"Package from Zo," Alec said as Tonya and Sally walked in the door. He tossed her the brown paper wrapped
box and she caught it easily.
"Probably more Anime," Sebastian said with a disapproving frown. "Didn't you just get a shipment last week?"
Tonya just shrugged and took the box up to her room. Shutting the door, she sat it on her desk, and
put her school things away. Waking up her computer, she opened a new word document, and then began to unwrap the box.
Instead of DVDs of Anime, Pocky, or tea, the box was filled with letters from all over the world. She cut the string
holding one bundle together, selected one letter from India, and opened it.
Dear Ms. Archer,
Thank you for sending my family the three bulls and two cows. The cattle arrived just it time for the planting
season. Much to my father's surprise and delight, the cows were pregnant and gave birth to healthy calves, both little
bulls. The grain you shipped was also very generous and there was more than enough to share with the other villagers.
The new grain bin had just been completed and the rats will not get to it this time.
We received a letter from my brother last week and he is doing well in school. Soon he will come back to our
village with his Veterinarian degree and take care of all of the village's animals.
Mom wishes to know if you could come to his welcome home party. It would be a great honor if you could and
I'm sure Raj would appreciate it as well. May your footsteps be light as your heart and may you also have grain in your
bin.
Thank you again,
Sali
Tonya smiled and wrote a quick reply, accepting the honor of attending the feast. The next letter in line
was from Raj himself. He told her about his grades, his professors, and thanked her for sending his family the cattle.
Then he thanked her again for sending him to school and informed her that he would graduate spring of 2004. Raj wished
her good health and happiness and had included a picture of him in his lab coat.
Tonya wrote him back and selected other letter. Most were thank you letters for some good deeds she had performed
in the past, food she had shipped, or money she had donated. After she had answered all the letters, and written a few,
she hid the letters in the secret compartment in her closet. Then, she started making arrangements for money transfers,
new grain shipments, and other favors that her fan club needed. By the time Zarbon came to get her for supper, Felina
Archer's bank account was several million dollars lighter.
Tonya sat down at the table and smiled at her blonde roommate. She remembered how Sally had so tactfully
pointed out how Tonya's after-hours activities seemed to be a complete contradiction in terms. "Superheroes work for
neither monetary gain or fame saving people's lives at the risk of their own. Bounty hunters chase people down for money,
sometimes killing those people or innocent bystanders," Sally had said. "How can you be both?"
Tonya had just shrugged not knowing how to reply. She had her reasons for doing both, but was sure Sally could
find the loopholes scattered through her logic. Being a superhero was a direct way to help those in trouble and to clean
up the streets, but super strength can only help so much. Large amounts of capital could sometimes do more than even
the greatest super power, and bounty hunting was a way to obtain such funds.
Bounty hunting was also another way to get criminals off the streets, though most weren't the normal punks or drunken
frat boys she dealt with in Tequila Heights. A few of the bounties she had were actually framed and she'd gone through
hell getting them off the hook. With one man, they'd had to fake his death and she's been unable to eat hamburger for
a week.
"What?" Sally asked unnerved by Tonya's grin. Any number of odd thoughts could be running through the braided girl's
head and the blonde wasn't sure she like the look she had.
Tonya shook her head and looked away. "Nothing," she answered still smiling.
