Chapter 08

The proclamation of welcome was received by cheers from the small gathered crowd. Vesta looked them over truly seeing potential in them all. Her city was officially started. She smiled at the warm feeling she felt in her chest.

The list of services that she needed to provide for these people started to run through her mind. She knew that she was going to have to do a ton of work, but it was going to be worth it. Hospital services, Police, job resources, and so many other things were screaming to be done first. Instead she focused on the task at hand.

“In our current stage of development. It is important that we know who we are bringing into our midst. I would like to have a word with each of you and we will make your citizenship official. These are changing times after all.” Vesta said. After a moment for the crowd to absorb her words she climbed down from the stage and took Spark to the side.

“This is kind of cool huh? Look at all this beautiful potential.” He said biting his lip and rubbing his hands together. The pair walked into the hallway that lead to the smaller offices.

“Alright I’m going to need you to keep it in your pants,” Vesta said smacking him in the back of his head, “I need your help.”

“Ouch.” He said with a scowl.

“Could you please escort each person back for a short interview?” Vesta asked.

“Fine.” Spark said in a huff and turned back towards the larger auditorium room.

“Thank you.” Vesta hissed at him as he walked away.

She turned and walked into the first office. It was very, well, bland was the only word that she could think of to describe the room. The walls were a dull grey painted over cinder blocks. There was a metal desk in the center of the room that was topped with a dull wood. Behind the desk there was a rolling office chair and in front there were two wooden chairs that looked like they were about as comfortable as sitting on the ground.

“Well this room is going to need some work.” Vesta said to herself with a groan.

“I have your first appointment.” Spark said knocking on the door frame.

“Great.” Vesta said spinning around with a smile.

“Hello miss Vesta.” A young woman said standing next to Spark. She was about five-foot-tall with sandy brown hair and blue eyes that had a tinge of green around the pupal. She wore simple clothes and embodied an innocent façade.

“Please come in and have a seat.” Vesta said motioning to one of the wooden chairs. She took a seat in the office chair. Spark turned to leave but Vesta made a noise to catch his attention, “Would you please stay, Spark?”

“Sure thing.” He said walking around behind the desk to stand next to Vesta.

The girl folded her hands in her lap as she sat patiently waiting for the interview to begin. Vesta considered her for a moment before taking a breath and deciding to get started.

“First of all, I would like to welcome you to our city.” She said with a smile.

“Thank you, Lady Vesta,” She gave a slight bow, “I am happy to have made the trip here. I hope that I can call this place home.” The woman said.

“What is your name?” Vesta asked. Cassi appeared in the corner of her vision ready to take notes on the young girl.

“My name is Rebecca Yolna.” The woman said.

“Rebecca, how old are you?” Vesta asked.

“I am twenty-three years of age.” Rebecca said.

“Do you have any family?” Vesta asked.

“No ma’am.” Rebecca said and her face grew grim.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Vesta said shaking her head, “Why have you come to Summerrest?”

“I was born in the city to the west called Lorindale. Over the past few decades Lorindale has had tensions with Solintell a few miles north. Recently this tension has devolved into war. Both sides escalating into armed combat. People,” She paused, “People dead in the street.” Her throat caught.

“Oh my god.” Vesta said breaking her professional-ish behavior.

“Yes ma’am.” Rebecca said with a nod.

“Do you know the root of the conflict?” Spark asked stepping forward. He leaned down resting his knuckles on the desk.

“No sir. I just know that the fighting was horrible.” The girl said shaking her head.

“Bring it down a notch.” Vesta said softly reaching over and placing her hand on Sparks arm.

He looked from the girl then to Vesta and took a step back. A Visible calm rushed over his body.

“My apologies.” He said after a deep breath and a sigh.

“How did you come to know about this place?” Vesta asked.

“As a group we left Lorindale after our homes were destroyed. We checked the registry while leaving the city and found this place listed with a low population. We thought it would be a place that we could find homes and possibly jobs.” The girl said.

“Speaking of jobs, do you have any notable skills?” Vesta asked.

“I am a geologist.” She said confidently.

“I would have never guessed that in a million years.” Spark piped up shaking his head.

“Sexist much?” Vesta turned and asked.

“My bad. Just picture someone who plays in the dirt a little, you know, dirtier.” He said with a shrug.

“Maybe keep your mouth shut.” Vesta said with a tusk.

