(Notus Pictured)

Megaera walked the stone path into the town, her cowl over her white hair, covering her all-telling ears. Her blackened eyes searched the crowd, quickly and silently taking a man's small bag of coins from his side. She smiled at the ease of it, before quickly once more blending with the crowd. She was there for food, and supplies before she was to head out for her den.

"Fresh fish! Come get your fresh fish!"

"Jewelry for all the fine ladies! Want to get something for your angered wife? The finest gold here!"

"Freshly baked bread and pastries! Come get muffins and banana bread for the family to feast on!"

"Softest velvet! Finest silk! Come get your beautiful clothing here!"

Megaera softly snorts at the rather mindless vendors, before taking another bag of coins, this time from a fancier gentleman with his mistress. She ducked into an alleyway, before counting the gold coins.

"Dah... Frugal men..." She growled, seeing that despite the looks of the men, they did not have much on them. "Must I rob the King to get a good amount?"

"That wouldn't be smart of you, Meg." Megaera's head pops up to see her companion, what he called her 'Best friend', Notus, with a big smile on his face at her anger.

"I told you not to call me that, Novice." She says, her lips quirking upward as his mouth turned down at her rather insulting nickname for him. She throws him a bag, and looks back down at her coins, ignoring his returning smile. "There is your cut. Now go do some actual work for once, before I question your intelligence once more."

"I already did. While you were robbing those men I got something started."
Megaera glares at him, eyebrows raised, and holds out her hand. Notus simply smiles and points up at the sky. Megaera follows his fingers to see dark clouds and flashes of light, still not noticed by the people in the market.

"Notus, what are you planning?" Megaera asks with a slight quirk of her mouth.

With that, Notus grins widely and steps out into the street and directly in the center of the Square. The moment he does, lightning strikes him, scaring the commoners. Notus drops, sizzling from the lightning, calm in the face, and relaxed. He remains still as people around him begin to panic, gathering around him. Megaera stares, confused, until he wiggles his fingers in their special message. Megaera nods in understanding and rushes forward, running to her friend. As she goes to him, she snatches as many coin purses as she can, and then she kneels next to her friend and begins the act.

"Oh my god, Notus, what happened?"

Notus doesn't respond, just groans.

"I'll get Mother." Megaera says.

"Poor boy, struck by lightning."

"Indeed, it is quite unfortunate. It's lucky he survived."

The chatter continues before a large man steps forward and kneels.

"I can help carry him to your place if you need me to."

"Oh no, I can get him myself. I'm stronger than I look."

"Okay. Well, be careful. That was Magic, I know it, so it's lucky he survived."

"I'll keep that in mind when I tell mother."

Notus groans and Megaera lifts him over her shoulder and races away with him. Once they get away from the town, she sets him down and he walks with her, a wide grin on his face.

"How much did we get?"

"No Idea. We'll check when we get to the den. Nice work acting by the way. I almost believed you were injured."

Notus frowns and averts his eyes, resulting in Megaera glaring at him in concern and annoyance.

"Notus, you didn't get injured, did you?"

Notus lifts his shoulder sleeve to reveal streaks of purple and black marks, signs of lightning striking.

"I guess I'm still not used to Lightning yet. Didn't hit myself right, so that happened."

"Are you in any pain?"

"A little, but it's not bad. It's like a hot knife in my shoulder, but I can take it. I've had worse."

"Ugh, you should have been more careful. Why did you even make it hit you?"

"It had to be believable. Otherwise we wouldn't have had as much luck."

Megaera places her hand on his shoulder with a sigh and her hand glows with light. A feeling of soft heat, comforting and warm, spreads across Notus' shoulder. When She pulls away her hand, the marks are gone.

"You're lucky you're my friend. Otherwise I would have left it and let you suffer."

They pass by a giant oak tree and enter through a grove, finding the building that they had discovered and made theirs. They enter and sit at the table. Megaera pulls out all the wallets she had snatched and Notus does the same. After dumping them on the table, they count their spoils.

"Okay, so we have seventy gold coins, thirty silver coins, and five copper coins. Along with that we have seven emeralds, two rubies, and a diamond. We got some good spoils here. With the gems included, this in total makes roughly Three hundred gold coins and two hundred silver coins. I guess there was more in their wallets than I thought." Megaera says, delighted with the spoils.

Notus digs in a wallet, a look of concentration on his face. After a few moments, he finally dislodges what he had been digging for. His eyes widen as he realizes what he holds.

"Holy Stars we hit the jackpot."

Megaera looks up to find Notus holding a large, golden gemstone that shimmers in the light.

"Great Goddess, Notus, that is a golden sunstone. Those things are worth almost a thousand gold Coins.

"Nine hundred and eighty eight gold coins, to be precise."

"Well, looks like dinner's on me tonight. How do we cut this?"

"The gems can be cashed tomorrow. After that, we'll take the coins we gained, split them up evenly, and figure the numbers from there. For now, we'll leave them in the Spot, and take what we have currently."

Megaera smiles at the thought of not having to worry about money for once, before noticing Notus smirking at her look. She lightly shoves him, trying to lower her smile.

"You did good, Notus." She says, nodding once before putting the coins in her large satchel. The gems go in a silver bag on her side.

"A compliment? From you?" Notus says, taking on that rather proud sounding tone.

"You earned it. I suppose you do have your uses..." She says, rolling her eyes, before looking out the window to the sky. Her eyes seemed to debate something, before she sighs. She lowers her head, her voice low and clear. "I plan to head out for the ocean soon. I made contact with a captain who will take me to Domus... then Mortem will take me to the islands where I can harness more mancery..." She pauses, and she turns to Notus, her eyes dull, yet focused. "Will you... travel with me." It wasn't even a question, the way she said it. It was more like a statement, with a curved end. It seemed to catch Notus off guard.

"What?"

"I am asking if you will travel with me." She huffs, crossing her arms. "The road will be long, and we could be killed if our intentions are found out, but I would... appreciate your company. You have been a skilled asset to me so far, and I think that once I take over Yaiona, I would like you as confidant. So, one last time. Will you come with me?" She looks away, almost trying not to seem worried about his answer.

"Well duh. It could give me a chance to hone my mancery and learn new skills. Also, did you really think I would let you go alone? We're in this together. Besides, why not take over? It's not like life has anything else for me anyways, so let's do it."

At that, Megaera gave a small smile, and held out her hand to him.

"You might be the only human I actually like having around... Partner." She says, chuckling as he shook her hand. "Maybe the first."

At that, she heads for the door, her rough attitude back. "The ship will be here in the morning. Pack everything that you will need, and only a few items you want. Don't expect me to remind you to wake up in the morning. Be at the Nympha Docks at sunrise, or be left behind... though I doubt you will have issues with arriving on time." She pauses at the doorway, and looks at him. "We will be going to my island, the one where I live and where I was raised. Don't be an idiot and do anything to make me banish you from my home, got it?"

"You got it."

"Head home, Notus... Say goodbye to your mother... and give her my greetings."