Current Quests

Justice For Courbefy: Find justice for the victims of the corrupt mayor of Courbefy. Use…

Chosen Of Knowledge: Escort Hugh on his journey to becoming a fully awakened iron…

Wine tour: Vineyard wants you to try the different wines in the Megève area.

Chosen Of Hero: Enter the chosen of hero into a tournament to gain notoriety.

No More Guards: Discuss your options for using your leverage with Madeleine Brisset…

“Johan!” called Sam. “Dave’s awake! Come, come!”

“Excuse me Missus Plamondon,” said Johan to the old lady he’d been talking to. “A friend of mine has woken from a coma and I must go to him. Will you be fine without me?”

The frail old woman smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

“You pay far too much attention to a silly old goose who burns herself on her own pots. Go, young man, go!”

Johan thanked Missus Plamondon and stepped after Sam. They’d been working in Healer’s Cathedral while Dave was in recovery. Both Sam and Hugh could heal. The clergy had been reluctant to let them at first but seeing as they’d be hanging around close to Dave anyway and that Sam had shoved an armful of alchemy ingredients across the reception desk shouting ‘Quest! Dave’s Quest!’, the clergy had gotten a divine update and put them to use.

The clergy quickly learned that this had been an amazing deal. Sam’s healing aura meant that anybody with stable injuries could just be stored near her. Those with cuts, bruises and broken parts healed over a matter of minutes around her. Those with other ailments, like a fellow who came in with an infected hand, could be kept in a stable condition until the healing clergy or Hugh got to them, and Sam knew who needed that extra attention thanks to Death Sight.

Hugh was also very valuable. Not only could he supply fast healing but his Cleanse Ally ability was instrumental in removing many of those ‘other ailments’ that Sam couldn’t do. Hugh saw to the man with the infected hand. He cleansed the man’s hand, got a nod from Sam that he had no more causes of death hanging over him and sent him to a nun for a final look over before sending him home. The Healer clergy welcomed the extra healing but didn’t entirely trust an outsider to give a clean bill of health.

Johan felt out of place with no healing skills but, naturally, did his wholehearted best to help everyone. He was surprisingly – and yet also not surprisingly at all when you stopped to think about it – useful everywhere he turned. It turned out, having a young, inhumanly strong, golden haired demigod-looking fellow wandering around handing out sympathy, good vibes and apple juice could lift the mood of a place up.

They’d been at it four days just waiting for Dave to wake up. Johan trembled with righteous anger at the betrayal of all people under the eyes of the good gods that Tiffany Geller had done. She had betrayed her noble lineage and trampled on the trust of the common folk. She was a villain. Johan could find no other way to describe it. She had used her god given right to rule to sin.

Dave’s injuries were horrific. And, he’d seen it after a day of treatment! A fractured zygomatic bone, broken maxilla, a fractured cervical vertebrae, pulled… every muscle in his neck, Hugh had only just finished memorising the names of the bones and was doing muscles next, and likely brain damage. Miss Brisset had said that the healers didn’t test for the brain damage since he was getting silver ranked healing anyway to regrow the jaw.

All because, according to Madeline Brisset, a woman more regal than the likes of any Geller could hope to be, Geller had lost her temper and attacked Dave. Thank the good gods that Miss Brisset had been there to hold Geller back and pour a silver ranked healing potion over Dave’s still breathing body.

Unfortunately, healing potions are meant to be imbibed, not applied topically, so the healing had been inefficient and just stabilised Dave as he was; without a jaw. They also said it likely healed a lot of other things which were about to immediately kill him, like swelling in the brain. Johan thought it was pretty odd that the brain couldn’t handle a little swelling but, like his dad always said, you live and learn. He smiled. He could use that line on Dave.

Hugh and Sam picked up Hugh from the recalcitrant cases wing and they all walked with purpose back to Dave’s room he’d been assigned in the persistent malady wing, on opposite sides of the sprawling Healer’s Cathedral complex. Johan didn’t notice as he calmed the spirits of everyone in the cathedral while Executive Services walked through the front-facing, worship and sermon part of the complex where people came, seeking Healer’s blessings.

