The Gazelle Sets Sail

Alexander awoke abruptly, reaching for his revolver and pointing it into the blackness of his room. The only sound that came back was the squeak of Franklin moving from his nest perched above Alexander's bed as he plopped down next to him.
“What's wrong?” Franklin asked. “Was it the same dream?"
Alexander placed the revolver back in its spot and shook the thoughts out of his head.
"Yeah, it’s the third one this week, and it’s the same ship with burning sails, falling from the sky, people shouting, then a shuddering explosion that wakes me up," Alexander said with a slight pause.
"Maybe they're memories starting to surface,” Franklin suggested. “We should look for the wreck where Mom and Dad found us." He just wanted to shut his eyes and try to sleep.
"Maybe you're right. Uncle Oliver might know the location of it if it’s still there." Alexander gave a tired yawn and figured sleep wouldn't come easy for him, so he decided to walk around the Gazelle until exhaustion overcame him.

Alexander stalked around the Gazelle's deck, looking about at what had once been a medical ship during the war. During that time, it was used as a research ship for studying wildlife and plants of this world, the cages still remaining in the cargo hold, which had come in handy lately.
He walked past the engine room, thinking he should write down a list of parts he needed to keep the old girl running in the air. After wandering around the deck and a glass of whiskey later, he found his way back to his bed, trying not to wake Franklin.

Several hours late, Alexander awoke to the bustling sounds of Conwell as airships departed or arrived from pirating, smuggling, or running deliveries to other nations. He got dressed and headed into town to grab supplies for the trip to a Medical Research Facility near Gearford with a shipment of Skuttlekovy poison glands from an earlier case in the week. While in town, he also had to answer a message he received from an old family friend in Gearford about a bounty he would be perfect for.
Franklin squeaked as they walked past the Lands Edge Bar, saying, "Let’s see if there are any new bounties before we head out."
With the mooring cables off, gangplank up, and engines humming, the Gazelle gently pulled away from dock 7 and left Conwell for the time being. They were on their way to Gearford for jobs, and maybe answers for these persistent nightmares.
The trip was quick and the sights were all the same: desert, desert, and more desert. Franklin and Alexander argued over nothing to pass the time as they approached the capital city.
It was early in the morning as the Gazelle made its decent into a dock. They embarked looking for the dock hands and the crew the research facility sent to pick up the cargo. After that was taken care of and money was in hand, feeling a bit richer, Alexander and Franklin headed over to Uncle Oliver’s residence. Their uncle lived in a small shop in the Saks district that sold trinkets and odds and ends.
The city being crowded as usual made Franklin and Alexander squirm.
"I never liked how busy this place is,” Franklin squeaked into Alexander’s ear. “Too many people."
"I concur," Alexander replied as they approached the store. When they stepped through the door, the smell of incense and history wafted in the air. Uncle Oliver was walking around until he noticed Alexander out of the corner of his eye and yelled in excitement, not having seen his adopted nephew since Alexander’s last job took him into Gearford.
The night rolled on as they talked and told stories. It had been a while since he had heard stories about his parents, but at the end of the night, Uncle Oliver revealed the location of where they had found young Alexander. It was south of the Sand Sea, near a rock out-cropping that stuck straight out of the ground and looks like a knife.
The next morning, they bid farewell to Uncle Oliver and headed to the Rowe district to talk to their client. Upon entering the district, home of those who are wealthy and stuck up, Alexander found their client’s big house with the help of a few people. They knocked on the door and a rather snooty looking butler answered it. After announcing what they were here for, Alexander was led into the parlor where the owner of the house and his boy were sitting. Alexander walked in and shook hands with the client, beginning to negotiate the terms of the bounty. It seemed as though their slave, a Nakalo named Rilain Svain Mortador, had killed their dogs, knocked the boy unconscious, and escaped. He wanted Alexander to bring her back alive or dead.
During the conversation, the child kept trying to touch Franklin and demand his dad buy Franklin off of Alexander.
"You should shoot him," Franklin squeaked, but Alexander decided to resist the idea and took the bounty anyway.
A month later, the hunt came to a conclusion when he finally tracked down Rilain playing her flute for a pack of Chanka's, the bounty warrant clasped in one hand and his revolver pointed right at her. At this point, Franklin decided to say, "Let her go. That little kid was an ass, and look what she did to those Chanka’s. That'll save us on bullets."
With much thought and deliberation, Alexander crumpled up the warrant on the condition that Rilain would travel with Franklin and Alexander as a free Nakalo.
After all that was said and done, Alexander decided to head to where he was found in the belly of an airship wreckage as a boy. It took a few days to reach their destination, and most of it was covered in sand. They combed what little was left over after scavengers had cleaned through it, and after time had taken its toll. The only thing that was salvageable was a crest of a noble family. They were not sure which family, but it was a clue. Afterwards, they decided to return to Conwell. Upon returning to Conwell, Alexander decided to show Rilain the town.

