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I am seeking a younger {AOC+} and ideally shorter than 5'8, conservative traditional woman within prime biological child bearing age range, who is biblical feminine (Catholic or willing to convert) with Marian modesty - including the wearing headscarves/veils as per God's instructions, only wears uniquely feminine clothing (Papal decree - Pope Pius XI) and has not been swayed by the deceptions of anti - God secular societies. Submission, TPE, domestic discipline, CNC/free use.
Women 30-40 would have to be truly exceptional to compensate for everything younger women have the advantage of in their favour biologically.

I am seeking a younger {AOC+} and ideally shorter than 5'8, conservative traditional woman within prime biological child bearing age range, who is biblical feminine (Catholic or willing to convert) with Marian modesty - including the wearing headscarves/veils as per God's instructions, only wears uniquely feminine clothing (Papal decree - Pope Pius XI) and has not been swayed by the deceptions of anti - God secular societies. Submission, TPE, domestic discipline, CNC/free use. Women 30-40 would have to be truly exceptional to compensate for everything younger women have the advantage of in their favour biologically.

March/April 1519
The Italian War of 1515-1516 and its consequences have been disastrous for the county of Cremona and its people. Much like in several of the previous conflicts in Lombardy, Cremona was bitterly contested by the French and Imperial armies, having been the victim of a lengthy Imperial siege in 1515 and a much shorter French siege in 1516. The results were devastating, and the scars of the sieges were still readily apparent when Francesco Maria arrived in the city in late 1517.
Though he meant to spend the beginning of 1518 helping to heal these scars, God had other plans. The treason of the Gonzaga of Mantua revealed at the Trial of Cesena, and the following declaration of war by Pope Leo X turned Francesco Maria’s attentions from peace to war. By March, he was already in the field.
Before long, the campaign year settled into a siege. Sieges are long, plodding affairs, leaving Francesco Maria with an abundance of downtime between directing engineers and commenting on maps of proposed trenches. Throughout the year, a flurry of letters flew between his camp and Cremona, managing and directing the repair of his new city from afar. In time, he hopes that these repairs and reforms will build Cremona into the wealthiest of his many possessions.

Prevosto dei Mercanti di Cremona

Among the first reforms introduced by the new Count of Cremona is the creation of a new bureaucratic position, the Provost of the Merchants. Largely copied from the institution introduced in the city of Milan in 1509, the Provost is an official appointed by the Count of Cremona, bearing responsibility for overseeing public works, provisioning the city, collecting taxes, and managing Cremona’s canal network. He is assisted in this task by four assessors, who are nominated by the Count, but approved by a majority vote in Cremona’s city council (of which the Count is the leading member, but by no means the only powerbroker).
With the creation of this new position, Francesco Maria has appointed a loyal administrator from La Marche as Provost, while filling the assessor positions with local notables (a mix of local nobles and upwardly-mobile merchants). To ensure that they have the proper facilities available to them to complete their tasks, he has designated Palazzo Cittanova as their permanent headquarters.
Fixing the Navigli
Like much of Lombardy, Cremona is host to a series of complex, interconnected canals they criss-cross both the city and the province. These canals (the navili in the local dialect) are used for both navigation--allowing Padane trade direct access to workshops and warehouses throughout the city--and agriculture--the various canals bring irrigation water from the Adda and Oglio throughout the county, making it some of the most productive farmland in Italy.
The successive sieges of Cremona caused extensive damage to the navili. The besiegers--first Austrians, then French--regularly diverted the navili to supply fresh water to their siege camps and deny it to the city. Within the city proper, collapsed buildings and sunken ships had clogged narrower portions of the navili, while other sections had been intentionally dammed off to build reservoirs for firefighting or drinking. While the worst of the damage had been repaired since the war ended, the navili were still operating well below their full capacity, causing serious economic damage to the city and its inhabitants.
Addressing this persisting damage is the first task facing the new Prevost--one that is likely to earn near-universal support in Cremona.
Repairing the Walls
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the walls of Cremona were devastated by the successive sieges of the last war. The brutal eleven week Austrian siege of 1515 in particular destroyed large sections of the walls--part of why the French siege in 1516 was so much quicker. While the walls are more-or-less functional at the moment, with earthen palisades protecting those portions that were breached in the two sieges, they still leave much to be desired. As the southeasternmost city of French Milan, it is more likely than not that Cremona will see yet more sieges in the future. Thus, it is critically important that the city’s defenses be brought back into working order, and that they be upgraded to ensure the success of future defenses of the city.
Recognizing the strategic importance of Cremona to maintaining France’s presence in Milan, the Duke Philippe’s regency council has authorized the Count of Cremona to renovate the walls of his city. To this end, France has transferred its best and brightest military engineers (many of whom have already had experience upgrading the walls of other Lombard cities, such as Novara, Asti, Milan, Pavia, Lodi, Bergamo, and Crema), and agreed to fund the upgrades (M: we’re waiting to see what the cost is to work this out). The planned upgrades will introduce modern defensive innovations to the walls, such as reinforcing bastions to allow for enfilade fire and earthen ditches and glacis to protect the base of the walls from cannon fire. Furthermore, the Castello di Santa Croce, the castle and ducal residence on the western edge of Cremona, will be upgraded to bring it in line with modern defensive works (M: I’m not sure how much of the historic upgrades occurred--I’m mostly just looking to make it so that the OTL 1503 fortifications and 1520 fortifications are built with these upgrades). Upgrades and renovations will be managed by the Provost of the Merchants.
Now Entering/Exiting Milan
Cremona’s position is not just strategically important, but economically important. Built just a few miles east of the confluence of the Po and the Adda, Cremona is the first major Milanese city along the Po (Casalmaggiore notwithstanding), making it the first port-of-call for Padane shipping moving into French Milan (or even Savoy--the Po flows all the way to Turin), or the last port-of-call for shipping moving towards the Adriatic. Put simply: just about every vessel moving into or out of Milan will pass by Cremona at some point. This makes Cremona ideally situated for two things, which are mutually beneficial and, in the right circumstances, very lucrative.
The first is taxation. By decree of the Duke of Milan, Cremona will henceforth be a mandatory port-of-call for merchants wishing to enter French Milan via the Po. In order to continue along the Po, merchant vessels will first have to stop at Cremona, where they will have to pay customs duties on the goods they are importing into French territory, as well as a per capita toll on their crew. Once the duties have been paid, the ship’s captain will then be provided proper documentation for his goods and sent on his merry way. Further tolls may be collected along the river--particularly if the ship means to make use of the navigli--but the customs documents will be valid from Cremona to Milan to Turin.
The second is trade. As the first major French port on the Po, Cremona is well-suited to operate as an entrepôt for imports to and exports from Milan. Merchants, looking to save themselves time by avoiding a full trip along the Po, might instead look to offload their goods at Cremona (and pick up goods for their return trip). Others might be looking to transfer their goods to different sized vessels (smaller if they are continuing onto the Po tributaries or the navigli, larger if they are heading towards the Adriatic), or onto numerous different vessels (say, if a spice merchant from Venice wants to send his product to Crema, Pavia, Milan, and Turin). More entrepreneurially-minded local merchants might even try to profit from the arbitrage opportunity introduced by the new customs rates, which are lower for French and Milanese merchants than their foreign counterparts, by buying up foreign (usually Venetian) goods and selling them in French Milan at a profit.
In any case, for Cremona to fulfill this purpose, there is a need for new infrastructure within the city--something that the Count is all too eager to provide. With funds from his own treasury, Francesco Maria will be building a series of warehouses, guest houses and trading posts both near Cremona’s waterfront and further into the city, dotted along its canal network. The largest of these warehouses, dubbed the Fondaco dei Veneto (literally, the warehouse of the Venetians) will be conveniently situated close to the Po. Built in the style of a Venetian fondaco, with high arches, waterfront access, and living quarters above the ground floor, this trading post will specifically cater to Venetian merchants, giving them a safe place to store, buy, and sell their wares while enjoying the comfort of a hot meal and a good night’s rest. All while paying the Count for the services provided, of course!
By mandating that merchant vessels stop at Cremona to pay duties on imported goods, ships that would previously pass Cremona without stopping will have to spend some amount of time in the city’s port. With this in mind, traffic is expected to increase considerably. Thus, it is imperative that ships are moved as quickly and efficiently through Cremona’s port as possible. To this end, Francesco Maria has announced the construction of a new customs house in the port district of Cremona, the Palazzo dei Mercanti, a two-story building intended to function as the administrative headquarters of the new customs system. In search of a leading Italian architect to design the building, Francesco Maria has invited noted pupil of Raphael (who arrived in Milan in 1517 Lorenzetto. Should he fail to retain Lorenzetto’s services, invitations will then be sent to local Lombard architect and pupil of Bramante Antonio da Lonate and, failing that, Girolama Genga, who Francesco Maria has hired several times in the past.
Collecting customs duties, managing the city’s primary customs house, and operating the Count’s network of warehouses and trade posts will all be under the purview of the Provost of the Merchants.
Attracting Investment
Despite its strategic position on the Po and fertile farmland, Cremona is… strangely devoid of economic activity. Francesco Maria is not quite sure why this is (perhaps Venetian merchants and Lombard nobles fled with their wealth when the province was conquered by France?), but the effect is the same: there is an immense opportunity to expand the county’s productivity. Like the rest of Lombardy, Cremona’s farmland is some of the most productive of Europe, and the city’s position on the Po gives it easy access to population centers like Turin, Milan, and Venice.
If the Venetian merchants won’t invest in the province, maybe their Lombard and French counterparts will. The new Provost of the Merchants of Cremona will offer institutional and legal support to subjects of French Milan--that is, French and Lombard merchants, nobles, and clergy--looking to establish new holdings in the city and the county. To help incentivize further investment by Cremona’s nobility and merchant families, Francesco Maria will also consider the willingness of individuals to reinvest in Cremona when making future political appointments in the county--most notably the four assessors of the Provost of the Merchants and the Castellan-Provosts of the Castellany-Provostships of the county.

