Synopsis: Dragonslayers (a Sir Differel adventure)

The return of the Princess in Orange.

Sir Differel Van Helsing blinks and snaps back to the present, finding herself in the midst of a garden party hosted by Lady Margaret. Naturally, she stands as the odd-man out in her pants suit amid cocktail and summer dresses. Three women stand in front of her, chatting about some inane subject and trying to involve her in a most awkward fashion. Margaret joins them, but after a few more minutes Differel can’t take any more and makes an excuse about not feeling well. As she heads for the house, she can hear the women talking about her in a catty fashion, which prompts Margaret to stand up for her.

Once inside, she pauses long enough to look back outside, and sees Margaret following her. She waits for her to join her, then apologizes for leaving so abruptly. Margaret waves it off, saying she understood she might be uncomfortable, but she still thought it would be worth a chance she might enjoy it. Differel corrects her, saying that’s not it. Margaret says something’s bothering her and asks what it is. When Differel indicates it’s a long story, Margaret states she has time, and takes her to a drawing room. She orders tea, and as they wait, Differel starts her story:

She awakens as if from a sound sleep to find herself lying naked except for her glasses in an open hotdog bun that has been slathered with mustard, with the Princess in Orange, grown to gargantuan size, towering over her. Before she can do much more than push herself up, the PiO dumps a load of chili on her, effectively trapping her under its weight. Her head hangs off the end and she watches in growing horror as the Carcosan Royal layers on chopped onions and shredded cheese. She asks if the PiO intends to eat her, and she replies that if she can’t one way, she will another. She asks about the re-evaluation she said she would do, and the PiO responds that unfortunately Momsy and Dadsy are getting impatient, so she can't waste anymore time. She lifts the bun feet-first up to her face and Differel watches as she licks her lips and opens her mouth. Desperate, Differel screams she’s wasting the opportunity while squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation of being bitten in half.

When nothing happens, she opens her eyes and sees the PiO staring at her. She asks what she means, and Differel states that she’s much too fine a meal to be consumed in so provincial a manner. The PiO really should serve her up as a gourmet meal; after all, as an aristocrat she deserves it. When the PiO complains that she’s hungry now, Differel makes it a last request; besides, anticipation only whets the appetite more. The PiO asks her what kind of recipe she would suggest. Differel describes a beef cut marinated in sherry with berries and spices, served on a bed of rice with a port wine and brown sugar sauce. The PiO is salivating and agrees to her idea. She picks her out of the bun, dumps off the fillings, and lays her back on a plate. Differel leaps to her feet to escape, but the Princess places an upside-down glass over her to keep her in place. She states she needs a few things, so she’s going to the store, but she’ll be right back. She then leaves.

Differel is glad she bought herself some time, but she doesn’t know what to do with it. She calls to Vlad, but he doesn’t respond and she can’t hear him. She throws her weight against the glass, but she can't tip it enough to make it fall over. Just when she thinks it’s hopeless, a nude female mouse furry approaches her, wearing a belt with a knife made from a shard of glass inserted into a scabbard. She offers to free Differel, but only if she agrees to help her people. With no other choice, Differel accepts.

They work together pushing against the glass to start it rocking. It’s tough going and takes what seems to Differel to be too long to get it to shift enough to topple it. Finally, however, it falls down on its own, and Differel crouches to allow it to pass overhead. As she stands up, they hear the PiO call out that she’s home. The mouse lady panics, but Differel takes her hand and they run across the counter to hide behind some appliances. The PiO sweeps into the kitchen carrying a bag of groceries, but while she walks right past the plate, she doesn’t notice the overturned glass. She goes to the opposite side of the room by the sink, her back to their hiding place. However, the glass rolls slowly towards the edge of the counter, threatening to fall off.

Differel and the mouse lady make a break for it. They run to a corner of the counter, where the mouse lady jams an opened paperclip into a crack in the wood. A length of string is attached to it, which she throws over the edge. She directs Differel to descend the string, then follows. Once on the ground, the glass finally drops off and shatters on the floor. The PiO turns around in surprise and locks eyes with Differel. She and the mouse lady race across the floor for an opening in the wall and manage to duck inside moments before the plate crashes against the wall.

