Taking Lisha's hand, Vathion twirled her to face him before dipping her low. Lisha's long blue hair pooled on the floor. Her luminous eyes sparkled in the stage lights as they widened, then slowly closed. Tilting her chin up, she opened for the kiss she knew was supposed to come.

As the moment dragged on, Lisha cracked an eye open, her tender expression souring. She had just enough time to register his devious grin before Vathion closed in with the sloppiest kiss on record. Lisha collapsed to the floor in an undignified heap. Stepping over her, Vathion swept his command baton out, pointing it upward as he declared his final line to the audience.

"Onward, mates! For the Empire!"

The crowd went wild.

The curtains closed on the final performance of the school year.

Lisha grabbed his shoulder, spinning him to face her. "You stinker!" she seethed.

Vathion extricated himself from her grip. "Don't you have a boyfriend? Why do you want to kiss me so bad?"

If he had been given the choice, Vathion would have remained backstage. He'd not wanted to play the leading role. However, he had been firmly overruled by the female contingent of his class. His own best friend, Mirith, had started it too, which was the real kicker.

The rest of the cast joined them on the stage, offering the crowd one last look at the crew, including everyone from backstage.

Lifting their joined hands as he and Lisha stepped forward, Vathion bowed in unison with his co-star. He retreated as the other actors came forward to bow. Finally, all of them took a final bow, and the curtain closed again. His pinned-on grin fell from his lips.

"What you did embarrassed me!" Lisa argued, taking the microphone out of her too-tight dress.

Vathion shrugged. "It was in character. Which hurts more, your butt or your pride?" He sheathed his baton in a practiced move as he turned away from her. Giving a nonchalant wave of his hand, Vathion strode off the stage and into the hall beside the school's auditorium. He scratched at the paint on the glassy coin-sized organ in the center of his forehead. In addition to forcing him into blue contacts, they had forced him to paint his Bondstone. All of this in effort to make him look more like Ha'Natan, the charming daredevil Hero of Gilonnia.

Vathion enjoyed acting, but it was mildly insulting to have to play the part of his own father when no one knew they were related. It wasn't that he really hated Natan, but his feelings were difficult to explain to anyone outside of the situation.

:She'll get over it. That was pretty funny,: Jathas, Vathion's Bond, sniggered mentally, calling out Vathion's slight guilt over how he'd treated Lisha. She'd not deserved that. :You didn't do bad with the ad-libs either. They were a lot funnier and more natural than the lines you forgot. Sorry I wasn't quick enough with them for you.:

Giving a slight shake of his head, Vathion thought back at his Hyphokos friend, :Not your fault, I can't rely on you to remember everything for me. Otherwise, tests would be a measure of how much you retained rather than how much I did.:

Jathas laughed softly. :Okay.:

The audience filled the hall near the doors to the auditorium, blocking easy exit. Vathion paused as he pondered how he was going to find his mother and get out before Lisha caught up to him, or worse - Paire, her boyfriend.

"Vathion," a voice called out. He looked back to see Paire, the drama teacher's pet, coming up behind him, the one who had been stuck with the unfortunate role of Ma'Gatas. Paire was nice enough when not provoked, but Vathion was glad that Paire would be graduated and gone in another week.

Grinning, he dropped an arm around Vathion's shoulders, which only he could do since they were of comparable height, somewhere around five feet and seven inches. "You did a great job!" Paire's expression was pleasant. His tone was not. They were distant cousins on Vathion's father's side. Paire had no idea.

Vathion shook his head slightly. "I think you would have done better. You know I didn't want to do the kiss."

Paire removed the amber wig and fluffed his sweaty cyan hair, some of it falling into his sleepy ocean-blue eyes. The stage makeup, simulating Ma’Gatas’s scars, made him look older. He picked at it. "This stuff smells terrible," he muttered, then returned to the topic. "No excuse for dropping her like that." He prodded Vathion's ribs. Vathion squirmed, uncommonly ticklish. "Besides, you look just like him—and do that line so well," Paire concluded.

