I led Alex and Donna to the Purser to pick up my money. “You never came to visit.”

Both Alex and Donna let out sighs.

“We were ordered by the old CO to not interfere.” Alex said. “He also kept us too busy to come and see you.”

“He even went so far as to have our meals brought to us.” Donna said. “I'm sorry, David.”

I didn't respond, because it didn't matter. I had gotten through it without their help, or if the old CO's orders were to be believed, without their interference.

We entered the Purser's office and I asked for the balance of my money. None of which I ever spent. Everything the PX bought from me as I hunted went right with the money the XO had ordered the Purser to set aside for buying the owlbear pelt and ram horns.

The man behind the counter was happy to help, until he checked his records and saw what the total was. “This has to be a mistake.” He said and opened the separate metal box. He counted out the contents, quite painstakingly, and then he gave me a surprised look. “How in the world did you get this much pay?”

“I don't get paid.” I said and he looked very surprised.

“Then where did all this money come from?” He asked as he tried to lift the metal box. He couldn't move it at all.

“I'll get it.” I said and put my metal trunk down and walked around the counter. I picked it up like it was nothing and went back to my side. I counted it as well and checked the total on the paper to make sure they weren't stealing anything, then closed it and used some number ten potion to stick it to the top of my trunk.

“David, how did you get so much money?” Alex asked when he saw the total on the paper.

“Hunting.” I said. “Some pelts are really rare around here.”

I picked up my modified trunk and we left the purser's office to head to the dock. A lot of soldiers along the way, waved or said hello to me, and Alex and Donna looked like they didn't know what to do about it. We went to the large docking building and talked to the man that ran the place to let him know we were leaving with the boat in our assigned slip.

He took us over to it and it was still there, untouched and unused, and Alex signed papers saying so as I checked it over. I nodded and put my trunk into it and secured it while Alex and Donna left to go and retrieve their things. I untied the canvas covering from the middle posts and hooked it into place on the four support posts at the corners to make the cloth roof. I sat down to wait for them to come back.

About ten minutes later, Alex and Donna came back with their canvas bags and packed them into the middle of the boat around my metal trunk. I untied the boat from the dock and handed Alex a pole and picked one up myself.

“WAIT!” A shrill woman's voice said as she burst through the door of the dock warehouse.

“Private Gillis! What's the meaning of this?” The man that ran the place asked, angrily.

“I almost... missed them.” Gillis said and panted as she put her canvas bag down. “I thought... they were... taking horses.”

“We already said goodbye.” I said and she huffed.

“I've got... my orders.” Gillis said and waved them. “I forgot to check... after the ceremony.”

Alex held a hand out to her and she gave them to him. He unfolded the sheets and read them. As he did that, two other people came into the dock warehouse and were also out of breath. Luckily, they were not people that had caused me problems.

“Us... too.” The two men said and dropped their canvas bags and sat on them.

“So much for basic training.” The man that ran the warehouse said with a shake of his head.

“You try... running full out across the whole base... with a hundred pounds in your hands.” One of the men said.

“Mine's heavier.” Gillis said, a little proudly.

“Orders.” Alex said and handed Gillis hers back. The two men handed theirs over and he read them. “It look like it's legitimate.” He said to Donna. “The three of them are assigned to the garrison.”

“David, can you grab the dock and hold us steady as they climb aboard?” Donna asked.

“I don't have to.” I said and she gave me a stern look. “It wasn't an order and the boat self-balances, remember?”

“You're kidding!” Gillis exclaimed and picked up her canvas bag. As she jumped into the boat, I activated the movement enchantment to hold us in place. The water barely splashed and the boat didn't rock at all. “This is great!” She said and carefully tucked her bag next to my metal trunk. “Where did you buy this thing?”

“I didn't buy it. I built it.” I said and she laughed.

“Of course you did.” Gillis said and the other two men stepped into the boat and put their bags at the back of the boat. “I hope you don't mind letting me come along. I didn't want to spend all that time travelling to the same place.”

The two men gave her confused looks and she smiled at them briefly.

Gillis nodded to me. “Private Drake, if you would be so kind. Please, take us to our post.”

“It's still going to take us fifteen hours.” I warned her as I activated the weight enchantment and the boat rose up and almost completely out of the water.

“WHOA!” Gillis yelled. “What was THAT?!?”

“Magic.” I said and nodded to Alex. We poled the boat out into the waterway, careful of other moving boats, both large and small.

“We're obscured.” Donna said.

“Finally.” Alex said and put the pole down and rubbed his arms. “Damn, I'm out of shape. I can't wait to get back to the garrison and do normal morning exercises.”

Donna chuckled and they sat down and held on. “Everyone sit and hold on, or brace yourselves at the back, or something.” She said. “Go ahead, David.”

I sat down about a third of the way back from the front, next to Donna, and put some magic into the movement enchantment. There were two loud thumps and low groans from the back of the boat as we took off at a quarter speed.

“She warned you.” Alex said with a chuckle. “Next time, you should listen.”

“Yes, sir.” Both men said.

“This is GREAT!” Gillis said from behind me. “Can we really get all the way to the edge of the kingdom in less than a day at this speed?”

