So, uh...I didn't get this one out before college. However, I think the sheer length of this chapter makes up for the wait. Initially it started off as being another of my 3000 word chapters. In other words, average length.

This is now the longest chapter in the story. So, thank you OtherCat who kept telling me to make them longer! It felt good to write something like this.

Lots of little plot things going on, and I do plan on expending on them in upcoming chapters. One of the characters we still won't meet for a while, but he's been mentioned at least.

Thanks to squishythejellyfih and OtherCat for reviewing.

Chapter 10

The Elder's cottage was a mess.

It was a different mess than what Elder Hamilton kept constant, but I still wondered how this one found anything between the essays on Astral Fluctuations and Hardee's wrappers.

When Grishdun and I entered the small building, we were greeted with a squeak and papers falling about. The other minister just seemed to chuckle at the damage our visit caused, but he didn't do anything to rectify the situation. Maybe this was nothing more than the usual way the Elder greeted guests.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Sorry about how it looks. I've just had so many ideas that I haven't had time to clean! I think that I may have finally figured out how to get the…," as the Elder stepped out from around a corner, she stopped speaking, and I just stared.

"Yes, Minister Remington, meet our Elder. Elder, meet Minister Ewan Remington. I'm certain that you've heard about him," Grishdun said.

The Elder perked right up at hearing my name and instantly grabbed my hand in a rather strong handshake.

"You're the infamous Minister Remington? I've read so many papers about you! The Elder from the '30's to the '60's seemed to have this love affair with you so he kept trying to work on a machine that could detect…is it divine energy that you have? Well, the machine never worked, but the idea behind it was fantastic, and it paved the way for some of the other things we've since made! Oh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

She spoke so fast that I had a hard time completely understanding her. So, I nodded and tried to piece it together on my own. Of course, I had no idea if I should be flattered by the fact that I had something of a stalker for almost thirty years who tried to track down my location via a machine. Didn't he know that I had only lived a few miles away in the thirties?

"Um, do you mind if I ask you how long you've worked for the Order? You, uh, don't look old enough to be the Elder of all things," I said, trying to make conversation and at the same time trying think of a better way to phrase my question. I didn't find any.

The young woman pushed up her glasses and stood straight. In a strange way, she reminded me a lot of Shader…Except Shader had cat ears and the Elder had long, slightly frizzy hair. Really, those were the only differences I noted right away.

"I graduated at the top of my class at MIT, and I've been working here for four years. So what if I'm only twenty-eight? I know what I'm doing," she ended her response with a glare and some toe tapping.

"I don't doubt that. It's just that you're a lot younger than I would have expected. Elder Hamilton didn't take over the duties of this position until his mid-thirties."

Thankfully Minister Grishdun stepped in before I could insert my foot even deeper into my mouth.

"As interesting as it is to listen to you two, I think that we came here to pick up Minister Remington's new weapon. After he gets it, both of you are more than welcome to continue your discussion," he grinned.

"Right! I almost forgot about it. Hold on…," the Elder ran back around the corner she had been behind before our arrival.

I don't want to be here, I thought as I listened to her move objects around and shuffle articles about in an attempt to find my gift. I wanted to be back in my room thinking about things that I could never change. I wanted to be out on the grass with Jonathon bettering myself so that I could kill Aion and maybe, maybe get out alive myself when the time came for our confrontation. I wanted to be doing something other than standing around waiting for a weapon that probably would be useless for everything other than standard missions.

The Order was really going out of its way for me though. It really, really was.

I glanced at Grishdun and raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell anyone else, about me huh?" I said it with a chuckle just to get the point across that I wasn't upset about her knowing. It made sense that someone besides the headmasters would write about me.

"If previous Elders left behind notes about you, then that's their prerogative. We never mentioned anything to her," he answered.

After as minute or two of frantic scrambling, there was a loud, "Ah ha!" and the Elder returned carrying a metallic briefcase.

"I think that you'll like it. It's not quite like your old one, but that thing went out of style a long time ago." She carefully handed me the case and waited for me to open it.

