209, 2/2

In the hallway outside of the library, Erick paused.

A lot of thoughts were going through his head right now. Like what sort of food did Quilatalap like? He ate like any other normal person, for Erick had already shared pastries and coffee and soda and tea with the man, over many different talks of magic. But was Quilatalap humoring him? Or did he actually like that stuff? His body looked like a rather normal 30-ish year old male orcol in the prime of his life, with muscles and height and what was clearly an active Blessing of Beauty and Brutality (Holy Aloethag, was that active!).

Erick was eager to see if all that he saw worked as it looked like it would work.

He was also worried about his own physical… self.

Just. All of it. Really.

Warlord Linxel had had that [Alter Size] thing going on, so everything worked out rather fine in that one, single instance that Erick had gotten it on with anyone while on Veird. Participating in a Red Dream with Al and Mog did not count at all. Dreams were dreams. Reality was reality.

And in reality, there were size concerns.

Erick was under 2 meters tall, as normal for human males. Pretty average height, really. Maybe, like… A little bit on the taller side? But not really at all.

Quilatalap was 3 meters tall, and all of him was sized exactly as Quilatalap wanted it to be, for he could do that to himself. The man was an ancient lich and technically undead and operating through a bunch of magical effects. So. Actually. Now that Erick thought about it? There wasn’t a problem at all? Quilatalap could probably change himself… Though would that be rude to ask?

And anyway Erick could pop out for a moment, turn into a dragon, and then turn back into an oversized human, and he’d be, like, 2.5 meters tall at least. Worst-case scenario Erick could—

OH!

Dragons had [Perfected Polymorph]. That spell was innate; a thing that every single dragon gained whenever they fully became a real dragon, either through being born-that-way, or through the gaining of Dragon Essence. Erick no longer had a reason to hide that he could change into other people at will.

Okay.

All crises of size and shape were averted.

Now to deal with whatever crisis was standing in front of him, because the moment Erick had stepped out of the Shade Tower, there was a person waiting for him.

Erick said, “Hello, Aisha. What’s up?”

“… I am not entirely sure.” Aisha looked to Erick. “I am concerned about something you did this morning. Maybe a few hours ago? Maybe just ten minutes ago?”

“Oh? What could I— Oh.” Erick nodded, saying, “I eliminated the need for runic webs in a great deal of normal use-cases. Is that it?”

Aisha’s eyes went wide.

Erick nodded. “Yeah. Big change.” He handed off the box for [Node of the Renewing Undertow], saying, “Let’s walk and talk.” He gestured down the hallway, toward the stairs that led down into the center of the atrium. He started walking, and Aisha rapidly caught up. “The breakthroughs with the Denial Spheres were necessary, and physical [Renew] runic webs will have to happen eventually for stability’s sake, but I needed a solution right now to new mana transportation concerns. It’s not ideal, but it is what it has to be. Because we’re hosting Shadow’s Feast this year, and I’m going to call it something else… Not sure yet. And I need the Network as stable as possible, as well as the stability of my Feast Barrier magics. Which brings me to this: Do you want to be a part of the Feast?”

Aisha’s eyebrows came together as she walked beside Erick. To her vast credit, she only flinched a little. Then she asked, “And the Shades will all be arriving here, I assume?”

“Yes. About a day ahead of schedule. It’ll be all of them and a plus one, or something, I assume. That fairy and Bright Smile will be coming here, too.”

Fairy Moon stepped onto the ground on Erick’s other side. “You called?”

Without missing a beat, Erick said, “I very clearly said ‘that fairy’, so as not to draw your attention unduly, but now that you’re here: You have to give a presentation on whatever good-for-the-world thing you have done this year, and you also have to bring some sort of thing to share with everyone else. If you want, you can bring along someone else in addition to Bright Smile and have the other person run a booth, presenting your good-for-the-world thing, whatever that might be. I think the party will start at sunset, proceed through normal time till midnight, and then I’ll lock us all into a good 2-ish day party inside the entire house… Or maybe I should make a new location. Haven’t actually decided on that particular solution, yet.” Erick had some more words he could have said on all that, but they had reached the staircase leading down into the atrium, and Erick didn’t want Fairy Moon to be present for all the rest of what he had to do today. So he looked to Fairy Moon. “I plan on everyone being there for the first half of the night, and then only a select few of us heading off to the days-long party. I’ll also be handing out some small gifts to everyone present. Haven’t figured it all out, but I will.”

