Anzu runs up to me and squawks, letting me know that he wants up onto my shoulder again. I absentmindedly comply as I will my sword to morph back into a dagger, stretching out an arm and huffing with surprise as he drops onto my shoulder, now a good deal heavier after his impromptu meal of giant horned beetle bits. He calmly begins grooming himself as I open the envelope with a good deal of trepidation.

Silver mistlike magic darts out from the ripped end of the envelope, hovering poised above it as I pull out the piece of parchment inside. The bewitched paper is blank, but as I unfold it, the silver fog descends upon it, with clearly legible words forming wherever it touches, like a pen to paper. I watch it wordlessly as it begins to inscribe the parchment.

For the Honorable Miss Evelyn Mortis,

The parchment reads. Me, honorable? I emit a shaky giggle. You must be joking. I gulp when I realize that whoever was watching me must already know my name. The enchanted tendrils steadily continue writing, and I shiver as I slide my gaze downwards, continuing to read the contents of the envelope with a feeling of mounting alarm.

..In light of witnessing tonight's most recent and highly irregular events, I would like to formally ask you to attend tomorrow's meeting of like-talented individuals. Because your extraordinary necromancy power is so rare, we feel that you would benefit greatly from the training programs that we have to offer on our grounds. They are custom tailored to suit the individual's unique skills and abilities, both in team and in singular combat settings, and will no doubt help you to expand your magical repertoire further than it has ever been before. Should you choose to agree to this arrangement, we will send someone your way to guide you to us. Don't bother to try to find us, for we will surely find you without fail.

With best regards,

Commander Vidalia,

Head Night Hunter, Central Mirian District, Division 1

I stiffen, a hand over my heart, barely able to breathe. No. The Hunters, they know?

Anzu picks up on my agitation, snapping his beak at the mist, which recoils from him for a second, and then strokes him on the head fondly. Anzu stretches up, allowing it to reach his softer chin and underbelly, rumbling with happiness as it tickles him gently.

"I-" I don't know what to do. Decline, and I can go back home and hopefully pretend that none of this has ever happened. Lupe promised that he wouldn't tell anyone about my powers, and, oddly enough, I believe him. Even that Healer had no idea what particular kind of magic I have, so he has no clue about any of this. I can just continue on with my life, and forget about all of this.

But if I accept, then I can learn everything that I've ever wanted to know about the Night Hunters. I'd satiate my curiosity, learn about new people and their powers. Perhaps I could even go on an exciting adventure or two along the way. Preferably without dying, though, if I can have the choice.

Oh, and the whole combat thing sounds fun, too.

The parchment quivers impatiently, and the mist taps me on the forehead, bidding me to watch it for a moment more. It dips down to the paper once again, a delicate ribbon writing with a beautiful cursive hand.

Please give us your answer, the Night Hunters urgently await your response.

I frown at it. "Great, so you're on a timer, too?" I grouse. The haze taps the paper questioningly. "Alright, alright, I get it!" I grumble. "Just give me a moment more to think it over, please." The mist obediently recedes, giving me some proper breathing room at last. I glance over at Anzu, who returns my look quizzically with his big yellow cat-and-eagle's eyes, tilting his head back at me and squawking sweetly.

"I know, I know, Anzu. This has been such a strange night, and this definitely isn't something to be taken lightly. But I think that I've already made up my mind, though my mother will most certainly not approve of my choice."

I sigh, praying that my decision will prove to be the right one. "My answer is: ..Yes. I accept." The fog suddenly gives a delighted, graceful little twirl and promptly darts onto the parchment one final time.

Miss Evelyn Mortis, Aged 25, Necromancer: Accepted.

It daintily underlines the word accepted, seeming to be quite pleased with itself as the word glows bright green, then sinks into the paper. The magical haze swirls around me joyfully, then rolls itself around the parchment, tying itself together into an ornate bow. It then vanishes with nary a trace.

I exhale slowly. "Well, Anzu. I guess that it's high time that we found Arissa and headed home for the night. What do you say?"

The griffin chick shrieks excitedly, flapping his tiny wings with great enthusiasm.

I smile at him. "Yes, you'll like her. She always has some kind of nice snack on hand. ..But she is completely and utterly weird."

Anzu nuzzles the side of my face, beaking my hair reflectively as I go back outside amid the slowly dispersing crowd of people. Several humans stare in shock at the miniscule griffin baby sitting perched on my shoulder, but most just glance my way and then largely ignore me once they notice my shabby state. Ha! I don't look so rich now, do I? I roll my eyes at them as they snobbily glance down their noses at me, making note of their faces in case any one of them would try to sue me for this mess. Tip one: Always be ready to deny everything. Ugh. Talentless aristocrats. I hate you, too.