"You just want a drink" Franklin squeaked "you may be right but it's part of the town of the town still" Alexander retorted, all the while Rilain watched her companion have a one sided argument with with the land octopus on his shoulder.

They left the Gazelle and headed to the Lands Edge Bar for there usual drinks after completing a job with their new companion. Upon entering the bar every one grew silent as they walked in their eyes glued to Rilain. As they walked towards their usual spot one man stopped them and said, "what are you doing in here with that thing."

Alexander pulled out his revolver and shot the man in the leg without a hesitation. As the man collapsed to the ground Alexander said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "This is my new companion if you ever insult her again I will end you" and with that he walked away to grab his table and have that long deserved drink, and to plan their next big adventure.

Alexander sat at his desk, diligently cleaning an old sniper that belonged to his adopted father. He thought he had misplaced it, but recently found it in an old smuggler’s hatch he had discovered while making repairs from some recent jobs. Business has been booming lately since Rilain had joined his crew. Word had spread about their way with capture and removal of all sorts of dangerous beasts, and their skill with regular bounties.
He got lost in his work, cleaning parts and oiling mechanisms so the sniper rifle would work like new. Memories drifted through his head, one of being shown how to fire a gun, the young Alexander Nolan picking off empty bottles from far off in the distance.

Alexander’s contemplation was ruined by the patter of little tentacles on the creaky wooden floor as the little land octopus approached him. Franklin climbed on the table and squeaked, "You have company up on topside. Rilain is talking to her."

"Rilain is watching her, you say?” Alexander asked. “Is she behaving nicely? But wait…” He paused, bewildered. “Who is the guest, anyway? No one ever visits onboard unless they're trying to kill us!”

"It's Miss Ruby. She seems very distressed," Franklin added as he climbed Alexander’s shoulder. It was his perch where he usually spent his time acting as the replacement eye to Alexander’s damaged one. They hurried through the passages to see why Miss Ruby was there in the first place and opened the hatch to the scorching desert heat. Rilain was sitting on the railing, playing a strange melody as she waited for her companions to return. Franklin started to move around in a little dance as he heard the tune; it always seemed to calm him down for no reason, even in the stressful moments that seemed to be happening more recently.
Alexander approached Miss Ruby and asked, "So what seems to be the trouble today, Ruby?"

"Well, I need you to be a Law Keeper today!” Ruby said. “Some two-bit punk killed my best Girls and your favorite bartender last night as the bar was closing. I want you to kill him." There was an angry tone in her voice, a tone Alexander had never heard her use in his life. She was the owner of The Lands Edge bar and an old friend.

"I don't usually play the Law Keeper, my dear.” He said. “I'll help out, but there’s going to be a fee if you can afford it." Alexander added, though Franklin squeaked, "You should do this for free. She knew how to make my drinks and gave me delicious meals!"

After a long pause, Ruby said with a grin on her face, "You're the only bounty hunter in town that I trust and we’re friends, but I’ll erase your tab and give you some free drinks when you want. You owe me for all the free food and not turning you in for some of those bar fights you've started, anyway." She was trying to persuade Alexander into taking her offer.

"Screw that shit,” Franklin chirped. “Get the free drinks and clear our tab, we’ll take his stuff!”

"You know, you never help these situations, Franklin.” Alexander sighed, being skeptic. “You really don't. Every now and then, you have a good suggestion, like the bank robber job 6 months ago."

Ruby watched as Alexander quarried with Franklin. He was an odd fellow, but the most reliable person she ever knew.
"We'll take the job, Ruby. We would’ve never turned it down and we would’ve done it for free, but we'll take your offer of drinks and wiping our slate clean." Alexander said with a grin on his face. "Now, tell us the guy’s name."

