Yara had had the poor luck of making landfall in the middle of a torrential downpour. The sudden crash of thunder over the rushing rain startled her, and she looked for shelter the moment she entered the city of Yulvat. She saw a tavern and immediately rushed for it. The overhang out front of the pub would do just fine to shelter Helena, and so Yara left her there before entering. She tried not to slam the door on her way in and quickly closed it behind her to stop the rain from flooding the place. Yara looked around the tavern, it was a little dark and hard to see, but she could make out the silhouettes of people in the crowd.

  She saw a young, handsome man with pulled-back blond hair stand behind the bar cleaning a glass. Patrons sat around the tables, either quietly or loudly enjoying their drinks. Immediately she made her way to the bar and sat on one of the stools. Yara hadn't seen her before when she surveyed the room, but one of the other stools was occupied by a woman. She was slender and wore a form-fitting wine-red dress. Her waist was adorned by a dark corset, which at least to Yara looked slightly uncomfortable by how tightly it was wound around her waistline. The woman sat leaned forward in her direction, her elbows rested on her knees. She was apparently anything but ashamed of the size of her chest, the way she sat allowed anyone to stare directly into her bosom. Yara didn’t look at the woman's face, she was too tired to start a conversation.

  ‘Can you give me something strong?’ asked Yara of the barman as she cast two pyrite coins over the wooden countertop. He looked around the barely visible small kegs behind him until he found one he felt appropriate and used its tap to fill a glass. Yara’s eyes were focused on her right hand, which rested on the counter. The woman placed her hand over hers. She looked up at her. In a split second Yara took in the woman's face. Her dark, wavy, in places curly hair covered part of her face, nearly hiding her warm brown eyes. The woman's nose was straight but had a slight curve upward near the tip, and her deep-red lips were curled into a wicked, playful smile. Yara could swear there was something off about her eyes but she couldn’t tell clearly.

  ‘Did you want something from me?' Yara asked bluntly. The woman snickered.

  'Well, kind of,' she said, 'I was only a little surprised by the fact that you sat down next to a beautiful woman without saying a word to her.'

  ‘I didn’t want to bother you,’ Yara replied, 'I know what it's like to be badgered by strangers in a bar.'

  ‘That’s certainly surprising, you’d be the first,’ the woman said, 'wouldn't be the only thing you're a first of. I've never gotten... up-close-and-personal with a knight before.'

  Yara quietly winced to herself, now she knew what the woman was doing. Barring the fact that she wasn't a knight, she just wasn't interested in what she had in mind. The barman brought Yara her drink and she thanked him. She had to think of an excuse, ‘I’m sorry, I’m quite tired,’ she said, pulling her hand off the counter and away from the woman’s.

  'That's okay, I can take it slow.'

  Yara ignored her comment and turned her attention to the man behind the counter, ‘do you have a spare room I could stay in?’

  ‘You want one or two beds?’ he gestured at both Yara and the woman.

  ‘Smallest room available, please.’

  ‘Cozy,’ said the woman, a sly smirk grew on her face, ‘sure there’s enough space for the two of us?’

  ‘It’s just for myself, thanks,’ Yara said as the barkeep handed her a small key.

  'You can pay in the morning,' he said. She thanked him and got up from her seat. She was about to turn around and walk away when the woman grabbed her by the arm. Yara turned to look at the woman and found her standing only a few inches away from her.

  ‘Come see me when you’re less tired,’ she said, ‘I live in the Mansion district, close to the outer walls, I’m sure we can… work something out there.’

  Yara gave the woman a tired look, yet again she winced a little. She still couldn’t place exactly what was wrong with the woman's eyes, not even now that they were a lot closer, ‘fine, now let me go,’ Yara said with the full intent of being rude. She shook the woman's hand away with surprising ease.

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

* * *

  That next morning Yara bumped her head on the wall of her room. She’d asked for the smallest room available but hadn’t anticipated she’d move that much in the night. She sat up and blew her undone hair out of her face before she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her armour was spread across the floor in separated pieces and Yara had to take care not to stumble over it on her way out. She carried in her hands a small pouch of coins and left it on the unmanned countertop. Now having paid she returned to her room and began to pack up her things. What the woman had said the night before about “seeing her tomorrow” had stuck in Yara’s head. She wasn’t remotely interested in any sort of advances the woman had tried to make, but the constant badgering she’d done had begun to nag at her a little. She wondered exactly what could’ve driven her to be so persistent, and in a need for answers she decided to pay the woman a visit.

