As I sat at Reina's dining table drinking a cup of refreshing Moon Well water, I ran a fuck ton of calculations in my head. She'd given me so much to think about, almost too much. What was one more thing when I already had so much on my plate. There was no way things could ever go back to the way that had been. Even when I somehow managed to get all of my people back, that troubling fact wouldn't change. Now that huge volumes of people without any connection to me or my ideas were out here bleeding and dying over New Lordaeron, I'd never again be accepted as de facto leader. Worse, without control of the Khalai technology, or the Treants, my value as a leader or provider was relatively small.

  Sure, I could heal, but so could the priests of the Light. The followers of the Light had really stepped up, saving countless lives in this conflict. Their kindness under Father Mauris had set an example that had won over many of the jaded Nomad's hearts already. Some Nomads of every Nation were even converting to the religion of the Light. I'd found that to be one of the most shocking outcomes of this mess. Even more shocking was that some Nomads were being rapidly accepted by the Light as priests, with all the powers and privileges that entailed.

  That meant that Divine Will had begun to move and shape events in this world. Who could say whether that was a good thing?

  The only defenses that still worked were the Statues of the Keeper in the Valley and Jaina's Tower. Which is the main reason New Lordaeron had managed to hold up until reinforcements arrived. Yet without Jaina, no one could control the tower fully. No one had the authority, as Jaina had barely begun the training of a few apprentices. The apprentices could train new folks, with ample talent, to use a few basic spells. Hardly enough to really begin shifting the power dynamics of the town. Hmm, I could certainly take control of the tower until I got the Archmage back. But for what purpose? I wasn't going to sit around training Mages, or Druids even if I could.

  Now the most interesting tidbit of news. Many of the Khalai adaptations of technology from other themes still functioned. So our Power Armor with their SORs still worked, along with the modified MRAP. Without the Psifield, they couldn't draw or store enough power to stay in operation long, and took days to recharge, but they were a potent force multiplier when they did work. Well that made me feel a bit better that something I'd had a hand in was still able to help them..

  Now that it had come to this, I didn't think I'd the right to lead. I wasn't there when my people needed me most. Few folks would care that it wasn't my fault. People tend to only care about results, and I'm the guy that wasn't there for them when they needed me most. I doubted that I would see it any differently if I was in their shoes.

  I'd still help them, in what ever way I could. Absolutely, I would, but I suspected that the days of me shaping the direction of the Badlands were over. At least, for the foreseeable future. Instead of making me angry or depressed, that realization lifted a huge weight off of me. I was okay with this outcome. Once I'd figured out how my Hub operated, and what advantages it could offer, maybe my thoughts would change.

  Now Reina was no great orator, nor a proper storyteller. She was a farmer and said things simply and from her own perspective. I had to fill in some of the blanks in her narrative here and there. But she more than understood the way the wind was blowing. As did most of the summons, and they were not pleased in the slightest.

  We heard a few vehicles approaching. I recognized the rumbling engine of a Javelina. Amanda was almost here. I left Reina's house to wait for them.

  I'd never thought much about it before, but it was hard to step silently on a gravel surface. Not really a relevant insight right now, but the noise of my footsteps on the gravel bothered me. My overly sensitive ears were both a blessing and a bane.

  There they were, Amanda's Javelina, Nolan's truck, and two other cars I didn't recognize. I wonder who she'd brought with her. When they stopped and exited their vehicles, my jaw dropped to the floor. My attention lock on the two unexpected individuals. Out from the two vehicles that I didn't recognize were two very familiar faces.

  The shorter one chuckled at my reaction, "A woman always loves to get that response." Her eyes twinkled, just as I'd remembered.

  The taller one snorted, "We supposedly dated this guy, and no one thought to question that it was us." Her head moved in time to her speech, as it always had when she was annoyed.

  My mouth closed and assumed a frown, my left eyebrow rose of its own volition. I didn't appreciated the sideways insult. And suddenly I was suspecting this was all a trap. Maybe Militech had gotten to the Nomads, and these were their new agents. My mana flared. While I was pretty sure that wasn't what was happening, my instincts still demanded action.

  I felt a gun press to the back of my head. Fuck, I shouldn't have focused too much on the ladies I wasn't ready to see.

