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I sat in a bar that night trying to drink enough fast enough to allow me to pass out and get some sleep before I started hallucinating.  I had only gotten down one generous shot of something strong when there was a tap on my shoulder.  I turned and squinted up at a middle to upper class man, who said, "Are you Sil?"

"...dammit."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, sitting down next to me.

"I'm no where near passing out and I'm already hallucinating," I explained to the vision.

"I'm...not a hallucination," he said.

"Uh-huh.  That's what they all say."  I ordered another drink, and he thought for a moment before doing the same.  The bartender brought him a drink. Okay.  Hallucinations didn't usually do that.  Unless I had hallucinated the bartender bringing him a drink.  Maybe the bartender was a hallucination too...maybe the whole bar-oh, to hell with it.  "What do you want?"

"I want to hire you for a job."

"Hn."  I stopped drinking, thinking it'd be best to be sober for this.

"I want you to steal something from the Governor."

"You know what happened last time I stole from a Governor?"

"Yes, I do.  Aveline told me."  I turned to stare at him in momentary disbelief.

"You're Crispin," I stated.  Don't beat him up, don't beat him up, don't beat him up-

"Yes."  He put his hand out and I took it warily.  "It's an honor to finally meet you, Sil.  Aveline, and I, have much to thank you for."  He meant it.  Shit.  This guy was actually likeable.

"So," I said.  "What do you want me to steal?  How much you gonna pay me?  Answer the second question first."  He chuckled and named a reasonable (Understatement Alert) amount.  "Okay, first question now."

"A Communication Sphere he keeps in his study that he uses to communicate to others who are illegally involved in the clave trade.  If we can get a hold of it we can prove that the slave trade is rife with corruption and should be-"

"Yeah yeah yeah.  How will I recognize it?"

"He keeps it locked in a box on his desk.  Square box, made of cherry wood."

"I like cherry wood.  Okay.  One last question.  Why didn't Aveline ask me about this earlier today?"

"She doesn't know.  She doesn't want you involved if you don't want to be.  She says it's not your kind of trouble."  I smiled.

"She's right.  But what the hell.  I'm just stealing something, right?  I don't care if it helps the anti-slavery fight, as long as I'm gettin' paid."

"Thank you.  Goodnight, Sil."  He stood up.

"Goodnight."  He left and I went back to my previous mission of trying to pass out before hallucinating.  I eventually succeeded and got some much needed sleep on the bar floor, much to the chagrin of the establishments' owner, I'm sure.

--------------------------------

I spent a couple of days planning and getting information about the governor and his mansion.  I was surprised and a little weirded out to find that most of the servants and slaves of the governor's household were willing to help me out and give me info just because I was me.  Eventually I felt ready(ish) and decided I'd get things over with that night.

Funny how when something doesn't go according to plan, it Really doesn't go according to plan.  I got in okay, got to the study okay (mostly because the guards were pretty much all on my side), picked the lock okay, and got the C-sphere into my bag okay.  Then the lights flicked on and a voice said, "Thought so."  Then I was falling to the floor, probably nailed with a heavy Sleep Spell.

Then I was on trial.  Okay, so some Other Stuff happened in there, but I'll leave it out for the sake of avoiding redundancy.  "Silvanus Draby," said the judge.  "You are charged with (insert Impressively Long List of Crimes here).  What have you to say for yourself?"

"...I really hate my last name."  Well, that wasn't very useful.  Let's try again.  "I've been busy, huh?"  That didn't do too much good either...  "Can I plead insanity?"  A step in the right direction, I suppose.  Not too bad, since I was suddenly unable to say anything but the first thing to pop into my head.  The judge thought for a minute, no doubt communicating telepathically with various nobles and justice folks.

"No."

"Oh, well.  Worth a shot.  I am insane, by the way."

"I...can see that," the judge said dryly.  Hey, this guy was pretty cool.

"Hey, you're pretty cool."  Dammit.

"Have you anything to say in your defense?"  Well, since I was just blurting stuff out anyway, might as well tell the truth.  I scanned the crowd for Crispin and Aveline.  She looked concerned, but at the same time not to worried.  I had escaped from the Pit of Fire after all.  She was gonna hate me for this, but what did that matter?  I was gonna be killed anyway most likely, and she was married to the guy.  What did I have to lose?

