Instant Freeze

Tea

According to Yvonne, the Men in Black had entered the Black Bat Bar to question one of the girls who worked at the bar, who claimed to have sighted a fiery disc flying through the sky and then told her friends and co-workers. Fortunately for her, she had not been working at the bar that night, but unfortunately, this only caused the Men in Black to start questioning everyone else at the bar, patrons and staff members alike. Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, the Men in Black departed from the Black Bat and did not return.

The fiery disc Henry and Katharine knew as the craft with which Moloch had been travelling in. They could only wonder what the Men in Black would have done with Yvonne's employee. They knew that Moloch wanted to see them again for some reason and that the Men in Black would bring them to him, but what did they want with this girl who worked at the Black Bat? What were their intentions? If they intended to keep Moloch's existence known to a limited few in Actaea, then Ward's claim to have been transformed by Moloch to the packed Courthouse did much to hinder that goal.

Yvonne went on to give her own conjecture on what the Men in Black were. While they themselves had identified themselves as corpses, cadavers, and Henry and Katharine had even told her this, Yvonne conjectured that they may have actually been manifestations of the Devil himself.

That alone only caused Henry and Katharine to wonder, if the Men in Black truly were manifestations of the Devil, then how was Moloch his superior? Was Moloch his superior? Were they working together? How were they to know? Life was strange and no doubt it would be getting stranger, but what could they do?

That Carchemish had slain Mr. Smith and disfigured scarred Mr. Jones showed that they were not all powerful and thus maybe not the Devil, but if they were and Moloch was indeed the Devil's superior, then was Carchemish even greater than Moloch? If that was the case, then was what greater than Carchemish? Of course, even if the Men in Black were indeed manifestations of the Devil, the fact was that while the Prince of Darkness did represent opposition to God, he was far less powerful and any common person could outwit him with enough wisdom and faith, so that probably did not mean Moloch or Carchemish were that much greater, but that did not change the fact that Carchemish was probably the scariest thing that Henry and Katharine had encountered in their fifteen years.

Even as Henry sat with Katharine backstage drinking tea, he thought about if the Men in Black were indeed more than mere cadavers. It was only when he actually found his tea cool enough to actually drink, that his thoughts actually changed. His tea tasted... off. What had Yvonne given him? Had Yvonne actually made this tea? Had she asked Ku, Marion, Miao or Zac to help? If not, then who could it have been? Rip Van Winkle?

"Katharine, does your tea taste off to you?" asked Henry, staring down at his tea with the odd taste still on his tongue. What was that taste?

"No, Henry, does yours?"

"It does." Henry took another sip of his tea. He still wasn't sure what the taste was.

"May I try?" inquired Katharine. Henry nodded and held up his cup for her to drink from. Once she had, Katharine commented: "It tastes like cream."

Bringing his cup of tea back over to him, Henry shook his head and uttered: "Tea that tastes like cream, that's a first." Looking over to Katharine, he saw her looking back at him with a coy smile. "What are you looking so coy about?"

Immediately, Katharine replied: "We practically just kissed."

Smiling as well, Henry reached for Katharine's tea and said: "Well then, how about another kiss?" Still smiling, Katharine handed Henry her tea and the latter would have drank from it had his mismatched eyes not fallen upon the former's lips. Mentally he reminded himself that he was just talking about having a sip of her tea, tea that did not taste like cream, but his heart and his mind was of two different opinions. What was the quote from "The Thief of Bagdad"? "You're a clever little man, little master of the universe, but mortals are weak and frail. If their stomach speaks, they forget their brain. If their brain speaks, they forget their heart. And if their heart speaks, they forget everything." Yes, that was exactly what Henry was feeling almost. His heart spoke, but he did not quite forget everything. He had only been talking about a sip of tea and yet, had he? He did believe it was too early in his and Katharine's relationship for kissing, but practically kissing? Alas, he knew not, but still wanting a sip of tea that did not taste like cream, Henry took a sip of Katharine's tea anyway.

Still smiling at him, Katharine asked: "How's it taste?"

"Quite good, Kate." Henry replied, handing the cup back to her. To his surprise, she did not take the cup from him, instead placing his hands upon his own. A sheepish look upon his countenance, he asked her: "Are we to be sharing the tea?"

"Would you rather return to tea that tastes like cream, Henry?" Katharine inquired. Henry could do naught but shake his head. He supposed that sharing a cup would be fine. After taking a sip of the tea, Katharine then said: "I know it is a bit cliché, but how about on our next date we go dancing?"

Henry was not much of a dancer, but he was open to new things. With a bright look in his eye, he asked: "Is that something you like, Kate?"

A small blush appearing on her light cheeks, Katharine answered: "Well, I like boys and dancing and you are a boy I really like, so..."

She did not need to say anymore. Henry simply smiled at her, took a sip of the tea and then said: "Then I'd be delighted to go dancing with you." As Katharine took a sip of tea, he then said: "And I know it is a bit cliché, but how about for the date after that one we go see a movie?"

"Did you have something in mind?" inquired Katharine, interested at what Henry was going to suggest.

"Well, I know it is a bit old, but how about we see 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame', its showing at the cinema and—"

"I'd love to." Katharine answered. As Henry then took a sip of tea, she asked: "Have you ever read the book?"

"Tried when I was six." Henry replied after his sip of tea. "Didn't actually read it until I was fourteen."

"Six?" Katharine was impressed. "That is ambitious."

"A little bit too ambitious." Henry admitted with a chuckle. He barely made it past the first chapter when he was seven before giving up completely. "When I was twelve, I read a comic book adaptation, so I was better prepared for when I was fourteen."

"How was it?"

An uncertain expression upon his ruddy countenance, Henry shrugged and said: "It was okay, more censored than the movie, but ended up being rather random."

"Oh?" Katharine asked curiously. "Why was that?"

Henry explained everything to her. With Claude Frollo deprived of his negative qualities and no Jehan to transfer them to, much of the evil ended up being done by many a nameless character.