Palpatine was intrigued. His tap into the Jedi Temple's internal communications provided him with an interesting report. He had previously just used the tap to know of any plans the Jedi would come up with for the Clone Wars and the locations of Jedi across the galaxy. The tap and his foresight of the future helped him tweak his plan in manifesting his Empire into reality accordingly. The report would be the same Eila received to plan for her resistance to Tyuule's contingency.
As he looked through it, the report read out that the Special Region likely had a modest supply of kyber crystals. This wasn't particularly important or impressive as planets like Ilum contained much bigger stores with larger crystals being present in the depths of the planet, ready for his purposes once the Jedi were out of the way. But what drew his attention was that the crystals were neutral. Normally, kyber crystals always have a stronger connection to the Light Side of the Force and they usually 'run away' from the Dark Side. This semi-sentience the crystals had was always troublesome for Dark Side users and Sith Lords. It always required them to force the crystal into submission and 'bleed' it to be used by them. 'Bleeding' a crystal always led to a crimson hue when used in a lightsaber which has become synonymous with Sith Lords.
The Special Region's crystals being neutral meant such a tedious process would be skipped. It would quicken the construction of his superweapon by perhaps, years, even with all the expected administrative headaches to come such as late shipments of material or setbacks in research. It would be the simple act of installing the crystal and then building the spacestation around it instead of how it was looking so far of suppressing the crystal to be installed later while construction of the spacestation happens concurrently. Although, this was only really helpful if a large one could be found but given that any planets with them, even ones with very few crystals to begin with, there will always be a big one.
With this information, Palpatine began to wonder what preparations he had to make in the Special Region to immediately acquire the crystals once the Jedi were disposed of. He could feel through the Force that his plan was nearing its completion. His new apprentice was nearing a tipping point and the love he harbored for his wife will be an extremely useful pressure point to bring him into the Dark Side. But then he felt a tremor in the Force. He widely grinned as he felt the Jedi would make the preparations for him.
"We're claiming them all, Master Windu?" Eila questioned in the command center of the base.
"Only the ones the Empire don't have a clear stake in. It's time we finally addressed these crystals." Windu responded through the holoprojector.
"Alright. But what are we to do then with the crystal caves the Empire are aware of, Master? Even though, they don't really know how important they are to us."
"We can negotiate for those ones. Claim they can use them as part of their settlement with the Republic."
She looked over the list of caves transmitted to her, "B—But Master Windu! Some of these are considered holy sites for the Empire. One listed here is the Temple of Hardy. The Empire is unlikely to allow us to lay claim to them, even with Princess Pina in charge at the moment."
"You must find a way. We must secure these sites. I'm sure you can understand what could happen if that Dark Lord of the Sith that has eluded us learns of this."
Eila bowed her head. She knew what it would mean. Kyber crystals that didn't care about what they would be used for would be very appealing to whatever machinations the Dark Lord of the Sith had planned. Besides, there were many instances in the Jedi Order's history where they just took places with kyber crystals to the point it almost broke out into war with the native inhabitants, understandably upset that some foreign force just seized their land. Some would even say the Order was being greedy in monopolizing the crystals and suppressing knowledge of them. Luckily, such seizures were common during the wars of the Old Republic when both Jedi and Sith scrambled for them to use in the wars. Particularly, the Sith who loved using larger ones in any superweapons they designed. The Order wasn't in the habit of forceful seizure anymore. At least, she hoped that it wouldn't evolve back into a habit.
Sighing softly, she responded, "I understand, Master. But doing this means…"
"All of it is already on its way." He interrupted.
She paused at the statement and then one of the clone officer's called out, "Incoming supplies, General."
Walking to the window of the command center that overlooked the large empty courtyard where the Gate was, she would see considerable quantities of supplies and men starting to pour through the Gate. Food and medical supplies, fresh troopers, military hardware, power generators and other equipment began filling up the courtyard as the transports ferried them in.
"The Senate and the Chancellor have agreed with our decision." Windu started again. "We're staying here indefinitely."
RT3 had been enjoying their travels so far. Rondel had been quite nice, even with Lelei's sister starting a fight out of jealousy for Lelei's advanced knowledge and that random mage with the thick accent calling out, 'Fine chariots! But where are the horses?!' and swamping the clones with questions. Despite those things, Lelei gave her presentation and it left an impression on the audience. Explaining the refined mechanics of detonation magic intrigued them. Although, Lelei left some details out to make her explosive demonstration and explanation of the technique not so powerful fearing a resurgence in combat magic that had faded much from history.
