Cirrus had finished up his shopping as quickly as he could, his eyes always drawn to Feather in the crowd no matter where he went. He seemed to be having fun looking at stuff, not doing anything in particular, despite having given the rest of them a bunch of orders to follow. But that was okay, Cirrus didn’t mind all too much, and the moment he parted with Iden, he went over to see what the pesky little blond was doing now, only to find him browsing a jewelry stall with a wrinkled nose and pursed lips, staring between necklaces and bracelets very closely in a way that the prince found particularly endearing.

  “Are you thinking of buying something?” he questioned smoothly, leaning over the blond’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of what he was looking between. One was a soft silver necklace with a bright violet gem in the shape of a tear, and the other was a similar looking bracelet with all shades of purple thread twisted and woven together with a matching gem. They were clearly a set you should buy together, and it looked like Feather wanted them, but the blond quickly shook himself and took a step away from Cirrus, not appearing to have liked how close they were.

  “No, I was just looking. I don’t have the money to afford any fancy jewelry,” he snapped, about to walk in the opposite direction and be done with it.

  Cirrus could tell he felt a little bothered by his sudden arrival, which made him smile a bit, but he wasn’t done yet. He picked up the necklace and watched as the elegant violet caught the sun, turning it towards Feather with a genuine smile. “I can buy you both of these if you want. Will you wear them?”

  “Huh? Will I what?” the blond paused, faltering in his steps before turning to stare at Cirrus with wide eyes that didn’t seem to believe what he’d heard. But Feather approached the prince regardless, hands clasping each other tightly against his chest while he tiptoed over as if he were treading on thin ice, before he slinked over and tilted his face under Cirrus’, who wasn’t quite sure what to say. “You’ll buy me something?”

  “Uh, sure. Yeah, I don’t mind, I’ll buy you whatever you want,” Cirrus nodded, trying to mask his surprise from earning this kind of response. He remembered Jayce telling him that pampering Feather might be a good idea, but at the same time, Feather seemed like the type of guy to really value his pride and to not like it when people tried to baby him. After all, when Feather had been injured that one time and had been struggling to get his strength back, Cirrus had tried to help and take care of him, and was repelled every time. Feather always seemed to recoil whenever the prince went out of his way to do things for him, so he’d originally assumed Jayce’s advice wasn’t going to help at all…

  The last thing he’d expected was for Feather to grab the sides of his arms, pulling him forward and dragging him down so that he could get far too close to his face, sky blue eyes wide and excited. “Whatever I want?! You mean it?!”

  “Yes… yes, I mean it,” Cirrus nodded quickly, body tense and stiff before the blond leaned himself back, and he could feel himself relax. And, if Cirrus was allowed to think it, he… Feather looked so cute smiling like that. He looked so determined, snatching the necklace from his hand with a bright grin while he happily placed it back down onto the booth, before he snatched Cirrus’ wrist and beamed at him.

  “Okay, if you’ll buy me anything I want, then I’ll gladly take you up on that offer! Don’t worry, I’ll limit myself to just one item, of course. I’m no swindler, so even though you’re a pushover, I’ll be really nice to you and not spend all of your money,” Feather smiled, as if he was so proud of himself for saying such things, before he began dragging Cirrus along with no mercy. “Now c’mon, I don’t want jewelry! I never wear it anyways, it just goes into my storage and never comes out! We should buy something I’ll actually use.”

  “Oh, okay, ah—”

  “Wow! Look at these!” Feather glowed, taking a look at all the daggers one stall had on display, picking up the nicest looking one to smile at his reflection in the clear blade. “Hehe, you know, sometimes you can request daggers to be put and hidden inside regular everyday objects. I’ve always wanted a dagger hidden away inside a hairbrush. What do you think of that, hm?” he smiled, Cirrus’ heart doing weird things as he tried to form coherent thoughts. Emilia had told him to be more honest about himself, to talk more about what he liked, yet in the end, he still couldn’t get out much.

  “I think… it’d be pretty cool…” he wavered, voice not strong at all as Feather stared at him. He looked amused with Cirrus’ awkward behavior, his smile coming across a bit demeaning, but instead of teasing him about it, Feather just let go of his wrist and started messing with the dagger with both hands.

