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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3274258" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-twenty-nine “Afternoon Business“, Sunday June 11th, 1882, 12:30 P.M. Maria Fuente and Michael George are busy serving a lunch when Nakomo and Minerva arrive at the Lucky Lady. There is a larger-than-usual lunch crowd present, due in part to the fact that the Lucky Lady is serving free lunch to all of the firefighters. Bishop Costas and Father Barnes are sitting together at one of the side tables.Minerva waves to Maria and makes her way over to the Priests table. "Hola Costa, Padre Barnes. How are you faring after this morning? Have you heard any news about who is responsible?"   Costas replies, "Lots of rumors flying around, nothing I would repeat." Father Barnes says, "One thing that I've heard was that this was the hooded rider's second attack, last night they hit a dwarven mine north of town, told the mine's owner to drop out of the mayor's race or they'd be back to kill his workers." Costas adds, "Maybe today's attack was to show that their murderous threats were real.""We must put a stop to this evil." she says vehemently. "The goddess Minerva told me that it has opened a chasm to greater evil."   Costas says, "I agree, but the Goddess Artemis has also indicated that Father Barnes needs to establish a church in the town Dos Cabezas. We'll be taking the stagecoach up there in the morning to see what we need to do there. It's only a few hours away so you would be able to call me back here if you need me for anything specific.""You are leaving? Before we have destroyed the abominations?" she whispers in disbelief. "I have fought these creatures before, they are very strong."   Costas says, "Father Harbrace will remain, and has been joined by those other monster hunters. The Goddess indicated that the arrows given to both Harbrace and the young man here should be sufficient to the task. And if you do need me I'll only be one town away.""I apologize for my outburst Costa. I am just upset about everything that has happened. So many people to bury tomorrow." she says sadly.  "I do not see the sense in it, but I will continue to have faith in the wisdom of the gods. I crossed into the veil of dreams last night and Minerva told me that she would not abandon me. She has returned Nanuet to me also."  He replies, "Good, I had prayed to Zeus himself for that once you indicated to me how upsetting Artemis's words were to you. I told him that for you to do the will of the Gods you needed your mortal companion back at your side for the strength and guidance that he provides to you."She replies, "Gracias Costa. I should not have doubted you. The goddess also confirmed what you said about Nanuet bringing Nakomo to me for a purpose." she smiles at the half breed boy. "She says that he is the best of both worlds and will help heal the town.”  She shakes her head. "We have our work cut out for us. I will be relieved when these elections are over and tensions die down." She frowns when she says the word 'die' "but it is too late for some. How many bodies must we put to rest tomorrow?"Costas says, "Only two casualties, both employees of the Palace. The riders struck when the other buildings were all empty due to the worship service. One of the dead was the bartender, who died bravely from the hooded rider's gunfire while defending the saloon. The other was a working girl who died when the wall exploded. You could get their names from the undertaker. They should be listed in today's newspaper as well.""I will do that." she stands. "Have a safe trip Costa. I will pray for both of you."  She turns to the priest and gives a slight bow "Padre Barnes, may the gods guide and protect you."   Father Barnes replies, "How could they not? Artemis has given her blessing. I look forward to running the neighboring church to you Priestess Florencia, I suspect that we will be seeing a lot of one another in the years to come.""It will be good to have someone to confer with, Padre Barnes. Please feel free to call upon me for assistance. If your town is anything like this one I am sure that you will need an ear to bend every now and then." she laughs. Soon after Nanuet heads to the Lucky Lady and sees Minerva having a discussion. He heads around the room greeting people that he had missed earlier then eventually heads over to Minerva.  She turns and smiles radiantly when she sees Nanuet approaching the table. She puts her hand in his and re-introduces him to Costa and Father Barnes.   Nanuet states, “I have heard the rumors of what happened. What other work here has to be done? Is there anything for me to do to help?”  Minerva states, "Si Nanuet, I am sure that we will need your healing and whatever other powers your gods would bless you with."Minerva wishes the priests a good day and tells Nanuet that she will meet him for dinner before going back to the church and putting together a burial ceremony for the two unfortunate victims of hate.   