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Panakeia watched from behind as Sai collided with Alli. A stifled laugh escaped her lips as the girl toppled to the ground. Good. That silly child seems a bit full of herself. That'll take some of the wind out of her sails. Panakeia doubled her pace, struggling to make her way through the crowd. She reached an intersection where an Orc, dressed in full crossing guard regalia, stood directing the heavy rush-hour traffic. He held up his clawed hand as a signal to stop. But he unfortunately failed to notice a pick-up truck attempting to turn against traffic while he stopped the pedestrians. It smashed into one of Lūndūn's ubiquitious yellow PT cruisers. The Orcs immediately exited their automobiles and proceeded to scream at each other in a fit of road rage. They were, of course, quickly joined by all of the other drivers in view. The crossing-guard pulled out his whistle began to blow, bringing in several other uniformed guards. Rather than breaking up the chaos that had erupted, they pulled out several copies of the Lūndūn Traffic Manual to find the proper regulation for dealing with accidents complicated by non-involved angry drivers to determine the proper fines to levy.
Panakeia hurried into the now stopped traffic in the street, trying to avoid the fray. Weaving between the abandoned cars, she made her way to the other side of the street. Congratulating herself on escaping the melee, she was about to head off in the direction she had seen Alli and Sai moving toward when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to face an enormous uniformed Orc. His badge read Lūndūn Traffic Safety Division.
"I beg your pardon, madam. It is my most humble obligation to inform you that you are in violation of Section 5.2 of the Lūndūn Traffic Manual. To whit, or perhaps to most, you have crossed the main thoroughfare improperly, and must therefore pay a penalty of 1 Troll. Or, if it does not please you to most graciously comply with my request, I shall be forced to place you under arrest."
Panakeia's face turned bright red. She sputtered. "This is ridiculous!" But she handed over the Troll.
"Thank you." The Orc deposited the Troll in a box marked "Paid" and handed Panakeia a receipt. As he turned and walked back into the crowd, he called out "Have a nice day, and remember, a frown is just a smile turned upside down." Panakeia gaped at the Orc. Could he possibly be any more absurd?
The scene over, Panakeia scanned the crowd ahead for Alli and Sai. But she had lost them. She would have to think of something else.
****
Panakeia wandered the streets of Lūndūn, hoping to find some way of reaching her destination. She was hopelessly lost in the City's endless labyrinth of alleyways, streets and snarling lines of cars. She stumbled over a grating in the sidewalk, breaking off the heel of her shoe. The heel dropped far below into the darkness. A strange roar came from the chasm, followed by the fading blare of a train whistle. At last she had found something! Here was part of the vast BliddyUnnerground, legendary for delayed travel and hopelessly confusing routes that never seemed to end. As bad as the BU was reputed to be, it had to be better than wandering through Lūndūn without a guide. Whirling on her broken shoe, Panakeia searched for the entrance. And there it was, just a few blocks ahead, a set of forbiddingly littered and cracked concrete steps descending far below the pavement. A black sign, hanging crookedly from its post above the steps proclaimed Rūt's Lip Garden Station in faded red letters. Doesn't look much like a garden to me, she thought to herself, unless it's trash they're growing.
Taking a deep breath, Panakeia limped off to the station entrance and vanished into the darkness of the gaping portal.
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