Fairy Moon nodded. “I will have gifts to give as well. … And probably another person to ply the presentation— I must prepare!”

And then she vanished again.

Erick said to Aisha, “We’re going to prepare, too, but it will be a relaxed sort of preparation. I might be putting all of the House into a Hasted zone, so report back to me on the feasibility of that, for I would be kicking everyone out of the House and their homes in the various towers while this happened… And I’m just now realizing how much of a nightmare that will be. I’ll have to have the party elsewhere— Contact Architect O’Lark for me. See if he can design a simple party space… Maybe 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers by 1? Flat and wide and open, but with places for people to live in, and it has to be nice…” He thought. He said, “Yes. Tell him what it is for, too. If he doesn’t want to design a location in the next two days, then that’s fine.”

Aisha nodded, and said, “As you command.”

“I’m going to do a lot of things right now, and so if you have more questions feel free to send a message and ask—” Erick sent an Ophiel to the house, to see if Poi was back from his own obligations yet. And he was not. Erick came back to himself. “Poi will be back soon—” Erick was pretty sure. “—Might as well wait for that.”

Aisha turned around and went back to the Office of Magic.

And Erick went down the stairs, down into the center of House Benevolence, where people ate at the atrium, and also in any of a dozen different places around the food court. Almost directly across the space, Atalle Slipstream’s Saucery was beginning to transition to their lunch menu. Servers of all kinds were already seating people there, as there was a small line waiting for that transition.

Erick walked around the room, causing a small hush as he went, though a lot of the normal people paid him only the barest bit of mind. It was only the visitors who really stopped what they were doing and looked at him, their small conversations turning to hushed whispers or telepathic links. None of the people here looked particularly threatening, so Erick paid it no mind.

Erick kept on walking, right up to the Saucery—

A stir in The M Eatery, to the right, caused Erick to pause, as a very attractive human man came out from behind the door to the kitchen and rushed straight for Erick, looking right at him. The guy was Donny, an 8 star Cook from the Cooking Guilds of Nelboor. He was also desperately trying to get preferential treatment, for Erick had hired a bunch of high-star Cooks, a lot of them had ended up here in the atrium, and a lot of them, like Donny, were falling behind when it came to popularity, and number of customers. There was nothing wrong with Donny’s food; it was rather fantastic. But the competition was stiff, and now that Donny was young again and exploring his options, he wanted to expand. He wanted to expand, a lot.

Donny came right up to Erick, asking, “I have amended my previous request. I want to open a restaurant on Financial Road.”

“You stopped wanting to open a place on the lakeside of the Gate District?”

“I have! You haven’t built anything there yet, and I will not be the first place there; I know this now.”

“Have you spoken to Zolan about this Financial Road business?”

Donny stood a bit taller, as he gladly said, “This morning. I was told that Castellan Zolan would need to speak to you directly.”

“He’s probably planning on that soon enough.” Erick said, “Listen, Donny. You’re probably going to get your request fulfilled this time. I can’t talk about that right now—”

“You’re headed off to the Saucery though, right?” With a deeply serious tone, Donny said, “Whatever Atalle can do, I can do the same, and with a lot more drive to make it work however you want.”

… Erick rapidly decided a few things.

“I’m going to be preparing for a lot of large feasts and for multiple days rather soon, Donny. You can be on that list if you want, and if you promise you won’t get scared when meeting the gaze of Melemizargo, and if you can keep secrets like your life depends on it. Because it will.”

Donny’s eyes went wide, his heart suddenly beating hard. With a suddenly dry mouth, he said, “I can do that.” And then he steeled himself. “I can do that, sir.”

“Good. Be prepared for 4 feasts in a week. Roughly 50 people each time. Dinner, breakfast, dinner, and breakfast again. Stuff for two lunches and two midnight things. Don’t worry about prepping enough food for dragon stomachs; I’ll find a way to handle that myself.” Erick added, “And I’ll be asking Atalle for the same, so you’ll be coordinating with her and whatever. Maybe one more person, too, though I haven’t decided who.”

Donny stood firm. “Understood. Thank you, Wizard Flatt. I will not disappoint you.” He bowed deeply, then rose again. “Thank you— AHH!” He jumped back.

Because the golden dragonkin and Shade of Assassination, Goldie, wisped in beside Erick, asking, “I thought I was coordinating?”

