DAWN OF THE ADVENTURES – DRESSING UP

Lumere stood motionless in the academy's yard, waiting alone for Dale as per his request. As graduates walked past him, he gazed at the front of the campus, reminiscing about the memories that had shaped his life. It felt as though he was bidding farewell to his home, knowing that it would never be the same again. He longed to wander through the vast academic grounds one last time, perhaps even visit the hall of reminiscence, but he had urgent business to attend to later in the day, so he resisted the temptation.

“My grund,” a feminine voice suddenly called him and interrupted his slow attempt.

“Big bruder,” followed by another voice. “What are you peeking at?”

Then Lumere promptly turned his eyes back and saw two women approaching him with a casual smile, all dressed in flexibly slant red gowns. One of them carried a cute leather sling purse and unwittingly enticed him, as her curvaceous shape, violet eyes, and elegant silk-braided blonde hair somehow blemished his reddish cheek and surprisingly magnified more to his liking than he had seen her last.

“Congratulations,” Siri said and curtsied once Lumere had caught an eye on her.

“Congratulations, too, big bruder,” Liliea smiled.

“Oh,” Lumere said. “Siri and Liliea. Just the two of you?”

“Actually,” Liliea—his younger swester— picked out two envelopes with vermillion stamps and replied. “Vader’s steward came to me and gave me two letters for both of them.”

“Both of… who?”

“Siri and your certain brath who had been sitting beside you all the time,” Liliea smiled.

Has vader met Eld Siri before? And how did he know Dale, too? Lumere thought, then asked. “Ok, but are you sure about that?”

“Fret not, my grund,” Siri responded. “I have once met your vader in a meeting arrangement about the trade and even something more than that. Surely, his shipping company can help my book business harvesting more crops.”

“Oh… sure,” Lumere nodded. “I hope your capital does reward you with a better life.”

Siri then giggled, “Pfft! For sure, you should understand what those books are capable of. What I mean about “business” isn’t something that I can mainly profit from… or perhaps I can consider them as my bonus benefit.”

“Hm. I see,” smiled Lumere. “So how is your finances?”

“As bulky it is, indeed. I kept those copious sums of geld tight in my bank… a tremendous one that makes those swindlers jealous of my pocket.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, expenses are getting higher as those brokers told me that they demand more copies as much as they want to look forward. Seems like it puts me in a hard place, but at least, it will be worthwhile in the end. After all, human beings are surely quite optimistic in pursuing more power and knowledge for their own good.”

“I see.”

Siri clapped her hand once. “Anyway, let’s head to your manor early before the ball starts.”

“Ja,” Liliea nodded. “Vader isn’t going to be happy if you run late to a celebration.”

“Hold on! We need to wait for Dale.”

Once Lumere gestured to them to stop their advance, Dale finally appeared patting Lumere’s shoulder from behind his back. Out of breath, he leaned his chest and palmed onto his pair of knees, breathing heavily and curing his weak lungs. By the looks of it, he seemed quite… damp and worn out.

“Dale,” Lumere frowned. “What took you so long?”

“Oh,” Dale gasped. “I was supposed to look… for my muder and my little bruder and swester.”

Knowing his well-known tales beforehand, it sounded to be quite genuine in the eyes of his brath. Though, his eyes were awkwardly rolling left and down, and his lips were fidgeting with his tongue licking his sweat that dripped across his mouth, oddly piquing Lumere’s curiosity.

“Didn’t you tell me that your muder has some urgent business from the very beginning?” Lumere clarified.

“No,” Dale shook his head. “Oh… yea… I kinda forgot about that awhile ago.”

What is up with him? Lumere thought, then tilted his head, “Don’t tell me that you have gone to a lavatory, just to have a dump after graduation?”

“Uhh… ja…. Just as you said, brath. I took the greatest and most embarrassing dump I have ever had in my life,” Dale chuckled while his voice sounded hurtling and outlandish.

“How’s your diploma anyway?”

“Still fine,” Dale pulled out his bronze ring and scroll of diploma all fine, but some wet drops. “Just ignore those wet dots. I swear that they purely come from the sweat of my own hand.”

Then here came Siri who had her curiosity piqued upon a faint sniff into her nose.

“Say?” Siri suddenly smirked with her arms crossed and slowly approached Dale. “May your hands appear to be clammy, but really not.”