  He moved himself to put the dagger in between them, tracing his fingers along the flat of it while Cirrus instinctively worried about Feather accidentally cutting himself. “Have you ever heard of Dagira? I don’t use weapons often, but whenever I need any made, I go to her. This dagger was also made by her, see this mark?” the blond smiled, carefully tilting the dagger’s metal hilt over so that Cirrus could see a tiny, jagged hole that seemed to have been carved into it.

  “Oh… it looks like someone managed to bite the metal…” Cirrus blinked, a bit confused as to how that was possible, but Feather looked so bright and happy, so he didn’t really care.

  “Exactly! Dagira is a metalbrand orc, meaning she’s made completely out of metal! They all live on the planet of Mirobiss, in the Witika Universe a few rings over. The Witika Universe is known to be home to mostly humanoids, did you know that?”

  “I did,” Cirrus nodded, carefully taking the dagger when Feather handed it to him to get a better feel for it. It looked very well made, so he could understand why the miracle worker had so many kind things to say about her. The hilt was sturdy, the metal was deadly sharp and perfectly polished, and it didn’t look like it’d degrade easily… it was just overall a good weapon. “So Dagira made this? How did she manage to make that mark?” Cirrus questioned, lowering the dagger down to be level with Feather’s face while the blond grinned.

  “Hehe, just like you said before. By biting it,” the mischievous man giggled, grin toothy and bright as he tapped at the metal hilt where the single indent from the bite was placed. “Metalbrand orcs actually eat metal, you know. That’s why they all live on a planet made of mercury, somewhere most humanoids wouldn’t be able to survive. But because Dagira has one tooth a lot bigger than the others of her species, she uses that one to bite down on her weapon’s hilts after she makes them. That’s how she marks all of her weapons so that you know they were made by her. She’s the best weaponsmith around,” he smiled, taking the dagger back from Cirrus to mess with it some more, the prince watching him curiously. “And this dagger is pretty high quality too, as always…”

  “Ah… do you want it?”

  “No, not really. I already have enough daggers,” Feather dismissed without a care, gently laying the weapon neatly back on display before he waved to the merchant keeping an eye on them. And then he took Cirrus’ wrist all over again, dragging him over to a completely different stall as he felt like he had no choice but to follow. Though, even if he had the choice not to, he would still most definitely follow Feather anywhere. “Oh, look, check this out! A bunch of quilted stuff! All of these designs are so cute,” the blond grinned, walking into the open shop as he let go of Cirrus to explore and touch all the fabric, experimenting with their textures and admiring their patterns. “Cirrus, come here, you choose a favorite too! I think I like this one, look at it,” he announced, taking a bag with all shades of blue patches mixed in to create an array from darkest to lightest, from navy all the way to white in the far corners. “I like it because it looks like my eyes, don’t you think? I really like my eyes. Blue is my favorite color, too. What about you?”

  “Oh, ah… my favorite color is purple,” Cirrus answered, gladly taking the excuse to get a longer look at Feather’s bright blue eyes that reminded him so much of a clear sky, while also being subtly proud that he finally managed to get something related to his likes out of his mouth. “And I agree, your eyes are really pretty. I like the bag, too, it’s nice.”

  Hm… thinking about it, Cirrus could most definitely buy Feather this entire store full of quilted items plus all the other stores around it and be more than perfectly fine financially. If he wanted, he could buy out the entire shopping district of this town, it wouldn’t be a problem. Of course, he wouldn’t do that, but what he was trying to say was that… he could buy Feather a lot more than just one item and he wouldn’t feel any pressure. This bag was nice and it was pretty, but Cirrus could definitely get him a better one. The dagger seemed well-made, though. Still… hm. Well, on the other hand, he had something else to worry about. Like why Feather was still staring at him with that unnervingly blank face, like he was still expecting something. And Cirrus faltered, mouth gaping slightly as he looked around. Should he say something else about the bag? Compliment Feather’s eyes again? What should he—

  “You didn’t answer all of my questions,” Feather helped him, Cirrus turning back to meet his clear blue eyes as he registered that. But he couldn’t remember what else had been asked…

  “Um, sorry, but could you remind me what else you wanted?” he asked politely, Feather breaking out into another wide smile as he put his bag back on the rack in front of him.

  “Pick out a favorite.”

  “A favorite bag?”

