---- Part 1 ----

A murky visage hangs over me, rippling in and out of focus. I’ve only been under water for 15 seconds – what’s her problem? Teresa reaches down and grabs a handful of my tunic, yanking me straight up and out of the trough. 

“People are staring,” she growls in my ear, before dropping me right back into the water. 

I roll begrudgingly out and flop to the ground. 

“I’m sure they are now,” I grunt as I push myself up to my feet.

She pushes my scabbard and gloves into my gut while leaning into my ear.

“Look up to the tower,” Teresa whispers. “Is that the same guy from Gridley?”

I spin as conspicuously as I can and use a large, sweeping motion to shield my eyes from the sun. As I peer up at the watch tower made of concrete and rusted steel, a familiar figure shifts quickly behind the armored parapet. He attempts to duck behind a sentry to his right.

I move my hand down to cup around my mouth.

“Yo ho!” I yell toward the tower. “Is that you, Jeremy?”

“You idiot,” Teresa groans.

“Olly Olly Oxen Free!” I yodel in Jeremy’s direction.

The sentry pivots his carbine up into a safe position and turns to address Jeremy. Jeremy’s shoulders drop and he says something snippy at the guard. The guard pushes him harder than I probably would have and points down to me angrily. Teresa and I watch Jeremy look down at us and sigh. He disappears into the tower’s inner core and reappears on the exterior ladder below the rim of the outer wall.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Teresa says.

“You stop that,” I reply. “What’s he gonna do? Beat us up?”

Teresa discretely pulls out her favorite barbed chain and wraps it tightly around her left fist. That’s her punching one. Jeremy doesn’t know that. 

I walk right up to the bottom of the ladder so that Jeremy can’t get off the ladder and turn around without being way too close to me. 

“Dude, what’s a matter with you?” he says, pushing me back a foot or so.

“Whattaya mean?” I retort, reaching for a hug. “I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

He looks even less humored than Teresa – I honestly didn’t think that was possible. But then he catches sight of her violence-adorned knuckles and starts to look nervous instead. 

“I thought you were staying in Gridley?” I say, putting my hands down and giving up on the hug.

“No, you left me there,” Jeremy says with too much attitude for someone with my six-foot comrade hulking over him. “You were supposed to comeback after offloading the fuel oil. You wouldn’t have even had the buyer if it weren’t for me. I just want my cut.”

Teresa sighs and turns to look about the square while I inadvertently stare deeply into Jeremy’s eyes. 

“Who said we weren’t gonna pay you?” I ask, producing a half dozen pouches from under my tunic. Jeremy stares, dumbfounded, as I sort through the pouches and identify the heftiest. “Here.”

He receives the pouch with both hands and glares at me skeptically. By this point, Teresa is completely turned away and stands watch with her arms crossed. Jeremy, like the uncultured swine he is, immediately pulls the pouch open and pours a small amount of the gold scrap and nuggets into his hand. He jostles it around like he knows what he’s looking for and gives me an odd look. He glances past Teresa’s broad shoulders while he carefully gets the gold back in the pouch and pulls it shut. He dons a sort of satisfied smirk as he fits the pouch inside his jacket. 

“Not even a ‘Sorry for the misunderstanding’?” I ask.

“’Pleasure doin’ business with you’ is the best I can manage,” he replies with a stupid grimace. He pushes past me and carefully skirts around Teresa before swaggering through the square like an idiot. 

“I can’t believe you paid him,” Teresa says without looking back at me.

“Huh?” I reply. I was already thinking about finding a drink. The tavern here in town has a really good elderberry mead. “Those were chunks of lead. I told you that gold craft paint would come in handy. You know, Teresa, I feel like you don’t appreciate my skills as much as I do yours.”

She offers no clever retort but drops her arms and walks away. 

“Hey, wait up,” I call. “We gotta work on our banter.”