?


    Kat and Lily were both very surprised when they walked into the ce they were staying. The huts were nice even if Kat understood how why they didn''t count as beachfront. They were a good distance from the water, but there WAS a lot of sand around. That sand was the source of Kat''s current surprise and confusion. Well, part of it anyway. In the middle of the huts, sat Kress.


    Kress had stripped down to just his underwear, though they were at least boxers that covered everything, and was sitting in the sand with a bucket, a shovel, and next to him was a surprisingly good sand castle. Nixilei''s eyes narrowed at the sight. Her re didn''t let up even as Kress'' head swivelled around to look at the approaching three. His head seemed to sway in an invisible wind for a bit as he looked at them and shrugged, before going back to his sandcastle.


    In the background, the sounds of an argument could be heard. It didn''t take long to work out that Green and Gareth were still arguing about what they wanted to do in regards to forcing their marriage to go through early. Kat was starting to wonder how the rest of the city couldn''t hear them. Her best guess was some sound dampening enchantments. Where they were? Kat didn''t know, but it was her best guess.


    "What are you doing Kress?" asked Nixilei sternly.


    "Sssaandcastle!" answered Kress.


    Nixilei sniffed the air and frowned. "Kress… did you smoke a bunch of cloud powder?"


    "Yes indeedy, I did do that," answered Kress, seemingly unconcerned with the re Nixilei was sending him.


    Nixilei''s re got worse, but her voice seemed to remain calm as she spoke, "I see. Can I ask how you even acquired cloud powder, or why you thought it was a good idea to smoke it so close to the time we''re supposed topete?"


    "Well that be a lot of questions… but uuuhh… ok, so like… the cleaners? They''re supposed to… clean things right?" asked Kress, and Nixilei nodded with an exasperated look on their face. "Yeah, see, I thought that too, but obviously they didn''t do a great job at it. See, I was checking all the little huts for the best one, cause like, I was gonna either im that, or one of the ones next to the arguing couple, but like… one of them had a secretpartment!


    "Sose, like… I had to check it for secrets. Like… what if it was a magical bomb! Or magical poison! Or… I feel like I had other things I was checking for… but it escapes me man. Anyway, so… like… I was checking it out really well, and I found a really nice pipe, and a whole lotta cloud powder.


    "And I thought to myself. I could sell this… so I packed it all up right? Hid it away and then went back to guarding… but well… it''s sad you know. I miss gramps, and Greeny and Gareth were yelling and I was sad and you might be a heartless bitch sometimes but you were trying but you weren''t here… so I was like…


    "Why not? Might as well get something to take my mind off it right? So I thought I''d just have a bit… but like… I dunno if I never got the good shit, or if the shit I tried before was pure and I just tried out some really crazy stuff but now I feel great. Not a care in the world. So I wanted to work on my sandcastle! Isn''t it nice!" Kress gestured broadly at his sandcastle, knocking over one of the corners with his hand.


    It took Kress an embarrassingly long time for Kress to turn and notice what he''d just done. He studied it for a few moments, as if he couldn''t quite understand how the castle had fallen. Kat was getting ready for… well a reaction of some sort, but Kress just shrugged and then started working on the sandcastle again. He got up and headed for the tap to get more water and then started to fix the copsed wall.


    Kat, and Lily on her shoulders, looked over at Nixilei. Nixilei was rubbing her temples slowly, and noticed their gazes. She made a ''get on with it'' gesture and Lily asked, "Ok so… what the heck is going on with Kress? I understand he found some cloud powder and then… smoked it, I suppose. But what is cloud powder and why is he like this?"


    "I suppose you wouldn''t be familiar with it. Cloud Powder is considered by many to be the best drug in existence. Not from an addict''s perspective, but from that of the general populous. It is known to drastically improve moods, alleviate the worst symptoms of depression, and the reason it got its name, besides the fact that even in powdered form its fluffy, and a bit like cotton candy…"


    *Wait these guys, who have medieval level technology in most areas, know what cotton candy is?*


    "…it also known to produce a sensation a lot like floating. It doesn''t really reduce inhibitions in people, so much as it, allegedly, regresses them to a simply mindset that''s almost childlike, though not quite. Things just seem… better. Alcohol is still favoured by many because it''s ancient, andmon amongst all cultures, but cloud powder has spread quite rapidly, and many people find it to be much less harmful then other vices. The good thing about cloud powder is that it''s not chemically addictive… but… well…


    "For some people the mindset is. While it can really help with depression it doesn''t address the underlying problems and many people just… keep smoking cloud powder to prevent themselves from facing the real world. It''s easy to get people clean, and the withdrawal symptoms are practically non-existent…<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "But for some people, just not feeling the calm happiness of it all is enough for them to… take extreme measures to avoid feeling pain ever again. If you understand what I mean. Still, it is considered quite safe, especially when taken in moderation. Though… I''m unsure what exactly is going on with Kress.


    "His reaction is a bit… extreme for cloud powder. I am unsure if Kress himself is just particrly susceptible to the effects… or if there was something else mixed in. The fact that he just… found a random batch of it lying around does leave me worried. The real issue… is that the body doesn''t consider cloud powder to be a poison.


    "There are healing spells to remove it of course… but they''re much harder to cast then what I can do so I can''t flush it out of his system. The other issue is that how long itsts is somewhat variable, and when it runs out, Kress will have about ten minutes of alertness before he''ll fall asleep, potentially right in the middle of something if he pushes it."


    Kress didn''t seemed to concerned with any of this, he was just nodding along to Nixilei''s points while humming and working on his sandcastle. It had been repaired, and now Kress was digging out a ridiculously oversized moat for his miniature castle. "Yuppers. That sounds about right. I even said I tried some before, and it was nooothing like this," said Kress.


    Nixilei nodded, "Indeed you did… but your judgement is verypromised at the moment, and I cannot remember you ever trying cloud powder in the past,"


    "Ah, see… Torston took us out to try some one day after you went off to do spy things! He was great like that. Green was especially funny after she had some. Instead of doing something reasonable like cloud watching or making sandcastle, Green started to run around in circles like an excited dog. It was very funny," said Kress with a smile as he remembered the event… at the same time as he let his shovel slice through part of his sandcastle.


    Kat was getting the feeling that Kress had been working on it a bit longer than it seemed, because it was constantly destroying parts by ident. "Oh," said Nixilei, her voice sounding a little hollow to Kat''s ears. "Yes I suppose that makes sense then doesn''t it?"


    "Right… well… Nixilei what do you think we should do?" asked Kat.


    Nixilei chewed her lip as she considered her options, "Part of me wants to take Kress to a healer. Here in this town? This sort of thing would be amon urrence… but Kress would likelyin, and I don''t know how easily we could GET him there… cloud powder also isn''t something to worry about… normally… but well…


    "The risk of him staying up all night doing random things and amusing himself is a real worry. If he crashes right as the challenges start up tomorrow we''re going to be paying for it…"


    "Is that likely?" asked Kat.


    "No… but… hmm… maybe I should find that cloud powder and examine it, see if I can work out what it was mixed with, if anything," said Nixilei.


    "Nopedy nope nope. I smoked it, you can''t have it," said Kress.


    "Wait you smoked all of it?" asked Nixilei.


    "Yup! The whole big box of it!" answered Kress ''proudly''


    Nixilei groaned. "That''d be why he''s like this then. You only need a pinch to get the best effects… gods,"