Chapter 6 - A New Link

So there I was standing, gun drawn on the pony I had considered a friend. The exhaustion of the night’s misadventure dulled what that should really mean to me; in fact, I felt rather numb.

There’d been a few moments that I had to myself before Nameless awoke. It gave me time to think. To think of the scene I had before me; Nameless, myself, and a gun.

I pondered about the weapon I held in my claw at the moment.

Innuendo

She was a memento of my mother. The pistol was heavy, its caliber of obscene size. It was a cannon, that much was blatantly obvious. An old rifle that was lovingly carved into a weapon that could theoretically be used in a single talon, despite my earlier experience. She had been somewhat like a starter pistol, the sound of her gunshot marked the beginning of when my life completely fell apart, the shot that ended my mother. Her name was Innuendo, and from what I’ve seen so far, she always got her point across.

Currently, I had her gently tickling Nameless’s throat. Like a lover teasing him back awake. He would certainly awake to a surprise this morning.

His muzzle and one of his eyes had been covered in a bandage that put pressure on his face, all the better to keep him from bleeding again. Sadly, the bandages would be unneeded if he turned out to be somepony I didn’t think he should be, if he wasn’t who I could trust. If he wasn’t a friend after all, then a single flick of the trigger would see to that.

His eye opened slowly, blinking away what fuzziness there might be in his vision. The eye didn’t seem to be able to focus, it was staring blindly past me. All the better, he had to know that I was calling the shots right now.

“Did you sleep well, Nameless?” I cooed to him gently. It was interesting, him being in such a position of submission, the pony that seemed so able before. The glint of recognition in his pale eye, the change in his posture; he was mine. “I have some questions for you.” I told him calmly. It felt good to be in control for once.

Nameless relaxed, taking his time and going back to his usual silence. So, I figured he was just waiting for the questions I had. That or waiting for a chance to use some magic. Though he had to know, if he so much as flickered his horn, I’d end him. Messily.

It’s not that I wanted to, I shouldn’t want to, deep down I really wanted to find out that I could trust him. He had traveled with us so calmly and had been there for anything he could help with, in fact, he may have saved my life...

...The problem was that I couldn’t trust anyone anymore. Well, maybe a few griffons; Gavii, Strix too, and probably Bookbeak... but no pony; there was Syzygy, I could probably trust her as well, but that was it. My list of… what was the word… ‘confidants’; it was slim/

“Who are you, really? That pony called you ‘Razor’.” I asked him.

He cleared his throat and slowly began to speak. “I am Nameless. ‘Razor’ may have been my name, but it is meaningless now. I am not that pony.”

He said that line before to T-bone, I think he was trying to stall. Too bad for him I was going to stress the subject, with a thrust of Innuendo, I pressed him further,. “He knew you! You were working with him before!” I hissed. It was a strange way to ask, like I was accusing him as much as I was questioning. Whatever. I didn’t care.

“I do not believe so. T-bone said that I did not want to be his partner. Considering it all, especially how it ended, I’m certain it was for the best.” he explained. That was indeed what T-bone had said. But that wasn’t just it.

“There’s more to it than that! What was this talk of a bounty?” was my next question. It was part of the scene that never got an answer. Nameless was taking even longer for this question. He blinked again and wrinkled up the right side of his face. He must have been trying to figure out where he was, so I grilled him a little harder. “Answer the question!” I urged, just shy of giving him a good smack.

“That I do not know, it seems that Syzygy is valuable.” he said.

“To whom?!” I asked, I needed to know more about that. The answer was somewhere in there. If Nameless didn’t actually know, he could figure something out!

His eye kept darting around, it was apparent that the gears in his head were spinning at full speed. “To the slavers, at least. I don’t know why. There could have been somepony there to pick her up. I do not recall what transpired after T-bone’s demise.” He said. That was probably true, it was all that he actually saw while we were there.

So, who could have been there for the pick-up? Not T-bone, he wanted the bounty, he was selling. Not Nameless, T-bone accused him of going after the same bounty. There were plenty of guards, but that wasn’t until things went sour. Gavii and I obviously wouldn’t have.

There was only one other. His face came to my mind, haunting me! Why couldn’t he just stay dead?! “Oh, why? Why would it be him?!” I wailed, letting my gun slip from his neck and I fell to the floor. Things just got worse! “Syzygy thinks that she’s the cursed one! This joke just isn’t funny!” I howled. Things always got worse!