  Yara was out onto the street and on horseback as soon as she was finished inside. Some of the citizens had already begun their work for the day, and each that Yara passed looked at her with disdain. Yulvat was the only region she’d been to where a female knight went unappreciated. To them it didn't matter whether or not she really was a knight. She was a woman in armour, riding on horseback, and to them that was simply abnormal. Yulvat's county had been part of Anglavar for over half a decade now and it didn't seem like the locals were planning to adapt their social norms to those of their neighbours. The unfriendly glares continued right up until Yara passed into a street of big, almost mansion-like houses.

  Most of these buildings, at least in the outer circle, closely hugged the city walls. Yara found it annoying that the woman hadn't exactly given her much to go on. There were plenty of houses here, so she'd have to look for anything that could tip her off herself. Fortunately she didn’t have to wonder for long, as she saw the woman standing in front of an opened door. She still wore the same dark dress she’d seen the day before, open décolletage and all. Yara got off her horse and walked up the porch of the large house, where the woman greeted her.

  ‘If you’d just follow me inside, we can talk more there,’ she said before Yara could open her mouth. The living room was well-decorated, with some of the décor perfectly complementing the rest. Yara could tell that this house was owned by someone rich, likely the woman’s parents. The walls were pristine white with golden patterning and ornamentation, while the furniture was mostly darker colours such as deep brown, with velvety red pillows.

  'you said we could work something out, right?'

  'I did, sit,' the woman gestured at a long, comfortable looking couch. Yara obliged and sat down.

  'I'm not usually invited over to someone's house,' she said. It was true, the only times that'd happen is if she was discussing a contract and the weather took a turn for the worse.

  'Really? that surprises me,' said the woman as she sat down next to Yara, leaning a little in her direction. The skirt of her dress had gone, instead revealing a pair of stockings being held up by garter belts, 'I can hardly be the first to try,' she smirked as she tried to reach for Yara's arm.

  'What did you want to discuss with me?' she asked as she looked at the woman, she was a little confused at what was happening. She leaned back slightly to avoid her.

  'well, how about yourself?' the woman gently stroked Yara's arm, to which she responded by pulling her arm away. The woman pouted, 'not a fan?'

  'not really, no.'

  'I can promise that it's fun,' something in her voice wavered, a hint at whether or not she really believed what she was saying. Just a tiny bit of insecurity in her voice.

  'I thought you had a contract for me to work on.'

  'A contract? we can call it that if you'd like,' the woman snickered.

  'do you have any details for me?' Yara asked, completely misunderstanding her flirting as a serious statement.

  'well, there's this creature in my house that needs subduing,' said the woman as she turned toward Yara and leaned closer to her, 'it's feisty, and it's wild.'

  'Well that's really not much to go off of,' Yara said, 'what does it look like? can you tell me anything else?'

  'I can show you,' the woman gave her a cheeky grin as she tried kiss Yara, who instinctively backed off and got up from where she was sitting.

   'Please stop,' said Yara, 'I'd like to help you but if you don't have anything I can do for you I'd prefer to leave,' she watched as the woman sat back. A long prehensile tail grew from the base of her hips, and two L-shaped upward curving horns began to appear out of the side of her head. It appeared like they were forming out of smoke. Yara connected the dots and finally recognised what the woman was. She was a sootwraith. Ghosts made of smoke, people who died awful deaths by fire. It explained why she hadn't seen her before at the bar, she'd only appeared after she'd looked around, because she simply hadn't been there before. Yara wanted to walk toward the door to leave when she got no initial response from the woman.

  'Wait!' she called, 'wait I'm sorry.'

  'I'm not interested. It's not that- you're not- I'm not attracted to women,' Yara stumbled over her words, a little flustered by what'd happened.

  'No, not that, that's okay, I think I could genuinely use your help,' said the woman, 'I don't- I'm not doing this because I want to.'

  'This... what exactly were you trying?' asked Yara, she turned around and cocked her head to one side.

