Ed led a group of young warriors into the square from the halls. Since recovering from healing addiction he couldn't keep himself busy enough. He spent half his life under the daze of heal. Now he found himself tempted to make a trip into the inn when he couldn’t find anything else to do. To counter that he led trainee groups into the wild, escorted gatherers in the green and trained young warriors. He still found himself fidgeting at times when he couldn’t find anyone that needed a warrior’s helping hand. He ended up spending a lot of time in the furniture shop, where he was reminded that if he stayed off the heals, Grandmother promised him a job outside of Londontown.

  A warrior was leaning against the wall of the back door hallway. Ed’s group of young warrior trainees passed the man like they didn’t even see him. They were excited to get to the crafters where they could sell the scrap and meat they gathered on the trip. It wasn’t until Ed was close that he realized the warrior's leather armor was touched with red, not blue like his own.

  Ed stopped and really studied the man. The cloaking spell broke under his intense scrutiny and it was Todd standing before him.

  “Todd,” Ed said, there was a touch of relief in his voice. They really did come back for him. Ed caught the impression that the team was going off to do something dangerous on their last visit. He was worried they might get killed.

  “How is it going?” Todd asked. “Keeping busy?”

  “Busy enough,” Ed said. “I’ve been wondering when I would see you again. I expected you before now.”

  “You know how it is, half a dozen things all at once, never enough time to get it all done,” Todd responded. “Grandmother is at the store checking up on what they need. I am sure she will want to go pick up a sofa or two before she will be ready to leave. Although we are on a schedule this time. I expect by morning we will be away. We need you to come with us, so if you need to pack, now is the time.”

  “I can be ready to leave in about five minutes,” Ed responded. “I can go with you to get the furniture. I’ve marked on my map anything I’ve seen lately that was interesting.” Todd slapped the older man on the back in approval.

  “You’re going to fit right in,” he announced. They walked together to the furniture shop. Todd moved like he was still in wildspace. Ed took note and changed his own behavior. They stepped into the shop to find Grandmother at the service counter working on the shop interface. “I found him,” Todd announced. Grandmother lifted her eyes from the counter.

  “Good to see you, Ed. I need to finish this before we head out. I think I’ve gotten the prices a little high,” Grandmother responded.

  “Ed says he’s marked interesting things on his map,” Todd commented.

  “Excellent,” Grandmother responded, “I can’t wait.” She turned back to the service counter where she appeared to be less picky with her selections. Eric, one of the store clerks, came over to greet the two men.

  “Can I interest either of you in a complimentary tea?” he asked.

  “Tea?” Todd queried. “When did you start doing that?”

  “We’ve been offering it as a way to advertise the glass mugs,” Eric explained. “We stopped when we sold most of the mugs, but Grandmother just delivered another bag full.”

  “I’ll have to tell Kai,” Todd said. “Yes, I’ll have tea.” Ed nodded his own agreement. Eric returned in just a few minutes with two mugs.

  “Where did you get the tea?” Grandmother asked, when she finished her changes and looked up again.

  “Eric is providing it to shoppers,” Ed explained, “to entice them to buy the mugs.”

  “Eric, that’s a great idea,” Grandmother said, turning to her clerk. “How much do you need to cover the costs?”

  They left the square to collect items soon after that. They went straight to a known spawn location for a sofa first. This would be their fifth sofa so the room was getting old. Grandmother was a little worried the area might be remodeled now and the spawn removed. They cleared the room to reveal a sofa waiting for them.

  “This is probably the last sofa we will get,” Grandmother remarked. “I don’t see us finding the time to scavenge again for at least a month, maybe longer.” Every section of the structure was remodeled eventually. Most areas without constant player occupation changed at least once a year, they could change in as little as thirty six days. She walked around the room slipping a variety of other items into her bag. Ed was shocked the first time he saw her put a four by one foot sheet of stainless steel shelving into her bag. This was the second time he went out with them scavenging and he thought nothing of it.

  “Where’s the rest of the team?” Ed asked. The last time Grandmother visited the entire team was with her. They were on their way to some mysterious adventure in the south.

  “We sent them on to the school,” Todd said. “We picked up some orphans from Chicago for our first students and we didn’t want to turn them loose in Londontown.” Ed was amazed that he wasn’t even surprised at that. Chicago was Londontown’s historic enemy. They fought a war about thirty or forty years ago and a large number of warriors were killed on both sides. Londontown’s protection crystal shrunk to half its original size. It was the reduction of the crystal that ended up cooling the open hostility, not any kind of peace agreement.

  The violence drove people north and west, searching for places to live where they could escape the war. When the settlements stepped back from open conflict they stopped spending their resources on the war effort. Both sides found the reduced population could survive in their original territories and there was no real need to risk life and limb to steal from their neighbors. Ed's teachers in Londontown never told him how the conflict started or why it grew as large as it did.