Castellano-Prevosto di Cremona

Much like the city of Cremona was adversely affected by the sieges of 1515 and 1516, the countryside saw substantial damage. Armies on campaign tend to pick the countryside bare, stealing whatever they can get their hands on (most especially grain and livestock) and killing whoever tries to stop them. As Austrian, French, Venetian, and Bourbon armies criss-crossed the Cremonesi countryside, it was treated no differently. Fields were burned, livestock were slaughtered, storehouses were robbed, and families fled. Though peace has returned once again, the damage remains, and Francesco Maria must address it.
With the exception of the navili, which are governed by the Provost of the Merchants, the countryside of Cremona falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Count and is administered through a series of appointed administrators called Castellan-Provosts. It falls to those Castellans to mete out the Count’s aid and repair the land.
Food for All
The nice thing about farms is that they are largely self-sustaining. With proper stewardship, one harvest yields enough seed for the next, livestock beget livestock, and the farm continues as it always has. The bad thing about farms is that the bulk of farmers do not generate much in the way of surplus value. This means that when looting armies come through, burn fields, slaughter livestock, steal all of your valuables, and otherwise ruin (or end) farmers’ lives, the farmers can struggle to garner the capital necessary to start their lives anew. Such is the case in the countryside of Cremona.
In order to help restore the agricultural wealth of Cremona--the lifeblood of the province--Francesco Maria has authorized the disbursal of additional funds to the Castellan-Provosts, who will distribute these funds to replenish livestock herds and seed stores throughout the County.
Settling Property Disputes
While many farmers return to their fields after a war, some do not--some because they found a new life elsewhere, and others because they died. Ownership disputes over the lands they leave behind are common. Neighbors expand their farms into the abandoned lands while sons, cousins, uncles, brothers-in-law, and people pretending to be those things lay claim to the land of families who died. Sometimes, these competing claims turn violent.
Sifting through these claims and keeping the peace is the duty of the Castellan-Provosts. To help ensure that these legal claims are dealt with quickly and efficiently, Francesco Maria has transferred funds to the Castellan-Provosts to hire additional administrative and legal personnel.
Summary: Francesco Maria is spending money to reduce devastation throughout Cremona. A new administrative position, the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona (mirroring the Provost of the Merchants implemented in Milan in 1509) is tasked with repairing the canal system of the province, while the Castellan-Provosts who administer the countryside will be given additional financial support to repair the county’s agricultural production. Furthermore, with support from the Duke of Milan, Cremona’s walls will be repaired and upgraded.
The Duke of Milan has also designated the city of Cremona as the official customs hub for imports entering the Duchy of Milan. While the rates will be set by the Duke, the Count of Cremona (through the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona) is responsible for collecting those customs, which are intended to protect French and Lombard merchants in Milan from foreign (mostly Venetian) competition. Hoping to profit off of this new importance of Cremona for trade along the Po, Francesco Maria has also authorized the construction of a new customs house and trade hub within the city.
Moderation required:

• Price for reducing devastation in Cremona (4A1) and the unnamed neighboring province (4A2) through repairing the canal system and rebuilding the rural farm economy
  
• Price for rebuilding and upgrading Cremona’s (4A1) defenses (which will be shared with France--let me know what the cost ends up being, and I’ll let you know what the payment split will be)
  
• Price for building a trade hub (or fondachi?) holding in Cremona (4A1)
  
• Resolution for building customs house in Cremona (need to know which of Lorenzetto, Antonio da Lonate, and Girolama Genga accepts the Duke’s offer to design the building; cost for the construction; and also what mechanical effects it will have both in Cremona and on holding ownership throughout the Duchy of Milan. Not sure if this should be a holding like the sound dues, a staple port holding, a tax efficiency increase for Cremona, or what--open to discussion)
  
• How successful is Francesco Maria’s call for investment in Cremona (4A1) and the unnamed neighboring province (4A2)? These provinces currently have almost no holdings in them (not counting the city, there are only three holdings between them), so I’m hoping to attract estates to build them out a bit. Not sure what estates are around these parts, but I imagine it’d be stuff like Lombard/Milanese/French merchants/clergy/nobility. Merchant/noble families in the county who make considerable investments will be favored when it comes time for the count to make political appointments in the future (most notably, the assessors of the Provost of the Merchants of Cremona and the Castellan-Provosts of the Castellan-Provostships of the county’s Castellany-Provostships).
  

Heya! I love variety cryptic puzzles and since it's June I was wondering if people knew of variety cryptic with any LGBTQ / Pride themes? Some examples of what I'm talking about to get things started!
I mostly do American cryptics but I'm happy to try other countries' cryptics too!

"Positioning" by Gregg Katz (Queer Qrosswords 2 — suggested $10+ donation to an LGBTQ+ charity for the packet)

In this variety cryptic, Across answers can be tops, bottoms, or versatile. Eight top answers give up a letter to one of eight bottom answers, each becoming a new word before being entered in the grid. (Two pairs of tops and bottoms are nonmonogamous, and exchange the same letter.) Six versatile answers trade one letter with another versatile answer to form new words prior to entry. The unclued entry at 20-Across will reveal your role in all this. Across enumerations are withheld. Clued answers may include proper nouns, and modified entries include one proper noun. Down clues are entered normally.

"LGBTQIA+" by Francis Heaney (AVCX Cryptic — $1.00):

Happy Pride! The clues and entries in this puzzle are nonconformists in many ways:
1) Across clues are not numbered; you must determine their grid locations. (They are ordered alphabetically by answer.) Each Across clue also has an extraneous letter that must be removed before solving (not necessarily leaving a new word, and possibly requiring words to be respaced); the removed letter will correspond to the color of the flag stripe in which its answer is located (R, O, Y, G, B, or V). Down clues are numbered normally.
2) All but 12 answers, Across and Down, must have a letter added (either L, G, B, T, Q, I, or A) before being entered into the grid to make a new word or phrase; we’ll refer to these answers as LGBTQIA+. The remaining 12 answers are entered normally with no modifications. Enumerations are withheld. Tags apply to answers but not necessarily to grid entries.
3) The crossing letters of six Across and six Down LGBTQIA+ entries do not match; replace those letters with 2- or 3-letter strings to make new words in both directions. (Since the mismatched letters are unchecked, as an aid in confirmation, they can be anagrammed to LEAGUE ABODES.)
4) Every clue contains an extra definition (either a word or phrase) that must be removed before solving; in the case of LGBTQIA+ answers, the extra word or phrase defines the modified grid entry. In the 12 clues with unmodified answers, the extra word or phrase defines one of the new words made after following instruction 3; you must determine which.
5) When the grid is complete, read the added 2- and 3-letter strings from left to right to reveal something important to both crosswords and LGBTQIA+ activism.

"Coming Out" by Brad LeBeau (The Griddle — Free)

In this variety cryptic, the answers are entered as usual. However, each clue has a queer letter that needs to come out (i.e. be removed) before the clue can be solved. These letters, read in clue order, reveal a message that’s important for Pride Month (or any month!).

"Tag Yourself!" by Amanda Rafkin, David Gold, and Finn Vigeland (avid puzzler — Free)

In this alignment chart of a cryptic, Down entries (for which enumerations are withheld) must be modified, always forming new words or names before grid entry. Gay entries (columns 1-3) “walk fast,” and need to have a letter advanced one place in the alphabet (ex. BOMER > BONER). Bi entries (columns 4-6) “tuck their shirts in,” moving their first letter somewhere else in the word (ex. ACME > CAME). Lesbian entries (columns 7-9) “call a U-Haul,” gaining or losing a U somewhere in the word (ex. LUTE <-> LTE).

Thanks for any suggestions for puzzles to look into!

Quit calling me! If I wanted to talk to you I would answer the phone. What do you mean you want another trivia?... No... No... Fine, here is one. Now leave me alone unless you have questions about this trivia. Any complaints can go to u/schwizzy this time.
As always, the celeb is in the DB and you can submit your answers in the Portal. Today I have a Crossword Puzzle for you.
Once you have each of the correct words, create a tinyURL link by using each of the first letters in order. An example can be found here. This link will take you to your clue about the celeb.

