{"sf1_id":null,"sf2_id":"nz8w0aOe","title":"Random Story in Progress, take it again!","author":"kerflurval","words":14496,"posted_at":"2026-06-15T02:29:36.000Z","tags":["Fantasy","Female","Fiction","Goblin","Gremlin","I want to be done","Male","Raccoon","Science"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/nz8w0aOe-random-story-in-progress-take-it-again","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/nz8w0aOe","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"I posted this once before  \n  \n I made changes to the working file  \n  \n I tried to implement those changes here  \n  \n And I seem to have messed that up!  \n  \n  \n Have the story that just won't DIE!","content":"Random story in progress\n\nCh: 1 A girl and her money Gang aft Angly\n\n(Remember to tip your server, lest they tip themselves!)\n\nShe bounced from table to table. Not literally, but the effect was\n\nquite similar to that of a children's ball hitting random rocks or\n\nposts in a field, though in this case she kept going back to one\n\nbig rock, namely the main bar front of the tavern where she was working.\n\nIt galled her that she needed to work, but the alternative...\n\n'No, we work' she reminded herself. It ran counter to everything she\n\nknew to be true in life, but for some reason those around her kept\n\ninsisting that she needed to actually put forth effort. The hunters,\n\nWhen she had trained with them. The Warriors, the fifth of a day she\n\nhad been assigned to them. The Healers, Cooks, even the camp cleaners\n\nhad all felt that she was not putting forth enough effort. The only\n\ngroup that had felt she was putting to much effort into the task at\n\nhand was...\n\n\"Here's your order! Anything Else!?!\" she said, a little to sharply\n\nas she all but slammed the tray down on the table of the merchant\n\nand his town contacts. She took a half step back, closed her eyes,\n\nAnd took a cleansing breath. Held for four beats, and gave the\n\nshocked party her best friendly smile(Remember the EYES!), and turned\n\nto face the bar. Karl's expression was fairly grim, but he indicated\n\nboth the tray on the bar top, and held up first one then four fingers.\n\nSection one, table Four, seemed to have sent an order up by first\n\navailable server.\n\nShe turned her head, and cursed for the N'th time her short goblin\n\nstature. But she spotted the carved numerals in the base of the\n\ntable, as well as the openly worn swords and daggers which was all\n\nshe could see of the group through the crowded room. Caravan Guards,\n\npossibly from more than one caravan, here to discuss redistribution\n\nof manpower or something...\n\nHaving assured herself that she could get the large tray of meats\n\nand cheese to the table, she turned her attention back to the bar,\n\nAnd spotted her mark.\n\nHe was fairly large, male, gray, black, and cream from what she\n\ncould see of where his clothes did not cover him, had what looked\n\nlike an armored sleeve and gauntlet on his right arm, and he had\n\nspent the last week or so moving around town spending gold freely\n\nwhile holding onto any silver or copper he got like a drowning man\n\nwould a rope, branch or barrel.\n\nShe had first spotted him a week previous, when she was out observing\n\nan very important goblin holy day, Mibakis'Brok, which nine out of\n\nten of her human employers over the past few years would just accept\n\nas a real holy day, and not just assume she wanted to scuff off work\n\nfor a day. The tenth would insist on taking a look at her actual back,\n\nWhich she could normally use to her advantage by getting some extra\n\ncash. After some 'Effort', of course.\n\nShe had followed him at first out of boredom, given that she was known\n\nin this town, and most of the people believed that she really was out\n\ndoing her part on some obscure goblin holy day, so she could not risk\n\ngoing into any of the other entertainment establishments, not that there\n\nwere many aimed at women, and the few that were had barred her months\n\nback.\n\nPlotting her inevitable revenge against Madam Fro's Rental Dance Hall,\n\nShe almost missed where the large, raccoon like man, with a sturdy pack,\n\nwalked into the customer vestibule of the Glass Blowers hall. She Hurried\n\nover to the open window next to it, and knelt on the ground below.\n\nShe grabbed her religious 'Icon'(a small doll, made from beans, linen,\n\na swatch of Madam Fro's dress, and a lock of her hair) and started moving\n\nher mouth while repeatedly jamming her nails into the doll's 'Eyes'.\n\nAs she was not actually praying, she could here the raccoon man place a\n\nfairly large order for very specifically sized glass jugs, bottles,\n\nassorted flasks...\n\nShe almost dropped the Fro doll when she herd him ask if they took gold\n\nplacer nuggets, followed by him asking whereabout in town he might get them\n\nconverted to cash, and would they mind holding on his order until then.\n\nShe followed him the rest of the day, listening as he talked to the Assayer,\n\nFrom whose office he emerged, holding two mid-sized pouches, and standing\n\nsomewhat straighter, and followed him further to The Brewers guild, a couple\n\nof independent Moonshiners, the Bakers Guild...\n\nAnd made herself scarce when he walked into the tavern where she worked.\n\nBut from what she had heard at the other places around town, she knew he was\n\ngetting ready to sell her boss something, and would be back in a week.\n\nA whole week. She started planning it then and there. She had just enough extra\n\nset aside, from unofficial 'Extras' she had put up with, and she knew just\n\nwhich two of the 'Doves' on the staff would be up for a paid catfight.\n\nOf course, if either one though she had paid the other, the price would go up,\n\nbut the distraction would assure that every guy in the place would be paying\n\nattention to them, betting on the outcome, calling out encouragement...\n\nAnd not paying attention to the short green girl making her way through the\n\nroom, at waist level, just trying to get back to the bar area, where two golden\n\neggs would be waiting...\n\nShe picked up the other thing waiting for her at the bar, and Karl Humphed at\n\nher. She watched as he pointed to first his eyes, then the room, and shuffled\n\nback a bit like she was nervous as he first held up two fingers, and then\n\ndrummed them on the edge of the tray.\n\n'Let him warn her', she though, as he turned back to doing business with the\n\nraccoon. She was moments away from being out of here forever, with enough gold\n\nto keep her in food and drink for the next few years.\n\nShe picked up the indicated tray, looking sufficiently downcast as she made\n\nher way over to Section 1, Table 4, and placed it on the table. She made a\n\nshow of gratitude (Eyes on patron, half shut, try to look like you are\n\ntearing up...) just as everyone in the room turned to the sound of the sudden\n\nfloor show.\n\nNo time to watch Tracy and Lacy tearing into each other, back across the room.\n\nOut with the small flint knife, gentle touch on the hip here, waist there,\n\nmove the patron aside but keep a reminder, down the neckline with it, the crowd\n\nis getting loud, the clothes are possibly mostly off, they are going to be\n\nwinding it up soon, 'I didn't pay them enough to draw blood' Back of the mind,\n\nback of the mind, back to the bar...\n\nAnd the Raccoon shaped hole in the line of patrons. And Karl, glaring at her\n\nsudden excitingly pregnant shape.\n\nAnd the man in the Town Guard uniform next to where the raccoon had been. No,\n\nCaptain of the Town Guard uniform, and holding a somewhat thick portfolio,\n\nwith a couple of choice posters being held out to Karl.\n\nAs she closed her eyes, and took another cleansing breath, she let it out\n\nspeaking along with the captain as he said \"Grifty Goblin? AKA Greta\n\nGreenbows, AKA Goldy Locks, AKA...\" all to the background chorus of various\n\npatrons finding their balance impaired due to the redistribution of weight,\n\nfrom their belts to her blouse. And here was the important part.\n\n\"I place you under arrest in the name of the Lord Mayor, for the following\n\ncrimes...\"\n\nHe talked, she walked, right over to the Stocks. Children ran up and poked\n\nher 'Baby'. She saw her mark walking west, heading in the general direction\n\nof the warehouses on the outskirts of town.\n\nThere was some minor confusion when they got there, first the stocks\n\nthemselves were the wrong size, then when they switched out the bars for\n\nthe nearest sized non-human set, they were still the wrong height.\n\nA stool was found for her to stand on, and she watched as they clamped it\n\nto the upright.\n\nAs she stood there, in the shade of the gallows tree, having been relieved\n\nof her loot, she tried to turn a contemplative mind to the whole situation.\n\nThey did not kill her right off, all the patron got their cash back, at\n\nbest they could charge her with being a cutpurse, and disturbing the peace\n\nMost cutpurses get at best in this area public humiliation, which they were\n\ndoing already, and they could not go too hard down the disturbing the peace\n\nroute, as she was certain with the current sitting judge they would have to\n\nexplain why everyone in the tavern was not sitting in docket with her...\n\nAnd she still had her own stash, in the wooded area outside of town,\n\nwhere no one would find...\n\nAs her hopes to be out of here in a few days rose, she felt her skirt\n\ndoing the same behind her. 'Ah, yeah, that explains the stool...' she\n\nthought, as the first of the patrons whose coin she had lifted started\n\nin, making use of her in the way so many others had while she was\n\ngrowing up.\n\nCh: 2 See the World, Earn 5,000 Credits a day!\n\n(Stupid First Person Part! #1!)\n\nYou could say my part of the story begins back in the dawn of time, when the\n\nCreator found the world to be without Form or Void.\n\nOr, you could go back further, to the original Monoblock, which sat around\n\ndoing not much up to the point when it exploded for no well explained reason.\n\nOr, slightly less far back, we have my parents, who decided they loved\n\neach other very much...