Chapter 11: Too Much

The Moogle who served as the R.A. for The Chroniclers' building had very recently brought something new for them to try out, large fabric seats filled with some sort of loose filling that he called 'bean bags'. Velcia had thought this name was rather cute, and it did seem fitting to her - the seats were somewhat shaped like beans, after all. There were about a half dozen of them in their headquarters now, along the wall furthest from the door and on the opposite end from the office. Velcia was sitting in one of these, nice and cozy, working on some of the drawings for the next Master Volume. It was a busy day for the Chroniclers, but this mostly just meant that nobody had the time or reason to bother her.

She glanced up from her book, and leaned forward a little to look past the leaves of the potted colocasia. A Wielder had come in just moments ago, and it sounded like he was asking about a Heartless. She lowered her pencil, and listened in.

"-Sort of like a bull, from the sound of it."

Maxine, who'd been talking to the boy, shook her head. "I don't think I've heard of any Heartless like that, have you, Morgan?" she asked, turning towards Morgan, who had been talking to a couple of her friends nearby.

Morgan perked up at the sound of her name, and spun around. "What's that?"

Maxine motioned towards the boy, who smiled awkwardly. "I've been trying to find a Heartless I heard about that's apparently kind of rare. From what I heard, it's kind of like a bull, with horns and everything."

"Nope," Morgan said surely. "Never seen one, never heard of one. Whoever's got you looking for that thing is probably, like just sending you on a wild bull chase."

The boy crossed his arms, mulling this over. "I don't think so… they showed me this horn I've never seen before, they said a Heartless like this is the one who dropped it."

"Um, excuse me," Velcia said. She'd come over during the talk, and stepped forward nervously now, wary of the dismissive smirk Morgan was giving her.

Morgan rolled her eyes and spun her hand around in a quick, round-about motion. "Like, go on past already, nobody's blocking you or anything."

"N-no, actually," Velcia said, turning towards the boy. "I have seen a Heartless like that before. I will need to look through my records for a few minutes to find it, but if you stay-"

Morgan let out a low whistle. "Well look at you, being all helpful! Well if you know where it is, I'd like, sure like to know too."

Velcia nodded, then scampered past and into the office, cringing a bit at the sound of Morgan's footsteps following her into the room. She did her best to ignore this and grabbed one of the more recent books, then laid it out across the desk and began to flip through it.

Morgan sat down on the edge of the table, staring expectantly but saying nothing. Velcia shivered a bit, uncomfortable under the weight of the judgment she was sure to come should she not be able to find the record.

She turned yet another of the many pages, and here she let out a breath of relief and let the paper fall flat. There, plain as day, was a drawing of the bull-like Heartless.

"Wow, so it does exist," Morgan said, reaching towards the book.

Acting quickly, Velcia slid the book out from under her hand to the other end of the desk, rotated now so that they could both look at it without picking it up. Her finger traveled along the notes until she found what she was looking for, and tapped it proudly. "Oh, I thought so! These Heartless are deep in Tartarus, in the caverns past the Muse's Overlook."

Morgan scoffed and sat up quickly. "Freakin' liar," she said, shaking her head.

Eyes wide, Velcia turned towards her and couldn't help but recoil a bit at the nasty look being given. "W-what do you mean?"

"Psh, you of all people should know. Like, the monsters guarding the Muse's Overlook are totally brutal. Nobody, and I mean nobody has been able to beat them. So don't go acting all surprised when you go making up crazy stuff like this and someone finally calls you on it," Morgan bit.

"B-but I didn't make up anything, the only things I put into these books are-"

"Guess that makes these books kinda worthless then, huh? If you're just putting whatever random crap you want in there,' Morgan said, shaking her head.

Velcia picked up her record book and held it close, and she felt her face was hot and flush. She knew that she didn't make it up, but try as she might she couldn't remember whose report this was from. "I-i know it's real," she defended, just now remembering her intricate index system. She looked back down at the book, ignoring Morgan's continued accusations as she found the reference number on the bottom of the page.

Morgan realized that Velcia was ignoring her, and tried to snap a little more forcefully. "Hey! Ignoring me only proves my point, you know!"

Velcia only turned away further, flipping hastily to the back of the book. "There it is!" she cried out, then quickly ran off towards the shelves in the back of the office where she began searching through all the old field notebooks.

"Come on, just admit it," Morgan taunted, following her over. "You can't keep pretending forever. None of us is strong enough to make it past those guys, I know - we've tried. If anyone had managed it, they'd be braggi-"

"It's right here!" Velcia cut her off, pulling out a folder. Morgan looked at this skeptically with a raised eyebrow - this was not the sort of book that the Chroniclers used. Regardless, Velcia opened the folder and quickly found the page that reported on the caverns past the Muse's Overlook, and then presented the page triumphantly.

