Editing time! Plus bonus Chapter Material.

Sorry for the delay in updates - I've been editing! I realized I omitted a vital scene from Chapter 21... ugh. All of it will be integrated with the final book. Posting resumes as normal later today.

So here it is. Suri claiming her spawn point, and Cutthroat and Cocoa meet for the first time:

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“Hang on! We have to let Cutthroat off first!” I called back to her, before turning back to Istvan. After a moment of hesitation, I stepped forward, and drew the man into a one-armed hug. He stiffened in surprise. 

“Look, man: if it’s anything, we just bought the best damn healer in the country here,” I said by his ear. “We’ll see what she can do for him, alright?”

“Yes. Thank you.” He drew a deep breath, let it out, and stepped back. I could smell liquor on his breath.

The three staff Ignas had sent with us – Captain Vilmos, Livia the Chef, and Rudolf the Butler – helped get Masha’s things organized up top. I helped Suri to the ground. Once she found her feet, I took her hands in mine and gazed into her eyes.

"Okay," I said. "Ready?"

Suri drew a sharp breath, then nodded. I opened the Combat Management System and found her Hero entry. I opened up her profile, and then issued the command: "Send Suri Ba'Hadir a Faction Join request."

[No such player found.]

Uh-oh. 

Suri was watching me expectantly, her eyes wide and hopeful. I was about to start panicking when I remembered the error messaged I'd gotten when I'd tried to send her a PM. 

"Hang on, figuring out the menu." I flashed Suri a bashful smile and went into my History, looking for the error message. When I saw how long it was, I swallowed. Dyslexia made this a lot harder than it should have been.

"Send Faction Join request to NUMBFETCH-00-0000AA1-TypeXX-Dkh?-????BSKR." I spelled it mentally, praying I'd read it all right. 

[Success! <NUMBFETCH-00-0000AA1-TypeXX-Dkh?-????BSKR> has been sent a faction join request!]

"Did it...?" I held my breath.

Suri nodded, pressing her lips together, and concentrated for a moment. "What the hell is this big fuckin string of gibberish?"

"It's the reason you haven't been able to get a spawn point so far," I said. "The Architects that bought you here fucked up your code somehow. Code being like... the Words of Power that identify you in Archemi."

"Huh." She nodded absently, and a popup appeared - along with a small blank green circle that joined the icons already hanging beside Suri's head, along with her corona.

[Player Suri Ba'Hadir has joined your faction!]

"What the-?" Suri flinched, eyes scanning something I couldn't see. "What the hell's all this? I just a message from some fucko... Wait 'Welcome to Archemi?' I was fuckin' born here!"

"Hell yes!" I grinned, then laughed before pulling her into a sudden hug. Suri blinked, but then hugged me back.

"Okay, okay... you're in the system properly now," I said, when I broke away. "You should be able to claim a spawn point here, and I should be able to assign you a role here at the castle. Castellana, right?"

"You already got a Castellan." She jerked her head towards Vilmos, who was helping Livia down to the ground. "And, well... I've been thinking about it, and... you know, I'm willing to embrace being a Countess, I think. The 'Your Grace' this and 'My Lady' that gets a bit old, but there's something to be said for the renown and everything. Besides... we earned our titles. I figure I'd insult Ignas if I didn't act the part."

"If you become Countess, well... people are going to think we're married, for one thing," I said. "For another, it means you're going to have to learn to use the Kingdom Management stuff, and you'll probably get all the same quests I have."

"I know." Suri nodded, and smiled.

"Alright. Hold on to your fanny." I bought up the KMS and issued the next command. "Give Suri Ba'hadir the rank of Countess of Myszno."

[Are you sure? This will promote Faction Member to the rank of Clan Leader and give them access to the Kingdom Management System.]

"Yes," I said aloud.

There was a chiming sound, and then the green circle turned into a small golden crown. Suri beamed at me, squeezing my hands in hers.

[Suri Ba'hadir has been promoted to Countess of Myszno]

[Suri Ba’hadir has claimed a residence: Kalla Sahasi]

Suri’s eyelids fluttered shut, and she let out a soft sigh of relief. Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned into my chest.

