''My beloved!'' wrote the great philosopher Vind Tr?uble Turf in his tower on 649 to Genny from 656, ''I think of you every day, and my heart races at the thought that we will soon be married. There are people on this map who don''t begrudge us our happiness, but we shouldn''t care about them! And don''t listen to nasty blasphemers, I think you''re the most beautiful girl in the whole world. You don''t have fluttering arms, but a heart big enough to embrace everyone. Forever, your Vind.''


    Then he sealed the letter, tied it to the foot of a dove and sent the bird on its way.


    At the same time, Genny wrote another letter. This one was not sealed, but folded open in the shape of a paper aeroplane. Genny then checked the wind and sent the paper on its way.


    Someone was also waiting in the stable, namely the donkey for Impel, who should have been there long ago with his carrots.


    SGH passed the stable and frowned. ''What are you actually doing here?'' she then asked in irritation, ''aren''t you part of the 652?''


    ''That''s right!'' came a roar from the direction of the 652 clan castle, ''that''s our donkey! He''s in the wrong stable with you! You''re donkey thieves! You stole him from us!''


    ''I didn''t steal anything! I''m surprised myself!'' SGH shouted back.


    ''You''re all gay!'' roared the donkey, ''And that''s why I''m here! Because I''m the only one in this crazy GW who''s straight! And it''s all girls here! You''re almost all men! No wonder you''re all gay! You must be! It''s sheer misery with you!''


    ''More women! We desperately need more women!'' grumbled one of the Thunder brothers at the window of the 652''s clan castle, carefully backing away.


    ''I think it''s nice that you''re here,'' SGH smiled and ran an elegant motion through her long blond hair, ''I like animals! Kitty has a cat, and you''re cute too!''


    The donkey giggled. ''There are more animals on 652, did you know that? Mink is a mink and a dog at the same time. Thunder Cat and Thunder Benexi and Thunder Loki are cats. Candycane has a horse. There are also bears and wolves and a budgie. Oh, and Lipsyte has two squirrels. But I don''t know exactly what he does with them. I don''t think I even want to know. The guy''s gay anyway.''


    ______________________________________________


    Several girls were sitting together in the kitchen of the 656 clan castle, doing what girls like to do when they are among themselves: They were exchanging the latest gossip.


    ''So I don''t know - do you really think the engagement between Genny and Vind will last? It''s a bit like Romeo and Juliet, the two of them come from cities that are actually enemies...''


    ''Well, I think so. Why not? They really love each other! Besides, the cities don''t have to be enemies forever, that can change. And vice versa, too. Did you hear about the war between 649 and 653? They supposedly had an alliance!''


    ''Supposedly, some of the 653 now want to marry into 652!''


    ''No! Really? I thought they hated each other?''


    ''What loves each other, teases each other... oh, and did you hear about the Moorish queen and her Italian lover? Quite a tragic story, I tell you. The Moorish queen had to leave her country and move to a foreign city.''


    ''She''s bound to cry a lot, poor thing!''


    ''Cue it! How is Princess Sara doing? What''s happened to her?''


    ''Genny is always being compared to Princess Sara, but I don''t know... and don''t you think the donkey has a chance with Genny? Ghost is probably trying to get her too... that''s soooo romantic!''


    In the middle of the little gossip session, a loud horn sounded from outside. SGH stuck her head out of the window curiously. There was a smart little sports car outside and a guy in an incredibly bad fancy dress disguise, which was supposed to represent a Japanese man, was sitting in it. There was no mistaking who he really was.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ''Oh, hello Marzzzz. How are you?'' SGH greeted the supposed Japanese man in a friendly manner.


    ''I''m not Marzzzz! I''m a Japanese from the [bw8] clan. Look, I cheekily drove right up to your territory. Aren''t you going to attack me? I''m small and can''t defend myself!''


    Marzzz giggled wildly and then tried desperately to hold on to the slipping samurai braid and the plastic sword.


    ''Oh Marzzzz, you''re cute. Look, we''ve known you for so long... we know it''s you.''


    ''I''m not Marzzzz, damn it! Look, now I''m pinging against your garden fence. Come on, you can''t put up with this!''


    ''Iiiiiieeeeeeh!'' all the girls screamed in horror and averted their eyes, ''Put that away, we don''t want to see it!''


    ''You''re gay!'' roared the donkey from the stable, ''Besides, you stink and you''re ugly! Get the fuck out of here!''


