Miami Pete 25

In case you are interested in reading this from the beginning:

The Tricycle of Thought: Miami Pete:

Thanks for reading!

I felt adrift in a sea of confusion.  How could I?  How could I turn on Pete's friends like that?  Didn't Pete rescue me and give me a place to live and a job?  Without Pete here, I'm that same pile of garbage that he found me on.  I was dead.  I should go back... back to the garbage chute and throw myself in.

"Commander, she's coming to."  The light shining in my eyes was blinding, "I think we got to her in time."

In time?  What was Dr. Farn doing in the... wait, where were they again?

"Captain, Captain.  Can you hear me?"  that was Barona.  Why wouldn't she let me sleep?

"Get up Kid."  Came Pete's voice.  "There's shit to do."

"Pete?  I killed everybody."

WOOSH!

I woke up sputtering and coughing.  I was soaking wet, and the water was so cold.

"Sorry Captain,"  Said Cmdr. Barona,  "You were freaking everybody out talking to the dead.  I had to snap you out of it somehow.  That Sarqua really did a number on you."

"The what?"

"Sarqua is the name we use for humans who have gained a little telepathic ability.  Usually they are mostly harmless.  They can maybe sway emotions so that you are more prone to like or dislike someone.  We thought Grace was one of those.  We were wrong.  Grace was one of the more advanced telepaths.  She woke up from that sedative the Doctor gave her a lot more quickly than we expected and attacked.  Fortunately Lt. Cmdr. Dorn is a little sensitive himself and noticed something was going on, so he put an end to it."

"What did he do?"  I asked.

"Sorry Captain, I didn't know what else to do, so I put a bullet in her head."  Lt. Cmdr. Dorn seemed ashamed.

"You did the right thing Dorn.  She was attacking your Captain."  Cmdr. Barona said.

"She was just an unarmed little girl."  Dorn started crying.

"What?"  Dr. Farn questioned.  "Grace?  She wasn't a little girl.  She was a nice little old lady.  The kind that makes cookies and pies." 

"I guess that means she wasn't a beautiful goddess either then."  Said Lt. Tarn.  "I suspect she was playing everyone the whole time.  I had a grandmother like that.  I'm sorry I didn't see the signs sooner."

"Well Captain,"  Cmdr. Barona said  "Let's get you cleaned up, no sense in the crew seeing you like that."

Like what?  Barona helped me up and I went into Pete's... my... bathroom and looked in the mirror.  I had smeared, partially dried blood that looked like it was coming out of my nose and ears.  And there was blood on my new uniform!  I saved those two rat's lives.  I didn't know what angered me more.  That Grace tried to kill me, or that she made me bleed on my new uniform.

The whole thing was just so ridiculous that I had to laugh.

By the time I was all cleaned up and in a fresh uniform, Hauley was in place in the formation and the shuttle from the Baskins had arrived to pick up Al and Grace's body.  I wasn't sure why they still wanted it, but I was glad it was no longer my problem.

"Captain, comm incoming from Admiral Thomas.  It's marked as direct.  Do you want to take it in your quarters?"  Shelly said.

"Sure, send it in."

"Captain Petra, I hope you are feeling well.  I read the report that your empath turned out to be a full telepath and she attacked you.  I'm sorry, if I had seen any sign that she was more dangerous than a simple empath, I would have alerted you."

"It's ok Admiral, the Doctor assures me that the blood squirting out my ears was a purely natural phenomenon, and I'll be just fine in a few hundred years or so."  

The Admiral paused.  I think I surprised him.  After a moment, the Admiral smiled, and continued on.

"Ah, very well.   In the mean time, we have investigated the remains of Otford Station.  It is how you said, destroyed, but you already know that."  The Admiral continued.  "We've seen enough evidence to conclude that it actually was 'rus weapons that were used.  Yes, I know, you told us that too. I was just hoping you were wrong and it was someone pretending to be 'rus.  Our next stop should be the 'rus homeworld if you are still willing to take us there."

"Of course I am.  Why wouldn't I be?"  I really was confused.  I said I would take them and that's what they were paying all this money for, so why wouldn't I?

"I spoke with Cmdr. Barona while you were recovering, and I read the full report from the Path to Paradise on the incident with Captain Gregorious.  With that telepath bouncing around in your head and what Gregorious told you, I wouldn't blame you for having second thoughts."

"And third ones, and fourth ones."  I replied. "Captain Pete himself on many occasions told me: Kid, Pick a direction and move.  Don't just sit there.  Even if it turns out to be the wrong direction it's much better to be a moving target than a sitting duck.  Well, Admiral, the direction I've picked is to throw in with the people who I haven't caught lying and trying to manipulate me.  So I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"Excellent.  Would you be more comfortable having the Haul-o-caster to take point and we'll follow, or would you be more comfortable feeding the next set of coordinates to the Hecktor C. Baskins so that you can stay nice and safe between the carriers?" 

Now that was an excellent question.  I really could just give them the whole course plan and they could fly off to the 'rus homeworld without me.   Pete made sure not to save the coordinates on the nav system's drive when we went there, but I'm sure he knew that I saved them encrypted in my personal filestore.  On the way back through, I'm not even sure why I followed Pete's example and didn't save them on the system that time either.  Still, I didn't even have to go to the encrypted filestore to get the data, I had it all in my head.

"I'll transmit coordinates to the Baskins."  I said after a few seconds thought. Hauley may have been built from a military landing craft, but she really didn't have all that much armor.  The Baskins and the other Morganite warships would all have armor designed to stand up to ship-to-ship weapons fire.  Hauley's armor was more designed for small arms and other atmospheric weapons.  Hauley would be toast if a fight broke out with the 'rus.  

The Admiral seemed surprised that we would be taking the jump point so close to where Otford Station had been.  It didn't feel like he didn't believe me.  It felt more like "huh... we've been looking for this and it ends up being right here?"

Once again, the Polly Bont had the honor of scouting.

"Commander Barona, it seems unfair for the crew of the Polly Bont to always have to be the ones that scout the jump points." 

"Are you kidding Captain?"  Cmdr. Barona replied.  "The Polly Bont was purpose built for the job. She has triple the graviton shielding as any ship in the fleet, and while she's destroyer size, she has hull plating like a main line Battle Cruiser.  Yes, that makes space tight aboard her, but she only has a crew complement of seven.  Each crew member has their own living quarters bigger than yours, and they have cutting edge experimental hyper-jump couches that make even the worst jump just like flying in realspace.  There is a waiting list to even apply to be crew on a hyper-jump scout ship, and only the best of the best are selected.  They get the sexiest uniforms, and the best food.  On top of that, the hyper-jump scout pay is incredible."

"I take it you are on one of those waiting lists?"

"Oh heck no Captain.  Why would I do that.  Those guys are insane!"  Cmdr. Barona laughed.

"Hauley could totally do that job."  I said, and I meant it too.  "Pete and I have taken the Haul-o-caster through some of the longest, hardest hyper-jumps in existence.  I wonder what the Polly Bont would think of some of those jumps.

The next leg of the journey was to the unknown - at least to most people as far as I knew - jump point that would take us to the 'rus home system.  Or at least that's what Pete and the monks seemed to think it was.  A short while after I transmitted the coordinates to the Baskins, I got a call from the Admiral.

"Are you sure that's where the jump point is?  My people are saying it's an odd place for a hyper-jump point.  I'm an Admiral, not an Astrogator, so my gravitation physics may be a little rusty, but it even looks like an odd place for a jump point to me."

"That is where we found it." I replied, "Maybe that's why nobody seems to have found it before now.  Nobody looked in the right place."

Apparently, the Admiral either accepted that was possible, or thought I was leading the Morganite Fleet into...  what exactly?  As I have pointed out before, space is big and expensive.  This was easily the largest fleet that anyone had ever seen.  The battleship alone out-massed most worlds whole fleets.  Add in the Battle Cruisers and the Carriers and I was surrounded by more firepower than most people could imagine.  I guess they would just have to believe it when they see it.

The whole questioning thing worried me though.  I know these are the right coordinates, I saved them into my encrypted datastore myself.  It bothered me enough to take a gander through the encrypted log that I had the nav system create, just to make sure.  Sure enough, there the coordinates were in the log, just like I remembered them.

"Mr. Tarn, what would you think if someone gave you these coordinates and said there was a jump point there?"  I sent him the coordinates.

A few minutes later Lt. Tarn got back to me, "Captain, those are some odd coordinates.  My first reaction was to say impossible, but I do not get the feeling that you are the kind of Captain that asks something for no reason, so I dug into the matter further.  I do not believe a hyper-jump point would naturally occur at those coordinates, however with a little bit of funky math and a significant amount of power, I believe a jump point could be induced there."

The only times I had ever heard about anyone creating - or inducing as Lt. Tarn termed it - a jump point was part of a scam.  That scam was a popular one among the shysters years ago, but almost nobody falls for it anymore.

"Mr. Tarn, I didn't fall off the transport yesterday.  I've seen people run that scam."

"No Captain, that's not what I'm talking about."  Lt. Tarn replied.  "When I was with my people, we did a lot of research into gravitational physics, looking for the truth about the hyper-jump points.  We did not believe like everyone else that the system of jump points are naturally occurring.  It's one of the things that my people were persecuted for."

"What?  Just for believing something different than other people believe?"  I replied, "Seems like a weird thing for people to get all spun up about."

"You don't understand.  The leaders of my people openly spoke against the Morganite doctrine that says the Good God created the hyper-jump points for the good of all peoples."  Lt. Tarn explained.  "In my incarceration, I came to embrace the Morganite dogma on this, but if there truly is a jump point to the 'rus homeworld at these coordinates.  I just don't know.  I haven't thought about these things in a long time.  Captain, I am sorry to report that I am having a crisis of faith."

I looked across the mostly-empty bridge - there was no reason to have ever station manned when traveling through deep space - to see Shelly staring at Lt. Tarn in shock.  She managed to shake it off after a few seconds, but I definitely saw it.

