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Nicolas shook his head; “No, I need to tell it. Maybe I’ve missed something that can explain how the Sync King got his hands on the Key.”

Shasta’s ears perked up as she went to say something, but Peggy grabbed the end of her tail to stop her. She nearly hissed in anger, but Nicolas had started talking again. The two immediately froze, and turned to listen..

“At first, Krampus just refused to hand over the Star. We tried to convince him to give it to us, but Someone lost their temper..”

Nicolas glanced sideways at Maevis, who looked insulted as she said; “He called me a wrinkled tree topper! He asked for it!”

Nicolas’ expression turned angry; “It was a delicate situation! And you knew something was wrong with him! I told you! But you didn’t listen!”

Maevis looked hurt, then furious as she countered; “He was stealing Children! What’d ya want me to do?! Pat him on the back, and tell him it was okay?! When you dragged me out of the forest after Tiberius’ death, it was to STOP your brother! Not talk him down from a cliff he’d already jumped off!”

The two Fae fluttered up to be inches from each other as Maevis had yelled. Skye, Shasta, and Peggy were all stunned by their anger, and didn’t know how to stop it. As Maevis finished speaking, Nicolas snapped back with harsh words..

“Tiberius was Gone, but my brother was Still alive! If you would’ve just Listened to me for ONCE in your obnoxious life, then Maybe I could’ve saved him-”

.....

“Do you dare try to pin Krampus’ death on me! HE kidnapped CHILDREN! There’s no going back after that! And if I remember correctly: You are the one that let him fall!”

Nicolas flinched like Maevis had slapped him. She immediately regretted what she’d said; “Nic, I’m so sorry.. I didn’t mean to say that. I know that you didn’t have a choice.”

Scoffing, he replied; “No, I did have a choice..”

“Really, you guys don’t have to keep going.. That....I’m not gonna lie: that was scary,” Shasta commented as she and Peggy were practically leaning against each other in solidarity.

“Aye,” Skye added; “If it’s gonna cause a fight between ya two, then tis not worth hearin’.”

Maevis and Nicolas shared a look, then sighed and separated. Nicolas had to finish the story because he believed that Skye might catch something that he didn’t before..

After Peggy had cleared away the bowls, Nicolas continued; “After Maevis attacked Krampus for refusing to hand over the children and the Northern Star, he went back to his castle. We broke in, but it had it’s difficulties..”

“There was a Fae named Relic that made Golem cores, and he had made about sixty for Krampus. He put them inside giant ice sculptures of himself, and had originally used them as helpers for his toy making. But when we showed up, Krampus had been using them to guard and direct the children.”

“Were they alright?” Skye inquired, wondering how bad Krampus had gotten.

Nicolas flashed a small smile; “Oh, they were well fed, clothed warmly, and given beds to sleep in, but their spirits seemed broken. The Ice Guards could’ve easily been outran, but the siblings were always split apart, and he always tried to take them in pairs. Even if he took decent care of the children, what he did was inexcusable..”

Nicolas requested a ‘strong drink’ from Peggy, waited for her to return, then thanked her before he continued; “After we had destroyed most of the golems, we found an Ice Elf in the dungeons. We were looking for Whitney and found the Princess of the Ice Elves..”

Everyone but Maevis looked shocked. She explained that the elf had once been contracted by Krampus to construct his ice palace. When he refused to pay for repairs, she started to tear the palace down. He threw a pair of sealing stone cuffs on her, and locked her away until ‘she was ready to be reasonable’.

Nicolas chuckled as Maevis described her outrage, and how she had started to destroy the castle as soon as she had been freed. They had gotten all of the children out except for Whitney, who was with Krampus. As the story turned back to it’s main storyline, Nicolas took a deep breath, then started speaking..

“After Yuka went off to rip apart the castle, Mae and I took off towards the top balcony. Krampus liked it out there, so we figured that it was where he’d be. Whitney was with him, and yelled to us as soon as we had arrived that there was something wrong with him..”

“When my brother looked at me, all I saw was pitch-black eyes staring at me.. Then he attacked Mae and me. Whitney was crying for us to stop, but it was like he was possessed..”

As Nicolas paused to compose himself again, Maevis picked up the story; “As Nic had his feathered friends attack Krampus, I flew in close, and got the Northern Star from him. We tried to use it to purify him, but it didn’t work..”

“Neither of ye two are Light mages,” Skye commented.

“Why would that matter?” Shasta asked as she knocked back a shot.

“Cause ye gotta have Light magic ta touch the Ethereal Spear, so I figured that purification fell under Light magic,” Skye replied with a half-shrug.

