10

What? Yed listened very intently, that didn't sound good.

"You know Iri remembers everyone she meets right down to the smallest detail." Muin patted her big sister's leg. "She called me right before Yed called." A glance was thrown his way. Apparently she wasn't happy about being called after Xiam, but how was Yed supposed to know whom to call first? "She told me she remembered that the guy had a funny looking tail. It had a bit of a crook in it, especially when he walked."

Yed quickly laid his tail as straight as he could. Xiam's wife could be a problem after all! How could she remember such a tiny detail?

"He also had a strange blue hair color she said was quite memorable. We're watching for that right now, and for anyone new in town." Muin continued. "We'll look around more, someone else must have seen something." Muin put her finger to her lip and tapped it back and forth. "There was something else. Oh yeah! He was really tall and lanky too, almost four feet." Muin gestured over to him. "About like our Yed I bet."

"I need some water." Yed said quickly as he stood up. "You ladies want anything?"

Muin smiled. "No sir!"

Ezra just shook her head not even hearing Yed's invitation. "Tall, lanky, and weird tail? I don't remember. I sort of remember the hair though."

"She said he had a high voice too, almost comical." Muin added.

Almost comical? Well, that's nice. Yed frowned as he went to the kitchen and pretended to get water. He glanced back, then went over to a cupboard for a shot glass and some Warnisky, a brand of strong warno whiskey. What do you remember about the guy who knocked me up? Yed mocked Muin to himself. Oh just that he had a funny voice and a crooked tail? I do not have a crooked tail! He poured the whiskey straight in the shot glass and took a swig. He felt the sensation burn his throat as he continued to listen to Muin from the other room.

"We'll catch him Ezra, rest assured! You think Yed is going to let some guy get away with this? He'll definitely find him before we even do! He may be a jerk and overprotective, but he'd never let us down."Yed looked at the shot glass. The smooth exterior had Xiam's restaurant Vallencio's imprinted on the side. I'd never let them down. I may be a jerk and overprotective but I'd never let them down. Muin's words burned worse than the whiskey as he scooted the shot glass away and took a swig straight from the bottle.

----------

In the weeks that followed, Ezra had become used to Yed being in her life again. Although annoying, greatly annoying to have a Protector hanging around all the time, she realized how much she had missed her old friend. She even found herself playing favorite childhood past time games, but nostalgia took over when they started to play with yo-yo's.

Ezra smiled as Yed's string on his yo-yo broke. They were competing to see who could yo-yo the most and she was not far behind. "Is that a forfeit?"

"Ha, ha." Yed tried to tie the string back together. "You wish."

Ezra laughed as she held out her finger and bounced her yo-yo like a pro. It was a child's toy that she hadn't played with in decades, not since Yed left. She had thought he would give up on it like everyone else did, but he still had a strange fascination for the toy. "Still obsessed with that yo-yo as much as when you were a kid."

"I was never a kid, I had too many responsibilities." Yed responded as he kept trying to tie the knot without leaving gaping strings that would need cut. "I'm not obsessed either."

"Okay, you're not obsessed and you never were." Like she would ever believe that? "You bet Yo-yo Yed."

"You're the one who must have been practicing all the time." Yed complained as he got his string fixed. He tried to play with the yo-yo but the string snapped again. "Damn, this is getting old."

"Blame it on the yo-yo." Ezra smiled knowing it irritated him. "What are you going to do, throw it away, buy a new one and declare a new game?"

"No, I couldn't throw this one away." Yed tried to fix the string again. He seemed to hesitate a moment before he spoke. "...my father gave it to me."

"Oh." Ezra became quiet. Family was never anything Yed wanted to talk about.. The less she had pushed as a child to know, the better they got along, but they were adults now. Would he be able to talk to her more about it? I never told him anything about my real family either. "Your father gave it to you?"

Yed fiddled around with the string but glanced up. "What about you?"

"Hmm?" Ezra didn't understand, he should know a great deal about her. "Me what?"

"Your family," Yed put the yo-yo down, "before Xiam and Muin?"

Ezra continued to play with her yo-yo. "I don't know what you mean."

"Do you remember anything?" Yed asked her.

"I don't know what you mean." Ezra said more firmly. She didn't want to talk about it, he should have just known. He worked for the king, how could he not know?

"Yes you do." Yed said seriously. "You're the last Saga."

Ezra put her yo-yo down. He was so frustrating sometimes, if he did know, why was he asking? "So."

"You could have told me. It would have been nice knowing," Yed said.

"Nice knowing?" Ezra gave him a disturbed look. "What? That I'm the last of some phased out family? How would that be nice to know?"

"Because," Yed took a deep breath.,"I am too."

Ezra gave him a puzzling look, what did he mean he was too?

Yed picked his yo-yo up. "...my lineage is all warno, no mix."

"You have pure lineage?" Ezra seemed shocked. "I thought there weren't many more besides a few."

"Well, there are." Yed smiled as he waved his tail around near her. "I saw the historical book of lineage with my own eyes."

Ezra held out her tail as well, but did not touch his. "I'm red. Yours is blue?"

"Yep." Yed grinned. "Matches the hair-I mean it did match my hair. I should have guessed."

"Well how could you?" Ezra reasoned. "Xiam and Muin hid their tails too along with mom and dad. Everyone hides their tail colors, even Zaria."

Yed groaned. "Why'd you mention his name? Hang on, wait! The Cattral's had pure lineage?!"

"Yes, they're pure." Ezra informed him. "So is Zaria."

"That lowlife." Yed growled. "That must have been the attraction!"

"I don't know." Ezra shrugged her shoulders. "It's nice to know their babies will continue the warno tradition, at least a few more centuries."

"Yeah, great." Yed felt like smashing his head into something. The king set him up for no reason at all! There would already be a pure lineage having a kid. How could the king not have the basic knowledge of Muin and Zaria, it was right there in front of him! He wanted to scream to the top of his lungs, what the king had done had no purpose. Nothing at all, it was an accident that never should have happened, and it would go down in history as being the stupidest thing he'd ever been conned into.

Which led him to believe, even more, there was more to this than the king let on. If only he could see it. He tried many times, thought about it over in his head. Why? Every time he thought about it though, he ended up at the same dead end conclusion: Nothing.

"In the end, it doesn't matter, they'll have to cover its little tail too." Ezra shrugged her shoulders. "The Saga's are gone, the Cattral's name is gone, and soon so will the rest."

"Wait, what do you mean Cattral's gone?" Yed frowned, "Xiam married, didn't he? Eventually he's bound to have kids."

"Yes, but the Vallencio's had no males in their family to pass their name down. Xiam wanted to make the gesture of changing his name instead of Iridescent."

"Xiamipoc Vallencio?" Yed couldn't quite get his tongue to say it easily. "Explains the name of his restaurant."

"Yes. Besides, Xiam knows the kingdom still tracks the family names. If he changed his name over, there's more safety for his next generation." Ezra reminded him.

"Great, and Muin went and married. What was her last name again?" Yed asked.

"Furtop." Ezra reminded him. "Mrs. Muinela Furtop."

"So you're the only one left, huh?" Yed chuckled. In a way, it was sad. "I feel the irony."

Ezra didn't smile. "That's not very funny."

"The last Saga. The last Cattral." Yed pointed at himself. "The last Smilliat. We're all fading out in the end."

Ezra nodded in understanding. "Yes. One day, we'll all be gone and just waryes' will remain. I just hope it's a gradual change with dignity, and not...not war."