After the last of us had been pulled aboard, with our captive mermaid in tow, we convened on the deck.\u00a0 The smell of brine and the drip of our wet selves on the deck were practically the only sounds, aside from Karac\u2019s coughing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dex had run forward, and unlocked the anchor, where it slid freely into the water.\u00a0 After securing the rope tightly, she pointed Zenith aft to repeat the process.\u00a0 The ship came to something of a restive halt, the waves slapping the hull.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We bound the mermaid hand and\u2026fin, before waking her.\u00a0 I stood back, speaking with Bingo, while Sered and the rest interrogated our prisoner.\u00a0 I speak no elvish, which I assume is the language she used \u2013 I did occasionally pick up words, like \u201cfood\u201d and \u201csun\u201d.\u00a0 I also saw \u2013 much to my surprise \u2013 Sered strike her several times.\u00a0 Her angry hissing blended into words while he shouted questions back to her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The sun\u2019s light was tapping the sea when he stood, looking over at us.\u00a0 \u201cI have the location where they took him.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bingo stepped forward.\u00a0 \u201cHow do we get there?\u00a0 None of us know how to sail!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sered looked around, checking out the deck.\u00a0 \u201cWe swim.\u00a0 It\u2019s only inside this tower here.\u201d\u00a0 He waved at the Tooth of Vasylim before us, which had threatened to dash the ship apart only moments before.\u00a0 \u201cWe can use casks and other floats for those of you who don\u2019t have the skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I looked over.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll stay here to guard the prisoner.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karac snapped his gaze over.\u00a0 \u201cFrom?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I looked over at the sea, where the sun had set a moment ago.\u00a0 Then up at the wheel deck, where Ereliya stood with a gaze of fury of an intensity I\u2019d rarely seen before.\u00a0 I nodded at her.\u00a0 \u201cFrom reprisal.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The deck cracked loudly, and enormous thorns thrust themselves up, oozing sap and ichor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He looked up, looked back to me.\u00a0 Nodded with a grim expression.\u00a0 He reached down to the bound mermaid, who flinched at his approach.\u00a0 Her swollen cheek had already begun to bruise.\u00a0 He frowned, then snatched away the coral circlet from her head.\u00a0 He brandished it at her and waggled it, muttering something in elvish.\u00a0 Bingo whispered to me, \u201cProof we have her.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of them retrieved various objects from the deck, and over the side they went.\u00a0 To say I regretted my choice would be true, but on the other hand, I dislike swimming in water whose depth I can\u2019t see.\u00a0 I love diving in clear seas, but this?\u00a0 I\u2019d seen too many attacks to trust these seas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I pulled a stool over and sat next to the bound she-fish.\u00a0 I fired up the second half of my prior cigar, and laid Sybarron <\/em>across my lap.\u00a0 I\u2019d ceased to think of him as \u201cmy sword\u201d after our conversation a few days ago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bobbing heads of the group receded into the fast-darkening twilight, and I think I caught sight of them going up a rough rock-face before full dark set in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ereliya walked past me, giving me a wide berth.\u00a0 She whispered something at the mermaid, then turned to me.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll kill her if he doesn\u2019t return.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll gladly hold her while you do, if that be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t think that somehow endears you to me, Shadrim.\u00a0 I have not, and probably will not, forgive you for bringing that<\/em> on board.\u201d\u00a0 She walked to the railing and looked off to the island.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The night passed long and quiet.\u00a0 The stars, as usual, were beautiful, where they were able to peek out from between the clouds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Part of me, looking up, wondered at the persons who had forged pacts like mine with the beings that lived among those stars \u2013 even the stars themselves.\u00a0 I had not known such things could be done, until I spent those few days in study and introspection looking for my connection to the infernal Host.\u00a0 In my studies, I found that some aspects of the arcane can be gleaned from the bright stars.\u00a0 Whether they were simply discovered remnants of power drifting through the cosmos, or sentient beings, there were varying theories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In any case, the stars of the feywild are wondrous.\u00a0 They come in a variety of colors, brightnesses.\u00a0 Some flicker, others are steady beams.\u00a0 A very few seem to circle one another, the most notable being the Six Siblings \u2013 each a different color, they swirl about one another at a rapid pace no more than a fingernail\u2019s width apart.