Eons ago, only exceptionally powerful magicians utilized combat magic since it had insane magical requirements to use. Some of those magicians took advantage of this and destroyed whole nations overnight when they wouldn't submit to their rule. Because of the balance of power in the world tipping dangerously to their side, the Apostles wiped out all the powerful magicians they could find regardless if they were power-hungry and limited the knowledge of combat magic. Lelei would be apprehensive around Rory because of it since her full technique lowered the requirement substantially. Although Rory felt that as long as she limited her explanation to leave a high requirement to use explosive magic and a warning that it should be used for something other than combat, then it should be fine. The Masters attending Lelei's lecture would end up sharing her concerns and take her warning seriously as Rory would be sitting in the front row, glaring at everyone in attendance to heed the warning. It would ultimately put her status into a Master on hold. Despite the hold, Lelei wasn't too disappointed by the news. It was just the fact that her presentation got the Masters seriously considering the title for her was enough to keep her hopeful.
Seeing no reason to stay while the Masters consulted among themselves on what to do with Lelei's title and avoid Lelei's increasingly jealous sister because of the consideration of the title, RT3 would leave Rondel behind. They would move on to Crety and help its inhabitants with its epidemic that they learned from rumors. Lelei almost died to the sickness but with the information given by the inhabitants on a possible treatment locked in a dangerous labyrinth, they were able to stop further tragedies and leave instructions to the people to mass produce the treatment. Ready to leave Crety, Fick and Noah talked to each other of recent events while they waited for Fordo to pick their next destination.
"This planet is insane! Zombies again?! Like that incident with the parasites from Geonosis?!" Noah vented.
"Oh yeah, but just like Geonosis, it's not like the planets back home are any better. Heck, it isn't even as crazy as the Prince getting dethroned by the General mere hours after declaring himself Emperor. Although…" Fick paused for a bit, "Very few have people like Ms. Mercury."
They both looked at Rory. She was happily enjoying Yao's company as Yao popped snacks into her mouth and offered an occasional sip of water.
Fick continued, "Not many people stand in front of that monster, a Minotaur I think the locals called it, while we fire rockets at it and then basically bathe in the ensuing shower. She looked like she swam around in thick red paint. Ramius sounded really upset when he had to help her wipe it all off."
Noah sighed, "Yeah. She really gives off those weird vibes, you know? But at least she's with us."
Before Fick could speak again, Fordo called out, "Mount up. We're headed to Bellnahgo. Hometown of the Temple of Hardy."
Rory visibly shook at the announcement, "What?!" She shouted and spitting out some of the half-eaten snacks given to her. "W—Why do you want to go there?!"
"Yes! Why should we?!" Yao protested with Rory. Her renouncement from Hardy still fresh in her mind. "It's just as goddess Rory told me. Hardy has never cared for anyone so why should we care about her?!"
Everyone blankly stared at Yao. Even though it was already several weeks since she officially declared her intention to turn away from Hardy and changed her name over it, it was still weird to everyone to hear 'goddess' added to Rory's name.
Fordo explained, "We're going because we've never been there. It's also a cultural study. Those guys from the University of Coruscant want notes. They're currently in the Kingdom of Mudwan and have really just been asking the other teams to help fill in their research."
Although, Fordo also wanted to go as he had been informed by Eila of Hardy's role in the fire dragon incidents. She wanted to see if he could try to get any information on Hardy's motives if he ever had the chance to go to Bellnahgo. Rory would pout while Yao grimaced. But seeing that they couldn't really refuse, they relented.
Half a day of riding eventually led to their destination. As they entered Bellnahgo, the inhabitants and tourists on pilgrimage gave the expected stares at them. At least they weren't stopping them for questions on what a speeder is. Finding a place to keep the speeders and tank away from prying eyes, Fordo would leave Alloy, Noah, Cabby, and Zipper to guard them while the rest of the group made their way to the Temple.
Rory would initially try to muscle her way into the Temple, simply just so they could leave sooner but the dark elf steward refused entry. Since they didn't have any decrees that would get them in quickly and Rory's status wasn't being held as an exception, they had to wait patiently in the back of the line as other people made their visits first.