They retreat some distance from the entrance, then pause to rest, watching as the PiO reaches in trying to grab them, all the while screaming curses. The mouse lady introduces herself as Murina. She retrieves a spear, also made from a shard of glass tied to the end of a chopstick with the string sealed in wax, and a pack. She removes a bota bag and takes a drink, then offers it to Differel. She also offers her a peanut fragment and a crumb of hard cheese, both as big as a fist. She then slings the pack over her shoulder and starts walking. With nowhere else to go, Differel follows.

Murina leads her on a rather long walk that often requires them to climb or descend string ropes, traverse pipes over deep chasms, or sidle along the edges of sheer drops. When Differel tries to engage her in conversation, she signals her to keep silent. Differel isn’t sure why, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around, but she understands that this is Murina’s world, so she would know its hazards better than her. Even so, several times Murina hesitates, then moves to duck out of sight of something, gesturing for Differel to do the same. She never sees what they are hiding from, but each time Murina looks terrified that whatever it is might find them.

There are other creatures in this world: they encounter ants, beetles, pseudoscorpions, and mites, though nothing particularly dangerous, and various fungi that seem to serve as the basis for the food chain. At one point they encounter a cellar spider, but while it acts aggressively, it avoids Murina’s spear and finally leaves them alone. Since she showed no fear of it, Differel doubted that was what she tried to avoid earlier.

Eventually they arrive at what Differel takes to be Murina’s home. It appears to be a dead-space in a wall, something like a spear closet, and built into several levels. Differel sees that the people are all mouse furries like Murina, of both sexes and various ages, none of whom wear clothes. Murina takes her to her private den to store away her equipment, then takes her to where she can clean up, giving her an impromptu tour. Most of the levels are living space, some private like Murina’s, but most communal. There are also storage areas for food, bedding, and other supplies, a fungus garden, an exercise area where adults practice with homemade weapons, a workshop where they make the few items they cannot gather, even a school. At the top level an exposed pipe has a small crack that lets a trickle of water leak out. It’s caught by a shallow pan, and the overflow follows a metal gutter to flow over the edge of an abyss. Murina gives her a piece of soap and as she washes under the trickle, the mouse lady explains that they collect it in thimbles, makeshift metal pails, or wooden buckets. Differel figures there should be a way to make a cistern to hold more water, that way they don’t have to bath in their drinking water.

When she’s finished Murina gives her a towel—essentially a piece of fabric cut from a larger sample—to dry off with and then takes her to the refectory for dinner. The mouse people do fairly well when it comes to finding food, though the quality for some items isn’t all that great. Differel finds it difficult to stomach most of it except for dry goods and the stew, which thankfully contains largely unrecognizable bits. Even so, it’s delicious. She is unnerved by the way the other people all stare at her, and if the children try to approach her an adult takes then away. Murina explains that her appearance is strange and frightens them, but they are more worried about what she represents. When Differel asks what that is, she avoids responding. One mouse child offers her a nugget of cookie, which she accepts, but then asks if she’s here to slay the dragon. Before she can ask about that, an adult hurries her off, and once again Murina will not explain.

After the meal Murina takes her to see Colomay, the oldest and wisest of her people. In another dead-space accessed through a hole, lit by oil lamps and warmed by a small fire of charcoal granules, Differel meets an ancient female mouse person, who looks older than even any human she’s ever seen. She sits on a stool behind a makeshift drawing and writing table, with stacks of loose paper surrounding her everywhere. Murina excuses herself, and Colomay invites Differel to come in. She offers her some sherry, stolen from the Princess. After they have a sip, the old mouse lady gets down to business.

