The next day, Conor arrived early at Vokrizin. Kaylee had taken his suit to be cleaned, and he hoped the Karen woman would not make a fuss about it. After all, he had only asked for her to pay for it being cleaned. He was sure if he had wanted to be petty there were plenty of things he could have done to her. As he walked out of the elevator, Kaylee waved to him from her desk, “Mr. Brantley! Your suit is clean. The cleaner said it was simple enough, and while Mr. Dries may be displeased with you, it wouldn’t have any lasting damage.” “Thank you Kaylee for doing this for me.” “No problem! Oh, I have a few notes for you. Umm. Miss. Brooks called to say things are good in Targu, and she will be coming back in two months for the July quarterly reports meeting. Mr. Nuri is waiting for you in the executive conference room. I believe Andrew Harden is expected within the hour, but has not arrived yet. And the Colonel would like to talk to you later about something.” “You are a wonder, Kay

The next day, Conor spend the morning helping Tina Bennet into her new office. She was only in her mid-thirties but already had a wealth of experience. Just from how she handled herself, Conor felt she would be an excellent addition to the team. “Miss Bennet, once you finished getting moved in, I would appreciate it if you would start talking with Jarad and Andrew Harden about some potential projects. Andrew will need you to assist in finalizing things with the community center, and after that, we will likely move forward with several other businesses that will need land or office space.” “Not a problem. Do you have certain ones that should be more of a priority?” Conor smiled at her professionalism, “I believe the insurance business will be first. For now, we will look for office space, but once we are more established we will want to own all of our own buildings.” “I am actually looking to add a few branch offices as each one covers a different part of the city. Perhaps if you ar

Kerrigan played late into the evening, pouring her soul into the music. Master craftsman Gunther had been pleased she had graced his shop with her playing. She had set her violin down for dinner but the music called her back before long. Several patrons had walked in off the street at the sound of her playing, and the craftmaster likely had one of his best days. A few of the kids from the community center had even stopped in later in the afternoon with their parents and Kerrigan had paused her practice to greet them and helped them pick out a beginner violin. Most of these were only 150 to 300 dragons each, but being made by Craft master Gunther himself, even the inexpensive ones sounded amazing. Three of the kids had begged her for lessons, and being she was already here she agreed to do a few lessons with them. Her heart tore a little at the thought of leaving them when she went to Targu and she hoped the Craftmaster would be able to find someone to continue their lessons. If she

Kerrigan spent the next day walking around the property at her house with Faolan. It had been a while since they had been able to just play, and she took this opportunity to play fetch. Thankfully her right arm still functioned, though being it was her off-hand, it was a bit awkward to throw. She figured this was good training for anything that might injure her dominant arm. Mercifully she had awoken almost entirely pain-free. The pills the Colonel had given her had truly worked wonders overnight and she had to admit, she was looking forward to being able to learn to climb the sheer rock faces near the waterfall tomorrow. The day passed rather uneventfully, and as the sun set Kerrigan found herself curled up on the back porch on one of their outdoor couches, with Faolan warming her feet with her furry mass. Reilynn stepped out a few minutes later with two glasses of wine and handed one to Kerrigan as Gabriella come out behind her. the girls each sank into chairs and leaned back, look

“OK, now it's time for you to try. Who is up first?” Conor volunteered. “Fine, Kerrigan, you are on belay. I will back you up and walk you through each step. I want you both to understand, Lead climbing like this places your life in the hands of your partner. If you don’t trust each other and learn not only to communicate but to anticipate each other’s needs, you will fail and likely hurt each other.” Kerrigan looked dubiously at Parker. “Conor is easily 50 pounds heavier than me!” Parker eyed Conor’s muscular but toned form, “You are what? 200 or 210 pounds these days?” “Last I checked, yea, right at 205.” “Should be fine. Kerrigan, you just have to learn to brace yourself correctly. You could go for a ride but if you use the skills I taught you earlier you could even belay me, and I am 230 pounds these days. Climbing is about technique as much as it is about skill. Now, let's get Conor tied in.” Parker tied the end of the climbing rope to Conor’s harness and showed Kerrigan.