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The Price of Peace

Hello again. Today I learned that it is important to know what is going on before agreeing to anything.

When I woke up it was long before sunrise. I guess if you fall asleep with the sun still up you wake up with it still down.

Julius and I decided to explore the big blue place some while we had the chance.

Like the exterior, the inside of the big blue building were made of flowing curves and sweeping corridors. All in whites and ivorys. A dark blue carpet covered the middle of the floor in the corridors. Handidly muffling the sound of footsteps.

The entrance led into a large hall. With doors to the left right and front. The left led to the food room. The right led to a place full of beds with people in them. This place also stank of sweat.

The door to the front led into a massive room with a titanic table dominating the middle of it. Decorations and shiny things glittered on the wall and the ceiling here. A balcony traveled along both sides of the room. And the far side of the room from the doorway was all blue glass. Designed to look like a storm at sea with a few small golden boats caught in the waves. It glowed in the moonlight casting an eerie soft blue color over everything inside.

Quite lovely.

Back in the entry room. On either side of the door leading to the blue glass room were stairs. They swept grandly to the left and right respectively. Meeting at a railed platform overlooking the entryway just above the doors to the blue glass room.

The platform was attached to a corridor running left to right and with four more doors in it. Two of the doors let one out onto the left and right balconies respectively, and the other two were at either end of the corridor. The door to the right led to yet another corridor with my room and several other empty ones like it running its length. The door to the left led to a nearly identical corridor only with fewer rooms that harbored Francis, Sister, Father Daddy, and Mother Mum.

At the end of these corridors were another door leading outside onto a moonlit deck overlooking a water garden. Small aquatic animals swam through the roots of water plants, and bunchs of water grasses slowly swayed under the crystal clear liquid. Hardly a ripple shook the surface, and the moon was reflected clearly on it.

I sat on a small stone bench and watched the garden until the sun had risen.

Then I went for some breakfast. I was spotted by a nice but angry person and scolded harshly for snatching the lamb from the spit the other day. Then they gave me something called a dumpling and told me to just ask if I am hungry next time.

I was sitting on a bench overlooking the water garden, and blissfully munching on the dumplings with Julius doggedly chewing his way through a massive edible orange root when Francis found me.

I guess the water garden is the product of Sisters hard work for years. I will have to reevaluate him now. If he can make something like this then he isn't nearly as useless as I had thought.

Once again Francis urged and prodded me into the crowds. Ugh. Why does he like it out here so much!

We made our way to a small building and went inside. Thankfully it was much quieter inside. Though it was still crowded. Young people in colorful garb strutted about in small packs chittering like Julius whe he's hungry. Sister was already there and they quickly took custody of Julius and carried him off into the currents of coats and skirts.

My protests were futile and ignored.

I grumbled some and made my way over to a table holding what smelled like food. Along the way some of the more colorful people deliberately bumped into me. Still a little peeved with the abduction of Julius I was in a bad mood and they all made way after meeting my eyes.

Behind me I could hear disapproving mutters but if they can't bother to say it loud and clear then I can't be bothered to care.

Once I reached the food I saw the Oddity from yesterday again. It had a marvelous purple chin today. Its hair was still up though. Saying hello I proceeded to fumble some food into my hands before I continued to stare at its hair. The bit of forehead I could see was getting redder and redder. And I saw a vein bulging beneath its skin. How interesting.

I had noticed it was getting louder around me but I assumed it had nothing to do with me and ignored it.

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I was wrong.

Somehow I found myself once again in the sand place standing across from the Oddity again. This time he had friends though. A beardy holding a shield as larger as he was. A wing person with a bent stick with a string on it. A tall hairy person with a very large shiny club. And a short and very lumpy person wearing all white and holding a knobby stick.

Standing in front of them was the Oddity. A shiny stick similar to the one I kept yesterday in one hand and in the other a sad looking fireball.

If they were teaming up then so was I. So I took Julius back from Sister to mutual protest which I magnificently igored and plopped him on my head.

The oddity and its team looked very angry except the lumpy one who was just staring at Julius with shiny eyes. 

I had figured out by now that we were going to fight so I decided to start this time. 

