Her mouth watered as she saw it with her own eyes, the tender meat of a gazelle scrubbed with all manners of spices and herbs, roasted on a skillet over a low fire and dipped with butter and wine and honey, the aroma of it filled her nostrils, spices would gently burn at her nose and water her eyes same as her mouth, and sizzling of the meat when it was flipped on the other side made the queen stomach grumble and turn on itself, the meat would peel with a touch after being cooked through and done, it's exposed sides would bubble with a thick and glossy coating of the juices, whilst it cooked she could have her hall maidens bring in their storage of the western Tatarians couscous and let it boil on the side as she slices herself some fruit or nuts.

  That is what the queen saw, in her mind, as she bit against the rough roasted meat of the sand mice her hall maidens caught, harsh and coated with spice to cover the real flavor of the animal, barely any flesh or bone and mostly their yellow striped coating that made them look fat, they had not much meat, and what the sand mice had would not be enough for a child, but there was no alternative, else they would starve and many were already starving in the streets, groaning and moaning as days and weeks passed, she had heard in some corner of the city some would chew on their own fingers, or someone else's fingers, but those who harmed others soon found themselves on the other end of her silent Tatar bone spears.

  "Your highness... " Her commander called out for her as he stood near her, she looked up from the ground where she was eating, his hair has gotten longer and covered half of his face, she knew that he would often cut it enough that it does not hinder his movements or sight, however this time he was making an attempt to cover his hollow cheeks.

  "What is it, commander?" The queen replied, keeping a facade of strength and indifference.

  "As per your order, every merchant was told to share their wares with the rest of the city and will be paid by your coin after the siege is over." He told her. "Except for one, Caw, he hoarded his supplies at his estate, letting only a handful of people inside and there were... Rumors about bizarre things going on, Azar wants to break in, I put some of our guards outside the estate for now until I get permission from your highness to go inside."

  Lotara expected it to happen, one way or another, a merchant hoarding his wares, a butcher hiding his meat and so on, it was not as severe as she had thought it to be though, her commander was competent and caught on to it rather quickly but her brother in law would cause trouble for him, she had to be present at the scene thus she ordered. "Take me there."

  Outside of her hall, her people scrambled for food and fought amongst one another until a guard or two came along and separated them and in alleyways and far corners some would hunt sand mice and at times even rats, some chewed on bones like hounds under the table of their master and some simply laid limp on the sandy soil in the streets, they passed the market stalls which were lifeless unlike their usual blooming atmosphere and packed streets, and she noticed that there were no cats and no hounds or bitches in sight, in her heart she knew why but she did not dare confirm it, she urged the commander to make haste and they did.

  The city itself was separated into five quarters, the royal quarter, high buildings, paved marble roads, hanging lanterns though the quarter was mostly occupied by the palace due to its sheer size alongside the four estates of the council chieftains and the barracks of the silent Tatar, next was the temple quarter, adorned with runes and charms crafted out of bone and hung upon doors and walls and the such, it was where the shamans and the seer resided and preformed their rituals in the city center, next was the common quarter, the smallest of buildings and the least of paved paths, where men of lowly trades lived, the trade quarter where all layers of their society come together and meet at the stalls and in the shops and the alleyways, it was the second most guarded of places due to the amount of conflicts and altercations that take place there, lastly was the high quarter, the soil was somewhat paved and the streets were often kept tidy by the residents, here lived folk of high trade, warriors and hunters or merchants, such as the merchant they are seeking now.

  It was already crowded by the time they were there, as she had thought the locals caught word of a merchant hoarding his merchandise and were not very pleased, he was selling only at specific quantities and increasing the price by the day, the disaster traders, those who were opportunistic and vile, the commander pushed his way through the crowd and shortly after some of the silent Tatar cleared space for her to make her way through.

  The estate itself was surrounded by her guard, Lotara gave it a quick look, it was encircled by the rib bones of a giant beast and its gate was on the form of the half skull from the ancient ancestor of the elephant, a war creature who resides beyond the southern snakes sea in a land called Quvria and bought at high prices that only royalty or the highest of mercenary companies could afford, as for the building itself, it was three skulls molded together in grey stones and marble and carved from top to bottom in a spiral shape that stood the highest of all the high quarter buildings showing prestige and wealth, at the tusks of the gate stood Azar and behind the gate stood the merchant whom was showered by insults and shouts by the locals until commander Xao’s voice pierced through the place. "Silence!"