Setting it down on perhaps the only clean surface on all of the tables that littered the room, I popped the lid and stared at the shining stainless steel gun and brown leather holster that lay there.

"It's a .41 Magnum. Not as big as the .44, but it packs more of a punch than a standard Exorcist .45. You can use both Sacreds and Gospels in it; though try not to waste them. They cost a lot more than the .45s. If you want to shoot it, we have regular bullets that work just fine in it," she explained as I picked up the hefty revolver and got a feel for its weight.

"Do you have any energy swords?" I asked after admiring the gun for a minute.

The magnum was nice. Beautiful actually, but I had never been that fond of them. I preferred slicing through demons with a sword, and a gun just didn't provide the same satisfaction. Besides, a sword was much better for close encounters. A gun? Well, unless you wanted to try and pistol whip that cranky devil into submission once you ran out of bullets…

The Elder looked at Grishdun who merely shrugged.

"We don't have energy swords…Did you use one before?" she inquired.

I was at a loss for words. The energy swords had been Elder Hamilton's pride and joy. For them to just up and disappear would be cause for him to turn in his grave.

"Yes. Hamilton made one for me around the turn of the century. He only ever made two, and the second was destroyed almost a day after its completion," I said.

The Elder started to gnaw on her bottom lip as if in thought.

"I'll go look through his old papers. If it's one thing I'm good at, it's organizing other people's work, so I should be able to find something about it. If I do, would you want me to make you one?"

"I'd be honored if you're able to do so. He only ever made two because it was expensive and the materials weren't readily available to make them."

"So it'd be like me making you a lightsaber without the nifty droid to test it out first. I can do that," she said with a sharp nod as if to further ingrain the point.

Which may have worked if I had any idea as to what a light saber was. I looked at Grishdun to see if he would offer any explanation, but he was silently laughing to himself.

Great, I thought, don't they realize that I have no idea what they're talking about? At least Rosette would have…and at the thought of Sister Rosette, I realized how trivial it was that I was complaining about not having an energy sword and not knowing what anyone was talking about.

"Do you want any help looking through his files?" I asked once I had stopped feeling sorry for myself.

"Wha…?" she began before realizing that I was speaking with her, "Yeah, sure, if you want. I've got a thing I'm finishing up, but if you want to come by after dinner that'd be great. Minister Grishdun, I do need to speak with you for a minute."

I got the hint, and after a "Thank you," I left with my new weapon and returned to the dormitory. I considered leaving the case behind with the Elder, but her tone with Grishdun indicated to me that she had wanted to speak with him then. Besides, the container was nice, and maybe I could find a use for it.

As I walked along the snowy pathways to the dorm, I was almost hit by a young nun as she slipped along the sidewalk. A second later, her two friends followed suit.

"Are you three alright?" I asked once they had regained their balance.

"Yeah, we're fine. Hey! It's Minister Remington!" the girl that had originally skidded along my path proclaimed.

I nodded and the three girls beamed.

"I guess you survived Sister Florence. We didn't see where you decided to room though," one of the other girls said. It took me a moment to realize that these were the same girls from the day before, and they were just as talkative as they had been at our first meeting.

"Oh, they gave me one to myself. I have a tendency to stay up late researching various topics. It wouldn't be fair to any roommate that I would have."

"So you were the one that took that old unused room? Why'd they give you that one?"

I smiled and shrugged. "No idea. There must be some logic behind it that we're not allowed to know."

The four of us walked together before I noticed something.

"You know what? I don't think that we were properly introduced yesterday. You all obviously know my name, but you three haven't told me yours."

The young women all stopped, stared at each other, and then looked back at me.

"We didn't?" they asked in unison. I was seriously being to wonder if they had some kind of psychic connection. I shook my head.

"My name is Julia," the one that almost ran into me said.

"I'm Samantha," the one with dark hair and eyes grinned.

"I'm Linda," the third one chimed in.

"Good, now that we're all properly introduced maybe you can help me with something."

"We'll do what we can," Julia said.

"Well," I began before thinking about how silly my request sounded, "No, you three have better things to do than help me out."

