Sylph: ...You've all been waiting for this, right? You're all gonna be mad at me for taking so long, right? *Hides behind Alastor* You have to get through Al before you can lynch me!

Alastor: Your irregular sleeping habits are getting to you again, aren't they?

Sylph: ...Probably.

Well, I kept waffling on how this chapter should be, and it kept changing on me. Finally I decided to throw this progression of events down, and once finished I thought I'd run with it. But there might be some rougher spots since it kept changing...

As for the poll: Letha's in the lead, Yuri's in second with Estelle a close third, Karol is fourth, and no one has voted for Judith.

x x x

Chapter 22: The Spark That Starts a War

x x x

It was far too late in the day to even think of going back to Dahngrest, so once we were out of the aer affected part of Keiv Moc we set up camp. While waiting for dinner to be made (Rita's turn, I prayed she'd cook it properly instead of trying to give us raw eggs on bread) I pulled out a notebook the Arcturus inn keeper had given me. Yeah, from before they found out what I wanted all that paper for. My old one had gotten waterlogged and worthless at some point...

I skipped the first few pages, planning to write some random, light hearted stuff on those later in case someone looked. Whatever it was I'd use the Tercan Lumireis writing system for that. What I was doing now, though, was trying to capture the important parts of my life.

I started with where I was born, the time, how mom had told me the doctors hadn't believed it was time but she refused to leave. How my name, whatever it was, was something she'd wanted to name a daughter for a long time.

I wrote about my home, and how the house and land had changed over the years. How my dad was always working on it somehow, so you couldn't tell it was over a hundred and twenty years old. How my brothers and I had rotated bedrooms so that we'd all have a turn in the private room and sharing the larger room until I was old enough to need privacy.

I wrote about my best friend who was like another daughter in my house.

I wrote about school, from the few scraps I remembered of preschool up to college.

I wrote about the trips my family took every summer until my brothers and I were old enough to get part time jobs.

Any time I thought of some random memory that I always laughed at, I wrote it down regardless of what I'd just been writing.

The words all flowed onto the pages, scratchy and blotchy in some places since I wasn't used to nib pens. I felt relief at forming the familiar letters from Earth. It wouldn't do to have anyone understand what I wrote, and as a little extra precaution I even kept switching randomly from regular print to cursive. Sometimes I'd even switch some words with other languages, but I didn't dare do that too much just in case I forgot my language classes...

Eventually I flipped to the back of the notebook and summarized the fake life I'd told everyone was mine, making notes on what had been told to who.

My name here is Letha Vitae. My father was Sirius Vitae, he and my mother died when I was only two, so I don't remember them at all. Sirius was not on great terms with his older brother, Ludwig Vitae, so they didn't know much about each other's business.

I was raised by my Uncle Ludwig. My aunt, Sophia Vitae, died when I was about four or five, so I don't remember her well either. I lived in the forest near the Shaikos Ruins all my life, and everything I learned about the world came from Ludwig and the books Sophia left behind.

Not long before Sophia died, she brought back a strange relic from one of her research trips. Toddler-me played with it, and somehow it gave me a tattoo on my left hand that glows at times for no apparent reason. The original relic went missing, and now I'm looking for it or the place it came from to find out more about it.

I told Yuri that Ludwig found me when I was a child and adopted me. And that I could remember some things from my original life, but most was holes. When he asked about the tattoo I claimed they'd found me just before Sophia brought back that relic. I also told him Alastor may or may not be related to why I'd been taken from my real home and lost my memories. The others haven't heard this explanation.

"What have you been writing all this time?"

I looked up and saw Estelle had come over with plates in hand. I closed my notebook as I accepted my share. "It's nothing much, I was just, um, practicing..." Yeeeah, of course the bookworm is the one interested. I was thinking of telling the others I was writing down some of the stories I know, but if I told Estelle she'd want to read them.

"Practicing?"

