Chapter 18.

The

Clashing

Of

Waves;

Act III,

Part IX

ME: Hey, everybody, in other words, those who actually stick with me despite my many, many, many faults with writing this story!

This was originally meant to be the first part of the epilogue but due to MANY complications, I had to settle with cutting it off and pasting it into now said chapter. I am extremely sorry for the lateness! This chapter took a lot longer than I thought; putting all the pieces together is harder than it looks! For those of you who read this on deviantart, I am SO sorry for the confusion you'll gain from reading this!

If you don't end up roasting me, I hope all your questions will be answered in this installment, read and enjoy!

"He was my best friend, I tried to help him,
But he traded everything, for suffering,
And found himself alone . . .

I watched the lying, turn into hiding;
With scars on both his lips, his fingertips,
Were melted to the bone . . .

But I can still remember what his face looked like . . .
When I found him in an alley in the middle of the night.

Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now!
Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now!

A gun would do the trick, get it over with,
You're better off . . .
To take all you've got and burn it on the spot,
Just to get high, igh, igh, igh . . .

(High-igh, igh, igh . . .) . . ."

"Just To Get High" – Nickelback

~X~

To say that Tuff, Riley and Cassie were surprised by what they were just told was an understatement.

To say that they were totally floored, however, was not.

Riley spoke all their minds a near instant later. "What?!" You mean that overgrown psycho mutt was actually a Pet?!" He exclaimed in complete and utter disbelief.

Dr. Marlin's ears flattened against his head as he frowned blankly. "Not exactly the term I used but, yes; the "Great Master of The Forest" in the beginning was a simple guard dog. At least according to what Roshi told me."

Riley gave a look towards Tuff and Cassie, who looked just as bewildered as he did if not more. Mother Logai gave a sound of agreement from where she sat next to Dr. Marlin, "I know how you feel, Sweet-pea, I said the same thing when Haddie filled me in on the details."

The five of them now all sat in a sort of circle in the infirmary; both brothers and Cassie sitting on her bed, herself in the middle of the both of them, and the Good Doctor and the Jakkai Tailor on the bed opposite. A small table was set up between them, holding an old serpent-shaped teapot and matching teacups each individually filled with Peppermint Snow tea. The scent of sharp, clean mint and the fresh cool of winter wafted into the air around them, the heat of the drink adding an odd kick to smooth, cold blast of the blend. In the middle of the table's surface rested the book that Dr. Marlin had brought with him, Tuff raised an eyebrow at the title on the cover but didn't comment.

Cassie, her tail now a breezy design as it was raised behind her, conveyed her confusion as her ears went one side up and one side down again. "Dr. Marlin, what exactly was it that your friend told you about the Master?"

"I wasn't too sure at first." Dr. Marlin shook his head politely. "Roshi had only given me a few blind details before I rushed back here. As it turns out, after doing some digging, that I was wrong in my earlier assumptions about all the previous attacks, including yours, my dear, being at random."

"What do you mean, doc?" Riley asked.

Dr. Marlin picked the book up from the table and held it out towards Tuff. "Tuff, I think you should take it from here; go through this book and read off all the pages that are marked off by the tabs aloud, will you?"

Tuff looked a little perplexed at this request. "Oh, uh, yeah, sure . . ." He took the book and examined it briefly before opening it to the first tab. Despite, the tiny, scrawl-like hand-writing that made messes over the surface of the paper, he quickly found the beginning of the page and recited, ""Dolphinswal, Tuesday the 7th; Autopsy. Victim Statistics; Felicia Davenport; female; human; nineteen years of age; five feet and twelve inches; one hundred and twenty lbs in body weight; mid-length blonde hair; brown eyes; light-skinned; birthmark in shape of a flower on left shoulder. Cause of death; Bitten to death by beasts; wounds begin from below the left breast and end at the curve of the left hip, baring seven feet deep and two feet wide incisions, obvious signs of trauma on the artery and –"–"

Dr. Marlin held up a hand to stop him, which Tuff did not protest to at all, honestly he felt like he was turning a little green. "That's far enough, Tuff," Dr. Marlin said. "Go on ahead to the next tab."

Tuff nodded weakly and did as told; Cassie and Riley leaned in against his shoulders, Cassie's hand squeezing his arm unconsciously as they read silently with him, ""Dolphinswal, Monday the 15th; Autopsy. Victim Statistics; Lauren Tully; female; human/raccoon half-blood; twenty-four years of age; seven feet and three inches; one hundred and forty-five lbs in body weight; shoulder length blonde/black hair; green eyes; light and dark-furred skin"." He stopped when he looked up and saw Dr. Marlin motioning his hand, telling him to move on.

Tuff flipped the pages of the book to the next tab. ""Thursday the 18th; Autopsy. Victim Statistics; Juni Mayworthe; female; human; fifteen years of age; five feet and five inches; one hundred and sixteen lbs in body weight; waist-length pale blonde hair; gray eyes; dark-skinned"."

His fingers flipped through the contents again. ""Sunday the 28th; Autopsy. Victim Statistics; Woona Marie Uhhundi; female; human/Avian/cloven half-blood; thirty years of age; seven feet and ten inches; one hundred and sixty lbs in body weight; shoulder-length dark blonde hair; blue eyes; light-skinned with dark markings around cheekbones and temples and assorted red and brown feathers"."

