Partial Solutions

"What are we supposed to do?" Sol asked, sneaking a glimpse at Mr. Scary and Aarti's mom standing a little bit aways.

"Don't fall in that trap," Don said, tilting the hat back on his head. His arm had finally regained feeling, giving him and Dawnie a rough idea of how long a regular kid hit by them would be paralyzed. The answer wasn't encouraging. "If you start personifying the enemy, you're only giving them undue power."

"Fine," Sol said, rolling her eyes. She sighed. "If there's a plan you want to do that involves me, hurry up. I don't think I can maintain this form for a long time."

"It's still a cute form," Don teased, chuckling as Sol blushed.

"Stop hogging his attention," another one of the girls chided, eliciting a storm of nods. "It's not often we get to see Don." She turned her attention to Don, frowning. "You're too skinny. You need to eat more."

"Really?" Don asked, startled. He patted his face. "I think I did get skinnier." He sighed and reached into the pouch strapped to his belt and pulled out an IWA bar, examining it. "Dawnie says that this one is better for me."

"Let me see," the girl said, taking the bar out of his hand. She showed it to the others. "Don, this thing has five thousand calories."

"Really? The last one only had three thousand," Don said with interest. He pulled out another one. "At least I won't get any skinnier eating it."

"Wait," Sol said, joining the sea of frowns. "Are you saying that you're eating three thousand calories a bar? I've seen you eat like five of them so far."

"And now I'm on to the new ones that Dawnie brought. I ate the rest before I got here," Don said.

"You're burning too fast," the first girl said, irritably brushing a lock of fiery red hair out of her face. She stood up. "Does Lucy know about this?"

"Of course, she does," Don said. Then he smiled. "I think I might be able to distract the adults just a little."

"This involves Kuro, doesn't it," Sol said dismally. She looked to where her brother was slouched in the shadows, making shadow puppets act out a show for the younger kids. "You know you shouldn't involve him, right?"

The other girls nodded in unison again. The thought of Don and Kuro exchanging more than five words was unsettling, to say the least.

"But what we know, the adults don't," one of the few boys in the crowd said. Like the others, he was lured by both the presence of the girls as well as Don. "They wouldn't know they don't get along so it'd be an impromptu fight."

"Which they would try to break up," another girl piped up, a smile growing on her pixie-ish face.

"And I could cast an illusion that everything's fine around us while they do so," Sol followed up. She snatched the hat off of Don's head and handed it to a girl. "Go give this to Lucy. She'll know what to do with it."

"A hat?" The girl muttered as she dutifully walked away.

"Are you ready?" Sol asked Don before turning to look at Kuro.

Kuro smiled at the kids he'd been entertaining and stood up. The kids glanced their way and then filed off behind the errand girl. Kuro drifted their way, his cheerful expression dying away as he eyed Don.

"Sniffing around my sister," he growled, hands fisting. Then he glanced at Sol who gave him a small smile of encouragement.

"Let's put on a show," Don whispered as he stood up.

*****

"Really?" Lucy said, accepting the hat Domina handed her.

Domina shrugged, rolling her expressive blue eyes. Then she paused, surprise flashing over her face as her hands went translucent with faintly glowing veins. A brief expression of pain followed before it was forcefully replaced by perfected ennui.

"And how long has that been going on," Lucy asked, exchanging glances with Aarti who'd returned with a chastened Amazon in tow. Aarti slipped away with a sigh, leaving the Amazon behind.

"Does that truly hurt," the Amazon asked in an accented tone, her brow furrowing. She looked pale from blood loss. At least Lucy hoped it was blood loss.

"It's okay," Domina said with a smile. Lucy raised an eyebrow at her. "Really! It's not as bad as it used to be."

"And I repeat?" Lucy played with the hat, rotating it by the brim, ignoring the slightly alarmed look from the Amazon.

"Since I've been here," Domina finally gave in with a sigh. "But seriously, Lucy! It's not that painful anymore."

"Did they take her away while you were here?" Lucy asked the Amazon who slowly shook her head.

"I cannot remember much. After failing to beat the fight out of me, I was mostly asleep. They have a gas that works remarkably fast," the Amazon admitted, her voice laced with frustration. She looked around the room, noting the cluster of children. "Verily, I did not realize that there were so many held here."

"The cylinders are deceptive," Lucy soothed. She looked over at Jebediah as he and Aarti approached. "Domina is manifesting. Is this going to cause us a problem?"

Jebediah picked up Domina's arm and pressed two fingers to her wrist. Domina rolled her eyes, shifting on her feet. Then Jebediah peered into her eyes and flinched back almost immediately. He massaged the bridge of his nose.

"We might have a problem or we might have an opportunity." Jebediah turned towards Lucy. "The hat doesn't stay open long on its own, right?"

"That's what Court has gathered," Lucy said. "I'm not totally sure."

"The few times I saw them work, it only opens for a few seconds at best," Aarti added.

"Domina might be able to infuse it with some extra energy, to keep it open longer," Jebediah informed them. "Domina, come with me. We need to go talk to Court."