After Paulin had left them, and with Jacky now awake, Tom found that for the first time since his first acquaintance with Joelina’s mind reading, he didn’t actually feel sleepy. Not really surprising considering just how much sleeping and resting he had been doing over the last two days, but still, it was the first time.

He still felt a bit shit and had no qualms about adhering to Jacky’s demand that he stay in bed. He needed something to do though, so Jacky was instructed to fetch one of the laptops. A request she eagerly obeyed. She soon returned with the magic plastic rectangle under her arm and a smile on her face.

“I wanna watch a movie,” she declared as she shuffled in under the sheets, eagerly getting the laptop opened up and placed on their laps.

“Not a half-bad idea… I think it’s your pick on this one,” Tom chuckled, pushing up against her as they both got comfortable. He knew he had not exactly been easy to handle as of late. Not that the reverse was true of Jacky, obviously. She could be an arse at times for sure, but she had stuck by his side and just taken the abuse from what he could remember and piece together. He hadn’t exactly been kind while he was trying to conduct those mind games. “Jacky ar-”

“I wanna watch an action movie,” she cut him off, typing in the password. “I did Rambo already, all of them. Got anything else?”

“Oh sure, plenty…” Tom relented, taking over and navigating to the folder of most certainly legally obtained movies. “What to pick, what to pick?… hmm… Oh, that should do the trick. You’ll love this one. Expendables.”

“Doesn’t that mean unimportant?”

“Ehhh, sorta. It will make sense, I promise. And it has quite the exotic firearms collection and minimal realism,” Tom reassured her as he fiddled.

“Sold,” Jacky mused in reply, settling down under the covers and getting comfy. “And whatever you were gonna ask, just don’t.”

“But?...”

“Nope, I know you love me and would never hit me or shout at me… unless I was doing something very dumb, then it’s sorta okay,” she interjected, not looking at him, instead watching the opening credits accompanied by some probably Chinese subtitles, which Tom hurriedly turned off. “So whatever you did is on that bitch Joelina’s ass. Or Paulin if you would rather I smack someone less important.”

“You know we can’t just start laying into the Inquisition… Even if this was all one hell of a shit show that achieved fuck all.”

“Fucking depressing when you put it like that… Did you not get anything out of her?”

“Well, I guess she got what she wanted in the end. Hopefully, that’s enough to make her leave us alone. If nothing else then it might get her to try and pay us back for this whole thing. She did at least sound a bit sorry.”

“Assuming she isn’t the fried one now. Paulin did NOT sound happy.”

“Then let her be unhappy. I get the distinct feeling she is very hard to please.”

“Ain’t that the truth? And if she is smiling, everyone else probably isn’t,” Jacky sighed in reply, though she did pull a slight smile at her little joke.

“Well, maybe the vaults are better for her. She’s an archivist after all. Maybe she likes books more than people.”

“Hurray for that if it means she stays far away from us.”

“And hopefully Joelina takes most of her goons with her. Only Edita was staying of the three artificers, right?” Tom questioned hopefully. Edita was a handful, but certainly possible to handle from what little he had learned. Mainly due to the fact she almost seemed to revere him. Hopefully, that wouldn’t wear off too fast.

“No clue there, for now the other two are down at the vaults… Oh it’s starting proper… what’s going on there?” Jacky responded as the movie started properly, leaning forwards a bit to get a closer look at the rather dark screen, Tom’s head sliding off her shoulder.

“Hostages aboard a ship. Don’t you worry, they are gonna get saved nice and proper,” he let out as he caught himself instead going to lean up against the wall at the end of the bed.

“These shits seem like real arseholes.”

“Yup. Pirates. A bit like brigands, but they sail the high seas. They want a ransom for the crew.”

“They ain’t getting that, are they?” Jacky questioned with a mischievous smile.

“Nope,” Tom replied, trying to match her tone. “They are gonna have a really bad time.”

“Oh, they have those laser things from before. Don’t suppose you could make those, right?”