And again. ""Diamondswal, Friday the 10th; Autopsy. Victim Statistics; Huptfa YuLong; female; human/squirrel half-blood; twenty-eight years of age; four feet and twenty inches; one hundred and eight lbs in body weight; tail-length blonde hair; light-skinned with red and brown fur"."

Dr. Marlin looked just as grim as they did. "Tell me, Tuff, do you see any connections in all those victims?"

Tuff seemed a little unsure as he answered, "Honestly all I can make out of this is that all these victims were women with . . ." He caught a glimpse of Cassie out the corner of his eye. ". . . With blonde hair . . ."

Cassie's ears went up at the odd tone in his voice. "Blonde hair . . .?" She fingered one of her short locks in contemplation. Why would that be important? How could her hair color be so relevant to - ?

– The Master twirled his claw around her large lock, his smile never fading for a second. "I like how you changed your hair. So short and curly, it suits you. Very classy . . ." –

Cassie's eyes went wide with a short gasp. "Wait, when that Were-Dog confronted me, before I met Tuff and Riley; he told that I had changed my hair."

"He was probably talking about his last victim; Quinta Froe." Mother Logai said. "She had long, straight blonde that almost went past her knees." On a bitter and more solemn tone, she added with a frown. "That dumb girl. I was always telling her to get it cut so it wouldn't get snagged by anything." She lowered her head, speaking more to herself than to them. "The Guards found what was left of her two days ago in what was once the Blue Island forest." Her voice was a near whisper, on the track to tearing up right there.

Images of cold bones, empty chests and eyes, and fallen strands of yellow flooded Cassie's mind. Tuff and Riley looked at each other.

Two days ago. When Cassie was still unconscious . . .

Dr. Marlin gently coughed into his hand, politely getting back to subject. "As I saying, my assumptions were wrong; there was a connection. The Master only massacred women with blonde hair. Others who were either unfortunate enough or dumb enough to get caught in his trap were either chased off and attacked and let free."

"But I don't get it." Riley crossed his arms. "Why only go after women with a specific hair color? None of it adds up."

"When I met the Master on Blue Island, he told me that "I" had hurt him. And when his pelt caught fire when I shot him with that flare, he said that I had done something to his eye." Cassie recalled. She looked towards Dr. Marlin. "Does any of this have to do with that?"

"Plenty, my dear." Dr. Marlin nodded. "When I first found out about this, I thought it was just simply a product conducted of an ill mind. But then I remembered what it was that spawned my theory."

Mother Logai appeared collected as she held her head back up, rubbing at her eyes. "After we had the City Guard bring you kids to the infirmary, Haddie had me send a Speech Mote over to Roshi at the Little Oak Town. It took a little longer then we would've liked for it to come back, for reasons I shall not name but blame the "Good Doctor" over here for not dealing with it sooner," She elbowed Dr. Marlin in the side, earning a dirty look of annoyance. "But when it came back, we got some serious dirt to read and sort through while you all were sleeping."

Dr. Marlin was genuinely surprised and impressed as he begun, "Surprisingly, while I was doing my homework here, Roshi actually did us a bigger favor than we thought. He tracked down all the people who had even the most remote connections to the family that owned the Master. Once we made sense out of all the stories he found for us, it was simply a matter of piecing the origin of the Master together one-by-one.

"The Master, as I said, was a Were-Beast that was raised since he was a pup to be a guard dog. Not a pet." He gave a dry look towards Riley who rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Though he might as well have been since he and his Master's Daughter were so close."

"According to Roshi's rumors, the girl and the Were-Dog who would later become the Master were inseparable; they did everything together, they read together, they played together, hell, they even slept together in the same bed." Mother Logai counted off with her claws with a bitter smile. "The Were-Dog was her best friend, which was why he was even taken in the first place."

"So him being a Guard Dog . . . ?" Tuff started questioningly.

"Was his owner's idea; so that way he could respect his daughter's wishes on letting the big guy stay and his only child and heir would be protected if worse came to worse." Mother Logai confirmed.

"As expected, the Mother was none too happy about it." Dr. Marlin stated, taking his cup and sipping his tea. "And that's putting it loosely."

"The more correct term would be that she was just plain bitchy about it!" Mother Logai snapped, her tail snapping angrily from behind her. "The woman was a diva through and through; I remember whenever I went over to Little Oak for an appointment with a client, she would "Generously point out the flaws in my technique, in my clothes and in my fur"!" Her voice went haughty and poised before rolling into a frustrated snarl that drew the three across from her back for a moment. "God, everytime that I saw her, I just wanted to –"

"Anyway," Dr. Marlin reprimanding glower was enough to tell her that they were losing track of the conversation. Mother Logai drew back her claws and grumbled to herself. "The Noblewoman wanted to get rid of the Were-Dog but her daughter wouldn't have it. She stood her ground against them, even making them promise that they wouldn't do anything to him as long as she was here."

Mother Logai propped a paw to her chin with an annoyed sigh. "Girl should've considered her words more carefully."

"How come?" Cassie asked.

"Because nearly an exact month later, her parents bought her a scholarship to a fancy college overseas and had her shipped off before she could even blink." Mother Logai stated. "Don't need to be a physic to know whose idea that was."

A heavy, guiltily unprovoked pity began to grow in Cassie's chest. "That's when she did it, right?"