"Um, I saw an interesting looking writing system once in my aunt's books, so I spent some time trying to learn it. Mostly for fun. I was practicing it just now..." Safe! Now they shouldn't get too suspicious even if they see inside!

"Really? May I see?"

I blew on a spoonful of some kind of soup (hoping it was edible...the others were eating already). "Knock yourself out."

"What?"

"Means 'yes'."

"Oh, alright!" She put her soup aside and carefully began flipping the pages of my notebook. "Wow, I've never seen writing like this before. What civilization was it used by?"

"Um, don't remember..."

"Could you teach me?" Crap, should've seen that coming.

"I'm not sure we have the time..." Her face fell as she was reminded that she'd have to return to the capitol soon. "Ah! I mean, of course! Not now, but I'll come see you at the castle and I can teach you then!" Oh dear, now I've gone and made a promise I'm afraid of keeping.

Estelle's eyes were sparkling, "Really? Thanks so much!" Oh well, she'll be the only one who can read it and she's not the type to snoop through other people's stuff. If I had a younger sister like Estelle I'd spoil her. Come to think of it, if I had a little sister there's good odds she'd be like either Estelle or Rita. Holy crap.

She gave the notebook back and I slipped it inside my bag, hoping I seemed casual about it.

"Hey, Letha, I hope you're not getting the princess involved in another of your schemes," Yuri called to us from the fire.

"No worries, we're only planning to draw on your face when you fall asleep tonight."

"We are?" the princess asked in confusion.

I shrugged, "If you want to."

"Hey!"

x x x

The others were talking about Duke and the Don, but I decided to turn in for bed early. Not much else I could do, talking might risk giving something away and writing might invite more unwanted curiosity.

Karol had set up two tents (same drill, boys in one, girls in another) so I curled up in one. Since the barrier thing that comes with tents to keep monsters away only works once the tents themselves are pretty simply designed. But they're also nicely made and new looking. I had to wonder if there's some assembly line for mass producing them...maybe even something to do with those warehouses in every city. I lay on my side, using my rolled up Earth clothes for a pillow, and stared at the canvas wall.

Tents...this is pretty comforting and nostalgic. I closed my eyes. Knowing I'm in a tent, I can almost pretend I'm back on Earth and on trip. Maybe turning in after a night of playing black jack and betting with peanuts... It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

Seagulls were gliding over the water and hopping along the beach of wave smoothed stones. The sun hung low on the horizon, creating a vivid sunset. I happily watched the shapes of the clouds, thinking how nice it would be to try and paint them. Clouds are surprisingly complex subjects.

There was a seagull flying low over my head and it suddenly swooped towards me. I ducked and covered my head, but it made another pass with another seagull. In moments I was being attacked by what seemed to be the whole flock. I tried running away but my legs wouldn't move. When I flung my arms out to try and bat them away, one flew directly towards my face.

I fell back, trying to avoid it, and now I could see that the seagulls had changed. Their wings had become delicate and colorful like butterflies, but their beaks had become the hooked and sharp edged weapons of birds of prey. Covering my head again I tried to scream for help, but no matter how loud I was no sound came out.

I was staring at the canvas wall of the tent again. Judging by the faint light it was nearly dawn. Behind me I could hear the sounds of two people breathing softly in their sleep. Sitting up, I looked down at Estelle and Rita. Both of the younger girls looked peaceful, Rita's posture was even reminiscent of a snoozing cat. After watching them for a few minutes, I settled down to will myself back to sleep for another hour or so. No more dreams, please...

x x x

Returning to Dahngrest was practically a walk in the park without having to deal with Karol and my bug related phobias anymore. Even without Karol going into hyper spastic fly swatting mode or me running off in all directions when something with a hundred legs showed up, it still took nearly the whole day to get back to civilization.

Walking back into the guild city, I stretched my arms up high. "Ahh, back where the bugs are regular stomping size." But before long, shit will hit the fan and we'll have an impending war on our hands. Aww, we're gonna have a long night on our hands...