Ruby gave them the information she had gathered from the other waitresses. The guy’s name was William and he lived near the edge of town. They set out to for the hunt. Alexander asked one of his contacts to see if the information was correct, and it was. The winding street all out to the view of the Prodigious canyon was carved by a long dead river. The shack was the last one near the edge and people hurried out of the way as they approached, having heard a rumor about what William had done.
Alexander walked up to the door and kicked it in. William was in the middle of packing when the flimsy door burst open like a grenade. Reaching for his gun as he turned around, it was too late. Alexander had already pulled the trigger and shot him in the arm. William fell back, cursing at Alexander.

"You know, you killed my favorite bartender during your stupid robbery. She was catering only to me, especially with all the other bounty hunters away on errands." Alexander said in a stern tone and kicked William's gun over to Rilain. "Now what am I going to do with you, Mr. William?"

"Please, I can’t go to Pleasantville," William pleaded. There were tears in his eyes and Alexander assumed it was either because he didn’t want to go to jail, or because of the slug buried in his arm.

"Wait, who said I was going to take you there?" Alexander proclaimed as he was reloading his revolver. William’s eyes widened, knowing he was most likely going to die.

Franklin looked over at Alexander and had to mention, "Why don't you kick him off a cliff to save you the bullets?"
Alexander looked surprised. "Now that is a great idea! Way better than earlier.” He said and turned back to William. “Well, Mr. William, why don’t you take a walk with me. I won’t shoot you any more unless you run." He grinned.

Alexander dragged the punk up and as they started walking out of the hut, he said, "You get one last look at this view of your home."
They walked a little while until they were at the edge of the cliff.
"I never get tired of the view here,” Alexander said. “Also, I have a couple rules: don’t betray you're your friends and don’t shoot an unarmed man in the back, but I don’t like to follow the last rule that often, since I’m in the business of being a bounty hunter." William turned around just as Alexander planted his foot on his chest and sent him flying off the cliff into the chasm below.
"Well, that's a job well done,” Alexander said with a sigh of relief. “Let’s loot what we can and go have a drink."

Alexander awoke in a sweat from another nightmare. "Shit, another one." He said, pouring himself a glass of whiskey and drinking it in one gulp.

Franklin said from his little perch, "You should go show Uncle Oliver that cloth with the weird crest on it. He might know where it’s from, also we should do that thing with getting a dead female Nakalo corpse and one of those dog tails and use them to fake Rilain's death so we can get rich."

"Again, that is another great idea. Let’s work on this idea in the morning." Alexander muttered in a yawn.
The next day, they filled Rilain in on the plan, though she was reluctant to part with one of her treasures. With promises of money and that Alexander would replace it with another hunt, she agreed and The Gazelle set sail again, heading back to Gearford.

The city was on edge, as if something major had happened. There seemed to be more guards on patrol, and getting into the docks were harder than usual. They required searches, but Alexander had all the paper work for a medical transport ship as a cover-up, and all the illegal material and Rilain were stowed away for a clean search. Afterwards, he told Rilain to stay on the ship because she was still a wanted fugitive, and later set off to see that snooty family in the Rowe district with the limbs from a dead Nakalo—he’d rather not think about how they managed to acquire them—and a tail from one of the dead dogs.
Alexander arrived in the Rowe district, at the house, and the butler had the same look of disgust on his face as he looked at another slave who was not as smart as Rilain. Though he looked like he was going to cry when he noticed the transport case being brought in and realized it must be what's left of her.

Alexander went to the parlor where he met the owner again and they shook hands, sharing friendly greetings as they sat down to discuss what had happen as he had tracked her down; where her luck had run out and she was attacked and torn to shreds by a pack of goblins hunting for food. She had tried to defend herself but by the time he arrived, the goblins had fled with the other parts of her corpse. The owner found it hard to believe until Alexander presented him the tail of one of their dogs. The owner handed them the money from the bounty, a little less because she was “dead,” but still a good amount of money. The owner left the room but Fredrick was still babbling and demanding Alexander give him Franklin, and then tried to snatch him off his shoulder. His hand was caught midway by Alexander.

"Next time you try that, I will break your hand, you snooty child." Alexander said with calm anger creeping from his voice.

"You can’t do that, my daddy’s a rich and powerful man,” Fredrick said with a pompous attitude. “He'll make you suffer."

"Try it, you brat,” Alexander said as he reached for his pistol with the intent to kill, his eyes burning with anger. Fredrick backed up and ran away like the scared little child he was.
"What a bitch," Franklin said. Alexander laughed as they walked out of the building, the butler saying, "Thank you for doing that to him.”

Alexander walked down to Uncle Oliver's who was ecstatic to see his adopted nephew again. They talked and it eventually came to the matter of the strange crest and cloth he had found. Oliver examined it with much thought and came to a conclusion.

