Meanwhilst

[On the western side of Britain, a certain warrior wonders if maybe,
just maybe, he got the short end of the codpiece.  As Dupre sucks in
his breath, he fancies the notion that he knows it.  'The shaft,' he
thinks as he presses his body against the back wall of the Magus Hut,
'is exactly what I got here.'  Trying his best to avoid the growing
crowd of merchants in the middle of the street, Dupre slides along the
wall.  Several of the men jab Dupre in the gut, pushing him back as
the disturbance quickly boils into a glut of arguing.  At the center
of the merchants stands a city official, a meager looking man with
glasses, who waves to the people surrounding him.]


My fellow citizens, we must show calm in the face of adversity. 


[A merchant waves a fist.]


Calm is for regular problems, Milne!


[Another merchant chimes in.]


Yeah, regular problems!  If it was a gargoyle, we'd call out the
Avatar!  


[The first merchant nods, looking to the second as he interrupts.]

Exactly!  Pirates, rogues, violent bushes, we can call the Avatar!
But how do we deal with THIS?


[The merchant holds out a bag with the word 'sugar' scrawled across
it, and opens the seal.  Reaching in with his right hand, the man
grumbles and soon produces a pile of fine, white powder.  Milne blinks
once or twice, leans toward the bag, and points.]


Exactly what's wrong with that, Jerhan?  It says sugar.


[Jerhan spits on the ground, waving the fist of powder around.]


But it's not sugar!  


[Milne looks to the hand, then to Jerhan, and then back to the hand.
Sticking his tumb and index finger in the mix as he talks, Milne takes
a small sample.]


Exactly what is it, then?


[Jerhan's eyes widen.]


How do you bleedin' expect me to know that?


[Dupre pauses, having freed himself from the pincer made by the crowd
and the Magus Hut.  His interest prompts him to waver, though,
watching as Milne licks the dust off his hand.  The official stops,
looks around, and then at Jerhan.]


<lick>

Well, it tastes just ... just ... uh ... let me try that again.

<lick>

[Milne looks up in surprise.]

That's ... not sugar at all.

[Jerhan explodes, waving the bag around and dispersing powder
everywhere as he screams.]

That's WHAT I JUST SAID!

[Milne reaches out, grabbing the bag from Jerhan's outstretched hand.
He licks his lips and nods to the merchant.]

Listen, Jer, we'll need ... need to see exactly what this stuff is.
So we can know precisely what to do about the problem.

[Jerhan shakes his head.]

I promised Sydney I'd let him have that bag.  He said something about
wanting to see what he could bake it into.

[Milne frowns, hands the bag back over.]

Do you have any more?

[Jerhan trembles, drops the bag to his side.]

I have a ... whole ... freaking ... WAREHOUSE OF THE STUFF!  Why do
you think I'm furious?  Because someone replaced one bag of sugar with
chalk or something like that?  I've got fifteen TONS of this useless
dung!

[Milne stares off into the distance, looking over the crowd.]

Your warehouse, it's over on Westford street, isn't it?

[Jerhan lifts the bag, tying it as he nods his head northward.  He
stares at the end of the street, speaking more to himself than the
officer.  The crowd follows his gaze, looking toward Westford street
as Jerhan talks.]

Yeah, it's up there.  I'm telling you it's practically a madhouse.
Woke up this morning, and found every animal on my bloody farm banging
at the doors.  Every one of them.  Had to throw two or three bags out
on the ground just to get them to shut up.  And Maude's not been
herself since she made her coffee this morning.  Kept talking about
seeing moongates in the sky.  What the 'ell does that mean?  Moongates
in the sky?!  Absolutely insane, it is.  

[Jerhan looks back to the center of the crowd, pauses.]

Milne?

<blink>

Milne?

[Two streets down, Dupre tries his best to remember the instructions
to Madame Rosa's home.  Shamino had said something about a street ...
a street that started with an "a."  But which way had it been from
Westford?  His mind had never been that sharp, but a simple name
should not escape him so!]

Bah.

[Snorting, Dupre begins walking.  It had been silly to send him on
this quest.  Why him?  He had never really needed the assistance of a
fortune teller before.  After all, what sort of fortune would Dupre
ever receive?]

<mutter>

Ridiculous, sending me to find Rosa.  What could a fortune teller tell
me anyway?  "Oooh, aaaah, oooh-"

[Dupre holds his plate-mail protected arms outward, waving them
erratically as he walks toward the next intersection.]

"Ooooh, aaaah, Duuuupraaaaay.  Duuuupraaaay, you will encounter a
great and mighty enemy.  You will attack him.  He will attack you.
Blows will be exchanged.  There will be blood.  You will make a witty
remark.  Your foe will reply with an equally witty remark.  Iolo will
hit you in the arse with a bolt.  You will be too used to that to
notice. Oooooh.  Aaaaah."

[Looking at the signposts, Dupre mentally decides to try 'Amber' road.
He continues to wave his arms around, speaking in a very deep voice as
he trots down his chosen path.]

"Oooooh, you will win.  Or you will lose.  The Avatar will ask you to
hold things.  You will hold them. Ooooh, aaaah.  There will be a great
calamity.  You will fight again.  Eeeny, aaaaah.  Boooogaboooo."

[A man on the other side of the street waves to Dupre.]

Been enjoying the sugar, huh?

[Dupre stops, pulls his arms down, and then coughs a short "no."  The
man smiles, tips his hat to Dupre, and resumes walking.  Dupre,
turning several interesting and no doubt undiscovered shades of red,
does the same.]
  

 
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