“What?” Dale flushed his cheeks. “What do you mean, Eld Siri?”

With her eyes keenly sharp towards Dale’s palm, she promptly grabbed his right hand and studied it, seeming to be something wrong to her senses.

“It is quite obvious to distinguish that our human flesh can dry up faster upon walking beneath the sun, especially for a hand. But a sweat can still continue leaking out of your skin till you’ll feel thirstiest and driest through struggling times.” Siri giggled, placing her nose near the palm and sniffing it. “However, why does it smell like… ginger?”

Then Dale’s eyes suddenly gaped and his lips clenched into a turning red tomato around his cheeks. Her soft voice somehow teased him well to a point of exposure.

“Of course, I’m not a big fan of digging a hole deeper ,” Siri continued, then glanced at Lumere with a single wink. “And if you know what I actually mean by that, then surely it comes in both ways.”

“Wait a—”

“Shush,” Siri prodded him onto his lips. “Have you actually listened to me? Or perhaps you only understand it in just one way from the other?”

Liliea was left alone, raising a single eyebrow and tilting her head as she listened to them. Siri then turned towards the exit and walked towards the awaiting carriage, leaving Dale to bow and stroke his own head in a gesture of regret. Perhaps he would laugh it off eventually and forget that certain moment, but for now, it lingered like a shadow over him.

Dale then slowly walked ahead Lumere and followed Siri and Liliea marching towards the specified carriage outside the main gate of the High Academy, awkwardly leaving Lumere in a certain afterthought.

“I have no idea what she meant, but if what she did daunts you,” Lumere mumbled while staring at Dale, then smirked. “Then take that as my revenge for what you just did to me a while ago.”

Though, at least, Dale had finally figured out his brath’s genuine feelings toward Eld Siri, which was a fair game between both of them for this special day.

* * *

Caelutia, the capital city, was bathed in a reddish dusk that lent it a pristine glow. The streets were flooded with the bright light of crystal lamps and the lively chatter of people, freed from their daily toils. Most of them were fair-skinned with sky-blue eyes, but there were also some with bronze skin and soil-brown eyes from the far south, and others with pale skin and narrow-straight eyes from the far east. Some old women, perhaps like the gossipy hausbich gathered around in a café to exchange news and stories. Meanwhile, mercenaries and warriors, such as the soldner and vanirmen, gathered in a tavern to drink, gamble, and relieve their stress after a long expedition. Although Caelutia was supposed to be the heart of the Holy Gord, with His wings spread atop the Livar Cathedral, the Ordel principle and policy did not force people to do anything against their will. It would have been better if they could please themselves in the south, but many preferred to be lazy and comfortable, even if it meant spending their last coin.

As the carriage clattered its way northward, two separate passenger compartments were divided by a barrier: one for Siri and Lumere, and the other for Dale and Liliea. Dale and Liliea chattered away with their hushed voices about anything that seemed noteworthy, while Lumere and Siri sat in silence, gazing out the window. The aroma of her hair, which lay beneath his hand on the seat, had a spicy scent, akin to that of a piquant rose.

“Looks like the people here are feeling more joyous nowadays,” Lumere opined while looking through the glass window beside him. “Back then, this city at the time of the night was just… silent and depressing.”

“All thanks to His Majestat whose father, such a stern old man, had passed away five years ago,” Siri replied. “The son who truly condemned watching the Haxe Burnings during his young age has finally reformed most policies, especially the Mercy Banishment wherein hexe were instead held captive at the penal colony in the northernmost part of the Sinland two years after the Council of Estate had finally signed an agreement. Most likely, though, both Tempelers and Ordels alike aren’t too happy about His Majestat’s reforms.”

“Ever since the Sect of Phonix has been aiming for the complete purification over centuries,” Lumere frowned. “Turns out that it has gone way too ironic for them when it comes to outrage.”

“When anybody tells you that they will put out the flames of those who are allegedly causing it,” Siri shrugged. “They will apparently add more flames in the end.”

“Huh? Whatever do you mean?”

“Just take a visit to the south once more, if you might want to see that for yourself, my grund..”

“Um…,” stammered Lumere, wondering over his schedule after the ball. “If I could have more time to spend some boredom, then… ja, for the months are counting only three away from the completion of brooch forgery.”