"No second chances, mongrel." The Master's paw, from where he had unconsciously raised it was twisted, his fingers curled like he was holding the handle of the precise knife of his nightmares.

Cassie felt her eyes burning a little in spite of the monster that once plagued her own nightmares. ". . . The girls' mother . . . That's when she tried to kill him."

Dr. Marlin and Mother Logai looked at her before sharing an uneasy side-glance. ". . . I'm guessing you found out?" Dr. Marlin inquired.

Cassie shook her head. "He told all of us when his pelt came off. Nothing was there when he showed us his eye." She pointed to her own eye for emphasis, ignoring the slight tremor in her hand. "I can only assume that the Noblewoman failed in her attempt to put him down for good."

Dr. Marlin gave a curt sound of agreement. "Indeed, she failed miserably. She didn't want to dirty herself anymore then she already had when she gouged out his eye with a steak knife; she simply left the thugs she hired for the occasion to beat him to a bloody pulp, take him out of town and toss him as far and as deep into the woods as possible."

Cassie visibly wilted, her ears going down as her gaze fell to the floor. Her tail floated behind her, the fin now dripping with treks of rain and water. She was sure she must've looked crazy; pitying a literal mad dog who tried to tear her apart. But she couldn't help it.

She had heard plenty of stories growing up with Vince about how nearly all Were-Beasts were feared, hated, ostracized or even abused in the most terrible ways. She never wanted to put anyone through anything like that. Not Vince. Not Tuff and Riley. Especially not Dr. Marlin. And especially not the Master even after all he had done to all those poor girls . . .

What he almost did to her . . . .

She felt a withered, old hand come over hers, the wrinkled calloused texture of the hand graced with dull claws so stark from her youthful, smooth, human-like skin. Cassie blinked and found herself staring into the sympathetic face of Dr. Marlin. His face held a gentle, grandfatherly glow to it as he smiled sadly at her. "I hate to see you frown even more, dear, but I'm sure as you can guess, it only gets worse from there."

Cassie didn't respond. She felt another hand touch her shoulder, this time allowing her to see Tuff's comforting smile as he looked down at her. His gaze was genuine, his sea green irises searching her face in any kind of way to quell her sudden sadness. She had to admire him for trying, even though it was futile. Unable to think of anything else, she smiled back, albeit being weaker and more forced than his.

Dr. Marlin switched his hand for her cup of tea, setting into her hands. The combination of cool and hot was nearly soothing for her shaking hands, prompting Cassie to take a small sip. Any nagging thoughts that she had about being a feminizing weakling were abruptly pushed back and stuffed in a pad-locked box in her head. No time to kick yourself now . . .

"Geez . . ." Riley breathed out, his hand running through his hair. His shock was easy to see in his eyes. "I mean, wow, that's just . . . That's just awful . . . Going through that, no wonder he lost his mind . . ." Cassie nodded her head once in agreement.

"Ehm, you think that was bad, you should've seen what he did to the mother when he got his second wind." Dr. Marlin quipped. "Roshi told me it was like seeing an overripe watermelon that got squished in a poacher's trap."

Tuff and Riley both gulped at that. And they had been creeped out by the corpses the Good Doctor described before . . .

"But if he had already killed the mother, then why did he . . . ?" Cassie begun to ask.

Mother Logai finished for her as she took her own teacup. "Go nuts and attack every blonde that came by?"

"The theory for that is simple." Dr. Marlin folded his hands over the head of his cane, the butt of it leaning on the ground. "The Noblewoman was a light-skinned, fairly attractive woman with some of the richest golden blonde hair on this island, at least according to Roshi's account. So, it's only natural that the Master would have that permanently engraved in his mind. Unfortunately, the Master's sight, as you well know by now, was reduced by half in a rather horrid fashion before this all occurred, so the sheer shock of it had a nasty effect on his mind.

"The memory of the one who took his eye was all that the Master could process in his mind; a beacon to reconstitute himself from a Guard dog to a ruthless, powerful hunter. A beacon that drove him to believe that each time he saw a lady with even the slightest resemblance to the woman's hair close by, she had survived his attack and was back to just haunt him. A simple ideology for a raving psychopath. His methods of dealing with this paranoia were obviously grossly ill and violent; each attack was even more grotesque and brutal than before, the assailant desperate to have his victim die and stay dead.

"It certainly did the job, but unfortunately the mental state of his mind wouldn't allow that sort of thinking and repeated the sick process each time a poor blonde woman made itself known to the Master." Dr. Marlin gripped his cane, his eyes growing dark. "The Master would never stop until he was sure the "demon woman" who had hurt him was gone for good."

"And to think none of this would've happened if the Noblewoman didn't care so much for her sake of vanity." Mother Logai droned, sipping at her tea with a bitter frown of her own. "It was because of that selfish bitch that we now have at least several families on our hands that have to know sooner or later that their kin have died for nothing. Simply because a woman cared more for her image than the innocent life that kept her own daughter happy."

"She's not the only one to blame." Dr. Marlin bluntly pointed out. "I was the one who had sewn up and put back together every one of those poor girls that that monster had ripped apart and destroyed." He rubbed at his eyes with a growl. "If I had seen the connection much sooner, those families wouldn't have suffered. And there wouldn't have been as many funerals as we've had lately."

