It was early evening when Frieda arrived at the Ballroom for the evening's gala. She had spent all day shopping the various boutiques and shops in the Domed city, and had spent her entire collection of Tokens from the last three evening's dances on a new wardrobe at the Menagerie, having purchased at least one of every item for her friends and a few things for herself.

Weldon escorted her to the dance floor and had the first dance with her, a slow and romantic waltz and he was in fine form. At the last chord, he gave her a twirl, then a dip and gave her a deep and passionate kiss during the applause. They retired to the Lounge for a drink and a few snacks before Frieda returned to the dance floor hoping to join her friends for an evening of music and gossip.

Weldon returned to his table that overlooked the ballroom floor so that he could keep his eye on his lovely mate and at the same time host a game of high stakes poker, a few drinks and his pipe.

After a couple of hours of dancing, Frieda joins her mate at his table and is not surprised to see that he is doing quite well for himself. She is surprised to see Calvin Blackmoon sitting across the table from him, Blackmoon and Weldon are not fond of each other in the least, in fact, the evil warmonger isn't fond of any of Frieda's friends or family, especially her cousin Sparky. There is no love lost between him and Frieda either, since she once slapped him nearly unconscious the first year she lived in Subeta. But she was just an adolescent and full of a hormone back then...she wouldn't behave in such a childish manner now, she would simply knock his teeth down his throat and dismiss with histrionics.

"All in Weasel! I think you're bluffing." Calvin pushed his stack of chips to the center of the table and waited for Weldon to make his move.

Weldon saw Frieda enter, held up his paw and asked for a pause as he turned and kissed his mate and bid her to order him a drink. He patted her rump as she turned and flicked her tail, a move calculated to drive him to distraction. He regained his composure, signaled the dealer he was ready and laid down his cards. "I believe it is my decision then." He nodded at Blackmoon and smiled a knowing smile. "You always think I am bluffing Calvin. Have you never learned, in all these years that we have been doing this? I never bluff." He pushed his substantial pile of chips into the center of the pile. "I call."

Calvin stood with his hand on the hilt of his sword as he threw down his cards. "Straight Flush, Jack high. Beat that Weasel. The best hand you've had all night was a full house kings over nines. You forget too Colonel, I have memory like an elephant."

Weldon stood with his paw on the hilt of his rapier and laid out his cards one by one. "10 of clubs, Jack of clubs, Queen of clubs, King of Clubs, Ace of clubs." There was a gasp from the crowd that had gathered to witness the undoing of one of these mighty cardsharks. 'A royal Straight Flush! Unheard of! Well Played!'

Blackmoon instinctively drew out his sword, but realizing where he was and in whose company he was in quickly lowered the sword onto the table. But he was seething. "I don't konw how you do it Weasel. You manage to beat me every time and yet everybody knows my system is unbeatable."

Weldon kept his sword sheathed but stood his ground, lest Calvin get a drop on him. He stared straight into Blackmoon's eyes and said cooly and calmly, "What you fail to remember with your gigantic elephant brain is that I have eidedic memory, I not only remember the cards, the bets, the hands, but I can count your heart beat, your breathing rate, your alcohol consumption, the number of drops of sweat dripping off your nose, the number of times you scratched yourself and the number of times you looked at your cards, the number of times you fiddled with your chips, the rate at which you fiddled with them and I can tell you how many times you farted, for each and every hand. And now I know that you use a system, and that is illegal in every venue here in Atebus and Subeta. Thanks for over sharing."

Calvin Blackmoon sheathed his sword with a 'snick', grabbed his cape, turned to leave in anger, paused and regained his composure. "Till next year, Colonel? Only watch out, I've got your number now." He flashed a disingenuous toothy grin and a 'princess wave' to the crowd before he turned and stormed out of the lounge.

Frieda came to Weldon's side, put her paw through his arm and kissed his cheek. "The Clinic will certainly make payroll for another year it seems. Once again, Blackmoon Industries is financing our clinic one way or another. I wonder if he even knows where his losses end up?"

"Your take is 20 Billion sP this year Lieutenant Colonel. Shall I have it posted to your account, or Lady Frieda's Clinic Account?" asked the Lounge Banker.

"The Ballroom and Lounge get 20% to go toward continued historic preservation. See to it that the staff share a 20% gratuity. The rest goes to Lady Frieda's Clinic Account." He took two million sP chips from the table and gave one to the banker and one to the dealer. "Thanks for your help, it was a fun evening."

As the crowd and service staff disperse, Frieda and Weldon move to a quiet corner of the lounge and sit on one of the divans where Frieda cuddles up on Weldon's lap. She leans in for a long kiss and his paw strays down to her rump. She flicks her tail up and into their faces, giggles then pets his face with her paw, "Weldon Christopher Saint George, you old flirt. Who said you could pet my rump in public?"