“Find time before Kalzona then,” Siri tapped onto his shoulder.

Lumere glanced at her soothing hand, flushing, “You know…,” he then rubbed his fingers from the other side. “I actually cannot do that all by myself while Dale will return to his own village and reunite his family with their feast of joy and reward.”

“Where does he reside anyway?”

“Somewhere from the southeast. Near the Vintera River.”

“You might wanna pay him a visit later on, too.”

“No,” he shook his head. “He told me that he has some private affairs to do.”

“Private affairs, eh?”

Smirking and nodding, Siri suddenly laughed out of her forbidden thoughts, then continued. “Such a silly excuse if it actually turns out to be what I am expecting to be. I mean, you should understand that his ‘running around the campus to search for his family’ excuse is actually the other way around if you can simply sniff his hand for a bit.”

“What?!” Dale’s sudden voice startled them in guilt from behind.

“Keep your voice down,” Lumere silently grunted at Siri, then cried at Dale. “Nothing! We are talking about your crap here.”

“Oi,” replied Dale. “Don’t you dare repeat that same crap, brath! I could have sworn to Gord that I should have taken my dump before the graduation began.”

Siri then came closer to Lumere’s ear and whispered, “There’s that crappy excuse.”

Lumere then felt oddly from glancing at her lips almost protruding at his bounds. Even if he tried to flinch from her accidental tease, his head stayed still as there were his brath and younger swester behind, probably having their ears sharp while pressing their head against the wall.

Though, it was merely a tease after all.

“Anyway,” Siri returned to her original pose. “There’s also another dase nyad whom I know will come to the party. I expect her to arrive earlier since she’s quite… early bird.”

Her eyes darted a tad away from him, somehow acting like she was having a hard time to describe her well.

“So your colleague?”

“Eld,” she nodded. “She has taught me many great things about… perseverance.”

Once again, she did the same, including with her licking lips.

What’s up with her weird delayed response? Lumere wondered, then replied. “Did vader know about her, too?”

“She has known him way longer than me. Might wanna stiffen yourself for a bit since she’s also like one of those… hexe.”

Then his head tilted and his eyes narrowed, for he could almost grasp a mystery behind her sense of humor.

“I know you can simply talk with her while not being bothered with those typical gazes,” Siri continued. “Although she may act kinda… strange, she’s really a trustworthy person, nonetheless.”

Lumere rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, and glanced back through the glass window, finding out that the carriage was crossing through the sylvan outskirts of Caelutia.

The carriage rolled to a stop in front of Manor Treid, distinguished by the ornate T emblem on its gate. The house had black-striped walls and crimson roofs, but it didn't seem particularly grand or imposing. As they stepped out of the carriage, Dale was the only one who looked awestruck, clearly impressed by the sight of an aristocratic manor. Lumere, on the other hand, was more focused on what lay inside the house, where his father lived. He felt a sense of apprehension as he approached the door. Liliea couldn't imagine herself living in a place like this, but she kept those thoughts to herself. The grounds around the house were vast, but they were also meticulously maintained, which was all that mattered to Lumere.

“It’s been awhile,” Lumere mumbled. “To step here in this place… again.”

Siri noticed Lumere slightly clenching both his mouth and fist as if he was battling his own nerve.

“Are you alright, my grund?” Siri asked Lumere. “Seems like you are kinda… displeased to look at your house.”

“Well,” Liliea shrugged. “He used to ask vader for me to move to the granmuder’s house as my playground there. Thankfully, I made a lot of friends there, and we really share our common interests..”

“Adventure, right?” Dale asked, probably ascertaining from their inside-carriage converse.

“The only thing that I wish to feel like it,” Liliea grinned. “Perhaps I can write a journal about it, too.”

“Anyway,” Siri patted his head. “Shall we commence our attire?”

While everyone nodded and proceeded into the manor, only Dale outright ran past from his dumbfounded gaze and halted them with his apprehensive face.

“Wait,” Dale said. “How about my attire?”

“You can just borrow it from my big bruder,” Liliea shrugged and smiled. “He definitely has a lot of exquisite designs that can refine your look.”

Dale faced Lumere, “Really?”

“I will ask the steward to assist you,” Lumere said. “Once he instructs, do them accordingly, and you are good to go.”

