fleets: I reaaaaaaally wanted to reach this chapter for so long. You'll see why.

Chapter 13: Thistle and Thyme

Vaati wasn't completely sure what, exactly, had happened in the past few minutes. He and Dugal were now in the very deepest part of the temple, several feet away from the surface, in some kind of abandoned safe room. The most pressing issue, however, were the big, clunky Darknut armor that stalked around them in slow, deliberate steps, searching for them. They were invincible, as far as Vaati could tell, unlike normal Darknuts he was familiar with. They were Phantoms.

He looked next to him at Dugal who was catching his breath, pressed up against the wall with him. The floor glowed softly beneath their feet in a narrow, rectangular panel, lighting their faces in pastel pink and green. They had been arguing moments before, but now they were deathly quiet, waiting for the Phantoms to make their rounds. The towering guardian armor couldn't see them as long as they stood within the bounds of the glowing tiles on the floor.

"I hope you take responsibility for this, Mr. Engst," Dugal hissed between his teeth.

Vaati snorted. "You know, I think I'll just leave you here."

What had happened earlier had been confusing and unfortunate. They had been at least three flights up above where they were now, and Vaati had been fuming at the fact that Dugal had belittled him. With a scorching glare, and finally running out of the last of his patience, Vaati had sent a small fireball towards the man strutting ahead of him.

Dugal had caught the sizzle of the incoming attack, and with the reflexes of a cat he'd ducked out of the way, his left hand reaching for his pistol.

And he'd shot the first thing nearest to him that moved, which happened to be a crystal switch on a moving platform, which had been coincidentally activated by Vaati's fireball that Dugal had dodged.

And then, before either of them could react, the switch had activated a heavy stone door that groaned upwards before it crashed back down, the old and faulty mechanisms finally failing it. The sudden crash had shattered the fragile floor beneath their feet, and they had fallen three flights down with the stone floors crumbling down with them.

Vaati had floated down gracefully, thanks to his levitation magic, but he hadn't been too sure about what had happened to Dugal. A part of him had hoped he'd been crushed with the falling debris: he'd meant to get rid of him now that he'd determined the man's usefulness was done, and this was a convenient accident. The sorcerer summoned a light in his palm and let it illuminate the ground below before he landed quietly on the nearest rubble. Piles and piles of masonry had fallen from three stories above, and he would have been surprised if Dugal had managed to survive this. It would have taken a miracle…

A fit of coughing had caused Vaati to whirl towards the source of the sound, and he saw a rather dusty Dugal coughing up powder smoke that had welled up from the debris. He'd been almost completely unhurt, except for a few places where it had appeared he had taken a good hit, but other than that he seemed fine. What had been the most suspicious for Vaati was the fact that the Talon leader had been nowhere near the rubble or below the hole in the ceiling where he should have fallen through. How had he gotten there so fast, and how come he wasn't crushed beneath the rocks? It had to be that mysterious power Condor had mentioned that was supposedly in Dugal's possession, but just what could it be?

Before Dugal could recover, Vaati had immediately warped beside him with one hand full of concentrated dark magic. The man stood still, and then slowly narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "Mr. Engst."

"I've come to the conclusion that I've no reason to keep you around any longer, Dugal," Vaati had sneered, "We're at the temple already, and there's nothing I will gain from having you around." He'd been so ready, then, to say goodbye to Dugal for good. "You know, don't you? You can see it in my eyes: I've killed before. And I won't hesitate to do it again. Before I do, though, I want you to tell me about this artifact of yours. You have something that's potentially powerful. The government knows about this too. What is it?"

Vaati recalled seeing one of the most frightening expressions he'd seen anyone make before Dugal had vanished in a blink of an eye. He hadn't been scared, of course not. He was just taking note that it would have frightened the majority of the population if they had been on the other side of that glare…

Anyways, yes, Dugal had vanished. Completely disappeared in a split second and before Vaati could figure what had happened, he'd felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.

