Pie, Pointer, and Faephine

Point Pringle kept refusing to become simple. The Ex Force left the half-empty industrial districts and followed the promise of pie through the Guild Market Promenade. Dinkle's Pastries and Pies had a reputation that sounded half warning and half recommendation, which made it one of the most honest places they had seen all day. Ash bought slices for everyone. The Pringle Crisp crumble tasted like the city in dessert form: a crisp potato crust with honey, fig, walnut, and fire-cider drizzle. Eveline loved it, partly because of the family in her and partly because it was actually good. Ash tried to use the moment to talk to Nick about the Faith problem. Storm Boulder had called Faith Eveline's girl, and Ash was trying to understand what that meant for his own feelings. Nick's advice was direct in the way Nick's advice usually was: talk to her, find out the situation, and remember that pie was already a good start. Before Ash could make anything less awkward, a cat rubbed against his leg. Then Faephine Moonhold appeared behind Eveline with a playful surprise. Eveline froze into the kind of panic that belongs to old closeness, half explanation, and bad timing. Faephine had not expected Eveline back in town yet. She had news of her own: she might finally come to the Queefdom and join Von Queef University as one of the hundred invited students. That tied Point Pringle back to New VQU immediately. Faephine was not only part of Eveline's personal life. She was part of the school's recruitment future. She helped local children, delayed leaving because Point Pringle still needed her, and carried herself like someone with roots the university had not yet pulled free. Her cat, Pointer, escaped down the street before the conversation could settle. Faephine chased after her. Ash was left with pie, uncertainty, and the knowledge that Eveline's story in Point Pringle had more names in it than he had known.