They are all descendents of people the Princess kidnapped and turned into mouse furries to be pets. She was only a little girl when they engineered a mass escape and managed to find refuge in this space in the walls. In any event, things were tough the first several years, but after a decade they had managed to learn what they needed to survive. They have done well ever since and are beginning to prosper, but just recently a new danger has appeared. They call it the dragon, but they don’t know what it is; no one who has seen it has ever returned to report about it. That is perhaps the oddest aspect of all: the victims just disappear with no trace; not even a pool of blood. People have disappeared before, never to return, but in the past it was at a rate of two or three a year, all hunters or gatherers. Now they’re loosing two or three a week, and it could be anyone. At that rate they will be decimated in a few months. Everyone is scared; hunting and gathering forays have been cut back to a bare minimum, endangering the colony with starvation and shortages of critical resources, but the attacks continue and have pressed close to their home. The threat must be dealt with, but volunteers who have gone out to slay the dragon have not come back. So they turn to her for help.

Differel realizes her biggest advantage to them is that she is expendable; if she fails none of them are lost. But she asks how they knew about her, or that she would help them? The mouse sage explains that the one who had organized their escape had been her teacher and mentor, and eventually her lover. Before he died, he wrote down a prophesy, and she shows it to her. It reads:

“There will come one pale as ash —
bound as for sacrifice and given over to the orange devil —
bearing the sword of truth.
Calamity will proceed her,
death will accompany her,
but freedom will follow in her wake.”

Colomay explains that everyone is taught this prophesy from birth, so that when Murina found her in the kitchen she naturally believed she was its fulfillment. She certainly fulfills the first two stanzas, but she has no sword. Still, she appears to be their best hope.

Differel asks what happens next. Colomay replies that the council wants to examine her; it will decide what is to be done. It will convene tomorrow morning after breakfast. If it decides she is the fulfillment of the prophecy, it will order the community to provide whatever aid she needs, but if it decides otherwise, or if she refuses to help them, they will order her banished, or may even turn her over to the Princess. Those along with cutting rations are their only forms of punishment.

Murina comes to collect her, explaining that it is time to sleep. Differel assumes she will be given a compartment, or sleep with Murina in hers, but the mouse lady explains that those are rewards given for special accomplishments. They can hold two people comfortably, but she has a companion she sleeps with, a young male she is training to be a warrior. Instead Differel has two choices. There are a number of established male warriors who have expressed an interest in sharing their compartment with her, though she will be expected to allow them to mate with her in return. Otherwise she can share a communal bed. There are two types: those used by everyone and those used by pregnant and nursing mothers. Murina recommends she use the latter, if she does not want some a male to try to mate with her in the night. Differel considers her choice, and chooses to share a compartment. Murina introduces her to a strapping beefcake male about her same age, then leaves them alone. She does notice that Murina goes off with an adolescent male. She accompanies her companion to his compartment and lets him make love to her. He doesn't kiss her, but she finds his tongue especially stimulating. After her finishes and he embraces her for the night, and she drifts off to sleep, some odd points nag at her, but she can’t tease them out into the open before oblivion takes her.

In the morning she awakens when the others get up. Murina comes for her and takes her to the refectory for breakfast. It’s simple fare and quickly eaten, and then the call to council is made, like a muezzin calling the Muslim faithful to prayer. She notices that the only adults who do not attend are the pregnant females; they in turn watch over the underage children. Otherwise everyone attends. Murina escorts her to the center of the exercise area while the mouse furries form a semi-circle around her. At the center stand a male and female furry with Colomay; she assumes they are the headman and woman.

The meeting begins with Colomay making a blessing, which essentially amounts to a plea to the Princess in Orange not to interfere. The headman then demands that she justify her claim to be the fulfillment of the prophecy. She causes consternation when she denies having made such a claim, but Murina states she makes the claim, and Colomay seconds her. They are followed by a number of yeas but also an equal number of boos. The headwoman calls for silence, and after a few moments she states that it is true that the Stranger meets some of the criteria: she has ashen hair; she was bound for sacrifice to the Orange Devil; and calamity has preceded her in the form of the Dragon. But she is not pale, death has not accompanied her, they cannot say whether she was given over to the Orange Devil, and there is no sword. If there was, they might be willing to overlook certain deficiencies, but without it, everything else would have to be perfect, and it isn’t.

