After debuting with Wildfall last mission, Mary Kate stars in her first solo piece!

Check out Mary Kate when she's on her own, at least, at first.

 
After the short conversation with Todd and Fahari, Wildfall bid the group farewell and walked off, saying he had things to do and would catch up later. Todd and Fahari took their leave and Mary found herself alone, trying to decide what she was going to do next. As she started walking aimlessly around, she heard something that caught her attention. Slowing her pace to pretend to look around, she overheard a conversation about a cargo shipment that was to be sent out on a ship later that night. No mention of the name of the ship but from the tone and whispered voices, Mary wondered if it could have anything to do with the stolen security plans for the cargo shipments.

Mary knew of a favorite docking spot the Captain liked to visit just off the shores to the west .. She would talk to the Captain and see if he had heard anything about cargo shipments going out later that night. In her haste to get to the Captain, she ran headlong into Omar and Naomi, the two sailors from Captain Horatio's ship. Not long ago, they had accompanied her on her search for the Toot Oriole.

Omar picked himself up off the ground. "Hey, you idiot, why don't you watch where you are going. You could hurt someone running like that and......" In mid sentence, Omar realized who ran into him.

"Mary, what is wrong and why are you in such a hurry?" asked Omar with Naomi close behind him.

"Oh Omar, I am so sorry for knocking you over like that. I was in such a hurry and not paying attention to where I was going. I would love to stay and talk but I have to get to the Captain and talk to him. It might be very important." Mary hurriedly turned to go.

"Hold on, Mary," said Omar as he grabbed her arm. "We might be able to save you some time and steps. Naomi and I are here in DeGrassi with the Captain. We came to visit some friends and can take you to the Captain."

Naomi nodded and greeted Mary with a hug and chuckled. "You really were flying right along there, Mary. Did not know you could run so fast. Follow us and we will take you to the Captain."

Mary followed Naomi and Oscar to an unassuming little house on the southern edge of DeGrassi and as they entered the house, Mary heard the familiar laugh of the Captain and the smell of the pipe that was always hanging from the Captain's mouth.

"Mary, lass, how wonderful to see you safe and sound. I was so worried about you after hearing about the encounter you and Naomi had with that demon. What were you two thinking going against that demon barehanded? Mary, you could have gotten killed and your father would never have forgiven myself or Wildfall," Captain Horatio admonished her. He then scooped Mary up in his strong arms and gave her a bear hug.

Mary returned the hug but squirmed out of the Captain's grip. She looked around the room they were in and noticed several of the Captain's crew were present which got Mary wondering who was guarding the ship. Mary stared at the Captain with a questioning look; the Captain replied, "Don't worry, lass, the ship is safe and sound and well guarded. Myself and the crew here decided to come down to visit some friends we haven't seen in awhile."

The Captain looked at Mary and saw that all too familiar look that she got when she was troubled about something. "Mary, lass, what is wrong? What is troubling you? Nothing has happened to your parents, has it?" asked the Captain with a worried look on his face.

Mary looked at the Captain, shook her head and replied, "As far as I know my parents are fine; I haven't heard anything from them since they left and I am sure that if anything bad happened, I would have heard by now. No, there is another more important matter that I need to talk to you about in private if possible."

The Captain nodded and pointed the way to a small room off the room they were standing in; he motioned for Mary to follow. Once inside the room, the Captain closed the door and motioned for Mary to sit down. Mary looked around the room and saw it sparsely furnished with a cot, a small table and one chair. The only light in the room came from the window above the table. Mary sat on the chair and the Captain, on the cot. Mary proceeded to tell the Captain about the Council, the thefts and kidnappings. She told him about overhearing the conversation about the cargo shipment that was leaving on a ship that evening and asked the Captain if he had heard any talk about it.

"No, Lass, I have not heard anything specific, but I did hear talk about a special cargo that was sailing out soon but no word on what the ship is named, where it is docked or the destination," replied the Captain, shaking his head. "I did hear of a stranger in the area that locals said was acting rather suspicious. Let's see, I think they said he had some fancy name. Yes I remember now, it was Herr Pretzel Nugget. The reason I remember that was the fact I had not heard a name like that since I sailed the high seas abroad."