\n\nWell, for the most part everything before say a year and a half ago really\n\ndoesn't matter much to you, and that is when I set foot on Colony world #12\n\noutbound on the Beta Hydrae line. A quiet, somewhat rural place, primarily\n\ndevoted to agriculture, and rightly so. Which is where I found out that I\n\nwas terribly at being a field hand, and that most of the jobs I was better\n\nqualified for we well and truly filled. As I had only been seeking employment\n\nas a means to pass the time, I put in notice through the straw boss and\n\npurchased an explorer rig.\n\nThe fun part of being on a mostly agricultural colony is that they generally\n\ntend to leave large parts of the world undeveloped, major wonders and sights\n\nunseen, and major ore sites unclaimed, or I should say, not even looked for.\n\nNow, they don't discourage anyone from doing Geological surveying, it is\n\njust that when you have 25 major crops going at the same time, all of which\n\nbeing in need of a different type of care on their own schedule as opposed to\n\nyours, then you tend to find trying to stake a claim on a deposit of Iron,\n\nCoal, Gold, Platinum, or even something truly valuable like Aluminum, Silver,\n\nor Copper, well...\n\nThat is what those other planets are for. Yes, you can still get paid for\n\nfinding, marking, and returning a sample or two from the sites, as well as\n\na guarantied percentage of the value from the claim, but most people on these\n\nworlds tend to leave that thing for Tourists to do, as there are preventative\n\nmeasures to be done lest Blight take the whole crop.\n\nThree months in, having found enough Gold nuggets to fill three bins before I\n\nstarted chucking them back in the creeks. Three months, not a blue green smear\n\nor odd white soft 'Wire' soluble in Nitric Acid to be found, and though all\n\nGold deposits might be worth it I was somewhat disappointed that I had not\n\nfound anything worth writing home about. And so I leaned back against my\n\ntowable shelter, near the Twelth-ish hand bicycle, in the camp I had set up\n\nthree week prior, reading through my Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals,\n\nlistening to the Classics of Orchestral music station broadcast out of Port\n\nLowel on the moon. Others might argue that there could have been a better use\n\nfound for the extra broadcast capability's of the global satellite network,\n\nbut setting things up so that everyone can purchase one handheld device, and\n\nuse it for entertainment or talking to, say, Steve down the block or Emergency\n\nServices? I'm not one of those nuts that want to bring back the Intranetworked\n\nThangs, however I do appreciate being able to listen to the weather, or light\n\nsymphonic entertainment from the era of the 16-bit processor, as recomposed\n\nfor large-scale performance by...\n\nThe cloudy sky overhead, which had turned such interesting colors as the sun\n\nset, suddenly cleared, which was the first clue that I was not on what the\n\nlocals had called 'Kansas' anymore. Tying for second was the shifting in\n\npattern of the stars, and the sudden drop off of music mid chord...\n\nCh: 3 Discovery Live!\n\n(No Subtitles!)\n\nShe watched from a branch as the stranger engaged in...\n\nSomething, in the clearing.\n\nShe had watched for days, as he had gathered Raspberries, Mashed them,\n\nMixed Alcohol in with them, strained the mix, and distilled the fluid.\n\nShe watched in confusion as he stoppered the latest yellow pint jug,\n\nand put it in a box marked 'Fuel'. She watched as he poured the remaining\n\nFluid in the glass Amphora into a smaller bottle, which could at best\n\nhold a couple of mouthfuls for one his size.\n\nAlmost every sense she had been taught to trust, those she had been taught\n\nhad been used by every forebearer back to the first gremlin, told her she\n\nwas watching Science and Technology in action.\n\nAS she watched him use a small, flat, flexible object to get the last of\n\nthe Syrup out of the Amphora, and then lick off some of it before washing\n\neverything, her eyes, nose and heart told her this was in fact 'Cooking'\n\nrather than 'Chemistry' or 'Alchemy'.\n\nIf it was 'Science' in action, then she knew it was her sworn duty as a\n\nGremlin to help it's advance by finding all the ways it could go wrong,\n\nand making them happen, in order from Most to Least.\n\nThough the sweetly tart aroma of literal baskets of Raspberries being\n\ncooked down before her eyes, the scent she could in fact TASTE as she\n\nwatched the syrup being reduced to the very essence of the reddish\n\npurple berries, and the two prior batches which had come out dark blue\n\nfor some reason, caused her heart, and stomach, to tell her mind that\n\nthis person was literally cooking something up.\n\nShe took a moment to reassure herself that he would be washing for the\n\nforeseeable, before she climbed back around the trunk of the tree in\n\nthe fashion of the local squirls to her small camp. Making sure that\n\nher supplies were both where she had put them, and not likely to be seen\n\nfrom the ground, she turned her attention to the small bottle she had\n\ntaken a few days before.\n\nIt was unlabeled, as she had taken it from the end of a batch he had been\n\nworking on, during a time he had been distracted by a flock of birds which\n\nwere attacking one of his backets aster it had become uncovered. He had\n\nset down one sealed bottle before labeling it, and she had swapped it out\n\nfor one of the empties in the nearby rack.\n\nAs she sat next to it, having learned everything she could from external\n\nobservation, testing the label, examining the wax seal, and the loop of\n\nstring that went about 2/3rds of the way down the inside of said seal,\n\nshe took out a piece of ration block from her purse, and sat munching it.\n\nShe had taken this from him as well, from an open pack of them. it was\n\nfaintly sweet, highly caloric, carbohydrate based, and had a taste of\n\nCinnamon \u0026 Apples. It seemed to crunch fairly loudly as she contemplated\n\nher next steps.\n\nShe had seen him ingest small amounts of this, which put a tick next to\n\n'Food' and Cooking' but he had used both Chemical and Alchemical Preparatory\n\nmethods to make this 'Syrup', which indicated it might be part of a larger\n\n'Experiment' rather than jam making, or mead, wine, or even short beer for\n\nall she knew. Mark next to 'Science'.\n\nThe only clear route to certainty before her was to open the bottle, and let\n\nthe Djinny, er, jam out. However, as the stuff inside had been bottled and\n\nsealed hot, even though it stood a better than even chance of containing a\n\nfair amount of alcohol, breaking the seal would start an interaction with the\n\nair around her, which even the most basic of housewives would told her they\n\nlearned about when being taught how to set up preserves.\n\nHad she in fact been foolish enough to go up to one and ask, she added to\n\nherself. She further went on with a reminder to herself that it would be like\n\nsaid housewife walking up to a bear to ask about dietary preferences and\n\nfishing techniques.\n\nAs she cautiously reached out her hands to grip the string and bottle mouth,\n\nin preparation to break the seal, she heard a voice behind her say \"You\n\ncould have asked if you wanted to try some.\"\n\nCh: 4 Initial lies to self\n\n(Possibly more stupid first person crap?)\n\nI dare you. I dare you to go through a shift in trans-fictional layers,\n\nand try to handle it as well!\n\nHaving determined that I was not in fact witnessing some oddball weather\n\nphenomenon, so well known to the local populace that they did not even think\n\nof putting it in the 'Welcome to Kansas' brochures right next to the 28 pound\n\nboll weevil, I started assessing my supplies. Three remaining months of...\n\nWhich was about when I spotted the Wyverns taking down a heard of deer.\n\nSkipping the food, I went right to the security sealed cupboard, opening it\n\nwithout bothering to use the key. I had been offered a range of ranged and\n\nclose-in self defense items, but I had gone with a basic side by side coach\n\ngun, and a hundred or so rounds. Along side it was one .22 rifle, single\n\nshot, and another thousand rounds for same. I ignored both, and shut the\n\ndoor, having satisfied myself that they were in fact in the arms cupboard.\n\nGlancing again at the remains of the lock, I managed in a slightly calmer\n\nfashion to open the locked medical cupboard. I flexed and relaxed the\n\nobviously prosthetic arm as I looked over the largely useless stock of\n\nantibiotics, pain killers, splints, bandages, and dietary supplements.\n\nIf I ran across anyone strictly organic, and they had cut their finger or\n\nsomething, I might be able to help them, but given that most of what\n\nnature could throw at me would have the same effect as being pelted with\n\nmini-marshmallows...\n\nI closed the door on the mostly useless to me medical supplies, and opened\n\ntool storage, from which I pulled a hatchet, wood axe, and a three foot\n\ngooseneck crowbar, for as most people learn in school F=MA, and there is\n\nnothing like a bit of length to really apply that A to the M. Not that\n\nI really needed the mechanical advantage known as Leverage, since...\n\nLook, yes, I know you have some confusion over why I would think basic\n\nmedical supplies are useless, would prefer a three foot chunk of case\n\nhardened steel over a range projectile weapon, and what all of this is\n\ngiven that most of it seems so...\n\nAlien? Well, here is another such term for you, 'Cyborg'. The arm and\n\neyes are just the more visible parts, with the exception of one brain,\n\nand some major organs, most of me could come off the shelf of any\n\nreasonably well equipped hospital back home.\n\nWell, some of me. The very heavily armored support case for the brain\n\nand organs might be available, as an upgrade? So there is the slightest\n\nchance most of the rest is proscribed MilSpec combat frame, and some\n\nNano-enhanced bio-reactor/processor, with a touch of Kevlar in the skin.\n\nSo, the whole 'If you Prick me' thing might not apply. Can we get on\n\nwith recapping the next 15 months? It involves spending a few days\n\ncoming to grips with local time, trying to orient myself with available\n\nlandmarks, and doodling out a map as I tried to find a town.