That was it. If this is what life was going to be, I didn’t want any more of it. Tossing my gun back into my bag, I left the Clinic and took to wing. Nameless was getting me nowhere and Syzygy needed to rest anyway. The only thing I had in mind was to just go home. It wasn’t far, so it didn’t take too much effort to get there quickly.

When I landed on the front step, I nearly threw the door off the hinges when I ripped it open. If I’d been stronger than I was, I just might have. With my current ability, I only pulled the hinges out a little on their screws. That aside, it didn’t help me feel any better. This was so frustrating, this was just… it was just fucked. There wasn’t any other way to say it. If I was playing cards, my life would have dealt me a shit flush.

My right hip was cramping after dragging that dead hoof along, so I unbolted it and tossed it to a corner of the room, The clatter was actually quite satisfying. Then, I limped along to the liquor cabinet. If everything was going to burn me, I might as well throw enough alcohol on things to help it along!

As soon as I opened it, the bag of caps greeted me again. Oh! Every turn had some damn obligation, a new responsibility! That was enough! Talon life wasn’t for me, not with how it was just stacked against me. It took all that I had, and all it gave me were scars and heartache in return. Least of all was this damn leg Beer Can had bolted onto me!

The bag of money was tossed aside. Somewhere in the front room, I heard it hit the coffee table, but it wasn’t anything I cared about at the moment. Behind where the bag had laid was my goal, a pair of bottles half filled with booze. Their labels read that the only ones left were the bourbon and gin. I learned my lesson on whiskeys already at Mt. Raindier, after the trip with Beer Can, but gin always smelled so foul, like nasty roots left to spoil. Both of them is what I eventually ended up with, as I hadn’t much choice anyway. The bourbon was opened first, sure that I’d prefer the taste, and drank from the bottle. It was indeed heavenly; a warm, if sharp, bitterness with a wonderful flavor of smoked woods, like what would feed a barbeque.

After the first drink, there was a second, and a third, then a fourth. The alcohol quickly came to my head, soothing me of such nasty things as worry or doubt. The whole house felt satisfyingly warm, but from my inside out. It was exactly what I needed.

With another sip, I sat myself down on the couch and began to ponder what should be done. The documents I’d found were still on the table where I left them. Reminders of how my life was a setup, like how Mom said that it was a joke. Was I the punchline? Roughly, I shoved them to the floor with a snarl. How could everything go wrong for me? Why did I have to suffer when I’ve been the one to work so hard?!

My next drink I went to take was cut short by the fact that the bottle was empty. The fucking thing was no more help, so I threw it. The sound of it smashing on the wall echoed in my mind sharply. Fuck the broken glass, it could be cleaned up later. The room quickly became out of focus, I couldn’t find the gin. Sleeplessness and alcohol combined took its toll. My eyes shut, the world slipped away into nothingness. No dreams. No bad jokes. Just fading to merciful black.

---

Some time later, I awoke with the sunlight peeking through the gaps of my home, shining into my eyes. The room slowly returned to me in an indeterminable amount of time. My head felt foggy and my stomach churned. It was tolerable, unlike my morning at Mt. Raindier. That was something else. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I found that I had fallen to the floor some time while I snoozed. In front of me was the report of my acceptance to the Talons, Sergeant Lightfeathers’ postscript there in front of me.

Reaching out to set it back on the table, I found my talon was covered in dried blood. Flecks of it were already peeling off. It scared me for a moment. Why was there so much blood everywhere? A few panicked seconds went by before I recalled the gecko. At least it wasn’t my blood, or worse, my friends’ blood this time.

Lightfeathers’ letter still stuck in my mind. Why did he think that nothing could break me? I’ve been broken! I’ve been shot! I’m an amputee for Luna’s sake! Whatever, I just needed to get my life back. That was my goal all along, right? That meant finishing my job.

Standing up again took several tries, I had forgotten that I had removed my leg. It was startling to say the least when I realized I was a tripod again. Though I decided to leave it off for the moment. Even if I was getting used to wearing it, there wasn’t much use to bolting my leg back on again. It wasn’t working when I was wearing it last anyway.

