Inspection

Jimmy accepted the butter tarts with an equal measures of glee and suspicion.

"Back so soon, and with tarts. You're wantin something mighty big of me this time, ain't you girls?" He squinted so that one eye was almost shut, and the other glared at them, wide open.

Mayra grinned, "You're always so suspicious Jimmy! But yes, we need your help and we're not sure exactly how difficult it would be for you to do so."

"I'm listenin'. I'm not promisin', but I'm listenin'." He perched himself on a rock to begin devouring one of the tarts.

"We need information. That's not so difficult, right?" Mayra smiled sweetly.

Jimmy frowned around his bite, and didn't answer.

"We think the Rhone might have captured our friend Roland. You remember him! He's been reported dead, but there's no body. We think it disappeared because the Rhone took him into the other world you described. Do you have a way of finding that out? Can you go through this other world to find him?" Mayra's eyes turned doe-like in her effort to urge Jimmy to take pity on them and help.

"That's like sayin, 'hey I got a friend lost somewhere between here and the ocean, can you find him? Also it's dark and silent'," Jimmy scoffed. "Ain't no sense in going poking around there unless you know right where you are and right where you're going."

Finn sighed and sunk to the ground. "Is there any way of finding out information about whether he's there?"

Jimmy eyed her as he continued chewing. "There is, but it ain't easy or likely to work."

"What is it?" She asked with some trepidation.

"The Fae. I hear they can come and go as they please from the other place, even see around in there too, but they're a flighty bunch. Difficult to find, let alone convince them to stick around long enough to help ya."

"The Fae?" Mayra blinked.

"I saw them mentioned in the book where I learned about halflings." Finn cut in, "It said they were noble and selfless. If they're real... that should mean they're willing to help us, right? To save Roland from this other world?"

"Mebbe," Jimmy allowed, "But gotta find 'em first. Mama Millicent said she met one once, but they're uncommon things that live where people don't."

"High in the mountains?" Finn concentrated, trying to remember anything else the book had said about them.

"That's right. Higher than people like you can normally get to. Course, it's summer now so maybe you have a shot if you go quicklike, but I still don't know that you'll find 'em." Jimmy shrugged.

"Are they big? Small? What do they look like?" Mayra asked.

"Near about people size, best I can figure," Jimmy responded. "Never have seen one myself. Mama Millicent said they can look different than you'd expect."

"We have to try, don't we?" Mayra turned to Finn.

"It's probably better than my plan to try getting captured," She admitted. "If we can't find them, we'll just come back."

Jimmy sighed and reached into his pocket. "It's a mite suicidal, but it's your lives. So's you don't die as easy, which I guess would inconvenience me a sight, here's a going away present. Recipe for wolf repellant. If you girls get killed I'll have to go buy my own tarts. I hate going into town."

"You just... conveniently had this with you?" Mayra let a smile creep onto her face. The old man cared, whether he would admit it to her or not.

"I keep things around for reasons." Jimmy stated with an unreadable expression. With that, he was gone, tarts and all.

"Thank you Jimmy! You're great!" Mayra called after him. A mumbled response drifted to her on the wind and she laughed. Finn sighed.

"What do we do? It seems we have Jimmy's reluctant blessing, and he hasn't steered us very far wrong yet." Mayra asked her.

"I'm still processing the fact that they might be real, and magical, and able to help. And if they can help with Roland... maybe they would help with other things too?" Finn was trying to squelch the hope she felt inside. She still needed to save their families, oust the traitorous Provider from Klain, and prevent a war. Those were insurmountable tasks for her alone, even with Mayra.

Jimmy had been a reluctant helper in their quest to find ways to learn magic and help Klain, and therefore their families. But, if the Fae were real, they were likely much more powerful, and hopefully more willing, to intervene. That could change everything.