"Captain, as the highest ranking Morganite on the bridge, other than Lt. Tarn, I must relieve Lt. Tarn from duty.  Lt. Tarn, with all due respect, please go secure yourself in the brig.  Commander Barona and the Mother will be along as soon, I am sure."  Said Shelly.  I could tell she was nervous, and didn't like what she was doing, but I could also tell she really believed in it.

"Very well.  My apologies Captain, I stand relieved."  Whit that, Tarn left the bridge.

"Shelly, please explain what just happened."  I asked, "And tell me why we have a  brig on the Haul-o-caster that I don't know about." 

Shelly was almost in tears.  "Captain, I would love to be able to obey that order, but..  I don't know how much I can say.  Please ask Commander Barona, or Lt. Commander Dorn.  I'm sorry Captain, I wasn't prepared for this, I should have realized this might happen."

"This what?"  I asked.

"Morganites who work Outside are usually trained to resist temptation and the apocryphal beliefs from the outside."  Shelly really was crying now.  "I'm sorry, I like Lt. Tarn and to see him question the one true faith...  it's very upsetting to me."

Ok, I had started to think people exaggerated when they talked about Morganites.  Guess I was wrong again.  Morganites really are weird.

"Shelly, are you going to be able to pull yourself together?"

"Yes Captain."

"Very well, could you get on the com and ask Commander Barona to come see me in my office?"

"Yes Captain."

Miami Pete 24:

A blast from the past.  This story faded on me, now that the Kinderling story is done, thought I would finish it.

In case you are interested in reading this from the beginning:

The Tricycle of Thought: Miami Pete:

Thanks for reading!

Lt. Cmdr. Dorn must have made sure Lt. Tine didn't catch even a hint that the "inspection" was really a dinner party, because when he walked into Cargo Bay One, so big was his surprise, that when everyone yelled "Surprise!", he startled to the point that he landed on his posterior.  A number of hands were quickly offered to help him back to his feet.  Once he regained his feet, and his composure, Lt. Tine announced himself and saluted.  "Lt. Tine, reporting for inspection Capitan!"

Not knowing what to do, and wanting to show respect, I stood and saluted back.  "Tuck in Mr. Tine.  The feast awaits!"

Lt. Tine quickly found his place and was whelmed by offers of various platters and advice on what to try first.  It was nice to see everyone treating Lt. Tine like part of the crew.  I could tell the rest of the crew didn't know what to think about the quiet, somewhat morose man at first.  When he arrived, Lt. Tine was covered in prison tattoos.  According to Cmdr Barona, tattoos were a part of the Morgaite prison system.  When an inmate reaches a prison, they are marked with the prison's code and a code denoting the prisoner's status, with a symbol added for meeting major rehabilitation goals or sadly, for major disciplinary infractions.

Lt. Tine's face was practically a map of the Morganite penal system.  You could read Lt. Tine's history from either his personnel jacket or the tattoos on his face.  Lt. Tine was transferred from prison to prison.  Each line on his face decoded told much the same story.  Transferred - other than the top line on his right cheek, which had the code for arrived instead of transferred - a prison code, then one or more markings that indicated he killed another prisoner, then ended in a transferred out symbol.  The list covered his right cheek - I didn't count the number of lines - and then continued on his left cheek about three quarters of the way down.  The final symbol, on the last line of his left cheek decoded to "Exonerated".

Exonerated?  From the tattoos on his cheeks, Lt. Tine had ended nearly twenty lives in his time in the various prisons.  Cmdr. Barona couldn't tell me anything more.  His personnel jacket merely said  that he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no parole, and that he refused "Cybernetic Rehabilitation".  The jacket then listed 18 murders while in prison without any detail, just a name and case code.  Detailed a few different attempts to get the court to force "Cybernetic Rehabilitation". Then, said he was exonerated and released.  It went on to say he requested to join the Morganite fleet and was commissioned to the rank of Lieutenant, with certification for Outside Work, and an astrogating rating.  It didn't list any training, which had given me pause at first, but I watched him work and I'm satisfied that he knows his stuff.

It wasn't till I asked Mother Ahmisa that I got the rest of the story.  Turns out, Lt. Tine was once a member of an ancient, but now-defunct sect of the Morganite religion.  They studied the "old ways" and traveled through space using nothing but the stars to guide them.  The sect had quite a reputation for all sorts of heinous crimes.  Kidnapping, rape, piracy, you name it.  So, when the ship Lt. Tine was living on got into an altercation with another ship, it was assumed that his ship was at fault.  Answering distress calls, the Morganite fleet destroyed the sect ship.  Lt. Tine was the only survivor having manage to get to an  escape pod barely in time.

Thirty years later, a recording of that final battle was discovered by the new owner when that attacking ship was sold.  It told the very story that Prisoner Tine claimed all those years.  The sect ship hadn't fired a single shot.  Not even in self defense.

Cmdr. Barona saw what I was watching and leaned in whispering, "The crew is accepting Lt. Tine, because they saw how easily you accepted him.  Thank you for that Captain.  I have family members who were passengers aboard the ship that attacked them.  It's a sore spot in my family.  While none of them were crewmembers, so there isn't much they could have done.  They also didn't go out of their way to testify."

"So it was you who recommended Lt. Tine?"  I asked.

"Yes," the Commander said, "The trial and buzz around Tine's conviction for piracy was hyped by the powerful family that owned the attacking ship.  Pirates usually opt for cyber rehab, because they don't usually last more than a year or two in prison.  With the way the story was hyped in the media, it is amazing that Lt. Tine lasted more than a few days, let alone thirty years."

"I suppose that would explain the little red marks on Lt. Tine's cheeks." I said.

"Probably.  Normally it is illegal to remove penal system tattoos, but in Lt. Tine's case I wonder why he didn't get them all removed."  the Commander replied.  "I read the exoneration ruling.  It's a blanket exoneration.  There was enough of a question that the Monteno family might have been behind the attacks while Tine was in prison that the courts decided to overturn all of it.  The judges included a ruling that Lt. Tine could remove the tattoos."

I had always heard that the Morgan penal system was harsh and unbending.  It sounded like Lt. Tine had gotten a bad deal at first, but once evidence of his innocence was found, he was released.  I don't think that most penal systems, even the best ones, would have handled it as well.

"Captain, there is a Captain Gregorious on the comm demanding to talk to you."  Came Lt. Cmdr. Dorn's voice on the MC.

"Huh..  I thought he was dead."  I commented to the table.  "Please excuse me for a moment."

I made my way up to the bridge and signaled Lt. Cmdr. Dorn to patch him through.

"Captain Petra!  I am pleased you kept the name."  Came the voice of Captain Gregorious through the comm system.

"Captain Greagorious.  I am pleased to know you are not dead."  I said, not sure if I really meant it, but being nice didn't hurt anything.  "I have a couple of people on my ship that belong to you.  You want them back?"

"If you need them, they can stay."

"No, I would very much like them off my ship.  Where are you?  Can you come get them?"  I asked.

"Right now, I'm staring down the very-many-many-oh-so-many barrels of a Morganite Battle Cruiser, and they are telling me to get lost, and I'm inclined to obey that order."  Gregorious said.

"Hold on."  I said.  "Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, can you get me in touch with the Admiral?"  

"Yes Captain."

It took a few minutes - I imagine they were very long minutes to Captain Gregorious - for Admiral Thomas to get on the line.

"Captain Petra, I hope everything is going well."

"Admiral, it seems one of our Battle Cruisers is detaining the ship of one Captain Gregorious.  I would like to rendezvous with him in order to de-bark a couple of unwanted passengers, but I can't do that if he's blown to smithereens."

"Very well, I'll have my people send you a flightpath through the fleet so you can transfer your passengers, and I'll ask the Path of Paradise to hold their fire so you don't get any smithereens sucked into your intake."

"I appreciate it Admiral.  Petra out"

"Captain, as much as I hate to ruin the dinner, I would suggest setting the alert status at least to warning.  That is procedure for rendezvous with a ship who's intentions are unverified."

"Very well Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, set alert to Warning."

Soon the bridge was a flurry of energy as the crew scrambled to take their places.  

"What's going on?"  Came the surly question from Al.  I looked long enough to see that he had Grace with him.

"When we are at condition two, Passengers are expected to stay in their quarters!"  Said Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, rather forcefully.

"Al and Grace, get packing.  Apparently you were mistaken about Gregorious.  He's very much alive and we are taking you back to him."

Al seemed to blanche a little, and I might have heard a bit of a whimper from Grace.  I didn't really care though, I was just happy to be getting rid of these two dead-weights.

Boy, Gregorious wasn't kidding.  The Path to Paradise, one of the two heavy cruisers, and a mix of destroyers and frigates had what I assumed to be him covered in a way only the might of the Morganite fleet could manage.  The ship wasn't the Pride of Rome though.

"Mr. Dorn, could you please hail Gregorious?"  I asked.

"On screen Captain."  That was quick, and even with video. 

There he was in all his glory, with a young Chance looking over his shoulder.  For a moment, Chance looked... odd...  I recognized him, but he wasn't the attractive young man I remembered seeing...  then he started to focus into the Chance i remembered.

"Battle Stations!  Set condition ONE!"  Came a shout from Cmdr. Barona behind me.  I turned to see Cmdr. Barona pull out her side arm and push the muzzle into the side of Grace's head.  "Turn it off, or I turn you off."

"Barona!  What are you doing?"  I asked.

"Look at the screen again Captain." 

When I did, Chance was back to being unremarkable and not very attractive.  I turned back to Grace.  "You were doing that the whole time?  Why?"

"Gregorious owns me.  You think Al doesn't leave my side because he's in love with me.  It's not true.  He never leaves my side because he is my handler.  Please Petra... Captain...  Kid...  Don't leave me with them, don't give me back to him."

