Chapter 40 – Forgetfulness

  “The art of commerce is one that is universal. Regardless of what race you are or world you are on, the ws of supply and demand are a constant.” - Marketing and advertising css in a university on Verdant.

  “Uh-uh, yup, we’ll be seein ya. Ok, yah, bye now.” Kurt said and finally closed the door.

  “Mother fucking, son of a…a…Argh, I don’t even know. Probably a cabbage or something.” Val said after she closed her door with a little too much force that sent the contents of the door pocket flying around her footwell.

  Kristi was just sitting in the back looking confused. “I thought she was really nice.”

  Kurt and the girls had just gotten done ‘talking’ to the dryad who had mentioned the strange mana movements. She was a very sweet person, but they were all pretty sure she had a few screws loose.

  The old dryad had tried to be very helpful but was so mellow that she rarely saw the importance of anything except for weather. Her tendency to speak slowly and softly also posed problems since Kurt was never sure if she was finished answering their question or just pausing.

  When they asked about the strange mana, she had talked like it was just yesterday, noting how the breeze wafted the scent of juniper over her. Naturally that level of detail was useless, so they asked follow-up questions, probing for this happening before or if it was a onetime thing.

  She then talked about the recent snows being unclean and she needed to cleanse the mulch around her grove. Kurt assumed she meant st winter but Kristi asked what else happened around that time and the found out that it was nearly twenty years prior.

  The entire thing took hours longer than it should and all of them were mentally exhausted. Kurt was hungry, Val was angry, and Kristi was about the only one who was unphased because she wandered off to talk to someone on the phone for most of the encounter.

  “Lunch, something disgustingly fatty, preferably fried.” Kurt decred and pulled out onto the road. He was after a burger joint that he knew about in TC. Mostly he wanted the onion rings but that was a side benefit to a bacon cheeseburger.

  “Burger and fries sound great.” Val said, grumbling while responding to a text message.

  “Who are you texting?” He asked. It wasn’t like Val to text very often, and it made him curious.

  Val closed her phone with a sigh and looked over at him. “My father. He said him and my mother are going to be passing through the order in about a … honey, what’s wrong?” Val suddenly stopped in her expnation at the look on Kurt’s face.

  “Shit, I completely forgot. My parents are going to be visiting next weekend.” He had a video call with them a few days ago, Val and Kristi had been watching a movie while he was cooking so he took the call while propping his phone on the counter.

  His mom seemed interested in meeting Val and his dad was…well, his dad. They had mentioned coming back to Earth the st time he spoke with them but no specific date. They had spent long enough in the other realm and wanted to come visit and see his new house over the holidays. Him suddenly being in the order and having a girlfriend accelerated that timeline.

  “Wait, and you only now mention this?” Val sat bolt upright and looked incredulously at him. “That’s like three days away.”

  “NEXT weekend, Val” Kurt said and she visibly rexed, looking all the world like she melted into the seat.

  “You are still in contact with your parents?” Kristi seemed rather interested in this.

  “Um, yeah.” He tried to conceal the implied ‘duh’ in his answer.

  Kristi huffed a stifled ugh, apparently Kurt didn’t conceal it as well as he hoped. Val didn’t seem bothered as she pressed onward. “I meant, how are you in contact with them? I thought they were off world.”

  “Oh, sorry, they are. They are on Verdant so there is a telecom connection since some of our tech overps with theirs.” Kurt quickly expined.

  “Ah, that makes sense.” Kristi said making it clear she was still listening intently. “Where, um, where are they going to stay?” She all but squeaked out, looking like she was disinterested but failing miserably.

  “Umm, lets figure something out at lunch.” Kurt said. He then took a stab at addressing what she was worried about. “You are staying with us. I am not going to kick you out and give my folks your room if that’s what you are worried about.”

  Visibly rexing, Kristi smiled back at him in the rearview mirror. He pressed on with their pns for the day and tried to table the conversation. “So, lunch then what?” He asked.

  “I would like to stop and see what Alec has, now that I have all my documentation.” Kristi said. Penny had delivered her ID’s, paperwork, licenses and new banking information before they left the house that day.

  “I think that sounds good too.” Val agreed then flushed as she suddenly remembered something. “Shit.” She muttered under her breath, but Kurt picked it up immediately.

  “What?”