“I decided I wanted to coordinate, too, Goldie.” And then Erick turned to the Saucery and started walking. “We can go together.” While quite a few people either stared or rushed away or casually tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, Erick asked Goldie, “Did you coordinate food yet?”

“Not at all!” Goldie walked strongly beside Erick, saying, “I haven’t gotten much beyond yelling at other Shades.”

Erick chuckled. “Ahhh… I hope I don’t have to do any of that this year.”

“You will. I’m already telling them that they have to behave and they’re mostly listening, but—” Goldie confided, “They’re all insistent upon being granted lives here, like me.”

Erick made another, perhaps foolish decision, “Tell them that it is possible, but probably not likely.”

Goldie blinked a bit, her whole-white eyes briefly dimming behind golden lids. “… I was telling them to fucking forget it and to stop asking?”

“It’s not that complicated to get me to approve of individuals, Goldie. People just have to be willing to be better today and tomorrow than they were yesterday.” And then Erick remembered the guy with the missing arm whom he had almost had killed on thoughts of being a face stealer. Erick added, “Obviously the world doesn’t actually work that way, though; it takes time and change for healing to actually happen.”

Erick made a personal note to go investigate that missing-arm guy.

Goldie kept right beside Erick, silently nodding.

– – – –

In the back of Atalle Slipstream’s Saucery, Erick (and only him, for Goldie was in the wind) met with the 10 star Cook who ran the place, in Atalle’s side office. She was a rather strong-bodied demi woman of pale blue skin and dark blue everything else, with an inner fire that roared when it came time to cook. She was not too full of that inner fire right now, though.

Erick said, “Sorry to wake you, Atalle. I know you’re on the dinner shift.”

Atalle yawned wide, blinking a bit as she tried to wave off Erick’s apology. “Dooon…” She yawned again. “Don’t worry about it, Wizard Flatt. What can I do for you this morning?”

It was technically afternoon, but Erick didn’t mind that. Atalle probably would have been more awake for this conversation if Goldie was actually visible, but Goldie was not currently within sight, of any sort. It was just Erick and Ophiel here at the moment. Visually, anyway.

“A few things. I’ll be accepting your invitation to eat tonight, along with a guest—”

Atalle woke up instantly, gasping a little and fully ready to ask for details, but she waited.

“— and I’ll also be needing your catering services for an upcoming 2 to 3 days of parties.” Erick said, “More details to follow about all that, but I’ve already enlisted the help of Donny from The M Eatery, and I’ll probably get one more person to help with all that. That party will likely happen under the eyes of Melemizargo, though, so if you don’t feel up for that then tell me now and I will look for others to cater that event.”

“I will make you a grand dinner tonight, Wizard Flatt!” Atalle rapidly said, “As for the party: I have cooked for practically every important person in the world at least once or twice, and for the Headmaster every other week for several years. I can handle being under the gaze of Melemizargo and even Shades. This is not a problem, but I do need full details on the events.” She added, “I already have events planned for Triumph of Light, but I can certainly add more for you.”

Erick smiled a little bit. Atalle was truly an unparalleled Cook.

Erick said, “Maybe 55 hours of events; 2 and a half full days and nights. 50 people each feeding time. Starting with dinner, then midnight meal, then breakfast, lunch; repeat, and then going to dinner once more. It won’t interrupt Triumph of Light plans, because it’s all going to happen on Shadow’s Feast, though we’ll call it something else. Shadow’s Triumph. That’s what this party is for. I’ve been tapped to host, and I cannot refuse.

“It’ll start at midnight, and then I’ll be putting up [Hasted Shelter]s across the entire venue, which will probably be here in the House. Everyone else will be evacuated. Probably. I might get another venue, but it’ll probably happen here.”

Atalle looked at Erick for a long minute, her eyes flickering around as she thought.

And then she said, “I can do a Shadow’s Feast. I won’t deal with any powers-that-be in my kitchen, though. If you’re hiring two others and Donny is one of them, then I can coordinate with him, and I suggest you pick either Lisa or another good Dessert Cook to round us out. Our staff will be protected too, of course. I would prefer to work out of here and then you can [Gate] us to the venue— Magic doesn’t work so well inside of a [Hasted Shelter], right? That could be a problem… But we can work around that.”

Erick smiled a little, then they got to talking.