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I reached out a foot to deliver a swift kick to the mermaid before she slithered any further.\u00a0 I stood and held Sybarron <\/em>at her neck.\u00a0 \u201cNo more moving.\u00a0 Savvy?\u201d\u00a0 I used my best pirate accent to emphasize the point.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She went limp on the deck.\u00a0 I slid a bucket of water over to her, from which she gulped a few swallows.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When dawn grew close, the soft blue of it slowly growing in the sky, the stars silently faded from their resting places.\u00a0 Although I have confidence in my companion\u2019s abilities, I began to wonder what I would do if they did not return.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My ponderings were given reinforcement shortly after dawn when the heads of two women surfaced near the ship.\u00a0 They called out in some rough form of elvish, to which our captive shouted a response \u2013 or at least tried to, before Sybarron\u2019s <\/em>point came to rest on her throat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSpeak no more, or I\u2019ll pin you to the deck through a spot you\u2019re going to need.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fortunately, that was not necessary.\u00a0 I heard a voice a few moments ago I recognized.\u00a0 \u201cAz!\u00a0 AZ!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking over the side, I saw Sered\u2019s form, swimming up o the side.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe made a deal, free her.\u201d\u00a0 He looked back over his shoulder at the two, clearly wanting to strike them dead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I walked back to the bound she-fish, and sliced through her bonds.\u00a0 Waved at her to be gone.\u00a0 She struggled back from me, and halted for a moment, looking up at me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGAH!\u201d\u00a0 I shouted at her, putting my best fierce face on.\u00a0 She flinched back quickly, and slithered snakelike over the side.\u00a0 The soft plunk of her entry into the water marked her exit.\u00a0 The other two chittered among themselves before they too, vanished beneath the waves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A while later, the others came back into sight, this time bearing Shalvar.\u00a0 He floated on his back, moaning loudly.\u00a0 His clothes were pierced in several places, and I could see remnants of bloodstains that hadn\u2019t completely washed out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ereliya went practically insane when she saw Shalvar.\u00a0 The thorns that had sprouted last night split open with a series of rattling snaps across the entire deck.\u00a0 Pink, blue, and yellow blossoms sprang from their interiors, and before long the deck was awash in the scent of honey.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She pulled Shalvar from the grasp of Karac as he dragged Shalvar from the water and up the netting on the side.\u00a0 She pulled him up bodily, slinging him through the air to come to rest in her arms on the deck.\u00a0 They talked quietly, unmistakenly the tones of a reunited couple.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen enough people returning from campaign to know the sounds of a couple rejoined.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Variously, everyone headed downstairs to switch for dry clothes.\u00a0 Mostly, I think they simply wanted to grant Ereliya and Shalvar a dose of privacy.\u00a0 I joined them, stopping in the galley to grab a small slab of some pickled vegetable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We brought Shalvar below after the sun rose, when it banished Ereliya back into the body of the vessel.\u00a0 He whispered something to Zenith before passing out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll sleep for a few hours.\u00a0 We\u2019re to stay anchored here,\u201d Zenith said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m to go upstairs and stay by the wheel in case she needs something.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We all concurred.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shalvar woke some six hours later, relatively coherent.\u00a0 He joined us up top, looking considerably better.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t speak much, just headed to the wheel assembly and resumed his lean.\u00a0 After a couple of hours I walked up to check on him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate your having come for me.\u00a0 They\u2019d have had me for supper had you all not stepped in.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, we couldn\u2019t very well abandon you.\u00a0 Who would be captain?\u201d\u00a0 I waved around at the various members.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019d probably be beating each other up trying to figure out how anything works, and at Sunset Ereliya would probably be throwing us overboard anyway.\u201d\u00a0 I grinned while I said this.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHmph.\u00a0 Probably right.\u201d\u00a0 He spun the wheel.\u00a0 \u201cStill, not much to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t exaggerate.