We travelled a few hours out of town before setting up camp for the night. I wasn’t convinced we would be safe hanging out in the Black Hand camp for all that long before Hestle and Co. would come knocking on the door and despite us being more experienced now, I was much more inclined to leave this world without having to fight anymore. The Goodberry brigade, which Jessica had cleverly contacted via raven before being nabbed, weren’t the most covert and rarely more than muscle and since everyone agreed that the less killing the better, she dismissed them.

There were seven of us now; Kappa, Drew, Sarah, Jessica, Silas, Killian and myself. It was crazy to me to see them all moving about the campsite; preparing their bed rolls, sharpening their weapons and as I sat against a tall oak tree and watched Kappa caught my eye and approached.

“Hey,” she said,

“Hey,” I shot back and after a moment I turned to her to apologize but before I could speak she said, “No, regardless of what you did I shouldn’t have left you,” I froze for a second and then closed my half open mouth, she smiled coyly at me and added, “You made a mistake a big one and you made it worse by not telling her…” I waited for the but and Kappa could tell, “but,” she added pointedly, “we all make mistakes, it’s what you do from here on out that matters.”

“Then we’re still friends?” I asked with hesitancy in my voice.

With a smile she said, “Forevermore,” and winked in a way that made my heart hurt. We hugged and after a moment she added, “All’s not lost with Jessica either,” and my heart went into a full flutter.

“No?” I asked gently, trying to hide my excitement.

“Nah, she’s conflicted for sure but we’ve shared enough about each other for me to know that she still admires you greatly, just maybe not in the way you want. I understand now why you like her so,” I raised an eyebrow.

“You sound like you may have a thing for her yourself,” I said half joking,

“Nope, not my type.” She said with a coy smile and walked back to the camp. I followed and entered across from Jessica and Sarah who were catching up. I could tell that Jessica was equally bewildered by Sarah’s seeming disinterest in the world and as I moved towards her I stopped at Silas who was untying his boots. I crouched down and said, “Was everything okay with them?”

He nodded and said, “They talked a lot and I did quests. I leveled up a ton but when we arrived in town Buckles saw a poster and sold us.” He reached into his pouch and presented a folded bounty that called for a collection of people who said mentioned a list of words. It was a wholly bizarre bounty but became clear when I read from the list which included words like; Lester, Marcus, Computer and Game amongst a number of others that all fit within our group. I stood up and started to take the flyer over to Drew when he said, “I’m sorry I left.”

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I stopped and turned around and knelt again beside him and said, “No, Marc… Silas, I’m sorry I made you choose. Between me and them, you chose right and I’m just happy to be with you again.” I tussled his matted goblin hair and walked over to Drew with the flyer.

He looked over it the same way I had and then asked, “Who would know these words.”

I pointed to the bottom which demanded the bounties be delivered to Millicent’s castle and said,

“He must’ve gotten the words from my parents; they probably told him everything they knew not knowing what all this was meant to be.” Drew nodded and I said, “I’ve told Jessica but we should tell Silas and Kappa the plan too, maybe reiterate it for everyone.” With pursed lips he handed me the bounty back and cleared his throat to address the group.

Drew told them of his ability to manipulate the code and then explained our plan to everyone and as it washed over Kappa and Silas specifically, the energy in the camp began nervous excitement. Jessica smiled and hugged Kappa warmly and Silas even hopped a little on the spot. Jessica turned to me and asked, “Was home alright?” I shook my head and said,

“Everyone is alive still but it’s stopped, the code can’t run two instances so nothing’s changed while we’ve been in here.”

Jessica thought on what I said but remained excited and turned to Kappa, “Do you still have those maps we laid over each other…”

She was three steps ahead and was already putting one on top of the other. Kappa however had never been to the library and wasn’t sure what it was on the map of home but quickly and with a heavy heart, Drew pointed to the Millicent’s Castle. The energy from moments ago left and as Kappa continued to study the map she nodded in agreement, “The library is right where the Castle is. We can’t account for elevation but…”

I shook my head, “I’m not worried about that, whether we move up or down we can still find what we need to.” I thought for a moment as the crackling campfire sent embers up towards the cold night sky and after consideration said, “This was always going to be part of the plan, we need to get Mom and Dad, this just means that we can’t do the legwork before the final confrontation.”

“What about the Goodberrys?” Silas said turning to Jessica. I wanted to speak but instead let Jessica answer Silas.

“I think they’re good for an all-out assault, but I don’t think that’s the right call…” she paused and then as if realizing turned to me, “What do you think we should do Lester?” she said and for the first time since the fallout she smiled at me, a trusting smile that said we’ll follow your lead. I took a breath and before I could speak remembered that I was still holding the bounty flyer. I studied it only for a second before I looked up towards everyone and with excitement said,

“We give them what they want.”