“Mum, there is a city position available for geological department. Filling this position will unlock geological surveys. These can be used to locate valuable resources in the area surrounding the city. These resources can be valuable for not only strengthening our own infrastructure but also for economical gain.” Cassi said.

“Understood.” Vesta said then turned to Rebecca, “How would you like to be the official head of the city’s geological department?”

“I don’t know how to explain how happy that would make me.” She said practically bouncing out of her seat.

“Excellent! You are here on a ninety-day probational period. In this time, we reserve the right to revoke your citizen ship for any nefarious act, however, there will be a hearing. As you get established in the city, I will cover the rent on your assigned living quarters for the probational period. These living arraignments will be issued first come first severed. Are you agreeable to these terms?” Vesta asked.

“Yes ma’am!” She said practically throwing out her hand to shake Vesta’s.

Vesta stood and took Rebecca’s hand. They gave a firm shake which resulted in an official agreement that the world would enforce.

“Thank you for your time. Please let the others know that we will be out shortly for the next interviewee.” Vesta said with a nod releasing the girl’s hand.

Rebecca left the room saying ‘thank you’ over and over again. When they were alone Vesta turned to Spark.

“A war?” She said shortly.

“Yeah, we should probably be careful. We certainly need to get more information.” He rounded the desk and sat down in one of the wooden chairs, “This bloody office needs an upgrade.”

“I agree with you there.” Vesta said lost in a pondering thought.

If nearby cities were at war how long would it be until they were dragged into, the middle of it? How many people would be coming from the cities looking for asylum? What would happen if people from either side of the conflict tried to immigrate to Summerrest? What caused this type of conflict in the first place? It was clear that they needed more information.

“I suppose that we should get on with the next one. I don’t want to keep them waiting.” Vesta said.

“I’ll be right back.” Spark said leaving to get the next interviewee.

The remaining twenty-four interviews went much the same as Rebecca’s. Like she had said they were all from the same city and they had left together because their homes had been destroyed. Vesta attempted to conduct each interview the same exact way as the last.

The information that they were able to gather was that Lorindale was governed by a Villain named Lucid Shadow while Solintell was governed by a Hero called Dreamscape. The tensions had always been there because the two did not get along but given the changes in the world each wanted the other’s domain. This told Vesta that there was something worth having besides just a city or they were petty children. She wondered if the powerplant would end up being a target for acquisitions if she got it fully operational.

She was able to fill a couple of the city positions. She found a man who had a high skill in social work. She offered him the job of interviewing and cataloging other new people who came to the city. She found another man who was ecstatic to be offered the opportunity to manage the economics and trade divisions. He noted that in the future the two should be separate but in the cities current state it would be fine for him to handle both. She found someone that could act as an interim police Sargent, but he lacked a fair amount of confidence. She really just needed someone who could report to her for the time being. The last person that she interviewed was a woman who was a skilled doctor. She was an older woman who didn’t seem like she was going to put up with much shit, which is what Vesta wanted.

For each person that she filled into an official city role there was someone that was basic skilled labor. There was nothing wrong with this, it was just harder to determine where they should work. She decided to work with Cassi to assign them based on the needs of the other city departments. They were understanding when explained that their job might be shifted around for a while, but they would get paid.

Each person, or family unit was assigned a living arraignment from the options that were available in the zones that Vesta had specified. No one seemed to complain about any of the agreements that had been made.

“How many people can we house?” Vesta asked Cassi after the last interviewee had left to go to her new home.

“Currently with the zoning that you have done we can house two hundred and fifty people.” Cassi said.

“That not too bad, hopefully we can get those filled up fairly quickly.” Vesta said standing up from the chair.

“Once you clear up the bandit camp, we should get an even bigger boost to immigration.” Cassi said.

“Right, I need to get to that, but I have got to sleep first. I guess I should pick one of these living quarters for myself.” Vesta said pulling up the map.

“As the Lady of the city you have living arraignments provided in the penthouse of the main building.” Cassi said moving the map to show the room.

“Really?” Vesta said looking it over on the holographic map.

“Yes, there are also four other apartments that can be assigned to your Steward and advisors.” Cassi went on to explain.

Vesta clicked her tongue and sighed. She knew that she was going to have to give one of the rooms to Spark. Despite some of the comments that he made he had maintained a good behavior during the interview process.