  Once everyone was settled and stood awaiting the queen’s word, Azar leaned into the gate, his hand gripping on the tusk as he exclaimed. "Her highness herself came here to speak with you Kofi, you will open the gate and you will do it now."

  "Or what?"Kofi snorted. "You'll rip me in half the same way you did Talim?"

  "That would be the least of your concerns." Azar threatened him as he leaned further ahead.

  Kofi leaned back and clicked his tongue before shouting. "Those are the same people claiming to protect us from harm! "

  Hushes whispers followed and halted as commander Xao made his way to the gate and said. "Lord Kofi, we are not here to threaten you nor steal your merchandise, we simply want to inspect it and buy it off your hands so we can distribute it."

  "Really?" Kofi spoke sarcastically. "And you hoarding it makes it different?"

  "We will not be hoarding it." The queen answered. "We will be managing the rations and splitting them appropriately, so no man, woman or child starve and it would last us the longest of time, else we all die under siege."

  Commander Xao added to the queen's words. "Kofi, trust my word it will be much wiser if you willingly open the gate, because once we barge in forcefully, and we will, her highness won't be as generous as she is now."

  "Truly? Will her highness ravage the home of this lowly merchant and unleash her brother in law on me in front of the thousands here?" Kofi bluffed. " Simply for doing what a merchant does, selling his wares?!"

  "You are not a lowly merchant. " Lotara corrected him, sharp and stern. "You made quite the fortune since the siege, that much I'm aware of, let alone before the siege, and we are not here because you're selling wares."

  "Then why are you here?" Kofi questioned impatiently.

  "While every merchant and store is running out of food, even then they agreed to sell it to us so we can distribute it." She explained. "You are the only one with a seemingly endless stock of food and the cheapest of your stock is getting people sick."

  "My meat is making folk sick? The thing getting folk sick is eating hounds and puss from the streets because sand mice aren't enough!" Kofi snapped. "Which happened because of your pitiful blood feud and we're paying for it now!"

  When his voice dwindled, others rose from the crowd, she could not see them as they were cramped and pushing amongst one another but she heard the voices, the hatred, the anger, the upset, the desperation, the pain.

  "He's right! We never asked for any of this!" A woman shouted in the crowd.

  "Yeah! Why do we have to eat rats when we can hand over Azar's head!" Their voices were bold as there were many of them, almost a mob.

  "I watched my daughter ache and chew her own fingers because we had nothing but hound meat and she would not eat it!" Another man yelled out, what followed was shouts of agreements and pushes in the crowd, the silent Tatar stood at the ready, their spears pointed ahead and halting the moving crowd.

  Lotara moved ahead, carrying her gown behind her against the ground, with each step she took the raging dwindled and was replaced with uncertainty as the crowd stepped back at her wake, she made it to the guards and lowered their spears before she turned to her people and said. "Handing Azar head will not be enough, they will want your blood as well, for sheltering him this long, for not standing with their betrayal but there is another way, if Kofi simply allows us to buy the rations off of him, your hunger will be solved... And we only want to resolve this with him peacefully. "

  "Or violently. " Azar commented.

  "We prefer it peacefully." Commander Xao told them with a soft smile.

  The once rallied mob lost its spirit under her words and the promise of food then backed away from the guard, she turned her head to the merchant who seemed to be half disappointed and half upset that there was no riot as he exclaimed. "Fine... But I will not let the lot of you trash my home, only her highness is allowed."

  "And me." Azar added.

  Kofi frowned and murmured. "I said—"

  "And. Me. " Azar interrupted him and the merchant dared not argue with them, he pulled on a lever and the bone chains above the elephant skull was lifted as the gates behind it were opened up, allowing them through and taking them into the estate, walls adorned with tapestries and scattered pillars, items and collection poses on tables and cases on the walls, however the halls seemed absent of any life.

  "Where is your family?" She inquired kindly.

  "What?" He blurted.

  "Where is your lady wife and daughters?" She repeated.

  He led them to the back of the building and stopped at an iron door with many locks and chains then answered. "They went to visit the Dux tribe, attending a feast on my behalf and celebrating a joining."