Madeleine Brisset was already there by Dave’s side but his face lit up upon the sight of his friends coming through the door to his room. Or, at least, his face tried to light up. It wasn’t working properly. He definitely couldn’t talk, judging by the papers floating in the air under a rune on the ceiling – one of Miss Brisset’s abilities no doubt – and by the five pens that Dave was telekinetically controlling. From the looks of the writing, Dave had recently recounted the last thing he remembered and asked about what’d happened since. His language was less than complimentary about Lady Geller but while Johan knew he himself would never say something like that out loud, he found that he could agree with some of Dave’s words in the privacy of his own mind.

Dave quickly drew a big, happy face on one of the pieces of paper and was still writing ‘FRIENDS’ when Sam bounded to his side and got herself into a loop of wanting to hold his arm, pinch his cheek or restrain herself from smacking him. Dave exhaled in mirth but the movement made him clutch at his neck in pain. Still, he attempted a smile of some kind at her. She just smiled back at him and bounced with nervous energy. Johan was increasingly sure they had a secret smile language.

“Dave!” boomed Hugh, following Sam swiftly. “It’s good to see you awake again. A real relief, actually.”

Johan came in last and shook one of Dave’s hands. Dave squeezed back weakly with only the right side of his face attempting a strained smile. The left remained slack.

“It’s good to see you awake and moving again, Mister Booker,” said Johan.

I’m pleased to see all of you as well, wrote Dave on a hovering piece of paper, five pens at a time. One of the sisters and Brisset here have filled me in on what’s happened to me. How are you three?

“Us?” asked Sam, annoyed and once again restraining herself from slapping Dave’s shoulder. “You in coma for five days! We worried about you, ka!”

Her accent came out very strong when she was angry. Johan found he had to strain to understand some of her words but Dave seemed to be more like Miss Greenwood and have a knack for it.

I can’t control the left side of my face, any of the muscles in my neck and two of my ribs are sore. Other than that, I’m comfortable :) Brisset tells me you are all aware of the events that got me here and my expected recovery time?

Sam pinched Dave’s cheek, screwed up her face and raised her hand to slap him again. Johan touched her raised arm to forestall anything that’d set Dave’s recovery back.

“Yes, Brisset filled us in. We are utterly shocked that a noble the likes of a Geller would be so callous like this and we stand by your side, Dave,” said Johan, looking to the others for support.

Wow. :O You and I need to have a talk about nobles sometime, Johan. And, on a separate piece of paper Dave also wrote. So, you see, Sam,🙂 I’m quite safe and as fine as I can be, all things considered. Please let me think about you and tell me how you’ve been?

“Well, I can tell you that I’ve been getting along well enough,” said Hugh, patting Sam’s arm while she deflated a little. “I’ve been staying at the dormitories in the Knowledge Cathedral but spending my days here at Healer’s. We all have, actually.”

Sam broke into an even wider smile and nodded at Dave.

“I have been healing people,” said Sam, beaming pure pride at Dave. “The sisters get people to sit near me and I heal them.” Sam covered her mouth and giggled. “We say, ‘Oh yes, that feeling is Healer’s aura!” She laughed scandalously. “But it is me. All day I read any book. Sometimes I even read to children and all the time I am healing people!”

Are you also in the Knowledge dorms? Wrote Dave.

Sam shook her head, smiling.

“Death’s Cathedral has given me a room. A nice big one!” said Sam before biting her lip and shrinking in on herself a little without losing her smile. “They say I can have it if you visit their door before you leave the city, ka?”

I think I might have already visited death’s door 😆 but I’ll do it again for you, Sam. Johan chuckled quietly at Dave’s witticism. Dave was already writing on another piece of paper. That was a lie. I was going to visit all the god’s doors anyway. They’re reliable quest givers. There was a moment when the pens stopped and Dave’s eyes focused into the distance. Actually, I don’t suppose someone could wheel me out to a local Vineyard church later?

Both Johan and Brisset gave Sam and Hugh sidelong looks.

“Oh, he has a quest from Vineyard to turn in, is all,” said Hugh, “But you can turn that in anytime, can’t you Dave?”

Actually, yes. Wrote Dave. Just sick of seeing it in my quest log, I suppose. What’ve you been up to, Johan? Bunking in the house of Hero? Saving cats and helping old ladies across the street?

“How did you know I saved a cat?” asked Johan.

Lucky guess 😐, wrote Dave. Continue.

“Oh! Well, I’ve been bunking in Healer’s Cathedral, just helping out here and there, you know?” said Johan, exuding wholesomeness.

