The next morning, Baird sat cross-legged on the couch, his laptop resting on his legs and his fingers drumming on the keyboard. Paragraphs shot up onto the screen in quick succession, his word processor lagging slightly at the rapidity of his typing. When a stroke of inspiration came, Baird knew better than to let it languish away in his mind. 

He looked up when Abigail padded over to him. Seeing her soft smile, he offered her a grin and placed the computer on the coffee table. When she embraced him, he reciprocated, sighing when she placed a light kiss on his forehead. 

"Sorry to bother you," she began, "but we're all out of eggs. You wanna go down to the market and get some? Or actually, I guess I could—" 

Baird rose to his feet and laid a hand on his wife's shoulder. "You're not bothering me. I'll do it. You want chicken, or ulaetia?" 

Abigail grinned. "I think we could use some bigger omelets." 

Baird smirked and nodded. "I figured as much. Ulaetia it is." 

The redheaded woman followed her husband to the shoe rack. "I should come with you, shouldn't I?" 

"No, we can't leave these crazy people in our home without supervision." 

Abigail giggled. "Fair enough. But still...I don't want you going by yourself." 

Baird raised an eyebrow. "Not sure why that is, but alright. I'll see if Hannah's up." 

"Sounds like a plan." she replied, giving him a peck on the cheek. 

With a boyish grin, Baird ascended the stairs. He soon reached a hallway, and passing by two doors, he came to a red door, which he knocked on. He heard some shuffling inside before the door flung open, and Hannah's beaming face appeared in the opening. 

"Good mornin'!" she shouted, throwing her arms around him and resting her head in his chest. 

The corners of Baird's lips leapt up at the sight of her as he returned the embrace. "Good morning, Hannah. You slept well, I hope?" 

"Oh yeah, your beds are real comfy!" 

"I'm glad to hear it. So, listen, Abby's about ready to make breakfast, but we need eggs. I'm going down to the market to get some, and was curious if you'd want to tag along." 

Hannah nodded vigorously. "Sure thang! Let's just hope no more robbers come tryin' to steal from us." 

Baird chuckled. "Well, I'm bringing my sword, so that's no worry of mine." 

The next door over creaked open, and Brant stepped out into the hallway. He eyed Baird gravely for a second before mumbling, "Good morning." 

"Good morning." Baird replied with a nod, "How about you? Wanna come down to the market to get Abby some eggs?" 

"I don't have anything better to do, so sure." Brant remarked, already disappearing back into his room. 

Baird patted Hannah's shoulder one last time. "Alright, well, I'll be downstairs, whenever you're ready." 

"Sounds like a plan!" 

He spun on his heel and headed back down the stairs with a contented smile on his lips. 

******************** 

About fifteen minutes later, Baird hoisted a basket of huge rust-colored eggs off a table and led the way down the pathway leading back home. Even as early in the morning as it was, the marketplace teemed with people. He chuckled as he noticed a sign reading, "Tired of market noise? Buy me earplugs!" 

Baird turned and pointed out the sign to Hannah and Brant. Hannah burst into laughter, while Brant only gave a slight smirk out of courtesy. 

The trio continued down the way for another minute before Hannah stopped at a stand where five varicolored puppies leaned toward the edge of the basket they sat in, with panting mouths and wagging tails. She squealed and started speaking to them in a high, friendly pitch while petting them. The man sitting at the table, who was selling the dogs, smirked at her enthusiasm. 

Baird glanced at Brant, who silently watched the girl with a stony face. But Baird thought he sensed a hint of pleasure behind his eyes. What a confusing man. 

Before Brant could notice his lingering glance, Baird cast it elsewhere. He narrowed his eyes as a blond man marched over from several stands away, his steps determinate and face serious. The hilt of a sword peeked over each of the man's shoulders, and his store of blades didn't end there. His legs were lined with dozens of sheathed daggers, so numerous that they completely concealed his pants. 

The man stepped right up to Hannah with his lips tightened to a thin line. "If you know what's good for you, lady, hand me that necklace of yours. It belongs to me." 

Hannah turned to face the man, her forehead wrinkled. "Sorry, sir, but I don't have it." 

"Sure you don't." the blond replied with a sarcastic chuckle, "Thieves 'never have' the things they stole." 

