Pendant

'So that's what those trips were for?' Fate thought. He recalled that Old Man Travis had left town at least once a month for groceries and what he called 'personal matters.'

Food was much cheaper in the cities, but Fate never did learn what those personal matters were, until now.

Travis came back out with a proud smirk on his wrinkled face and a round wooden box in his hands, about two palm widths wide. He handed it to her and watched gleefully as she opened it, his smirk lengthening as Cait gasped at the contents.

Out of the box came a pendant that could only be called a work of art, with a thin black chain that pulsed with silver Imprints attached to a centerpiece of brown metal that matched Cait's hair color and fox ears.

In the middle of the centerpiece was an empty gem setting, leaving a hole that went through the piece.

The centerpiece was fashioned to resemble a circle of five foxes' tails, the tip of one hiding the base of another. The brown Imprints placed on them were shaped like the fur of the tails, giving them a lifelike quality that made Fate want to reach out and pet them.

As Fate watched, it sucked in the Mana in the surroundings and stored it within one of the tails. Each and every Imprint was of the Sprout Grade, barring two which were of the Sapling Grade.

This automatically made it a Sapling Grade treasure, an extremely rare sight on Ziobrun, where so few Masters bothered to enchant, and not a single Arch-Mage did more than dabble in the field.

Such an item was not just rare, but extremely expensive. After her awe wore down, Cait's foremost thought was of the trouble such a piece of jewelry would bring her.

"I-I'm sorry, uncle Travis, but I'm not strong enough to accept this."

"Nonsense," laughed Old Man Travis. "How else are you supposed to use your mother's Will Stone? A wand won't do you any good, a Fox kitsubus needs to be able to use their hands in battle."

What Cait held in her hands was what Old Man Travis dubbed a "Will Pendant." It functioned exactly like a wand, with the only real difference being the shape, and the many, many Imprints that the old man loaded onto it.

"If anyone sees me with this, they'll take it from me," Cait insisted.

"Then they'll be stealing a hunk of junk," Travis said. "Push some of your Mana into it, and the pendant won't let anyone but you use it. If anyone wants the Will Stone inside, they'll have to go through you and the Imprints I placed on it.

"Also, it hides the true nature of the Will Stone from prying eyes and scrambles the more powerful Imprints, so anyone that isn't a skilled enchanter of at least the Master Stage who looks at it will just see a pretty piece of enchanted jewelry on an expensive chain.

"There's also the passive Mana absorption which I based on your tails, and the chain, which I strengthened to take a beating.

"Besides, I helped this brat Fate here for years," Old Man Travis said, throwing his arm around Fate's shoulder. "He'll protect you, if only to help an old man out."

"Last time I helped her I was accused of trying to get into her pants," Fate said dryly.

Cait avoided Travis' gaze as the old man stroked his beard with a frown. "Is that so? What did I always tell you, Cait?"

"Kindness given deserves kindness returned," she said reluctantly. "But uncle, every man that's ever 'helped' me besides you and dad tried to do so. They see me as some cheap floozy that can be bought over with even cheaper actions, all because of the ears on my head and the blood in my veins."

"That doesn't excuse your actions. Did you even use that desire sense of yours?"

"Yes, uncle," Cait stated. "I tried, but it just came up negative. I was sure he had some magic item on hand to falsify my readings. I've met men before with such items. And why else would he offer to pay 700 Lights? That's twelve years' worth of food here in Hetforn!"

"I swear to the Empress, it's like the two of you were raised around a bunch of hungry wolves. Why is it so hard for you two to accept help?"

Wait, Fate was getting yelled at now? What did he do?!

"I've known Fate since he was a child. Even if he did have such an item on him, he's an open book! You'd be able to spot such intents from a mile away!"

That was debatable. Fate considered his poker face excellent, but Old Man Travis had always claimed that his eyes carried all the emotion for him. Fate had never been able to confirm this as everyone in Brergan avoided his eyes whenever they could help it.

Fate chose to believe that it was just the time he and the old man had spent together that allowed the latter to read Fate's emotions.

The old man always seemed to know exactly what Fate was thinking, even when it was something that couldn't be quantified in emotions, like when Travis had somehow known Fate had called him old that time at Kingi's Burgers.

He wasn't about to correct the old man mid-rant, though. That would only paint a bigger target on his back.

But that self-restraint was quickly proved pointless, as the elderly man whirled around to glare at Fate, golden eyes alight with anger.

"And Fate, you're no better! You know better than anyone about being reluctant to accept help. It's obvious that your lead tongue caused some kind of misunderstanding!

"Both of you better apologize to each other right now or I'm kicking you out and never talking to either of you until you learn to treat others with respect! I know that I taught the both of you better than that!"