Yuri was all about getting down to about business. "Let's go to the union headquarters now, I want to have that talk with the Don as soon as possible." I sighed. Well, it wasn't like Yuri and I had a place to sleep in this town.

UUUUUGH! Why must I have no will to resist pranks? I'mma gonna hafta sleep in the streets like a bum! Yuri at least will get a bed in a cell.

I was still sulking over this Yuri and Raven led the way to the Don's receiving room. As expected (for me) Flynn was already there. Whitehorse leaned forward, one arm on his knee, and fixed Yuri with a sharp look. "So you've come back, have ya?"

Flynn turned to see who the Don was talking to. His knight's poker face was cracked by surprise, "...Yuri."

The gruff man looked from the knight to us again. "What, you two know each other?" He nodded to Raven, who silently walked across the room to stand by the bear-man's throne thingy.

Flynn turned back to him, straight faced again. Jeez, he could make a killing playing cards. "Yes, we're old friends..."

"Ya don't say."

"I see you know Yuri as well. I did hear that he caused some...trouble here the other day." I coughed and looked away as Flynn indirectly brought up what had to be the Grand Inn Prank. Whoops, my bad again.

"We crossed paths during the assault on the city. But what's this about some trouble?"

Some lackey standing by the wall stepped forward a bit. "Mr Lowell and Miss Vitae, who is hiding in the back there," I sheepishly stepped forward again, "are the ones behind that mischief the Arcturus inn keeper was going on about before."

Whitehorse slapped a knee and guffawed. "Ha! Don't know what that ol' stiff wanted me ta do about it. He needs to loosen up anyway." The guildsman stepped back again and gave me a quick wink. ...Hey, I think he's one of the guys who let us borrow his flare cape. "Now then, what business did ya have?"

Having lost his own thunder, Flynn looked down a little as Yuri stepped up for the center of attention. "We came to ask you about a man named Barbos of the Blood Alliance. It looks like he's the one behind the recent string of stolen blastia cores."

"I see, so Barbos is tied up in your problems as well," Flynn said seriously.

"...You have a problem with him, too?"

Flynn nodded slightly to Yuri before turning back to the Don. "We have come to ask that the Union relinquish all ties with the Blood Alliance. Other guilds have begun to follow Barbos' example, abusing blastia in other areas and disrupting the order of society."

I wanted to yell, "At ease, soldier," at Flynn so bad. He needed to lighten up almost as much as the inn keeper. But he kept rolling on with his (probably preprepared) speech. "If we can count on your assistance, I fell that together we should move to put an end to the Blood Alliance."

"Why don't we just find some creepy little kid to wish them all away to the corn field?" I muttered to myself. Karol and Rita were close enough to overhear, and they both gave me weird looks. "Don't ask, I'm not sure I remember the whole story." First episode I saw of a Twilight Zone marathon. Freaked me out when I was a kid.

Meanwhile Whitehorse and Flynn were talking politics. Not my sort of thing. And I already knew what the point of the whole thing and how it would turn out. Blah blah blah, make an alliance, put Barbos(sa) in his place, equal status between empire and guild union. Whitehorse orders someone to send a message to Belius telling her to get Nordopolica in on it too.

Finally, "I've brought a letter from his Highness Ioder," Flynn knelt before the Don to present Ioder's letter. Ioder is pretty much emperor in all but name already. And oh goody, STUFF is gonna happen! It had always bothered me...why does Flynn give him the letter after the Don agreed? Wouldn't it make more sense to give him a letter while the Don was undecided to use as trump to persuade him?

"A secret note from the imperial candidate, huh?" The Don examined it for a moment before holding it in front of Raven's face. "Read it aloud." Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, read us a story Uncle Raven!

"If Don Whitehorse is taken out of the picture, we are willing to overlook the Union's responsibility in the Barbos affair."

Flynn's head snapped up in shock. "What...?"