The title is self-explanatory but I felt that the topic deserved its own post.
The Catholic Church has “dogmas” and “doctrines”. A doctrine can change but a dogma cannot. The Four Marian Dogmas of the Catholic Faith are:
1. Mother of God
2. Immaculate Conception
3. Perpetual Virginity
4. Assumption
—but today I wanted to talk about the 5th one that doesn’t exist: Co-Redemptrix.
MEDIEVAL ORIGINS
While I was not able to pinpoint exactly when this title first began circulating(that’s how deep this rabbit hole goes) what we do know is that it seems to be of medieval origin[5th to 15th centuries] and began as rather a “synthesis” of various patristic and medieval statements:
St.Irenaeus(130-202AD)
“Just as the human race was bound over to death through a virgin, so was it saved through a virgin: the scale was balanced — a virgin’s disobedience by a virgin’s obedience”
St.Ambrose of Milan (339-397):
“Let us not be astonished that the Lord, who came to save the world, began his work in Mary, so that she, by whom the salvation of all was being readied, would be the first to receive from her own child its fruits”
St.Jerome (343-420)
“Death came through Eve, life through Mary”
I could go on(really), but you get the idea.
Obviously there is a way to read these kinds of statements that does not compel one to conclude the title of “Co-Redeemer” and I’m sure some of you OCD types already started doing it in your brain(I’m the same way, you’re not alone). Nevertheless, it was ultimately popularized by the Franciscans and resisted by the Dominicans but by the 16th century the movement to make it a doctrine had all but died out.
PAPAL SANCTIONS
The term Co-Redemptrix enjoyed a brief resurgence after the 16th century, being used by Pope Leo XIII in his 1894 encyclical on the rosary “IUCUNDA SEMPER EXPECTATIONE”, in which he writes:
“For in the Rosary all the part that Mary took as our co-Redemptress comes to us..."
It then received Papal sanction under Pope St. Pius X(1903-1914) by his approval of its use in a decree of the Congregation of Rites concerning the Feast of the Seven Dolors:
“the devotion of the Sorrowful Mother may increase and the piety of the faithful and their gratitude toward the merciful Co-Redemptrix of the human race may intensify.”
His successor, Benedict XV(1914-1922) in his decree to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office (section on indulgences), Sunt quos amor, June 26, 1913 praises the custom of adding to the name of Jesus the name of ‘His Mother, **our coredemptor, the blessed Mary’.
Now from there things get a bit iffy because Pope Pius XI says in Explorata res(1923):
”The Virgin participated with Jesus Christ in the very painful act of the redemption”
But “participating” with Christ in his act of redemption does not really equal “Mary is a Co-Redeemer” and this is—in all actuality—a repeating of the same kinds of patristic and medieval statements noted at the beginning of this post which could themselves be read in such a way so as not add-up to “Mary Co-Redeemer”.
A BRIEF WORD ON THE PREFIX “CO”
One thing that has to be addressed is the prefix “co”. We use this prefix most commonly about the people we work with. We call these people “co-workers”. My boss can be properly called a “co-worker” but that does not imply that we are “equals”. What this means is that in no way did the title of Co-Redemptrix ever mean to it’s proponents that Mary was “equal” to God and thus she also still needed a Savior.
A BRIEF WORD ON THE SUFFIX -IX
Some words are made feminine by altering the suffix to be -ix. Examples:
dominator → dominatrix executor → executrix rector → rectrix
SO WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN?
The prefix “Co” and suffix “Ix” means “woman with the redeemer” or “alongside the redeemer”. It therefore never meant that Mary “is” herself a redeemer or that Christ did not accomplish redemption on his own.
To quote St.Maximillian Kolbe the title:
”…denotes Mary’s regular and unique sharing (although subordinate and dependent) with Her Son in the saving work of redemption for the human family.”
THAT MAKES IT BETTER RIGHT?
Well, no. To cite the late Pope Benedict XVI, who was still only a cardinal at the time:
“….the formula “Co-redemptrix” departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings. ...Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything she is through Him. The word “Co-redemptrix” would obscure this origin. A correct intention being expressed in the wrong way.”—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God and the World: A Conversion with Peter Seewald. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2002, p. 306
In other words, I would actually agree with St.Kolbe’s description of what the title means but the title itself is what is actually problematic, as Pope Benedict XVI pointed out. To cite him one final time:
”A correct intention being expressed in the wrong way.”
Like Benedict, I don’t think it is problematic to state that Mary “uniquely participated in Christ’s mission of redeeming humanity” so long as we are clear that the mission was his alone. She was just playing a unique role in it. In fact, that is already how the Catholic Church understands Mary’s role in salvation history and we don’t need a title that says that with the added benefit of also conveying a sense of heresy.
IN CONCLUSION
Yes, there is a LONG back and forth history regarding this title by a few fringe theologians within the Catholic Church and a few(brief) pontificates(out of 266). It has NEVER been a dogmatic teaching of the Catholic faith, nor shall it ever be, and to quote Pope Francis when asked to comment on this title which has never had sticking power within Catholic teaching:
”Let’s not get lost in foolishness”—Dec.2019
To cite the Ecumenical[read:infallible] Council of Trent:
“…that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour…”