Instead, I just gathered up my leg and the bag of caps, setting them on the couch for later. Then I wobbled to the sink to try to clean myself up before I flew over to the HQ. The blood washing down the drain of the sink made me wonder. How many liters of the stuff was spilled in the last week alone? How much could I have stopped? How much had I caused?

I quickly shook that last thought from my mind and finished up.

The next thing I did was to sit back at the table and pour out the money from my bag. To finish my job, I had to turn in the Talons’ share of the contract, 1500 caps. Counting it was going to be a chore; I couldn’t remember how much I had spent so far. That meant I was stuck counting them from zero.

It was going to take forever, but there wasn’t any other way around it. I began sorting the caps into stacks of ten, then into rows of ten stacks, and into ranks of ten stacks. With every cap I counted, each stack set aside, I felt a deeper resentment for Talon life. All the running, the shooting, the killing. After this was done, I was gonna quit if they weren’t so likely to let me go already. What use was a three-legged griffon anyway?

My caps left over after the 1500 were counted out were rather meagre, 227. Enough to keep me fed quite a while, if I was lucky enough to not get in trouble. Not that I was before, but less trouble would be a blessing.

The morning had all but burned away, and I had wasted enough time. To spare a few moments, I grabbed the Talon vest I’d left before and poured the remainder of my money into one of its pockets. It was thrown into my pack with the bag of money, my cyber-hoof and Innuendo. My 10mm was quickly slung over a shoulder. checking the magazine of my SMG, there were four bullets left. Practically nothing as far as the good it would be.

That would have to do, time was short and I wasn’t planning on keeping it much longer anyway. Without the Talon armor I had left with Syzygy, flying wouldn’t be too hard, so I took to wing. Other than the aftereffects of last night’s bourbon keeping a straight line out of the question, the flight was mostly uneventful. With all of the intense exercise I had given my wings lately, the flight hadn’t even bothered me much.

There was one oddity along the way, though. I saw a cart that looked remarkably like Beer Can’s as I was heading along. It might have been him, he was on a trading route before we left for Mt. Raindier. This I assumed was just him getting back to business as usual, much as I intended.

My landing at the Talon HQ hadn’t been all that graceful, I had barely managed to keep from driving my beak into the concrete floor. At least there wasn’t too many griffons there to notice my stumbling approach. Quickly collecting my composure, I opened the door and hobbled inside.

The office was mostly the same as I had seen it the several times before. A talonful of griffons mulling about with their usual tasks; running paperwork or sorting documents. Only a few turned their attentions to my entrance and fewer still even acknowledged me. It was a wonderful change from the silliness of ponies wasting their time.

All that aside, my goal was Lightfeather’s office. He was seated at his desk when I reached the door, he quickly waved me inside before I even had the time to knock. With such an invitation, I headed in. He bore a beaming smile and waited patiently for what I had to say.

“Sir… I mean, Sergeant,” I stammered sheepishly, remembering his spiel yesterday about officers. “I wanted to bring the payment due to the Talons, we hadn’t gone over that last time I was here.”

“Ah, yes! We were busy tending to the Gunnery Sergeant as I recall. You said you have the amount due?” He asked.

“Yes, here it is,” I said while producing the bag of caps I had counted out for him. I set that in front of him and continued. “Also, I… I don’t intend to stay with the Talons.” I said hesitantly.

Slowly, his smile faded, “What do you mean? You can’t simply quit.”

I shook my head, “But that’s exactly what I was going to do, I just can’t be a Talon.” I replied. To punctuate it, I set down my 10mm; or rather, Swan’s 10mm, I was done with it and giving it back. Next to it I laid down Innuendo. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but in the comics I had read years back, an agent turned in their guns when they quit. Or maybe that was a pony thing, I tried to prepare myself for embarrassment.

Lightfeather’s response was, in a word, strange. His face turned to a pained expression like I had stabbed him. That was an expression that I understood intimately now. He drew the hand cannon from its holster and carefully looked it over. With a sigh, he traced a clawtip along its engraving down to the gold trigger guard.

Finally, after a minute or two, he replaced the pistol and… almost began to cry? Oh, he was! One lonesome tear fell across his beak, but he didn’t lose his composure for a second.

