The wagons moved through the night across the sand as Tad talked to Kettle.

"Tad, can you put the pieces of my metal in this cabinet. I have an idea, " said Kettle, and one of the other cabinets popped open. Tad looked into it and saw strands of Kettle in there. Tad took the parts he had from the box and placed them in the cabinet.

The door closed, "Kettle, I thought you said you can't separate from your body? " said Tad.

Kettle didn't respond for a few moments, then his eyes behind the glass started bobbing up and down again, "No, I didn't say that, I said I wouldn't be able to move if I did separate from it. As you can see, I am not going to be moving looking like this. I'll need a lot more metal of Bismuth to fix this now. I'm changing this small part. I had an idea I saw when looking at the images earlier. There, open the cabinet and try that on. "

Tad opened and looked inside. The metal was shaped into a bracer. Strands of pasta Kettle were pulling back out of the cabinet through a conduit in the side. Tad took it and looked at the item.

"It's a bracer. Try it on, " said Kettle.

Tad put it on his right wrist, and it closed and encircled his forearm.

A powerful voice filled his mind, "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" asked Kettle.

"Ouch, Kettle quieter, please," said Tad in a pained voice.

A much quieter version of Kettles projection replied, "Sorry, I guess it's because we are so near. This will let us talk across distances, even if I have to close the cabinets again or the door. Oh, and it does something else. Imagine a gauntlet forming over your hand. "

Tad looked at the bracelet and imagined a gauntlet, "Is it supposed to do something? " asked Tad.

"Put some energia into it," responded Kettle in a more normal tone now.

Tad looked at it and pushed some energia into the bracer while thinking of a gauntlet. The metal flowed then, the thicker ridges on the bracer flattened, becoming thinner as the metal flowed over the top of his hands and fingers. Small rings wrapped the digits of his right hand. It looked like a thin bronze gauntlet without a glove sown into it. Tad flexed his hand. He barely felt it. It looked like an open-palmed glove; it was form-fitting.

"What is this, Kettle? " asked Tad.

Kettle projected with a smile, "It's part of me that I can't reattach at the moment. It also lets you and I talk over long distances. It is also a fashion statement. I plan on selling them all over the Bazaar."

"Really?" asked Tad.

"ha, NO, it's a gauntlet, Tad. " Kettle gave a mental sigh, "Remember when you lost that finger in that duel? This will prevent that. Try punching something. It's a lot tougher than it looks. It will also repair itself if you put energia into it. "

"Oh, great," said Tad tapping it against the seat a few times. "Can I do anything else with it? Make a garrot or daggers or something?"

"No, I didn't think of any of that. It's a simple device. If we can get more parts from Bismuth, I could do more with it, I think. I'm happy we can talk through it. As long as you have physical contact with the metal, we should project to each other through our bond. The only other thing I can think of is you might be able to shield more of your forearm with it if you wanted. " said Kettle.

"Well, it's still good work, Kettle, thank you," said Tad.

Tad kicked the cabinet lightly, "You know I still think I should kick you for making me think you were dead all this time."

Kettle's black eyes were bouncing up and down behind the glass. The little automatron had placed strands above them now. They looked like eyebrows. "If it makes you feel any better when I slammed the cabinet door shut with energia, I felt like I might have died. It hurt a lot, Tad. I didn't want to do that because now I'm stuck in here. I was also very low on energia because of all the effort of closing that door. I almost went into sleep mode; I was so low. I don't know how long it would have taken for me to wake fully if that had happened. No energia or mana can flow into this cabinet when the cabinet is closed."

Tad looked at Kettle, "It's fine, Kettle. I am quite happy you didn't die, friend. "

Kettle replied with a slow, "Me too, Tad."

Tad thought for a few moments tapping his fingers against the top of the cabinet. His little friend experienced many changes after going into that artifact. He was much more intelligent than Tad remembered him being.

Tad projected energia into the gauntlet, and it shrunk back down to the bronze-colored bracer. He looked down at his chest, picking up the amulet that was his cittern.

"Kettle do you think you could fix this? " asked Tad.

Tad moved it closer to the glass so the automatron could see it, "No, Tad, that will take Fey or life magic. I am a being of Order. I'd make it worse if I tried. "

"Oh well, it was just a thought, " said Tad.

Kettle projected a question, "Do you want to talk about your quests now? "

"Quests? What are those? You mean like a king gives his knights? " asked Tad.

"No the, " Kettle paused a second, "book said you had quests. Do you want to hear them? "

"Oh sure, " Tad couldn't think of any quests he was aware of other than finding a safe place to live from Samphire.

"Well, the obvious one is the letter from Samphire. Do you want them oldest to newest or newest oldest?" asked Kettle.

"How many are there?" Great now he had more stuff to worry about, that isn't what he wanted.

"A lot," answered Kettle.

"You know Kettle, your speech is changing," said Tad.

"I know, I have also seen some skill increases. So newest to oldest? Let's go through the first couple. The latest one was an update. Find a home for the Queen," said Kettle.