* * *

As the door swung open, a resplendent main porch was revealed, gleaming in gold. Above the entrance, a bizarre landscape of mossy Alphetre ruins adorned the walls, as if an unassuming cake concealed a sweet and rich center. A row of stewards donned simple, sleek white coats, while stewardesses sported knee-length black dresses with fitted bodices and flared skirts. The staff stood before a grand two-way curved staircase, solemnly bowing as the two heirs and their two esteemed guests made their entrance onto the floor of Manor Treid.

“Welcome back,” they cheered with such august synchrony. “My young eldrgant and my young eldrnyad!.”

“Wow,” Dale whistled, walking quite awkwardly further to gape his view. “Is this what being an arte feels like?”

Lumere then stepped forth beside Dale and patted his shoulder in order to avoid a brink of uneasiness from his dumbfounded moment.

“Never forget your formalities, Dale,” Lumere muttered. “For the sake of your name, they shall be done accordingly.”

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” Dale answered with a whisper.

“Good, and act like a good gant instead.”

Lumere gazed up at the imposing stairway before him, and Dale stepped back to watch as Lumere respectfully bowed to the house servant before proceeding up the steps. Liliea followed suit with a graceful curtsy, while Siri strode past them without acknowledging the servants of House Treid.

Dale had really no idea about a proper etiquette as an arte other than following what Lumere did. In the end, though, some of the servants slightly giggled after Dale’s inept fuss.

As Lumere strode ahead down the hallway, Dale hurried to catch up with him, admiring the rose curtains and golden stripes that adorned the walls and floor. Meanwhile, Liliea and Siri were halted by a maid who stood before a door, gesturing towards it as if it was the place they had been searching for. Dale and Lumere arrived just as the women were about to enter, and Dale couldn't help but notice Lumere's tense expression. It was as if he had forgotten something obvious, or perhaps something from a while ago.

“The grundgant is over there,” Lumere pointed to the man standing in front of the door with his quick gaping eyes. “He’ll be the one to assist your refinement.”

Once they approached the awaiting steward, Lumere bowed and told him some special request, “Good gant, may you kindly assist my dase brath, Dale, beside me?”

“Yes,” he bowed back. “Der Lumere.”

“Thank you.”

Then the steward opened the door for them and revealed Lumere’s bedroom with a single king-sized bed, vast draped window, small book cabinet, and wall-wide wardrobe—such a majestic living for an arte like Lumere himself.

“Holy smackle!” Dale cheered. “Is this how you really grow up sleeping like this? Cause it’s gorddamn glorious, if you ask me.”

While Dale was doing the same thing as he did at the lobby, Lumere immediately opened the wardrobe at its doorway-side and studied the suits to his best likings.

The steward approached Dale to begin his selection.

“Der Dale,” the steward interrupted. “Please follow me to the window-side.”

“Sure.”

As the steward opened the cabinet with his solemn hands, it revealed a dazzling variety of exquisite coats, overwhelming Dale with his envy singing no longer in his mind. A dream of prote becoming one of the top come true happened inside his brath’s sleeping paradise.

For only that moment, of course.

“Please take a look, Der Dale.”

“Hmmmm…”

“And may I need to fix the hair, too?”

“No thanks,” Dale swung his loose hand of refusal while scrolling his busy eyes to and fro. “My hair shall stay as authentic as I want.”

Dale was left in awe as he could not determine what kind of fashion he would most likely flaunt around the ball tonight. There were: red rosy coats, a purple lean vest, star-sprinkled sapphire loose blouse, white furry jacket, gold-striped crimson tunic, and many more. Trousers for him were even indescribable to study widely since those things perplexed him based upon his taste as one of the prote class—lower rank and servant to the arte class alike, much sharing the same trait as the steward beside him except with high regards and devotion.

“Tunics are my best kind of bet,” Dale pointed his finger at the gold-striped crimson tunic and said. “They quite represent my pride of origin as one of the prote succeeding the same as the arte like your young eldrgant right there.”

“Praises,” the steward chuckled out of joy and smiled. “Hard work truly pays off either way, so I’m sure you’re going to rival my dase eldrgant’s level at your best.”

“Pfft…” Lumere suddenly giggled.

“What’s funny about it, brath?” Dale asked.

“My good gant,” Lumere pointed at his ring-donned finger with his gaping eyes. “Take a look at the color of his ring.”

