Our heroes have made their way to Seaside Town where they'll meet with the King.

Oh and it looks like a favorite NPC of mine is back.

 
"Tarvel, Raven, please guard the ship," Jen asked. She had set the space elf vessel near Seaside Town and planned to walk the rest of the way. "Glyn, you're with me."

Tarvel opened her mouth to object but thought better of it. She turned around and re-entered the ship, grumbling something about the ship’s automated defenses.

"Right away, Jen. Could you tell be what type of transport they use on this world, besides riding animals and walking?" Glyn inquired, anxious for any method of travelling that didn't involve flight. Glyn had adjusted his suit to resemble a leather jacket and pants, to fit in better with the native attire. He'd also configured his helmet to take on the appearance of a dark blue trilby.

Jen looked at Glyn's attire and suppressed a chuckle as the two elves disembarked from their ship. Glyn silently sent Jen a suggestion, which she accepted. Jen's suit morphed into a white halter top and red (though rather snug) wind pants.

"Sailing ships around here. Remember, this island is pre-industrial in its technological development, though Honourburg uses the internal combustion engine."

"Don't forget meat cars," an unfamiliar female voice called out from a nearby athletic looking brunette. The most noticeable features about her were a slight scar over one of her eyes, and the thorned whip which she carried at her side, always ready to strike out. "Pardon my interruption, but you must be friends of Aleena's, am I right?"

"Very good friends, though only one of us is as familiar with her as you, Ms. Swift. Name's Glyn, pleasure meeting you." replied the male space elf, momentarily forgetting that perhaps he should have waited for her introduction. Luckily, Glyn got away with his lapsed judgment in greeting the new acquaintance.

"Please, call me Katherine." She looked the two over then slowly smirked as if trying to tell which of the two he referred to. Katherine strode forward, offering a handshake. "Is Aleena with you? I haven't seen her in a while."

Glyn gave Katherine a quick bow as he shook her hand. "Unfortunately Aleena's occupied with space elf management, now that she's back among us. We will send your regards though, and who knows - Jen might be a good match for some further fun."

That last comment caused Jen to blush and earned him a short glare from Katherine. Katherine then smiled. "I'm sure you'd enjoy that, hmm?" She didn't pause for an answer. "So why are you two headed to town, anyway? Meeting Dash there?"

She sounded hopeful at that last part.

Glyn closed his eyes momentarily, then gave Katherine a bright smile. "Should I state the exact time he'll be reaching, or just say he'll be here shortly?"

Jen looked up, spying a figure approaching. "He's actually already here."

Dash drew his horse 'lola to a stop near the elves. He looked disappointed that he hadn't somehow managed to outpace their interstellar ship. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. Hey, Kath-"

He was interrupted as she rushed up to hug him. "Where've you been, stranger?"

"Ya know, the usual," Dash answered with a half grin. The two separated and looked over at the space elves. Dash explained, "Old friend."

"Greetings again, Sebastian," Jen said. She approached at an easy, relaxed pace. "I am amazed by your swiftness."

Dash smiled at the compliment. "Yeah, Espanolola hasn't gotten out much. I wanted to give her a lil run."

"I wish to meet with King MTiger. Would you be willing to introduce me, as you introduced Aleena?"

"If you can find him in town," Katherine said. "I hear he's been pretty hard to get in touch with."

"I'll do my best," Dash said. "Or I could put you in touch with Prince Blahking or another high ranking official."

"I've been meaning to ask: what's with the naming of folks, Sebastian? Katherine? Is there any cultural relevance for names taken, or was there at some point?" Glyn asked, opening a communique to Tarvel. He thought she would rather hear a local response directly, even via relay.

Dash looked at Katherine, who shrugged. "I'm not sure we get the question."

"MTiger is the king, Blahking is not," Jen filled in with a few examples that she thought strange enough.

"True, but depending on what you want," Dash answered. "He might be the better one to get in contact with."

Jen rolled her eyes and let the matter drop.

