"The chip of crystal in your cheek is simply a piece of hardware that allows data transfer, or as Mercury likes to put it, communication." Badrik continued. "This crystal has no software, so to speak - its hardware is not completely understood, scientifically, that is. But it has come into scientific notice because systems are now advanced enough to determine it has no barrier, and science is able to utilize this intrinsic uniqueness. Historically, superstition or ancient lore considers it a fragment of the either.` Others refer to it as the Astral or Ephemeral plain, or a gate to it. A key to what the Vikings called the realm Valhalla. Magic users and demons could access its power, well, in my history, not so much your history."

　　He held up his hand. Between his fingers was what looked like a black shard of glass. It was small. Not much larger than a sliver. "To your scientists, it is a super-flash-drive.` The properties of the crystal allow the transference of anything ethereal, including the spirit, the soul, or the memory that they contain."

　　"Is that the same as what was put into my cheek to connect to the drone?"

　　"Yes."

　　"Now I want you to consider two spatially separated computer hard drives sharing data. If one of the computers failed, the data could be stored on the remaining hard drive. Agreed?"

　　"I guess so."

　　"This chip works the same way. It has registered your complete living essence, a spirit or soul complete with memories. You were the first implant. The difference between this chip of crystal and a data stick is that this crystal is alive. It grows, and in the same way you remember a loved one once they are gone, this crystal remembers you. It keeps your memories along with your essence.

　　The way that you are connected to the drone, you can also connect to this chip. Remember, it has no barrier. Just as the drone feeds you images, the images on this chip will also play in your optical connection. Agreed?"

　　"I& I guess so?"

　　"Ok. Let`s say your drone was destroyed. They could just set you up with another camera drone, correct? Probably the next day, you would be playing ball, possibly not even knowing the original drone was damaged. They would just paint another Zero` on the new drone and say, There you go, go play ball`."

　　"Ya. Sure. That`s probably exactly how it would be done."

　　"Good. So this chip I`m holding up just doesn`t have a drone fitted to it. Let`s say I took it out of your original drone. Now, I want you to take this chip. Concentrate on it. Can you read it? There should be no reason you can`t view its images."

　　"So you`re saying I should be able to automatically see from it, just like any sports drone?" Darius looked at the small fragment. He had a vivid image flash in his memory of Doctor Joy with the same type of chip right before his surgery.

　　"Yes, you should. It`s all the same interface that you were already implanted with."

　　Darius looked for the familiar automatic video feed that played at the bottom of his right eye, and there it was. Connected. He could see a frozen image in the viewer.

　　"You got it?"

　　"Got it. I can see someplace that is dark. Outside nighttime, I think."

　　"Now, let the image expand across your vision. You will see it enlarge. The memory will play out for you as if you are immersed in it. You are able to drift into the scene and move around as if you are seeing from the vantage point of the drone. Concentrate.

　　It was a desert encampment like something out of an old painting. Bedouins, Darius thought. they used to be called Bedouins. The grandmother had told him about them.

　　"Tell me what is there&; continue to describe what you see." Badrik`s voice had moved to someplace further away. It came through to him as if carried on the night wind. Darius could feel the crystal, still clenched in his hand as he sat cross-legged in front of his master, but his vision was filled with the image of flying through a desert at night.

　　"Black tents. Old. I see figures sleeping. They are wrapped in blankets and cloaks. It`s a desert. But they are beside a river. No, a canal built with bricks the same colour as the sand. There are boats tied up in the canal. There is moonlight. A moon. Stars. They are sleeping on the ground, on the sand. Their heads and faces are swathed and covered. The air is calm. No breeze. The wind, the air, I can actually smell the air. It smells like hot sand and animals, but the air has cooled. It is very late at night or early morning."

　　"You should see a crystal. It will be the source of this image. The source of what you are seeing. It will be there."

　　"Yes. I see one. It is much longer than the one that I hold. It is tall and as long as a staff."

　　"Tell me&"

　　"A tall crystal thrust into the sand at the center of the camp, in the middle of all the tents that are here.

　　"What else do you see?"

