From: hilanse@wkuvx1.bitnet
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: Wonko: You're A Vegetarian, Too?
Message-ID: <1993Mar8.212957.6267@wkuvx1.bitnet>
Date: 8 Mar 93 21:29:57 CST

	After dressing the wound on her forehead and covering her with
a blanket, Wonko stop thinking deep thoughts and began to concentrate
on the task at hand, he was hungry and, if he was correct, she would
be, too. Wonko built a fire and set up his cooking apparatus, a pot
suspended over the fire on a tripod of bars of iron. He poured it full
of water and waited for it to boil. He had just tossed the egg noodles
into the pot when he heard her stir.

	Wonko walked to the cot and sat down beside her, ready for any
violence that might ensue. She opened her eyes and looked at him
quizzically. "Who are you?",she asked,"What are you doing?, Where am I?"
Argh, he thought, not amnesia. "I'm Wonko, and you are in my camp, and
I am about to feed you dinner.", he said. She closed her eyes again,
"Wonko...", quietly, "Wonko...". "Yes, I'm Wonko, and you are
Athorbalo.", he hated the effects of amnesia. "WONKO!", she struggled
and tried to get off of the cot, her hands grasping at her belt for
lost weapons. Wonko sat on her stomach, knocking the breath out of
her, then sat down on the edge of the cot again,"I'm sorry, I didn't
want to do that." She coughed violently, gasping for air,
"Ruh-ruhlease me. {hack hack koff koff}" "Why do you persist in trying
to hurt someone who only wants to help you?", he asked. "Help me?",
she almost yelled, "The only helping you've done is to put me under
the suspicion of my associates, and jeopardize my life!" Wonko thought
about this for a moment when he heard the pot boiling and the hiss of
the fire as the water bubbled over. She was still doubled over in the
bed, he poured a plastic bag of egg noodles into the pot, dumping
dried milk, butter, and seasoning, he covered it and returned to her
side where she had recovered enough to sit up. 

	"I didn't realize that I had jeopardized anything, I just
wanted to tell you that a Rakshasa isn't exactly the sort of associate
you want to be making deals with. They're demons, and even though you
can work out deals to your advantage with them occasionally, they
almost always return to retrieve their net loss, your soul.", Wonko
smiled at her hopefully. She scowled, "I can handle myself, and
Rakshasas for that matter." "Ahh, then you've dealt with vengeful
ancient Indian spirits before, I see.", he replied sarcastically. She
looked confused for a second and then bared her teeth, "Why are you
keeping me here?" "Because I'm going to feed you, then I'm going to
let you go, you were hurt from the explosion, so I brought you here to
recover.", he smiled. 

	Wonko stood and walked to the pot again, looking into it and
stirring. "Do you like stroganoff?", he asked her. She looked back at
him, dumbfounded, then regained her composure, "Not if you've already
put meat into it." "My dear lady, I hadn't even begun to think about
murdering one of our furry friends, chopping her up and cooking her
until she was medium well, then dumping her remains into our dinner,"
Wonko grinned, tipping his hat, "You must think me a barbarian." This
earned an almost grin from her. Wonko dumped the noodles into a large
bowl and retrieved two forks from his pack, setting it in front of
her. "Care for dinner?", he asked. She smiled this time, "I didn't
know you were a vegetarian..." Wonko thought that maybe it wasn't such
a bad evening after all.

101 Uses For A Displaced Viking
(C)1993 Rover There Publishing
--Doesn't a contradiction in your belief 
  mean that it is wrong?
---It would if I trusted myself. Since I 
   don't I can hold many beliefs at once,
   all contradictory, and still be 
   faithful to my religion.
--Don't most religions require that you
  trust your judgement?
---If I did that, then how could I trust 
   anyone else?