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen you pilot in a fight.\u00a0 Thank you, by the way \u2013 you\u2019ve saved us as well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my job here, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI suppose so.\u201d\u00a0 I took a few swallows off my waterskin and offered it to him.\u00a0 He shook his head with a thankful expression.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI do wish to thank you for your efforts, though.\u00a0 I will relax my requirement for payment when we return.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019m sure we\u2019d all appreciate keeping our experiential memories that much more intact.\u201d\u00a0 I grinned once again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd before I forget,\u201d he walked down the steps and over to Sered.\u00a0 \u201cI have something for you.\u201d\u00a0 Sered looked at him quizzically, as he reached under his cloak and retrieved a small bundle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese boots should help you next time you choose to go swimming.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had them for a while, but I know how to swim.\u201d\u00a0 Sered took the boots gingerly, uncertain what to say.\u00a0 Eventually he just looked impassively at Shalvar and said \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t estimate this very accurately, but we should be at the Taer sometime day after tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I nodded.\u00a0 \u201cFair enough.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just hope we don\u2019t get too many more bumps along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two days passed, surprisingly without incident.\u00a0 On the night of the second day, we finally caught sight of an island on the horizon.\u00a0 Shalvar informed us that we\u2019d probably reach it somewhen around daylight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I woke in the grey dawn, a cold breeze coming down the stairs and flowing over me.\u00a0 I\u2019ve come to realize I enjoy the cold now, almost as much as the fire my ancestry gives me a taste for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Heading abovedeck, I saw the others gathering at the port railing.\u00a0 Shalvar was with them.\u00a0 The island rose out of the sea with a light misting, great conifers starting yards away from the shore, much as the harbor colony we departed from.\u00a0 Behind and around us, broken hulls and wrecked ships faded in and out of the mists, like ghost skeletons poking out of the sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Eladrin pulled two small acorns from his side pouch and tossed them, one after the other, into the sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When they hit, they immediately foamed in the water, quickly growing into large rowboats.\u00a0 I withheld the joke that came to mind about the small boats being his children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sered looked back at me and frowned.\u00a0 \u201cGlad you could join us, hellspawn.\u201d\u00a0 His tone fairly dripped with resentment, or perhaps it was disgust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karac also looked over, a frown on his face as well.\u00a0 Bingo elbowed his way past Zenith to get to the rail and start down.\u00a0 \u201cOuta my way, mister donothing.\u201d\u00a0 His voice piped with some combination of self-amusement and irritation.\u00a0 He clambered down into the first boat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Zenith had an expressionless look.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever you say, stub.\u201d\u00a0 He looked over at me.\u00a0 \u201cWe should have thrown you and that cursed sword into the ocean days ago.\u201d\u00a0 I simply showed him my teeth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karac got into the other boat.\u00a0 When Dex got in, he growled something at her which I couldn\u2019t quite make out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The others settled into the boats.\u00a0 I was aggravated as hell \u2013 no pun intended \u2013 that I had to take the bow of the boat with Bingo and Sered in it.\u00a0 That blue-skinned prig had just about hit my fill limit with his snide remark.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We rowed in, moving over the calm sea towards the frosted sands of the beach.\u00a0 Beneath us, the water was crystal clear and smooth.\u00a0 I could see wreckage, ruined armor, weapons, even coins and gems glinting up at us from the sea floor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The smell of the sea in winter is an amazing thing \u2013 brisk, clean, sharp.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t any of the rotting vegetation you get with summer.\u00a0 Occasional glinting fish darted past us, silvery flashes against the ruin on the floor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking up at the shore, I tried to get a glimpse into the trees, hoping we would not run into an ambush while we were on the boats.\u00a0 A small ship was sunk to our left, half-exposed beneath the slowly receding tide, and another wreck rested on the shore ahead of us, slowly disintegrating in the weather.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Something there, deep in the trees, flashed.