　　"Some type of large lizards are clustered around, but they aren`t moving. They are, maybe, sleeping? I think they are tame, like cattle, sheep, or something. They are close to the tents and the sleeping people. They seem like a herd. Some are looking around, chewing, lazy, like cows would be."

　　"Go closer, find the people &"

　　Darius flew like his drone, drifting closer to the tents...

　　"Keep listening for my voice, but I want you to hear the night sounds. You should be able to hear the animals, maybe people moving &"

　　He let his sense drift around the sleeping figures at the low fire. It was just like he would see things from the catcher`s drone. He went in closer like Badrik said. He went in close on the sleeping faces. Some breathing heavily. Others were restless.

　　"It`s a desert camp. A cluster of large round tents. Closed up for the night. People are sleeping inside the tents, I would guess. There are people sleeping out on the sand around the tents, too.

　　There is one small black pup tent in the middle of all of the larger tents—a tent for a single person. The crystal staff has been stuck into the sand like a pole outside the entrance to the little tent. Someone is coming out of the little tent. A girl&"

　　She had laid in the darkness, listening. There had only been silence, but she had felt something was there. Something was bothering the herd. She had decided not to sleep this night anyway. She would not sleep because she could not take the chance of changing, of forgetting. It would give her something to do, to get up and see why the herd was restless.

　　Wearing only her loose night shift, she ducked out from under the tent and was met with a clear sky filled with a moon and stars. A sky devoid of the ever-present dust clouds. Her breath caught at the beauty. Her vision blurred from a sudden rush of tears.

　　She blinked, and the silver points danced in her tears. Clear nights like these were more often now, but still, they often surprised her like it did tonight. Not long ago, the lack of storms had been so rare.

　　They would always stand together on clear nights and gaze at the stars. The memory came back to her now through the confusion and the garbled thoughts, the memory of being with him. Before the staff began to take her memories, before it began to change her, they would stand together and watch the heavens on clear nights like these.

　　Now, her heart ached with deep pain and depth of loss. It felt as if the bones of her chest could crack and break. She knew he was close to her tonight, and she tried to blink away more tears. After being separated for so long, he was so close. He had come in the Ambassador`s airship. He was not far away from her now.

　　She reached her hand out, placed it on the staff, and traced its hard crystal edges. It was all because of this. She would go to him now if it weren`t for the staff.

　　"I will see you again." She said out into the darkness to him.

　　Suddenly, the feeling of someone watching her made her turn. From the highest point of the sand dune where her little tent was pitched, she could see over the larger tents around her. She let her gaze run the perimeter of the camp, beyond the tents to where the humped shapes of the drift lizards lay resting.

　　Her gaze finally found something, and letting her hand fall away from her staff, she walked out to the edge of the barrier.

　　There was a figure sitting cross-legged in the sand, just beyond the barrier where the drift lizards slept. They had crept to the edge of the camp with only slightly disturbing the herd.

　　As she drew closer, she could see that they were swathed in a heavy hooded cloak.

　　She spoke quietly to the stranger.

　　"I`d first thought that the shield was up before you could return to camp, but I don`t recognize you or your clothing. You don`t wear the markings of a wayfarer. I don`t think you are one that was ever in our camp and made a mistake in returning too late. You have never been of our camp."

　　The figure met her gaze. The hood kept the face in shadow.

　　"The wayfarers accept everyone, do they not?" It was a woman`s voice that spoke, young.

　　The girl lowered herself to the sand and sat cross-legged, copying the pose of the woman on the other side of the barrier.

　　"You`re a stranger." The girl said, noticing hands armoured in heavy metal gauntlets. Beautify crafted flexible sliding layers. Incredibly expensive. Even possibly tech fabrication.

　　"Your armour is beautiful. But you have not walked with us. I am sure of that now. I would remember armour like this. And I doubt you need to seek passage with a rabble like us if you have such wealth." She gestured at the armour. "I`m sure you could hire your own guards if you wanted to travel the wastes, that is, if you don`t already have your own guards."

　　"Maybe I have no wealth, and these things were given to me."

　　"Then you would have to be just as rich to keep them."

　　"You are very wise for a little girl. Well then, possibly I am a thief, and I stole them."