"I was hired to steal the C-sphere," I said.  The room started muttering and Crispin looked surprised.  I sent him an "I'm sorry" through my eyes and I like to think he understood.

"Who hired you?"

"Hey, this is my show!  I ain't passin' the spotlight to someone else.  Ask a different question."

"Alright then.  Why were you hired to steal the Communication Sphere?"  Maybe I could still do some good here...

"Apparently the governor uses it to communicate with other people who are illegally involved in the slave trade."  Everyone in the room exploded, none so loudly as the governor.

"What an outra--!" he began until he was cut off by the judge raising a hand for silence before inviting me to continue.  I didn't comply for a moment; I was looking at Aveline, who was whispering something to in Crispin's ear.  The look on his face said that she had figured everything out.

"The person who hired me wanted to use it and whatever record of conversations in it to prove the slave trade corrupt," I finally concluded, now looking back at the judge lest he derive my employer's identity from my wandering gaze.

"You could be making this up," the judge stated flatly.  I shrugged.

"So call the governor and his C-sphere for evidence," I suggested.  "I'm not in a hurry; I can wait."  The governor tried once again to disrupt the proceedings with outraged cries against my Sanity and Moral Nature (or lack thereof), but was silenced once again by the judge.

"Let's have a look at this 'C-sphere'," the judge said, and the item in question was brought forth.  I glanced at Aveline and Crispin; she was smiling at me (no doubt astounded by my brilliant manipulation of events), and he looked impressed and (disgustingly) grateful to me.  The C-sphere was set before the judge, who then waved a hand over it and had it play back the last minute or so of conversation that had taken place through it.  A slimy sounding voice said, "So you want a cut of this shipment too?"  Then a voice clearly recognizable as the governor's (since he had given the whole courtroom an outstanding example a few moments before) said, "Of course.  I don't care about some filthy slaves as long as I can make some money without losing half of it to tax!"

There was a stunned silence during which I turned to the governor (who was Gaping Like a Fish, if you'll pardon the clichŽ) and said, "Ouch!  That's gotta hurt!"

"Mr. Draby," the judge addressed me.

"Call me Sil."

"Fine then.  Sil.  Need I remind you that you are the one on trial here?  The fact remains that you stole from the governor, and act which, no matter his own guilt, is against the law."

"So if we know that already, why are we here?" I asked, unable to help myself.

"You are here to receive the chance to explain yourself and repent and perhaps receive a lighter sentence for it.  I am here because I am forced to give you that chance.  So will you confess and repent?"  Well, that set me off.

"Confess and repent?  First of all, when I have I ever denied anything?  Yeah, I stole from the governor.  I steal from a lot of people.  That list of crimes you read off, I did all that too.  But repent?  Repent implies I did that stuff because I wanted to, and there is nothing, but nothing, on that list that wasn't done because of necessity or because some idiot hired me to.  I would be perfectly content to just wander around performing odd but honest jobs for my room and board for the night and stay out of sight and mind but no!  I'm always forced right back into infamy wherever I go!  So confess, sure, but repent?  I don't think so."  There was a brief pause after my tirade, most of which I was just remembering now, before the judge shrugged.

"Then I don't know what we'll do with you, Sil," he said.  My turn to shrug.

"Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure," I replied.  Suddenly, everyone in the room got a telepathic message, myself oddly included, and I recognized the voice as the one that had spoken to me in the Pit of Fire.

"Put him on the ship in the harbor," it said.  Connected as I was to everyone else in there, I could feel the puzzlement we all shared.  The voice continued, "His ideas are dangerous.  The things he says will incite the lower classes to rebel against the Law.  I will deal with him."

"Um..." I said.  "Who is this guy again?"  Silence.  Apparently someone authoritative enough that no one saw the need to answer my question or argue his order.

"Do it," said the judge, and the huge Enforcers came forward and escorted me to the harbor.  They threw me onto the small boat waiting and it set sail (Impressive Magical Stuff) to Who Knew Where.

------------------------

The boat ride was long enough for me to get out of my handcuffs, chase away some hallucinations, and catch a short nap before it docked at a small island that I was pretty sure wasn't On the Map.  Then I was immediately teleported to the Inner Sanctum.  The first thing I caught sight of was an Orb perched atop a pair of shoulders.  I mean this guy was Shiny Bald.  "You are no doubt looking at the Great Orb," he said (Pit of Fire guy again).