Twenty minutes later, their preliminary conversation was over, and Erick was exceptionally glad that he had Atalle here at the House. She had understood what would happen to the Script Seconds when under time compression, and she had understood just how dangerous Shades could be. She was above and beyond any Cook that Erick could have asked for.

But he could ask her, “Is there anything I can do for you to make your job here better? More satisfying?”

Atalle laughed loudly. “This is the best job I have ever had, and I can’t fault the benefits, either! We’re good, Wizard Flatt. Very good. Very satisfied.”

Erick smiled. There were a few more words, but he soon moved on, for Poi was back from whatever he had been doing all morning, and now Poi waited at the house. He seemed to be waiting to drop an information bomb, actually.

Erick tried not to give away his sudden worry over Poi as he left Atalle behind, but the canny woman had probably picked up on his sudden need to exit the conversation anyway; she was pretty good about reading people, too. There was no way she knew the exact reason he had needed to exit, though.

Erick didn’t even know that exact reason.

– – – –

Erick reviewed some recent facts as he stepped back into his home.

Poi had gone missing a few times, recently. Looking back, Poi had had some ‘days off’ every other week or so for a while now. It had mostly started when Erick was finally able to sleep in a [Hasted Shelter], and there was no need to protect him nearly as much as Poi, Teressa, Kiri, and others had been protecting him.

These days, Teressa was mostly at the Benevolence Research Tower, doing Benevolence stuff.

Kiri was over with Tasar or Mox, changing the landscape and learning about Spatial Magic and dungeoneering, and then doing that Spatial Magic and dungeoneering.

Jane was still in the Underworld with her team. Last Erick heard, they were ripping it up down there, tearing through historically deadly environments and transforming them into livable land. The subjugation and cultivation of some ‘Healing Waters Cavern’ down there was apparently a Big Deal for about 40 villages and several large cities in the depths of the world. Erick wasn’t quite sure why it was a big deal, but it was; everyone assured him. Erick thought those Healing waters were a quick way to get super cancer.

And Poi… Was doing something secretive.

Erick trusted Poi perhaps the most of anyone on Veird. Poi could have his secrets.

Erick had not pried, for his people could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. And thankfully, Erick was able to go out into the world and not worry about sudden assassinations anymore, thanks to his 1,000 absolute damage reduction, combined with 95% damage reduction from Constitution. Even Tasar wasn’t as present as she usually had been, which Erick knew Tasar had been thankful for. For all Tasar’s friendliness, she was much more comfortable teaching Kiri various magics than she was being around Erick all the time, now that Erick was also a dragon.

Tasar was having some trouble with that particular transformation. A lot of people were. Erick had gotten concerned letters from all over the world, once it became apparent what he could do, and what he was doing.

And, perhaps, as Erick stepped into the kitchen dining room, and Poi froze and set down the pasta dough he had been rolling out, Erick wondered if Poi was freaking out about the dragon thing, too. Or maybe whatever was happening with Poi was about the Shadow’s-Feast-thing unfurling today.

Erick verbalized the rest of this thought, “Or is something concerning you, personally, Poi?”

Poi thought about lying, but then he breathed a bit, and said, “My sister wishes for a [Reincarnation], and to be made into her proper age she would have been if not for being torn apart and remade by Shades for the past… long while.”

“Okay. Done. When does she want it?”

“… An hour after you agree to it, whenever that should happen.” Poi added, “In light of this new information with the Feast I must say that this might be a way to get you to do something for Shade Farix. I don’t know what, though.”

“Yup. I agree. But I’m still going to help you with your twin sister. I haven’t pried before now, because I trust you, but is that where you’ve been skipping off to, all this time?”

“Yeah. It was. Mostly I was just… talking…” Poi took his hands off of the dough he had been making, and then he dismissed his conjured gloves. Bits of dough fell from those gloves to land back on the dough ball. And then Poi went to the kitchen table and sat down, not saying anything.

Erick whipped up some tea, letting Poi stew, and letting the tea stew between them. Erick sat down across from the sapphirescale man. He waited.

Poi eventually said, “I want her here, Erick. Not in the house, but… Nearby. Close. And yet… That would be a breach of security wider than Goldie walking around at your side all day long. And what’s worse is that there’s no real time for this shit in my life.” Poi looked to Erick, saying, “I thought I left this pain behind me. I thought Rizala was dead. I moved on! But no! She’s been a shadeling all this time. She watched me from the shadows sometimes. She saved my life… Once when a leviathan crashed out of the shadows and another… I didn’t know she was there… That she was still there. All these years of her being there and me not knowing she was there. I couldn’t know though? Right? I couldn’t know. I didn’t know—” His throat closed up as tears streamed down his face.

