The Left Dave is the Right Dave, as opposed to the Right Dave, who is the Wrong Dave

Mi pointed a finger at one Dave, then the other, did a quick game of Eine-meanie in her head and emerged pointing at the Dave on the left. “You,” she said, “come with me.”

The Dave on the left stepped forward towards her. The Dave on the right didn’t say anything, just looked at her expectantly. “You can go,” Mi had to clarify, “I only need one of you.” Immediately, a pair of guards descended upon the Dave on the right and dragged him away back to his cell. I really hope I got the right one, Mi thought to herself.

The chosen Dave followed Mi Iau all the way out of the prison, closely supervised by more guards. “Listen, I don’t know how well I’ll be able to perform anymore,” Dave said as they walked. “I’ve already been picked twice today, by the guards. All I can say is I’ll do my best. The spirit is willing, don’t get me wrong, but the flesh is spongy and bruised…”

“I’m not interested in fucking you,” Mi explained, “that’s not why I’m here.”

“…Oh.” Dave was simultaneously overcome with disappointment and relief. “Why single me out then?”

“You’ll see,” Mi said, as they left the building to find Mi’s horse still waiting outside the gates. “Get on,” Mi ordered, “there’s someone who’s waiting to see you. If you’ve been riling yourself up for sex, I’d recommend getting yourself out of that mindset as soon as possible- it might make things awkward for who you’re about to meet.” Intrigued, Dave climbed onto the saddle behind her.

Meanwhile, Tally had just finished explaining to Quelm and Sarah about Brim’s existence. Currently, they were both looking at him in the pitying, sympathetic way of someone who was merely humoring a hopelessly delusional person. Tally got some variant of this look almost every time he tried to explain about this ghost that only he could see or interact with. Even Brim herself was joining in, mimicking their looks of disbelief, tutting and shaking her head.

“Hey,” Quelm’s vision snapped up to look over Tally’s shoulder. “Looks like the general’s on her way back, she has someone else on the horse with her.”

“Dave!” Sarah clasped her hands together in gracious delight.

It took a minute or two for Mi to close the distance, and then she brought her horse to a halt. “Recognize anyone here?” Mi smiled confidently, gesturing towards Tally, Sarah, and Quelm.

“…Nope,” Dave replied. Mi frowned. “Are you sure? Even the one in the middle?”

“…No,” Dave said again.

“The old lady?”

“I don’t know her.”

“That’s not Dave,” Sarah confirmed. “Who are you, young man?”

“I’m Dave.”

“Dave?”

“Yes, Dave.”

“But not my Dave.”

“I suppose not. You have a Dave?”

“Yes, a grandson named Dave.”

“I’m not that Dave.”

“So I can gather, Dave.”

“Alright, alright!” Mi held up her hands for silence. “I can see I made a mistake. Sorry, Dave, it looks like I rescued the wrong person, I was looking for someone else. I’ll just take you back to your cell…”

“Whoa, hold on, wait!” There were protests from Dave, Tally, and Sarah all at once. Quelm raised no objection.

“You can’t just rescue me, and then put me back!” Dave pleaded.

“We don’t have the resources to add two more people to our party,” Mi explained diplomatically. “It’s between you and the other Dave, and I already promised to rescue the other one.”

“Just let me go on my own, then,” Dave reasoned. “I’ll take my chances on foot if I have to. That place is exhausting, I can’t go back.”

Mi sighed, and looked to Tally for orders. Tally nodded energetically. “Alright,” Mi conceded, and helped Dave get down from the horse so Quelm could come over and undo the binds on his wrists. Even though Dave wasn’t asking for any help, Tally decided to give him one of the canteens of water Quelm had packed, to give him a head start on his bid for freedom.

“Thank you, whoever you people are,” Dave said as he took it. Without another word, he sprinted away as fast as his legs could carry him, emitting a long victorious ‘woooooooop’ which receded with him into the distance. He didn’t much care where he was headed, as long as it was away from here.