  "Please don't take this the wrong way Ryan, but don't use your power. I didn't want to shock you like this, but they insisted. They don't understand what you are capable of, or they never would've pulled this stupid stunt." Amanda's voice whispered from behind me. This was a very good lesson about paying attention to your surrounding, even when something startles you. Especially then.

  That cold fire inside my gut that I was tapped into earlier grew just a bit more. I was now certain this wasn't what it looked like, but why should I be expected to take that chance. Even on Amanda's word. My mana coiled around me as I sent a tendril through my Aura into Amanda's head. She couldn't see mana, nor could the others.

  "Well, for the record, with you this close to me Amanda, you're already fucked." I turned off her limbs. However, I got another surprise, her gun went off before she finished falling. I got clipped by the round. Since I was still thinking, the damage couldn't have been too bad, and my Aura was already working on fixing the issue.

  Amanda's uninvited guests both had very different responses. Both of which would normally lead to the same result, me dead. One pulled out a pistol and the other's eyes started flashing. If Nolan hadn't stepped between us, events would have absolutely escalated.

  "Hold up. hold up! Girls stop with the gonk brained behavior. Ryan please put Amanda back to preem condition. She was just trying to protect her daughter. And just so you know, I was against indulging the two terrors over there." He was relaxed, way too relaxed. That helped my brain start properly working again. Things were indeed not as they seemed.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  As the ladies debated what to do, the wound from Amanda's weapon finished healing. That Life Crafting Aura was amazing.

  Amanda chuckled, I hadn't turned off anything but her limbs. "New trick, huh? Nice. Seems like it'd be quite handy."

  "I'll show you nice." I snarled. Maybe this shit wasn't as it appeared, but that didn't mean I was going to let it slide. However, the fire inside my gut had already pulled back. I knelt down to Amanda and removed her iron, before ramming my mana into her as hard and fast as I could. I fixed a few new wounds and smoothed out a lot of scar tissue I didn't recall being there before. She'd been fighting hard. Her screams of pleasure probably carried for miles in every direction. I was amused, even while I sent silent apologies to Raynor in my head.

  Did I need to heal her this way? No. I was making a point. "Amanda in the future, talking things out first is preferable to threats. I think I get the whys and wherefors of what just happened, so let's leave it here. Okay?"

  I watched over her as she started to move, her limbs flailing for a second, before she got back up. I rose beside her and handed her back her weapon. She smiled at me, which was not the response I expected. Then she hugged me, sending me for another loop. She was as strong as ever, squeezing me like a python. I patted her back lightly.

  "Sorry, they wanted to know who their doppelgangers had picked, and I figured this would be a good way to show them. Please forgive a Mother for spoiling her newly returned children."

  I rolled my eyes, "Duh, Amanda. Like I said, let's forget it."

  I turned to the source of all this trouble. Nolan had talked them into a less hostile stance. They stood there glaring daggers at me, but otherwise seemed to have calmed down. That was great because I wasn't sure of my feelings about them right now. Amanda walked back over to them, resting her hand on their shoulders.

  I nodded to them. "The real Sally and Megan, I presume. I wish I could say it was a pleasure, but I can't."

  Throughout my life, women have mostly been a mystery to me

  Before I'd my brief stint as a psyker, I'd no idea how much women had going on in their minds. There are whole galaxies of thoughts clashing against each other in their heads at any given moment. The majority of which seemingly had nothing to do with the matter at hand. I found them to be an even more confusing subject after being able to read their thoughts and emotions. Rare exceptions like Amanda aside. Yet, I'm glad I had that experience. Because now I knew, without a single doubt, that there was an ocean of un-verbalized ideas behind the burning stares of the two women in front of me. Few if any of them would be pleasant for me. I'd been put on a list, perhaps several, in their heads, and they would likely find countless ways to make me miserable, if they thought they could get away with it.

  For me, this was a surreal moment when two very familiar people stood in front of me. Two people with not only no recognition of me, but were now actively hostile towards me. For them, I was a stranger who had made a very poor first impression. Even if they had been the ones to orchestrate the situation. I found myself wondering if they had seen, or been told, what I had done to their impostors. Where would that fall on their scales? Would they be glad that I had leveled such a harsh punishment? Would they be furious they didn't get to mete out justice themselves? If the impostors had at all been accurate in their characterization, the answer was the latter.