Leaving the interview room Vesta was heading straight to the elevator. She needed a shower and a bed badly. It had been nearly two days since she had slept, and it was really starting to take a tole on her. During the last couple of interviews, she could feel herself dozing off which made her feel bad because of their heart wrenching situation.

“You have city notifications that need your attention.” Cassi said as the elevator made its assent.

“Go ahead and show them to me.”

-New Citizens 25x

-Total City XP Earned: 9000xp (Base 200 Per new citizen with 80% bonus for helping people in need.)

~~~

-You have earned 50 City Points

~//~

Vesta wasn’t sure how long she had slept once she had finally gotten a shower and gotten into bed. She felt unfortunate to find out that it was only about five hours. Cassi was the one who woke her up and it took most of Vesta’s will power not to be grumpy as she normally was.

“Spark is looking for you.” Cassi said opening a window hovering above Vesta showing a security like footage of the lobby. Without her mask on Cassi couldn’t feet Vesta direct information.

“Can you take a message?” Vesta asked as she turned over and pulled the blanket over her head. It was then that she remembered that she had responsibilities now and she didn’t need to be a spoiled rich kid. She threw the blanket off of her and sat up in the bed.

“I could do that.” Cassi said.

“No, wait.” Vesta said before she could leave, “I’ll go.”

After a quick visit to the bathroom to run through her morning routine she felt refreshed. Standing in the middle of her new living room Vesta’s suit waited for her. Responding to her thoughts the back of the suit unfolded so that she could take a step inside. The suit closed her in fitting absolutely perfect around her body.

She left her new apartment behind in search of her friend.

The lobby was a buzz of activity. Many of the offices that she had filled the day before worked in the area surrounding the lobby and they were all working together. Everyone that Vesta could see looked ecstatic.

“I’ve been looking for you. Where did you disappear to?” Spark said walking up to Vesta when he noticed that she had arrived.

“There is a room upstairs just for the Lady of the city.” Vesta said with a smirk.

“Is that so?” He asked crossing his arms.

“Yeah, there are a couple of others for people who I appoint to advisory status.” Vesta said shifting her weight from one side to the other, “I haven’t decided if that is you or not.”

Unlike Vesta Spark didn’t wear a mask. His identity was not really a secrete and his expression was written on his face, but only for a split second. He wiped away the disappointment as fast as it had appeared and cleared his throat.

“Well if you’re not too busy being a dick, don’t we have some work to do? Something about a camp of bad guys?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Vesta said trailing off. Her little nap had been nice, but there would be time for real rest when the work was done.

“Well let’s go then.” He said motioning towards the front door.

With a loud scoff Vesta started walk towards the door. She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. In a loud whoosh they vanished from the lobby of the main building and reappeared a safe distance away from the encampment. They were standing on a hill a few dozen meters away.

Spark doubled over and threw up what little was left in his stomach. He tried to be as quiet as possible.

“I hate it. I hate it.” He said gripping his knees.

They moved a few feet away from his puke and knelt to have a look at what they were up against. The encampment was a circle of a dozen RVs and tents a few meters off of the road. From what Vesta could count there were fifteen men outside, but there could be twice that inside of the RVs or tents. The whole camp was erected against a hill giving them a wall of dirt to their back.

The men that she could see were wearing black leather. They had long unkempt hair or shaved heads. Most of them had thick facial hair. She caught sight of two men in a corner of the camp. They each injected something before becoming extremely angry and attacking each other.

Vesta watched closely as they swapped blows. One pinned the other to the ground and beat him until his head hand sank into the dirt. The victor stood up and held his arms up over his head in celebration.

“I wonder what they are using?” Vesta asked in a hushed tone.

“I don’t know, but this whole group is unstable. I do not want them anywhere near a new settlement of innocent people.” Spark said with his eyes locked on the camp.

“Alright then, lets do this.” Vesta said ready for the fight.

Spark pulled his baton from his back and charged it with electricity. Bolts of lightning arched from the weapon and etched the ground. Vesta began to build energy into a ball of plasma in her hand. Once it had reached the size of a golf ball, she threw it at the camp. Her target was one of the central RVs. The attack flew true. When the ball of plasma impacted the whole RV exploded. She wasn’t sure what was in it, but it packed quite a punch as there was even a small crater where the RV had been.

They didn’t stand around and wait for the fight. The duo ran down the hill towards the camp. They met opposition immediately. On their left five of the men ran towards them and on their right, there was another three incoming.