"Yyyyyeeaah..." I replied, still staring at his head.  Could I see my reflection in that?

"This," he continued, gesturing to the large Glassy Colory Shifty Glowy sphere behind him, which I was just noticing, "is the Great Orb.  You should be honored to be in its presence."

"It's pretty," I said.  "What's it do?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"Um..."  What was with this guy?  Did he actually think I knew what was going on?

"You are the only one not connected.  How?  How did you destroy your connection?"  Okay, stop staring at this guy's Shiny Head, Sil, and figure things out.  The only one not connected...I was the only one of something else too... Right!  Magic!  I was the only one who couldn't use magic!  Connected?  For the sake of a Theory we'll say yes.  So.  This Great Orb Thingy was the source of magic.  So who was this guy?  Keeper?  Why did he care if I was connected?  Cuz having the Orb made him feel powerful, but I was outside his control, and that bothered him.  It was also probable he thought that I controlled the fact I couldn't use magic and was thus able to put everybody outside his control...  This guy was a moron.

"You're a moron."

"You said that already," he replied dryly.  "You narrated your entire thought process just now."  Shit.

"Then you realize you completely over-estimated me?" I asked.  Awesome.  I was used to people under-estimating me.

"Mm.  Perhaps, then, it wasn't necessary to mess with your mind..."

"Come again?"

"I was threatened by you-"

"You made me crazy?!"

"Oh no.  I merely opened the capability of your mind for insanity.  You did most of the damage yourself."

"You bastard!" I exclaimed, then, "Can you make me not crazy?"

"No, the damage is permanent."

"You bastard!"  Another pause.  "Can you stop me from getting worse?"

"Yes."

"You bas-oh.  Good. Can you do that then?"  He opened his mouth, but I kept going.  "Yeah, I know you have no reason to help me out, but c'mon.  I obviously have no clue why I'm not 'connected', so I'm really no threat to you, so why bother keeping me going crazy?"

"You're very intelligent," he stated.

"Why, thank y-oh.  That was a reason.  I see.  I'm smarter than you, even though I'm more than half-mad, so you think you wanna keep me going crazy.  I get it...  You...bastard."  There was silence for a moment.  "Just curious, but how long have you have been messing with me."

"Since I first heard of you.  Um...the governor's mansion episode."

"Huh."  I had been weird before that...  I wonder if I would have lost it eventually anyway.  He did say I had done most of the damage to myself...

"This is usually the part where you swear you'll kill me and win your freedom," he said.

"Yeah, you'd love that.  Give you an excuse to get rid of me completely," I retorted.  "Well, here's the deal, Cueball, I don't like killing people.  So, how about you stop making me nuts, since I'm pretty sure I can handle that on my own, and I'll just go my own way, and we don't worry about it.  Yes?"  I gave him a cheeky grin.

"No."  And he threw a fireball at me.  I dodged out of the way and rolled behind a pillar.  This was NOT GOOD.  I had no weapons, no chemicals, nothing, and I was up against probably the most powerful mage in the world.

He continued throwing powerful spells at me that would destroy whatever pillar I had been behind as I moved to the next one.  This carried on for a while until he became fed up, shouted something about not being able to hide, and started casting Firestorm.  Not cool.  That spell would incinerate anything in the room not protected by a magical shield, i.e. him and that Orb.  The Orb.  That's when it hit me: the Real Reason why he'd had a Problem with me.  People who were connected to the Great Orb could use magic, and he thought I knew how to disconnect people.  He thought I could disconnect him, and take away his power.  He was connected to the Orb, and if he got disconnected...  This definitely would be a lot easier if instead of being the most powerful mage in the world, he were...  "Like me."  This thought process took less than a second.  I came from behind the column.  He was still casting Firestorm (long spell, but it's not like I could get away), and had his eyes closed to concentrate; he probably had a barrier up so he could be sure he wouldn't be distracted.  I looked around the room for anything Large and Heavy.  Well, shit, Sil, he's only destroyed a dozen columns.  I found a good-sized piece of stone, and took careful aim.  He was finishing up the spell, if I didn't do it now...  I chucked the rock with all my might and an ear-splitting CRASH! obscured the final word of his spell.