I go around the back of the building, looking for my aristocrat. "Arissa? Arissa, are you here somewhere? Are you safe?" I call, finally having the time to properly worry about her.

Her voice answers me faintly. "Yes, Evelyn! I'm over here! Don't fret, I'm fine! My wonderful Jack's with me!" I follow the sound of her voice to a small outbuilding off of the Hall's main framework.

Jack and Arissa are sitting quietly together on his cart in the horse stables. Arissa giggles as she leans over and feeds small tidbits of food to a silently blushing Jack, their hands just barely touching on the worn wood of his wagon.

Arissa hardly glances at me as she pops a chocolate-covered strawberry into her crushes' mouth. "You look a mite more disheveled than earlier, Evelyn. Did something happen?" She asks me, clearly oblivious to everything that's happened in Ball Hall. She carefully wipes the side of Jack's mouth with her handkerchief, humming to herself.

I gape at her. "You're joking, right? You do know that the Hall's been evacuated? That there's been a fire? And an explosion? And a couple of near deaths?!!"

Her eyes widen into twin pools of glittering emerald green. "No! Really?!!" She then smirks. "And it wasn't even me this time..!" She then immediately gasps as another terrible thought occurs to her, cupping her hands over her mouth in an immense show of terrible anguish. "Oh my gosh! You didn't injure that cute tall guy of yours in the chaos, did you?!! Because stabbing tall, dark, and handsome would be about the absolute stupidest thing that you could possibly do to a potential husband like hi-!"

"-NO, I DID NOT!!!" I slam my hands down onto the cart, narrowly avoiding getting a splinter in one of my palms. Jack jumps and inhales sharply, loudly bemoaning the state of his poor wagon as I continue touchily: "..His name is Lupe, Lupe Shendo, and.. I mean, maybe I did injure him indirectly, but- ..Er, this is no time to be fooling around!!!" I bark. "Didn't you hear the screaming?!!"

Arissa looks confused, distractedly brushing something vaguely brown in color off of her dress. "Um, no. We weren't even really technically here for the past half hour or so, but please don't tell papa that. We just got back a couple of minutes ago."

"Where were you-?!! Never mind, I don't want to know. The point is that some crazy.. Stuff.. Has happened, and, well... Oh, this is getting needlessly complicated. Arissa, we need to leave, now. I'll explain everything at home, I promise, but this is so bad. Or good. I guess that it really depends on how you look at it, but we're leaving. This instant."

Arissa gives me an utterly baffled look, but upon seeing my stressed demeanor, doesn't object. "Okay, but you've got some serious explaining to do later, Evvy." She quickly plants a large kiss on Jack's cheek. "I'll hopefully see you soon, then?" She asks him. He puffs out his cheeks in childlike surprise and grins as she flutters her lips over his forehead in a butterfly kiss.

Then, gathering himself, he takes her hand one last time in his own, giving her a careful gentlemanly kiss on it. "Sure thing, My La- Um, Arissa."

She clasps his hand in hers for a moment more, smiling encouragingly at him, and then she withdraws from him sadly. "I'm going to miss you until then, you know."

Jack chuckles bashfully. "Same here."

Arissa glances around us. "Evvy, I don't suppose that you've brought one of those Porter fellows here with you, by any chance?"

"Let me check, 'Rissa. Won't be a moment." I slowly and dramatically look left and right. The entire back area is already long since deserted. "Hmm, no. Not that I can see, but maybe I just need a magnifying glass..."

Arissa snorts. "Okay, okay, I was just asking! Goodness, you're in a foul mood tonight."

"Because horrible stuff might be about to happen shortly, and I'd prefer that you knew some things about me beforeha-"

"-Is that a griffin chick on your shoulder?" She interrupts me suspiciously.

"You're only noticing it now?!!" I retort exasperatedly. "Seriously?!! What planet do you hail from?!!"

"W-well, it's so tiny that I just didn't really notice it until now, and- Oh, it's so cute! I love it!!! Here, let me give it a little treat from my private stash!" She rummages around underneath the skirt of her dress, (while I quickly bid a flaming-cheeked Jack to look away) and comes up with a completely random chunk of bloody, fresh raw meat. Grade AAA, by the looks of it.

