The Krakos: Book Two of The Legend of the Artificer

Chapter 15

"Tibalt," Grim said as they came closer to the wharf district.

"What?" Tibalt asked and turned on one heel to walk backwards. Elmer powered towards him with some kind of grilled fish on a stick and shoved it into his hand, and he stared at it.

"It's time you overcame your phobia of eating fish," Elmer declared, and Tibalt inhaled sharply.

"It wasn't a phobia, I just didn't want to eat my fish!"

"Same thing! Put it in your mouth, now!"

"Tibalt!" Grim snapped, and Tibalt's attention shifted.

"What?"

"Don't let people walk over you like that," Grim snarled, and Tibalt stared at him. "You're smarter than he is. Probably smarter, anyways."

With that, Grim strode past Tibalt, not even giving him the chance to fight back, and Tibalt's mouth opened and shut as his brain went completely blank.

Just who the hell did Grim think he was?

"Grim, stop getting mad on other people's behalf!" Angel shouted after him as Tibalt opened his mouth. "We're not that desperate!"

"Shut up, Angel!" Grim snarled, and turned on him. Elmer's eyes widened, and she grabbed Tibalt's arm as he geared up to say something, but--- "You do this every time someone brings that shit up, and you need to stop! I can't defend you every time!"

"I don't need to be defended! It happened, I can't change a background check, or people's opinions! And I don't need you to threaten people for me! You're not my parent!"

Seriously, what was happening?

"I didn't say I was!"

Angel sure had a lot to say for someone butting in like this. Dammit.

"Yes, but you still act like it, and I---"

"Tibalt and I are going to go ahead," Elmer announced, and started to drag Tibalt off down the street. "Try to not have a domestic in the street. There's ears everywhere, idiots."

"Yeah, fine," Grim snapped and glared at Angel. "I mean it, Angel, you need to---"

"I'm not inclined to listen to the advice of the idiot that almost threatened to cut out the tongue of the son of Maximilian Ultimas."

Elmer continued dragging Tibalt off, and the furious argument faded into the background of the busy marketplace. Tibalt thought about going back, but if he knew anything about sibling arguments, it was better to not get into the middle of them.

"Seriously, though, what the hell are they fighting about?" he asked once they got a distance away, and Elmer blew out through her nose.

"It was years ago, and just upsets Angel when it's brought up," she said, and glanced over her shoulder at the sight of the two of them furiously whispering at each other. "Grim should have been prepared. It's the Magic Tower, of course they would have checked our backgrounds the second we stepped foot in town."

"Charm said he didn't know it was Grim."

"Charm wouldn't have come if he didn't," she replied and took a bite out of her fish. "Seriously, eat. You skipped breakfast."

"So, he was lying?"

"Everyone here is lying. Some are doing it for boring reasons, like getting under their ex's skin, and others are doing it to hide something," she responded, and nudged him. Tibalt immediately took a bite, and she nodded, satisfied. "Don't get too worked up about it."

"I'm not," he replied, and glanced back at the two brothers. "Are they going to be okay?"

"They do this all the time," Elmer said, and her lips twitched up a grin. "Eventually, Grim will stop being so overprotective. His brain kind of shuts off when people he cares about get insulted, and Angel's story is more of a sore spot for him than Angel."

"... Is it about the leg?" Tibalt asked, and she paused.

"You should just ask Angel," she decided. "It's a difficult story. The Farettis all have their fair share of ghosts. Everyone's heard about it, but it might be better for Angel to talk about it with someone who doesn't know."

"Well, he needs to mind his damn business either way," Tibalt muttered under his breath. "Seriously, what the hell was that? 'You're smarter than him.' Who says stuff like that?"

"Well, you are," Elmer pointed out, and Tibalt rolled his eyes and took a vicious bite of fish.

"I know that. Grim is a goddamn meathead."

"So, it didn't make you mad?"

"Of course it made me mad, but why should I do anything about it?" Tibalt challenged. "I could buy him if I wanted to. What do I have to prove?"

"Ha," Elmer breathed out and bit into her fish. "Grim has tunnel vision. Don't take it to heart."

"No, I'm still going to take it to heart," Tibalt snapped. "He can't be acting like that every time someone insults someone."

"This whole job has him stressed out, Tibs," Elmer said, and tilted her head. "You get that, don't you? He doesn't head investigations. He rescues stolen princesses, gets into labyrinths, goes up against real life villains, climbs mountains to gather precious magical herbs for epidemics."

"Then why the hell is he here?" Tibalt asked, frustrated beyond belief. If you were bad at something, you didn't do it.

"Because you wanted to, and we wanted to come with," Elmer said, looking almost surprised. "He's here for you. You wouldn't have been able to take this job without him and Angel."

"Then he should have just left it to Angel!" Tibalt was not going to take that lying down. It didn't matter how much Grim liked him, or whatever.

"Angel..." Elmer trailed off, and looked behind her. "Grim doesn't let him head his own parties. Angel can't handle it. That's why they're always together."

"Angel seemed to be doing just fine."

"Because Grim was there. It's easy for him to be okay when he's with Grim, even when he's telling him off," Elmer explained and then sighed. "Family's messy, okay?"

"Can't relate," Tibalt muttered, even though he could. "Fighting like that doesn't lead to anything but misery and silence."

"... What?"

"Nothing," he said, and straightened up. "Guess the rookies are just going to talk to Taro themselves, huh?"

"Well, I think we can handle it," she said slyly, and he shot her a grin.

"We acting up?"

"We're definitely acting up."

"We should wait for them."

"We should."

Both of them had gleams in their eyes, and, yeah. This was what Tibalt wanted. Let the boys fight it out. They could handle Taro themselves.