The girls, however, didn't share my reluctance.

"What do you need help with, Minister Remington?" Linda inquired.

"What's a light saber and who's Bruce Lee?"

They gasped. They looked at each other and gasped. Apparently not knowing these two things was worthy of surprise. Maybe even a little sympathy judging by the way they "awed" and turned their attention onto me shortly after their whispered conversation.

"You don't know what a lightsaber is? I-I'm so sorry. We'll fix that right away. We've got time to watch the first one before dinner," Julia said with what sounded like pity.

The trio dragged me back to the dorm, chatting the whole time about what they were going to show me and what they should do with the room layout. I didn't get it, but I listened carefully anyway to see if I would get it.

After stomping our feet and hanging up our jackets, they pulled me over to the TV located in a little corner away from everything else. They told me to sit, and after some bustling about finally inserted a video into the VCR.

Other ministers and nuns began to join us after asking what movie we were watching. It was something called; "Star Wars" and they all appeared very excited by this information. I sat on the couch in confusion until they hit "play." There was a moment of silence as the words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…" came across the screen and then the most thunderous music I had ever heard erupted from the speakers.

X X X

"What happens next?" I asked mesmerized as the movie came to a stop. I hadn't allowed anyone to stop and rewind it during the credits as I was busy listening to the music. As far as I was concerned, it was too good to stop.

"Well, there's the Empire Strikes Back," one of the ministers muttered as he stood up and stretched.

"Can we watch it?" I inquired.

"Sure, but we have to go eat dinner. You should probably put that briefcase away anyway," Linda said. "We'll leave the second one out for you in case you get some time to watch it after dinner. I know that I've got a report to finish up."

I reluctantly got up and went to my room, but I was still thinking about that movie. The original trio would have loved it. Kate would have too, but she would have complained about how inappropriate it was for young women and men while secretly telling me how amazing Han Solo was. I could easily imagine Rosette going to the Elder and demanding that he make her a lightsaber to use before being told that no, he wasn't going to make her one, and oh, could he please get his Tijuana Bibles back?

Yeah, they would have loved it.

Pulling out the .41 and the holster, I put it on and allowed my body to adjust to the foreign weight on my hip. It certainly weighed more than the .45 I used in Italy, but the weight wasn't uncomfortable. If anything, it felt like having an old friend back. True, I wanted my other old friend back, but I could wait. Waiting was something I did very well.

Checking the magnum one last time, I headed back to the main lobby only to see the girls lingering around the TV and couch.

"You weren't hanging here for me to catch up, were you?" I inquired as I went over to them.

"Yeah, but we wanted to. We wanted to get to know you a little better," Sam smiled.

Julia said much the same thing to me, but Linda appeared distracted by something. She kept looking at my hip.

"The Elder gave you the .41 huh?"

"Have you had your eye on it?"

Her eyes went up to mine and she shook her head. "No, well…maybe a little."

"I'll let you try it out later if you want. After you three finish showing me Star Wars."

They laughed and dragged me off to the dining hall.

X X X

"So you were transferred here from Italy? Why don't you have an accent then?" Julia inquired.

"Because I'm not Italian. I lived there for a few years, but I learned English in America," I replied as I dug into a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

"How many does a few years constitute?" Sam asked.

"A few. I don't remember exactly," was my answer. I wasn't about to tell these girls how old I was or how long I lived in Italy. I figured I wasn't cheating them out of anything by being vague.

"But that doesn't explain your complete lack of pop culture knowledge. I mean, we're nuns and we know more than you," Linda stated.

"I lived a very sheltered life is all," I tried explaining.

"He didn't know what Star Wars was, ladies. Did you expect him to know the most basic things if he didn't know that?" a familiar voice asked from behind me.

"Hello Minister Jonathon. Care to join us?" I asked as the man hung on my shoulder.

"If they don't mind," he said looking at the girls.

They didn't, and after introductions were made he sat down next to me and practically tore into his piece of chicken before moving onto the salad and piece of roast he'd been delegated.

"Did you not eat lunch?" Linda asked.

