"What do you think?" asked Emily of Shouri the next morning. "He obviously had Zephyr with him," the guildmaster replied. "You think she's okay though, right?" "Yeah, he would have told us if something bad happened."

The two guild leaders hummed in thought. Their youngest had come back from the hunt last night uncharacteristically quiet. Mila said he had been shaken up by the Scherzando, but there was a vital detail she was leaving out, that much was certain.

"Cecil," he suddenly spoke in realization. "Huh?" Emily looked up from her own rumination.

Shouri snapped his fingers. "That's right, you don't know his history. Vince lost a Resonator to Feroce, his first. He was a lion named Cecil and he was a solar element."

The pieces fell into place for the princess at that moment. "Oh my stars…"

"I know I was a little weird about Rebecca when she first joined us. I wouldn't be surprised if Zephyr did something last night that reminded him of Cecil."

"Damn…" Emily shook her head.

Silence fell across the two once more.

"What the terra do we even do?" asked Emily. "Good fucking question," Shouri mumbled back. His fingers found their way to the black tuner at his waist.

The door suddenly opened, snapping the pair from their thoughts. Taika stood at the entrance, she didn't say a word but slowly crept into the room. She found her way to her Maestro's side and rested a hand on his shoulder.

After a moment of peace, Shouri spoke his mind. "Let's figure out what went down," he proposed.

Emily furrowed her brows, drinking in that thought. "Okay," she decided, rising to her feet.

Shouri made his way upstairs to room ten where Zephyr should have been. "If she's crawling through the vents again I'm blasting the heat," grumbled the guildmaster.

He knocked on the door and allowed the fairy a moment to get close.

"Hey there hot stuff, paying little ol' me a house visit?" asked the fairy from the other side.

The boy rolled his eyes – at least she was fine. "I'm coming in." "Oh how forward of you," teased the fairy. "Just get out of the way of the door."

He allowed her five seconds to make some distance before entering the room himself.

Zephyr was perched up on the bed, lying on her side, with one hand resting on her hip while the other propped her head up. "Didn't know the big, strong guildmaster made house calls."

Shouri turned to leave.

"Wait! Wait! I was joking! Hold on!" Zephyr bolted for the door trying to catch him before he could close her in. She just barely made it, shivering a bit as the two were on the upper balcony.

"What is it? I know you didn't come to chat me up," Zephyr said, rubbing her arms in a vain attempt to warm them up.

"What happened between you and Vince last night?" Shouri cut right to the point. The fairy paled. "U-uh… what are you talking about? I was here and-" "Cut the shit Zephyr, Taika used Rilevare l'intenzione and there was one extra ally dot on top of Vince's. I know you were there."

She snorted indignantly and turned her head. "Why didn't you say anything then?" she grumbled. "Because at the end of the day, you're your own person. I can tell you what I think you should do as advice, but you're nobody's Resonator. You can fly off right now and I wouldn't stop you," Shouri explained, leaning back against the railing.

"And you wonder why I want you," she muttered under her breath. "Vince is our youngest member, and I don't want to see him get hurt again. What happened last night?" he repeated.

Zephyr snapped her attention to the Maestro upon hearing those words. "Again?" she whispered. "Uh, I dunno really. I helped him with some Scherzando and he got really cagey after that. When we got back, that cat told me it'd be best if I leave them alone for a while, and she let me back into my room," Zephyr explained her version of the events.

Shouri nodded. He pushed himself off the rail and opened the door for the tiny Resonator. "Thanks," was all he had to say on the matter.

"Now hold on a second. What's going on?" Zephyr questioned, her brows turned up with worry. "Is he okay?" she asked further.

A deep breath followed that line of inquiry. Shouri hummed thoughtfully as he decided how to address the concern. "It's not my place to say. It's not your fault either. You didn't do anything wrong."

Regardless, the fairy still couldn't help wilting at that answer. It certainly wasn't satisfactory, and she knew she wouldn't get anything more out of him, so pushing the matter would earn his ire. "I see," came the rueful acceptance. She floated back into the room and allowed the door to be shut behind her.

Shouri allowed a moment for her to change her mind, but when silence was his only company, he left her to her thoughts.

While Shouri talked with Zephyr, Emily was tasked with Vince.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and knocked. Certainly, Mila would answer the door. That much was clear to the princess.

And as predicted, the burnt orange fire cat was indeed the one to answer the call.