“You? Who managed to calm down and practically tame Lady O’Sullivan?” asked Brisset in a warm, sceptical tone. “I judge that to be more than a here and there, Johan.”

“The staff have all been saying that the queues have never been so orderly,” said Hugh, affecting a mild air of mystery.

“Well,” said Johan, wholesomeness pushing through the atmosphere like a power saw through wood. “That’s just because people will do the right thing if you give them that chance.”

Okay then, Dave wrote, back to the real topic of keeping a smile on Sam’s face and talking about me. Now that the team is here, how’s my legal situation, Brisset? You brought it up earlier.

“Yes. With pleasantries out of the way?” inquired Brisset, stepping forward, straight backed and proud.

Dave drew a smiley face while giving a thumbs up. The rest of the team followed Dave’s lead with various body language.

“Then let me state your position plainly. Lady Tiffany Geller of Oullins has attacked a lawful subject of another lord,” said Brisset and hesitated a bit. “Or, at least, lawful as far as she knows. Sam told me about you volunteering yourself into our clan. Very clever.”

Not a fan of legally being the property of another lord, wrote Dave.

“Then you’ll be glad to know for sure that the Remore family agrees with you there,” said Brisset, “but we must work within the confines of the local legal system. It actually works out for the best here, in a way. Like most of the world, this area has rank rights and because Roland Remore is a diamond ranker he can exert quite a lot of pressure on Baron Franchet. Who is gold rank, by the way, I don’t know if anybody told you.”

They didn’t, thank you, wrote Dave amongst a chorus of politely shaken heads.

“You’re welcome,” said Brisset with a slight tilt of her head. “So, the legal situation is simple. Roland Remore is putting pressure on Franchet who is putting pressure on Geller to make all of this go away before Remore brings this matter to court.

“I say we take it to the courts,” said Johan. His hair seemed to flow perfectly into place as he lifted his head. “And, expose this criminal Geller before Justice!”

Brisset shook her head.

“That’ll be embarrassing for Geller but worse for Franchet,” said Brisset, her deep voice smoothing over Johan’s righteous indignation. “Geller is too well connected, rich and powerful to be taken down in an iron rank criminal case. I’m sorry little hero but that’s just the way the world is.” Brisset actually smiled and put her hand on Johan’s arm. “I like your thinking, though. Practically, our options are…”

Brisset broke off seeing that Dave was writing her words before she spoke them.

- Take the money

- Move into her direct employ

- Introduction to noble society

- Deed of land ownership

- Other

“Ah,” said Brisset with a smile. “Your team told me about your quest ability.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t think the ability had to work hard. They’re the most obvious things she has the power to do. I’m thinking I’ll take the money but I’m open to recommendations? Dave wrote and his eyes flicked around to everyone.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Well, I say, there’s definitely pros and cons to each of them,” said Hugh, staring at the bit of paper.

My take is that the middle three require a social acumen that we don’t have in this team, wrote Dave, and, frankly, I don’t want to socialise with nobles. I just want their stuff.

Sam and Johan stared at the words on the paper in stupefied silence. The ideas on it were beyond their imaginations. Noble society? Land ownership? However, Brisset coolly considered the options and answered.

“A fair take on the matter, in your position,” said Brisset. “Tell me, how do you intend to ‘take their stuff’?”

You could hear the quotation marks being pronounced in her polite, regal tone.

Because of my abilities, wrote Dave, quest ability + magic admin abilities + see disguised things? I’m getting hired to solve mysteries for sure, right?

“You seem very confident,” said Brisset hesitantly.

“Dave casually solved three financial crimes in Megève while sitting at the bar,” said Hugh. “If anything he’s understating.”

“Then yes,” said Brisset decisively. “With a name like Executive Services and crime solving abilities, nobles will employ you. That leaves taking money in recompensense or ‘other’. For ‘other’ I can only suggest some magical items? The Gellers definitely have some good items in their vaults. Especially iron rank items?”

“Johan could use a good suit of armour,” said Hugh. “I’m fine, of course.”

And, I doubt the Gellers have any items specific for Sam’s abilities.

Sam just smiled broadly at Dave and then around the room, while trying to shrink, hunching her shoulders a bit.

Besides, we can get her some good gear cheaply anyway so the money option is still best.