As the sun descended and the visitors thinned out with the people behind them giving up because of the wait, they finally made it to the front of the Temple.
"Thank you for waiting, Lady Rory. You and your companions may now enter. We suspect why you would be here. Please follow me." The dark elf steward said. Rory quickly brushed past her and entered.
Following suit, Yao, Tuka, Lelei, and the clones followed Rory and the steward to the back of the Temple, passing by the other worshipers fervently offering their prayers. Upon reaching the stairwell leading to the lower depths, Rory froze.
Fordo would notice and tap her shoulder, "Are you alright?"
Steeling herself, she replied, "Y—Yes. Just taking a moment."
While she took it, the steward demanded to the clones, Yao, and Lelei, "Before entering the personal chamber of our goddess, we request that you relinquish any weapons."
Fordo's eyes narrowed at the demand. He didn't want to give up their weapons, especially to people that they had just met. But the steward looked at him and the others intently, unwilling to accept any compromises. Wanting to also get the visit over with since they waited for so long in line, he motioned to the other clones to give up their blasters. A group of priests would take them along with Yao's sword and dagger and Lelei's staff. Tuka was unarmed.
Before the priests would leave, Fordo said to the steward, "We better get all of those back." The steward would bow her head in acknowledgement.
Before going down the stairwell, Hoot would question the steward, "How come you're not taking Ms. Mercury's weapon?"
"Ms. Mercury? Oh, you mean Lady Rory? We cannot accept or separate a divine weapon from an Apostle. We don't have the right." She answered.
Hoot gave a small snicker since they had no problem separating Giselle's scythe from her.
Descending into Hardy's elaborate chamber, the clones took in the sights. The floor was decorated in a mosaic of precious metals. Gigantic white pillars stood by the sides of what was really a cave and the cave walls had crystals of varying sizes adorning them giving the room a natural glow. There was even a large one, hanging from the ceiling and providing most of the light. Reaching a large door, the group would be greeted by a high priest and a group of stewards.
Acknowledging them, the priest shouted out, "Pilgrims! Bow your heads in reverence, for the goddess Hardy descends upon us."
The massive doors would begin to slowly open and everyone but the clones quickly took a knee. Seeing this action, Fordo ordered the others to mirror them. As the doors continued to open, a bright light began filling the room. Even adjusting the settings in his helmet to compensate, Fordo couldn't look at it directly. But it wouldn't be long before the light started to die down and Fordo would see a humanoid figure begin to take shape from a million points of light. The figure finally materialized into a beautiful woman with long silver hair, red eyes, and a white dress that looked like a wedding dress that showed off her proportions. Fordo would estimate that she looked like a woman in her mid-20s. He would also wonder if he was merely staring at a hologram.
Hardy lightly descended to the floor and stared at her audience. Upon seeing Rory, her initial blank expression changed to pure joy. She quickly approached Rory and made all sorts of gestures. Fordo would be confused as it looked like Hardy was saying something but there was no sound coming out of her mouth.
"You're not going deaf. She says that she really is speaking, it's just that you're not an Apostle so you can't perceive it." Rory suddenly responded.
"How did—" He wondered but it quickly dawned on him, "Ahh. She's reading my mind." Hardy would look at him and give a cheerful nod. She would go back to 'speaking' with Rory.
"No." Rory answered her. "I've told you a million times, no. I will not marry you."
Hardy would make more insistent gestures but Rory simply went silent to her request. Pouting sadly, Hardy began looking at the stewards. She would begin walking around and was seemingly evaluating them.
"What's she doing?" Fordo asked.
"She looking for a vessel to possess." Rory said.
"A vessel to possess? Why?"
"It will allow her to speak with us normally. And the stewards are looking forward to it because it's considered a great honor to be possessed. Even if it might kill them. It can also sometimes lead to the person gaining abilities beyond what they already have. But that is exceedingly rare."
Fordo would be a little more concerned with the, 'it might kill them' part, but Hardy continued to look around. It wouldn't be long before she had exhausted the stewards in attendance having shook her head in disapproval to all of them. However, once she caught a glimpse of Lelei, she gained a sly grin.
Rory would take notice and she quickly shouted, "Stop! Don't go for her!"
