The Night's Plutonian Shore II

This is the second person to appear out of nowhere in recent days, and I thought this one was dead.

Yeah, Kaden just walked out of the fog at night, flipping a strange-looking coin and looking away before he saw what it landed on. I didn't recognize him at first, but Giles did. Unsurprising, I suppose, given what I've heard from Giles about their long history together.

Actually, Giles didn't just recognize him, he ran up and hugged him. I'll be honest, that never really came to mind as being high on the list of things I'd expect him to do under any circumstances. After regaining his usual composure, Giles used the standard trick of asking questions to make sure he wasn't some sort of imposter or illusion. After a little while, he seemed satisfied. 

Things got slightly sappy for my tastes after this point, but Giles and Kaden both strike me as the types who could use some emotional vulnerability every once in a while.

After the two finished swapping stories and talking about how much they missed each other, Giles wanted to know how Kaden survived the Mountebanks. As it turns out, the answer was... magic.

Evidently, as part of a deal with Jack of All, Kaden joined the Mountebanks and stayed with them, and in exchange, Jack granted him powers. The time he needed to remain in the Mountebanks has passed, so he still got his end of the deal from it, and now he's using it to evade his former employers. (Something tells me Jack still plans on messing things up for Kaden. As insufferable as the Mountebanks are, temporary membership among their ranks doesn't seem nearly as bad as how most of Jack's deals end up.)

In summary, Kaden's is what you might call a slightly convoluted origin story.

At any rate, I'm a bit nervous that Kaden's past will catch up with him. Maybe that's a bit hypocritical, though, given I was the one to suggest bringing the others with us. I mean, it's not like Giles is much different.

- Poe