___
At the ship, Tarvel rolled her eyes upon hearing the lack of revelation. She spun in her chair and checked more readouts, trying to get a better sense of the world.

___

"But we can see if the King's in town and willing to see you," Dash offered, trying to be helpful.

"Lead the way, and my eyes will surely follow." Glyn smirked, amused by the conversation. Feeling ever so cheerful, he started whistling 'We're off to see the Wizard' snapping his fingers at points.

Somebody call his mamma!

Dash and Katherine shrugged and led them into the town. "I'm actually in town to help with the toy drive," Katherine explained.

"A toy drive? What is that?" Jen asked.

"We take donated toys," Katherine explained. "And pass them out to needy children on the wrong side of the tracks as part of fundamental job skills lessons."

"I understood very little of that, but I do know about donations. This will sound cliche, especially given your culture, but we are equipped to make toys."

Katherine took it as a joke, though. "Yeah. Right."

"It is our way to serve. Bring a cart to our ship tomorrow, and we will have something appropriate ready."

Katherine laughed a bit, then stopped. "It isn't dentist pliers, is it?"

"I did not plan on that. Did you want some?" Jen asked.

"No, but thank you for the offer," Katherine said, trying to wrap her mind around the idea. "I'm sure the children would work very hard for.. I mean, would love that. Are you sure you have time?"

"There's no primal code," Dash asked, "about making toys for underdeveloped worlds, right?"

Jen started feeling suspicious. She did not know entirely the situation, and that bothered her. "Sebastian, is it okay to make toys for Katherine?"

"It's fine by me," Dash said. "It's just our philosophers and drama writers always said when you were technologically advanced enough to travel to space, you'd be too advanced to 'contaminate' lower worlds with your.. er.. advanced technology."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like something out of a comicbook."

Dash blushed. "Yeah.. well."

"We will try not to get carried away with the designs then, Dash. It'll be interesting figuring out what will be appreciated. With that settled, should we go introduce ourselves to MKing or Blahking now?" Glyn attempted to keep a straight face while saying the names out loud, as it would be discourteous to find amusement in their given names while meeting a Kingdom's leaders.

"I'll go with you guys," Katherine offered cheerfully.

"Thank you Katherine - could you tell me more about meat cars and such along the way? The standard space elf mode of travel isn't my favorite choice." Glyn said, this time concealing the extent of his aversion to travelling through the air.

"I'm not much into mechanics," Katherine answered with a shrug. "Dash could probably help you more, although Konall's probably your best option."

"Some kind of gross sleazy magic, I suspect," Jen commented. Not properly understanding the reference, she found the thought of 'meat cars' - vehicles made of various bits of meat and animated by magic - to be offensive.

A spark burning steadily in his eyes, the space elf scientist quipped: "I'm sure if I can see how the 'meat cars' are designed, I can replicate it with our own technology - making the engines stronger, giving it a faster acceleration, and generally making it better. Now, would Konall be free for a little racing challenge sometime soon?"

Jen made a gagging motion and laughed. "Yugh. I don't think I want to see that. Now um, the palace, or guild hall, is that way, yes?"

"Guild hall," Dash said. "Well, clan representation station, you could call it."

Jen switched back to her uniform cysuit style as the four entered the building and sought out a guard. "Please switch, Glyn. You're out of uniform and this is official business."

Glyn sighed, as he returned his cysuit to uniform dress; he loved his hat so very much, but a princess's orders are to be followed whenever possible. At least Jen hadn't said anything about his earrings or hair...

"Lookin' sharp," Katherine commented on Glyn's physical appearance. "Though I kind of liked the hat."

"Excuse us. We're here to see the King," Jen politely asked a guard.

Though the guards looked as much dignitaries themselves. "Names and meeting numbers, please."

"Glyn, meeting # 31428571428571..." Glyn continued to arbitrarily quote the value for pi, as he didn't understand when they were supposed to get meeting numbers.

