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to be gentle, if you can promise to not bite me, or anything stupid like that. Otherwise, we go back to you starving. You start your career as a worm buffet while I go along my merry way. Well?”
    Rather than reply Hannah nodded once, and watched him with hooded eyes.
    With anger burning his mind but mercy guiding his heart, he levered her upright into a sitting position, and fed her. In the end it took both sets of strawberries.
     
    They arrived at a small town early the next morning. Runner drew everyone up short when the buildings came into view, far in the distance. Inspecting it, he found it was a simple thing, houses and shops built close together. Meandering streets that had been placed as the population grew, ran throughout like twisting paths. It seemed like any other village that one might see in a fantasy setting.
    “Would that be our destination?” he inquired of his quiet companion. She had said precious little this entire trip. When he tried to converse with her, even about the simplest of subjects, her responses never varied from single word responses, or silence.
    “Yes.”
    “Mm, you don’t say. I do hope the reason you’ve been so quiet, is you’re contemplating a speech for the town about our little adventure. Or maybe all the delightful things you’ll tell me when we arrive, like the town’s history. Maybe even give me a tour, introduce me to the mayor, or your family.”
    “No.”
    “Ahhh, fantastic. Lead on fair farm maiden, she of the reticent articulation, master of the spoken word!”
    Said fair farm maiden only nodded her head in response, and set off with her horse walking along side her.
    Runner started walking again with an unsatisfied groan, Hannah falling in beside him. They had left the gag off today, though her wrists were still bound. Runner had tied a lead into the bindings, and then looped that into his belt. It wasn’t the brightest idea, but he figured he could handle an unarmed thief, even if she decided to yank on the cord.
    “Hah, real winner with the ladies there, shit head. Really wooed her right out of her skirt,” Hanna chirped from his side. She had recovered quite a bit over night. Once he had finished feeding her, he used Cure to get her health back up to full. She still had the bound status, but that was unavoidable, since he had to keep her tied.
    “Yes. It does seem that way. Either way, I don’t imagine I’ll get much from her other than meeting other people I can speak with. Hopefully they’re a bit more verbose. We shall see.” He shrugged, the conversation leaving him. Runner was left with the impression that he was missing something. After a moments thought, and looking up at his mini-map, he realized what it was. There had been no notification he had left one zone and entered another.
    Making a nonplussed noise, Runner was disheartened to see that he had minimized the notification window. It was separate from the social pane and held notifications that held a higher value than skill leveling or experience gains.
    In his carelessness he had triggered the default setting for the notifications to remain minimized until it was restored to its proper place. That also meant he had not received any notifications, which would include discovering new areas. Thinking back he realized he had actually turned it off the day before yesterday in his titanic battle of the ages with Yeller.
    Letting out a frustrated breath, he brought the notification window back to the front
     
    Congratulations! Server first: Discover an ability
    You’ve earned 100 fame
    Congratulations! Server first: Defeated an enemy five levels higher
    You’ve earned 50 fame
    You’ve earned the title Unyielding
    Congratulations! Server first: Defeated an enemy ten levels higher
    You’ve earned 100 fame
    You’ve earned the title Indomitable
    Congratulations! Server first: Level 5
    You’ve earned 500 fame
    Congratulations! Server first: Have over 500 Fame
    You’ve earned 100