Morgan looked at this with some skepticism, seeing that the information was clearly before her. "That picture's pretty damn identical to the one you drew. Like, I know that I'm not like, an artist or anything, but like nobody else in the party draws like this you know. Honestly I'm kind of impressed that you're going through this much work. You really put, like, a ton of effort into your fibs don't you?"

"It wasn't me!" Velcia insisted, finding herself growing frustrated. "I didn't draw this, it was… someone else."

"Oh, sure," Morgan said, rolling her eyes.

"It was!

"Who? Balthazar?"

Velcia paused, shaking her head. "No… it's not someone in our party. Um… I don't think you would know him."

Morgan scoffed, then laughed mockingly. "Right, right," she said, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "Look, you keep pretending you're worth taking seriously, and I'll go let them know you were mistaken."

"But I'm not, it's right here-"

"I'm doing you a favor, you know? If the others knew that you were just making stuff up, then like, people might not trust any of us at all. You just shush up and stop with the lies and nobody has to be the wiser-"

"I am not lying!" Velcia shouted, stamping her foot. "This was given to me by my big brother, Aspis! He's very clever and strong and goes all kind of places that nobody else can!"

"I'm sure he does," Morgan laughed. "If he even exists."

Jaw clenched, Velcia held her books close to her chest and tried to walk past Morgan, but Morgan stepped over and blocked her path. Velcia looked up at Morgan with a fire in her eyes, which seemed to surprise them both.

"Aspis is real," Velcia insisted. "The R.A. Moogle has seen him, and Maxine knows about him too. He would never lie, and neither would I. Please let me go past."

Morgan paused for a moment, mulling it over, then stepped back. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

No sooner did she take a single step back than did Velcia dart past her, almost losing her balance as she made the sharp turn out the doorway. Maxine looked at Velcia inquisitively, she'd heard the harsh tones and raised voices but didn't know what it was about.

"Is everything okay?" she asked quietly.

Velcia sniffed softly, but kept her composure and nodded. "I found it," she said with a forced smile. "Um, Maxine," she said in a lowered voice, "Can you… can you please tell Morgan that Aspis is real? She didn't believe me…"

"Ah…" Maxine said, nodding. "I think I understand. Okay, you go help him out and I'll go talk to Morgan."

"Oh, thank you so much," Velcia said with a sigh of relief. She walked over to their visitor now, who had contented himself for the time with happily looking through a book that had many sketches of various Heartless they'd documented.

"Um, hello!" Velcia said, putting on a happy smile. "I've found the bull for you!"

"Oh, wow!" The boy said, turning towards her. "That's great! Where is it?"

Velcia set her book down on the nearby shelf, pointing towards the page. "The only place we know of right now is here, in these caves past the Muse's Overlook. It's very quite hard to get there, though," she said.

The boy looked over the page, a small smile coming across his face. "Boy, that looks tough. I don't know if I can get there myself, but… I bet if I get a few others from my party to help out we could give it a good try. Thanks!"

Velcia nodded happily. "I'm very glad to help! That's why I wanted to make this party, after all!"

"Oh, you started the party?" the boy asked, smiling. He reached out his hand and, after a moment of nervous hesitation, she shook it. "Well, it's good to meet you. The guys who told me about this place all said it was really helpful, and I think I have to agree!"

"Oh! I'm so glad," Velcia said, positively beaming. "Um, my name is Velcia."

"I'm Reese," the boy said. "Thanks again."

Velcia said nothing, but nodded and watched him go. She was so happy to have been able to help that she'd forgotten all about Morgan's accusations, and so it was a very unpleasant return to that reality when she turned around to see a very indignant Morgan leaned up against the far wall with her arms crossed. Their eyes met for just a moment before Velcia broke contact, clasping her hands nervously at the sound of Morgan's scoff.

"Alright, like, I'm big enough to say it," Morgan sighed. "Maxine says you're telling the truth about this Aspen whoever, so like, sorry for calling you a liar or whatever, alright?"

"Oh, um, okay," Velcia said nervously. She hadn't expected Morgan to have a change of heart, but especially hadn't expected an apology no matter how reluctant it may have been. "I must say that I did not at all appreciate you being so mean about it."

"I said I was sorry, alright?" Morgan whined, her crossed arms folding in a bit tighter now.

Velcia looked at her with some confusion, instead of the harsh glares and belittling smirks Morgan now almost looked as though she were trying not to cry. A bit of her indignance began to fade away, and Velcia's face softened. "Oh… Well, thank you. I'm just glad that it's all cleared up now."

"Yeah, me too," Morgan said, shaking her head. A small smile returned to her face. "Hey, but this Aspen guy-"

"Aspis!"

"Right, Aspis, anyway, he must be pretty strong to get past the Muse's Overlook! Do you know anything about what kinds of medals he's rocking? Oh, and man, he must have like, a pretty powerful Keyblade too. You should introduce us someday!" Morgan said excitedly.

Velcia shook her head. "I don't think I could. Aspis is always very very busy, and he likes to keep to himself. I could try to ask him about the medals next time I see him, but I think he is strong enough on his own that he might not need them so much."