\n\nWhat? I wanted to find my way back there at some point. It was where I\n\ncame in, might have been a way back...\n\nBesides, I spotted signs of Copper ore in a cliff face.\n\nCh: 5 The long road and the short legs\n\n(Don't let the sun come down on you!)\n\nThere would not in fact be a trial. She listened with half an ear as she\n\npicked up the sack, which had been dropped by the base of the Pillory by\n\nthe bishop around noon on the third day. He had been leading a procession\n\nthrough town, with priests, other clergy, incense, the whole circus\n\nmaximus. One or two townsfolk almost darted forward, but looks from the\n\nBishop, guard captain, and Karl stopped them in their tracks. Captain\n\nSir, whatever his name was, unlocked the stocks himself, and added a\n\nsecond smaller sack. \"you are free to go, just so long as you do. Two\n\nDays, and we pass word back up the trade lines. Make use of them\" he\n\nsaid, in a tone she half remembered from earlier training. The famous\n\n'Instructors Voice', that which is not so much a yell or shout, but\n\na way of speaking that was loud enough for all concerned to hear it. She\n\nwondered how many in the town were receiving their first and last warning\n\nthat she was to be considered a 'Closed Subject'?\n\nShe resisted the urge to rub her wrists and neck, instead grabbing the two\n\nsacks and heading for the nearest edge of town. She would make her way\n\naround to her cash, get what she wanted from it, and start trying to find\n\nMr. Mark. He OWED her, she wanted to let him know that, and she was going\n\nto get what she needed from him one way or another...\n\nWhat he owed her...\n\nThe hot sting around her eyes as she recalled the last few days meant\n\nNOTHING! She had taken it, and made it hers, just like that gold would\n\nsoon be hers, and she could just walk away from this life like she had\n\nwalked away from...\n\nThe sun was low on the horizon in front of her, a deep, warm, red-ish\n\norange like Forger had taught her to look for when heating Iron. She\n\nhad been in his Smithy after every attempt at learning a new skill in\n\nthe tribe had ended in the same skill being re-enforced. \"Heat it well,\n\nWork it hot, Strike it true, and repeat. When it fades like the evening\n\nsky, back to the fire, and be patient. Like life itself, it will shape\n\nslowly, and will be useless if quenched too soon.\"\n\nShe watched the sunset, the tears streaming down her face, as she\n\nremembered the only man in her life who had treated her as if she could\n\nthink, rather than a set of holes to be filled. When she had gotten back\n\nfrom her first hunt, filthy, clothes torn, almost screaming, he had looked\n\nlike he wanted to ask a question, but helped her set up a bath instead.\n\nThe same when she had gotten back for noon meal, the day of 'Warrior'\n\nTraining, and after he had shown her how to start forging a billet...\n\nThe day she got back from 'Training' in the Healer Hall required less\n\nmending of the clothes, but that left more time to learn the shaping of\n\nplates for segmented armor...\n\nThe cooks had her at one end, the cleaners at the other, and Forger\n\nafterward showed her how to test metal for certain properties...\n\nThe day they had made her knife, she should have been with...\n\nShe heard a splash to her right, and saw a small pond by the road.\n\nstumbling toward it, she dropped the sacks and her pack on the ground as\n\nshe settled down by the cool water. She took some time to go through the\n\ncontents of both sacks, to try and figure out what was in them.\n\nCaptain Sirs sack contained most of what she had left in the dorms back\n\nbehind the tavern, and some of what she had secreted around her person\n\nthree days ago, to whit, one small flint knife, one set of road leathers,\n\none voodoo doll, a small coin purse with most of the coins still in it,\n\na tinder box, and the steel knife Forger had 'Helped' her make, right\n\nnext to a small cloth bundle.\n\nA small Clothes bundle. A pair of replacement bloomers, a blouse, a skirt,\n\nall wrapped around a bar of soap...\n\nShe resisted the urge to throw the second major act of charity in her life\n\naway. Instead she went through the Bishops sack, taking out a couple of\n\nwallet wrapped rations of food, a salami almost as long as her arm, a\n\njourney cloak, a ration purse, and some shoes.\n\nNumbly, she moved most of what was there into her relatively empty pack,\n\nSave the wrapped ration, which went in the purse, which joined the cloak\n\nand her leathers on the shore.\n\nShe stiffly set about gathering some wood, any wood, from around the area.\n\nA small fire was put together, with out much care as to whether anyone\n\nmight see it. She had not seen another soul on the road all day, and she\n\nwas fairly certain that no one would be still be traveling this late in the\n\nday. When it was going, she slowly took off the clothes she had been wearing\n\nfor over three days, and tossed them on the fire.\n\nShe then picked up the soap, walked waist deep into the cold water, and\n\nscrubbed. Arms, legs, chest, back, between, face, hair, starting over...\n\nAnd over...\n\nAnd crawled out to sit on one sack by the fire, as she rubbed the second\n\nover her to get dry.\n\nAs she put on her road leathers, she avoided looking at the two other\n\nobjects that had not been added to pack, belt, purse, or outerwear pile.\n\nShe dressed seeing the same smirking face, the one who had been in her\n\ndirect line of sight every day she had stood there, as most of the men of\n\nthe town had had their way with her...\n\nAfter lacing up the new shoes, before putting on the warm cloak, she drew\n\nthe flint knife from it's little sheath, and cut open a slit in the Madam\n\nFro doll, between it's legs. She then whispered an apology to the Bishop\n\nas she took the salami, and shoved it into the new hole as hard as she could\n\nbefore throwing both doll and sausage onto the small fire.\n\nShe then garbed herself in the cloak, picked up the empty sacks, and\n\ncontinued down the road another couple of miles, certain she could hear\n\nForger chewing her out over the waste.\n\nAs she settled in for a hungry night, she wondered if the rumors were true\n\nabout a band of female goblins traveling with what sounded like a halfway\n\ndecent guy. She decided that was about as likely as the one about someone's\n\ncousins best friend having met the Mad King himself, on the road.\n\nShe had only known one decent guy, and from what she had seen, the only\n\nones who had even come close wanted nothing to do with her.\n\nNot that she could blame them, just about anyone who had ever stood up\n\nfor her seemed to end up dead...\n\nCh: 6 Of that which we can know\n\n(In case of learning, don't break glass!)\n\nShe awoke, which was the first major surprise.\n\nAs she looked around her, the second was that she was still in her...\n\nNo, wait, she clearly remembered the lack of netting around the edge of\n\nthe branch she had carved out a campsite on. Not over the top, but she\n\nwas fairly certain that the stuff strung around the edge was new. She\n\ncould appreciate the utility of such, in the event that someone the size\n\nof a squirl might chose to, say, fall unconscious in the middle of the\n\nplatform. Then, if they rolled about in their sleep there would be something\n\nto prevent a fall.\n\nThree other things she was relatively certain had not been there before her\n\nsudden bout of unconscious were the wrapped ration block, the bottle of blue\n\nsyrup, and the flat glass fronted thing with a yellow parchment note stating\n\n'Touch screen to start, touch (Round thing with right facing triangle) to\n\nplay message' seemingly stuck to the side of it was something she was sure\n\nshe would remember having dragged up here.\n\nWanting nothing more than to abandon camp and find a better, more secure\n\nplace to observe, she eventually followed the Gremlin creed 'Poke it until\n\nit does something', and hit the net as the glass cleared to show her the\n\nfuzzy guy down in the clearing.\n\n\"Hi, sorry if I scared you earlier, call me K if it helps. I don't know why\n\nyou are watching me, and for the most part I don't really care. But, the\n\njoy of having been on my own for over a year, well, if you don't count doing\n\nbusiness with villages and town, is that you tend to try anything to avoid\n\ntalking to yourself. Including making a set of video journals about not only\n\neverything you are doing, but also some thoughts as to what, why, how...\"\n\n\"Anyway, Limited Expert System will take over this discussion, I have\n\nincluded a few links to various starter topics, ranging from what I am\n\ncooking, to where and when this started, and a little bit about me...\"\n\nThe face behind the glass fell a bit, but continued \"Please, I did include\n\nmy personal history, as full and truth-full as I could make it, but I would\n\nappreciate it if you did not ask. I'm saying right now, though somewhat\n\ncurious, I will not ask you to tell me anything about you or yours.\"\n\nThe face went back to a neutral expression, and a number of lines of text\n\nappeared next to it. She touched the one at the top, 'Making your own fruit\n\nextracts for fun and profit' while briefly wondering what the weird oval on\n\nstick was about.\n\n'Oh, well' she thought, 'That might be covered under \"Help\"'...\n\nShe started breaking camp as the weird fuzzy guy went on about proper use\n\nof Ethanol, or grain alcohol, as a combination preservative, working\n\nextraction fluid, and source of heat if nothing else was available.\n\n\"I wonder how this things works?\" sha said, and the guy stopped mid-sentence\n\nto say \"I am a limited expert system, running on a Mark-IV personal Datapad,\n\nmade on one of the factory worlds along the settlement line of the Republic\n\nof Alpha Centauri, though which particular factory is not stored locally on\n\nthis device.\"\n\nAfter a pause, he continued \"Would you like to resume the previous lecture,\n\nLearn more about the Republic of Alpha Centauri, or start a new topic?\"\n\nShe dropped the laundry she had been putting in the pack, and the pack as\n\nwell. Out of a suddenly dry throat, she croaked \"What are you?