She would attempt to shield Lelei but Hardy already made her move. Lelei would be caught unawares as she would suddenly see Hardy in front of her and cup her face. In an instant, Hardy moved into her and her body twitched at the alien entity invading her body. Falling unconscious, Tuka and Yao quickly tried to wake her. Fordo was mortified as he thought that Hardy's possession had just killed Lelei. Ramius sprang into action and quickly made his way to her side. But before he could examine her, Lelei suddenly shot up with eyes wide open. It would be noticeable that Lelei's hair had suddenly grown long with her usual short light blue hair having been replaced with silver. Her eyes had likewise changed from blue to red. 'Lelei' would begin to stretch herself and taking in deep breaths.
Exhaling loudly, she turned to her surprised guests and declared, "I am Hardy."
Rory was livid. Taking her halberd, she instantly held the blade close to Hardy's neck. "Get out of her body, NOW!" She demanded.
Hardy merely smiled, "Oh! You're so cute when you're angry." It still sounded like Lelei.
Suddenly, Rory's halberd flew into the wall. Everyone would be surprised at how effortless it was. Hardy had flicked it away with her hand. Acting quickly, Hardy moved in and kissed Rory who was still shocked at what happened to her halberd. Rory quickly pushed Hardy away with all her might. Despite getting thrown up in the air by her strength, Hardy landed gracefully.
"Ohh, I haven't felt that sensation in centuries. That felt really good." She said while savored the moment by licking her lips.
Panting heavily, Rory threatened, "Don't ever do that again!"
Hardy threw her hands up with a devious smile, "Alright, alright. I just wanted to feel it with you."
Rory stomped away to grab her halberd. While she tried to wedge her halberd out of the wall, Fordo would reiterate Rory's earlier demand, "Please leave Ms. Lalena's body." He sternly stated.
"Oh, yes! The clone soldiers. You've been quite entertaining."
"Entertaining?"
"Oh, yes! You've given the Empire a good rattle. But enough of this, follow me."
Hardy began walking towards the stairwell with the stewards immediately following her. Fordo was wishing they created a bigger fuss on hanging on to their blasters. Stunning her and then finding a way to extract her out of Lelei's body would have been the next move. But seeing that Lelei wasn't at least bleeding out of her eyes from the strain of having a second consciousness in her, Fordo, and the others, who were still dumbstruck at everything that just happened, followed her. To their surprise again, Hardy was merely interested in having a meal as she led them to a lavish dining room at the top floor of the Temple. She would explain to them as she gorged on a roast that the sensation of eating and drinking was another one she hadn't felt in a long time and was taking great pleasure in consuming quite a number of meals quickly.
"Come. Eat something. I'm starting to feel embarrassed." Hardy cooed.
Yao and the clones uncomfortably took a fork and began eating hesitantly. Rory refused to take a bite of her meal as she maintained an angry scowl and stared at Hardy's gluttonous behavior.
Hardy took notice, "Hmm? Something wrong, love?"
"That's not your body." Rory hissed.
"Oh, don't worry about your friend. I'll move the fat somewhere more beneficial to her…looks."
"You're disgusting."
"Oh no! I'm just showing my appreciation of the earthly delights." She began to rub herself a little.
"Stop that! It's unbecoming of a goddess!" Rory yelled as she brandished her halberd.
"Oh? Thinking of raising your weapon against a god? Who's unbecoming now? You're an Apostle. Remember your place." She said with a smile.
Rory angrily turned away. Taking a moment, she spoke up again. "Even though I didn't plan to come to this…godforsaken place, I just wanted to repeat for one final time, I will not marry you, Hardy."
Hardy pouted, "Pooh! How unfortunate." Despite, Rory's declaration, Hardy still felt that she just needed to continue to be persistent. Turning to Tuka and Yao, "What about you two? Why are you here? Come to pray for some divine inspiration?"
Tuka answered first, "No, but this is the first time I've ever met a god. But frankly, because of how you've treated Lelei, you're a pretty poor first impression. And well…there's also the fire dragon." She trailed off.
Hardy cocked a brow, "How decisive. What about you, dark elf? You dark elves love me but you haven't said so much as a prayer to me."
"Can't you read my head?" Yao jeered.
"Not inside this body. And so hostile. What did I do to lose your faith?" She said in a patronizing tone.
"Fuck off."