Spark was the first to swap blows. He struck the closest of the attackers on the left with a blow from his baton. A blast of energy exploded from the impact point sending the man back twenty feet to land on his face. Another three of the attackers were stumbled by the blow. The fifth was able to keep coming even despite the attack. Spark ducked under the thrown punch the leaned to the side to dodge the second.

Vesta took just a split second to use her scan item on the attackers that were coming in from the right.

-Goon

-Vortex Rover Goon

-Level: 20

-HP: 675

-Energy: 330

-Vortex Rover Goons rarely operated without the direct supervision of a Vortex Rover Master.

“I think there is a bigger one around here somewhere.” Vesta yelled out to Spark. She threw a ball of fire towards the center of the three who were running towards her. The ball impacted and the shockwave knocked them all down.

“Fan-freaking-tasitic!” Spark yelled back dipping his shoulder down to toss one of the stumbled who had decided to attack.

“Hey, we got to work for our money.” Vesta yelled back.

Nine more goons appeared on the field from the inner part of the camp. Some of them were going to fight bare knuckle but there were some that were coming packed with weapons such as bats and crowbars, even more still had machetes.

Vesta pulled one of her swords from her back. She picked out the incoming that had sharp weapons and decided to focus on them first. The three of them seem to meet her challenge. They lifted their weapons over their heads and ran at her feverishly. She noticed that they were in some kind of rage, perhaps whatever it was that they were injecting themselves with.

Throwing up her sword she stopped the blade that was on a downward trajectory for her head. She elbowed the man in the chest sending him stumbling back a few feet. She reared up her leg and kicked the one on her right knocking him down to his knee.

That was when a bat hit her square in the back. Luckily the suit was able to absorb a fair amount of the blow. She shook herself for a moment and turned with a round house kick to get the guy in the side of the head. He dropped to the ground in a heap.

She turned back towards the three men with machetes in time to duck back once, twice, three times to avoid incoming slashes. As fast as she could she dropped and slashed with her sword across the stomachs of the three attackers. She felt the blade bite, but there was not blood.

Pulling her sword back, she rolled back away from the engagement. She dropped into a crouch ready to pounce when the goons got close enough. Her legs sprung like a trap but while she flew through the air she vanished in a crack of light. She reappeared behind them angled down towards them. With a swift slice she cut the back of their necks. Her blade did nothing but bounce off of the tough skin.

“What the hell are you made of?” She demanded as she came crashing down onto the middle goon. The dropped to the ground in a tussle for a moment until she broke free and rolled to the side.

A massive bolt of electricity scared the crap out of her as Spark fried the lot of them. Vesta looked up to see that he had already dealt with his five and he had rushed over to help her with hers.

“I had that under control.” Vesta growled from the ground. She stood up and angrily locked eyes with him.

“I know you did baby!” He said making kissing lips towards her.

“Would you stop?!” She asked punching him hard in the shoulder. He stumbled a bit and rubbed his arm, “Ouch.” He complained.

“You’re a wuss.” Vesta said with a grin.

“You know what? I found a trick to these guys and I don’t think that I’m going to tell you.” Spark said crossing his arms like a child.

“Elemental attacks do way more damage than anything physical?” Vesta asked.

“Yeah.” Spark said in a defeated tone kicking his foot.

“I’m not stupid.” Vesta sheathed her sword and clenched her fists. Flames started to rise from the surface of her fists.

A second wave of goons came from the camp filing out from tents and RVs alike. They were all prepared to do combat as they bore down on the duo. Spark playfully hit the end of his baton on his other palm and upon contact a burst of electrical energy shot out around him from the impact point.

Vesta waited until the group was close enough so that there was space behind them. She vanished from where she stood and appeared in the clear spot at their rear. Running towards them she yelled and threw a ball of flame at the back of one to her left and one to her right. The two attacks made contact and with a loud boom three of them on each side were downed in the explosion. A quick count determined that there were twelve total in this round of the fight.

Spark didn’t stand around and do nothing. He threw himself from the ground and flew straight at the incoming mini horde. Drawing back his baton he swung at the head of the nearest goon. Upon impact the goon flipped backwards and down onto his back. A massive bolt of electricity arched from the targeted goon and rebounded to the nearest four. Their bodies all locked up and dropped to the ground like large sacks of potatoes.

Vesta used a pyro-kinetic ability called Pyromantic Construct. She felt a substantial drain on her energy but with this came the appearance of a massive hell hound made of flames. The hound was directly controlled by her thoughts and she could see through his eyes. Upon her command the hound leapt through the air and pounced on the four men remaining to the left. They fought the best that they could but the hound’s elemental power was far too much for whatever they had injected themselves with.