  “I forgot to tell you, that I promised Penny, that I would tell you, that Renee told her, that she found the guns you wanted.” Val blurted, pausing between each link in the chain of who told who. The words came out in a rush, and it took Kurt’s mind a moment to catch up to what she said in such an odd cadence.

  “So, I assume I can go pick them up any time, right?” he asked.

  “Well, yeah.” Val admitted. “It would probably be a good time to drop off the enchanted items too.” She perked up suddenly as they pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant. She was sniffing and looking around like she could already see the food inside.

  Kurt parked in front of the burger shack and they walked inside. As soon as they stepped through the door, they were hit with an even more powerful smell of fried food and the noise of a busy kitchen. A passing waitress told them to sit anywhere they liked, and someone would be out.

  They picked a booth in the corner of a retively empty area. A waiter was out shortly after and took their orders. Kurt naturally ordered his burger and onion rings. Val got her own burger but went with fries while Kristi diverted from pattern and ordered chicken wings with a milkshake.

  Their draconic friend then ordered her own onion rings after trying one of Kurt’s. In fairness, Kurt sampled her wings and then just ordered a big basket for the table. After they had literally stuffed themselves with the delicious food, they took a trip over to visit their favorite dwarf.

  After a several minutes to drive across town, trio arrived at Hamlets Guns and Locksmith. Kurt noted that the parking lot was rather busy and hoped that it wouldn’t be too packed. When they got inside, Kristi pulled herself close to Kurt and Val, nearly holding their hands as they pressed through the crowd on the sales floor.

  Kurt fought his way over to a mostly clear spot at the far end of the counter and was just wondering what the hell was going on when he saw the top of a familiar head weaving its way toward them. Alec popped out of the crowd a moment ter and signaled him over.

  “AH, wish you would have called ahead, I could have propped open the back door for you.” He said as he led them behind the counter. “Let’s head to my office.”

  They followed him back down the hall, stopping for break room coffee along the way. Then they passed through the stock room that Kurt and Val had been in previously before entering an office with two desks separated by some lounge furniture around a low coffee table.

  “Wow, really moving up in the world if you have an office now.” Kurt commented dryly.

  Alec chuckled as he sat in his desk chair and turned it around to face them on the couch. “This has been my office for a couple years now. I just never invited you back until today. Mad house out there so we wouldn’t get much done.”

  “What is going on? Why so busy?” Val asked.

  “Well, opening day is in a few weeks so every Ed, Ted and Fred needs to come in and get a bunch of shit that they think they need to drop the next state record.” Alec said with a huff. “Course half of em haven’t actually seen a buck more than two years old and the rest only shoot does.”

  “Hey, I shoot does.” Kurt said, sounding slightly offended.

  “Yeah, and so do I. can’t eat antlers and half of them bucks taste like ass anyway.” They ughed a little at the crude honesty. “So, what you need?”

  Kurt gestured to Kristi who spoke up when Alec turned to face her. “I was hoping to get a pistol, I didn’t like any of his.”

  Alec scratched his beard while he thought. “Hmm, I can make something happen.” He got out a pen and note pad. “What are you after. I know he likes Glock and also big ass bullets but how about you?”

  “I was thinking something in nine mil. I liked the berettas well enough, but they never felt good in my hand and the safety was annoying. Come to think of it, I just liked the weight and trigger.” Kristi said after a few moments to think.

  “Ok, ok. Do you like the hammer fired or would you want a striker fired?”

  “Hammer if we can. I like the double-single action, but SAO is fine too.”

  “Optics?”

  “The option would be nice, but I am fine without.”

  Alec nodded and made a few notes. “Well that really narrows it down. How about frame material? Beretta uses aluminum but there is polymer out there.”

  Kristi pointed to her storage ring. “Size and weight will not be a problem.”

  Alec saw that and instantly jumped to his feet. “Be right back.” And he disappeared for a moment before coming back through the door with several boxes.

  “We have a few choices.” He id the boxes on the table and opened them one by one, turning them to her as he talked. “First option is the ancient rival to the beretta. The Sig two-two-six.”

  Kristi picked it up, got a firing grip and almost immediately put it down. “Nope, to fat and chunky at the top, like the reverse of the beretta.”

  Unperturbed, Alec continued after pushing the boxes marked ‘Sig Sauer’ aside. “Then we have CZ. They also have a cssic alloy framed gun, this being the SP oh-one.”

  Once more gripping the gun, she gave it a feel, experimenting a little. “This is nice. What else?”

