It had been stupid, really. Amiti could admit to that. All he had wanted was to get some air, preferably away from the constant hubbub of the recovering city.

Belinsk was wonderful, there was no denying it. But it was so... foreign. For someone who had lived largely underground for so long, had seen the same people day in and day out, the magnificent kingdom above the surface with its strange inhabitants still threw the young prince for a loop each morning. It wasn't a matter of discrimination or racism. He and Sveta got along very well, and even being around Eoleo the pirate had managed to grow on him. It didn't even have anything to do with suddenly being surrounded by a city full of Psynergy users. In the end, what it boiled down to was the simple fact that Amiti was ready to go home.

He longed for the familiarity he had always known. He needed to see his uncle again. His very heart and soul demanded that he confirm to himself that the aging man had recovered from his sudden illness, and that the city they called home had not been breached. And so, craving some space and time alone with his own thoughts, young Prince Amiti had ventured outside the city walls.

Alone.

Now he could see just how stupid it had been.

"Ah dunno. Ah'd say the shoes alone would catch ah pretty penny."

Stupid indeed.

With a sigh, Amiti untied a small coin purse from his belt. He tossed it to the ground between he and the circling bandits. "Here. Take it and be gone. I have no intention to fight you."

"Oh, ho ho!" The second bandit chortled loudly. He finished with a devious sneer. "Did you hear that, lads? He has no intention to fight us."

"Makes it sound like we're giving options."

"Pretty obvious you aren't one of the animals living in those walls over there." Amiti bit back an angry retort at the thief's taunt. "Means you had to do some traveling."

The fifth bandit in their party snickered. "I'm sure if we checked, we'd find a nice sum more than that puny purse on ya."

"The clothes alone would be worth more." What was with that one man and the price of clothing? "Dibs on the shiny headgear."

Really? He was callings "dibs" now? Amiti had never even heard the term until Matthew and Tyrell had once debated who would get to keep their latest weapon finds.

Stupid indeed again.

One of the thieves, standing just within Amiti's peripheral vision to the right, smirked. "Well, then. Best we be getting on with it, then." He started to take a step forward.

That was when a new voice, low and calculating, spoke out from behind. "I would highly recommend you not." Amiti prided himself in resisting the strong urge to turn around. The bandits, on the other hand, all stopped to look at the newcomer.

"What's it to ya?"

"Yeah, move along, old man. This doesn't concern you." To emphasize his point, the bandit who spoke fingered his drawn dagger, the blade tarnished from years of poor care.

"Oh, but I am afraid it does." Amiti could hear the voice move ever so slightly nearer. Judging by the body language of the bandits he could see, the new presence had them switching to the defensive. "You see, I have been trailing this young man for quite some time. Much longer than your raggedy crew-"

"'Ey!"

"-which means, to phrase it in your own words, I get..." the newcomer paused dramatically, "dibs."

Obviously, such a claim did not sit well with the thieves.

A thief that Amiti could see to the left growled angrily. "What'd you say?!" The man started for the stranger.

Amiti couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard the stranger casually say, "I wouldn't recommend that, either." What he could be sure of was that the bandit had barely moved three steps, still within Amiti's range of vision, before a pressurized spout of water shot up from the ground beneath the man. Amiti jolted in surprise at the sudden display while the bandits shouted. The one bouncing at the top of the plume was outright shrieking.

"Warned you."

"It's one of those psychic freaks!" one of the men on the ground hollered.

"Actually, that would be an Adept aligned under the power of Jupiter. Or wind, if you are in need of simpler terms," the stranger stated calmly, much like one observing the clear weather.

The spout vanished back into the earth, leaving the still shrieking man to fall with a wet smack into the muddy puddle left in its wake. He spluttered and scrambled to his feet, already breaking into a running retreat before he was even completely upright.

"You know, one thing I would recommend?" The remaining bandits looked to the person, all staring with wide, fearful eyes. Three more water spouts shot into the air, equally spaced in a triangle with Amiti at the center. The young prince jumped slightly again in surprise, though no water touched him. "Copying your friend."

He didn't need to recommend twice. In no time at all, and with a rather notable number of hollers and curses over their shoulders, the bandits had disappeared from sight over the next hill and into the wild forests beyond.

Amiti blinked, feeling something between confusion and being amused. But then that voice spoke again, and he remembered that he wasn't yet alone.

"I must say, this is not a place where I would have expected to find little princes wandering around."

Amiti quickly reassessed his situation as the tall, cloaked man walked by, their shoulders nearly brushing. "I could say the same thing for masked traitors." The man, his back now in clear view, paused for a step before continuing forward. He knelt by the dropped purse. "Take it and go, Arcanus. It was all I carried today."

With a sigh, Arcanus delicately picked up the purse as he stood. For a moment, the man simply studied the small pouch in his palm. Then he did something Amiti wasn't expecting: Arcanus turned to face Amiti and lightly tossed the purse back to its rightful owner. "Relax. I'm not going to rob you."

Amiti had to lurch forward a step to catch the item. He blinked at the small thing now resting in his own hands. It was simple in design, but even the bandits from before would have eventually been able to recognize the value of the beads sewn to the fabric. It was unlikely anyone outside of Ayuthay would have recognized the pattern those beads formed, the symbol of his family's royal line. "But... you just said-"

"What was needed to make them leave." Arcanus nodded at the pouch. "Take your money and return to town. This is no place for you to be wandering around alone." His part said, the masked man strode by the younger Adept once more, heading in the direction from whence he came.

Amiti spun around. "Wait." He hesitated awkwardly, biting the inside of his cheek. He wasn't sure why he had called out, but... he was relieved that it had worked. Odd. That's what it was. Incredibly and inexplicably odd. Arcanus had been stringing them all along in some plan of his own for their entire journey. And yet, Amiti was relieved when the masked man stopped walking.

So very odd.

"Why do you aid us?" he inquired at last. "It seemed like you were using us for so long. Why do we suddenly matter so much to you?"

Arcanus had a response in mind. Amiti could tell by the way his head partially turned as though to answer, and he could see how the jaw muscles on that unmasked half of the pale face worked in restraint. Amiti waited patiently for the response to come; for at least one of many mysteries to finally be solved.

But Arcanus did not oblige. He simply resumed walking away, and Amiti could recognize how pointless it would be to try to stop him.

"Dibs" - End

What can I say? The Alex and Amiti plot bunnies decided to attack. I'm going to leave the story status set to Complete for now. I have maybe one or two chapter ideas left, but they're a little iffy on the development. If more ideas start to pop up, though, I may switch the status to In-Progress and have it as a running series of oneshots or mini-arcs based on this duo.

And now for a review response. Can't normally do these in oneshots, so I haven't been able to do this in WAY TOO LONG.

Spirit Seer - Aren't these kids just adorable? Not to mention incredibly sad. That whole family is just turning into one big tragedy! And of course those tragedies are what I seem to love to work off of the most. ;D And oh man oh man! I shocked myself the other day when I realized TNK's 10th anniversary is coming up. I'm not sure how far along the rewrite will be by then, but I may just have to come up with something for it as a small celebration. Thanks for reviewing and for the feedback!

Thanks also goes to those who have added this to their faves or follows. Even silent support is still support, and I appreciate every little bit of it.

'Til next time!