Reunion with Fate

[Kunai]

Tired of his job and his nagging brother, Rekhs needed something to do on his first day off in over two weeks. The citizens had been getting more violent as of late, and the authorities had had many, many different situations in which Rekhs's talents at negotiation were needed.

Then he thought about that girl, the one he had met in the pleasure district. He hoped Tess was okay still, he wasn't able to be sure ANYONE in the city was alright, what with all the criminals. He decided he'd go to Serena's place to see how she was doing.

After wandering into the pleasure district, he located the whorehouse and knocked on the door.

"Serena? Tess? Is anyone home?"

[Rogue Loreseeker]

((I'm guessing you mean the back door, since people just wander in the front...))

A modestly-dressed young woman, possibly the only one in the building, opened the door, peered out at Rekhs, then sighed. "Sir, if you want to be served, you'll have to go through the front door...OUCH!" She jumped back and slammed the door in Rekhs' face. The sounds of arguing could be hard, the maid's voice vying with a younger, shriller voice, also female. A minute later, the door was jerked back open and Tess stood there. "Mister Rekhs! Hello! Did you come to visit me?" Obviously well taken-care-of, the diminutive child wore a frilly white skirt with a lilac shirt and a matching white bow in her hair. Beaming, she motioned him inside. "Are you hungry? Kae is here, so we're having a tea party! You can come, too! It'll be fun!"

[Kunai]

"Kae? Who's Kae?" Rekhs was actually kind of surprised that Tess was able to stay on relatively the same topic for about a minute, but he wondered who "Kae" was.

Following her inside, he passed the maid, who still looked frazzled by her sudden argument with Tess. He kind of felt sorry for her, and kind of knew how she felt. Having a younger, more annoying brother gave him experience in that aspect.

Going into the next room, he saw a person that couldn't be much older than him, with short, silver hair and glasses. He guessed that this was "Kae".

[Rogue Loreseeker]

Kaeto and Serena sat at a small, square table, deep in conversation over tea, cookies, and stacks of paperwork. "You shouldn't've had to repair that room again!" Kaeto snapped. "Just refuse him service next time! I'm tired of men thinking they can just come in here and abuse the services we offer! It's ridiculous!" Serena jumped in. "He's one of our top customers, we can't just turn him away! He'll wreck the place! Besides, as long as we keep him happy, they won't shut us down!" "Then give him a different room!" "He likes that room!" "Excuse me!" Tess dragged Rekhs into the room by the hand and pulled out a chair for him. "This is my friend Mr. Rekhs. He's going to have tea with us, 'kay?" "Fine!" Serena and Kaeto snapped at the same time, continuing to haggle over figures and amounts. Tess frowned in concentration, looking at the table. "Um...do you want some tea? And there are strawberry cakes!"

[Kunai]

Rekhs looked at the two arguing and sighed. "Sure, I'll have some."

He didn't like it when people were fighting, and he was kind of nosy, so he sat down and spoke up.

"Hey Miss Serena. What's the problem?" Although he was curious, he immediately regretted asking. He had remembered what this house was for....

"Well, anyway....Tess, how have you been?" Rekhs casually 'yelled' over the fighting while taking off his gloves.

[Rogue Loreseeker]

Serena jumped slightly, then coughed politely into her hand, signaling the end of the discussion for the day to Kaeto. She quickly relieved Tess of the teapot and poured a cup for Rekhs, then topped off her own cup and Kaeto's. Tess, not being overly fond of tea, had a cup full of tea-colored sludge, presumably created with a lot of sugar and cream. "It's kind of you to ask, but I'd rather not say," Serena demurred. "How have you been, Rekhs?" Tess, tucking happily into a plateful of cake, mumbled something through her mouthful. "Introductions, Tess. You're right, but don't talk with your mouth full. Rekhs, this is Kaeto, my business partner. Kaeto, this is Rekhs. He brought Tess home when she was lost once." "A pleasure," Kaeto said dryly, staring at a mark on Rekhs' hand...

[Kunai]

"Nice to meet you." He could tell Kaeto was the bookish type immediately, but he kept his mouth shut. He also noticed Kaeto was looking at his hand. "Hmm? Is there something on me?"

Rekhs looked at his left hand. His palm seemed normal, so he turned it over, and then gasped. There was a symbol on his hand, shaped like a broken chain. He'd never noticed it before because he almost never removed his gloves. When had it appeared there? And what did it mean?

Rekhs eyed Kaeto again. "Do you know what this mark is?"

