Ch: 17 Time and Tides

Sergeant Becky was shaking him awake, leaving him disoriented and very, very confuzzled.

“Wake up ya big moose, Liam is about to open his gifts!” She rang a strident chord from her harp and pushed a bare toe into his ribs.

“I'm up, stop already.” She kept nudging his short ribs with a toe, until he flopped onto his stomach and began feebly trying to rise.

“Tallum, come grab this mook, bring your cousins too, he’s dead weight.” She called, patting the struggling musician as though to say ‘bless your heart’, that most backhanded and vicious of feminine insults.

Two meaty lads of about fourteen, along with Tallum and Harlan showed up, looming above him where he lay. He was still gamely trying to work out the whole standing idea.

“Gary,” Tallaum spoke softly, as though to a child. “meet Thom and Marcus, my cousins, they will be helping you…” He said as the two huge boys, twin ginger mountains reached down for him. Looking like grown ass men, they grabbed him by either shoulder and hoisted him up.

“Careful wi that boys, tis my property.” Shai warned cheerfully. “Tis surprisingly fragile…”

It took all his will and determination to raise a rude gesture to his woman, and his middle finger was shaky, lessening the impact. The two beasts of burden carrying him about, found the whole process delightful.

“He’s a bit narrow Shai, want us to stretch him wider? I saw a taffy puller working in the square, she gave me some ideas.” One said, grinning.

“No dummy, that won’t work, it’s like when you have a scrawny fruit tree. You gotta tie it to something stronger to support it till it can stand…”

The young monster went on to recommend a therapeutic crucifixion, in detail. “So when we finally pull out the nails, he will actually be full sized.” The other stroked his peach fuzz chin with his free hand and murmured; “Hmmm… good thought Marcus. Shai, got any lumber around?”

“Don’t ye go putting any extra holes in me boy now, I do like him as he be… well mayhap a mite taller would serve… Nae, tis tolerable fer now.”

They dropped him on a bench in the dining hall, still crowded with local orphans, young and old.

The out of towners seemed to have taken their revels elsewhere, no doubt looking for more raucous activities. All the Bathers, even the much absent Aisha, were there, though she kept to the edges near Gary and Shai.

Liam had worn his armor for their initial outing as Adventurers, but it had been taken back by the artisans for “adjustment” immediately after. They had worked tirelessly, under the influence of Gary’s nonsense and made it a thing of beauty.

Steel lamellar armor, over boiled leather, stiffened with Gary’s careful stitching gave good protection. Each plate and scute was carefully forged, making the suit rather quiet when worn, surprisingly quiet.

The whole team had put their heads together, with advice from smith Harlan and alchemist Muktar and come up with a coating for the steel that turned it a rich plum brown, retarding rust and preventing any metallic shine that might give the wearer away in the shadows.

When they pulled off the drape over the armor stand holding the suit, the whole crowd gasped. The helmet was the final piece, a sturdy steel and bronze cap, lined with softest groundworm fur and skirted at the nape of the neck with fine mail, woven through with cords of trapdoor silk to silence it.

The open face was guarded by a mask of leather and bronze, in the visage of a snarling puma. The feline mask seemed almost alive in it’s predatory fury. Each hair was sculpted into the leather and whiskers of curly wallowbear spines bristled from the cheeks.

Everyone could appreciate a fine suit of armor, even if to most of the onlookers it was more like a sculpture. The spear slotted into the rack was the thing that brought the old Adventurers and more martial minded orphans up short.

Eight feet long, the butt cap was sculpted as a black iron orb, clasped in the roots of a bronze tree. The shaft of red, gold and amber ironwood glowed, ruddy and smooth. At the head, a bronze blade almost two feet long was engraved in a fanciful tree, bursting from the shaft.

It was laden with gleaming enamel and metal inlaid fruits of all kinds.

Gary had helped complete the spear some time ago, it had been hidden in his storage until two days ago, when he handed it over to Shai for a final polish and sharpening for today.

Liam was as dumbstruck as the rest, he grew up with Shai and became friendly with Tallum when she was adopted by the smithy family after they moved into town.

He was well aware that his friends were excellent artisans in their own right, Gary was a new element, but also seemed to be a skilled craftsman. Liam expected something surprising, and since Gary was involved, he had suspected something over the top… Truly the boy was some mad spirit of whimsey and terror come to haunt him.

“No, this is too much. No. Shai, Tallum, Gary… No.”