The headman then speaks and states that there is the fact that she was taken from the Orange Devil, that She knows by whom, and that She was angry. That could lead Her to take reprisals against them. However, if they give Differel back to Her, She would probably leave them alone; She might even rid them of the Dragon. He calls for a vote, and while a significant minority, including Murina, ask that she be allowed to stay, over two-thirds demand that she be handed over. The headwoman announces the verdict, and commands that she bound and taken to where offerings are left.

However, Differel will not go quietly and she demands a chance to prove herself. Colomay states she has the right to challenge the decision, which she does. The headman and woman object, but when Colomay states that nothing in the law limits it to furries, they relent. The headman calls for the lots. A number of furries come forward, of various ages and both sexes, including Murina, and a young female furry offers each one a bowl. They each reach in and withdraw a smooth, round stone. Most are white, but Murina removes a black one. The headwoman announces that the champion has been chosen. Murina objects, but Colomay states she must fulfill her obligations. Two more young furries, each bearing a large knife made from a glass shard, appear as the rest of the selection group return to the audience. One gives her knife to Murina while the other gives his to Differel. She figures she understands what’s going on, but asks for clarification. Colomay explains that the challenge requires her to fight the council’s champion, selected by chance from the pool of trained fighters, to the death. Murina swore an oath as a fighter to serve as champion if selected. She must try to kill her, or be given over to the Orange Devil herself; she has no choice. When Differel offers to rescind the challenge and accept the judgment of the council, Colomay states it is too late; once made, no challenge can be abandoned. Her only choice now is to defend herself or let Murina kill her, but if she chooses the former she must fight to death as well, otherwise they will both be given over to the Orange Devil. She states she understands.

As Murina takes a moment to limber up, Differel examines her weapon. It’s like a bowie knife: large, thick blade, with a sharp point and single keen edge, but also a heavy back for parrying. She knows the edge is only a few molecules thick, sharper than a razor blade, but delicate and easily chipped. She figures that if she can maneuver right, she can render Murina’s blade useless, then she can physically subdue her. Perhaps that way she can avoid killing her. When Murina takes up a fighting stance, Differel assumes one too, and at a signal from Colomay they charge each other.

Murina turns out to be very good, very well trained, and she doesn’t fight fair. Plus the claws on her fingers and toes give her an advantage. Differel doesn’t want to kill her if she can somehow avoid it, but Murina doesn’t handicap herself in that way. In fact, Differel realizes that, as much as she might desire her to be the fulfillment of prophecy, she fears being given to the Princess more. As they fight, though, Differel again realizes something’s off, but she can’t distract herself by dwelling on it.

At one point, Murina manages to trip her up. Differel catches herself before she falls on her back, but Murina leaps at her to deliver a killing blow. Differel parries but her blade shatters. She rolls into Murina, throwing her onto her face. As the furry pushes herself up, Differel catches her in a choke hold. She grabs her knife hand and slams the blade into the wooden floor, snapping it off at the hilt. When she lets go, Caliburn appears in her hand. She forces Murina down on her face and jams the point of the sword into the back of her head. She declares the contest over, declares herself the winner, and demands that Murina be allowed to live. She expects to get an argument, but she hears the people whispering, “The sword!” Soon they are chanting, “The Sword; the Sword.” Realizing she has a trump card, she turns to the headman and woman, and announces that she has the sword of truth. She then reminds them that according to their own words its presence alone confirms she is the fulfillment of prophecy, though they themselves fulfilled part of it when they decided to give her over to the Orange Devil. A multitude of yeas fill the air until the crowd chants their approval. The headman and woman raise their hands and the crowd falls silent. The headman states that it would appear that she is the fulfillment of prophecy, in which case they have no choice but to honor it. The headwoman then declares that both she and Murina can go free, to which the crowd cheers.