Tad asked in surprise, "That's a quest? "

"I think most people do not realize things are quests, Tad. Many look like common tasks, but quests will always have some sort of reward attached to them, even if it is just to make you feel better about yourself. You have completed more than a few in the past. " said Kettle.

"What's the next one?" asked Tad.

"There is a strange symbol in this one. It's an updated quest also. Help Zanna find herself, " said Kettle. "You know some of these have different colors in the symbols in the line. I think they indicate how important they are. Zanna's is gold, the Queen's quest is a soft purple, some are blue, and some are just regular symbols with no colors.

"Breamas said she had to make choices to fix her problem, " said Tad.

"Is that what he said? You might want to think about what he said, " said Kettle.

Tad went into his soulmancy space. He replayed the conversation with Beamas, "She will have to make choices soon. You will need to make those choices available to her. I do not think she will find them on her own. Free will and chance are inherent in the system. Make sure to keep her with you, or you will miss them."

A small version of Kettle appeared next to him. Not the pasta version but the old two-legged version Tad remembered before the artifact.

"See, that sounds like you have to do something. So I suggest you find out what is wrong with her as soon as you get back," said Kettle as he wandered around looking at the tent.

"Hey, do you think I could move in here? " asked Kettle.

"Ummm….. No. " said Tad, then he followed up quickly, "what is the next quest? "

Kettle gave an over-exaggerated sigh, slumping over a bit for effect, "It's Find Yoroula, that one is also Gold. Then it's a grey one, Find a Map of the Cursed deserts. After that is learn to survive in the desert two. That one is green and also multipart like the Zanna quest. The first part appears finished when you realized you need water, reward : water. That would be a stupid reward, well unless you needed water, then it is probably brilliant."

Tad was not going to let the little automatron live in his soulscape. He didn't even know he could do that, and he had no interest in it. He probably couldn't do it, and his friend was trying to be funny again. That was another thing. Kettle was trying to be funny. He never did that before.

"The big quest which is Gold with a symbol that is pulsing, Find a safe haven part one. So you haven't found your safe haven yet. This means the dwarven Hold is not a safe haven for us, I think. You will probably figure this out soon, and we only know this because I can see this boooook," said Kettle.

"Kettle, I get it, I'm going to keep the artifact somehow. You can stop with the over-emphasizing the book thing," said Tad.

Kettle came back with joy in his voice, "Fantastic, I'm glad you finally saw it my way. Now there are other quests here do you want to know those, or do you want to move to skills? " asked Kettle.

"How many more quests are there? " asked Tad.

"I didn't do a count, but I'd say hundreds. Some go really far back. Like, find your lost amulet, right before Bubbles found you. There is a gold one also about that time, Avenge the Lady. It's pulsing gold also. Who gets a quest at that age to avenge someone? Then there are a couple of interesting ones, Discover the lost magic of monkeys is gold. That appeared right about the time you started working with Jack and the Monkeys of Mayhem. " said Kettle.

"Can you just underline the ones you think are important for now? We will get back to them," said Tad. "What are the skills? "

The Carnival game music started playing again, and Kettle spoke, "Here let me go over all your skill increases, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding----, "

"STOP," Tad interrupted Kettle, "What in the hells is that?"

"Well, those are all your skill increases starting at your birth, " said Kettle.

Tad took a deep breath, "Why are you saying ding over and over so fast? It is giving me a headache. "

"I thought it would add drama to the explanation. There are only a couple thousand more. It won't take long," said Kettle.

"NO, I'm not listening to that for twenty minutes, or even ten. What kind of skills are these? " asked Tad.

"Well, some are simple. Here is one for throwing a stone. Here is one for learning to fork manure when you worked with the ponies. The good ones have different colors. It looks like gold, purple, blue, green, and grey again. Do you want just to hear the gold ones? " asked Kettle.

Tad took a deep breath, "Kettle, buddy, this is all a lot for me to soak up in one night. How about you make a list of the ones you think are most important to use in the next, let us say two weeks. We will discuss them after I talk to Zanna and find a Map. I'm tired, and I could really use a rest right now. " said Tad.

Kettle didn't respond for a few moments. "Sure, Tad, I forgot you need to sleep and eat and drink and other stuff. Stand up a moment, I want to show you something else I can do with that seat. "

Tad stood up as the wagon jostled him. He leaned against the wall for support.

The seat changed. Initially, it had been what he thought was a solid stool, and then Kettle had changed into that seat. Now the automatron was changing it into a platform that formed into a bed of sorts. It looked like an imprint of a body on top of it. There was no padding or cushions.

"There lay down on that. I'll adjust it to hold you in and make it more comfortable. " projected Kettle.

Tad touched it, then sat and then laid back, putting his head and shoulders in the depressions. The bed adjusted as he lay on it. It was hard, but the surface didn't push on any one specific point. It felt quite comfortable. The edges folded up, holding him in place as the wagon jolted.

"I'll adjust it as you sleep or if the wagon moves too suddenly. You should be able to rest there for a few hours," said Kettle.

Tad felt comfortable. He might like this, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

***