Riley's face was hesitant and morbidly embarrassed as he started slowly, ". . . When Tuff and I first got here, I noticed that there were a few houses that had black ribbons tied around the gates and a few doorknobs. Is . . . and I'm sorry for how ignorant and stupid this sounds but . . . Is that custom for signaling a family in mourning here?"

". . . . ." Dr. Marlin's tail twitched behind him, giving Riley a blank stare with dreary hay eyes. ". . . More or less."

Riley hung his head, a frown spread across his face at his own apparent idiocy.

Tuff had forgotten about that. From day one on Pound Island, Tuff had felt something . . . unsettling about the townspeople. At first, he had thought it was just his paranoia kicking in again, until he heard the faint sounds of someone sobbing coming from one of the houses that he and Riley had passed as they made their way to the Marketplace. The flutter of the sole black ribbon blowing in the wind from its place on the front gate did not escape his eye. Oh, how blind he and Riley had been.

All of this completely explained the odd, melancholic behavior of the flower stand owner they saw as they were trying to haggle for supplies. Obviously a friend or family member mourning their loved one. Tuff had to remember to buy some of those flowers before Riley and he left the island.

Dr. Marlin's fingers were shaking as his voice was more harsh and bitter towards himself. "How did I not see this all earlier? I could've done something, I could've –"

"You did do something."

Dr. Marlin looked up and all eyes turned to Cassie, who up to this point had been quiet. Her eyes were soft and reassuring, her tail in a teardrop, curly pattern as it slid over her lap as she said with a comforting smile, "You gave help when we needed it, you left me in the care of two good men when they had enough sense to just go about their own business, and you went out of your way to piece together the last few bits of this mystery; you've done more than enough. Especially for your duty to the people. This town won't have to live in fear anymore, thanks to you."

Dr. Marlin's expression was a mixture of surprise and compliment, his eyes a little wide and his ears swerved up as a small red dust floated his cheeks. Mother Logai snickered into her cup, snapping him out of it and earning a sour glare from the Elderly Were-Mouse. "I-I think the real credit goes to you, my dear." He coughed into his hand one again. "After all, you took the initiative to go and deal with this menace yourself, – As foolish and bull-headed as it was, given your condition – which lead to the so-called "Great Hunter's" demise; so in reality we should be grateful to you, Miss Cassie. And to the boys here, of course."

Cassie turned a little blue herself and gave a small chuckle when she saw Riley and Tuff shift a little in their seats from both sides of her. Clearly they weren't used to gaining gratitude from old, lively men either.

"By the way, since we're explaining things here," Riley begun to ask, still a little flushed. "What I wanna know is how did the She-Dog Yahoo from before found us? I mean, I know our camp wasn't exactly discreet but it was kind of freaky that she managed to pick up our trail so quickly."

"That's the part where the psycho's wolves came in." Mother Logai said. "Once the Master saw his victims he would have them stalk them for days on end; when the time was right he would have them guide the victim into the forest and he would do the rest."

"But how would he even be able to track them?" Tuff implied.

"All he needed for that was just to have one of his wolves jump the victims out of nowhere and rip off a piece of their clothing." Mother Logai explained. "Once he had that he could pick up the scent and pick up their trail from anywhere."

"That still doesn't explain how that –" Riley started to run a hand through his bangs, stopping when he caught the skin of his wrist. His bare wrist. "Wait . . . . Wait! That wolf!"

Tuff and Cassie both looked at him curiously. "What are you talking about, Riley?" Tuff asked him.

"Remember how I said a wolf jumped me when I was trying to find Dr. Marlin?" Riley said, gesturing to his wrist. "I forgot that I still had some of my shirt tied on my wrist; some of Cassie's blood must've been on it!"

"My . . . Blood?!" Cassie's face went a little pale at those words, to no one's notice.

Tuff put a hand to his chin as he thought outloud. "So when the wolf jumped you, it was because it was after to the cloth!" Tuff slapped a hand to his forehead. "Maker, I can't believe we were that stupid!"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on, back up," Mother Logai interjected with a claw raised. "Why this about Riley having a blood-soaked cloth tied to his wrist?"

Riley, naturally, saw no problem with this question and immediately started, "Oh, see, Tuff and I were trying to get a look at Cassie's injury so we could try and fix it up a bit so I thought that we could take my shirt and try – OY!"

Tuff, with even more reddened face than before, quickly reached over and slapped a hand over Riley's mouth, nearly shouting, "Oh, no reason! Just boys being idiots, you know? After all you said so yourself, Mother Logai, we people can be horridly irresponsible with clothes, right?!" He tried desperately hard not to look guilty when Cassie gave him a skeptical frown.

Mother Logai followed her example with a raise of her ear. "Hmm . . . I get a feeling there's more behind that . . . But I'll let it slide in light of the circumstances." She took another sip of her tea. "By the sound of things, you boys are going to need some clothes of your own, and it'd be wrong as a seamstress not to help you."

Tuff let out a mental sigh of relief as Riley pulled his hand off with a miffed frown. Cassie still looked a tad suspicious, however. As she could faintly recall her wrists being tied with something . . .

"By the way, I almost forgot about this earlier, but is your side better, my dear?" Dr. Marlin asked. "You seem to be handling yourself well."

Realization dawned on Cassie, making her go rigid and her ears fly up. Her hand went to her side and pushed against it. Instead of liquid fire and jabbing needles, all she felt was the awkward push of her fingers into her skin. There was nothing; even the pull of the stitches was gone. Nothing but undamaged, intact skin remained. So she hadn't been hallucinating in the water . . . "My injury . . . It's gone!"