Baird's eyes widened as the man slipped a dagger out of its scabbard, the blade hidden behind his leg. He unsheathed his own sword and lunged forward. The man managed to block the blow with his smaller blade while he snatched his own sword with his other hand. 

******************** 

Aaron, Wendy, Keira, and Ace sat around a table in the breakfast restaurant across the street from their hotel. Their food had just arrived, and Aaron smirked as Wendy eyed her plate with obvious pleasure. 

He glanced down at his own bowl and silently wondered if he would enjoy it. He ran his spoon around in the thick, steaming broth, pulling up the chunks and examining them. Some were chunks of egg, others of beef, and still others of potato. But all the other vegetables floating in the soup were unfamiliar to him, and caused him some skepticism. Nonetheless, Wendy now stared at him with a raised eyebrow, so he finally inhaled and took a bite. 

Aaron smiled pleasantly as he tasted the rich, creamy broth, with hints of nuttiness throughout. Then he bit down on the chunk that his spoon had pulled up with the stock. His forehead wrinkled as an explosion of spiciness assaulted his mouth, burning his tongue and causing his cheeks to tingle. He coughed, considering spitting it out, but painfully decided against it for courtesy's sake. 

Wendy glanced up, genuine concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?" 

Aaron coughed again and moved the starchy vegetable chunk to the side of his mouth to speak. But the juices burned the inside of his cheek, and with a grimace, he moved it back to the center. 

Wendy gasped. "Did you get a pequan?" she urgently pointed at the milky substance in a small cup beside his bowl. "You're supposed to put the neutralizer in there to cancel it out!" 

Aaron raised an eyebrow, but quickly moved to obey, pouring a small amount in his mouth before pouring the rest of the container into his soup. He swished the tasteless substance in his mouth and sighed with relief as it instantaneously quenched the fire that had burned so painfully. 

"Thanks." he said, meeting Wendy's eyes. 

"Yeah. So, how do you like it?" 

"Well, I haven't had a bite that didn't try to kill me yet, so give me a sec." Aaron remarked with a smirk. 

"Why's the bread stringy?" Ace asked, staring at his sandwich as if it was a deadly foe. 

"There's bloody cheese in the dough, you nutter!" Wendy exclaimed. 

"Okay." 

Keira wiped her lips and grinned at the blonde. "I didn't realize you could cook Danlashian cabbage!" 

"Of course you can." Wendy replied, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, "Other cabbage just gets soggy, but the real stuff caramelizes." 

Aaron grinned widely as he crunched down on a potato. "How do you cook potato in a soup, yet have it turn out crunchy?" 

"That's the secret. You don't." Wendy explained, "They cook the potato separately, and drop them into the soup at the last possible minute." 

"Well, this is certainly something we miss out on, on the mainland." Aaron remarked pleasantly. 

"I know. I don't even think a bloody angel in heaven could be more chuffed than me right now." 

Aaron chuckled as he sipped some more broth. Then he frowned at Ace, who stared at one of the other tables with an expression that was uncharacteristically anxious. "You good, bro?" 

Ace's attention snapped back over to Aaron. "Yeah, I'm good." 

"Are you sure? You looked awfully...concerned a moment ago." 

He shrugged. "I dunno, that guy over there keeps staring at me. There he goes again!" 

Aaron squinted at the man Ace identified. He sported spiky black hair and skin of a similar dark shade to Ace's, only his bore more of a reddish undertone. And sure enough, his eyes lingered constantly on their stealthy companion, rarely wavering, except when he gulped mouthfuls straight from the big red bottle on his table, skipping the wine glass altogether. 

Aaron restrained an outburst of laughter as Ace thrusted his open hand out toward the staring man, in a flustered nonverbal demand for an explanation. After another gulp, the man shot to his feet and marched over to the table. Wendy tightened the buckles of her armor and placed a hand on her helmet sitting atop the table. 

"Seriously, dude, what's your deal?" Ace demanded once the man was in earshot. 

Without saying a word, the spiky-haired man grabbed the corner of the table and overturned it on Ace. Everybody gasped, but nobody more vigorously than Ace himself, as the weight of the table crashed down on him, along with the burning splash of Aaron's soup. 