\"\n\n\"Please, I am limited, would you like the previous statements repeated,\n\nBiological Background, or Personal History?\"\n\nShe wondered if this is what the various artificers and alchemists meant\n\nwhen they claimed someone was thirsty? \"Previous statement, no, What is\n\nan Expert System?\" she managed, on the third attempt, fingers crossed...\n\nCh: 7 Clarity\n\n(Ongoing stupid first person, er, Travelog!)\n\nI have brought it to my attention that I might be making a mistake in\n\nthis video journal that I am keeping for me...\n\nLet's start over, shall we?\n\nAs I was once told, a journal works best in some cases if kept in the\n\nfashion of being an in progress letter to someone you once knew well,\n\nbut have not seen in a while...\n\nAgain! No, I am not unhinged! I can talk with anyone I want to!\n\n(Cough)\n\nAgain...\n\nTime of the new planet, Year 0, Month 0, Day 5\n\nHaving gone over supplies again, in an effort to repack them for travel\n\nafter a minor 'Break', I encountered two canisters which had been\n\nmistakenly included in my loadout. One can powdered Magnetite, and\n\none can powdered Aluminum, both down as 'Cooking Grease, 5 pound can'\n\nI am sure that, were I in a position to do so, I could have a long laugh\n\nwith the provisioner staff on the subject of 'Hot Grease'.\n\nMoving out tomorrow, as though the trees and other plant life in the area\n\nare all fairly green there is no sign of surface water. The more lucid\n\nmoments of the past few days have resulted in a rough 'Map' of the area,\n\nenough that I can find my way back later should I wish to, and the day\n\ntracker I set up seems to indicate a reduction in light consistent with\n\nthe approach of Autumn. As I do need to seek a new source of Water, and\n\nas the local area seems to lack major deposits of edible rocks, I have\n\ndetermined that ongoing habitation of the area...\n\n(Deep Breath)\n\nI THINK THE SMOKE RISING FOUR MILES WEST OF HERE MIGHT BE PEOPLE!\n\nPEOPLE MEAN FOOD! DRINK! BED!\n\n(Sound of something hitting a rock face, repeatedly.)\n\nI can eat as long as the emergency equipment holds out, and it will hold\n\nout as long as I can stuff carbon based organic matter and water into it.\n\nmy regular supplies, which some would claim to be a half step up from\n\nE-Rats, will be gone in three months.\n\nI have enough water left for the next two weeks. And some idea as to what\n\ndirection to go for more.\n\nBut it means leaving the clearing, in which I found myself that first\n\nmorning.\n\nIt means making First Contact, when all I ever wanted was a quiet place,\n\nfar from the rest of the known Universe, which is part of what this\n\nprospecting trip was about.\n\nThat, and killing time before heading off for my Hundred year checkup,\n\nbut that is 20 years off, plenty of time to get back for it.\n\nNow, if you will excuse me, I have a very large 'X' to make.\n\nCh: 8 The most interesting people can be met on the Road\n\n(If at first you don't succeed...)\n\nShe woke up to the sound of a small group going by. She thanked the time\n\nshe had spent observing the hunters before they 'Trained' her, as most\n\ngroups don't tend to hide what they are doing from a child. Indeed, if\n\nasked by a child, most adults will tend to explain most of what they are\n\ndoing...\n\nSuch as making camouflage cloaks, out of local plants to help hide the\n\nhunters better. Others had insisted that it was the smell of the plants,\n\nhelping to hide their own aroma if the wind shifted. Some of the veterans\n\nwould chime in on the value of regular 'hides' verses shifting them every\n\nfew hours...\n\nOf course, she couldn't go out with them anymore, she had been part of a\n\ntrade, and gone with a few others to stay with a new group. And new\n\ngroups meant new ideas, a blending of Knowledge, a shift in breeding to\n\navoid...\n\nShe was not sure what it was supposed to avoid, but she knew that she\n\ncould not take the time to berate her past or her self right now if she\n\nwanted to avoid being caught by this group. Three of them, walking back to\n\nwhere she had just left, she knew two of them, regulars at the Tavern as\n\nmost other places had already told them to take it elsewhere. She knew\n\nKarl had been growing closer to showing them the other side of the front\n\ndoor for a while now...\n\n\"...And he comes to town every week or so?\" the stranger asked them. The\n\none she had come to know as Spots confirmed it, while the one she had\n\nthough of long enough as Dim that she could no longer recall his name\n\nstated \"Nah, Tha aint right, he just started showing up lass week, askin\n\nthe Dumb questings lak 'Where can I change Gold fer Coin?' Eny one know\n\nGold is coin!\"\n\nShe stayed silent. Spots and Dim had not been in town three days ago,\n\nshe knew that, as though Dim had never shown any particular interest in,\n\nwell, much beyond eating, drinking, and avoiding paying for either, Spots\n\nhad...\n\nParticular tastes. She knew as he was the most prosperous of the two,\n\nshe had followed him home, Once. His trip home had taken a detour through\n\nthe barn, and the tack room.\n\nShe had over heard his plans for her, and vowed then and there to never\n\naccept anything from him, food, drink, or coin.\n\nAs she sat waiting for the group to leave, she heard the stranger ask\n\n\"Well, I suppose you don't know where I might find him? I might help\n\nclear up his misconception as to whether gold is coin, and if you could\n\nhelp me with it, I might give you a few in return...\"\n\nShe held her breath. Dim might not know, Spots might get greedy,\n\nanything but please let them...\n\n\"Yeah, 'bout 'Nuther quarter day journay to where the sun goes down,\n\nleast that 'bout afar as we dun follo-oof\" Dim said, before Spots\n\nelbowed him. She heard the sound of a small bag of coin hitting\n\nsomeone, and a brief scratching sound followed by two voices walking\n\naway heatedly arguing with each other. Two voices, two strides. There\n\nhad been three...\n\nShe covered her mouth, and slowly let out her breath, trying to be quiet\n\nand fearing that her heartbeat might give her away. A few breaths later\n\nshe heard from slightly closer than she was comfortable with \"They have\n\nleft, carrying with them the biggest payout of their short lives. Not a\n\nbackward glance at their benefactor, or though about how he had promised\n\nthem a sovereign each, plus another if they would help him find suitable\n\nlodging tonight. Of course, the bag of silver and copper pieces they just\n\ngot for answering a simple question might have something to do with it,\n\nthough the first person they try to spend it with might be willing to\n\npoint out a few problems with those coins. Won't you come out, I don't\n\nreally want to keep talking to a bush...\"\n\nShe made sure her pouches were tied well, picked up her rucksack, and\n\nstepped out of the bush, hood up, mask wrap in place. Taking a cue from\n\nthe warriors of her former clan, she tossed down a short pole she had\n\nfound the night before, along with her small flint knife and some leather\n\ncord, all of which she had been holding in her off hand. Her left was\n\nhidden under the cloak, lightly gripping her pack but near her steel knife,\n\nher every heavy heartbeat another blessing upon Forger just as hard as she\n\nhad cursed him every night before she lost him. She looked up, and knew\n\nbefore she even locked eyes with him that he would be a Smirking Bastard.\n\nThey were ever the same, they learned everything they could, just to show\n\nit off. Many of then had an exceptional fondness for finding out how many\n\ncoins their new friend had, and did not stop until it was a number in the\n\nnegatives.\n\nShe had heard some Wizards were like that, a few of the Merchants\n\nshe had seen over the past few months were like that, and the patter was\n\nalmost identical every time.\n\n\"I bet you would like to know how I knew you were there.\" S.B. said, to\n\nwhich her reply was \"Not really, I was rushed. I forgot to douse the fire\n\nlast night, I left the stones in a ring, there are fresh breaks in the\n\nbranches of the bush, really, I'm surprised that Spots and Dim couldn't\n\nfind me...\" 'Keep calm, out smirk Mr. Smirk here, and you might come out\n\nahead' she told herself. As he waded in, trying to out patter her, she\n\nassessed him. Possibly just shy of two Kings Yards tall, possibly a Hundred\n\nweight, Quarter, give or take a Stone and Pound. His clothes were fine, but\n\nworn, though clean, and his pack seemed a bit small for a wandering trader.\n\nThe bow and quiver might make some see him as roguish, but she knew a\n\ntraining bow when she saw one. Suitable for hunting small game, if nothing\n\nbetter was to hand, or putting a light shaft in the target down field, and\n\nnot that far down either. No, it was the rapier and twin daggers that\n\nconcerned her. Wait, he was asking...\n\n\"And what brings you out here? Lost? Seeking your fortune?\" He Smirked\n\naloud, even showing off a bit of canine with that one. 'Smug Smirking\n\nBastard' She thought to herself, keeping it off her face as best she could,\n\nafraid it might show even through the mask wrap. \"Why, no, well, not like\n\nthat, see, there is this Raccoon I saw a few days ago, and I though he\n\nmight...\"\n\nShe spun a story, skipping the whole cloth and going right for the\n\nrarified Ether, making it the dreamiest setup that a Smirking Bastard had\n\never encountered. A Promise, or so she hoped, a job as a servant, possibly\n\nmore, unspecified work, but with him every day, if only she could find him\n\nagain, and money would be no problem once...\n\nS.B.s eyes grew with each passing word, almost as much as they had when\n\nshe had gestured wide with her right arm, giving him both a fine view of\n\nher form fitting leathers, and the empty knife sheath on her right hip.\n\nShe ticked off the mental checklist 'Let's see, I have him thinking I\n\nam a vapid young girl, possibly run away, poor, defenseless, and\n\nhopelessly enthralled at the notion of working for Mr. Mark, and sharing\n\nhis bed in lieu of pay. Also, I have him thinking of Marks wealth, and\n\nnow he is possibly thinking of ways to make it his...' as S.B. started\n\nprattling on about how he could not possibly let her...