“Tis the same armor fool, the spear be the gift, tis shiny and fine I do say, but ye are hurting Tallum’s feelings.” Perhaps it was unfair, but Liam was usually so in control, it was fun to see him flustered.

“We made that for you together… well they did and I just helped. It’s yours, nobody else’s.” Gary mumbled sleepily.

Tallum just stood there, super reserved when in a crowd as usual, but he stood there with them rather than trying to vanish.

Liam finally relented, taking the spear in hand and giving it a heft. “Ohh… That’s something…”

Liam seemed a little overwhelmed so Ivy called out to the locals. “Let’s head to the dorm, it’s bedtime. Lights out in a half hour.” She turned to the pensioners. “Elders, good night and happy birth day to you and us all.”

Sergeant Becky got her troops bundled off to bed with a bit of effort, only to be expected on a festival night, especially this one.

Gary was still pretty wobbly, even pressed between a pair of muscular bookends. When they shifted to try and set him on his feet, Gary just collapsed into a sad heap.

“Ye tried, bless yer heart…” Shai said, appearing from somewhere nearby. “Dinnae worry Tallum, I hae this.” With a grin she grabbed her tambourine and began to tap, shimmy and jingle in the most entrancing way. The bells on her hips sang compelling songs, while she got a groove on.

Gary felt her gift enfold him, so familiar and gentle, then his own started doing things. Her beat had been a toe tapper, now it was really vibing hard. He felt himself sway and lurch, entangled in his own power and hers.

“I did hear a story, twas new to me,” She told her kinfolk, with a wink at Tallum. “T’was called, ‘The Second Week End at Bernie’s’, I did think o this idea then.”

Gary’s limp form swayed and lurched drunkenly, before finding the rhythm and getting under way.

“No, you can’t…” Gary mumbled, feeling his body jerked about like a marionette with his own gift. With shock he realized she was using his mana as well. “How? Why? You can just…” Suddenly his lips were whistling along, helping her hijack his traitorous body.

“Fool, I hae been using your mana fer this whole time. Mine own do run out too quickly, ye are endless an I kin tell.” She said, shimmying her hips to make him stagger towards home. “I’ll hae ye home soon and set ye right.”

“I love that you think that’s what I’m worried about. How about the little matter of grand theft Gary?” He gasped between bars.

“Fie, Tis nae a grand theft, just a little pillaging… an mayhap a bit o less than entirely consensual…” Things started stirring downstairs, that wasn’t unusual when Shai was around but this was a distinctly odd feeling.

She marched him out the door and across the courtyard, and into their home. Once inside, Shai grinned even wider, before forcing the least sexy strip tease ever performed, out of his flailing limbs.

Shai for her part, seemed to be enjoying herself, aside from a look of extreme focus and thin sheen of perspiration on her face.

Once he splashed down into the pool, Shai released him and got in herself. “Ye did stretch yerself thin fer me brothers an sisters… Thank ye, tis few that remember that we do have feelings and hopes beyond War.”

She scooted close and made a game of spinning his helpless from to and fro in the pool.

“Becky did say ye blathered on about slavery, revolution and girl dogs, I think ye do mean to upend the fates o all of me orphan kin.” She said purring excitedly, like a cat that just caught a bug.

“If Secret and the other gods need me to save the world, I must have some leverage. They owe me something for squatting in my soul and using it for their own personal hideout. I’m going to squeeze them for all the juice I can get.” He bobbed up and down in the water thoughtfully.

“There is a problem that needs solving in this world, and it’s needed solving for at least a thousand years. The best you guys could come up with was turning orphans into child slave soldiers? Train us for war from birth and then enslave us to fight for our lives?”

Gary flailed impotently over his furious words. “Fuck that noise. Somebody decided to feed us into the mill. I’m changing that, even if the machine these idiots built chokes on my bones.”

Shai rocked back on her heels in the water. “Child soldiers an slaves, aye, I do see that, tis a cruel fate and from yer eyes it do look immoral and cowardly.”

She pulled him closer. “I did never see it that wise, even when I did think t’was my fate…” She looked stricken. “Tis a horror, how did I nae see it thus?”

“There is some kind of fuckery going on… it’s like…” He drifted off, looking foggy and dazed. Shai gave him a few brisk slaps to the cheeks to snap him out of another fuge.

“Fie, let me do the thinking then, We shall dandle thee in this great teacup, till ye be strong enough an then we seek answers o master Thirp an that old crow.” She reached down and grabbed… something, below his waist, rolling his hip out of the water to keep whatever it was dry.

