Chapter 11
"Er, Zidane," Freya began slowly, frowning out the door that she held open.
"Yeah, Freya?" Zidane called back absently, his attention completely absorbed with the ogling of a marble statue of naked woman.
"Should there be an endless drop into a starry sky directly out this door?"
"No, we came in through a hallway, remember?" Zidane replied, still fascinated by the statue. Dear lord, those were NOT normal dimensions! Who was the artist using as a model - Tifa Lockhart? Hold on...who was Tifa Lockhart? And how on earth did he know her name? And her dimensions?
'I miss Dagger and her dimensions...why the heck do we keep going in different groups, anyway?'
With a long-suffering sigh, Freya looked up at Amarant. Hiding a grin at her expression of utter desolation, he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Do you want the honors?" she asked.
"No, you've earned it," he replied.
"Wonderful. Let's go."
With that, the two started across the room toward the blond thief. Once they were directly behind him, Freya grabbed hold of his ponytail and yanked.
"Aiee!" Zidane yelped as the sensation of a thousand fiery needles jabbing into his skull shot through him.
"Serves you right," his long-time friend informed him ruthlessly, dragging him away from the statue, across the room, still by the ponytail, to the door. "Now, would you look and tell me what in the hell happened to the hallway?"
Zidane looked out the door accordingly, then blinked several times, and then peered more closely at the deep, fathomless blackness of space, dotted with stars.
"Um...that's kinda weird..." he commented lamely.
"Give the kid a trophy," Amarant muttered, leaning back against the wall.
Zidane glared briefly at the redhead, then, giving his head a shake, he slammed the door shut.
"What, are you hoping it'll be gone when you open the door again?" Freya inquired sarcastically.
"Hey, just bear with me," Zidane requested. "I think I read a book about this once."
Turning the knob, he yanked the door open again, and scratched his head in confusion as a beautiful, lush orchard, thickly carpeted with grass of purest emerald green, dotted with trees bearing all varieties of fruit in a dazzling array of colours, was revealed to his startled eyes.
"Now, I KNOW that wasn't there a second ago," he announced.
"Give the kid TWO trophies," Amarant muttered.
"Oh, be quiet!" Freya commanded severely, swatting him.
"Well," Zidane spoke up, "are we gonna go we explore?"
"An orchard that just as good as came out of nowhere?" the Burmecian said incredulously. "Are you out of your mind, Zidane?"
"Hey, it's better than trying to explore what was there a minute ago," the youth pouted.
Freya began to say something, then stopped.
"That's a good point."
"Great! So, let's go! I wanna see if I can find a flower to bring back for Dagger," Zidane grinned.
"Oh, what a sweet gesture! I'm sure she'll appreciate it," Freya commented, her more feminine side clasping its - well, her hands and going all shiny- eyed.
"Yeah, am I sweet or what?" Zidane asked rhetorically.
"Or what," Amarant replied predictably.
"Hey, Amarant," the blond began with a knowing grin, elbowing the older man. "I'll bet Freya wishes SOMEONE would give HER a flower."
Both Amarant and Freya stared at Zidane as though he had sprouted another head.
"What are you on about?" Freya finally asked.
"Never mind," Zidane hastened to assure her, now feeling rather silly.
With that, he turned and started through the door into the exceedingly oddly placed orchard.
"So..." Amarant began slowly as they started after him, "is the kid right?"
"Erm...pardon?"
"Do you wish that someone would give you a flower?"
Freya shook her head.
"Not especially, no."
"Right," Amarant said, hastily tossing the little wildflower to the side.
"Er, my queen, what are you doing?" a sweatdropping Steiner inquired hesitantly.
Dagger glanced down from her perch high on the bough of a flowering plum tree.
"I'm picking a bouquet of flowers for Zidane!" she replied, much as though there could have been no question about it.
"Do...do you think he will appreciate your efforts?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"D-don't people normally give flowers to girls?" Vivi asked, scratching his large yellow hat, as his head was rather difficult to get to at that moment.
"Well, I certainly don't understand why!" Dagger declared, reaching for a particularly fragrant blossom to add to her collection.
"I suppose it IS rather sweet, if slightly strange," Steiner commented to Vivi.
Vivi nodded.
"I-I don't know whether it would be worse if Zidane didn't like them, or if he did."
