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So it was easy for Blondie to talk about death and how to deal with it rearing its ugly head Itconcept for her, and presuht circu with death She and death weren’t even sleeping in the sas Instead I said, "Yes, well, there haven’t been inal chortled, taking me literally "Romance? Of course there’s no tile place we’ve stayed in has at least one good closet or wardrobe" She looked at fully I looked back, confused, untilon ue, I looked over at Anyan, worried that he would be nodding along with Blondie’s words Maybe doing it in wardrobes was the thing to do when on a ood use of the space

Luckily, however, Anyan looked just as horrified at Blondie’s suggestion as I knew I did

Would he even fit in a wardrobe? I wondered

I dunno, but I’ to find out My libido said, always ready to take one for the team

No, wasno

"I remember this one battle, when there was no place that wasn’t covered with carnage for us to go, so we cliale us with stories of warrior-tree-sex with only half h what Blondie had said The fact was, I desperately wanted to be with Anyan, but mostly because he was Anyan If we’d stayed in Rockabill and not had all this draht Blondie interrupted us

And yet, shouldn’t things be different, considering everything that was going on? This was end of the world stuff ere dealing with Then I kicked , after all, that I’d been involved with over the past year had felt huge--fro a part of this big conspiracy There hadn’t been a moment that didn’t feel as if it were virtually the end of e role, and there was this dragon running around, but I felt confident we’d handle it just as we had the other huge probleer now, but I was also stronger Now that I thought about it, I felt less overwhelmed than I had with Ryu in those first days of our relationship, when I’d gone with him to the Compound That had felt terrible--I’d been terrified, utterly alone, and totally out of er, and I was used to overcoht about the ro Blondie "But I think we should still do things for the right reasons, rather than just because we can"

Blondie arched an eyebrow I blushed Anyan’s nose twitched, then twitched again, then again I thought it inal was just about to co sound, her ringtone for a text e Anyan passed it over

"Hiral," she said "He needs us to ent" There was another honking sound and shehorizontally rather than vertically, so it must have been a picture Her face paled, she swore, and her phone was back in her pocket

Next second, she leaned over the aisle towards our strange bedfellows contingent

"Sorry folks I’ve been playing by your rules, but desperate times and all that I’ll call you shortly, let you knohere we are so you can meet back up with us and spy properly"

They looked confused as she held out her hands to Anyan and me As soon as we took them, I felt the fa apparated We ended up in the drawing roohton town house in which we’d stayed The occupant, a wealthy nahual-halfling, looked up hastily fro was only really safe for places a person kneell, so we hadn’t been able to go to Hiral directly But the gwyllion ht us back here

"Sorry," Blondie said, as the ot trouble at the Blackwell Estate Can we borrow your car?"

Withinin a beautiful old Rolls-Royce Considering we’d destroyed everything else we’d touched--including entire buildings--since we’d crossed the pond, I was keepingfor about thirty es that looked perfect for atha Christie, we pulled the car over and parked Reading directions from her phone, Blondie led us out of the car and across the lovely, expansive field to our right The very, very expansive field to our right

We walked for at least as long as ere in the car, cutting across various fields I could tell ere nearing the sea-- at the nearby ocean

"Where are we going?" I asked, finally Both Anyan and I were so used to following Blondie around we’d not bothered till the as starting to get a bit ridiculous I was built for coinal said, grian?" I asked

"And her followers," she said

"Followers?" Anyan asked

Blondie’s only response was a tight nod, her face gri away at its screen