry Anna when this is all over!" Talis practically screamed in Kalas's head. Kalas winced. 'Hey! Keep it down, will ya? And how do you know anyway?' He looked around to make sure nobody had heard, only to see Savyna looking slightly shocked.

'Talis! What the hell do you think you're doing!' Kalas silently screamed at his spirit guardian. Talis, however, just continued on. "Yeah, I heard they've known each other for a long time and everyone is looking forward to it!" Crack. Kalas could hear the sound of one of Savyna's claws flexing. Not a good sign. end flashback

Throughout the entire event, Kalas had been standing to the side, staring.

'Well, ya better go and snatch up a feather and scale, before we get going again.' Talis reminded him cheerfully. Kalas grumbled as he made his way over. "How can you be so damn cheerful? She could've killed him, ya know!

'Yes, but I made sure she wouldn't.' Kalas froze.

'You sure?' he asked, suspicion in his voice.

'Well, you know how us spirit guardians can get inside your heads, right? So I just slightly pushed on Savyna's will to fight, and made her feel angry.'

'You what! Talis, you can't just go into peoples' minds and play around with their emotions! I'm starting to feel uneasy about having you in my head.' Kalas thought angrily.

'Alright, alright. Calm down, sheesh. I just did what I had to, okay? I won't do it again.' Talis replied, then retreated back into the recesses of Kalas's mind. Kalas just sighed and picked up Savyna's flaming red plume and Gibari's smooth, orange scale. "That damn trickster. He'd better keep his word." he growled. That guy had caused a lot of trouble for him, and if he didn't reverse the curse, he was gonna be in for it!

Heh, sorry about this chapter being so late! I was caught up with finals and all, but now I have a bit more time, since it's summer. Thanks to writerauthorguy for the idea for this chapter! I really tried to make Savyna as IC as possible, but it's a tad hard when she's in this kind of situation. Did I do okay? As always, thanks to my beta and you guys!