Tad kneeled there, slowly taking the broken bits of his metal friend and placing them on the square stool, reassembling his small body, hoping that it might bring his friend back. Tears rolled down his cheeks, drying so fast in the hot desert air that they never hit the floor.

He felt Nico's hand on his shoulder, "Tad, I'm sorry. But we need to go help the others. More will be lost if we don't help. "

Tad blinked a few times and wiped his eyes, and stood up.

The three friends made their way out of the pit and up past the crashed war wagon. The wagon was now baking in the sun on the path out to the desert. In the distance, a dwarven rider could be seen coming at them fast.

"Lord Rockgrip, the enemy is retreating. They are throwing away troops as the chieftain's sled escapes. " said the dwarf on the back of the lizard.

Tad nodded in affirmative slowly. He had been walking woodenly since leaving the dig site. It was hot, but he didn't care. Nico had to tell him to drink because he was hardly paying attention. Lamruil had not said anything, having sensed Tad's loss. What could he say, really?

Tad spoke, trying to concentrate, "Do any wagons still work. We need to be brought to the wounded. "

"Yes, M'Lord," the dwarf turned and sped off in the direction of the desert.

Tad could see the carnage of battle. Rats, lizards, orcs, and dwarves were bloating in the sun. He tried not to pay attention. Ahead a wagon was coming over the dunes pulled by only two lizards. It wasn't fast, but not many dwarves were on it. His father sat next to the driver, and four dwarves were in the back of the wagon. The top was covered in a cloth sail acting as a sun break. When Tad climbed up and looked into the wagon, it was filled with wounded dwarves. He held Galadinidú as he cast heal over and over on the dwarves. At one point, he handed Lamruil his ring of regeneration and asked him to move it around to the worst of the wounded and change it every five minutes to another. The four active dwarves were giving anyone awake water and taking off any armor they could safely remove.

Nine of the dwarves didn't survive or hadn't survived the trip to him. The rest were in various stages of bad to worse, but none were bleeding now, and they all were getting color back. Many of the wounds closed over where limbs used to reside. Tourniquets were loosened, and most in the wagon were sleeping in the heated shade.

The wagon Tad was on rolled to the center of the battle field. There was another wagon with more wounded waiting. They lost more on this wagon. Tad and his friends did this four times. Each time seemed worse than the last. Tad wasn't shy of blood, but he never wanted this responsibility. Each one of those that he couldn't save weighed on his heart. If he just had more energia or was faster, he thought.

Beothorn clambered aboard the last wagon of wounded. "Tad, these wagons are all going back to the Hold. It will be slow, but the wind is in the right direction now, and we will be sending back half the troops. By morning the engineering team should be here to hoist the wagons down and the artifact out. "

Tad nodded. He was dead on his feet now. Numb to all of it.

"We have a wagon to take us back to the dig site. You can rest on the way," said Beothorn while waving for Lamruil to help Tad down. Tad had lost track of Nico a few wagons back.

Tad made it to the remaining wagon. It only had seven working wheels and one lizard attached to it. It was empty except for his friends and two others. It moved slowly as it turned back towards the dig site. Tad didn't care as he lay down, placed his head on his arms, and fell asleep.

***

Tad awoke. He knew exactly where he was, the smell of stale beer and straw. He had spent much of his youth in here. He wondered where Jack was now. He opened his eyes, looking at the ceiling above. Someone had carried him to Jack's wagon and placed a cot in it for him. He lay there reaching out with his soulmancy thinking about Kettle and not finding him. He fought back the tears. What was he supposed to feel when his oldest friend was no longer with him?

He resisted the urge to rush into his soulmancy space to remember his friend better. He paused, Jack had warned him he would never forget things he remembered with soulmancy magic. Tad thought he knew now why Jack drank so much. The Unicorn had said that in such a way long ago, that right now, Tad understood.

Tad reached out more, looking for anything strange near him. He wasn't angry now. He was resolved. He knew that he would see those void creatures again. He wanted to see them again.

He felt something near, and he concentrated on it. It was the queen bee again. He wondered about that now, its feelings were similar to the lasso spider, intelligent, but he couldn't talk with it. It was searching for others of its kind.

He took a deep breath and sat up. It was cool in the wagon. Jack always had the best enchantment for that.

Tad saw a pile of his clothes and other items from his home wagon in the corner and on the table. He looked at the things from his childhood and picked up a small pewter lancer statue. The same shape he always made his light spells into as they rode around. He placed it back on the pile of clothes on the table and left the wagon.

The sun was almost down again as Tad stepped out. It left long shadows across the sand. The wagon was chained down on top of one of the larger dwarven wagons. This was a flat eight-wheeled double masted wagon.

Most of the wagons were in the shade of a large mound of rubble from the dig site. The insect wagon was tied down next to Jack's. This all made more sense as Tad thought of the wagons small thin wheels trying to go over the sand. The carnival's wagons were all set on bigger dwarven wagons. The quartermaster's and the metal artifact had their own dwarven wagons. The artifact looked small, sitting there with a net of chains spanned across it holding it down.

Tad looked around and saw the druid Iliphar sitting by himself gazing out across the sand. Tad walked up beside him and sat down.

The druid looked up, startled for a moment, "Tad, your awake. Good, Beothorn wants to talk to you before we leave tonight. The food is over at the dig site, it is on the other side of that mound there. "

"I'm not feeling hunger, thanks.," Tad knew why the druid had come along. He took his responsibilities seriously.

"How are the bees doing? " asked Tad.