Fifteen minutes later, Mi was back again from her second attempt at rescuing Dave, and this time he and Sarah recognized each other. “Is that my Grandmother?!” Dave said, shocked. “Yep,” Mi nodded, internally punching the air that she got it right this time. Sarah hobbled up to greet them, and as soon as her grandson got off the horse, they embraced in a tight hug.

“Mission accomplished, then?” Mi asked, and didn't wait for a reply. “Excellent. Quelm, go find your horse, it’s high time us and Tally got going.”

“Wait, hold on a minute,” Sarah said, breaking away from her embrace with Dave. “You’re not just going to leave us out here, are you? What are we supposed to do? We’re in the middle of nowhere, and it’s not safe to go home.”

“Not safe to go home?” Mi repeated, confused.

“…Because your people have invaded our homes,” Sarah had to remind her.

Mi, from atop her steed, and Quelm, who was leading hers back by the bridle, both looked at Tally to tell them what to do. Tally could tell from Mi’s facial expression that she would rather just leave them to fend for themselves: she saw all this as getting in the way of the bigger picture. Quelm, on the other hand, perhaps felt some responsibility for **** Sarah, and looked a little more sympathetic to their cause.

Brim, Tally thought in his mind, I’m stumped on this one. What do we do?

Brim suddenly popped into existence in front of Tally with her arms folded. “You were the one who insisted we mount this rescue, didn’t you think it through?” she teased. “If you want my opinion, if Sarah and Dave over here are going to have a fighting chance, they’re going to need someone to protect them.”

Who? Tally throught. Brim raised an eyebrow, then pointed at Mi and Quelm. Tally’s face fell.

“Dunno what else to tell you,” Brim shrugged, “that’s my best idea.”

“Okay, Quelm,” Tally reluctantly decided, “How about I make it your job to see these two to safety?”

Quelm looked surprised. “Me? With them? But, what about you? You need all the help you can get.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Tally assured her, “it’s very easy for me to make new allies, after all. You wanted to keep human beings as pets, right?”

“You what?” Dave interjected. “We’ll explain later,” Sarah shushed him.

“Well,” Tally continued, “now is your chance to take care of a couple of them. Take Sarah and Dave to safety, somewhere deep on the human side of your frontier where your forces won’t reach for a long time. Hopefully never, if I can stop them.”

Quelm looked at Dave and Sarah, thinking. “I’d say you do owe it to me to give something back, after keeping me locked in a cage for weeks,” Sarah snapped at her. Quelm gave a guilty little smile.

“Okay,” Quelm agreed, “if that’s what you want me to do, I’ll do it. But what do I do after that? I want to keep fighting for your cause somehow.”

“You could join the humans,” Tally suggested. “I bet you’d be a great asset, someone who knows the enemy.”

“Ooh, I could do that,” Quelm said, a little more enthusiastically, “warfare is more my style.” She took a deep breath. “Okay then, so first I deliver these two humans to safety, and then I volunteer myself to join their resistance effort?”

“Exactly,” said Tally. “I’m sure Sarah and Dave will be able to help vouch for you being friendly.”

“We will,” Sarah nodded. Dave just looked confused.

So, Quelm separated the supplies into two sets, leaving most of the essentials for Tally and Mi, but keeping her own personal belongings. “I’m glad to have met you, Tally, even if only for a couple hours,” Quelm said. “You’ve changed my mind about a lot of things. Literally.”

“You have been a great help,” Tally said, provoking a glowing smile from Quelm. He turned around to Mi. “Shall we get going?”

As Mi and Tally began to ride away, Tally overheard the beginnings of Quelm declaring herself as guardian to Sarah and Dave, before her voice faded away.

“I don’t know why you did that,” Mi said, “Now I’m your only soldier again. Was it really worth losing her just so she could take care of a couple worthless humans?”

“Ah, but that’s the thing,” Tally said, “I don’t think humans are worthless at all. That’s something you still need to grasp, apparently.”

“Maybe I do,” Mi agreed. “But in my defense, today has been a lot to take in. When I woke up this morning, I never expected I’d be sabotaging my own invasion for a man I’ve only just met and an invisible ghost.”

“Bitter?”

“Not at all. It feels so right, I can’t even describe it.”

“What does?”

“Working for you.”