    ''I''m not Marzzzz,'' the man addressed shouted desperately, ''I''m a fast driver. Look what a nice little sports car I''ve got!'' And he jumped into the driver''s seat and wiggled his bum. The plastic sword fell off his back for good and the wig slipped over his face.


    ''All right, Marzzzz!'' the girls shouted cheerfully, ''Just come back tomorrow, okay? We''ll give you a piece of cake too. But only if you stop peeing against the fence.''


    ''Isn''t anyone going to attack me?'' whined Marzzzz, ''You''re really mean, you know that? I''ll report this to the R5 of [bw8]! He''ll come and have another sit-down strike in your hive until you attack me!''


    He jumped back into the driver''s seat angrily and sped off in his little sports car. The fallen plastic sword remained on the garden fence.


    _____________________________________________


    In the clan castle of the 652, Yikesy had had time to mix a cake batter for the first time. A friend had left her the recipe. Yikesy greatly appreciated this profitable exchange. Now she opened the oven for the first time and was astonished. There was a pink letter in the middle of the baking tray. ''For Elsa'' was written on it in beautifully curved handwriting.


    Yikesy thought about it. No one had ever used the oven before. It was completely illusory that any of the Thunder blokes would even think of making themselves useful in the household in any way. Consequently, nobody had opened the oven since the conquest of the castle. So the letter must have been written by someone from the 656 and left here on purpose. Whoever had left this letter here had therefore been sure that it would be found by the right person - someone trustworthy enough to hand it over reliably.


    Yikesy took the letter and tucked it under her blouse. She would give it to Elsa the next time she saw her.


    ____________________________________________


    Impel couldn''t believe it. With the bottle in her hand, she ran into the kitchen of the clan castle.


    ''Look at that! Here we go again! Another message in a bottle! The river has washed it up!''


    ''Haven''t we had this before?'' asked Genny in amazement, ''and isn''t this the same bottle anyway?''


    ''It looks exactly the same!'' muttered Impel, pulling the note out of the bottle. Then her eyes filled with tears. ''Look - there are already two of them! I''m telling you, we should have helped him back then! Now there are already two victims, and that''s only because you refused to free the first one!''


    She stormed out of the kitchen in tears because she wasn''t allowed to help.


    Genny took the note from the table and read it: ''HELP! Yikesy is bullying me. Thunder Dude.'' And underneath, someone had added: ''Me too. Thunder Mink.''


    Genny smiled. Sometimes, you wouldn''t think it possible, there was such a thing as higher justice. She took a knife from the kitchen shelf and rammed the note with the knife into the wall next to the cooker.


    _____________________________________________


    Lady Evelyne sat at the table in the hall and dealt with the post. As usual, she had pre-sorted everything into several large piles and was now busily answering everything.


    Genny, who entered the hall, looked curiously at the piles of letters. ''Is it all poaching again?''


    ''No, this time it''s fan mail! From the readers. Some want me to give them a role in my novel. Others don''t want me to give them a role in my novel. This pile is from those who want me to stop giving them roles in every chapter immediately or they''ll attack me. They want a cease and desist letter because they don''t think I have permission to just turn them into literary characters because they never willingly gave their consent to do so. Oh, and two players want to kill me. At least they''re announcing it.''


    ''And the last batch?''


    ''Oh, it''s from the 652. It''s thank-you letters from people who actually wanted to stop playing the game because they found it boring and stupid. They write to tell me that thanks to me and the daily chapters, they''re enjoying the game again and will continue.''


    Genny put her hands on her hips and shouted: ''Tell me, could it be that you''re actually playing for the enemy? There''s no such thing! Nobody stops playing over there because of you? I can''t believe it!''


    The lady sighed. ''You know, some things can''t be prevented. In that sense, it''s just collateral damage. You have to go through it.''


    _____________________________________________


    Kodaxx sat in his room in the tower of the clan castle and read. He loved reading, and the fleeing Clan 656 had kindly left him a whole bookshelf full of really good literature. The window was wide open, the sun was shining in and the first winds of spring had sprung up. For once, it didn''t stink, but smelled of freshly blossoming life. Kodaxx had just taken a new book from the shelf when something suddenly flew in through the window. At first he thought it was a stray bird, but then he realised that it was a paper aeroplane.


    Surprised, he unfolded the paper.


    ''Thank you for what you did for Little Miss,'' it said simply.


    Kodaxx smiled softly and put the letter in his breast pocket.


    The sun painted golden circles on the ground.