"You are far too cocky, Mr. Engst," he'd heard Dugal's menacing voice behind him.

Vaati could have theoretically teleported out of there and then had shot a volley towards the other man as a surprise attack, but he couldn't rule out the possibility of Dugal doing his vanishing trick again. Instead, he summoned a sentry eye similar to Bates with the hand that wasn't charging an energy ball. Dugal couldn't see the sentry, of course, so he wouldn't suspect anything suspicious.

He'd noticed something weird, then. He'd been under the impression that Dugal no longer used his right hand to hold weapons ever since he'd gotten the prosthetic arm, but the man was using his right hand to point a pistol at him now. His left hand, however, was pressed against the crook of his right arm's elbow, just at the joint of the prosthetic.

It didn't take long for Vaati to figure out that the most likely location of Dugal's hidden artifact was somewhere on the prosthetic arm itself.

"What are you doing?"

Dugal's sharp voice prompted Vaati to wonder if he'd somehow detected the fluttering sentry as well. He released the sentry where it vanished completely. The sorcerer couldn't come up with any way Dugal would have been able to notice it. Vaati's confusion was evident when he answered, "No. Why?"

"There's something glowing a few feet ahead of us, and it's been doing that ever since you've summoned that energy sphere of yours, Mr. Engst. I'll have no choice but to shoot you dead if you continue to prove hostile."

"Huh?" Vaati took a better look around the room, and just as Dugal had indicated, there was a glowing red object a few feet away from them. It was on a pedestal of some kind, spared from the falling debris from earlier. The sorcerer squinted to get a better look. It was a red gem of some kind, about the size of a nectarine. It pulsated with energy at the same frequency as the energy in his hands…

Vaati released the spell in his hands, and the room went completely dark, including the large red gem. He summoned the spell again, and instantly the red gem began to glow once more.

There was no doubt: it was reacting to his magic, and there were only a few reasons why it would do so.

"It… can't be," he took a step forward, not caring then if Dugal really did decide to shoot him in the head. He walked toward the red gem at a quickening pace before he stopped abruptly before it, unsure of how to continue.

It was the gem from The Cap. His Cap. The goddess-damned cap that had started it all. The large red gem lit up his face with an eerie red light full of evil intentions. No doubt it reflected the dark magic he had summoned in his hands.

What was it doing here? All this time, he had been under the impression that the Wishing Cap, the very thing that had transformed an inconsequential creature into the infamous Sorcerer of Winds, had been destroyed. He'd searched for it during his second return, but he'd been informed that the cap had disintegrated after the young princess of Hyrule had wished for the undoing of the evil he had spread across the land.

Vaati's eyes widened in understanding. That was it… the cap had been destroyed, yes, but that didn't necessarily mean that its components had been destroyed as well. He could just imagine what had happened now, during the Wishing Cap's last moments; the fabric disintegrating into the air and leaving behind the durable core component of the cap, the red gem. The Hyrule royalty must have hidden it away, protecting it deep within a temple to prevent ill-intentioned hands from getting it. And now, after millennia of being locked away in this lonely temple, it had become forgotten in legends of old until they had stumbled upon it once again.

How ironic that it was he, its original master, who would rediscover it here after so long.

Vaati had seen the design of the cap in Ezlo's old notes before – this gem was the key. It was a rare, ultra-condensed crystalline form of occult energy, and as such it was highly sensitive to the will of the soul. It must have reacted to his magic, especially since his sorcery was similar to the type of signature it emitted. Magical resonance, that's what it was. Kind of how tuning forks vibrate when they're in the vicinity of the sound frequency they resonate to.

Vaati hesitantly reached for the gem. He still couldn't believe that he had been reunited with this trouble-making thing.

With this he…

With this, I can recreate the Wishing Cap.

Vaati touched the gem and picked it up in his hands.

As soon as he had done so, a low Whummm reverberated from the pedestal, and red runes shot out from it, creeping up the floor and along the walls like insects crawling away. The runes scattered towards the numerous pieces of armor standing guard along the walls, and they also lit up some panels on the floor. He was able to catch a small piece of ancient Hylian text before all chaos ensued.