The hound stood over his last victim with one paw on his chest and his jaw wrapped around the man’s neck. He was standing still growling like someone was going to take away his toy.

“Down boy.” Vesta said patting the side of her thigh.

As if Vesta was his favorite person in the world the hound backed down from its kill. It rushed over towards her. As weird as it was being that the hound was constructed of flames that flowed like liquid she reached up and scratched behind its ear.

“Go help the butt licker.” She said and pointed at Spark.

Spark was facing down another five of the goons. His baton was not emitting the steady electrical bolts that it normally did, instead the energy was flickering on and off. He breathed heavily and backed away from the fight to regain energy. The power became solid and he swung again, but he was unable to trigger the spreading ability.

The hound leapt into the fight. He grabbed one of the goons by the head and lifted him off of the ground. The hound flung his head from side to side like a puppy playing with a toy. Needless to say, the man’s cries of pain died away fairly shortly.

A massive crash drew the attention of Spark, Vesta, and the flame hound. It absently dropped the body to the ground turning to snarl towards where the crash had originated. A larger man was walking towards them form the largest of the RVs. Structurally he was the same as the rest of the goon, but much bigger. He wore a leather jacket that was odd in that it had four tubes extending from the upper arms.

With a loud hiss the tubes began to inject presumably the same thing the others were injecting in unison. He began to yell madly in a rage. Vesta wasted no time sic'ing the hound on this new foe while also tossing Spark an energy serum II.

The flame hound lunged at the man knocking him to the ground. Vesta found it amazing the way that the hound’s flames took a true form. The hound attacked at the man’s neck for a tried and true approach, but the man was ready for it grabbing ahold of the dog’s head and pulled it back to keep the bite from landing.

Spark, refueled, shot into the fight as the man was getting up. The master threw the hound aside where it tumbled to a whimpering pile. Before Spark could land his first attack the master’s boot crashed down on the hound’s neck. Somehow the master had kept the hound form shifting into pure flame form. With a loud whimper the flames dissolved away into the ground.

Filled with rage, Vesta ignited her own body in flames. One of her higher-level skills that she’d earned true for taxed her energy levels, so she reserved it for times when she needed to pack a massive punch. She joined Spark in the fight.

The air was filled with crackles of electricity followed shortly by explosions. The goon’s bodies had been resistant to physical damage, but they had been weak against elemental based attacks. This did not hold true with the master. He was resistant to everything. With a back hand he swatted away the explosions. They were doing damage, but he could take it like a champ.

In the split second of a mistake Vesta’s neck ended up in the grip of the man. He lifted his arm up a few inches making her feet dangle from the ground. She could feel the armor of her neck collapsing under his grip. She tried to teleport, but in her true flame form she couldn’t activate that power, and she couldn’t drop out of true form until she ran out of energy.

That was when something truly awesome happened. Spark unlocked his true form. This was not a skill that a player unlocked from spending skills, instead they had to truly embody the power. In Sparks rage he gathered in massive amounts of ambient energy and his body literally burst becoming formed of pure electrical energy. The energy drain was insane, but in the fury that Spark was unleashing on the master it wouldn’t matter.

The master’s grip broke and the moment that Vesta was free she moved back. She began to unleash a volley of fire blasts into the master. Spark appeared next her a few moments later. He was nearly out of energy as his body was starting to flicker back into its normal form.

Vesta gathered up the remainder of her energy into one finally attack. The master was down on one knee heaving deep breaths. She released her attack and as she did a bolt of electricity the size of her arms streaked along above it.

The combined impact of both attacks caused an explosion that knocked both of them off of their feet. The flew back twenty feet and slammed into the ground on their backs.Both groaning from the impact and back in their normal forms they laid there for a moment.

Vesta turned her head to look at Spark. Despite everything he had been so furious by the fact that she was in trouble that he unlocked a new state of being. Without words, without understanding, and against her better judgment she moved her face closer to his and rewarded him with a kiss. He was on board and didn’t complain as he angled himself so they could both enjoy the exchange. When they broke apart, they both lay back on the ground looking up at the sky.

A wide grin spread across Sparks face and even a small smirk appeared on Vesta’s lips. She took a deep breath a told herself that it was going to be alright.