The steward then looked closely at Dale’s ring, noticing bronze as it ranked below his silver. Though, he merely shrugged it off as an insignificant matter and instead gave him a brief lecture.

“My dase eldrgant,” he said. “Sorry if I may sound rude to you, but ‘him rivaling between your level’ isn’t actually about according to the ranks. It’s about his dedication to duty as much as yours. That may be earning the same diploma and same ring of call with the same effort both of you had gone through. Regardless of differences on numerical merits, colors of rings, and even social ranks, you both have received the same lessons and understandings from the High Academy. Remember that you had said that you have utilized every ounce of your effort just as everyone does? Obviously, I was the same steward whom your younger swester has probably told you about.”

“Oh…,” Lumere paused, leaving his throat in a guttural regret, then bowed his head. “Thanks for sending the invitation letters then.”

“Greatly pleased,” the steward bowed thankfully in return.

“See, brath?” Dale smirked and then laughed. “You do really have a hard time while thinking and caring about yourself all along. Talking about his wise words, aye?”

Hearing his petty words, Lumere then clicked his tongue and continued studying his wardrobe, while Dale finally decided and received his chosen dress—the gold-striped crimson tunic—from the steward’s hands of favor.

The steward then helped guide his dase guest for dressing up his chosen attire, finally commencing his arte-ish act.

* * *

Siri put on her evening silver gown that was borrowed from Liliea’s wardrobe while returning the dress for the graduation back into her wardrobe. Its smooth and flexible skirt was much lighter than the rest she had worn before. Her long hair was plaited glamorously into a side-slant form enticing around the rear of her head. Her lips blemished with crimson dye containing rose extract, hence it scented with spice and also tasted fruity. All thanks to Liliea and her stewardesses servicing them to their utmost beauty, her evening beauty would entice everything and everyone around her with either amusing envy or brightening lust.

While her stewardesses put Liliea under her bustling maquillage, Siri approached the door towards the exit.

“May I go outside for a bit?” Siri begged for a permit.

“Do as you want,” Liliea answered. “Finalizing my foundation will take some time.”

Siri left the room and stepped into the hallway of the red curtain once again. Quiet air except everything behind the door alarmed her. It was just an awkward space for an arte-dressed nyad to amble across the prolonged hallway, alone without any stewardess guarding her dress from the possible dirt. In fact, she had known this place before.

“I wonder what Eld Sui has been doing now,” she muttered to herself. “It would be such a pain if I would have left that perverted vader’s shaft digging deeper into mine all by myself…. Lumere would then suffer, too, and I don’t want that to happen.”

Then Siri heard a sudden whisper wafting from behind.

As soon as she turned her head behind, she found an unclad, raven-haired woman, masked her eyes, tied her long black hair with a steel needle like a slick horsetail, and flaunted her lips black—abruptly and “oddly” appearing out of nowhere. Her voluptuously tall shape and supple bust perfected the taste for an intemperate gaze. All for a quirk, the woman in black could not care less about her brazen mien, yet in Siri’s eyes, it did attract her to ponder over her familiar memory.

“To be perfectly honest, I envy your look,” said Siri. “.... And your boldness, too.”

“Ara~ Your dress is so beautiful, too,” the woman in black replied. “This evening shall be your most pleasurable chance to spend it.”

“What are you talking about? Who are y…” Siri suddenly paused and tilted her head, memory dramatically calling to mind that night. “Hold on. Don’t tell me?”

The woman in black slightly turned her rear and revealed her intricate tattoo showing a giant serpent mingled with small ones around it.

“Bet you haven’t seen this tattoo before,” the woman in black said. “Especially wearing naught around outside.”

“Oh, it’s really you. Eld Sui,” Siri raised her eyebrow and sniggered as she found it obvious. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

The woman in black then stripped her eye mask off and showed her familiar yet peculiar purple eyes which seemed to inherit a trait from the far eastern lands. Her sultry pale-skinned body, her dulcet voice, and then her ebony-painted face was finally determined to be Mer Sui herself.

“You can also call me Sui Qianbei,” Sui ambled closer to her.

“I don’t even want to call you with your native tongue,” Siri shrugged. “Didn’t I already tell you about it?”

“Hmph, yes,” Sui leaned her side against the wall. “I was just testing your memory for a bit.”

