Serenity leads to tranquility. Tranquility demands rest. I conjure my old reliable tent to bed down. Soft and warm. My stalwart servant Dalek-3IH be called upon to guard the slumber I have earned.
--
L: That is kind of anticlimatic.
M: Understatement of the decade.
Z: Let him sleep. Do you want a tired man to mess around with transforming your bodies?
J: Are you unhappy with your magical races?
M: Of course!
L: Man, you don’t look like Beelzebub incarnate!
J: But you have wings and unique racial abilities.
Beyond the industrial strength glare we find the military grade glare, which must be used only outdoors with a fire extinguisher at hand.
J: Somebody has to extinguish those gras fires.
--
Zora cannot conjure camping furniture. That is easily cured by confiscating a few blankets and a low serving table out of a house. And she has to offer coffee, ice cream and sandwiches.
M: Can we rely on him?
L: We cannot avoid it. And it is done. There is no point in debating it.
M: What will you do afterwards?
Z: Go back home and look whether I still have a job.
L: Well, you could, I mean, you are carting around a place that cannot be searched. I’ve heard that parts of South America are very nice.
Z: And that from the woman that will set up as a miracle healer.
L: That Network guy has seen our faces.
M: No, he has seen our current faces.
Z: Right …
Maria is going for another ice cram.
M: Goodbye to diets.
Z: The second best thing, once you get used to the idea.
L: You mean you thought … ?
Stolen story; please report.
Zora looks down.
L: I think I am going to jump off a building, while I can.
M: You are going to miss it?
L: Yes. The choice is clear, but I’ll miss the wings.
--
I am feeling majestic. In fact I am feeling extraordinary. I have the power.
Z: You are looking horribly smug.
P: I call it something else. Behold!
I am making a grand gesture and the holes we dug into the ground vanish.
M: So changes us.
P: I need more power. We will take over more territories. I want you to consolidate your gains with meditation, we will formulate a plan and tomorrow we attack.
M: I see.
Zora tilts her head.
Z: Are you going authoritarian on us?
P: I am going authoritarian on this land. To an unsatisfactory degree it already obeys me.
She salutes. I think it is meant ironically.
--
Dinner is fantastic and the lack of a sunset makes sitting outside a real treat. I am enjoying the land. In fact my land. Can I make a cloud appear on the horizon? Yes! Anyway, a king’s job never ends. I am taking out my machine.
L: Hey, wait, we want to see, too!
Z: Exactly
They are right. I owe my trusty vassals fealty.
Z: Has anybody seen Maria?
P: Let’s ask the children, too.
Z: Has anybody seen Maria? (in her native language)
N: She has given us her desert.
A female voice yells out a command.
KN: MY EMERGENCY BAG! NOW!
--
We did CPR for fourty minutes.
She was iron rank. We did not want to give up while there was still hope that we could get her back. We still have no idea what an iron rank brain can withstand. We just pumped till we dropped of exhaustion.
Zora is cradling the children. Lidija is holding a book without reading. There was no WWW to browse without end.
P: I am going for walk.
I think I have gotten slight nods of acknowledgement. On the way out I am met.
KN: I found this slid under my door
.
She hands me a drawing of a map. Maria was gifted with many things artistic. She was decent at drawing. I have failed.
P: How …
KN: Fentanyl. Due to the recent emergency anybody with medical training is supposed to carry a full set of drugs, just in case.
P: So, she stopped breathing.
KN: Yes.
I have more people I am responsible for. A true king never gives up.
P: Do you have enough left in case we suffer a further emergency?
KN: Yes.
P: Sorry to ask, but it is necessary
KN: No, you are right to ask. Going out?
P: I need to clear my head. There is no more danger outside, that is from monsters, respectively anomalies.
KN: Good to know. Do I need to watch the rest of you?
P: Don’t worry. We’ll fight. I cannot promise that we’ll always be safe, as we’ll need to fight. But there is no need for you to watch us. We may eventually need therapy, especially the children. But for now we are not a danger to ourselves.