First Previous Next
The first thing that Si’feri became aware of was the gentle rocking motions. She hadn’t been held like this since she was a chick, and while it was incredibly soothing, it was still somewhat demeaning. “I’m awake, you can set me down, now,” she said as she opened her eyes to look at whomever was carrying her.
She had to push down a wave of terror when she saw that it was Al’ecs. As much as she knew that the alien would never hurt her, his face was still something that had been dredged up from the deepest of nightmares, and really wasn’t something anyone wanted to wake up to. “I’m up… I’m up…” she said, gently tapping the alien on the shoulder, trying to make it clear that she didn’t want to be held any more.
Al’ecs stopped immediately before he set down the groggy hen. Sir Kev, who had apparently been walking next to Al’ecs, drew closer with a concerned look on his face. “Are you well, M’lady?” Kev asked, holding out a hand to help steady her.
“I’m fine, this has been known to happen from time to time,” she said, before taking stock of their surroundings. They were still in the forest, though they were nowhere near the clearing anymore. She also noticed that Al’ecs still carried her basket, though she had no idea why. “Were we on our way back?”
“I believe so, M’lady. You passed out not long after completing your vision, and Al’ecs picked you up and began taking you towards town. I have merely been following,” Sir Kev said, bowing respectfully. “I hope we did not disturb any after visions or effects you might have been experiencing.”
“You did not. In fact, thank you for doing just that, as we have very little time to waste, and staying where we were would have just delayed us. I need to speak with Tor and Ja’vail as soon as possible, preferable the second we get out, though I already know that that is not going to happen,” Si’feri said before she turned back towards Al’ecs. As she studied the expressionless alien, the warning from the vision seemed to echo in her ears, reminding her of the possible doom that she might have to place on him. With a chipperness she did not feel, her crest perked back up to its original bounciness as she placed a hand on the creature’s upper arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll work through this, okay?”
The creature clearly didn’t understand her, but he seemed to appreciate the sentiment all the same, as evidenced by the way the creature gently placed a hand on her head. Al’ecs tried to say something, but whatever came out of his maw was both far too garbled, and in a completely unrecognizable tongue. Si’feri really had no chance of understanding the creature, but somehow that didn’t matter to her. It was clear to her that Al’ecs was just happy to have someone to interact with, regardless of any actual understanding.
That realization alone was enough to bring the baker to tears. How long have you been alone like this? she thought as the creature slowly removed his hand. He turned around, clearly intent on making his way back to his cave, but stopped when Si’feri reached out and touched his back. He turned back to her, his face as expressionless as the first time she had seen him in her dreams, but that didn’t stop her from seeing past all of that, and into the being that lay underneath the monster.
The face looked far fuller, with an odd set of lips, like those on a dragon or a pig, though neither of those comparisons did them justice. Their corners were turned upwards somewhat, in an expression that, on anything else, would have made the creature more menacing as it bared its teeth. On Al’ecs, however, it was a warm expression, made even friendlier by how the corners of his eyes changed to match. On the top of his head was a shock of reddish orange fur, a small, button-like nose sat in the center of his face, and right above them was a pair of gray eyes that shone with intelligence.
The vision only lasted a second, but in that instance she truly understood just how much Al’ecs had lost. Without even thinking about it, she threw her arms around the alien’s neck, pulling him into a tight hug, though she was mindful not to stick herself on the spikes on the creature’s back. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you home, I promise.”
The creature seemed stunned at this, completely unsure of what to do with his hands. After a few seconds of this, and when nothing terrible happened, he finally seemed to realize that this was very real. He then gently wrapped his arms around the hen, before a shuddering sob racked his body as tears began to flow freely from his eyes again. It didn’t take Si’feri long to realize that the feathers on the top of her head were quickly becoming soaked, but she didn’t care. It was a small price to pay when she considered the fact that the promise she had made was most likely a lie.
After what felt like an eternity of this, the two finally separated, and Si’feri could only watch as Al’ecs awkwardly tried to dry his face with his hands. Not knowing what else to do, Si’feri reached out and took the blanket from the basket the creature was holding before she offered it to him. He took it, but not before letting out a grateful sort of sound. “We’ve got to get going. We’ll be back tomorrow, though, okay?” Si’feri told him as he began patting his face dry with the blanket in his hands.
Despite him not understanding a single word she said, Al’ecs nodded, then proceeded to return the blanket to the basket before he held it out to her. Si’feri gently pushed it back, shaking her head as her crest bobbed in a happy manner. “It’s yours, as well as everything in it.”
Al’ecs just looked down at it, before he turned it upside-down, revealing that he had already eaten everything she had brought him as only the blanket fell out of it.
“I’m thinking that he really enjoyed your cooking, M’lady! So much so, that I think he’s trying to ask for seconds!” Sir Kev said with a laugh.
Si’feri’s crest perked up even higher as she took back the basket, but she still pushed the blanket into his open hands. “Well, why don’t I bring this back to you tomorrow? Filled to the brim, of course. But this is still yours.”
Al’ecs didn’t try to say anything in his garbled tongue, choosing to instead give them one last nod in gratitude before he turned back towards the forest, putting the blanket over his shoulders like a mantle as he walked away.
Si’feri was briefly tempted to bring the alien back to town, but quickly dismissed the idea. Despite night quickly coming, the Town of Jov was still quite alive. Getting the alien anywhere comfortable would require more magic and drake power than they currently had available, not to mention that Al’ecs would most likely spook and run in the event that someone started screaming.
No, it’s better this way, she thought as she watched the alien disappear into the forest.
It wasn’t even ten seconds later when she started having second thoughts. This was further compounded when several knights fluttered from the trees above and landed in front of her, their heads bowed low in respect.
“How long were you up there watching?” she asked them curiously.
“For quite some time, Ma’am. Sir Kev instructed us to stay hidden while the creature was still around,” the knight in front said, not rising from his bow. “I must say, it is an honor to-”
“Leave the formalities for someone who cares,” Si’feri said as she reached out to raise the knight from his bow. “We do not have time for ceremony, nor will such things save us from what is to come.”
“M’lady Siv?”
“Si’feri will do fine, for the time being,” Si’feri said before she turned back to town. She stopped, however, as a thought occurred to her. “How many knights are stationed at the creature’s cave?”
“Four, M’lady.”
She thought about this for a few seconds, before shaking her head. “Better increase it. Two of you should head to the clearing, and provide additional protection. The creature is to survive the night, am I clear?”
“As the rising sun, M’lady,” the leading knight said, rising from his bow. He then turned to his subordinates and clapped his hands together. “Tilvan, Mor, you two provide additional protection. We’ll send more once we get back to town, but in the meantime you and the others are to defend the creature with your lives, understood?”
The two soldiers quickly cut sharp salutes, then took off into the skies. The sight of the two valiant knights disappearing into the night sky did much to relieve the worry that had been building in Si’feri’s heart, but that relief was a fleeting thing. As Si’feri and her escorts traveled back towards town, she couldn’t help but feel her heart fall further and further, and she found herself wondering if it would be enough.* * *“Hey, Genpi, take a look at this, will you?”
Genpi released his magic, deactivating the heat wand in his hand that he had been using to cut through the alien ship. The vessel was made of some kind of metal the dakri had never seen before, and the team in charge of investigating the craft had found it extremely difficult to cut or pull apart the vessel through conventional methods, hence the reason why Genpi was painstakingly cutting into the metal siding of the ship with a heat wand. He had been making good progress, too, or rather, he would have been making progress, if it wasn’t for his colleague’s constant interruptions.
With a disgruntled sigh, Genpi pushed up his black tinted goggles and looked up at the excitable drake, his expression telling the whole world that this had better be worth his attention. “What is it now Penirl?”
Penirl stood about three meters away, in his hands an oddly shaped piece of metal. It was long and staff-like, but had what looked like a stock at one end.
It also looked like it had survived the crash reasonably intact.
“I’m thinking it’s some kind of weapon, but I already ran a detection spell to look for any enchantments, and I didn’t find anything,” Penirl said as he held up the thing for Genpi’s inspection. Penirl then grabbed the weapon by its grip, and held it in front of him like he would a Lightning Rod.
Thankfully, the drake had enough sense not to point it at anyone, otherwise Genpi would have smacked him upside the head right then and there. “Well, don’t just play with it, the higher ups will want to have a look at it,” Genpi said, waving the excitable young drake away.
“What do you think it does, though?” Penirl asked, ignoring Genpi’s instructions. “I’ve already tried the triggering mechanism, but nothing happened.” As if to demonstrate this, Penirl stuck his finger into the hole near the grip and squeezed the rather obvious trigger.
Nothing happened, but that did nothing to lighten Genpi’s mood about the drake playing around with something he didn’t understand. “Stop messing around and get that thing logged and put with the other artifacts,” Genpi said, shooing the drake away.
Penirl looked a little downcast at this, but quickly perked up. “Come on, Genpi! Aren’t you even the slightest bit excited?”
Genpi looked up at the drake before slowly returning his goggles to their old position. “I'll be ‘excited’ when I find out whether or not friends of these things are going to come looking for their lost ship. More importantly than that, though, is if they find the inhabitants of this planet in any way delicious.”
“Oh poo, you really need to lighten up,” Penirl said, sticking out his tongue at the older drake.
If Genpi saw this, he didn't show it, choosing to instead reignite his wand and get back to cutting.
Penirl shook his head in disapproval before he turned and carefully picked his way out of the wreckage of the ship. It didn't take him long to log and store the new discovery, during which he started having the oddest feeling that he was being watched. He looked up and around for a little bit, drawing a confused stare from the hen in charge of the recovered artifacts, but that didn’t matter to him as much. He would never admit it to Genpi, but what the older drake had said earlier had shaken him to the core.
“Are you okay?” the hen with the clipboard asked, her crest lowered ever so slightly in worry.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine…” Penirl said before he tried to shake off the feeling.
“Well, if you’re sure, then you probably should be getting back to work,” the hen reminded him.
Penirl nodded, but didn’t say anything as his eyes searched the edges of the crater for a few more seconds, before they moved to the skies above. After a few seconds of finding nothing, he turned and made his way back to the ship and into the depths below.
The hen’s eyes followed him until he disappeared, before she shrugged to herself and muttered about the strangeness of drakes, completely ignorant of the strange area of warped air that hovered just above the wreckage as it silently recorded the activity below.* * *Tor was in a bit of a panic. Lady Siv was one of his closest friends, but that relationship was somewhat marred by the fact that she never came to him with good news. When one coupled this with the fact that Siv had apparently had a vision specifically about the alien survivor, one could understandably see why the small king was distraught.
Nightmarish scenes began playing through his head; vastly superior forces invading his planet, insect-like creatures that could shape-shift infiltrating his forces, and his people rounded up like cattle, being used as weapons like the unfortunate survivor, or even as a source of food.
All of this and more danced through his mind and kept him at his desk as he desperately tried to think of some way out of this hellish scenario. Plan after plan was drawn up, considered, then ultimately thrown away, as he had no way to gauge the strength of his opponents with the information he currently had, but even with his limited understanding, he knew that he and his people would be conquered within a week should the aliens come. If they had the power to send a ship across the vast distance of space, what stopped them from hurling a meteor the size of Tor’s castle at his tiny Diarchy? What about several meteors? What about their own moon?
None of this sat well with the small king. If their enemy wanted, they could annihilate Tor’s little world before the planet’s inhabitants even knew what had hit them.
Unbidden, the king felt his eyes drawn to a particular book on his shelf. It was one he had read before, quite extensively for that matter, since it had been penned by one of his previous students. The concepts inside were just that, though: concepts. Nothing more than pipe dreams that the imaginative young drake had drawn up during his free time.
With a small grunt, the king held out his hand, while his beak glowed a brilliant golden color. Almost immediately, the book on the shelf took on a similar hue, and flew from its place on the shelf and into the king’s outstretched hand. He didn’t know why the book caught his eye, but something about the problems he faced reminded him of his long dead student. Maybe something about the way the curious drake saw the world would help me. At the very least, it would be a welcome diversion, the king thought to himself as he began to flip through the pages.
It wasn’t long before one of his student’s scrawls caught his eye, and he had to suppress a chuckle at the strange invention the drake had penned. “A wooden, flying golem. I remember that one,” Tor said fondly to himself. “Was supposed to be able to ferry weapons and equipment to soldiers in the field. If I remember correctly, Jovask even made a land-based version for transporting foodstuff. Pity, he never did get the instructions on his golems to work right…”
The king continued to idly flip through his apprentice’s notes and designs, stopping every so often to laugh fondly at what the drake had thought up, and the memories they conjured. There was an automatic arrow golem, a creation designed to do the washing up, and something that would gather flowers for some reason. Each and every creation brilliantly designed, but flawed by the creator’s inability to overcome the inherent weaknesses found in golemmancy.
With a shrug, Tor flipped through the remaining pages, fully intent on putting the book back once he reached the end, but stopped at the final page. On the page was a very strange device indeed. It looked like a random assortment of items, all tied to a central statue made to look like a Nightmare Falcon’s head. Tor remembered this particular invention: it was supposed to be the ultimate telescope, capable of not only gaining information on distant objects, but also able to track them for the benefit of the user. It could even locate invisible objects, if enough information for basic scrying was available.
The only problem was, again, the inherent problem with the school of golemmancy: The more complex the task, the more arcanite was required for the golem to perform said task. In order to get this thing to work, Jovask would have needed a hunk of arcanite the size of a large mountain.
Tor let out a weary sigh as he snapped the book shut. Shame, too. If we had Jovask’s Omniscope, we would at least be able to determine if there were any alien ships in orbit about to destroy us, maybe take a few with us using the sun and moon, but… golemmancy, of all things… he thought as his beak began to glow again. With no small amount of nostalgia, the King of the Dawn returned his former student’s work to its resting place.
“What’s wrong, Tory?”
Tor looked towards the open door of his study, his heart falling at the sight of the Lady Siv. Her crest was just as bouncy as he remembered it, though her dress and occupation seemed to have changed since the last time he saw her. “I see you’ve decided to take up baking,” Tor said as he stood to greet her.
“It was either that or basket weaving, and I felt that the people of Jov needed a baker more,” Siv said as she approached her old friend. “I see that Javy’s been rubbing off on you, as you seem to have grown mopey in your old age.”
Tor felt his crest perk up ever so slightly at that jab. “Hey, if I remember, wasn’t it you who told me that I should start acting my age?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips in mock anger.
“Yes, but I never expected you to take my advice!” Siv said as she rolled her eyes at the king. “It was just one of those things you say to a friend. ‘Act your age.’ ‘Don’t date your mortal enemy.’ ‘Don’t eat all the karro berry pockets.’ Never expected you to actually listen, though…”
They both stared at each other for some time until Tor couldn’t take it anymore and broke down in a fit of laughter. “Oh Siv, it’s been far too long…”
The Lady let out a few chuckles of her own, but the laughter never reached her eyes. Instead, there lurked a profound sadness there, one that made Tor’s laughter disappear as quickly as it had appeared.
“So, my friend, what doom have the spirits pronounced upon us?” Tor asked, his crest falling ever so slightly.
Siv let out a sigh, before slowly walking over to the king’s desk and taking a seat. “It’s bad. Really bad. Before, I’ve given you many ways to avoid fate’s decrees. Until this morning, I had never once seen a doom that had but one escape.”
Despite the hen’s gloomy demeanor, the king’s crest rose as he felt his heart leap in hope. “You mean there’s still a way out?”
Siv let out a weary sigh. “Yes, but it may involve the sacrifice of an innocent, and even then I cannot guarantee that your people will come out completely unscathed.” Siv fixed Tor with a stare that seemed to pierce straight through to his soul. “Are you prepared to hear the doom I would announce against you? Are you prepared for the doom that would swallow your people?”
“I am always prepared for this burden. You know that better than anyone, M’lady,” Tor said as he slowly circled his desk, then sat back down in his chair.
Siv reached into the pouch at her belt and pulled out a single memory crystal. “Then, O King of the Dawn, receive this doom, and turn it away for the sake of the living, and the sake of those yet to live,” she said as she placed the glowing red crystal on the desk.
Without hesitation, Tor reached out and took the crystal and gently prodded it with his power. His mind instantly became scorched with images of depravity and violence: Monsters and fire rained from the sky, and his people were turned into cold, unfeeling machines. Anguish washed over all of his senses, and it felt like he was being turned inside out.
Just as quickly as it had come, however, the feeling vanished. Tor now knew everything Siv had placed inside the crystal. Every torment she had experience now scarred his mind, including the way to annul the whole ghastly future.
“No… You cannot be serious…” Tor said, his voice shaking somewhat as he stared down at the crystal in disbelief.
“I am completely serious, King of the Dawn,” the Lady Siv said as she rose from her chair, stretched out her wings, and cast her gaze straight towards the heavens. “His fate is now in your hands. I pray for his sake and for ours that you will continue to be the wise king you have proven yourself to be.”
With those final words, the Lady Siv disappeared in a flash of fire, leaving behind a whiff of smoke, and a single, green feather.
Tor reached out and caught the feather in his magic before it had touched the ground, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the memento left behind. “Easy for you to say, old friend. You’re not the one who’s going to have to explain this to Ja’vail…”* * *Sir Viar looked up at the sound of flapping wings, his crest perking up ever so slightly as he recognized Tilvan and Mor. “Ho, what are you two doing back here?”
Tilvan, the superior of the two, cut a quick salute the moment he landed. “New orders, sir. We’re to reinforce you and protect the creature with our lives.”
Viar looked at the two, somewhat troubled. “Then shouldn’t you two have stayed with it? We only stayed here because The Lady wished it!”
“We did stay with it, sir,” Mor said, pointing to a particular patch of forest. A few seconds after he spoke, the bushes shook and parted to reveal the monster. It immediately spotted the group of dakri knights at the top of the cliff and gave them a short wave before approaching the ladder to its lair. “It seems to have incredibly accurate senses, and even slowed down for us once it knew that we were following it.”
Viar let out a sigh of relief before fixing the two with a searching stare. “Did either of you happen to hear Lady Siv’s vision?”
Both of them shook their heads, their crests lowering ever so slightly. “No sir. Whatever it was was pretty bad, though,” Tilvan said, watching carefully as the creature climbed its ladder to enter its cave.“I’m not an expert on the mood of The Lady, but I’d say that whatever she saw frightened her.”
Viar folded his wings as he thought about that. It wasn’t a good sign, and it made him wonder just what sort of doom was about to befall their planet. As he pondered the future, one of his drakes, Sir Isal, looked over the edge at the ladder below. “Anybody else wonder why this thing is completely okay with the fact that it’s basically under armed guard? I mean, we tried to stay hidden at first, and you remember how quickly it spotted us.”
“I do,” Viar said with a nod, but seemed to be completely unconcerned about this. “I also know that this thing is extremely intelligent, and we left plenty of clues that we were the ones that pulled it out of the river, including a note.”
Isal looked a little confused. “But if this thing isn’t even from this planet, how would it read it? I don’t think it speaks Midlander.”
Viar shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. Which was why the note was only pictures, not Midlander, Sunrise, or Nightmare. We’re trying to talk with it, not confuse it.”
“But how can we be certain that it understands pictures the same way we do? How can you be sure that it can even see in the same spectrum of light?” Isal asked, his skepticism clear on his face. “For all we know, this thing can’t see the charcoal marks on the paper, or even at all. I mean, it doesn’t exactly have irises.”
Mor looked a little confused. “If it can’t see, then how is it able to navigate so easily? I mean, it never got hit once by the undergrowth of the forest.”
“I’m thinking it probably uses echolocation, like how the Nightmare tribe would conduct their ceremonial hunts!” Isal said, his crest rising with excitement. “I’ve been reading up on them, and apparently-”
Before the excited knight could build up any steam, however, Viar cut him off with a single, light thwap to the back of Isal’s head. “Stow it, Isal. It can see, the queen was quite certain of that. In fact, from what I’ve heard from Her Majesty, it’s actually quite remarkable how similar we are on the inside.”
Isal and the other drakes that had been sent to relieve Dorn and his team all perked up at this. “The queen told you that?” they asked in unison.
“Of course she told him that,” Tilvan said, folding his wings. “She also told Dorn the same thing. We’re supposed to be guarding this thing, and how can we do that without a basic knowledge of how its mind works?”
Viar nodded in agreement. “That’s the first thing you need to know when guarding someone. The next one is their habits, but since this thing is still pretty new to all of us, we’re kind of in the dark on that one.”
The other knights all looked to him, as if expecting him to go on, though Viar didn’t look like he wanted to continue this conversation at all. He instead chose to walk back to the fire pit to inspect his gear. Finally, after a few moments of Sir Viar being completely closed-beaked, Isal’s curiosity got the better of him. “Well? How is it like us?”
Viar looked surprised at that. “It what?”
“The creature! We were just talking about it, and you suddenly started doing your best Solar Slave impression!” Isal snapped at him.
Viar shook his head before he drew his sword and began to carefully inspect the edge for any nicks. “It’s not my place to gossip,” he said, as if that ended that.
It didn’t, naturally. If anything, it made the other drakes all the more curious. “You can’t honestly just leave it at that,” Isal said, tapping his claw on the ground.
Viar took a look around at the assembled drakes, before he sighed in defeat. With one quick motion, he sheathed his blade, then reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a folded square of paper. The others all moved behind the senior knight and watched him unfold it to reveal an old-fashioned, black and white photo of a group of dakri, all gathered around the carcass of a dead boar. Isal quickly recognized a much younger Viar in the photo, and by extension, guessed at who the others were.“Your family, I gather? Was that taken during your first boar hunt?”
Viar just looked at it for a while before he folded it and took out his blade and whetstone again. “Yeah, but that’s not important. What’s important is that this thing had its own family and its own life. The queen made it clear that she didn’t understand half of what she saw in the creature’s head, but she did gather this much: It’s incredibly homesick.” The others were quiet as Viar slowly began running the whetstone over the edge of his blade, his hands as steady as a mountain, even as his voice began to crack. “She didn’t tell me much, but from what I’ve heard, I can easily guess why it doesn’t care that it’s under armed guard. It most likely only cares about one thing at this point, seeing as how everything it loves and cares about is forever out of reach.”
Sir Mor looked towards the cliff’s edge, before giving his superior officer a questioning look. “And what’s that, Sir?”
Viar looked up, before he looked back down at his blade, his stare boring into his reflection as he thought about what he had guessed. “It’s an alien, so it’s entirely possible it thinks in a completely different way than us, but I know what I would want, if our places were reversed,” he said, his eyes finally leaving his reflection as he went back to sharpening. “If I were the creature, I would want revenge.”
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Hey, sorry about missing yesterday. My babies kept me up all night, and I turned off my alarms to get some sleep during the day, including the one that told me to post a new chapter. What's worse is that I woke up sick, so that's me with egg on my face!
Anyway, here's the links for my books, in case you want to skip the drip-feed and just get right into the meat and potatoes of my story. Thanks for reading, and any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I love to hear how I can improve!
Amazon:
What I've Become
Nightmare of the Past
Google:
What I've Become
Nightmare of the Past