\u00a0 A mirror, or a reflection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Behind me, Sered\u2019s voice muttered out.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting a long time for this, you dog.\u00a0 Your hide will bear the mark of my loathing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I felt the bite of his spirit-mark set upon me, and leaped \u2013 a moment too late \u2013 into the water.\u00a0 His sword flashed across my back, which I\u2019m sure cut me nicely across my lower muscles there.\u00a0 The water, waist-deep where I was, splashed up around me as I raced away from the boat.\u00a0 I heard Bingo give a surprised yell and a quick splash there as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I reached to him with my perceptions, feeling his desire to pursue, and sank my curse into his spirit.\u00a0 I spat back over my shoulder: \u201cFilthy creature, when I\u2019m done with you perhaps you\u2019ll be recycled into something a little more useful.\u201d\u00a0 I slid a stealthy arcane bite into the curse, and saw the frost lick up over his tunic as the teeth of it sank home.\u00a0 He grunted with anger, trying to clear his vision from the deceptive glamour of my attack.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Something grabbed me, like a blanket of iron wrapping itself around me, squeezing\u2026and I found myself face-to-face with Sered again.\u00a0 He was grinning, and we were both some yards away from our boat, towards the shore.\u00a0 He swung his greatsword, which was glowing with golden fire.\u00a0 I parried as best I could with Sybarron<\/em>, but the strike rattled my arm all the way to my spine.\u00a0 I countered with a strike of my own, pushing a fierce burst of eldritch power into the edge of the blade as I raked it across his lower abdomen.\u00a0 He recoiled, and I only just barely cut into him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOne more lifetime to add to your memories soon, you sanctimonious prig,\u201d with that curse I felt my power bite into him, and I ripped open a rift behind me, stepping through some fifteen yards back.\u00a0 As I pulled back through the rift to arrive next to the crushed hull on our left, a burst of chill exploded from my place next to Sered, chilling his body and lining him with frost.\u00a0 I saw him grimace and begin almost immediately to rip his feet free from the suddenly-iced sea he found himself in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Taking a quick glance over to the other boat, I saw violence erupting there as well.\u00a0 Zenith had floated from his position in the boat away to aft of it, and Dex stood in the boat, weapons out.\u00a0 Bingo moved woodenly through the sea towards my wreck.\u00a0 Karac, back in our boat, cried out \u201cSered!\u201d as he ploughed through the water to get to the Deva, attempting to help him get free.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I invoked a band of energy around me, tiny points of light glimmering angrily with violent energy.\u00a0 I had to keep concentrating to control them, and arrowed one of them at Sered while he splashed towards me.\u00a0 My shot went wide, sizzling in the water beside him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I ran up beside Bingo, and whispered to him, \u201cThey\u2019ve gone mad, we can only save ourselves \u2013 protect ourselves if they attack us \u2013 take Sered down and we can perhaps convince the others to stand down.\u00a0 You\u2019ve always been a good companion.\u201d\u00a0 I actually felt a bit of what I said, though my purpose was to point him at Karac and Sered before finding a good opportunity to level him in a blow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He looked at me, his eyes glassy and rolled up into his head, and spoke in a voice I found strange until I recognized it was Zenith\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cKeep talking, fireborn.\u00a0 Your body\u2019s going to sink here along with the other trash.\u201d\u00a0 With that he turned and drew his bow to shoot at me.\u00a0 I swung Sybarron<\/em> at him, sinking a good cut on the shoulder.\u00a0 I funneled a burst of vitality through Sybarron\u2019s<\/em> blade and felt the blade rip at the internals of the halfwise, pulling his blood so strongly that the ends of his veins actually protruded from the cut.\u00a0 I felt him – Sybarron<\/em>, that is – smile inside as he inflicted a grievous wound on the halfwise.\u00a0 Despite this, Bingo’s arrow found its way into my leg, but only passed through the meat of my thigh.\u00a0 Unless I did something soon, though, I wouldn’t be running any contests soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I gripped his soul with a curse, and dodged back behind the broken vessel to get clear of his arrows.\u00a0 I squeezed off another bolt of star-stuff, wrenching him with my curse as the bolt sank home.\u00a0 He also ran, scrambling towards shore, but not before I hit him hard with a spell that ran flames through his hair and set a few corners of his clothing alight.\u00a0 I saw blood flowing, and felt the urge to finish the job on him.\u00a0 Glancing over, I saw Zenith and Dex occupied with one another, and Karac was going head-to-head with Sered.\u00a0 I heard the dwarf, who was up to his shoulders in the surf, shout something about honor as he moved on the tall deva.