"Some people get all the luck," Morgan said, shaking her head. "Well, maybe we'll get lucky enough with our jewels to get medals good enough to go there ourselves someday. Like, it really sucks that it's so random, you know? I just hope we're able to make enough jewels from our Escort missions that we can get past that hurdle."

"Oh, I hope so too," Velcia said. "I always have such terrible luck when I get medals-"

"It's different for you though, huh?" Morgan interrupted. "Like, I know we all need medals, but you don't really need them like we do. You know, not all of us can afford spare jewels to buy expensive fancy sandals whenever we want."

"W-what?" Velcia stammered, then she looked down at her feet. "Oh, n-no, I couldn't afford something like-"

"No need to get defensive or anything, I didn't mean anything by it," Morgan said, standing up. She shook her head and walked past Velcia, raising up her hands and letting out an exaggerated yawn. "Well, it's been fun, clowns," she said, pretending to honk her nose and giving a wink to her friends by the window, "But I'm going to go home. See ya."

"Oh, um, bye," Velcia said, watching her go. She turned towards Maxine, who gave a knowing shrug and went back to the office.

Velcia paused for a moment, then made her way to the office to return her books to the shelf before she too went home. She never really knew what to expect from a conversation with Morgan, and often found that she didn't really feel like she understood them even once they were done.

"Dandelions? Like those flowers?"

Bi`nh nodded, pulling the hood of her shawl a little lower. Her eyes glanced around the sunny plaza as though she were worried that someone might overhear her, but they found their way back to Balthazar and Velcia soon enough. "Yes, I think so," she said softly.

Balthazar held his hand to his chin. "I guess that's why she hasn't had time to meet with me… she must be distracted with whatever this thing is. She only invited your son? Not you?"

"No, just Halmon," Bi`nh said, shaking her head. "I don't understand any of what he's told me at all. I was hoping that I could talk about it with you and see if you knew anything else."

"I haven't heard anything about it, but we can still talk about it. I have to admit, I'd like to know more about what's going on as well. We've been hearing odd things about the Foretellers recently, and if Master Ava really is making some other group…" Balthazar trailed off, trying to think of where any of it could be going.

Velcia tilted her head curiously. "Is this some sort of new Union she's making?"

Bi`nh's eyes darted around nervously once more. "Hm… is there somewhere else we can discuss this? I'm not sure why, but I don't feel comfortable talking about it out here."

"Yeah, that's fine with us," Balthazar said, glancing down at Velcia quickly to verify. She nodded, and the three quickly discussed their nearby options before deciding to head to the small courtyard behind The Master's tower. They made their way there uneventfully and with little discussion.

They came to a circular stone platform in the grass, and here they sat down on some steps that ran around it. Balthazar couldn't help but smile at the sight of it.

"This is where we were first given our disguises, wasn't it?" he said out loud.

Bi`nh nodded. "For the rest of you, yes. This was where we got to truly see each other for the first time."

"Ah yeah, that's right," Balthazar said thoughtfully, nodding as he remembered more details. "You'd already been testing the disguises for a while. It feels like so long ago."

"Perhaps for you, but for me, this has all been one confusing blur… almost like a nightmare, if not for my son, and even then…" Bi`nh fell quiet.

Velcia rested her hands on her lap, looking at her with some curiosity. "Did Master Ava upset you with her new group?"

Holding her hand to her forehead, Bi`nh nodded faintly. "It is hard to know what she said for certain, as I've only heard it from Halmon, but… this group, the Dandelions, she said that it was a group of Wielders she was putting together to ensure that light could not be extinguished."

"But I thought that's what all the Unions were for already," Velcia said, looking to Balthazar. "She already has Vulpes… why would she want a second Union?"

Balthazar closed his eyes, tapping his foot slowly. "...Light extinguished…? The point of the Unions, the Wielders gathering Lux, The Master's plan, all of this… that was meant to make sure that Darkness can't overtake the Light."

"..Do you think that means that Master Ava doesn't trust The Master's plan anymore?" Velcia asked quietly.

Bi`nh nodded softly. "It doesn't seem like it should be true, but… I am having a difficult time thinking of other explanations for why she would want to make another Union."

Balthazar grimaced. "The other day we heard that Aced and Ira are at odds with each other, and it's bad enough that even their Unions seem to be turning against one another. Master Ava knows them both better than any of us do, I can't help but worry that this means she doesn't think they'll be able to reconcile their differences."

"But why would that make her feel like she needs to start a new Union? What's wrong with Vulpes?" Bi`nh asked.

"You got me… Maybe she's trying to start something new entirely independent of The Master's plans," Balthazar mused. The very sound of the words seemed to give him pause, and he frowned uncomfortably. "That… doesn't sound like something she would do, though."

"I agree. I was hoping that you would perhaps be able to ask her more about it the next time you meet with her," Bi`nh told him.

