“You...what are you doing here?” I can barely string a coherent sentence together. The Stranger has picked the worst time to pay a visit. Glancing around the shop, I see Meera in a corner, watching me with a worried look in her eyes. She has her fan out, gently blowing a breeze across her face. To answer her unasked question, I shake my head ever so slightly, trying to convey the message. Get Kisa out of here. Doubtless, the Stranger notices our silent communication even if he doesn’t say anything. Turning back to him, I say, “I’m preoccupied right now, so unless it’s urgent...please leave.”

“Oh, I just came to tell you something.” The Stranger’s eyes are just barely visible in the dim lighting of the shop after hours. I feel disturbed to come here for comfort, seeking shelter, only to find him waiting for me in my home. It pisses me off. But also unnerves me. How does he always manage to put me at a disadvantage? I need some time to think. I have to get rid of him. Watching, always watching, the Stranger tilts his mask to the side. “However, if you really don’t want to hear it, I suppose it could wait.”

“No...it’s fine. Tell me,” I reply, trying my best to put as much authority in my voice as I can. “What’s so important that you decided to come here. Tell it to me straight, I’m not in the mood for wine and cheese tonight. Say what you have to say and get out!” Jesus, I’m doing this poorly. He knows he’s getting under my skin. I’ll give something away. But I can’t do this right now.

“Heh, no wine or cheese? You must really be on edge.” The Stranger drums his fingers on my glass display case, pretending to examine the premium cheeses. His smooth black gloves leave unidentifiable fingerprints on the glass. Ghostly untraceable handprints you’ll never be able to trace. “Very well then, clearly I’m not welcome. I guess I’ll be on my way. And you can find out on your own...”

“Stop!” I have to know what he has to say. He has me and he knows it. When he turns, I’m certain under that mask is a devil’s face. Why else would he need to hide it? “I’m sorry. Excuse my rudeness. What exactly did you want to tell me?”

“Mmm...I’ll forgive your crudeness on account of your youth,” the Stranger’s voice remains dry, lightly amused. However, a hint of steel emerges underneath as he chides, “But don’t mistake my generosity as weakness. Our partnership is not something you should take for granted. I am...easily offended. Remember that the next time you feel like that speaking without thinking.” Beneath his words are a barely veiled threat, ‘Don’t piss me off. You don’t know what I’m capable of.’

Well, you don’t know all I’m capable of either.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Now then, as for what I came to tell you, it comes from a reliable source. More than one in fact...” He becomes all business again suddenly, changing like the wind. I can’t get a fix on his personality. Egotistical sure, cunning definitely, but whether or not he was even really offended or just trying to test me, I have no clue. It’s an analysis I’ll have to conduct later when my head isn’t hurting so much. “Rumor has it that the Omniscient Guard has decided to put up a flyer tomorrow with a description and bounty for a suspect in the bombings. They’ve even given him a name, funny enough. I believe it’s something like...the Black Assassin, they really don’t have any imagination.” The Stranger pauses, watching my reaction. I’m a terrorist, not an assassin. Why does everyone suck at names in this world? “But regardless, I found the description very accurate. A man in a dark bird’s mask. You should have been more careful, Myrr.”

Damn. They know.

“This description...how did they come by it?” I’m skeptical, closing my eyes for a second to hide the pain rampaging in my skull right now. “I avoided the guard. I’m sure of it.” Wait...there’s no way...it can’t have been...?

“You did avoid them. None of the guard saw you. Hence why their description is quite blurry, it had to come from a second-hand source.” The Stranger takes his hand off the display case and points his finger at me, accusingly. “I told you not to leave any witnesses. But you just had to let her live. Your love of the Demi’s will be the death of us! What were you thinking? Did you really think they wouldn’t find her? The Omniscient Guard is incompetent, not blind!”

Crap...Crap. Crap. Crap.

The Demi-Raccoon.

They found her!