Well huh...  Grace being a slave sorta explains a few things, but not enough.  I turned back to Gregorious.

"So Gregorious, how did you escape?"  I asked.

"Chance and I got into an escape pod just in time.  This ship, the Trusty Traveler, found us just in time."

"You sure do seem to be in charge over there now.  Where is the Captain of the Trusty Traveler?"

"I bought the ship from them.  I am a man of means.  The good Captain and his wife are picking out which resort planet they want to retire to as we speak."  Gregorious said with a smile.

I don't trust smiles.  At least not those coming from Gregorious.

"Ok, Let's dock so you can have your people back.  Helm!  How soon till we are docked with the Trusty Traveler."

"Thirty Minutes Captain." replied Barns from the helm.

"Al, Grace, go pack your things."  I said.  "You are both going out that airlock, it's up to you if that happens before we are docked with the Trusty Traveler or not.  I am not in the mood for any more games.  GO!"

When our two unwanted passengers were gone.  "Barona, I want to stand down the Condition One, but make sure everyone is in position just in case Gregorious tries something...  Because I expect him to try something."

Sure enough, Gregorious didn't dissapoint.  Thirty minutes later we were docking with the Trusty Traveler.  as soon as the hatch to the airlock started to open, it was pushed in by a boarding team from the other side.  Barona and the crew were ready and jumped into action and had the boarders repelled in no time flat.  A few bodies littered the airlock, all from the other side, none from ours.

"Captain, might I suggest handing these two over to the Baskins.  They are better equipped to handling a telepath, and with how she was trying to influence you, a good enough case can be made that she is in with this Gregorious person."  Cmdr. Barona said.

"You are right, of course."

"Captain, Trusty Traveler on the comm for you."  interjected Lt. Cmdr. Dorn.

"Hold on.  Any way we can shut that one down before I talk to him?"  I pointed at Grace.  I was tired of talking to Gregorious and not knowing when I was being influenced or not.

"Sure think Captain."  Said Dr. Farn as a short yelp came from Grace.  Then she flopped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.  "Oh catch her...  Never mind.  I always think of saying that too late.  Sorry young lady."

"On Screen."  

"Petra, I had to try to board!  Can't you see?  They are manipulating you. do not give it to them!"  Begged Captain Gregorious.

"Give what to them Gregorious."  I asked.

"The 'rus homeworld.  They just want it so they can get the technology!  They'll destroy us all!"

"Helm.  Can we de-dock from the Trusty Traveler?"  I ask.

"Yes Captain."  replied Barnes.

"No, listen to me!  Where is Al and Grace?  They'll tell you!" 

I looked and sure enough, Al and Grace were gone.

"They are in the VIP quarters used by Grace, Captain."  Whispered Barona.

"Barnes, get us back to our place in the formation."  I said.

"Captain, what about the Trusty Traveler?"  Barona asked,  "Should we have the Path to Paradise take care of them?"

"Sounds good to me."

As we flew away from the Trusty Traveler, it turned to follow, and appeared to be absorbed in a column of light coming from the main gun on the Path to Paradise.  I was a little shocked.  Both because I had never seen such a weapon, and at how efficiently, heartlessly, and completely the small ship disappeared.

Seeing my discomfort, Barona said, "Sorry Captain.  After they tried to board us, the Path to Paradise was on high alert.  The Trusty Traveler started powering weapons.  Captain Ardencourt of the Path to Paradise is a no-nonsense kind of Captain."

"Very well.  Can you see to it that Al and Grace are handed over to the Baskins?"

"Shuttle is already on the way, Captain."

"Thank you Barona.  I think we can stand down from Alert now.  I'll be in my quarters."

I managed to get to the Captain's quarters, my quarters, without too much emotion, and even got the hatch sealed before I broke down and cried.  Was Gregorious one of Pete's old friends like he said he was, or was I just going around murdering the only connections to Pete that I had left?

Kinderling 62

In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

I killed Baot.

I didn't think about it.  I didn't plan on it.  How could I?  I had no way of knowing we would even see Baot today.  We usually didn't see him directly at all.  We usually just guessed at where he might be based upon our interpretations of how everyone else acted. 

Baot ordering a Kinderling to be burned alive just made me so angry.

"Tandy, we have to get out of here!"  Yelled someone.  I didn't really know who.  I could barely hear anything through the ringing in my ears.  I killed him.

A tug on my arm brought me back to reality.  At first I attempted to fight it but Lomas, one of the few village refugees who lived at the garrison who volunteered for scouting duty, pointed towards the village.  When I looked, it looked like every Gorf I had ever seen was running our direction.  I grabbed the monster-go-stick, and Lomas and I shot off through the trees.  I could only hope the others would also be able to escape.

Most of the Kinderling villagers were timid.  Very few of them wanted a ride on one of my go-sticks, let alone wanted to learn how to fly one.  Lomas was a little different.  When he joined the scouts, he went as far as asking for lessons.  Unfortunately, with all the excitement since we returned from the mountain we never got the chance.

Needless to say, I was flying at break-neck speeds, while Lomas held on for dear life.

"Why are you turning around!?"  Lomas screamed above the rush of the wind.  I couldn't put Lomas down, because he would be caught by the Gorfs, but I had to go back and see what was going on.  I hoped he would understand.

The village was in an uproar.  It seemed that the overseers still maintained control of their charges, but without Baot telling them what to do, it looked like each had a different idea.  There were a few Kinderling overseers, they were pooling their resources, sending their Gorfs out to capture as many scouts as possible.  Then there were the few Gorf overseers.  Some of them were sending their Gorfs after Kinderling villagers, the rest were converging on where Baot lie dead.

I realized too late how terrible that would turn out to be.  There was a Gorfish shout of triumph as one of the Gorf overseers snatched up Baot's master control bracelet and crammed it on his much to big hand.  In the end, he settled for putting it on a single finger.  All the Gorf slave soldiers stopped in their tracks.

"That's not good."  Lomas said.

"No, it isn't."  I agreed.

We were hovering above, far enough that we couldn't be reached, but completely exposed.  With an order from the new "Gorf Alpha", a hundred or more Gorf slave soldiers all picked up rocks and started throwing them at us.  It was time to leave.

I suppose it was a good thing over-all.  With Baot dead, and a Gorf now in charge, the mass of Gorf slaves - soldiers and non-soldiers alike - became much more single minded.  The new "Gorf Alpha" hadn't developed the knack for sending separate orders to separate groups.  As we barely flew ahead of the rocks and stones of various size and shape that flew at us, I even caught a glimpse of  a couple of the Gorf camp cooks tossing rocks at us.

After the initial terror at being chased, I realized that I could just fly up and we were soon out of range of even the best rock thrower.  It was almost funny to note that the new "Gorf Alpha" seemed to be having trouble coming up with the next idea, because more and more Gorf slave soldiers were gathering below us, all throwing rocks up in the air trying to hit us.  I'm glad that bows and arrows never seemed to catch on with Gorfs.  If they had and archer, our already bad day would have gotten worse.

One thing I learned quick when I started flying around on a go-stick was that what goes up, must come down.  Apparently that didn't occur to the new "Gorf Alpha" because the Gorf slave soldiers were piling up directly below us and were getting pelted by the rocks as they returned to earth.  It would have been funny if the sound of rocks hitting Gorf heads wasn't so sickening.

"Tandy, go over that way!"  Lomas yelled.  It was good to see that he was recovering from his initial shock and had started thinking.  I could tell what his idea was, and wasn't sure if I wanted it to work or not.  It was easy for him to forget that the Gorf Soldiers were slaves.  They weren't there because they wanted to be.  I was worried about Mouse.  I was constantly looking for him, but hadn't found him yet.  It was the same reason I hadn't considered using my final explosive arrow.

If only we could get rid of that master control bracelet.

Thinking about the master control bracelet made me look over where I thought the new "Gorf Alpha" was located.  I didn't see him.  What I did see was an out and out brawl.  The overseers were fighting for control.  We already knew, or thought we knew, that the master control bracelet over-rode the control that the individual overseers had.  When one of them got control over the master control bracelet, the rest attacked.  Everyone wanted to be the top-Gorf.  I suspect that Baot had ways of dealing with this problem, but the new "Gorf Alpha" didn't have the advantage of starting small so he could plan for these things before they got out of hand.

I hated to do it, but my hand reached for my arrow chucker.

My initial plan was to start picking off "Gorf Alpha" after "Gorf Alpha" until a better idea came up.  Surely that would keep them fighting each other and give the Kinderlings still in the village a chance to run and hide.  But in the pile of Gorf overseers, I couldn't see him.  He was definitely there, but where?  That's when my hand brushed against my last explosive arrow.  I'm not sure why I even carried the thing.  After seeing the devastation that it could cause, I never wanted to use one again.  The only reason it didn't go to the Star Sailor with the ones I made for him was because it was way too small to be usable by an Elven archer.  

"Hold on tight Lomas, this is about to get real bumpy."  I said as I pulled the explosive arrow out of my quiver.  I had to unfasten the safety I attached to it to keep me from accidentally grabbing it when I wanted a regular arrow.  The whole time, my mind, every fiber of my being, screamed "NO!"  but I didn't listen.

It seemed such a little thing.  Such an easy thing.  Set the arrow-chucker's mechanism.  Slide the arrow in.  Feel the click of the nock engaging the holder.  Bring the arrow-chucker up to my shoulder.

I felt like I was moving in slow motion.

Aim.  Release.

FWUMP!

I almost fell off the monster-go-stick.  I wanted to.  I wanted to fall.  I wanted to end this.  I wanted to remove the most evil thing I could think of from our world.  

Me.

Lomas caught me and held on.

I came back to reality with Mizzy and Mama wrapped around me.  My throat was wrecked.  Someone nearby was softly screaming, then I realized it was me.  My face was wet, Mizzy was wet,  Mama was wet.  It gradually sank in that I was crying.  Still crying.