“Nah, sadly not,” Tom mused as he sat here, waiting for the arse-whooping to start. Jacky was probably right. This was the correct way to deal with all the bullshit. A dumb movie about people getting blown up and smeared on the walls. He could actually feel himself looking forward to the senseless violence.

“Ooooohhhh! I want that one,” Jacky let out laughing as the lead pirate was blown in half, followed by the thermals coming on. “What is that?”

“Glasses that see heat rather than light. Damn useful at night, or if you need to see through cold smoke.”

“What’s cold smoke?” Jacky asked after the initial carnage had been allowed to play out.

“Most smoke grenades make it, that’s what they used there. You can see the enemy, they can’t see you.”

“Sounds incredibly handy.”

“Yeah, the goggles are the hard part though.”

“I bet. They are full of the lightning stuff, like the laptop, right?”

“Yup, and a bunch of stuff I don’t even have a clue how it works.”

“Now that’s just impossible,” Jacky snickered as the pirate was given a last chance to surrender.

“Sadly not. Aaaaaand there we go,” Tom snickered, as Sylvester Stallone did his best old western gunslinger impression and mowed down the last of the pirates.

“Fuck! What? He did that with a revolver!?”

“It’s a movie,” Tom tried in a calming voice, patting Jacky on the shoulder a bit as she leaned forwards even more.

“I know I know, but like. He had the gun and the black ones are dead now. How did he shoot that fast?”

“Pirates, Jacky. Just pirates,” Tom tried with a sigh, growing a smile.

“Oh yeah, you’re right, the good guys have a black one too.”

“God fucking dammit, Jacky,” Tom snickered, trying not to laugh. “You would not pass racial sensitivity training, that’s for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“Teaches you to be nice to people you think are worse than you.”

“That sounds more like ‘don’t be an arrogant arsehole.’ Well what if they were a piece of shit?”

“Then you get into a very very lengthy discussion with a human of the blue-haired variety.”

“A what now?”

“Don’t worry about it. Trust me, you don’t wanna meet one.”

“What’s wrong with blue now? I’m kinda partial to it,” Jacky chuckled, seemingly happy enough to let it slide, eyes still fixed on the screen as Gunner lost it and tried to hang a pirate.

“We don’t come with that color naturally. It’s dyed.”

“Oh, like war paint! Imagine dressing you up in white and dying your hair blue. That would be brilliant. What the fuck are they doing? Why are they fighting now?”

“The others didn’t like Gunner hanging someone.”

“Fair, I guess. From a height like that, it might break your neck.”

“For a human, definitely. We’re a bit more fragile in that department. Not to mention less stretchy.”

“My neck doesn’t stretch. It bends,” Jacky clarified teasingly as she leaned back, laying her head on his far shoulder and still watching the screen just about.

“Potato Potato,” Tom retorted with a sigh, giving her a scratch behind the ear with his left hand. “Now I’m afraid the talking starts proper.”

“Translation is on you for not working out subtitles yet.”

“I’m working on it, okay?” Tom chuckled in reply, leaning back to enjoy some senseless violence. ‘I so need to get Die Hard done for Christmas.’

“Well more working then, look at the arms on that guy,” Jacky went, pointing at Terry crews. “You’re slacking, my guy.”

“Oh shut up, one bundle of muscle in the room will do, surely.” Tom sighed, shaking his head a bit as Jacky went to give his biceps a squeeze.

“But Tooom. Think of all the big hugs you could give,” she carried on teasingly, clearly having great fun right now.

“I’ll still give three times the hugs you can manage before you have to be carried home and you know it.”

“Cheater,” Jacky just concluded with a huff, going back to watching the screen as the crew was now flying home.

“Says you.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Time tables being what they were, the traders had been prepped for departure despite Joelina not leaving her room. Paulin had also decided forces ought to be consolidated, which meant moving Yldril back to the keep as soon as she was able, leaving just the prisoners in their little camp for now. Paulin had confirmed that the prisoners would be leaving with Joelina, so that was another thing off their minds, at least in the near future. Arch had been prepped, their usual bounty of hides, even if they wouldn’t be sending any cured food as they usually would. It was quite a light load, pathetic some might even say, but Arch didn’t mind. His pay in all this was quite sufficient according to his reckoning, even if he didn’t want to disclose just what said payment had been, much to the amusement of Galaxer who had always shared a similar sentiment.

