Radiant Academy {KH/FF/FT & others}

Chapter 25~ the vanishing tea party!

“What did I tell you about not touching anything,” you muttered to Zack, hitting him upside the head as he dropped the scone. You then took off toward the man. “I’m sorry sir, we didn’t mean to intrude on your… party,” you guessed he must have been hosting some sort of party even though he appeared to be the sole occupant of the area.

“Don’t fret my dear,” The man shot out of his chair and into a deep bow tipping the top of his hat into the frosting of a cake sitting in front of him. “It is terribly rude of a host not to rise and greet his guests. I do apologise.” He continued as the four of you finally reached his end of the table.

You were about to introduce yourself and ask if he knew of a person called ‘Mad’, but before you had the chance he shot up beside you pulling out a chair. “Please have a seat,” he offered.

“We don’t really have time, I’m sorry,” you tried to avoid any unnecessary interaction with the locals on missions.

“Nonsense,” The man shook his head, “There is always time for tea,” he smiled before his grin faded and he looked over his shoulder cautiously. “Well at least there used to be.” He muttered more to himself than any of you. His reaction piqued your curiosity and you decided to take a seat. With a smile the man quickly whizzed around and pulled out the chair for the others before returning to his seat adjacent to you at the head of the table. For a tall, lanky man in a miss matched tailcoat and trousers, he sure could move fast.

“Please help yourselves,” The man gestured to the many cakes adorning the table top.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Axel grinned across from you picking up a tart, as Zack, next to him rubbed his hands together a greedy look in his eye. Gray however didn’t make a move to grab anything.

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary,” you told him thinking he was just being cautious, “you can go ahead and eat if you want.”

“I’m fine, I’m not really a sweets fan,” he admitted sitting back.

“Suit yourself,” you said picking up a tart of your own and taking a bite of chocolatey goodness before turning back to your host. “We actually came here today because we were looking for someone and were supposed to meet him here.”

“Meet him here you say,” the man pondered. “Of late I am the only one here, in this spot. Or perhaps did you mean ‘here’ as in the forest or the whole kingdom itself? Oh this could be quite difficult. I can’t think of any ‘Him’s’ at the moment. Maybe some tea might jog my memory,” he smiled as he poured himself a cup of tea.

“Is this guy for real,” Gray’s eyebrow rose quizzically. You just ignored him and continued trying to talk to the man. You had met many strange people on your travels so you didn’t really question it anymore.

“The man’s name isn’t ‘him’ his name is ‘Mad’” you tried to explain.

“Mad? Mad you say?” the man chirped up. “Well I’m Mad,” he grinned.

“Clearly,” Axel mumbled to which you just shot him a ‘shut your trap’ glare.