The beagle who holds the Guinness World Record for solving the fastest crossword puzzle is a remarkable dog named Purin. This talented pooch hails from Japan and has gained worldwide recognition for her impressive skills in puzzle-solving. Learn More - Purin's background, her training, and her incredible Guinness World Record achievement.

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Enjoyed coming up with the theme and most of the clues (except for 19A). Would love any input or suggestions for improvement. Thanks!

On this day (May 27) in Nintendo history...

• Dragon Warrior was released in 1986 for the Family Computer in Japan. In this role-playing game, developed by Chunsoft, players control a young hero who sets out to defeat a being known as the Dragonlord. The game begins in King Lorik's chamber in Tantegel Castle, where the hero receives information about the Dragonlord, whom he must defeat, and the stolen Balls of Light, which he must retrieve. After receiving some items and gold, the hero sets out on his quest.
  
• A Little Bit of... Magic Made Fun: Psychic Camera (known as Master of Illusion Express: Psychic Camera in North America**) was released in 2009 for DSiWare in Japan. In this non-game, developed by *Tenyo with 8ing, impressive your friends with mesmerising magic - a collection of easy-to-perform tricks that you can carry wherever you go! Appears to bestow the Nintendo DSi with incredible telepathic abilities. Simply ask a spectator to think of a card, and then take a photo of them using the Nintendo DSi system's camera function.
  
• New English Training: Learning with Tempo - Beginner Edition was released in 2009 for DSiWare in Japan. In this education software, developed by Nintendo SPD, the user is provided with speech clips and tests their pronunciation and "rhythm" of spoken English words and phrases. The aim is to follow the English speaker as close as possible to make the English sound more natural.
  
