Report five, I am sitting here still in Oz's private room. I came to once Oz threw water on my face. Kitsune has left the room for a time as she is calling her men to get Sage from the room. He is tied up in the corner there. Oz is staying in the room to watch over me and the tied up Sage. I am filling out my log, while I try to think about what I should I do. I could go over there and kick Sage's butt. Or I could attempt to save him. Sage is out cold. I think Kitsune and Oz wanted me back up so I can continue to pretend to be the Honorable Leader.

On the positive side of this report, I am not dead. I admit it has been a long time since I saw my family. I think it has been months. . . I do not hope much hope the S.S. Tsunami will return for me. The escape pod was taken by the humans of this planet. The transitions are still ongoing from my last programing. I mean I locked it to respond to only my voice command. . . Still, I do not think they will return for me. My last transition is repeating endlessly. I remember at the first moments of crashing as I was knocked into the escape pod. I thought surely someone would notice me being gone. My research sitting in the lad untouched. Surely, my siblings would seek me out. Or at least, Harris is my best friend, even if we were not on speaking terms that day. Heck, I can hardly recall why Harris and I had such a heated debate about Lady Luna.

All the natives have given up in trying to understand the full scale of my tale. Back then I managed to have my communicator in working condition and my laser at full charge. I mean was shaking about firing. But I fought back when the humans tried to hurt me on our first encounter. Still the humans knocked me about and kept me chained up. They thought I was some type of creature spy. They accused me of witchcraft and then of stealing their technology. If they had their way, I bet I would have been stuck in their jail for as long as it took them to understand my escape pod. The spinning of my escape pod to Gaia was the worst.

In the jail, I meet Sage. He has been arrested for sharing secrets about the human government with the creatures. Sage had said it was part of his line of living. He liked to play with fire. That idiot on the floor came up with the idea of escaping together. Sage pointed out that there was a girl, Meo, who could be the future. Sage claimed she would be the right one to help with finding out when guard changes would occur. It was during the rescue of Meo and our escape from the humans my communicator stopped working. I seemed like a fool to Meo and Sage for several weeks. I am lucky I know something about linguistics. My language skills came back to basics. Now, I have no clue how my language is working.

I guess I need to be around Kitsune to understand Oz with this whole matching earring thing. Or maybe this whole magic thing is a different. I mean I could understand some people at the Peach Blossom Tea House. Or it may be that as Meo said there is a common language of Rameses. There is a whole bunch of sublanguages in this society. I give up. However, my time at the time house. . .

Oz is watching me carefully now. I am going to put this away. I know what I ought to do about Sage.

. . .

I continue my log entry. Here was my choice of what to do with Sage:

Once I tucked my log back into my pocket, I walked over to Oz. He was a fine enough host. I had peered over Sage in the ropes and with a lump on his head. I kicked his stomach for leaving me with those crazy people. I shouted curses and begun to punch his face. His slick top hat get flung aside to the floor. Oz did not even flinch as I blooded up his face.

It was Kitsune had returned and shouted at me, "Honorable Leader, do not soil your hands on him further. He will get his share once we get back. I will be sure Son knows."

I had frozen in my place. There she approached with a stern look on her face. Kitsune grabbed my hand and covered it in a towel. The gang members walked in. They were dressed as servants. They bowed to Kitsune, Oz, and I. They scooped the knocked out and bloody Sage from the floor. They snickered at the lack of skill from Great Fia the Fire Sage. He was good for nothing. Quietly they nodded their heads to me as they rolled him under a cloth trolley with food on top. Hidden away, Sage was spirited from our sight. I turned back to Oz.

"Honorable Leader would be proud of your ruthlessness, sir." Oz nodded, "Miss, you ought to be more crafty about how you select decoys in the future. His eyes are not like Honorable Leader nor is he as tall."

"Right, Oz." Kitsune drily answered.

"I have a party to attend to. Please do stop by for more food and drinks later." Oz beamed as if nothing had happened here, "Ah, such humor from your gang. I am pleased to continue to working with you. Goodnight."

. . .

Now, I know my choice was messed up. I truly do. Sage has a nice black eye currently and a pair of broken glasses. In fact, I stand here in the hallways off to the side. Sage is tied up and planted in the grand hall where Meo and I were left to repay our debts. Kitsune sits on her chair behind her ape guards. Son is bowing as his part in their show. All the while Sage has come around. The jerk.

Sage shakes his head and managed to sit up in his bonds. He looks down at his tied up hands and chuckles. His eyes drift over to Kitsune hidden behind her guards. Sage straightens himself up from the cool floor. Sage taps his foot on the floor and hums to himself. He frees his hands with grace and rubs his wrists. His eyes drift over to me behind the curtains. Self-assured as ever, he winks at me and stretches out his body.

I shift about in discomfort. Kitsune has relieved me of her outfit. Yet was kind enough to give me a plain set of white kimonos. She has left me in the keep of her geisha friends, Yuki the tailor, and a silence new rabbit fellow. Yuki has come to adjust the outfit to my height. I believe the new guy is Ryu, Yuki's brother. He is a tiny little rabbit creature wearing a plain tunic. He calmly stay by Yuki and I. I guess he is supposed to be our guard for some reason. We sit here off in the side wing of the hall as Kitsune handles the business of Sage.