Balthazar groaned. "No, I haven't seen or heard from her in a long time. All this time I'd assumed she was just too busy for it, but if she has decided to step away from The Master's plan then I suppose it would make sense that she wouldn't have anything to do with us anymore."

Velcia let out a short gasp, and batted half-heartedly at his arm. "Don't say that! I thought you said that Ava cared about you? Do you really think she would be so mean?"

"She's always been the nicest to us, yes, but… I wouldn't say any of the Foretellers seemed like they were particularly comfortable with us… With the way she suddenly stopped talking to all of us, I guess I did start to wonder…" Balthazar stopped short, and sighed sadly. "Maybe I'm being unfair."

"I fear that unless one of us is able to find and ask her, we'll never have an answer," Bi`nh said. "I'm sorry if I've given you more cause for concern, Balthazar."

"No, no… it's good for me to know about what's going on. I don't know what's going on with the Foretellers, but it feels important to find out," Balthazar said.

"Please, do let me know if you find anything," Bi`nh said, folding her arms. "I've told Halmon to follow his heart and join these Dandelions if he feels it is right, but… it would be an ease to my conscience to know for sure that it is the right decision to make."

"I can't promise I'll be able to learn anything about it, but… if I do I'll make sure to let you know. Thanks again for telling us about this," Balthazar said.

The discussion shifted to lighter things after this, as Bi`nh's attention turned to Velcia and the young Chronicler was asked all sorts of questions about her party and her friends. Velcia was surprised at first, but Balthazar was happy to see her open up and soon enough she was chattering happily away.

When at last the time came for Bi`nh to part ways, after they'd said their goodbyes, Velcia turned to Balthazar with a warm smile. "I like her. When I met her before, she was very quiet and I didn't know what to think, except that she seemed to be very annoyed with Juangshi."

Balthazar chuckled. "That's not wrong. I'm glad you two have come to know each other better now, I always thought that you two would get along."

"Oh. Why does she not find me annoying?" Velcia asked, looking out into the distance where she'd last seen Bi`nh. "I feel like I am much more frustrating than Juangshi is."

"Ha! Not even close! No, if you saw the way Juangshi used to rile her up, you wouldn't feel that way. For that matter, the stories I could tell about the crazy things Perere used to do. She had the patience of a saint, to deal with all that," Balthazar told her.

Velcia lowered her head. "I hope I didn't take too much of her patience."

"No, she liked you, don't worry. She wouldn't have spent so long talking to you otherwise. Didn't you notice? Once you started talking to her, she hardly spoke to me at all."

"I'm sorry!" Velcia exclaimed, wringing her hands together.

Balthazar tilted his head, looking at her with a bit of concern. "I'm glad that you two talked so much. Is everything alright?"

"O-oh, I…" Velcia's stammering faded into silence, and she looked down to the ground with such intensity that Balthazar began to wonder if she were counting the blades of grass. Something had been heavy on her heart of late, and he just couldn't figure out what it was.

"It's okay," Balthazar said. He stood up and brushed the dust off the seat of his pants, then offered her his hand and pulled her up. The two began to walk back home, and Balthazar enjoyed looking at the orange hues of the setting sun as they began to fill the sky.

"Any plans for tomorrow?" he asked.

"Um, I… Oh! Tomorrow is Thursday, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think so."

Velcia smiled, and this brought relief to Balthazar's heart. "Tomorrow I am going to go visit my brother's art studio and learn to use paints."

Balthazar's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, that's right. He invited you the other day when you went to ask him about the Foretellers, right?"

"He did!" Velcia said with a nod, then she clenched her hands into excited little fists after being hit with a flash of inspiration. "Oh! It is a good thing that we talked with Bi`nh today, maybe I can ask Aspis about what Master Ava is doing!"

"Does he work with them close enough that he would know about that?" Balthazar asked.

Hands held to her hips, Velcia beamed a proud smile at Balthazar. "Even if he doesn't know, I am certain he can find out. Aspis is so very clever and good at learning things. Um… well, I suppose he has to care about it enough to want to learn about it, but I think that if I ask him very nicely he might help us to find out."

"Hm. Well, that does sound like it might be our best lead. I hope he helps out," Balthazar said, then chuckled. "But we'll see. Winter is still a few months away."

"Winter?" Velcia asked.

"Well, I don't see hell freezing over in the summer," Balthazar said with a shrug.

Velcia's eyes narrowed, and she stared at him wordlessly for a moment. "It is good that you have not met him yet."

Balthazar chuckled. "Why is that?"

"He is a bad influence on you already," she said with a pout, and turned her attention back to the path ahead.

Velcia had found her way to the address given to her easily enough, but now that she approached the building she couldn't help but feel she'd made a mistake along the way. Aspis had always been so mysterious and reclusive to her, and in her head she'd pictured his home to be out of the way and secluded. Perhaps somewhere dark, maybe a few decorative gargoyles to scare away annoying children. The building in front of her was, from the outside at least, a rather normal type of building for Daybreak Town.

