Eligible for Rescue

He stared at me. I stared at him.

“Seriously?” I said, in my humiliating high-pitched voice.

Dragon snorted and the ends of my hair instantly curled with the heat.

“What?” came the rasping reply. He sounded like he was holding back laughter—he was—and I had the strange, insistent urge to stamp my foot.

“You know perfectly well what.”

Two great golden marbles rolled in their sockets. “You want me to say it out loud?”

“Go on.”

“Fine. I think it’s cute.”

I crossed my arms, and then immediately uncrossed them when I realised how it made me look.

“Cute.”

“Yeah. Dare I say it, you actually make a very sweet toddler.”

Apparently my glare didn’t quite have the effect it usually did, when I was at least three times taller and hefting around a bloody great sword with the power to raise the dead.

“Thank you,” I settled on thinly, “but personally, if you don’t mind, I’m quite keen to go back there and cut his horrible, perfect head off.”

“Losing our temper, are we?”

“Why don’t you try being cursed into a two year old child and see how you feel?”

Dragon settled himself into a coil, a bit like a car-sized cat, and regarded me lazily. “Sounds like somebody needs a nap.”

“Hey pal,” I pointed a stubby finger at him, “you’re bound to me, remember? A lifetime of servitude and all that?”

Dragon looked at me doubtfully and then inspected his talons, four razor-sharp scythes about the size of my head. “You’re very easy to eat like this, you know. One bite…”

“I raised you,” I said, gobsmacked. “For at least five years I’ve given you villages to burn down, treasure to hoard, not to mention the sheer amount of bloody cattle—”

He at least managed to look a bit guilty at that.

“—and this, this is the thanks I get?”

“I’m just saying, I think I should have something a little extra this month if I’m going to be out in public with a toddler.”

I narrowed my eyes; I knew where this was going. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s my mother’s village,” I hissed, appalled.

“Yeah and that’s exactly why. Forbidden fruit and all that.”

I threw up my hands. “You know what? Fine. Fine, go for it, but only if we find Ered and get him to reverse the curse.”

“Ered the Great…” Dragon said thoughtfully. He sounded a bit hungry. “Well he can’t have gone far.”

I looked around. The forest I’d retreated to was growing dark and gloomy. Trees tangled together like drips of ink, and strange, enticing lights had begun to glitter in the corner of my eye.

It was a lovely place, the Forest of Lost Souls. When I got my body back I could see myself setting up a little holiday cottage here, next to the Stream of Endless Suffering. Do a little fishing, perhaps.

“There was an inn in that village, wasn’t there?” I mused.

Dragon eyed all two-and-a-half foot of me warily.

“I’m just saying, battling to the death is thirsty work. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s ended up there.”

“To be fair,” Dragon said, “I usually need a drink or two after spending any longer than about an hour with you.”

*

The inn at Bushwick was only slightly better than a cramped hovel, with a ceiling that sagged in like an old man’s ribs and a strong smell of damp barley.

Dragon immediately made a beeline for the fireplace and curled up there to watch. He’d taken on a different form himself: a white and orange tabby cat.

At six foot five, Ered was not exactly hard to find. He sat in the corner with a group of worshipful onlookers, recounting our battle that morning with incredible inaccuracy. It was hard to keep the sweet ‘help me’ pout on my face when I was forced to listen to how the Dark Mage Nyx had begged for mercy before being struck from existence by his ‘righteous blade of light and hope’.

“Ered?” I whimpered once he’d finally given everyone a break and shut up.

The hero’s chiselled face split into a tipsy expression of surprise as he blinked down at me, a misty-eyed toddler staring up at him from knee-height.

“What do we have here?” he boomed. “A child? Where are your parents, sweet one?”

Was he always so offputtingly loud?

“I-I’ve lost my parents, sir,” I said, throwing in a little wet hiccup for effect. “They left me here to fight the Dark Mage Nyx this morning and never came back.”

His great brow furrowed. “They left you? Here? Alone?”

I nodded.

“I see… Well, my small friend, fear not. We shall find them together, you and I, you have my word!”

By the fire, Dragon let out a little wheeze of laughter. I glared pointedly at the smoke that drifted up.

“For now though, this is no place for a child.”