They remained on the ground for a little while allowing their severely drained energy to regenerate.

“We should probably make sure he’s dead.” Vesta said breaking the silence. She was ready for the awkward moment to pass.

“You’re probably right.” Spark said.

They stood up from there resting spots and walked over to the hole in the ground where the Master had ended up. His body was indeed laying on the ground. Smoke billowed from the massive hole that their attacks had carved into them.

“We make a pretty damn good combo.” Spark said.

“We’ll see.” Vesta said. Before they could discuss any farther a noise like a whimper caught her ear, “Did you hear that?”

“Yes.” Spark said also following the sound.

They walked around listening closely and made their way to the back of the camp where the hill opened into a shallow cave. The sounds got very clear as they approached a container that was pushed into the back of the cave.

Vesta reached down and heated up the lock until if fell free. She opened the door and gasped at what was inside. In three separate cages there were men, women, and children locked up. They all recoiled in fear as the door opened.

“Oh my god.” She said holding up her hands to show that she was not aggressive.

“What the hell?” Spark added.

“We aren’t going to hurt you.” Vesta said taking a gentle step forward. She heated the lock on the first cage which held the children and then the other two. The groups exited the cage and moved out in the dusk sunlight.

“What is this?” Spark asked helping a woman down from the step up into the container.

“Slave trade.” The woman said with her head down.

Vesta was angry and a little disappointed that the people in the camp were already dead. She considered violating some bodies to send a message, but that wasn’t her way. She had another idea though. Normally she would collect the money around the camp for use in her own operations, but she didn’t need it.

“I have an idea.” She told Spark pulling him off to the side.

“Alright shoot.” He nodded.

“What do you think about gathering all of the funds from these goons and I’ll match what we find then evenly giving it to these people. We’ll offer them the option to live in the city but if they have somewhere else they want to go, they will have some money to get on their feet.” Vesta suggested.

“I think that is an amazing plan. I’ll start gathering if you want to talk to them.” Spark said with a wide smile.

Vesta walked over to the group of people that were standing in a huddle around on of the remaining campfires. It was almost the complete black of night.

“I can’t begin to imagine what you have been through. I can’t say that I understand,” She started looking around. There were thirty-seven people total in the group, “I wish to offer you something that won’t even start to make up for what you’ve been through but will give you a chance. Spark is collecting the money from these vile monsters who were going to trade you like common goods. When he is finished, I Lady Vesta will match the money and then it will be divided among all of you evenly.”

The crowd of people murmured for a moment but returned their attention to her for what was to come next.

“A short walk from here I have a city that was once grand but is in its early days of being rebuilt. There is more than enough space for all of you to live comfortably and have work that pays a generous wage. You are more than welcome to return there with me or go wherever you please.” She explained.

The crowd grew even louder. Vesta allowed them to converse as Spark returned with the money.

“How much?” Vesta asked.

“Almost twelve thousand.” Spark said handing over the needles. Vesta opened her money management system. She dumped all of the tread into the total and then created thirty-seven needles with six hundred and fifty thread each.

“Six hundred and fifty thread are not enough to make up for your suffering, but it came from the pockets of these evil men. Take it and enjoy yourself.” Vesta said.

She and Spark handed out the chips give the children’s thread to their parents. Everyone was extremely thankful for the gift. Once that was complete it was time for them to walk into the city.

“Everyone who doesn’t want to stay in the city long term is more that welcome to stay the night and travel in the morning.” Vesta explained, “Let’s stay together and watch each other’s backs.”

They left the camp. Vesta planned to send some of the robots down and clean up the mess when they had time in their ques. Spark walked up next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

“That was fucking bad ass.” He said with a smile.

“Thanks.” Vesta said. She found that she didn’t mind his attention.

“I’m going to move to the back of the pack just in case we cross paths with something that goes bump in the night.” Spark said.

“Alright. Be careful and don’t forget there are some living quarters at the top of the main building. You know now that you are one of my advisors.” Vesta said.

“Understood Lady Sweet ass.” He said ducking quickly out of her punching reach.

“Cassi, could you alert everyone that we have some refugees incoming.” Vesta asked in a huff.

“Yes mum, it will be done.” Cassi said.

With that piece of administrative work done Vesta was left to enjoy the walk and the night air. It also left her a free enough mind to ponder some things from the day. Things like, Why the fuck did she kiss Spark?!