“Did you just pick my Pockets!? How is that even possible? You can use my mana, enter my soul, control my body and my house, use my gifts and reach into my non dimensional inventory?” He huffed. “What do I get out of this, woman?”

She was already wading to the stairs and leaving the pool, calling over her shoulder “Bide a while, I return anon,”

Then she met his eyes and swayed her bare hips at him suggestively. “I do think ye made a fine bargain in exchange fer such trifles boy…” She carried away an unfamiliar cloth bundle, clearly from his Pockets!, but not his…

Shai returned in a few minutes with a tray, still delightfully nude. She proceeded to beach Gary on the steps. With his torso out of the water she served a delightful evening herbal tea and an excitingly exotic lime cake. “I did filch this, ye did fall asleep ere the cake were served, t’would be a pity nae to enjoy yer first birth day.”

“I suppose under the law this is my first birth day… That’s a weird thought… Though, I cried, got slapped, fell asleep in my own moisture and slept through the celebration…” He grinned foolishly. “I think I hit all the guideposts for a successful first birth day.”

Shai also grinned. “All save one, now a woman must hold thee close an feed thee. Fer ye still cannae hold a spoon.” Sure enough, a dollop of wonderful cake was drifting to oblivion in the pool.

She took the spoon from his trembling hand and fed him tenderly.

“Why did ye nay tell me gary, did ye nae trust me enough?” She asked softly a while later, as they drifted together.

“Tell you what? About the coupons?” He asked sleepily. “That would have ruined the joke.”

“No, Gary, ye did nae tell me about the bells. That they did be a contract item. Why did ye not?” She felt odd against him, rigid and awkward.

“Your ding-a-ling? It's not enchanted, I could… did you want something done to it? I’m sure Otho an Amicus will help me with it…”

“It be enchanted, and it do be offering Contract even now, I do want to, very much. What do this mean though, tis nae a thing I hae knowledge of. There be a glowing gold panel in me face, and it do ask me if I wish tae Contract.”

Gary nodded. “That’s my interface gift, give it a negative tickle, if you want to ask the geezers first. You can come back to it again… may I touch it?”

Shai held him out to arms length and looked at him in confusion. “Ye are the oddest boy I did ever see. Were ye nae just complaining that I do be everywhere, around an within ye, an ye do beg my pardon ere’ you touch the gift made by yer hands…” She laughed and set things to bouncing in very entertaining ways.

“Well, yeah, but it’s also over there and I can’t really walk yet.” He said, hoping to shift the conversation.

“Boy, dinnae try an deceive me, ye would hae asked the same were the box in yer hand. Tis a grand husband ye will make, once we forge a little more iron intae yer soul.”

She rose from the pool to fetch her treasure, water droplets gleaming on pale skin, the lantern light, steam and intimacy made her even more enthralling, clenching Gary’s heart in a vice grip that was too pleasurable to ignore.

She set her wooden case down near the edge where it was within his reach, not quite permission and not quite denial.

She stood in the pool to her knees, with hands on hips staring at him in a frank and challenging way.

“Since the day we did meet I hae been watching ye as ye do watch me. That first week, I did all but lead thee by the nose tae my side an ye did follow meekly.”

“When I did get ye tae show passion, twas restrained, shackled by the strangeness o yer old life. I dinnae ken how ye did get so damaged, but the reforging does go too slow. I say this fer good an all, so mark ye.” She paused, looked him in the eye, and drew in a deep breath.

“I am thine an ye are mine, tis nae severing what we hae wrought, this side o the grave or perhaps after. I shall take mine liberties as I will.”

“Ye must learn tae be assertive wi those ye do love, an ye wish tae truly know their hearts an mine.” She stood there, unselfconscious and firm, in her always fashionable birth day suit, waiting expectantly.

Gary reached over, dried his hands on a towel that existed only long enough for the job and opened the box. The nest of tight bronze links and silver bells inside answered his touch in an instant.

Chimes of the Wild, Instrument, Unique, Contract Item, non sentient. This item may be contracted by a qualified sorcerer. As this item’s creator you are incompatible and may not Contract. Significant penalties to stealth.

He produced the message and handed it to her. “Is this what you see?” He asked. “Can you print yours out?”

Still standing and giving him the eyeball she nodded and handed hers over.

Chimes of the Wild, Instrument, Unique, Contract Item, non sentient. This item may be contracted by a qualified sorcerer. You are qualified to Contract this item. Aura abilities and personal charisma will be enhanced when wielding instrument. Contracted instrument May be summoned and dismissed from a non dimensional storage space at will. Significant penalties to stealth.