My head whipped around as Ered got to his feet. Two great, rugged hands came under my armpits and to my horror my feet were lifted clear of the floor as he settled me on his hip.

I stared into the darkness.

I would kill this man. I just needed whatever weird amulet that he’d used to reverse this horrific travesty, and then I would behead him, I would rip his limbs from his body, bathe in his—

“You look hungry,” Ered said to me. “I shall find you something to eat.”

*

“Hurry up, he’s going to be back any second!”

“I’m going as fast as I can, I’m just not very coordinated like this.”

“Is it in there?”

“I don’t bloody know,” I said as my fingers caught on the edge of something. I pulled it out.

“Alright, no need to be rude.”

“I’m a necromancer,” I reminded him. “Necromancers aren’t known for being polite, are they?”

Dragon sighed. “What’s that then? Did you find it?”

I looked down at the object in my hand, a small cube with a swirling pattern that shifted every now and then as if bored.

“Oh,” I said happily. “I haven’t seen one of these in years!”

The last unlockable box I’d had was when I was fourteen, still learning the tricks of the trade. It had briefly been popular amongst the apprentice villains when Five Skull Medi had locked the beating heart of a hero’s girlfriend inside one as revenge.

I bent close and whispered the words it wanted to hear.

“Show off,” Dragon muttered as the box popped open.

I gave him a smug look. And then looked down.

“Oh for God’s sake!”

A familiar amulet lay inside, broken into three pieces. When I’d last seen it, it had been glowing and orange. Now it was a dull, unappealing shade of brown.

“It’s broken,” I whined. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“Uh, meow,” Dragon said strangely.

I looked up.

A familiar brooding figure stood behind me, his mouth a terse line.

“Shi—oot,” I said.

In the next breath Ered had me by the scruff of my shirt. He certainly could move fast for someone with that amount of brawn. It was how he’d managed to get one over on adult-me, I consoled myself as my feet dangled.

“You,” he thundered, “are no mere child! Who are you?”

I stared at him and considered my options. Should I just stick to my lost kid story? But the way he was holding me… it felt like that ship had sailed.

His free hand moved to his sword pommel.

“I’m cursed,” I blurted out. “A dark, uh, pirate cursed me to this body years ago. I’m actually a…” What did heroes love? “A young, attractive maiden.”

Ered froze. “What?”

“Yes, I thought if anyone could help me it would be the Ered the Great, so I sought you out to enlist your help. But when I heard your impressive tale of bravery earlier I just—I felt far too embarrassed and so I thought I’d look through your satchel to see if there was anything that could help me.”

Oh. He liked that, if the way he puffed up his chest was any indication. My feet tapped the earth as he set me down and I remembered how to breathe.

“A maiden, you say?”

“Um, Ny—Nora of the…Western Plains.”

Everyone loved the Western Plains. It was still a bit of a mystery, considering the desert tried to swallow everyone who was brave enough to step foot on it. Ered was certainly impressed going by his expression.

“My lady,” he said, and gave a small bow. “My apologies for the rough handling.”

I dipped my head as graciously as a two year old could.

Ered looked into the distance. I followed his gaze, confused, but he was just staring at a wall.

“My heart has been captured by your plight,” he mused loudly. “I will help you, lady, and together we will find a way to reverse your curse.”

I smiled weakly, as Dragon did a terrible job of disguising his snort as a meow.

*

It took four days of travel to reach Ered’s curse-breaker friend, the majority of which was along Headstone Path. I wanted, very badly, to point out that there was a much safer way to cut across the forest, only a ten minute walk away, but I had gotten into my role of helpless maiden by that point. Besides, it was only really dangerous for Ered. Dragon and I were more worried about the stray ghouls that kept staring at us from the trees.

Piss off, I mouthed to them from my spot on Ered’s shoulders as he lazily chopped a tunnel through the overhanging vines. They had probably started to associate me with the dead bodies I sometimes dragged out here.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Er, yeah,” I said quickly, “just wondering if you’ve always been in the hero business?”

“Indeed,” Ered replied, swinging his sword like it was a bit of wood and not a legendary golden blade. I eyed it warily; I had the distinct feeling it was watching me. “My parents were heroes, my older sister too.”