As Differel helps Murina to her feet, however, an adolescent male mouse furry charges into the meeting, scared out of his mind and hysterically screaming about the Dragon. Murina grabs him and manages to calm him down enough for him to state the Dragon attacked the children and pregnant females. Everyone rushes to the school and finds it empty. Then the youth states they escaped to Colomay’s study, where the Dragon couldn’t reach them. They do find everyone there, and at first it seems that, while frightened nearly to death, they are all safe, but then they discover that two of the older children were killed and two with one pregnant female gravely wounded. Then the worst: one of the pregnant females was seized by the Dragon and carried off. Differel realizes that all significant provisions of the prophecy have now been fulfilled except the last.

She asks what the Dragon looked like, but everyone is too traumatized to respond. However, one little girl furry, old enough to understand the situation but not too old not to find it all exciting, offers to draw a picture. Colomay provides her with paper and a graphite stick, and while her image is fantasized and crude, Differel recognizes it as a lizard. Suddenly the lack of bodies or blood makes sense: depending upon its relative size, it could swallow even an adult furry whole.

She announces that she plans to pursue the Dragon immediately, and she will not return until she has slain it. She asks for volunteers to help her, but states she will not think ill of anyone who refuses. At first no one speaks up, as she expected, but then Murina volunteers. She didn’t expect that, but upon reflection she realizes that since Murina believed in her first, she would be the most likely individual to volunteer. What surprises her is that Murina’s toyboy also volunteers, and she is shocked when Murina accepts him without hesitation. However, no one else volunteers. Murina excuses herself and leaves, but when she returns she not only has her glass-shard spear, but also a battle axe fashioned from a larger slab of glass. She gives the spear to her protégé as others give them supplies. Finally Colomay blesses them, and they start off.

Differel has Murina lead the way as she takes up the rear, with the young furry between them. She has them put space between them, so that even if they are traveling together, each of them will make a tempting target. The young furry asks how they’ll find the Dragon, and Differel states they won’t have to; it will find them.

They walk for some time, going deeper into the walls of the house, with occasional stops for rest. Differel had expected the lizard to attack them by now. They’re all getting tired, and at some point they will have to stop to sleep, a prospect that does not appeal to Murina. There are other dangers besides the Dragon, and no foragers have ever camped out away from the community for fear of them.

Suddenly the lizard charges out and grabs the young furry in its jaws. As it raises its head to swallow him, he rams the spear into its neck, hitting a blood vessel that spurts blood. The jaws spasm and it drops him, but he lies still. Differel and Murina charge it from opposite sides. Murina is closer and she chops at the back of its neck. The axehead bites deep, but the lizard turns on her and forces her to retreat. Differel slashes with Caliburn, inflicting long, deep wounds, and it turns towards her. She and Murina take turns distracting it as they attack, but while they are hurting it, they can’t seem to find a vital spot, and they are becoming exhausted.

Murina strikes again, but the axehead jams in the spine. She takes too long to pull it loose, and the lizard catches her under one foot. She screams in pain as it digs in with its claws and catches an arm in its jaws. Differel rushes up, swings Caliburn underhanded, and slashes across the lizard’s throat, severing the windpipe and major blood vessels. As the lizard thrashes its head, she holds the greatsword overhanded and plunges it into the spine. The blade slips between two vertebra and severs the spinal cord, emerging out the other side. The lizard throws itself to one side, collapses and shudders, and doesn’t move.

Differel wills Caliburn away and goes to see Murina. Her arm is mangled and she has deep claw marks almost eviscerating her, but she is still alive. She is bleeding to death, but Differel can’t help her; she has no bandages or anything to make tourniquets with. She demands to see her toyboy. Differel helps her drag herself over. They speak last words together and kiss before he dies. Murina asks to stay with him. Differel can’t carry her back, so she offers to stay with her until the end. Differel tells her she never thanked her for saving her life. She wishes she could return the favor, but Murina waves her off, saying saving her people is repayment enough. However, she asks her to fulfill the last stanza of the prophecy and free her people.