Do you wish to contract this item to your soul? This is largely irrevocable. Yes/No?

“Wow, That is not anything like what I gave you.” He printed out the last time he received its details and passed that over.

Chimes of the Wild, Instrument, Unique, unenchanted, This item may be enchanted to Iron Rank Plus by a qualified sorcerer. Significant penalties to stealth.

“Aye, that be passing strange. Hae Otho or Amicus seen aught o this? I do recall Otho having interest in yer flute, hae it changed as mine chimes have?”

“It changed, but not into a Contract…” He dug around in his mind for the information for a moment before producing two notes:

Recorder, instrument, Flute class, unranked, can be enchanted up to Iron Rank by a qualified sorcerer. Quality, fine. Unfinished.

And then:

Forest’s Breath/ Unique Recorder, instrument, Flute class, Iron Rank, Enchanted. Quality, fine. Animals, Monsters, Beasts and other low intelligence creatures respond to musician’s will in limited ways. Scales against will, intelligence and rank. Minor effects on humans and creatures of normal intelligence.

“Aye, there be some magic afoot, tis likely an Otho saw this, they may have sumat tae tell us.” She handed him a note of her own, saying; “Tis a strange magic, but tis yours… and now mine.” she said with a satisfied smile.

Chimes of the Wild, Instrument, Unique, Contract Item, non sentient. This Item is Contracted with your Animus. Aura abilities and personal charisma will be enhanced when wielding instrument. Contracted instrument May be summoned and dismissed from your non dimensional storage space at will. Significant penalties to stealth when worn.

“Well that settles that…” He was interrupted by a shimmering amber twinkle in the corner of his eye.

A Contract item has been bound, soul fragments bound in Item will return when contracting process is complete.

“Huh, It’s like Z said, pieces of me are inside your chimes, now they are coming home I guess…”

A Contract item has been bound, soul fragments bound in Item will return when contracting process is complete/ Error, quantum entanglement detected, soul fragments unable to fully transit.

“Or not,” He said, handing her both messages. “You are stuck with me for a while my love, that will teach you to toy with magic you don’t understand.”

He almost crowed. “You thought you could wade into this morass and come out clean? You walk into a swamp, prepare to get dirty woman.”

“I hae been skulking in yer mind while ye do sleep boy, I do know more than just yer Weekend at Bernie’s legend.”

“I did listen to the music of Those Who Would Be Giants as well. They did have a line, I shall steal it, as ye do, fer me own purposes.”

She cocked an eyebrow and a hip before pronouncing; “When Shai dives in the water, does she get wet, or does the water get her instead?”

He blinked, twitched a little, then sank below the surface without a sound. A few seconds passed and Shai began to grow concerned, wading in to find him.

He emerged nearby just as silently, his erect member breaking the surface first. “If you had any hope of getting rid of me… girl, you just fucked up bad. I’m gonna stick to you like a bad smell. Just deal with that.” He purred. “If I could stand up right now, you would be in so much trouble.”

“Boy, I hae shown that I kin make whatever parts o ye I need tae stand up tall.”

It took a while for her to prove her point, Gary was a slow learner and needed extensive review, or so he claimed.

“I bet you would be really good with a kayak.” Gary said as she helped him out of the pool. She left that mystery for later, responding with only a raised eyebrow and a swat on his bare rump.

As the exhausted pair rode the elevator he conjured to replace the stairs temporarily, Shai asked; “If ye could conjure this lifting box all along, whae use stairs?”

Gary shrugged. “If blank walls or painted walls do the same job, why paint? Cause it feels more complete, this would feel like an extravagance. Stairs feel like home.”

Tangled comfortably together in the darkness, they drifted off to their destination.

Secret was in the form of a barn owl, roosting in the branches of a fig tree, while Thirp clung to the thick boll, still deep in conversation. When the pair appeared both came scampering over.

“Things have been changing rapidly here since you were dragged out. Lord Aclintherios dismissed that Hollow One and its ziggurat, but you were being pulled away.” Thirp seemed quite agitated or excited, it was hard to tell.

“Since then things have been in flux. Your soul and mind seem to have stabilized significantly, while the attachment to your body remains unchanged, very odd.”

Secret spoke up. “I thought perhaps you had used the enchantment we gave you some time ago… but it seems you have other priorities.”