"If Zidane didn't like what?" a familiar voice inquired roguishly from behind them.
The knight and the little mage simultaneously whirled about to behold the betailed youth grinning at them, hands behind his back.
"What have you got there, Zidane?" Vivi asked, noticing the position of his hands more than anyone else as he was nearly at their eye level.
"Oh, just a little something for Dagger," Zidane replied with a wink.
Steiner frowned.
"And where are Amarant and Freya?"
Zidane blinked.
"Um...they're not right behind me?"
Steiner and Vivi shook their heads.
"Uh-oh..." Zidane sighed, slumping forward in dismay. Then, catching sight of a familiar young lady, he completely and utterly forgot about his mysteriously lost companions. "Dagger!"
"Oh! Zidane!" Dagger called back, sliding down from the tree and hastening to hide the small bouquet of plum blossoms behind her back.
Once on the ground, the young couple ran toward one another, each carefully concealing their lovely gifts of flowers.
"I have something for you!" they said in unison. "I hope...you'll...like...it..."
This last sentence trailed off into bewilderment on both their parts, as the gaze of each lit on a gift identical to the one that they were presenting.
"Oh...thank-you, Zidane," Dagger smiled lamely, accepting the single lily that he held out to her.
"You're-you're welcome. And...uh...thanks," he repeated, accepting the bouquet of plum blossoms.
"So..." Dagger began.
"So..." Zidane agreed.
"Er...should someone go look for Amarant and Freya?" Dagger asked.
"Yeah..." Zidane admitted reluctantly. Then, as a thought occurred to him, he brightened. "I know! Steiner and Vivi can do it!"
"Oh, thank-you, Zidane," the knight huffed. "Why can we not all go together to look for them?"
"Well...someone should, y'know, keep exploring..."
"W-we could explore on the way," Vivi pointed out.
Zidane glared at the large yellow hat with its large yellow eyes, then gave a wan smile of apology.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," he admitted.
"But," Dagger broke in, "we'll have more chance of finding Amarant and Freya before they can stumble into some sort of dangerous situation if we go in two groups."
"Exactly!" Zidane hastened to say.
Steiner looked extremely sceptical, and Vivi glanced about between the three in confusion.
"So, good luck, you two," Dagger said to the knight and the mage before turning and skipping down the orchard path.
"Yeah, see you," Zidane mumbled absently, staring in fascination at the incredibly nice backside of his girlfriend, clad in those orange spandex. 'Oh, yeah...'
"Take care not to slip in that puddle of your own drool and knock yourself unconscious on the ground," Steiner muttered, leading Vivi back the way they had come, hoping that he'd be able to find the door. Really, wandering around a beautifully sunny orchard in a heavy suit of armour was turning out to be a bad idea. He mopped his forehead miserably, and glared up at the sun beating down upon them.
"Steiner!" Vivi exclaimed. "A door!"
"Wonderful! Good eyes, Master Vivi!"
"Thanks," the tiny mage smiled up at him.
And with that, the two opened the door and stepped through into perils beyond their imagination...
"Damn," Amarant sighed as a fifth try at opening and closing the door once again failed to yield the sunny orchard that currently held the rest of the group.
"Tell me again, Amarant," Freya requested tiredly. "Why did we come back here?"
"We got separated from everyone else," he said. "You follow?"
"Yes, that much is clear."
"When we ended up here, I thought we'd be able to retrace our steps and find everyone else."
"Ah," she nodded.
Amarant glared down at her.
"Plan struck a snag when you decided to close the door behind us."
"I told you already, I didn't touch the door!"
"Then who did?"
"Perhaps it was the little fairies who live in the garden?"
"Or 'perhaps' it was one of your inside-out upside-down vampires."
"Will you forget about the vampires?!" she exclaimed, exasperated.
"A little hard to do, when you won't quit talking about them."
"I give you my word that I won't say another thing about them, if you don't."
"Deal."
"Wonderful. Now, try the door again."
"Fine," he grumbled, swinging the door open again.
This time, the pair found themselves staring out onto a field of poppies...poppies...poppies...poppies...
Oh, goodness! I'm sorry! I forgot where I was for a second.
"Er, I think we try again," Freya announced slowly. "I have a very bad feeling about that field."
"The field of harmless little red flowers?" Amarant snorted. "You're crazy."