Jake watches his friends come and go at the Lucky Lady, glad to have Nanuet back, and more than a little relieved that none of his friends were seriously hurt. He mills about as the fire fighters enjoy a well earned meal. The pain in his side slowly vanishes after Minerva's healing touch. When there is nothing left to do at the saloon, and in Jake fashion he does not truly search for any work, he takes a long route home. He stops by the church, glances about to make certain no one is watching and enters. Wasting no time he walks to the mosaic of Hermes on the wall that he commissioned. He fishes out a handful of dollar coins and dumps them in the box beneath it. He stares briefly at the box before taking several twenty dollar bills out of his wallet and adding them to the box. "Yes, I was lucky today. I am certain Minerva will make good use of the money." He turns quickly and leaves. Back in his home, he tosses the stained clothing in a pile. After washing and dressing again he clean his rifle and favorite Colt for good measure. He needed to think anyway. After the long silence and intense concentration he thrusts the well oiled pistol in his holster and says to himself, "That must be it. It makes no sense that Fisk would be behind this today. Sure he might want to kill Adair, but not that way. What about the others that were damaged? If it is not the one set of bad guys it must be the other. The question that remains is just who in the Vigilance Committee or Mrs. King's lackeys are involved." Jake shrugs. "That would be the lawmen to figure that out, if they can figure that out." With a grin he adds, "Not that I mind shooting Mrs. King's lackeys or Vigilance Committee members."   He takes his familiar spot on his shady front porch to pass the heat of the midday.  Emery Shaw tells Emily “Let's go see about getting you a new riding outfit and possibly a saddle."  Emily took a deep breath then grabbed her Uncle's hand. "Riding clothes and a saddle? I'm going to be spoiled rotten."  Shaw replies, "Nonsense child, riding with clothing and saddle that is not the proper fit is good for neither the rider or horse, this isn't being spoiled, it's having the proper tools to do a job correctly." They walk west down Main Street, where Emily can see the various saloons in town lining the street, the Alhambra, Comique, Lucky Lady, Gay Lady, Rio Grande and Long Branch. Other buildings on the street include a gun shop, a watch and jewelry shop, a telegraph office, a cooper shop, a bank, a general store and a barber and bath shop. They then approach the single-story wood framed building on the northwest corner of Main and Front with the sign "Frye's Harness Shop & Bootmaker". The door has a closed sign on it but Emery goes up to it and gives a light friendly knock. A very pregnant teenage girl answers the door.  Shaw says, "Hello Angela, would Mr. Frye be home?" She turns and says, "Uncle Duncan, Mr. Shaw is here to see you." A deep baritone voice says, "Well send him in!" Emery and Emily enter the room. The room is filled with all types of leather goods, harnesses, boots, bridles, saddle bags, buggy whips, saddles, and leather satchels of various size. Shaw says, "Angela, Duncan, I would like to introduce you to my niece Emily. She will be coming to live here." A smile comes to the pregnant young woman's face and she says, "Welcome Emily, I think you'll like it here.""Thank you," Emily said, her own cheery grin flashing out to respond to the friendly smile. "I think I will too. You've got everything you need in town and it's not all crowded like Chicago. I've met a lot of people today, it's nice to meet someone my own age."   Angela smiles and says "I may be a little bit older than you. I'll be turning sixteen in a few days.""I was fifteen a few weeks ago, I call that close enough," she said and laughed. "My Uncle was telling me about the paper and that you work there, I guess that means you don't go to school. It must be interesting."  She says, "Yes, I'm a reporter. My husband Josiah is the typesetter for the newspaper. I'm fortunate that our newspaper's owner likes my reporting, she hired a live-in nanny to take care of our son Mark and also the baby once it's born, which could be any day now." She looks up at Shaw and says, "And Mr. Shaw, I suppose I should be interviewing you at some point. I'm planning to write up a profile of all of the Mayoral candidates." He smiles and says, "Anytime you wish Mrs. Young, and may I congratulate you on being given the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election."   She turns and sarcastically states, "No thanks to my Uncle over here!" Duncan Frye says, "Can I help it if I'm old fashioned! Where I come from voting is for the male humans. My Merchant's Association votes doesn't mean I love you any less Angela, just that I'm slow to change to newfangled ways! Your husband Josiah would have been able to vote either way!"  Emily interjects, "But my Ma and my stepfather don't always agree. They argue about politics all the time. And after my Pa died she didn't even have a husband who could vote. Sometimes these new fangled ideas are good ones," Emily said in a friendly kind of way. "Angela works in the town and helps keep everyone up on what's happening in it, she should have her own say."Frye says, "Ah, you kids today! What can I do for you Emery?" He explains what he wants for Emily's clothing and also needing an appropriately sized western saddle." Angela says, "He has a saddle in stock that would do perfectly, he made it for me but I haven't been able to use it this last half-year do to my condition."  Frye says, "That's your own darned fault for becoming with child again, I thought you would have learned your lesson the last time!" Angela looks towards Emily and says, "Unfortunately I've inherited the worst of both worlds" as she reaches up her hands to pull back the hair over her ears, revealing mild points at the end.  