The guards stay unmoving as Sage raises to his feet. His dapper outfit now marked with blood and dirt. He smugly walks over to Son and Kitsune. With a proud bow and happy tune, he looks at Kitsune. He happy says, "Ah, I see we enter the discussion phrase of this event. I am glad we are starting to a grand beginning."

Yuki shakes her head and whispers, "This is not the first time he mucks around with our city. He is like a walking disaster. . . I will never understand how Hana liked him."

The tailor busied her hands with her tread and needle. I watch on among the crowd here. The curtains may hide us somewhat. But I can see Sage holding out his hand and a flicker of flame spouts out. In his hand he has a card. He smiles widely at Kitsune and offers it up. The ape guards lunge forward at Sage. Automatically, he raises up his hands to show he means no harm.

"My dear, you seem distant. You know we usually have more fun than this. You know we get a few drinks, have some laughs, and we fool around." He laughs, "I have waited such a long time to see you again. I mean I had a hellish time getting here to see you. You cannot believe the trip."

Son leaves his steps by Kitsune. He grabs away the card from Sage's hand. He reads it over and walks back to Kitsune. The crane whispers to her ear. Kitsune waves her hand and the ape guards clear the way for Sage. Smugly he bows once more. The man rolls his neck, "You cannot be that sore about my debt to you and yours. Right?"

Kitsune listens to Son as he translates for her. She stands up. Careful movements have the curtains in front of the side hall open before us. Yuki bows low and Ryu follows suit. The geishas in back giggle and spread out their fans. I lower myself as way too many whacks from Son would not allow me to forget this motion. Yuki takes hold of my clothing and guides me forward. I side mouth to the tailor, "What is going on?"

"You are being forgiven." Yuki mutters, "Ryu and I will be escorting you back to Meo."

"Did she repay our debt?" I mutter.

Son announces, "Hush, Mister Blue. We are having a discussion here."

Sage stares at my outfit smirks gladly. His gazes turn back to Son, "So that is how it is. . . You are adopting him to your gang and clan. I say that is generous. A brother even, I must say that is kind. And I get off scot free?"

Son translates again to Kitsune. She points to Sage and beckons him. He kneels down before her and kisses her hand. His eyes spark with thought as he looks upon her closer another time. He mutters to Kitsune and loudly says, "Would that is worth my debt here and more?"

The Honorable Leader motions for the others to clear the room. Just like last time the room clears out. The happy geishas leave the hallways. The ape guards go toward the main hall door. Son sighs at the commotion. The crane ushers people off the sides of the hall. He closes the doors and stops as he arrives to the hall with Ryu, Yuki, and I. He draws me forward while pointing his feathers to have Ryu and Yuki leave the room.

I walk with Son to meet beside Sage. His stupid face still has the cuts I delivered to him earlier. He grins at me. It is the trust me face. The face that means he has a messed up plan. I will not let him doom me twice. I go to speak as Sage cuts me off. He goes on, "What say you?"

Kitsune pulls her mask over her face, the crack on it remains from earlier. Her eyes burn at him, "Your information is useless. I have no interest in tracking Salgo. Plus as the lead of Vitoz, I am here to serve my city. I am not to abandon it for a wild goose chase." Here Kitsune becomes almost sicken, "I have no interest in you or your body."

"Now, now. Your sister was always warmer with me. Sweetheart, you would truly like to know my information I assure you." Sage says just as Kitsune slugs in him the face. Sage rubs his cheek.

"You shall address me as Honorable Leader. Furthermore, you will finish repaying your own debt. Blue is free to go back to Meo," Kitsune stiffens before him.

"Come on, sweetheart, you need not be cruel. I have the fees to pay you. I just thought the information would be worth your while."

"Son! Take this elf from my sight! Put him to work as you did with our other guest!" Kitsune fumes.

"Wait!" Sage points to the paper. Then he turns toward me, "You have read my information! You know you need me to follow this kid."

"You are a snake, Great Fia the Fire Sage. Your own people want you killed. Hell, I know a lot of people who want you dead."

"And a lot of people who want me alive and think me a hero," Sage happily adds.

Son moves from the doors and comes for Sage. Sage hops about dodging the feathery hands of the crane. He ducks low as Son reaches high. It continues a dance of ducks and grabs for. Kitsune rolls her eyes and takes out a dagger from her clothing. She presses it against Sage's neck. I have not seen him be so resistant to fight or slow. I cock my head at the reservation in his actions.

"Sport, tell her! Tell her what you can do!" Sage demands.

"What do you mean?" I blink at him.

"All the science junk, Sport. Remember? The acid that burns through locks. The magnets strong enough to disable the swords. All your medical knowledge!" Sage takes hold of me.

"No. I do not," I say straight faced. He always mocked my knowledge. He never wanted to understand my theories or concepts.

"Come on, sweetheart, you know you need me," Sage groans, "I do not want to hurt you all. Just admit you need my help. You need to know where Salgo is. You need to know all the junk the kid knows. You need to know where Hana has gone. Is it really going to hurt to trust me?"

Kitsune lowers her dagger, "Talk or die."