  Londontown and Chicago did not suddenly become friends. There was too much real suffering and death on both sides for that to happen. Ed was forty two, he was a child when the war was fought. He held no personal feelings about it either way. The pain and suffering in his life all came at the hands of the royal family of Londontown. He served that family faithfully his entire life and would continue to do so since Grandmother was also a member. She was Irene, youngest daughter of the mad queen who was the first ruler of Londontown.

  “Lets head back to the shop with the sofa. I have a couple rooms marked on the way back where we found smaller items before,” Grandmother announced. Ed took one end of the sofa and Todd took the other. Ed felt horribly vulnerable as they carried the large piece of furniture down the hallway. Grandmother kept darting ahead and behind as they rounded corners.

  “Hold,” she called from ahead. Ed and Todd almost dropped the sofa as they both reached for their weapons. Grandmother flicked off a couple spells that flashed a bright light before disappearing around the corner. She used both hands to do it, resting her staff against her body as she cast.

  “Tier four, chain lightning,” Todd said quietly to Ed. Ed flexed his hold on his sword as he prepared for whatever came around the corner.

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  “Clear,” Grandmother called. Todd made a careful sweep behind, just in case something was sneaking up on them, before he slung his weapons. Ed forced himself to follow the younger man’s lead and put his sword back in its scabbard. The hallway around the corner was littered with the carcasses of about twenty hall spiders. Ed was impressed. This was why Grandmother had the audacity to sell furniture in the square, while everyone else just left it behind.

  “Is that shield of yours made out of glass?” Ed asked, in an attempt to appear nonchalant about the causal use of power. The shield faded to a transparent color when slung on Todd’s back. It was filled with red when the warrior handled it.

  “Yeah,” Todd responded. “The same crafter who made the glass mugs constructed it. I don’t usually carry a shield, but I am demonstrating it for him since no one trusts glass. I guess you could say I am the tea.”

  “Ha ha,” Ed responded.

  “It works as an insulator against electricity. We faced off against an opponent in the south that uses something close to Grandmother’s lightning and I was the only one that didn’t get stung. Well after I got the shield, I got shocked plenty of times before that,” Todd explained.

  “What kind of animal uses lightning?” Ed asked.

  “It’s not an animal, it’s a kind of machine. I don’t think you’d believe it unless you saw it. Although a few weeks at the Wizard's Tower and you may,” Todd commented.

  “This room contained a storage chest in it,” Grandmother reported, standing outside a door ahead of them. “We can just stack it on the sofa and you boys can carry it together.” Todd moaned.

  The sofa was piled high by the time they reached the green. From the weight, Ed was certain Grandmother snuck an anvil in there. They crossed the green to Londontown’s gate without seeing a single living animal. Ed thought Grandmother feared most of them away, but he was uncertain. His own visibility was extremely limited by the pile. Only Todd's continued calm kept Ed from panicking at the loss of his own situational awareness.

  The gate guards recognized Ed and waved him through. Ed suspected they were laughing at him behind his back. The group drew very little attention as they lurched across the training yard and courtyard on their way to the shop. Ed assumed Grandmother cast a cloaking spell of some kind. They were forced to unload the sofa before they could carry all the items through the door of the shop.

  “Let’s go up to the apartment and dump out this bag. We can check out Ed’s map after,” Grandmother commented when she finished entering the new items into the shop inventory. Both clerks were in the shop. They were busy moving the new items around to display them to best advantage. Ed and Todd were on the new sofa drinking another round of tea.

  They headed up to the apartment. Todd dumped out two bags onto the floor. Out of Grandmother’s hands their contents exploded out of them. Ed saw it the last time he went salvaging with them, but it never got old. They were sorting out the items to put them on the shelves when a knock sounded on the door.

  Todd and Ed went on high alert. Grandmother shifted her position so she could cover whoever opened the door. Todd stepped forward to do the duty. He snatched the door open quickly, hoping to catch whoever was in the hallway unawares.

  “Hey Todd,” Lucas said from the hallway. Lucas was Todd’s cousin and a king’s man. Which meant he was an officer in Londontown’s guard. “I heard someone brought a sofa in through the green gate.” Todd checked the hall, confirming that Lucas was alone.

  “Come in,” he said. “We are expected to be someplace else soon, so we are working on a quick restock.” Lucas stepped inside. His gaze swept the space pausing on both Ed and Grandmother.

  “I was wondering if you had any news from the school,” Lucas asked.

  “The recruiters are due soon,” Grandmother answered. “We’ve come to pick up Ed so he can apply for a teaching position. Student pickup is five to seven days after the recruiters so you should get your kids ready.”

