Even though the driver had calmed down and had settled for a less dangerous way of transporting his passengers to their destination, Rhojeka felt great relief when they had finally arrived. The building outside was impressive, it had some features of a palace. Large self-driving carriages were gathered in front, and the driver, whose name Rhojeka learned to be Mr. Dev, steered his vehicle right in between them and stopped. The ongoing noise from the belly of this beast finally came to a stop. The door opened, and everybody got off.

Soon she realized that this palace also served a purpose. Inside they had brightly lit signs showing ways and scribbles that she could not understand, with numbers to them that had no meaning for her. But it didn't matter. She just followed the rest of the group. Some of them would know where to go and what to expect. And they did. They led her to another vehicle, a bit like the carriage that they had come in, but this one was much longer - like several carriages, connected to each other, forming a gigantic snake-like vehicle that apparently travelled on iron rails. Rhojeka was impressed - it was a good idea, if someone ever managed to put enough iron into this and made enough rails to make this snake reach her homeland.

The inside of this carriages was also like the one she had seen before. Again, rows and rows of seats. But all of them were taken. Rhojeka went up and down the entire train. She saw Mr. Dev who had changed his attire as the carriage driver into a more official looking uniform with a hat. Apparently he prepared to take control of the snake now. She waved at him and got his attention.

"There are no seats left," she told him. But he answered with just a growl.

"Go away!" was his rough response.

"Excuse me, what?" Rhojeka wasn't ready to take this sitting down. "When I was invited to this... camp, whatever this is, I was told that all travel arrangements have been made. So I am supposed to get a seat on this vehicle as well."

For a moment Mr. Dev looked at her, visibly pondering. "Here, have a drink!" he said as if he just remembered something, and he handed her a canister with some liquid in it.

Rhojeka refused. "I don't want a drink, I want my seat," she insisted. This man was really testing her patience.

"Hey, if you want a seat in here, then you have to make me laugh!" And suddenly, from some unknown place, he pulled out a box. "And use this with it!"

This couldn't be happening! She looked at the man and suddenly remembered the stories of her friend Mervella. Was this the same man? Her description matched his appearance, that much was certain. And as Rhojeka carefully opened the box and look at its contents, she was certain. This was indeed the same man!

And his sense of humor apparently had not changed since her friend had encountered him. The items in the box were... disgusting. The smell of rotten eggs reached her nose even before the box was open. A pair of undergarments was lying on top, and Rhojeka could see that they were filthy with things that she didn't want to think about. After the wild ride with this carriage and everything else, this was the last straw. Disgusted she dropped the box to the floor and fought the urge to throw up instantly.

"No!" she then said. "I won't do it."

Mr. Dev narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I am a bard. I entertain people for a living. But this..." She pointed at the box on the floor which had now landed on the side and spilled the rest of the items. A glass with some undefined substances in it, a long stick-like item that had no meaning for her, and a folded bunch of nonsense made the rest of it. "You are saying that despite you being responsible for all of us to get where we are going, I have to perform some hideous task with filthy items just to satisfy your urge for a cheap laugh? And only then you will keep your end of the bargain? No! That is not going to happen."

Her voice had taken a tone that could cut through metal, and she fixated Mr. Dev with a look that would have set him on fire in her world. Still, his face remained like a grim stone. "Then you are not coming with us."

"That might be for the best," Rhojeka shot back and grabbed her bag. "If you are responsible for this vehicle as well, I doubt that everyone on it will make it to their destination alive. And if abusing your power over people just to embarrass and humiliate them gives you the only joy in your life, perhaps it is better if we part ways right here. I will just make my way back home somehow."

She turned around and left him standing there. For a moment he didn't even move, didn't even understand what just happened. "Wait!" he finally called out to her. "You are a bard? But you don't know how to make people laugh?"

"Of course I do!" This was a sting right in her professional pride. "But I don't use those cheap and nasty items to do so. A bard doesn't need those."

"Oh, really?" Now he was just teasing her. "Then how do you people do it?"

A thought came to her mind. She stopped and turned around to him. "Can you keep a secret?"

He nodded. So she moved her head, signaled him to come closer. They were a few meters apart already, but he obeyed and stepped towards her. She invited him even closer, looking around to make sure that nobody else was listening in on them. He bowed forward, getting his ear right next to her mouth, so she could whisper her answer to him. And that she did:

"So can I."