He shook his head as he drowned a glass of water. "Nope. I just need to eat a lot and I missed two of my snack times today. Those militia members needed a lot of work and I would've felt bad if I sat around yelling at them while I ate my protein bars.

"Speaking of the militia, why didn't I see you ladies out there training with them?"

"We're not militia members yet. We still need to go through and pass test," Sam said somewhat self consciously. Jonathon didn't appear to notice.

"Huh, I guess the next time I come out here to help Minister Remington I can look forward to working with you three."

"What are you helping Minister Remington with?" Linda asked.

Jonathon took a minute from devouring his food to answer. "I'm teaching him hand to hand combat. We're out on the green starting at five the morning if you want to watch and give us a hand."

"How would they do that?" I questioned.

He glanced at me before giving us all a very evil looking grin. "I have my ways. It'll certainly be painful for you, but you'll learn to take hits better."

I nodded slowly and finished off my soup. "I'll look forward to that. I've got to go. I told the Elder that I'd help her look for something. I'll see you all later," I said as I stood up and took care of my dishes.

Behind me I could hear the girls trying to get Jonathon to tell them what he had in mind, but he was too busy eating and mumbling incomprehensibly to give them a straight answer.

X X X

I knocked on the door to the Elder's cottage and waited for an answer. Someone was inside judging by the lights and the banging going on, but no one immediately came to the door. I knocked again, and it seemed that someone finally noticed me for there was a loud thud as something fell over and the door was thrown open.

"Oh, Minister Remington! Back so soon?" the Elder panted as she tried to regain her breathe.

"You did say to come back after dinner had been served. Is it still not a good time?"

"No! You're fine. Minister Grishdun and I were just working on something is all. I'll get out some of Elder Hamilton's papers and I'll let you go over them."

I stepped inside, tapped the snow from my boots, and realized that somehow the cramped cottage had gotten even worse since I left it earlier that day. It was an odd sensation, because the area looked cleaner than it had that afternoon.

"What are you working on back there?" I asked. The Elder wasn't really paying attention to me as she poked through cabinets and drawers to find journals for me to look at.

"Just…something. If we can get it to work properly we'll let you in on it, but right now it's in testing," she answered before grabbing an entire drawer out and handing it to me.

"Try that one first. I know that some of his research is in there, but I have no idea if it pertains to his work on energy swords. If you can't find anything, just give me a yell and I'll get you something else." With that, she went into the small back room. Rock music started blaring from the area, and I took that to mean the Elder and Grishdun didn't want me to listen in on their conversation.

What could they possibly be doing back there that's so secret? I thought as I pulled some papers from the drawer and glanced at them.

The ones I had in my hand were about the silly machine Hamilton created to track down a demon using its horn. Good in theory, but it never did work the way he wanted it too.

The next ones were about the Gospels. I set those aside if anyone wanted to see how they came into being. As I continued through the papers, all I could find was information on other weapons and objects he made. The first drawer ended with what almost amounted to a novel of information on the lighted Christmas tree he made. The electric Christmas tree.

"It's going to be a long night," I muttered as I put the papers back and called for the Elder.

It was two in the morning when we called off the search. The Elder had me go through every single cabinet looking for anything that might help us in our quest to find Hamilton's research on the swords, but I found nothing. Not even a vague clue as to where to look.

Grishdun left the cottage around midnight after helping me go through the records for a few hours. The Elder forced him from the back room at some point, and I didn't mind the help.

"I've got a few more places that it might be, but if it wasn't here, there's a good chance that something happened to the papers. There's not much we can do if that's the case. I don't think the laws of physics allow for time machines," she sighed as she sat against a wall and watched as I straightened out a few of the remaining drawers and boxes.

"I'll survive. It's not as though I really need a new sword…it's just…,"I let my sentence trail off.

She nodded, and I thought that that was the end of our evening together. As I walked towards the door, she stopped me briefly. "You can call me Fred instead of Elder all the time. Everyone does unless they're being formal."

"What's Fred short for?"

She smiled. "Winifred."

"Well, try and get some sleep, Winifred. You've been working for a while," I said softly.