  “Do they need to go with you now?” Lucas asked.

  “No, don’t worry,” Todd said. “If the school won’t come here to pick them up, I’ll come back and get them.” Ed didn’t understand how all this traveling was going to get done in the time described. Chicago was the closest settlement and it was three or four days away depending on the speed of the party.

  Todd and Lucas discussed what his children should bring with them to the school and what they shouldn’t bring. Ed helped Grandmother sort out the rest of the gathered pile. Grandmother pulled a slip of vellum out of her pocket where she wrote down everything the store was sold out of or was requested by a customer. She started assembling the items from the components stored in the apartment. Ed realized she was making time for the cousins to talk.

  “Are you heading out now?” Lucas asked.

  “We’ll head out late this evening,” Todd said. “We are on our way now to check out Ed’s finds. Do you want to come along? We could use some help with the carrying.” Lucas thought about it for a moment. As a man of honor he was torn between his loyalty to his family and his king. Lucas was ninety percent certain that Grandmother wasn’t interested in deposing the king. A trip out with her might help him decide that last ten percent.

  “Sure,” Lucas responded. “I’d like that. Let me grab my scavenging gear.”

  “Great,” Todd responded. “We’ll meet you at the back door.”

  They carried down the component furniture to the shop, making two trips. Ed was convinced at this point that Todd’s primary role was porter. It was little wonder he was always happy when other people came along.

  Lucas was waiting for them at the back door. Ed led the way to the first room he marked. The four of them cleared the rooms easily. Grandmother nodded approvingly at the wooden desk, glass and copper shelves and stuffed chair in the first three of Ed’s marked rooms. Todd gave Ed a dirty look, when Grandmother told him to carry the chair. Ed wasn’t certain what Todd was upset about. He and Lucas were stuck carrying the desk.

  Grandmother broke the glass and copper shelving down to components and pushed them into her gathering bag. Her gathering bag was only slightly plump. Grandmother moved like it didn’t weigh anything at all.

  The fourth room was a two room suite. The front room was larger than normal. It looked like there was a row of seating along the hall side wall, with a large desk or row of desks protecting the open doorway to the second room. The second room was decorated with a large desk in the center with two chairs in front of it and one behind. All the furniture was little more than debris piles of broken components in a mix of iron and steel. What led Ed to mark the room was the potted plant in the corner of the first room.

  “Oh, this is nice,” Todd exclaimed. He was turning the plant looking at the pot. The pot was very large and Ed knew from experience that it was very heavy. The plant growing out of it was some kind of tall fern he didn’t recognize. Plants did absolutely nothing for him, but the furniture shop used small potted flowering plants in their displays.

  “You like plants?” Lucas asked Todd.

  “Me?” Todd said, like he wasn’t just fawning over the thing. “I find them useful, especially the herbs. It is Muriel that really loves them. I am impressed with the planter. We’ve been looking for a big one for a while now.”

  “If you like the planter,” Ed said, “there is a bigger empty one behind the desk in the other room.”

  “Really?” Todd said. He looked excitedly at the connecting doorway, before heading into there. “This is a real beauty,” Todd called from inside. He came out carrying the planter. He took it out into the hall where Grandmother was standing on watch.

  “That must be a match for the gallery plants,” Grandmother observed.

  “I think so,” Todd agreed. “The other one is heavy enough I think you’ll have to carry it. I’ll take the watch.” Grandmother came wandering into the room. Instead of heading directly to the plant, she did a survey of the complete contents of the room first. Ed saw a couple items disappear into her bags.

  She approached the plant and slipped her staff through her belt at the small of her back. She reached out with both hands and with very little visible effort picked it up. She shifted it around in her hands before setting it back down. She proceeded to pick it up with one hand. The plant tilted over dangerously and some of the soil spilled. She frowned and sat it back down again. She scooped the spilled soil up and returned it to the pot.

  Ed couldn’t contain his amazement. He stepped over to where Lucas was keeping watch within the room.

  “It is too heavy for me to lift,” Ed confided to Lucas. “I could slide it along the ground, but I couldn’t get it off the floor.” Grandmother picked the plant up with both hands and carried it out into the hallway. Ed and Lucas followed her out.

  “It is heavy,” Grandmother said to Todd. “I am not certain it is worth it. Maybe we should dump the plant out and just take the pot.”

  “We could build a sledge and pull it,” Todd suggested. “It being so heavy and hard to move makes me think there is something special about it. I don’t think we should dump it until we at least identify it.” Grandmother paced up and down the hallway, looking over their gathered prizes. Curious Lucas went over to the plant and nudged it. It didn’t move.

  “There is something in the next room that might help,” Ed said. “It is not far.”