  'Well, I was trying to seduce you.'

  Yara carefully walked towards the woman again, keeping her wits about her this time around, 'I didn't catch on, sorry, I've never been good with subtlety,' she said.

  The woman glanced at her. Her expression was apologetic, reserved even, 'I tried to make you follow me and you didn't even know my name,' she said, 'it's Julie, Julie Ciel,' she pronounced her J quite softly as anyone with a Yilgran accent would.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Julie,’ said Yara as she avoided looking Julie in the eyes, ‘my name is Yara.’

  'I'm sorry about what happened, I should've stopped when you told me you didn't like the touching.'

  Yara hadn't expected her to apologise for that, most people wouldn't, 'we all make mistakes, and what kind of person would I be if I stayed bitter about them,' said Yara, ‘I meant to ask about the tail and horns, are you a…?’

  ‘Ignan whore?’ Julie asked, slightly hurt.

  ‘I was going to say succubus,' Yara said. She'd heard of them before, probably unwittingly interacted with one too. They weren't monsters, just people who were a little different, something she could relate to. Yara had never head them be called something so mean-spirited however, 'I don't think I'd call you something awful like that.’

  ‘Oh, well yes,’ she said, her tone of voice sounding both reserved and ashamed.

  ‘Was there a reason you were trying to seduce me?’ asked Yara, ‘I don’t imagine you’d get much use out of me yourself, considering... you know, the ghost thing.’

  ‘There’s not much use in telling you, you’d get yourself killed.’

  ‘I can still work a contract for you, you remember I mentioned that right?'

  Julie nodded, 'yes, but I'm not sure what kind of contract you meant.'

  ‘I’m a dragon huntress, maybe I can help you?’

  Julie’s eyes lit up when those words crossed her ears, ‘you might actually be able to,’ she said, ‘I really don’t like having to do any of this.’

  ‘Why do you have to do it?’

  The succubus ghost hesitated.

  ‘I’m… I’m bound in servitude to a dragon,’ she cut right to the heart of her problem, ‘Me and others like me are like lures for him.’

  ‘Lures to catch what exactly?

  ‘People.’

  Yara narrowed her eyes, ‘people?’ she asked, ‘why? A dragon can hunt just fine on its own,' for a second she reminded herself of the Mourner, 'usually anyhow. Why would it need lures?’

  ‘We just do it, there’s not really an option to refuse.’

  ‘You’re telling me about it, right?’

  ‘Well, yes, but I can’t outright refuse.’

  Yara thought for a second. If she couldn’t refuse to bring people to the dragon she served it also meant that if she willingly followed Julie towards its lair she would still be following its orders, ‘what if you bring me with you?’ she asked, not sure whether it’d actually work.

  ‘You mean put you in danger?’ Julie gave Yara a puzzled look, ‘that doesn’t sound like a good idea.’

  ‘I hunt dragons, remember? I can handle him,’ said Yara somewhat confidently. She felt good about trying to be confident again. She was good at something, and she'd ought to let that shine.

  Julie considered that for a second. She looked at the scar on Yara's face, the only one she could see when she wore her full plate armour, ‘I’d just be doing what he wants,’ she was avoiding a possible solution, but also didn't expect how Yara would react.

  ‘Exactly,’ Yara snapped her fingers, ‘he won’t suspect a thing.’

  Julie leaned back on the sofa, her spectral smoke body dispersing as she sunk further into it.

  ‘It’s worth a try at least,’ said Yara, ‘Who knows what the result will be.’

  ‘Fine,’ said Julie as she sat up again, her body quickly reshaping from some of the dispersed smoke, ‘just don’t get too reckless.’

  Yara got up from her seat and walked towards the door as she spoke, ‘I’ll try not to,’ she said, ‘are you coming?’

  Julie nodded and wanted to follow Yara outside when she realised she was still missing the skirt of her dress. She reshaped her smoke into appearing like riding trousers. Her arms now went covered by a pair of slash-and-puff sleeves.

  ‘Have you ridden a horse before?’ asked Yara, realising too late that since Julie was a ghost it wouldn’t really matter.

  ‘My sister and I liked to,’ she answered, ‘but I was little then, don’t expect too much from me.’

