And so, all is revealed. Espresso is the culprit once again. Fortuitously, the ample straightaways along the Echalona Cliffs just south of Zhiana provided enough tarmac for Murray to keep the hammer down and brew up a phenomenal eight shots of merkur, a personal record for which he takes no small measure of pride. Yet with each such success, ambition comes a-callin’… suggesting that perhaps he has not yet reached the apex of his multitasking barristabilities.

Wayne, for his part, reacts with understandable apprehension about the absence of Murray’s hands on the ten-and-two, but soon finds road weariness has sapped his ability to maintain a righteous indignation.

Shout out and much obliged to my 3-year-old, who created the name Echalona. *proud papa*

Is there a thin line between wisdom and madness? Or is it more like a… a cheesecloth of sorts, which allows the curds of wisdom to… err… I don’t even know what I’m typing about here. But I continue to type, undaunted. Maybe I’m getting some kind of contact high from Murray’s caffeine-fueled exultation. One wonders what Wayne will do. Will he chance to take a sip from the dragon’s jewel-encrusted chalice? Perhaps. Or perhaps the next page will be a small picture of Wayne’s face in the corner, surrounded by a massive text balloon lecture on his views on the virtues of temperance.

Merkur – prescription caffeine hyperconcentrate in the form of a viscous silver gel, typically brewed and served as espresso. See page 17 for a bit of background on this illicit substance.

Kuranai – the proper name of the alligator-like humans, of whom Wayne is one.

AAAAAAHHAAAAA!!! – expression of unfettered, utterly carefree exultation by one at the apex of a major caffeine bender.

Wayne carefully considers the opportunity to try merkur espresso hyperconcentrate in light of the apparent effect it has on Murray. The life of one bigrig helmsman, laid bare for all to see in stark black and white. The grotty details of a life enmeshed in diesel fumes and the fleeting crema of a brew so potent that it somehow makes sense to indulge in a bit of hat brim licking. Say what you will, you won’t find this sort of action in any other published work – maybe for the best.

Taoruon, like the toasts of many cultures, is a wish for health and happiness. Perhaps realizing that Wayne might have felt slighted that Murray left his seat while Wayne was telling his story, Murray hastens to note, in his own dubiously folksy way, that he heard it all even while he was pulling the espresso shots.

I realized years ago that many people from other parts of the country have this expectation that I, as a Southerner, should constantly be speaking in these folksy ways, coming up with witty metaphorical turns of phrases. A co-worker once demanded that I come up with some kind of ‘Southern’ way to describe how hot a day it was. It’s not really something that I practice in my way of reflecting on things and phrasing them, but there definitely are people who devote a good amount of time and effort to just this sort of culturally-specific idiom-making. (Then a whole bunch of other people repeat it until it becomes stale.) Some take it to almost a saccharine extreme and go the route of pun contest contenders or country-pop music songwriters. Me, my thought processes are so abstracted and they’re translated to language so slowly, things I think are funny are generally regarded as non sequiturs. My wit’s ’bout as quick as a melting quart of molasses ice cream. See? I can’t really do it. Murray can though.

The training among the Kuranai is intended to develop musicians to the point that they can exceed normal human limitations (hence Wayne’s references to “real music” and “making things happen”). Musical mentorship among the Kuranai is an orthodox system in which each child is assigned a jurai sonsuraiun, who not only teaches them but raises them. If anything happens to the sonsuraiun, it’s interpreted as fate and the child won’t get another one. They’ll also be generally shunned by other trained Kuranai musicians, although it’s still relatively easy to find Kuranai outside the orthodoxy and musicians of other cultures to learn from and play with in various settings.

The Biotech Trade Council is an Ansimh-based consortium formed by the corporations Biotech Superium, Control Science, Betterlife Group, and Genesys, all of whom are involved in developing products and services related to genetic modification. The BTC specifically was formed to craft legislation to facilitate prosperity by identifying and eliminating barriers to optimal trade. Jeez, it feels like I’m writing their press release here! That’s how they would phrase it, anyway. The BTC is also a proud sponsor of the annual Fromage Festival in Eunil that everyone is headed toward. And they’re the driving force behind the embargo that Shinma has been held under for the past two decades. Sponsorship of the Fromage Festival is supposed to make up for that little detail.

Wayne recalls his reasons for seeking an apprenticeship at a henchberry orchard in Ruma. Part of the cultivation of henchberries involves playing percussive rhythms near them, hence the drumkit Wayne has set up in that center montage panel.

Wayne recounts his experiences trying to contact a rumored resistance organization that might have information about the whereabouts of Fal and Cedzik, the two people who spirited him away from the Grady Orchard many years ago before it was burned down by Silnai Domestic Security.