  "I never heard of a feast planned by the Dux." Azar remarked.

  "It's enclosed, " Kofi replied and began unlocking the locks, one by one, all with different keys and all with different mechanisms. "There will be a betrothal under the chieftain's eyes."

  "One of your daughters? " The queen wondered as Kofi took a torch from the wall and lit it at the hanging pit then led them down the spiral steps.

  "All five of them." He informed her.

  "I am overjoyed to hear the news, Kofi."

  "Thank you, your highness."

  They reached the bottom leading into a short corridor with a wide iron gate, more locks than the door before, Kofi lit each torch on the walls and proceeded to unlock the gate, down here it felt much damper than the rest of the estate, the air was shallow and piercing, heavy on the lungs and painful to the nose, she rubbed her arms against one another, wondering if it was cold that she was feeling, until they were led into the last room and there it was the coldest of any place she had been to recently, she could almost see her breath on the air as she looked around the room, hanging meats and herbs, crated of vegetables and fruit, the amount she seen left her speechless.

  "This is where I keep everything." He declared as he crossed his arms.

  "It's chilly and dry." The queen complained.

  Kofi nodded and knocked against the walls as he spoke. "The walls were packed with ice from the frozen sea north of Northliem province in the empire... It costed me a fortune. "

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Azar glared at him for a moment and accused him. "You smuggled it in."

  "I did." Kofi confessed shamelessly. "Else the other merchants and butchers would have done the same as I did before me—"

  "I wonder what else you smuggled in." Azar interrupted him.

  She sighed and tapped Azar's shoulder then urged him. "Azar, enough."

  The crimson feline eyed man glanced towards her then gazed at Kofi for a long minute as he mumbled a few words under his lips then obeyed. "Yes, your highness."

  She shook her head as it had gotten much more difficult to keep him under control, ever since the siege everyone was on edge, him the most as everyone was putting him to blame for what occurred, a small sigh escaped her lips as she ordered the merchant. "Kofi, show us through your stock."

  "Five big sized crates of vegetables." He began the count as he opened the ledger on the small desk in the side under the light of a candle. "Two crates of fruit, fifty racked three eyed rabbits, fifteen racked gazelles and two crates of spice."

  Lotara gestured for Azar to inspect it and he did, starting from the racked hanging meat, testing it's texture and taking its scent, checking for mold or rot and what not, all the way from the hanging meat to the crates of fruits, vegetables then finally spices, when Azar was done, he decided. "Everything looks fine. "

  "See?" Kofi said in relief. "Whatever is making the folk sick is not from my stock."

  She stared at him suspiciously, it was not often that the commander would make accusations and mistakes, not when it came to investigating at least, perhaps this was a first, or perhaps there was something they could not yet see, Azar looked displeased the most, as if he was the one who made the accusations and investigation in the first place, she did not blame him, they were all eager to solve this issue, folk becoming sick will bring them nothing but trouble in a locked environment but they still will buy the merchandise off his hands, with all said and done it was not all too bad, soon after that the merchant began leading them towards the gate of the storage room and opened it widely for them to leave, only then she felt it again, a far howl of a breeze and it's tingling grasp across her cheeks, suddenly she heard the hiss of metal against metal, her heart dropping as she knew that it was Azar’s sword Envy leaving it's scabbard, she turned and found her brother in law pointing the doubled edged sword at Kofi's neck.

  "Are you mad? " The merchant screamed as he fell down to his back, the sword still pointing to his neck.

  Azar did not respond to him, staring him down in silence before he asked Lotara. "Your highness, can you feel it? The breeze in the cellar. "

  She knew what he meant, there were no windows down here and nowhere where the air would depart, and yet when the gate was opened the air traveled all the way down from the spiral stairs down to the corridor and further into the back of the room, there was either a hidden exit, a secret room… or both.

  "Your highness, there's nothing—" Kofi defended himself but Azar filled his mouth with a piece of cloth ripped from his velvet doublet sleeves.

  "You talk too much." Azar told him as he pushed the point end of Envy against the merchant's neck, he whimpered under the cloth but did not pretest any longer.

