“Of course we respect them,” Tabitha snarled. “They’re ancient magical beings, how could we not?”

I felt uncomfortable explaining myself. “I mean like, respect respect. Praying, maybe? Starting a religion?”

Tabitha looked at me like I was the crazy one.

“Anyway,” I continued, “what if we could negotiate for you to keep access to The Ancients when Piliton takes the crown? I assume you need the king’s permission. We can arrange that.”

“Or I could just kill this lord of yours and move on with life. I lose nothing.”

“But you gain nothing,” Claire interfered. “I know you said the status quo was convenient for you, but Lord Piliton will let Marla out of the forest. You can be with her again, maybe try and make things work.”

I was starting to sweat in the blubber-insulated sauna. I felt like I hadn’t stopped talking to people in days. It started with Lord Piliton, moved onto Marla for the second time, and now I was here.

Sitting on a whale’s hot tongue, chatting with a lady who could probably kill me with an overly stern look.

“Look, Tabitha. I know it’s presumptuous of us to even ask you to raise your little finger on our behalf. We’re weak, and we’ve got about as much influence and power as one of the fish in this lake — no offense, Benjamin. Our end goal here is getting your help with removing the current king from the throne. He would ideally be alive when you do so, but it’s not absolutely necessary. Do you want to help us or not?”

If this is what earns me my first B&B death, so be it. It’ll be a quick way to get back to Bill’s Yard. The stat points are replaceable, my sanity is not.

I could tell Claire was holding her breath. Benjamin had stopped burping, as though he too could sense the tension.

Tabitha just sat. And thought. And probably debated how we would be tastiest.

“Very well. We can work together. It won’t be immediate, but you should remain in Asteroth so myself or another Stake can contact you. And do not consider this a signed contract — I don’t believe exchanging a little girl’s freedom for power over an entire nation is a very balanced trade.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. It was a little like signing a blank cheque.

But for now, that was Piliton’s problem to deal with. All we had to do was present him with the options, then urge him to say yes.

Then I could finally be debt-free.

“Very well. Thanks for not eating us. You too, Benjamin.”

I gave the whale an oh-so-icky tongue scratch and stood up. Tabitha thumped her fist against its jaw and it opened, redoing the same red-carpet process from before. Claire and I hopped ashore while Tabitha remained inside.

Once we were well and truly out of the whale-zone, Benjamin’s jaw eased shut like the bridge of a castle being wound up. He flopped his giant body a few times, then slid back into the lake. The water flooded back to its former level, restoring the glassy surface of the lake and the still night.

I collapsed. “Bedtime. I’m not talking to a single other monster or person or whatever until I’ve had approximately eleven hours of sleep. You’re temporarily excluded if you’d like to say anything.”

“Wasn’t aware I needed permission. I’ve still got about an hour of wakey-time here, but I think I’m off, too. Can’t be bothered assorting skill or stat points.”

“Oh my god same. Stats are alright, but skills are a killer. So much reading and thinking. Count me out.”

“You’re doing a lot of talking for someone who swore they wouldn’t.”

I smiled weakly. “True. Good point. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

--Disconnecting, please wait--

I hadn’t pulled many late nights just yet, and certainly no all-nighters. I subscribed to the concept that sleep deprivation would catch up with me sooner or later and all balance out, so I may as well get ahead of the game and just sleep a reasonable amount each night.

My stomach begged for a snack, but I wanted to stay quiet. I thought of microwaving a mini apple pie but curtailed the idea. Whoever had manufactured the microwave had somehow made the buttons insanely loud. Each button press was its own announcement, shouted with utmost clarity into the rest of the house.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

In the end, I settled on tearing a hunk off the sourdough loaf on the bench and gnawing it down.

Only slightly stale.

I want to rest. And not just a quick nap. After these quests are done, I’m taking a holiday. Perhaps not a beach vacation, but at least a break from B&B.

There was a lot to sort out in the real world. I wanted to present a more comprehensive plan to Duri, Annette and Joey about starting a guild, and if they were still iffy on the idea, I’d trawl through my current invites and think about accepting one. If I’d been able to deposit some krad into B&B rather than just withdraw it, I would’ve happily taken a large signing bonus, cleared my debt, then coasted along until I started the real thing next year.

My priorities were flipping around all over the place. It was precisely why I needed to take a break and make sure my head was screwed on straight.

“Ollie?”

“JAYzus, Mom. Scared the crap outta me.”

“What’re you doing? It’s late.”

It would have looked odd from her point of view. I was leaning against a breakfast stool, my elbows on the hard wood while I stared into nothingness. My midnight snack was nearly forgotten in my hands, except for the occasional piece that I tore off.

“Sorry, just had a late one in the Pod. Was grabbing a quick snack before bed. Sorry for waking you.”

She came over and sat at the stool next to me.

“You alright? Looked like you were thinking pretty hard over here.”