The druid nodded, then looked out across the sand. "Tad, I'll be honest with you. I didn't sign up for any of this. I agreed to come to see the bees established in the Fey Forests of Mirth. This is going to be a complete catastrophe for the bees. Samphire had asked me to look after them, you know. They are special, he said. Obviously, they were special, but I think he wanted me to understand he felt they were special to him. Do you know how much responsibility that is? They will die here, Tad. It's as simple as that. They are in chrysalis form now, which means they are going to be full bees soon. Not larvae." Tad could hear the sadness in the druid's tone.

"Do you know if the queen will be able to speak when she emerges? " asked Tad, still looking out at the sand. He couldn't hear much from the wagon, but he could feel it loud and clear. This close to the wagon it was almost a constant sound of the queen searching.

"You can feel that then. Thaddius, you might have made a fine druid if things had been different for you. The queen is an empath, she will convey speech only in the form of pictures for some and emotions for others. She won't speak as you do with your friend the Unicorn or even other fey creatures. Do you want me to show you? " asked Iliphar.

"Yea, I think I'd like that right now. She sounds as lost as I feel," said Tad thinking of Kettle.

Iliphar stood, "Come then. " Tad followed the druid into the insect wagon.

Tad remembers this wagon having displays and partitions with many different types of insect displays which the carnival's customers and guests would walk through, poking the glass and looking at strange insects in cases.

Now though, it was three large chrysalides with bees inside, each in a simple horse stall and a rope holding them in place in the tight space. They were huge now. The last time Tad had seen them, the larvae were the size of a large dog. Now they were larger than the ponies. How big were these things?

Iliphar walked over to the larger of the three, "Place your hand here and close your eyes and concentrate on feeling her mind. It is simpler and harder. You use soulmancy, which takes fine control and iron will. Being a druid is the opposite. We ride emotions and let go of will. Watch me. "

Iliphar placed his hand on the chrysalis and closed his eyes. Tad had his senses going and could see how the druid reacted. It was different than the soulmancy that he used.

"Ok, you try. " said the druid.

Tad placed his hand on the bee's hardened shell casing. He reached out with soulmancy, and he could feel her. He could sense queen bee questing for others like her. Tad took a deep breath and relaxed, trying to find a way with her. It felt odd, like he was a child again and lost in the woods. He thought of that time when he had met Bubbles and hid with her in a ruined cave.

The queen bee stopped, then she directed empathy at Tad. Tad at first reacted by shielding then he let the queen feel his thoughts. The queen felt alien yet familiar. She felt like he had those many years ago, lost and lonely. Tad held the feeling he had shared with Bubbles and kept thinking of the word, "Safe." The queen bee's call settled down then. She knew Tad wasn't a bee, but she was not crying out now with empathy as before.

Iliphar whispered, "Very good. I had been trying to do that, but she was not responding well. Very good. "

Tad removed his hand from the chrysalis, "What do we need for them? Just flowers? "

"Yes, and no. They will need water, flowers, pollen, sun, shade, a warm but not overly hot area. Also, they will need space, lots and lots of space. We need to get them out of the desert if they are to survive. I have a half-full barrel of honey left. Honey barrels are much smaller than water barrels. Those other two bees there appear to be a male and a worker," said Iliphar.

Tad nodded in affirmation, "I'll do what I can once back at the Hold. The dwarves said there was a storm coming. We will have to wait till after then to search for a portal. "

Tad left to find some water and his friends.

***

Tad had decided to ride back in the artifact. Initially, he had just sat on the stool inside of the structure holding a small box on his lap that contained the parts of his friend. The seat jostled now and then as the wagon rolled down dunes or up them, but Tad had lived in wagons his whole life. He just sat there thinking about his friend.

"Oh, that looks so sad…" came a projection into his mind.

Tad looked up. Then turned to look inside the case; behind the glass were two black beads bouncing around on a strand of metal. Below, the panel had opened a crack.

"Kettle!! Kettle, your alive!!!" Tad reached for the panel opening it, and looked inside.

The inside, where there used to be cards that contained many small crystals, now looked like someone had dumped a bowl of metal pasta inside, then tossed a second bowl in to make sure they had enough.

"Yes, I am alive, no thanks to you. What took you so long? I thought you'd have been down that path faster. Did you forget about me? I actually think this whole thing is your fault. " said Kettle in a fast stream of images and projected words.

Tad laughed. He didn't know if he wanted to hug the little creature or punch him. But he was glad his friend wasn't dead. Wait a second.

"How long have you been watching me? You let me think you were dead? " Tad projected back loud enough if anyone was listening, they could have felt his projection half across the desert.

There was a sudden pause, "Well, you looked so sad, and I didn't want to interrupt you. You know these cabinets don't let any magic through, right? And they are pretty much indestructible if you don't know how to manipulate the metal. Nobody knows how to do that, well I can now, I think, but nobody else probably can. " projected Kettle back with an emotional smile attached.

"You little shii.. ," Tad started reaching into the cabinet, stopped, and took a deep breath. "Kettle, I don't understand any of the stuff you've been saying. I thought over some of what you said a few times, and I still can't make any sense of it. The dwarves are taking this artifact back to the Hold, and Ararmut asked me to figure out what this thing is." Tad tapped the cabinet Kettle's pasta self was in.

"He might still drop it in that forge the dwarves keep talking about."

Kettles eyes started to flash different colors in the cabinet, and Tad heard in his mind one of the Carnival prize game songs, "Well, have a seat, do I have a story to tell YOU!"

Then the simple box stool under Tad changed into a half egg-shaped, more comfortable version of itself that fit him perfectly.

***