I spent half the afternoon outlining what I expected to occur in the first and each subsequent year until they were up to speed with the rest of the e...pire.“Do you know how much that is going to cost?” she gasped. I reminded her I’d done this several times before and that our trade and taxes brought us thousands of pounds of gold each year, most of which we reinvested to bring our lands up to their full potential. Even “barren” North Africa now produced huge amounts of profit from their. Bob showered and lay on the bed. Hewas unable to sleep so he spent the time in serious reflection. Bobdearly loved his wife and owed her so much. She had given him thestrength to continue after he had killed their daughter. She never onceblamed him for the accident. That is a debt you can never repay. Sue hadchanged after the accident. She had become callous to other people'sfeelings. It was as if she had closed herself off from feeling again.Bob blamed himself for that too.Bob was up. Now that I’m sixteen and I’ve actually been kissed ... by a boy ... on the lips, it would probably be okay to kiss goodnight. You know?” she said, scooting up so her lips were right near my face. Well, yeah, I know. I wrapped both arms around her bare back and stroked from shoulder to waist as we kissed. I’m amazed at how sexy and sensual a kiss can be that isn’t even all tongue. Just having her lips softly pressed against mine while I held her naked body against my own was enough to take both. Others saw the end result of lives spent in gossip. Gibbets hung with twisting figures, trying to speak but weights hung from lying tongues prevented it. They too were in line for the next adventure. Will they hold their tongues?Figures missing heads, but holding on to the Goddess, burnt and battered ancestors, murdered by the religions of man and greed.The fire was lit, the blessings given, the dead released to be sought next year.Eight spokes of the turning wheel of life til next time.Yule -.