Revolting Rose

Chapter 5/Part 1 - Letter from a Friend

After the scene in the gardens, a scuffuffle had broken out in the Academy. Mister Nibbs and Ginolo were swinging at each other while all the Wyverkiiri took it upon themselves to argue on Pagne's behalf over the night's events. Their shouting drowned out any attempt he made to diffuse the situation himself, so he sat on a sofa and waited for everyone to calm down. He was relieved that Saloonka seemed to have slipped away, but that faded fast when Vrye walked in with his arm around the frocked fiend's waist.

Saloonka pulled away and stood by Pagne while the Master tried to halt the hostility between the others. It was not going well, until one of Nibbs' stray swings socked Vrye square in the nose and brought the fight to a very abrupt end.

"Is your hand damaged?" Vrye gurgled through a stream of blood.

"I am terribly sorry, Vrye, are you alright?" Nibbs said as he helped the Master to his feet.

Saloonka drew Pagne's attention away with a tug at his arm. "Let's go mountainwards, Franz. Now," he whispered with his eyes fixed on Nibbs.

"Pagne, come back to the palace with me. I'll not have you running off with a common girl like her." Nibbs dropped Vrye and made a start towards them.

"I'm so sorry, but I have to do this," Pagne whispered to Saloonka then whacked him across the face. The blow was hard enough to knock the fiend to the floor, and satisfying as it was, he hoped he had not gone too far. "Father, your coming here is completely undue. I have no interest in her at all. My mother has not led me astray, and I will still be going to Ysenich."

"That is quite enough hands flying around the room for tonight!" Vrye shouted and went to Saloonka's side. "Raising your hand to her was just as undue, young lad!"

The lack of movement in the fiend had Pagne concerned, but he had to hide his worry for now. His father put an arm around him, but it was no comfort.

"Perhaps we should postpone dinner for now, Mister Nibbs. I should like to have some words with Pagne this evening." Vrye glowered up at him with Saloonka in his arms.

"If you would like me to teach him some manners—"

"You waltz in here and start throwing your fists around, and think you're the one who should teach him manners?" Ginolo scoffed at Nibbs as he tried to speak.

Nibbs' disagreement was clear in the twist of his sneer, but he refrained from further argument. "The choice is yours, Pagne," he grumbled, then strode over to Saloonka and snatched the sketch of his hindquarters. "I hope my son's message was clear enough for you. You may return to whatever hovel it was that bred such boorish behaviour and never set foot in our Lord's fine city again." He loomed over the fiend, but did not seem to recognise Saloonka in his disguise. "I must confiscate this lewd material before it threatens the decency of our society!"

As soon as his father had departed, Pagne rushed to Saloonka, pushing his way through the Wyverkiiri gathered around him.

"Say something!" he wailed and shook Saloonka by the shoulders. "What have I done? I didn't mean to hurt you that much, even though you deserved it! Well, maybe not deserved, but you have been very pushy and... and...I really shouldn't have done that."

The Wyverkiiri horde suddenly leapt back when a dark arm sprouted from the fiend's shadowy gown and shoved Pagne away. The appendage probed behind Saloonka's ear, pulled a smoke stick from his hair and slipped it into his mouth. With a click of its fingers, a flicker of flame lit up the end of it, then the arm disappeared back into the gown with a scornful squeak.

Finally, after a deep inhale, Saloonka's eyes popped open. He got to his feet and pulled the false hair off his head. "Do you have a sink, washbasin or a bucket, and if so, mind pointing me to the nearest?"