J. Magi

"Why?" he asked flatly.

"Maybe." "But it also means I'm the heir of death." He straightened the jacket, standing tall. Yes, he was sure now. "Curse or not it follows me. Ghosts or not, things that should be left in the past will live on."

Sharp stared at for a few moments. Could he really escape so easily? Go live somewhere far away from them and keep his head down? "My name is Sharp . . ." A horrible name. A violent name. A cursed name. He tilted his head, watching for her expression. "Does that mean anything to you?"

"Alright," July said with a shrug. "It just seems odd to me, that's all." He left and returned to the common room. "Um sir? Your room is ready." He told the cloaked person @BlueWildRye

"Nice . . . does that mean we have an edge?" He glanced at the ceiling of the cave. "I could work with that."

"I'm sorry for your loss, and I appreciate the sentiment but . . ." Sharp pulled out of her grip and moved a few paces away, bending to pick up his red coat. It was tattered from the battle, and the fabric was stiff with his Commands. With a muttered command, he pulled the breaths out of the fabric and back into his soul. It made him feel a little lighter, but not enough. Hesitantly, he pulled the coat on. It may be a little worse for wear, but he had paid far too much to leave it behind. ". . . Just because you've suffered, and I've suffered doesn't mean the suffering goes away. It just means there's twice as much pain in the world." Sharp turned to meet her eyes, feeling hollow.

"You don't anything about it," Sharp said tired. "But . . . yes."

"Because you said you wanted to make sure it stays empty? I mean it's better to lock it even if it's tedious then to just have you . . . sit here, right?"

"Hmm, if they are making whatever this is into entertainment that can be bet on, then wouldn't the likelihood of a dangerous planet be even smaller? It ruins the point of a game if all the contestants die immediately because of random chance." Aki thought out loud.

He studied her with dark eyes. "Your Marewills mom?" He asked, avoiding the question.

"Honestly that's fair, though for the record I don't believe in you."

"Wow. Inconsiderate. You'd think someone of your power would know basic manners."

Sharp wandered through the crowd in a daze. They were free, and alive. And he had no idea what to do with himself. He didn't know if he should go up to Dougella. He hated to think he'd interrupt her reunion with her dad. Surrounded by so many happy survivors he couldn't help but think of Kryn. His cousin. His best friend. They were dead. And that, more then the loneliness of the lost feeling was what weighed down his heart. He didn't want to go back to his old life, his old family. Not if Kryn wasn't there.

"Can't you just . . . lock it?"

"Okay . . ." Aki sat on the floor next to him. "I'll wear the suit, but only to make you feel better, not because I believe in your magic." He sighed. "I get your worried about going to a super deadly place but don't you think that if the chance of going to those planets was so high, we'd have been to one already? We've teleported 3 or 4 times already and each time it's been fine! I'm sure your Simon could run statistics on it the longer we go. It's possible that whatever is making us teleport knows we can't survive certain places. Not to mention the Kami who keep talking from the sky, they might be monitoring it." "Would you be quiet up there? Us atheists are trying to think."

"Riiight, that's not suspicious." "Well, we're done aren't we? Why do you need to stay here?" July asked innocently.

"Yeah . . . Hey have--" July let out an exhausted sigh. "Look, kid, if you want a room you have to rent it." "What is am I supposed to do with that?"

"Yeah . . . sorry I didn't intervene, this guy was aggressively trying to haggle down the stew prices and I couldn't get away. I'm glad the priest was there to help.

"So . . . hows your day been so far?" July asked while he helped her put new sheets on the bed.

"It won't be your fault if I'm the one refused the suit in the first place, and besides that's assuming I can't handle myself, which is insulting." Aki said flatly.

"Robert said this would be a good opportunity for you to show me how to prepare rooms," He explained. "So . . . I'm here to help.