"I think I might have seen this cloth before…” Oliver said, trying to find an answer that would help his nephew. “The crest has a deer-looking animal, so I would suggest it might be from the land of Kuu across the ocean. I would start there, if I was a betting man."

“Thanks for the help, Uncle,” Alexander said over drinks. ”I also have another question: I want to install a weapon system on the Gazelle. I was thinking a Tesla cannon would be the best idea. Do you know anybody who can make one and get it installed?"

"Well, there is one guy that comes to mind: Captain Swift of the Caelum Navis. He invented a famous one here in Antiford, but I haven’t heard word of him in a while. He seemed to have dropped off the radar, but maybe you could strike a deal with him," Uncle Oliver stated with much thought.

Alexander thought about it. He wrote a lot of the information down, making a list of things he should take care of before heading to Kuu. He thought he would find answers, but he knew he would most likely uncover more questions about who he was.
As the night ended, he left Uncle Oliver with a heart-felt good-bye and headed back to the ship to inform Rilain of what had happened in town.

The Gazelle unmoored, set free from the dock, and set the course for home and free drinks. The desert was calm and tranquil at night. It was a peaceful sight and with Rilain playing her flute, it made for a pleasant trip home with some detour for hunting to replace the tail he used to fake her death.

Returning to Conwell, Alexander headed to his usual bar to see Ruby, cash in a free drink or two, and talk with Rilain about supplies they needed and how to find this Captain Swift.

The skies were calm, for once. Storms had been raging through oceans like angry monsters, but still the Gazelle survived. Alexander was at the helm, trying to navigate a safe course through the brutal skies. Franklin had gone below—he really didn’t like water—and Rilain, for someone who has never seen the ocean, stayed below. Alexander guessed she was sick from the turbulent skies, but she would need to get used to it eventually. Turbulent skies paired with flying ships.
The Gazelle handled better since they replaced a lot of the engine and steering components, some illegally and some through legal channel, so she cut through the skies like a knife parting the cloud formations as she went. Why did Kuu have to be so far away, a whole ocean away? For hopefully some it would answer a few questions about who Alexander was before he was found in the desert all those years ago, but he feared that it would just create more questions, or the trail would be too cold to start looking again. He remembered his adoptive family looked for a while, but turned up no leads.

Franklin scuttled up, noticing the storm had passed for now and, feeling lonely, decided to go see how the scenery was. It switched from endless sand to endless water and seemed like a joke to the little land octopus. He missed being able to see sand, though, but Rilain did grab him a bucket of sand and put it in a box so he could have a sand box to play in. She wasn't as bad as he had first thought.
Franklin climbed up Alexander’s back to perch on his shoulder so he could point out what the clouds looked like. They always seemed to look like squids or octopuses, and the sights of the occasional sea life were big enough to be visible from way up there.
Rilain slowly emerged from the Gazelle’s underbelly, spittle still hanging from her lips, and a queasy look hung in her eyes, still haunting her from the violent lurching of the ship within the choppy skies. However, smooth sail allowed her to migrate topside to look at the ocean more and talk about all the new animals she would eat when they made landfall in Kuu. Alexander explained they would be heading to the capital city of Hiemskôg and she seemed enthralled by the description of the city, from what he remembered.
He had first visited the capital when his parents had brought him there for surgery after he was found to save his eye, but his eye was too far gone and infected to be saved. They tried to replace it, and the new eye took, but for some reason it didn't function properly. So Alexander decided a blind eye was better than no eye at all and thus explained why he always wore an eye patch. It was mainly used to cover up his uneasy feelings about his lost eye.
The story Rilain really wanted to hear was why Franklin had a top hat and a fake mustache, but all Alexander did was talk back and forth between Franklin and himself, and later explained that Franklin just wanted to be fancy for no reason. Alexander decided he liked that answer and stopped talking, lost in a memory about where Franklin really got the hat from.

Night had fallen and they had found a small rock out-cropping poking out of the ocean. It seemed like the perfect place to drop anchor for the night, Rilain deciding to take the first watch on deck, since they were a long way off from any land or safe harbor. Alexander slowly shuffled thru the hatch, exhaustion vigorously catching up to him. He used his hand on the bulkhead to stabilize himself as he shuffled to his cabin. He pushed open the door, moving ever so close to his bed, and took off his revolver. He put the few knives he kept on him back in their spots and crashed onto his bed like an airship plummeting to the ground.
Sleep claimed him moments later. Franklin was lucky to have jumped off Alexander before he passed out. He scuttled up to his little nest and decided to sleep until Alexander took his watch shift or until they started sailing. The sounds of the engine and the rocking of the ship put Franklin to sleep almost as quick as his companion had passed out.