“Myself, I would rather fight in my undergarments than suffer the armour of the Gellers,” said Johan.

Can we make that happen?😀, Dave wrote to Brisset who arched an eyebrow. Joking. Seriously though, I considered that but unless she has something that we can’t buy, I’d prefer to distance myself from Geller as swiftly and cleanly as possible.

“That’s probably for the best,” said Brisset.

“I agree entirely,” said Johan. “We should also reject her tainted coin a-”

He was interrupted by Sam stomping on his foot. She smiled up at him brightly.

“I wouldn’t reject the coin out of hand, Johan,” said Hugh carefully. “After all, I don’t believe that the coins will actually be tainted in any way?”

“They won’t be,” confirmed Brisset. “Perhaps, Johan, you could think of it as good taking back what is rightfully theirs from evil?”

“Then I shall,” said Johan after a moment of internalising the new idea.

Take the bitch for as much you can, wrote Dave. You should be able to get a lot since we can dress it up as having nothing to do with me. How do you open a business in this area?

“Just just open the doors?” speculated Hugh.

“Unless there’s a guild you have to join,” interjected Johan. “I remember the blacksmith in Forel got in trouble one year for hiring out of guild.”

“If you tell me the business, I’ll ask the legal experts I’m meeting with tomorrow,” said Brisset, cutting off further speculation.

Bulk goods? Hydrogen? Do you guys know what that is? No? Gas, I suppose. I want to make purified gas, bronze rank but I can start with iron.

Even Brisset looked confused.

Hydrogen is a gas that makes your voice high pitched and burns in atmosphere. When I was with the Charcoal Knights I tried to look up chemical prices but this plane didn’t have any. I can only guess compressed gas is rare. But, making lightning isn’t! In fact, energy production is stupidly cheap in this world.

“Ah!” said Brisset, figuring it out a moment before Hugh. “It’s something from your original world. Some kind of unique magic? I actually want to talk to you about that later. Hugh said you’re actually an outworlder?”

“Sorry, Dave. She asked directly. And to you, Brisset,” said Hugh. “I didn’t mention that although Dave’s reality doesn’t have magic, they have non-magical innovations that surpass our own magics in some ways. Like a world-wide communication system accessible to all!”

Brisset looked at Dave with raised eyebrows.

It’s true. The important thing right now is that my people are better at certain types of alchemy and at generating materials. One of them is hydrogen, a gas that is lighter than air. I think that if I can make iron or bronze rank hydrogen it’ll have enormous buoyancy properties. Like the opposite of high ranked metals crushing low ranked furniture?

“But, you can’t make ranked air, can you?” inquired Brisset with genuine interest.

“Ah, but of course you can,” said Hugh, putting on his academic voice. “The presence of ranked air is, experts think, part of the reason why normal rankers die in some silver or gold ranked areas. It’s just that most of the time, the ranked air dissipates and loses its magic so quickly that it’s pointless trying to make any. Air is considered a safe dumping ground for magic for this reason. Only people with air-controlling abilities have ever kept it still long enough for the Magic Society to study its properties.

Please get me those studies. I’m pretty sure I’m right but it’d be nice to confirm.

“But what good shall this light air do anybody?” said Johan.

“Alchemists will find a use for it,” remarked Brisset down her nose. “They always do.”

“Is for flying,” said Sam, her face alight with wonder. “Buoyant! Like boats, but in air! Floating boats!” Sam giggled.

Dave drew multiple smiley faces in the margins of his writings and Sam beamed at him.

“Well done indeed, Sam!” said Hugh, “How did you figure that out so fast?”

“Dave was talking about needing a vehicle, remember?” ask Sam, still beaming like a beacon. “And you said that we couldn’t afford flying vehicle but when Dave asked for money I thought maybe he is saving for a vehicle? And then floating in the air and I think, ‘Oh! Dave is making a floating vehicle!’”

That’s actually a pretty good summary of my thought process, wrote Dave.

“I believe the Remore family would like to see if such an idea could possibly work,” said Brisset. “What would you need?”

For starters, I would need an alchemist to react iron rank glacial acetic acid, the acid from vinegar, with iron rank iron filings, bubble the resultant gas through water and capture it in a sealed bladder, then I would need a measurement of how much mass it can carry at both normal and iron rank.

“Is that all?” said Brisset. “I could do that myself, I’m sure. I know some basic alchemy.”

