Apparently, There's A New Challenge In this One It Must Be In There Somewhere

I'm Sure It's There

It'll Show Up

Maybe It Got Lost In The Post

"The former Guild Ambassador to Sachaka had told Dannyl that no walls surrounded Arvice."

"O...kay."

"No defensive walls, that was."

"Right."

"There were plenty of boundary walls in Sachaka."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Taller than a man, or so low they might be stepped over, and always rendered and painted white, they marked the boundaries of property."

"Dannyl."

"Yeah?"

"You're narrating again."

"Oh. Sorry." He often found himself narrating on long journeys, a bad habit which he thought-

"You're doing it again, aren't you? In your head!"

"...No."

"You are! And stop referring to yourself in the third person, it's creepy!"

"You're creepy," pouted Dannyl. "And I like narrating."

He looked out of the window and noticed the slaves around them were trying to borrow under the earth to avoid them. I wonder if that's normal.

"We're at the Guild House!" crowed Lorkin "No more boring travelling around for me in this book!"

"Don't speak too soon," murmured Dannyl, climbing out of the carriage.

Dannyl had been hoping to light some scented candles and have a bath when he got in, and was surprised to find about twenty men in the living room, putting their shoes up on the sofa and leaving their coats everywhere.

One of the men stood up and leered at him. "Why hello there Ambassador Dannyl. I'm so pleased to finally... meet you."

"Hi."

"I'm Ashaki Achati. I'm sure we'll become friendly." He winked. "Very... friendly."

"Sure we will," agreed Dannyl happily. The people in Sachaka were just as friendly as the people in Elyne had been!

"So..." Achati put his hand on Dannyl's arm. "Anything you want to... do... while you're here?"

"Well I really like history," said Dannyl brightly.

"Oh."

"It's really fascinating."

"I'll get you some books or something I guess. So. These are all the important people in the country."

"Hello, all the important people in the country."

"Hello, Ambassador Dannyl," chorused the room. "Hello, Lord Lorkin."

This is starting to feel a bit like those Alcoholics Anonymous meetings I took Tayend too, Dannyl thought.

Sonea strolled down the walkway to the hospice, surrounded by burly bouncers who shoved the poor and grovelling back.

"Queuing! Queuing is important!" bellowed the bouncers, picking up bunches of poor people and throwing them to the back. "Pushing is the worst crime on earth!"

Sonea smiled as she entered; glad they'd hired British bouncers. They were the only people on earth who treated queue jumpers with more contempt than mass murderers.

"Stat!"

"Clear!"

"Fifty pints of cross match!"

"Adrenaline!"

"Hello there, various healer characters," said Sonea. "Black Magician Sonea is here now, so everyone can stop panicking and dying."

"Clear!"

"Organs!"

"Stat?"

"That's right, I have come here to replace Healer Draven." Sonea smiled at them and went to her room, while they continued shouting important healing phrases.

"Clear!"

"Dammit nurse!"

"We need FBCs, U&Es, and LFT!"

"Stat!"

"Blood pressure!"

"STAT!"

Sonea closed the door to her office and sat down at her desk. After a while her first patient wondered in.

"Heyyyyy, Black Magician Sonea... You, like, totally healed my roet addiction but now it's, like, totally back. I still crave the high, maaaaaaan."

"Really? This is definitely a New Challenge."

"It's all in the miiiiiiiiiind, dude..."

"Hmm... So maybe even magicians could become addicted..."

"That's, like, totally heavy..."

"Get out of here you drug crazed poor person, I have to think."

"Groovy..."

Dannyl had tried yawning, pointing to clocks, and eventually turning the lights on and off to get all the Ashaki to leave. The last one had left only after Lorkin had pretending to be seized with a sudden attack of Grabbing Him And Pushing Him Out The Door.

Dannyl grinned at Lorkin. Now that we're alone at night, there's bound to be some slash fic...

Lorkin gulped. "I'm gonna go to my room now. With this woman. This woman who I think is sexy. Look at her eyes. They're, like, dark, and stuff."

He fled to his room, dragging the slave woman with him.

It was only once they were inside Lorkin realised she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had huge dark eyes darker than the darkest dark that darkly stared darkly at him.

"What's your name?"

"Tyvara," she replied in her amazingly darkly beautiful dark voice.

"Cool." He lay down on the bed, stroking the covers invitingly. "So... Tyvara." He winked. "What are your duties?"

She smiled the most dark, attractive, dark smile that did not reach her beautifully darkly melodiously darkly dark eyes, and made to get into bed with him.

Lorkin jumped up, disgusted. "Wait... you thought I was talking about sex? What the hell is wrong with you people? How the hell do you get by with such smutty, disgusting mind?"

She blinked her beautiful dark eyes in beautiful dark surprise, and stepped back beautifully.

"Go on, get outta here, and wash out your mind young lady!"

Darkly, she turned her beautiful dark eyes (and the rest of her beautiful dark body) to the door and left darkly.

After she was gone, Lorkin sighed in disbelief. Could the Sachakans really be so dirty minded? Even the beautifully dark Tyvara, with her eyes like huge dark pools of dark black water covered in beautiful dark gem stones and darkly mysteriously beautiful shades of dark darkness.

Clearly, he had a lot to learn. He was going to have to sleep with- befriend her and her eyes of beauteously beauty so dark and beautiful like dark dark beautiful coffee or a beautiful mysterious dark moonless night of dark beautifulness.

(The word dark just lost all meaning to me.)