It had read: Hearts tainted with greed are unworthy. Awaken will the guardians who will bring judgment upon you. May the goddesses have mercy, for the Phantoms will not.

"Before you shoot me, Dugal, I didn't plan for this to happen!" Vaati shouted over his shoulder as the hollow armor guardians sprung to life with metallic groans. Two lifeless orbs of red light glowed from behind their helmets, and the sorcerer really didn't like how many red dots he was seeing surrounding them. The sorcerer cracked his knuckles, and braced himself for the first Phantom that had run up to charge him. He gave it the most powerful blast of magic he could summon, and the walls shook and trembled from the sheer force of magical power.

And then the trembling immediately stopped when the Phantom swung its great sword and split the spell in two as though it were swatting away a fly.

"What the hell fuck is this shit!" Vaati didn't notice he had momentarily reverted to Gale-ism in his complete shock. He shot two more volleys and a searing laser beam, but all of them bounced off of the resilient armor as though they were nothing.

What is this?! Vaati's mind ran as he stood nearly petrified, watching the Darknut armor lifting its sword towards him, approaching ever closer. How can that be? Did they finally invent spell dissonance cancelation during the years I was gone? What the fuck!

He was moments away from being crushed by the Phantom's sword when there had been that sensation again: the sensation of being pulled through a ton of jello before entering a timeless existence. As soon as the sensation ended, he was in some different location of the temple, far away from the Phantoms, although he could still hear their metallic footsteps clattering persistently in search. Dugal held him by the arm and was looking at him with an expression of contained fury. The soft light glowing from the panel beneath their feet lit up his satanically for added effect.

"Er…"

"Just keep your mouth shut, Mr. Engst, before I decide I'd made the wrong choice." Dugal snapped. "I just might forgive your conduct earlier if you get us out of this mess."

"Only because you can't get out of here alone," Vaati muttered, turning away in shame from having been rescued. He patted the pocket of his jeans, making sure that the red gem was still there. He felt the cool touch of the stone, and then gave a short breath of relief. That was one thing he wasn't willing to lose, here.

An ominous clank of metal hitting stone sounded uncomfortably close by, and the two looked around wildly to see where the Phantom was approaching from.

It walked into view, two intimidating red orbs glowing from the darkness, searching. The Phantom stepped forward in slow, deliberate steps.

"Now what?" Vaati mouthed with some urgency as the Phantom approached. More footsteps sounded from other Phantoms wandering the vicinity.

"Wait," Dugal put a hand on the sorcerer's shoulder, stopping him from making any bold maneuvers. The two stared at the animated armor that walked towards them. Then, it tilted its helmet with a rusty creak as though it was confused, and then it turned away to search elsewhere. "They can't see us here."

They each took a moment to catch their breaths. Vaati hadn't been aware of how he had become short on breath, surprised as he was because of the complete ineffectiveness of his spells and becoming dangerously close to being dead.

Not that, you know, he feared death since he'd gone through with deadness so many times already.

And so that was the situation now. Vaati was now surrounded by magically animated, perhaps truly invincible armor called Phantoms. He had his hands on something that could potentially revive the Wishing Cap.

And he still hadn't been able to light Dugal up like a birthday candle.

"Unless you can think of a way to get rid of these things, Mr. Engst, I believe we are done here." Dugal hissed under his breath.

Vaati sighed. He really wasn't too keen on saving this bastard's hide as well but…

He couldn't really leave whatever powerful artifact Dugal had behind, could he? As soon as they got out of this place, maybe. He'd gotten his hands on what he'd wanted, after all. This whole ordeal was about to be over very, very soon.

At least that's what his optimism prayed for.

"Hmph." Vaati huffed, and then with a quick sweep of his hands, he warped them away from the terrifying temple.

What they didn't notice was that, up above from the floor above them, three red eyes glowed, staring at them from the hole that had opened up from the cave-in earlier. Condor and two shadow hounds had been watching the entire thing from the safety of darkness.