"Will do, Minister Remington."

As I walked out into the snow filled early morning, I realized that I only had a few more hours until my next training session.

Might as well go watch the next movie, I thought as I returned to the dorm.

X X X

When I walked out onto the green the later that morning I was startled to see the three girls huddled on the bench drinking coffee and looking very bitter about the cold and being up at five in the morning.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked as I pulled off my top and started to stretch.

"We're going to help with your training. Minister Jonathon hasn't specified as to what we're doing exactly, but that's what we're here for," Sam muttered before huddling into her jacket even more and sipping her drink.

"I couldn't give away the surprise last night! That would've ruined the whole thing, and you wouldn't have agreed to participate," the other minister grinned as he threw some light jabs and bounced lightly on his toes.

"Why wouldn't we have agreed to participate?" Linda asked nervously.

Jonathon stopped his shadow boxing and walked over to a duffle bag tossed carelessly into the snow. He opened it, extracted three items, and walked over to where the girls sat.

"These," he said as he handed each of them a handgun, "are for you. They're loaded with rubber bullets, so please be careful."

"What are we going to do with them?" Julia inquired, looking at the gun with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, you're going to shoot Minister Remington whenever he screws something up."

They jumped at that remark and began to yell at him simultaneously. I don't blame them as I didn't particularly want to be shot with rubber bullets. They certainly wouldn't kill me, or really even do anything to me, but it was the point of the matter: getting shot by anything hurt.

The nuns argued their case brilliantly, but Jonathon wouldn't be swayed. Instead, he turmed towards me and began to bark orders off.

I did well for a while. Nothing happened, the other minister seemed pleased with my performance, the girls didn't have to move from the bench, and then it happened: I slipped slightly on a muddy patch and he noticed. I corrected myself quickly, but the next thing I knew…

"Julia, shoot him."

"But Minister Jonathon, he fixed it, and it wasn't even that noticeable," she muttered.

"Yeah, and if he does that against his foe he'll be dead. Shoot."

Julia hesitated for a moment, and then she shot. I give her credit, because she had great aim even with mittens and five layers of clothing on. The bullet hit right my thigh and I hopped about for an instant while I waited for the sting to dissipate.

"This gives you both practice you know," he explained after I regained my composure. "He gets to know that messing up causes pain and you all get to practice your aim on a more human target. No better practice for hunting demons then getting to hit something that moves and looks just like them."

The girls mumbled their appreciation. I glared at the snow and continued on with listening to his commands.

At ten o'clock I was sore, tired, and I wanted to kill Jon. I had been shot twenty times. Or, as he put it, "You've died twenty times now. Fifty if I'd been fighting you in a real match, and probably many more times if you were fighting your foe."

He was careful mentioning names. It wasn't Aion, or a demon, it was always my foe. A nameless, intangible beast that could strike at any moment, but didn't.

We thanked the girls as they left to get some breakfast and to warm up, and the other minister turned to talk to me.

"Sorry about the rough lesson."

"No you're not," I grumbled as I sat down on the bench and pulled my top back on.

"I am! I didn't want to do it, but yesterday after our lessons I heard some rumblings that I might be going back to Chicago early."

I looked up at him. "You've been teaching me for a day. Why do they need to you back so soon?"

He glanced around before sitting down next to me. "My guess? Something happened with the contract we have with the Demon Lord of the Midwest."

"You're joking, right? Why would the Order make a contract with a Demon Lord?" I asked, and he quickly quieted me down.

"Not so loud! Look, most of the branches do. It's a way to keep the peace between the devils and the humans. If we hear about a problem before the lord of the region does, we're free to take care of it ourselves. If it's a high ranking demon causing problems, the lord deals with it himself. Their numbers are dwindling, and they can't afford to lose any demons that they don't need to. If we get to a place at the same time to deal with the same situation, there are all these rituals that have to commence before anything happens.
"Anyway, there's always someone from each branch that the lord talks to. Most people don't know who the contact is for each branch, and it's better that way. I'm the bodyguard for the Chicago Branch's contact, and if something's happened over there, I need to go."