“Oh that’s nice,” I said, imagining him with longer hair. A distant memory chimed in the back of my head… I was pretty sure I’d once cursed someone who looked like that.

“Well, my sister retired a few years ago. So now it’s on me, really, to keep the family business going. I don’t mind though, I like slaying villains and saving people. And, you know, mum and dad collect all my thank you cards and medals and stuff, so it’s nice to make them proud.”

I made some kind of agreeing noise. Surprisingly, Ered and I were pretty similar in that regard. My parents had both been notorious villains back in the day, and back at home they had a whole wall full of newspaper clippings of my evil deeds.

I put it out of my mind. “So,” I said, “tell me more about your battle with Nyx. Was she really as witty and powerful as they say?”

*

The curse-breaker’s cottage was old and quaint, with a thatched roof and creeping honeysuckle hugging the walls. We picked our way through a brilliantly chaotic garden to get to the front door, which swung open before we had a chance to knock.

“Oh Ered, honey,” a voice exclaimed, “it’s been ages!”

The smile froze on my face. Dragon fled past me in a streak of white and orange to hide in a tangle of sweet peas.

I was only hip height, and so the first thing I saw was a blue silk dress. Then I looked up, up past the strange, glowing necklaces to the wild mane of curly hair framing a surprisingly large pair of glasses.

Joanna met my eyes and blinked.

“Hello,” I ground out, as the witch began to turn red.

Ered looked confused. “Do you two—“

A giggle escaped Joanna’s mouth, and then she howled.

I closed my eyes. Prayed to the Dark One for strength.

“Oh Gods,” she hiccuped, “I’m sorry, I just—is that really you Ny—“

“IT’S GREAT TO MEET YOU,” I said loudly, cutting her off. “My name is NORA, and as you can see, I have been cursed to this form by an evil foe.”

Ered frowned disapprovingly. “I appreciate it’s a shock, Joanna, but Nora has come to seek your help.”

Joanna looked like she was struggling to maintain a straight face. “No, of course, I’m sorry. Must have had a bit too much mugwort this morning.”

Ered gave me a reassuring look.

“Anyway, yes,” she said, stepping back, “do come in.”

*

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“I’m being very reasonable,” Joanna said and took another puff of her pipe. A thick plume of purple smoke curled up to the evening sky.

We were in the back garden, having left Ered playing with a very disgruntled Dragon, who had taken one for the team.

“Look at me!” I fumed, “how am I supposed to get up a volcano like this?”

“You have a dragon. And you’re a resourceful woman, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“That’s the point! I’m not a woman right now, I’m a toddler.”

“It’s not my fault you decided to go up against that great lump of muscle in there and get yourself—”

“Lower your voice for God’s sake,” I hissed.

Joanna rolled her eyes. “He can’t hear you. Anti-eavesdropping charm, remember?”

“Whatever,” I sulked. “I just think it’s a bit unfair that I have to get you some stupid rock when you could just fix me now. For free.”

“I’m a witch, honey. I don’t do things for free. Why don’t you just ask him for help?” she nodded in the direction of the cottage.

I sighed. “Oh please, it would be suicide for someone like him, Gregorious would kill him in about ten seconds flat.”

“So you and your dragon can go back him up.”

“Joanna, seriously—“

“I’ll do it.”

We both turned. Seems like we’d forgotten that for the anti-eavesdropping charm to work, one had to actually be inside the house.

Ered had a scarily determined set to his jaw. “I will help you, Nora.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “You don’t know what the task she’s given me is. It’s not pretty.”

A large hand settled on my head, a gentle, warm weight. “You are a friend, dear Nora,” he said seriously. “And my friends will never fight their battles alone.”

I felt a strange ache in my chest. Maybe heartburn—or some delayed side effect from the amulet.

Joanna smirked. “Wonderful, that’s very kind of you Ered. I’ll go and get the map for you both then, shall I?“

*

I waited until he’d been swallowed by the shadows of the cave before I put my head in my hands. Ered had refused to allow me any further, claiming he couldn’t in good conscience let someone of my ‘stature’ put themselves in such danger.

I could see why he thought that. Gregorious had set up shop in a retired volcano. All around us were dark crags of half-melted rock, strange shadows, and the ominous smell of sulphur.

