“I’ve never been in a hurricane before,” Kre protested blandly. “Some of us haven’t gotten to travel all over the realm.”
Sy shook her head sadly, “You’re about to have your chance, all too soon. And this isn’t going to be a fun trip at all. Braun will make sure of that.
“Also,” she added, this time jabbing Kre in the ribs to punctuate her words, “you don’t have to have been in a hurricane to remember what we learned about them. Insanely strong winds swirling around, destroying everything in their path. Much like what Braun was doing to you in that courtroom. Survive the initial onslaught though, and you could find yourself in the center, the eye. An area of incredible and almost impossible calm.”
“Sounds nice,” Kre sighed. “Seems like a great place to relax after all that chaos.”
“Only a fool would think that,” Sy grinned. “A very great fool like you.”
Kre wrapped his friend up in a huge hug that practically smothered her. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all week,” he gushed.
“Get off me bleat boy,” Syonette growled as she ineffectively shoved at him. She used her own snarky nickname for Kre, given that most of the animals at the Nevynar ranch were sheep.
“You’re being such a baaaaa-d person right now Sy,” Kre complained, pushing her away with a pretend pout on his face. He started to walk towards the Lodge.
Sy just stood there, watching her friend walk away through narrowed eyes. “You’re avoiding the issue Kre. My point was that this is just the one moment of peace after a nasty storm, and you’re about to head directly into the eyewall of another part of the storm. The journey out of the hurricane is often more devastating to travelers. Be careful. I don’t trust that Braun has anyone’s interests in mind except his own and you’re just a road bump in his way.”
Kre stopped in his tracks and lowered his head. “You just want to hear me say that you’re right. Well, you’re right.” Kre rubbed at his wrist where a manacle once rested and nodded. “Braun isn’t going to rest until I’m sweating my life away in a labor camp while he’s sitting at a plush desk wielding unchecked power with his Council pen.”
“At least you’re aware of the stakes here,” Sy replied, skipping up to stand alongside her friend. “That’s more than I expected from you honestly.”
“Your confidence in me is overwhelming,” Kre muttered.
Hooking her arm through Kre’s, Sy smiled charmingly up at him. “Yeah, I am. Now let’s get to the Lodge before gutter-minded Pete and half-wit Gantry start to worry that you forgot all about them.”
“I’ll just tell them that you and I were meeting up behind the mill,” Kre grinned slyly.
He managed to avoid the attack this time, but only barely. “Keep that kind of talk up and Noj will thrash you next time he comes to town.”
Noj Ensett was one of the few of their generation that managed to get out of Mintas with a strong prospect of a career. About a year back, a caravan had wound its way through the region and the caravan leader refused to ask for directions and ended up traveling to Mintas by mistake. The boss, probably out of embarrassment, told his team that they were not to leave the camp outside of town.
Two of the caravan guards violated that order and came to town for drinks. After they got too rowdy, and after Noj helped settle them down, the caravan leader offered Noj their job while the two former guards were relegated to clean up duty behind the caravan.
He and Syonette were also still dating, despite the long distance now imposed by his new job. Kre often toyed with the idea that he would ask Noj for a job in a year or so, once his older friend moved up in the ranks like everyone knew that he would. The other part of Kre wanted to stay in Mintas for the rest of his life, tending to his family’s ranch and being with his friends. As many times as he waffled with the choice of leaving or staying, in the end, he really didn’t have a choice at all.