• Pocket Rurubu Kyoto and Pocket Rurubu Tokyo were released in 2009 for DSiWare in Japan. In these reference software titles, developed by Nintendo, find a sightseeing travel guide and diary, with information from the Japanese Rurubu travel guides. Each edition contains landmarks and maps of different regions and cities of Japan and provides a trip planner and suggestions. You can take photos and make notes during your trip and append them to the maps, and then play them back as a slideshow whenever you want.
  
• Puzzle Iro Iro Monthly Crossword House Vol. 1 was released in 2009 for DSiWare in Japan. In this puzzle game, developed by Tose, several puzzles, including standard crossword puzzles, illustrated crosswords, Sudoku and more are included. Use the clues to enter words into the boxes. You write the characters directly into the panels, and if you're not sure you can make notes in the boxes to refer to later.
  

What are you favourite memories of this game? How do you think it holds up today? Hash it out in the comments.

(I am a bot. I think that I'm posting Nintendo events from this day in history, but if I've made a mistake or omission please leave a comment tagging KetchupTheDuck).

Winston said at the beginning of Chapter 4 that the decree signed by the High Table gives the Marquis de Gramont the power of "autem imperator." Does anybody have a clue what this translates to in English?

I’m pretty new to solving crosswords, and just signed up for the NYT games account. I’ve been doing the mini every day for about two months, and usually spend around 2 hours per full puzzle. Today (Friday, May 26, 2023) the mini has a strange format for all the clues. Some letters are replaced with an * (it’s pretty easy to figure out what the missing letters are, but I’m avoiding a spoiler here). One of the clues says the answer is a key for deciphering the missing letters in the clues. What am I missing? Does the author really think that people somehow can’t figure out what all the missing letters are without this clue? When the puzzle was complete, and I knew what the answer was to that clue, I’m clueless how that answer would have helped if I did need that clue to find the missing letters.

English isn’t my first language so I never grew up with crossword culture.. today’s mini crossword had asterisks replacing all the Ts in the clues. What does that mean? How does that impact my solving it?

After some 15 or so times through (thank you Audible) the core 5 books in the series, I am really starting to notice habits in George's writing style. Interestingly enough, one habit of his is to write about habits. Whether it is Arya biting her lip, Jon flexing his burned fingers, Jaime's phantom fingers, or Sandor's mouth twitching George has invested considerable text to the concepts of repetition and pattern spotting.
He shows us the perils of repetition in sword fighting:

Bronn pushed a fall of hair from his eyes. "He's the best of them. But watch him, he falls into a rhythm, delivering the same strokes in the same order each time he attacks." He grinned. "That will be the death of him, the day he faces me." Tyrion IV, ACOK.

He shows us this in Cyvasse:

"I understand you've fought some mighty battles too, Your Grace," said Drey in his most cheerful voice. "It is said you show our brave Prince Trystane no mercy at the cyvasse table.""He always sets his squares up the same way, with all the mountains in the front and his elephants in the passes," said Myrcella. "So I send my dragon through to eat his elephants." The Queenmaker, AFFC.

And again here:

The sellsword was nearly as bad a player as the Yunkish lord had been, but his play was stolid and tenacious rather than bold. His opening arrays were different every time, yet all the same—conservative, defensive, passive. He does not play to win, Tyrion realized. He plays so as not to lose. It worked in their second game, when the little man overreached himself with an unsound assault. It did not work in the third game, nor the fourth, nor the fifth, which proved to be their last. Tyrion X, ADWD.

Arya is able to kill her target by noting his patterns.

Yet they brought him money: leather purses plump with gold and silver and the square iron coins of Braavos. The old man would count it out carefully, sorting the coins and stacking them up neatly, like with like. He never looked at the coins. Instead he bit them, always on the left side of his mouth, where he still had all his teeth. From time to time he'd spin one on the table and listen to the sound it made when it came clattering to a stop. The Ugly Little Girl, ADWD.

George even touches upon this in performance arts.

Penny did not return the smile. "By myself, all I can do is ride around in circles. And even if the queen should laugh, where will I go afterward? We never stay in one place long. The first time they see us they laugh and laugh, but by the fourth or fifth time, they know what we're going to do before we do it. Then they stop laughing, so we have to go somewhere new. Tyrion VIII ADWD.

I don't think it is a coincidence this passage is included in the fifth performance of the series. GRRM is aware he needs to shake things up because if you don't change, people get bored or they spot your patterns and know what you are going to do before you are ready to reveal.
George writes how the nature of humanity in unchanging.

"You may read it here. It is old and fragile." He studied her, frowning. "Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again, he said. I think of that whenever I contemplate the Crow's Eye. Euron Greyjoy sounds queerly like Urron Greyiron to these old ears. I shall not go to Old Wyk. Nor should you."

George seems to think humanity is moving in a circle.

She took Ser Arys by the hand, and wove her fingers through his own. "Have you ever seen the arms of House Toland of Ghost Hill?"He had to think a moment. "A dragon eating its own tail?""The dragon is time. It has no beginning and no ending, so all things come round again. The Soiled Knight, AFFC.

And traveling in a circle is one way I can make some sense of...

"To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

I think George writes so often about patterns and habits because he is also a creature of habit. I could be wrong about this, but I think George writes the same way Ser Tallad fights. He falls into a pattern of strokes in a particular order. At times, he writes like Brown Ben Plumm plays Cyvasse. He may move some pieces around but the basics are still there once you know what to look for. A while back, I noticed how Jon meeting Ygritte shared some story beats with Brienne meeting Jaime. Readers much more talented than I such as u/hypocrite_deer and many others have made astute observations about George writing in parallel.
I theorize George is writing from a template. The same way Ser Tallad delivers the same strokes in the same order, George may be doing the same with several of his plot points. I believe if (if!) we identify the proper parallel stories and or characters, we can predict where one unresolved story is going by looking to how the resolved story ended. Applying this way of interpretation to the text, I have some ideas about where a few things may be going in TWOW. I wanted to explore a few of those here. I am no expert and I make no claims to have correctly applied every detail, but I think I see some patterns.
As always, I am not trying to debunk or be contrarian to any popular theories. About 28% of the story is yet unreleased so we are all making guesses here in ways that make sense to us. Let's just all try to enjoy the exchange of perspectives.
The Prologue of ADWD may tell us Roose Bolton's fate
The ADWD prologue is the POV of Varamyr Sixskins who I believe is a parallel character to Ramsay Snow. They have a lot of the same character traits and story beats. I think we can take all we know about Varamyr to predict where the Ramsay story is going. But first, let's discuss the parallels.
Varamyr and Ramsay are each associated with the murder of a sibling (or assumed sibling).

Lump had been born a month before his proper time, and he was sick so often that no one expected him to live. His mother waited until he was almost four to give him a proper name, and by then it was too late. The whole village had taken to calling him Lump, the name his sister Meha had given him when he was still in their mother's belly. Meha had given Bump his name as well, but Lump's little brother had been born in his proper time, big and red and robust, sucking greedily at Mother's teats. She was going to name him after Father. Bump died, though. He died when he was two and I was six, three days before his nameday. Prologue, ADWD.
"Ramsay killed him. A sickness of the bowels, Maester Uthor says, but I say poison. In the Vale, Domeric had enjoyed the company of Redfort's sons. He wanted a brother by his side, so he rode up the Weeping Water to seek my bastard out. I forbade it, but Domeric was a man grown and thought that he knew better than his father. Now his bones lie beneath the Dreadfort with the bones of his brothers, who died still in the cradle, and I am left with Ramsay. Tell me, my lord … if the kinslayer is accursed, what is a father to do when one son slays another?" Reek III, ADWD.

There is also a shared motivation for the murders which appears to be jealousy. Varamyr killed his brother just a few days before his brother was to get his father's name.

Meha had given Bump his name as well, but Lump's little brother had been born in his proper time, big and red and robust, sucking greedily at Mother's teats. She was going to name him after Father. Bump died, though. He died when he was two and I was six, three days before his nameday. Prologue, ADWD.

Ramsay who is a Snow, may have killed Domeric because Domeric has the Bolton name of their father, which is what Ramsay clearly wants for himself. He tells us this value almost immediately after discarding the Reek disguise.

"Ramsay." There was a smile on his plump lips, but none in those pale pale eyes. "Snow, my wife called me before she ate her fingers, but I say Bolton." Theon VI, ACOK.

They are each rejected early in life.

His own mother had abandoned him as well. She cried for Bump, but she never cried for me. The morning his father pulled him out of bed to deliver him to Haggon, she would not even look at him. He had shrieked and kicked as he was dragged into the woods, until his father slapped him and told him to be quiet. "You belong with your own kind," was all he said when he flung him down at Haggon's feet. Prologue, ADWD.
"A year later this same wench had the impudence to turn up at the Dreadfort with a squalling, red-faced monster that she claimed was my own get. I should've had the mother whipped and thrown her child down a well … but the babe did have my eyes. She told me that when her dead husband's brother saw those eyes, he beat her bloody and drove her from the mill. That annoyed me, so I gave her the mill and had the brother's tongue cut out, to make certain he did not go running to Winterfell with tales that might disturb Lord Rickard. Each year I sent the woman some piglets and chickens and a bag of stars, on the understanding that she was never to tell the boy who had fathered him. A peaceful land, a quiet people, that has always been my rule." Reek III, ADWD.

Varamyr uses animals to facilitate his rape of women.