"Jen, Glyn, Dash and Katherine; ambassadorial mission from the Space Elf empire," Jen stated authoritatively.

"Space Elves?" The digna-guard asked with a suspicious glance.

"Just talk to Blahking, he'll clear it up," Dash said authoritatively.

The guard snapped his fingers at the other one, who opened the doors. "Would you like to wait in the main lobby?"

"Are we allowed to spar inside there? I'm guessing it might be a long wait, and I would like to stretch out. Care for a short bout, Katherine?" Glyn grinned, suddenly wielding two manji sai in his hands.

"Maybe we should wait until we have a more appropriate setting for that?" suggested Katherine.

"And here I thought you would appreciate the opportunity to crack your whip at a naughty space elf. Guess you've got other interests, like horse-back riding or so..." taunted Glyn, twirling his weapons clockwise, then counterclockwise in a show of skill.

"You know, you really are a show-off, Glyn," Katherine said, sounding amused. "You sound more fun than Dash and Jen. Less stuffy."

"We're standing right here, you know?" Dash asked.

"I know," Katherine answered playfully.

Reciting from memory, Glyn entailed the many benefits of physical exercise: release of pain-relieving endorphins, increased cardiovascular activity that helped promote healthy immune function, increased physical fitness...

When he looked up, he saw the others were long gone. <Jen, you do know I can track you easily right?> Glyn asked his team leader, as he got moving again.

<Aye. You are impressing Katherine, but you are not impressing me. Show a little restraint until we are out of here, okay?>

<Right, sorry - after the flight to Seaside Town, I guess I was a little too ecstatic walking around once more. Should I let you know of any irregularities I spot in MTiger or Blahking during the meeting or afterwards?>

<During is best. Just stay observant.>

Jen, meanwhile, had gained admittance to the throne room. After brief introductions, she began negotiations. "King MTiger, I greet you on behalf of Queen Aleena. We wish to establish formal relations with your kingdom and to repay the debt we owe you for your assistance."

Effortlessly gaining admittance to the meeting due to the similarity in their cysuit appearance, Glyn smoothly positioned himself on Jen's left. He had taken her instructions to heart and remained vigilant even while adopting a relaxed pose. The recreational sport scientist quickly began to assemble his repertoire of micro-expressions, facial actions and general bearing of the throne room's occupants (even including Sebastian Dash and Katherine Swift within his interpretive gaze).

MTiger, seated on the throne, glanced over at Prince Blahking, dressed in his finest formal garb, which cast him in the light of a prince rather than a mage, consisting of the finest silk tunic and shirt, with a thick leather strapped belt offsetting it.

"We don't consider there to be a debt," Blahking answered with a slight respectful bow. "And if there were, your thanks would be reward enough. However, if you're interested in formal relationships, my King and I would be quite open to discussions."

"We are. We can of course work out the details during a montage," Jen suggested.

And so it was done.

-----
<... Jen, I got slightly bored during the montage and did a dab of multi-tasking: do you want the body measurements for Sebastian Dash, Prince Blahking, Katherine Swift, and King MTiger, or are you okay with Aleena's records of those details?> Glyn cheekily messaged Jen, at the conclusion of the meeting.

<I destroyed a sparrow,> came a message from Tarvel on the ship. <It was eyeing our ship suspiciously. The battle was swift but glorious.>

Elsewhere

"I sent a bird to tell the space elves what was happening," Becky told Red and Green. "I hope he hurries back!"

End elsewhere

<Very good,> came Jen's reply, broadcast to the other three elves. <We have our orders. We will explore and learn about this world. Our alliance with the Kingdom means that its problems are our problems. Bring the ship into town, we've got a warehouse to park in and prisoners to deposit in their jail.>

<With pleasure,> came Tarvel’s reply as she eagerly began powering up the ship.

That was just a fun piece! We’re speeding in towards the Finale! We still got some contributions by Sassy Snake, Kadlin, the space elves, and more!