She continues, "I'm only a quarter-blooded elvan, my grandmother was a Chippewa from Ohio, but one thing I'm sorry to have inherited from that side is the longer gestation period of the elves, closer to a year rather than the three-quarters of a year for human pregnancies."Emily's smile got wider as Angela showed her ears. She'd never had a chance to have a friend who had elven blood too. "A year's a long time but you're almost there now, I can tell. I can't even imagine having a baby, I can barely take care of me! My pa was a Seneca from New York State before he came to Illinois.  Anyway, I can't take your saddle, your baby will be here any day now and then you'll want it."She says, "No, go ahead and take it. I don't know how much time I'll have for riding, the reporter job keeps me pretty busy, plus even with the nanny I'll still be nursing the baby for the next year so wouldn't be going far anyway. Besides, when I need another saddle I'll just get my favorite Uncle to make me one!" Frye smiles and jokingly says, "That's right, take advantage of an old man." He then says, "You might as well look at it, it's just been gathering dust in here." They head over to the small western saddle that he referenced and see that his comment was more than a slight exaggeration, as there is not one speck of dust on the finely made work of art that is before them, which looks to have been oiled quite recently.Emily went up to the saddle and ran her hand along the smooth, oiled leather. She'd never seen a saddle like this one, made smaller for a smaller rider. Usually ladies saddles were side-saddles. "This is beautiful," she said, still looking it over. "I could ride a long way on that saddle. It takes talent to make something like this."Emery says, "Mr. Frye is quite a craftsman. We will take the saddle Mr. Frye and I am also interested in a full riding outfit for the young lady as well. That would be boots, gloves, and a coat." Frye says, "I should have gloves her size in stock, possibly even a coat as I've been working on several for those visiting elves who came for the wedding. Feet however are another matter. Life is too short to wear uncomfortable shoes. I'll have to make a mold of her feet if you have the time now and want it to be a perfect fit."  She says, "I don't know if Uncle has more plans for today, but as far as I know we have time. How do you make a mold of feet?"Frye says "Come over here, I'll get the bucket ready". The 'bucket' is actually a pair of adjacent oval skillet-like metal pans around four inches deep and filled with sand. He adds water to make it softer and has her step into it, telling her to push down. He then takes a bucket of sand and piles sand on top of her feet, then fits some metal oval molds onto the top, pushing down the sand and the excess out. He then carefully removes the upper molds and asks Emery to lift her off the lower ones.   Emily laughed as her Uncle lifted her up, bare, sandy feet dangling above the molds. Frye says, "Okay, I set these out in the sun to dry. By sometime tomorrow they will be read, I'll put the pieces back together and add the plaster. By tomorrow night I'll have perfect hard plaster replicas of your feet to then build the boots for."    "That might just be the strangest thing I've ever done," she said while looking curiously at the molds. "It sure beats sitting here while you made the shoes around my actual feet."At around 1:30 in the afternoon Jake sees the rotund form of Cornelius Van Horne approaching. The man has a cloth sling supporting his arm and a scratch across his forehead but looks to be otherwise undamaged. He approaches and says rather loudly in his usual Georgia drawl, "Mr. Cook, it appears that I find myself am temporarily without lodgings in this fine town. As a partial owner of the Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon might I inquire as to the possibility of my obtaining a room there from now until the close of the upcoming poker tournament?"Jake sighs heavily and shakes his head. "Figures. Since you are part owner that would be within your rights to some extent. There are some open rooms though you may have to acquire some furniture. We are still working on filling them up. Pick any empty one you like, though I suspect you will want the second floor and not have to carry yourself up that extra flight each time." Jake snickers. "I will walk over and tell Maria and Michael." While slowly rising with his hat covering his face Jake whispers, "I was worried. Foolish of me not to know which room at the Palace you were in. Never figured I would need to know. You are a lucky weasel."  The large man whispers back, "I was trapped in my bed, part of the roof fell on me and broke my arm. It was only by transforming into my smaller self that I was able to get free. Tying together the sheets with a broken arm proved to be a challenge as well. I didn't trust my workmanship or the sheets to support Van Horne's girth so took the risk of going down with my other face. Thank you for the quick thinking with your friend Mrs. Kale." He then raises his voice and says, "Spent the last few hours over at the Long Branch. Had to wait what seemed like forever for Doctor Eaton to get around to checking my arm. Well Mr. Cook, I guess I'll head over to Rixton's furniture and see about purchasing myself a bed. I will come to the Lucky Lady in short order." He turns and heads back south down Fremont Street.   Jake heads over to the Lucky Lady. Most of the lunch crowd has now departed. He sees Burton Lumley sitting at one of the tables with Harry Rote and going over a beverage order.   