\n\nShe slipped her left arm through a strap on her pack, and parted her cloak\n\nagain as she put her right arm through the other. As the cloak closed once\n\nagain over her body, the slightly floral, slightly musky, very 'Exotic'\n\nscent wafted towards S.B. from the perfume she had splashed onto her\n\nshirt. She had taken it from either Tracy's or Lacy's room, and it had\n\nin rather curved script with flaking gold leaf the name 'Quasabah Delights'\n\nemblazoned upon the front.\n\n'Yes, the old guys were right' she thought, as the look of interest on\n\nS.B.s face grew. 'Get the scent right, and they come to you...'\n\nShe glanced down at his rapier and daggers again, and added 'Hope I got\n\nLong Pig, and not Lone Wolf.' Aloud she said \"...So, could you help me\n\nfind him? I just need to spent some time with him, alone? Please? I'll\n\nmake it worth your time, I promise!\" 'Vapid as anything, honest as the\n\nday is long, flutter those eyes, make them wider!' she all but screamed\n\nto herself.\n\nShe clasped both hands in front of her, in a pleading gesture, after\n\nmaking sure she had put the top flap of her belt purse back over her\n\nsteel knife. Let him think he had a helpless kitten, no need to let him\n\nknow Kitty could scratch yet. The heady blend of flowers and musk filled\n\nthe air, and she wondered if she would ever get the Quasabah back out\n\nof her leather shirt. S.B. walked over, smiling warmly, and reached out\n\nto her. \"Yes, I can help you.\" He said, as he put a hand to her hood.\n\nShe suppressed a shudder as he pushed back her hood, and started running\n\nhis thumb over her cheek and ear. \"We can help each other...\" He said,\n\nwith the Smirk back all over his face.\n\nShe was about to run when he grabbed her left arm and said \"Yes, we can both\n\nhelp each other, Grifty...\"\n\nCh: 9 Wait long enough, you will see everything, but what will you have done?\n\n(While:Learning Hold:Position)\n\nShe had finished off the bar she had taken from him, and started in on the\n\nsecond, while giving occasional attention to the bottle of syrup, as diluted\n\nwith water...\n\nWhile in front of her, at almost twice as fast as he had recorded it, over\n\nthe past few days the raccoon gave forth on topics varied and diverse, from\n\nhow to make preserves, to the identification of mineral wealth, preparing\n\nfields for planting, and his thoughts on this new 'Planet' he found himself\n\non, his thoughts on how it might have happened, early attempts at\n\nidentifying what season he was in...\n\nShe wondered how anyone could mistake Winter for Autumn? The snow on the\n\nground aside, the freezing cold should have been a dead giveaway. Ephasis\n\non 'Dead'...\n\n\"Expert? Explain 'Milspec'?\" She asked. \"Milspec: Military Specification,\n\nan object or program designed to have qualities of durability,\n\nfunctionality, or reliability, and to fit a specific price point.\"\n\nShe blinked. Up to this point, Expert had be fairly voluble on most\n\nsubjects, either giving options for further expansion of the lecture, or\n\nother topics which might be of interest. This sudden abrupt end to the\n\n'discussion' threw her for a bit of a loop. Supposedly he, well, 'It' was\n\nnot really thinking. Just a wide range of 'pre-programmed' responses, and\n\na 'Topic Weighted Lookup Table', all wrapped up in the image of a real\n\nperson, or so 'It' had said, at length. Everything so far had been at\n\nlength...\n\n\"Expert? Care to expand on this subject?\" She asked, and watched as the\n\n'Video Image' of a raccoon male looked away from her, showing clear\n\nevidence of being embarrassed, or scared, or both. \"I'm sorry, but you\n\nhave hit a restriction. Please, I have been programed to alert [Prime\n\nUser] if this or certain other topics are broached, don't take it to\n\nhard... Please?\" 'It', no, 'He', she was sure of it now, looked almost\n\nlike he was ready to start pleading with her on this subject when she\n\nheard the footsteps below. \"I hear you have some questions for me.\"\n\nK said. \"Care to come to camp, or should I come up there again?\"\n\nCh: 10 Should Old Acquaintance be forgot? Or is that just me?\n\n(We're doing this one LIVE People!)\n\nWell, post mortem discussion with myself again.\n\nAs the short lady climbed down the tree, I took the time to get a\n\nBetter look at her. Less than eleven inches total height, she was\n\ndressed in what seems to be Squirl skins, complete with the fur,\n\ntail, and the fuzzy head as a hoodie. On her hands and feet were short,\n\nsharp claws, possibly iron in composition, and from what I could see of\n\nher skin she had what is known as an Olive Complexion, which would fit\n\ngiven that she seemed to fit the ideal size and mannerism of what\n\nthe humans I had know both here and before called a Gremlin. As most\n\npre-here humanity seemed to believed the beginnings of it's\n\ntechnological prowess can be found mostly in civilizations that\n\nhad formed around a body of water known as 'The Mediterranean', and\n\nthat along with 'The Middle East' and 'The Asian' had fairly close\n\nskin tones...\n\nI dropped the line of thought, as my guest smacked me 'Hard' in the\n\nleft ear.\n\nUp close, I decided that I would fail to be able to turn my head in\n\nsuch a way as to look her in the face without knocking her to the\n\nground. As I was not far from camp, which had my tent, a chair, table,\n\nand other things to make conversation more pleasant, I walked with her\n\nmostly out of sight. The legs I could see, even in the fuzzy leggings,\n\nhinted at a form that most warm blooded males would find fascinating,\n\nand the extra motion from even the light weight hinted at her having\n\na very attractive figure.\n\nShame, really, that it was me she met. I have heard others in my\n\nposition had functional anatomical extras, but, well...\n\nLook, I was Eleven! Never really got around to trying it out, and\n\nI didn't see the point. When you find yourself getting mild bursts\n\nof pleasure accompanied by chemical breakdown lists when eating, the\n\ngreat mysteries of the pleasures of the flesh just...\n\nOk, fine, I set her down and get a good look at her face. And body,\n\nslightly pointed chin, pug nose, nice cheek bones, very pointed ears\n\nDark turquoise eyes, full lips, dark wavy hair down to mid-neck...\n\nTrim body...\n\nI would like to sculpt her some day, I feel that others might like to\n\nsee her too, on a slightly larger scale.\n\nShe asked \"What is MilSpec, in regards to you?\" To which I replied\n\n\"Everything you see. However, what you mean is possibly more along\n\nthe lines of 'What Are you, really', to which I say this:\"\n\n\"I go by the name of K, and am the only son of the formerly disinherited\n\nHeirs of two major economic concerns. They, and about 85 of their\n\ncontemporaries from both sides broke off to form the Taiveg Catering Group,\n\nA neutral semi-mercenary traveling food-service company, which when I came\n\nalong had slightly over 3,000 sentients on the payroll. Of course, attempting\n\nto stay neutral in any sort of conflict comes easier if you are either well\n\ndefended or heavily armed, and as they were neither around the time of my\n\neleventh birthday...\"\n\n\"A day of reconciliation, acceptance, alliance of two great powers, and\n\nthe day I lost just about everything, starting with my arm, followed by my\n\neyes, which is about the point I lost consciousness.\"\n\nI reached up with the bronze colored right hand, and took off the boxy\n\n'Visor', knowing she would see the pits and contacts. After setting it on my\n\nlap, I reached over with my left arm, and took off my right. Fairly sure I had\n\nher full attention, I continued.\n\n\"I am, as you can see, not quite altogether here. that which is visible is 'Me'\n\nin the same way the parts I just took off are, and the rather more heavily\n\nprotected lumps in my head and chest.\"\n\n\"In regards to the Milsspec part, consider that to indicate that I am in part\n\na very specific machine, one that can hit a little harder, perform better in a\n\nwider range than you would find comfortable, and that was designed to carry out\n\none specific task better than any other. Get me back to safety, alive.\"\n\nI re-attached my right arm, and felt a hand on my leg. I slowly picked up the\n\n'Visor', wanting desperately to get my eyes back in place, when I heard her say\n\n\"Wait, please? I just...\"\n\nI waited, holding myself very still, as she climbed up my leg. She ran her\n\nhands over my knee, thigh, waist and belly. I felt her head press against my\n\nchest for a couple of breaths, and waited while she climbed onto my collar\n\n'Bone'. The touch of her hands on my face left me wondering if I should have\n\ngone for other options instead of...\n\nThe feel of a warm body, as she breathed and parts shifted, the smell of\n\nslightly whiffy cured hide, and slightly musky scent of someone who missed a\n\nbath. No, a lady who had missed a bath, and who was running her fingers along\n\nwhere one of two brown eyes had been.\n\nI will continue to wonder why I have a fully developed sense of smell, when I\n\nlack a sense of taste. Possibly tied to some survival metric decided upon in a\n\nlab...\n\nI coughed slightly, and felt a loss as she climbed down. She was already facing\n\naway from me as I put my Eyes back in their sockets, though the elevated heat I\n\nsaw coming from her along with the increase in speed I heard in her heart rate\n\ntold me that I was not the only one reconsidering options...\n\n\"I, I would like to move into camp, to simplify my observations.\" She said,\n\nfollowed by \"Nothing extravagant, just anywhere you might have some extra\n\nspace...\"\n\nI wanted to ask her name, and was tempted to offer her the table on the west\n\nside of the tent interior, when we both heard a voice call out \"Hello the\n\nCamp!\"\n\nA female voice.\n\nCh: 11 If at first you don't succeed\n\n(Bull-ridings not your sport!)\n\nThey had spent the next couple of days looking for Mr. Mark, or at least\n\nsomewhere he might call home. S.B. had said she would recognize it when she\n\nsaw it, as it would have an odd, two-wheeled, open framed object standing\n\nupright in it somewhere. When she asked if it was a cart of some sort, S.B.