I gave a weak laugh. “Yeah. All good. Just a lot going on and I can’t wait for it to be over. Was planning a break. And some other stuff.”

“That would be nice. We could all go somewhere.”

I swivelled my posture to face her. She must’ve seen the doubt in my eyes pretty quick.

“Ollie, we could! What’s wrong? I know we couldn’t get you into the Fields, but—”

“I know. I know. It’s not about the Fields. I’m well and truly over that at this point — some part of me even thinks that the Fields are overhyped. By the sounds of it, the Yard has as much interesting and lucrative stuff going on as anywhere else. I bet The Pickle Caverns could even be a good starting zone if people treated it right.”

Mom grabbed the sourdough and tore off her own chunk. In between sentences, I could hear Dale’s snore coming from the open door to their room.

“So what’s wrong? What’s it about?”

I hesitated. I felt close to saying something that I couldn’t take back, and I didn’t want to phrase it wrong.

“It’s a money thing, I guess. And kind of about the Fields, I suppose. I don’t understand why we couldn’t afford a Pass. It’s just…I watched as you almost beat Jori Hayacker. You would have beaten him, and he’s over there making squillions while we live in Dad’s house and watch a TV that’s like five decades old. Why?”

She reached out and touched my arm. I felt ridiculous, like I might cry.

“Ollie…I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t seem right. It isn’t right. I had planned on telling you when you were a bit older, but I guess you’ve grown up faster than I expected.”

I was shocked at her response to this whole thing. I’d expected her to tell me off and then hustle back to bed once she had ascertained that there wasn’t an intruder in the house.

We really haven’t talked like this in a while. Last time was…I don’t even know when.

“The short version of the story is that I had a particularly bad lawyer during our divorce. Your father had connections, he knew a guy who knew a guy I guess, and he ended up with this whizz-bang lot who ran circles around my guy. A full team of them. Anyway, he spun things to look like I’d never be able to put two krad together if it was only up to me, so they worked out a monthly stipend.”

She was staring off into the darkness the same way I’d been doing.

“I got to take you and live in this house rent-free, with a small allowance for food and clothing and everything else a single mother needs. My idiot lawyer decided to agree that in return, any earnings I made from B&B and other means would go to your father, at least until you turned a certain age and didn’t require support from me anymore. I guess my lawyer thought I’d never make a buck either, so it was an easy choice for him.”

For a while, I didn’t know how to respond. Then I slid off the stool and hugged her. A wave of hate for my Dad washed over me, stronger than anything I’d felt when I’d seen him a few days before. Mom cried. I felt horrible for ever having doubts.

“So no matter how many sponsorships you took or rounds you won in the Olympics, it all would’ve gone to him?”

“Correct.”

“And that will only stop once I move out?”

She laughed. “No, Ollie, bless your soul. You can’t just pack a sleeping bag and stay at Duri’s for a while. It’s a more liberal meaning of ‘support’. It’s financial, legal, social — basically even if you were to move out and earn your own money, if you came home for dinner too often, or if you brought some washing and I folded too many pairs of your socks, his lawyers would strike like he pays them to do.”

“And Dale?”

“He’s his own beast. He offered to pay for your Pass — we got in a bit of a fight about it, actually — but I wouldn’t let him.” She smiled and used her palms to wipe away the tears. “What a ridiculous thing to fight about — someone being too generous.”

Dale gained another layer of respect in my mind. I started to wish that he and Mom had met twenty years ago, then I reconsidered. I mightn’t be alive if that were the case.

“And is this a bad time to ask why there’s this cone of secrecy around his life? I’ve heard like, a total of three snippets from Esko.”

She laughed some more and picked at the crust of her bread. “As I said, he’s his own beast. You can trust me when I say that he’d like to tell you everything he could about the world of B&B and his place in it, but it wouldn’t be right. And a lot of it would just confuse you. It still confuses me, to be honest.”

“So he’s not The Gladiator?”

“Ha! If only it were that simple.”

I had absolutely no clue what that meant. I thought it was a pretty simple concept. You either are someone, or you’re not.

And it’s not like Dale will enlighten me any further. I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands. Finally.

Feeling like I’d learnt more about my family in the last ten minutes than I had in seventeen years, I wrapped up the sourdough and grabbed a final sip of water in a daze.

Mom sat on her stool for a while longer and looked around the house. I still loved this house, but knowing that it was part of the ‘stipend’ made it feel like a jail. I guessed that was why all our appliances were ancient, and why we’d never moved. We simply couldn’t replace them or move to a new place.

Unless Dale decided to buy a place.

I said a quick goodnight as Mom and Dale’s bedroom door creaked open. Dale stood there in sleep shorts and a shirt that was overly-large even on him, rubbing his eyes.

“You lot finished all your sookin’ and crying yet? A man’s sleep is an important thing.”