Erick went to him and held him for a while, and Poi held Erick back.

Poi shook as he sobbed, and Erick just held him.

After a minute, Poi pulled away. His eyes were red. He rubbed them with the back of his hands, careful of his scales. And then he blinked a bit and sat down. He drank his tea.

Erick sat down and drank his own tea, too. When another silent minute had passed, Erick said, “I’ll hire her for the House if you want.”

“… Yeah. She and I… We talked about… A lot of stuff. She would work at the House.” Poi shuddered again, then looked at Erick, saying, “She’s a good Mind Mage. Uh… I wanna say Enforcement, but. That’s your call.”

“Enforcement it is.” Erick stood up. “Let’s go meet with her and with Farix. See what the Shade is planning.”

Poi just nodded.

– – – –

Erick transformed the bare orange stone of a very small part of the desert into a solid platform about ten meters across. And then he and Poi waited on a corner of that platform. The sun glared in the western sky, but it wasn’t that hot. It was never really that hot in the Crystal Forest. Erick felt that was more due to his own Health and Constitution and absolute damage reduction allowing him to weather the weather, but even before he had all this power, simply having Health was enough to make the hot sun rather bearable.

For a good five minutes, Erick let his mind wander, to think more about the problems of the day—

And then Erick turned his attentions to the other corner of the platform.

There, under the bright sun, shadows began to gather.

Farix stepped out of the air. He was more clothed than Erick mostly remembered him, as he was wearing full black robes and a suit underneath those. His skin was still pale blue while all the other parts of him were bright white, like his full-white eyes. He looked to Erick, and stood tall.

And then a sapphirescale woman stepped out next to Farix. She looked rather a lot like Poi, but not at all; not really. Rizala wore simple conjured robes, like one might wear inside a hospital, when disrobing quickly might prove necessary. It was appropriate garb for a [Reincarnation].

Erick opened with, “Hello, Farix.” He looked to Rizala. “Hello, Rizala.”

Farix smiled a little, saying, “I’m looking forward to the party, Erick. Want me to run the bar again?” He held up a rather large sock. “I brought my outfit!”

“You are free to wear whatever you want the whole time, but I’m having the whole thing catered by high-star Cooks and there’s going to be a fae in attendance, as well as a few dragons.”

Farix frowned a little. He put the sock away, saying, “I suppose a cold Feast is better than no Feast at all. Will the orgies happen?”

“… Probably not.”

“That’s not a ‘no’!” Farix smirked a little, then he spoke of Rizala, “This one wants to move on from my employ. You taking her, Erick?”

“I am.”

“Good! Treat her well.” Farix made a shooing motion at Rizala, and then he waved to Erick. “See you at the party!”

Farix stepped down into the shadows, and then he was gone.

Rizala remained. And she had paperwork—

Poi stepped forward, saying, “Erick. This is… Rizala. My sister. Separated as children and… Well you know the story.”

Rizala bowed deeply, then stood back up, saying, “It is an honor to meet you, sir.”

Erick gladly said, “Any family of Poi’s is family of mine. So how about we get you into a body that’s yours? We can do all the real talking later, after you recover from this magic.”

Rizala breathed a bit, then she said, “Yes, sir.”

She wiped away a tear. Poi wiped away a tear.

There were a lot of emotions, and Erick really wanted to be there for Poi, but Poi was purposefully keeping Erick at arm’s length about this. After a bit of explanation about how this would work, Erick got to making magic.

Soon, Rizala was Rizala again, but different. Same sapphire scales. Same height and sex. Same looks. Her fracture of futures turned out a bit oddly, for Erick saw a clear break in possible futures between ones where Rizala had telepathic tendrils on her head, and another set of futures where all those telepathic powers were gone. That was the difference between being a Mind Mage or not, Erick figured.

Poi said, “Yeah. That’s that… We suspected that something like this would happen with a known Mind Mage, so… It’s good for confirmation, I guess.”

“Do you see a future that you think she would prefer out of these options?” Erick gestured at a certain part of the fractured futures. “There’s tens of similar ones, all of which her paperwork says are fine.”