"We won't let you go Tandy.  We're her for you.  We love you."

I would say it took days to recover, but I would be lying.  I'm not sure I'll ever recover.  I'm a killer, a monster, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself.

When my explosive arrow hit the pile of overseers fighting over the master control bracelet, it killed or at least disabled all of them.  The few Kinderlings who had overseer bracelets were already out of action.  When Baot's control ended they were the first targets of the Gorf overseers and were killed quickly.  Maybe the Gorf overseers didn't like the idea of Kinderlings controlling their fellow Gorfs.  Maybe they just saw them as easily removed competition.  I don't know.

The monster-go-stick did exactly what it was designed to do when it lost it's rider.  It slowly, gently returned to the ground, much to the surprise and relief of poor Lomas.  With nobody controlling the Gorf slaves any longer, they slowed like the Gorf slaves we saw in the forest.  To hear Lomas tell it, that was more terrifying than being chased.  The Gorfs just stood there, watching him as he tossed me over his shoulder and tried to carry me back to the garrison.

Mama found us, of course.  As soon as the first scouts returned to the garrison with news of what happened, Mama flew out to look for me.  Well...  As soon as the second scouts returned anyway.  The first was Daisy, but she was so excited and upset that nobody was able to understand what she was saying.

Flower's tribe took care of removing the - now former - Gorf slave soldiers that were left from the village.  I don't know where they took them, or what they did with them.  Watcher assures me that they are safely far away from the Kinderling village and they will never bother us again.  

Adiz of all people took over the village council and the task of bringing the village back together.  Father retired saying he had about enough of the back-stabbing drudgery of it all.  I'm not sure how back-stabbing and drudgery go together, but Father insisted that's what the whole mess was like, and he was done.  To everyone's surprise, Adiz brought in Kinderlings from both the garrison and from the village to take part and from what I am told, does not allow any kind of resentment in the council chambers.  We are all Kinderlings, it's time we acted like it.

Initially, Beso was nowhere to be found.  Adiz signed an arrest warrant for both him and Daggi saying she wanted them to stand trial hoping that seeing justice done would help in the healing process.  That trial never happened.  Beso's body was found one morning hanging from a tree in the village square.  A Kinderling girl confessed to the murder, offering her expanding belly as evidence that he deserved his fate.  It was clear that she was far too small to have done it herself, but nobody cared to charge her or look for accomplices.  

Daggi was never found.  I still see him in my nightmares.

A year later, the village commemorated Union Day.  I hid in my room crying.  I'm not sure who thought fireworks were a good idea, but whoever it was can just go to the below.  From then on, I celebrated Union Day by myself, or at least as "by myself" as Mizzy allowed at the cave by the lake.  It was far enough away from the village that I couldn't hear the fireworks.  

Some years, the Star Sailor stops by and brings the Lady of Eastwood.

And so ends our tale of the Kinderlings.  Keep watching here (if you want to, of course), I'm sure I'll start another story soon, and thanks for reading.

Kinderling 61

In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

The Sky Ship left the next day.  To my surprise, the Lady of Eastwood stayed behind with a guard of five Elven Archers.  I tried to catch her alone to ask why she stayed, but the archers rarely left her side.  Finally I resorted to accosting her in her bath.  The Elves were using in one of the barracks in the garrison.  While the Lady was able to commandeer officer quarters in the barracks, apparently when the garrison was built, lower ranking officers were still required to share bathing facilities with their troops.  Higher ranking officers were housed elsewhere.  The Lady, being a very private person did what officers probably always did and ordered her guard to get out for a few hours so she could bathe in peace.  Too bad she didn't count on me.

"Lady, may I speak with you?"  I asked, getting a little bit of a tickle out of seeing her startle a bit. 

"Wise One, I will always make time for you."  I could tell she was just being polite, but pretended to assume the Lady meant that now would be that time. 

"First, can you just call me Tandy?  It's my name.  I hate being called "Wise One" all the time.  It makes me feel like an owl."  I said, "I just wanted to ask, why are you still here?  I thought you would leave on the Sky Ship with the Star Sailor and the King of All."

"Wise One is your proper honorific.  It is you.  You are the Wise One.  I could no more call you Tandy than I could name you a Gorf."  the Lady said,  "And you were mistaken.  While I'm sure the Star Sailor would have gladly allowed me passage on his Sky Ship, the King of All is not so enamored of me at the moment.  He chose to wash his hands of Iowne and her people, and encouraged me to do the same.  I feel that I still owe Iowne a debt of gratitude, so I refused.  We Elves tend to take things like gratitude very seriously.  Because he chose to have this conversation in a public forum, the King of All lost prestige when I rebuked him.  The one thing an Elven King of All can't abide is losing prestige."

"Aw, did Junior get his little feelings hurt?" I asked smiling.

"You don't understand.  When the King of All loses prestige, he risks inviting a challenge.  Unless that challenge is met in an exemplary fashion, more prestige could be lost inviting further challenges.  With each challenge there is a risk of being overthrown.  No King of All has ever survived being overthrown.  One makes far too many enemies on the journey to becoming the King of All.  Once there, almost any decision made risks creating even more enemies.  There is no way to please everyone."

"I had no idea."

"No, you probably don't."  Said the Lady of Eastwood,  "But your mother most definitely does.  I was appalled when I first heard the Mystic call him Junior to his face, right in front of everyone.  But now I wonder.  He seems to handle it well, and doesn't seem to have lost prestige over it.  I'm still trying to understand how that is."

"Oh, that's easy."  I said,  "Mama is Mama.  She's a force of nature.  Getting upset and trying to control Mama would be like getting upset at a thunder storm and trying to make it keep it's lightning to itself.  Only a fool would try.  Remember the Captain?"

The Lady of Eastwood thought it over for a moment.  "You truly are the Wise One."

"Oh not that again!"

Uncle Zon and the militia continued baiting Baot's patrols ever further North, while our scouts watched for an opening on the South side of the village.  At least that part of my plan seemed to be working well enough.  Unfortunately, a lot more of the Mountain King's soldiers and overseers escaped the King of All's wrath than we expected.  It seemed like every day a few more would find their way to the village.  Without the Mountain King, they were at loose ends, starving, and ready to be recruited into Baot's expanding army.  

When I could get away, I started joining the scouts to watch the South side of the village, hoping for an opening that would allow me to swoop in and. I don't know, do something?

On the up side, with Baot sending more of his army patrolling towards the North, it did give us some chances to see Mouse.  He looked like he was doing well enough, in spite of his time wearing the harness.  I felt bad for him, and bad for Daisy who clearly missed him so.

"Uncle Zon, is there any way we can speed this up?  Baot is sending more and more patrols North, but he still has enough to cover him in the village."

"That's what I'm worried about too." Uncle Zon replied.  "If we can't get him to send enough of his soldiers out, we won't be able to get to him."

I couldn't see how things could get worse, but apparently that was a failure of imagination on my part.  The next day, Baot stopped sending patrols North.  Instead, he arrayed his army on the South side of the village in full view and ordered his soldiers to build a pyre.  I had joined the scouts that day and was confused at first, not understanding what they were doing.

Once the pyre was constructed, Baot yelled out.  Someone must have given him a device to make his voice louder because we could all hear.  "I see you sneaking in the woods!  Did you think you could deceive me?  Witness the consequences of your folly!"

With that, Baot signaled to have torches thrown on the pyre.  It didn't take long for a large fire to start.  Then a couple Gorf soldiers stepped forward carrying a tied-up Kinderling.  I wasn't close enough to see who it was, but with that size and shape, it couldn't have been anything but a Kinderling.  With a wave of Baot's arm, they threw the Kinderling on the pyre.  The screams were heart wrenching.

"Each day, until every one of you surrenders, another Kinderling will go on the pyre.  Don't you see what your abandonment of the village has caused?"  Baot was gloating.  He had just ordered a Kinderling to be burned to death, and now he was gloating.

I couldn't take it.  I pulled out my arrow chucker and loaded it.  It was a long shot, but not really all that much further than the shot I took against the Captain at the cave.  I shouldered the arrow chucker, noticed the direction and speed the wind was moving the greasy black smoke from the pyre, made a couple small adjustments, and fired.

An arrow sprouted from Baot's chest, and he fell.

Chaos ensued.  

Kinderling 60

 In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

The plan was simple, according to Mama this was good since complicated plans with too many moving parts were always prone to failure.

Since Baot thought we were hiding North of the village, the first part of the plan was for Uncle Zon and his remaining militia to start making trails and leaving small camps up that way for Baot's patrols to find.  Dobbo, whom I was still trying to decide it I should trust or not, particularly liked this part of the plan.

"The best way to get someone to believe a lie, is to tell them something they already think is true."  he said.  I was a little disapointed with myself when my first thought was "and you would know" since so far, I couldn't point to a single instance where I caught Dobbo in a lie.  He had even admitted to things that made him look bad when he could have not said anything and nobody would have been any the wiser.  Perhaps he really was turning over a new leaf.  Fair or not, I just couldn't bring myself to trust him fully.

The first part of the plan went off masterfully.  Uncle Zon and the militia were able to use the tunnels that Watcher, via Flower, had shown Mama and I to get into position, and kept the entrance on that end hidden using one of my no-see-me charms.  Zenna came up with an ingenious method for them to not lose the entrance like I had when we rescued Mizzy.  They would take a stick-doll and hang it from a tree branch a short way from the entrance.  Depending on what kind of stick-doll they used would tell them which direction, and how many steps to the entrance.  As long as they placed the doll accurately enough, they could just find it and locate the entrance by following the scheme rather than directly looking for the entrance.  I'm not sure how, but it did work.   Although it necessitated Zenna trying to teach the male militia members how to weave the various traditional Kinderling stick-doll patterns out of twigs which didn't go well until Mizzy stepped in.  Apparently, Mizzy is a really good teacher, and was a little obsessed with stick dolls when she was little.  I have always thought they were silly and useless, but after seeing how much Mizzy loved them, I would never tell her that.

