Steve woke up with sunlight shining down on his face. He was in the bed he had collapsed in last night. Groaning, he got up, feeling each and every bruise throb. The helmet Ash had given him was on the floor next to the bed.

Oh no. Ash!

He jumped up and looked around. Nobody else was in the beds, but he could hear voices through the door. He barely noticed that the wool blankets on the bed he slept in were slightly scorched, running out of the room instead of deciding to investigate. Steve burst through the door and looked around.

He was in a pleasantly lighted dining area, with chairs pulled up around a wooden table. Ash and the blond man were sitting, and the dark-haired, tan-skinned woman cooked meat in an oven. The man smiled, but Ash only looked briefly at Steve, then returned to picking at her breakfast.

"Hey there," the man said. "I'm Michael, Ash's cousin."

"Oh, hi," he responded. "I'm Steve. Ash, are you all right?"

"Fine enough," she grumbled. Steve noticed her arm was in a cast.

"Sit, sit! There's plenty to eat," Michael invited. Steve sat slowly and began eating what seemed to be beef. After a few minutes, the woman sat down to join them. Michael introduced them with, "Steve, this is Carlita, my wife. Carlita, I'm supposing this is Ash's friend."

Ash quietly scowled, then took a bite of beef.

"I'm Steve. It's nice to meet you," Steve said in response.

"Welcome to our home," Carlita said warmly. She had a strange, flowing accent that made her beauty even more exotic. "You can stay as long as you need."

"I wish we could go whenever we need, too," Ash said quietly, glaring at Michael.

"Ash, you can't leave now!" he protested. "With an arm in a cast? You can't even lift a sword, much less use it!"

"But I need to get to Arrowtip!" she argued. "If the trader leaves before I get there, he'll be long gone to the College, and you know that he's the only one who has what I need!"

"What's Arrowtip? And the College?" Steve interrupted.

"They're both places," Michael explained. "Arrowtip is a city. And the College... well, I'm supposing that's where you want to go."

"Why?" asked Steve.

Ash answered with, "They know you spawned, Steve. And the College... well, it might be able to help you. Even though they're a bunch of crazy old men who recite nursery rhymes all day and ramble on and on about the 'language of the universe'..."

"Ash, they deserve respect," Michael said. "The Committee supports them. Oh, Steve, the Committee is the group of people that rule Notchreich, the kingdom we live in."

"So hire a shuttler, get him there," Ash said. "If he wants to know 'Who am I?' and all that mumbo-jumbo, then I guess he better go."

"Yes, he better. With you."

Ash coughed, almost choking on her beef. She swallowed, then spoke again. "Michael, if you honestly think he could survive one night out there, then you are VERY mistaken."

"We don't have enough money for a shuttler..." Michael persuaded.

She groaned. "Fine," was her reply. "But only to Arrowtip!" She then stood and stalked off into another room.