It was normally the job of the keeps to supply the cities, but their situation was pretty far from normal this year. They would still be sending what they didn’t need though, both to free up space and to try and limit suspicion, at least a little bit. Archeon would also be carrying one Inquisitorial trooper that had arrived with the two reds to act as a messenger.

Their cargo being, as Paulin put it, “Nothing more than paperwork, both a report to inquisitorial headquarters and some orders to guarantee one Tsarina Kosovo would be a problem no more.”

If Saph didn’t know better, she thought she actually spied a smile on the investigator's face at that remark. Even if it was a rather sadistic one. Even Rachuck and Dakota seemed satisfied that their debt would be settled with the business woman. Saph for her part was quite relieved, since it meant that they didn’t have to go back to the capital for another round of noble intrigue. This time it would be handled by the professionals, and much as the Inquisition had failed to impress thus far, Saph did still have faith this was a problem they would be very good at solving.

Other than the morning briefing, there had not been much of note going on. Saph had been overseeing Edita and the techies to the best of her ability. They had collectively decided on progressing with multiple ideas on the cooling solution, trying to work out as many kinks as they could before presenting their work to Tom.

They had of course also taken the artificer through making the shotguns and even finished one that was mostly done with a promise of a test firing tomorrow. They would also be going over how their ammunition was made, something which clearly excited her greatly.

Much to Sapphire’s surprise though, after dinner she had been approached by Paulin. Surprisingly the investigator had been present for the meal, food likely being sent up to the Inquisitor.

“Would it be possible to confer with you in private, Huntress?” Paulin questioned, in a quiet tone, but not seeming overly concerned with if she was heard or not.

“Just four eyes and no magics or macguffins?” Saph had countered, weighing if she really wanted to be alone with Paulin.

“Preferably, unless you feel the need to bring someone else?” Paulin offered, seemingly picking up on Saph’s reluctance.

“I think Essy might have the time,” Saph replied after a quick sweep around the room, finding the older huntress busy with clearing tables. Essy, who Saph guessed had done her best to not make it obvious she was listening in, perked up at the mentioning of her name, turning to look with a kind, helpful expression.

“Would you mind? The investigator has something she wishes to ask,” Saph continued, pulling a slight smile before turning back to the investigator. “Are we allowed to know about what?”

“Not for everyone, I am afraid. Follow please.”

“Well who can resist inquisitorial secrets,” Essy replied, seeming a touch confused and likely at least a little worried as she set down the dishes neatly, clearly intending to follow them.

“Lead on, Investigator,” Saph added, gesturing around the room, Paulin deciding up was the way to go and heading for the stairs.

She had predictably enough taken them to the library, where she promptly began pacing back and forth, Essy watching her thoughtfully as Saph closed the door before going to sit down in Apuma’s comfy chair.

“So what is it only we are allowed to know about?” Saph sighed as she got comfy.

“No, it is not that,” Paulin denied. “I merely wished to consult you first. That and I am confident you would not want this to be spilled to everyone,” she continued, shaking her head a bit as she paced.

“We traditionally are not much for secrets here. We do prefer the cards to be above the table,” Essy added, not sounding terribly convinced.

“I have become aware… though I do feel you have performed adequately. That is not what I wish to discuss for now though. The inquisitor wants to offer an apology.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Saph all but snickered, Paulin throwing her a not so kind look in reply.

“How exactly so?” Esmeralda questioned in a much kinder tone, even if she too was sounding a touch confused.

“I believe she has concluded that she must appease Tom. I do not know what she has seen, but it did not sound pleasant,” Paulin replied with a reluctance that betrayed that she definitely did not agree with the inquisitor for once.

“What, she thinks a few bottles of sweet cider will have him back on side again? I sorta doubt that,” Saph retorted. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this, but she sure was gonna milk this for all it was worth. She hadn’t been able to do much to help as of late, so it was the least she could do for Tom and Jacky.

