Time

Chapter 17

"Hey, Madison." Travis poked her limp body with his finger. She was sleeping, and snoring, and it was time to go. "C'mon, it's time to go." Madison turned about and finally opened her tight eyes.

"Why did you wake me up? I was actually happy." she told him in an annoyed, but tired, voice.

"We have to go. I thought we had to get to Desrodon quick. To prove something or other?" Travis said, trying to recall the exact wording.

"Yeah, fine." She got up and rolled up her sleeping mat, after shaking all the sand off, and started packing up. Travis had packed up earlier, trying to burn time as he built up the courage to wake Madison up.  She yawned and jumped up onto her horse, adjusting the saddle and luggage. Travis snapped his fingers and he was on Ozo too, sitting on a saddle of pure shadow. They spurred both their steeds and off they went, leaving fresh tracks behind on the dry, sand. Travis looked at the desert and realized for the first time that the sand wasn't black anymore. They were a brown-yellow. He was going to point this out to Madison, but decided against it when he realized how bad of a mood she was in.

"You fine?" Travis asked politely, worried about her condition.

"No, I'm not. I just found out that I actually am force-born! I could have been fighting! Instead, I'm sent off to do this stupid mission as a stupid guide!" Madison spat, gritting her teeth in a snarl.

"Hey, you've been more than a guide. You've protected me too." Travis assured, smiling to emphasize the point.

"That's sweet, but no. I'm a stupid guide." Madison focused her attention back to riding. Travis figured that this was the end of their discussion, and did the same as her.

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Tinman pulled Currence out of the sewers. He was dripping with sewer water and smelled like crap. Of course, that was what he had been swimming in. "Where can we wash up?" Currence asked, trying hard not to smell himself by accident.

"You can go swim in the Span to clean off, though it's probably even dirtier." Tinman told him.

"What do you usually do?" Currence asked in a disgusted tone.

"I steal new clothes and wear those." Tinman walked into the library alleyway.

"But you're still dirty!" Currence argued.

"Then I go to the Wash." Tinman stated. "But you're not dirty enough to go that far."

"What's the Wash?" Currence asked, anxious for a bath.

"It's the cleanest place in the sewers. It's even cleaner than the Span! Anyone who can risk it goes there, and not many people would risk it. You can fish there too." Tinman explained, yawning. He was losing sunlight. He climbed up a pipe but stopped when Currence interjected the action with a complaint.

"What are you doing?" Currence whined, obviously tired and becoming irrational from the smell.

"I'm getting to my room." Tinman said, before realizing that Currence didn't know about his room. "Here, climb up here." Currence turned out to be pretty limber and flexible, scaling the pipes with relative ease. Tinman opened the window and climbed inside, followed by Currence. He went and opened his secret tunnel while Currence looked around at the many books that were displayed on the shelves.

"Is this a library?" Currence asked, holding up a book with a slug on its cover.

"Yeah." Tinman answered, hearing a gasp and the sound of a hard-covered book dropping* as Currence saw what Tinman was doing.