  “Nah, just a favorite quilted item. It doesn’t have to be a bag,” Feather answered, watching Cirrus’ every movement to the point he felt like he was somehow being tested. Was there a right answer? Should he pick another bag, or something else? Was there something specific Feather wanted him to say? Ah… he probably would’ve kept spiraling forever, if it hadn’t been for the blond sneakily moving around to the side of his face undetected, before flicking him right in the temple. “Why are you overthinking this so much? It’s not a complicated question,” he demanded, Cirrus feeling shame bubbling up in his stomach while he rubbed the sore spot that had been flicked, looking down to avoid Feather’s gaze.

  “Ah, I’m sorry, I—”

  “Don’t apologize. Just relax. I said I’m going to be nice to you today, remember? Because you’re being nice to me and said you would buy me something. I want to return the favor, so I won’t bully you about shallow responses today, but I do want to encourage you to speak your mind,” Feather clarified, meeting Cirrus’ eyes to give him a firm stare before walking past him to the other side of the shop. “If quilts aren’t your thing, that’s fine. We can go somewhere else.”

  “Oh… but didn’t you want that bag?”

  “No, it wouldn’t do well traveling. It’s more like a casual display purse, which I don’t need.”

  “Ah. Okay then…” Cirrus sighed, sucking up all his dignity as he walked over. All of his training in royal etiquette and how he should act around other royalty or nobility was to never disagree with the host or person you were trying to please. If they took you somewhere, it was your job as the attendee to be polite and appreciate the things they wanted to show you. Giving your own, honest opinion was only something you did when absolutely necessary, like if being passive would put your nation in a bad spot. But Emilia had told him not to do that. She'd said Feather didn't like it, that he was waiting for Cirrus to be genuine with him before he earned his respect. So, ah, if that was what it took… whatever then. If Feather wanted him to be genuine and honest, he’d just go against all of that ingrained training… shouldn’t be too hard. “Then, ah… while I appreciate the talent and effort it takes to make them, I don’t find quilting to be that visually appealing. I, um… prefer embroidery, or sewing. Or cross-stitching, I really like that. I actually cross-stich quite a lot.”

  “Oh! You know how to cross-stitch?” Feather gleamed, turning to him in a rush as Cirrus held his breath.

  “I… do. A little bit.”

  “That’s amazing! I bet you're really good at it, don't undermine yourself! I personally don’t have the patience for it, but I love looking at it. Show me some of your work sometime, ‘kay?” Feather smiled, before he took Cirrus’ wrist and began pulling him forward and out of the shop all over again. “Now, let’s go this way and look at the gloves! Don’t they look so cool?”

  And they did go over there. And then they went somewhere else. And then they went to a shop for imported paper umbrellas. Feather didn’t find anything he actually wanted to buy, but he seemed to be having fun looking and showing Cirrus all the things he liked. It was really cute. And it felt like a date, though it might be stupid to call it that. It wasn’t until they ran back into Jayce, Achitha, and Eve did he realize two hours had passed of Feather just dragging him in and out of shops and stores, his eyes lingering on a few items, but never for long. He’d said they would revisit places if he didn’t find anything later, but instead they just delved deeper and deeper into the shopping district. So seeing Jayce’s slightly tired expression wasn’t all that surprising.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Hey, what’re you two even doing. Weren’t we supposed to leave today?”

  “Oh, yeah, we are! But Cirrus said he would buy me something, so I’m taking my time to carefully consider all of my options first. And then we can leave,” Feather smiled proudly, not seeming to find any fault in his words as Cirrus’ crew turned to stare at him.

  “So… he said that, did he?” Achitha deadpanned, Eve’s expression cracking into a smile as she raised a hand over her mouth.

  “Aww, well isn’t that cute!”

  “Not really? I’m not cute,” Feather retorted, looking mildly irritated with that statement as Jayce shrugged.

  “You should ask Cirrus if he thinks you’re cute.”

  “Huh? Why would I do that?” Feather retorted, Cirrus looking immensely panicked as Jayce mimicked a yawn.

  “I dunno, just do it.”

  “But I already know the answer. He’s obviously attracted to me, isn’t he? Of course he thinks I’m cute.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  The entire group of them… Cirrus, Jayce, Achitha, Eve. At that flippant remark, all they could do was stare. Feather was the only one who seemed unbothered by it, like he really didn’t have a care one way or the other, as he began scanning the nearby shops again to pinpoint the one he wanted to enter. “Anyway, there’s no reason for you to all be looking at me like that. Cirrus said he was going to buy me something, and after thoroughly checking almost every shop, I’ve decided I want a new hairbrush. But, to make things nice and interesting, I’m going to order one to be made so that it can hide a dagger inside it made by Dagira. She gives me discounts, so don’t worry Cirrus, it’s not that expensive.”