He had just started over the threshold of the grandly decorated parlour and into the field, when a voice rang out through the air.
"I'll get you, my pretty," it screeched, "and you're little rat, too!"
The next instant, a woman garbed in a long black cloak and a pointy black hat, her face turned a bright shade of green with the aid of that wonderful invention, make-up, zipped past on a Hoover vacuum cleaner, then doubled back and headed straight for them.
"Maybe you're right," Amarant admitted, yanking the door shut just before the woman on the vacuum could reach them. "We should stay in here."
"Your little rat?" Freya echoed rather belatedly. "Oh, no. I'm going to find her and make her take that back."
"Well, you are," he pointed out, biting back a smile.
"I am what? Your little rat?"
"Well, A little rat..." he muttered, flushing slightly.
"Oh...right," she agreed, flushing slightly more.
"Uh...the door again?"
"Might as well," she sighed.
This time, the door swung open to reveal a long, barely lit staircase spiralling into depths unknown.
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Amarant noted in satisfaction.
"Right. A long, winding staircase is much better than an orchard," Freya sighed.
"If you can think of a good way to get back to the orchard, I'd love to hear it," he growled, starting over the threshold.
"Why do I get the feeling that we'll both regret this?" Freya murmured as she followed close behind him.
"U-um...Steiner?" Vivi choked out, staring in utter horror at something just beyond Steiner's left shoulder.
"Yes, Master Vivi?" Steiner replied, staring in the same horror.
"Is a gigantic dragon, frothing at the mouth, and about to devour us a bad thing?"
"I should say so..."
"Back through the door?"
"A good idea, Master Vivi."
With that, they both turned on their heels and bolted through the door, slamming it tightly behind them.
"That was close," Vivi panted, leaning heavily against the cool, polished wood of the door.
"Master Vivi!" Steiner hissed, taking the little mage's gloved hand in his.
"Y-yeah, Steiner?"
"Look!"
Vivi looked accordingly, and as he did, his expression registered such an expression of horror as had never been seen before.
As one, Vivi and Steiner bolted back through the door, deciding mutually without needing to exchange a single word, that they would much rather face a massive, slavering dragon, armed with toothpicks, than face the horrors that had greeted them on the other side of that door.
As the door slammed shut, Billy-Mime turned to Susie-Mime, both unheeding of the quiet, peaceful, yet bustling sunshine-filled Paris street behind them.
'Why do you think they ran away, screaming?' he motioned through the use of various and sundry frightening displays of body contortionism before promptly becoming trapped in an invisible box.
'No idea,' Susie-Mime shrugged, reapplying a fresh coat of white paint to her face and making sure that her black leotard was on straight over her head.
"So, Dagger," Zidane began, glancing shyly at the lovely brunette at his side, "how are...things?"
"Things are...good. Things are pretty good," Dagger replied, returning his shy glances with equally shy glances of her own, and hurriedly looking away, a faint stain of colour creeping into her cheeks, as Zidane caught her eye. "How are...things with you?"
"Good, good. I hope we can find that innkeeper's sister soon," he sighed, shaking his head.
"Y-yes, so do I," Dagger agreed. "Er, Zidane, did you really like your bouquet, or were you just pretending?"
"Oh, no, no, I loved it!" he hastened to assure her. "See? Watch: I'll wear one of the flowers in my hair for the rest of the day!"
"Well, you don't have to do THAT," she giggled.
But, alas, it was too late. Zidane had already tugged a plum blossom from the bouquet, and was in the process of tucking it behind his ear.
"Would you like me to make you a wreath?" Dagger inquired dryly, quite taken aback when Zidane nodded enthusiastically.
"And I can make one for you!" he added excitedly.
"Of course," she agreed slowly, a small smile spreading across her face as she reflected that, after all, it might not be so bad. He might look awfully cute with a wreath of pretty flowers...
End Notes: Hee! The flower thing was for all you Zidane/Dagger people. They're so much fun to write! I can do all the little cutesy things with them that my other favourite pairings don't seem to lend themselves to. Too bad I do the cutesy things with all of them anyway...
Oh, and I must apologize for the story seeming to have gotten completely off track as of late. I assure you, though, that I fully intend to get on with the plot before the end of the next chapter. And a longer chapter, at that.
