The bullish creature suddenly bolts upright in his seat and opens his eyes wide. He grabs a nearby pen with great urgency, hunches over, and then deeply focuses on indecipherably scribbling onto one of the unused scraps of paper littering the desk. In fact, his routine appears incredibly similar to when we arrived. Did something go wrong?

  “Awk?” I hesitantly announce myself again, hoping there won’t be any negative consequences for inviting his attention twice.

  At the sound of my voice, the bullish creature again stands up ramrod straight, throwing up a cloud of debris from the clutter on his desk.

  “You?!” he screams with more than a little deja vu.

  After falling back down into his seat and calming himself to a state capable of dialog, he repeats his theatrical speech.

  “It figures that you’d eventually come here too.”

  Discouraged by his asinine antics, I grouchily scrawl a new message onto my little panel.

  “Remember you? I certainly remember you from all those burdensome reports flooding in from all corners of the beyond. Look, you can’t have my job. It’s not possible! The Will can’t simply be handed to another. So, just give up on climbing that stupid thing again. Don’t you understand?”

  “Uh?! What is the Will, he asks!” he scoffs at my ridiculous question. “You know, the Will! We all know the Will. Where would any of us be without the Will? Not here, that’s for certain.”

  Back to total uselessness.

  My longest message yet, it takes me quite some time to complete it. I’m terrified that he’ll reset again before I’m done, so it’s rushed and sloppy. However, it’ll have to do.

  “All these silly questions. Is this how you interfered with the others? I must say, it’s certainly effective. Think of all the important reports that I’ve already missed just to satisfy your morbid curiosity!”

  Alright, can’t push it too hard, or he’ll start ranting off topic again. Maybe if I get him to finish the thread from before he restarted?

  Again I rush to squeeze the longer message onto the tiny panel. I fear that I’m being too eager to capture everything all at once. Please work!

  “The nose? Ha! Only the nose knows noes,” he proudly remarks to himself, giggling through the childish quip. “Do you know the nose? Wonderful gentleman. A shame he never visits anymore. I can’t even remember the last time he dropped by…”

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  Almost had it. At least he’s staying on topic.

  “His responsibilities? Funny you should ask. Why, the nose collects all those who belong. A real hobknobber. He’s responsible for gathering the council when it’s time, you see. If you haven’t met him yet, then he’s likely already on your trail, not far behind.”

  He’s looking for me? Or is this beast only speaking in meaningless riddles? It’s so hard to tell. How many of these aspects are already watching me?

  “Oh, do you mean the councilroom? That’s where we all gather for the most important of events. You’ll see, you’ll see. After all, you’ll have no choice but to see. As do we all!”

  Sadly, that’s probably not enough for a portal. Nothing in there’s something a goblin might say, so it’ll be hard to make a proper request. Ironically, I’ll have to head to this side’s version of the ears. Perhaps my past ordeal with his big one predecessor on Kyklos will have prepared me for the experience.

  “What? That’s it? That wasn’t so bad. Now I’m not sure what all the others were complaining about.”

  Seconds later, he’s back hunched over his desk working away. Does he also hear the whispers? Is that what he’s writing down? He doesn’t seem any happier than the bored, miserable goblins. A prisoner tied to this desk. I suppose that, in another way, he’s also constantly dying and coming back to life. Again, like the goblins. Should I have sympathy for him too? It’s so hard when he looks nothing like me.

  “Ha’koff?” I call out to my dear partner.

  “Hm?”

  “Agobs gew.”

  “Hm.”

  It’ll be best to leave his messy office before calling out to the foot. Who knows how he’ll react if he sees another aspect coming to visit him today. If we lose ourselves back into the maze first, then that should be enough.

  “Peed. Con dur. Gew plen. Plen plen,“ I quietly mutter, hoping that the memory won’t hear me this far into the cluttered piles.

  Using the same logic as with the boxes, I hope that this will be enough to express the idea of a garden in my goblinese. To my great relief, it proves effective and a portal opens. Let’s hope that it actually goes where I wanted it to, and that it isn’t a sharp and painful place.

  “Ha’koff. Agobs gew? Ennu har. Afras.”

  “Yas yas,” he grumpily replies, but for the first time I don’t think that it’s directed at me.

  Stepping through the portal, I’m relieved to depart the dreary sea of dusty boxes. However, the other side is so green, clean, and sunny! There’s so much vibrant, thriving life here that it’s disgusting. The poor dirt! They’re all tearing it to pieces and eating it alive. I have a mind to stomp down all this villainy to protect the distant cousin, if it weren’t for the likelihood of an unseen monster hiding out there somewhere.

  Speaking of which, where is he? I expected to see the aspect right away in a wide open garden like this. We had to hunt for the memory, but that’s because all those pointless boxes obscured our sight. Where are we supposed to look in this open field?

  Taking a few steps, I again pause before mindlessly dragging Ha’koff with me.

  “Ha’koff. Gew? Hev? Wat wan?”

  “Hm,” he utters, briefly scrunching his brow before letting out a giant yawn. “Hev.”

  Curling up amongst the flowers, he makes himself comfortable down in the garden. Nodding acceptance, I detach his leash from my waist and tie him to a nearby post. For safety’s sake, I also cover him up with a layer of energy, disguising him as a pile of mulch. There’s several more in the area, so he should fit right in. It’s amazing how much smoother this is going after allowing him to feel as though he’s in control.