“I pointed out to our dear inquisitor that we have already bestowed upon you treasures beyond measure. Surely that should be a sufficient apology.”

“None of that stuff is ours though. Not really at least,” Saph retorted skeptically. “A gift is something you are allowed to keep after all.”

“I take your point,” Paulin conceded, not looking very happy about it. “Besides, orders are orders, much as her ability to give them may be questionable at this moment… That detail you will not share with anyone,” the investigator continued, looking for a second like she had said too much.

“We will not, you don’t need to worry. Though the state of the inquisitor is not exactly secret at the moment,” Essy replied, picking her words much more carefully than Saph.

“I am aware. But words out of my mouth are, so thank you. And yes, a gift for Tom must be found.”

“Tom and Jacky,” Saph interjected.

“What?”

“Tom and Jacky. She’s been through it too, and I guarantee that if she hates you then so will Tom.”

Paulin took a second to stare at Saph, presumably trying to gauge her seriousness.

“Tom does take his friends very seriously. I believe giving gifts to those he cares about may actually be more beneficial if you want him to appreciate you. And the opposite is equally true,” Essy added a bit more diplomatically.

“I see, an empathetic man. I should have guessed as much. I apologize, it has been a long few days for all,” Paulin grumbled, not sounding at all happy about the notion.

“But Jacky at the minimum, cause she sure hates you right now.”

“She has already been pardoned for assaulting an Inquisitor and her bodyguard, that is no small boon.”

“After you had a go at torturing the man she loves, and boi does she love him,” Saph countered with a shrug.

“That and the slight misunderstanding about Tom calling out to a Jack rather than a Jacky,” Essy added as well.

“Yes quite so… Fine, what would you two suggest then? That is the reason I brought you. I require your expertise on what would be a suitable peace offering. Joelina seems satisfied that Tom may be trusted and your keep is not in doubt, but relations have soured as of late.”

“You could say that twice,” Saph agreed, taking a deep breath, trying to think what one could ask for. She had no idea what an inquisitorial gift entailed, but it was likely a bit more than a bottle of good liquor. At least she bloody well hoped so. ‘Eh, fuck it. Might as well just ask.’

“What kind of gift are we talking here? A nice drink? A set of magic armor? Jacky already has a set, but give Tom some and that would certainly please her too.”

“I am afraid we do not have much Human-specific equipment available,” Paulin countered with a slightly strained expression, Saph guessing the cost was likely more of a problem.

“Maybe something could be modified to fit? I don’t know.”

“What about just some enchanted items? Edita brought several arcane instruments and tools, but perhaps something for Tom specifically could be good?” Essy added in, more reasonably.

“That could perhaps be done, yes,” Paulin agreed, even if she didn’t seem overly happy about it still. Saph couldn’t really blame her. Items like that cost a fortune, but it wasn’t like the inquisition was poor, now was it?

“I think he would be very happy with anything he could use regularly. Tools would be an idea,” Essy added with a nod, sounding like she approved of the idea.

“Maybe vision-enhancing goggles or something like that? Surely that has to exist,” Saph questioned. “Also a knife for Jacky, she’s always wanted that, even if she would probably prefer if her mum made it.”

“There are many relics of the Furlongs spread around the world. Would an old family blade suffice?” Paulin questioned, rubbing her chin a bit.

“Oh absolutely, she would be chuffed,” Saph countered, letting a smile crawl onto her face.

“Very good. Maybe not a knife, but it would be preferred. If not, then another piece of their history. I do not know what could be dug up. Goggles like that could be procured. Edita has a set in her possession, but they are needed for her work. What I do not know is if they may be modified to fit him.”

“I’m guessing those are for seeing things up close though. Tom’s a bit more… Well he likes to shoot at you from far enough away you can’t see him.”

“He does have the telescope on his long gun for that though,” Essy added, not seeming convinced.

“True… forgot about that,” Saph grumbled, having another think. “back to tools then?” she tried with a shrug.

“There are more tools in this keep than any place I know of outside of the major cities. And from your stories and reading the reports, weaponry would not be needed.”