\n\nhad laughed.\n\nHe had also refused to give her back the small flint knife, pole, or leather\n\ncord. \"when I feel safe around you, little goblin.\" he had said with a chuckle.\n\nShe could care less about the pole, or cord, and even the flint knife was\n\nsomething that would take less time to make than it would take to make a fire\n\nand boil water. That said task would be easier with the flint knife back was\n\npretty much the point of her asking, though she had planned on never seeing any\n\nof what she dropped in the way of 'Weapons' from the start.\n\nYes, 'They' had spent the last few days searching for the raccoons camp.\n\nDefinitely not just her walking half a league out and back repeatedly when\n\nthey got to where Dim and Co. said they had followed him.\n\nShe supposed she could have just walked into the woods, and never seen S.B.\n\nagain, but he had her Steel Knife. Her last token of Forger, as such totally\n\nirreplaceable, and he had taken it from her before she could...\n\nshe could berate herself later, her priorities were 1. Find the Mark 2. Get his\n\nTrust 3. Set him up 4. Exchange Mark for Knife...\n\nShe almost walked into a workbench. A full on...\n\nKitchen?\n\nAlchemist workshop?\n\nApothecary setup?\n\nAnd right next to it was a two-wheeled, open framed object, hooked onto the\n\nhandle of a cart that stood taller than her. No, now that she looked closer,\n\nit was not a cart, it was a small hut, and over there was a tent, and several\n\nboxes whose shape seemed to indicate some relation to the wheeled hut in front\n\nof her.\n\nAnd right out in the open, on the workbench, was a steel knife the likes of\n\nwhich would have made Forger Famous. Thin, light, sharp, and the back of the\n\nblade just seemed to extend through the handle, which was made of some dark\n\nwood with no perceptible grain. Flat Rivets went through the handle, and\n\npossibly the tang of the blade as well.\n\nShe held it in what many would consider a poor grip for knife fighting, as the\n\nedge of the blade rested against her inner arm, but held it hidden that way as\n\nshe called out \"Hello the Camp!\"\n\nShe was about to call out again when the tent flap moved, and Mr. Mark walked\n\nout, with not one speck of recognition on his fuzzy face. She could take the\n\nscorn of the world, the rejection of both men and women when they learned more\n\nabout her, even the complete lack of restraint from those who decided they\n\nwanted only one thing from her...\n\nBut here was someone who had been at the very heart of everything that had\n\nhappened almost a week ago, and he was acting like this was the first time\n\nthey had seen each other? She readied the stolen knife, planned her attack,\n\nfirst a hook behind the knee with the edge toward her, severing the tendons,\n\nand while he was down right in the chest, point first...\n\n\"You're Gigi, right? From Karl's Tavern?\" She had started forward, before he\n\nsaid anything, and stopped at the first sound. Almost dropping the knife, she\n\nthought 'No, no, nonono! You don't get to know me! You ignored me! You ignored\n\nEVERYTHING! You don't get to know who I am!' Aloud she said \"Yes...\"\n\n\"Karl said he saw potential in you, did he send you looking for me?\" Mr. Mark\n\nasked, after she had been standing quietly before him for a half dozen breaths.\n\nShe answered hurriedly \"Yes, he was wondering if the next batch might be ready\n\nsoon.\" 'Shitshitshit! You know better! Keep it vague, Let the Mark fill in\n\ndetails!' She thought to herself, and was surprised to hear him come back\n\nwith \"Yeah, I was heading back that way in two days or so, would you like to\n\nwait here? There is bed space in the trailer, I would have to move some\n\ngold first...\" She almost fell over at the flat statement, and was glad that\n\nhe had been walking away when he said it. \"N-no, it's fine, I can move it for\n\nyou...\" She managed, as he came back carrying a couple of metal boxes.\n\nAnd then he said something that stopped her heart for a couple of beats.\n\n\"Are you sure? There is around 700 pounds of it. Don't know why I kept\n\npicking it up, but seeing as I could not find any Bauxite, Copper or Silver\n\ndeposits it seemed...\" The world fuzzed around her, and as it went dark\n\nshe heard \"Are you alright?\"\n\nShe awoke, laying on a mostly soft but irregular surface. The light was dim,\n\nthere was a mostly flat surface in front of her, above her rather as she was\n\nlaying mostly flat...\n\nShe sat up with a start, feeling all over, and finding everything but her\n\npack right where she had secured it. As she looked around the room, she saw\n\nher pack leaning against the 'Bed' she was on, and took note that there was\n\nless than a handspan between her and the 'Ceiling'. Flopping back flat, she\n\nnoted that some of the lumps had shifted, and she put this down to the\n\nvarious personal effects about her having moved as she did. Every thing else\n\nshe felt under her must therefore be on the 'Bed', and she would look at it\n\nwhen she got up to look around this rather small roo...\n\n'Small Room'. which had a higher ceiling on one side, curved, like that hut\n\non wheels she had seen earlier. And against the 'Far' wall were those boxes\n\nMr. Mark had been carrying...\n\nShe got up, and moved her travel cloak from where it had been lain across\n\npart of the 'Bed'. Enough loose raw gold nuggets to let her avoid working for\n\nYEARS were randomly scattered across the area her cloak had covered. Not quite\n\n700 pounds, though.\n\nShe tried to kick the boxes away in frustration, and almost broke her foot.\n\nAfter failing to pick up the top one, she almost flipped herself over backward\n\nwhen the lid failed to be secured shut over the wondrous sight, all those\n\nfriendly little lumps...\n\nWhich she could move, maybe, from here to a spot half a league away, over the\n\nnext week, provided that no one saw her...\n\nShe closed the box, cleaned up the few nuggets on the bed, putting about half of\n\nthem in her pack, the rest hidden about her person, and spent some time poking\n\ninto everything in the room.\n\nUnder the 'bed' pad was a low counter, and the pad itself was attached to some\n\nsmooth, white, slippery board. as she lacked her flint knife, and her Steel\n\nKnife, she could not test the surface in the normal manner...\n\nKnife...\n\nNot tucked into either sheath, but as she looked around again she saw it stuck\n\nto the wall somehow. Retrieving it, she stuck it into the sheath for the flint\n\nknife, or tried to. Slightly dismayed as the knife cut through the side of the\n\nsheath, she reluctantly tried to put the knife back on the same spot of the wall\n\nshe had pulled it from just moments ago, and felt the same responding 'Grip' from\n\nno where, and even more reluctantly went back to exploring the room rather than\n\nfooling around with the enchanted grabbing spot.\n\nGoing further down under the counter were two pair of wide, flat drawers side by\n\nside, full of charts, maps, and sheets of paper, some of which had...\n\nDrawings on them. Mostly Landscapes, but a few portrait style sketches, most of\n\nthose being of beings like unto Mr. Mark, though there were others, as well as the\n\ncontents of the lower right hand drawer consisting of a selection of glossy\n\nsheets, fastened together in their middles, full of color pictures and odd\n\nwriting...\n\nAnd just below those were a pair of wide, deep drawers full of clothes, junk,\n\nassorted personal items. Near the far end of the counter from the door past where\n\nthe pad would lay, just below the part of the wall which was holding the knife was\n\na pair of built in basins, and some pipes stuck on end in the counterspace behind\n\nthe basins. to the right of that, across the far end of the room was a rack of\n\nsmall pots with handles, and a slightly different counter set a little higher.\n\nBelow that was a small cupboard which was cold inside, with a smaller cupboard\n\ninside it that was positively freezing.\n\nShe almost left off exploring this room, given that it was obviously home to some\n\nWizard or another, but opened the door at the other end of the counter, right next\n\nto what she was sure was the door to the outside. It opened onto a second, smaller\n\nroom, whose purpose would have been a total mystery to her had she not seen such\n\nback when she first left the new clan, as some of the wealthier households she had\n\n'Borrowed' from had similar setups. \"But why does he have a Garderobe in a...\n\nWhatever this is? Wouldn't a chamber pot have worked?\"\n\nShe went back to exploring the room, and wondered why the odd looking section of\n\ncounter next to the built in basins had all those knobs and handles.\n\nCh: 12 Moving right along!\n\n(/Sethome RaccoonK\\_Target)\n\nOver the next couple of days, she moved most of her items from the various lookout\n\nposts around the camp into K's tent, up a small section of climbing net and onto\n\na table near his bed. She needed his help with Expert, and the assorted other\n\nthings connected by what were apparently 'Cabals', though she was unsure why K\n\nleft the one odd polished sunshade disconnected, and put in it's place a 'Cabal'\n\nattaching Expert to the table. She would ask Expert later...\n\nMost of her equipment, and a fair chunk of her personal effects, were now set up\n\non the table in the tent, though she had the small travel pack and wilderness\n\nclothes hidden two trees away from where he had found her. Though she 'Knew' he\n\nmeant no harm, and would be fully honest in all things, she had heard many a story\n\nabout Gremlins in the same position she was in now, giving in to the desire to\n\nmore fully understand the subject...\n\nBest to make ready an escape before she needed one. And leave with it a copy of\n\nher notes to date, in case...\n\nShe was starting to doubt her objectivity here. What she should have done several\n\ndays ago was to destroy most of what she could not carry, to prevent discovery\n\nor study by the larger races. She should have left as soon as possible after that,\n\nleaving K with only a story that would sound more like he had been drinking alone\n\ntoo much.