"Do you know where this Herr Nugget is at now?" asked Mary. "I would like to meet him and talk to him and see if he knows anything about this."

The Captain jumped up from the cot and before Mary could get off her chair he was standing over her. Pointing his finger in her face and using as stern a voice as he could muster without yelling at her, he said, "Now you listen to me young lady, you don't go poking around into this and talking to this stranger on your own. You have no idea what you would be running into and I will not have your father after me if anything happens to you."

Mary started to protest but the Captain continued. "To make sure you don't go behind my back and go off half cocked like you always do, I am assigning Omar and Naomi to guard you."

Mary jumped up from her chair and fired back at the Captain, "You are ... WHAT? I do NOT need a GUARD. I can take care of myself."

"Under most circumstances, lass, you'd be right, but this is not normal and you are not back in Ireaca. You have no idea what you are up against. Now you either listen to me and take my advise or I will take you back to the ship and put you under guard there. I promise that you will not like being cooped up on the ship," replied the Captain.

Mary looked meekly at the Captain. Knowing he was right and just watching out for her, she replied, "Alright, but only Omar and Naomi. I don't want a bunch of sailors following me around everywhere I go."

Mary turned and, without saying a word to anyone, walked out the door and started down the road to the Distant Wood and the Typical Tavern to see Bart Ender the bartender there. Maybe he could help her with some information.

Feeling desolate, she walked without paying much attention to anything around her. She missed having Wildfall with her and did not know if she would ever see him or her parents again. She had tried so hard to prove to her parents that she was old enough to stay behind and take care of things and the house but it was proving to be a bigger task than she thought. Since the nightmares, she was filled with self doubt about her abilities as a nurse and now the Captain had decided she couldn't take care of herself and had assigned Naomi and Omar as guards.

She turned around to see where they were or if they were even coming. She stopped when she saw them running to catch up to her and as they got closer she yelled, "If you are coming with me, you'd better learn to keep up. I don't have time to hang around waiting on people."

Naomi was the first to catch her breath enough to say anything and asked Mary, "What happened back there and why were you yelling at the Captain? We heard you clear outside the house. Why are you in such a hurry? Where are we going?"

Mary looked at Naomi and Omar and snapped back saying, "It appears the Captain thinks I can't take care of myself so you two are my babysitters, although the Captain called you guards... Well I will show all of you that I can take care of myself. First my parents went away and then Jarlsy left me after promising my dad to stay with me and now this."

Mary paused to catch her breath and continued in an apologetic tone. "Sorry I snapped at you but I hate being treated like a helpless little girl and being told what I can and cannot do."

"Well you don't have to lay into us just because you are mad at the world! We did not have anything to do with what happened between you and the Captain back there," Naomi snapped back. "Girl if you react this way with your friends, I don't want to be your enemy and be on the receiving end of that temper. Your temper is going to get us all in a lot of trouble one of these days and I for one would not want to be around when that happens."

Omar finally spoke up and tried to smooth out the situation between the girls. "Please, ladies, can we call a truce and get on about our assignment so we can all go home? I liked you both better when you were working as a team against the demon. That was so cool to see you both wailing away on him with your bare fists, till Mary remembered her throwing knives and Naomi discovered her boot knife wasn't just decorative." Omar snickered at the thought.

"Ok I guess a truce is in order since it really wasn't your fault I went off on you both. I need to get the the Typical Tavern in the Distant Woods. Do you guys know where that is? I am looking for Bart Ender, the barkeep," said Mary looking at both Naomi and Omar.

Omar lit up. "Oh yea, we know where that is and we know Bart too. We will take you there and make sure you stay out of trouble too."

The three of them started laughing as they turned down the path to the Distant Woods.

It was a big step for the player, BinaJane, to jump from co-writes to doing her own story, but I think she did an admirable job. (I love that gal.) Even better, there's a second Mary Kate piece later on! It's cool seeing Captain Horatio, Omar and Naomi back from her first piece, too. And of course, we get some very solid characterization. Next up, Mary's reunited with Wildfall, Todd and Fahari under less pleasant conditions than the last time.

Wildfall's in a spot of trouble.. up next!