(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/75/Matigroves125square.jpg)<br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Mati Groves</span></span><br/><strong>Location</strong>: Quay, then taxi<br/><strong>With</strong>: Titty Thornton, plus her guard, then a cabbie<br/><br/>The motion of the launch to the quay from the Galaxy (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=147311.msg7370404#new) had not settled Mati's stomach.<br/><br/>When he found himself on the quayside he just had to rest against something for a moment to recover himself.<br/><br/>'Pardon m'sieur, n'y touche pas.'  The voice came from a bulky man with a day's stubble on him.  Mati sobered up in an instant: he had leant not against anything solid, but against the fleshy shoulder of a pony-girl, tied up there.  She whinnied, he wasn't sure if it was from displeasure or in some sort of greeting.  Such a pretty thing, he wanted to pat her comfortingly but the man's face was close.<br/><br/>'Je vous en pris,' said Mati in the best French he could muster, 'je cherche un taxi.'<br/><br/>The man smiled sardonically - so that's what you were reaching for? -  and gestured to a waiting cab.<br/><br/>Soon Mati leant back in the cab, relieved that the driver didn't seem to feel like talking.  Perhaps he had taken stock of Mati's accent and decided conversation would be futile.  What a world Mati had arrived in.  Not like Florida at all.  Pony girls on the street, him barely-known and reinventing himself as a louche lounge singer/pianist - and the evening's climax, the glory of a beautiful slave, whose voice was wonderful and who was to be his in the morning!  Now he had a few moments to think about things, why had he been whining about a little excess alcohol?<br/><br/>'L'hotel Fairmont (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=145840.0),' said the cabbie through the grille and Mati fumbled for his wallet...