The captain of the Palanthas Guard groaned inwardly when the door to this office cracked open. He was just getting ready to go to his personal quarters to retire for the night, and didn't expect nor want any problems to deal with at this late hour. He'd already put his time in for the day, in his opinion, and his eyesight was getting fuzzy and strained from staring at the endless tide of papers and reports that flooded in increasingly everyday. He made a show of being absorbed in some of the said reports, his head bowed over the paper in his hand, as he glanced at the shadow on the floor. Years and years in the office, not to mention a sharp eye for detail, had taught the veteran captain to recognize the shape of shadows to the person they belong to. This time he didn't have to try too hard to figure it out. Noting its unusual shortness and the unique shape of a topknot, Captain Mills nearly groaned aloud this time. Knowing his attempts to rebuff a conversation at this time would go unnoticed by the very blunt kender, he pushed the report – ironically the kender count by the jailer today – aside.

"Hullo Captain General Sir," Firespice called out cheerfully. When he'd been first recruited, he was told to call all higher ranking officers by rank. After inquiring as to why, they informed him that it was a mark of respect. Not exactly grasping what they meant, he'd taken the advice rather literally. Having great respect for Mills, Firespice quickly took to calling him whatever multitude of ranks came to mind first. Since he'd been the one who vouched to let the kender on board, Mills took the odd form of compliment in stride.

"What do you want, Burrfoot?" Mills sighed wearily, hoping against hope that the kender would catch on that he didn't want to be bothered at the moment. Of course, the subtly was lost on the kender. It would probably take being hit over the head to get the fact to Firespice, and even then, Mills mused, he wondered if it'd work.

Firespice cleared his throat, feet shuffling nervously. Mills hoped desperately that this wasn't a plea for another advance to be forwarded to the jailer as bail payment. "Admiral Captain Mister Mills, as you might know, my brother came to visit me today."

"I heard there was another kender around," Mills conceded, rubbing the stubble on his chin. Though 'heard' was a loose word for all the grumbling, cursing, and complaints that drifted by his office. He didn't like where this was going already.

Firespice smiled and nodded, pleased that, for once, Mills seemed to be one the same page as him. "That's Loki. He brought news of our sister, Crentha. She was recently married."

"Congratulations," Mills remarked boredly, praying that was all the talkative kender had to say. Sometimes Firespice would come by on his off-hours just to have someone to talk to. Since he didn't seem to mind when Mills obviously had stopped paying attention, and the captain felt bad that the kender didn't have anyone close enough to a friend to chatter to, he obliged. However, he somehow felt he wasn't that lucky this time.

"Thanks," Firespice beamed in pride, his grin threatening to stretch his face. "Well, I just wanted to ask if I could have some time off to go visit her and meet my new brother-in-law." Mills frowned hard at him. "Pretty please?"

While Mills had no qualms with soldiers going to visit kin during peacetime occasionally, he knew that kender were another matter entirely. If he wasn't careful, Firespice could be gone for years, either having been sidetracked or forgetting to come back entirely. Or the very worse – he would come back with his whole family.

"Let me make a few things clear," Mills growled, quick to shoot down these troublesome consequences. "If I agree, you must come back." The kender shrugged and nodded, looking a tad puzzled as to why Mills would bother stating the obvious. "You must come back in two months." Firespice furrowed his brow, trying to estimate the length of his trip, then nodded again. "And finally, you must come back alone. No family baggage, whether it be sibling parent, auntie, second cousin – I don't care."

"I only have my brother and sister," Firespice replied in a dead-calm tone. The quiet manner in which he said so took some of the fire out of Mills.

"Your parents?" he inquired, remembering clearly the sudden arrival of the winged kendermaiden, and the heroics of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. The somber look Firespice gave him was answer enough. "Gods, I'm sorry Firespice. I didn't know." The kender glanced away uncomfortably.

"So, my trip?"

Mills rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily, "You can go." Firespice perked right back up and even snapped off a smart salute that made Mills wonder if he would have a bruise there tomorrow.

"Thank you, sir!" Firespice turned to leave, but hesitated and paused at the doorway, a secondary thought suddenly striking him. "Sir?"

"What?" Mills asked irritably.

Firespice licked his lips and glanced around nervously, as if trying to spot someone listening in. "If anyone asks, sir, I was off kissing my girlfriends goodbye."

Mills blinked. "You don't have any, cadet."

Firespice giggled, "I know!" Before Mills could say more, the kender was gone and all he could do was stare blankly at the closed door.