Using a burst of fire from my left foot I charged the shield beard and using Julius' rocket flight technique I kicked him right in the shield. He flew away.

Next I spun in a circle and clasped my hands before jumping up and bringing them down of the big hairy guys head. He brought up his club to block, but I just hit it anyway.

My hands hurt but he got buried.

The wing person flew up and put another stick against his bent stick. Then he pulled and somehow the second stick came flying at me super fast!

Julius was faster though. He rocketed off my head directly into the wing persons guts. Neither of us had killed anyone yet as it didn't seem like that was the goal here. Plus I had tried wih the big hairy guy and some kind of force had stopped my blow from being lethal. Barriers are super annoying.

The lumpy one was gaping at Juluis in midair so he did and encore and smacked lumpy into the sand with a kick.

In a fit of amusement I let the Oddity hit me with his fireball. It burned off my shirt and vest, shame, but it wasn't even hot! So I punched him on his purple chin and took the shiny stick as another souvenir.

Francis was laughing and he went into this whole long speech about knowing your place which I ignored. He is super loud you know?

I was sick of all this. It is time I move on.

I helped carry the Oddity and his team to the place with the noisy white clothed people and some guy handed me a pouch of very heavy and shiny discs.

A reward I guess? I left Francis gloating and headed into the crowds. Lots of people were pointing at me and I realized I had no shirt on again. Whatever. I asked around for a place to get stuff and a nice old person led me to a thing called a general store. Inside were lots of things and Julius and I went happily looting through the store.

I grabbed another set of clothes in drab greys and browns that I couldn't burn. Took me a while to find them. After I burned the first dozen outfits or so a crying man pushed them into my hands. I thanked him. It is important to be polite.

I also found a sharp shiny thing called a knife I used to replace my stone slicer. A thing called a tent to protect me from any more rains as well as a cloak in case I got caught by surprise. The nice man immediately handed me a fire proof one. He is very nice.

Julius found some little hollow metal balls that make a pleasant chiming sound. I took some leather strips and made him a little necklace with them hanging on it. Eveytime he hops they chime and if he wants to he can sit up on his hind legs and bat at them with his front ones for fun. I also made it so he can easily take them off if he wants too.

I handed the nice man the pouch of rewards and he thanked me very loudly and pushed a pair of waterskins and a set of pots, pans, and cooking utensils on me along with a complimentary back pack to put all of them in. I handed back the backpack and just tucked them all into my satchel. He fainted.

I then went back to the big blue house. Asked for some food and picked up the other sharp shiny stick I had kept after I pulled it from my guts. Gathering the food from the food room I left the big blue house and walked through the streets looking for a way out of this crowded loud place. 

I asked a poleese and they pointed me towards a tall thin building. Once I entered I noticed it was even more crowded inside then out. Large floating structures would drift over too the building and people and goods would leave them. Then more people and goods would enter the. I watched this happen a few times before I tried to go on one. 

A person in shiny clothes stopped me an said I would need a ticket and then pointed at the loudest most crowded place in the building and said I could get one there.

Nah.

Instead I snuck over to the place where they were loading the goods. The incoming and outgoing stuff was right next to each other. I found a nice big container that looked kind of comfortable and emptied its contents, which were sliver spheres with glowing red lines on them. 

In order to not be noticed I shifted the large number of spheres into a weirdly long narrow barrel. There was a spot that was clearly designed for loading the spheres. It even had pictures of how to do it. 

The first couple dozens were easy but after that I had to really shove and force them in. Little red lights started flashing here and there along the long narrow barrel. Finally, I managed to move them all over and made myself at home in the big container. I had to crouch and I couldnt straighten and of my limbs but it wasn't so bad. 

Better than a crowd. 

I felt the container shift and bump a bit before it settled again. Figuring I had been moved I went to open the top. But it is stuck. I guess they put another box on top of mine? Oh well.  I can wait.

Suddenly I heard alarms and screaming. A sickening lurch from the world around me sent me careening around the limited space inside my box. I cradled Julius to my chest to keep from squishing him and after a while things settled down.

BOOOOOM!!! 

A massive blast came from nowhere and everywhere at once. More careening happened. 

Things have settled down some now. Julius and I had some supper and now I guess I'll get some sleep.

Goodnight.