Geoff Cantrell sat at an outdoor table five hundred years later. He had crossed Rialt

in that time more than he had counted. Then sailing on to the next continent had been

the order of the day.

The times were changing, but people remained the same, and he was still fighting

countless little battles as he rode around the world.

He wondered if he was saving anything, or making a difference sometimes.

He looked at the meal that was coming to his table. He decided that even if he wasn’t

helping anyone else, he was making sure this restaurant was getting help staying

open.

“Another server is bringing the rest of your food, sir,” said the waitress. She wore a

robe with too many pink flowers that didn’t go with her complexion, or hair.

“Thank you very much,” said Geoff. “Do you mind if I start on this while I wait?”

“Of course not,” said the waitress. “Enjoy your meal.”

Geoff bowed his head in acknowledgment and watched her leave. It was a good thing

he was taken, or he would be getting into trouble every place he visited that had a

pretty girl on hand.

He began to slowly go through his meal. He liked sampling the food that he ordered

from places. He had decided a long time ago that he only had the ability to burn rice,

and he liked to enjoy what others cooked when he could.

The second waitress arrived as he picked through the first part of his meal. He sat

back out of the way so that she could place the bowls down on the table in front of

him.

“Thank you,” said Geoff. “The service here is excellent.”

“Thank you, sir,” said the waitress. She smiled as she walked away.

Geoff smiled as he went about the business of eating in a calm and methodical way.

He didn’t have to rush things. He wasn’t going to kill someone as soon as he was

done. He didn’t have anywhere to be yet.

It was the perfect day to savor the flavor that life was giving him right then.

“Cantrell?,” said an older lady. She stood outside the area marked for the restaurant.

She had a familiar look in her eye that Geoff couldn’t quite place. It was like looking

at something known but strange at the same time. She wore a black tunic and pants

in the simple style of all the peasant Shapers.

“Would you like to eat with me?,” said Geoff. “I’m indulging myself with some

money I took from some bad men.”

“That will be fine,” said the lady. She pulled a chair from the table and sat down so

she could watch the rest of the outside world moving on.

“It’s been a long time since last we met,” said the lady. “You still haven’t changed.”

“Not in the cards,” said Geoff. He picked up a bowl of finger meats and tried them

one at a time. “I don’t know what it means to settle down after all this time.”

“I’m afraid that I am in the same boat,” said the lady. “When I first proposed the deal

I made, I didn’t think I would be facing a bureaucracy that would fight me at every

turn.”

“What did you think would happen?,” asked Geoff.

“I thought I would be teaching shapers to shape different elements,” said the lady. “I

didn’t think I would be running the nation with small breaks for centuries.”

“Sounds rough,” said Geoff. He put the empty bowl down and looked for the next

thing he wanted to eat.

“The paperwork is backbreaking,” said the lady.

“You could always quit,” said Geoff.

“The administration would always be able to find me when I am younger with little

memory of what happened before,” said the lady. “It would be more in their interest

if something happened to me so they could put their own puppet on the throne and

attack the Animal Shapers in the low country.”

“I don’t know how I can help you,” said Geoff. “I plan to cross the low country and

head for the ocean beyond.”

A group of men approached. They all had military, or at least mercenary, bearings.

Their hands were on their swords.

They stopped and surrounded the Dai. Some of them looked at Geoff. He could see

they didn’t consider him important. He didn’t mind. It made it easier to kill people

when they thought he couldn’t do anything to them.

“We have been asked to retrieve you for the council,” said the leader of the men.

“No,” said Geoff. He picked up a bowl of soup. “Go away.”

“Silence, outlander,” said the leader. “I will cut your tongue out if you speak again.”

Geoff laughed at him. He put down the bowl so he wouldn’t spill his soup. The other

frowned at him.

“Why are you laughing?,” said the leader. A frown indicated he didn’t like being

laughed at by some tramp.

“May I?,” said the Dai. She wore a smile on her leathery face.

Geoff waved at her to go ahead. He fought back the laughter until it became hiccups.

“This gentleman that you are threatening with the removal of his tongue is Geoff

Cantrell,” said the Dai. “The moment you interrupted his meal was the moment he

decided to kill all of you. Now I understand that you think Geoff Cantrell is a story

made up to scare children. You are wrong about that.”

“Kill them both,” said the leader. He went down with a knife sticking out of his eye

after giving the last order he would ever give.

Geoff stood up from his chair. He grabbed the closest two plates and flung them at

the group. One of the men swept the plate coming at him aside by gesturing the air

into a wall. The other took boiled cabbage to the face, making him step back.

The Dai pointed at the air shaper. A jet of fire picked the man up and flung him into

the wall of a medicinal shop. He tried to pick himself up, but he had cracked his skull

on impact and decided to stay on the ground and try to remember his own name.

Geoff smiled as he pulled his sword, and other knife. He had been looking at six to

one odds. Now it was four to one. Things were a little more manageable from his

perspective.

And one of those four was trying to get cabbage juice out of his eyes so he wasn’t

likely to be more than a temporary object of interest.

Geoff danced around earth walls and fire blasts. One by one, he chopped his enemies

down. He wasn’t that much faster than an ordinary man, but he had spent a lot of time

practicing on hitting the same area on a human body while protecting his own.

He looked at the last man standing. The man reached for the liquids in the foods for

ammunition. The Dai punched him with the air. He hit the wall beside his friend.

Then the soups fell on top of him.

“It looks like you were right about the bureaucracy,” said Geoff. He cleaned and

sheathed his weapons. “Now my food is ruined. I had planned to enjoy myself for the

next hour, or so.”

“I will compensate you for the food,” said the Dai. “Would you accompany me to the

hall of justice?”

“I suppose,” said Geoff. He grabbed a bottle of wine and put it in his traveling bag.

“What about this lot?”

“What about them?,” said the Dai. She waved her hand. Stone encased the survivors

instantly. “They’ll stay here until I send someone to get them. You still have your

knack with the throwing knife.”

“You throw a knife a million times, you get better at throwing it,” said Geoff. “The

real trick is in the draw.”

“Why is that?,” said the Dai.

“The reflexes just aren’t what they were,” said Geoff. “So you can hit the other guy

a hundred times. That doesn’t matter if he’s faster than you.”

“How many have you met that are faster than you?,” asked the Dai.

“A few,” said Geoff. He shrugged at her look.

“How many of them are still alive?,” asked the Dai.

“One maybe,” said Geoff. “It depends.”

“Depends on what?,” said the Dai.

Their conversation took them from the restaurant to a law officer’s station. The Dai

asked for her attackers to be picked up.

“Depends on what?,” said the Dai, picking up the thread of their conversation.

“Whether he hit the rocks, or the ocean,” said Geoff.