“A meeting with the Queen of Lilino? Oh my!” Artemis gushed with an entirely contemptible face, Feather sitting across from her at her small round table set up for a tea party. The woman was using her concept of gravity to move things around wherever she wanted them, similar to telekinesis, except with a few extra steps of centering the objects on an axis. Kya sat on the ground beside them atop a soft blanket messing with her cards while Leo laid on his back dozing off underneath the sun with his head resting in her lap. Everything was peaceful in his cousin’s vast garden, with her having recently returned from her own expedition as well not too long ago.

  “It’s really not that big a deal. I’m not looking forward to it,” he huffed grumpily, sipping on his tea that was overloaded with sugar. He’d already eaten some of the sugar cubes without putting them in his tea when Artemis had offered them to him, munching on them happily as the sweets gradually restored his mood from the morning’s mishaps. Feather was almost completely satisfied, and could think with a clear head to ask what he needed to. “Anyways, tell me more about Lavimo. He doesn’t seem like… someone who might want to murder me, by chance, does he?”

  He wasn’t really sure how absurd that must’ve sounded, since to him it sounded entirely reasonable, though when Artemis started snickering, clearly finding his question a bit weird while she covered her mouth with a hand, he figured it must’ve sounded pretty absurd. “Now that’s just silly. He’s harmless, he wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Though he is a bit headstrong, I suppose. The man’s brimming with passion,” his cousin shrugged, Feather’s eyes glancing over to where Kya flipped over a card from her deck.

  Sometimes she’d do this, where she’d shuffle all of her tarot cards face first on the ground while other people talked, and whenever she felt a card pop out, she’d pick it out from the shuffled pile in front of her and infer what it meant based on the conversation they’d been having. Feather did wonder what that card meant in relation to Lavimo, but he decided to focus on his cousin instead as he grabbed another sugar cube and gave it a nice crunch. “Okay then. If you say so.”

  “I promise you, he’s really not dangerous at all. Why are you so worried about some harmless guy who only has one concept, anyways?” Artemis grinned, taking her round spoon and mindlessly stirring her cup as she smirked at him. “What could he possibly threaten you with when you wield the concept of anything?”

  “Ugh, you better not go around mentioning that in front of Cirrus. No one in his group actually knows what my concept is yet,” he huffed, messing with the sugar stuck in his teeth with his tongue, digging into his molars for a quick moment before he gave up and sighed. “Cirrus still thinks I have multiple concepts. He’s such a fool.”

  “Well isn’t that what anyone would think? No one before you has ever been able to use the concept of anything and live to tell the tale like you have,” Artemis pointed out sensibly, moving her hand to pick up another sugar cube as she aimed it at his mouth, to which Feather opened wide so that she could make it in. Though she missed her aim by a long shot, and he ended up having to sit up properly to move his mouth to catch it, Artemis laughing at him while she moved back to stirring her tea. “But seriously, what on this plane of existence could possibly threaten you? C’mon now.”

  “You don’t understand!” Feather retorted through a mouthful of sugar, his cousin annoying him in her reckless thought process as he swallowed down the tasty treat. “You know, I’m not invincible! I can still die if someone does it right!”

  “Ugh, and you haven’t even told me how someone would even go about that,” Artemis groaned, moving her tea up to her lips as she gave it a swirl inside her cup. “So tell me, my dearest Feather, how should someone go about killing you? Enlighten me!”

  “No way, you’d accidentally tell someone. Everyone knows you can’t keep secrets,” he spat, his cousin setting her cup pristinely on the ground before giving him an offended glare.

  “That’s not true at all. I can keep a secret!”

  “No you can’t! Don’t you remember when we were kids and I told you about how I accidentally ate the cake my dad had gotten my mom for their anniversary? I told you not to tell anyone it was me, remember? And what did you do?”

  “Well obviously I told your parents,” Artemis shrugged, not a care in the world to be traced in her tone. “I was earning favorite child points, obviously.”

  “You should’ve stuck to just being their favorite niece!”

  “Well you were an insufferable brat as a kid!”

  “I was not! You were far worse!”

  “Have you seen yourself?! You were far more insufferable than me!”

  “Both of you were insufferable brats,” Kya interrupted them before their arguing could get out of hand, the cousins taking that in stride as they both settled down.

  “Whatever. Don’t tell me, it’s fine,” Artemis huffed, moving her tea back to her lips as she took another sip, Feather reaching for the sugar cubes before picking up a handful, plopping one in his mouth to let it melt inside.

  “Don’t take it so personally. The less people who know how to kill me, the better,” Feather told her, munching on his sugar cubes with satisfaction. “Anyways, it’s nice to know we have a hostage and that the other one gave us a bit of useful info before he died. After that meeting Cirrus is making me go to tomorrow, I’ll go interrogate a bit that one that’s left. But before that, tell me more about the guy you managed to capture who faded to dust or whatever,” he prompted, Artemis shifting back in her chair as Kya flipped another card.