My jaw drops. "What? When? How?!! And most importantly, why the heck do you even have that.. Thing strapped to your thigh?!!" I stammer out more incoherent gibberish while I question why I'm even friends with this strange piece of work. "Are you sure that you're not a Vulcanite with a taste for raw meat or something?" I comment. "..Or maybe a homicidal housecat?"

"Very funny." She mutters.

"I wasn't trying to be funny." I reply. "I am legitimately very concerned about the state of your mental health right now."

She rolls her eyes, largely ignoring me as she gives the hunk of meat to Anzu, who snaps it up greedily, getting even fatter as he does so. I swear that he's just grown another inch bigger around the middle. "..I like to be ready with the odd bit of meat from time to time. Is that so weird?"

"Yes, very." I answer. "You're quite clearly mental."

"I am though, aren't I?" She replies proudly. "..What can I say? I like to plan ahead." She cackles maniacally. "Ahahahahahahaaa!" She then hiccups as she squints at me and adds. .."Hehehe!"

"Nox, have you been drinking?!!" I ask her in sudden realization, horrified. "It's dangerous stuff, that punch. It hits you all at once, and then-!"

"-I only had a spot of it!" She answers defensively, pinching her fingers together to illustrate her point. "Party punchy, no more than a thimbleful! Heeheehee!" She then looks at me in confusion, her head swaying from side to side slightly. "..Or maybe twenty tho- Thu- Thimblefuls. ..Oh, I think that I've hit my limit at long last."

I sigh. "That's it, we're heading home."

Arissa wiggles her fingers at Jack in a fond farewell and obediently collapses into my arms as I go to lift her up, now having gone completely limp once she feels my hands underneath her armpits. She throws her head back with a loud snort, her tongue lolling out of her mouth with a complete lack of refined grace and dignity.

"I am not amused, 'Rissa." I grumble at her, annoyed.

Jack vaults off of his wagon. "Here, let me help." He approaches me from behind and pries Arissa out of my arms, gently tossing her over one of his broad shoulders like a sack of extremely expensive potatoes. Arissa giggles and reaches over to pat him on the head, affectionately running her hand through his soft brown hair.

"Good boy. My boy has floof for hair. I love floof!" She giggles again, hardly even slurring her words as she gives a happy little wiggle with her bum. "..And I think that I looove you, too, Jacky boy!" As Jack turns towards me, I notice that Arissa's rear end is now doing an impressive little shimmy as she snuggles her face adoringly against his thick bicep.

I did not need to see this...

Jack suddenly chokes up, looking very hopeful again. "I sure hope that ya do, because I really-" He grunts and adjusts Arissa as she starts to slip, not that she'd notice much of anything in her condition anyway.

So drop her, then.

No, Evvy! Friends don't drop friends when they're out of it!

..Maybe later, then. When she's sober...

"Home, Jack." I interrupt. Please, no soppy stuff at this time of night. "Just put her into your wagon properly so that we can find a working Porter, please."

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Okay, will do." He releases the pins on the back of his wagon and climbs up, carefully placing Arissa into it. She immediately settles down and begins snoring uproariously, her hands set underneath her head as she recuperates from the effects of the legendary Mirian punch.

"Now we just need to find Lord Lumos and that Porter." I continue grumpily. "He'd better not have abandoned me to deal with his daughter again.." Thankfully, even as I say these words, the Lord himself appears, bringing with him a hastily-dressed, thirty-something, lanky male Porter with sleep-deprived eyes.

The Lord takes one look at the scene: Jack, standing in his cart over his inebriated and snoring daughter, and me, clothes ripped and just a mite muddy, my hair undone, my shoes curiously missing their heels, and quickly pulls out a small handful of coins, (silver marks, from what I can see, to ensure premium service at this time of night) tossing them to the Porter, who quickly catches them in one hand, asking no questions. "Take me to Lumos mansion at once, my good man. And as for these three.."

"I need to urgently speak to Arissa on a matter of the utmost importance, my Lord." I quickly state, bowing my head at him respectfully.

He twirls his mustache, staring at her sleeping form disapprovingly. "Hmm, hmm. I suppose you mean if she'll ever wake up again? Well, if I don't have to deal with her for a few more hours yet, I won't argue..."

Jack speaks up quietly. "I'll be going home now."

Lord Lumos glances at him. "Not on foot you won't. Spare your ponies, I'll pay for this trip. You've earned it, putting up with my daughter in this state."

Jack looks a little giddy now, like a child who's just been offered free sugar syrup. "Oh, wow! A real Porter trip?!!"

Lord Lumos emits a deep chuckle. "Indeed. For all of you." His mustache curls up with generous pleasure at the boy's genuinely delighted look.