　　"You stole gauntlets as rare as the sun and the moon. If you had just stolen them, then you would still be running instead of speaking to a wayfarer girl, or you would be the king of thieves."

　　"Am I the Pirate King then?"

　　"They say the Pirate King is a beast with clockwork legs and arms. They say he even has horns. But you look like a young woman to me." The girl tapped her own forehead, "without horns."

　　"You don`t speak like a little girl."

　　"I get told that a lot," she said and blew out a sigh. "I have Counsellors. They counsel me on how to behave and what not to forget. It is all very boring. But the stars are beautiful tonight, aren`t they, and there is no wind. I came out to look at them. We get to see the stars more now."

　　The other`s hood tilted back to take in the night sky, revealing a young woman`s face that was flat-cheeked, heavy, and blunt. She had the face of a warrior.

　　Many moments passed. They sat still, across from each other in the sand, both cross-legged. Strangers taking comfort in silent company.

　　"I had councillors, and I remember my own classes. Teachings. As a child, I also ran away at night to see the stars and other things."

　　"Who are you?"

　　The cowl dropped back down to face her. Silence. And did not answer the question. Instead, she said, "I came to see the wayfarers. I hoped to see the Wayfinder, Ma`am Camps. The one that wields the crystal tower staff."

　　The girl said nothing.

　　"I was told she was here." The woman said. "Her power is here. This barrier&," she lifted a gauntleted hand and tapped the near transparent barrier between them. It flicked and danced with bright sparks. "This barrier is generated by the tower staff. It protects the camp at night. An impervious dome."

　　The woman pulled her gauntlet back, and the sparkles died away.

　　"You know about the barrier?" the child asked. "About the crystal staff?"

　　"No." She replied. "I only know what the Sisters taught me. The lore of the wayfarers was one of the things I was taught, along with the ways and beliefs of all the other minor people."

　　"And, have you studied all the minor people? All the intelligent beings of the valley? Or just the ones that match the image of pure-strain humans as defined by the book of the Grey Man?"

　　"Regretfully, I was not permitted to study any mutants or beast faces. I hope to encounter them now that I have begun travelling with my father."

　　"I see. What else do the Sisters teach you? They must tell you how every intelligent being of the valley, except Reavers and Assasins, of course, will protect and care for each other?"

　　"They do. And my father says it is a foolishness driven by the emotion of individuals. A weakness not found in The Army of The People. The individual must always be sacrificed for the whole."

　　"Your People`s Army says that the individual must be sacrificed for the whole."

　　"Yes. It is what makes us strong."

　　"The Wayfarers say our strength comes from the power to choose love over everything."

　　"That is their weakness."

　　"I`m sure you would think so."

　　"It is rare I enjoy a conversation. You are intelligent for one so young."

　　"I guess so. What else are your People instructed to believe?"The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

　　"Emotions are to be controlled. Compassion and loss are only words spoken; they only gain strength when acknowledged. We have a saying; There is no benefit in remembering the drink from yesterday.` We meet, take or give, and pass on. Actions are the only thing to be measured for benefit. Emotion is separated from action and ignored, so any power it once had is lost. If it is never acknowledged, it never existed. You wayfarers are too& emotive. It makes you weak. Inefficient. You allow your emotions to taint you. Too much emotion creates untruth in you."

　　"In what way?"

　　"It forces you to consider the beast-faces and mutated as equals."

　　"And that taints us?"

　　"Yes, it lowers you and degrades you as a group."

　　"So you do study the book of the Grey Man and how humans are supposed to look. But tell me, what happens to the spirit and the soul when you sacrifice a beast-face, as you call them?"

　　"There is no soul. It is just a construct made by the weak so they can accept the suffering that is forced on them by the strong. They tell themselves their soul will be saved one day so the suffering they experience is easier to endure. The Sisterhood and the Brotherhood used to teach of a spirit, a soul or essence preserved in the towers by the old ones, but there is no salvation. We die and turn into this sand." The gauntlet gathered a fist full of sand and let it trickle and fall.

　　"Oh. Ok." The little girl said matter-of-factly. And then she continued. "But when we do sit here, and look up at the stars, and share the warmth of their glory, and it creates a warmth in our chest, that is not instinct, is it?"

