As the roar of the angry crowd trembled the tea in their glasses, Misty was looking for a quick and easy exit. Chalene instead put her napkin on her plate and a few coins in the center of the table for the bill.

“Well, I think it’s time I calm that down.” Chalene sighed, as if it was a normal thing for a young woman to do.

“OK.” Percy answered.

“Have fun!” Pookie smiled.

“NO!” Misty shouted, to be heard above the sound of the crowd outside. “Are you insane!? Don’t go out there! Aren’t you some royal nonsense yourself?”

The lamp above the table swayed with the vibration of footsteps. They did not have much time to hide, and although Misty wasn’t a little princess, she didn’t exactly feel safe either.

“Yes!” Chalene smiled. “I’m a princess! I don’t know if ‘nonsense’ is quite how I’d phrase it.”

“They're trying to kill princesses out there. Especially little frivolous ones who throw cutesy tea parties!” Misty hissed, “Listen I can-”

“Now, Misty.” Chalene had a patronizing air to her speech. “Avurn has a very loud and vibrant voice and we celebrate it! Sometimes they do it in a wild and overly enthusiastic fashion, but…” A brick was thrown in a window across the street, a flurry of vulgar curses followed it.

Chalene’s concentration was broken for only a mere second, before she was smiling again as if it were only the chime of a bird on the wind.

“...So long as we learn to channel our song in a different way than outright murder, then Avurn will be bolstered by their spirit!” Chalene said, as she she was turning to leave through the front door.

Misty could not believe she was going to witness yet another assassination. She turned to Percy and pulled him toward her by the nape of his citrus green coat.

“Aren’t you going to stop her!?” She hissed.

“Misty! You haven’t seen magic till you’ve seen Chalene Bezett!” He told her, enthusiasm in his eyes.

Suddenly, the last sound Misty ever expected erupted from a crowd: it was a cheer. Through the window Misty saw Chalene outstretching her arms, and the fierce riot quickly converted into a crowd of adoring fans.

Since her voice was muffled by the window, Misty wasn’t sure what Chalene was saying to them, but maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe Chalene had a different way of possessing people’s minds that worked with her delicate voice instead of terrible eyes.

Misty felt injustice burn within her chest. Either way, let it be through her eyes or this voice, it was still a facade. It wasn’t fair to any of those people who were so desperate to be heard.

Now that she was standing outside of it and watching it happen, Misty finally understood why everyone around her growing up feared her so much when her own eyes flipped to red. But unlike Misty, Chalene left people feeling good and happy, at least for a little while. She left them feeling like they had the semblance of a choice.

“That is magic.” Misty whispered in disbelief.

“She’s the perfect Bezett. A beam of warmth and light wherever she goes.” Percy explained. “Always knows the right thing to say. Her words can solve...anything.”

“Oh cringe!” Pookie huffed, “Look at your nose blush, Perce!”

Percy hid his nose behind his tea cup, but could not hide the smile around his muzzle.

“That woman, she’s not solving things, Percy, she’s only telling them what they want to hear.” Misty told him firmly.

“But that’s all I need.” he explained.

“Take it from my experience.” Said Misty, a tiny paw on his full sized shoulder. “You’re madly in love with someone that loves everyone. You’ll never be special to her, even if you were actually with her.”

Percy was hardly surprised by this. The words rolled right off of him. But to Brinkley, who was doing his best not to overhear, these words cut him straight through.

Looking down at his plate of steak, Brinkley forced himself to eat. He had no choice but to swallow, he barely recovered from his injuries that were still healing on the side of his torso. But, it was hard to put a fork to his plate. It was hard to keep it down although his stomach was starving.

Honestly, Brinkley thought it would be days before he was back on his feet, and by that point he would have been escaping a morgue rather than a doctors office. He had to hand it to the Sugarbird who cared for him, it was almost like the bird had used an Azmriz potion. Which was odd, Sugarbirds had a vendetta against potions.

Nothing so far was working out for Brinkley. Not even Misty.

“You think Chalene’s fake, huh?” Percy said to Misty, squinting in disdain. “You think she’s mean? My creation would say that about My Chalene?”

Pookie giggled, reaching over Misty to grab Percy by the elbow.

“Perhaps that’s what you really feel deep down, Perce!” Pookie suggested. Percy gasped at the thought, pushing Pookie away.

“I have always despised women like her.” Misty said, watching as Chalene touched the hands of people on the front row of the crowd like some sort of saint.

“Because she’s nice?” Percy asked her. “Because she wants to make the world a better place?”

“Because she’s pink.” Said Misty.

Chalene and Percy had heard this girl mutter quite a few cryptic otherworldly phrases, but this was by far the most unintelligible one.