  “Honestly, I couldn’t get very much of a read on his personality, even in the end. He did put up quite a good fight though, I struggled a lot with him. He had the concepts of energy, fingernail extension, and the taboo concept of rewinding time,” she sighed in remembrance of that dull encounter, leaning further backwards into her chair as she began to nibble at her thumbnail. “The fight was fun though, I guess. Even if he ruined my clothing. I paid him back for it by crushing his skull.”

  “Sounds like you almost killed him,” Feather commented, Artemis giving yet another careless shrug at the mention.

  “His fault for messing with my beautiful hard work! And according to Lavimo, Orvana was much stronger than him anyway. Though, actually… there was something weird about that,” Artemis sat up, fixing herself in her seat as she leaned onto the table, bringing her head closer into Feather’s space as he met her eyes to show how he was intrigued. “So apparently, Lavimo managed to count that Orvana has four concepts! The concepts of prophecy, the marionette, fingernail extension and weaponization, and the ability to weaponize memories. That is already impressive on its own, but get this… like I mentioned before, Silver also used the concept of fingernail extension…”

  “Hm. Okay. I wasn’t there, so you’ll have to elaborate a bit more than that.”

  “Agh, fine, I’m getting there!” Artemis snapped, leaning back in her chair as she folded her arms together. “I hate to say it, but it actually wasn’t my theory. Kal’s the one who pieced it together. Because Orvana very clearly has the ability to put people under mind control, so… what if she can also transfer her concepts to the people she has under her control? Wouldn’t that explain why Silver shared one of her concepts before he died and why he kept raging about his master's power also belonging to him? What do you think, Feather?” she asked seriously, leaning forward again as she watched the gears in her cousin’s mind turn.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Feather had always been very smart, ever since they were children. Artemis had never compared to him in the field of academics. She’d always been more oriented towards hands-on crafts where she could make things or get dirty. That’s why she liked gardening and painting, and why she enjoyed designing outfits or sewing, or why she’d always been so good at fencing and had always excelled in physical combat, unlike that very same cousin. It’s also why she’d always been drawn to gravity. After all, gravity was the most hands-on thing there was, right? With it, you could touch anything. It let you break free of your limits and live in a world upside down. It amazed her. But Feather was her opposite.

  She knew he’d probably be able to decipher her words in no time. That was why, back when he’d been entwined in politics as princess Arcadia, he had everyone in a snare the moment he talked. No one wanted to miss what he said, because it always held impeccable insight. So she waited for him to finish thinking, to finish processing the information she’d given him, before he tilted his face upwards with the same sky blue eyes as hers, a trait they both received from their mothers. It took him a moment, but eventually, he gave her his honest thoughts.

  “That is a possibility. Though if she’s handing over her concept to someone else once she meets certain conditions, that would probably be considered an entirely new concept all on its own. Unless she'd mastered some kind of fusion, anyway. I'd be able to tell if I saw her,” he responded naturally, Artemis smiling at him as she gave an earnest nod. “I’d like to have a talk with the prisoner Kya and Achitha captured, though. You know, since Silver is already dead. Can't talk to a vial of ashes in a lab, now can I? So anyway, is Alroy being imprisoned on Lilino or Salaven?”

  “Aw, still avoiding your dear ol’ dad, eh?” she chuckled, ignoring the way Feather turned to give her the fiercest glare as she kept laughing at him. “Oh c’mon, he knows you’re alive now! It’s been more than four hundred years, you should’ve seen the look on his face when Kal told him you were still alive and kicking… the man almost got beheaded, y’know.”

  “Well I thank you for preventing that. But I still refuse to speak to my father,” Feather spoke coldly, voice bordering on anger as he glared at his cousin with all his might.

  But it just made Artemis more amused, as she knew very well that Feather would never make a move to hurt her, and merely raised her teacup back to her lips as she took another small sip. “Ahh, well, I understand. Good thing for you, that angry, foul-mouthed shapeshifter is being locked up on Lilino, not Salaven, so you won’t have to worry about meeting your father dearest.”

  “Good,” Feather snapped, leaning back again as he continued to frown like a petty child. “If my father wants to talk to me, make sure he grovels at your feet first.”

  “Ahah, and if I told you he’d already done that?”

  “I’m still not going to see him,” Feather rejected, dropping another sugar cube into his mouth as he stared up at the bright blue sky. Did his father even actually miss him? Or did he just miss the daughter he used to be? The fact he didn’t know the answer to those questions was the main reason why Feather never wanted to see his father again. Why he never wanted to forgive him for driving him to his very first death. Perhaps if things had just been different, if his father had supported him and his transition, their relationship might have turned out better. Maybe Feather wouldn’t have sought out the concept of anything out of desperation to be free from all that shackled him and accidentally started the apocalypse. Hahh… but was it even worth thinking of any of that now? It didn’t really matter anymore. It didn’t stop things from being far too late.

