Who knew following a silver-tongued wizard would be such a snooze fest? It felt like it she was at one of Ooo's pointless royalty meetings. Except now she didn't have Bonnie or LSP with her for snide comments. She didn't know how long it had been. It felt like it she'd been following him forever. In reality, it was probably around an hour. A dull, drawn out, hour. Ever since she found him, all this guy had been doing was boring stuff. He didn't try to work up any guests into a frenzy, he didn't try to turn anyway into snakes, heck he didn't even show the normal zaniness that wizards were known for. It figures that the most boring wizard would be chosen for a political position.

Nevertheless, Marceline continued following. At this point, she could predict everything that was happening. Marlo would find someone. Then he would compliment them. Then he would talk about how he was such a powerful wizard and how great Wizard City was. If he was talking to a human or someone from a far-away kingdom, particularly a rough or professionally looking man, he would promise to show them a spell or two sometime. Then he would make a bad joke and move on, only to repeat the process with his next target.

For the first ten minutes, Marceline considered that he was systematically choosing people. Maybe he was casting a spell under his breath. She wasn't completely wrong. There was definitely a system to some of the people who he picked. And he was trying to cast a spell on these people. Just not a magical one. He didn't physically show it, but every time he spoke to someone, he was nervous. She heard his heart-beat faster. His normally monotone voice cracked. He never looked them in the eyes.

"Maybe he should try casting a spell to give himself a bit more game." she thought to herself

At first, watching this guy was a little funny. But it quickly became painful. Sad even. In a way, it reminded Marceline of her past self. But at the same time, this guy would completely transform when talking to a princess or a diplomat. Any hint of nervousness was gone. Maybe it was just an act to get people to lower their guard around him?

He was on the move again. He turned a corner. She let him pull ahead of her more than usual. It wouldn't matter really. He was just going to do the same thing anyway. But she needed to keep following him. If there was even a slight chance that this would produce anything meaningful it was worth it. She turned the corner. The street was almost entirely void of life, certainly void of intelligence life until she arrived. He was talking to some humans. But his voice and body language were different. He wasn't his calm collected self, but he wasn't his previous nervous self either. He was trying to look tall, but his feet weren't firm. He had one hand in his robe sleeve and the other raised. The humans were advancing. She caught a flash of steel. There was going to be a show. Heck, maybe she could just happen to save him and get him to agree to back-off the candy kingdom. She let the scene play out in front of her.

"I'm a powerful wizard! And an important visiting representative! You better back off!"

"Don't look so important to me. Weird clothing, no guards. You probably ain't even a wizard."

"Do you not see this golden robe? Do you not see my luscious beard? You must all be thick in the head so I'll give you one last chance. Back off now or I'll—"

"You'll what? Turn us into newts? The others howled with laughter.

"Fine, you asked for it!"

The bearded man withdrew his concealed hand. He was clenching a small, smoky vial with a red label. He threw it on the ground in front of him. First there was a feint hissing sound, then a lazy greyness started to emerge. In a couple of seconds, it blanketed the street. Regular people wouldn't be able to see their hand in front of themselves. Luckily, Marceline wasn't regular. She made out each of their figures clear as day. Marlo took off in her direction, and she narrowly avoided letting him run into her. For an old guy, he was fast. She glanced back at the humans, who had since descended on the spot the wizard once stood. In a couple of seconds, the haze cleared. Confused, the humans wondered off.

Instead of chasing after the golden clad wizard, Marceline searched the ground where he stood. Among the dirt and discarded bottle caps she found the smashed remains of the vial. More importantly, she found the label.

"For quick escapes- smoke potion. Made in Ron James's potion's shop?"

Maybe Simon could shed some light on this. He mentioned the name a couple of times when he was still under the crown's influence. She let out a sigh. This recon mission wasn't a total waste of time, but it wasn't the definition of helpful either.

Marceline found her way back to the ice cream parlor. Simon was sitting alone. Wait, why was he alone? Why didn't they all stay together, especially with guests and settlers alike potentially being hostile right now?

She briefly contemplated sneaking up on him, but thought against it. This wasn't Finn or Jake. There would be no high-pitched scream leading to an overly macho attitude in attempt to save face. She'd seen how Simon reacted to sudden surprises too many times to count. He'd punch her or hit her with something and then feel guilty about it the rest of the week. She'd get the other two back somehow for leaving Simon behind though.

"Hey, Simon. Where are the others?"

"Oh, Marcy good you're back. Finn and Bonnibel headed to the diplomatic ceremony a bit early. I said I'd wait here in case you came back here. I was actually going to leave in a couple of minutes."

"I said not to do anything dumb, yet here you are by yourself. You've seen how angry some people here are. They could have grabbed you or something."

"I think I'm pretty safe. I confess, I was worried for a bit when some isolationists came over when everyone was gone, but they more or less see me as the only connection to their pre-mushroom war culture. It actually gave me an idea for the ceremony."

"Uh, Hello? You think you're pretty safe yet a bunch of those meatheads came to you when you were alone? Do you know how badly that could have gotten?!"

"Okay, I admit it sounds less safe than I first made it out to be. But really, I don't think anyone is interested in coming after me. I'm not a diplomat or political figure for the isolationists to target, and I'm pretty sure all of the princesses are scared of what you would do to them if anything happened to me."

She sighed. He was right. Unlike Bonnie, he didn't have a political bullseye on his back. And it was common sense that she would go after anyone who tried to mess with him. Several princesses had already learned that the hard way when they tried to imprison him as revenge for previous kidnappings.

"You're right. Still though, there's no telling what someone might try right now. You know I'm just worried."

"I know Marcy, and believe me I appreciate your concern."

"Anyway, I'm actually glad I have you alone. Before we head to the ceremony, I need to ask you about this."

She dug into her pocket and handed him the red scrap of paper. He folded his brow and looked up at her.

"A smoke spell from Ron James's shop? What about it?"

"That Marlo guy used it instead of fighting a bunch of humans who cornered him. I was wondering if you had any insights to why he would use it instead of fighting or something."

"Hm. Well the way I see it there are two possibilities. First, he may have not wanted to cause a scene or potentially get kicked out of the city for disruptive behavior."

"He was alone with the humans. Nobody else was around."

"His magic could be visible so it would be easy to link him with whatever happened. But I see your point. Which leads to my second idea. From what I remember, Ron James's shop was a real dump. Most wizards who went there were pretty weak and used his spells to try and boost their own magic."

"So, what, he's a weakling?"

"Pretty much. Actually, that fits better. While you were away, Bubblegum mentioned how he was pretty upset about the humans developing anti-magic technology to counter local wizards. I admit I haven't seen it, but it must be pretty primitive right now. Maybe the reason he's so angry about it is because its just powerful enough to cancel out his magic, but not enough that stronger wizards are concerned."

"Okay, but wouldn't all of the wizards be concerned about the anti-magic technology."

"No, not really. Most of the stronger ones are pretty full of themselves. They don't think anything can pose a threat to them, even when they're clearly out of their league. But the ones at the bottom of the power spectrum tend to be overly concerned with their standing in the world. Heck, maybe Marlo is even one of the local wizards who have been threatening the humans and is concerned that stuff will even the playing field."

"So, what should we do now?"

"Well, like I said I have an idea for the ceremony so we should head there. I'll need your help with it though. You're a lot better of a singer than I am."

"Of course, I'll help. Wait, what?"