Dragon twined softly around my legs and meowed.

“I know,” I said into my palms. “He’s an idiot. But at least his death will make a good distraction.”

“He took the map though,” Dragon pointed out.

I snorted. “Oh please. Gregorious and I both apprenticed under the Dark One for a few years, I’m pretty sure I can figure out his backdoor.”

Dragon gave me look.

“Anyway,” I said quickly, “if Joanna’s moon rock thing is so powerful then I reckon Greg will have it on his body somewhere.”

“He’s going to get angry if he hears you calling him that again.”

I beamed. “Hopefully.”

*

It took longer than I would have liked to catch up, even with Dragon half-transformed to carry me, his orange fur overtaken in places by rough green scales.

“I think that’s them,” I whispered as we approached a point where the tunnel widened out into a large, rocky cavern. I could just about make out Ered’s familiar boom over the clash of steel.

I hopped down from Dragon’s back and waddled closer.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t Gregorious that my eyes were drawn to first, even though he loomed centre stage, a stretched, skeletal figure wreathed in shadow.

It was Ered.

Ered, whose pale face was sticky with blood, whose usual winning smile had been replaced by a look of furious concentration.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry.

“You were right,” Dragon said into my ear, “he’s wearing it as a necklace. I’ll wait ‘till Ered charges him, swoop in and grab it, and then we leg it. Ok?”

“Yeah,” I said, still staring.

Ered hefted his sword. His arms were shaking.

“Here we go,” Dragon said nervously.

With a roar, Ered charged. Dragon launched forward as Gregorious opened his arms wide, shadows writhing like two great bat wings. I gripped the wall as the cave began to tremble.

Dragon was fast. Right as Ered brought his great golden sword down in a violent slash, he hooked a talon through the necklace and pulled it free.

Gregorious whirled around but Ered was there again with his sword. The shade tutted and flicked his finger.

For a large-set man, Ered sailed remarkably swiftly through the air. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

“Ered!” I cried before I could stop myself.

Gregorious’ head jerked up. He was an ugly fellow with a sallow white face and two coal-like lumps for eyes.

“Oh crap,” I blurted, as he realised where he was looking.

Dragon half-barrelled into me.

“Go go go!” he hissed, expanding just enough to be able to carry my weight.

I scrambled up, limbs clumsy with fear. I couldn’t take a fellow mage in the form I was now, not without any magic. He’d wipe the floor with me.

Gregorious’ horrible, spindly finger stretched in my direction.

“Monster!”

We all paused.

Ered was somehow on his feet. Swaying, with his sword pointed at my old classmate. “Leave my friend alone and fight me, coward!”

I resisted the urge to cover my face with my hands.

Gregorious laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. In fact, it was downright sinister. Like an asthmatic snake.

“Nyx,” Dragon said anxiously.

“Go,” I croaked, forcing myself to turn away. “We’ve got the stone, let’s go.”

*

I lasted a whole ten seconds before I caved.

“Wait! Wait wait wait,” I panicked, as we reached the turning.

Dragon pulled up so quickly I nearly slipped off his back. He sighed, and a small orange flame briefly illuminated the stone around us.

“You want to go back, don’t you?”

I bit my lip. “…Yeah.”

“Just remember,” he grumbled as we turned, “you still owe me that village.”

*

If Gregorious was surprised to see a toddler fly in on a medium-sized dragon, he hid it well.

Ered… not so much.

“What?” he gasped, staring at Dragon. His eyes had gone very wide. “Nora?”

I smiled awkwardly. “It’s fine, Ered.”

“It’s not fine, what—“

“Nyx? Is that you?”

My eyebrow twitched.

“Surely not,” Gregorious breathed, sounded irritatingly delighted. “The Dark Mage Nyx herself coming all the way out to my volcano.”

I gave him the most insincere smile I could muster.

He laughed and we all winced. “Well, this is quite the surprise. First Ered the Great… and now a dear old friend, cursed, no less…“

I tried not to look bored. He always was a talker—the Dark One had tried so hard to train him out of the monologues but never could.

“I must admit, this new form suits you, Nyx. Finally the outside matches the inside, one could say—“

“Oh do shut up Greg,” I snapped, losing my patience.