  “I… I wouldn’t care if it was expensive…” he sighed into his hands, both of his palms sliding over his eyes to cup his nose as he stared off into space.

  Honestly… what was even going on here? So Feather knew he had feelings for him? Attraction was one thing, but… ah, damn it, was he really that obvious? Or was Feather just that perceptive? Of course, the man had degraded him just a few days ago when he got all dolled up and decked out in phoenix attire for catching him staring, so maybe he should’ve been more aware of… how aware Feather was. But, then, did that mean he was being used? To buy him things? Well, no, that wasn’t right. Cirrus had offered, and it seemed like Feather was being really careful to not spend too much of his money, so…

  Ugh, whatever. Fine, so what? Feather was amazing and knew everything already. Shouldn’t change much, honestly. Cirrus really did try his best not to think about it as he went over and purchased the making of a dagger hidden in a hairbrush, which apparently was made really cheap because Feather once saved Dagira’s life and helped her discover her passion for making weapons in the first place. He barely had to spend four gold coins on it, barely anything at all. Was that why Feather chose it? Honestly, other things seemed to have caught his eye more than this, it was just that they were all more expensive… mm, he really didn’t have to be like that. Cirrus was the crown prince of one of the strongest kingdoms in the entire Udimeia, he had more than enough money to buy him whatever simple things he wanted in this shopping district. Still, he felt tired. His emotions felt far too twisted.

  Though, he was a bit surprised when Feather turned to him in their awkward silence, Cirrus’ teammates not saying anything out of respect for him. This infuriating blond, on the other hand, didn’t seem keen on doing the same. He faced Cirrus with a bold frown, getting close up into his personal space again to accuse him. “Why are you going all quiet and making this such a big deal? Just because I know you have feelings for me doesn’t mean I’ll be dramatic about it. You’re the one making this weird, not me. I don’t have feelings for you yet, but like, so what? That doesn’t change how I see you.”

  “I, okay, I’m sorry, just give a mo… moment, um… wait, yet?” Cirrus’ head snapped up, Feather giving him a rather mockingly innocent stare and a shrug.

  “Sure. That prophecy says we’re gonna fall in love, doesn’t it? And I need to train you so you can fulfill more important parts of Ruba’s prophecies. We’re gonna be around each other a lot, so I don’t want you to be bothered by this when it’s not a big deal. I’m not in love with you yet, and I don’t feel anything specific towards you besides that you’re a nice person and I appreciate that you offered to buy me something I wanted. But I’ll love you someday, so just forget about it for right now and let me do what I want,” Feather huffed, Cirrus completely taken aback by those bold statements.

  “I… I thought you didn’t like prophecies—”

  “I’ve literally told you before that I don’t hate them and that I can respect them,” Feather snapped, waving his hands in the air at Cirrus while the prince instinctively backed away. “Now take off your eyepatch! I’ve got a present for it.”

  “Huh? No… no, wait, what? Don’t do that—!” Cirrus snapped, suddenly defensive as he raised a hand over his blind eye, pushing Feather away with his other. “What’re you trying to do?!”

  “Oh, so now you can assert yourself, eh?! You should do this more often!” Feather barked with a wicked laugh, Cirrus stumbling back into Achitha as Jayce tried to step in between them, Eve merely watching in amusement while wishing she had snacks.

  “Hey, he said no, you lunatic!” Jayce growled, fighting back when Feather slapped a hand against his face, pushing his cheek away as the werewolf pushed at the blond’s shoulders.

  “Why are you fighting me on this?! I’m just trying to heal him! Didn’t he tell you he went blind in that eye?!”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  “...”

  At this, silence struck them once again, Jayce and Cirrus pausing in their struggle as Achitha helped the prince stand up properly. Eve began to look a bit like she’d heard something she wasn’t supposed to, the prince’s three subordinates faltering and turning to give Cirrus a suspicious stare while he cowered in front of them. Though, while everyone was distracted, Feather took this as his chance to snatch off the prince’s eyepatch, closing in on him with a viscous smirk. “I was gonna wait to heal you ‘til after you fessed up. But since you’ve been so nice to me today and bought me a nifty hairbrush, I’ll go ahead and heal you right now. Close your eyes.”