Soon, Smoke, Daisy, and the handful of Kinderlings who were assigned to scouting and spying on the village reported that Baot and his people had concentrated their efforts toward the North.

In the midst of all the excitement, Watcher came for a visit.

"Tandy, I have come from the Mountains.  The Mountain King, and his fortress, are no more, or at least soon will be."  Watcher said.  "I didn't stay to watch the final assault because those Elves were in a bit of a Gorf-killing frenzy and I didn't want to get caught up in it." I suspected as much we had been hearing faint rumblings from the direction of the Mountains on and off since not long after the Elves left on the Sky Ship.  I sent word to the Gorf tribe via Daisy before the Elven attack to make sure none of them went up there and were caught in the crossfire.  Apparently Watcher felt my warnings didn't apply to him, until they did.

"Do you know if the Elves kept their promise to spare Iowne and her people?"   I asked.

"I do not know, young Tandy.  As per your warning, I stayed as far as I could away from the excitement, but I had to watch what I could, the clerics will want a report."   Watcher said,  "I did manage to see that my counterpart in charge of watching the Mountain Gorfs did escape.  I saw him in the tunnels, but I made sure he didn't see me."

"Does that mean the Mountain King also escaped?"  I said.  If the Mountain King escaped, he might decide to hide with his allies in the village, and I didn't trust the Elves to hold back in their pursuit of him.  If Baot harbored the Mountain King in the village, the Elves would likely destroy the village getting to him.  I wasn't worried about Baot, he deserved whatever he got, but I did worry about those Kinderlings that joined Baot in the village out of fear.  Sure, they chose the wrong side, but did they really deserve to die because of it?  There was also the village itself.  The homes, the shops.  Sure, our family tree home had been destroyed, it was burnt down during the initial Gorf attack, but the homes and shops of many others that were with us at the Garrison were still there and I fervently hoped that they would be able to one day reclaim them.

"No, he only had a couple of Fallen females with him when I saw him."  Watcher replied.  "I highly suspect he raided the Mountain King's harem on his way out."

"Do you think there would be a way for us to capture them?"  I asked.

"Why would we want to do that Tandy?"

"A couple reasons."  I said,  "First, I have a feeling that he was just as guilty - if not more so - for the treatment of the Lady of Eastwood.  If the Elves find out about his existence, they will be after him and anyone who shelters him.  Second, Let's just say I would like to have a bargaining chip."

"AH, I see."  Watcher said,  "Leave it to me.  I'll probably need Daisy to help, I'm not the spry young Gorf that I once was."

A few days later, the Sky Ship came again and docked off the end of the Outcropping.  The Elven warriors seemed much more tense than they were the last time I saw them.  When the Sky Ship docked, they jumped out and formed a perimeter.  It looked like I imagined a professional military would look.  Once they secured the area, the Elven King of All debarked and strode forward, surrounded by a personal guard.  He didn't have all this when I saw him before.

By the time this was all done Father, Bez, Mama, and Uncle Zon, along with me and Mizzy trailing behind, I wasn't about to get left out, walked out to meet them.

"The slight to the Lady of Eastwood has been avenged.  The Mountain King has been thrown down and his fortress dismantled.  I felt the desire to share this victory with the Elven Friend Tandy and the Mystic, who is also an Elven friend."

Mama whispered out the side of her mouth, "Oh boy, here it comes.  I hate when the get all grandiose like this."  It was all I could do to keep from giggling.  The King of All really was over-doing the whole thing.

"Bring forth the mantle!"  The King of All continued, and the Elven Captain brought an ornate carved wooden box and handed it to his King.  "Tandy, I hereby name you Tandy the Wise, Friend to Elves and councilor of Kings!"  Out of the box he pulled a metallic disk with a ribbon and placed it over my head.  I could immediately see that the disk was made from Kinderling Silver.  There is no mistaking the sheen and feel of it.  There were Elven symbols on it, most of which I felt like I should understand, but was unable to.  In the middle, there was a circle enclosing a tree carved in the top half of the circle, with the same tree carved upside-down in the bottom half.  The top tree was green alive and growing, the bottom tree was rotting and buried.  It was a little creepy.

"I also would like to prevail upon The Wise One for some council."  The King of All said.

Oh great.  If Mama being called "The Mystic" was any indication, I was going to be stuck being called "The Wise One".  As far as annoying monikers go, not horrible I guess, but I never wanted to be anything more than me.  Tandy.

"But first!  I want the Wise One and the Mystic to know that I have kept my word."  The King of All added, still being annoyingly dramatic.  He indicated towards the Sky Ship as he bellowed  "Bring forth the Humans!"

Looking towards the ship, I saw the Lady of Eastwood attempting to guide Iowne and her people off the ship.  Most of them appeared to have injuries that needed attending to.  I wasn't sure if those injuries were from their days of Gorf imprisonment or from the Elves.  Elven warriors were basically herding them off the ship with spears, and they weren't being particularly gentle.

Once off the ship Iowne's people huddled together, clearly afraid, but Iowne stepped forward when she saw me.  "I recognize you, you are the one who attempted to free us from the Gorfs before.  Can you help us now?"  Iowne said in the language of Man, while nervously eyeing the surrounding Elven Warriors.

"Are they prisoners then?"  I asked the King of All.

"No, Wise One,"  The King of All said,  "but they are dirty and tend towards thieving.  It is best not to trust them." 

"I can see why Mama calls you Junior."  I said, earning a surprised and somewhat hurt look from the King of  All.  Then, switching back to the language of Man "Iowne, it is good to see you again.  Please accept our hospitality, we will provide food and safety until you are able to return home.  Please accept my apology for your treatment at the hands of the Elves, they can be such a disagreeable and mistrusting lot."  I added as a barb towards the King of All.

I reached up and took Iowne by the hand guiding her towards the garrison indicating that her people should follow.  A couple well placed scowls at the Elven Warriors let them know they weren't invited. 

It never quite hit me before that the garrison must have been designed to allow visitors from the taller races.  After having to stoop to get through the door, it was clear that Iowne and her people were able to stand up straight in most of the main part of the garrison.  I had always thought of the high ceilings as something the builders did for comfort.  Kinderlings, after all, are forest creatures who aren't usually accustomed to living underground.  Either way, those high ceilings serve both purposes.

Mama followed us in and true-to-form immediately took charge and started tending to their wounds.  To my surprise, the Lady of Eastwood also appeared and pitched in.  She didn't have healing skills like Mama, but she was able to handle minor wounds sufficiently.  I, or course, pulled out my little healing kit and helped as well.  Soon, Iowne's people were  all patched up and comfortably settled in one end of the mess hall, each with a bowl of Tilly's incredible mushroom stew and a small loaf of bread.  I'm not sure what humans usually eat, but they seemed content enough.

"Iowne and her people were n pretty bad shape, wasn't anyone available to tend to them before now?"  I asked the Lady of Eastwood.  I tried not to make it sound accusing, but I'm sure I failed.

"No Wise One." the Lady replied, "I was not allowed to help them, and no one else cared to."  The way she spoke, the Lady of Eastwood seemed genuinely ashamed. 

"Oh not you too!  What is with this 'Wise One' business?"  I asked.  "When you all left, I was called Tandy.  Now it's 'I must consult the Wise One'.  What gives?"

"Your advice on the treatment of Iowne and her people turned out to be prescient.  It seems that Iowne is not the dirt farmer that she seems.  You can't see it, and to my shame in my iron-poisoned state I could not see it either, but now that I am well, I can see a bright, fat, line of prestige coming from her and heading over the mountain.  That line connects, to a lesser extent, to her entire retinue."

"You can actually see the prestige?  I thought Star Sailor said that Elves could only intuit it.  Sort of feel it"  I said.

"Yes, most Elves can only intuit a sense of the Prestige.  Some have to actively be looking for it to sense it, some are always able to sense it.  A rare few, like me, can see the Prestige.  Elves who can do that are sought out as advisors, which is why the King of All prevailed upon the Star Sailor to return in time to save my life."

"So that's why the King of All treated Iowne badly, he couldn't sense her prestige?"  I asked.

"No, when we brought Iowne on board, I could tell the King of All was able to sense it, but it confused him."  The Lady repied.  "So he sequestered them away from everyone, and declared that it was treasonous to defy that order.  I don't know his reasoning."

"So where does Iowne's prestige come from?"

"The line runs over the mountain.  We do not know how she got it, however we do know that there are Elves on that side of the mountain and we assume it has something to do with them.  Other than the Star Sailor, Elves don't tend to travel except at need.  We grow attached to our homes and become homesick when we cannot return.  Even the Star Sailor has a place that he returns to, although for him it is different."

"Sorrow's Point." I said. 

"Yes, Sorrow's Point."  The Lady agreed,  "The Star Sailor is held there by an anchor made loss and guilt.  I believe it is the only thing that keeps him from flying off to the stars and never returning."

"You and Mama spoke of Sorrow's Point, and you said I would be killed if I went there.  What is it?"

"That is the Star Sailor's story to tell if he wishes to tell it."  The Lady said. "Please don't ask him, It would only needlessly open old wounds.  Suffice it to say it was the Star Sailor's home, and where he lost his only love.  Outsiders are forbidden from bespoiling the place."

"Iowne told me that she came from Dorinth.  If she is from Dorinth, I wonder how she has a connection to the other side of the mountain."

"You would have ask her."  Said the Lady,  "I think her and her people have run out of patience with my people, and I can't blame them.  The guard should not have been allowed to mistreat them like they did."

"I agree." 

That evening, the King of All asked for a meeting.  Mama, Father, Bez, and Uncle Zon were nominated to meet with him.  I's funny how the Kinderling villagers that were rescued and brought to the garrison keep pointing out that, other than Father, there is no village council, and how a single village council member didn't make a quorum, so they didn't have to follow Father's rulings.  Yet, whenever there is anything that needed leaders to do, they always picked those same four.  