 She took a seat behind Yara and wrapped her arms around her waist. Yara wanted to tell her to stop doing that, but then thought that since Julie was a ghost she wasn’t really touching her. It helped Julie feel more at ease too, so she opted to let it slide.

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  ‘Hold on tight,’ said Yara in a slightly unsure tone.

  ‘I’ll definitely try,’ Julie giggled, ‘my own knight in shining armour, never thought I'd get to be in a fairytale like that,’ she mumbled to herself as Yara’s horse rode through the city’s streets and out through the gates.

* * *

  ‘How’d you end up working for this dragon?’ asked Yara after they were well away from Yulvat and gaining on the mountain range Julie had told her to travel to.

  Julie shook herself awake from her daydream. She'd rested her head on Yara's shoulder and swooned while staring at her face ‘oh, right, I hadn’t told you yet.’

  ‘It’s okay, it’s not like I asked before.’

  ‘I haven’t talked about this with anyone in a good while, I’ll come across as a bit scatter-brained.’

  ‘Take your time.’

  ‘I think I was something like twenty-two years old when it happened, it was a long time ago now, about two centuries ago,’ said Julie, ‘I was returning to Yulvat from my family’s beach home down in the bay when a dragon attacked my carriage, I can’t remember how quickly I died.’

  ‘That sounds awful, I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s not all bad,’ said Julie, ‘I don’t need to eat or drink anymore, and I don’t have to deal with one really annoying problem either.’

  ‘What problem is that?’

  Julie snickered, ‘you really want to know?’ she asked, a grin on her face. Yara nodded in response, Julie whispered it into her ear and Yara's face went beet red.

  ‘Well that’s some problem,’ she laughed nervously.

  ‘It’s probably also the only net upside to this, the food thing isn’t great,’ said Julie, ‘saints, I miss chocolate…’

  In an effort to change the topic Yara decided to bring up something Julie mentioned just earlier.

  ‘You said you had a beach house’ she asked, ‘were you rich?’

  ‘A little,’ answered Julie, ‘My parents’ last name was Ciel, a family of lesser nobles in Yulvat,’ she explained as she lifted her head slightly, ‘They adopted me and my sister from a succubus orphanage and raised us like human girls, had no idea of what I was until I turned fifteen.'

  ‘Must’ve been a shock for you to find out.’

  ‘And how, I was doing… things when these horns and a tail grew from my body,’ said Julie, ‘I freaked out, I ran to my parents and they helped me understand.’

  ‘It’s good you had them there to support you,’ said Yara, her voice tapering off as she neared the end of her sentence.

  'It was, they helped me decide that I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I just... didn't do anything interpersonal with anyone,' Julie replied, 'unlike my sister, who went the complete opposite direction. I hope she was okay in the end...'

  ‘What about you?’ asked Julie, ‘I’ve talked a lot about myself but I’ve barely heard you say a word.’

  ‘Oh I’m fine thanks,’ Yara dismissed the question.

  ‘How about your parents, did you know them?’

  ‘That's a little complicated,' Yara said, 'I grew up with a noble family, but I hated them. Then I got a new guardian but... he's gone now.’

  ‘That sounds awful,’ Julie hugged Yara from behind, ‘you can talk about it with me, if you feel comfortable anyhow.’

  That was the thing. Yara was comfortable talking about it, but now she didn't want to. She didn't want to think about what happened, not right now. No words were exchanged for a good while until eventually Julie pointed out where they had to stop. Yara got down first and wanted to help her down, adjusting herself again when Julie simply didn't really land. She walked, sure, but she didn't need help coming down.

  ‘We’re gonna have to get through a short cave to get to his lair,’ she said as she appeared to walk towards the mountain side, ‘give me a second I have to find it first,' Julie ran her hand across the stone surface until eventually she came across the opening. She beckoned Yara and called out to her, who followed her through and into the cave. The inside was cramped but roomy enough to still stand up in, for Yara anyhow, anyone taller would've hit their head a hundred times arleady.

  ‘Aren’t you going to hitch your horse to anything?’

  ‘Helena you mean?’

  Julie nodded.

  ‘She’s a loyal beast, I don’t think she’ll run off,’ Yara replied as she bumped her head on a particularly low bit of ceiling. She cursed and Julie giggled quietly, ‘How much longer does this cave go on for?’ Yara asked, ‘I can hardly see anything.’