"Let's think on this. For now, I have to get back and help with inspections of the troops. We'll talk with Dr. and Mrs. Sherman about it tonight. I'm sure they'll have opinions." Finn winced. They would be strongly opposed, she was sure. It would take an enormous effort of convincing for them to let the girls take such a perilous journey.

_______________

Finn and Dr. Sherman showed up just after noon at the recruitment office for troop inspections. As planned, Finn covered her head on the way to the office, then stayed out of view to take notes while the various soldiers filed through for their physicals.

She dutifully wrote into the medical notebook for hours on end as Dr. Sherman dictated. The city housed far more total soldiers than the encampment had, particularly since the threat of war swelled the ranks of those who actively practiced to defend the city. Such routines were largely optional, but a tide of patriotism drove an increase in participation. The time dragged on, and Finn's writing hand was aching. If this kept up too long, her handwriting would suffer miserably and become unreadable.

Most of the exams were blessedly brief, and done in batches of ten soldiers. Dr. Sherman asked a series of health-related questions, listened to each of their hearts and lungs, tested their joints, and generally cleared them for duty. Occasionally he gave short pieces of advice on changing someone's diet or doing certain strengthening exercises. Even though this whole endeavor was partly a ruse to get Finn an opportunity to speak with Ashley, the good doctor would not waste the opportunity to make the troops as healthy as he could.

Many men never saw a doctor at all unless they were sick, and even then many stubbornly refused, thinking doctors were only for the dying or seriously ill. Some had probably only ever seen a doctor when they first started their military service in their teenage years. Dr. Sherman was cognizant of this and carefully watched for symptoms of ignored serious disease.

Finally, it was Ashley's turn. As the only healthy female active soldier in Klain at the moment (many women had volunteered but were put on a waiting list given the General's directive on the wolves hunting females), she had a private exam instead of being in one of the batches of soldiers.

Once she entered the room and the door closed, Finn emerged from her place behind the screen and ran to hug her. Dr. Sherman stepped out a side door to give them some privacy.

"Finn!" Ashley clung to her, "I thought you'd abandoned me."

"Never!" Finn held her back to look into her face, emphasizing her words. "We will never abandon you, no matter what."

"Then what happened?" Ashley asked.

"Mayra and I went to see your mother, but your father didn't like that and had us threatened with arrest if we contacted anyone in your family ever again. I couldn't openly come see you anymore, but we haven't forgotten about you. Far from it!" Finn's heart ached for the lonely girl.

"He did what? How could he??" Ashley knew her father was getting desperate, but cutting her off from her only friends by threatening them was even worse than she'd thought.

"Your mother told me everything, about how your father makes everyone think she's crazy, and that he's been communicating with Klain's enemies and doing their bidding. She says he's a traitor, but she isn't sure how to expose him. It sounded like she hadn't told you any of this before, but the man you're engaged to sounds like one of the Rhone." Finn tried to summarize the important points of what she'd learned. "I need to know if you think she's crazy or believable."

"She's not crazy," Ashley stated adamantly. "I can't believe that about her. Father's been crushing her spirit for ages, but her mind has never gone, only given up." Finn nodded, glad that she'd told everything to the General.

"On top of all that, Mayra and I might be leaving for a time, will you be all right without us around? Not that we can openly help you right now anyway." She grimaced.

"Going away?" Ashley blinked at her. What could draw her friends out of the safety of the city with war on their horizon?

"It's a long story involving herbs and halflings and Fae. The short side of it is, we think Roland might be alive and we're going to try to find help."

Ashley stared at her blankly. "How could he be alive? The report said..."

"That's part of the long story," Finn sighed. "I don't have time for all that, the exam can only take so long before people might get suspicious. Is there anything you need, or any way we can help you?"

"Nothing at all," Ashley said. "My father will prevent me being deployed, even if that's what I want. I was almost ready to give in when you didn't come back to see me, but now that I know that's all his doing as well, I'm never giving up. I'll never do what he wants."

"Is that so? How very disappointing." The door opened and both girls gasped as The Provider entered the room.