“Finally.” She dug her fingers in around my harness, clinging to it. “This sounds… like… really stupid. But please… tell me I never have to go back there again.”

“Suri…” I wrapped my arms around her and buried my mouth against her hair, kissing her brow fiercely. “You never, ever, EVER have to go there again.”

A shudder passed through her back, and she stayed where she was for a long minute. I’d have kept her there, but our reverie was interrupted by an irritated shriek. We looked up, startled, to see Cutthroat kicking out and waving her claws like an angry toddler in a booster seat. Karalti gave us both a long-suffering look.

“I… I’d better get my bird before she accidentally cuts Karalti’s throat or something,” Suri said, sniffing.

“For sure.” I kissed her one last time. “Welcome home.”

“I… yeah.” Her eyes misted up a little before she turned and slammed the visor of her helmet down, striding toward her hookwing. Cutthroat strained toward her, honking with indignation. Karalti bent forward obligingly, and Suri took care of the snaps. The hookwing dropped to the ground and immediately began to preen, hissing like a tea kettle as she frantically combed her feathers back into place.

Cocoa had been motoring around the courtyard with her nose snuffling in the dirt like a cross between a curious puppy and a shop vac, but when she saw Cutthroat, she stopped hoovering and happily waddled toward her. If hookwings could be placed on a scale, with one end being ‘sword-handed death machine’ and the other end of the scale being ‘giant toothy chicken’, Cutthroat and Cocoa were a 1 and a 10, respectively. Cutthroat was a Bugatti. Cocoa was a short bus.

“Uh… hey!” Suri backed up as Cutthroat snarled and lurched forward, putting herself between Suri and Cocoa. She raised her arms and gaped her jaws wide, her feathers standing on end. Cocoa did not get the message. The old hookwing's whole body spasmed as she gave a great honk of delight and ran straight at her, short plump tail wagging rapidly from side to side.

“Cutthroat! No! Down!” Suri tried to catch her reins, but Cutthroat was having none of it. She snapped around at her, drool streaming between her teeth, only to stop when Cocoa bounced up right between her raised arms and headbutted her under the chest. She cooed and chirped, and then – to Cutthroat’s confused rage – to tooth-groom HER feathers.

“SKRREEEEK?!?” Cutthroat backpedaled, swiping out in front of her. Cocoa, through sheer dumb luck, bumbled underneath the slashing claws and began to earnestly attempt to jam her nose under Cutthroat’s tail. She reared her head up, every feather bristling with outrage, and demurely whisked her rump to the side. Cocoa wasn’t so easily deterred. She ducked forward, snuffling curiously, only to squawk when Cutthroat struck her over the head with the blunt club of her wrist.

“Cutthroat! C’mere, you bloody old bitch!” Suri hollered.

Cocoa seemed no worse for wear. As Cutthroat whirled around, heaving with the need to destroy, Vilmas slid down Karalti’s wing with Masha in his arms. The sight of her favorite human drove all thoughts of buttsniffing from Cocoa’s mind. She cheeped with excitement, absentmindedly dodging Cutthroat’s one-man slapfight and toddling over to the pair of them with her crests lifted high.

“Ack!” Masha laughed as Cocoa began to lick her hair, slobbering all over it. “Oh, look at you! There’s a good girl! Who’s a good girl?”

“Peep! Peep!” Cocoa wagged her entire body from side to side.

Suri ran to Cutthroat and caught her by the rings, hauling her head around as she stalked Cocoa with menacing intent. “Nope, no you don’t. Come on, you big sourpuss.”

“Lovely creatures, aren’t they? I’ve had Cocoa since she was a little ball of fluff. Dumb as a post, but this girl’s nearly thirty years old and can still haul a cart from Taltos to Czongrad.” Masha chuckled, pushing Cocoa’s muzzle away. Now that Cutthroat was contained, one of the stablemen ran up and took Masha’s mount by the mouth. The smaller, stubbier hookwing happily pranced away with him, her chubby thighs jiggling on every step. “Come on, Tuun. Let’s go and see this man of yours and glove up.”