"What?!" Tuff and Riley both exclaimed. Riley then made a face and his hands flew to the small of his back. Giving a shocked choke of his own, he declared, "Hey, my back's healed too! The huge scratch that big daggit gave me is gone!"

Dr. Marlin was confused but interested in this. "What? What injury? When I checked you over, aside from a few tears in your shirt and some sore lungs, you looked fine."

"When we were fighting the Master he got a hit in and nearly sliced my back in half." Riley said, his confusion just as much as Cassie's. "I almost forgot all about it until now."

"But what could've happened to us?" Cassie asked no one in particular before turning to Dr. Marlin. "Did someone besides you heal us while we were sleeping?"

"No, I would've remembered that." Dr. Marlin shook his head. "Logi, do you know who –?"

"Hey, don't look at me!" Mother Logai held her hands up in defense. "You know I'm crappy at magic; my Speech Mote is the farthest that I can get without going into magic shock."

Tuff silently brought up a hand to the back of his shoulders, where he assumed that giant bruise would still be, only to be met with nothing but hidden muscle and skin. He gave a silent gasp. Looks like he had gone through a miracle recovery too. "But . . . If you two didn't heal us then . . . What did?"

"I think maybe I should answer that." An unfamiliar voice chimed in.

Everyone turned their heads to the door. The person's appearance instantly drew Riley's interest with a light flush of red and a heartbeat.

A tall woman about in her mid-twenties stood in the doorway, bearing a guard's brown and green armored chest plate over simple gray long-sleeved attire of a shirt and trousers with matching metal pads on her elbows and knees, a long slim sword hanging at her belt along with a coiled whip. Her skin was tanned from being frequently out in the sun, her bound copper red hair as curly as the Luck Brothers' were spikey, her eyes a bright opal blue that spoke nothing but authority and order and her lips a cute set of lilac pink that were currently set in a straight line of seriousness. Not too pretty, but not too butch description-wise, but all the more attractive the same.

"Sorry for coming in unannounced, Doc," She bowed her head politely, entering the infirmary. "The door was open and I was hoping that you weren't busy."

Dr. Marlin waved her in a casual gesture. "Naw, you're fine, Henry. Trust me; your company's welcoming right now."

"Henry" smiled. "Glad to hear it."

Tuff, who had turned a little red himself at her sudden arrival and her looks despite himself, couldn't help but sound a little in a daze as he said, "Uhm, "Henry"?"

Henry noticed his bewilderment and gave a short laugh. "It's just a nickname that everyone gives me. It's short for "Henriette" and I absolutely loathe my birth name." Her expression turned with distaste before reverting back to a smile. "So everyone just calls me "Henry" or "Henri" for short. Certainly makes my job as captain easier."

"Henri's Captain of the city guard here." Dr. Marlin added. "A woman of many strengths and connections, which is why I'm sure she has some good news for us. Right Henri?"

"Right." Henry nodded once again in agreement. "My lieutenant and one of my privates just got done examining the Were-Dog's remains; it certainly was a challenge considering the body was basically charcoal when we found it."

"From the forest fire?" Tuff gave an uneasy side-glance to Cassie and Riley.

Thankfully, Henry didn't seem to notice their behavior as she said, "Yep. What was Blue Island is nothing but a big lump of rock now. Place was deserted when we got there, no animals, no birds, no anything. I helped with the searching and we couldn't even find a trace of those wolves that Dr. Marlin and Mother Logai told us about. It was almost like they had vanished into thin air."

"I'm sure we'll find them eventually." Mother Logai stated. "After all, with our island being the only one nearby with a sizable food supply and plenty of forest for them to hide in, we're bound to see them sooner or later."

"I'll make sure to put the rest of the guards on the watch." Henry promised. Turning her head towards Tuff, Riley and Cassie, she continued, "Anyways, like I said, when we examined the Beastman's corpse we found something that I think you'll find interesting." She put a hand in one of her pockets and pulled out a large, dark claw and a rather familiar tooth.

"Ah!" Tuff exclaimed calmly at the sight of said tooth. "That's the tooth we found on Cassie!"

Henry nodded. "Right. The very same tooth, along with the same magical properties that we found in the rest of the beast's teeth, paws and claws." Holding up the claw with her other hand, she went on, "According to my lieutenant's findings, somebody had cursed certain parts of its body with a sort of infection spell; if they survived, whoever was attacked by the Were-dog would suffer injuries that would last for weeks or days, depending on the magic of the victim."

Cassie kept her hand to her side as she hummed in understanding. "Well, that certainly explains a few things." Looking back up at Henry, she inquired, "But why is it that they're gone now?"

"The magic of the infection only survives by the will of magic supplying it. In other words, what I hear was once called the "Master." Henry answered. "The magic feeds off his own so when he died, the infection had no more strength to continue on."

Cassie felt her breathe hitch a little. "So . . . . He really is dead, isn't it?"

Henry must've caught on to her uneasiness but had the grace not to point it out. She gave a small nod of her head. "Ehm, yeah. When we recovered his remains from underneath the tree, his back had been snapped in two. Nearly ripped him in half twice when we tried pulling the body out."

Cassie felt her stomach turn at the mental image. She tried calming it down with some tea, but the burning cold of sleek peppermint almost seemed bland and tasteless on her tongue. Something told her that she was going to have a hard time keeping anything down for a while.

