Intermission 13 Page 10

————

Ricki helps her friends collect themselves, while Botanya descends from the roof where she’d been hiding and collects Coccyx. Lara quickly shows Ix down to the basement room they can most safely live in, while Lohk and Kamau ask Ricki how the dungeon went, and why Amadeusz isn’t with her (they don’t bother asking about Cordy). Ricki gives them the quick version, then explains in more detail what Amadeusz told her after they left, and what she plans to do about it.

“That… is all pretty alarming, if true.”

“Do you think he might be wrong?”

“Amadeusz seems like he knows more than us about it, or at least he wants us to THINK he does.”

“I’d heard that we were about to get new orders, but my whole… thing happened before I could find out more.”

“It seems all too plausible to me.”

“The Emperor picked a fight with the goblins, the orcs, the elves, and the DRAGONS, and he beat them all. Why would he have cold feet about the elementals?”

“It makes me think we may have overstayed our welcome here.”

“We can’t just leave. This is our home now.”

“Bah. Home is just a place for your enemies to go looking for you.”

“Look what happened to our ancestors when THEY tried to settle down.”

“I won’t deny that it’s been an interesting time, but best to split up and try to get some distance before this thing hits.”

“But we don’t even know if it WILL hit!”

“And we’ve built so much here! We’re sitting in a BRAND NEW living room RIGHT NOW!”

“I think Lohk may be right, at least partly.”

“I think we have some good people here. Sticking together makes sense to me.”

“But we might want to consider looking for somewhere more remote to hole up.”

“Well… what if I don’t want to?”

“…Whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.”

“Bah. Stubborn child.”

Ricki’s pretty confident that Lohk and Kamau won’t abandon her and her new cause, but it seems they don’t have full faith in the plan.

Looks like she’ll have to do some convincing!