She checked the note in her hand again, squinting her eyes tight as she reviewed the address once more, wondering if perhaps the prescription of her red-framed glasses needed another update - but no, this was the address, and that was undoubtedly Aspis' handwriting. From the street where she stood she could see that the apartment she needed was on the second floor, so she went down the sidewalk and found a staircase that wrapped uphill. Here there was a second path, at the level of the building's second story.

From here she could see that there was a small tower attached to the building, and she wondered if this was a part of Aspis' house, too. She turned her attention to the door, and after a moment's hesitation rapped her knuckles against it gently. Velcia scrunched her face nervously - even she was barely able to hear her own knock. Her cheeks puffed out and she took a great big breath to steel herself, and with a burst of energy hit her knuckles against the door so hard that she quickly recoiled in pain, holding her hand against her stomach and making a small, strange noise of regret. Singular though it was, this knock was quite loud.

It was only seconds later that the door flung open and Velcia looked up to see Aspis standing there angrily, though his expression quickly shifted to one of confusion at the sight of Velcia standing nearly doubled-over around her hand. She waved meekly at him, and when she did Aspis could see blood on her knuckles.

"That was you?" he asked incredulously, shaking his head. "Don't tell me you don't even know how to knock on a door."

Velcia pouted, shaking her head. "I do, I promise!"

"Without knocking yourself to pieces?" Aspis asked, eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"Ooh," Velcia squirmed, "My first knock was too quiet and I wanted to knock extra good to make sure you wouldn't make fun of me for being too soft, but I hit it too haaaard!"

Aspis groaned reluctantly, glancing back inside his house. "If you're going to come inside, you better promise me you'll keep your hands to yourself. None of this demented chipmunk crap."

"Demented…?" Velcia asked, dabbing her pencil cloth against her knuckles to try to clean the blood off. This only made a fairly even exchange of blood and graphite between them, and she bit her lip pensively. "I will behave, I promise. Um, do you have a sink?"

"...Of course I do. Ugh, come on," Aspis said, stepping back and opening the door.

Velcia stepped inside quickly, and almost jumped in surprise at how fast the door was closed behind her. She looked around the space, directly beside her was a staircase that lead to a loft that overlooked the entry, but the rest of the first floor was open with no dividing walls that she could see from the entryway.

"This way," Aspis said gruffly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along.

Now freed from the need to navigate on her own, Velcia looked around the dwelling with great interest. It was incredibly neat and orderly, with the usual furniture one would expect, and sparsely decorated save for some pictures on the table and some shelves along the wall.

Normally, Velcia greatly disliked visiting other people's homes. They were unpredictable sorts of places, often cluttered, and very seldom organized in what she thought was a sensible fashion; and she found she always became quite overcome with the urge to try to organize or tidy things, an act which meant she was sure to never be invited to return.

However, Velcia found herself feeling quite at ease here, for everything she could see was clearly and cleanly in its proper spot and free of any clutter or disorder. She did not have much time to ponder this, however, as her thoughts were interrupted by Aspis turning on the sink. She washed her hands and dried them gently with a paper cloth, then turned her attention to Aspis himself.

"Thank you very much! I like your home. It is not what I expected, but I like it."

Aspis huffed a bit. "Thanks, I guess."

Velcia looked around the kitchen a bit, and her eyes landed on a small framed picture on the wall. It was a very simplistic painting of two people, with basic round heads and stick-like limbs. "Oh! Did someone give this to you?" she asked, pointing at it but being sure not to touch it.

"No," Aspis said shortly. "It's not your business, alright?"

"O-oh, I'm sorry," Velcia stammered. "I just thought, that since I was here to see your paintings…"

Aspis sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Right. We'll get to that. First, I want an answer about something."

"From me? What do I know?"

"You tell me. How'd you find out about me and Invi?" Aspis asked.

Velcia smiled awkwardly, she wasn't really sure what he meant. "W-well, I didn't think it was a secret…"

Aspis' brow furrowed, and he let out an exasperated scowl. "Guh… guess we were more obvious than I thought…."

"Well, you told me that you work with the Foretellers already, and I always see you talking to Master Invi, so… of course, she's like your boss, right?"

"Boss?" Aspis repeated, his eyes opening in surprise for a moment. His demeanor quickly jumped back to his usual stern face, and he shook his head dismissively. "Yeah, my boss. Uh, yeah, real clever to figure out that secret."

Velcia stared at him blankly for a moment, but the longer she did the darker his scowl became, as if he were silently warning her to break her gaze. She did so, of course, but her mind still kept thinking. "Um… is that really it…?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Aspis said, shaking his head. "Come on, I'll show you the paintings."

"But I don't think it was clever of me at all to figure that out," Velcia said slowly. "And… I'm not sure why you would care about anybody knowing that."

"Drop it," Aspis warned her.

"Okay, I will," Velcia said, taking a step to follow him again. She stopped short suddenly. "Only, the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me. Aspis, what did you think I knew?"