“No, he has that one covered. Nor do I think he would mind someone else doing the fighting moving forwards.”

“A wise line of thought, Joelina did fear that his reckless nature would be a problem.”

“If you want him to live, we might be back at the armor. He sorely needs that. He learned the hard way that that vest of his ain’t too great at covering all the vital areas.”

“He was shot at the base of the neck,” Essy clarified, tapping her collar bone.

“Strange that his people haven’t learned to protect that, but understood,” Paulin sighed. “Such equipment would have to be tailor made.”

“Could Edita and Shiva not pull it off? Linkosta ain’t half bad with enchantments either. she did pull of the mine after all,” Essy asked curiously.

“Are we seriously gonna make the Inquisition’s gift for them?” Saph protested, giving Essy a slightly scathing look.

“I would have to consult with your smith and artificer, and perhaps Tom. If one might be so bold, it would rather spoil the surprise.” Paulin interjected clearing her throat.

“I mean yeah, but in this case would you not wish for Tom and Jacky to start warming up to you sooner?” Essy tried in her best saleswoman voice, wearing a kind smile as per usual.

“A sound argument… If you believe it will please him, then I see no issue sending out a request for the closest we can find a set which fits him then you will have to do the rest. Thank you,” Paulin responded, giving them both a nod.

“Any time, Investigator,” Essy replied with a big smile.

Saph just sat and watched as Paulin left them, probably heading to the inquisitor’s room. Remembering the dear woman had magic hearing, she waited a bit, staring at Essy and raising an eyebrow.

“Well that was something, ey?”

“I must say I am rather surprised,” Essy replied with a slow nod, staring after where the investigator had wandered off.

“Yeah. Well, I’m not convinced. Can’t just buy us like that. Didn’t even offer to get us any gifts.”

“You aren’t getting jealous now, are you Sapphire?”

“I don’t know the meaning of the word,” Saph retorted, getting up with a huff. “Just saying, not just the two of them they have been treating like shit.”

“Now now Saphire, mind you tone… Though I wouldn’t mind a nice bottle of something for winter,” Essy sighed, looking down at the floor.

“Well maybe that’s gonna be on our own dime… I think I’m gonna order some cider from Arch when he’s ready to come back.”

“Sure is nice being able to just call in what you want rather than wait for the whole round trip… Do you think we could get some toys for the kids?”

“I will be right back, Tom would love that!” Saph let out, going to open the door, trying to work out which way Paulin had gone. She didn’t actually know where the inquisitor was at the moment, but she guessed she could find out.

“Kid’s toys. Understood,” the very familiar voice rang out, coming down the stairs from the floor above. “I am assuming they want something in red?”

__________________________________________________________________________________

It was official. Tom had transitioned from sick as a dog and wanting to stay in bed to cabin fever. He and Jacky had watched movies, chatted, and just generally passed the time basically all of yesterday. He had even resorted to minesweeper in the end.

She hadn’t even allowed him to go for a walk of the keep, since as she so nicely put it “Then the bastards will think you’re fine and all come running wanting a piece of you.”

But the following morning, Tom had woken up at the crack of dawn, if not a bit before that actually. Jacky was still sleeping soundly, letting out her rather signature rumbling snore. Everyone at the keep probably was, save for the night guards, and Tom desperately needed to stretch his legs.

Not only because of the cabin fever, but also because he had once more had an odd dream. A short one this time. He had been sitting in a rather ordinary-looking classroom, and they seemed to be studying history. Only it didn’t feel quite right. Everyone was dead quiet. These were children, by his guess maybe 12 or 13 years old, yet they all sat perfectly still and listened to a history class of all things. The subjects had been grim. Mostly various disastrous events through recent memory. The core of one tale being one Inquisitor Enala Harky, who had in her travels stumbled upon an ancient temple dedicated to the dark gods, whoever they were? She had sought to understand it in a bid to undo its evil, or perhaps even counter it. She had succeeded in understanding its function. It was an altar upon which the will of a darkling could be bound to a new master. A rare site to be sure, and an important one to the enemy.

