The group made their way down the street.

Ash looked behind him. “Alright we should be able to make it to the gate now as long as we don't run into any more unexpected obstacles.”

“Is that Lilly?” asked Luke.

“Son of a -” Ash pulled Luke and Ave behind a few barrels.

Ave turned around. “What’s the matter now? Another one of your so-called acquaintances?”

Luke looked at Ash. “I’m with her on this one, Ash. Lilly was one of our best friends growing up. You can’t really think that she would tell the guards about me can you?”

Ash rolled his eyes. “I know she’s your friend. But you have to remember Lilly has an attention problem. She might recognize you, she might not. But if she does she might follow you around the town asking you all sorts of questions that we don’t have time to answer.”

Luke looked down. “I suppose that you’re right.”

“Trust me. Lilly’s attention is more trouble than we need right now.” said Ash.

Ave looked back down the street at the young woman who was idly peeking into various shop windows. “So what’s the plan?”

“Lilly’s weakness is curiosity. But she’s also incredibly indecisive. Here.” Ash summoned a pile of marbles into Ave’s hand.

“What are these for?” asked Ave.

“Tell her that she can have a marble. But she can only have one. We’ll sneak across when you’re in position.”

#

“Hello.” Ave said to get Lilly’s attention.

“Hello. How are you?” Lilly responded.

“Are you Lilly.”

“Yes that’s me.” Lilly started mumbling to herself. “Nose and eyes, statistically average. Height and weight, again statistically average. No noticeable birthmarks or hair colors. I don’t think we’ve met before. At least I can’t remember seeing you before.”

“I get that a lot. Here.” Ave pushed out a handful of marbles. “You can have one if you would like.”

“Are you sure? That is terribly generous of you.” Lilly leaned down to examine the marbles. “Let me see. Marbles huh? Spherical, slightly transparent, melted glass, yes these are definitely marbles.”

“Right. So did you want one?” asked Ave.

“Oh you’re giving them to me?” asked Lily.

“Yes. One. Only one apparently.”

“Why thank you. I think I will take one. If you really are giving it to me?”

“Yes that’s what I said.”

“Which one can I have?”

“Any one. I don’t think it matters.”

“So I can just take any one of them?”

“That's right.”

“But just one.”

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“Yes.”

“That’s still pretty good. I mean, free marble. Let me see.” Lilly started looking at the collection from various angles. She poked different marbles rolling them across Ave’s palm. “This one? No. Maybe this one? That’s not right either… do you have any recommendations?”

“Any recommendations?” Ave repeated.

“On which marble I should pick.” Lilly continued. “These are your marbles after all. I just wanted to know if there were any that were special or unusual, maybe you have a grading system, are there any that are your favorites, although it might be rude to pick those marbles. Just tell me which you think are the best. It doesn’t have to be your favorite, but where would you rank them? How about this one?” Lilly lifted a marble out of the pile.

“That one is great. Ten out of ten. You can have it.” said Ave.

“Ten out of ten huh?” Lilly placed it back in Ave’s hand. “That is really good. Almost too good. Let’s look at some more. We need to make sure that we have a good foundation for evaluation. You and I might have different criteria for judging the quality of marbles. How about this one?” Lilly held up a different marble.

“Uh? Seven?” said Ave.

“Okay. And this one?”

“I don’t know. Two?”

“Really? Just two?”

“Okay four.”

“That’s better. While we’re doing this we should really start building a qualitative array so that we can categorize the entire pile. I’m thinking columns for size, shape, and color. We can test translucency later under ideal conditions. Let me see if I have any graph paper in my pockets.” Lilly started rummaging around in her pockets.

“Actually you know what. Here.” Ave pushed the pile into Lilly’s hands. “You can have them all.”

Lilly suddenly pushed back. “No no. You said to take one. And that’s how many I’m going to take. I just have to pick the right one.”

“It’s fine. You can have them all.” said Ave.

“What am I going to do with all of these marbles? One is more than plenty.”

“Really I don’t care. Just take the whole lot.” Ave pushed again.

“I can’t just take all of your marbles. That wouldn’t be fair.” Lilly pushed back.

“They’re yours.”

“I only want one.”

“I’m giving them to you.”

“That’s too generous.”

“Please. You would be doing me a favor.”

“But I hardly know you.”

“Then think of it as a gift.”

“But I don’t have anything to give you in return.”

“That’s not necessary. Just take the marbles.”

“But I insist.”

“I don’t want anything.”

“Wait. I have an idea.”

Ave pause in mid marble shove.

Lilly continued. “I can’t take all of your marbles. I know. Let me pick out one and you can keep it.” Lilly pulled Ave’s hands towards her. “Let me see. This one? No. Maybe this one? That’s not right either…”

#

Luke and Ash were standing just inside of the entrance to an alley. Ave walked up to them from down the street.

“There you are.” Ash waved her over. “We were starting to think you got lost.”

“Your friend took some time picking me out a going away present.” Ave held up a single marble.

“At least you got out of there before dark. That’s pretty good.” Ash smirked.

“You sure know a lot about these people.” said Ave.

“Like I said. We are all childhood friends.” said Ash.

“And yet we’ve been avoiding them quite thoroughly.”

Ash looked annoyed. “It’s complicated.”

“How?”

*Sigh* Ash raised a hand. “Sometimes you have childhood friends that are the best, and you do everything together. And then one day they get rich and famous and leave town. And it’s sad because you miss them when they’re gone.” Ash raised his other hand. “Other times you have childhood friends that never leave town. So you never get a chance to miss them or know what it’s like when they’re not around. So you wind up resenting them because they’re a constant reminder of all your failures. So whenever you have the opportunity you take out your frustration on them and make them look like an idiot.” Ash dropped his hands. “Do you get it now? Do you have any friends like that?”

“No. I don’t have friends like that.” Ave’s hair fell in front of her eyes.

“I see.” said Ash.

“I have coworkers.”

“Are your coworkers a pain in your posterior?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well I don’t have any coworkers so I can’t really say if it’s the same.”

*Quietly* “I’m beginning to think that’s part of the problem.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Let’s keep moving.”