Whitehorse roared with insincere laughter. "Don't make me laugh!" Estelle was gripping her hands, as if praying that their was a mistake and the Don was just pulling a mean spirited prank.

Raven casually handed the letter back to Flynn, who stared at it in his shaking hands. "...What...what is this?"

The Don growled at the blond knight. "Looks like you and the young master see things a bit differently."

"There must be some mistake! Master Ioder would never say such a thing."

"Show our guest here to his own private suite!" Man, sounds like this world doesn't care about the saying "Don't kill the messenger." Though it does make sense in this case...

"Don Whitehorse, please listen to me! This is some sort of trap!" The guards ignored Flynn as they grabbed him by his arms and pulled him away.

"Flynn!" Estelle cried, but Yuri held the princess back and shook his head at her. "Why would you...?"

"Hang on. If we screw up, it'll only make things worse for Flynn."

The Don stood up as he declared, "All-out war with the empire! We'll take everything we've got and march on the imperial capital! Try and make a fool out of me? I'll tear these little messengers limb from limb." He stormed out of the room (and we scattered to get out of his way), Raven and his own grandson Harry close on his heels.

I had a skeptical feeling about the Don's behavior when I first saw this scene. Such a complete one-eighty, I had the nagging suspicion that he was up to something.

"Th-this is bad!" Karol fidgeted uselessly, not knowing how to deal with the unbelievable scene we'd been witness to.

Rita crossed her hands and watched as the door slammed behind the Don. "And it looks like he's forgotten all about talking with us."

Yuri seemed resigned to the setback in our plans. "I don't think the Don's in much of a talking mood right now."

"Yup, he looks like he's having way too much fun." Half way through I remembered to add a sarcastic twist to my words.

"I have to return to the empire and find out what's really going on!" our princess exclaimed.

"I said hang on," the swordsman stopped her with the steel in his voice. How poetic that sounds. "We should sit still for now and see what happens."

"I...I suppose you're right."

Without anymore reason to hang out in the Union's building we all walked out with a near palpable air of dejection.

x x x

*Skit*

Estelle: I cannot believe that Ioder would give a letter like that to Flynn. There must be some mistake!

Rita: We've met His Highness, too, and he certainly didn't seem like that kind of person.

Letha: Far too timid.

Karol: But you heard the letter—it said to take Don Whitehorse out of the picture!

Letha: Don't believe everything you read, or hear, so easily. Humans are deceitful by nature, and letters don't have any problems with lying to people.

Yuri: So maybe it was sent by someone who wants to throw a wrench into what Ioder and Flynn are doing.

Rita: But that's nothing more than a hunch right now.

Yuri: Yeah, you're right. The only thing we know for sure right now is that Flynn is in trouble.

x x x

About a street away Yuri began to make a show of checking his pockets. "Huh...? That's strange."

Karol looked back at him. "What's the matter, Yuri?"

"...It looks like I dropped my wallet somewhere."

"At a time like this?"

I folded my arms behind my head. "Life often works that way. And bad things come in threes, or so I've heard."

Yuri shrugged a bit at my comment. "Maybe it fell out of my pocket at the Don's place? I'm going to go look. You wait here."

Karol nodded back, "O-okay. Don't take too long." Yuri gave a negligent wave as he walked back towards the Union.

A few minutes after he left I stretched my arms and then let them drop to my sides. "Why don't y'all go ahead to the inn, and I'll go find him and let him know that's where we're waiting."

Estelle looked hesitant, "Are you sure? Yuri said we should wait for him here."

"In a place that big, it could take him awhile. 'Specially if someone else picked up his wallet. I might as well give him a hand."

"Alright, we'll wait for you both there." As the others started to walk away. I called out one last time.

"By the way, since Yuri and I aren't exactly welcome there right now, don't worry to much if we don't show up soon. We probably found somewhere else to spend the night." Like a prison, whoo!