  “I… but Ruba told me it was… that it was impossible for any healers to heal my eye if it ever went blind,” the prince shrunk back, chin tucked while he was still looking at Feather with a gaze that said he didn’t quite believe him. Which, it was understandable why. Between Feather and Ruba, between a person who had essentially just rejected him and his grandmother who had helped raise him, who would he choose to trust?

  But Feather’s smile didn’t waver, and he merely reached up and brushed Cirrus bangs with his fingers, tucking them behind his ear before he traced the top of his eyebrow above where his left eye was staring off into space, unseeing. “It’s alright. I’ll tell you a little secret and say it’s because I won’t be using a healing concept to restore your sight.”

  “That doesn’t sound any more possible…” Cirrus sighed, but Feather’s touch was somehow so gentle, so absolutely soothing, that he closed his eyes anyway.

  He felt something warm rush into his eyelid, sliding down his nerves and deeper into his face as he repressed a shiver. Feather’s fingertips were soft and hot against his left eye, somehow comforting all the muscles in his body that seemed to instinctively relax. And his eye pulsed, gently, in a way that didn’t hurt. He felt colors swimming over his vision, soft pinks and reds and sunset oranges washing over his dark view before Feather finally pulled his hand away, Cirrus’ eyes slowly blinked open and, and… and he could see. He could see… he could see, and as happy and astonished as that made him, the first thing he was forced to notice was that his concept was also working again, the force of it slamming into his face as he shut his eyes tight, pain washing over him in an instant. His head was throbbing and his eye could see through its lid and was analyzing everything behind it. Every color he saw in the distance, how far away things were from each other, how fast it would take him at full speed to run to every single stall, all the net prices of all the objects on every single table in his vision… until he felt his eyepatch get firmly wrapped back in place, someone gently moving his hair out of the way to cup the patch back over his all-seeing eye while hooking it around his ear, and when Cirrus blinked back into focus, all he saw was Feather fixing his hair with a smile.

  “There you go. You should feel better now. Make sure you’re honest about your injuries from now on, okay? Of course, I’ll be able to fix anything, and I’ll always know when you’re hiding something, but… your companions don’t have the same abilities as me, so you should think about them,” Feather smiled calmly, entirely too gentle for the twisted picture Cirrus had been trying to paint of him just moments ago. “Jayce is your best friend, right? And Achitha is your second in command, yeah? And while Eve might be a newer person to you, she’s still sworn herself to serve you. You don’t have to protect them from your weaknesses. If they don’t know what hurts you, how will they be able to do their job and protect you in the way that you need? By not telling them, you’re not only making things worse for yourself, but you’re preventing them from doing their jobs, and I think that’s selfish of you. Even if you thought you were doing something good by hiding it. Friends will worry, of course, but that’s a good thing. You wouldn’t want them hiding injuries from you, would you?” Feather scolded lightly, tone soft in a way that didn’t sound very reprimanding, but that still hit Cirrus like a ton of bricks regardless. Perhaps he’d said it gently on purpose, because he knew that no matter what tone he said it in, Cirrus would still listen and take it very seriously. Maybe Feather really did know everything.

  And, having said all he’d wanted to say, and after having had a fun day of dragging Cirrus around and putting in an order for a new hairbrush that would hide a deadly dagger, he was satisfied and ready to go. But, little did Cirrus realize, he didn’t know everything. Feather didn’t realize how utterly astonished Cirrus was, how guilty he felt for having even considered for a moment that Feather might’ve been using him. He didn’t realize or have even the slightest idea how much he’d driven Cirrus’ feelings for him further, to the point they felt burning hot like prickling needles covered in molten lava inside his chest. And the moment Cirrus saw him walking away, off to do who knows what, he wasn’t about to lose this moment. He couldn’t lose it. He lunged forward and grabbed Feather’s arm, the blond jumping in his skin at the sudden touch, about to turn around and start screaming for Cirrus to let the fuck go. But he didn’t get the chance to.