  The queen entered the storage room again as she took a lantern from the walls then began tracing the faint whisper of the breeze as she traced the chilling walls with her fingers, she walked from corner to corner until she reached one spot at the back where the wind’s whisper was the loudest, a stack of crates standing between her and the spot, she pushed them over, as hard as she could but they dropped to the ground on the side and shattered as the apples and tomatoes crushed against the floor, a waste, she thought to herself but her aching distracted her from pondering upon it, she knew she would not like what she would see as a secret small door was revealed, she tried to open it but it was locked, Azar searched the merchant and threw her the smallest of keys he had, she caught it and tried fitting it into the door, the key matched and metal clicked as the door was unlocked and pushed open, the heavy scent hit her as she held the lantern ahead, then she saw it and her stomach turned, almost vomiting, she pressed her hand against her mouth and gaged, her tears building up against her eyes, she would forever be haunted, for what she seen was not what she had expected, what she seen was flayed human bodies hung into racks, some cut apart, some mashed and some stacked, the white walls and the grounds ran red with dry blood from each side all the way to the sewer grate, bloodied cages on the side with signs of scratches and words carved into them, an empty bloodied iron chair with straps around the chair hands and legs.

  "Gods, oh gods." She cried out as she fell to her knees, the deepest of her horrors came to life ahead of her own eyes, upon her words Azar came forward dragging Kofi behind him by the leg, but once he saw the sight, his demeanor shifted.

  Kofi pushed out the cloth with his tongue then screamed. "I— I can explain!"

  "What a feast you prepared, I'm assuming it's for your family return, eh?" Azar told him. “I like a family man.”

  Azar turned and shattered Kofi's nose with the skull pommel of Envy. "But let’s shut that cunt mouth for now."

  She watched the man snort on his blood and held it tightly as he let out his muffled scream under Azar boot, the least he deserved but it did not help with anything, she was stuck cleaning up behind, if this mess gets out, people would want blood, thus she voiced her thoughts. "Azar, what do we tell our people? Those who bought cheap meat and got sick... That they ate human flesh?"

  "Lie to them." He suggested. "Our priority should be finding out who processed the... Bodies for him and any other accomplices he might have."

  She fidgeted with her gown, growing restless as she closed the small door to separate herself from the scent and sight then asked. "But don't they deserve to know the truth?"

  Her brother in law sighed and responded. "Your highness, you're tired and hungry so you are not thinking straight. Tell me, what good letting them know the truth will do? There will be a riot, we have to avoid it, we will lie instead."

  "What do we say?"

  "Anything but the truth."

  They led the man back up and she called on her commander, explaining what they had seen and asking for his suggestion, commander Xao ordered a dozen silent Tatar to escort him to the dungeons of the barrack, while Xao and Azar took robes inside, packed the flesh and meat into the shape of full bodies and brought them out, the crowd was enraged and some attempted to follow the escort seeking vengeance under the assumption that he killed his own family, not knowing that it was the human meat most of them ate, and they would not know, they will never know, Lotara will not allow it.

  After the supplies were taken to the hall, the queen made her way to her bed chambers, her body was limp, her head was light, the scent of frozen human flesh in clung to her nose, the images still vivid in her mind, the hollow walls enclosing around her and the bodies hanging ahead of her eyes, bloody walls and floor that reeks and greased against her sandals, her stomach twisted on itself by the time she made her way into her bed, holding her twin sons tightly whilst sitting across from her handmaiden Solya yet even her own boys and the company of her sole friend did not allow her mind peace, her thoughts were ripping at her heart, questions plagued her mind, and her mind was drowning in fear, they had gotten the supplies and would distribute them but what if this was not the only time they would face a similar situation, it cannot go any longer, the sooner the siege ends the better, she would seek out Valerius as soon as she is done with Kofi, the thought of the merchant and what he had done made her feel disgusted and unclean.

  She set back her boys at Solya’s lap and made her way to her bench. She opened a small box and took a bit of her skin remedy and applied it under her eyes where she could feel the hollowness of her dark circles.

  "Are you going to the dungeons, my queen?" Solya asked her as she held the boys, Tavos was fidgeting with Solya gown while Nuvon chewed on his wooden horse toy in sheer silence.

  "I am." The queen answered as she set down the box and picked another that contained the remedy for her skin.

  Solya was silent for a moment, cradling the boys before she added. "Are you certain? You don't seem very well."

  "I'm fine." The queen lied as she scattered the white remedy across her face from cheeks to her forehead.