Alexander awoke hours later and surprisingly didn’t relive that dream again, as he had recently. He stared at the ceiling for a brief while before stirring to go relieve Rilain from her guard duty, wondering if she had broken anything new. He walked through the ship’s deck, heading to the kitchen to grab some food for another day of sailing. After eating what he could and making food for Franklin, Alexander headed up to topside.
As he opened the hatch, he was surprised to see Rilain had found the fishing rods that were in one of the storage holds and was sitting off the side of the ship with a bucket of the smallest fish he had ever seen. He laughed to himself as he walked to the steering wheel and engaged the winch mechanism to drag the anchors back up. The engine began to hum from its idle to progressing forward again.
After days of sailing, Rilain shouted, "Land! There’s land over there!"
In the distance, islands started to form in view, small archipelagoes at first, but Kuu's snowcapped mountains began to emerge in the distance. Slowly, the climate began to change from the warmer southern temperatures to colder, more frigid weather.

"Go grab your jacket, Rilain," Alexander said as she was starting to shiver.
Moments later, she returned with a heavy jacket lined with Moon-Faced Cave Bear fur they had made earlier in the month. Alexander had thought the bear had almost got them, giving him a few new scrapes. Rilain’s jacket had been destroyed in the process of the hunt, so the new one had been lined with the bear’s hide and parts of Scuttlekovy shell were sewn in to give it extra protection, just in case she got shot at, which seemed to happen a lot recently. Alexander was pulled back to reality when a gust of icy air came blowing over the bow of the ship. He had always liked the cold weather more than the dry heat of the desert. Maybe he was bred for this climate. He would soon find out.

The Roënson bay was coming into view and the capital city was built right into the mountain side. It was a work of art, the stone masonry. The Kuu did pride themselves on their arts. The Gazelle slowly descended into the city’s docks as it carefully locked in place. Alexander headed for the gang plank to meet the guards that had gathered outside, waiting for the gang plank to lower. He grabbed his wool jacket. Even Franklin had a jacket, which made him look like a ball of fur and cloth stuck to Alexander’s shoulder. It was an amusing sight.
"Your winter gear is going to turn heads," Alexander said in a chuckle.
"Not my fault! I don't like the water or the cold," Franklin squeaked.
They slowly walked down the plank to where their guests were waiting.
"Welcome to Hiemskôg,” the guard announced. “Please state the matter of your visit: business or pleasure?"

"Well, it’s business for us. I’m looking for information on an old family crest," Alexander said, pulling out the old scrap of cloth and showing it to the men. "Have you seen this or know of any places where I might find any leads?”
The guards shook their heads and the leader of the group replied with a, "No, but you might want to check out the market area, or maybe the hall of records might have what you're looking for." The guards dispersed with that, somewhat pleased with Alexander's answer.
Alexander and Rilain walked through the streets and wandered for hours, stopping in little shops and indulging Rilain's want to try the local delicacies. She seemed happy, all the while asking around for information, but with still no hints about the crest. So they headed back to the Gazelle, hoping for the next day. The walk back was interesting, trying to remember which way they had come from to reach where they were now.

"I think we're lost," Franklin squeaked out as they came to a dead end.

Alexander let out a sigh. "We’re not lost, just slightly misplaced. We can ask the next person we see for directions." Just as he had finished speaking, a few lowlifes walked in the alley behind them, brandishing chains and pipes, trying to strike fear into Rilain and Alexander.
"Give us your valuables and you won’t get hurt," the leader said.
Alexander let out a laugh, looking at Franklin. "How is it the first people to talk to us, other than the guards and shop owners, are these pathetic-looking thugs? How does this keep happening to us?"

