"Son of a gun, that's my favorite!" Emeline chuckled, grinning.  It was a little awkward to have her husband doing the serving, but he had offered and she wasn't about to turn that down!  Besides, she'd had a rough day, and recognized it, even though his day had to have been just as stressful.

"Please, Angie, have a seat."  She gestured to the smaller kitchen table, not nearly the size of the polished oak table in the formal dining room.  But this smaller, more intimate table was used far more often than the big one.  "We'll see how good Barnabas' dishing skills are!"  Then she glanced at Pythias.  "His name was Clem, that's enough, thank you, Pythias."  Certainly no need to mention the 'Human Cockroach', as far as she was concerned, the man had paid his penance already.

Both men looked at one another and then back to Em. "Exactly what we oughtta do!" Barnabas said. "Give us an idea how he sees things like this. He'll be lookin' at a Poelice Department soon enough."

"I figure that Matt wants what is best for Kalispell, and I can't see him being against this. They have these in every city in the East. Be a sign that Kalispell is growing up ahead of a lot of towns out this way." Speed was quick to point out."Bigger towns have Fire Departments in the Territory, so why not us? Best we head on over and pay a visit to the mayor and get this show on the road!"

Tully considered his words for a moment, then frowned.  "Ya mean just because I ain't some fancy name, I can't hurt someone who's tryin' ta hurt Frances?"  She looked up at Shin.  "She's blind, an' so frail...he busted her ribs, put a hole in her lung...she almost died."  Sighing, Tully shrugged.  "He would's killed her, an' me, too.  I'd do it again, even if it meant goin' ta Hell."

There was no way she could have lived with herself if that man had killed Frances.  It was bad enough that he'd terrified her and harmed her, and Tully was still trying to reconcile with that.

"Was my fault," she murmured quietly.  "Thought it was th' church in th' fog, an' I just wanted ta get away from him.  But it was th' Women's shelter..."  The circumstances had been out of her control, but the one thing she could control was fighting back.  "But I don't regret none what I did.  Don't see as that was wrong."  She shrugged again.  "Maybe I'm one'a them Shinsgumi, too?"

"All right, then."  Emeline nodded, adjusting her hold on Wheeler.  "Once we talk to Mr. Wentworth, we'll have an idea of where we stand, what we need to do to make a good case to the town council."  

This was actually exciting, something that would benefit the whole community, and she was sure they could get it going, but the chances would be that much better if they could make a good argument and presentation.

"... would you like to become her legal guardian?  I can do up the paperwork and certify it pretty quickly."

"ME?!" 

She frowned and then asked Priest frankly "What would I get out of it? I've already gotten three sons and three daughters. I want to get rid of this one: she's eating me out of house and home!"

Hiram held up his hands, palm sides out.

"Whoa!  This would only be a temporary arrangement in order for you to lodge the complaint on her behalf. And once it's adjudicated, you can abrogate the guardianship.  Then you can wipe your hands of the whole affair.  Maybe she'd be willing to assign some of the possible settlement money on you?"

Hiram concluded that the Greeks could have used her at the siege of Troy.

"So, I'd be willing to put the paperwork together for the guardianship.  That would be the first stop.  Of course she'd have to be willing.  You just can do it without her knowledge and consent.  Then I'd be most happy to take the case if there's any merit to it after my investigation."

He sent another stream of tobacco juice dead center in the spittoon.

"What do you say?"

"I don't believe that is so," Shin responds. "To Samurai, true purity of the soul is based more on the motive behind your actions. What pollutes our inner purity is selfishness, bitterness hatred and greed. Cleanse yourself of these emotions and you can become spiritually pure."

"From our brief conversation you don't come across as selfish or filled with hatred." Shintaro didn't sense Tully was filled with hatred, fear was more likely. He didn't feel she knew her place in the world and preferred avoidance over finding the inner strength to stand against those of lesser status but aggressive demeanor.

The topic of how his beliefs dealt with killing another person was both simple and complex. There were plenty of samurai he had seen or heard about how killed without reason, either unwilling or unable to master themselves to avoid needless bloodshed. The time of chaos before the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate he had killed many rebels and even a traitor to the Shinsengumi. He had enjoyed taking life but he never lost control of himself to the point he killed without honour.

"Killing as part of one's duty is honourable and accepted," he responded honestly. "As a samurai and member of the Shinsengumi, killing law breakers, ruffians and rebels was accepted, even expected. If peasants or other lower class members killed, it almost always would be considered a crime depending on the situation."

"Thank you."  Emeline smiled and lightly touched Dixie's arm as she led the way downstairs.  "This really has become a family here," she commented, "everyone works together, and we all help each other."  She chuckled.  "There are a few characters, but it all works together."

As they entered the kitchen, she gave Barnabas a hug.  "We're ready for supper," she declared, "what did you make us?"  She was teasing, of course, there was the stew that Cookie had sent over, and she knew it was going to be great!

"Oh, thank you, Dixie."  Emeline gave the man a smile and a nod, then looked at Angie.  "See, now, good timing!  This is Dixie Brick.  Dixie, this is Dr. Laurant."  The men had seen the doctor, but Emeline wasn't sure that there had been any formal introductions.  "She'll be working at the hospital with Drs. Boone and Danforth."  

Her grin widened.  "Thank you for coming up to help, I'll be sure you get some extra cookies!"  She gave the cowhand a playful wink.