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"Well, young ht" Arvil nodded to Tory "Now, if you till help et rid of these bodies" Arvil swept inside his casino Tory and Ry exchanged a look and followed him

"I know they were hired for you, sweetheart, but we’ll find other bodyguards for you" Teeg had wakened ht I worried that I’d kept Farzi and Nenzi aithThey’d plopped off the bed and went into the other roo, if I can keep Farzi and sohout, I can see it"

"My hair looks like shit right now Admit it" He was up and freshly washed and dressed; I’d seen that the e appeared on ood to o there With my liood to theht where you are for a couple of days I think Arvil will come back by then Ry and Tory can be extra security for you when they get back In the meantime, tell Farzi and the others they have permission to use any force necessary to keep you safe"

"I’ll let the defeated

"Reah, hold your head up, baby We’re counting on you"

I wanted to tell him that his state," I said instead and shut off the transned as uards, since Master Arvil took Tory and Ry," I told them after I’d dressed and brushed my teeth

"Then ill protect Reah," Farzi nodded

"Farzi," I went to put my ar hard to hold the tears back

"Reah, not take this so badly," Farzi’s ar my back The others crowded around to touch ot myself in hand, ent to the kitchen to start breakfast The reptanoids were served first, and they ate in the kitchen Astralan wandered in I gave him a cup of tea while I fixed his plate He settled down at the island to eat just as the others had

"I like this--having breakfast et up," Astralan sipped his tea with pleasure I made it just the way he liked it, withyou are," he went on, causingrolls frohtened look None of my brothers are about to jump you because you’re here alone"

"Farzi and his brothers are here" I went back to pulling trays of rolls from the oven I served two to Astralan with sos and sliced pork

"I know I just don’t want to see that look on your face, like we’re about to jump out of your closet and attack you"

I wanted to ask hi to tell me this After all, I’d seen hi people in the ood way to reassure anyone, in my estimation And the Hardlows? They’d just as soon kill someone as look at the That had kept me safe so far And Astralan had said that Wilffox would have hiredNot by a long way I still got shaky every tiht in theto either kill or imprison all these people Astralan would do his best to kill ht then

Wilffox, Wilffin and the other tarlocks wandered in while Astralan was finishing his second cup of tea They sat down at the island while I handed out plates of food Talk began about the i and reception that Arvil planned With everything else that had happened, that event had cohts

"I think ant a menu with perhaps three items offered," Wilffox said "I want the yaris fish as one of the choices Perhaps that special ox-roast you make for another and a fowl selection, reed "Will there be any vegetarians?" I had a few things I could put together if that was the case

"I don’t think so," Wilffox looked to his brother Wilffin was shaking his head Well, they knew the crialaxy, I didn’t

"What do you have planned for today?" Wilffox asked

"I was thinking about going back to those two fields that ere having trouble with-- to any of the others," I said

"Sounds good We’ll co," Wilffin announced

Nenzi drove us The fields were the same as before The affected plants were stunted and brown-leaved, but outside a narroath in those two fields, no other plants were disturbed

"Wethe branch of a plant Farzi showed his, as did h, was the one as mechanically inclined

"Yes, and harvest starts on first fields next eight-day," Farzi agreed I still felt the heat I’d experienced the last time I’d come, I just chose to keep it to myself No need to alert the Hardlows or their warlocks to that little anoo to the barns, then, and check on the shipested Nenzi was quite happy to drive us everywhere We went to the barns, a place I hadn’t been as yet and looked over pallets and pallets of crates, in addition to boxes and boxes of sealable, waterproof packing material They weren’t concerned with the expense involved toorth countless Alliance credits when it reached its destination, after all

"Reah, don’t ever touch this shit" Astralan’s hand dropped tosupplies