"Er, Zidane," Freya began slowly, frowning out the door that she held open.
"Yeah, Freya?" Zidane called back absently, his attention completely absorbed with the ogling of a marble statue of naked woman.
"Should there be an endless drop into a starry sky directly out this door?"
"No, we came in through a hallway, remember?" Zidane replied, still fascinated by the statue. Dear lord, those were NOT normal dimensions! Who was the artist using as a model - Tifa Lockhart? Hold on...who was Tifa Lockhart? And how on earth did he know her name? And her dimensions?
'I miss Dagger and her dimensions...why the heck do we keep going in different groups, anyway?'
With a long-suffering sigh, Freya looked up at Amarant. Hiding a grin at her expression of utter desolation, he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Do you want the honors?" she asked.
"No, you've earned it," he replied.
"Wonderful. Let's go."
With that, the two started across the room toward the blond thief. Once they were directly behind him, Freya grabbed hold of his ponytail and yanked.
"Aiee!" Zidane yelped as the sensation of a thousand fiery needles jabbing into his skull shot through him.
"Serves you right," his long-time friend informed him ruthlessly, dragging him away from the statue, across the room, still by the ponytail, to the door. "Now, would you look and tell me what in the hell happened to the hallway?"
Zidane looked out the door accordingly, then blinked several times, and then peered more closely at the deep, fathomless blackness of space, dotted with stars.
"Um...that's kinda weird..." he commented lamely.
"Give the kid a trophy," Amarant muttered, leaning back against the wall.
Zidane glared briefly at the redhead, then, giving his head a shake, he slammed the door shut.
"What, are you hoping it'll be gone when you open the door again?" Freya inquired sarcastically.
"Hey, just bear with me," Zidane requested. "I think I read a book about this once."
Turning the knob, he yanked the door open again, and scratched his head in confusion as a beautiful, lush orchard, thickly carpeted with grass of purest emerald green, dotted with trees bearing all varieties of fruit in a dazzling array of colours, was revealed to his startled eyes.
"Now, I KNOW that wasn't there a second ago," he announced.
"Give the kid TWO trophies," Amarant muttered.
"Oh, be quiet!" Freya commanded severely, swatting him.
"Well," Zidane spoke up, "are we gonna go we explore?"
"An orchard that just as good as came out of nowhere?" the Burmecian said incredulously. "Are you out of your mind, Zidane?"
"Hey, it's better than trying to explore what was there a minute ago," the youth pouted.
Freya began to say something, then stopped.
"That's a good point."
"Great! So, let's go! I wanna see if I can find a flower to bring back for Dagger," Zidane grinned.
"Oh, what a sweet gesture! I'm sure she'll appreciate it," Freya commented, her more feminine side clasping its - well, her hands and going all shiny- eyed.
"Yeah, am I sweet or what?" Zidane asked rhetorically.
"Or what," Amarant replied predictably.
"Hey, Amarant," the blond began with a knowing grin, elbowing the older man. "I'll bet Freya wishes SOMEONE would give HER a flower."
Both Amarant and Freya stared at Zidane as though he had sprouted another head.
"What are you on about?" Freya finally asked.
"Never mind," Zidane hastened to assure her, now feeling rather silly.
With that, he turned and started through the door into the exceedingly oddly placed orchard.
"So..." Amarant began slowly as they started after him, "is the kid right?"
"Erm...pardon?"
"Do you wish that someone would give you a flower?"
Freya shook her head.
"Not especially, no."
"Right," Amarant said, hastily tossing the little wildflower to the side.
"Er, my queen, what are you doing?" a sweatdropping Steiner inquired hesitantly.
Dagger glanced down from her perch high on the bough of a flowering plum tree.
"I'm picking a bouquet of flowers for Zidane!" she replied, much as though there could have been no question about it.
"Do...do you think he will appreciate your efforts?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"D-don't people normally give flowers to girls?" Vivi asked, scratching his large yellow hat, as his head was rather difficult to get to at that moment.
"Well, I certainly don't understand why!" Dagger declared, reaching for a particularly fragrant blossom to add to her collection.
"I suppose it IS rather sweet, if slightly strange," Steiner commented to Vivi.
Vivi nodded.
"I-I don't know whether it would be worse if Zidane didn't like them, or if he did."
