With my illusion back in place, I arrived on the top of my tower near the middle of the night. The moon was high in the sky but I couldn’t see any reflections along my lake. Instead, the front of the tower seemed to host a variety of people camping in tents. Dwindling fires glowed throughout the encampment, with tents circling each one. No doubt those fires were intended more to keep monsters at bay than to ruin my view. Though, I suspected they were more successful at the latter than the former.

Surprisingly, it was Meathead on guard duty on the top of my tower when I arrived. Meathead was always a large man, with a brutish body shape. Though I hadn’t noticed it before, the week away made it clear to me his small gut had returned. It had disappeared for a while when he was patrolling the bog, but I imagine his friendship with Rolf had likely earned him more treats from the kitchen.

“Hi, boss!” He smiled and waved.

I nodded back and headed towards the stairwell that led inside, but I couldn’t help but stop when I heard him speak again.

“Yup! That’s my boss. You can’t be boss, if I got a boss,” he spoke to the air cheerfully.

“Meathead?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, boss?” He said as he took off his helmet to scratch at his lopsided head.

“To whom were you speaking to just now?” I inquired.

“Oh! Boss, I met your talking circles. They wanna be my boss too,” he answered with a smile.

“My… talking circles?” I thought for a moment but hadn’t the faintest idea what he could be referring to.

He nodded happily with a smile. Which wasn’t helpful in the slightest, though I mentally applauded his enthusiasm, “Meathead, what’s their name?”

He looked confused for a moment then looked up and around before smiling again, “Oh! They say their name is Bi.”

Bi… as in the god? What would the god want with—I stiffened. I couldn’t help but start putting the pieces together. I had always suspected there existed a connection between [Paladins] and a diminished mental acuity, but now I had proof!

This evidence could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. I pulled forth my tome, and began to scribble down my thoughts and observations on the matter in rapid sequence, but was interrupted again.

“Hey, boss?” Meathead asked.

“Yes, what is it?” I answered offhandedly while I continued to write out my thoughts. This information could lead to a revolution in the social placement of [Paladin] Orders throughout the kingdom! It was urgent that I follow the proper documenting formats and compose the study results in a way that could be replicated.

“—and I need to go pee. Can I?” Meathead finished whatever he was asking.

“Certainly, you may,” I answered. I needed to further study this matter, as it was clear by Meathead’s example that [Paladin] class selectees didn’t need to be diminished from birth, but could be due to injury. I wonder how high the limit was on the injury? Is it—

“Both things?” he interrupted again as he hopped from leg to leg in a dance every child knows.

“Yes, yes. Hurry back,” I waved him away.

In the time he was gone, I finished with my notes. It occurred to me there should have been a chamberpot up here, but a glance in the corner confirmed it was full. I pressed my lips together in thought.

I had taken up the responsibilities for my pupils and servants easily, but at times like these I considered that perhaps I needed a [Seneschal] or [Overseer] to manage the holding while I conducted my research. My assistants would be more independent in a few months, of course, but some of the day-to-day operations that I had relied on Kine and Walker to handle in the last year could be better monitored by a more permanent employee.

I was looking out at the campfires when I heard footsteps coming up the stairwell. Being that they weren’t the heavy thuds I recognized as Meathead’s footsteps, I turned to see who was joining me. Surprisingly, it was Kine. It was almost as if me thinking about the man brought him to me. Then, based on the look on his face, I could tell it wasn’t.

With an expression of helplessness, he spoke, “Good evening, master.”

He followed it up with a low bow, and I knew immediately he had a request. With a frown, I answered, “Do not ‘master’ me, Kine. You are no longer my assistant, and have returned for a reason. What is it you request of me?”

He had the good tact to look chagrined for a moment before answering, “Master, as you know, I went north when we parted to prospect more gem mines for the Aides. While there, the northern baronies have come under heavy attack. First the Barony of Nix, then Aide. The peoples there fled, and somehow, I ended up leading them south.”

“To here?”

He shook his head, “No, most went to Lark or Woodhoot, but both are filled beyond capacity. Without a place to stay, I feared for them. So, I brought them—”

“Here?” I interrupted.

“Yes, mast—yes, sir,” he answered. I could see by the look in his eyes, he feared reproach for this. No doubt, he knew my temperament well enough that he knew I wouldn’t be pleased with these people so close by.

I wasn’t pleased with it, either. It meant, at the very least, I would need to construct a wall around my reflection waters if I wanted to keep enjoying the view. Yet, I was satisfied with his decision in a way. I had worried that his ambition would lead to greed that would lead to something more unpleasant in his life. That he forewent his own endeavors to support these refugees was admirable.