“I… empathize with what you have gone through, but you cannot quit.” He finally said, a stern face taking hold of him. “Your contract is waiting to be drafted, and there’s already a patron lined up who has paid for your services. You may have the rest of the day off to prepare for your next duties as a contractor. Then we go over the specifics and send you off with your contract’s holder.” He nudged my weapons back to me, “I’m sorry…” For what he was apologizing for, I wasn’t too sure, though I had a few ideas.

With an exasperated sigh, I collected my guns and turned to leave his office. Before I could even take a single step, he cut me short by clearing his throat and adding something to his speech. “By the way, Prancer. Initiates are not permitted to be contractors, so congratulations on your promotion, Corporal Thistledown.”

I didn’t acknowledge him with even a single word in response, I just scoffed at him and moved on. I wasn’t sure how many ranks he just promoted me past, but it must have taken many more favors. Also, it seemed I had misjudged what a contractor was, wouldn’t it be “Contractee” if you were the one under contract?

Whatever the case, there was one more stop I had to make before I left the HQ, and if I’m going to be under contract there was more I’d need there. I turned to the right and hobbled to the quartermaster’s office. Stepping in, I found him snoozing in his chair.

“Leutenant Rackkam!” I called to him in my annoyance. My hangover was slowly fading, but it didn’t much improve my mood yet. Might as well get this over promptly.

He woke with a sharp snort, “Huh, ung. Wha? Ya needin’ something?” He groggily cast his glance to me before he rubbed his tired eyes. “Oh, Thistledown. How can I help ya?”

I produced my prosthetic hoof and presented it to him. “My cyber-leg broke. Is there anything you can do?” I asked.

He grabbed it and inspected it with a, “Hmmm…” Moments later, he grabbed a screwdriver and pried at its knee and ankle joints. Almost as soon as he began, the hinges slumped freely. He looked up at me with a grin. “There ya go! The gears jus’ got bound up is all! Take it a bit easier on ‘er and you’ll be fine!”

There were no words to explain how stupefied I was, I bet only Celestia would know the extent of it. Nameless and I almost died because a gear slipped or something?! That was ridiculous! “Is there any way to keep that from happening?”

“Oh, sure there is!” He declared, quickly turning his screwdriver to other parts of the leg. He pried off the shell covering the joints and pistons, sprayed some sort of grease in there and tightened the plates holding the bearings in. “That’ll do it. Less weight, tighter bits and lubed up. If’n ya want ta leave the steel sheeting here with me, that’ll be 20 caps. Otherwise I’ll have ta charge ya a mite bit more and get to fixin’ it tomorrow. ”

I fished out my vest from my pack and pulled out a talon full of caps and counted out his due. “Go ahead and keep the sheeting, then. I don’t think I’ll need it.” I couldn’t afford to wait for it, anyway. Remembering another thing, I grabbed the pistol I had liberated from last night. I removed the magazine and stripped the last couple rounds out of it and opened the chamber. “Also, how much is this worth?”

Leiutenant Rackkam picked it up and checked the action a few times and played with the safety and trigger. “Well, this thing’s ‘bout to fall apart, 25 caps?”

“Sure.” I replied with a nod. That would give me five back, and it would at least get that out of my pack.

Picking up my leg, I found that it was a lot lighter now without the extra steel on it. Also, it gave it a very skeletal look, like bare bones made of metal. While plugging the limb back onto its housing, I remembered about the sharp pain of it activating just before it up my spine to the base of my head, marking the leg’s readiness for use with a gasp from me.

It didn’t sting as badly as before. Curiousity got to me, after all I had put the leg through, how much was left in it? I had to ask the question, “So, how much power does this thing have?”

“Well,” he responded, “I’m not sure. It’s run off of sparkle batteries instead of power gems, so it’s likely a lot more than the average leg.” He disappeared a moment under his desk and returned with a battery of sorts. “But, if’n ya want to be sure, I got this spare I’d recharged awhile ago, 30 caps.”

“Fine.” I said with a sigh, I couldn’t afford to run out of power. It could be the death of me if I got caught without enough energy. I could only imagine myself stuck, trapped in some dark room without the ability to fight back simply because I was out of juice; just waiting for some monsters to find me. It was a scary thought.

I tried my best to get that line of thinking from my mind. I’d need some better way to defend myself. “Lieutenant, I also need some more ammo. 10mm and a couple magazines for my gun, my spare one is bent up.” I said, flopping the broken mag on the countertop. “Also, a bunch of whatever this uses.” I added, drawing “Innuendo” to show him.

