"I can't believe you!"

Chronos slammed his fist on the wall, causing both Zephyr and the liquor bottles on the low table to jump about a metre. Cider looked calm, but a slight crease had appeared between his brows.

"Chronos, this isn't a time to freak out. We've got to stay calm-"

"Calm? Calm?!"

The blonde Voc had gone quite red in the face, his voice punctuating like a gunshot off the walls of the dining room.

"You're going to go to jail, Cider! And not like all those other times, either, where you could just bribe the bailiff and he'd let you go. You stole from the court musician of Hypnos, Cider, Hypnos! He'll send a bounty hunter after you!"

The wall took another pounding, and Zephyr's wide green eyes went wider. Cider took on an even more urgent tone.

"Chronos, stop it. You're scaring Zeph."

He scoffed, but lowered his tone anyway.

"And I suppose you had his well-being in mind when you convinced him to pilot that ship for you? You'd better pray nobody saw him, because if they do, I'll give you over to the bounty hunter rather than send him and Sylphy to jail."

Cider fiddled with his necklace nervously, clacking the purple-and-green dice together. "Look, I know what I did isn't exactly legal, but it's for a good cause."

"A good cause? You call paying off your gambling debt a good cause?"

Chronos ran his hand through his hair, before his fingers caught on a mass of tangles and he gave up. "We can fix this. But whatever happens, Zephyr isn't going to jail. You might, but he isn't. Got that?"

Cider's nervous energy had shifted from his necklace to a button on his cuff. "Fine. But if there's any option that's not being locked up in some hell-hole in Emberguard, I'll take it."

A second's awkward silence passed, but then Shara poked her head into the small dining room. "Guys? What's all the yelling about?"

Sylphy padded in after her, saw the looks on their faces, and the visible dent in the wall, and a frown knitted her little kitty brow. "I take it he found out, Cider?"

The midnight-haired voc sighed. "I told him."

"Why'd you tell him?"

"Well, he would have found out on his own! Either that, or Zeph would have let it slip."

Shara, growing increasingly impatient and confused, raised her voice. "Listen, is anyone going to tell me what's going on here?"

The room fell silent. Then, it fell into chaos. Everyone was speaking over each other, Zephyr's apologies and Chronos' waffling and Cider's half-truths and Sylphy's contradictions.

"Enough!"

Shara coughed awkwardly into the sudden quiet.

"Just, uh, one at a time, please. Cider, you first."

He got up, the ratty old armchair squeaking like a mouse. "Well, uh, the truth is, so I owe some people a little money, yes?"

Chronos glared at him.

"Ok, a lot of money. So I, uh, located, shall we say, some valuable merchandise to pay it off."

Shara raised her eyebrows.

"Tell the truth, Cider. What did you steal?"

"Six VSTs."

"From who?"

He let out a shuddering sigh.

"Electro Lyre."

Shara's eyes widened in shock. "Electro Lyre? But she's Hypnos' personal favorite!"

Chronos cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at her. "

Now do you understand all the shouting?"

She shot a glare at him. "Now is not the time, Chronos! He's going to send a bounty hunter after us."

She sank down onto the sofa, ignoring the stuffing that spilled out of the side.

"What we need is a plan."