Condor scratched one of the dogs next to him behind the ear while a transmission buzzed with a static whirl.

"Condor reporting. I've confirmed suspicions that the targets do carry artifacts of a magical nature. I've pinpointed Dugal's to be located somewhere near his right arm, most likely a part of his prosthetic. The Engst boy is also in possession of an artifact, one that was discovered in this temple. It has the appearance of a red gem." The former Talon agent paused briefly. Then, he added, "They have left the premises. Now is the chance to intercept them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was noon the next day when Kestrel wandered over to the living room where Hawk and Dark had been momentarily killing time watching soccer. Hawk glanced over before going back to watch the game, while Dark reached for the popcorn with mild surprise at Kestrel. "Hey, you're alive!"

Kestrel plopped on the sofa with his computer with him, sitting between Dark and Hawk and shutting off the T.V. Without a word, he motioned the other two to take a look at the screen. Dark noted the gaunt appearance behind Kestrel's shades. "You are alive, right? Post-caffeine crash?"

"No, I'm used to that," Kestrel muttered. He glowered at something invisible flittering by his face, and swatted it with a free hand. "I just have a headache from trying to understand your demon companion here…" the Talon techie's left eye was still a fiery red, indicating he was sharing vision with Bates. He brought up a few word documents with notes typed up, as well as some windows with an intimidating amount of moving, illegible symbols. "Anyways, it took the whole night but with Bates' help we managed to dredge up some things from this."

"Here, prop this up so we're all participating," Hawk passed one of the silver decorative plates that Dark had used earlier to threaten Bates with. Dark held it up in front of him so that they could all see the blurry reflection of Bates who was currently hanging out on top of Kestrel's head. The little sentry obediently kept his gaze on the computer screen so he could help the man see the spells embedded within the code.

"This whole thing," Kestrel waved his hand at the moving symbols in one of the terminal windows, "was an ingenious marriage of magic and technology. Bates had actually done most of the work defragmenting what he calls magical indexes to trace source codes. Based on the amount of work we had to put to retrieve some of the hidden information, Bates says that the person we're dealing with has an incredibly extensive knowledge of sorcery, and I'll add that he's pretty capable with coding as well. I'd say that the only reason why we were able to get at some of the code was because our man was careless – I don't think he anticipated anyone else would be able to unravel the spell blocks."

"So? Who is this sorcerer guy?" Dark asked the question they all wanted to know.

Kestrel shook his head, and slowly took off his sunglasses from his face. His forehead was knitted together in concentration as his eyes moved down the screen. "I'm really not sure yet, and I still haven't been able to find any information about where he might be, but I think we're getting there."

"Sharing work before you're completely done? That's quite unlike you, Kestrel," Hawk interjected.

"That's because, after about the fifth time encountering the same, weird information, I thought I should stop and ask you two if you knew anything about it before I kept going. I know you guys can't read the original page because you can't see it without Bates' help, so I copied down the text in a word file." He brought the word document up to the front of the screen so that they could read along while he explained. "It turns out that the spell blocks are kind of like intersections that can take you to some other pathway or storage unit. Imagine doors that either lead to more doors, or treasure chests. The majority of these spell blocks that we unlocked gave us access to information regarding a certain person by the name of Corbin Robespierre. Have… either of you heard of him?"

Dark and Hawk exchanged glances, and they mulled over the name for a few minutes. Dark shrugged, while Hawk shook his head. "Nope."

"No one really has, except for our man here," Kestrel pointed at the screen. "He had pages and pages, links and links, of information about Corbin Robespierre. You can't find him with a normal search – if he existed before, then his records have been wiped out except in these spell blocks. It was like our man here had collected anything and everything available out there about this guy. Either that, or he made up this character. I kind of doubt that though."

"What's so significant about him?"

"It says in one of the notes that Corbin was a lord, according to some obscure history." Kestrel paused. He seemed conflicted about sharing what he had found, as though it were so unbelievable that he needed time to come to terms with it first. "You know, I'm really worried about the implications this has about our government."