The man sped around the fallen table and snatched Ace up by the neck, reaching into his jacket pocket and removing a skull-shaped stone with glowing red eye sockets. Aaron leapt out of his chair and spun the attacker around with a snatch of his shoulder. Then he spanked the item out of his hand. The stone clattered to the floor, soon back in good hands as Keira darted between the attacker's legs and snatched it back. 

The spiky-haired man threw a punch at Aaron, who gasped as the blow sent him flying into a nearby table. This dude's too powerful! What's up with the weirdly strong guys lately? 

"Give me that stone." the man ordered Keira, who cowered behind a glaring Wendy. 

"Why in the bloody world would she do something daft like that?" the Danlashian spat, slipping her helmet on. 

"I am Albatross, god of endurance, and it's my due to be obeyed by mankind." 

"Yeah, sure." Ace said, jerking his arm forward with a dagger in hand. 

Albatross spun and blocked the blow with a gauntlet. He threw Ace down onto Aaron and banged his two gauntlets together. Out of either side of his wrists extended bladed projections that formed two shields with sharp edges. He then charged at Wendy with the sharp border pointed at her face. 

Wendy harmlessly blocked the blow and returned one of her own, a kick straight to his groin. After a minimal grimace and a mere second's pause, he redoubled his efforts. While he grappled with Wendy, Keira darted out from behind her and raced for the door. 

Albatross' eyes widened as he noticed her escape. He shoved Wendy aside and leapt over the fallen table to follow. However, Aaron lunged at him, pinning him to the ground and throwing a punch at his face. Without even straining, Albatross lifted the brawny man and tossed him into a supporting pillar. With a gasp of pain, Aaron crumpled into a ball. 

Albatross leapt to his feet. When Ace hurled a loop of rope around his neck and tugged, he stood his ground and wrapped his fingers around the hemp fibers. He tore them apart effortlessly and continued his advance to the door. 

Once again, Wendy snatched Albatross' arm and tugged at him. A random brute from a nearby table leapt up and assisted her. Albatross sighed and snatched a bowl of soup from a meager man. He dumped its contents onto his assailants and watched as they screamed out. Sticky clams clung to the brute's skin and burned him, while the boiling broth slithered through gaps in Wendy's armor and cooked her inside. With them taken care of, he sprinted through the doorway. 

Aaron steeled himself and hoisted his aching body off the ground. With a limping gait, he hurried out the door after Albatross. Once outside, he gasped. The man had caught Keira and now straddled her, one arm pinning her shoulder to the ground, and the other hand clutching her throat. 

"Give it up, woman!" Albatross shouted, tightening his grip on her airway. 

Aaron growled and increased his speed, determined to help his sister. But once he reached her attacker, he was simply swatted away. Aaron gasped as he dropped to the ground, his head colliding with the concrete. 

He watched in horror as Albatross snatched Keira's hand into his own and peeled her fingers away from the skull-shaped stone. She gritted her teeth, visibly struggling to retain her grasp of the object, but all to no avail. The man rose victoriously, the stone emanating red light from the gaps between his fingers as he gripped his prize.

******************** 

A/N: A trip to the market gone awry, a glimpse into Danlashian food, and two mysterious attackers...there's a lot to talk about here, I suppose. I hope this chapter was enjoyable to you, and if so, please leave some comments and a vote. 

So here's a fun little question: If these characters were taken and put in a video game, with game mechanics accurate to how they actually do things, which one do you think you would find most fun to play? 

(For me, I think it'd be between Ace and Keira, probably the latter. There's something oddly satisfying to me about a game with a well-designed sniper class where you can move about nimbly and take enemies out from afar like a boss. Plus, Keira has her grapple gun, so I feel like you could make some cool maneuvers to get from place to place.) 

And for a more random question, what's your least favorite movie of all time? 

(This is hard for me, because I rarely detest something in its entirety. But I think my pick would be Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That movie is the definition of disrespect for everything that went before it, and making huge writing decisions just because it's "funny" or "unexpected" is so stupid. Plot twists ain't 💩 if there's really no plot to begin with. 😂) 

And with that, I'm gone. I hope you have a great day and week ahead, and I'll hopefully see you on Friday! Bye!