It sounded good and so we did just that, left for the teepee and the debrief. As we got closer, we saw that we had visitors. From the entrance way of Maxes, we could see the backside of the teepee. We’d set it up facing the woods in case something came out of there that we needed to fight quickly. Next to the teepee was one of the bigger new trees that had replaced the gas pumps and rain deck. Sitting down at the base of the tree were three people, two of whom Tanya and I recognized, eGirl and her girlfriend, and a Millenial that we didn’t. They stood but seemed careful to stay under the tree.

“There’s some big, well fucking huge, black bird hanging around,” said eGirl. “I’d get under this tree quick. We would have gone inside the teepee but there’s something in there.”

Tanya told us to move to the tree and we did, stepping under its limbs. The tree was like a Magnolia, having big 12 cm long, waxy, dark green leaves. However, its branches started higher than a Magnolia’s did, providing a perfect rain canopy. I wasn’t sure if it had the Magnolia’s blooms or not, but this tree didn’t have them right now. Tanya dismissed our formation once we were under cover.

“That’s Roxie in the tent,” Amada said. “She’s Janet’s mouse.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than a mouse,” said the unknown man.

“Yep,” I said. “It’s a big mouse, a Greater White Furred Mouse (pup) - Evolved if you want to be technical about it. And it’s getting bigger every day.”

“I’m Jake. Jake Spader,” the man said, holding out his hand to shake.

It was funny, how looking at the man’s hand reaching out to shake hands with me, brought it home how much the world had changed. A handshake used to be a rote gesture, something that you did when you met someone for the first time, a meaningless bit of civility. Now, looking at his hand, I thought, do I want to do that? That’s just odd, isn’t it? Three days and a custom that extended back to the classical ages was up for review. Do I want to do that? I mean so much of magic seems to be touch based. I don’t know this man. Do I want to provide him access to me? Not really, I decide and instead of shaking, I do this Namaste gesture that I’d seen before on television and, well, when I went to yoga classes. It involves putting your hands together at your chest and then kind of ducking your head while saying ‘Namaste’ which means peace.

Of course, everybody looked at me like I was weird, but hey, I can live with that. I already have one mental domination spell, Charm, that works on touch. Who knows what this guy is up to? I mean he’s sitting in the shade with my sort-of work-friend and her partner, but what if they’ve been charmed?

“Ok,” I said. “New rule, handshakes are out. Casual touching is out too. I’m sorry Jake if this sounds rude, but until I know better, you’re on probation. No offense.”

“Like I said,” Jake said, “none taken.”

“Ok, well, before we get into you three, we’ve got some business to take care of, don’t we?” I said turning back to the group, then I turned back to the three, “It’s like this, after every fight, we have a debrief. Trying to figure out what did we do right? What did we do wrong? What can we do better? According to my old sensei, it’s important to do it as close after combat as possible. I realize that we could hold off, but we had something happen that probably is important. Ok?”

“Fight?” eGirl said.

“Yea,” I said. “Turns out Maxes got changed either to a giant rat’s nest or a dungeon, fantasy kind, not the other kinds. Don’t know for sure yet which it is. But anyhow, as a way to get stronger, we’re killing rats. So we just killed and looted a bunch of rats, big ones, golden retriever sized.”

“Looted?” asked Miranda.

“Hang on,” I said, “we’ll explain everything, but let us debrief first. I figure listening will give you a chance to catch up on what we’re up to, Ok?

All three of them nodded so I turned back to our group, “and, what did Baila do, Consuelo?”

“She charged the rat with her baton!” she said. “I had to stop and grab her to keep her in place.”

“So she broke formation,” I said.

“Yes,” Consuelo said.

“And she kept you from firing your Force Bolt spell when you had to grab her?”

“Yes,” Consuelo said again.

I thought for a second and then I put on my this-is-a-serious-problem face and said, “That’s a problem. That’s a pretty big problem. Baila, we’re going to have to chop off your left hand for that.”

