[Mercy Merchant]

A movement catches your eye and you see a fully armored knight standing in the open doorway into the kitchen.  His armor is battered and worn, but still intact, bearing the marks of countless fights.  A shield hangs from a hook on his right shoulder and he leans on his sword, which he raises in a salute.  Just at that moment Angel walks from the kitchen and passes right through the apparition, which shimmers and fades as the young woman walks over to where you are and kneels in front of you.  "Warrior, you have passed the first real test on your path.  Not all tests are physical; you will be challenged philosophically as well.  Your path is narrow and not completely visible without careful observation.  You could die on the path, but the greatest threat by far is leaving the path for some secondary or tertiary goal.  Be wary, warrior, for there will be choices to make and some will look so like the true path that you will follow them, only to find they lead to the Marsh od Despair.  Watch your path carefully and be true to yourself and to the cause of the Dragonslayer."

Angel grasps your right hand and squeezes it, leaving it a bit warmer that it was.  Spike walks out of the sleeping room and Angel puts a finger to her lips and rises, leaving for the kitchen.  Spike looks down at you and says, "Hey, Kimo Sabe, you ready for bed yet?  Could be a long day.  All the rest except for Rain and Drake are already in there.  I am turning in, too."  She smiles at you and goes back inside the sleeping room.

[Chrome Head]

Joe just feels tired, exhausted mentally. What the frag is it with these people? And these darn knight visions. He smiled weakly at his own pun, walking towards the bed. Better just sleep it off at this point. I gotta get used to the dragonslayer messages. I really am on the first step along some kinda path, I guess. Because this is all new to me!

[Mercy Merchant]

You are the last person in the room except for the two out in the main room and the two that never come inside.  Tommy and Myotama are sharing a mattress several over from yours.  Spike is still awake, but you think the rest of the people are already asleep.  She smiles up at you in the dim light and rolls over so you can have some privacy.  You are asleep almost as soon as your head hits the mattress and sleep the night away.  You wake to the smell of caf wafting into the room from the kitchen.  Looking around, you see that most of the others are still asleep, although the mattress next to you is empty, meaning that Spike is already up.

[Chrome Head]

Joe gets out of the room quietly, before stretching a bit to get his blood flowing. Well, no weird dreams tonight. That's something! As he's thinking, he notices that staying here for too long without a decent shower was starting to have a detrimental effect on his bodily odors. Anyway, let's see what Spike and Angel have for me today. Joe made his way to the kitchen, looking forward to some soycaf to start off the day.

[Mercy Merchant]

Angel is alone in the kitchen when you enter.  She nods at you and points to the caffpot as she bends over to grab something from inside an old stove, using her apron to cover her hands as she lifts a pan to the top.  She carefully flips the lid up, humming as she stirs what is inside.  The aroma sets your mouth to watering and the caff tastes better than it probably should.  She stops stirring and looks at you as she replaces the lid.  "Spike is out checking on the neighborhood.  She said we will probably need to lay low for a couple of days then we can get Myotama and Tommy out of here if they want to leave.  Thank you for staying, Gaze.  I know that you have impressed Spike and she is a hard one to impress."

[Chrome Head]

"Thanks for the compliment. By the way, I just remembered, I really need to make another call today. The earlier the better. You think that will be possible?"

Joe poors himself a cup of coffee and sits down at the table.

"You know Angel, I'm glad I can talk to you, alone. I've been meaning to ask you. What's the relationship between you and the awakened world. Do you have some kind of link to Dragonslayer?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Angel laughs and shakes her head.  "You are asking the wrong person about calling out, Gaze.  The little bit I know is that Drake monitors the frequencies as best he can with the gear he has and that there are certain windows where it is safer than other times to send a call outside the neighborhood.  You would need to talk to Spike about that."

Angel looks a bit startled at your second question.  She pulls up the second chair and sits down.  "That is a very good question, Gaze.  I am not awakened, as far as I know.  At least not like DoubleT.  You should see those two when they get going.  Almost frightening, sometimes.  But this Dragonslayer.  Sometimes...........well, sometimes I get this feeling that I am in more than one place at a time, only one of those places is way back.  Way, way back.  I have had a few dreams, some even while awake, of walking a road with a knight, helping him.  Now, I know it is silly.  I mean, really, what sort of help could I be to a knight?  I can cook a bit, sure, but no more than most girls, I expect, and less than many.  No, it is something else, but I just don't know what.  When I was five, I used to have a pretend friend.  He would come save me from the bullies in the neighborhood.  But that usually turned out to be Spike; she would come kick ass on the bullies.  And she still does, although the bullies are different now, and they don't just want to cop a feel under my shirt anymore.  Why do you ask?"

[Chrome Head]

"I have dreams too. Dreams in which I'm the knight. I've received a calling, to become stronger, and better, and to push myself. To do this, I must seek out opponents, I like to think of those as dragons. They're the challenges I have to overcome. Myotama and Tommy needing my help, that was a challenge, a quest for a knight like me. I have a mentor, Dragonslayer, I feel him with me, often. He tells me things through dreams, stories. I should always be honest and loyal, and honorable, and dependable. For a long time, I've always been alone, or alone with him, in those dreams. But now I get these new strange messages in which I see you talking to me, telling me about forks in the road ahead, and so on. I think there's a link that exists between us, Angel."

[Mercy Merchant]

Angel sits back then looks at you intently.  "Dreams about being a knight?  With me in them?  How odd.  I do not know why you would dream those things; perhaps it is just because of the situation.  I have no idea why we would have a link, so are you sure it is me?  Are not Myotoma and Spike in those dreams as well?  They are much stronger people.  I am simply the odd-job girl."

[Chrome Head]

Joe looks directly at Angel with a meaningful stare. "Only you. More than once."

[Mercy Merchant]

Angel blushes and looks around the small room before looking back at you, seemingly at a loss for words.  "I............I.............I don't know what to say, Gaze.  I am not the sort of girls most guys go after.  I am not beautiful or smart like Myotama and I don't have skills like Spike.  I just........just do the cooking and cleaning and................and things."

[Chrome Head]

Joe sighs, but with a smile, maybe a bit flirty. "That's not what I meant."

And then seriously again. "I have dreams that feel very real, as though they were more than mere dreams, and they contain messages for me, sometimes with a story of some sort involving a knight or what not. But since I've been here you are in them, for some reason, and you're the one telling me something. That's why I'm wondering if there's a reason why it's you I see."

[Mercy Merchant]

Angel blushes even more, if that is at all possible.  After all, one can only get so red, right?  "I have no idea, Gaze.  I used to believe every word our father said about the Dragonslayer Knights.  Even pretended to be a companion to one when I was much younger.  I can still remember this one time when I was walking along a road with my knight.  I think I was some sort of helper...............probably the cook, I suppose.  Anyway, we came to an intersection and the signpost indicated two different destinations and the knight pondered which way to go.  I can still remember telling him that it probably did not matter as there were likely to be dragons in either direction.  We both laughed and he simply flipped a stick and we took one of the paths.  Now, remember, this was just me playing, and I do not really know where all my ideas came from, but I have remembered that story for a long time."