\n\nShe should not, under any circumstances, have TALKED with him, let him make a\n\n'Video Record', start a few drawings...\n\nMake her a small bed, wardrobe, bath, set up privacy walls for her...\n\nMost definitely she should not have been studying him in his sleep, when his face\n\nrelaxed, his arm and visor were off...\n\nShe knew the stories, overheard by others, passed along. Her Parents had heard\n\nthem as well, but they would never admit to knowing about such direct interaction.\n\nThere were ways and means for 'Interaction between disparate bodies' to take\n\nplace, and even be mutually pleasurable.\n\nShe had checked the night before, and though he seemed to be physically\n\naltogether, there was not a single stir to any of her actions, in much the same\n\nway there had been no visible change down there the day the goblin girl had shown\n\nup. And she thought that it might not just be a lack of reaction to her, as she\n\nhad observed a few of the interactions between K and apparently G.G. across the\n\nfollowing days. The biggest length of time he could have spent in privet with\n\nG.G., said goblin had been laid out comfortably on some folded canvas outside\n\nthe 'Travel pod' while K had been inside it, moving gold, with the door open.\n\nShe had made a heart stopping run across open ground, in broad daylight, to check.\n\nShe just wanted to know more about him! How his body worked! Why it worked...\n\nShe knew however that she could never bring herself to follow up in the normal\n\nmanner by using that knowledge to make it not work, and even more disturbing,\n\nmight let him know of her findings if she thought they might help him.\n\nHer parents would be harsh with her. Might even sit in on the Board of Inquiry,\n\nthough from some of their journals she had read she doubted they would vote\n\nfor banishment. Possibly revocation of solo privileges, assignation of permanent\n\npartnership...\n\nThey would say it worked for them.\n\n'But,' she thought, 'Was not the whole point of their existence to point out flaws\n\nin what worked?'\n\nShe opened the wardrobe, and sorted through the selection of hiding clothes. And\n\npast them, to the few dresses he had helped her make in the evenings. That G.G.\n\nwas doing everything she could to fixate K's attention on her form...\n\nShe took out a design K had called a Cocktail Dress, in Dark Turquoise, along with\n\na short length of gold braided wire he had turned into a belt for her. 'Two can\n\nplay this...' she thought, loosening the squirl skin jacket as she carried\n\neverything to the screened off bathing area, grabbing a pair of knee high boots\n\non the way. She hoped this would be an evening to remember for a long time...\n\nCh: 13 \"...And that is when it all went wrong, officer\"\n\n(Thunderbolts and Lightning, very very frightening)\n\nExscript from the journal of Sirus Smith:\n\nA Report on the discovery made on the twelfth of Harvestdark, by Sirus, Frm.\n\nCaptain Town Guard of the township of Newhaven, in the Grand Dutchy...\n\n(scratched out)\n\nSirus, for himself, in the company of Bishop Mesh and Karl, Wandering soles all.\n\nWe set out from the city shortly after the casting out of one Grifty Goblin. We\n\ndid so under protest, but in co-operation of the new regime headed by the young\n\nSpotsworthy, Madam Fro, and an wandering sword for hire.\n\nAfter the young Spotsworthy returned to town and tried to pass false coinage, said\n\ncoins having been demonstrated to be false with even the most basic of tests, I\n\nhad felt the trial would be swift. Three days after his arrest and incarceration\n\nsaid sword for hire came into town, holding up the remains of a jacket that the\n\njudge had been wearing when last seen. He had turned to me, and shouted \"I sent\n\nSpotsworthy here to warn you all about the dangers lurking in the woods, He had\n\nhim locked up! Get him, Lock him up, and let us get that Raccoon!\"\n\nA few of my men stayed behind, as most of the village dashed off into the woods,\n\nSaying they would keep me imprisoned. Those that went along we encountered in\n\nsingly and in pairs along the road, as we made our way along the road Karl said\n\nwould take us to the Raccoon.\n\nI had never held any doubt in Karl's judgement of a person, though I had come\n\nclose on the subject of Grifty. Still, aside from that scene at the tavern, she\n\nhad caused me much less grief over the last few months than most of the Citizens.\n\nMesh and a few of his priests had joined us as we left town, and we had marched in\n\ntheir company for two thirds of a day before every man of us had taken cover in\n\nthe woods to either side of the road. Had we a turner amongst us, then would have\n\nbeen the perfect time to set the mob upon us, for mob it was, shouting, Snarling,\n\nwaving torn remnants of a tent like flags, most of them hauling along a strange\n\nwheeled box, and that two wheeled frame the Raccoon had been riding the first time\n\nhe came to town. Along with a few odd shaped boxes, they were carrying the bound\n\nand hooded form of one Grifty Goblin, and a small cage with what seemed to be a\n\ndark blue bird in it.\n\nAs the Raccoon was no where in sight, either whole or being displayed in pieces\n\nlike a trophy beast, I broke the party into two groups, the larger of which I sent\n\nback toward town, to keep watch on the proceedings and prepare as best they could\n\non the off chance we could stop the rioters and restore order without calling upon\n\nthe Ducal regiments. Myself, Mesh, and Karl made our way back along the fairly\n\nobvious blazed trail to the Raccoons campsite.\n\nWe did find there a sight of wasteful destruction. Smashed glass and wood, broken\n\ncrops, tangled lines, burnt clothing, and a couple of those oddly shaped boxes\n\nwhich apparently none of the mob felt like carrying off.\n\nOn the ground, by the remains of the tent, the Raccoon lay on his chest, an ax\n\nin his back, and some black iron bar pinning his armored arm to the ground.\n\nI swear, on this written testament and on any other you care to present me,\n\nnothing could prepare me for his shouting 'Futbole Practice!' while getting back\n\nup off the ground when Mesh went to pronounce Last Rites over him...\n\nCh: 14 It's Never a Good Day to Die, is it?\n\n(Enough Mr. Nice Raccoon, you WANT me to pay attention? You Got It!)\n\n(B:\\\\\u003e CD Brain)\n\n[Dark, cold, quiet...]\n\n(B:Brain\\\\\u003e Open Folder Startload)\n\n[Please, let me rest...]\n\n(B:Brain\\Startload\\\\\u003eRun Bootstrap.EXE)\n\n[No, I like it here, please, no more...]\n\n(B:Brain\\Startload\\\\\u003eProgram Failed, Abort/Retry/Fail?)\n\n[I just want to sleep...]\n\n(B:Brain\\Startload\\\\\u003eRun Ftball.EXE)\n\nA searing jolt, the scent of ash and dirt, and shouted gibberish. Reality shoved\n\nback into my life, tearing asunder the dream from before. Three scared faces, one\n\nover religious robes looked at me as I stood up, backing away as I grabbed the\n\ncrow bar and used it to get the ax out of my back. I picked up the ax, and heard\n\nan explicative as I snapped the head from the haft after making sure it was not\n\nmy ax.\n\nI looked around the faces, noting that I had Captain Sirus, Karl the Tavernman,\n\nand some local religious person, and briefly wondered if they had brought in\n\nsomeone to give me a funeral. How nice, I might repay the gesture some...\n\nI had caught up on recent memories at that point, but I always was a bit slow\n\nfirst thing. I turned to Sirus, and said \"Did they go back to town?\" As his face,\n\nwhich was regaining color nicely, went up and down on the skull attached to\n\njointed vertebra, I tuned to asses what I had left to work with...\n\n-Several Jugs of distilled Alcohol  \n-A few small hand pumps  \n-Two lever triggered ball valves  \n-Two one-way pressure valves  \n-Pipes...\n\nAmongst the assorted piles of broken junk, I saw the few remaining modular\n\nstorage cupboards, and though the weapons locker, tool locker, and first aid\n\nlocker were gone, I was relieved to see that the Pantry was still there.\n\nHaving wasted almost 25 seconds, I turned back to Sirus and such, and asked them\n\n\"Do you care what happens to the town?\"\n\nAs I used the crow bar to clear broken everything off the one remaining table,\n\nplans for how to spend the next couple of hours forming and breaking, along side\n\nthe random outlying train of thought which amongst other things told me I really\n\nshould slow down, I spoke over their sudden yammering saying \"All I wanted was\n\nsome time ALONE! And then everyone Invited themselves to a Party!\"\n\nAs they stopped talking, I set two canisters on the table, one marked FeO, the\n\nother Al, and started looking for the Aluminum foil, vegetable shortening, and\n\nfuse cord, saying \"So what's a party without Booze and Fireworks?\"\n\nCh: 15 Of Gremlins and Goblins\n\n(While:trapped Play:Ball)\n\nStupid, stupid, why...\n\nShe thought the plan was to trick him into giving up the gold!\n\nYou don't hurt the Mark, You certainly don't use prepared Spell Scrolls to\n\ncall Lightning down on the Mark! You get what you can from the Mark, and let\n\nhim or her go to gather more wealth so you can do it again!\n\nYou certainly don't try to kill the Mark when he is ready to hand you more gold\n\nthan most KINGDOMS have, just because he can't be bothered to cart it around\n\nanymore...\n\nNot after he gives you a bed...\n\nAnd dinner...\n\nAnd Listened to your lies...\n\nStupid, STUPID!\n\nShe was getting Forger's Knife, HER Knife, back, and then giving it to S.B.\n\nIn the Groin!\n\n\"Hey, need a hand?\" a voice behind her, near where her arms were strapped to a\n\npost, possibly that little blue clad thing, which had been in the cage after\n\nthey had removed the hood. It had disappeared shortly afterward...\n\nShe had not cared quite as much as she could have, as Madam Fro and Spots had come\n\nin to 'Talk' with her, briefly, before S.B. had opened the door and hauled them\n\noff. Her leather shirt was still hanging open, cut thongs drooping down beside\n\neach breast, but none of the guards had even tried to get a feel at any of the\n\nfeedings since then, one of them saying he wasn't going to risk that.