"Oh, you're not who I expected," said Mila. "How's Vince?" Emily cut to the chase. "He'll be fine."

Mila went to close the door, but Emily's shoe barred the way. "Hold up," said the girl. "We're worried – what's going on?" she asked.

The cat clicked her tongue, shot a glance back into the room, and let out a quiet sigh. She opened the door and stepped out, gently closing it behind her. With a flick of her wrist, she motioned for the Maestro to follow.

They took a small walk away from the building before Mila spoke.

"She triggered some bad memories," Mila said, folding her arms across her chest. "Zephyr you mean?" Emily queried for clarity. "Yeah."

Mila cast her gaze off as if the answers were hiding among the trees. Emily could see the dark circles around the cat's eyes, as her lids flicked up several times.

"He couldn't sleep then?" Emily guessed. A short grunt was all the confirmation she got. "And you too then?" came the next inquiry. A slight nod confirmed that theory as well.

Emily cracked a small smile. "You care a lot about him." "Tch. Of course, I do," Mila balled up her fists, brows pinched tight. "Kid's been through hell. He doesn't deserve this." Her voice cracked. "He's mine, I should be able to do more." She had to fight the growl in her voice.

The Maestro laid a hand on the Resonator's shoulder. "Grief takes time, or at least that's what I've been told."

Mila bared her fangs in frustration but nodded in compliance.

"Sorry for bothering you. Let us know if you need anything."

Another nod, but Emily couldn't be sure if Mila would take them up on that offer.

"And that's the short of it," Shouri concluded, having re-capped both his and Emily's sides of the story to his trio of Resonators.

"That's tough…" Pacifica shook her head in pity. "Yeah," Rebecca agreed. "Wait, so you said Zephyr seemed upset?" Taika asked.

"Yeah. Color me surprised. She's surprisingly empathetic," Shouri shrugged.

That line of questioning earned a thoughtful hum from Pacifica. "I wonder…" she mumbled. "What's up Paci?" asked Shouri.

The otter snapped to. "Oh! Uh! Well, I was wondering since you're not in the cards for her, maybe Zephyr considered Vince to be a possible Maestro," she offered. "They had basically hung out all day yesterday, what with them being at the store together and then the hunt."

Shouri stroked his chin in thought, considering the idea.

"When we get to choose our Maestro, we just kind of know what we like," Pacifica started. This earned three pairs of eyes on her. "At least for me, I knew I wanted someone to stick it out with me. You checked that box pretty quickly," the otter giggled. "I can't be certain, but based on the way that Vince went along with whatever she wanted to do, that's what she's looking for – someone to go along with the flow."

"I just wanted someone who saw me for who I was and not what," Rebecca brought up. "I feel like the weird one here, I wasn't even looking," Taika trailed off. "I was happy anyone wanted me…" she said, her gaze falling.

The next thing Taika knew, three bodies were holding her, dispelling the dark thoughts in her heart. "I love you all," she smiled.

As warm as the atmosphere in the room was, their problem remained. "What the heck do we even do?" asked Shouri.

"Dunno…"

Zephyr sat in the air vent leading into Vince's room. A small bubble of wind generated by her ad-Lib whipped around which kept her cool despite the heater being on. She didn't know why she was there. Watching in the shadows and silence. They didn't even know she was there. Not that anything scandalous or interesting happened.

Vince was finally asleep, though it took hours of tossing and turning to achieve it. The sun had long since set and the boy had not left the confines of his bed the entire time.

Mila too, had finally fallen asleep, propped up on one of the recliners in the room. She left at one point for a little bit, but quickly returned and faithfully watched her boy. The cat remained almost motionless as she guarded him.

The thing that stuck out to Zephyr in all of this, however, was a certain object Vince had kept a vice grip over.

A tuner. Not his usual fiery red tuner, but a bright white-bodied one.

There was no other Resonator in the room. As far as Zephyr knew, Vince only had one Resonator and it was Mila, a fire element. Who did that white tuner belong to?

An ugly torrent of jealousy stung the fairy's heart. She didn't want to feel this way. Vince was nothing to her. He was just another guy. She was still open, looking, uncommitted. He was just a fun distraction. Someone easy to sweep up into her fun. This shouldn't hurt. Why did it hurt? She didn't mean anything to him. So, by that logic, he shouldn't have meant anything to her.

Right?

Right?

…right?

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