"Oh my! Such colorful language! Did you learn that from the clones?"
Yao refused to speak further so Fordo would interject, "Ms. Dushi has had…a change in faith. Please don't pursue it further."
He began to see why they took their weapons earlier. Some people are likely to try to attack Hardy if they had them because of her personality. But given what happened with Rory and her halberd, he guessed that it wouldn't have really mattered against her.
"Fine." She answered. "But, judging from your tone, I'll just say that for whatever you think I did, I don't regret it one bit."
Yao immediately shot up from her seat with clear rage written on her face. Tuka would also have a scowl on her face directed at Hardy.
"You bastard!" Yao shouted.
"Oh, you're friend had a legitimate birth. But her mother sure was a poor judge of character to remarry to such a tyrant of a father." She was probing Lelei's memories.
"You! You, who ordered your Apostle to wake a fire dragon and murder my people has no right to be so callous to those who worship you!"
Hardy shrugged her shoulders, "I'm a god, dear. I could care less with what my worshipers say or do for me. I don't even really care if they hate me. It's only natural that if you die, you die. It's the unspoken rule of this world that it's survival of the fittest. When it comes down to it, people will always step over each other to keep themselves on top. But sure, I allowed the fire dragon to eat people but I didn't exactly specify that it eat you. It just happened to go for your people to feed itself. That was for its survival and I'm fine with that."
With no weapon, Yao felt like punching Hardy in the face even if it was Lelei's body, but Fordo would stop her.
"Then what was your goal for the fire dragon?" He asked. "Why awaken such a dangerous animal?"
Hardy smiled, "Because it's amusing."
"Excuse me?" Fordo said. Everyone grew tense because of Hardy's answer.
"It was fun to watch it wreck havoc. I actually wanted it to go after you and your people. But your weapons gave it such a fright that it was content on going after weaker people. It was still fun to watch those people scrambling for their lives as it ate them."
Fordo tightened his fist. He was starting to feel like Yao too and from the corner of his eye he could see that she and Tuka looked ready to attack over Hardy's previous comment. He tried to continue calmly, "You wanted the fire dragon to come after us?"
"Yep." She said with enthusiasm. She got up, walked to the terrace of the room and looked out to the city illuminated by its torches in the early night, "You're strong. A little too strong. I just wanted you to bring the Empire down a little. Make them learn some humility. But now, you're getting stuck in."
"Getting stuck in? Is that a problem?"
"Yes. For two reasons. One, you're upsetting the balance of this world and two, keeping the Gate open for this long is going to cause problems."
"Well, we don't care about your balance. As for the Gate, we didn't ask for it to be opened into our world."
"And that's one of the reasons I woke up the fire dragon. Now that you've confirmed my suspicion, I awakened one of the most powerful beasts that exist on this world to temper your influence. To shift the balance back. Unfortunately, the beast hardly slowed you down. You even took my Apostle prisoner and I'm sure even my dear Rory is more likely to side with you than me if I asked her to continue Giselle's work. Troublesome. Most troublesome."
Secretly, Hardy didn't want to admit that she screwed up. She opened the Gate since she found that the Empire being taken down a notch would break her boredom but her intended joke was quickly turning sour. She hadn't anticipated such a powerful force to cross over. She couldn't even take a peek of the other side to have some idea about what she was dealing with since something incredibly strong was keeping her out. She could feel two powerful forces of light and dark were keeping her out. But she could feel that for some reason, the darkness was getting stronger. It worried her a little even if it was the balance of a different place. Her actions had likewise garnered the unwelcome attention of her fellow gods who were pressuring her to do something.
Turning back to them, she could see that all of her guests carried harsher frowns than before outside of the stewards who quietly stood by the walls. Ignoring it, she continued, "I bet you're thinking, 'Well, what are you going to do about it now that your pet's dead?' Well, I'd actually like to convince you to leave willingly."
Everyone remained silent.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I should have expected this. Since you clones are soldiers, I'm sure you couldn't even leave if you wanted to. You have an authority to answer to. And you elves I'm sure don't even want them to leave given every luxury you have access to. So, to get the attention of your authority, I'm keeping this body."
That got Fordo and the others up. Rory shouted, "You're not keeping that body! Lelei is mine! She's my—" She stopped. She didn't want to admit that Lelei was a friend despite that Apostles are supposed to be detached from people. It allowed them to do their dispassionate duty as the gardeners of the world efficiently.