Mama let me tag along because she said the King of All seems a little more reasonable when I'm around.  I don't know about that.

"Ah good, you've arived."  The King of All seemed to be talking to me and Mama, and ignoring the rest.  That confused me until I realized that, from their point of view, Mama and I were the only two Kinderlings with Elven prestige.  I think Mama noticed my realization, because she gave me a wink and a nod.  

"Your Highness,"  Father said, oblivious to the workings of prestige,  "You have asked for us, what can we do for you?"

Happily, the King of All was somewhat diplomatic, and while he was still talking directly to Mama and me, he at least seemed to attempt to make it less obvious.

"As requested, we retrieved the humans from the Mountain Gorf's dungeon.  Now I would like to wash my hands of them."  The King of All said.  "Can your people take care of them till they are strong enough to return home?"

If I didn't know any better, I would think the King of All was embarrassed by the whole episode, I was going to ask, but Mama spoke first.  

"Yes, we will gladly take care of them and make sure they return home safely."  Mama was all smiles about this, which confused me because not only can Mama rarely be described as "all smiles", I had been of the impression that Mama was looking forward to sending Iowne and her people on their way.

"Wonderful,"  The King of All replied.  "In that case, I must also be returning to my home as well.  We leave in the morning."  But the way he said it sounded odd, like he suspected a trap.

"Have a wonderful trip home Your Highness."  Mama said, still smiling as if she had won a great prize.  "Our hearts go with you as you travel."

Once the King of All and his retinue were gone, I turned to Mama.

"What was that all about?"  I asked.

"Oh, just messing with Junior a little bit.  I could tell as soon as he gave Iowne and her people over to us that he planned to abandon them here.  Now he will wonder if I found some advantage to keeping them that he has missed."

"Iowne has prestige."  I said.  I didn't know how much Mama understood about Elven prestige, to tell the truth, I didn't really understand how much I knew either.  

"Of course she does, she tried to help the Lady of Eastwood and paid dearly for it.  That beating could easily have killed her.  I saw the wounds myself."

"It's more than that."  I said, "The Lady of Eastwood says she can see prestige, not just sense it.  She said that Iowne has a fat, bright strand of prestige that flows over the mountain."  

Upon hearing that, Mama laughed loudly.  "Perfect!  I bet Junior is freaking out wondering if I know something he doesn't know."

The next day, I checked up on Iowne and her people.

"With your help, we are on the mend and will be able to leave in a day or two.  Your friend, Bez I think you call him, has already taken Jep to see the old trade road.  Jep says it's overgrown and pretty rough, but we should be able to follow it to Dorinth.  That is, if this Bez person is right and it does lead to Dorinth.  I have no idea how long it will take to get there.  The going will probably be pretty slow since we will be on foot.  The Gorfs ate our horses.  I wanted to ask the Elves to fly us there in that wonderful flying ship, but my people said they would rather walk."

"May I ask.  Do you know anything about Elves on the other side of the mountain?"  

Iowne startled momentarily.  "Why would you ask about them?"

"Just that you seem to have a connection there and I'm curious.  Do your people travel over the mountain often?"  I wasn't really trying to be nosy, I just hated only knowing part of a story.

"When I was young, my father traveled a lot for trade.  He and his partners discovered a safe way to the other side of the mountains where they met and traded with a tribe of Elves that live there.  He would come back with such stories."  Iowne explained.  "Finally, when I was old enough, Father let me go to the other side of the mountains with him.  While we were there, Goblins attacked.  One minute, Father was haggling, the next minute Goblins were everywhere.  I ran, of course.  Goblins kill men, but the things they do to women."  Iowne shuttered.  I wasn't familiar with Goblins, but judging from Iowne's reaction I wasn't sure I wanted to know.  "As I ran I practically tripped over a young Elven boy.  Barely a toddler.  I didn't even think about it, I just scooped him up and kept running.  Eventually, Father's guards and the Elven warriors beat off the attack and we were safe.  It turns out, that little Elven boy was the Elven King's only son."

"What an exciting story!"

"Terrifying you mean."  Iowne laughed.  "The Elves over there made a whole lot more of it than it really was.  There were dinners in my honor, Elven Bards writing poems and songs about it.  Even a performance reenacting Iowne's Run to Save the Elven Prince.  I just felt sorry for the player who had to play the part of Me.  The performance was three hours long, and the poor player ran around and around the stage with an ever growing number of players dressed as Goblins.  Eventually the Goblins all fell over dead of exhaustion and Iowne got away.  Which is nothing like what really happened."

"Stories do seem to grow with the telling."

"I can't set foot on that side of the mountain anymore."  Iowne seemed upset by this.  "Last time I was there, I was invited to another performance, it was supposed to be a romance, so I thought I was safe from having to see yet another performance of Iowne's Run to Save the Elven Prince, but it was so much worse!  It's now a love story where, after saving the Prince, we fall in love, but the King doesn't approve and I have to run away before he finds out that I am with child."

"You have an Elven child?"  I asked, confused.

"NO!  The Prince was little more than a baby!  Last time I was there, he was still a child."  Iowne said shaking her head,  "Even then, we were pushed together at every chance.  A few people even asked why I didn't bring the baby and seemed to think I was keeping the Prince and his beloved child apart.  I haven't been back since.  When Elves showed up and let us out of the cells in the Mountain King's dungeon, I almost expected them to ask if I had the baby with me."

"Different group of Elves."  I said.  I could commiserate.  People can get spun up about the weirdest things and rarely consider verifying if those things are even possible.

"Thank the Makers!  Getting roughed up a little was almost preferable."  Iowne smiled, but then became somber "Although my people probably wouldn't agree.  As it is, I have no idea how I'm going to pay them.  The Gorfs killed half of my people, all my horses and burrows, destroyed my wagons, and carted off all of my trade goods.  None of which it looks like I'll be able to recover."

"I wish there was something I could do to help."  I said.  "If the village wasn't overrun, we would have at least been able to send  you on your way with some Kinderling Silver.  The mine is mostly shut down, so there isn't a lot of it being mined, but even a little would help."

"Perhaps we can help each other then."  Iowne replied.

Kinderling 59

  In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

After hours of debate, the "War Council" was no closer to solving the problem.  Even with Baot and Daggi losing support from the Mountain King, it didn't appear that they would lose the platoons of Gorf soldiers that they already had.  Even one platoon would be enough to beat us.  We just had a bunch of scared villagers and the few surviving Kinderling militia members that managed to escape.  

The Elves were gearing up to leave the next day to crush the Mountain King, and the King of All made it perfectly clear that we would be on our own when it came to the village.  He wasn't mean about it, he just pointed out that he was already helping by removing the Mountain King's influence.  I had to admit he had a point.  I guess prestige can only get me help up to a certain point.

On his invitation, I spent the evening after the Kinderling "War Council" meeting broke up sketching runes and rune patterns below decks of the Star Sailor's Sky Ship.  They were fascinating and I felt like I was on the verge of understanding them.  Of course, I could only give half of my mind to the effort, which probably destroyed any chance I would learn anything of value.  The other half of my mind kept going back to our problem with Baot and his Gorf soldiers.

Late in the evening, disappointed from failing to really understand the runes, and failing to find an answer to the villages problems.  Worn out from a long day of worry.  I found myself at the door to my quarters.  Well, our quarters.  Mizzy and I having long given up trying to have separate rooms.  

Mizzy opened the door.

"I though I heard your footsteps."  Mizzy said.  "Only yours would be so quiet and contemplative."

With that, Mizzy took me by the hand and guided me into our rooms and held me while I cried in frustration.  

"The new day's dawn will look better, you'll see." 

I wished, not for the first time nor the last, to be able to share Mizzy's optimism.  Lying there in Mizzy's arms, I could at least feel my worries drain away.  At least we were safe in the garrison.  Baot could break his platoons of Gorf soldiers on the defenses of this place, and still we would be fine.  As long as Mizzy and my family was here, home was here.  What more could a Kinderling girl need?

I actually slept better than I had for months.

Early the next morning I stood at the end of the Outcropping that gave the Garrison at Outcropping it's name, waving goodbye to the Star Sailor, the Lady of Eastwood, the Elvin King of All, and all the others.  Even the former Elven Captain who tried to kill me was there, but I wasn't waving a fond farewell to that one, that one got nothing more from me than a "good riddance".

"You amaze me Tandy,"  Mizzy said, "We're seeing your friends off, and still I detect the hint of a scowl on your brow."

I sighed, "I know it's bad manners to say goodbye with anything but wishes for good fortune." Wishing someone good fortune as they leave, of course, being one of the most basic of Kinderling customs.  While I didn't know how that was supposed to work when sending friends off to war Mizzy was right, even the youngest Kinderling pouchling knew this.  "I'm sorry, but I still have the problem of what to do about Baot stuck in my head."

"That does seem a big problem,"  Mizzy smiled.  "But it's the best kind of big problem."

I looked at Mizzy like she was off her rockers.  "How can you say that?"

"Because it is.  It's a big problem, but it's way over in that direction somewhere and it can't hurt us here.  I mean sure, Baot could send his Gorf army to come get us, but he doesn't know where we are." Mizzy explained.  "Zon and his militia have been keeping a pretty close eye on the village, and so far Baot hasn't sent out scouts this direction.  I think the way you rescued me has Baot looking in the wrong direction.  I know you'll come up with some way to stop him.  "

 Never mind that Mizzy's "over in that direction somewhere" was completely off, she did have a good point.  The threat of Baot was far away - not all that far, but far enough anyway - and if he was looking in the wrong direction.

"Mizzy!  You are brilliant!"  I had to go find Uncle Zon.

Then Mizzy sighed in a way that told me she was afraid to tell me something.

"Ok, out with it."

 "Hmmm...  I know you are working as fast as you can, and I don't want to put more pressure on you, but Baot is getting paranoid and desperate, he has started torturing some the villagers that stayed."

