The group had decided to head in the general direction of Durango, Colorado. From Warren's stockpile of notes, they had gathered details about the shipment and exchange of sve girls and Warren was supposed to meet with someone from Xavier's organization at a specific location outside the mountain town on a specific day. While it was possible that Xavier knew Warren was defeated, they thought it was still their best hope to pick up the trail and figure out where he might be. Conveniently, they were able to pass through Danville on their way toward Colorado, visiting old friends. The first few days headed away from Persistence were boring and mild travel days, the friends getting into the rhythm of traveling and camping under the stars once more.

  As the four animals slowed to a trot near Danville on their third day, Alice could once again see that the town had gone through a boom cycle. The popution had continued to increase in the months since they were st there, more buildings continuing to go up around the town, more militia out patrolling, more vilgers farming and working around the area. The friends waved, recognizing a few faces from their previous visits through the town. Unlike the st visit when everything was gloomy due to the curse pced on Jenni, Danville seemed to be in much brighter spirits, crowds of women walking around excitedly talking together and performing various chores while men performed most of the heavy tasks, two men carrying a heavy beam of timber on their shoulders as they stepped past the adventurers. Almost all vilgers were smiling brightly as the friends rode into town, stopping at the tavern.

  Erika wobbled as she stepped down from her horse, legs shaking, the muscles still not used to long hours of riding in the saddle. Alice hopped down and stepped over, pcing an arm on the witch's shoulder to stabilize her. "Do you want a healing spell, or are you good for now?," Alice asked quietly, not trying to make a big deal of Erika's weakness. Erika grimaced, then gave a brief nod of assent. Alice channeled a small amount of healing energy into the witch who quietly moaned in pleasure as a pink glow covered her legs, healing the sores and bruises of the day's exertion. The witch clutched to Alice, trying to maintain her bance until the sensations faded.

  Bridgette hopped down from her horse, grabbing Alice and Erika's mounts and leading them around to the back of the tavern where a stable awaited. Colin helped Deirdre down from Moonwhisper's back and the wolf snorted, nuzzling into the ranger as she whispered in her wolf's ear. With a pat on the shoulder, Deirdre instructed Moonwhisper to "Go" and the giant wolf turned and trotted out of the vilge, clearly preferring to make her own arrangements for bedding down or go hunting for a meal.

  Alice gently led Erika into the tavern, helping the pink-haired woman to a seat at a table as Colin and Deirdre dropped in next to her. Alice turned, intending to walk over to the bar and greet her friends, but stopped as she saw an unfamiliar face polishing a gss mug. The brunette turned a bright and cheery smile toward Alice and greeted her, "Hi, welcome to Danville! This is Dan's Tavern! I don't think I've seen you around before, but gd to have you. I'm Kait. What can I get you and your friends?"

  "Uhm, hello," Alice said cautiously. "Yea, hi - I don't think I've seen you around before, but admittedly it's been something like eight months since I was st here. Maybe something to drink to start? Does Dan still own this pce? I was hoping to say hi to him."

  "Yup, he does! My husband is over at the bcksmith shop working right now, but he'll be back ter tonight, and I'm sure he'd love to see you."

  "Husband?," Bridgette said with a confused expression as she walked in, gncing at the strange woman.

  The pink-and-blonde haired Jenni took that moment to waddle out of the back room, visibly pregnant, and swatted at Kait's rear as she gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. "I've got this, babe. Go fetch them drinks. Hey friends, long time!"

  "Wha-," Alice said, staring back and forth, blinking repeatedly. "Wh...," she opened her mouth and closed it several more times, staring between the two women. Bridgette extended a hand, gently closing Alice's mouth for her, before walking over and hugging the pregnant woman, gncing down at the bump.

  "Congratutions!," she said excitedly. "I can't wait to hear everything."

  Kait brought over drinks and served them as Jenni joined the five companions at a table, gently kicking her feet up to rest on Bridgette's p. Jenni excitedly told the friends everything about the st several months. In the wake of Alice and Colin saving Jenni, the town had held an enormous celebration. People from the surrounding area had flocked to Danville, excited to see an actual gathering of people for common benefit, and many of them had stuck around and stayed, continuing to grow the town. "That was also when this happened," Jenni said while patting at her bump. "Dan didn't waste any time the moment I was healthy again," she said with a chuckle.

  "But anyway," she continued, "It really helped solidify us as a pce where people felt safe, even with the Xavier drama," she shuddered, "and so we kept having more people come and stay. Dan hates having to be the mayor of so many people, he keeps threatening to make me do it, but I'm thinking we'll probably pass it on to someone else, maybe Rika. She's much more of the bossy sort." Kait and Jenni chuckled at that while Alice stared bnkly at the unfamiliar name.

  "Oh, right, you haven't met her yet either. She's our third sister-wife," Kait said as she dropped food off for the table. "She was out running errands at one of the more remote farms this afternoon, but she should be back soon."

  "Sister-wife?," Alice said while staring at Kait as the brunette walked back to the bar.

  "Third?," Bridgette said, gncing at Jenni, who smiled broadly at the two.

  "We can wait until the kids are in bed," she said gesturing toward Colin and Deirdre, "And I'll spill all the tea. But yes, sister-wives. Don't knock it until you've tried it. But anyway, what are you guys up to? We love seeing you, but something tells me that you're going to be off again before long, saving the world or some other simir task."

  "We're going to kill Xavier," Erika said bluntly where she'd been sitting in unusual silence for most of the conversation, staring back and forth as the friends caught up, clearly trying to piece together names she'd heard from the stories with the faces in the tavern. "And his henchmen."

  "Oh. Well," Jenni said, startled by the blunt pixie as she gnced at Bridgette who nodded in confirmation. "I can appreciate that, but please be careful, dear. As much as I want him and his minions to suffer, I wouldn't trade his death for your life, for any of your lives. I survived my ordeal and my life is better than it was before. I don't need you to carry out revenge on my behalf."

  Alice gave a sad smile to Jenni, "It's about more than that, unfortunately. We've come into a lot more information about Xavier, we need to stop him before he grows more powerful, or else far more than just us will suffer."