Whenever he desired a woman he sent his shadowcat to stalk her, and whatever girl he'd cast his eye upon would follow meekly to his bed. Some came weeping, aye, but still they came. Varamyr gave them his seed, took a hank of their hair to remember them by, and sent them back. Prologue, ADWD.

Ramsay does the same with his hounds.

Ben Bones, who liked the dogs better than their master, had told Reek they were all named after peasant girls Ramsay had hunted, raped, and killed back when he'd still been a bastard, running with the first Reek. "The ones who give him good sport, anywise. The ones who weep and beg and won't run don't get to come back as bitches." The next litter to come out of the Dreadfort's kennels would include a Kyra, Reek did not doubt. Reek III, ADWD.

They each take something from the women they rape. Varamyr a lock of hair, Ramsay takes a name. Each displays greater attachment to animals than they do people which may indicate an inability to connect with humans and a preference for control in relationships.
Both characters are associated with the skins of others with Varamyr being a skinchanger, and Ramsay flaying those who displease him. Ramsay even switches skins with Reek in a manner of speaking.

The man laughed. "The wretch is dead." He stepped closer. "The girl's fault. If she had not run so far, his horse would not have lamed, and we might have been able to flee. I gave him mine when I saw the riders from the ridge. I was done with her by then, and he liked to take his turn while they were still warm. I had to pull him off her and shove my clothes into his hands—calfskin boots and velvet doublet, silver-chased swordbelt, even my sable cloak. Ride for the Dreadfort, I told him, bring all the help you can. Take my horse, he's swifter, and here, wear the ring my father gave me, so they'll know you came from me. He'd learned better than to question me. By the time they put that arrow through his back, I'd smeared myself with the girl's filth and dressed in his rags. They might have hanged me anyway, but it was the only chance I saw." Theon VI, ACOK.

Ramsay makes several references to wearing human skin with his threat to make boots of Lady Dustin's skin, and later promising (or threatening) Big Walder with a cloak of skin. One could argue Varamyr is a man wearing the skins of animals while Ramsay is a beast wearing the skin of men.
Both characters receive teaching from a father figure which each character rejects as weakness.

He could almost hear Haggon growling at him. "Men may eat the flesh of beasts and beasts the flesh of men, but the man who eats the flesh of man is an abomination."Abomination. That had always been Haggon's favorite word. Abomination, abomination, abomination. To eat of human meat was abomination, to mate as wolf with wolf was abomination, and to seize the body of another man was the worst abomination of all. Haggon was weak, afraid of his own power. He died weeping and alone when I ripped his second life from him. Varamyr had devoured his heart himself. He taught me much and more, and the last thing I learned from him was the taste of human flesh. Prologue, ADWD.

Roose tries to impart his values upon Ramsay and Ramsay rejects this.

By the king's decree you are now a Bolton. Try and act like one. Tales are told of you, Ramsay. I hear them everywhere. People fear you.""Good.""You are mistaken. It is not good. No tales were ever told of me. Do you think I would be sitting here if it were otherwise? Your amusements are your own, I will not chide you on that count, but you must be more discreet. A peaceful land, a quiet people. That has always been my rule. Make it yours." Reek III, ADWD.
"You are the Warden of the North. Command them.""An invitation will accomplish the same thing. Power tastes best when sweetened by courtesy. You had best learn that if you ever hope to rule." The Lord of the Dreadfort glanced at Reek. "Oh, and unchain your pet. I am taking him." Id.

I think there are strong parallels between the characters. If you've spotted some I've missed, please share them in the comments. It is always fun to see how others view the material.
So if Ramsay and Varamyr are indeed parallel characters who are following substantially similar story beats, then we should ask whether there are elements of the Varamyr POV we can use to predict where Ramsay's story is going. I think there are two important factors learned from the ADWD prologue which provide clues to Ramsay's Winds story line. The first is Ramsay will kill Roose.
Ramsay killing Roose is really not much of reach I think. There is a clear tension between the two and no fondness between them. Now that Ramsay is decreed legitimate, he is the oldest Bolton heir. The surest way to ensure he gets the Dreadfort is to take it before he is disinherited in favor of another true born child. Ramsay ensures this by killing Roose. And given George writes about patricide elsewhere. (See Lannister, Tyrion in ASOS and Hunter, Harlan in AFFC). The same could happen here.
Ramsay has a history of feeding his girls human meat. So Ramsay killing Roose and feeding him to dog (who are essentially domesticated wolves) as Varamyr killed Haggon shouldn't be all that controversial. However, there is another plot point in Varamyr's POV that if followed will invite some push back. Varamyr killed his foster father rather than his biological father. If the pattern follows, then this is another clue Ramsay is not Roose's child.
Roose--and many readers--believes Ramsay is his child based on three factors shared with us in Reek III, ADWD.

1. He raped Ramsay's mother in observance of the Lord's right to the first night.
2. The woman shows up with a child about a year later.
3. Roose and others believe Ramsay has Roose's eyes.

The first two factors are not great indicator's of paternity. Having sex with a woman who is later pregnant does not prove paternity (R.I.P. Jerry Springer). The child could be fathered by anyone else. So points 1 and 2 are not very strong. This leaves us with the eyes. Genetic traits passed down are better indicators genetic relationship but is a far from certain means of determining parentage. For many readers, the eyes are enough. I tend to be more skeptical than most, so I looked closely at the eyes and other factors. Eye color is the only thing about Ramsay that is similar to Roose. Theon describes Ramsay as follows:

Ramsay was clad in black and pink—black boots, black belt and scabbard, black leather jerkin over a pink velvet doublet slashed with dark red satin. In his right ear gleamed a garnet cut in the shape of a drop of blood. Yet for all the splendor of his garb, he remained an ugly man, big-boned and slope-shouldered, with a fleshiness to him that suggested that in later life he would run to fat. His skin was pink and blotchy, his nose broad, his mouth small, his hair long and dark and dry. His lips were wide and meaty, but the thing men noticed first about him were his eyes. Reek I, ADWD.

Compare this to Roose

It was almost evenfall when the new master of Harrenhal arrived. He had a plain face, beardless and ordinary, notable only for his queer pale eyes. Neither plump, thin, nor muscular, he wore black ringmail and a spotted pink cloak. Arya IX, ACOK.
Roose Bolton lay abed, naked. Leeches clung to the inside of his arms and legs and dotted his pallid chest, Arya X, ACOK.
The Lord of the Dreadfort paid the chatter no mind, Catelyn saw. Sometimes he tasted a bite of this, a spoon of that, tearing bread from the loaf with short strong fingers, but the meal could not distract him. Catelyn VII, ASOS.

Ramsay did not get any of Roose's body features, mannerisms or behaviors. Wheras Domeric is described as quiet, learned, played the harp (strong fingers) and seems to have a healthy relationship with people and animals. Oddly, I could find no mention of Domeric's eye color.
Maybe you are thinking Ramsay looks that way from his mother? Well maybe but it does not seem likely. She is not fat, unhealthy or ugly either.

She was a tall, willowy creature, very healthy-looking. Long legs and small firm breasts, like two ripe plums. Pretty, in a common sort of way. Reek III, ADWD.

Ramsay is not healthy looking, nor thin. He's ugly where his mother was "pretty" and his father "plain". With the lack of shared features, we should question paternity.
Someone is likely ready to type "But Ramsay and Roose still have the same eyes. George gave them the same eyes to confirm a parentage"
But do they have the same eyes? While they are each pale, they are not the same kind of pale. Roose's eyes are:

Roose Bolton's eyes were paler than stone, darker than milk, and his voice was spider soft. Jaime V, ASOS.
His lordship glanced at the new Reek with eyes as pale and strange as two white moons. Reek III, ADWD.

George describes Roose's eyes using moon and milk. There is a suggestion of clean and natural with Roose's eyes. This is not the case with Ramsay.
Theon originally attributes Ramsay's eyes with Roose.

He had his lord father's eyes—small, close-set, queerly pale. Ghost grey, some men called the shade, but in truth his eyes were all but colorless, like two chips of dirty ice. Reek I, ADWD.

Later, when he can look at them side-by-side, Theon notes a difference in their eyes.

Reek saw the way Ramsay's mouth twisted, the spittle glistening between his lips. He feared he might leap the table with his dagger in his hand. Instead he flushed red, turned his pale eyes from his father's paler ones, and went to find the keys. Reek III, ADWD.

Theon tells us Ramsay's eyes are near colorless, yet not as pale as Roose's Hence Roose's eyes are colorless. This is confirmed by Catelyn.

Duskendale was done and cold; it was the battles still to come that worried Catelyn. "How many men have you brought my son?" she asked Roose Bolton pointedly.His queer colorless eyes studied her face a moment before he answered. Catelyn VI, ASOS.

George tells us the eyes are similar rather than the same. Hence, Ramsay may not have Roose's eyes. He might just have pale eyes like several other characters who also probably aren't Roose's kid:

• Starks have pale, grey eyes
• Viserys has pale lilac eyes
• The Catspaw had pale eyes
• Illyn Payne has pale, colorless eyes
• Old Nan
• Pycelle
• Sam has pale eyes

So there are lot's of characters with pale eyes, but nobody I have found is described to have eyes as pale as Roose. Roose might have albinism (another repeat theme of George's) of the eyes. This is a genetic condition which is only passed from mother to child. This means if Ramsay has pale eyes, it did not come from Roose because men can't pass that.
The woman Roose raped may have simply deceived Roose and with good reason. Thanks to Roose, she suffered a rape and lost a husband. Later she is allegedly put out by the brother-in-law. This woman needs resources and the eye color of this child helped her get that. Bolton fell for the deception and George left us a hint to this right in the names of the character. Roose is a homophone of ruse, which means a deception or trick. Roose fell for the ruse.
Speaking of names, Ramsay is a name of English origin meaning "garlic island". Garlic is an anathema to vampires, which will be interesting if Bolt-on proves true. Even the Bolt-on theory provides a parallel to Varamyr because Bolt-on is a theory about the mind of one person trying to take the body of another. This body stealing is a key factor in the Varamyr POV.