  "Your highness... " Solya whispered, setting the boys down on the white tanned pelt then added. "You're not alright."

  Lotara sighed, a shaky sigh, one push is all it took and she was reminded of the impending doom they were facing, under siege and surrounded by enemies that she could not see, betrayed by the same men who swore fealty to her and her husband, cornered by her enemies, facing the degeneracy of mortals, half of those things were led up by her choices and mistakes, she could not run away, she was forced to face it and alone nonetheless, it broke her, she palmed her eyes and broke down. "I wish... I wish I never ordered the feast, I wish I gave Talim his son instead of standing my ground, that the imperials never came, I... I wish my family was still here."

  Solya scooted over the other side of the bed and pulled the queen from her bench back into the bed before gently hugging her, she was warm and kind and firm, the queen could feel her own eyes fill up with tears but she would not cry, she had too much pride, she merely sniffled and wiped away her tears, Solya patted her back and exclaimed. "In the war of the red marshes, I lost everyone I had, my tribe, my father, my brothers, my husband, I was lost and had nowhere to go, nowhere to belong."

  She pushed the queen back and wiped away her tears before adding. "When I came to your door, you welcomed me with open arms, true enough I lost my family and tribe, and I still carry the loss with me but I found another home, another family, I cannot have children but I helped raise yours... I found you, you found me, your highness."

  The queen had no choice, she was choking on her own breath, torn apart by her guilt, her words came pouring out the same as her tears, tears that she kept not only for days but for decades. "What of the mistakes I made? This is not the only time I made drastic decisions, I sent men to their deaths, over and over in the Gahrak war in assistance of the king, I allowed... Villages to burn, be pillaged and raped to secure our victory in the war... I... I—"

  "What's done is done." Solya reassured her with a soft smile. "But we keep moving forward and learn from the past, and hold what's dear to us very closely, it reminds us of who we are and why we do the things we do."

  Lotara listened and looked down upon her boys, Tavos feline copper eyes shined as he smiled and playfully chewed on his own foot whilst Nuvon gaze towards her with his toy in his mouth, his purple feline eyes ever so curious, the queen was forced to smile and wipe her tears away, picking the two of them up and holding closely as she spoke. "Thank you, Solya."

  "Anytime, your highness."

  On the next day, she found her way to the duengon, The walls were covered in moist and the air was thick, she could almost see the sand and dust in the air hovering around the crackling fires of the dungeon, hanging on each side of the long corridor and the many cells, she was led forward by one of the silent Tatar as she ignored the whimpers behind the doors or the cries in the far corners, Lotara did not give it much thought, she cannot, here came only the vilest and most dangerous and troublesome of folk, in deeper levels were folk of higher importance, some left forgotten, some kept alive to be used for future ordeals, but that did not matter now, what mattered was the cell she stood in front of, aside from the smell of piss and manure and sickness, the scent of metal touched her lips and tip of her tongue, she knew it was not metal and she knew where it came from and who caused it, she took a small breath and knocked at the cell, her heart pounding with each knock, the door creaked open and she glimpsed the inside of the room, her vision was blurry for most of it was in darkness but she could clearly see what was in the middle, a man tied to a chair, his face unrecognizable and dripping with blood, her throat dried up and Azar came in the way as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  "Your highness." Azar greeted her.

  She gulped, wanting to question him about the state that she saw Kofi in but could not bring herself to do so, not after what she saw in his storage room, she cleared her throat then asked. "What did you get out of him?"

  "We got out the name of the butcher, the commander dealt with him this morning. " Azar explained to her. "Kofi was also a smuggler, the room that he stored the... Flesh in, where there was a sewer grate, it leads to a passage into the dead river, no one knows about it besides him and he was planning to allow the siege attackers in through it for a fee after selling all of his wares."

  "We would have been slaughtered at the hour of the wolf..." Lotara murmured, every night of hers could have been her last, and her boys, gods they would have taken away her boys, if it was not for the merchant’s greed, they would have been doomed, she shook the thought off and further questioned. "Did you find out where he got the human flesh?"

  "His family."

  "What?"

  Azar sighed and repeated. "His family never went to the feast, there was never a feast, he killed them all, he was showered in promises of lands and titles before the siege took place by Zor, the man simply removed loose ends, in his terms, and made gold off of it."