Henry gave her another quiet look, slowly perking up with a smile and saying, "The townspeople will definitely be happy to know that the menace is gone; now we can all rest a little easier and no one will have to be as afraid of going into the forest anymore. Thanks to Dr. Marlin and . . . ?" She gestured towards the three of them for their names.

Tuff opened his mouth to say something but Riley beat him to the punch by pushing his head to the side, making it tilt and crack audibly, earning a sound of surprise and pain, and putting on an award-winning toothy smile. "Riley Luck, at your service, Miss Captain Ma'm, ready to receive orders as you give 'em! I aim to please in any way I can as a fellow subordinate!" Jumping up and somehow materializing at Henry's side, he added smoothly, "Including footing the bill for dinner tonight if there nothing else that strikes your fancy . . ."

Tuff groaned and rubbed at his forehead, muttering, "Lord, give me strength . . ." As Cassie watched placidly with a raised ear.

Henry gave him an odd look. "You . . . Seem familiar to me, have we met somewhere before?"

"Not unless in my dreams count." Riley retorted, practically oozing charm with a flirty grin.

"He should look familiar to you, Hen." Mother Logai spoke up. "He's the one who Les almost flattened yesterday and a few days before that."

"Really?" Henry gave Riley a look. "You're that "Half-blood-bastard" who, as Les so cleverly put it, "made moves on my girl"?"

Riley looked extremely put-out when he said, "Hey, for the last time, she –" He stopped mid-way, blinking in bewilderment. "Wait a minute, you know that Drunk Giant?"

"Better than ya think, for better or for worse." Henry nodded bluntly.

Riley gave her a suspicious look. "What are you, his actual girlfriend?"

What she said next was worthy enough to be a missile. "Worse. I'm his sister."

Almost everyone in the room fell over in shock, save Dr. Marlin, Mother Logai and Henry, for obvious reasons. Henry sighed in silent shame at the near comical looks on Tuff's, Riley's and Cassie's faces.

Riley was completely and utterly confused at that statement. The fact that someone as cute as the woman standing in front of him being related to someone so . . . So . . . Well, Repulsive looking did not process itself properly in his head. "Y-y-you . . . y-you are . . . ?" Riley raised a shaky finger at the Female Captain who seemed quite embarrassed as it was. ". . . But-but-but h-h-how- how are you –?"

Henry sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "I know. I know. It's hard to believe. What with the hair, the height, the fact I look more human than he does," She said. "Our parents were very . . . Diverse. Les takes more after Dad whilst I take more after Mom. I'm not proud of it, believe me. I cannot tell you the numbers of times I've had to drag him to the jail for a night or two so the locals wouldn't throw him off the docks themselves. Same goes for everytime I've had to clean up the messes he always leaves behind. Ask anyone, they'll tell you."

"Damn straight!" Mother Logai nodded.

"I have to agree." Dr. Marlin nodded as well.

"I take it this is regular thing?" Cassie asked Henry tentatively.

Henry brought up a hand and started counting off fingers. "Yep. Bar fights. Street fights. Letting loose the cattle. Running off with the lopchickens. Throwing paint-balls on shops. The occasional Hamster stampede every blue moon. Annoying the living hell out of the locals. Annoying the living hell out of women. –" Cassie felt her tail whip a bit at the memory of such. "– Constantly draining all the beer out of bars dry. Sending hay carts downhill. And of course, the dreaded . . . "Rooftop Leak" incident." The last crime she spoke with a tone of such dread and horror that Henry, Mother Logai and Dr. Marlin all visibly shuddered. ". . . Took me forever to explain that one to the townspeople, not to mention the visiting Ambassador at the time."

"Uhh . . ." Riley gave a somewhat scared look towards Tuff who shrugged. ". . . What did he do?"

"Unless you're a fan of nightmares, you do not wanna know." Henry shook her head for the first time that day.

"Agreed." Dr. Marlin and Mother Logai said in perfect unison.

Grrruuuumble . . . !

Cassie's face flushed in hot dark blue bloom at that sound.

It promptly turned to Navy Blue when everyone turned their heads towards her. She could swear berry-sized drops of sweat were popping out of her forehead out of nothing if not pure mortification as she curled her hands in her lap with a small weak giggle. "Eh, heh, heh, uhm . . . Sorry?"

Mother Logai chuckled at her. "Wow, sounds like somebody's hungry!" Cassie only turned a tad bit darker at that.

"Logi, be nice." Dr. Marlin admonished her once again despite the small smile on his face. "It's been a long couple of days, and I think all of us are more than exhausted."

Cassie's blush died down at that. "Wait, how many days has it been?"

Dr. Marlin considered this for a moment before setting down his now empty teacup. "Including the days that you were unconscious, my dear, I'd say about . . ." He paused, counting off his claws one-by-one. ". . . Five?"

"Five days?!" Cassie repeated in utter disbelief, her ears flying up and her fin sparking in a prism of lines. "B-But, t-that can't be right, it's only been –"

Tuff put a hand to her shoulder once again to draw her attention. "Cassie, he's right. After Dr. Marlin had sewn up your side, you were out cold for three days."

Cassie's skin then turned pale. ". . . I . . . I thought that . . ." She lowered her head and saw her hands trembling once again, her nails biting into her skin and nearly drawing blood. ". . . I was really out for that long . . .?" Her voice made her question sound more as a statement.