He rolled his eyes. "You're a passable look alike, too, and a senior in the class. I shouldn't have gotten the role."

"You've got the hair, though."

Vathion shoved his dark violet hair out of his face. He'd had it cut just before the play into the shaggy, slightly wavy mop that Natan had made quite popular. The twin locks framing his Bondstone were the most annoying part about it. "Quite by accident, I assure you," he deadpanned.

Giving a slight shrug in return, Paire grinned and ruthlessly poked again as he guided Vathion toward the crowd gathering at the end of the hall.

Vathion cleared his throat. "I think you did a really good job as Gatas. I think everyone was actually sorry to see him go."

The real Ma'Gatas was still alive. The students of the senior-level drama club had decided that someone needed to die, and they had, of course, picked Gatas. He was glad that Paire was at least trying to appear as if he was not mad. Vathion tried to give Paire his moment by mourning the loss of his second-in-command before bouncing back to hit on Lisha briefly and getting distracted by the plotline of the play.

A laugh and Paire let Vathion go. "Of course they were!" He lifted his hands in a flippant wave that was, admittedly, one of Natan's gestures—though generally done with a lot more energy than Paire did it. "I believe every character has a good and bad side, even if they are griping cowards, and it helped that you played along so well!" He lowered his arm again, pushing lightly on Vathion's shoulder, keeping him aimed towards the crowd that was steadily growing larger at the end of the hall. "Come now, you should go talk to your fans! They loved your performance!"

Leaning closer, he whispered sharply, "I'd really appreciate if you apologized to Lisha, though."

Stopping abruptly, which forced Paire to halt as well, Vathion shook his head. "She ticked me off. Ha'Natan hasn't played around like that in years. Besides, she's your girlfriend. I don't poach."

Before Paire could comment, the audience rushed them. A strange man dressed in flamboyant lime and pink pushed to the front, inflicting himself on Vathion's vision. If he had not known better, Vathion would have mistaken him for a Wilsaer, given how terrible his fashion sense was. The man extended a gold-ring-encrusted hand and grasped Vathion's firmly before the young Gilon could get away, pumped a few times—and did not let go afterward. The intense smell of perfume wafted over Vathion, making his eyes water.

"Hello! Hello! HellOH young man! Vathion Mayles, correct? Yes, yes!  Wow! You really look just like him! You ever thought of becoming an actor for real?"

Flushing, Vathion shook his head. "I've got other plans." He inwardly cursed how much he sounded like his father, even just speaking normally, especially in these last few years since his latest growth spurt.

"You're sure? Like... what? Perhaps service in the Navy?" he leered, pulling Vathion off balance and down several inches, his ruby eyes glittering. He rudely sniffed Vathion. After two hours of running around in black under hot stage lights, he smelled quite strong. "Or maybe a privateer? Own your own ships and kite about the Empire for Justice?" He grinned knowingly. His short hair was bleached and may once have been red but was now pink and frizzy. His Bondstone, set between his deep red eyebrows, was clear. Vathion wasn't surprised.

Vathion fought to free his hand from the man's. "Sorry, but I don't know you." Just as he got free, his wrist was grabbed again and turned over to expose the calluses he had acquired over the years of training in using the baton that hung at his hip.

"The name's Hiba." The man flicked a card out of his sleeve, slapping it into Vathion's hand, then grinned again. "Call me if you're ever interested in setting anything up."

Shaking his head, Vathion turned and reached across with his left hand, grabbing Paire's sleeve. "Here, Mister Hiba—this is Paire Danton, my cousin. He's looking to be an actor and is graduating in a week. Didn't he do such a wonderful job playing Ma'Gatas? Absolutely tragic, wasn't it?"