Next to me Dragon shifted. He had that look in his eyes, the one before he swooped in on a herd of cattle he wasn’t supposed to eat.

Sometimes I forgot he was an immortal being on his forty eight rebirth.

“Ered,” I said quickly. “Pick me up.”

Ered did so, although his face had gone blank and pale.

“Right, start running.”

Gregorious opened his mouth.

And Dragon opened his.

*

Ered was silent and it was making me nervous.

I’d tried talking to him on the way back as we’d clung to Dragon’s still-cooling back, but he’d been surprisingly stubborn with the silent-treatment.

He said nothing as we presented the moon rock to Joanna, nothing as she handed me a small blue bottle in return, and nothing as five minutes later I was back to my usual five foot six, evil mage self.

In fact, it was only when Dragon had returned to his cat form—the coward—and rubbed nervously up against his legs that he broke his silence.

“You thought me a fool,” he said quietly. “All of you.”

I swallowed. Even Dragon looked apprehensive.

“I didn’t,” I tried to say, but he cut me off.

“All this time,” and oh God, were those tears in his eyes, “I thought I was helping someone who needed it. I thought—I thought you were my friends.”

“We are!” I hurried to say. I put my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. “Listen,” I tried, “I’m sorry I lied. But you would never have helped me otherwise.”

“You nearly killed my sister!”

Ah. So it was her I’d been thinking of.

“She was trying to kill me," I reasoned. "I woke up in the middle of the night and she was in my bedroom with an axe pointed at my face!”

“That’s besides the point!”

Joanna put her head in her hands.

“You kill people, Nyx,” he said my name like it had a bad taste. “You hurt people. And all for what—just so you can feel a bit powerful?”

I recoiled. “I’m a necromancer,” I said. “It’s what I do.”

I could see the disappointment in the turn of his lips, the way his ears had gone red with anger.

“It doesn’t have to be,” he said quietly.

Dark magic crackled around my fingers as he walked out of the house.

Joanna’s hand landed on my arm. “Give him some time,” she soothed.

I stomped over to her squashed orange sofa and threw myself down. “He should give me some time.”

Dragon meowed in agreement.

*

“Oh pull yourself together.”

I gripped my cocoon of blankets tighter and resisted the urge to pull them over my head.

“What happened to the Dark Mage Nyx? Nyx, leader of the army of the dead?”

“Go away,” I mumbled.

“You do realise you’re in my living room.”

I sighed and sat up. I had no idea where Dragon was. Hadn’t seen him in a few days—he’d probably left too, was probably enjoying himself terrorising my mother’s village.

Joanna’s gaze softened as she saw the look on my face. “You’re still thinking about Ered, aren’t you?”

“No,” I lied.

She gave me A Look. “Oh? So you’re not having an existential crisis because he called you out on your great villainous scheme being a bid for attention instead of a genuine desire to wreak havoc on the world.”

“You don’t understand the pressure,” I whined. “That stupid league meets every year and it’s always ‘oh how many people have you cursed’ or ‘how many conserved species have you offed’. I just wanted to shut them all up for a bit.”

Joanna sighed. She snapped her fingers and two mugs of steaming tea appeared on the coffee table, along with a half-knitted scarf and a ball of blue wool.

She handed me a cup. “You can’t live your life just to please others Nyx.”

“I second that,” Dragon’s voice piped up. A small, fluffy head poked out from under the sofa and I tried to look stoic and not at all embarrassed that he’d heard all of that.

“But what do I do?” I said. “I mean, I’ve been a villain for pretty much my whole life. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

Joanna shrugged. “Try something different.”

I sipped my tea.

“I suppose I could put my army of the dead plans on hold for a while,” I allowed. “Maybe take a holiday. I dunno, do some fishing.”

“That’s the spirit!”

*

Ered the Great felt nervous as he stared at the door in front of him. He wasn’t really one for feeling nervous, so that in itself was a surprise.

It’s just—the letter had come out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere exactly, it was forced upon him by some kind of horrifying black bird that had pecked at him until he’d finally managed to get the damn envelope open.

I would like to have tea. Saturday, 2pm, Joanna’s.

—Nyx

Was all the note said, which is how he knew it really was from Nyx.