“Oh, yer momma’s gun! Yeah, I can fix ya up for all that! ‘nd yer little cap gun too!” he said, busying himself with tins and boxes lined up on his shelf. Containers of every shape and size. Plastic jars labeled as containing powder, boxes of casings and primers. A bit of searching later came up with a whole box of 10mm, two new magazines for my SMG (one filled already!) and… only three cartridges for Innuendo... Dang it...

“That’ll be another 52 caps. I’ll take your broke mag and give you a discount on the rest. That’s the best you’ll get in this world!”

What choice did I have, I had no reason to distrust another Talon. Ponies only wanted what they could take, so I placed another 87 caps next to the first stack on the counter for some gun food I’d hope I’d never need. Finally, I nodded my acknowledgment to him and set off for something to eat. My stomach growled angrily. I might be almost a hundred caps lighter, but I still needed food of my own.

After trying my best to make my ‘thank yous’ sound genuine under the circumstances, I made my way to the front doors. I kept my head down, ignoring the front desk and Lightfeathers on my way out. If I had the rest of the day to myself, I was going to make the best of it. It was time to get supplies, especially something to eat. I had never cared for anything in particular, so I just felt like a regular grocery trip, plus what I might need for a brief journey..

A quick flight to the store for some groceries wouldn’t take much time. In fact, I had a tailwind to ride on. It was just a few flaps of my wings from the HQ to get there. Stepping inside, I saw a familiar face with a bright smile on her beak.

“Hi there, Mina.” I declared to the elderly clerk, “I was needing the usual things, please.”

She looked at me in a way I hadn’t seen before, A particularly happy face that was unlike what she had had before. She looked particularly excited. It kinda bothered me. “Prancer, I never thought you’d be so direct!” She was practically beaming. “Was it some time as a Talon that helped?”

Yeah, time as a Talon indeed, a good dose of hell… “Please, may I have my goods, Mina?”

“Sure thing, sweety-bird!” She cooed, placing a few cans and bottles into a paper sack.

“Ummm, may I have some extra bottles of water, and a new rucksack? My last one has a bullet hole in it…” I added sheepishly.

She smiled. She smiled in such a warm way and even giggled while she turned and began sorting out my order. Even though it was a happy smile, It reminded me of mom, prompting a shudder from me.

I wondered how things came to this. Still, I couldn’t be sure if I could have done things better. Regardless, it was only a few minutes until Mina returned. She had the new Bag for me and was busy placing the rest of my order in there for me.

“Here you are Prancer, don’t you worry about paying for the bag. The old thing’s been sitting around here for a while now,” she told me. “The rest will run you just 41 caps, sweetie-bird.”

“Thank you, Mina.” I said while rummaging in my old bag. I grunted, trying to get to the pocket of my vest while it was in there, but it had shifted around during my flight here. “Ah, here you are!” I said, and counted out her payment when I had finally managed to get to it. “I’ll see you next time!” I said while grabbing my purchase and turning to leave.

“Well, you stay out of trouble now!” she said with another smile.

“I’ll try.” I replied with a grin and a forced laugh. She probably didn’t buy it, but there wasn’t really anymore to say.

As I left the store, I noticed a very pleasant smell in the new bag. Reaching in to grab it found that it was some waxed paper wrapped around something. When I pulled it out, I saw that it was a small brahman steak that could only have been left in there as a treat, as it wasn’t part of the usual order. Mina always did try to spoil me.

Regardless, my stomach growled and my mouth watered, so I immediately dug into it. It was uncooked and beautifully marinaded. Just the thing to make my belly gurgle its appreciation. After all, it was the first thing I’d eaten all day, and yesterday wasn’t much either for meals. Actually, I hadn’t been eating much at all with this Talon business at claw. Starving myself like this couldn’t be good for me in the least, but I’d have to deal with that in time. For the time being, the quick meal did help raise my mood quite a bit.

I figured that I couldn’t just wander aimlessly for the rest of the day, even though I wanted to. I had to come up with a plan, though there wasn’t much I had to go on. A few slavers, Nameless, and my dad. There had to be a key to all this among them, but even if I found it, I couldn’t figure out where the lock even was!