  “Let me buy you something else,” the prince pleaded, walking forward to stand right in front of Feather, moving his grip on the side of his arm lower to hold his wrists, before he tested his luck and moved slow, gentle hands further down to caress Feather’s. “I know you were trying to watch how much money you let me spend, so you didn’t get something you truly wanted. But you don’t need to do that, okay? I have more than enough money, and my parents give me full access to our treasury because they know I’m trustworthy. You know, Nefion doesn’t even get that access. But the point is, I have more than enough to buy you absolutely anything, anything you want. I mean it,” Cirrus insisted, Feather’s cheeks heating slightly as he gave the prince the most disgruntled look he could manage.

  “What? You don’t have to—”

  “I want to. I want to do it,” Cirrus interrupted, Feather looking even more disturbed to even hear Cirrus utter something he actually wanted with so much conviction. “I saw a lot of things you were looking at that you didn’t ask me to get you, even though you looked like you really wanted them. One of those things was the nice white and blue cloak we saw. You looked at it, and you looked really happy and even moved to try it on, but you put it back and said you’d never wear it. Were you lying when you said that?”

  “Huh? How’d you even notice…” Feather wavered, flinching away from Cirrus’ hand when the prince moved to caress his face, before he heated up the skin to make this damned man feel like he was touching a burning hot flame, which immediately caused Cirrus to flinch and let go.

  But that didn’t hinder him. Since touching his face didn’t seem like an option, Cirrus moved back down to hold Feather’s hands again, smiling sweetly in his space as he leaned a little closer. “Should I buy it for you? If you really do want it, you should tell me. You’re always telling me to be honest, so you should be honest too, okay?”

  “Ah… but, um… okay,” Feather blinked, caught entirely off guard with this entire scenario he would have never been able to predict. But it was too much, far too much for him. The moment he regained himself, he took a large step away from Cirrus and swatted his hands off, rubbing his own over his arms as he took more cautious steps back. “I do want it. You can buy it for me, I really wanted it, so if you’re really fine with it, then that’s what I want. But don’t touch me without my permission. And don’t touch my hands whenever you want. It’s weird and I don’t like it.”

  “Oh, right… I’m sorry,” Cirrus apologized, processing that for a moment before he carefully lifted his hand, a smile sliding onto his face as he waved it in the air. “Then I’ll ask this time. May I pet your hair?”

  “No,” Feather retorted instantly, backing even further away like a cornered cat about to make a run for it.

  And he really did look uncomfortable. Perhaps Cirrus shouldn’t tease him too much about this. He’d figured it’d be okay, since Feather had seemed to have liked holding hands that one time… but, well, forget it. People can have different preferences and desires on different days, desires weren’t something in stasis. So he raised his hands and took his own small step back, wide smile still wrapped around his face as he moved to head towards the adventure’s clothing shop to go find that cloak again. “Alright, then I won’t touch you, I promise. I’m sorry I stepped too far out of line, I won’t do it again. But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go buy you that cloak you wanted.”

  “Uh huh… flirt all you want, you can’t escape the nice fucking conversation we’re about to have,” Jayce grumbled, turning around to follow Cirrus as Achitha tailed behind. Eve, however, stayed with Feather, looking a bit concerned to see him so closed in on himself. She wanted to say something to Cirrus, too, and yeah, she did feel a bit betrayed that he hadn’t felt like he could be honest with her, his healer… but she understood. And it looked like Feather needed her more in the current moment, so she flashed him a smile and watched as he slowly seemed to return back to his relaxed, carefree self.

  “Ready to teleport to the dungeon? Are we leaving today or tomorrow?” she asked, dutifully helping to get his mind off the topic of Cirrus as Feather glanced towards her, straightening himself up.

  “Hm. Today. We’re going into a dungeon, so the time of day won’t matter since we won’t be on the surface,” he conceded, moving to take hold of her shoulder to teleport them all the way back to the Kavrill’s home so he could say goodbye to Kylan.

  Ah, but… he didn’t know how to explain how weird that whole situation had made him feel. Cirrus was such a weird guy. A weird guy who was awfully touchy. He seemed to always be wanting to touch Feather’s hands and face, it was weird. He didn’t like it, and it made him uncomfortable. The prophecy said they would fall in love someday, sure, but… right now he just found Cirrus to be a nice but weird person who was also a pushover and who needed to gain more conviction in himself and his authority. That prophecy might come true in the future, and maybe he really would fall in love with Cirrus just as hard as Cirrus was falling in love with him… but that day was not today. And the next day might not be it either. Or the next, or the one after that. But someday, the day would come, and maybe Feather would better understand when it came around. Who knows… maybe he’d start acting weird too.