"If Zidane didn't like what?" a familiar voice inquired roguishly from behind them.
The knight and the little mage simultaneously whirled about to behold the betailed youth grinning at them, hands behind his back.
"What have you got there, Zidane?" Vivi asked, noticing the position of his hands more than anyone else as he was nearly at their eye level.
"Oh, just a little something for Dagger," Zidane replied with a wink.
Steiner frowned.
"And where are Amarant and Freya?"
Zidane blinked.
"Um...they're not right behind me?"
Steiner and Vivi shook their heads.
"Uh-oh..." Zidane sighed, slumping forward in dismay. Then, catching sight of a familiar young lady, he completely and utterly forgot about his mysteriously lost companions. "Dagger!"
"Oh! Zidane!" Dagger called back, sliding down from the tree and hastening to hide the small bouquet of plum blossoms behind her back.
Once on the ground, the young couple ran toward one another, each carefully concealing their lovely gifts of flowers.
"I have something for you!" they said in unison. "I hope...you'll...like...it..."
This last sentence trailed off into bewilderment on both their parts, as the gaze of each lit on a gift identical to the one that they were presenting.
"Oh...thank-you, Zidane," Dagger smiled lamely, accepting the single lily that he held out to her.
"You're-you're welcome. And...uh...thanks," he repeated, accepting the bouquet of plum blossoms.
"So..." Dagger began.
"So..." Zidane agreed.
"Er...should someone go look for Amarant and Freya?" Dagger asked.
"Yeah..." Zidane admitted reluctantly. Then, as a thought occurred to him, he brightened. "I know! Steiner and Vivi can do it!"
"Oh, thank-you, Zidane," the knight huffed. "Why can we not all go together to look for them?"
"Well...someone should, y'know, keep exploring..."
"W-we could explore on the way," Vivi pointed out.
Zidane glared at the large yellow hat with its large yellow eyes, then gave a wan smile of apology.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," he admitted.
"But," Dagger broke in, "we'll have more chance of finding Amarant and Freya before they can stumble into some sort of dangerous situation if we go in two groups."
"Exactly!" Zidane hastened to say.
Steiner looked extremely sceptical, and Vivi glanced about between the three in confusion.
"So, good luck, you two," Dagger said to the knight and the mage before turning and skipping down the orchard path.
"Yeah, see you," Zidane mumbled absently, staring in fascination at the incredibly nice backside of his girlfriend, clad in those orange spandex. 'Oh, yeah...'
"Take care not to slip in that puddle of your own drool and knock yourself unconscious on the ground," Steiner muttered, leading Vivi back the way they had come, hoping that he'd be able to find the door. Really, wandering around a beautifully sunny orchard in a heavy suit of armour was turning out to be a bad idea. He mopped his forehead miserably, and glared up at the sun beating down upon them.
"Steiner!" Vivi exclaimed. "A door!"
"Wonderful! Good eyes, Master Vivi!"
"Thanks," the tiny mage smiled up at him.
And with that, the two opened the door and stepped through into perils beyond their imagination...
"Damn," Amarant sighed as a fifth try at opening and closing the door once again failed to yield the sunny orchard that currently held the rest of the group.
"Tell me again, Amarant," Freya requested tiredly. "Why did we come back here?"
"We got separated from everyone else," he said. "You follow?"
"Yes, that much is clear."
"When we ended up here, I thought we'd be able to retrace our steps and find everyone else."
"Ah," she nodded.
Amarant glared down at her.
"Plan struck a snag when you decided to close the door behind us."
"I told you already, I didn't touch the door!"
"Then who did?"
"Perhaps it was the little fairies who live in the garden?"
"Or 'perhaps' it was one of your inside-out upside-down vampires."
"Will you forget about the vampires?!" she exclaimed, exasperated.
"A little hard to do, when you won't quit talking about them."
"I give you my word that I won't say another thing about them, if you don't."
"Deal."
"Wonderful. Now, try the door again."
"Fine," he grumbled, swinging the door open again.
This time, the pair found themselves staring out onto a field of poppies...poppies...poppies...poppies...
Oh, goodness! I'm sorry! I forgot where I was for a second.
"Er, I think we try again," Freya announced slowly. "I have a very bad feeling about that field."
"The field of harmless little red flowers?" Amarant snorted. "You're crazy."