For a moment we both just stood there, staring at the shattered remains of the Great Orb.  There was no Firestorm (thank heavens).  Then he said in a strangled voice, "You didn't..."

"Well, dammit, Cueball, what'd you expect me to do?!  Just stand there and take it?"

"You didn't..." he said again, kneeling before the shards and absently trying to piece them together.

"Hey, looks like I knew how to disconnect people after all," I gave an attempt at a joke, feeling disturbed by his pathetic reaction.  He didn't laugh.  I think I broke him, and you know, I felt bad.  I put a hand on his shoulder.  "Look, it's not that big a deal.  Hey, I've survived."  He said nothing.  "Okay, uh....so, I'm gonna go.  Don't freak out, okay?  Later."  I made my way back to the boat, and got it underway in a couple hours.  Cueball was nowhere to be seen.  Then I headed out to sea and back here.

----------------------

It was looking like I had broken Aveline as well.  She looked as if she couldn't decide whether to reach over and strangle me or bust out in hysterics.  "Sil...you know what you did?"

"Yeah, I figured it out when I got back and the city was in Chaos."  She covered her eyes with her hand.  "Hey, at the time I was just trying to survive!  Anyway, I'm keeping a low profile 'til things calm down.  Well, I'm trying to.  Ha!  Right!  For the first time in my life I have an advantage over everyone else!  I know how to handle this!  I can-"  I stopped.  Aveline was smiling sadly at me.  "What?"

"Sil, the world's coming apart and you-"

"No, it's not!  It's-dammit."  I stood and climbed onto the table.  The outdoor cafŽ we were in was filled with upper and middle class people and surrounded by lower class citizens.  I was reasonably certain they all knew who I was.  "Excuse me, everyone!" I shouted, and Aveline tried to shrink into herself.  "Excuse me!  Thank you."  There was silence, and everybody was staring at me.  Good.  "The world is not ending!  Not being able to do magic anymore is not equivalent to death!  I've survived...twenty-six?  Twenty-six or seven years without using magic and I'm fine!"  There was an excited whisper as my name spread through the crowd.  "Hi, how ya doin'?  So look!  It's not the end of the world!  Magic was just a convenience, not a necessity.  Stop being a bunch of wusses, get over it, and get on with life!"  I plopped back into my chair.

"You're amazing," Aveline said.

"What?  I just-"

"No, I meant that.  You're amazing."

"Oh...thank you."

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, producing a bundle from under her skirts somewhere.  "Here, but don't unwrap it here.  It's your sword."  I gave a delighted cry and took it from her excitedly.

"How'd you get it back?" I asked, cradling it.

"I managed to convince the judge to let me have it."

"I liked him," I said.  "I wonder if I'll get a chance to meet up with him again, preferably under different circumstances."  I secreted the bundle under the table for the moment, and smiled my thanks to her.

"So, what will you do now?" she asked.

"What do I ever want to do?  Vagabond."

"But I don't think you can top getting rid of all the magic in the world," Aveline said laughingly.

"I don't want to.  I just want to...wander around.  That's all I ever wanted, ya know?  So that's what I'm gonna do."  Aveline smiled at me.

"Sounds like a good plan," she said.

"I'm thinking I'd like to fade out of sight for a while, not have everyone in the country after my head."

"Good luck with that."

"Psh!"  I started laughing.  "Yeah, really.  Well, I'm gonna try.  With any luck you'll have no idea where I am for the next few years."

"I don't want that!" she said suddenly, and I raised my eyebrows.  She sat, embarrassed for a moment, then said, "Just come visit every once in a while, okay?"  I smiled.

"Sure.  Well, since I'm certain this place'll be swarming with the Law soon, lookin' for me of course, I should get going."  I stood.  "I'll keep in touch."

"Pah!  I'm sure I'll hear about what you're doing long before you get a chance to tell me, as long as I keep reading copper-piece novels."  I laughed.

"'Vagabond God'.  What's that supposed to mean anyway?  I'm just a plain ol' Vagabond."

"I know.  And that's why you're a hero."  I sniffed and turned away.

"Cheesy."  And I started walking.

Fin
(Yeah, like I'm that high class.)

