“We managed to get through it and find a place to rest. Not too long ago, we would have died before even reaching the dungeon. We can do this, right... Noah? Noah?” Mira turned to Noah, seeing him staring at his trembling hand, but with an expression that didn’t fit the situation. He was smiling.After dying so many times, death was no longer something Noah feared. He avoided it with about the same amount of effort used to avoid dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival instinct in. The Spearfish Lake City Council met every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For twelve years, now, every other week Mark had come back to the Record-Herald after the meeting, to do the council story and with it put the finishing touches on the paper.There were some preparations to be made before he could write. Alone in the building, in the late evening right after the council meeting, he checked the front page, the only page still laid out on the makeup tables. From the agenda, it hadn't. “I don’t know, what do you want to toast to?” “How about to ‘Just a Nathan and Just a Bethany Celeste?’” “It’s a toast,” he says, and we tap our translucent plastic cups together. “I see that you’ve joined the Navy…a seaman, huh?” I chuckle to myself for effect and Nathan roars with laughter. I ask about him, but it turns out there’s not too much to tell. He joined the Navy after working for a year and had just earned a college degree, not to mention several trade certifications while in the. They’re great by the way, very smart and many of them work for only some college credits or a small stipend. We have a few on assistantships too. I try to link it all together, and also get some government grants, but with the new administration we expect that source to dry up totally. We think research will be set back a decade or more.”“What about an industry-university partnership of some kind?” Even as I asked the question, I saw Melanie break into a smile a mile wide. I was going right.