  She could not process it, she could not see it or picture it, she could not fathom it, how a man could bring down an axe or a knife down into the very flesh and blood of his own, she could never see her husband hurting his own kin, not even Azar, she could bring herself to only utter her disbelief. "Gods, his own kin... "

  "A mortal sanity is put to the test when he is starved and caged." Azar told her. "Him however, he was just sick, a sick cunt who was waiting for a reason to do his biddings."

  "I don't want to ever see his body again, nor hear of a burial. Do you understand?" She ordered him, her heart grieving for the lives he took and raging for what he had done.

  "As you wish, your highness. Azar nodded his head before slipping back into the cell.

  Shortly after, she met up with the commander and coordinated with Valerius to begin the next stage of the plan, as it had been a couple of cloudless nights with the full twin moons shining down the desert, it took them a day and a half and upon the second night, all was set for the mercenary known as Exocrane, meanwhile Lotara and the rest of her close council stood at the watcher tower near the skull gate and from the very long distance, they watched the enemy host camp, it looked so vast it felt endless, as endless as their wasteland, she wondered how many they swayed to their cause no matter how shallow the claim was, there will be heads to be beheaded, once it was all over that is, though she felt relieved that the gods did not play their cruel jokes, and left the sky clear same as the beginning of the night, with no storm or wind on the horizon.

  "Are you going to tell us about this plan of yours?" Azar demanded as he looked towards the red headed young prince.

  "No need." Valerius answered. "I have it all figured."

  "Sure, one mercenary infiltrating the enemy camp, a sellsword." Azar mocked.

  Valerius chuckled and shook his head as he adjusted the red cloak over his shoulder and his purple velvet doublet buttons then reminded Azar. "As if you haven't done anything similar."

  She knew what he meant and she knew that what Azar preformed left a bad taste in the empire and its great imperial houses, ending the last direct attempt of mobilization on their behalf against Asaroth, ever since then there was no imperial attack and the birth of the ghost of sands came along, a nickname only known to a few in Asaroth and many in the imperial army, however one thought crossed her mind.

  'How did Zor know about Azar's nickname?' She asked herself.

  "You should have told us about the plan first, your highness." Azar interrupted her stream of thoughts. "Relying on this boy prince could doom us all. "

  Valerius snorted and protested sarcastically. "I'm not a boy, I'm a man, thirteen really but still. "

  "Do not worry." Commander Xao assured them as he leaned against the edge of the watchtower. "I stationed most of our guard at the estate and in the sewers once the mercenary left, should he fail and tell our little friends of the route, we'll stand our ground in the uh, what did you call it Azar? "

  "The meat chamber." Azar reminded him, though the queen's glare made both him and Xao look away in nervousness.

  "Have faith." Valerius urged them.

  Xao chuckled lightly and exclaimed. "Have faith shall we? The last time we had faith in imperials, you broke the Navgar treaty and invaded the marshes with no claim."

  Valerius sighed and replied. "See it from the bright side, it brought you unity. "

  "And death. " Azar mumbled.

  Valerius shrugged his arms and spoke. "Yes, of course and the day will come when we lose our power and many will want our blood. If I had a coin for every time I heard that, I would be as rich as my uncle Titus. "

  Her brother Qudor, who's been silent the whole time, shrieked and said. "As if you are not rich enough from your own gold. "

  "Well— Say, your face is strangely familiar—" Valerius spoke but his words were interrupted by a shout from the second watchtower.

  "He's done it! The madman really did it!" One of the city guards spoke, different from the silent Tatar but still formidable in keeping the peace in the streets.

  She turned her head ahead and saw him, a man dressed in black from head to toe with nothing but a mace and a book in his belongings, and on his shoulders he carried a tied up and gagged man which she assumed to be Zor, a smile soon crept to her lips with a sweet taste of victory as she shouted. "Open the Jaws!"

  At her command, the molded jaw which served as the gate of their city was lifted whilst the lower one was pulled into the soil, Exocrane quickly escorted the hostage inside and dropped him to the ground, the mercenary spared them no word, no gaze, not even the soft hum of a victorious man, she paid him no mind as she made her way down the ladder and towards the man, conforming him to be Zor, he was sweating and breathing heavily, pressing against the gag and spouting words she could not understand, she grinned, wiped his sweat away and said. "Hello again, Zor."