　　"No. Instinct is battle. Survival. Creatures have it. Our feeling is what separates us from them."

　　"So this connection we have with the stars, what if it is magnified? What if it becomes far stronger? What if it is the memory of someone gone, the feeling of love? True sacrifice, as the People demand, but out of free will for your love of another? To give all you are, to be turned to dust for them, that person you love, so that they may survive? Is there not a spirit or soul in that action? You sit here and stare up at the stars as I do. They are immeasurable. And I know they make you feel something."

　　"This is true. I do feel them." The hood replied. They sat in the quiet for a little while, studying the night sky. "But possibly the way one feels their arm before it is removed."

　　"Do not be afraid to search for things that&"

　　"I am not afraid."

　　They sat in silence for a while. A streak of white lit an arc through the heavens like an ember thrown from a campfire.

　　"I don`t ever remember the night sky being so clear."

　　"How long have you been of The People? It sounds as if you have studied nothing but their teachings."

　　"I learned everything taught me. But I was also able to learn other things."

　　Again, they sat silently for some time, looking at the blaze of stars above. Time clicked on, and they remained silent. The cooling air became calm and still. A dampness from the dew settled into their hoods and the cloth on their shoulders.

　　"It is peaceful here." The woman outside the barrier said.

　　The girl inside laughed, then quieted herself and glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping forms behind her.

　　"That sounds like an emotion."

　　"I would like to learn like this& like you do."

　　"How so?"

　　"Learn in peace& My instruction was not peaceful."

　　"Have you ever loved anyone?"

　　"No." the answer was immediate. "And, anyways, I think it would weaken me."

　　"Well, there must be someone that loves you?"

　　"There is not."

　　"Someone who helps? Watches out for you? Waits for you. Dresses your wounds? Cares for you? Maybe someone you simply talk to? Someone who won`t tell your secrets. I think everyone has someone like that. Isn`t that love? I think even you have someone like that."

　　It looked as if the woman was becoming uncomfortable. The stoic face had changed; it had become worried. "What are some of the things you are taught? What are your lessons? You have been taught differently than me." she asked.

　　She laughed, "I guess the best way to describe it is that I was taught life. Life lessons on how to care. I wasn`t really taught anything intentionally; at least, I don`t think I was. I just grew alongside good people."

　　"You are wise for one so young. You are right. I do have a memory that this night sky returns to me. A memory that gives me fortitude. Strength."

　　"Will you share it?" the girl asked and then waited. When the woman remained silent, the girl continued, "No, I am not wise. I am only lucky. You could learn here, with me. You said you chose to learn other things outside your teaching. You could learn here with us, you know. You could learn love."

　　"There are things about the Wayfarers that I do not believe." The woman`s tone had become uncomfortable. Defensive. "Tales of the Wayfinder. That she changes. Ma`am Camps is sometimes young, sometimes old. But always a woman, and, sometimes&, a child?"

　　Now, it was the girl`s turn to remain silent. They were each probing the limits of their conversation, these two strangers on this night. The woman`s gaze shifted to the crystal staff behind her.

　　"That is the tower crystal. Do others in the camp also know how to wield it? To erect this shield that it is emitting?"

　　"No. There is no one else. It is just me right now."

　　"Is it you that leaves this shield up then? It is you that is the Wayfinder."

　　"Yes."

　　"I thought so."

　　"It is what we do. It`s what the Wayfinder does. Protects the camp. It is our purpose."

　　"How did you learn that?"

　　The girl paused, thinking.

　　"I don`t know. I don`t ever think I learned anything. It`s as if the tower crystal itself knows. I just carry it along, really."

　　"Yes. My&, I have heard. The Sisters of the Cloistered have taught me that the crystal has memories. That it holds the memories of its past. That it holds memories built by the machine."

　　"We have heard these tales too. And I don`t know if the memory of the machine is in there unless that is how it knows how to do things."

　　"So you don`t control the shield? The staff does it on its own?"

　　"I am just a girl."

　　"What else did you learn?"

　　"Oh, things." The girl shrugged.

　　"Like what the Cloistered taught me? Medicine? Strategy? History? The old scriptures and doctrine? You must have been taught to use the staff in fighting. A giant scarabscorp is a formidable thing. I`m sure you encounter them occasionally in the deep desert."

