After walking for several minutes, Dane crested a hill and saw the community - calling it a “town” seemed a bit of a stretch - more clearly: two wooden st roads intersected at the center of a cluster of buildings and several houses dotted the surrounding nd, connected only by well-worn dirt paths and many lengths of fence. Activity was visible all around the area: children pying in yards, adults tending to animals or gardens, dogs barking in the distance. Twice, friendly cats wandered out to look him over briefly then darted off to do whatever cats do.

  Even from here, he could make out signs on some of the buildings at the center of town - a barber, a general store and a saloon were the most obvious. Three buildings loomed over all the rest - one was clearly a church, though he couldn’t tell which type, from the spire alone. One, the only building with two full storeys in town was The Dusty Gulch Saloon; he assumed the upper floor was rooms to rent or maybe staff lodging. The other had three floors, and he assumed it was the city hall as it had no signs identifying it as anything in particur that he could see from his vantage point.

  Dane considered heading to the saloon but felt that maybe the “Murry’s Fall General Goods and Assayer” would be a better pce to start. As he passed a sign marking the town limit (“Murray’s Fall Popution One Hundred Ten, Lots Avaible”) he heard the now familiar DING and [Task Complete. Two skill points awarded. Basic Life Paths now avaible.]

  He stopped at this and asked: “Whoa, VICC - what is a ‘Basic Life Path’?”

  [A Life Path is a series of connected milestones, each of which may provide an award, open up career options or allow access to Advanced Life Paths. Advancement among any or all Basic Life Paths is possible but switching between Advanced Life Paths negates all progress on the current Advanced Life Path. Basic Life Paths are Citizen, Lawman, Drifter or Outw.]

  “So how does that work?”

  [If you choose a Life Path, you will only be awarded for the milestones on that path but the awards will be greater. If you do not, you will be notified of hitting milestones on any Life Path but only awarded those for the highest point on the path you have reached.]

  “So, if I take to, ah, cattle rustling that would set me on an Outw path but if I get a regur job that would be a Citizen?”

  [Generally correct. There is some crossover, like the Bounty Hunter Advanced Path.]

  Dane considered this for a moment, then resumed his walk to the general store. He passed two well-dressed women who giggled slightly and hurried along. He wondered if it was because he was the only man without a hat that he could see, and decided that would be one of his first purchases.

  As he entered, he heard a man loudly decre: “And with their departure I no longer have any faith in your ranch. I can’t afford to extend further credit, and, unless your mom is willing to work out an, ah, arrangement, I will have to demand you pay your outstanding bance by the end of the week”

  The speaker was a man with gray-tinged bck hair, a receding hairline and a face that may once have been handsome but time, an unhealthy diet and, likely, a few fights, had left him with more “character” than “looks”; his head was all Dane could see over the merchandise in the store, and he couldn’t see who the man was talking to. but the voice that replied was clearly that of a child: “But Mister Grant, we won’t have any money until we can get the cattle to the drive, and to do that we need to hire…”

  Dane had moved closer to see the talking figures better as the man - clearly once a fairly muscur person but now going to … well “portly” seemed the polite description. The boy he was speaking with - and in fact had just interrupted - was maybe ten years old, dressed in denim and fnnel that had clearly seen better days, and had messy reddish-brown hair. “Look, Matt, I told you my terms. Either your mother pays in cash or in favors. Tell her that for me and…”

  Dane stepped in and said: “Excuse me sir, ah Mister Grant, is it?” When the man nodded after fshing him an angry gnce at his intrusion, he continued, “Mister Grant, how much does the boy’s mother owe you?”

  Mister Grant spluttered for a moment then said clearly: “I will have to check my books, but it is a hair under fifteen dolrs.”

  Dane plucked a box of bullets off a shelf, pulled down a hat that looked like it would fit, and pointed to a canteen, then plunked down his three gold coins on the counter. “Will that cover these and her debt?”

  A mix of anger, greed and confusion warring on his face, Mister Grant pulled out a ledger, flipped through a few pages and said “You’ll be eight cents short. That Deseret coin uses inferior metal and is only worth nine.”

  The boy chimed in: “If you are helpin’ us mister, I figure I can help you,” and set nine copper coins on the counter. “One penny candy and he gets the rest.”

  Mister Grant looked like he was unhappy at this, but then looked at the money, sighed, grabbed a candy out of a jar and tossed it to the boy, snarling: “Now both of you, get out of my store.”

  Dane fshed the man a polite smile, put the hat on, and headed out. The boy was already outside, waiting for him. “Thanks mister,” he said.

  “My pleasure; do you have a name, son?” Dane asked.

  The boy held up a dirty hand and said “Matt - Matthew Sievert.”

  Dane accepted the hand, shook it gently but firmly and said “Dane. Dane Coleman. Pleasure to meet you Matt. Now, that was all the money I have, so do you know where I might find some work?”

  The boy grinned at him: “That was all the money I had too. Do you know anything about ranching?”

  Dane tapped the back of his hand just as he heard a “Ding” [New mission avaible - Save the Sievert Ranch.]

  He chuckled: “Kind of suspected that VICC, seems to be a bit of a trope. I have two skill points, right?”

  [Correct Dane Coleman]

  “Can you just cut it down to ‘Dane’?”

  [Affirmative Dane.]

  “Thanks. What skills would be useful on a ranch?” he asked his unseen companion.