  And as much as she wished her family could get along, Artemis understood where her cousin was coming from. She understood that her uncle had put Feather through a lot he had never deserved. Still, she thought that if her dear cousin was really going to go down this path and announce himself as an ally of Prince Cirrus Aixon, second prince of Lilino and chosen heir to the throne of his planet, wielder of the fate of prophecy and chosen one to save the world from destruction and apocalypse… well, he’d probably have to get into contact with his father, King Cadence Canasettia of Salaven, and at least have diplomatic talks with him. Was Feather even thinking that far ahead? Probably not. She was amazed he’d even agreed to stay with Cirrus at all. But, then again… they did hold a prophecy together… though that only made her smirk when she thought about what it entailed. How funny.

  “Heh, though, on a different note, Feather,” she smiled, leaning back in her chair once again as she folded her hands together. “I am proud of you. In my opinion, you’ve already come a very long way by accepting Cirrus’ invitation to help,” she complimented, Feather perking up slightly as Kya flipped over another card. “I think this will bring a lot of change into your life, but I think that’s good. I don’t think it would’ve been good for you to keep running away from everything forever. Now that you’re facing it, I think you’ll find that it’s not going to be as bad as you thought it was. And I’m sure Cirrus and all of your other allies will be there to help you every step of the way. I know that myself, Kya, and Leo will always be here for you when you need us. So I really think you should stop stressing yourself out, okay?” she gave a light chuckle, Feather’s eyes wide and cat-like as he blinked at her, leaning himself all the way onto the table to set his head down onto the brown wood, Artemis snickering at him before she moved her hand to sit on his head, ruffling his curly locks of hair like she were soothing a child. “You’re doing great. So just take things one step at a time, and don’t forget that there are people beside you. Okay?”

  “Mm, okay… thanks,” Feather sighed, eyes traveling over to where Kya was cleaning up her cards, the three she’d pulled out based on their conversation front and center. And as he felt lulled into a sense of calm and peace by Artemis’ hands in his hair, he drowsily read over the cards that Kya had drawn.

  The Tower… The Devil… Death… all cards from the major arcana, which all meant major things. Feather might not know much about tarot, but he knew enough thanks to Kya to know that it was rare to pull a hand consisting of all major arcana, and that it usually meant something big was going to happen. And with the look on Kya’s face, it wasn’t something good. Though, he did vaguely remember pulling the Death tarot card in the last reading Kya had done for him, where she’d said it didn’t mean literal death, but rather the transformation of something shifting through natural cycles. Which, it did make sense to him… he remembered the meaning of that tarot card well, probably because he could relate to it more than others. It made him think, just what in his life would meet its symbolic death next? He hoped it wasn’t his freedom.

  Though his thoughts were suddenly disrupted when Artemis pulled his hair with an aggressive yank, as if she didn’t like how fast he was falling asleep, and he yelped and sat up with a scowl, his cousin giving him a blaring laugh as she pointed at his red face. “Haha, stupid! Aw, man, you have tears in your eyes!” she jeered, standing up from her table as she’d finished her tea, pushing the rest of the sugar cubes towards him with a triumphant grin. “Now c’mon, Feather, it’s dress-up time.”

  “Um… it’s what now?” he squinted, already standing up from the table as well to back away in case Artemis tried something weird.

  But before he could run, his cousin reversed his gravity and dragged him towards her, her hand fully gripping his short heap of blond curls as she began dragging him to her house by his hair. “C’mon! You have a very important meeting tomorrow, a meeting with Queen Nadia Aixon, the esteemed ruler of Lilino! You need to look good! Don’t worry, I’ve already been designing a spectacular outfit just for you over the centuries, I’m positive you’ll look breathtaking in it! I’ll even do your makeup! We just need to make sure everything fits!”

  “No, no, no, don’t do my makeup! I don’t wanna wear makeup! Artemis!” Feather screamed, clawing at her hands as he looked pleadingly at his friends. “Kya, Leo, help me! I don’t wanna get dressed up! I command you to help me!”

  “Mm, nope, no siree,” Artemis tugged on him, Feather wailing as he stumbled after her, his tall stature not winning him any points as his cousin kept dragging his head down. “We’re going to make you the most stunning and attractive man ever, trust me. And I really do think you’ll like it!” she grinned, pushing him inside one of her small cottages, the one reserved specifically for the clothing she made and designed piece by piece. “It has a very important part of your past stitched into it! Trust me, you’ll look super handsome! You’ll be like the phoenix you’ve always wanted to be!” she encouraged, Feather continuing to whine and thrash before she shut the door behind them, Kya not even batting an eye as Leo stayed firmly asleep in her lap.

  Well, they’d probably be fine. Kya knew what Artemis was talking about, too, even if Feather didn’t immediately piece it together. Because the being that had first inspired Feather to pursue the concept of anything was not a human, nor a friend, but a phoenix. The prince she’d served for over half her life had set this very phoenix free from its captivity, and in return, the regal creature had gifted him one of its feathers… which would save you from the brink of death only once. Feather had never used it, since he’d mastered the concept of anything shortly after, but Kya had always had a feeling it would be irreplaceable in the future… because her leader was right. He could very well die, even if it wasn’t easy for him by any means. So she could only hope the mighty feather left behind by the legendary beast did what the phoenix had promised it would, and saved his life the moment he needed it. Even if it could only be done once, hopefully… that once would be enough.