Lauren waited in

Trygchle’s

tight stomach for

over

three-quarters of an hour. The occasional splash of tea would drop down onto her head, much to her irritation

. When

her rough mental clock reached fifty minutes, Lauren was sucked out of Trygchle’s stomach by her feet back into the G

The five friends (and occasional lovers) walked through the caverns looking for their belongings and an exit.

Rays of sunlight shone down through the odd hole in the

low

cave ceiling, telling the group that they were not too far from the surface. Rita suggested breaking their way through, but Lauren and Nadalia shot the idea down over concerns of cave-ins. Whenever branches in the tunnels appear

When Lauren awoke, she did not find herself inside Irie’s stomach, but inside a cave. Two lanterns lit up the cave and scorched her eyes. Lauren shook her head to put her vision back to normal. Her head still felt groggy, so while she waited for it to clear, Lauren tried to figure how she was stuck to the one of the cave’s walls. She looked down and saw that her entire body had been coated in Irie’s sticky material. With most of Lauren’s body covered by the material, she

The following morning, Lauren awoke with a full stomach. Strea had moved from her intestines into her stomach during the night. Lauren poked at the huge belly she sported.

Lauren shifted onto her side and released Strea from her stomach. Strea slipped out of Lauren’s mouth and lay half on and half off of her bed facedown.






“Have a nice night?” a

Lauren grabbed Margarette by the thighs and pushed her away. Margarette stumbled and almost fell backwards into the milk. Lauren got to her feet and stretched her arms. She addressed Margarette.






“I’m not in the mood for that, and certainly not with you,” said Lauren.






“All

Lauren stood in front of the home of Cassidy. It was painted white except for its front door

,

which was brown. Clutching the pendant in her left hand, Lauren knocked on the door with her right. She waited several moments, and then heard footsteps on the other side of the door. The door opened, and a brown-haired young woman stood on the other side. She wore a faded

green

In the morning, Lauren woke up to find Nadalia no longer in the bed. She remembered that the knight had wanted to see Nicholas off, so she waved away any worry. Lauren got dressed and left her room to find her friends or work at that early hour. As she strode by Minton’s bank, its front door opened, and Valentina walked out of it. She spotted Lauren, but did not seem concerned with approaching her. Lauren took the extra effort and walked towards the stern woman.

Lauren and her friends spent the next week helping people with various tasks around Minton. During that time, Sheriff Circe approached her again asking her if she was positive she would not take the deputy position, and Lauren told the sheriff that she was sure. Runner decided to stay in Minton for a short time and took up work at the same ranch as Betsy-Ann. Lauren let slip to her fellow drifters about Runner’s second curse, and she ended up seeing Melody half as often afterwards. Little