After poking around the Union building for a bit, I found the stairs leading down towards the basement. Why aren't there guards? Oh right, Yuri pointed that out, and it's because the Don had sent them away. Since he had his own reasons for wanting Flynn to get out. While I was looking around to make sure no one happened to be passing by, Flynn came up the stairs. He pulled up short in surprise. "Miss Vitae, what...?"

I shushed him with a finger at my lips. "No biggie, I just hate to be left behind to wait. Plus I figure Yuri will get antsy if he has to sit in one place too long."

Flynn laughed softly. "So you're going to keep him company? But then you'll be in trouble as well when you're both found in my place."

I shrugged. "Innocent before proven guilty? Ah whatever, despite the show before, I doubt someone as experienced as the Don will be so hasty. And no one has to know I ran into you." I shrugged again and tried to usher him towards the main entrance (also conveniently guard free). "You got more important things to do than worrying about how a crazy girl spends her free time."

"Yes, I suppose this should be expected from the orchestrator of the affair at the inn." He smiled a bit and nodded as I grinned.

"Though I don't see why everyone's making a big deal out of one prank," I muttered as he cautiously slipped out the front door.

I skipped down the stairs and walked along the line of cells. "Yoohoo! Yuri!"

"Letha?" Another three cells down... "What the hell are you doing down here?"

"Well it's not like I can wait for you in an inn that won't let me set one foot inside its door." I sat down against the wall across from his cell. He was looking at me like I was crazy. "And yes, you are that predictable. Taking the place of your best friend on pain of death? Totally like that story 'The Legend of Sinbad'." I thought about that a bit and then amended it with, "Well, actually, you're more like Sinbad's character than the prince, so it's like the story had its main roles reversed." I was referencing that animated version of the movie that came out years ago. Don't know the original legends for that one.

He shook his head in disbelief. "You really couldn't think of any thing better to do?"

"Oh I probably could, but I've never been inside a prison before and figured that since you have you might be bored already." He stared at me without response. "Okay, okay. Really, I can't say why. But the situation right now is a bit...delicate. What with war about to break out and all. If I went to stay somewhere by myself and something big happens I'll be cut off from the rest of you. Thought that might be a bit risky."

"Alright, I can accept that." There was a moment of silence between us. "So how were you planning to keep us from getting bored?"

"Umm, well I seem to have forgotten to bring a deck of cards, so losing to you at poker is out. So that leaves us with either spilling personal stories about our childhoods or me rambling about various other stories I've read."

"Like the one with the cats?"

"Yup. Though I could tell something with more action and sword fights if you like."

"Great." He shifted a bit, probably the cold of the stone floor getting to him. God knows why, but he was sitting on the floor despite having a bed handy. "Hey, I was wondering about something." I made a questioning humming sound. "When Estelle was asking about your notebook, you said it was written in an old civilization's writing system? Was that from the same people as that weird song from before? The dead one?"

"Damn, you hear everything and remember the oddest little details, don't you?" I sat quietly for a moment, and finally decided that telling him this much wouldn't hurt. "No, the language the song is written in is much, much older. If you looked hard enough you could find similarities, but not enough to say they're the same."

"Huh... If you say it that way, it sounds like the two are related." The devil's in the details...

I gave him the point, "Yeah, they are."

"A clue to your former life then?"

"Probably not."

"Something you're not telling me?"

"Yes, there is." Let's not insult Yuri's intelligence any more.

"And it's gonna stay that way, isn't it?" I nodded. "Anything you will tell me?"

"The song...the song is kinda like a prayer." I scratched my head. "I think the words are originally used in some sort of religious ceremony or something, but they're also used in a bunch of different forms of music. I like this lullaby version best, the words are easy to remember and sing."

"That doesn't really explain much."

"So sorry. But I really can't tell you a lot about my old life. My memory has so many holes you could use it as a strainer."

"Hmm." A longer period of quiet this time. "Hey, what was that story you were talking about earlier?"