I sat silently for a minute. This is what it had come down to, huh? The Order was back to making deals with demons even though it had caused them so much trouble back in the '20's. Maybe it was for the better, letting demons deal with their problems, but I couldn't shake the feeling of dissatisfaction deep within my chest.

"Do you know anything about our demon lord?" I asked.

"Not much, and you probably won't hear much about him. What I do know is that he's one of the most powerful devils alive, and he does just about anything he wants to. I have no idea who your contact is, and I doubt Sister Florence is going to tell either me or you.
"Ah, fuck…I shouldn't have even said anything to you…," he said as he tilted his head over the back rest of the bench.

"It's fine. It saves some questions for later if I did find out," I replied as I stood up and walked back to the dorm to get some food. Jonathon followed close behind.

"Don't think any less of the Order. This protects us and the demons. Most devils just want to blend in and live their lives in peace," he said in an accusatory tone.

"I know. The demons have every right to live in harmony like humans," I said as I pushed opened the door only to be greeted with the TV blaring on one of the news stations. Several militia members were seated around it looking thoroughly bored, but no one got up to change the channel.

"…and in an interesting update, weapons contracting giant, MINATAUR, has announced plans to open a North American facility in the Midwest. No word yet on where the facility will be housed."

I stopped dead in my tracks. This wasn't happening. I did not just hear the name of the company where Aion worked.

"We'll take you to the live press conference in Rome." The image of the reporter switched to a shot of Aion dressed in a neatly pressed suit speaking to a large crowd. "We've been doing very well in Europe over the past few decades, and we want to give the North American crowd some competition. Our goal is to have the plans finalized within the next few months for all of you. When we do, we'll be certain to hold another conference," he stated before allowing reporters to ask him questions.

"He's provoking me," I whispered, and Jonathon glanced at me.

"It's a weapons contractor talking about building a facility in the middle of nowhere. So what?"

"That man," I said, pointing at the figure on the TV, "is the one that I'm going to kill. He's baiting me, and this is likely why you've heard those muttering about having to go back to Chicago already. The demons there probably know what's happening, and they'll be damned if they let him come back without a fight. He took their home away the last time he did something drastic. He'll take everything else if he gets a chance."

He stared at the TV and frowned. "That's him? He looks so…"

"Proper?" I supplied, and he tilted his head.

"I was going to say businessy, but yeah, I guess that works too."

One of the journalists stood up and asked a surprising question—one that was completely out of place at a company Q and A.

"Baron, I know this isn't the time or place, but I've heard rumors that you were going to open some orphanages throughout the world…is this correct?"

He smiled, and nodded. "Yes, that's correct. Just because our business builds weapons does not mean that we cannot think of the children. In my life I have had many dealings with orphans and orphanages, and it breaks my heart to see some of the conditions these children live in on a daily basis. It is my hope to build over six hundred and fifty orphanages around the world and to improve the lives of thousands, if not millions of young people across the globe."

Thunderous applause filled the room and the image returned to the reporter at the desk. She made a brief comment about the historic nature of this announcement, and then she proceeded to switch topics.

It didn't matter. I knew what he was doing, and damn it, he was doing a great job too. "It is my hope to build over six hundred and fifty orphanages…," Oh, I knew what number he meant, but he was subtle about it. He wanted six hundred and sixty six. Six, six, six, the mark of the beast. No one would suspect orphanages of having anything to do with the Antichrist.

"What's so bad about him building some orphanages? I can see why the demons would upset over the weapons facility, but that?" Jonathon asked, not understanding why this was so critical.

"He's doing this to find the Apostles. Their lives are generally marked by tragedy, and what better way to find parentless children then in centers that you own and operate? It's also an attempt to get me out hiding. He's telling me to come and find him before he builds these. He's itching for a fight, but I'm not giving in just yet."

"Because you're not ready yet."

I shook my head. "Because he hasn't found any of them yet. If he had, he'd be parading it everywhere that he just adopted this poor helpless child. He failed in changing the prophesy with Mary Magdalene, but he thinks that he can get it to work if he uses the Apostles this time."

