Still damp from her bath, the newly named Chaos smoothed the clean, black material down over

her hip. She smiled to herself, wishing she had a mirror so she could admire the new uniform. After the

ceremony, she had come back to her old rooms-next to Nemesis’s-to find all her trainee grays were gone.

In their place was the solid black of the full Shadow. Her old familiar knives rested on top of the small

table near her bed. In the chest, several new weapons rested, ones she had been training with. Under them

was the expensive, lightweight black chain mail.

Sifyi walked in, lazily waving his tail. He leapt lightly onto the bed and sat down. Chaos held out

her arms and spun around so the cat could admire her. He yawned, curling his pink tongue towards the

roof of his mouth.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked. The cat looked at her, and then began to lick his back leg

vigorously. She moved, scooping the cat up and cuddling him close. Sifyi didn’t look too happy, cradled

in her arms. Feeling a little childish, Chaos returned him to the bed and fished out a brightly colored ribbon

from the nearby drawer. Quickly, she tied a large, loose bow around the cat’s neck. Picking up the now

thoroughly disgruntled cat, she held him out at arm’s length to admire his bow.

“There, now you look pretty.” She told the cat. He hung in the air, his tail swishing angrily back

and forth. The bright yellow bow drooped, slowly sliding down the side of the cat’s neck.

“Are you done preening yet?” Destruction’s voice teased from the door way. Chaos looked over

at him, pulling Sifyi towards her chest. He struggled to be free, and she let him jump to the bed. Free,

Sifyi began to paw at the ribbon around his neck.

“No.” she said with a smile.

“Well, hurry up. We don’t want to be late!”

“Late for what?” Chaos asked, combing her fingers through her wet, short hair.

“To celebrate! We always rent out the Broken Sword for these nights. Your year mates are

probably already there. Come on!” Destruction urged impatiently. The cat headed toward the door, trying

to maintain his dignity. Mayhem stooped over to remove the partially untied bow from around his neck.

He placed the ribbon on the table near the door. Sifyi looked up and thanked him with a quiet meow before

heading out into the hall.

“More beer and barmaids?” Chaos teased.

“Only beer for you. Unless you have a taste for barmaids?” Destruction asked. Chaos chucked

one of the cushions from her bed at him. He caught it out of the air and tossed it back. It landed on the bed

with a soft thump. She headed to the door and the trio headed out into the night towards the Broken Sword.

Chaos entered the tavern only a step behind Destruction. She was immediately grabbed from

behind and swung around. When her feet were placed back on solid ground, she turned to see Fingal

standing there.

“Well, we did it.” He grinned, “What name did you end up with?”

“Chaos.” She said, still feeling a bit strange.

“Sounds better then Quarrel. That’s what I got stuck with.”

“I got Mischief. Herrick is gloating because he got Disorder.” Yarint interjected, rolling his eyes

as he came over to join them, “The rest haven’t shown up yet, so I don’t know what they got.” He sipped

from a mug in his hands, “Come over here and sit down. My sponsor ordered a pitcher, and I can’t drink it

all by myself!”

“I’ll sit, but I have never drank beer before.” Chaos told him.

“Just have one to be social.”

“All right, just one.” She agreed, following him to the table.

Much later, the noise of the celebration had died down considerably. Mayhem had managed to

dodge one of his former conquests and was feeling very proud of himself. He worked his way across the

much emptier room, most of the people heading back to the Shadow’s building to sleep off what they had

consumed. Mayhem stepped over one of Chaos’s year mates, who had fallen asleep on the floor. Mayhem

grinned to himself, recalling what he could of his own celebration.

He noticed the slender figure of Chaos sitting at one of the tables. He headed over and sat down

across from her. Without Destruction hovering over her, Mayhem had a chance to admire the girl. She

really was very attractive in her uniform. He grinned to himself as he imagined what her reaction would be

if he told her that. Of course, she had a lot of beer in her, and it would probably take her the rest of the

night to figure out what he was saying.

She looked up at him, blinking owlishly. He slid into the seat across from her, “I wondered what

you would be like drunk.”

“I’m not drunk, am I?” she asked, a hint of accent brought on by the beer she had consumed, “I

only had one beer.”

“I would say you had a bit more then that. Your friends kept putting more in your mug when you

weren’t looking.” Mayhem told her. Chaos eyed him suspiciously, before dropping the same look to her

mug. She frowned and looked up at him.

“You don’t like me, do you?” she asked, bluntly.

“I didn’t at first. Now I don’t really mind you.” He told her mildly, having always been an honest

drunk himself. He reached across and took the still full mug from her hand and finished it quickly before

returning the now empty mug to her. She looked into the mug, as if surprised to find it empty.

“I don’t mind you either, except you say a lot of dumb things. I guess you think you are funny or

something.” She told the table. Mayhem found this very amusing. Chaos shook her head, trying to focus

on one of the Mayhem’s across from her.

“When did you get a Pyinn’thin?” she asked, blinking again.

“A Pie-in-what?”

“A matching brother. I don’t know the word.”

“Oh, a twin? You are drunk aren’t you? Speaking of which, what did Frustration say to you?”

Mayhem asked.

“Wanted to…say sorry ‘bout the hair.”

“I thought it looked different.” Mayhem shrugged.

“You’re going to say dumb things to me tomorrow, aren’t you?” she moaned, burying her head

back in her arms.

“Oh, you just wait. Tomorrow I’m going to say a lot of dumb things about your activities this

evening.”

“You have to be nice to me now.”

“What fun would that be?” Mayhem pretended to be shocked, “I’ll make a deal with you. I don’t

pick on my friends too badly. What say you, friends?” He stuck his hand out toward the girl. She eyed him

cautiously, before giving a lopsided grin and taking the hand.

“Friends don’t make fun of each other, right?”

“Where did you get that idea? Friends get to make fun of you more often.” He told her. She

groaned and buried her face back in her arms again. Mayhem signaled one of the older barmaids to bring

another pitcher. When it arrived, he filled the one in front of Chaos and a relatively clean looking one for

himself. Seeing Destruction heading toward them, he filled a third mug for him. Destruction fell into the

seat next to Chaos, and she managed to lift her head.

“Is she all right?” he asked his year mate.

“Better then Quarrel over there.” Mayhem nodded toward the new Shadow sleeping on the floor.

Destruction glanced over and laughed. Mayhem lifted his mug to Destruction and the pair finished their

drinks, Destruction managing to drink his a bit faster then Mayhem. Mayhem stood and stretched his arms

over his head, “I think it’s almost time to head back up. My bed is calling me.”

Destruction rose as well, a little unsteady on his feet, “Chaos, are you awake?” She mumbled

something in a musical language. Destruction grinned over at his year mate, “I think we’ll have to carry

her.”

“I will make it my mission in life to make sure she never forgets this.” Mayhem vowed as he

walked around the table. Between the two of them, they managed to lifted the sleeping girl. Destruction

shifted her so he could carry her himself, leaving Mayhem free to finish her beer. The pair stumbled out of

the tavern and headed back towards the castle grounds.