After the worst two hours of his short life, Terry finally entered Biloxi. He’d gotten off the backroads as soon as he could and gotten on Highway 49. Straight shot to the coast and more bathrooms. He steered Thunder into a parking spot right along the beach on highway 90 and took his goggles off and looked out at the gray waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
“I haven’t been down here since I was a kid, you know?” he said. He shook his head.
“Barely away from home and I’m already talking to my scooter.” He grinned. “You don’t mind though, do you?”
He patted the scooter on the headlight.
“You did great, Thunder. Thank you.”
Normally, there would be tourists crawling all over the beach but not now. Ernest had said there had been a hurricane the previous month and now that Terry wasn’t paying attention to the road he could see the signs. Buildings were still damaged or destroyed, worse right along the beach. He could see dwarves working diligently on the other side of the road trying to get Biloxi back into some kind of working shape.
That was odd. Ernest also said there should be mages down here and so far Terry hadn’t see any. Of course, they might be somewhere working on infrastructure. He was going to have to take a look around. Or, he would in a few minutes. The sounds and motions of his stomach decided they weren’t done after all. He looked around frantically and saw a row of “Crapper Johns” set up for the construction crew. It looked unoccupied.
“Wait here,” he said to Thunder “and don’t get stolen.”
Twenty minutes later Terry emerged feeling relieved and slightly embarrassed. A passing dwarf looked at him oddly. Terry shrugged.
“Gas station food..” He said by way of an explanation.
The dwarf nodded.
“You like that kinda thing?”
“Not any more I don’t.”
Terry started to walk away when he remembered an idea he’d had. He spun back around and trotted up beside the dwarf. The dwarf had a neatly trimmed gray beard and seemed to be dressed in a denim shirt. It was hard to tell with all the hair. Probably a foreman.
“Sir? Can I bother you for a second?” he said.
The dwarf looked him up and down as they walked.
“If you’re looking for work I might could find something for you to do.”
“Uh, no sir. I’m looking for any mages that might be around.”
The dwarf threw his head back and laughed which surprised Terry.
“Kid, there’s-“
“I’m 21, sir.”
“Kid,” the dwarf continued. “There’s only one mage around here right now that isn’t high as balls on the mana flux from the storm. She’s down the road a little ways helping out with relief. Look for the mall.”
“Thank you sir!” Terry gave him a big smile. Dottie always said his smiles were disarming.
“The names Gunt, kid. I’ll warn you. That mage is ornery.”
"Uh, thanks?” Terry said as he walked on down the street.
The Edgewater was a nice mall from the little Terry could remember of it from his childhood. WAS being the operative word. It was in pretty bad shape with the windows blown out and obvious water damage everywhere. Construction was still ongoing and the parking lot had a dozen or so tents and awnings set up with lines of people everywhere. They were leaving with food and blankets mostly.
Terry’s heart went out to them. He also felt warmth at seeing people helping others. Humans and dwarfs were working together. Heck, it looked like there were two or three elves here too. Maybe, he thought, if I don’t find this mage I should volunteer for a few days. He liked that idea but he decided to try and do what he’d come down here for first.
He started walking the parking lot and tried to make it clear he didn’t need any help. He also tried his best to not look like a creep as he searched. He looked at faces and clothes and realized quickly that he had no idea how to identify a mage out of a crowd. He was going to have to ask for help. He picked someone at random. There seemed to be a boy with his head shaved stacking blankets with his back turned. He’d do. Terry approached cautiously.
“Excuse me, sir?”
The boy - girl - spun to face him. . .
Terry stopped dead in his tracks. Even without hair she was stunning. Bright blue eyes, strange color changing lipstick on a pair of smirking lips. She was wearing a strange one piece with jeans over it and a belt with a massive, gold belt buckle with a face on it. She was. . . Terry shook his head to try and clear it and hoped to God she didn’t notice he was staring so badly.
Delores wasn’t sure what she was expecting when someone called her sir. It wasn’t unheard of and it wasn’t that bad. She wasn’t really angry. She had just reached a level of annoyance that no human had probably ever reached in their life. She spun on the voice, hands on her hips ready with a smirk snarky comment, and swallowed whatever she was about to say. The boy? Man? Whatever, was handsome. She almost thought he was using a glamor spell with his mess of jet black hair and his jaw, and his piercing eyes, and. . . His armor. His stupid armor and a white and red tabard under a duster. He was a stupid knight.
“Ma’am.” She settled on as a reply. She hung on to her annoyance desperately and tried not to ogle the poor guy.
He held up his hands and had the decency to look embarrassed.
“Ma’am! I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” He bowed to her. He actually bowed to her. He’s new, she thought. He’s painfully new to this.
“It’s fine.” She said. “I don’t know if you noticed but we’re kinda busy here.” At that she turned back around and started folding and stacking blankets.
“I understand, ma’am.” He still sounded embarrassed. Good.
“I was just wondering if you’d heard anything about a mage helping out around here?” She glanced over her shoulder at him. Was he serious?
“I want you to think about how your day is going after what just happened and make a wild guess about where she is.”
“It’s you.” He said slapping his forehead. Very satisfying. He was quick on the uptake. “Of course it’s you I’m so sorry ma’am. My name’s Terry Lingal and I’m looking for someone to partner with.”
Delores nearly spit out a drink that she wasn't drinking. What a newb.
“You are in luck, Mr. Knight.”
“My name’s Terry.” He said and she ignored him.
“Biloxi, Gulfport, and Pass Christian are stuffed to the GILLS with mages. All you have to do is scoop the stoners up in a wheelbarrow and you’ve got one.”
“About that.” He said walking up beside her and actually helping to fold blankets. “Why is that? You’re the second person to talk about them like they’re addicts.”
Delores sighed. She slapped her current blanket down on a stack and faced him, fists on hips.
“The hurricane, Mr. Knight. The low pressure front pushes all the mana in the area ahead of it.” She demonstrated using her fist to push her palm. “It hit and weakened, and the storm died not far inland, but the mana it pushed with it stayed.” She grabbed another blanket and tried to not look at him too long. He was just so. . . . Interested? Attentive? Handsome? STOP IT, she thought.
“So all these mages showed up to try and help turn or lessen the storm." She continued. "They opened themselves up to try their spells and the huge mana surge got them completely stoned. Now that there’s a standing mana field for another few weeks they’re all just sitting round being useless.”
“But not you?” he asked. He was still folding blankets with her.
“It takes either an extremely powerful mage or an extremely weak one to resist the currents, Mr. Knight.” She said.
“And which are you, ma’am?”
“PLEASE stop calling me ma’am.” She said. “I’m 20.”
“I don’t know what else to call you.”
She sighed again. She hadn’t intended to give him her name.
“Delores.” She said. "Stupid name." she mumbled to herself.
Possibly the most horrible sound she’d ever heard came from his stomach just then. If a bear fought a wookalar it would sound something like that. He looked up in alarm and spotted the closest line of Crapper Johns. He looked at her with urgency in his eyes.
“I'm not done, Delores. I’ll be back A.S.A.P. I still want to team up.”
Delores raised her hand with an objection ready but he was off like a shot. She would NOT just wait around for him. She wouldn’t. She had no intention of teaming up with some new, untrained knight and end up doing all the work. Besides. The nice guy thing was probably a front. It always seemed to be. She frowned at that and grabbed an arm load of blankets to fold.
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