“And you don’t want the idea to get out, I’m sure,” chuckled Hugh.

“Trade secrets,” giggled Sam to Johan and Dave who hadn’t quite caught up.

I forgot that this world doesn’t have the patent system yet. Nevermind. Yes, please do it yourself if you’d be so kind. That will be the first investment that I’ll ask of you to organise with Geller. And she should be generous because it’ll affect the local economy, correct?

“It would be in her best interests, yes,” said Brisset with a hint of iron in her voice.

Good. Once you have all the coin concessions out of the way, hit her with a restraining order for Adventure Society corruption.

“I’m sorry?”

“What?”

“Dave!”

“Righteous!”

Everyone looked at Johan.

“I don’t need to know what it is,” he said defensively. “But a restraining order sounds exactly like the kind of thing that ought to be hit upon Geller.”

Dave was already writing.

A legal agreement that she will not have anything to do with me by word or deed even indirectly.

“I’m not aware of any laws that would allow this,” said Brisset, “but I’m sure something can be arranged. I presume you have evidence of this corruption? A detail you haven't yet supplied?”

Ask the Charcoal Knights everything about the origins of the job to come and get me. Time, place, exact words used and all. From there you’ll be able to narrow it down to a list of AdS admin who either accessed Hugh’s tracking stone and/or received the letter we sent about Builder cultists in that astral space. Someone will remember something for sure. Hugh has a rather unique kind of provisional badge that people will remember and I’m sure they don’t get letters about Builder cultists in old astral pocket mines every day.

“Oh, you,” said Brisset, almost coyly. “I’m going to like giving you a lot of work.”

Dave drew smiley faces in the margins again.

Brisset left soon after that to arrange matters with her legal advisors and get things into motion. Also, Dave suspected, to try that alchemy experiment. She seemed very keen on that. He chatted with his friends for an hour but eventually insisted they get back to work. He knew they’d feel worse for it inside if they wasted hours with him and saw lines of sick people later. He did make them promise to come back for card games in the evening, though.

Despite the situation, Dave was not bored. Not at all. He couldn’t let his familiars out yet, the nurses had told him to leave them inside, they’d help with the healing, but he’d been given a few books on healing theory and he was definitely going to get in trouble for using Stop And Think on every page. He wasn’t supposed to use his abilities overly much yet and the sister who was coming in to assist with his afternoon recovery dose of healing was definitely going to notice.

That was actually something he’d hoped to solve with even more use of Stop And Think. From what he read so far, stamina use from abilities and movement were pretty similar and he’d been encouraged to try and move. It seemed that what was important was not using all of his stamina and passing out. He just had to prove it. By using more stamina.

This healing stuff was fascinating. It was, as far as Dave could tell, a kind of magic that referenced the soul for what to do but the more he read, the more it seemed that the soul also referenced the body in turn. After that, this world’s ability to do microscopy and chemistry really let them down. He was pretty sure that the soul was referencing the mind, as supported by the brain, as well as the DNA to reconstruct a body when affected by healing magic. But, then there was the fact that the body changed into a more idealised version as a person ranked up. Dave desperately wanted to run some tests. The same healing spell on people, mice, insects, plants and yeast would be informative.

Head buzzing with possibilities and piles of notes stacking up around Dave, the afternoon nursing sister walked in on him reading about non-mana based healing. She had to put her finger on top of the book and tip it over onto Dave’s lap to get his attention.

“Oh! Sorry sister,” said Dave.

She just shook her head.

He floated a piece of paper over to her. She looked at it.

My stamina never went below half, wrote Dave apologetically at the top of his small paper on stamina usage in the sick

“Too clever for your own good,” said the sister in a long suffering tone. “I’ll show this to the head healer, though.” She pressed her lips into a smile. “It looks like you’ve been working hard at health, though. Perhaps the Lord of this house has inspired you after all.”

Dave shut his mouth, nodded and took his medicine.

----------------------------------------

Madeline didn’t take long at all to set up the legal matters. A draft of some financial arrangements from an accountant on the Remore retainer and an iron ranker with a recording crystal portaled to Marnaz. Then, she shut the doors to the rooms she was using on the Green estate and performed the alchemy experiment. If you could call it that. Perhaps Booker’s people had a word for it? Alchemy with no alchemy.