Poi warred with himself for a moment, then he told Erick which one Rizala would have truly wanted.

Erick picked the future with Rizala as a nexus of telepathic tendrils, helping to root out abusers of Mind Magic the world over. She still had her body, though, so she wasn’t a full creature of Mind Magic. She even had a few children. It was the future she requested, the future right next to the one Erick was going to pick anyway, and so it was an easy wish for the future for Erick to grant.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Erick floated Rizala off on a Platform, through a [Gate], into a [Fairy Stronghold] that he had conjured on Yggdrasil. And then Poi went with her.

“We’ll talk later?” Erick asked.

From the other side of the [Gate], Poi nodded. “Yeah. Let’s talk later. But…” He looked to his sister. “I need to be here for her when she wakes.” He turned back toward Erick. “Thank you for understanding.”

And Erick did.

He shut the [Gate].

And then he stood there on the orange stone platform, alone.

That whole thing had been rather surreal. From Poi suddenly asking to [Reincarnation] his sister, to meeting with Farix and not having an actual problem with him, to meeting Rizala for the first time… And yet not really meeting her at all.

… Erick decided he needed a second opinion on what had happened there.

But he was too busy to really pursue that right now. He had taken most of the morning off to deal with the letter from Fallopolis, but stuff was piling up back at the Castellan’s Office. Zolan was going to be a part of Shadow’s Feast— or ‘Shadow’s Triumph’? Whatever it ended up being called, Erick decided to call it the Feast for now.

And Zolan would want to be present at the Feast… Probably?

– – – –

Erick sat in the guest chair of Zolan’s office. He had just finished explaining what was going to happen, or at least most of it. A lot of this Feast was up in the air right now, and there was no telling which way it would land, exactly.

Zolan sat in his normal chair, thinking. “And there’s no way for you to deny this burden placed upon you?”

“Nope.” Erick elaborated, “I could choose not to do this, but it would happen anyway, outside of my sight and control, and I would be expected to show up for it. No one has said this much, directly, but I can already see the writing on the wall. It’d be a much harder ballgame if I chose not to play. And, you know, there’s this whole ‘treaty between all sides’ thing I got going on here.”

“… Right. Of course.” Zolan breathed out, “Because the Darkness will not be ignored.”

“Exactly.”

“… Okay. I’ll, uh, make it happen— Or rather I’ll work off of everything else you’ve already created.” Zolan tossed aside his worries and sat up straighter as he said, “This would explain the letter we got from Aisha about O’Lark, then—”

Erick’s hopes went up.

“—he says ‘absolutely not—”

Erick’s hopes went down.

“—not in a million years’.” Zolan said, “But since the options were someplace new or House Benevolence, I am glad that he said ‘no’, because now I can work on securing the entire House for the party. Get most people temporary rooms— Actually. It’s probably time for all of the people who live here at the House to move to Candlepoint, and take the Gate here in the morning, along with all the other people. We’re past most of the worries of sudden violence, and it would be good for the community if people weren’t segregated into towers. This is the perfect excuse to clear house… And ‘House’, too!” He smiled a little bit, happy that he could make a small joke there at the end.

Erick grinned, too. “I approve. So will you come to the Feast?”

“… Historically, the Feast is mostly a very extravagant party, except if you’re not invited, and then it’s a chase and a murdering. So if you’re hosting it, and if you can guarantee safety, then yes, I will come. A first-hand account of a Feast always helps our side of things to be able to know, exactly, how the Shades are fucking us over, and there were many parts of your account of Last Shadow’s Feast that didn’t add up.”

“Uh?” Erick blinked a bit, frowning. “What didn’t add up?”

“There’s always an orgy and you would have been forced to attend, but there was no orgy in your account.”

Erick burst out laughing.

Zolan defused all tension, saying, “It’s the highlight of the Feast! And you’re way too prudish. There’s so much information we could have gathered at— Now now. All this laughing isn’t helping. Why didn’t you record the orgy, Erick? It’s a very serious question!”

Erick would have thought it a serious question if Zolan wasn’t smiling the whole time he said it. So Erick just laughed.

And then Zolan happily took out a folder from his desk, saying, “And now that you’re in a good mood, let’s talk about Stratagold’s formal request that we not change the Gate Network over to per-ton and per-person rates, and continue to use cost-value shipping rates.”