Description
I sat in a bar that night trying to drink enough fast enough to allow me to pass out and get some sleep before I started hallucinating.  I had only gotten down one generous shot of something strong when there was a tap on my shoulder.  I turned and squinted up at a middle to upper class man, who said, "Are you Sil?"

"...dammit."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, sitting down next to me.

"I'm no where near passing out and I'm already hallucinating," I explained to the vision.

"I'm...not a hallucination," he said.

"Uh-huh.  That's what they all say."  I ordered another drink, and he thought for a moment before doing the same.  The bartender brought him a drink. Okay.  Hallucinations didn't usually do that.  Unless I had hallucinated the bartender bringing him a drink.  Maybe the bartender was a hallucination too...maybe the whole bar-oh, to hell with it.  "What do you want?"

"I want to hire you for a job."

"Hn."  I stopped drinking, thinking it'd be best to be sober for this.

"I want you to steal something from the Governor."

"You know what happened last time I stole from a Governor?"

"Yes, I do.  Aveline told me."  I turned to stare at him in momentary disbelief.

"You're Crispin," I stated.  Don't beat him up, don't beat him up, don't beat him up-

"Yes."  He put his hand out and I took it warily.  "It's an honor to finally meet you, Sil.  Aveline, and I, have much to thank you for."  He meant it.  Shit.  This guy was actually likeable.

"So," I said.  "What do you want me to steal?  How much you gonna pay me?  Answer the second question first."  He chuckled and named a reasonable (Understatement Alert) amount.  "Okay, first question now."

"A Communication Sphere he keeps in his study that he uses to communicate to others who are illegally involved in the clave trade.  If we can get a hold of it we can prove that the slave trade is rife with corruption and should be-"

"Yeah yeah yeah.  How will I recognize it?"

"He keeps it locked in a box on his desk.  Square box, made of cherry wood."

"I like cherry wood.  Okay.  One last question.  Why didn't Aveline ask me about this earlier today?"

"She doesn't know.  She doesn't want you involved if you don't want to be.  She says it's not your kind of trouble."  I smiled.

"She's right.  But what the hell.  I'm just stealing something, right?  I don't care if it helps the anti-slavery fight, as long as I'm gettin' paid."

"Thank you.  Goodnight, Sil."  He stood up.

"Goodnight."  He left and I went back to my previous mission of trying to pass out before hallucinating.  I eventually succeeded and got some much needed sleep on the bar floor, much to the chagrin of the establishments' owner, I'm sure.

--------------------------------

I spent a couple of days planning and getting information about the governor and his mansion.  I was surprised and a little weirded out to find that most of the servants and slaves of the governor's household were willing to help me out and give me info just because I was me.  Eventually I felt ready(ish) and decided I'd get things over with that night.

Funny how when something doesn't go according to plan, it Really doesn't go according to plan.  I got in okay, got to the study okay (mostly because the guards were pretty much all on my side), picked the lock okay, and got the C-sphere into my bag okay.  Then the lights flicked on and a voice said, "Thought so."  Then I was falling to the floor, probably nailed with a heavy Sleep Spell.

Then I was on trial.  Okay, so some Other Stuff happened in there, but I'll leave it out for the sake of avoiding redundancy.  "Silvanus Draby," said the judge.  "You are charged with (insert Impressively Long List of Crimes here).  What have you to say for yourself?"

"...I really hate my last name."  Well, that wasn't very useful.  Let's try again.  "I've been busy, huh?"  That didn't do too much good either...  "Can I plead insanity?"  A step in the right direction, I suppose.  Not too bad, since I was suddenly unable to say anything but the first thing to pop into my head.  The judge thought for a minute, no doubt communicating telepathically with various nobles and justice folks.

"No."

"Oh, well.  Worth a shot.  I am insane, by the way."

"I...can see that," the judge said dryly.  Hey, this guy was pretty cool.

"Hey, you're pretty cool."  Dammit.

"Have you anything to say in your defense?"  Well, since I was just blurting stuff out anyway, might as well tell the truth.  I scanned the crowd for Crispin and Aveline.  She looked concerned, but at the same time not to worried.  I had escaped from the Pit of Fire after all.  She was gonna hate me for this, but what did that matter?  I was gonna be killed anyway most likely, and she was married to the guy.  What did I have to lose?