“Aye, Skye’s correct,” Nicolas interjected; “Purification is a Light magic move, according to Celestia. It usually works on those that were, in a sense, infected with Dark magic.. But Krampus had accepted the darkness.. There was no saving him by that point..”

“We had fought until he had realized that he would lose. Krampus then grabbed ahold of Whitney, and jumped over the edge of the balcony. A massive bird that looked like a pelican caught them, and flew them down to my sleigh.”

“Nooo, he didn’t.. By the gods!” Skye muttered in disbelief.

Nicolas nodded in dismay; “Aye, he did: Krampus stole me sleigh, and tried to fly off with Whitney and the Northern Star..”

“We flew after them, and tried to get him to stop, but Krampus was long-gone by then. The Dark magic had warped his brain into thinking that he was saving Whitney, which I still partially agree to.”

“Why?” Shasta asked.

“Her father did break off her engagement shortly after she went off with Krampus. He finally realized how upset she was over the engagement, and decided to let her choose a suitor herself. But that was all if he got her back..”

“Which he almost didn’t, but he Did get his daughter back thanks to you,” Maevis stated as she watched Nic’s expression plummet.

“Aye, but is that one child possibly worth existence?”

Shasta quirked an eyebrow at him; “What do you mean by that?!”

Nicolas sighed; “Krampus hit Mae, and knocked her out as we were fighting in the sleigh. I made him shift suddenly, and it tipped it.....We all fell out. Krampus and Whitney couldn’t fly, and neither could the Celestial Key..I had to make a choice..”

“You saved the lass!” Peggy exclaimed.

Nic nodded with a zombie-ish expression; “Aye, and I lost the Key.. Now the Sync King has it.. I killed creation..”

“I dinna think it works like that,” Skye interjected; “Considerin’ that all of this Catalyst crap is written down, there has ta be at least an edge of truth to the concept of fate. And if fates and destinies are a real thing, then that makes you a tool, not a mastermind, Nic. Ya did what ye could with the options given: tis not yer fault.”

Nicolas had heard many different arguments why he shouldn’t blame himself for Krampus’ death, but Skye’s was the first one that had actually made him feel better. He smiled at her with unshead tears, then slammed the thimble that Peggy had just refilled for him. As he wiped his mouth and eyes, he blamed the wetness on the whiskey..

The group talked about what had happened to Whitney after the incident with Krampus for a time. Turned out that Skye and Shasta had met her descendant before, they just hadn’t recognized the name. Apparently Whitney had married a man named Washburn, who then married into the Reinbolt family.

Skye laughed hard as she thought about her adoptive uncle, and hoped that she would see him soon.. ‘Uncle Ryker will love ta learn about his family’s history..’

As the thought crossed her mind, Nicolas sat down at the table with Maevis again; “Now that you know the story, let me ask you something..”

“Shoot,” Skye stated before knocking back a shot of her own.

“Maevis and I have been searching the river where the Celestial Key fell for decades. To the point of getting caught by a few Highlander children. My question to you is: do you have a theory as to how the Key ended up in the Sync Kingdom? Let alone their king’s hands?”

Skye leaned back in her chair; “Well, that depends on a number of factors.. Where did it fall?”

Maevis perked up; “In the River that runs through most of the bloody continent..”

Skye donned a focused expression; “How much did it weigh?”

Nicolas and Maevis shared a confused glance before Mae answered; “Five, maybe seven pounds?”

“Was there bad weather any time around the fight that would cause the spillway ta increase?”

Nicolas quirked an eyebrow at her; “Why do you ask?”

Skye smirked; “Remember that wee parcel of land that Ital owns? That connects the kingdoms every flood season, and could be how it made it’s way into Ital. Or maybe a Highlander found it and sold it. There’s a hundred ways it coulda gotten into his hands..”

“What’s in who’s hands? And how much did they charge for it?” Lawrence joked as he and Tidas came into the room.

Tidas looked at the bottle of whiskey, then at his wife; “Isn’t it a bit early for that still? It’s only three o’clock.”

Skye looked at Tidas with a deflated expression; “I dinna wanna hear that comin’ from you, mister drunkard..”

Shasta perked up; “What? When did Tidas have a drinking problem?”

As Skye chuckled, she looked at Shasta and replied; “You should ask Amara about it.. All I’ll say is that he’s a baby when he pukes.”

Tidas mock-glared at his wife as he replied; “Hey, what happens in the Highlands, stays in the Highlands..”

As he kissed Skye on her forehead, everyone heard a voice from the door call out; “Oh, yer friggin’ hilarious if ya think Ima gonna keep My mouth shut!”

Skye and Tidas looked at each other, but had different expressions as they both said; “Murdoc..”