Chapter Three- Plans

~*~

"L-Lord Sydney?" Kat stammered, eyes widening in shock. The amplifiers fell from her hands, completely forgotten.

Sydney turned to smirk at her, arms folding across his chest. "Well, who else would I be?" he asked. "Honestly woman, ya call yourself a thief and you can't even tell who's a lord and who's not!"

"I thought you were dressed well 'cause of yer powers," she muttered, glancing down. The two amplifiers shone in the sunlight.

"Well, I get some money for doing stupid magic tricks for kids sometimes, but for the most part I just get money from my inheritance." Sydney shrugged. "Not a big deal, really." He turned back to the elderly man. "A pleasure seeing you again, Patrick. Let the gods always be with you."

"And with you, my Lord." With that, the elderly man wandered off.

Kat soon recovered, however, as the beginnings of a plan started somewhere in the back of her mind. Slowly, it worked its way to the front of her brain, and she smirked with glee at the sudden idea hit her.

/A lord's gotta have tons of money! And a mage, too! I don't care what he says, I've seen tons of peasant mages who look like lords or ladies. If I can get on his good side, get to his house... then I can borrow some stuff, sell it off, steal it back, return it, and leave with the profits! Oh, Kat, you've still got it! Heheh.../

~*~

Syd watched the girl uneasily as an odd smile made its way onto her face, and he couldn't help but swipe up his fire amplifiers and take a step or two back and away from the thief.

"Well, how about that! You being a lord and all!" Kat exclaimed. "And Lord Sydney besides! Didn't you become the first mage to be able to kill a Dragon on his own?"

Damn, she HAD to bring that up. He turned slightly pink and scratched at the back of his head. "Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal, it WAS a young Dragon after all..."

"But still! I've heard young Dragons can overpower a lot of people easily!" she persisted.

"Yeah, that's true..." Then he caught himself. "What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

"Just to see your wonderful abode and stare in awe?" she said innocently.

"Right, and steal my stuff? Not a chance, girl." He placed his amplifiers back into his pockets, patting them to make sure they were secure before returning his attention to the now-pouting thief.

"I wasn't gonna STEAL anything, jeez," she muttered, looking hurt. "You act like I'd steal anything. I only steal things of taste anyway," she said, sniffing.

"Taste? Taste?! You haven't known taste until you see MY place!" Syd declared, glaring at her.

"Ha, I highly doubt it. Probably reeks of bad taste cause you just wanna horde all your money. Probably just a peasant house with money hidden somewhere."

"Oooh, you are seriously pissing me off!" Syd pulled out an amplifier.

"Shiny!"

An instant later, the amplifier was back into the girl's hands.

"Damn it, will you STOP THAT?" he said, glaring.

"You were gonna hurt me," she accused.

"I was provoked!"

"I was gonna be repressed!" she said just as loudly.

Syd felt himself blush; people were beginning to look their way. "Will you shut up?" he whispered.

"Only if I can go with you!" she said, grinning.

"Will you give me back my stone and STOP stealing them from me?"

"Hmmm... oh, all right." She gave him a peace sign. "I swear to whichever God or Goddess ya want me to that I won't steal any of your stuff ever again. Deal?"

"Alright. Then come with me. My home is nearby." Syd turned around, readying to walk away.

"Great!"

"By the way..." Sydney turned around to face her again. "You know my name now, but I still don't know yours. May I ask what you prefer to be called?"

"Oh..." She shrugged. "Kat."

"Just Kat?" he questioned.

"Yup. What, something wrong with that?"

"No-"

"You're making fun of me!"

"I am NOT!" Syd declared. "Are you coming or not?"

Kat immediately latched onto his arm, tossing his amplifier back into his startled grasp. "Heck yeah I'm coming, what did you expect? Can't leave you lords to wander around alone anyway. Don't know what sort of trouble you'd get into without me!"

"I can imagine," he muttered. /Why me? WHY?/

~*~

Kat was busy congratulating herself on her brilliant success when Sydney stopped in front of a small building. On closer inspection, she realized it was a clothing store. "What's this for?" she asked, poking a brick in the wall.

Sydney rolled his eyes. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah. What, you think you can present yourself in MY house in THAT?" Sydney gestured to her outfit.

"What's wrong with- oh." She blinked at her outfit. "Since when was it all rags?" she wondered, scratching her head. "All right then, let's get some breeches and..."

"We are getting you a decent dress."

"What?! No you're not!" she declared.

Sydney whirled around to glare at her. "Listen to me, kid," he growled. "I am a highly respected man in these parts, and I will NOT be humiliated any longer by a thief."

"Hey, I don't steal everything in sight!" she sniffed. "I could steal your clothes right off your back if I wanted, you know. I only don't because I don't feel like seeing you naked- probably ugly as anything- and out of the goodness of my heart."

"Right," he drawled. "Well let me put it this way. I don't care if you steal all of my amplifiers and blow up the town with them. If you're coming with me, you WILL be dressed decently."

Kat blinked at him. "Well, guess I'll see ya around then." She turned around and made as if she was leaving.

"What..." Sydney gaped as she held up his strongest fire amplifier over her head to wave it tauntingly back at him. "Hey! You thief-" he caught himself, and sighed. "Will you PLEASE be decent and come along?" he asked despairingly. "And give that back?"

Immediately she was latched back onto his arm with his amplifier in hand. "Why, of course Lord Sydney!"

He stared at her in surprise. "What...?"

"You only had to ask nicely, you know," she said with an innocent smile.

He sighed, and led the way into the building (where they'd hopefully get a good dress for the thief). /By the gods and goddesses, I ask this once again. Why me? Did I kill too many people in the last war? Was that Dragon just a baby? Or do the deities just not like me?/

~*~

Poor Sydney! You'd think a lord would get more respect... Nah! ^^ Thanks for your time, everyone! Later!