Murina slips into unconsciousness and Differel takes her hand, but just then the rest of the fighters arrive, with a number of younger furries. The latter descend on Murina and begin bandaging her as the leader explains that, after they had left, Colomay had persuaded the headman and woman that the prophecy makes no claim that Differel was to slay the Dragon alone, only that her presence would bring about their freedom. They in turn persuaded the fighters to go after them to help. Though arriving too late to kill the Dragon, they might still save Murina. After she is bandaged, they return to the community, bearing Murina and the toyboy on litters and carrying a tooth from the Dragon as proof of its demise.

Upon their return, the headman and woman thank Differel for her saving them, and promise to reward her anyway they can. She then realizes that what she really needs—to go home—they can’t deliver. That’s when the PiO appears, now “normal” size. Though the furries are terrified, Differel is not surprised. She calms the furries down and tells the PiO she was wondering when she would show up. When the surprised PiO asks why she isn’t surprised, Differel replies that once she figured out this was just another game, she figured she would show up sooner or later. The PiO asks her how she figured it out. Differel explains that she did a good job keeping her occupied, but there were still times when she had a chance to think. She first realized something was amiss when she slept with the male warrior: his body seemed too solid, too strong, to be mouse-sized. Her fight with Murina reinforced that feeling, especially the way her own body moved: it didn’t react the way she would expect if she was trying to maneuver a body smaller than she was used to. Granted, if it really had been shrunken, her body would be weaker, but that wouldn’t affect her training, and not having had a chance to get used to her new size there should have been a certain hesitancy or exaggeration in her actions as she under or overreached herself. But it wasn’t until Caliburn first appeared to her that she realized what was wrong: if she was really smaller, the greatsword would have been gigantic and would have crushed her. The fact that it was normal size indicated she was too, as were the furries; instead, it was the house and everything else in it that had been enlarged to a gargantuan scale. As an aside, she states that once she figured all that out she suspected Murina might be the PiO in disguise, but she is not disappointed to be wrong about that one aspect.

The PiO flashes an evil leer and confirms that she is right. She further admits that it was a game, just one where she didn’t want her to know, as well as a test that was part of her evaluation. But having “won” she now can claim a prize; anything she wants. Differel doesn’t hesitate but asks that the mouse furries be freed from her, that they be returned to human form and sent back to their normal lives as if nothing had happened. The PiO smirks and suggests that she ask if that’s what they really want. Differel is annoyed at the formality but she tells the furries that if they wish, they can be restored to their former lives. As such, she is surprised when Colomay tells her that they never were human; rather, as she told her yesterday, they are descended from those who were. She herself was third generation when they escaped, and in her lifetime five more have passed since. This is the only world, the only life they have ever known; they have no knowledge of what being human is like, and no desire to find out. They are furries, not humans, and they are proud of that.

Differel is too flabbergasted to respond, but the PiO states that there is an uninhabited world she can send them to, one virtually identical to Earth of 150,000 years ago. It would have hardships and challenges, but none insurmountable and no worse than the first humans encountered. And they would be free; she gives her word that she will not interfere with their natural development. Only one thing: if Differel offers them this option, she cannot go home. She must go with them or stay as her pet for the rest of her life.

Differel hesitates, but then asks if the furries want to go to the new world. The furries all look at each other, as if daring anyone to speak first, but finally Colomay asks the headman and woman to call for a vote. The headman asks if anyone present objects to the Orange Devil’s offer. Before anyone speaks, Differel tells them that they would be starting all over again, on an unfamiliar world with strange, unknown dangers. It will be a struggle just to find water, food, to shelter and equip themselves, but they would be free, free to decide their own destiny and to build it. The headman once again asks if there are any objections, but no one speaks. He then asks who agrees, and everyone says yea. The headwoman announces the vote is unanimous in the affirmative. They will accept Her offer.

