“Foolish.” Vienne whispered, a note of sadness in her voice.

“HOLY CRAP!”

“ONE BLOW! I didn’t think that was allowed?”

“Void beat a whole planet with people like her? We are screwed.”

“Nah. That was awesome.” Raven said, surprising the goddess almost as much as the excited outburst that had followed her words. Everyone else agreed. There was a small part of all of them that wanted to try the goddess, and Raven continued speaking encompassing those feelings. “Hey Vienne. When we kill Void, will you fight us? Like at full power like you just did? That was so cool!”

“I...perhaps. When you kill Void might be a stretch.” Vienne allowed, looking confused.

“I am starting to think I cannot begin to comprehend your resolve.” Victoria admitted, speaking for the first time in a long while. She looked like she was sympathizing with Vienne.

Hunter turned to Vienne, and she looked at her and shouted. “Vienne! Fight with us! We will fight! Make this the last world you see! Make it your world!”

Vienne stood stock still. It looked like she had turned into a statue.

“We’ll win!” Gabriel declared. “I beat your crappy worm pit in 2 days!”

“What? 2 days?” Victoria demanded. “I was in there a week. How do you win?”

“2 days is impossible.” Vienne shook off her fugue. “The trial is to stay sane for a week.”

“I cut apart those crappy worms in 2 days!” Gabriel declared. “You said go into the pit and that you would be back in a week. You didn’t say I couldn’t get rid of them!”

“Get rid of them?” Vienne straightened. “Of course! I will… I will fight with you!” Vienne’s voice shook the hall. “Let this world be the last Void sets gaze on. Let it be the world that devours him once and for all! I will fight with you!”

The walls shook with the terrible fury and excitement of her voice, and it was soon matched with cheers and general noise-making. Some of the Half in attendance were openly tapping swords they had unsheathed on the tables making a huge racket. They stopped when Victoria started to make a face at them. They did not cease their noise-making in time to stop the crowds from bursting in from the village. They had been too excited and curious to make it further than the courtyard and began filtering in despite royal decree. Gasps and horrified sounds erupted as they caught sight of Vienne. It was bedlam and it would probably take the rest of the night for Victoria to convince her people that the god in full battle regalia was actually pretty friendly if temperamental.

Amelia felt it coming then, she couldn’t help it. It was the smile that Aidan liked and gave everyone else pause. The smile that hungered for new experiences no one had ever seen. She was so excited she could barely breathe. It was a game where you couldn’t really get hurt, winded, or even physically distressed in any sense of the words yet she felt herself taking a seat while everyone danced, cheered, and howled around her.

She sat quietly smiling and pulled her hood up.

Everyone sneered at her slightly but politely turned away from her.

---------------------------------

“I wonder how George is doing?” Aidan asked. They were watching the Half look over a map of a forest as they planned their foray into the woods.

“Who is George?” Elisha asked.

“George is our cat.” Aidan said with a smile.

“George is not our cat.” Amelia shook her head.

“George is Amelia’s real life familiar.” Aidan tried again with a smile.

“George is no one’s familiar. We are all his familiar.” Amelia shook her head again.

Aidan finally deflated. “Who is George?” He asked Amelia, mimicking Elisha’s voice in an indication of surrender. Fine then, he was wrong, he was saying. Just answer the question.

Amelia looked up from her Chronicler book where she was scribbling the events of the throne room down. “George is a cat that sometimes presents himself to our household, gracing it with his presence. He allows us to feed him, and pet him, and socialize with him when he feels it appropriate.”

“What?” Elisha’s voice cracked as she smiled, like she was having a hard time following along.

“George,” Amelia continued, quite serious, “uses the doorbell when he visits, and then lets himself out to go visit other people in the apartment when he is done socializing with us.”

“What?!” Elisha blinked and looked at Aidan for confirmation. Aidan was nodding quite sincerely, making Amelia seem less credible, actually.

Amelia shook her head. “It’s true. He’s about this tall.” Amelia put her hand down to above her knee. “He’s an incredibly handsome specimen and very smart.”

“Probably the product of an animal intelligence experiment gone wrong.” Aidan said slowly.

“No.” Amelia scowled.

“Oh, talking about George?” Raven had appeared like she did. She nodded thoughtfully. “You would like him Elisha, he’s a… he’s a mix of…” She looked helplessly at Aidan.

“He looks like a Savannah Cat,” Aidan supplied.

Elisha by this point didn’t look like she believed any of them. “How does he not get--.”

“They don’t nab cats in Champaign,” Amelia replied to the unspoken question. “As for why he isn’t living it up in some home? I don’t know. I’d take him in because he is freaking awesome. He likes his independence I guess.” She shrugged.

Hunter walked over seeing them huddled and whispering apart from the war table. “What are we talking about?”

“George.” Amelia replied, with a hint of exasperation.

“What’s a George?” Hunter asked, looking perplexed.

“George is a 1000 year old magical cat creature that lives in Illinois.” Forsythe had appeared as well.

“What?” Hunter squinted, eyes begging for an explanation that made sense from Amelia.

“I’m not doing this. This is your fault.” Amelia pointed at Aidan and walked away.

Aidan was laughing at her from behind her, she just knew it.