Names at the Gate

Summoneyy was still waiting for the dead to make a proper entrance in some grand martial spectacle, which is a perfectly sound use of an afternoon if one has no customer demanding one’s attention at the third bell.

Meanwhile Blaedy studied the new choice of rules as though the signboard might bite, then set about reserving names with the urgency of a quartermaster securing rations before a siege. She claimed Star Platinum. Arrowyy, being free and therefore immediately enlisted, took Wonder Boy. He has the useful family trait of accepting an errand before asking why it matters.

I said nothing. A man who has watched people fight over a campfire’s practical arrangements knows better than to stand between them and a fresh gate with their names painted on it.