“Now you really have to brace yourselves.” Donna warned. “I'm ready, David.”

“Me, too.” I said and brought us up to half speed, then Donna used hand signals to direct me.

“Oh, my god.” Gillis whispered as the boat threw up a little water as we plowed through the turns.

“They're just getting used to working together again.” Alex said. “It's been three months since either of them have done this.”

Gillis gasped. “They can go faster?!?”

Donna nodded to me and I nodded back, then we went to the full speed that the imperfect enchantment allowed. The balancers on the sides acted like fish fins as we took the corners. They let the boat dig in perfectly and the boat didn't stutter or skip roughly on the water as we zoomed through the different waterway paths to find our way back to the garrison.

We stopped four hours later to let Donna rest and to eat something for lunch. Gillis just stared at me the whole time and I don't think she even tasted the food. The two men at the back didn't eat. We took off again, ramped up to full speed much quicker this time, and it was a bit easier with longer straightaways. We didn't stop again until six hours later for supper.

Everyone ate this time and Gillis had stopped staring. At least I thought she did. As far as I knew, she could have been staring at me the whole time that I was driving the boat. We took off again and five hours later, we arrived at the dock to Diane's house. I secured the boat and left the canvas up, since I wasn't sure if we were leaving it for a long time or not.

We all piled out and carried our things up the small road to Diane's place. Even though it was close to midnight, the lights were on in her house. I didn't notice any movement inside, either.

“You know, we don't have to officially report for duty until the morning.” Alex said and Donna took in a sharp breath.

“Alex, you can't seriously...”

“David, go knock on her door and visit for a while.” Alex said. “Just make sure you get to the base by first bugle tomorrow.”

_______________

You have a critical choice to make. This will change your relationship with Diane significantly.

A) Go to the base. B) Do as ordered.

Like there's a choice here. I haven't seen Diane in three months, so I'm choosing B.

_______________

“Sir.” I said and put my trunk down to salute with the petrified hand, then I picked the trunk up and ran over to the front door and put the trunk down again. I knocked on the door and waited for a minute, then I knocked again and heard movement in the house. The door opened a minute later and a very tired and dishevelled Diane stood there with a shocked look on her face.

“D-D-David?” Diane stuttered, her mouth agape.

“I graduated and got posted to the Ester Village garrison.” I said.

Diane's eyes looked on the verge of tears, then they grew happy. “Oh, David!” She exclaimed and grabbed me tightly and kissed me, hard.

“Wow.” Gillis whispered. “Now that's a kiss.”

The others chuckled softly.

“Let's go.” Alex whispered and they walked away.

“Can you come in?” Diane asked after she broke the kiss and saw the others behind me walking away.

“I don't have to report until seven in the morning.” I responded.

Diane's tired face became a huge smile and she stepped back to let me inside. I picked up my trunk and carried it inside. She shut the door behind me and took my hand, then she led me to her large and new bed.

“I've kept all the lights on every night to light your way back home to me.” Diane whispered as she took off her night clothes.

“Home?” I asked and stripped off as well.

“Yes, David. Home.” Diane said and kissed me. “I want you here with me as much as possible. Weekend passes, hunting trips for the garrison, anything at all. If you're allowed out at night, I want you here with me.” She laid me down on the bed and climbed on top of me. “I've missed you so much the last three months.” She kissed me again and as we joined together, she gasped. “Oh, god!”

She didn't speak again for quite some time.

“David, I... every day that you didn't come back, I... I was so worried that... something happened.”

“Something did happen.” I said and she caught her breath. “No, nothing really bad.”

“Tell me what happened.” She said and gave me another kiss, then she listened to what happened during the three months I was in basic training. It passed by like a flash and she had stayed quiet the entire time. “An owlbear. You fought an actual owlbear.” She whispered.

“And lived.” I said. “The pelt was really valuable.”

Diane huffed and then she smiled. “I might be able to sell something like that for a quarter of its value.”

“I sold it to the army long ago.” I said and her eyes grew hard. “I was going to send you the pelt, then the XO said they would buy it for a reasonable price instead.”

“Reasonable, huh?” Diane asked.

I smiled. “She caught the PX officer trying to cheat me.”

Diane gasped. “What happened?”

“The replacement gave me a good price for it.” I said and she relaxed.

“I'm glad. When you said...”

“I know.” I responded and she gave me a stern look, then she laughed.

“You tease.” Diane said and kissed me. “I've got a pile of gold and silver for you, too. I've sold a lot of things the last three months.”

“Me, too. The metal box on top of my trunk is full of gold.”

“Wh-what?”

“It's really easy to hunt in a normal forest.” I said. “I gathered a lot of pelts during the last three months.”

Diane stared at me for a moment, then she laughed. “You didn't spend any of it, did you?”

“On what? The army provided all the essentials and I hunted for extra meat for myself. I had almost everything I wanted.”

“Almost?” Diane asked.

I reached over and touched her bare breast to lightly caress it. She understood immediately and smiled at me as she pulled me on top of her. We joined together again and stayed that way for quite some time.