  “The polymer version, the P oh-nine.” Alec said while handing her another of the Czech guns.

  “This has much better capacity.” Kristi noted the nineteen-round magazine. “Feels good too.”

  “Go ahead and try the trigger on that one. This is one we had worked on by a guy down south. There are also a few pces that will cut it for an optic if you want to be like him.” He hiked a thumb at Kurt.

  Kristi dry fired the gun a few times before going back to the metal frame version. “I think I will take the P oh-nine. Can I get like five more magazines? Wait, how many do you have in stock?”

  Alec raised an eyebrow. “Let me see.” He turned around and began clicking and typing on his computer. “Looks like I have two cases with ten in a case. Plus, five loose on the shelves.” He said after scrolling through his inventory program.

  Kristi put the gun back in the box and pulled out her wallet. “I’ll take ten extras so that leaves me with thirteen. Can I also get some ammunition?”

  “I have the ammo part covered. Literally thousands of rounds of nine mil.” Kurt said before turning to Alec. “Hey, do you still have that gunsmith hanging around?”

  The dwarf pulled out paperwork and a pen while taking Kristi’s contact information. “Yeah, he works as needed so this time of year he is usually in. Got another project?”

  Kurt nodded toward the pistol Kristi was about to buy. “Yeah, I think I want a six-five barrel for that.”

  “Say no more. He was tickled pink by that st order. Says he rarely ever gets things that are both interesting and pay well.” Alec said and made a note on his wall calendar. “He should be in tomorrow; he likes to work nights and weekends.”

  Val ughed. “Nights and weekends? Is he a vampire or something?”

  “Yes.” Alec answered in a very matter of fact way.

  A mostly quiet and very awkward moment passed while Kristi and Val stared confusedly at Alec. Kurt knew, having met the guy, but didn’t share that with the girls. Mostly it had never come up and he figured it wasn’t his business to share who was what kind of paranormal.

  “Well, ok then.” Val said as she turned a lovely shade of pink out of embarrassment. “Umm. Hunting! Kurt, I didn’t know you hunted.” She tried to change the subject and picked the st one they had talked about.

  Alec once more ughed in the boisterous and endearing way dwarves usually did. “Haha. More like killing, since hunting implies he won’t get anything.” He shot Kurt a knowing look. “He hadn’t done it before he started that cabin of his, but I took him out to do some bird hunting and he was hooked after that.”

  “What do you hunt?” Kristi asked as she paused to flip the page on the government form.

  “Deer is the big one. But I do small game a lot too. Waterfowl is fun if you have a dog…” He paused at Alec snorted. “That way, I don’t have to go in the water myself. But I usually get a few on John’s pond when I go with him.”

  Deciding to help tell the tale, Alec joined in. “I took him out with my dad and brother to shoot some duck two years back. Safe to say he embarrassed everyone there. We all got this fancy shit and here is this city slicker walkin in wearing a borrowed jacket and holding my old pump twelve gauge.”

  “Course we all brought a box of shells each since you miss pretty often. Well, Kurt here brings ten rounds in his pocket. He fired three in the first flock. Three at the second and then lent the remaining four to me since he already hit his limit and couldn’t shoot any more that day. Turns out elven reflexes are great for taking birds on the wing.”

  “It was three malrds, two wood ducks and then another malrd on the third set.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Frankly I could have had all six on the first go if they didn’t have a limit on shells in the gun.”

  “And where do you go to hunt?” Val asked.

  “Right out in the woods behind the house. I got fifteen acres that back up to state nd, so I don’t have to go far. The farmer next door also gave me permission to track on his nd, but I can’t hunt it.”

  “Track?” Kristi asked finally done with the forms.

  “If I wound one and it runs.” Kurt expined as he checked out the pistol she was buying. He hadn’t shot the CZ brand of guns very much but was curious about them.

  “How often does that happen?” Val said while looking at the security camera feed on the television. She had gotten up and wandered around the office, looking at the pictures on the wall and some other things around the office.

  “I will let you know if it does.” Kurt said while Alec cackled like a mad man. “I will actively stalk deer rather than waiting but the wind has to be good. While I can smell them, they can still smell me like anyone else.”

  Val was looking at him curiously. “Can’t you enchant something to fix that?” the question got Kurt thinking and while he added it to his mental to-do list, Alec came to fill the conversational void.

