My unwavering faith in humanity tells me there's no chance whatsoever of either of these characters betraying the other.

There are different ways I would like to have phrased Sirleck's dialogue in panel four, but each was less clear and potentially nonsensical if interpreted incorrectly. One way of putting it, for example, had the potential to be interpreted as Sirleck claiming that straw was more valuable than gold.

As for why it would devalue gold, it's simple economics. The more plentiful and available something is, the less valuable it is. That's why people freak out over the government printing more money. I figure there are circumstances when they should do that, but it is the sort of thing that leads to inflation.

I think, anyway. Did I keep my old economics textbook? I may need a refresher.

The next comic starts a new storyline called Old And New Flames. While I think it will be an easy to follow storyline, it will touch on a LOT of dangling plot threads from previous years.