“What?” Pookie laughed picking at her dark dress, “Girls can’t like pink? Take this from me, a girl who only wears black.”

“She likes pink because she thinks girls like pink, there’s a difference.” Misty explained, knowing full well that perhaps particular human nuances about color theory and sexism didn’t quite extend to Avurn. But, she didn’t fully care if Percy or Chalene understood.

“Wow, Sherlock, you think you have someone figured out in two seconds of meeting her?” Percy sniffed. “You don’t know her. She never wanted to be royal superstar, Misty. Chalene just wanted to be a Mother.”

“I’m sure her boyfriend can arrange it.” Misty hissed.

“Woah, Dude!” Pookie grabbed a tea cookie, dropping crumbs all over the seat. “I get that you’re bitter Mcbitterson and taking it out on Chay for no reason, but no one has conceived a kid in Avurn for 7 years.”

Slowly, Misty turned her head from the window and back to Pookie. Now that Pookie had mentioned it, she just realized that she hadn’t seen any actual kittens since coming here. Misty had judged that the kids sitting next to her were teens just based on smell. But maybe her keen sense of smell was deceiving her.

...7 years?

“How OLD are you?” Misty asked carefully.

“We’re both 12.” Percy said, pointing over to Pookie.

“So...if you’re an ancient Grandma of the age of 12, how old is Miranda and Ahzila?” Misty scoffed.

“She’s like 40 or something. Ahzila’s in her late 20’s? Divorce age, that’s all I know.” Said Percy. Misty could barely conceive it, she had to hold her head.

“A 40 year old cat!? She’d be dead! Dead!”

Brinkley, from behind the curtain, sighed into his drink.

“On Earth, yeah.” Said Percy, “But here, that’s 60 more years on your life, at least.”

Misty steadied herself by gripping the table with both paws.

“You’re being REALLY judgey and bitter for a humunculous.” Pookie mused, lifting up Misty’s chin with one long hand.

“More like a felinculous.” Percy laughed.

“My name is MISTY.” Misty piped, suddenly feeling very, very small in this room full of giants.

“Well Misty, tell me,” Pookie asked, “How old are you? 4 minutes?”

“4 years!” Misty answered.

“You seem really, really OLD for a 4 year old.” Percy wondered, tapping his chin.

“She’s kinda like an Earth cat, Perce! Earth years are weird. Clovis is only 5, you know? Earth makes you hella old, even if your body ages fast! Kind of messed up that anyone would want to live there.” Pookie sighed, patting Misty on the head.

Percy looked over at his unusual guest, puzzled, but still interested. The concept was ringing in Misty’s ears. She had heard Ahzila talk about it before with the Sugarbird who worked on Brinkley, but she didn’t truly understand what he had meant until that moment. The music of the restaurant changed tracks from a gentle piano, to an ethereal lo-fi harp arrangement, but it did nothing to soothe her mood.

“So, Misty, you really don’t know anything, do you?” Percy realized, his eyes widening. “You don’t even know why those guys back there wanted to kill me? And yet...you still saved me?”

“Wasn’t right for them to kill you like that.” Misty explained, leaning on her arms and feeling the warmth of the lamp on her back.

Most of Avurn had been so cold, but this restaurant had the warmth of an oven and hanging lights that emitted more heat than just a simple house lamp back at Earth. While the restaurant was still kitchy as hell, she couldn't help but relish the heat.

“Was it?” Percy told her gravely, “Was that really your choice to make, Misty? Like...who do you think you are?”

“So you wanted to die?” Misty quipped, surprised that Percy was taking his own life so lightly.

But, perhaps Percy was so used to being a chopping block, that he didn’t let it get to his heart anymore. Maybe he had closed it off years ago and never expected that someone would have altruistic intentions.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I’m alive. It’s just...Avurn is out of balance.” Percy said. “You don’t get what you did today. Me merely existing means I knocked someone else out of the ruling class who has held that spot for years and years. So did Chay.”

“Me too!” Pookie smiled, “Heck, they decided to curse me they were so mad!”

The light above them shattered, Misty reflexively jumped nearly two feet.

“Aha! That was me! I shouldn’t say that word.” Poo smiled awkwardly, putting down her food since it was now filled with shards of glass. Percy did the same with his cup as the waiter patiently took their food away.

Suddenly, Misty realized the meaning of the large pendant around Pookie’s neck. It was a warning. To be the Ahzrea Mewtza, as the crowd had called her, meant that she was cursed. What Misty had at first thought was just her being clumsy and unlucky was just a symptom of a much greater problem brewing underneath Pookie’s innocent smile.