Jake tells Maria and Michael about Mr. Van Horne moving in. He waits about doing nothing much and listens in to the conversation if there is one of any import.Lumley concludes his business with Harry. Harry takes his order book and heads off into the kitchen. Lumley remains seated and gestures to Jake that he would like to speak to him as well. The usually well-dressed man is still attired in the same suit he wore that morning to church, but the clothing now has tatters, tears and soot all over it from fighting the fire. When Jake approaches Lumley says, “Mr. Cook, I wish to sign up to as a participant in this upcoming Poker Tournament of yours. I was told that for town residents not requiring lodging that the entrance fee would be $ 175 less than the out of town guests, is that correct?"  Jake replies, "Yes sir, Mr. Lumley, that is correct. Mr. Van Horne has made all the arrangements, and that is what he set. Pleased to have you join."Lumley replies, "Looking forward to it, especially since the rumor is that you are playing instead of dealing. I haven't had a chance to play against you since that night in January when you came over to my place, and neither of us knew who the other was at that time."  He lowers his voice and says, “And I would like to apologize in advance for the behavior of some of my associates and let you know that their opinions are not my own. I have enough of my own problems at the moment without needlessly aggravating my honest competitors.”"I have not paid my fee yet, but my intention is to play. I figured I would keep some folks guessing about it." Jake chuckles.  "Apologize in advance? I take it there is something I am about to discover that I will find less than pleasing?"Lumley replies, “I am referring to Mr. Adair and some of the other members of the Freedom Party. I joined that Party to directly oppose the platform of the Law and Order Party. While that remains the Party’s primarily objective some the other members some have extended the party’s mandate towards opposing the other saloons in town. The feeling is that if you don’t actively support the Freedom Party you are then working against us. I want you to know that I don’t share that opinion.” “Adair sees the cooperation of Palace, Gay Lady, Long Branch and Alhambra to support the party as being a sufficient number of establishments to meet all the entertainment needs of this town, especially with our support of his candidacy for mayor.   As for the other saloons, the Drover’s owner a member of the Unity Party, the El Parador’s chief entertainer is running as an Independent and the Comique is openly supporting that dwarven mayoral candidate. Your place hasn’t actively taken a political position but I’m not the only one who knows you were working with the Unity Party."Jake states, "Opposing the other saloons? What exactly does that mean?"  Lumley answers, "It means he'd like to see you other five saloons go the way of the Trail Dust, Indian Head, Silver Dollar and Peacock's. Those four establishments shutting down has helped the rest of us and Adair hopes to continue that trend. This election campaign gives him a public forum to try to build up his own saloon while putting down the others. As for your place specifically, I know he's hoping to win it away from you this upcoming weekend.""Yes he does. Even more so now that he allowed his own place to get blown up." Jake could not resist a little smile. "Look, Lumley, I have no axe to grind with you, besides making a poor choice of partners. So I will give you a little bit of advice." Jake lowers his voice. "All those rumors you must have heard about Adair? Well they are true. The man is a cold blooded murderer, and blasted proud of it. He even tried to gun me down in a back alley some months ago, not to mention burn the Lucky Lady to the ground. Do not get too tangled up in him, and certainly do not cross him. He is evil to the core. For him it is not just about the money or the power but the pride. Cross him and he will be your enemy forever, biding his time waiting for each opportunity to do you harm until..." Jake pauses and gives a grim smile. "He has been a thorn in my side for some time now, and I find it particularly annoying to need to look over my shoulder because of him. That is all I will say about that. Thanks for the information. Fight the Law and Order party as you will, but have a care and do not be the cause of Adair's party becoming the power in this town. If you do, the death of this town will be owed to you are surely as the success of the merchant association is owed to you."Lumley replies, "Well, I can't say that I agree with you there on all of those points, but everyone is entitled to their opinions Mr. Cook. I heard about the back-alley shooting, but also heard it took place after Miss. West had threatened to kill him as well and that she was with you.   On the subject of your lady friend, I’ll pass on one other warning to you. I’ve recently overheard your name come up in conversation. My saloon’s entertainer, Miss. Lafarge, views the absence of Miss. West as a chance to rectify a lost opportunity, and she’s not talking about singing.”Jake smirks in spite of trying not too. "It is much more pleasant to worry about women interested in me than a black hearted snake in the grass trying to gun me down in a back alley. Thank you kindly for sharing."   Burton stands and says, "I look forward to the tournament this weekend sir, I will see you then if not before." He exits the saloon.   Jake starts to leave the Lucky Lady to head back home but stops deciding he really feels more comfortable here. He takes a seat in the shade of the saloon porch instead.</blockquote>

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