  ‘Not much further now, just need to go around this bend,’ Julie answered as she turned a corner, Yara continued to follow her and now found herself walking the treacherous rocky ledge at the side of a massive ravine. She looked around, deep below her at the bottom she could hear the rush of fast moving water, and the rocky walls of the cavern had veins of crimson red crystal running through them, some pristine and some broken open.

  ‘How many people have you brought through here?’ she asked Julie, who turned her head slightly towards her.

  ‘Too many,’ she answered, ‘I didn’t keep count for my own sake.’

  A part of the ledge Yara just stepped off of came loose and fell down into the ravine below, ‘this dragon master of yours could have picked a less dangerous location for his lair,’ said Yara, ‘does he have a name or anything?’

  ‘Not really, the others like to call him a red devil and I think he’s sort of adopted that title.’

  They approached the opening that connected the ravine to the outside world, and as soon as they stepped through Yara could see the creature’s lair. It was a rocky vale surrounded by mountaintops, with a river of collected meltwater running through the middle and into the cavern they’d just exited. There were small piles of bones strewn around here and there, likely from the dragon’s previous victims.

  ‘Any idea when he’ll return?’

  ‘No, he’s usually not gone for long though.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ said Yara, ‘I can be patient,’ she sat down on a patch of dirt, crossed her legs and unsheathed her sword before laying it across her lap, realising too late that she’d left her whetstone in her saddlebags.

  ‘Darn,’ she exclaimed with a sigh, ‘that’s fine, I can find something else to do.’

  The “something else” turned out to be dozing off where she sat. Yara opened her eyes and looked directly at Julie’s face, she’d put her head on her lap while she slept. It frightened Yara, who jumped a little at the sight. Julie just laughed.

  ‘Boo!’ she said to mock Yara, ‘did I scare you?’

  ‘A bit,’ she replied sheepishly, Julie wanted to reply but Yara shushed her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Quiet, I can hear something.’

  Julie listened carefully but couldn’t hear anything, as opposed to Yara, who caught the sound of leather wings hitting the air not far from them.

  ‘He’s coming,’ she said.

  ‘How can you tell?’

  ‘I can hear it,’ she said, ‘I’ve always been able to hear far away things if it's quiet around me.’

  'sounds useful.'

  'It's awful when there's a lot of people,' Yara said as she got up and started looking for places to hide.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Julie, not entirely sure what Yara was up to.

  ‘I want to catch him by surprise, makes it easier to fight him later on,’ replied Yara, ‘you should greet him though, distract him if you can.’

  Julie nodded and returned to the centre of the dale, where she’d wait for the dragon’s arrival. Sure enough a red, black, and grey dragon with two powerful wings and four equally strong legs made its entrance in the cloudy skies above the mountainous lair. It landed gracefully as its wings hit the air with increased speed to slow it down.

  ‘You return to me empty handed once more,’ said the dragon, lowering his head to meet Julie’s height. His black spiralling horns appeared almost shiny and could nearly reflect the light of the sun. He flared his nostrils and blew away some of the smoke Julie consisted of.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m just not that good at this,’ she said, any air of confidence she had before was now replaced by anxiety and fear of the dragon.

  ‘Perhaps you should stay more in your lane, instead of attempting to woo those of your own persuasion,’ the dragon sneered, ‘After all, Ignan whores weren’t created to seduce the womenfolk.’

  ‘I didn’t-.’

  ‘Denying this truth is futile,’ he said, ‘I smelt the girl as soon as I arrived,’ the dragon looked around and took another whiff of the air, ‘do you still see purpose in hiding?’

  Yara stepped forward from behind the rock she used to hide. He was right, there wasn't really any point to staying hidden now.

  ‘You got me,’ she said, her hands raised, ‘Are you gonna do to me what you did to her?’ Yara nodded at Julie, who managed to let a smile break through her otherwise reserved expression.

  ‘You?’ the dragon almost seemed to laugh, ‘don’t be ridiculous, you’re not an Ignan whore like she is,’ he lowered his head to view Yara more closely, ‘I would also find it hard to imagine a scarred slab of meat like you could attract anything.’