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So I had time to bring the little dog to heel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I chased after the halfwise, letting my blood-fury propel me towards him, and slung spell after spell at his retreating form.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t even pause to shoot at me, though he probably had a clean shot had he taken it.\u00a0 After a moment, he did draw up and turn on me, just in time for me to blast him clean in the face.\u00a0 I unloaded a bolt of pure agony from the depths of my memories of the Plains of Avernus, and watched as the pink light coruscated up across his face, sparking off his wet jerkin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He dropped, bow floating gently in the soft waves of the surf.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contrary to the rumor, a halfwise bleeds red, like a pure human.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I limped up to the treeline, releasing a cascade of infernal healing to knit my leg back together.\u00a0 Bit back the scream that came with it, and wiped frantically at my eyes to clear them.\u00a0 That little monster used some vicious heads on his arrows, and they were far from pleasant.\u00a0 My own blood stopped flowing, and clotted quickly, though I could barely see with the agony of the fire.\u00a0 Again, the sensation of burning fiercely enough to damage my kind is uniquely painful to us.\u00a0 Dex had chased Zenith off, he had vanished among some ship wreckage a good long way from the rest of us.\u00a0 I contemplated chasing Dex down and holding her under, but she turned to Karac and Sered, moving on the dwarf to get a clean shot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Best to leave them to one another\u2019s tender mercies, I think.\u00a0 I set myself up with a good vantage point and settled Sybarron <\/em>into his sheath while bringing my bow out.\u00a0 Sered saw this, and maneuvered to put Karac between us.\u00a0 Karac saw this, and shouted with rage while shaking his arms at the deva.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you doing?\u00a0 What kind of cowardly move was that?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sered said something to him that I couldn\u2019t make out, and shoved the dwarf towards me.\u00a0 Karac gave a growling howl and swung his axe at Sered at the same moment that I loosed an arrow laced with chilling power at him.\u00a0 I saw my arrow sink into his shoulder while he flung himself away from Karac\u2019s axe swing.\u00a0 The dwarf followed up with a vicious thrust, using the point at the head of his axe, sinking it in his belly.\u00a0 The deva\u2019s blood, light blue and sparkling with silver motes, splashed out across the dwarf\u2019s armored shoulder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Darkness fell upon my vision.\u00a0 I sat up, breathing hard with the exertion and the pain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And cracked my head solidly on the wooden bulkhead above my bunk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I staggered out into the grey dawn, a cold breeze coming down the stairs and flowing over me.\u00a0 I enjoyed the chill washing over my face as I strapped on my armor.\u00a0 Perhaps I enjoyed it more than the licking of flames.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Heading abovedeck, I saw the others gathering at the port railing.\u00a0 Shalvar was with them.\u00a0 The island rose out of the sea with a light misting, great conifers starting yards away from the shore, much as the harbor colony we departed from.\u00a0 Behind and around us, broken hulls and wrecked ships faded in and out of the mists, like ghost skeletons poking out of the sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Eladrin pulled two small acorns from his side pouch and tossed them, one after the other, into the sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When they hit, they immediately foamed in the water, quickly growing into large rowboats.\u00a0 I withheld the joke that came to mind about the small boats being his children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sered looked back at me and frowned.\u00a0 \u201cNext time you\u2019ll be mine, demonkin.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I drew out a cigar and lit it with a small brimstone flame from my thumbnail.\u00a0 \u201cNext time you won\u2019t be attacking me by surprise, to stab me in the back.\u201d\u00a0 I blew a little smoke towards him across the ocean breeze.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karac just glared at us both, sore anger on his face.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shalvar, watching this exchange, held up a hand.\u00a0 \u201cShan Doresh is testing his talent on you.\u00a0 Remember he is Archfey \u2013 in his own realm he is little short of a divine being.\u00a0 Here, he reaches out and touches your dreams. \u00a0Had you died in them, it is quite possible you may never have awoke.\u00a0 Sleep in this realm is a land of danger, so be wary.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We climbed into the boats and headed for shore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the last of us had been pulled aboard, with our captive mermaid in tow, we convened on the deck.\u00a0 The smell of brine and the drip of our wet selves on the deck were practically the only sounds, aside … Continue reading