Unable to hide his impatience any longer, Dark threw a popcorn across the room in frustration. It wasn't very intimidating, but it got his point across. "Fuck it, just tell us and stop stalling!"

"So apparently," Kestrel sighed, looking down at his hands, "Corbin Robespierre is the one responsible for shaping a sinister little idea with a new spin on divine right." His left eye flashed a deeper shade of red as Bates stirred a little.

"He came up with the idea of Occult Ascendancy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vaati was in a foul mood, and although under different circumstances he could have found the lush palm trees and the shimmering tropical ocean to be welcome scenery, he wanted nothing more than to summon a tornado to wreck the whole place. When he'd initiated the warp away from the temple, he had intended to warp somewhere in the Northeasterly area of the United States; home of deciduous and pine trees. For the love of Nayru, why was he seeing fucking palm trees?

They were standing in front of a busy road, and there were palm trees planted neatly between one side of the road and the other – a common design in tropical tourist areas. People were bustling in the evening rush-hour, and the night life was just beginning to stir. The majority of the people here all had dark brown skin, common to Pacific Islanders, and many of the obviously-tourist groups consisted of Caucasians or Asians. Everyone seemed just a little more cheerful than the group Vaati had become accustomed to back in Northeastern United States. Beyond the road was a line of towering hotels that overlooked the crystal lagoon. Just behind them was a two-story building with a big black billboard on top with a neon pink outline of a woman sitting in a suggestive pose. It was called Sandy's. Vaati might've found this whole situation a kind of funny if he wasn't wracking his brains on just what could've gone wrong with the teleporting: after all, he had just warped himself to one of the most sensible places to go to if he wanted to go on vacation. A strip club directly behind him, beautiful beaches in front of him, what more did he need for a perfect getaway?

It didn't make his mood any better to know that he was still stuck with Dugal, and that this ordeal was not going to be over as quickly as he had anticipated. The ex-Talon leader was surveying their surroundings with a mix of confusion and disapproval, and although he didn't say a word, the way his shoulders were slightly lifted and the way his chin tilted ever so lightly to the side indicated he was just about to make a biting remark.

"Just so you know, I didn't save your hide because I was feeling particularly generous," Vaati grumbled before Dugal could say anything. "I only did it because I'm not going to leave that artifact of yours behind in some crazy temple. Once we're somewhere quiet I'll just chop your arm off and leave you on a deserted island," he muttered under his breath while eyeing the numerous cars and pedestrians that bustled around them. "And before you ask, no, I don't know where we are," Vaati added with a snap.

Dugal was casually wiping the dust off of his glasses and spoke slowly, not unlike how a lawyer might gradually give questions that led up to an attack. "Weren't you the one who initiated the teleport? And what was that red gem you found, by the way?"

"Of course I was!" Vaati ignored the comment about the Wishing Cap's gem.

"Then why don't you know where this is, Mr. Engst?" Dugal asked in a tone that indicated the second, more pertinent underlying question of "Are you stupid?"

"I don't know what happened, okay? I don't know how we got somewhere with beaches and sunshine instead of suburbs and snow!"

"Hello boys. You look a little lost. Maybe I can help you?"

A smooth, velvety voice caught their attention behind them. It hadn't been very loud, but it had managed to cut through the bustle of the street before them. A tall woman who could have come straight out of a swimsuit catalogue was leaning against the wall of the strip club behind them. It was a little difficult to see what she looked like, because she remained in the shade between two pillars, out of the red splash of the evening sun. Her dark maple colored skin blended in with the shadows, but Vaati could catch the bold blue tribal tattoos near her right shoulder and left leg. What she wore was very minimal – it was something that a woman would wear only for the purpose of attracting all the wrong kinds of attention. He wasn't sure whether walking around in nothing but a two-piece neon orange swim suit was the norm… well okay to be fair she was wearing a long navy rider's hood (which suspiciously looked like a sorcerer's hood of old) and a long trailing around her hips that covered some parts but…

Okay but dang. Yeah. Wrong kinds of attention.