And it worked. She’d had to seal some gaps in the apparatus with drops of solder but, by Knowledge of ages it worked! The ‘glacial acetic acid’, as Booker had written it, had been called ‘ice-chip vinegar acid’ by the local alchemist. She’d said it was used in etching, but today it’d been put into the apparatus, the iron filings went in, there was foaming, bubbling and the bladder had started to inflate. Then rise.

“Fuck etching,” said Madeline. She exhaled in astonishment and fumbled around trying to stop the experiment, save the inflated bladder and get to the mansion’s water link at the same time. In the end, the experiment was left running, the inflated bladder was pinched off, twisted and she’d tied it to her wrist with some string. To keep both hands free.

“Naseem Bahadir,” said Madeline clearly into the water link and waited several minutes for Naseem’s face to appear in the water flowing over the stone.

“Naseem, does that misguided cousin of yours still have contacts with ship builders?”

“Nice to see you too, Madeline,” said Naseem with a full body laugh. Naseem’s robes were muted in colour thanks to the water link but it was still possible to tell they were colourful and bearing disjointed patterns which contrasted with his smooth, midnight black skin. “But yes, Emir has a cloud flask so I think someone on his staff would have the contacts.” Naseem smiled broadly. “He wouldn’t know himself. Don’t you know what he’s like?”

“I do, yes,” said Madeline, standing even taller. “Can you get to those contacts through him? We’re going to need them for this.”

Naseem leaned forward to see better as Madeline pulled the string and brought the floating bladder into view.

“This isn’t a ritual, formation, array or anything like that, Naseem,” said Madeline. “This inflated bladder is floating. Without magic. No floating rock dust from the Hua Xi forests or anything.” She cut the string with a knife and let the balloon float out of view on the water link. “Flight without magic.”

“How could this be?” said Naseem all business. “Most of the Magic Society says it is impossible.” His face suddenly split back into a grin. “Wait, no! The outworlder? We got a good one?”

“I think so,” said Madeline, trying to hold back a silly grin in return. “Flight without magic and do you know what he made it with?”

“What?” asked Naseem, grinning with her.

“Vinegar and iron filings!” exclaimed Madeline.

Naseem roared with laughter.

“You have got to be joking, Madeline!” Naseem was slapping his thighs and brushing his braided and beaded hair out of his face. “Foodstuff and industrial waste? Are you serious?”

“Absolutely, I’m shocked to say,” said Madeline. “The outworlder, Booker is his name, casually dictated the alchemical formula to me along with a causal suggestion that he commission an airship made of unranked materials to keep costs down.”

Naseem roared with laugher again, his whole body joining in.

“He thumbs his nose to the Magic Society and does it on a budget!” Naseem slapped his thigh. “Oh, I love it. What a story! I would think you are being completely tricked but he’s an iron ranker, right? He can't lie to you. Perhaps he believes the trick himself?”

“No,” said Madeline, shaking her head. “I purchased the alchemy equipment and materials myself. He is still unaware I’ve even done the alchemy. I get the feeling that where he comes from, this knowledge is common.”

“So,” confirmed Naseem. “We have an outworlder with knowledge of alchemy from beyond our world who wants to make a flying machine that flies without magic. Yes, I can get in touch with Emir’s people and ask who to talk to. Definitely. Anything else?”

“No,” said Madeline.

“Madeline,” said Naseem in a placating voice. “I know you’re independent and capable but am I really supposed to report to Roland ‘Oh, yes sir. And that little thing you sent Madeline to look into turns out to really have been an actual outworlder and we totally hit the jackpot with this one when he revolutionised air travel by accident but I didn’t send her any help and she doesn’t need anything.’ How does that sound to you?”

“I see your point,” said Madeline stiffly. “If you think it’s worth Roland’s personal attention,” she relented as Naseem nodded. “Tell him that the outworlder killed Tiffany Geller’s son with the help of an iron rank death essence user, who is actually quite a lovely girl, and that I could use his personal signature on some documents to make sure that Gellar backs off and stays off.”

“By Truth and Death,” laughed Naseem. “There’s another entire story inside this. No wonder Roland loves outworlders.” He smiled and shook his head, careful not to mess his hair. “I’ll pass it along but I think Roland will want a full report that we don’t have time for on this link.”

“And I’ll make sure he has it,” said Madeline. “Goodbye for now Naseem.”

“Stay safe, Madeline.”