  Ouch. Yara felt a pit in her stomach. Normally she wouldn't have cared that someone, let alone a dragon with no understanding of people, would've said that, but she hoped, knew even that he was wrong. She frowned.

  'And?' she asked as she unsheathed Skycleave. The dragon recognised the black steel and his voice wavered a little.

  ‘A challenger,’ it sneered, ‘Are you certain your metal toothpick will be enough to slay a beast such as me?’

  Yara didn’t respond, instead she took Skycleave’s hilt in both hands and began to charge at the dragon, who jumped back using his large wings to provide him with lift.

  ‘Pathetic,’ he said as he swept at Yara with his tail. Not only did she roll out of the way in a timely fashion, she also carved through its thick scaly hide with her sword’s tip. The dragon brought his tail back towards himself. The pain distracted him enough that he failed to notice Yara had darted towards his legs. She dug Skycleave deep into one of his ankles and quickly pulled it out again as the dragon took flight to get away from her. His throat grew in volume as he inhaled deeply and the slight gaps between his hardy blackened belly scales glowed a bright, fiery orange before the dragon belched down a torrent of liquid flame. Immediately Yara darted away, hiding under a ledge where he couldn't get her. The dragon landed, under the assumption that he'd killed his assailant.

  ‘You bring a dragon hunter to my lair and expect to remain unpunished!?'

  ‘Like there’s anything more you can do, I’m already dead.’

  ‘You have no idea...’ the dragon became distracted in his anger, and in a condescending manner used the wrists of his wings to lean on. His head neared Julie. Out of nowhere he felt a sharp pain in the membrane of his wings, and the sound of ripping leather cut through that of raging fires. The Red Devil pulled back his wings in pain and stepped aside, where he saw the huntress he thought he’d gotten rid of. Yara’s face was half covered in the soot from the fires. She panted heavily from her short sprint. Now with the dragon’s wing ripped he couldn’t take to the sky and would have to face her on the ground. The dragon backed off and swiped at Yara with his still intact wing, and though she dodged once, the second swipe managed to get her off her feet.

  Yara landed with a thud and the clatter of armour, and after scrambling to her feet she continued to approach her foe with sword in hand, darting forward and avoiding his attacks as best she could. She could see the dragon’s throat grow in volume once more as it focused on where she was, and immediately Yara jumped past the dragon’s head. Her sword made contact with the pouch in his throat. Not only did fire erupt from the wound, but flaming hot orange blood began to pour out of it. The dragon yelped, jumped aside mid- belch and put one of its hands on the wound. He could feel the burn he'd given himself. Yara had to step back from the fires that grew on the ground but walked around it and calmly approached her incapacitated foe. He looked up at her. Yara put a foot on its head and changed how she gripped her sword, now with the tip down she was ready to plunge it through the Red Devil’s skull when Julie yelled at her.

  ‘Wait!’ she said. Yara looked at her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I want to help.’

  Yara didn’t know what to say, she looked down at the dragon and then back at Julie.

  ‘Can you even hold onto anything?’

  ‘I don't know, but I think it’s worth a try.’

  She couldn’t disagree with that and waited for Julie to take hold of Skycleave’s hilt as well, all the while still keeping the dragon firmly locked in place. Yara looked Julie in the eyes, then down at the dragon, and then pushed the sword down through scales, bone, and even the back of the dragon’s tongue as its razor sharp edge penetrated the animal’s head. They could hear it gurgle its own boiling blood as it died.

  Yara expected Julie to fade out and pass on now that the creature responsible for her death had been killed himself, but instead she remained. She asked her to lead her back through the cave, and after they were out again Yara got back to her horse. She realised that she didn’t know what Julie was going to do now that she was freed.

  ‘Will you be going home again?’ Yara asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Julie, ‘I honestly didn’t think it’d get this far.’

  Yara looked at her horse, then back at Julie, ‘you could come with me,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I like having someone around, so I guess I am,’ said Yara. She shrugged, ‘it's no skin off my back anyway, you don't weigh anything and don't need to eat. I just don't know how people would respond to seeing a ghost.’

  ‘I can hide if necessary.’

  ‘Good, then hop on,’ Yara climbed back in the saddle, ‘I think it’s time we kept moving.’