  “Just know that he has been hunting for all of two years and limits out on everything he hunts. Those freezers in his garage aren’t just for show.” Alec said while running the paperwork and checking the ID Kristi gave him. He gnced up at her after looking at her state driver’s license and carry permit. He knew full well she wasn’t a resident long enough to have either, but he also knew the Order worked behind the scenes to expedite things.

  After everything came back, Kristi was the proud owner of a new pistol and a small pile of magazines. She had also braved the crowded store front with Kurt as support to find a few other things she wanted. With some carry ammunition, new sights, and a light, she was ready to get going and they went back to Alec in his office.

  “Right, I will get Cavans on that barrel for you but for now you are good to go.” Alec said and handed Kristi her half of the paperwork. “Go on out the side door so you don’t have to fight through the show room again.”

  They left and loaded into the car. The primary benefit of storage rings was that they didn’t need any bags or other things that needed loading up. That being said, once they were in the car, Kristi summoned one of the magazines and began stuffing rounds into it. She said it was better to have and not need.

  Kurt had just started the car when he got a call from Penny. “Hey Penny, what’s happening.”

  Over the car speaker came the voice of their handler. “Hey, I just took another call from Renee asking when you would be by to pick up your stuff. She said she didn’t like sitting on things that were already paid for.”

  “Yeah, I just found out about that.” Kurt said with a gnce to Val who shrunk into her seat. “Tell her we are on the way and will be there in like… two hours?”

  “I will tell her by the end of the day then.” Penny said, providing a little buffer for them. She hung up a moment ter, not even caring what they found out at the dryad’s farm.

  It was a good thing Penny had given them the extra time since traffic was rough that day. They made it back and into the Order after a grueling amount of start and stop traffic past an accident on the highway. After entering, they noticed Penny was across the hall from her office, talking to a dwarf in another nearly identical office.

  “Who is that?” Kurt asked as she joined up with them.

  “He is the other handler for that new group we are kind of sharing the load with.” Penny answered. “Apparently it’s just one agent for now so they will take small rifts for now, leaving the rger ones to us.”

  That was fine by Kurt. He had done pretty well in the st two clears and had to admit that other than a few hang-ups, it was easy work. Well, besides being wounded by birds and musket balls, it wasn’t bad.

  They returned to the market and worked their way up the central tower. Just as before, the vendors shouted their deals, trying to entice customers to shop with them. None of the vendors seemed to recognize them as they passed through which was probably for the best.

  “Mister Kurt, and Miss Val, it is so good to see you again.” Renee said once they entered her stall. Her tone was overly respectful but then again, he had spent a lot of money with her unlike most others in the order. “Who is your new friend?”

  “Renee, meet Kristi. Kristi, this is Renee.” The gargoyle and dragon kin shook hands in greeting before Kurt got down to business. “What have you got for us?”

  “Just what you asked for, that’s all.” She uncovered a stack of wooden crates and a couple hard pstic cases. “Several thousand rounds of linked M80a1 and two knight’s machineguns. One in five five-six and the other is seven six-two.”

  Kristi’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw the stack of guns and ammunition. “That is a lot of firepower. Where are you going to keep… never mind.” She suddenly got an idea about how Kurt was going to store the ammunition.

  “Yes, but I think I would rather have and not need if you know what I mean.” Kurt answered, not commenting on her cutting herself off.

  “And we have something for you too.” Penny said. She held out the box that Kurt had given her when they arrived. He had reconsidered the idea of using Penny as a proxy in case someone got a little too aggressive in wanting to know the source. She handed it to the gargoyle arms dealer after a quick gnce at the door.

  Renee opened the small box and saw the enchanted items stacked neatly inside. Kurt passed her an enchanter’s loop which was just like what a regur jeweler would use but it dispyed the properties of an item.

  Carefully, Renee set the box down and picked up a ring before looking through the little device. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” She muttered under her breath. “These are amazing.”

  “Think you can sell them?” Penny asked.

  “These normally would sell for thousands each” She hissed back. “and you just dropped a few dozen in my p.”

  “Well, the pn is to sell them for a lot cheaper.” Kurt reminded her. “Like half of the price they normally would. We can get you another box just like this every week or two.”

  Renee huffed and handed the loop back. She stared at the open box for a moment, drumming her fingers on the table before straightening up and smiling at him. “Welp, nothing to do but get rich, I suppose.”