Well, if I were to come up with an idea of how to sort this out at all, I had to go see Bookbeak. He would be the one to know how to line up the dots, or at least where to even begin looking for an answer. It had been years since I had last talked to him, though. The old bird might not remember me by now, but he was still my best shot. In any case, the day was drawing short, it was beginning to rain, and I had to get going.

After all my errands so far, my head was clear from the last night’s drinking. With as routine as the flight was, it didn’t take too much effort to focus on anyway. Bookbeak’s library was where it had always sat in the center of town. He was, in his words, one of the first griffs to have arrived in ‘Claw, so his home was very close to the HQ building. Funny, because mom was one of the first posted here too, and our house wasn’t close at all. My guess was that she was just different, or that she wanted it that way.

In any case, he wasn’t far from the store either. Once there and shaking the water from me a bit, I knocked on the door. It wasn’t long until I was answered. The griffon that met me was most definitely not Bookbeak. He was very young, little more than a ball of fluffy down. A common sight at his place, just one of his students staying late I assumed.

“Hello, how may I help you today, mister?” He asked in a voice that I found hard to not find cute. Though the way he said it seemed like he was reciting a script more than anything.

Well, if the kid was playing at formalities, I had might as well go along with it. “I’d like to see Bookbeak, please.”

The little fuzzball squinted his eyes and crunched up his beak, likely trying to remember the next lines he had been rehearsing. “Have you, umm… registered a, uh… a prior... “

“Registered a prior appointment?” An elderly griffon offered as he came to the doorway. The twisted and scarred, one-eyed visage marked him as only one person, Bookbeak himself.

The young one nodded and looked down at the floor. Disappointed at failing the recital of his speech. At this the old griffon merely chuckled and ruffled the little one’s plumage with a mangled talon. “You did well, Thank you!” he said with a soft look in his eye. “Now, back to your studies.”

Once the kid had wandered away, I looked to Bookbeak. It was weird how such a terrifying face, one that had seen innumerable horrors, could look so kindly upon anyone. Doubly so when you saw the broken and empty socket; I couldn't recall him ever wearing an eye-patch, either.

“What a treat! I haven’t seen you by my place in quite some time, Prancer!” He spoke in an upbeat tone. “Are you here for more lessons?”

“No, I’m here for some help.” I told him, shaking my head. “I need to know more about my dad.”

He set his crippled talon on my shoulder, “Surely you could recount all the stories yourself by now.”

“That’s not it,” I countered, brushing him away, “They’re not true, at least not all of them.” I paused to think about what telling him would mean. If everyone else believe my dad dead, what would happen if they found out he wasn’t?

Screw it. I needed to know. “Just last night, I met him.” I spoke as directly to him as I could.

Bookbeak furrowed his brow, “How can you be sure that it was him?”

“I have all of his pictures, I know exactly what he looks like,” I explained, “Besides, he knew my name and asked about my mom!”

He sighed, “Then I suppose I have something to tell you. Come, sit down.” He said, gesturing to the corner with the few desks that I had spent many days as a student.

He grabbed a stool and sat himself in front of the blackboard. Looking down, the young griffon I met earlier was sitting in the seat I had been accustomed to in my younger years, so I had taken the one next to it. With a sour face, I briefly recalled that I had taken Strix’s seat. It probably didn’t matter, but it still felt weird, like I was taking his spot…

Bookbeak didn’t seem to notice either my trespass of the seat or the fledgling in the room, who was studying . “I’ll start where the story changes. Your father was indeed a powerful warrior who fought valiantly, but the tale of his death wasn’t particularly truthful, no…”

“So, what happened? Why did he leave the Talons?” I asked eagerly.

“Patience, I’m getting to that.” Chided Bookbeak, “The exact reason for his desertion has never been documented. It is known that his disappearance coincided with a new threat outside of Seaddle. An organized group of slavers and bandits engaged Talon patrols and forced a withdrawal. Official records assume that he was killed in action during the retreat from the area.”

“What happened in Seaddle after that?” I asked.

“As you know, our Talon company was there to keep down the raiders.” He took a breath and sighed heavily, “Now Seaddle will likely be crawling with them for years.” he finished saying with another heavy sigh. Without being there I couldn’t know for sure.

“And what about the slavers, where are they? They couldn’t be in Seaddle.”

“Hmm, no, but they might have been holed up in Redmaned. There was a large company working with the M.A.S, or was it the M.o.P.?. No matter. It would be a likely location, well protected at the very least.”