He shoved the startled Paire between himself and Hiba and stuck the card into Paire's hand. Vathion grimaced frantically over Paire's shoulder.

Paire's eyes widened with surprise. "Mister Hiba, you say?" He grinned and immediately began his pitch.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Vathion turned. Lisha lifted her hand and drew back. Vathion ducked back and caught her intended slap with a loud clap. Grinning, Vathion pulled her in to tuck her under his arm.

"You were so great! Wonderful acting, Lisha! Really!" He tugged her closer and turned toward the audience members, who immediately pulled out their cameras. Lisha was forced to smile for the pictures, and Vathion leaned close and purred in her ear, "Really, quite amazing work with the writing, too."

Her expression changed, and a light blush touched her cheeks as she looked up at him; he gave that seductive little smirk Natan always did, eyes half-lidded. She lost her claws in the face of the inherited charm as he had expected. He turned back towards the cameras with a grin and raised his other hand behind Lisha's head, two fingers poking out from behind her hair. There was even someone from the local paper taking pictures. Vathion grinned all the broader when the flash went off. Lisha was sure to see that one.

Releasing Lisha, he propelled her towards her groupies. They probably wanted to ask the obnoxious girl if Vathion was a good kisser.

A hand grabbed his arm, and Vathion looked down to find his mother's large emerald green eyes and long matching hair. "Here you are!" She huddled next to him, in danger of getting swept away by the crowd. Smiling, she took advantage of an ebb in the crowd to wrap her arms around his shoulders and pull him down to kiss his cheek. She was only five feet tall and looked tiny next to his over-average height of five foot seven. His father was even taller at five-nine, but Vathion was not done growing yet.

Drawing back, Hasabi grinned, still restraining him to her eye level, "Oh, you look just like him! I recorded it all so we can send it to your father." Thankfully, the crowd's noise covered her soft voice, and only he heard. "He'll be so proud!" she kissed his cheek again. Flushing, he hugged her back.

"You think he'll like it?" Vathion asked, unsure.

Hasabi nodded. "He'll love the end. That was funny!" She kissed his cheek again. "Come on, let's get home and get some dinner."

Grinning, Vathion nodded. "Okay!"

Standing back slightly, Hasabi dusted off his shoulders and straightened the short jacket and panel of cloth with red tassels that rested on his shoulders. "You look so good in that uniform." Leaning up on her toes, Hasabi whispered, "I think he'll be getting you into one when you graduate." She winked, eyes flicking towards Hiba. The flamboyant man was still talking to Paire but looking at Vathion.

Vathion shook his head. "Only if you come too." He fiddled with one of the hanging ends of his Tassels.

A sly smile crossed his mother's lips, and she whispered, "Edict from the Emperor couldn't stop me! Come on, I'm making your favorite tonight!"

In an inadvertent mimic of his father, Vathion pumped his fist, "Yeah!" Vathion glanced around, flushing at the eyes on him.

Hiba leaned over and asked loudly, "You sure you're not the son of our dear Hero Ha'Natan?" He grinned from ear to ear.

"What's wrong with you?" Vathion snapped, flushing even darker as an uncomfortable pocket of silence fell around them. People looked at Hiba accusingly.

Paire cleared his throat and murmured to Hiba, "His dad's dead."

Hiba glanced at Hasabi, then smiled again.

Thankful that Paire had inadvertently covered for him, Vathion turned away. Flailing his fist, he began forging his way through the crowd, "Come on, Mom. Let's get dinner!" he crowed like a call to arms.

"For the Empire!" Hasabi chimed.

Cringing, Vathion eyed her over his shoulder. It wasn't a fight worth starting, especially not in public. Catching up to him, Hasabi latched onto his arm and pulled him along out the doors, ditching the after-play cast party. Parties just did not interest him.

Natan would probably talk to him about the play tonight. While he didn't like that he'd been forced to take the lead role, he was still proud of himself. He was looking forward to bragging about his accomplishment.