"I was hired to steal the C-sphere," I said.  The room started muttering and Crispin looked surprised.  I sent him an "I'm sorry" through my eyes and I like to think he understood.

"Who hired you?"

"Hey, this is my show!  I ain't passin' the spotlight to someone else.  Ask a different question."

"Alright then.  Why were you hired to steal the Communication Sphere?"  Maybe I could still do some good here...

"Apparently the governor uses it to communicate with other people who are illegally involved in the slave trade."  Everyone in the room exploded, none so loudly as the governor.

"What an outra--!" he began until he was cut off by the judge raising a hand for silence before inviting me to continue.  I didn't comply for a moment; I was looking at Aveline, who was whispering something to in Crispin's ear.  The look on his face said that she had figured everything out.

"The person who hired me wanted to use it and whatever record of conversations in it to prove the slave trade corrupt," I finally concluded, now looking back at the judge lest he derive my employer's identity from my wandering gaze.

"You could be making this up," the judge stated flatly.  I shrugged.

"So call the governor and his C-sphere for evidence," I suggested.  "I'm not in a hurry; I can wait."  The governor tried once again to disrupt the proceedings with outraged cries against my Sanity and Moral Nature (or lack thereof), but was silenced once again by the judge.

"Let's have a look at this 'C-sphere'," the judge said, and the item in question was brought forth.  I glanced at Aveline and Crispin; she was smiling at me (no doubt astounded by my brilliant manipulation of events), and he looked impressed and (disgustingly) grateful to me.  The C-sphere was set before the judge, who then waved a hand over it and had it play back the last minute or so of conversation that had taken place through it.  A slimy sounding voice said, "So you want a cut of this shipment too?"  Then a voice clearly recognizable as the governor's (since he had given the whole courtroom an outstanding example a few moments before) said, "Of course.  I don't care about some filthy slaves as long as I can make some money without losing half of it to tax!"

There was a stunned silence during which I turned to the governor (who was Gaping Like a Fish, if you'll pardon the clichŽ) and said, "Ouch!  That's gotta hurt!"

"Mr. Draby," the judge addressed me.

"Call me Sil."

"Fine then.  Sil.  Need I remind you that you are the one on trial here?  The fact remains that you stole from the governor, and act which, no matter his own guilt, is against the law."

"So if we know that already, why are we here?" I asked, unable to help myself.

"You are here to receive the chance to explain yourself and repent and perhaps receive a lighter sentence for it.  I am here because I am forced to give you that chance.  So will you confess and repent?"  Well, that set me off.

"Confess and repent?  First of all, when I have I ever denied anything?  Yeah, I stole from the governor.  I steal from a lot of people.  That list of crimes you read off, I did all that too.  But repent?  Repent implies I did that stuff because I wanted to, and there is nothing, but nothing, on that list that wasn't done because of necessity or because some idiot hired me to.  I would be perfectly content to just wander around performing odd but honest jobs for my room and board for the night and stay out of sight and mind but no!  I'm always forced right back into infamy wherever I go!  So confess, sure, but repent?  I don't think so."  There was a brief pause after my tirade, most of which I was just remembering now, before the judge shrugged.

"Then I don't know what we'll do with you, Sil," he said.  My turn to shrug.

"Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure," I replied.  Suddenly, everyone in the room got a telepathic message, myself oddly included, and I recognized the voice as the one that had spoken to me in the Pit of Fire.

"Put him on the ship in the harbor," it said.  Connected as I was to everyone else in there, I could feel the puzzlement we all shared.  The voice continued, "His ideas are dangerous.  The things he says will incite the lower classes to rebel against the Law.  I will deal with him."

"Um..." I said.  "Who is this guy again?"  Silence.  Apparently someone authoritative enough that no one saw the need to answer my question or argue his order.

"Do it," said the judge, and the huge Enforcers came forward and escorted me to the harbor.  They threw me onto the small boat waiting and it set sail (Impressive Magical Stuff) to Who Knew Where.

------------------------

The boat ride was long enough for me to get out of my handcuffs, chase away some hallucinations, and catch a short nap before it docked at a small island that I was pretty sure wasn't On the Map.  Then I was immediately teleported to the Inner Sanctum.  The first thing I caught sight of was an Orb perched atop a pair of shoulders.  I mean this guy was Shiny Bald.  "You are no doubt looking at the Great Orb," he said (Pit of Fire guy again).