Franklin let out a series of squeaks. "That's because they must think you have a pretty face."
Alexander couldn't help keep from laughing, although the thugs were starting to get agitated from being ignored.
The leader had had enough and motioned to his followers to kill Rilain and Alexander. One came at Rilain with a knife, trying to stab at him but only striking the parts of the Skuttlekovy shells, which caused the thug to stop in his tracks. He caught a fist in his jaw, which sent him staggering back, causing him to drop the knife. Rilain moved in to snatch the knife off the ground, moving in close and slitting the guy’s throat.
As this happened, one with another knife rushed at Alexander, trying to capitalize on his handy cap, but stopped in his tracks as Alexander pulled out his revolver.
"Looks like I brought a gun to a knife fight," he said as Rilain's newly acquired knife landed in the thug’s back with a sickening thump, causing him to fall to the ground. With a boot to the head, he was out.
The leader was about to run away, but heard, "I might only have one working eye but I'm a damn good shot, so I would suggest not running away, my new friend. I have some questions for you," Alexander said. The thug raised his arms, hoping he wouldn’t die looking at the state of his friends as the two strangers approached him. Alexander threw the kid further into the alley. "Alright, now how do we get back to the docks?"

The thug had tears in his eyes, not wanting to die, but he reluctantly gave them directions back to the docks. It seemed they had taken a wrong turn by the fish cart a couple stores ago. With that in hand, Alexander said, "Rilain, finish the job." He motioned to the kid with a knife in his back. She put her foot down on his back, yanking the knife free, and with quick movements, slit another man’s throat from ear to ear.
The leader looked on in horror as his friend was butchered. "Why did you kill him? He wouldn’t have said anything."

"Well, it's a matter of business, not to leave loose ends," Alexander said, walking up to the man. With a swift motion, he clubbed the leader in the head with the butt of his pistol and cut his throat with his knife.
"Well, let’s throw the bodies in the trash can at the end of the alley," he said, pointing.
They moved the corpses quickly and quietly then headed back to the ship.
"See, I told you the shells would make a cheap and durable body armor, like that hobgoblin a couple of months ago," Alexander said as they walked away to the Gazelle.

The next day came sooner than expected; another day of trying to hunt down more leads. They were going to visit the hall of records, which they should have done in the first place, but Alexander wanted to show Rilain the city and let her eat all the food she wanted. They set out for where it should be, encountering more winding paths. The city was like a labyrinth, but they eventually found the old building. It seemed like a place where city knowledge would be stored.
They entered the old building and as they crossed the threshold, their noses were assaulted by the smell of dust and mold. It was less than pleasant.
They went to the clerk and Alexander asked, "Can you help me? I’m trying to find information on this old crest. Anything would be helpful."

The old man took the cloth from Alexander’s hand, staring at it for what seemed like forever. Eventually, he opened his mouth. "If I recall, this belonged to the old ambassador to Antiford, but that was during the time of the war and revolution, I believe," he said.

This news caused Alexander to smile. Any news was better than no news. "Did he have family, or are there still any relatives living in the city still?" he asked, hoping for an answer to his question.
The old man said he would be right back as he left, looking for a book that held the old ambassador's family tree. He came back carrying a leather-bound book with a giant deer on it. He began flipping through the pages, looking for answers.
"Ah, here we have it. He had a wife and a son, but he took them to Antiford... And he has a sister," the old man said, jotting down directions to where she might live.
They thanked the man for his help and rushed out the door with a new pace. They came to a big house at the end of the road; the houses on the block seemed to be all well-off and excellently maintained with sculptures that looked very pricey. They walked up to the door and knocked. The house seemed empty, but in the distance he heard someone yell, "Be right there!"

An old lady answered the door. "Yes? Can I help you?" she said, but the minute her eyes looked on Alexander, she rushed forward and latched on him with a bear hug. "Little Leviah, is that you?" she said, not releasing the hug.

"Well, that’s what I came here to find out," he said as she released her hug, then Alexander explained the situation.
"Come in. Let us talk some more and tell me about yourself," she said as they all walked inside.
They talked way into the early hours of the night about his forgotten past, like how she had bought Franklin for him since he traveled with his parents and never had time for friends. Alexander also told her about his life and his adventures with Rilain, leaving out the more murderous bits. She showed him pictures and let him keep a few. She seemed so happy to have met him that she offered for them to spend the night, since there was a brutal slaying of thugs in town. Alexander decided it would be better not to mention that they killed the thugs. Finally, they went to sleep, and another night of peaceful dreams took hold of Alexander again.
The morning came and they had to leave. They promised that they would visit more when they had time, but work had always kept them busy. He hugged his aunt good-bye and they made their way back to the Gazelle to make their long and arduous journey back to Conwell, with new stories to tell Ruby. Alexander knew she wouldn’t believe them, but he looked forward to telling her and having a good drink, anyway. The Gazelle slowly lurched from their docking clamp, ascending into the skies as they headed for home.