"The girls name is Dessa, she's a mercenary who is bent on taking down the Flarers, and Sirena herself. She had been trying to kill them because she though we were Flarers, when she saw the horse we were riding. 

Last night she had come down in the darkness to finish the job, she snuck up behind me and knocked me out cold, but when she got in the tent and saw you, she realized who he was and backed off. She didn't want to get killed so the best way was to knock you out." Crosby explained.

"Yeah... sorry about that..." Said Dessa.

"It's ok, but why were you out in the desert anyways?"

"I was heading to see Margerie the Gastronian outlaw."

His jaw dropped. "Where is she?"

"In the Badger Beak tavern in Candly."

"That's where we were going!"

"Really? Awesome, we can go together!"

"Um, not to burst your bubble, but you've been trying to kill us for the past three nights." Jordan pointed out.

"Good point, but I promise I won't kill you!"

"Uhhhh... Ok then?"

"She can come," Crosby says, "But you have to ride in the front, so we dont get shot in the back."

"Deal!" She said smiling, "I get lonely sometimes, and I talk to myself, but over the past few months I found out that I'm a rude person."

"How?"

"I would keep calling myself an idiot, or stupid or-"

"I get the point." I reassure her.

So Dessa rode in front, she had two extra horses with her for supplies so we rode with her, Jordan found himself riding with Dessa while Crosby brought up the rear.

"Soo, where you from?"

"Oh, from the big city."

"Ah, when did you decide to become an outlaw?"

"When the Flarers murdered my family in front of me when I was six."

"Ah... I see..." Jordan wisely did not say anything more, despite what she just said, she wasn't sad or anything, like it was a fact.

"What about you?"

"I grew up with my parents until I was four, then the Flarers came in and killed my parents for no reason why. I ended up on the streets, at first I begged for money, but I developed a talent for pickpocketing, then I started to sneak not stores and take cash that way." Jordan cleared his throat, "I was starting to become a notorious their, I had several bounties on my head and I wanted the glory I guess,  I bit off more than I could chew."

She tried a grin, "Looks like we have something in common.. You know, having the Flarers ruin our lives by killing our parents." She got right back to the point. "But anyways, What did you do?"

"I tried to steal the Great Ruby."

She gasped, "were you close to getting it?"

"I did get it, I made a careless mistake, when the Flarers were coming I led them right to me, I was wet and left footprints right to where I was hiding."

"Then what?"

"I escaped from prison, met up with Crosby and since then we've been looking for Margerie, she or one of her henchmen have been leaving me notes, telling me they have info about my parents."

"Explains why you want to find her."

"Yup."

"What about Crosby, he seems sorta glum." She asked, "when you were unconscious and it was just Crosby and I, he wouldn't laugh at jokes, and he was all serious and stuff.

Jordan lowered his voice so Crosby couldn't hear, "He has a dark past."

"Like what?"

He sighed, "about five years ago, Sirena Arlington was working on weapons, something to help them win the war with Gastro, because it's no secret things are escalating. She wanted man power, so she asked the head scientist to try and develop a cloning machine, just a prototype of course. When it was built, they got one of their top generals, Justin Bergaldy, and cloned him."

"They weren't sure if it was working, so they had Justin care for the small baby until it grew to full size, which would take about two years. He cared for the boy that was him, and after awhile, fell in love with it. He couldn't stand the fact that this boy would become a war machine meant for killing, and since Justin thought it was bad, Crosby did too."

"In secret Justin built a tunnel that led far away from the city, when Crosby finally reached his the same age as Justin, he was given things to survive and left, minutes before the Flarers came to see the final results of their 'experiment'. Crosby could hear the gun shots of the Flarers when they found out he had escaped. Now he has another goal, avenge himself, he wants to avenge Justin for sacrificing himself so he could have a chance."

When Jordan was finished Dessa just sat there for a bit. "But why is he so glum and serious? Is he scarred for life? Or is Justin just that way naturally?"

"Side effect of being cloned, he doesn't have many emotions beside pain and sadness, little happiness within him."

"But why does he call himself Crosby if he was Justin?"

"That's what Justin called him, he wanted to treat him like a real person so he gave him a real name."

Dessa was quiet, he left her to ponder Crosbys' past, it wasn't his place to share it anyways. 

He turned his thoughts back towards his parents, 

What could Margerie know? What were the Flarers motives? Were my parents breaking the law as well? So many questions left un answered... All he could do is dream and wonder of what they could be with no hope to grasp onto that he might eventually find out... And now with Margerie, there would actually be a way, he could find her and get his much needed answers. 

At last, things were pulling through.