　　The girl laughed a silly laugh and then looked over her shoulder once again at the sleeping figures. She leaned forward and quietly continued, "The wayfarers had developed methods to deal with the scarabscorps long before the crystal staff came along."

　　The gauntleted hand reached out and tapped the translucence between them. The surface crackled like oil in a hot pan, and the golden sparks danced across its surface.

　　The girl watched the sparks jump and dissipate.

　　"At sunrise. How do you take it down?" The stranger pressed the gauntleted hand harder against the barrier, driving more sparks across the surface.

　　"Please don`t touch the shield like that. It might hurt you. I don`t take it down. I told you; it just stops working at dawn."

　　"You sound afraid." She pushed her armoured hand harder, producing more sparks.

　　"Afraid for you."

　　The hand withdrew, and the shield went nearly dark again, a fine hint of a film between them.

　　"That is a foolish worry. You control the staff, so you are the Wayfinder. You try to deceive. You either don`t truly understand the capabilities of the staff, or you know it is weak, and this shield may fail."

　　The girl stood.

　　"I haven`t been lying to you. What is it that you want?" she asked, an unsettled tone in her voice. "Why did you come here?"

　　"I want the staff." She said. She slid the heavy cloak off her shoulders and threw back her hood, revealing the compact, bulky muscles of a soldier. She had a severe scar on her brow above a badly healed broken nose.

　　She wore a thick metal collar. Her skin was badly chaffed underneath it. At her chest, below the collar, was heavy leather armour. She had let her cloak fall back to lay gathered around her legs and waist like a blanket. Straight steel rods extended from the collar to the cuffs at the wrists of her gauntlets. The support rods hinged at the elbows. It was the same collar and arm struts that a large bird brain wore. The warrior woman lifted a finger and tapped the metal collar to where a crystal was embedded there, like a fine, thin gem.

　　"This is a crystal from the eastern tower that my father pulled down. In the morning I will take your staff. You are obviously too weak to keep it. You are a child, and I will take your staff and give it to my father."

　　"Why would you do this? It is the property of the Wayfarers."

　　"It is what my father desires. It is my destiny. It is why he had the Counsellor fit me with these. I have worn them since I stopped growing. I have trained with them. Fought with them. They enhance my strength, and the crystal chip in them will allow me to wield the staff. You have no choice. My father and The People are here; finally, he has taken the western end of the valley. He now controls all liveable land. His dominion now stretches all the way here, to the Western City, across the entire valley to the ocean. The time of the Wayfarers is at an end. We will take your staff."

　　"But why? This contraption you wear is for a bird brain, not a person."

　　"Technology. The Counsellor has reasoned that I will be able to access the fallen tower with your staff. Allow us to enter and use the technology there. With that technology, we will pull down the last tower. Your tower."

　　"I won`t. We leave. Tonight." Anger was in her voice as she backed away from the figure.

　　"It is too late. My Father and the Counsellor come in his airship now. The flotilla pulls them upstream tonight. This calm weather, these stars, your emotions, all these things make you weak and delay you. Field Marshall Daktor has already arrived with the Lightning Corps. You will join us and give us the staff or my father will enslave all of you. You and your Wayfarers are already trapped."

　　The woman`s tone softened slightly. It reverted back to the familiar tone they had used when they had been speaking of the stars.

　　"You could avoid all this and just give me the staff. You really aren`t the Wayfinder. You are just a little girl. The tower staff is not yours to keep. The Wayfarers are welcome to join the people and my father. You will be safe there."

　　"But not free." She growled and glanced behind her toward the sleeping figures. "And those that you label unhuman?"

　　"You don`t need to be free. All of the laws have been outlined in the Edict." She said. "You will be ok."

　　"But not all of us. Not all of the beings will be ok, will they?"

　　"You mean the creatures? The beast-faces? No, because they cannot be people."

　　The tone had changed between them. It was cold now, and it was not just the night air that was cold. The woman, lifting her cowl to cover her head, stood. "Since it seems you have no understanding of how to lower this shield and give me the staff, my time here is wasted. Till tomorrow then, where we meet in my father`s airship. Then you will have no choice but to give my father your staff."