  Given what I knew, there was already little chance of me turning their attitudes around. So why bother to try? I reminded myself that there was no relationship here. My mind ruthlessly crushed the tiny flickers of joyful embers in my heart. Still felt like losing them all over again, but even that grief was fed to the cold fire. And since I'd made that decision, I wasn't going to let them push me around, even by proxy.

  "The real Sally and Megan, I presume. I wish I could say it was a pleasure, but I can't." The repeated phrase was lifeless even to my own ears.

  "Oh, why would that be, lover boy?" Megan bitterly smirked, and probably had some cruel barb being brewed up in her noggin.

  "Why would that be our problem?" Sally spoke at almost the exact same time as Megan, but I had no trouble separating out the individual statements.

  "Didn't say it was. What's going on in here," I pointed at my head, I ended up poking one of my ridiculously oversized ears. "Has little to do with you two." I couldn't resist getting in my own little digs at them. "Until you both decided to provoke me." The cold in my voice was crackling. Some part of me noted that the air was actually getting colder.

  Amanda had been smiling but my tone brought a frown to her face. She was noticing the differences in me, the little changes in my behavior. I think she was starting to understand just how foolish this little stunt was. Hell even Nolan, as easy going as he was, reflexively put his hand on his custom revolver.

  Sally showed no concern, she reacted as I knew she would. She drew her backup pistol. I noted the sure nature of her technique, but she was no gunslinger. She was some fraction of a second slower on the draw than I was. My Omaha already lined up perfectly with her head. While she'd a fuck load more training them me, she lacked a sandy to even things out with my raw speed.

  "My new form isn't just cosmetic, and it comes with many advantages. Even with the silly ears and the Mox colors." For the first time in this mess, I let the rage I felt at this world peek out from behind the walls I'd been using to contain it. My expression made them all back up a step. I'd no clue what it looked like to them, but it must have been a grim visage. I knew this could end badly, and dealing with their attitude I officially no longer cared. Let the bullets fly. I had already lost so much, what was one more thing?

  I felt something in the air shift, and suddenly Mith was there. He'd dropped his small form. He towered over us. We all froze for a few moments, not because his presence startled us.

  We stopped because he was growling, a deep rumbling sound that warned of imminent violence. A thunderstorm couldn't have done it better. He stepped in front of me facing the Nomads. He shifted his weight so that he was forcefully moving me backwards with his haunches.

  'You are hurting him! Stop!' If my mind had ears, he just blew out its eardrums. For the first time since I had returned, I could really feel another's concern for me. He somehow forced his feelings past that cold flame and into my heart.

  This is when I noticed that the farmers were in the fields and had their weapons out. They were pointing them at the Nomads. Maybe I hadn't lost as much as I thought. But I'd been about to, and I was pretty sure I knew why. Sneaky assholes. I took a deep breath, and put my pistol away.

  "Okay. I get it Mith." I gave him a a smack on his flank. "Put the weapons up everyone. Please." The Farmer's began lowering their weapons.

  That got the Nomads' attention, I guessed they hadn't noticed the Farmers either. I stepped out from behind Mith, I noted that Sally had lowered her weapon. No one wanted to shoot the dog by accident.

  "Look, I get it. I really do. This was one big test and I failed. I could make excuses, but I won't. Let's just say I'm very tired of being pushed around and leave it at that. I'm too much of a... Gonk to be more diplomatic. Especially right now." I chuckled.

  They looked at each other and relaxed. Sally holstered her iron. Megan smirked like she knew this was going to happen. Maybe she did, or she was just enjoying the chaos. Amanda's smile returned. It was her genuine smile, not the one she plastered on to talk business. Mith calmed down and let out a big ol' yawn. He sat and grinned that doggy grin.

  "I can live with that." Nolan was the first to respond. He was patting himself, like he was checking for bullet holes. I scoffed at his sense of humor. I swear it was worse than mine.

  Amanda came back over to me and took my hands. She whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about how much this could affect you."

  I pulled her into a hug, the first human I had hugged first, in a long time. I whispered back to her, "I swear I'll get him back, I'll get them all back." I needed to say it and she needed to hear it.

  We slowly eased into a sharing of what had happened while separated. They'd a rougher time of it than I'd guessed.

  I called the Moxes back at my apartment letting them know I'd be back later than expected. We went inside with the farmers and continued to swap stories well into the night.