\n\n\"Large, Green, and Doomed! Do. You Need. A. HAND!\" the voice repeated, and she\n\nreplied \"Yes. I would like that very much...\"\n\nShe felt pressure depart her wrists, and started trying to fumble her shirt closed\n\nagain using what was left of the leather thongs. She heard a sound to her right,\n\nand turned to see the little yellowish-brown skinned woman in a blue dress\n\nstanding next to one of Mr. Marks strange boxes, pulling it open.\n\nInside were two assemblies of wood and metal, which she supposed she could use\n\nas clubs if it came to it...\n\n\"Grab the shorter one, with two pipes. The canvas bag, and four of the Yellow and\n\nGreen boxes. No, not the gold and white! Yellow and Green, Green, like your\n\nfingers!\" The suddenly bossy short woman seemed to want to shout and whisper at\n\nthe same time, And it caught G.G. off guard when she suddenly climbed onto her\n\nshoulder and said \"Boxes in bag, strap on left shoulder, bag on right hip. Right\n\nhand on wooden grip at the back, Left under the pipes on forward grip. Right thumb\n\nwork lever sticking back, open breach, hold with left hand while right hand opens\n\nbox of ammo! Two red cylinders, brass part facing back toward rear wooden\n\ngrip...\" Grifty smiled, as she tried to follow the instructions. it was almost like being back with the old tribe...\n\nCh: 16 We're not going to take it!\n\n(If:Items=stolen Then:Run\\_Kill9)\n\nI worked on mixing at the campsite.\n\nI assembled parts as we marched.\n\nEvery stop, I would roll a few more bundles of mayhem...\n\nAt the stop for the night, a few miles outside of town, I finished putting\n\ntogether the flamers. I gave one to Karl, and one to Sirus, along with two pint\n\njugs of Ethel each. The rest of the jugs were distributed amongst the remaining\n\nguardsmen, along with the three ounce bundles of destruction.\n\nI had found Experts screen, or at least the one it had been using up until a few\n\ndays ago, right next to my hatchet. Expert had been increasingly odd in it's\n\nbehavior over the past week or so, ever since I had set it down next to the\n\nGremlin...\n\nSo, it was with this and everything else in mind that I began the instructions.\n\n\"Each of you who has received something, listen up. The Yellow Jugs with cloth\n\naround the spout are to be uncorked, the Cloth Lit, and thrown where you feel\n\nlike warming something up. Some-THING! Not Some-ONE! The little rounded packages\n\nwith rings sticking out: When we go in, and you see some-THING which needs to be\n\nmade even warmer, PULL the RING, and throw it IN. Remember, When Mr. Ring is out,\n\nMr. Package is not your Friend!\"\n\nI turned to Sirus and Karl, and said \"As far as your new party pieces work, you\n\nLight the Tarball on the wire in front. You give the forward grip three quick\n\npumps back toward you, point it at an offending structure, and squeeze the\n\ntrigger, gently. Give one count, release trigger, repeat. Got it?\"\n\nKarl nodded grimly, Sirus asked \"But, should we not try to reason with them\n\nfirst?\"\n\nI asked \"Did you then?\" As Sirus stood, silent, I first asked \"How long do you\n\nthink mesh will take?\" Sirus answered with \"He should be getting to the Dukes this\n\nevening, and then it depends on whether they set out tonight, or tomorrow. How,\n\nhow sure are you that we need to sack our own town?\" I replied with parts of an\n\nold song.\n\n'I make shit Blow Up, that is the dream, a flash of light, a distant scream, they\n\nsay creation should be clean, all polished brass, silver sheen...\"\n\nAnd I continued to mangle the old words with \"If we survive, then write this down,\n\nThe Test was Good, we Lost the Town...\"\n\nI walked away, wanting to be alone for a bit, still singing to my self random\n\nsnaches. \"But when the Dungeon Doors slam shut, and Monsters rise from every cut,\n\nWhen Plans collapse and Hope runs thin, That is when my work kicks in...\"\n\nI only hoped, as I gripped the crow bar tighter, that I could believe it in the\n\nmorning. I was still fairly certain I was not tracking quite right \"No Ancient\n\nSpell, no Holy Light, just Gears that rattle through the night, a scrap of Soul,\n\na Clockwork Heart, every spark and broken cup is one more way I build us up...\"\n\nWith my 'Real' hand, I punch a tree, and watch it lean.\n\n\"I Blow shit up, Yes I do, But I would Blow this world for you...\" And was not\n\ncertain at all which 'You' I meant, just as I was entirely sure I meant every\n\nword.\n\nIn the morning, I made my way back to the rest of the party people. Most if not\n\nall of whom seemed to still be there, surprisingly enough, and sober, which was\n\neven more shocking, seeing as I had left them with enough alcohol to sotz a small\n\nvillage. Most astonishing of all, there were no suddenly burned down anything,\n\nwhich meant no one had pulled any pins.\n\nAlmost floating at the joy of working with people capable of following implied\n\ndirection as well as stated instruction, I waved my bronze arm in the air, and\n\nre-attached it when I had everyone's attention.\n\n\"Ok, We split into two main groups, ones following Karl, twos following Sirus,\n\nAny Questions?\" I said. Sirus said \"How do they know if they are a one or a two?\"\n\n\"Easy,\" I said, followed by grabbing Karl's arm and pushing him south while saying\n\n\"One,\" and then grabbing Sirus'es arm and sending him north saying \"Two! NEXT!\"\n\nAfter a brief period of splitting up the sixty odd men present, I went over the,\n\nwell, plan is so formal...\n\n\"Ok, hastily scrawled out note! Karl, you take your men south and enter the town\n\nthat way, Sirus, you take yours north and do the same, we wait for the signal then\n\nburn the rot out! ANY QUESTIONS?\"\n\nThis time, rather quietly it was Karl who said \"What is the Signal?\"\n\nTwo loud bangs, in quick succession sounded out, about half a mile off in the\n\ndirection of town. \"Ok, New Hastily scrawled note! Get them, in your own time,\n\nTry not to burn each other or me!\"\n\nWe hit the edge of town not quite at a run, more a respectable jog. The first\n\ngroup of citizens we came across seemed truly surprised to see anyone coming into\n\ntown, let alone us.\n\nCh: 17 Come on if you think you're HARD ENOUGH!\n\n(A:\\\\\u003e)\n\nThe first blast caught her by surprise, shoving her light frame back against the\n\npillar she started next to.\n\nIt also caught the guard in the elbow of the arm he had been opening the door\n\nwith. \"Up, right, steady, PULL!\" the Gremlin shouted in her ear, and before the\n\nguard could start screaming or grip the remains of his right arm, a round splat\n\nof blood appeared on his chest. Reflexive grip hardened against shock, dulled by\n\nyears of neglect, let her hold onto the...\n\nStick, that went Boom? A ringing in her ear slowly resolved into the Gremlin\n\nscreaming out the instructions on how to reload, which she ignored.\n\n-Push lever with thumb  \n-Ignore the two red things, hold stick with left hand  \n-Put two unused red things in holes, brass part facing back  \n-Close Stick, listen for click\n\nBreath in. Hold for four beats, Breath out, hold for four. Point stick at door,\n\nin, hold for four. Walk to door, check, out, four...\n\nShout from unfriendly. In, point, trigger, out, hold...\n\nShout from locked room, in, pass, out, hold...\n\nDoor open, Smirking Bastard is not smirking, holding scroll, in, point, second\n\nshot, no scroll. Out, thumb lever, reload...\n\nSounds of fear, outside, inside. S.B. scrabbling with his off-hand at one of his\n\ndaggers. No, her Steel Knife.\n\nA scream, not his, not outside, not Gremlin, push the stick against his head.\n\nIn...\n\nHold...\n\nOut...\n\nHold...\n\n\"Work the Bellows. Take your time, use your eyes, watch the flame, the iron,\n\neverything. Don't loose pace, don't loose Temper...\"\n\nThat is where Mr. Mark found her, later, standing over a man who had bled out\n\nthrough the stump of where his right hand had been. She was clutching what she\n\nknew to be the worlds most dangerous stick in one hand, and Forgers last gift in\n\nthe other, and barely noticed when in response to his asking if she were alright\n\nthe bag at her right hip started relating the story back to him...\n\nShe had seen him, here...\n\nHad felt him move her arm...\n\nWhy did he have to leave again...\n\nAs the tears flowed, she pressed her head against the Raccoons leg, and said\n\n\"I just wanted to say goodbye!\"\n\nCh: 18 And so we part\n\n( )\n\nShe sat in her Squirl Skins, holding a scrap of dark turquoise fabric in her hand.\n\nNext to her, on a 'Portable Power Pack' was another Datapad, apparently 'Hosting'\n\nExpert, who had been both relieved that he had survived, and miffed that there\n\nwas nothing for him to do. They both sat on a shelf, over the door to the\n\ncourtroom, watching the trial of Madam Fro and Spotsworthy, the surviving\n\nleadership of the Newhaven insurrection. The Judge, with visibly less hair where\n\nthe bandage did not cover it, had sat and listened to them for over a day now,\n\nalong with testimony from twelve others including Captain Sirus, Bishop Mesh,\n\nMayor Karl, Prime Trade Designate K of the Taiveg Consortium, and one Griffaline,\n\nformerly of the Dragmore Clan before being adopted by Forger(Dec) of the Windholm\n\nAlliance.\n\n\"So, Expert, what are your plans from here on out?\" She asked. \"We are going back\n\nto the meadow we came in through, K thinks we stand a better chance getting back\n\nhome there. And we need to get home...\"\n\nShe thought about it. \"Yeah, you guys lost quite a bit of gear in that raid...\"\n\n\"He needs to get back.\" was all Expert would say to her.\n\nShe thought about it some more. \"Any open seats?\" she asked. \"I don't know, but\n\nI think it might make him happy if two of you came along...\"\n\n\"Two of us? But she...!\" Expert flashed his screen, and she stopped. \"She needs\n\nhelp. She needs to learn. She might not want him, but he won't walk away from\n\nher. Not until he knows she is ready and willing.\"\n\n\"And what of me, the Gremlin in the room? Will he walk away from me?\"\n\nExpert smiled at her, and said \"Will you let him?\"\n\n(End of Line)"}