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    Zdeska gazed at her scouts over a plate of fruit. Many of the trees in the dungeon bore edible fruit, and the bandits had found the remains of an orchard hidden under masses of vines and grasses on the sandy dungeon floor. She speared a sour green fruit with a knife and chewed it slowly before asking a question.


    "Did your ambusher use your frost pole path to cross the hot dungeon floor?" She asked.


    The scouts looked like the thought hadn''t even occurred to them, but Punch answered quickly. "No, my queen. Our frost pole path had begun to fail before we entered the swamp floor."


    "And you didn''t find a frost pole path out of that floor when you left, meaning the ambusher had made their own path out?" The queen asked.


    "No, my queen." Target said.


    "Could they have escaped the swamp and followed your frost path back to one of the other floors you scouted?" The queen asked.


    Punch frowned. "They might have."


    The bandit queen snarled at the scouts. "And then they could have walked right out on the frost path you so helpfully built for them as you left. Did you leave someone to watch the portal? No, you came right back here, begging for a pat on the head after you lost our biggest collection of healing supplies and left two out of four floors not fully scouted." Zdeska leaned back in her chair and glared. Punch''s face had turned white, Target''s face had turned red, the troll didn''t react at all, but Bean''s face looked guilty. Zdeska focused on the guilty face. "Bean? Have something to say?"


    Bean cleared her throat and took a small step forward. "Apologies, queen, I would like to clarify. We did lose the bag." Zdeska''s glare intensified, and Bean nearly faltered. "But I had a dozen or so on my person for quick access in emergency." Zdeska slowly raised one eyebrow. "P-perhaps twenty, in total." Bean concluded.


    Zdeska''s glare faded and she snorted in amusement. "Well, we are bandits, after all. Keep one for each of your team and deliver the rest to Sajaa. She''s acting quartermaster. Punch stay here, the rest of you, go."


    Punch, still white-faced, stood stiff as a board as the others filed out of the tent. When they were alone, Zdeska picked up the plate of fruit and smiled. "Have a seat, Punch." She said warmly. Punch took a moment to process her words, he stiffly sat in the chair. A bit of confusion showed on his face. Zdeska spoke as she stood and walked around her table. "That wasn''t the best showing today, Punch. It was your first real action as my third in command, and I had hoped for better." The bandit queen held out the plate with the knife still on it. "Try the green one." Punch stared dumbly at the fruit on the plate and didn''t move. Zdeska motioned with the plate, encouraging him to take a piece. Haltingly, Punch picked up a green fruit piece with his fingers. At one more gesture from the queen, he took a bite.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Zdeska put the plate back on the table and leaned against it. "Not the best showing, but I was prepared for much worse. I had to be hard on your team as a whole because that''s how I maintain discipline, but that isn''t how I need to deal with you and Sajaa, my right and left hands." Zdeska smiled again, trying for reassurance. "As a scout team leader, you performed almost perfectly today." Punch swallowed his bite of fruit and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "But you are too used to returning to camp and having Borth make the next decision for you." Zdeska idly rapped her knuckles on the table. "Borth is gone and I can''t be making all your decisions for you. What you need to do, Punch, is think ahead to the next decision Borth might have made, and then make a better decision than he would."


    Zdeska spread her hands. "Here is tip: If you had returned as my third in command and explained that you made decisions for this reason or that reason things could have been dealt with at our level and out of sight of your team. You could even have made a reasoned argument about not leaving someone to watch the portal--anything can have a reason, Punch." Zdeska smiled at Punch again. "So, I hope there are good lessons learned and no hard feelings."


    Punch coughed a bit as he inhaled some saliva and his voice came out strained. "Of course, my queen. I mean, yes, and no hard feelings." Punch''s eyes filled with hope that he wouldn''t be slain like Borth.


    Zdeska clapped her hands. "Excellent. Now, Punch, I was overly distracted last time we talked and didn''t induct you properly as my third in command." Zdeska strode over to a box and pulled out a bottle of something that was probably wine and two mugs. She fumbled with the items for a moment and Punch jumped up from his chair to take them from her. He set the mugs on the table and opened the wine. "Thank you, Punch. Pull my chair around to this side, if you would." Zdeska smiled with even more warmth and she poured wine into both mugs. Punch brought her chair around and even started to smile timidly.


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    Hours later, Zdeska lay with her head on her companion''s lap. She sat up and stretched with a tired yawn, looking toward her bed. Her companion spoke.


    "He''s better than Borth." Sajaa said. The goblin woman picked at her sharp teeth with a shard of bone.


    "He''s more pleasant than Borth." Zdeska corrected. "He''s not much of anything else." She said.


    "I like him." Sajaa said.


    "You like everyone." Zdeska said. "You''re soft."


    "You love me for it." Sajaa said confidently.


    Zdeska snorted and moved to her bed. It was only marginally better than a cot, but being queen had its privileges. "Get out of my tent, softy." She said as she lay down.


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    Violet munched on fire popped grains as he watched his visual scanner. He had been monitoring the bandits since the moment he had left Chaney behind in the swamp worldlet. The two bandit women, the "queen" and "Sajaa" acted like they had known each other forever. They had been astonishingly frank with each other during the discussion of the bandit, "Punch". Violet shook his head as he watched the goblin woman leave the tent. "Punch, you''re in over your head." He said.