"Shut up," Aspis groaned.

"Okay, I will," Velcia said.

The two made their way to the staircase, and Aspis motioned her ahead of him. She ducked past him and took a few steps up, then turned around on the spot to face Aspis. They were right about at eye level now, and even before she opened her mouth Aspis knew it was trouble.

"Are you and Invi in love?!" Velcia blurted out.

Aspis practically exploded. "WHAT THE HELL?" he exclaimed, his arms shooting up into the air as he turned around and stamped back down the steps. He held a hand to the side of his head as he grappled with the absurdity of the suggestion, then turned back towards her. "Seriously, what the actual hell? Have you been practicing coming up with the stupidest ideas known to mankind?!"

"B-but that would explain everything! You must be in love with Invi, and you don't want anybody to know-"

Aspis stood tall with his hands held tightly by his sides, his nostrils flaring out as he huffed. "I said no! Don't you have any self-preservation instincts?"

Velcia couldn't help but shrink away, realizing now that she'd really upset him. All at once it hit her that she'd truly gone too far, and all her curiosity was replaced with regret. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry." Her eyes flickered up from the floor, trying to look to see if she could go down the stairs past him but there was no room to do so. "I'm really, really sorry… I can go away now, if you let me past…"

"...Stop," Aspis' eyes were closed tightly and his hands pinched the bridge of his nose. Though still thoroughly exasperated, he seemed to be regaining his composure. "No. You don't have to leave, just… shut up about this stuff with Invi, got it?"

"I promise," she said.

Aspis looked at her sharply. Her lip was quivering and her eyes were beginning to shimmer with the prelude of tears. He started to scowl, but found himself sighing instead.

"You're like a pathetic little animal sometimes, you know that?" he said quietly, but there wasn't the usual teasing in his tone. Velcia glanced up at him, surprised to see this softer side.

Velcia blushed, and rubbed her hand across her arm. "I don't mean to be…"

"Whatever. Go on, up!" he said, waving her up the steps. "Let's get off this stupid staircase and into the studio."

"Oh! You're still going to show me?"

"That's why you came here, isn't it?" Aspis asked rhetorically. "Come on, go."

Velcia turned around and scampered up the steps, stopping shortly once she reached the top. The loft could not have been more different from the first floor. Canvases and pictures were stacked up against the walls on all sides, and there was paint everywhere. To her, it was as if a completely different person lived up here, and for a second she suddenly found herself wondering if someone had snuck in and wrecked the place.

Aspis walked past her and into the space, seemingly unaffected by the state of the loft. "This is the studio," he told her.

"I see…" Velcia said, and she began to walk around the room looking at the paintings that filled the space.

What stood out to Velcia first was just how many different styles of painting there were, some of them very clean with well-defined lines and subjects. Some of the paintings looked almost as if they'd been torn up and pasted back onto a new page with gaps between the pieces, but on closer inspection Velcia found that the paintings had indeed been created to have this fragmented appearance.

As she continued, she came across a group of canvases that were covered in splatters of colors with no discernable shape, and she looked at this curiously. She wondered if perhaps something had happened and he'd spilled his paints on these, but then as she looked around she could see several more like them.

"Do you know what that is?" Aspis asked her.

"Um… no…?" Velcia said hesitantly. Several ideas were in her head, but she found she was too worried to say any of them for fear of inciting his anger.

Aspis saw this nervous look in her eye and huffed, rolling his own eyes. "Nevermind, I'll explain it to you some other time. Come on, let's get you started painting first."

"I haven't painted in a long, long time," Velcia said, following him over to the easels and standing before the tall, pristine page with a thoughtful smile. "Not since… before I started to live in Daybreak Town, um…" She shook her head, and decided to try to change the subject. "I remember I used to like painting, but I wasn't ever any good at it. I think I always just ended up making just silly spatters, like those-" she cut herself off abruptly, quickly glancing over at Aspis. He shook his head with some exasperation, but didn't address it.

"What do you want to paint?" he asked.

Velcia hummed to herself, then shrugged softly. "I will paint a picture of my Chirithy! He is always so good for me to learn from."

"A portrait, eh?" the small voice of her Chirithy broke out from beside her. "Of little old me?"

Velcia smiled at the small creature. "Yes! Do you mind?"

"Not at all!"

Aspis added a couple more colors to the palette, and handed it to her. "Not many ways to mess this one up."

Velcia took the tray of paints happily, and motioned her Chirithy towards a nearby stool. "You can stand on that stool over there!"

Chirithy tottered over towards the stool and attempted to clamber atop it, but his limbs were too short to make progress. Velcia came over and tried to pick him up, but realized that with the palette she wasn't able to be of any assistance at all. She began to look around the room frantically, when suddenly Aspis' hand swooped down and picked Chirithy up by the scruff of his neck and set him atop the seat.

"Oh! Thank you!" the startled Chirithy said.