"Yyyyyeeaah..." I replied, still staring at his head.  Could I see my reflection in that?

"This," he continued, gesturing to the large Glassy Colory Shifty Glowy sphere behind him, which I was just noticing, "is the Great Orb.  You should be honored to be in its presence."

"It's pretty," I said.  "What's it do?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"Um..."  What was with this guy?  Did he actually think I knew what was going on?

"You are the only one not connected.  How?  How did you destroy your connection?"  Okay, stop staring at this guy's Shiny Head, Sil, and figure things out.  The only one not connected...I was the only one of something else too... Right!  Magic!  I was the only one who couldn't use magic!  Connected?  For the sake of a Theory we'll say yes.  So.  This Great Orb Thingy was the source of magic.  So who was this guy?  Keeper?  Why did he care if I was connected?  Cuz having the Orb made him feel powerful, but I was outside his control, and that bothered him.  It was also probable he thought that I controlled the fact I couldn't use magic and was thus able to put everybody outside his control...  This guy was a moron.

"You're a moron."

"You said that already," he replied dryly.  "You narrated your entire thought process just now."  Shit.

"Then you realize you completely over-estimated me?" I asked.  Awesome.  I was used to people under-estimating me.

"Mm.  Perhaps, then, it wasn't necessary to mess with your mind..."

"Come again?"

"I was threatened by you-"

"You made me crazy?!"

"Oh no.  I merely opened the capability of your mind for insanity.  You did most of the damage yourself."

"You bastard!" I exclaimed, then, "Can you make me not crazy?"

"No, the damage is permanent."

"You bastard!"  Another pause.  "Can you stop me from getting worse?"

"Yes."

"You bas-oh.  Good. Can you do that then?"  He opened his mouth, but I kept going.  "Yeah, I know you have no reason to help me out, but c'mon.  I obviously have no clue why I'm not 'connected', so I'm really no threat to you, so why bother keeping me going crazy?"

"You're very intelligent," he stated.

"Why, thank y-oh.  That was a reason.  I see.  I'm smarter than you, even though I'm more than half-mad, so you think you wanna keep me going crazy.  I get it...  You...bastard."  There was silence for a moment.  "Just curious, but how long have you have been messing with me."

"Since I first heard of you.  Um...the governor's mansion episode."

"Huh."  I had been weird before that...  I wonder if I would have lost it eventually anyway.  He did say I had done most of the damage to myself...

"This is usually the part where you swear you'll kill me and win your freedom," he said.

"Yeah, you'd love that.  Give you an excuse to get rid of me completely," I retorted.  "Well, here's the deal, Cueball, I don't like killing people.  So, how about you stop making me nuts, since I'm pretty sure I can handle that on my own, and I'll just go my own way, and we don't worry about it.  Yes?"  I gave him a cheeky grin.

"No."  And he threw a fireball at me.  I dodged out of the way and rolled behind a pillar.  This was NOT GOOD.  I had no weapons, no chemicals, nothing, and I was up against probably the most powerful mage in the world.

He continued throwing powerful spells at me that would destroy whatever pillar I had been behind as I moved to the next one.  This carried on for a while until he became fed up, shouted something about not being able to hide, and started casting Firestorm.  Not cool.  That spell would incinerate anything in the room not protected by a magical shield, i.e. him and that Orb.  The Orb.  That's when it hit me: the Real Reason why he'd had a Problem with me.  People who were connected to the Great Orb could use magic, and he thought I knew how to disconnect people.  He thought I could disconnect him, and take away his power.  He was connected to the Orb, and if he got disconnected...  This definitely would be a lot easier if instead of being the most powerful mage in the world, he were...  "Like me."  This thought process took less than a second.  I came from behind the column.  He was still casting Firestorm (long spell, but it's not like I could get away), and had his eyes closed to concentrate; he probably had a barrier up so he could be sure he wouldn't be distracted.  I looked around the room for anything Large and Heavy.  Well, shit, Sil, he's only destroyed a dozen columns.  I found a good-sized piece of stone, and took careful aim.  He was finishing up the spell, if I didn't do it now...  I chucked the rock with all my might and an ear-splitting CRASH! obscured the final word of his spell.