Ered sighed, reminded himself that he’d faced worse foes than this, and knocked on the door.

Joanna opened it immediately. She had a dirty apron on over her usual blue silk, and there was a smear of black over her nose.

“Ered!” she beamed.

He gave a shy smile. “Hello Joanna.” He was nervous though, so it came out in a thunderous boom.

“Come on in, honey. Nyx is waiting for you in the back garden.”

He followed the direction of her finger to where a curtain of seagrass sulkily parted to reveal a small wooden door.

“Joanna,” a familiar rasping voice called from the kitchen. “I’m ready to roast the second batch now!”

So Dragon was here too. Ered wanted to go and say hello, but he also didn’t want to keep Nyx waiting.

“Time for that later,” Joanna said, presciently. “Go on, off you go.”

She shooed him through and Ered stepped hesitantly out into the garden.

It was a lovely day. There was life all around: sun poured down from above, the plants swayed in a light breeze, and the hum of insects around the flowers mingled with occasional birdsong.

And right in the middle, in a small patch of shade from a nearby apple tree, was Nyx.

She looked the same. Well, she did and she didn’t. For one, she was staring into the vegetable patch and she appeared to be…

“Are you knitting?” Ered blurted out.

Nyx jumped and almost knocked over the teapot. “Bloody hell,” she said and then went red.

“Sorry,” Ered said hastily, “I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just, y’know, it’s been a while since I last saw you, and I thought you were going to be, I don’t know, angry, so it was just a bit of a surprise to see you knitting, of all things, and—“

“Yes, yes fine, stop looming and sit down.”

Ered sat. Well, perched. The chair was a little… delicate, for one of his stature.

Nyx eyed him. “You look…”

He waited.

“Well, a bit crap to be honest.”

For some reason, something in him relaxed. “I decided to stop heroing for a bit,” he admitted. He hadn’t taken well to all the free time.

Nyx opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to say more, and then closed it again. “I see.”

“And you?” he gestured, and almost knocked over a small plate of honey cakes. “You seem like you’re doing well.”

Nyx smiled. It made her look softer somehow. Less like an evil bastard who had tried, on four separate occasions, to kill every member of Ered’s close family.

“Yeah,” she said. “I feel better. I’ve been, well, knitting, y’know. Doing a bit of fishing. Started a coffee business actually. Dragon’s been doing the roasting and I get the beans portalled in from the Green Folk in exchange for safe passage along Headstone Path.”

Ered nodded along. “Good. That’s good.”

The silence was filled with the sound of the birds and the occasional clatter of pans from the kitchen. Ered helped himself to some tea, as it didn’t seem like Nyx was going to offer.

“Look,” Nyx said, apropos of nothing. “I’m just going to be blunt here. I’m actually extremely bored and if I don’t do something soon I’m going to stab myself with these knitting needles.”

Ered looked at them. They did seem quite sharp.

“So,” she said slowly, “what I was thinking was… do you want to team up?”

“What?” He was instantly embarrassed by the pitch of his voice.

“You, me, Dragon. I was thinking we could forget the hero villain stuff and just go and have a bit of fun. Do some exploring, find some cool creatures, see if we can collect some rare amulets, that sort of thing. What do you—“

“Yes,” Ered shouted. Nyx winced.

“Yeah? You’re keen?” She sounded confident, but she was gripping the teacup handle so hard her knuckles had gone white.

“I would love to,” he said seriously.

“Oh good,” Nyx said, and sipped her tea.

“But,” Ered made himself ask, “what about the… y’know.”

“Raising an army of the dead to destroy the world?”

“Yeah. That.”

Nyx sighed. “I’ve kind of gone off the idea, to be honest.”

Ered tried not to sound as hopeful as he felt. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, it would probably be a lot of effort, right?”

“It would.”

“And they’d need lots of hand-holding, especially at the start.”

“Certainly.”

“And, well, you know, I just want to take some time for myself and just explore my interests. Outside of being a villain.”

“Right.” Ered knew he was grinning but he couldn’t help it. “So when do we leave?”

Nyx stretched and then got to her feet. She said some strange words under her breath and the knitting burst into green flame, withering into ash on the garden patio.

Bit much, Ered thought, but didn’t dare say.

“How about now?”