Venden regarded them with a curious look as he sipped on a teacup filled with red juice. Across from him, seated in a leather chair like his own, was the head butler Fanedla.
"How'd it go?" he asked after setting the teacup on the little plate he held in his hand. "And what's with those looks?"
Samantha and Fate exchanged an awkward glance. "We have to think about it," she replied, rubbing her arm.
"Think about it?" Venden asked, raising a brow. "What did he do, use a Love Ball and then tell you that you have to wait until right before Samantha turns 21?"
A short silence followed. "How did you guess?" Samantha asked.
"Yeah, that's oddly specific," Fate said.
"It happened to my cousin," Venden said with a smirk. "He had the same look on his face that you two have. On a scale of one to ten, how in loooove are you two?"
"One," said Fate and Samantha in unison. They glanced at the other, unwilling to mention what the Love Ball had shown.
"Sounds like at least a six to me," laughed Venden. "Aw, don't be so upset about it! My cousin lives very happily with his wife. And if you do hate each other's guts, you can just tell your father in two years."
"This is just more trouble," Fate sighed. "And here I was, having managed to put this all behind me."
"How do you think I feel?" Samantha asked him. "Four years of progress, wasted!"
"Well, since your business here is concluded, let me show you the door," Fanedla said, rising to her feet.
"We can show ourselves out, thank you, Fanedla," Samantha said.
Without further ado, she turned and stormed out. Fate followed soon after, leaving Venden behind.
The emancipated noble sighed and finished off his juice, handing the empty tea cup to Fanedla. "Thank you for the juice, Fanedla," he said kindly. "And for the company."
"It was my pleasure," Fanedla nodded, taking the teacup and storing it in an unseen spatial item.
Venden thanked her once more and dashed off after his companions, who by now were out of the estate and halfway down the street.
They met Cait at the teleport pad at the agreed-upon time. Cait noted the sour expressions on the engaged couple but held her tongue, not finding it her business to pry.
'How did your visit with your father go?" Venden asked, having no such qualms.
"He's happy I've gotten out of this smog-infested city," she said simply.
"There is a lot of pollution here, isn't there?" Venden replied, looking at the gray, smoke-covered skies above. "I've heard this city has the best anti-pollution Imprints in the nation, but I suppose that doesn't mean it's the least polluted.
"This place looks as dour as the faces of the two fiancés."
"So they didn't succeed?" Cait asked, a slight smile on her face. "That explains why they look like someone has fed them a pile of lemons."
Venden paused, waiting for them to say something. "Nothing?" he asked.
"Let's just go back to the Academy," Fate grumbled. A full day, wasted just like that.
"Well, Samantha?" Venden grinned. "Isn't it the wife's job to cheer her husband up? Fate's sounding a little angry."
Samantha shot him a glare, then glanced at Fate. Suddenly, her eyes sparkled mischievously.
"You're right, Venden," she smiled, placing a hand on the emancipated noble's shoulder. "I think Fate needs to… cool down."
Venden yelped as she tightened her grip, frosty steam wafting from her hand as it became colder than ice. She patted Venden's face with her other freezing hand, fractals of frost left on his skin as he started to shiver.
Venden squirmed under the chill, his nerves crying out at the -60-degree temperature, but Samantha's grip was like a vice.
Without warning, Samantha pulled her hands away, a light smile on her face. By now, Fate was mirroring her expression, the two grinning as Venden wiped the frost off of his face with his robes.
"S-s-s-sadists," he said, stuttering from the cold. "T-t-taking advantage of me. You should be ash-sh-sh-shamed of yourselves."
"Sh-sh-sh-shouldn't have said anything," Samantha replied, imitating his halting speech.
"It's y-y-y-your own fault," Fate laughed.
"I'll g-ge-get you back for this," Venden swore. "N-n-next time b-b-bird poo is about to f-f-fall on you, I won't say a th-th-thing!"
"A little specific," Cait said, sporting a smile of her own.
"Yeah, there aren't even birds here in Fonford," Fate said, looking up at the sky.
No matter where he looked, there was only the gray expanse of the sky –
PLOP. PLOP.
Fate blinked, looking down at his shoulder as the other three laughed away. A white and brown spot sat there, the consistency leaving its true identity unmistakable.
Samantha's laughter turned into a curse beside him, and he looked to find that she wasn't so lucky.
Another bomb had fallen, this time into her hair. She swore with the same intensity as her father as she pulled a bottle of water out of thin air and washed it out.
"N-now we're even," Venden smirked, his body already returning to its normal temperature.
Fate chuckled ruefully as Samantha started pummeling Venden with her fists. The strikes could barely be classified as love taps as she didn't injure him, but Venden smartly played along, throwing his hands up and crying out.
Venden had become much more open and carefree after the business with his family was settled.
Fate couldn't blame him for being tense before; having to look over your shoulder for assassins every time you stepped foot outside of the Academy would make anyone's mood darken.
But it was the ease with which Venden exposed that side of himself that caught Fate's attention. He had always been rather forward, like when the two had talked for what felt like forever after their duel.
Fate concluded that this was what Venden's true personality was, not weighed down by familial ties and responsibility.
"Come on, you three," Cait said, breaking the two fighters apart with minimal effort. "We're up."