"The Legend of Sinbad? It's about a pirate." So I began telling him about how Sinbad the pirate and his childhood friend the prince (whose name I don't remember, so I called him Delonius and hoped I was at least close) met again on opposite sides. Sinbad tried to steal a magical, peace granting book, Delonius was all, "Dude, that's not cool," and then the argument was moot when a sea monster attacked.

The part I'd been referring to earlier was when the book was stolen by a Goddess of Chaos (Aeries? Something like that?) and everyone blamed Sinbad. Believing that his old friend was telling the truth, Delonius takes his place as prisoner and Sinbad is told to either retrieve the book or return empty handed and take his punishment. If he did neither, the prince would die in his place.

"That prince actually believed someone he'd fought with over that book?"

"Well, Sinbad was telling the truth when he said he was innocent. I guess maybe the prince had a knack for knowing his lies from the truth? At the very least, he trusted in the man he knew Sinbad had once been enough to bet his life on this."

"Huh."

"So anyway, at first Sinbad really did consider just sailing off to some remote island where no one would find him-"

"Some friend."

"-But the prince's fiancée had a few things to say about that..."

x x x

I spent a good long time telling Yuri about all the adventures Sinbad and his crew encountered on their quest to find the book. Making sure to concentrate more on the action than the mushy romance parts. I like a good bit of romance (not overdone) but that didn't seem like Yuri's cup of tea.

Any one who's seen the movie knows that in the end the Goddess of Chaos tells Sinbad she'll give him the book if he answers her question truthfully, then asks if he'd actually return to die instead of Delonius if he didn't get the book. He says yes, she says "you lie!" and poof! quest failed. Game over, try again.

Yuri made a face, "That sucks."

"Don't it? And Sinbad felt really terrible that he'd gotten so far only to be told he didn't really care." Before I could tell him the happy ending, the door up the stairs opened and we heard heavy feet on the stone steps. "Oh, looks like Whitehorse finally found some time to spare."

The big man swaggered over to Flynn's former cell, Yuri's current pad, and my little spot against the wall. Looked between us with an expression fitting for someone who'd just been told the world is actually flat, or maybe donut shaped...

He settled on talking to Yuri first. "Taking your friend's place in a jail cell? You lost your mind, son?"

"I'm starting to wonder myself," said Yuri with a glance at me.

"Aw don't worry. Sinbad actually did go back so Delonius didn't have to go under the ax, and almost died like he was supposed to. Which forced the Goddess to show up, keep him from being executed, and return the book like she'd promised since he'd been honest. Happy endings all around!"

"That's reassuring." Yuri said dryly and then gave his full attention to the Don. "Though considering you got rid of your own guards on purpose, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Flynn and I are probably safer than that prince in Letha's story."

"Hump. I had a special favor ta ask that rookie knight," Whitehorse rumbled. "The rats that plan these sorta stunts usually like ta enjoy their handiwork from somewhere nearby."

"If you knew the letter was fake, why'd you fire everyone up like that?"

"If I didn't make a good show of things, whoever's behind all this wouldn't bother ta come watch. Besides, we've got a lot of hotheads around here who'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't raise hell. So that's where it stands. Of course if our friend the knight doesn't show up again, your life is mine."

"I know." Yuri's answer was grim and serious.

I raised a hand, "What about my life? I mean, it's not like I don't trust Flynn to get back, but two for the price of one seems a bit unbalanced."

"What are ya doin' down here anyway?"

"I like the atmosphere. It's good for ghost stories."

The Don laughed and slapped a hand on my shoulder. "I see, yer that girl from the inn, then! Could use more people with a good sense of humor at times like this."

"Hmm, I've never been sure I could say my sense of humor is 'good'. Most people just tell me I'm weird." Chuckling still, Whitehorse turned and started to walk back out of the prison.

"Tell me one thing, though," Yuri called to him, bringing back some of the seriousness my contribution had taken from the meeting. "What made you want to start a guild in the first place?"

