Eleanor:

It was still early morning as Eleanor snuggled up to Lena, trying to get a few more moments of sleep.

Only to have some female guard banging on the door and then opening it.

What is she doing... Oh crap.

At least Jane specified that a female guard would wake me up.

Eleanor shook Lena awake, then hurried to her bedroom.

They all knew exactly what to do.

Accordingly, within an hour, they were at the Manifestorian port.

"So, it looks like they are heading straight for the jetty?" said Eleanor, speaking to the harbour master.

"Yep. And, weirdly, they are going very slow, almost as if they want to give us as much time as we need to prepare."

Eleanor shook her head in annoyance. Her [Battle Field Management] skill agreed with the harbour master's opinion.

"It's almost as if they don't want to attack us. Which makes noooo sense," said Eleanor.

"Also, how come they are towing two yachts behind them?"

The harbour master spread out his hands and his tail in perplexity.

"Don't know. It makes no sense whatsoever. Normally, you can't even tow yachts like that; it's only because the wind is so steady and the sea so calm that it is possible. But only until the next weather change."

Sigh.

I hope this isn't the day I die.

I wish I could get Lena and the children away to safety.

Damn those 100% vows.

She organised her resources. Since the boat was definitely coming over the bar and up the mouth of the harbour, she sited herself at the back of the jetty. Lena and the children were behind her on one side, while Esther and Evereena were behind her on the other. Jane and Aragon were in the front, and in front of Jane, lining the entire seaward edge of the jetty, her guards were spread out. Behind the jetty and in the port buildings, she put the non-combatants.

Then they waited as the ship slowly drifted over the bar and started crossing the harbour.

"They are still going as slowly as possible." said the harbour master.

The port was some distance back from the open sea, which meant they could still not properly see the figures that appeared on the top of the deck - four of them.

Only four?

Now, where is he? Yep, there he is, the guard who specialises in enhanced sight.

She spoke to him, using her [Speak to an Individual] skill.

"What do those four look like?"

"This is strange; they don't appear to have collars. There are two monotone whites, a monotone black and a monotone brown. And they are holding hands."

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Monotone whites and black and brown...

Sorry, what?

WHAT?

It can't be...

Behind her, she heard a sudden squeak of surprise from Evereena.

Then everybody became even more silent.

The boat drifted closer. Close enough to clearly see the four.

"That's Cassy! Monotone white and bright red hair. Yes, that's Cassy!" said Evereena.

She was by now jumping up and down in excitement. There was an increase in the noise, and everyone started murmuring to each other.

"Please hold your formation!" said Eleanor, "We need to make sure that these are the Misfits, and we need to find out who the hell is in the boat."

The guards, being trained, had no trouble in remaining alert.

Evereena, on the other hand, was going hysterical. Esther had to hold her to prevent her from running up to the jetty's edge. So Evereena started to wave her arms frantically.

What on Ringworld is happening?

Ding! The Misfits have made a 100% vow. Hi, we're back! And this time, we WILL destroy all slave collars. This message has been sent to everyone in Manifestoria, every influential noble and politician within a thousand kilometres of the slaver nation on both sides, to every freed slave and the gold-collared slave emperor.

Holy Voice on Toast with Marmalade. What have they done this time?

By now, Evereena was dragging her mother with her as she rushed to the jetty's edge, continually waving her arms and screaming, 'Cassy!'".

Everybody could clearly see the Misfits by now, with Cassy waving right back to Evereena.

It really is the Misfits. Reincarnated twice. What luck.

Since the boat was far enough from the deep ocean, there were reduced safety concerns about ocean predators. So, a small group of crew members appeared out of various hatches, getting ready to dock.

There are no slave collars in sight!

Eleanor addressed her guards.

"Move back, form a line from the jetty edge, but still in front of me. Let them dock as they want to."

Even more crew members appeared on top of the deck cover. And none of them had collars.

They are dressed as if they were slaves; they are in a ship that came from the slaver nations; what the hell is going on?

With a soft thump, the ship nudged up to the jetty. Crew members jumped onto the jetty and started tying up the mooring lines and dealing with the two yachts.

Those crew must have reasonably high physical stats!

Cassy jumped off the deck and landed before a now wholly hysterical Evereena. She reached out with a hand and touched Evereena's collar, which promptly disintegrated into coarse sand. Cassy continued her motion, sweeping Evereena up in a massive hug and spinning them around.

And everyone else from Manifestoria went still and silent from total shock.

She removed Evereena's collar? She removed her collar? She removed the collar?

Eleanor was beginning to hyperventilate. So Alice decided to cause even more distress.

She jumped down, touched Esther's collar, and looked at Aragon.

"You have... It must have been during that fight, right?" she said.

And she touched Aragon's collar. Both collars disintegrated and fell away in a shower of sand.

And Drayden followed by bending down slightly, smiling at the two children, and removing their collars.

By now, the discipline of the guards was utterly shot; they were looking at the free slaves and talking or shouting at each other. Even Jane forgot to monitor the situation, as crew members from the ship kept emerging and assembling on the jetty.

Get your act together, Eleanor!

She got her act together and issued some orders to the guards. Basically to stand back and to stand by. She then waited for the commotion to die down.

Cassy was still busy with Evereena, who must have ignored the system message about her collar since she didn't even appear to have realised yet that her collar was gone. Aragon and Esther hugged each other and freaked out, but not as much as Evereena. The two children shared a group hug with Lena, with Lena looking at all of the grains of sand over her children's clothes and shaking her head in wonder.

Bronsen, with Alice and Drayden in tow, moved up to Eleanor.

"Hi, Queen Eleanor. As you might have heard, we are back. We apologise for all the commotion. And, we also apologise for the disruption of giving you 143 freed slaves to look after." said Bronsen.

"Ah, yes, yes, I, I'm sure it will be fine."

"Anyway, I hope this little gift makes up for it slightly."

As he said that, he reached out and gently touched her hand.

What gift?

Ding! Apart from your more specialised abilities, all others have been increased to their maximum level - courtesy of the Misfits.

"Fuck!" said Eleanor.

She looked up her status.

"I'm maxed out!"

She sat down heavily on the ground in sheer surprise.