That was a shock.  I didn't expect even Baot to go that far.  "How bad?"

"Zenna said she saw him put old Grandfer Burl in the middle of some of his Gorf soldiers and demanded that Grandfer Burl's family tell him where we were.  Of course they didn't know, we've been very careful.  Burl's son Stem told him something.  Zenna said she wasn't close enough to say what, but Baot must have already knew it was the wrong answer because Baot told his Gorfs that Grandfer Burl was food!.  They tore him apart and ate him!"

Mizzy was getting hysterical at this point and all I could do was hold her and try to comfort her.  After she cried for a bit and got herself back under control she said.  "I knew Grandfer Burl.  He was the one that taught me about which herbs to smoke and what the benefits were.  Zon said they were traitors and got what was coming to them, but Tandy, they were just scared.  I talked to them before they bowed to Baot.  Grandfer couldn't take the cold damp of the caves.  So they did whatever Baot said so they could go home.  They aren't bad people, they were just scared."

"I suspect that most of the villagers that bowed to Baot did so for similar reasons.   Don't worry Mizzy, I'll figure something out.  I already think I have part of a plan."

That evening, I sought out Uncle Zon.  

"Mizzy tells me you have been keeping tabs on the village." 

"Yes.  I thought it would be wise to have a warning when Baot figures out where we were.  To my surprise, so far he still seems to be looking the wrong direction."  Uncle Zon said, "Probably still thinks he's chasing you and your mother."

"That's what I came to talk to you about."  I said,  "I think I have an idea if your militia is up to it."

Uncle Zon and I talked about the idea for a few hours, him trying to poke holes in my ideas and coming up with refinements.  Me poking holes in his refinements as well defending my ideas.  Then we took it to the "war council".

"I see where you are going with this Tandy,"  Mama said,  "But it's risky, and I don't see how it would make anything better."

"What happens to the Gorf Soldiers if nobody is there to command them?"  I asked, looking at Mother.

"I don't know."  She replied.

"I do." Said Mizzy.  "or at least I can guess.  When Daggi would take off the command bracelet or walked out of range, I couldn't move.  Tell them!"  Mizzy had brought Dobbo with her, and he looked uncomfortable.

"W-Well, before Baot abandoned me, I overheard him and Daggi talking about a master bracelet.  I didn't know what they were talking about at the time, but now it all makes sense.   If they have it finished, it would control all the harnesses.  There are also control bracelets that are more limited.  I think they can control only a small number of harnesses.  I saw the first few of those being tested.  Baot probably gave one to each of his people, and they are only able to control a small number of Gorf Soldiers, probably a squad, maybe a platoon but I doubt he would trust giving that much power to anyone."

"If that's true," I asked, "Why was Mizzy unable to move when we found her but the Kitchen Gorf kept cleaning the kitchen?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Kitchen Gorf?"  Dobbo replied confused.

So I told him an abbreviated story of how we rescued Mizzy.  I didn't go into every little detail because, I'm ashamed to say, I still didn't completely trust Dobbo.

"AH...  I would be willing to bet that they did finish the master bracelet, and that was what was controlling the...  Kitchen Gorf.  As for Mizzy's harness, it probably wasn't linked to the master bracelet yet."  Dobbo explained.  "Baot is paranoid, the only one he completely trusts is that nephew of his, Beso.  Which I find absolutely hilarious since, unless he's changed, Beso is more interested in his social life than anything else."

"Social life?  Is that what you call it?"  I had to admit, hearing Beso's name again brought back the memory of the crying Kinderling girl that I saw coming out of Beso's office before we escaped.  As far as I knew, that Kinderling girl didn't make it to the garrison, so she's probably still in Beso's slimy clutches.  I guess my comment came out more heated than I intended because Dobbo cringed back and I found myself the center of some shocked attention.

"Sorry everyone.  Before we escaped, Baot was trying to force me to marry that slime Beso, and something I saw...   Never mind, not important right now, just Beso has a lot to answer for."

"I...  I'm sorry for ever having anything to do with the whole lousy lot of them."  Dobbo said, he sounded serious.  "And not just because Baot turned on me.  I should have realized what Beso would do with power if he ever got it.  I should have figured out what Baot was up to sooner and did something about it.  Everyone here has been so nice to me, I don't deserve it."  I was taken aback by how distraught Dobbo obviously was.  

"Yes, you should have!"  Mama surprised me by yelling,  "But the past is the past.  Should have, would have... None of that matters right now.  What matters now is what we do from here on.  I'm not absolving you of what you've done, but it seems to me like you've suffered enough already.  It's time to get up and move on."

Silence fell as Mama glared at the cringing Dobbo.  I couldn't help it.  I started giggling, not loudly, but  it carried through the silence.  Then I saw the shocked look on Mizzy's face at my giggles and could no longer stifle the laughter.  I know, I know, this was serious business.  There was nothing funny here.  But it all hit me as ridiculous.

Lucky for me, my laughter was contagious and soon everyone was laughing.  Even Mama, who almost never laughed couldn't escape it.  

Once the laughter finally died down, it was time to start working on my plan.

Kinderling 58

 In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

Our homecoming didn't, couldn't last long.  It was a mere couple of days rest before I was found by one of the Elven warriors who informed me, rather formally, that my presence was requested by the King of All.  

The Elf guided me to a wing of the garrison that I hadn't been to much.  When I was last here, before Mama and I went to try to free Mouse, this was a completely unused wing of the garrison.  Now it was full of Elves who walked around like they owned the place.  It struck me just how well they fit.  The doors in this part of the garrison were perfectly sized for the Elves.  It was almost like it was built for them.  I would have to ask the Star Sailor, he was the oldest Elf I knew.

I was guided to a war room, where the King of All and a few others were busy arguing over tactics.  

"We could just sail up there and pummel them from the Sky Ship, raining fire upon their heads.  You have a catapult and barrels of liquid fire in your holds do you not?"  offered one of the Elven soldiers.  If my father was right about being able to tell military rank by how fancy the soldier's uniform, this one was high rank indeed.  

"General, we can not.  There is too much of a chance of  harming that human and her people... That Iowne..."  Said an obviously annoyed Lady of the Eastwood.  "I do not care for them, but the woman tried to help me, I will not participate in her destruction."

"Well then you can stay here when we go if you don't have the stomach for it."  Answered the Elven General.

"Enough!"  The Star Sailor bellowed, "If your plan puts the Lady of Eastwood's honor in jeopardy, you should find another plan."

"And you should go back to your goats goatherd!"  The General said snidely.  "It is not your place to question your betters!"

I wasn't going to stand for that.  "Why is it that all of you Elven soldiers are a bunch of bullies?  I have a particular dislike for bullies."

"Haha!  You've met your match now General!" laughed the Star Sailor, cutting me off before I could start a good rant going.  "Besides, if I go back to my goats, you would be walking home.  How would you go about your offensive then?  Huh?  The Sky Ship is mine."

"Enough with the bickering!" interjected the King of All.  "General, I will not ask the Star Sailor, nor the Lady of Eastwood, to do anything against their conscience.  Find another way."

The General thought for a moment.  "In that case, we should attack the front gate to cause a diversion, and have a team sneak in to extract the humans."  The General said much more casually.  "THEN we can stand-off and pummel them from a distance."

"See, that's more like it.  I knew you could do it!"  said the Star Sailor.  "Bravo!"

"Sounds like you all have things in hand, I'm not a military mastermind, did you need me for anything?"  I asked.

"Yes,"  said the Star Sailor,  "I have heard stories that you can create explosive arrows."

"Oh, those things.  I don't make them anymore.  Much to large a mess, and I almost killed myself the only time I used one."

"Arrows that explode?"  Said the Elven General.  "Like the rockets that the fireworks guild make?"

"By all accounts, nothing like that." replied the Star Sailor.  "Those rockets are just bang and sparkles.  They wouldn't do any real damage to anything.  The arrow I heard about, disintegrated a Gorf, and killed and maimed a few of his nearby friends.  It also knocked over a certain young Kinderling head over teakettle."

The General edged over to the Star Sailor and whispered,  "How powerful can it be?  She's just a Kinderling, and a girl at that."  

I rolled my eyes.  He could have at least waited till I was out of ear-shot to be insulting.

"Well, I do have one of those arrows left.  I suppose I could demonstrate for you.  Tilly would be happy for an excuse to rebuild this wing."  I, of course, was exaggerating.  The explosive arrows weren't that destructive, but they did make a mess of things.

"Actually, I really would like to see a demonstration.  Only, of course, not in here."  said the Star Sailor.  "Ever since I heard the first story about it, the tale has kept growing and growing.  I would love to see the truth of the matter.  Perhaps we could take the Sky Ship off somewhere in the mountains."

I have to say I was tempted.  What finally decided me was that I remembered Mizzy telling me how jealous she was and wished she had a chance to ride on the Sky Ship.  I told the Star Sailor as much, and he beamed.  "I would love to show your Mizzy the delights of my Sky Ship!"

That afternoon found us sailing away from the garrison, over Old Barrel, and North East towards a different part of the mountains from where the Mountain Gorf's stronghold sat.  The Star Sailor went all out and had his crew cook up the most wonderful meal.  The only thing that put a blot on the day was that I knew that rat-fink Captain was on board.  The Star Sailor explained that the Captain's family was close personal friends of the King of All, and he didn't want to upset anyone too awful important.

The Captain kept to himself and didn't cause any problems.

We soon found a nice cliff wall in a remote part of the Mountain range where nobody would get hurt.  I had to ask the Star Sailor to move us back from the Cliff a few times because he had us much too close to the target for my comfort.

Once everything was ready, I pulled out the box I kept the arrow in.  I learned my lesson that day we rescued Mizzy from Daggi's dungeon, and hadn't carried it around in my quiver since.  I never wanted to accidentally grab the wrong arrow again.