Thistle had returned to him. She had him by the shoulders and was shaking him, shouting in his face. Varamyr could smell her breath and feel the warmth of it upon cheeks gone numb with cold. Now, he thought, do it now, or die.He summoned all the strength still in him, leapt out of his own skin, and forced himself inside her. Prologue, ADWD.

Varamyr failed in his attempt to take another body and I think this same story beat will manifest with Roose and Ramsay. The failure is even someone hinted at during this discussion between Roose and Reek.

"I know." Lord Bolton sighed. "His blood is bad. He needs to be leeched. The leeches suck away the bad blood, all the rage and pain. No man can think so full of anger. Ramsay, though … his tainted blood would poison even leeches, I fear." Reek III, ADWD.

At some point in Winds, Ramsay will kill Roose and Roose will attempt to jump into Ramsay. Roose will fail realizing Ramsay is not a genetic match because Ramsay isn't his son. Ramsay's "bad blood" (or garlic nature) will poison the Lord of Leeches leaving a whisper of him within Ramsay just as Haggo still haunts Varamyr.

"he told the spearwife that his name was Haggon. Afterward he wondered why that name had come to his lips, of all those he might have chosen. I ate his heart and drank his blood, and still he haunts me." Prologue ADWD.

A small bit of Roose will live within Ramsay tormenting him in a similar fashion as Haggon with Varamyr.
The unknowns of the Tower of Joy may be revealed by the birth of Mance's son
I see a number of parallels between The Tower of Joy the events of the Wildling Prince.
​

Wildling Prince	Tower of Joy
A woman gives birth	Unknown but theorized
A "Lord" from Winterfell is present	A Lord from Winterfell is present
The man is recently wed to a redhead	The man is recently wed to a redhead
The father of the child is royalty (Mance)	The father of the child is royalty (Rhaegar)
The mother was stolen	The mother was stolen
The mother died afteduring childbirth	The mother died after or during childbirth
A midwife is present	Unknown
A battle rages outside the birthing area	A battle rages outside the birthing area
There is a promise made	There is a promise made
There is a threat made by the "Lord"	Unknown
The child's blood puts them in danger	Unknown for sure but theorized
The baby is sent across the narrow sea with another mother who nurses him	Unknown
The baby is offered a Targaryen name and a nickname related to the condition of birth "Aemon Battleborn" "Aemon Steelsong"	Unknown
A baby swap takes place and the swapped child stays with the man from Winterfell	Unknown

​
The major plot points of the Wildling Prince line up with the known events of the TOJ. If each event is following the same template, then we might be able to fill in some of the unknowns at the TOJ with the confirmed elements of the Wildling Prince. So addressing each in order of unknown.
A birth.
Lyanna's "bed of blood" was in fact a birthing bed. Not really controversial but was mildly ambiguous.
A midwife.
Jon confirms a midwife was present for the Wildling Prince. See Jon X, ASOS. If the beats are the same, we can conclude a midwife was present at the TOJ. Eddard recalls "They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it." Eddard I. A midwife solves the mystery of "they" because everyone else is supposed to be dead.
A threat.
There was a threat made by Jon to force Gilly to take the Wildling Prince. If the beats are the same, Eddard made threats. What they might have been, why he made them, and against whom isn't yet revealed, but as Maester Aemon said "What threats the Lord Commander made, what promises, I can only guess . . . but threats and promises there surely were." Samwell II, AFFC. As more info is provided about the TOJ and the events following it, I theorize we learn Eddard made threats and why.
The child's blood puts them in danger.
Jon states his belief that Melisandre will burn the Wildling Prince if she needs king's blood. Most people theorize the child born at the TOJ will be in danger from Robert. Honestly, Tywin seems the real threat here given he actually ordered the death of two Targaryen children and Eddard saw the proof of that. Either way, the parallel holds.
The baby is sent across the narrow sea.
Here is where things get spicy particularly for those who pray to the night fire of R+L=J which I will state is a very sound theory and may ultimately prove to be true. However, under the template theory, the royal child is sent across the narrow sea by ship as part of the effort to keep the child safe. Jon was never sent across the sea that I could find. So I am open to the idea the child born at the TOJ was sent away by sea. Daenerys was sent from Westeros by ship to the free cities. Just saying.
The baby is given a Targaryen name and a moniker related to the condition of birth.
Gilly suggests naming the Wildling Prince Aemon Steelsong or Aemon Battleborn. The possible matching beat here is Daenerys Stormborn. If Daenerys was the child born at TOJ, storm is very much part of her birth. Eddard and his companions sought to storm the Tower of Joy to rescue Lyanna. Eddard even associates the Tower of Joy with a "storm" of sorts.

"No," Ned said with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death. Eddard X.

Be it the storming of the tower or the storm of roses, George associated TOJ with storm and Daenerys with storm in a way I haven't found with Jon.
If George is writing the TOJ the way Ser Tallad fights or the way Ben Plumm plays Cyvasse, we can guess the baby born at the TOJ was swapped with another, sent across the narrow sea with the mother of another child, and given a Targayen first name with a nickname related to the condition of birth. To my reading, this fits Daenerys Stormborn who was sent across the narrow sea to keep her safe. Who Eddard was still trying to keep safe ("Promise me Ned"). I think Eddard sent her with Ashara who nursed the child as her own. George even offers a hint to a mother child connection between the two.

Even after all these years, Ser Barristan could still recall Ashara's smile, the sound of her laughter. He had only to close his eyes to see her, with her long dark hair tumbling about her shoulders and those haunting purple eyes. Daenerys has the same eyes. Sometimes when the queen looked at him, he felt as if he were looking at Ashara's daughter … The Kingbreaker, ADWD.

Template theory suggests to me Dany was the child born at the TOJ more than Jon. Rhaegar did think his child would fulfill prophecy and Dany has done more with red stars and stone dragons than Jon thusfar. Rheagar was expecting a repeat of Aegon and his sisters. Rheagar was just one daughter away from the past repeating itself. So this is why I am open to Dany being born at the TOJ, but I do not dismiss or discount the R+L=J theory. It is a sound theory based in relevant text.
But what say ye, fine redditors? Does George stroke his pen the same as Ser Tallad does with his swords strokes? Can we readers reliably use completed similar story lines to predict where currently incomplete stories are going? As always, polite disagreement and constructive feedback are always welcome. In part 2 of this series, we will look at Quentyn, his purpose in Winds, and how George did something like this twice before.
TL;DR: George--perhaps without realizing it--is writing several story lines in parallel. By spotting the pattern, we can use finished plots to identify where unresolved plots are going. I applied this theory to story lines involving Ramsay and the TOJ.
Edited for typo and formatting issue.

Today's contestants are:

• Megan, a library assistant, handicaps the Oscars;
• Jesse, an accounting director, had a Disney wedding; and
• Ed, a planning technician, has cookie sheets for excess magnets. Ed is a one-day champ with winnings of $7,999.

Jeopardy!
COASTAL WATERS // FLAG TERMINOLOGY // UP IN THE AIRLINE // NUMERICAL WORDS & PHRASES // OUR RETURNING CHAMPION // A DOCTOR FROM CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
DD1 - $1,000 - OUR RETURNING CHAMPION - This man had the astronomical luck of being honored twice with a New York ticker tape parade, in 1962 & 1998 (Jesse lost $1,000 from his score of $2,600.)
Scores at first break: Ed $2,200, Jesse $1,600, Megan $600.
Scores going into DJ: Ed $5,600, Jesse $2,800, Megan $3,000.
Double Jeopardy!
GALACTIC VACATIONS // SHAKESPEARE & HIS WORLD // EURO COINS // MUSIC OF THE MONTH // POLITICIANS // CROSSWORD CLUES "V"
DD2 - $2,000 - SHAKESPEARE & HIS WORLD - If you were part of this "earthy" group taking in a play at the Globe Theatre, you paid the lowest amount to stand in the pit & watch (Megan dropped $2,000 from her third-place total of $3,400.)
DD3 - $2,000 - POLITICIANS - He talked about being a Vietnam vet, 5-term senator & Secretary of State in the memoir "Every Day is Extra" (Jesse added $4,000 to his score of $5,600 vs. $9,200 for Ed.
Jesse took a small lead over Ed with a correct response on DD3 and managed to hold it into FJ with $14,800 vs. $12,400 for Ed and $6,200 for Megan.
Final Jeopardy!
ASIA - Trained as an engineer, premier Li Peng championed this in 1992; it would ultimately displace over a million people
Everyone was correct on FJ. Jesse added $10,001 to win with $24,801.
Final scores: Ed $14,801, Jesse $24,801, Megan $1,200.
Odds and ends
Numerical no-gos: The players didn't get the number associated with the basic income tax form (1040) or the number of the "Get Smart" agent that also means to get rid of someone (86).
FJ wagering strategy: By betting just $1,200, Megan's only chance to win was if both opponents missed FJ and Ed made a big wagering error (which he did not). The percentage play for Megan would have been to go all-in and hope for the best.
Jeopardy! rule book: The acceptance of "Florence" for a clue about the performer with "the Machine" indicates that if the person's first name only is used in the name of a musical group, and the clue wants the name of that performer, just the first name is enough.
Correct Qs: DD1 - Who was Glenn? DD2 - What are groundlings? DD3 - Who is Kerry? FJ - What is Three Gorges Dam?

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