Shai was having none of it. “Me boy has fashioned yer filthy ring, an ye want it used, ye wait on our time! We shall nae scoop up some unsuspecting fool and take them intae our soul!” Her agitation was plain to see, showing in every expressive movement and gesture.

“That, my dear, is why I can no longer touch you here and offer a Contract. You are truly a creature without secrets, save those you hold for him.” He sighed with good humor.

“Even your gifts and that Contract you just sealed are demonstrative and expressive. Gary has a song in his head somewhere, ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ I believe is the title, I cannot touch those who have nothing to hide. A woman as subtly unsubtle as yourself must belong to Joy.”

Mollified, she conjured a bench swing for them and settled in to talk. “We hae questions and nae answers, an ye seem loath tae give them straight.” She said to Secret, adopting much of Gary’s casual blasphemy.

Turning to Thirp she asked; “Whae is it that does make Gary dumb an he sees mirrors or speaks of these matters, how does mine own mind fail to see what be clear as day once pointed out?”

“That is an unknown, though in this place we can try some things, tell me about the mirrors, that seems interesting.” Thirp sang.

Shai sketched out the issue as best she understood.

“When he do look in a mirror in the waking world he does look away before seeing, an in his home he kinnae make a mirror, even wi his hands, I did watch an he could nae polish a sheet o bronze tae a mirror.” She knotted her skirts in frustration.

“When he kinnae avoid looking, he do become as dumb as a stump, nae able tae wipe drool frae his own chin.”

Thirp sang, “Can you produce a mirror in this place Gary?” bobbing excitedly and having a scamper.

With a shrug, he summoned a standing mirror, its glass frosted a lovely pearlescent white. “I guess not. Shai, you’re up, conjure a mirror please?” Gary grumbled.

She nodded and a duplicate mirror frame appeared, its glass totally absent, only an empty frame coming to her call. She frowned and tried again, creating a clear glass pane instead. “I kinnae in our home either, tis odd.”

“That is interesting. Any local effect, even one planet wide, should have no effect in this place. Gary, go inside please and close the door too.” With only token grumbling he wandered inside and closed the door.

“Miss Shai, if you would please?” With a thought, a mirror appeared, fully formed and functional. It cast a perfect reflection of herself and Thirp. “Well that clears that up. It’s Gary, please call him out, my instrument is not designed for shouting.”

Gary came bustling out, answering Shai’s call obediently, sprawling out at her feet as though for a tummy rub. “I may have wet on the rug… you know I can't be left inside unsupervised.” He said with a childlike grin.

When the group looked up from his antics, the former mirror was displaying a strange arrangement of colored bars and blocks, while emitting an unpleasant sound.

“Ooh, test pattern, you lose connection?” He asked from the grass.

“Nae, ye did come out. What do this mean, master Thirp?” Shai asked, growing more concerned.

“Whatever is causing his mirror problem is doubtless internal, most likely a symptom of the damage to his mind and soul, perhaps that will resolve in time.”

He groomed his sleek abdomen, deep in contemplation. “As for thoughts and ideas, tell me about that.”

“Gary hae a divine Contract wi Secret, yet he kinnae tell what it has wrought on his gifts, nor tell aught about it lest his mind become as wet sand.” She explained.

“Oh… sorry, that’s my fault,” Secret said, sounding embarrassed. “I only have one Contracted worshiper, that limits my scope and understanding, especially considering he knows nothing of the wider world and only a little about your town.”

“We gods are aggregations of the memories, emotions and thoughts of our worshippers and Contracts. Each one of you adds just a little to us.” He sighed dejectedly. “You are not even fully mine, Joy has her hooks in there tight.”

Gary frowned. “So that’s why you need a Contract with someone from here. But if you are the god of secrets how do you not know… everything?” He asked, feeling like there was a huge piece missing.

“Secrets, boy, I know all the secrets. Most people’s secrets are trash. Who is exchanging biological material with who, tawdry financial and political deals. Mostly they are useless to anyone, even those who keep them.”

He looked Gary up and down with a critical lack of eyes. “Your clandestine lifestyle and criminal background made you able to touch me, the secrets of your origin are what keeps us close.”

He chuckled mysteriously. “That secret society though, genius. You started my cult without even realizing it. I love that about you kid. The crazy is what keeps me coming back.”

The owl that was Secret swooped down and landed on Gary’s shoulder. “Find my next Contract and your own should finish and that pesky gift should start working. More importantly, there is someone near you that has a secret and needs me. I can’t really see yet, but someone is there, just out of view.”

