74. The Dumb Blonde

        Once again, Nolan found himself lost within the misty vignette of Lemuria, delicately painted in the evening skyline... When suddenly, with only so much as heavy footsteps to alert him, the door flew open and Atalon burst into the room, clutching a scroll.

         "Your Honor!" Nolan spun around, surprised.

         "We need to go to Ebar!"

         "Ebar?" For a moment Nolan wasn't sure he heard right.

         "Can the vimana's take us all the way there and back?"

         Nolan was completely caught off guard, this was completely out of the blue, he hadn't done that sort of calculation yet.

         "Ebar..." He walked across the room to study the map. "We would need to make a few modifications..."
         "Very well then" Atalon unfurled the scroll. "I will be sending Halios to inspect the colony in Ebar as soon as those modifications have been made!"

         Nolan couldn’t believe his ears. "But I…"

         "Don’t you worry about the budget" Atalon unfurled the scroll and signed it with a seal of his ring, authorizing access to a special fund. He rolled the scroll up again and wagged it in his face.

         "I want it done immediately! And don't try to hide any gravel orders in the accounting. We're watching you!"

         By the end of the day, Zara was exhausted from her gig in Culloom. As the crews began packing their carts to leave, she stepped outside to catch the last rays of the sun and a lungful of fresh air before heading back to Atlan via the stuffy Underworld train. It felt so strange to be back in Culloom, especially under these circumstances, she hardly recognized it now, it looked so much smaller now inside those plain old stone walls, as if it had been another life time altogether... A much simpler life...

         Her gaze drifted across the track towards the old orange tree, still growing in the corner by the wall, a few branches taller now. It brought a smile to her lips as the fond memories of the tree climbing quest returned...

         "Are you a Culloom grad too?"

         Bell’s voice was like an electric shock. "Oh… Hello...  I... Yes."

         "Several of our soldiers are. I guess it looks quite different now."

         It felt better to face him than to hide from him, Zara felt her body relax a little and tried to make light of it... Perhaps he knew stuff... "What happened to the animals in the Sanctuary?"

         "What animals?" Bell replied.

         "The animals from the Sanctuary" she repeated, wondering now if he was joking.

         "What Sanctuary?"

         She didn't know whether to blush or frown...  She was being had... Was he really joking? Bell seemed genuinely unaware of any Animal Sanctuary, he just stared back at her with a blank expression on his face. Perhaps it no longer existed?

         She realized how long it had been, perhaps they didn't farm the animals in Gora anymore, but she hadn't been mistaken, it really did exist when she was here in school, she had seen it with her own eyes, they had even been told it was there.
         "Well there was one there once" she replied, turning to leave.

         Bell followed her back inside the temple, he couldn't figure her out. She wasn't very bright, he had never seen her participating in any Vine Club activities yet here she was, trying to look so hot in her ridiculous blonde wig, he could tell it was fake hair. 

         "How did you end up getting sent here?"

         "Nolan sent me to measure the storage units" she replied. "I work in the Infrastructure Department now."

         "Nolan sent you?" Bell echoed, trying to place her. Was this an early indication of Nolan's incompetence or was there a story behind it? He couldn't keep his eyes off her now that he recognized her from somewhere. She worked in the Infrastructure Department?
         It made no sense, everything about her gave him the impression she was a complete bimbo. Why would Nolan send her out here? He gave her a pass to the Underworld?