Weldon laughs and makes a show of pawing at her rump with one paw then the other, touching her chest and tickling her ribs. "My dear, whatever are you talking about? I am a Watcher, sworn to protect you from such cads. You mean to say that some scoundrel has managed to--gasp--touch the royal tushie? Horrors!"

He has one claw hooked on the front of her blouse and is about to pull it open and take a peek when there is the unmistakable sound of somebody clearing their throat. Frieda turns around quickly to see who it is, pulling her blouse away from her chest, nearly causing a wardrobe failure.

Standing around them is Sparky and his retinue of Frieda's friends, Madison, Li Li, and Merril. Li Li and Merril are scandalized with their paws over their snoots stifling their gasps of horror, but Maddy is giggling with her paws wrapped around her middle, trying not to be too loud. Sparky just smiles. "My darling little Cousin, do not be embarrassed, there isn't a male in our tribe who wouldn't love to know what's under that blouse. It just so happens that the good Colonel has a license to have a look and nobody blames him for taking a moment to investigate."

Frieda isn't embarrassed, after all, she is the one most likely to strip completely naked and swim for fish in public fountain in downtown Centropolis, something she did often enough as an adolescent that the City Police had to put a female officer on patrol downtown when Frieda's fighter craft was reported to be hangered in town. Still, being caught by her friends while snogging with her mate was a little awkward. She eased over onto the divan next to him and invited her friends to join them.

She looked over at Sparky, "Cousin, you mentioned this morning that you were here on business. Are you at liberty to say what that mission is here and now?"

Sparky sat up, adjusted his coat and cleared his throat. "Yes. But this is strickly hush hush. A total Need To Know secret. You must swear on a stack of brand new Bibles that you won't tell a soul."

All of Sparky's listeners are on the edge of their seats, nodding their heads up and down, agreeing to keep his words a total secret.

"Well then, here goes. Now it's kind of a long story to get to the secret part, but it is all very important.

Let me start by telling you about Sally, my mate. You all know her very well, she is easily the most stunningly beautiful weasel of our tribe, not to say you aren't Weldon, or you either Lady Frieda. Simply put, Sally is most beloved by everybody not only because of her beauty, but because she is such a good friend and a comfort to those in our community. She has worked in the Inn for years now, serving meals to paying customers, and providing nourishment to those who cannot pay. Remember when she went on a campaign after the Civil War, gathered food for the starving enemy soldiers, and got everybody organized into helping feed our captives and the wounded in the field hospitals? That's how much love she has in her heart.

But it wasn't always so. Oh yes, that's right. There was a time when Sally was alone, scared, naked and feral. When she came to Glen Meadow, or I should say, when she was discovered in Glen Meadow foraging in the garbage bin behind the Skunk and Stoat, she was a little matted furball of anger, teeth and claws with no memory of her past and barely able to communicate.

Sparky continued "Sally was sick, dirty and a real mess, but Mrs. and Mr. Otter took her in, loved her, cleaned her up and taught her some skills in the kitchen. It was shortly after that that I met her. Boy, what I knew about girls was not a lot in those days. I really made a hash of trying to get to know her. But I knew the day I met her that she was the one I wanted to marry. Trouble was, it is the females in our tribe who chose. I had to win her over so that she would chose me. Little did I know that she was so very insecure of herself, that she didn't feel worthy of love. That was a lesson she had to learn on her own.

As it turned out, one of the things that kept her from opening up was that she couldn't read. All youngsters learn their letters and can read before they go to school, but Sally never went to school, she had been all alone almost from the day she left her nest as a youngster. She couldn't read even after we were married, and it really bothered her.

Little did we know, but Sally has secretly taught herself to read over the last two years. She started by looking at all the recipes in the kitchen where she has been working. She has been making the recipes by rote from Mrs. Otter, but she started taking what she knew and applying it to what she could figure out on the recipe cards.

In the process, not only has Sally learned to read, but she has also learned the entire library of standard recipes in order to take and pass her Journey Level I exam. My Mother is a Journey Level III baker and can administer the written and practical exam and last week, she compelled Sally to give it a try.

So, here's the secret Mission...When Sally arrives on Wednesday, the Master of Ceremonies will be presenting to her her Badge, her sword and her certificate. She has no idea that she has passed.

Good Night My Loves! I'm too tired to dance any more. Weldon and I are going to go get a little night cap and if he can control himself, I will feign that I fell asleep in my soup so that he has to carry me off to bed. I will even let him put me in my nightgown for me....giggle.