When the Star Sailor saw the explosive arrow he gasped and had his people pull the Sky Ship back even further.

"Tandy, I can feel the power off of that arrow." The Star Sailor said.

I just shrugged and fitted the arrow into my arrow-chucker.  At the Star Sailor's nod, I let it fly.

The "twump" of the explosion didn't seem all that big to me, although I have to remember, I was much much closer the first time.  Chunks of stone from the explosion clattered on the side of the Sky Ship, and a cloud of choking dust surrounded us.

"Yep, that's about how I remember it."  Said Mizzy.  "Only, I'm glad you are here with me rather than somewhere inside that huge cloud of dust Tandy.  Last time, I thought you were dead."  Mizzy hugged me hard and buried her face in my shoulder.  I comforted her the best I could.

The General stood watching the cliff wall which now had a visible scar as a huge chunk of stone split off and went crashing down into the valley below.  Then he walked over and bowed to me.

"I apologize for any offence I may have given.  That was incredible."

On the trip back, the Star Sailor came to talk to me.  "I noted the runes that you used to make the explosive arrows.  And I admit that I spent the last few hours trying to duplicate your effort.  I know how you feel about those arrows and didn't want to ask you to build more of them.  But I find that I am unable to make anything close to what you made."

"Do you really need them?"  I asked.

"We need to breach the front gate of the Mountain Gorf King's stronghold to give an infiltration team a chance to get the Human woman and her people to safety.  The Lady of Eastwood would not condone any plan that didn't involve saving them first, and I respect her wishes in this."

"Well then, you shall have what I can make."  I said.  "But I will only make them for you.  I will not make them for the General or the other Elven soldiers.  I trust you, I don't trust them."

The Star Sailor looked into my eyes as if searching for something, then he nodded.  "I will endeavor to prove worthy of that trust."

It felt like something important happened there, but I couldn't fathom what it was.  

The next day saw final preparation happening for the attack on the Mountain Gorf stronghold.  I managed to make six of the explosive arrows, I hoped that would be enough.  To my chagrin, I learned that the King of All decided that this was to be an "Elf only" offensive.  I would be staying behind.  I extracted promises from both the Lady of Eastwood, and the Star Sailor that Iowne and her people would be safe.  In the circumstances that was the best I could do.

I guess I should look on the bright side.  Being excluded from the Mountain Kingdom attack left me free to concentrate oh my people's problems rather than someone else's, and with the Elven General's plan for the Mountain Gorf Kingdom, I was pretty sure that Baot and Daggi would soon find themselves without support from that direction.  That could only make it easier to take the village back.  While the Elves were finalizing their plans, I called the Kinderlings together to make some plans of our own.

Kinderlings aren't warriors.  I guess it could be argued that during the days of the Last Kinderling King, there were indeed Kinderling warriors.  Soldiers even.  But now, we are potters.  We are gardeners, and farmers, and craftsmen.  Sure we have a few who might be called warriors, like Uncle Zon, Bez, and Tilly, and even my own Mama, who I recently found out spent some time as a scout for the Men of Dorinth during one of their  many wars.  But they are the exception, not the rule.

As I looked out over the faces of the Kinderling villagers, I saw only apprehension and fear.  It wasn't that these people didn't want to take their village back and reclaim their homes and their old lives.  They were afraid.  Afraid of killing.  Afraid of dying.  These were good people who didn't deserve to be lead into a bloodbath by a Kinderling girl who felt like she had something to prove.  

"Mama, we have to find another way."  

"I agree."  

Kinderling 57

 In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

It wasn't lost on me that nobody attempted to apologize to Daisy.  Well, I did for Smoke scaring her, but for the most part, the Elves ignored her.  Acted like she wasn't even there.

"To think I would live to see the day a Kinderling girl amassed more prestige than the Captain of the King of All's guard."  The Star Sailor said to me once nearly everyone had wandered off.  The terrace garden was once again serene. Daisy had gone back to mostly-hiding in her lean-to, but I noticed she was peeking out, watching us intently.  I have no idea what she was thinking.  Was she watching for the Star Sailor to attack?  Was she curious about our conversation?  Who knew?

"I highly doubt I have all that much prestige." I said, "The Captain was just wrong, and the King of All had the wisdom to see it."

"You miss-understand the role that prestige has in our culture Tandy.  When there is a conflict, the Elf with the more prestige wins.  Period.  The Captain could have said anything he wanted, and if his prestige was greater, it would have been the truth regardless of what actually happened."

"That's ridiculous!  How could I possibly have prestige?  I'm not an Elf.  I'm just a Kinderling, and Kinderlings don't have anything remotely like prestige."

"It doesn't?"  The Star Sailor feigned surprise.  "I am given to understand that your own father is the last surviving member of your village council.  How does one become a member of the village council?"

"Well, when people trust your judgement, they ask you to be on the council.  There have been calls to vote for counsel members, but it never gets anywhere."  

"So, you're father got on the council because people asked him to?"  The Star Sailor said, "And why do you think they would ask him to?  Prestige!  Our peoples really are a lot alike.

"By the way."  The Star Sailor continued.  "If it hasn't come up, it soon will.  Will you be taking the Captain's place as head of the King of All's guard?"

"What?  Why would I?"

"Oh nothing, only...  That is often what happens when an Elf from a lower station challenges a Elf from a higher station and wins."

I was confused.  "But I'm not from a lower station.  That piece of dirt isn't better than me!" 

"Precisely!  Now you get it.  You have prestige."  The way he said it.  Big grin on his face, almost laughing, made me thing for a moment that the Star Sailor was messing with me.

"And if I didn't have prestige?"  I asked.

"Oh, he most likely would have insisted that you were an enemy to the Elves and tried to execute you, but don't worry about that.  A good number of powerful Elves have grown rather fond of you.  The King of All.  The Lady of Eastwood.  Me.  I rather think the three of us might have tripped over each other in our rush to defend you from the Captain if your own personal prestige hadn't protected you.  Although, just the fact that we would do that probably gives you more prestige than the Captain.  I really don't know how he misread things so horribly."

"Smoke beat you to it anyway."  I said proudly.

"Yes, you have a rather large and strong familiar.  While it is exceedingly rare for an Elf to seek out a bond with a familiar, having one so powerful as yours also raises your prestige to astronomical heights. I would know, I've actually seen astronomical heights.  It's kinda my thing."  The Star Sailor smiled again at his own joke.  

Much to Daisy's dismay, I decided to prove a point at the evening meal that evening.  I arrived at the meal with Daisy in tow.  Mizzy was, of course, in on the plan and being Mizzy had everything set up.  When I saw space for the three of us at the table - one small place setting for me, one excessively large place setting for Daisy, and another small place setting for Mizzy - I was relieved.  I didn't think of thing like place settings, but of course Mizzy did.  

I was terrified about what might happen, but managed to keep it from showing.  At least I hope I did.

Another thing I hadn't considered but should have was that the King of All had assumed that I would be sitting at his table.  We were now, after all, considered "friends" by Elven standards.  One day I would understand what a huge obligation friendship was amongst the Elves.  That obligation worked in my favor that evening, even if I didn't know it at the time.

Mizzy kept up a quiet stream of advice for Daisy to keep her from embarrassing herself, while I chatted with my new "friends" and actual friends, like the Star Sailor, in an attempt to make it all seem as normal as possible.  The dinner started a little roughly, with negative looks from quite a few Elves and even some Kinderlings, a few of each went as fat as leaving the dinner.  None from our table did so.  

Mama and Father were there.  As was the Star Sailor, the King of All, and the Lady or Eastwood, as well as a few other Elves that I didn't know.  

"You certainly are unpredictable Tandy,"  Said the Lady of Eastwood, "I would never have dreamed I would have the opportunity to dine with one of the Gorf.  I will be telling this story for years to come."

"Daisy is a dear friend." I explained. "We have rescued each other more times than I would like to count."  That seemed to get the attention of not only the Elves at our table, but some of those at adjacent tables who were close enough to overhear.  I wasn't lying, it was true depending on how you looked at it.  I did rescue her from the Gorf Mountain King's mushroom farm, and she did carry me a long ways to get me back home to the garrison, and I believe I saved her from the Captain, or at very least that we shared that peril, and shared peril only serves to make a friendship stronger.  On top of that, as long as I understood the meaning of the stick carving ritual right, I have been inducted into Daisy's tribe, although I didn't say as much because I didn't know how it would be received.

Daisy, on the other hand, didn't hesitate.

"Tan-DEE member tribe." 

At first I wasn't sure if anyone understood what Daisy said.  A lot of the Elves were leaning in to hear what was going on.  Then an Elven soldier who happened to be passing by just then asked, rather loudly,  "Did that thing just say you were a member of it's tribe?!"  

"Daisy is not a THING, and she is my friend.  And yes, I was inducted into her tribe.  Is that a problem?"  

The Elven soldier looked left, then right, like he was looking for a way to escape.  Then he looked up, and up again, because Daisy stood up and grumbled.  I suspect she said something in Gorf, but was at a loss to know what it was.  The Elven soldier must have understood the meaning well enough because he deflated.  Visibly calmed himself, and looked straight at Daisy.

"Lady Gorf, I miss-spoke.  If I have offended you in any way, I apologize."  He even seemed to mean it, and he may very well have since if I understand Elven prestige, just sitting at the King of All's table granted Daisy a good bit of it.

Daisy looked at him confused for a moment, then leaned down so Mizzy could whisper something into her ear.  Then Daisy smiled and nodded, signaling her acceptance of his apology.  There were quite a few sighs of relief around the table and among the near-by Elves.  I was happy of that, because it helped cover my own.  I really didn't want my proving a point to erupt into bloodshed.

Once things calmed down and everyone was seated again, The Star Sailor startled us all by laughing out loud.  

"Tandy, I beg your permission to count you among my favorite people!  Just when I think I know everything, you surprised me yet again!"