　　"Don`t forget I offered you our protection. You would also be safe here if you chose to join us. Join all of us. As equals."

　　The warrior girl gave the child a disapproving look, turned and walked into the desert.

　　A good meeting,

　　she thought.

　　I know my enemy, and they are weak.

　　She trudged through the sand over her earlier tracks. It was considerably later. She had stayed much longer than she had thought she would. The girl was weak but intelligent, and portions of their conversation still unsettled her. The wayfarer camp had felt calm and peaceful.

　　It had felt, what was the word&? Nice.

　　It was as if she felt on the edge of her mind that she could have actually shrugged off all of her things and joined them.

　　Name unknown. New identity.

　　She was soon able to make out the shape of a lone figure that stood on the crest of a sand dune. Not tall. The same height as her. She strode up to the old bald man wearing an eye patch.

　　"Any luck?" He asked, voice raspy and thick.

　　"My old Badger. You always ask that, and I will always answer that luck is for fools. Why did you follow me tonight?"

　　"The luck of knowing your opponent. That type of luck, my Princess. And possibly I wanted to see the Wayfinder also. You should expect me to be curious."

　　"Just a child. She seems wise but knows little. Possibly just reciting lines her teachers have drilled into her. It makes her seem intelligent. Maybe the charade soothes her people. Gives them false confidence."

　　"It is said she leads them." He replied.

　　"That may be true, but she is&, young-minded. Innocent. The freedom she was raised in makes her weak. I think they only follow her as a figurehead. It is the only reason they should follow a child."

　　"And...?"

　　"She can barely wield the staff. She understands that it contains memory, but it only triggers the shield at dusk and dawn. And she was also evasive."

　　"Are you certain you have learned everything?"

　　"I have learned as much as I can. It is not important."

　　"You tested the barrier?"

　　"Yes." She replied and stepped off across the sand. The old man did not immediately follow, but instead remained looking back at the wayfarer encampment. Keeping his back to the Princess, he raised a hand and gave a slight wave. He then turned and caught up to the young woman who was talking as she walked. "She is a fool. And does not understand the full potential of the tower crystal. I will take it from her."

　　"So that`s what your perception tells you. Now, what does your ability tell you?"

　　"That there is something more. A power. And she is a deceiver. There was something about that meeting that was not quite right. Wise words came from one so young. It was unsettling, at times."

　　"Now that is more like it. They travel the wastelands entirely unconcerned. In places where others die, they travel with meagre water and that staff. The little one could be strong."

　　"No. Not so strong. She is young and compassionate, and that makes her weak."

　　"You were young and compassionate once."

　　"But not weak."

　　"You used to sneak the poor children food and feed them from your father`s tent."

　　"Only to trick them and gain their friendship."

　　"Sure. And I`m sure she asked you to join the Wayfarers?"

　　The old man`s question was met with silence.

　　"And you`re not tempted, even in the slightest?"

　　"Why would it be tempting? Daktor has them surrounded. It is over for them. For this group of them, anyways, and once Father has the tower staff and the Wayfinder, the rest of the wayfarers will fall."

　　"About her offer to join them. Many have taken them up on that, you know, and not just the lowly moss gatherers. The once powerful walk with them. You could disappear. The life of innocence and freedom. No one to perform to. Absolutely no judgments placed on you."

　　"You speak foolishness, old Badger. Life is not that simple."

　　"I doubt you know that because you, too, are still young. You may find the day more difficult in the morning than expected. What if the Wayfinder is not so easy to subdue? What if her wayfarers are not captured?"

　　She stopped striding through the desert and turned to study him.

　　"I don`t care what resistance there is. Our army surrounds the wayfarers. They submit, or I will simply take that staff for my father."

　　"And, what if you give the staff to your father, but he no longer has the power to keep it?"

　　"Be quiet!" she hissed to him, leaning into his face. "Your words are treasonous. You do your job! You badger me to learn, so I learn. You have done it for years, faithfully been my badger. But possibly, I am grown and no longer need badgering. You keep insisting on speaking like this, and I think you need to return to the army from where you came and badger the young soldiers once again."