Returning to Velcia, Aspis picked up his own palette and gave her a primer on paints, showing her how to mix the colors and how to hold the brushes for different strokes. Velcia did her best to listen and follow along, but still needed to have him repeat things a few times.

At last she felt it was time to put brush to canvas and, after taking a look at her Chirithy, made her first stroke. She looked at this for a moment, then scowled a bit.

"Oh no, I hate it. How do I erase it and try again?" she asked.

"You don't. Live with your mistakes and move on," Aspis said.

"But I-"

"Make it work," Aspis said.

Velcia looked at the streak of paint, huffing. "Even if I paint over it, I'll know there's something wrong there. There's really no way to- Eep!" she cut off with a squeal, as Aspis dabbed a splotch of black paint on the tip of her nose.

Velcia sputtered and squeaked in surprise, and Aspis burst out laughing. Velcia stopped what she was doing and tried to scowl at him unappreciatively, then grabbed a nearby cloth and wiped the paint off her nose. "I don't see what's so funny."

"Hah, with that black paint and your chittering, you really did seem like a chipmunk," Aspis chuckled, but he regained his composure quickly. "Look. The paint that's there is there, don't let it stop you. Find a way to make it work."

"O-okay," Velcia said, turning back to her canvas. "I… I don't think I am like a chipmunk at all," she said, puffing out her cheeks as she gave the canvas another stroke. This still wasn't really what she wanted, but remembering what Aspis said took a deep breath and fought against the compulsion to tear away the page to begin anew.

Aspis watched her for a moment, then nodded subtly to himself. "Right. Just keep going."

It wasn't long until Velcia started to feel like she was getting the hang of the basics, and started painting with more confidence. Aspis moved over to another easel nearby, and began working on a painting of his own. Velcia began to talk as she painted, telling him about things that she and Balthazar had been doing. Aspis didn't respond to her much, but she didn't mind at all. For her, just being able to share the space with Aspis felt special to her.

Every now and then, Aspis would pause what he was doing and come by to give her pointers. Velcia would listen to these with great attention, but almost invariably immediately would go back to talking all about Balthazar. Aspis would roll his eyes, but said little else.

After about an hour, she felt her Chirithy painting was finally beginning to show some promise. She stepped back and looked between the painting and her fuzzy subject, who did seem to be getting a little tired of the exercise.

"I think I am done for today," she said.

Aspis came over to look at the painting, nodding a bit. "Well, it's a start. Looks like you're trying to apply stuff I taught you before."

"I am! I know it still needs work, but I think I will figure it out. Oh, maybe later tonight I can go to the paint shop and get some of my own. Why, I bet Balthazar would-"

"Balthazar again," Aspis groaned. "That guy must have the patience of a saint, isn't there anything you can do without him?"

Velcia paused in place, hand trembling softly. She set the easel and the paint brush down on the stool, then quietly began to walk towards the stairs. Aspis stood up straight for a second and watched her go, confused as to what was happening. Her shoulders heaved and she let out a sniffle, and a look of regret flashed over his face.

"Velcia-"

"No, I can't!" She sobbed, still not turning to look at him. "You're right, I am… I'm so sorry! Every time anyone gets to know me, they always find out how strange and annoying I am," she heaved sadly, struggling to take a breath, "And now I've come to visit you, and I've done nothing but make you upset this whole time, and I'm talking about Balthazar, and Invi, and everything you want me to shut up about, and- and- I only talk about Balthazar so much because he's-"

"Velcia," Aspis said, grabbing her shoulder firmly. Velcia stopped talking and did her best to look up at him through her teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," she cried again. "I know I'm not any use to anybody. I'll just… I'll stop and go away now."

"...No, stay. Sit down and breathe," Aspis said, pulling over a seat for her. Velcia didn't particularly want to sit down, but she wasn't sure she could make it down the stairs without tripping either, so with some reluctance she did take the seat.

She glanced up at Aspis, who did seem to be a bit annoyed, but something about his expression felt softer than usual.

When her breathing slowed, and she'd been able to wipe away a tear from her cheek without it immediately being replaced, Aspis took a deep breath. "Look. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, I understand…" Velcia said. "I've been making a lot of people upset with me lately. Everyone thinks I'm useless…"

Aspis crossed his arms, he wasn't really sure what to say. "You told me your party was doing well. You can't be that useless."

"Morgan and her friends think I am," Velcia said, shaking her head. "I think they're right. Maxine can do just about everything I can, and more."

"What's Morgan know?" Aspis scoffed.

Velcia sniffed, and took a few moments to explain how their party was composed of researchers and wielders to help defend them, and then Morgan's involvement. She told him about her recent friction with Morgan, about the comments and the way Morgan had been treating her.

"Sounds like she's nothing more than a bully," Aspis said with a scowl. "I don't know why you put up with that."

Velcia lowered her head, wringing her hands softly. "...Balthazar's said the same thing about you before."