The Porter pockets the silver marks, whipping out a little notebook and a small pencil. "Locations, please."

Lord Lumos immediately lists all of our desired drop points while the Porter quickly marks each one of them down: Jack's shack for 'that delightful young man and his dear ponies', the Lumos mansion for him, and my humble cottage for his pitiful daughter and I.

The Porter nods officially. "In the given order?"

"Yes, thank you. That will do."

The Porter bows to him once. "Very well, my Lord." He turns to all of us. "Please prepare yourselves for the trip." On observing Jack's clearly evident excitement, he smiles at him. "First time taking a Journey?"

Jack grins back at him. "Yeah."

The Porter pounds his fist against his chest proudly, looking a little livelier now that he's had a chance to wake up a bit. "Then you're in for a treat! There's none better to take you around than I."

"'I'll believe it when I see iiit.." Arissa mumbles with a loud and tired yawn. "Okay, it's all slept off now!" She announces brightly, bouncing up and peering at us from over the cart, all sparkly-eyed and perky. "So, what'd I miss?"

The men each look like they could be knocked over by a phoenix feather. They all wear matching stunned expressions on their faces.

"H-how?!!" Lord Lumos barks, completely baffled.

"Tch, papa, a big tch to you! I take after mama, obviously." Arissa responds sassily. "How do you think she can handle all of those Sunset Sizzlers that she's so fond of?" She snorts. "If anyone has an astounding capacity for drinks, it's my mama. It's almost literal magic how she manages to remain so completely unaffected by-"

"-Not in front of the commoners, child!" Lord Lumos flashes a highly embarrassed look at the other two men. "I do apologize for my daughter's erratic behavior tonight. She was bewitched at a very young age by a-"

"-Was not!" Arrissa interrupts. "I can't believe that you're trying to pass off my natural-born awesomeness as the result of some random witches' enchantment again! Find some new material, papa, that one's getting old!"

Lord Lumos is now starting to sweat. "Ah, well, you see, when she was but a wee babe in her gilded cot..." He quickly gives up when he notices that the other two aren't following.

The Porter shrugs. "In my line of business, you learn not to ask questions."

The Lord claps him on the back gratefully. "Thank you, my dear Porter, sir."

The lanky Porter bows to him. "I prefer the term Voyeur, myself, but you're welcome all the same. Now if I can ask everyone to step into the cart, I'd appreciate it. I still haven't had enough sleep to fully recharge my magic since I last used it, and this is going to take some doing."

Arissa quickly scratches up some hay from the side of the cart, tossing it over herself in a rush and sliding down into the bottom of the wagon in a mysterious manner. "Hehehe! I've vanished!"

Her relatively bright red hair kind of gives her exact location away, but I give her credit for trying anyway.

We all squeeze in beside each other on the wagon, while Mina and Dewdrop give the Porter equally suspicious glances as he walks behind them and carefully places his hands onto the side of the cart, powering his magic up. When Mina tries to bite him, Jack leans out and thumps her gently on the back. Mina staggers sideways comically with a guttural cough, her eyes wide, and Jack gives her a confused look. "I didn't do it that hard, did I?"

Dewdrop sniggers as much as a pony possibly can, and Mina flashes her a hostile glare, shrilly neighing what sounds like a very rude curse at her. Dewdrop seems wholly taken aback and gives her a greatly offended look. Jack's eyes widen, and he gasps. "Language!!!" He stares at Mina with deep disappointment shrouding his honest hazel eyes. "I thought that I'd taught ya better than that, Min. Shame on you!"

Mina has the grace and good sense to at least look somewhat ashamed.

I raise an eyebrow at Arissa, but she's too busy admiring the evident strength in Jack's arms to notice anything that I do. "He's totally ripped. Those thick ropelike cords straining against his tight sleeves.. Ohhh, he's sooo hot!!!" Arissa squeals giddily to herself, doing a happy little dance in the back of the cart. "-And he's mine mine mine! AHAHAHAAA!!! Admire him and weep, girls!"

"Your brain seriously isn't running at one hundred percent capacity, is it, 'Rissa?" I mutter.

She smirks back at me, her face looking absolutely diabolical in the meager lamplight out in the back of the venue. "Nope!"

The Porter squeezes his eyes shut as he counts down. "Traveling in three.. Two.. One.." The entire cart lights up as his magic is fully activated, and we are assailed by the intense glare it generates. The cart (along with all of us inside of it, as well as the ponies) presumably vanishes from the premises with a slight pop.