ZEN - Part Two [COMPLETED] [#WATTYS2017]

Home Sweet Home, Formerly Banditville

Chapter 62 - Home Sweet Home, Formerly Banditville

"Hello, T'zargul."

"You are late. And why is this one wearing a blind-fold?"

Joanne looks from the slightly-crazed space-time mage to her, indeed, blind-folded wife and offers an un-seen wry smile. "She said she didn't want to see either of us losing their heads."

"Hmph. That was merely the result of a stupid man wearing jewellery made of kratzantanium." The old man suddenly goes rigid, then quickly waves his hand back and forth, spins clockwise three times, and finally spits onto the floor. "The fee."

"Here you are." The red-headed healer hands over a small velvet pouch tied off with a blue ribbon, chosen specifically because yellow was the colour of the Harkensaaks.

T'zargul swiftly yanks the ribbon off of the coin-purse, then kisses it four times in rapid succession before shoving it into a pocket of his robes. "Step into the middle of the gold formulae. Notice I said gold. Do not come close to the other. Just the gold."

"As before, then." Joanne gently guides her silent lover up a trio of steps and over to the square located in the middle of the gold formulae. "Ready when you are."

"Do not move. Do not make contact with each other. When you land on the opposite side, move off of the platform immediately. You will only have one minute of time to do so. And please do not throw up until you are outside the building. We are sick of cleaning up vomit." The crazed, robed man consults a sun-dial, just as he did when sending them to Zeitstad, then raises his hand up high. "Plutarch! We are clear in ten seconds!"

"Ananshilgo Jozejemi phahtarg."

"Of fecking course, Jozejemi!"

The black-skinned man seated on a dias at a corner of the room makes a profoundly rude gesture towards his counterpart. "Macaptem batal, afanaan ptuka."

The ginger healer stifles a laugh at the expression of outrage that crosses the crazed mage's features, but a blinding flash of light signals their movement through space and time, and once her vision clears once more, she finds that their group was in a completely different location.

Unlike the other teleportation businesses they'd been to, this one was bare-bones in the extreme, which was perhaps to be expected, since it'd only been set up a few days previously.

There were just two raised platforms in the middle of a large, rectangular room, separated by only a foot of space between one-another. And there wasn't even any glyphs inscribed on them, so perhaps the ostentatious finery was just to drive up the price, as Alyssa Brahm had suggested.

Hell, there wasn't even any attendants stationed inside. Just a sign on the wall stating that, if anyone needed transportation, then they were to inquire at Kuro and Shiro, or Shiro and Kuro.

Slackers.

"You still alive?"

"I dunno." Zen rips off her blind-fold, then quickly starts to pat herself down in order to make sure she was still whole. Then she begins to grope her wife.

"S-stop that."

"Gotta see if all the bits I love are still there."

"You can check later. Thoroughly."