Jonathon looked at me and frowned. "If he does find one?"

"I have to go. I made him a promise, and I don't go back on my word."

"You'll die."

I sighed and nodded. "That's why I'm hoping he doesn't find one anytime soon. That, and I'm really praying he doesn't have a beast with two horns like a lamb that speaks like a dragon."

Jonathon laughed at that, but I was being serious despite my comment. It helped to lighten the mood before the intercom blared over the TV and into every nook and cranny in the room.

"Minister Jonathon and Minister Remington please see Sister Florence in her office immediately," the speaker called and my friend groaned.

"Not Florence," he whined.

"Why does everyone have a problem with her? She seemed perfectly fine to me when I saw her the other day," I commented as we went back outside and towards the administrative building.

"You haven't seen her when she's pissed off," was all he said.

Once we arrived at the building, we were quickly ushered toward the head sister's office only to see that the doors were opened and she sat behind her desk looking very weary.

"Minister Remington, please shut the door," she asked once we were inside. Minister Grishdun was leaning against the wall in much the same manner I used to do when speaking with Kate.

"I'll get the good news out of the way first, Minister Jonathon, you're allowed to stay for your two week allotment before returning to Chicago. I've been told that Minister Charleston will temporarily take over your duties until you return."

"Any word on how well the Eastern Coast lord is taking this?" Jonathon inquired, and Grishdun answered.

"No, but word just got out a few hours ago. He's likely taking his time like he always does. Our best guess is that we'll be contacted later today or tomorrow with his plan of action."

"Minister Remington? Do you know what we're talking about?" Florence asked, and I nodded.

"I was informed earlier today about the contracts. I admit to not knowing much else about them."

"Perfect. That's all you need to know about them. Now, the Elder wanted me to give you this. She said she found it while going through her desk of all places," Florence said before handing me a sheet of paper with a note attached to it.

I glanced at it, and at once, all my hopes and dreams of getting a new sword in the next few months were dashed.

Minister Remington,

I was cleaning out my desk drawer this morning and stumbled across this little gem. Apparently Hamilton had the papers buried with him to prevent something from happening to them. Maybe he thought they would wind up in the wrong hands? Well, it's unlikely that we'll be able to get them back, so I'll try and come up with an alternate solution for you.

Winifred

"Thank you," I said to the sister as I carefully placed both papers in my pocket.

"That will be all for you, Minister Remington. Minister Grishdun and I still need to talk to Minister Jonathon about a few things."

I nodded and left the room, but not before making certain the massive doors shut firmly behind me.

Damn, I thought as I took the papers out and looked at them again. Sure enough, the old piece contained Hamilton's messy writing and explicit instructions to bury every single paper on the swords with him. He briefly mentioned destroying the one I had owned as well, but he gave no explanation for it.

I didn't understand. He died a few years before I was drafted, but we still kept in constant contact with each other. I thought for certain he would leave something behind for me to find if I returned.

"Ah, Minister Remington, I didn't think I'd see you here."

I looked over my shoulder to see Anna walking towards me in a fairly fast shuffle.

"I had to talk to Sister Florence about something. What are you doing here though?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Taking a walk. I was going to go down to this little grocer's if you wanted to join me."

"Why not? I've got nothing else to do today," I smiled before taking her arm and letting her tell me where to go. I made certain that the notes were places securely in my pocket, and then we left.

Tiajuana Bibles were little porn booklets that were sold during the '20's and so forth. I imagine that the Elder had quite a stack of them.

Remington will finish Star Wars soon. I figure that he'd watch the original movies multiple times and then complain about the Prequals when they come out.
His joke about the beast with the horns of a lamb is from Revelations. I'm assuming I'm getting the second beast right as there are two of them, and the first one is supposed to be the Antichrist.

It is a distinct possibility (I find myself saying this a lot) that I'll add more to this chapter. The ending feels unfinished, but at the same time, it just started to ramble on and on. So, I'll play around with an ending to it, and if I like it, I'll edit this.

Reviews make me happy, but thank you for reading anyway!