Fordo would reiterate for her, "You're not keeping her. I don't care that you're a god. You don't own people."
"Then call your superiors, clone. I'll convince them. But be quick. Vessels, even exceptional ones, can only hold us for a day. Maybe two. Any longer and well, the brain tends to liquefy from the stress."
Eila looked over the lists of all the supplies she had received with her head buried in the datapad and standing in the courtyard. It boggled her mind. She was always under the impression that Republic Command and the Senate would only send them supplies when they needed them. Now the base was overstocked with the new generators piquing her interest.
'Rated to last for a hundred years? That's a bold claim. Solar, geothermal, tibanna, hypermatter? Seems to run on anything.' She thought as she thumbed through the generators specifications. Moving the datapad down, she watched the generators being placed into a brand new prefabricated facility. The installers seemed set on connecting them to the geothermal energy of the planet.
'Long-term assignment, huh?' She shook her head.
It was her initial belief that once Zorzal was gone, the Republic would be looking forward to receding its influence to cut costs. But a quick look at the news back home and it seemed that recent victories in the Outer Rim are the likely cause for the sudden upswing in material support. However, there were still the typical doom and gloom stories on the uncertainty of victory on other contested planets like Mygeeto, Felucia, and Kashyyyk.
Additionally, Senator Chuchi was already well on her way to completing her negotiations with Emperor Molt, who was feeling better but not completely healed, and Princess Pina. It was looking to be that the Empire was agreeing to every demand and concession. Although, she had yet to talk to Chuchi about the Jedi Order's demand and Zorzal's remnant faction had gone noticeably silent. Whether it was because of the absence of their leader or the release of all the information against him, was uncertain.
Thinking back to the Order's demand, she shivered at how that conversation was going to go with Chuchi and the Imperials. Simply taking the unclaimed places might slip under the Empire's view. They might not even care since the crystals were viewed as useless to them but, all the anxiety was coming from how to explain their interest to claim the Empire's holy sites. Even with worthless crystals, the Imperials are unlikely to agree in letting them stroll right in. Luckily or unluckily, she could hold off on explaining herself.
"General! General!" Wrench yelled as he came running. Stopping next to her, he blurted out, "Emergency transmission from Recon Team Three!"
Alarmed, she took out her holoprojector, "Captain Fordo? What's the situation? Do you need support?"
"We're in Bellnahgo at the Temple of Hardy and well…Lelei's not herself."
"Not herself? Please explain, Captain."
Suddenly, the holoprojector image scrambled and she could distinctly hear Fordo calling out to someone to give it back. The image stabilized and it was Lelei.
"Ohh! General Eila of the Grand Army of the Republic!" 'Lelei' said with a playful grin as more memories were probed.
Getting a powerful impression from the Force, Eila cringed a bit before saying, "You're not Lelei."
"Oh! What gave me away?" 'Lelei' pouted.
"Lelei's not as expressive as you, Hardy."
"Huh? What a dull girl."
"Please don't insult her like that."
"Fine. But, how did you know it was me, specifically?"
"Maybe because my team is at the Temple of Hardy."
"Oh! Well…" She turned away with a slight hint of embarrassment.
"What do you want, Hardy?"
"To talk."
"Then talk."
"Oh no! You have to come to my house. I prefer personal interactions than whatever this thing is." The image distorted again as she shook the holoprojector.
"My team can bring you here so we can talk."
"No, no, no! Here, Eila." Her voice suddenly became more serious, "Come here."
Sighing, Eila responded, "Fine. I'll be there as soon as I can."
Turning the holoprojector off, Wrench called out, "Could be a trap, General."
"Could be? More like definitely. But this is one of the Special Region's gods. For a powerful being to descend…whatever she has to say, it's got be important."
"Could also be worthless too."
"There's that. It's been written in the myths that Hardy can be quite mischievous, when she's not being selfish and indifferent to people. But we can't leave Lelei to live out her life as Hardy's plaything."
Wrench shuddered, "Ugh! That's got to be a weird feeling. Somebody else living in your body, overriding what makes you, you."
"Well, hopefully, either Hardy gets out herself. Or we have to force her out."
Author's Note: Yay, another chapter! But don't get too excited, it's just been a slow week so there was time for me to write.