This was all dandy, knowing where they might have been, but where were they now? “Bookbeak, if they were there, what’s to say that they haven’t left?”

He nodded, “Apart from being a well defended location with a means to discreetly bring in supplies through the mountains? Not much else I would imagine. If anything, I’d bet there’s a small group holding the area.”

“Then that’s where I’ll have to go!” I exclaimed as I stood up.

“Prancer, no, it’s far too dangerous to go alone!” He cautioned.

“I won’t be,” I explained, “My contract is going to be written up soon, I just have to figure out a way to get whoever I have to go there!”

Bookbeaks expression turned stern, “Your job is to keep your contract holder out of danger, not lead them right into it!”

I looked him right in his remaining eye and smiled. “Then whoever it is, I just have to find some leverage to get that bear to want to go on his own…” With that, I turned to leave. “Thank you Bookbeak.”

“Prancer!” He called to me, “This isn’t something you can just put bait out for! This is a pony we’re talking about!”

Stopping at the door, I turned to him. “I’ll figure something out.” I told him with another smile.

With that, I took my exit into the rain and shut the door behind me. With all that I learned, with whatever was actually useful, I stepped off his doorstep and flew into the downpour that things had become. It didn’t feel far at all, even with the weather, with my thoughts drawn to other things; even with the weight of the knowledge I carried now. Where to start looking, and the thoughts of what my dad might be up to. They were almost secondary with where my thoughts were going.

Things were seeming to come together, thanks to another clue. Soon I’d be able to really know who I was, and put the last couple weeks... no, the last few years, behind me. Everything could come to focus if I could get myself to where I was thinking.

Once back home, I quickly realized what a mess I had made of the place. The documents I had left strewn about, the broken glass and whatever else I hadn’t noticed yet. First thing I did, was grab a towel from the kitchen and dry some of the rainwater out of my fur and feathers. It wouldn’t do me much good to start cleaning up the place while I was still soggy.

Getting back to cleaning was rather nice, I felt a bit more normal. Just doing my usual routine again was something I didn’t know I would have missed. The place was about as dirty as if mom was still here. The glass, the smell, the ruffled upholstery. Oh well…

It didn’t take me much time to get everything done. I swept up the glass, sorted the paperwork, and I was just about halfway through dusting the picture frames when I got to the wedding picture again. Anger bubbled up in me. Grabbing the picture frame, I was about to toss it across the room. I held myself back, seeing as it would have ruined the point of cleaning. Instead, I simply set it back on the mantle face down, and continued on.

After the cleaning was sorted, I flopped down onto the couch.

“What a day.” I mumbled to the empty house. There wasn’t any response, not that I was expecting one, but it still felt weird. The bottle of gin was still on the table, I picked it up and took a sip without really thinking about it. The taste of juniper flooded my beak and I coughed weakly.

Blech, I was tired of so much alcohol being in my life these last few weeks. Immediately I got up and took the bottle to the sink, and without thinking one more quick mouthful, I poured it down the drain… except for the last sip which, after some consideration I had decided not to waste it, I quickly swallowed it. Then I dropped the empty bottle into the refuse bin under the counter. It made a few clinking noises with the other bottles already in there.

With all that out of the way, I headed upstairs to go to bed. Looking in my old room, I stopped and looked at it. I don’t know why, per se, but I laughed and walked past it. I decided to sleep in the master bedroom tonight, as it was mine now anyway. On top of that,I’ll need some good rest tonight.

Sleep came easily while laying on a comfortable bed, and while sober no less. My mind could at least rest easy with knowing what I’ll have to do to get what little I had left of my life back.

It would soon all be mine.

--------

Quest Completed: Prepped for Takeoff!

Level up!

+4 Barter
+6 Speech

Perk added: Educated

You receive 3 additional skill points per level you achieve!

Yeah, all that time studying with the old guy paid off… Too bad it took you so damn long to remember.

Author's Notes:

This Chapter has a special dedication. This one goes out to my late uncle, whom I had lost shortly after the previous chapter was posted.

So, to John. You were always an inspiration to me.

Also, to all of our other FoE writers and fans; especially Gamma Deekay, who I doubt I could have done all of this without.

Also, to my fellow Wastelanders.

And of course, to you, the reader. This wouldn't have had much meaning without you.

I thank you all.