[Rogue Loreseeker]

Kaeto tugged his shirt collar to the right, exposing the exact same mark on his own shoulder. "You might say that. Looks like you're number six." He glanced over at Serena, who nodded and rose. "Thank you so much for coming to visit, Rekhs. It's been lovely to see you again. However, I have my work to attend to and Tess has lessons. Come, Tess, time to go." "But-" "Tess!" Serena spoke sharply, and then, more gently, "It's time to go." "Yes, Serena," Tess sighed unhappily. "Goodbye, Kae! Come play with me soon, 'kay? Goodbye, Mr. Rekhs, thankyouforvisiting!" Her words all ran together as she was lured out the door by her rapidly disappearing plate of cake in Serena's hand. Kaeto rested his elbows on the table, then steepled his hands in front of his face. "Well."

[Kunai]

"Wha? Number 6? What are you talking about?"

The sudden change in the atmosphere of the room, from homely contentment to forboding quiet, wracked Rekhs' nerves. What was going on? And why did Kaeto have a matching symbol on his body? His first day off in over two weeks and it starts by having freaky things happen...

"What the heck is going on!?"

[Rogue Loreseeker]

Kaeto closed his eyes briefly, thinking. After having four other cases before his, you would think that I'd already know how to handle this... A million thoughts flew through his head, about the Legend, the Bound, the Mark... However, when he opened his eyes again, he knew exactly where to start. "Have you ever heard anyone speak of the Bound, Rekhs?"

[Kunai]

"The Bound....? No, I've never heard of that before...."

Wait... He thought. That's not entirely true. Rekhs did have a problem with a terrorist a few months back. He was almost impossible to reason with, spewing nonsense about "revolution" and "breaking free." The only thing that struck him as odd was that the man was a scholarly looking, older fellow. He couldn't understand why the man would be talking about crazy things like that, when the strangest thing had happened. As soon as the man laid eyes on Rekhs, he immediately started jumping for joy, yelling "You're one! You're one of them!" From the police line, it looked like the man was going to injure Rekhs, so he was sniped down.

So that's what that man meant.... Rekhs thought solemnly.

"What are the Bound, and what does it have to do with a.....revolution?"

[Rogue Loreseeker]

Kaeto smiled. "Now you're asking the right questions." Pouring himself another cup of tea, he related an abridged version of the Legend to Rekhs and then everything Bound-related that had happened from Aria's appearance and the coinciding appearance of the Mark until now. "You are the sixth member of the Bound to show up," he finished. "There are still three undetermined members. You probably have some questions for me now. Go ahead."

[Kunai]

Rekhs thought it was hard to take all this in on a random meeting at a place he's been to once. Or was it random? Considering Kaeto's story, none of what has happened so far was random. He had met Tess for the reason of being introduced to this place, and he had come here, not stayed at home or gone out for fun, when he had gotten time off.

Then he remembered something a client had told him. She had been very pretty, and unusually busty for a normal person. She had told him that nothing is left to chance, that everything was predetermined. What was the word she had used...... It was stuck in the back of Rekhs' mind.

"Free the People of all the True powers....." Rekhs was thinking out loud. "If we're supposed to break the True powers, how would we do that? And why are the True powers considered evil?"

There was one more thing that Rekhs couldn't get.

"What are we Bound to?"

((BWAHAHAHAHA! I totally ninjaed an anime reference in there. >3))

[Rogue Loreseeker]

"We are bound to our fates." Kaeto answered solemnly. "From the course events have been taking so far, it looks as if we have no choice in the matter of what happens next. And none of us know how we're supposed to go about this-I guess we have to wait until everyone has been found." Abruptly, he drained his fifth cup of tea and stood up. Pulling a pen from his pocket and grabbing a napkin, he scribbled down an address in tiny, neat letters, then handed the napkin to Rekhs. "Anyhow, if you want to meet the rest of us, you can always find myself, my brother, or our housemate at this address. Is there anywhere I can go if I need to find you?"

[Kunai]

"Yeah, I'm usually at my house if I'm not working. I work as a negotiator." Rekhs took the pen from Kaeto and wrote his address on another napkin. "It's in the Suburbs. If my little brother answers the door, just ask for me."

Rekhs got up to leave, putting his gloves back on.

"I don't really know what's going on, but I'll be in touch with you soon. I have to sort some things out..."

He said goodbye and left the house, heading to the well traveled path to the Suburbs. Bound, huh...