For a moment we both just stood there, staring at the shattered remains of the Great Orb.  There was no Firestorm (thank heavens).  Then he said in a strangled voice, "You didn't..."

"Well, dammit, Cueball, what'd you expect me to do?!  Just stand there and take it?"

"You didn't..." he said again, kneeling before the shards and absently trying to piece them together.

"Hey, looks like I knew how to disconnect people after all," I gave an attempt at a joke, feeling disturbed by his pathetic reaction.  He didn't laugh.  I think I broke him, and you know, I felt bad.  I put a hand on his shoulder.  "Look, it's not that big a deal.  Hey, I've survived."  He said nothing.  "Okay, uh....so, I'm gonna go.  Don't freak out, okay?  Later."  I made my way back to the boat, and got it underway in a couple hours.  Cueball was nowhere to be seen.  Then I headed out to sea and back here.

----------------------

It was looking like I had broken Aveline as well.  She looked as if she couldn't decide whether to reach over and strangle me or bust out in hysterics.  "Sil...you know what you did?"

"Yeah, I figured it out when I got back and the city was in Chaos."  She covered her eyes with her hand.  "Hey, at the time I was just trying to survive!  Anyway, I'm keeping a low profile 'til things calm down.  Well, I'm trying to.  Ha!  Right!  For the first time in my life I have an advantage over everyone else!  I know how to handle this!  I can-"  I stopped.  Aveline was smiling sadly at me.  "What?"

"Sil, the world's coming apart and you-"

"No, it's not!  It's-dammit."  I stood and climbed onto the table.  The outdoor cafŽ we were in was filled with upper and middle class people and surrounded by lower class citizens.  I was reasonably certain they all knew who I was.  "Excuse me, everyone!" I shouted, and Aveline tried to shrink into herself.  "Excuse me!  Thank you."  There was silence, and everybody was staring at me.  Good.  "The world is not ending!  Not being able to do magic anymore is not equivalent to death!  I've survived...twenty-six?  Twenty-six or seven years without using magic and I'm fine!"  There was an excited whisper as my name spread through the crowd.  "Hi, how ya doin'?  So look!  It's not the end of the world!  Magic was just a convenience, not a necessity.  Stop being a bunch of wusses, get over it, and get on with life!"  I plopped back into my chair.

"You're amazing," Aveline said.

"What?  I just-"

"No, I meant that.  You're amazing."

"Oh...thank you."

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, producing a bundle from under her skirts somewhere.  "Here, but don't unwrap it here.  It's your sword."  I gave a delighted cry and took it from her excitedly.

"How'd you get it back?" I asked, cradling it.

"I managed to convince the judge to let me have it."

"I liked him," I said.  "I wonder if I'll get a chance to meet up with him again, preferably under different circumstances."  I secreted the bundle under the table for the moment, and smiled my thanks to her.

"So, what will you do now?" she asked.

"What do I ever want to do?  Vagabond."

"But I don't think you can top getting rid of all the magic in the world," Aveline said laughingly.

"I don't want to.  I just want to...wander around.  That's all I ever wanted, ya know?  So that's what I'm gonna do."  Aveline smiled at me.

"Sounds like a good plan," she said.

"I'm thinking I'd like to fade out of sight for a while, not have everyone in the country after my head."

"Good luck with that."

"Psh!"  I started laughing.  "Yeah, really.  Well, I'm gonna try.  With any luck you'll have no idea where I am for the next few years."

"I don't want that!" she said suddenly, and I raised my eyebrows.  She sat, embarrassed for a moment, then said, "Just come visit every once in a while, okay?"  I smiled.

"Sure.  Well, since I'm certain this place'll be swarming with the Law soon, lookin' for me of course, I should get going."  I stood.  "I'll keep in touch."

"Pah!  I'm sure I'll hear about what you're doing long before you get a chance to tell me, as long as I keep reading copper-piece novels."  I laughed.

"'Vagabond God'.  What's that supposed to mean anyway?  I'm just a plain ol' Vagabond."

"I know.  And that's why you're a hero."  I sniffed and turned away.

"Cheesy."  And I started walking.

Fin
(Yeah, like I'm that high class.)