Do Over
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  DragonMelde, color by  Major Matt Mason



The ending theme song of Monsoon Poultry Hospital started, and Fuji flicked his tail. The apartment’s entertainment center interpreted the gesture and lowered the sound while the Komodo monitor turned to smile fondly at his wife and their sleeping daughter. Jinzi had slept through the entire program. “That was a good episode,” Fuji said.

Meredith nodded. “I thought for certain that Nurse Dara had finally come up against a problem she couldn’t fix.” The otteress had skillfully navigated her way through the tangle of interlocking relationships between the patient, her three husbands and two wives, and their numerous children to find the right one to grant consent for the patient to receive a life-saving treatment.

Shortly before the end of the war between the Terrans and the Kashlani, the male wolf who had played Nurse Dara had been replaced and the theme of the show had changed to extoll Terran solidarity in the face of alien aggression and the valor of Terra’s armed forces. With peace, the theme had changed back, but the actress was still portraying Nurse Dara.

“I’m glad that the show’s changed,” Meredith remarked, speaking quietly so the sleeping foal in her arms wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Yeah,” Fuji agreed. He gently stroked Jinzi’s mane with a fingertip. “Have you thought about the game?”

“A little. I think that I have to take the game back to the saved point before Varan and I visited the General Store.”

“And then?”

“I have some ideas,” the golden palomino mare said.


***


Meredith and Varan glanced at each other, and the mage said, “We’ll buy some supplies, and try to subdue this bear.”

“And this action figure,” Meredith added, taking a small statuette of an equine in uniform from the rack.

“Demef i’?” Varan asked.

The mare replied, “Avril Makenzi was called Markus’ Sword. She was his best commander and closest friend. What better example for a paladin who’s a mare?”

“That sounds fair,” Varan said as she paid for the supplies.


***


Meredith frowned.

The mare had been unable to stop her character from acquiring the figurine, and after several tries at it she supposed that it was required for something. Maybe if Varan’s character had been a paladin or some other warrior archetype, she would have gotten something similar.

Still, she’d run the saved portion all the way through to the end, and thought that she had a course of action. It was a worth a try, at least.

Meredith made sure that the volume was down before starting the game module.


***


After hiking for several hours, the paladin and the mage took cover in a large clump of thick underbrush and waited until they could hear and see a hulking shape moving among the trees.

Meredith stood up. “Excuse me?”

“AHHHH!” There was a thrashing sound and the bear emerged from the bushes. “Don’t DO that!” he yelled. “You SCARED me!”

“I’m sorry,” the paladin said, Meredith taking care to avoid game directions that pointed toward violent responses to the bear. “We were told,” she said, motioning for Varan to stand up, “that you might know something about the Ghost Mountain.”

“I was born there, in the summer of my twenty-seventh year,” he replied. “What do you want to know?”

“Do you know where can we find it?” Meredith asked.

“Head that way,” the bear said, gesturing due north, “and listen to the ground. When you sense movement all around, you’ll know there’s something going down.”

“And when we can feel it?” Varan asked

“It’ll be on the waves of the air.” The bear smiled. “There is dancin' out there, but it's something we can't share.” He raised an admonitory finger. “But be careful of the night fever.” The two adventurers both gave him a questioning look and he added, “You’ll know when you show it.”

“Thank you,” Meredith said.

“You’re not going to try to hunt me, are you?” the bear asked warily.

“Certainly not,” Varan said. “But we were told that you are a monster.”

The bear shook his head. “I’m a religious hermit,” he explained. “Just a soul whose intentions are good, but it seems that I’ve been misunderstood.”

“Well, we’re not going to bother you further,” Meredith said. She pointed. “That way?”

“Yeah.”


***


“Hm!” Fuji said as the simulacrum faded. “That’s a more promising start.”

“Yes, it was,” Meredith said. “Now we just see where it goes.”