Mallory suggested that they take Thalia out front so that she could relax from the intense workout. Jon shrugged and agreed.

Jon wanted to avoid explaining what happened between Milo and Hector. Eventually, he stayed quiet as he and Mallory followed Thalia outside. Jon and Mallory stood side by side, watching Thalia make some more laps around the plaza. Unlike Jon, Thalia seemed to make complete use of the grassy field. She ran at her own pace, doing cartwheels and tumbling and sometimes even just running around.

“I can only assume Hector’s probably letting off steam, somewhere,” Mallory said.

“Yep,” Jon answered, just glad it wasn’t a question. It did inspire him to ask his own.

“Do you think Hector likes being alone?” Jon asked.

“Huh?” Mallory seemed surprised by the question, but he answered anyway.

“No. Hector wants to be independent. But independence for Hector means that he’s always surrounded by people. Sometimes, he’s listening to other people. Sometimes, he’s leading a job. But he isn’t often alone. And I think he worries about that. Subconsciously.”

“Subconsciously… hmm…”

“Hector wants people around him,” Mallory continued. “He’s afraid of needing people. And he’s afraid of being needed.”

Jon nodded swiftly. He totally felt that. Maybe he and Hector did feel similarly in that way.

“Hector makes me feel independent,” Jon replied. “Does that feel weird?”

“No.” Mallory gestured out to Thalia, who had tripped over onto the grass. She was making small tumbles in whatever direction.

“I don’t know if you can tell,” Mallory began, “but these royal types. A lot of them. Not all of them. They get suffocated at home. They have all the money and power and safety in the world. But they don’t ever get very independent. Too much of that, and they imagine that everyone else is exactly the same as them. That other people can’t function independently, and that everyone is always being taken care of one hundred percent of the time.”

Like Harris? Jon wondered, but he didn’t mention it to Mallory.

“Hector, unlike many of the other royals, have been forced to be independent,” Mallory continued. “And it’s creating an effect. Some of the other royals want to be free to do whatever. To fail, however. To learn, you know? And I think that’s why people like her and Hector, and even Mercy… They need people like you. Even you’re a little bit of the royal type, right?”

Jon groaned at the thought of it all.

“Yeah,” he painfully acknowledged.

“Don’t worry, Jon!” Mallory shook Jon by the shoulder hard. “All that means is that you can talk to the other royal types without much thought.”

Thalia had stopped rolling, and now was just sitting on the grass.

Do I give people freedom? Jon thought about how he had felt trapped under his father until his friends came along. Maybe, it was as simple as him being the friend role now.

He was thinking so hard he hadn’t noticed when Thalia was standing in front of him.

“Can I go show Jojo what I learned?” She asked excitedly.

Jojo? It took Jon a moment to understand it was Jocasta he was thinking about.

He turned to Mallory, shaking his head.

“Why you looking at me?” Mallory asked. “She’s the one who’s looking for an answer.

Jon turned to Thalia, still shaking her head.

“Aw, why not?” Thalia asked.

Jon didn’t know why she was even asking him. He found it hard to give an answer.

“Jon doesn’t like Jojo very much,” Mallory explained. “ And Jon doesn’t dislike people very much.

“She’s cool,” Thalia explained. “Everyone listens to her, and she gives me a lot of things to do. She actually lets me do things, unlike at home.”

“She’s getting free labor out of you,” Mallory said.

‘No way. She pays me, and besides, she says that the experience is payment enough itself!”

Mallory snorted. “Yeah, sure. But even then, she’s a bad influence.”

Jon waited for Mallory to finish explaining, but instead, they both turned to him, waiting for a response.

Jon groaned loud enough for both of them to hear him. He appreciated learning to grunt his emotions from Hector.

“Too much freedom,” Jon muttered.

Mallory snorted. “I’m pretty sure she’s gonna go anyway. Might as well go with her to keep an eye on her.

Jon groaned again. He looked at Thalia and shrugged.

“Yes!” She ran back towards the field and bounced in excitement.

Jon then looked at Mallory.

“No way!” Mallory exclaimed. “I have to finish organizing the books and writing things down, and make sure Hector doesn’t burn everything, and-”

Jon waited for Mallory to finish his list of chores, but then Mallory just scoffed.

“Whatever, man. Let me just take care of a few things inside.”

Jon waited patiently for Mallory to return from the library, which didn’t take more than a few minutes.

“Alright,” Mallory said, “Let’s go!’

Mallory beckoned Thalia back over. When she came back, the three of them walked out into the main street.

“Where’s Milo?” Thalia asked as they maneuvered through the crowded market.

“Probably doing the same thing Hector’s doing,” Mallory answered. “What would Milo usually be doing at this time?”

“He’d be off brooding somewhere,” Thalia answered simply.

“Sounds about right,” Mallory replied. “Either that or nursing his broken soul.”

Jon knew that was the right answer, but he didn’t mention it, as to give the two brooding men their own space.

Following Thalia, it was in no time that they reached Jocasta’s den. Marsha was standing out front, along with two other tough looking people. Jon didn’t know if they were jackets, but he tried to put on a brave face.

Marsha was talking to the two maybe jackets when she turned around and saw Thalia come by.

“Hi, Marsha!” Thalia exclaimed. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, you guys.” Marsha sighed. “Yes, yes, well-”

“Are you gonna teach me anything?” Thalia asked.

“Well, we’re a little busy right now and-”

“Check this out!” Thalia closed her eyes and groaned.

