Today's Art-ifact (Patreon)

Now who's winning?  Those cards switched colors for the last time, we wanted them to pop and be obvious.

Final Written Chapter:

Epilogue- Cheating at Life

No matter how Xyk rearranged his cards, he'd been dealt shit.

He stole a glance across the table at Rosa, sitting behind her hand prim and proper- as though dealing from the bottom of the deck was the furthest thing from her mind.

The rangy coyote suppressed a grin.  Two could play at that game.

His chair gave a dry creak as Xyk leaned back and clomped his boots onto the table, coins clinking.  So good to finally stretch without feeling any plucks or twinges.  His wounds had finally faded into scars in these last couple weeks.  He released a hearty sigh.

"Confident, are we?" Rosa said.  "Maybe you should raise with that fancy dagger of yours."

"What, this old thing?"  Xyk flipped Greenwell's gem-encrusted knife into the air before it vanished into a pocket.

"I'm gonna use that, Rosa.  Gutting fish, scraping pots, trimming nails- you know, the most valuable things in life have uses.  Not like this…” He waggled a hand at the loot on the table, a glimmering heap crowned by Junior’s gilded sword. "...Lavish glut."

Well, if Junior’s hoard is of so little consequence, you should accept your third and be done with it.”

Her eyes gleamed blue in the hazy beams of light crossing the tavern- Hollow’s Tavern, in fact, where they had first crossed trails.  Thinking back to the dandies who'd rejected him, Xyk acknowledged it felt good gambling with a sum that dwarfed theirs.

He wouldn't go so far as to say he felt smug.

Just, it was sooo much more.

Still, any self-respecting drifter would insist on half the loot, no less.  There were standards.  Why wouldn't she agree to an even split?  She wasn't the greedy type.

Though originally, he wouldn't have pegged Rosa as the playful type either.  But the cat seemed to be enjoying her cards.  She leaned forward, and Xyk noticed how the neckline of her dress was tailored, much the way one notices the frame around a work of art.  The Imperial signet ring dangled between cool ivory curves.

He returned to his cards in faux concentration, rearranging them yet again.

"I'm gonna win so big, I'll have to skip town just to keep you from killing me," he said.

Rosa gave a musical chuckle, tail sweeping the air behind her.

"That won't be necessary Xyk- I have other ways of punishing rogues who cheat at cards."

His whisker twitched.  Did she really know he was cheating?

No.  She was trying to distract him, by flirting.  Well then...

Xyk gave his head a shake, ears flopping.  This wasn't something to seriously consider.  Rosa had a new lease on life, and the last thing she needed was him in the middle of it.  He had enough problems chasing his tail to overwhelm the both of them.

It didn't need to be the both of them.

He cleared his throat.

"First of all, my lady, you're the one who's cheating."

Rosa raised one eyebrow in mock indignation.

"And second of all," Xyk continued, "I'm glad you seem to be doing well.  After... everything."

There.  That oughta kill the mood.

But Rosa settled languorously into her chair, a bright form in the comfortable dim light.  Xyk could almost swear he heard purring.

"I always hear stories," she said, "About how vengeance is hollow, futile, just a cycle of hate...  But I don't feel hollow.  I avenged my father.  I killed a monster."

She reached up, lightly touching the glimmer below her throat.  Drew a deep, clean breath.

"It's like I was starving.  And now, I'm not."

"I hear stories, too.  About how the locals are thinking to make you sheriff," Xyk said, "Seeing as you have an appetite for justice or something."

She scoffed softly, looking to the floor.  "Another couple weeks, and they'll be rich enough to hire an army of sheriffs.  I'm not sure I want it..."  She gave Xyk a direct look.

"They can afford it because of you, wanderer.  We’re both guilty of doing justice.  Must I shoulder the mantle alone?  If you think you’re getting away with it, no strings attached-"

"I get away Rosa.  Always.  Only this time I'm getting away with a sack of treasure."

"Provided you can win it from me fair and square."

"Well then…  If we're both cheating, I guess that's fair."