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upon himself to begin organizing their community. Names were on the agenda as he thought the names of some of his brothers and sisters slightly silly. “Ladies and gentle gnomes. I know that our mistress has named us according to her whim, but would any of you care to be known amongst your brothers and sisters by another name?"
    Bitsy stepped forward. “I am Bitsy. Our mistress named me and it is the name that I will answer to when a human calls. I will be proud to carry the name I was given until the day that my life drains from me, if it ever does. My true name is still within me and that is enough.” Bitsy stood proud. The others slowly nodded. Their names had been chosen by the one who brought them life. It would be a dishonour to reject them.
    "Now. Do we stay and serve the Nexus or go into the world and make our way?"
    "What would we do?” Ruffles asked.
    "Where would we go?” Skint chipped in his own query.
    "How would we get there?"
    "What do we know about this place or the physical world really?"
    The debate raged all day. Bitsy wished to stay with the mistress, but Splint argued that their lives were theirs to live. They need not wait on her to earn their keep. She had created them intelligent and able-bodied. They could fend for themselves.
    "Enough!” When they fell quiet again, Harby continued. “It is obvious that we need to become familiar with this world, and at the same time, the Nexus is coming into her power. She needs us here. We do not wish her to run afoul of anyone before she has grasped her control."
    Bitsy nodded. “I will not leave her, but what do you propose, Harbinger?"
    "That we use this opportunity to both protect the Nexus and to learn about her world. We will use her yard as a base of operations and expand our knowledge of the world from here. After we know more of this place, we can discuss it again."
    His brothers and sisters nodded. “What do we do first?"
    "Well, the sky is darkening. I was thinking of following the road and seeing where it leads.” With giggles of agreement and enthusiastic grins, Harby and the gnomes took to the open road.
    Their feet pattered quietly on the pavement and, each time a car passed, they ran for the shrubs. They may have just stood still and pretended to be statuary, but it was a hard thing to do when their instincts screamed at them to run.
    The town was huge to their eyes. Mind you, to them all human creations were enormous. They took in the town square, the grocery, the home and garden center and the tiny computer repair shop.
    Mitsy peeled off from their group and began to examine the door to the grocery store. Her brow furrowed as she eyed the locks. “The Nexus needs breakfast tomorrow. She has not had time to shop. How do we get inside?” Mitsy was being practical. It was a good thing that she was, none of the others had even considered the physical upkeep of the Nexus herself. If she lost physical power, their lives might be endangered as her power sought to return to her body.
    Harby was a little embarrassed, but he tackled the task with all the enthusiasm of a career felon. After a few minutes of searching around, he found an entrance to it. The round holes in the ground with the metal cover led to drains that were smelly, but they connected to every building in town. The gnomes were just the right height and width to make their way through their dark expanses. They had the key to every business in town, it led through the sewer.
    It had to be magic because after they finished their crawl through the tunnels, they didn't keep the stench on them. Nor the filth. They were as clean as the day they had been made, but they were not going to bring any items out through the depths.
    Shopping was managed when they actually figured out what the Nexus would want in the morning. It was called a cookbook. Bitsy memorized three while Splint and Mitsy went with Skint to the home and garden center to find some nice plants and tools for them to begin