He chuckled. “Hidden even from me. How delightfully ironic… again! Gary, Shai, you two just keep delivering!” He flew back to the tree and perched, preening his wings impatiently. “Find my next worship Contract for all our sakes… and because I really can’t stand not knowing. Your waking world is calling you again, run along now.”

Gary was ready for the festival of War to be over, or at least to stop floating around and get outside. Shai, for her part, was ready to drag him naked into the festivities, if he was not up to dressing himself.

A light snowfall made the whole town look even cleaner than it was, shimmering in the light of the moons. The pre predawn hours were silent and still, frozen in time. They floated together, watching the stars and moons wheel in their orbits not speaking.

After a timeless soak under the clear winter sky they felt and heard their younger brothers and sisters approaching, trooping along into the yard under sergeant Becky’s firm but loving guidance.

By silent agreement they both put on robes and went to join the quiet but excited throng at the public pool. Becky was holding things down nicely, but the presence of even a dubious authority figure like Gary would be a help.

Since the inception of his public bath, he had been awakened every morning when the younglings came to bathe. He had expected to be annoyed by the early activities, but instead he began waking even earlier, anticipating their arrival.

The feeling of twenty or so kids splashing around in his soul was refreshing and beautiful. Naturally he began pranking them.

First it was a flotilla of rubber duckies, quacking and drifting about. After that he coated the entire surface of the pool with bubbles, that morning got too rowdy. Illusory colorful tropical fish appeared on day three, followed by floating paper lanterns in a multitude of colors. Today was all about floaties.

Gary was more of a pool toy dispenser than anything else.

Shai of course was in her element, taking charge while deferring to Becky with consummate skill, supporting the younger girl without usurping her authority. It was an impressive balancing act, handled with grace and style.

Becky and Shai were a tight duo, as close any two blood sisters could be, it showed in every word and touch between them. Even while lifeguarding a rambunctious hot-spring full of preteens they were a force to be reckoned with.

Water wings, innertubes, pool noodles and an inflatable raft were already floating on the calm surface when they arrived.

“Gary what be all this?” Shai asked when they joined the melee. He had neglected to mention his morning activities to Shai, and perhaps had sworn Becky to secrecy on the matter.

“I am as mystified as you are!” He turned on his co-conspirator and taught her about buses, and being thrown under them. “Becky! Where did all this come from? I’m shocked and appalled by the state of things!”

Becky, being precocious, bright and quick, but also only just now thirteen, tried to blush, failed and began to sputter and fume. Gary stood by, in mock indignation while staring out on the chaos.

Finally the dam burst. “This is all Gary’s fault. I don’t know where he gets all this stuff but its always here and vanishes when we leave… it’s all his fault Shai…” She sank down onto the curb of the pool, disconsolate and weeping.

As they both reached to apologize to the girl, her wracking, shoulder hugging sobs became an evil laugh. She lifted one scrawny hand with just one finger raised at Gary.

“I watch you two, I know your games. You were gonna twist me up for your own entertainment? Well now we get the last laugh! YOUNGLINGS! SPLASH!”

Her ending shout unleashed a tidal wave of childish laughter and a significant wave of almost water, sweeping the pair off their feet.

They washed up in the corner of the yard in a naked tangle of limbs, since their robes evaporated on contact with the not quite water. As they untied themselves, the math did not quite add up… too many arms and legs.

Becky, giggling insanely, had been swept up in her own devastating attack and washed up in their shared wreckage.

The rest of the kids were back to tossing around the profusion of floaties or diving off the raft with exuberant whoops of joy, since the geezers that lived there were awake.

“I think we set a fine example for the young ones…” Gary defended himself against an imaginary accuser. “Well not Shai… she’s the irresponsible one… Hey!” Two bare feet kicked him in the ankle at the same time. “Girls are mean!” He sulked aloud while slipping into the chaotic pool.

Shai was regaling Becky with the tale of Gary’s time as the pillow king, tactfully avoiding Paul’s part in the adventure.

“…an the great lummox did conjure a throne of wee pillows all stitched together an a scepter wi a tiny gold cushion fer a top.”

Shai giggled adorably as she told the tale. “He did make pronouncements o comfy law to the amusement o tha gang. That man o mine be a constant trial and worry.”

Sergeant Becky hugged her in consolation. “When it’s time I will help you bury the body.” she promised solemnly. Shai hugged the tiny girl close and eyed Gary up and down.

“I hae use fer him fer a while… mayhap soon.” Shai said with a wide hungry grin.