The town of Beautiful Ammunition lay in the middle of the Agoulee Desert, and was so remote and inaccessible that a visitor to the town was an occurance of major importance. A young boy named Olrik had no sooner wandered into the town than he had been spotted as a visitor, and taken to the unofficial town hall, town bar and town church.
Mohdri's house was in fact the town everything, since it was the only building of any size in the entire town. Mohdris was certainly not popular among the townspeople, who thought he was a crazed eccentric and imagined he would kill them all if the whim struck him. They were not far off, since Mohdri truly would do whatever popped into his less than solid mind, however they had no need to fear Mohdris, for he loved his fellow citizens.
Ran downstairs in a wet towel, and explained to the men who had brought Olrik that he had just been in the middle of sunbathing in his outdoor shower. The men exchanged disapproving looks. They were truly ordinary citizens, who worked the miserable land daily, trying to coax it into coughing up some food so that they could feed their hungry families. They had discussed Mohdri at length, since he was really the only interesting thing in the town. They had recently decided that they felt guilty about using Mohdri for his house and property and wealth and that they didn't wish to continue this practice. Instead, they were going to break into Mohdri's house in the middle of the night and then exile him from the town permanently. Seeing as Beautiful Ammunition was many miles from any other desert town, Mohdri would almost certainly die.
For the moment, however, the men were distracted by this newcomer, and had no place to take him other than Mohdri's. The town of Beautiful Ammunition was all houses , since the townspeople had never been co-operative enough or had enough time and money to co-ordinate a group effort and build town buildings. When Mohdri had moved to Beautiful Ammunition from the land by the river basin, he had brought consider amounts of materials and slaves with him, and had constructed a beautiful and sturdy house. He
had appeased the locals by inviting them over for a housewarming party, and by informing them that they were free to use any of his facilities whensoever they chose to. Thus the townspeople abandoned their old meeting place under the shade of the trees in favour of Mohdri's.
Mohdri invited the guests upstairs into his entertainment room and had one of his slaves fetch them all drinks. Mohdri invited Olrik to have a drink aswell, but Olrik had refused in an odd accent. They all reclined in various couches and chairs around the room, all of which were far more comfortable than anything else in the town. Mohdri sat on a two-seat leather couch with his newest guest and began to interview him.
"Your name, the men tell me, is Olrik?" Mohdri asked.
"It is," Olrik said. His accent was unfamiliar, but not so different as to make conversation difficult. His tone was somewhat defensive.
"Where are you from, Olrik?" "Across the desert," Olrik answered simply.
"Yes, obviously from across the desert... but from what town?"
"I am not from a town." "Well then, describe the area you are from," Mohdri said, with some frustration creeping into his voice.
"It is grassy, and there are trees. It was by a vast expanse of water. I lived with my parents, until they were killed and robbed by a foreigner whom they invited in for dinner. I was out exploring when all of this happened. I could not bear to stay there. So, I gathered up some food and water, I headed away from the sea, and after a few weeks I saw this town," Olrik explained.
"Fair enough," Mohdri said. "I shall adopt you as my son."
Olrik stared at Mohdri in shock. He turned to the townspeople to see if they were as shocked, and was relieved to see that they were at least surprised. He struggled to think of a reply but failed.
"You men are all witnesses," Mohdri announced. "As of now, Olrik is my son." Mohdri grinned broadly and waited for applause. When there was none, he walked through some glass doors out onto his sundeck, leaving his slave with instructions to serve the men and his son whatever they wanted.
A man named Geldit was the first to speak. "Is this the last straw?" he asked his fellow townspeople.
The others, who had been surprised but not offended, realized that it didn't matter. The simple fact that Mohdri had performed an action of some sort was good enough grounds to have him exiled. They all signalled in the affirmative. Mohdri had just gone too far.
"Do we do it tonight then?" asked another man. "Why not? We'll all meet here after last meal. What about .. him?" a man asked, gesturing towards Olrik, who was sitting close by and listening to the conversation with confused interest.
"Leave the room, kid." Olrik obidiently left the entertainment room and wandered off towards the comfort lounge of Mohdri's unfamiliar house.
"We may as well exile him as well. He might be against us. Maybe he's already taken a liking to Mohdri. Besides, where would he stay if we didn't exile him? If he stayed here in Beautiful Ammunition, he'd have to sleep with one of our families, which none of us want, or stay here, in which case we'd simply be giving him Mohdri's house. Which is a better welcoming present than the kid deserves," explained Polefid, an acknowledged town leader.
"Yeah. He's just an inconvienience."
Everyone in Beautiful Ammunition ate the same meal, and they all ate it at the same time, right after the bell was rung. It was just a town tradition. After each family finished their meal, which tonight was Extra-sticky Plants, the fathers all excused themselves and headed towards Mohdri's, were they were all gathered about in Mohdri's entertainment room, along with Mohdri and Olrik.
"There certainly are a lot of you here tonight," Mohdri remarked as six more men entered the room, for a total of perhaps thirty. "Trying to forget about those Extra-sticky Plants?"
The men laughed. Much as they hated to admit it, Mohdri was a funny guy, the only really funny guy in town. He was the only one who'd really experienced life in any way.
"Olrik here HATED them. How many did you have, boy? Or more importantly, how many stayed in you?" The men laughed again. Olrik smiled uneasily.
"This boy of yours doesn't talk very much, does he, Mohdri?" Geldit asked.
"He talks enough. He was telling me about his parents while you guys were home for last meal. Don't like crowds too much, Olrik?" Mohdri asked.
"Not really," came the reply. "What do you think of Beautiful Ammunition?" asked one of the men.
"It's alright. I don't really understand it very well," Olrik mumbled.
The conversation lulled for a moment, and Polefid raised his eyebrows at the others in a manner so as to suggest "Now?" The others nodded.
Polefid stood up and faced Mohdri. "Mohdri, we may as well come to the point of why we're all here tonight. We're just stick of you running the whole town and having all this great stuff while we have nothing, so we're running you out of town. And, uh, we want the boy to go with you. Just get out of Beautiful Ammunition forever and there'll be no problems. Alright?"
"Well, it doesn't exactly fit in with my plans, but I suppose I have no other choice, really. Will my servants be coming with me?" Mohdri replied, quite unshaken.
"No, the slaves will be staying here in your house to serve the real citizens of Beautiful Ammunition."
"How about food, or water? Do I get to take anything for my son and I to live on?"
"No, the food and drinks will be staying here, for the real citizens. We want you to know what it's like to have to work to stay alive. You'll be heading out of here to the north, where Fedwen assures me there is another desert town within walking distance. Maybe the two of you will be more welcome there."
"Well, I can hardly see how we could be less welcome. So, you want for us to leave - when, immediately?" Mohdri asked.
"Immediately."
Mohdri grabbed Olrik by the hand and led him down the stairs and out the main door. They began walking down the main street of Beautiful Ammunition and away from the cluster of houses which was the town. They were followed by some townsmen for about a mile out of town, until it started getting cold and dark and the men returned home.
"Well," Mohdri said at last, breaking a long silence. "I suppose I shouldn't have adopted you. My apologies."
"I don't think it made much difference," Olrik said. "No," Mohdri replied. "Probably not."
"It's not so bad," Olrik said, because he didn't know what else to say.
"I suppose not. Anyhow, we may as well set up camp and get some sleep," Mohdri said, as he lay down on the cool desert sand. "There are no towns within walking distance of Beautiful Ammunition. I've seen maps of the whole area. We will most likely be dead in a day or two."
"Hopefully sooner," said Olrik, laying down beside Mohdri.