Plans were hard to come by. Kitana went home with me, and we stayed up late debating what to do next. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency. I had already most of a year messing about Bening and building a house. If my survival was dependent on disc...
“We wore him out,” Kitana giggled. My breathing was slowly getting back to normal. “While we wait, maybe you can answer a question for me.” Vista crawled off the couch and into my lap. “Ask, my master.” “Where’d you learn to suck a dick like that?” I aske...
The next morning, I woke to the sound of the kettle whistling. A fresh fire crackled in the hearth and I could hear the sizzle of something frying. Kitana gave me a brilliant smile when she saw I was awake and waved a spatula at me. “Morning! I made break...
Perhaps predictably, Kitana’s parents didn’t take her announcement well. I followed her out of the pavilion and stood at her shoulder as her parents and other anxious hopefuls gathered around. “I have chosen my path,” Kitana said. She glanced up at me, ma...
“Fine. But before I leave today, I want you to tell me everything you know about the flow and the Dragon. And whatever you might know about the other humans before me. You can start with what you think I’m searching for.” Vista nodded. “Are you going to s...
Discovering the demise of the Dragon put me in a dark mood. I dropped Kitana off outside her house and made my way up into the hills to my home. Lira was waiting for me, but I didn’t know how to tell her what I had discovered. I couldn’t keep lying to her...
A billowing cloud of ancient mortar dust rolled over us, and I covered my mouth with my sleeve. Our torches guttered briefly before stabilizing again, and I groped forward toward the opening, feeling my way through the airborne dust. The entrance to the s...
Kitana and I lingered in the church until the congregation had cleared out. I thought it might be nice to walk back with Lira, and Kitana didn’t want to run into Eston in public so soon. The congregation slowly filtered out, most of them in no rush to ret...
The potter down by the river was a doddering old man, his arms smeared with clay to the elbows but his clothes somehow pristine. He took my order for a collection of differently-sized beads scaled from a quarter inch all the way up to three inches without...
I woke up late the next day. Lira was gone from the bed. I thought she had fled back to Tamara, at least until I rolled over and saw breakfast waiting on the table for me. It wasn’t much, just tea, a fried egg, and a slice of toast, but it was the first t...
I spent the rest of the day working on my house. Getting four walls up was an accomplishment, but now I knew what I was doing. I wanted to expand my little home and turn it into a proper place to live. A few hours spent breaking rocks for the new foundati...
Chapter 6 – Giving a Helping Hand The next day, I woke to find Ethel knocking. I opened the door and leaned against the jamb, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “This is a bit early for a wakeup call, Ethel. How can I help you?” The stately elf sniffed her d...
The day after Tina helped me build the bench, I decided to stretch my legs and explore the valley some. I couldn’t help but dwell on the words I had heard when I had first arrived in my new home. Find the truth, if I can. What did that mean? What truth? I...
Chapter 4 – Lunch Break I startled as my door banged open. Kitana stood in the doorway, her face flushed and an excited smile on her face. She had a bundle of carrots clutched in her hand. “Master Jack! I’m on my lunch break, and I thought we could…” she...
Now that my house was a home, I found I had a lot of free time on my hands. I tracked down Auni, the kid obsessed with bugs, and got a dissertation on how to catch them using his homemade smoke bombs. Halfway through his breathless description of the vari...