“I...don’t understand. Even if she told them, it would have just been words. Not enough of a description to be a problem-“

“No, you freaking idiot! Are you stupid? This is the Omniscient Guard!” the blank-smiling mask roars at me in a voice that doesn’t match its expression at all, “You don’t get it at all. What one of them sees...they all see. An image, even if it’s blurry, ripped from the mind of an untrained girl, that’s enough! Now they’re all on the lookout. Change your mask. They’ll be hunting for someone matching your description now. Your height, body type, even your hair color probably. You’re lucky, at the very least you had the sense to wear a mask...if not, I’d have half a mind to report you to the guards myself.”

“Ripped from the mind...” My eyes widen. “They can do that? Force an image out?”

“Hahaha, from a Demi-Girl that young? Easy. Their minds are weak to begin with. Untrained, it’d be like taking candy from a baby. The moment you left her alive, it was already over. We need to change our operations in the future. It’s become too risky.” The Stranger sighs, putting a hand over his mask’s forehead. “I’m going to have to consider putting some security around you. To protect you in case you make any more mistakes. I can’t afford to have you getting caught. As stupid as you are, the impact you’re having is too important.” His words aren’t really sticking to me. I barely react to hearing that the Stranger is planning on having me followed. My brain is jammed, the future unavailable. Meera is watching me from the corner, at some point she’s managed to bring Kisa there and is holding her elbow, trying to get the poor Demi-Cat out of here. But it’s too late. Kisa has heard too much. She looks faint. Her horrified face says it all. She knows I’m doing the bombings damnit...

There’s a question I have to ask. I already know what the answer is. But I can’t help but ask. Even if it’d make me happier not to know. I just need...to hear it.

“The Demi-Raccoon. What happened to her...after they questioned her? Did they let her go?” I speak softly, and the Stranger looks up at me. He chuckles quietly, but I can hear it now. Just like Elina, there’s no laughter in his pretend mirth. The mask smiles, but underneath, there is nothing, except perhaps bitterness. He’s not really enjoying this. It’s just how he deals with this world. The Stranger walks by me, putting a hand on my shoulder and I’m too slow to dodge, even as Meera tenses, reaching for the hidden knives in her fan. However, before anyone can move, the Stranger is already gone, heading out the door and all that’s left is his voice, echoing over and over in my ear...loud enough for everyone in the room to hear-

“Heh...don’t be naïve, my boy. A Demi slave who abandoned her Clan right before a bombing? Even if there was anything left of her mind...after they tore out your image from her memories...there’s no way they’d let her live. Hopefully, she was too far gone to feel the knife skinning her pelt. Next time...just kill them if you’re spotted. Trust me, it’ll be a mercy compared to what happens in Merekeep’s dungeons.”

[Sometimes you just can’t change anything.]

#

The shop is deadly silent after the Stranger’s exit. A small jingle as the chimes ring and then the breeze is cut off along with any light from the street. I made the walls thick, so no noise filters through once the door snaps shut. However, it wouldn’t matter even if there was a marching parade outside. I can’t hear a thing above the ringing in my ears. What is this? Am I sick? No one moves for the longest time. Or does more than breathe. Perhaps we don’t even breathe. Meera recovers the fastest. She tries to tug on Kisa’s arm, drag the Demi-Cat somewhere safe. However, for the first time ever, Kisa doesn’t listen to her manager. No matter how my ‘number one employee’ yanks, the Demi-Cat simply stays put by the counter across the room, in the corner. Her tawny tail sneaks up out of her dress, not stealthily at all. Instead, it is puffed out completely and utterly, closer to how a paintbrush looks than the soft thin line it usually is. She has her mouth open, green eyes on me, a silent question on her lips. But not for long. Some questions can’t be held back.

“Y-You...!” Kisa doesn’t call me, master, this time. Instead, she just points. “The explosions...the Derivuchi Barracks...it was you?”