Elemental Cats

There wasn't much Retsy could tell Toz other than what they had already told him. Tasha was a man with an extreme grudge against the Starsling Kingdom who left his victims nothing more than a bloody sludge on the ground.

But what Retsy revealed about Tasha was enough for Toz's suspicions to grow. The way Joshua reacted, the timeframe of Tasha's arrival at Pirate Haven, and the grudge against the Starsling Kingdom all pointed to Tasha being the person Toz suspected he was. The things that made him doubt it were Tasha's appearance and temperament.

The last thing Toz heard about Tasha was that he had blonde or light brown hair and was a joyful and peace-loving man. Tasha, Red Hook's follower, was the complete opposite of the Tasha Toz knew.

While Toz wasn't entirely sure about Tasha's identity, he decided to ask Tasha the next time he saw him, or if the opportunity arose, let Tasha visit the Bunglehopper base while Joan and Joshua were out and about.

Joshua had been in Retsy's courtyard at the same time as Tasha, but he had hidden behind Stitches, and the Red Hook pirates couldn't see anything other than his hair and sometimes his face. Considering Tasha's unseeing gaze, Toz wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't looking at anything other than his targets. Even if his eyes saw Joshua, his mind might not process anything special about it due to the despair-induced trauma clouding his mind.

Toz thanked Retsy for the information after gathering his thoughts and set off to catch up with the others.

Wulf and the others were already right outside their base when Toz caught up to them. Toz was happy that they made it back without trouble, but he also regretted not having more time to think about what he should tell Joan.

However, Toz pretty quickly realized that he only needed to tell Joan what he knew, so when they got back and, the ones who stayed at the base came out to meet them, Toz asked Joan to follow him. Toz thought about it for a few moments before he decided to bring Joshua with them.

Joshua still looked out of sorts as he followed behind Toz and Joan while they headed toward Taienra.

It wouldn't really matter where they were, but Toz figured that Joan and Joshua would be more comfortable on the island of trees than at the Bunglehopper base surrounded by pirates.

Joan had gotten worried after Joshua disappeared into the portal right before it closed, but since she knew Toz and the cats were on the other side, she calmed down. However, her worries increased when Joshua came back a little distraught. And she only got more anxious when Toz asked her to follow him with a solemn look on his face. She wanted to know what was going on, but she was also too scared to ask outright, and before she knew it, they were already at the house on the island on Taienra's back.

Toz motioned for Joan to sit down. Joan sat down with Joshua in her lap as she waited for Toz to begin explaining what was going on.

He began by comforting Joan and telling her that it wasn't directly dire news, just something that might be a serious matter.

Toz first gave Joan an abridged version of the times he had seen Tasha, and then he told her what he knew about the Red Hook Pirate, Tasha.

Joan looked distraught at Toz's words and refused to believe that her husband had become a revenge-driven murderer. She hadn't even gotten over his death, but he was supposedly alive and taking revenge on the entire Starsling Kingdom, or at least as much as he could.

However, the burn scars matched where the Starsling Kingdom's mage had attacked Tasha. The image of her last moments with her husband flashed past her eyes each time she closed them. Joan couldn't forget it, even if she tried.

Joshua simply nodded in silence as he appeared to be deep in thought.

Toz let Joan and Joshua process and accept that Tasha was still alive but mentally and physically scarred to the point where he was an entirely different person. Joan hugged Joshua tightly until she calmed down.

"Can we meet him?"

Toz only nodded in response to the question Joan asked while on the verge of tearing up. Whether Tasha had changed beyond recognition or not, he was still her husband and Joshua's father. No matter what happened, Joan would still love him. And maybe seeing his wife and son still alive would bring back at least some shadows of his past self.

The thing Joan was still worried about was Tasha's inclination. He had always thrived in protecting his family and the townspeople. Even during their attempt to escape from the flames of war, Tasha still did his best to help and protect the people they encountered. He didn't even kill bandits who took advantage of the situation.

For a person with such a caring and protective inclination to wreak havoc and destruction against other people was almost unthinkable. However, Joan, who was familiar with Tasha's inclination, knew it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

Joan had spent most of her life in the village she came from, but she wasn't completely sheltered and, like most people, knew about common characteristics among inclinations. Inclinations grew with their human. If a sword fighter grew to love teaching the art of fencing to others, simply teaching sword skills would be enough for them to train their martial energy. And a baker would progress more easily when baking bread they liked baking.

However, if something happened that affected the person deeply enough to make them never want to teach another person or touch another dough again, their inclination could change with them. Simply refusing to bake or teach again wouldn't be enough. But if it was to the point where even just looking at the dough was enough to make the person tremble in fear or anger or sadness, the inclination would turn into something that would align with those feelings. But the inclination could also give up and cripple the person instead.

Tasha's murderous intent and bloodthirst were enough proof that his inclination had changed and become the opposite of what it once was.