The afternoon was growing old and it was finally time for Dabbles to visit his friend in the Shrine of Jvan.

'Shrine' was not an accurate term, of course. 'Studio' or 'Sculptor Den' would be more accurate, given that the structure paid no homage to Jvan whatsoever. There was an academy under construction on the waterfront that may yet be more suitable for the dedication, but the two served an entirely different purpose. For one, the academy was to be well-policed, and Sculptors would never be in charge.

The shrine, on the other hand, had been built early on, and was positioned outside city walls, in the jungle, well away from anything that could potentially be defaced and/or burned down. Allowing wild Sculptor activity to concentrate unchecked in anything other than a bunker tends to be a public safety hazard, and as such Alefpria's growing array of bureaucrats had been more than willing to make this concession, largely on account of the fact that they weren't idiots.

Their precautions may have saved Alefpria much pain. The sturdy stone building was a plasma-charred ruin now. Not, of course, that the Sculptors had cared.

"Hello, Snorple!" said Dabbles to an aardvark snuffling around the jungle regrowth.

[i]Ting ting,[/i] rang the bell on Snorple's neck as she looked up. [i]Ting-a-ling-a-ling.[/i]

There was no door. Dabbles stepped into the mushrooms and shade. "Hello, Ulagoo, hello, Stiddleficks," said Dabbles to the pigeons softly churring in their coop. "Hello, Oppini- Oh." He peered around and was met with stillness. "I guess she already harvested you."

Humming a little tune, Dabbles slipped under a fallen slab of masonry and pulled up a disguised hatch, letting himself fall into true darkness.

Finger-smears of bioluminescent microbes marked the walls of the basement, and its center was lit by a small lamp, a flickering glow that did not reach the edges of the table on which it stood. "Hello, scientist!" said Dabbles to a creature with long golden fur like a gibbon braided with many charms.

The Sculptor took a guttural, rasping breath in his direction. 

"That so? Fascinating! I've always known I could rely on you, my dear."

Obsidian clicked as one of her thirteen prehensile tails set down the knife it had been carrying, and picked up the lamp. She followed Dabbles to where he stood expectantly facing the naked woman shackled to the wall.

"Hello, subject!" said Dabbles to the starving figure between the skeleton and the gouge-blinded goat.

She stared at him through bloodshot eyes and dilated pupils with a kind of calm, impotent violence. A vein hopped visibly in her neck as Dabbles leaned in to where his friend had removed the left breast from collarbone to final rib, sealing the flesh with a diaphonised film of fish skin. For a moment he listened to the sound of her heart kicking at two hundred beats a minute. Through the transparent membrane, Dabbles could just make out embryonic tentacles, and domed head of the Sweetheart baby she was incubating.

"Hello, child," whispered Dabbles gently. "I think I'll call you... Hollytop." The foetus squirmed, as if in answer, and the woman's eyes rolled back in her sockets as the oxygen flow to her brain was interrupted. Dabbles's friend pried open her mouth and put a little scrap of Oppini's sweetmeat on her tongue with a spatula. She would not last much longer. "Outstanding," continued Dabbles as he watched. "Simply outstanding."

He turned away from the subject, reaching into his cloaks, and pulled out a second purse. A pile of gold jangled onto the table. He shook the bag to make sure it was emptied. "You may contact me in the usual way if you require more funds before our next appointment, of course. I've been teaching others in Lifprasil's court the delights of post and pigeonry, so they shan't think anything strange of our little messengers."

The grim physician nodded towards her friend with wide ape-like eyes, tails swishing gently from her upper back.

"Goodbye, scientist!" said Dabbles.

[i]~Goodbye, Dabbles[/i] said the telepathic voice of his friend.

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At last Dabbles returned for the evening inspection, all tired out from his long day. What an exciting time he had had!

"Hello, Himpledonk!" he said as he picked up his loyal pigeon. "Say, what manner of mischief have you been up to while I was out?"

"Coo-oo-roo," said Himpledonk conspiratorially.

"Really? Why, I rather doubt that, dear. You thought you could fool me, did you?"

"Coo" said Himpledonk.

"Well, I'm sure you had fun. My! Am I ready for bed-time!"

And so, when he finished his duties, Dabbles curled up on his hammock, thinking happily about all the things he had seen and the friends he had made. [i]I do wonder what marvelous things I shall see to-morrow![/i]

Before long, he was fast asleep.