Following the discovery, it was theorized that such sites were the tools used to trade control of subjugated darklings between masters. Inquisitor Harky had in her studies gone too far though and attempted to bind a darkling to her own will in the hopes it would make it possible to control them, or perhaps even to cure the curse. In doing so, her own mind was ripped asunder, leaving her a half-dead husk and a reminder to all. Including the students of the class it would seem. The powers of the dark are to be understood, for one must know their enemy. But doing so never comes without risk, and one should never pry further than needed.

Tom just hoped Joelina remembered that little memory and had decided that she had maybe probed a bit too far for her own good on this one. For now though he desperately needed to stretch his legs. And so he left Jacky behind with a little note on the pillow. ‘Just out for a walk, promise.’ Just in case she woke up while he was gone and decided to murder the nearest member of the Inquisition.

He had made it out of the bedroom undetected, and the keep was indeed dead quiet as he walked the halls and corridors, only coming across Heron, who gave him a simple and silent greeting, seeming quite happy to mind his own business.

Jarix was sleeping soundly in the greeting hall, still on his back so as to not lie on the still rather sensitive-looking skin covering his chest and underside. The scales had started growing already, didn’t even look like it would take that long until they covered fully again. ‘Good to see the young guy is on the mend,’ Tom mused to himself, carrying on downwards. The mess left after the inquisitor’s arrival had mostly been cleared up, boxes and crates no longer crowding the hallways, even if he was quite certain every storage room they had was filled to bursting at the moment.

Down in the workshop, he got himself a surprise as paper and blueprints were strewn all around, some haphazardly, others more in a more organized manner. He couldn’t stop himself from perusing some of them. Paging through a few, they were all designs relating to the machine gun, more specifically they seemed to be possibilities for improvements. Many of them contained odd runes which he couldn’t even begin to read.

‘Magics for the machine gun… well that can’t possibly go wrong,’ he chuffed to himself, picking up another sheet. ‘And that looks like water cooling… way too little water though, maybe frost powder? Crack goes the jacket,’ he mused as he kept paging through them. ‘Nah, I’m sure they know what they are doing. Not like a burst water jacket would be a huge problem either. They have it right up against the barrel though. That won’t work, needs to move… I’m sure they won’t mind a visit from the drawing fairy,’ he chuckled to himself, grabbing a pencil from the table and setting to work altering the design more to his liking.

It took a bit, especially as he took care to make it look at least half decent. Edita’s work was exemplary in its quality in his opinion. It certainly looked the part of a person trained from birth in the arts of technical drawings. If her two colleagues down below were of similar skill, then his days of not being able to decipher what was on one of those copies from down in the vaults might be over.

‘There we go. Hehe, I wonder what else they have been up to,’ he snickered once he was happy with the drawing, walking over the seemingly finished shotgun that was lying on the table with Edita’s fancy glasses next to it. He picked it up and opened the action. It was not exactly smooth, but not much they had made thus far was really. Despite Shiva’s best efforts.

‘I need to get Jacky something… I tried to smack her and she just took it… even if by the sounds of it she’s just blaming the inquisitor for all of it… but what to do?’ Tom pondered as he gripped the gun in his hands, turning it over. ‘What to do?’

‘What about… uhm… Oh fuck come on, can’t be that hard to think of something?’ Tom sighed, looking around the room. It really ought to be something other than a damn gun. That ball was kinda already rolling. “Can’t exactly pop down to the shops for some flowers and a box of chocolates, now can I? We don’t even have shops here.” He sighed to himself, putting down the shotgun and picking up Edita’s glasses.

“I guess I could get Archeon to pick up something? What though? I can’t get her clothes, don’t know her sizes or anything and the whole use your own blood stuff. Magic shit is fucking expensive, and I have no clue how much money we have… All I’ve got is the stuff from the damn pencils and all that crap.”

“You could try jewelry. That’s usually a hit with the girls,” Maiko interrupted calmly. Tom spun around with a start, finding the guard standing in a corner with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Sorry. Promise I haven’t been here that long.”

__________________________________________________________________________________