He had just started over the threshold of the grandly decorated parlour and into the field, when a voice rang out through the air.
"I'll get you, my pretty," it screeched, "and you're little rat, too!"
The next instant, a woman garbed in a long black cloak and a pointy black hat, her face turned a bright shade of green with the aid of that wonderful invention, make-up, zipped past on a Hoover vacuum cleaner, then doubled back and headed straight for them.
"Maybe you're right," Amarant admitted, yanking the door shut just before the woman on the vacuum could reach them. "We should stay in here."
"Your little rat?" Freya echoed rather belatedly. "Oh, no. I'm going to find her and make her take that back."
"Well, you are," he pointed out, biting back a smile.
"I am what? Your little rat?"
"Well, A little rat..." he muttered, flushing slightly.
"Oh...right," she agreed, flushing slightly more.
"Uh...the door again?"
"Might as well," she sighed.
This time, the door swung open to reveal a long, barely lit staircase spiralling into depths unknown.
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Amarant noted in satisfaction.
"Right. A long, winding staircase is much better than an orchard," Freya sighed.
"If you can think of a good way to get back to the orchard, I'd love to hear it," he growled, starting over the threshold.
"Why do I get the feeling that we'll both regret this?" Freya murmured as she followed close behind him.
"U-um...Steiner?" Vivi choked out, staring in utter horror at something just beyond Steiner's left shoulder.
"Yes, Master Vivi?" Steiner replied, staring in the same horror.
"Is a gigantic dragon, frothing at the mouth, and about to devour us a bad thing?"
"I should say so..."
"Back through the door?"
"A good idea, Master Vivi."
With that, they both turned on their heels and bolted through the door, slamming it tightly behind them.
"That was close," Vivi panted, leaning heavily against the cool, polished wood of the door.
"Master Vivi!" Steiner hissed, taking the little mage's gloved hand in his.
"Y-yeah, Steiner?"
"Look!"
Vivi looked accordingly, and as he did, his expression registered such an expression of horror as had never been seen before.
As one, Vivi and Steiner bolted back through the door, deciding mutually without needing to exchange a single word, that they would much rather face a massive, slavering dragon, armed with toothpicks, than face the horrors that had greeted them on the other side of that door.
As the door slammed shut, Billy-Mime turned to Susie-Mime, both unheeding of the quiet, peaceful, yet bustling sunshine-filled Paris street behind them.
'Why do you think they ran away, screaming?' he motioned through the use of various and sundry frightening displays of body contortionism before promptly becoming trapped in an invisible box.
'No idea,' Susie-Mime shrugged, reapplying a fresh coat of white paint to her face and making sure that her black leotard was on straight over her head.
"So, Dagger," Zidane began, glancing shyly at the lovely brunette at his side, "how are...things?"
"Things are...good. Things are pretty good," Dagger replied, returning his shy glances with equally shy glances of her own, and hurriedly looking away, a faint stain of colour creeping into her cheeks, as Zidane caught her eye. "How are...things with you?"
"Good, good. I hope we can find that innkeeper's sister soon," he sighed, shaking his head.
"Y-yes, so do I," Dagger agreed. "Er, Zidane, did you really like your bouquet, or were you just pretending?"
"Oh, no, no, I loved it!" he hastened to assure her. "See? Watch: I'll wear one of the flowers in my hair for the rest of the day!"
"Well, you don't have to do THAT," she giggled.
But, alas, it was too late. Zidane had already tugged a plum blossom from the bouquet, and was in the process of tucking it behind his ear.
"Would you like me to make you a wreath?" Dagger inquired dryly, quite taken aback when Zidane nodded enthusiastically.
"And I can make one for you!" he added excitedly.
"Of course," she agreed slowly, a small smile spreading across her face as she reflected that, after all, it might not be so bad. He might look awfully cute with a wreath of pretty flowers...
End Notes: Hee! The flower thing was for all you Zidane/Dagger people. They're so much fun to write! I can do all the little cutesy things with them that my other favourite pairings don't seem to lend themselves to. Too bad I do the cutesy things with all of them anyway...
Oh, and I must apologize for the story seeming to have gotten completely off track as of late. I assure you, though, that I fully intend to get on with the plot before the end of the next chapter. And a longer chapter, at that.