The good news is I wrote ~2800 words yesterday, more than I needed. The bad news is I wrote 900 of those words by hand in my notebook (so as to not disturb the other diners in the dark and quiet restaurant with the typing coming from my glowing laptop), and took most of this afternoon’s writing session to get them all typed in. Argh! Still, I’m happy with the results …
“So,” Avenix said. “We have begun to seek out, in all our holdings, other threats—”
I raised my hand. “Hang on,” I said. Filling in the blanks, this ghost had to have been a fae hunter; that’s why they called me. But Avenix wasn’t saying that outright: he seemed to be feeding me my own lines. “You feared a threat to your realm … started a search for dangerous use of magic … then called me to deal with the problem. Did I get that right?”
“Well … yes,” Avenix said.
“Don’t lie to me!” I said, slapping my hand on the table. “What’s your real goal?”
“I am not lying to you,” Avenix said.
“Why would he lie to you?” Nyissa asked. “It’s a reasonable course of action—”
“Are you all insane?” I said. “Do you have no memories? Ten years ago—ten months ago—you’d have all been tearing each other apart, lashing out at everyone in sight, blaming anyone you could get your hands on to deal with your problems. You’d have been at war with Sidhain just because this happened on her doorstep—”
“Not likely,” Avenix said, shuddering.
“Save it! She has a real bad attitude,” I said, “but she’s pretty damn inoffensive for an alleged apocalyptic horror, and I’ve seen you in action against witchhunters! You can’t expect me to believe you’re all playing nice just because I came along!
Sounds like Dakota and Avenix are going to have it out. Onward!
-the Centaur