"No, that's all right," Dugal managed first.

"I can show you a good time, if you're not from around here," the woman trailed her fingers across the pole very deliberately. She tilted her chin, giving them a seductive gaze with her dark brown eyes. "A nice time with just the three of us, and a good friend of mine."

"Uh…"

Vaati perked up, and a devilish edge crept into his smile. He'd made a decision: he was not going to worry about stupid temples and failing magic for a change. He deserved it. Fuck it. "Considering the streak of bad luck I've been having, I think a good time is something I can do with."

The woman nodded encouragingly. "My friend is very good at reading fortunes. Maybe you'll be…" she paused suggestively, "very lucky this evening?"

Dugal stepped forward, keeping his full focus on Vaati and ignoring the stranger. "Mr. Engst I don't – "

"Look, you don't have to follow me, alright?" the sorcerer snapped. He'd found a much better companion and he wasn't going to be interrupted.

"Yes, but we still haven't resolved the issue of – "

"I'm going to go where I want, when I want. That's all I'm going to say," he snarled. Then, he turned to the woman pleasantly. "All right, miss, I would gladly take your kind offer."

The woman appeared surprised, and then smirked beneath her hood. "'Miss,' huh? You're a polite one, aren't you?"

"You shouldn't judge anyone by the way they look, right?"

A curious expression came over the woman and she hesitated. Then, she laughed. "Oh yes. I know all too well what you mean. I deal with it all the time. All the time…"

XXXXXXXXX

Vaati's streak of bad luck did not seem to be ending. He figured he should have thought something was off when the woman hadn't led him to the club, but had instead took him further down the alley and through a little door down a few stairs in the building next to the club.

The next bad sign was after the door had shut behind them. Dugal had ended up coming along as well with an emotionless expression of acceptance. It was a pretty impressive poker face, to be honest. And although, yes, having the Talon leader follow was also bad news, it wasn't as bad a news as when they were welcomed by the hysterical cackling of a male's voice.

Turned out the woman's friend was not the sexy female friend Vaati had imagined, but a man.

And a crazy one at that.

"Ahhh haHA! Welcome, welcome, please relax!"

Vaati just stared blankly at what was in front of him. He didn't smile, nor did he frown. He wasn't really sure if it was worth getting all angry over what he was seeing.

Behind an incredibly cluttered room of various filing cabinets, collector globes, statuettes of various creatures, unidentifiable mechanical gadgets, screws, scrap metal, and other junk, was a flat table with a single desk lamp. Behind that, was a wiry person whose face was completely covered with a colorful toucan mask. Like the woman, his head was covered by a long rider's hood of a pale purple. His outfit was equally ridiculous: a dark blue suit with a high collar, flamboyant ruffles and a long coattail. "What…" Vaati finally managed.

"Mr. Engst… this is exactly why…" behind him, Dugal pinched the bridge of his noise and looked like he was having a headache.

The toucan man hopped out of his seat and waved his thin arms with big, wide motions. "Take a seat! Take a seat! Thyme, dear, can you pull up those filing cabinets so we all have room to sit?" he waved the woman, Thyme, towards some of the filing cabinets strewn around the room. He nodded earnestly towards the speechless Vaati and Dugal, not really noticing that he was making them uncomfortable. He pushed some seat cushions in their faces forcefully. "Here, gentlemen, if you can just put these seat cushions on those filing cabinets then we've got ourselves more seats."

Vaati hit the cushion away from his face. "I'm leaving." With a frown, he turned to the tired-looking Talon leader. "Dugal, I made a mistake."

"Exactly." Dugal agreed with a frown.

The masked man turned sharply to Thyme. "Thyme, dear, did you misinform these gentlemen?"

The woman huffed. "No of course not. Everything I said was true."

"That's not true!" Vaati interjected, though it came out somewhat weak as he tried to go over their dialogue earlier.