“Sure,” Siri sighed. “Anyway, how’s your affairs been?”

“The punter seemed to be exhausted for now. He might need to take a breather first before he has to formally commence the ball.”

“I see.”

“I also left him throwing up for a bit,” Sui smirked. “Hopefully, it will be thorough sooner or later.”

“You mean, his constant desire?”

Sui shifted her one hand behind her rear, then a light rustling sound was suddenly heard from exactly the same hand. Her peculiar eyes also abruptly glinted cyan. With that, she drew a curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long hilt and quickly nudged it against her neck, startling her to realize that she was threatening to either kill or, rather, tease her.

“If it's due to your concern towards that honorable young man,” Sui said softly. “Then it’ll be settled once and for all. Slowly drifting and fading into an indefinite ashes, so definitely more than his constant desire.”

Her blade left Siri slightly sweating as it might blemish her lavish maquillage from its dripping tease. Single swing of it could have instantly killed her on site, although Siri also knew that Sui was never a woman who would shed her own doubt into a blood of outright certainty.

“Deal will be done in a matter of time, though,” Sui continued. “The only way to keep that promise, especially to yourself, is to never meet that oji—I mean, that sou again.”

“.... Then by all means,” Siri replied. “I shall greatly appreciate your offer”

“Good,” Sui said. “Only if this thing will be kept smoothly. Never say it towards that boy of your heart, too.”

Siri nodded and watched her blade slowly turning away from the grip.

Feeling a single heat within her groin, Sui then patted and laid her eyes on it as the tiny whitish sap had been dripping and staining the curtain all along.

“Pfft,” Siri chuckled. “You might want to deal with that groin of yours, or else you’ll upset every hausdener here.”

Sui flushed her cheeks, tilted her head, straitened her seething eyes, and smiled, “Will you kindly shut your lips up and leave?”

“Well,” Siri shrugged and chuckled once again. “You were the one who just brazenly approached me from out of nowhere, so you might as well need to solemnly dress up before you’ll be late for the party.”

* * *

“Hey brath,” Dale whispered Lumere while walking alongside each across the hallway with two stewards following them. “There were multiple artes mysteriously passed away with no single fatal scars other than a pair of bite marks. Same pattern for all. I heard them among a bunch of schols from a particular house whose vader had abruptly died before they announced their mourning call. Is that true?”

Lumere sighed and shrugged, “I frankly don’t care about them being dead all of a sudden, but it seems that some sort of disease has finally revealed themselves to be quite odd.”

“Perhaps you should need to inform your va—”

Startled to halt their words of rumor, they found Siri standing on the hallway with an awkward sweat and pretty smile staring at their curious eyes.

Lumere tilted his head and studied her looks, “You seem to be uncomfortable with your chosen dress.”

Siri suddenly curtsied and stuttered, “I-I’m fine. It’s just that… your swester’s fashion is just too marvelous and heavy to be careful with.”

“Sure,” Lumere raised his eyebrows and nodded dubiously. “By the looks of it, that fine dress you are wearing rather chokes your bust around.”

“My bust?” Siri glared and crimsoned, crying out of her chagrin. “H-Has your eyes been like that? Do you think this chunk of udders are a blubberful bunch of breathing spaces being filled with so much air coming from the breathing trees and skies?”

Probably I should have chosen a safer word, Lumere exasperatedly sighed and shook his head, “Technically yes, and behind them is called lungs. Have you ever forgotten basic anatomy lessons?”

After hearing Lumere’s answers, Siri suddenly blanked out, filling herself with a brink of enlightened awe and dumbfounded regret. Her eyes then pointed at her bulging chest, with some beads of sweat rained onto it. .

Meanwhile, Lumere faced Dale and his two house stewards, nodding them to proceed forth towards the ballroom.

“Head back to my swester’s room,” Lumere briefly halted and whispered near Siri’s ear. “She might have been waiting for you to be escorted.”

Walking past her, Dale put his vengeful tongue out and his farcical eyes up, bouncing his “shitty excuse” back to her, while she gave him a glaring frown of shame towards him.

“You gorddamn cheeky prote bastard,” Siri mumbled, gingerly silent. “How dare you put that silly, disgusting face of yours onto me, eh? I really, really know what you were doing with that coco bech of the south. Heh, I suppose to say that it is brath being brath.”