Colomay then asks Differel to come with them and lead them. She glances at the PiO, who gives her an expectant look. Differel responds that she cannot; she has obligations and duties she cannot abandon. Besides, they know better than she how to survive on their new world, and if they are to succeed they must do so on their own, by making their own mistakes and learning from them, even as they always have done. Colomay reminds her that the alternative is to live as the Orange Devil’s pet, but Differel states she understands and accepts that. A little girl furry asks if they will ever see her again. Differel glances at the PiO again, who beams a wicked half-grinning leer, and Differel tells her, “Maybe, someday.”

The PiO snaps her fingers and the furries vanish, along with all their tools and supplies, and the contents of Colomay’s study. The PiO tells Differel that the real point of the game was to see if she would put the welfare of the furries above her own; having done so, she has truly won. She asks what award she requests. Differel replies that Murina be completely healed; the PiO agrees, saying she will be hale and whole when they arrive. But again she is amazed that Differel would continue to think of others before herself, despite the consequences, especially reaffirming her desire to lead the Caerleon Order, despite her loathing for the job. She states that she will send her back. Differel is grateful, but when she asks if doing so is a reward or a punishment, the PiO only leers at her and snaps her fingers.

Margaret is speechless throughout Differel’s description, but she manages to find her tongue at the end. She finds it fantastic that all that happened to her in what was essentially the blink of an eye. Plus she’s never heard of this “Princess in Orange”. Differel replies that neither had she until she first appeared, and she describes her first three encounters. Latter, Eile and Sunny told her about their own encounter with a Carcosan Royal, and then Medb explained to her about the whole family, especially how the Princess tends to latch onto people and torment them off and on for years, usually for their entire lives. Medb likens her to a trickster god, while Sunny claims she’s more like Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Her analogy is Mr. Mxyzptlk from her father’s DC comics.

The PiO appears in a mirror over the room’s fireplace mantelpiece and states she likes that last. Differel introduces her to Margaret but won’t say Margaret’s name, but the PiO knows it already. Margaret asks if she’s really targeted Differel for torment, or if it’s just a temporary infatuation. The PiO denies she means to torment her, but otherwise yes. However, she is no ordinary plaything. The PiO explains that she loves playing games, especially those where the object is to solve some kind of puzzle by performing an action or making a decision that would be completely out of character or totally unrealistic in the given circumstances; something a player would never choose on her own, either because she would be morally or ethically opposed to it, or because it would be incredibly stupid and dangerous. Differel states that the problem is not knowing what needs to be done. The PiO remarks that that’s what makes the games exciting. When Margaret asks about just doing nothing, Differel explains that these “games” occur in reality, and so consequences, including death, are just as real and dangerous as they would be in “real life”. If she did nothing, she could be stuck in that alternate reality forever, and the Princess adds that if necessary she will restart her games over and over again until her players take action. Margaret asks what guarantee Differel has that she won’t cheat. The PiO replies that the honor of the game demands fair play; she’s not in it to win but to have fun, and cheating takes all the fun out of it.

In any event, Differel is a player like no other: not only eminently capable and fearless, but also stubborn enough to play to the bitter end if necessary. Which is why she is willing to reward her whenever she wins. Speaking of which, she points out that had Differel asked her to leave her alone forever, she would have complied. Differel responds that that is an empty taunt, since she knew ahead of time she’d never ask that. The PiO agrees, then flashes a sly smirk. She asks if Differel would like to see what became of the furries. She fears to answer, but Margaret says she wants to. The Princess throws her an evil grin just before her face vanishes and is replaced by a scene of a modern metropolis with pedestrians and cars, except the people are all mouse furries. The PiO supplies a voiceover in which she explains that she sent them back 150,000 years in time, and in that time they developed an advanced civilization on par with that of humans, with all the same hopes and terrors, the same triumphs and catastrophes. Whether they ultimately succeed or fail is still up in the air, but Differel can be proud of their achievements.

Only one difference: despite the existence of numerous sects as well as agnostics and atheists, the furries follow one universal religion, one based on a devil (an image of a demoniacal PiO flashes in the mirror) and a savior who has promised to return one day. Differel’s stomach turns to ice when an angelicized image of herself, complete with flaming sword, appears. The PiO tells them both she’ll visit again sometime soon, and the image vanishes.