"Ha! It's not my fault your dirty mind misinterpreted everything I said," she replied cooly, "I never once lied."

"Ahhh, it's no good to lie, Thyme dear," the quirky man's shoulders sagged disappointedly. "That's not how you make friends."

"Thistle just - ! You are the absolute worst when it comes to lying!"

As Dugal shook his head and turned around to open the door, the man with the mask suddenly hugged a seat cushion close to his chest exaggeratedly. "Leaving already? No no no, please, I insist you stay! I'm so lonely! I'll buy you dinner tomorrow. The all you can eat seafood special at the Westin is delicious, please."

"Thistle," Thyme rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, "they think you're pathetic."

Thistle worriedly patted his mask with his black gloved hands. "Is it the mask? It's the mask, isn't it. People always complain about the mask." He gave an earnest glance towards the sorcerer who was about to leave too. "It's okay, you don't have to hide it."

"Yeah, it's the mask," Vaati snapped irritably.

"Gosh, no need to be so blunt about it!" Thistle cried huffily. Then, he heaved his shoulders dramatically. "Ahh Thyme, they're really leaving. And here I thought we could have a nice long chat together." Thistle twirled a long grey braid by his ear absentmindedly, giving them a nice long stare. "I know who you are, by the way," he continued to speak to two uninterested visitors, "you're the two Magicians from one of my old fortunes."

"Well that's nice." The sorcerer stepped outside, the door swinging slowly shut.

"And here I thought you might want to know a little bit about that curse, hmmm? And maybe some amnesty from the ones chasing you?"

There was a brief pause and the door clicked shut. Thistle walked over and carefully placed the seat cushions that had fallen on the floor onto two filing cabinets. Once they were neatly in place, he looked at his watch and counted the seconds.

At ten seconds, the door swung back open with both Vaati and Dugal hurrying back. "What did you just say?" they both demanded in unison.

Thistle giggled, and then indicated the improvised seats once again. "Kehaha! There's a curse about you, Sorcerer Vaati. You want to break free from it, don't you?" Thistle let the question linger. He flicked a tarot card into the air and caught it before it disappeared again somewhere in his sleeves.

Vaati's red eyes narrowed, then. Tension crept along the surface of his skin as he heightened his guard. "How do you know my name?" he whispered. And how do you know about the curse?

It was impossible to tell what kind of expression was behind that mask, but Thistle somehow managed to appear smug. He walked back around the desk, stepping over all of the cluttered junk, and sat back down. "Kehaha… how indeed? Don't judge anyone by the way they look, Vaati. Now please, I repeat myself," he gestured them to come closer. "Will you sit down?"

fleets: The Wishing Cap returns! Kind of. Are you guys starting to see where I'm trying to take this story? hehehe ;)
Also a new name is introduced! Corbin Robespierre. I've had to keep my mouth shut about him for so long, I can finally mention his name at least omg. More about him in upcoming chapters. ALSO Thistle and Thyme! Finally got to write Thyme, so I was pretty excited about that (Thistle doesn't count cause he appeared a whole lot in Rend).

Mirria1: Whoohoo! You're not dead! :D (shot)

Sapphiet: Why oh why are they obsessed with magic indeed? :P

kid koopa: HAI! And here is more :D

Sybdoodles: Hurray! Welcome back! I was pretty excited about coming back here too. Didn't realize I missed it so much until I began to write for this again :)

ThE AnCiEnT DeRuViSh: I really need to play Assassins Creed sometime... everyone's been telling me about how awesome it is T_T

Iris Martinez: Haha you can give them any pokemon you like! Dugal with Honchcrow is perfect, and Vaati would probably want nothing less than a legendary haha. I was actually thinking something like Absol for Dark, but since Charmander was my favorite starter I've no complaints with that one either :)
We haven't really gotten into Thistle and Thyme yet, but I'd say Thyme would have Xatu or Venomoth and Thistle might be Duskull. And haha not at all! It's a fun excercise :3