Aspis' eyes widened and his jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

"I know it's not true," Velcia told him. "I know that even though you are mean sometimes, you really do care about me. Morgan says nice things to me sometimes, too, and she says she cares, but… the way she treats me hurts. I think about me and you, and I think about how some people are just mean without trying to be… so I've been trying to not let it bother me, but it does," she said sadly.

She looked up at Aspis, who remained silent. Her brow furrowed, and she worried if she'd upset him.

"Um, I'm sorry, I-"

"Dammit!" Aspis growled, turning away from her with his fists clenched.

"O-oh! I'm-"

"Shush," Aspis said, then shook his head. "Sorry. Look… I'm not mad at you, alright?"

"You're not?"

"No," Aspis said, turning back towards her. "Balthazar's supposed to be your co-leader, right? Doesn't he do anything about it?"

"He… he doesn't know," Velcia admitted. "Morgan doesn't usually act that way when he's around."

Aspis scoffed. "And you didn't tell him? You trust him, right?"

"I do, but… I've just been worried that I'm getting upset over nothing, and I don't want to make him mad at her," Velcia said, wringing her hands a bit. "And even if she does make me sad, Morgan helps our party a lot… I don't want to ruin anything."

Aspis took a deep breath. "If he's supposed to be running the party with you he needs to know, and if you really trust him so much then give him the chance to take care of the problem."

Velcia nodded slowly. "I know I should… I will, I'll talk to him, I promise."

"Good," Aspis said, nodding slowly. "And, after that, if you need help… let me know."

"...You'll help me…?" Velcia asked, a small smile creeping back onto her face.

"...if you need it."

In the flash of an eye, Velcia leaped forward from her seat and gave Aspis a big hug. "You're the best brother ever."

Aspis blushed a bit, but frowned solemnly. "Alright, back off, chipmunk," he said.

Velcia did as she was told, wiping another tear from her eye. "I'm not a chipmunk," she said.

"No, you really are," Aspis said. He couldn't help but chuckle and gave her a knowing stare as she squeaked at him with indignation.

"Oh, you-!" Velcia said, crossing her arms. She knew there was no going back now, he was going to call her a chipmunk for the rest of her life whether she liked it or not… especially if not.

She sat there for a moment, keeping her gaze off of Aspis but stealing glances over all the same.

"...I'm sorry again about earlier," Velcia said softly. "I didn't mean to be so rude or annoying to you. I just… I got excited. I just think that you're so… amazing, and interesting, and so mysterious too. So when I thought maybe I solved one of the mysteries, I-"

"You said you'd drop it," Aspis reminded her. Velcia was surprised that this was not said in a harsh or sharp tone, and looked at him curiously. "I wouldn't be allowed to tell you about it even if I wanted to," he said, shaking his head as he looked at her. "And I'm not really sure I want to."

Velcia nodded solemnly. "I understand… I didn't realize it was top secret! Oh, I am so very curious-!" She stopped, seeing a look of disapproval beginning to furrow across his brow, "But I will stop. Mostly, I've really just been very worried about you with all of it."

"You've been worried about me?" Aspis asked with amused disbelief.

Velcia nodded. "Well, I have heard that the Foretellers have not been getting along. I know that you work with them, so… I was worried if that was causing trouble for you too. Even the Wielders around Daybreak Town seem to be getting upset with them, and I would hate for them to start being mean to you because of it."

Aspis blinked, then sat back a bit. "...You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself just fine."

Velcia stepped back, her hands quivering defensively. "I-i know that, I…" She took a deep breath, then lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Aspis in a hug. "I just hope that you're okay. I can't imagine what would make the Foretellers fight, but… I just hope that it's not making things harder for you, too."

Aspis sighed and waited for a second to see if she would let go, and once it was clear she had no plan to do so he pried her off, then picked her up and set her back on her stool. "Of course it makes things harder, but it's not going to stop me either. I don't know what's going on yet, but I'm going to figure it out."

"A boy from Ursus told us that the Unicornis Wielders think that Aced's trying to overthrow Ira," Velcia said, holding her hand to her chin. "But I don't know why he would do that."

"I've heard that, and a lot of other things too," Aspis said, crossing his arms. "It's not hard to figure out that they're fracturing and turning against each other, the question is why. I think they know something that the rest of us don't."

Velcia shivered a bit, and rubbed her hands over her arms. "Oh… If it's something terrible, I'm not sure I want to know it."

"That's because you are a chipmunk," Aspis teased, smirking at the sight of the flustered scrunching of her face. "A creature like you isn't supposed to worry about things like that."

Velcia crossed her arms indignantly, but as she prepared to retort her face began to soften a bit. "...You're right. That's why I have you and Balthazar, isn't it? My brother and my best friend… I don't have to worry if I have you two."

Aspis paused for a moment. "I can't protect you from everything, you know."

"I know," Velcia said. "But I am happy to have you all the same."

Aspis rolled his eyes and turned back towards his paint shelf. He'd turned so quickly that Velcia couldn't be sure, but she almost thought it seemed as though he was blushing.