Tuff nodded gently but solemnly. "I was keeping watch over you, remember? You didn't wake up until the day before yesterday, the third day."

Vince was waiting for her was the only thing that came across Cassie's mind. Tremendous guilt floated through her like a leaf in water, making her eyes once again fall to the floor.

Was he thinking the worse had happened to her? Was he alright? Was he still waiting for her at the bay of Blue Island? So many questions that she had no answers for. She had been so focused on herself that she had nearly forgotten about him entirely. Some friend she was . . .

"Hey, everything all right, Honey?" Mother Logai's voice prompted her to look up, not all surprised when the Jakkai Tailor's paws appeared over hers much in the same way Dr. Marlin's hands had. Her face was as gentle as it was that moment in the back of her shop, soft, understanding and comforting.

Cassie wanted to shout that she wasn't alright. That she was a horrible person for leaving her best friend all alone in unfamiliar territory while she had been running around like an idiot. That she felt as much as a jerk as that beer-brained colossus, Les.

Instead, she took a deep breath, gnawed slightly on her lower lip and tried her best to smile her best at Mother Logai. "I-I'm fine, Mother Logai. I'm just . . . Just a little surprised that I lost so much time."

Mother Logai saw through that lie easily, but like Henry, chose to keep her comments to herself. She opted to instead sigh lightly and say, "Alright, Honey, If you say so, I would prod you about it, but," She poked Cassie's empty stomach with the tip of her claw with a wicked grin. "I will prod the little beast that currently serving in your stomach." Cassie's cheeks tinged dark blue once again, striking a laugh. "Seriously, though, honey, when was the last time when the three of you ate anything?"

Cassie tried hard not to make it sound her words belittling to the two now Shame-faced Sharkman as she said, "Uhm, actually . . . Tuff and Riley treated me to a small dinner of . . . Of plain bread and tea the night I came to . . . ?" The Luck Brothers looked even more embarrassed than before, Tuff pulling a face and looking away while Riley rubbed at his neck and suddenly found the floor as interesting as Cassie had with the floor.

Mother Logai looked extremely perturbed at this. "WHAT?!" Her ears were opened all the way and her tail was raised high and as taut as a whip behind her, ready to snap at whatever it was that was foolish enough to make her mad. "Are you kidding me?"

"It was on Doctor's orders." Cassie started carefully in the Luck Brothers' defense. "Since I was still injured and recovering from a fever, I had to eat light foods otherwise I would just throw it right back up and get sick again."

Her helpful statement was like fuel on the fire in Mother Logai's head, prompting her to give a passive Dr. Marlin a sharp, silent side-glance. "Oh, did he now?" Dr. Marlin made no retort, focusing more on his second cup of tea instead. Turning her head towards Tuff and Riley, she inquired. "And you two? You both do not strike me as the type to suddenly go for the "Leafy Rabbit" diet."

Tuff twiddled his thumbs under her gaze. "Actually, before we found Cassie, Riley and I did try to eat at a restaurant." Giving Riley a familiar annoyed look, he then said, "But then the waitress came in and the rest I'm sure you know."

While Henry gave a sheepishly grinning Riley a skeptic eyebrow, Mother Logai gave a sharp "Harrumph!" "Well . . . We can't have you three hungry now, can we? Especially after all the craziness you three went through in the last twenty-four hours, Hen!" The Female Captain snapped to attention at the friendly sharpness sounded in her name. "You and the rest of the Guards don't have any patrols until later tonight, right?"

"Uh, yes, ma'm!" Henry confirmed with yet another nod.

"Good," Mother Logai pointed at her affirmatively. "I want to get your guards over to Channa's booth and Outoa's shop; tell them that I want boxes of supplies filled up and sent over to the Luck boys' camp effective immediately! And tell them don't about the tab, I'll take care of it."

Henry gave a "Yes Ma'm!" Just as Tuff started to say, "Oh, no, no, no, that's really not necessary! We –"

Dr. Marlin stopped him with a bland eye-roll. "Lad, trust me, don't try and talk her out of it. Once she starts rolling, it's hard to get her to stop. I've got enough bruises to prove that."

Mother Logai gave him an eye-roll of her own. "Ha, ha, ha, very funny." To Tuff, she smiled reassuringly with a wave of her paw. "And, sweetie, relax, I still got plenty left over of those stones that your girlfriend here gave me, so I'll be fine. Besides it'll give me something to make that lugbrain Les to do to make up for being such a spoiled, drunken brat."

Like before, Tuff and Cassie both tensed and turned dark blue/red, exclaiming, "I'm/She's not his/my girlfriend!" And, also like before, melding another sly grin on Mother Logai's face.

Riley, unlike his brother, was smiling with gratitude towards Mother Logai. He fell to his knees and bowed his head chivalrously to her, "You're too kind, Miss Mother Logai, too kind." Before smoothly taking her paw and kissing it.

Mother Logai admittedly giggled at his soft flirting before giving him a firm tap on his forehead with two digits, "Ha! If you're trying to con a free dinner outta me, you better save it for poor Hen over here."

Cassie watched with some bemusement as Riley gave an also bemused Hen a look and slid right back to her side with an equally as charming look of mock shock. "What?! Me try and con a lady for food?! Would I do such a thing?"