  [You already have basic riding and gun skills, so, Carpentry, Animal Handling, Animal Husbandry, Cooking, Bcksmithing and Agriculture are the top choices]

  “Hmm. Can’t do a lot with just two points but put one in Carpentry and one in Animal Handling”

  VICC dinged again. [Completed.]

  Dane then tapped his hand again, and turned to the boy at his side: ”I know a little, and am willing to learn more”

  “Then maybe we can hire you. Joshua will be happy for help.”

  “Well, if we stand around here jawing all day we’ll never know, now, will we?” Dane replied with a smile.

  “You don’t have a horse, do you Mister Coleman?”

  “I think we’re friends, Matt, so just ‘Dane’ and no, everything I own you can see right now.”

  “Then we have a long walk ahead.”

  “Fine by me; I have been walking for most of my life and like to think that I am pretty good at it by now.”

  Matt ughed and took his hand to lead him out towards the ranch.

  “If I may ask, what happened to your father?”

  “He was killed on a cattle drive two years ago,” the boy replied sadly. “I miss him.”

  “I lost my dad when I was about your age so I kind of know how that feels. Was just me, my sister and my mom until I was old enough to go,” Dane hesitated, not sure if the kid would know what a marine was, or if he’d get the wrong impression if Dane just said ‘army.’

  Matt saved him by saying: “Got no sister or brother. Only me, mom and Joshua after our st three hands left “

  “Why did your st three hands leave?” Dane asked.

  “One said he got a better offer and the other two said they were convinced it would be too dangerous to keep working for us,” the boy answered sourly.

  “Better offer?”

  “He said that was why he was leaving. Probably going to work for the railroads or at the Mayor’s ranch on the other side of town.”

  “You mentioned a ‘Joshua’ - who is he?” Dane asked after taking a moment to consider all of this.

  “Dad saved his life when I was little - he escaped the Confederacy just as the Civil War began. Been with us ever since, and says as long as Mom keeps feeding him and gives him a real bed to sleep in he will never leave us.”

  They had been walking for close to an hour, chatting about various things, when the ranch came into view. Dane realized he should have put both points into Carpentry as the pce clearly needed a lot of work. Something bothered him about one section of the fence but he filed it away for ter rather than worrying his companion about it now. A few short minutes ter they were on the porch and Matt told Dane to wait.

  From inside he heard Matt and someone with a surprisingly deep yet clearly feminine voice talking. He only understood the st few words clearly; “Well, just make sure he knows we can’t give him any real pay until the cattle drive starts in two weeks.”

  At that Matt opened the door; “You hear that, Dane?”

  “If his name is Dane Coleman you should call him Mister Coleman,” the woman’s voice said sharply.

  Dane spoke as he entered: “That’s OK, ma’am, I prefer to be called Dane, at least by friends and I would like to think,” he hesitated for a moment as Widow Sievert came into view. She was a striking woman with long red hair tied back behind a once stunning face that had been reduced to “merely very pretty” by hard times. She was definitely not what Dane would consider as “the woman of his dreams” but he knew he would gdly welcome any dream she entered. He hoped she did not take his hesitation the wrong way as he finished: “I would like to think of us all as friends here.”

  She seemed to read something into his hesitation, and replied, “Well, to me you are still Mister Coleman and I am Missus Sievert, at least for a while. But, as you helped by paying my debts, I will consider you a friend as long as you act as one. Now, if you are really here to work and not just hoping to get me in bed or to steal our nd, then I’m gd to have you.”

  Dane noticed that her bluntness seemed to embarrass her son, though he found it endearing: “Missus Sievert, I don’t know you well enough to know if I would want to get you into bed, and I have no intentions of stealing anything, but I do know that I need work and that you need help so those are the only reasons why I’m here,” he replied with equal bluntness, before smiling and adding: “At least for now.”

  She actually looked at him at this; before she seemed to be looking at the space around him. She studied him for a moment and then let a genuine smile come to her face - it was a very nice smile, despite one missing tooth, “I think we might learn to get on quite well, Mister Coleman. Ah, but you should meet our other worker, Joshua Wilson”

  Another figure had entered the room as she spoke. Dane had never considered using the word “beautiful” to describe a man before, but Joshua Wilson was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. Joshua looked like he had been cast in bronze by a master artist and brought to life by arcane means - his dark skin glistened, his face looked young and almost unlined but his soft brown eyes looked as though they had seen a century of hardship and still retained a trace of humor. He was bald, tall and well toned. A grin that did not quite reach his eyes came into his face as he reached out a rge hand “Gd to have a new face around here, ah, Mister Coleman, was it?” His voice was almost impossibly deep, almost more felt than heard.

  Dane accepted the hand which engulfed his and Joshua squeezed with a pressure that Dane was barely able to match.

  “Since we’ll be working together, call me ‘Dane’” he said.

  “Joshua” the other said and nodded, his smile finally reaching his eyes as the hand shake ended.

  “Well, now that we all know each other, time for lunch and then you two have a lot of work to do, I suspect,” Widow Sievert announced promptly.

  She served a simple yet well prepared meal; Dane concluded that if this was a typical example of her cooking, that alone might be reason enough to stay in her employ for a while. They made light conversation as they ate, until a thought came to Dane: “Something seemed, I don’t know, off, I guess about one section of the fence outside; I noticed it as we walked up. I think that is what we need to look at first “

  Joshua raised an eyebrow at this, but agreed, and as soon as they helped clear the table. Missus Sievert insisted that washing and drying the dishes was her job, and not only refused their assistance but asked if they could take Matt out and find some work for him outside of the house.

  CharlesEBrown