(Effective 03/24/22)

“Wonderful to see you here, Tashi,” he held out his cotton-gloved hand affectionately, “It’s been too long since we’ve gotten to talk. Trouble with the family, I hear?”

Tashi nodded lightly with a slight smirk and embraced Paldon’s hand with his own. “You know it, it seems like top brass isn’t going to be giving us many orders anymore, since they have nobody to report to anymore. It is what it is though, we’ve been fending for ourselves since the collapse of the goddamn world.”

Paldon chuckled and reached for his flask. He had a lot to say about the Laymen’s Organization, but their policy towards booze wasn’t something he needed to touch on; if you could find it, you could drink it. He took a hearty chug of the vile concoction until he felt a warmth come back to his chest, then nudged it towards Tashi.

“Can’t, sorry,” Tashi waved the metal jar away and back into Paldon’s fluffy coat pocket. “You know I don’t drink.”

Paldon rolled his eyes. These Bhutanese soldiers were always so cheerful but uptight about their faith. “Alright, buddy, whatever you say… Say, figure with all this collapse nonsense, would I need to show my passport to your boys down the mountain?” Paldon emphasized his point by kicking a small pile of snow down the hill overlooking the small village below. Tashi looked down the mountain for a moment and readjusted his rifle’s shoulder strap, hesitating to answer.

“...I figure, yeah. Nobody is gonna ask for any documents anymore…”

Paldon smiled and poked Tashi with his elbow. “I’ve never met your family, Tashi. How about I invite myself over for dinner sometime? We’ve known each other for who knows how long and all we’ve been allowed to do is sit up on this hill and make sure we don’t shoot one another. With your king gone or whatever, we can maybe get a few hobbies going now; down at the village and all.”

Tashi considered the offer and tapped his boot into the ground. “Suppose we could, yeah… Hey, we could probably get our boys together and play a game of cricket sometimes, eh?”

Paldon smirked and nodded lightly. “If weather permits, sure thing.”

The two looked down at the little village in contentment. These mountains divided nations no longer.

Min integrates LH074, 065, 066, and 071