The Price of Chiminage

Kekfa spent much of the morning after speaking with the Night Maiden in bed. Not sleeping, just laying, thinking. Trying to decide which of his pack mates to put fear into. If he tried to scare Rends he was likely to be killed, he could try to scare Zoe since just hearing of his past scared her. Whether she admitted it or not he can see it in her eyes. That would be the easy way out though, and there ain't no good reason to ever make your pack Theurge angry. That left either Zas or Eaton. It wasn't an easy task, but considering what happened with Akna, Kefka felt lucky to have a spirit be willin' to teach him anything at all. He heard his daughter making noises in the other room and began to smile as the wheels began to turn.

That night he and Jasnah went for a stroll around town. Jasnah breathed gently as she slept in her arms. He didn't want to bring her along, but his plan required Jana to be out of the house without Elijah. That meant Harriet had to invite her out while Kefka watched Jasnah. He meandered through town sticking to shadows and generally passed by unnoticed by the other townsfolk who were milling about; headed towards their homes, or the bar. They eventually arrived at Eaton's house and Kefka peered in the window. He saw Eaton asleep at the table, book in hand,  and Elijah asleep in the bed. Kefka took a deep breath preparing himself for what he was about to do.

Kefka walked around to the front of the house and concealed himself. While holding Jasnah in one hand he set his plan in motion. He opened the door quietly as he could and began weaving the shadows of his packmate's house to conceal Elijah in darkness and then in the doorway he formed the shadow of a human carrying a baby. The creaked as it opened fully rousing Eaton from his slumber he groggily blinked and saw the form in his doorway which then began take off running down the road. He quickly glance towards where Elijah was sleeping. Seeing nothing he jumped to his feet and took off in pursuit. Kefka held his breath in the shadows and watched as Eaton ran down the road. Kefka made the shadow right down an alley as he went inside Eaton's house and shut the door.

He smiled as he removed the shadows concealing the sleeping Ragabash. He lay Jasnah down beside him and walked over to the table. He sat where Eaton had and began to look through the books that were strewn across the table. It wasn't too long before Eaton showed back up. He opened the door with a pale face, and short of breath.  Kefka raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"You okay there Eaton? I was walkin' by with Jasnah and saw the door open, and Elijah sleepin'. I figured it might be best I come in til either you or Jana came back."

Eaton just stood there confused before running over to check on his son. Kefka walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"He's jes fine Eaton."

Kefka reached down and picked up Jasnah.

"I dunno what happened but you look like you had a rough night, why don't you get some sleep. You've probably jes been studying to look in them books is all."

Kefka laughed and walked out the door, leaving his packmate alone with his son.

Eaton's heart resumed it's normal tempo as he picked up his son. Yep, he was here in once piece. Must been a dream, is all. Confusing the latent images of his subconscious with his still tired mind, he thought. Ah well, that was nice of Kefka to . . .

Wait a minute, why was Kefka here at all? He routinely went on late-night walks with his daughter? Did Kefka think he was that irresponsible to just leave his child alone unsupervised as to think this was just some normal thing? And how would he know to reassure him Elijah was just fine unless . . .?

Then he remembered he was dealing with a Ragabash.

Catching up to Kefka, Eaton gave a look of disapproval as he said, "Hey, Mocks. Thanks for lookin' after Elijah here. But, uh, any reason ya didn't wonder where I was? Ya should now by now I ain't much of a sleepwalker."

Mocks takes a breath and smiles as Eaton catches up to him.

"Now of course I wondered you where, but I figured watchin' over Elijah was more important than trying to hunt you down. I know you ain't a sleepwalker, but I also don't know to what extent you act out your visions when you're having them."

Kefka gives a brief pause.

"Were you having a vision?"

Eaton's tired eyes just portrayed disapproval before he said, "Ya know, you coulda just asked the stranger if I abandoned my child to go on some vision quest. Unless ya already knew where I was. Come on, Mocks I know ya ain't dumb. That thought had to occur to ya."

Kefka shrugged defensively and frowned.

"Zas and Rends went back to Crossroads. I didn't want to ask The Stranger in case he was busy helping them out. I figured you didn't go too far, I could still smell ya."

He chuckles.

"If there weren't any sign at all of you, yeah I would have called The Stranger and Zoe since she is still in town. I jes didn't want to call Wolf if you were safe and sound in town."