　　"And I ask again, just before you return this faithful old servant of all these years back into the fighting pits, what if the Counsellor takes that staff from your father because your father cannot keep it? What then?"

　　She turned and strode off, ignoring him. He matched her pace.

　　"Oh. Where is the great strategist, the great tactician now? Where is all that training gone? Your rage has always trumped your introspection. Now your mind is clouded with anger, and you march like a soldier across the desert with nothing in his thoughts but meanness? Tell me, what will your plans be when your father cannot keep the staff?"

　　"I will not allow it. I will stop the Counsellor."

　　"Will you then, too, stop the Field Marshall?"

　　She kept walking and unconsciously touched her forehead. "I respect you, old Badger, as always. Ever since you gave me this scar, you have taught me. Teach you may, but if this is some test you have devised, I will not be tested tonight."

　　"Then here is my last badgering to you; the Counsellor cannot be allowed to take that staff from your father." He held three fingers up to her in the darkness. The three remaining fingers of his left hand, and struck them with his other hand. "If he attempts it, or if the Wayfinder wins, or if the airship is destroyed, you must follow that staff. Do you understand?"

　　"And what do you know about the coming day? I hear secrets in your voice. Secrets that haven`t been told to my father."

　　"Expectations in life are seldom met. Because you have only focused on attaining that staff, you are unaware of the subtle power shifts in the command lines. On the other hand, it is my job to pay attention to everything. You are right in your sense that the staff is everything. I have always told you to trust your sense as I have always trusted in mine. Have you ever wondered why it was the Counsellor that has fitted you with the mechanics from a bird brain, and not your father? Have you ever considered that pulling down the towers may be wrong?"

　　"The Counsellor acts on behalf of The People."

　　"I want you to think about that statement, then look back on what has brought The People`s Army and Calvary here. What mechanisms were employed in each step to move us here? Was it really your father`s decision? Or that of the Counsellor and the Field Marshall? I will tell you one thing, if you or your father do lay your hands on that staff, you will be as expendable as the Wayfinder. The power in your camp has shifted, Princess. You had best watch for what happens, and then watch for your life."

　　"You speak treason again to me."

　　"I speak preparedness to you. You are free to walk your own path, make your own choices, and even reinvent yourself. You are young still."

　　"You talk foolishness." They could both hear the doubt in her voice now, though. "I am tired. Enough of this teaching&"

　　"All I ask is that you consider what I have said, feel for that sense you have, and remember both."

　　The Princess recalled the words of the girl spoken not so long ago& "Someone who helps? Watches out for you? Waits for you. Dresses your wounds? Cares for you? Maybe someone you simply talk to. Someone who won`t tell your secrets. I think everyone has someone like that&

　　 Isn`t that love?"

　　The Princess halted in her march across the desert and took the old warrior`s arm.

　　"Thank you, Badger."

　　"For what?" he stopped in her grasp, startled.

　　"For everything. For everything you have ever done for me all these years. I don`t think I`ve ever thanked you before."

　　"No, you`re right. You haven`t thanked me."

　　"So, I thank you then. Sincerely. And I will remember your council this night."

　　"Of course, Princess," he said and dipped his head to her.

　　She turned and walked on. The old man watched her go, thoughtful now. Now there is a sign of hope for tomorrow, he thought, possibly with a little luck.

　　Back at the camp, under the translucent dome before the tents, the girl stood in front of the tall crystal staff. She very calmly watched the two stride off into the desert. When he had waved to her, she had waved back, and then tears had blurred her vision and sent the stars awash across the sky once again.

　　He came to see me&

　　Three figures rose from their sleeping places and joined her.

　　"That went well," the cat woman said. "In the morning, our transportation problem will be solved."

　　The girl blinked some more and wiped at her eyes.

　　"He walked with her." The extremely tall woman said. "It was him."

　　"Yes." The girl said.

　　"Are you ok?"

　　"I have to be, Molly, don`t I? I don`t have a choice." The girl said.

　　"You should have slept." The man said from behind the woman.

　　"No, Brik, I already told you, pulling off this deception tomorrow will be easier if I appear as a child to them. We will need every advantage we can get."