The green mana circle appeared under her feet, and a gush of wind started blowing against Marsha’s headdress.

“Oh wow, that’s incredible!” Marsha’s original irritability went away. “I would like to investigate more, but we’re-”

“I wanna see JoJo!” Thalia interrupted again.

Marsha sighed once more. She turned ot Mallory and Jon.

“There’s a match going on,” Marsha explained. “Thalia can get in for free, but I’m not sure if I can exchange the same courtesy to you without.”

“No way!” Thalia begged. “They’re with me!”

“No problem.” Mallory reached inside of his robes and pulled out a pouch. “I never leave the house unprepared.”

Jon felt guilty. He had forgotten to bring money again.

“The match will end soon,” Marsha said. “If you want you can just wait out here until it ends.”

“Nah,” Mallory answered. “Let’s get in. We can’t leave the girl by herself.”

“You’re not hiding,” Jon pointed out

“Hiding? Oh.” Marsha gave an explanation. “I take a different role when it comes to matches now. I’ve been instructed to ‘help the guards and be more present.’ I usually wait inside and monitor the matches, but Jocasta has insisted otherwise. Who knows what that woman thinks.”

Jon would have loved to stay outside the entire time with Marsha. Maybe he could. Thalia wasn’t that much of a child.

She looked over Jon. “You know, you could do well as a bodyguard. You look in physical shape, and the gun is threatening enough that people wouldn’t even wanna test challenging you. Maybe I could put in a word with Jocasta.”

“Jon’s not that type of mercenary,” Mallory interjected quickly. “He’s much more of a globe-trotting, stepping over political lines type of guy. Not a muscle for hire.”

“Right.” Marsha never took her eyes off of Jon, even as Mallory handed the bag to Marsha. Jon held his gaze as well.

Marsha reached inside and took the bag out whatever the payment was, and handed it back to Mallory.

“You can enter. Thalia will help you along the way.” Marsha stepped aside.

Jon looked up at the two mayb- jackets before making his way inside the alley. Already, he could hear the noise as they went through the purple blanket doorway.

When they stepped in Jon was a little astonished at the presentation of the arena, which was way different. The banners had added a lot more to give it a substance.

“Up here!” Thalia motioned to the two young men as she stepped over the back of some heads and found an area empty enough to sit. They squeezed in between the loud cheering men and turned to the match.

Down below, instead of the two sweaty men that Jon had seen before, now, there was an armor-clad warrior swinging weapons with just one bare chested man. But the bare chested man was wearing a sheath on his back. Jon wondered if it chafed. These two men also seemed experienced in their fighting, unlike the previous two combatants who were flailing away last time.

“Whoa, that’s different.” Mallory commented.

Jon agreed. This seemed antithetical to the “common man” mentality Jocasta had spoken of before.

Mallory suddenly pointed. “Hey, that guy has a shield!”

Jon had noticed as well. The armor-clad man was using a sword and a shield. Shields weren’t something Jon saw very much. Aside from Amalia, he hadn’t seen shields really used much at all.

“You’re right!” Thalia said. “That’s weird. Is he afraid of getting hit?”

“Everyone is afraid of getting hit,” Mallory said with a small chuckle. “But, it doesn’t make sense to use a shield if-”

The armor-clad man raised his shield between his face and an incoming punch. However, the punch was still enough to send him flying back into a defensive position.

“Oof,” Mallory mentioned.

Jon nodded. He had watched Amaila get hit through her guard. She was knocked out completely.

“If you’re not strong enough to take a hit, a shield isn’t gonna make it much better,” Mallory said. “I mean, especially with the way battles have changed over the years.”

The bare chested man went for another swing at the armored man. The armored man raised his shield, but this time, he put it in front of the barechested man’s face.

The punch hit the shield, but the armored man spun around with the attack, drawing the bare chested man’s fist away and swinging his sword at the other man’s head.

The sword clattered with the man’s head.

Jon jumped in his seat.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd. However, the bare chested man, while thrown back, clenched his fist and swung hard at the armored man.

There was an even bigger crack, and the armored man went down immediately.

“Ooh!” The crowd reeled in surprise. Suddenly there was cheering..

“Oof!” Mallory held his stomach. “Ah, well.”

Jon couldn’t help but project Hector into the unconscious armored man. He was wearing armor and a shield, and he still went down in a single hit. That must have been how Hector saw himself.

“Wait!” Thalia pointed at the ground.

The armored man was pushing himself up from the ground.

The bare chested man noticed this, and walked over to the recovering man.

The crowd caught on to this too, and they started clapping.

“Uh-oh,” Mallory shook his head. “This isn’t gonna go well. That guy isn’t able to see clearly. Someone’s gonna get hurt badly. Jon?”

Jon had reached behind and pulled off his gun. It looked like he was going to have to step in.

“I got it!” Thalia sped off immediately.

“I hope she doesn’t try to stop it,” Mallory said.

Jon agreed. He didn’t know what Thalia would do to stop.

However, he didn't have to wait long to find out where he went. A brown shadow started racing down to the arena.

The shadow quickly grabbed the armored man before he could strike the other man and threw him to the ground. Marsha was sitting on top of him, holding his arm in a grapple.

“The match is over!” Marsha could barely yell. She looked up at the bare chested man.

“You won!” Marsha yelled.

The crowd was still cheering, however.

“We better get down there,” Mallory said. “Or should we get out of here before things get crazy.”

Jon tilted his head towards the center of the arena.

“Alright. Ride or die.” With a nod, both of them left their spots and hustled down to the center of the arena.