"I realized I couldn't protect the things that were important ta me, playin' by the empire's rules." Whitehorse was serious again too.

"There have to be some things that were easier to protect when you were on the other side, though. Even the lower quarter where I'm from, we still had the barrier to protect us."

"Sure, but were ya happy with just puttin' up with all the things ya didn't like?"

"Well, I..."

"So if the rules the empire sets don't suit ya, you've got two choices. You can do like your friend is, and put everything you've got into changin' the system. Or ya can turn yer back on the empire, and live by the rules ya set fer yerself."

"That's pretty clear cut..." Such a heavy exchange...I feel like I've easily been forgotten as anything more than a stone in the wall.

"...Yep. I think yer gonna have ta take responsibility for lettin' my prisoner go."

"You want me to do something besides rotting in this cell?"

"The sap who's been puttin' together this little show's gotta be somewhere in this city. I'd been plannin' on askin' yer armor-wearin' friend ta hunt 'em down for me, but..."

"So what, you want me to find them?"

"Your job is ta pay this debt back ta me. How ya go about it is up ta you." How progressive, a jail with an honor system that let's you out if you promise to be good. Seriously, no collateral whatsoever? "That other young lady ya brought with ya is runnin' all over the place helpin' with the injured folks." Aw, right, forgot that. Guess she didn't go back to the inn like I told them all to.

The Don sounded sly as he ended with, "Yer not the type ta be the only one sittin' around twiddlin' his thumbs, right?"

"See Yuri?" I slipped in (can't resist), "You're predictable!"

"Huh, yeah, well that sounds like Estelle so I guess she's predictable too..." The swordsman seemed to be laughing at himself.

"And you." I jolted a bit as the Don fixed me with his Look of Authority. "If yer also at fault for that knight not bein' here, then ya should think about payin' back yer debt too."

"Yessir!" Ah! Scary!

The Don left, and Yuri swung the door of his cell open. I guess he didn't bother to relock it after Flynn left. Well, that made sense, it would be kinda pointless...

"Come on, let's go catch up with the others before things start getting hairy."

"Yeah, I told them we'd meet them at the inn, but from the sounds of it they might not have gone there yet." I followed Yuri back up out of the prison. "Hey Yuri?"

"Yeah?"

"What Whitehorse said before, about having two choices if you don't like the rules. I think there's more than that."

"Really? Then what else?"

"First is apathy, not liking the rules but not doing anything about them. But even doing nothing is making a choice. And lastly there's tabula rasa, the blank slate. Wiping everything clean and starting over fresh."

"I'm not sure I get that last part." We were back in the Union Headquarters proper, and had to stop while our eyes readjusted to the light.

"It's the most extreme option, and I don't think anyone sane would try it. But I think for you there's only the two options the Don gave you, and you've already given up on the first one."

"You're trying to say I should join a guild."

"Nah, what I'm trying to say is you're not the type who'll be satisfied with someone's else's rules. So you should think about what you can do to be true to your own." Able to see again I started towards the door. "Last one to find the others has to take the next shift cooking!"

x x x

Ha ha...the night I posted the last chapter, I also talked on the phone with my mom. Nice conversation, we were joking about a lot of things...and then the dorm's fire alarm went off. And I went "Aw shit" right into the receiver. With my mom on the other end.

Whoops.

Letha: Sylph gets creative when she swears. I think her exact words were "Aw shit! Flippin' shit! Flippin' shit on a grill!" Which her roommate misheard as "Aw chicken! Flippin' chicken! Flippin' chicken on a grill!" It's even more ridiculous than the thing with the cobblers and mugs.

'Kay, so I know I didn't use the term Tabula Rasa quite correctly (meant for some philosophical thing about the brain of a newborn) but I thought it seemed appropriate.

Also, I couldn't find the name of that one skit...if someone knows, could you tell me? I can fix it when I finally go back to edit these things again...