Her eyes got really big and she started toward her mom before remembering that her mom was mad at her and then ran and hid behind her dad.

I couldn’t help it, I started laughing then. The three newcomers looked shocked, Janet and Tanya disgusted and Big Mike looked kind of amused. Consuelo just looked pissed, but she looked that way before I said it, so I was probably ok with her.

“No,” I said. “I was just kidding Baila, but that’s definitely not nothing. That’s a very big something. Big Mike, I’m thinking you’re up,” and then I stepped back and shut up.

He stepped up and handled it well. He went over why it was a big deal, why she couldn’t do that, why it was a problem, how it could lead to other serious problems, it was a masterful debrief all done at a level a ten-year-old could understand. He made sure her sister was present and listening too. I listened and I learned too. Heck, we all were and did. At the end, he made her apologize to all of us for breaking formation. Her little face was teary while she did it, but she did it and I think she even meant it.

I apologized to her too. It was a pretty mean prank I’d pulled on her. But it was a pretty serious mistake she’d made, thankfully she seemed to be aware of it now. She’d started to put herself into danger and, as a result, pulled another combatant out of position to help her. We were down a fighter because of her actions. Fortunately, this time it didn’t make much of a difference, but it could have. It could have made a critical difference. It could have been lethal. Parents are parents and kids are kids. To ask a parent not to try to save their kid when that kid makes a mistake is impossible. We had to make sure the kids didn’t make a mistake.

“Anything else?” asked Big Mike. “Or are we done?”

“I’ve got a question,” I said. “Did we do alright? I know that I was trying to follow the Tank Left instructions, but I pretty much wound up doing all of my attacks on the right side? Is that alright?”

“Let me ask you something?” he said. “What would you have done differently?”

I thought about that for a bit. I looked around and everyone seemed to be considering that question in regards to their own actions. “I don’t know what I could have done differently,” I said. “I attacked the first rat because I knew that it was a guaranteed kill and it could relieve some of the pressure on you. But it wasn’t left side. The second rat was on Janet and she’s our healer, so no problems with that one either. Again not left side. The third rat was on me and I wanted to make space, so I blasted it, once again not left side, and finally, the last rat was on you. It could have been on the left side though.”

“So to recap, tank, healer, DPS, tank,” he said.

“That’s right,” I said.

“I think you did fine. Combat is chaos. It’s a whirlwind that picks things up and drops them back broken. You did your best. I’m thinking you made good choices and hit them hard. I got lucky and pulled a lot, you did too. We kept them for the most part off our back line. There were seven of them and only two made it back to our, what was that word you used, oh, yeah, squishies. It seemed pretty straight up by the numbers. If we could do anything better it was maybe attacking earlier. We let them get set up in a skirmish line. We should have been attacking as soon as they showed themselves. We treated it like it was the OK Corral. As far as the attacking left goes, as our big gun right now, I think you should continue doing what you did. Attack where it’s needed. Attack first, attack faster.”

“Poppa, how about me?” asked Amada.

“You did well, you fired all your spells and hit where they were needed. I saw you hit that rat that was on poppa. Way to go,” he said, rubbing her head. “Good job, and you, you little firecracker,” he turned to Baila “did well too. I saw you choosing your targets. Way to go, just a little less enthusiasm. You need to stay back and fight smart!”

“Thank you poppa!” Baila said, her tears wiped away and her face smiling. “And momma, you done good too,” he continued. “I saw you firing your spells. And to be able to think about what’s really important while in a fight,” he nodded to Baila, “and not lose your control, is very impressive.”

“Girls,” he said to Janet and Tanya, “good job!”

I guess we were firing spells now, not casting. If I’d known my gun metaphor was going to be that potent, I might have come up with a better one.

“Ok,” I said. “That does it for our debrief, I guess? Anyone else got anything to say?”

There was a brief silence and then I turned back to eGirl and friends.