"Yes." Tuff answered flatly. Cassie bit back a giggle at the bland tone in his voice.

Riley gave him a disgruntled look, a little annoyed at his twin's blatant honesty, before reverting back to his flirtations, "Ignore anything my dear smartass brother says, he's the type to silently pine after girls rather than get up and do something about it." Tuff growled at him at that, urging Riley to quickly say, "But I love him all the same!" He gave Henry another toothy grin. "After all, what are brothers for, right?"

Henry looked him up from down. More specifically his bare chest, or rather well-toned, six-pack. "Riiight . . ." She drug out. Riley couldn't help turning a little red at her searchful gaze. Finally, she looked back up at his face, a small grin budding on her lips. ". . . I trust you have shirts back at your camp, correct?"

Riley blinked. "Uhhh . . . Yes?"

Henry gave a much clearer smooth smile. "How long will it take for you to get there, shower, change and head back here?"

Riley blinked once again. "Uhm, I guess three hours, give or take?"

Henry then surprised him by giving him a sweet, sultry smile and pressing two fingers to his chest and "walking" them up. "And how fast can you get there if. You. Hurry?" She poked his now cherry red nose playfully at the last few words.

Riley was frozen, sea green eyes wide and his face red from the tip of his ears to the ridge of his nose. He stayed like that for one minute . . . Two minutes . . . Three minutes . . . Before instantly racing out of the room like he was on fire, leaving nothing but an actual cloud of dust in his wake and a rapid voice exclaiming, "ANHOURTOPS,NOPROBLEM,BERIGHTBACK!"

Henry gave a short chuckle at his antics. "Don't be too long!" She then crossed her arms with some smug satisfaction with a small grin of victory. Sending a smile to the crowd near her, she said happily, "I'll get the guards on the move; after which, if anyone needs me, I'll be getting ready for a well-deserved break-and-date." With that, she nearly sashayed out of the room, humming a little tune to herself.

The rest of the infirmary's occupants watched all this in mixed reactions; Tuff with a tomato red look of complete embarrassment that was hidden poorly by his hand. Mother Logai giving Henry a look of feminine pride with her own arms crossed. Dr. Marlin sighing into his teacup with a roll of his eyes. Finally, Cassie who sat, looking perplexed until she said in some sense of awe, "Wow, I've hardly ever seen a man move that fast."

"The consequence of Henry taking flirting lessons with the Jakkai Tomboy over here." Dr. Marlin stated, jerking a thumb towards the Elderly Jakkai next to him.

Mother Logai's ears twitched, her face twisting into an annoyed frown. "Oh, you have no right to talk, Mouse-boy," Her face changed like a switch was flipped, her muzzle growing a sneaky grin and mimicking Henry's motions from only minutes ago. "Considering how you. Used. To. Act. To that?"

Dr. Marlin's reaction was instant; he spit back up his tea into the porcelain cup, almost dropping the glass. His fur bristled and his ears flew up in alarm while his tail flicked wildly behind him, his wide-eyed and pink-faced expression almost hilarious as he squeaked out, "T-t-t-that-that-that, that is entirely different, Logi!"

Mother Logai's face was impish as she purred, "Oh? How so? Because your reaction's the end result of a "Jakkai Tomboy"?"

"That is not my point! This is neither the time nor place for it!"

"Then what exactly is running through that old, seasoned mind of yours now, mister mouse?"

"None of your business, you devil weasel."

"Oh-ho! So that's how you wanna play it, huh?"

Tuff and Cassie were silent as they watched the two across from them launch into a heated argument, consisting of colorful insults and red-faced swears that even Riley wouldn't repeat outloud that warmed up the cool air of the room like steam.

Tuff then inched his head towards Cassie, never taking his eyes off the scene in front of him, and asked, "Did . . . Did we miss something?"

Cassie, following him, answered truthfully, "I have a sneaking suspicion but I don't really feel like this is place to say it."

Tuff, despite his better judgement, accepted that answer as it was, and gave a sound of worry. "I hope Riley doesn't do anything crazy on his date tonight."

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Cassie said comfortingly. "As long as he doesn't meet Les again."

Tuff gave a soft grunt of agreement. "True."

Cassie felt her eyes wonder against her will. Only when they stopped at the curve of Tuff's slim stomach did she stop and look away with a small blush. "I-I'd worry less about Riley finding a decent shirt and worry more about finding you one so you don't catch cold."

"Huh? What do you –" Tuff looked down and instantly went red once more. "Oh, right." He ran through his hair and looked away just as bashfully as she did. "M-maybe once Mother Logai's calm enough, she can find me something that'll fit."

Cassie only gave him a short giggle. He didn't look her in the eye but smiled a little himself.

The levity of the past hour was relaxing to Cassie; they had been through more exhausting rigmarole than one needed the entire night, a little levity was a wonderful change to the atmosphere. More importantly, all of them were here.

All of them were here. They had survived the terror of The Master. They were alive.

Cassie looked towards Mother Logai and Dr. Marlin who were now actually standing on the bed and screaming their heads off at each other in some kind of odd language while red in the face and tails raised high behind them. She couldn't help but give a small smile.

She hoped she'd be able to get to know them both a little better before she had to leave them all again.

The peppermint tea ended up turning as cold as its flavor from where it sat on the table.

ME: Oh no, Cassie, girl whatchu thinking of doing wrong now?!

'Til next time!