“Hmmm,” I answered, allowing him to twist in his own anxiety until I tired of watching. “Very well, we will discuss it tomorrow. Gather yourself, and other representatives of—of that lot, and meet me on the first floor for lunch.”

He breathed a large sigh of relief, and I could see the faint traces of sweat that I hadn’t noticed in the dark as he bowed again.

“Thank you, master!” he said earnestly.

I half-smiled, “Don’t thank me yet. Remember, you brought this on yourself. Now, wait here until Meathead returns.” I patted him on the shoulder as I passed him to return to my room for sleep.

When I awoke, I donned a flowing robe of orange silk with embroidered bright yellow lightning bolts. I’d had it commissioned by a high-level tailor to commemorate my victories in war, but hadn’t worn it in a long time. There was a seed of embarrassment associated with the robe, a tiny kernel of resentment too, but that didn’t mean that I shouldn’t wear it. It presented the perfect image of wealth and power that would do well to impress whoever Kine brought with him this afternoon.

Downstairs in the dining hall, I found my guards and attendants circled around Meathead, offering congratulations. The poor man seemed unsure what to do with himself under all the positive attention.

“Boss, you’re just in time!” Mena called out to me as I entered the room.

“Oh?” I asked.

“Meathead got his third-tier class!” she spoke with an excitement that seemed more enthusiastic than the occasion required, and the intense look in her eye hinted that she was prepared to enjoy my reaction.

“Congratulations,” I offered, “What class did you choose?”

The others around him quieted to watch, and Meathead gave me a bashful grin, “I’m a [Champion of Bi], boss. Like you said I could.”

The room seemed to still to an immediate silence, as if the others were holding their breaths in anticipation of how I would react. [Champion] classes were rare. Almost unheard of, and then only in times of war or great turmoil. Which made sense in a way. There was a war, and the Pestilence presented an even greater threat.

“Good,” I answered with a nod, and took a seat to await my meal.

The chatter soon returned and I was presented with a steaming plate of sausage, onions, and toasted bread to dine on.

I briefly considered Meathead’s new class. It was unfortunate, but I would need to discharge him soon to go on his way. The [Champion] of a god would need to obey that god’s orders, and I could foresee a time where those orders did not coincide with his duties here. I had no wish to anger a god in such a fashion.

On the other side of the coin, Meathead wasn’t entirely suitable for an independent journey. He would need a reasonable caretaker to travel with him and ensure that he fully understood his actions. In a way, I felt a little disgusted at the god Bi. I felt like he was taking advantage of the man, though that wasn’t a line of thought I followed far for fear of discovering hypocrisy. If the [Paladin] Adam was still nearby, it would be easy for me to discharge Meathead into his care.

Still, I doubted that I would encounter conflicting orders anytime in the next few days, and that would give me the opportunity to find a replacement guard.

“Boss, are you okay? You’re playing with your food,” Mena asked, and sat down.

I realized she was right, but I no longer felt as hungry as I was before. The weight of the future felt heavy on my shoulders at the moment. I responded to her question with a half-smile and a sigh.

“Anything I could do boss?” She asked. Her elbow was on the table, and her head was held on her hand as if she had all the time in the world to listen. She didn’t. She had morning sword lessons to give with the two children, and should have already started them.

I didn’t comment on the matter, though. Instead, I stroked my beard in thought before answering her, “Times of change are upon us. You four guards will gather to me this evening to discuss our future.”

After saying such, I took myself to my study to prepare. There were several spells I tested that were more effective against the Pestilence than others, and I wanted to transcribe those to share among the magical community. While this effort wasn’t likely to turn the tide of the end of the age, I also foresaw that there may be singular instances where a mage armed with a better spell could save the lives of a handful of people.

The hours flew by, and I had barely made it through half of what I wanted to transcribe when Kine came to notify me that the people were ready. The poor man’s eyes had bags under them, and he walked with a slouch that told me his efforts to gather these people likely took much out of him. This was a good introduction to true responsibility, so I felt satisfied in that regard.

On the first floor, two women and a man were seated at the table across from my chair. The table had been prepared with plates, wine, and a large platter of steamed meat buns. Chelsea was busy entertaining them with some nonsense story as they ate, but she quietly removed herself when I took my seat. I waited as the three scrambled to stand and offer bows of greeting, before waving them back to their chairs.

“Master, I present to you Narwick the miner,” he began with a gesture towards a giant of a man with thick, unkempt brown hair and a pudgy face. He looked the type of man who had engaged in rigorous work in his youth, but those muscles had descended into fat.

“Linda, the seamstress,” he gestured to the next woman, a matronly older woman that looked as if she barely could move her own arms. Her wrinkles and sagging skin didn’t take away from the sharp look in her eye. She looked to be the type of woman that had a tongue so sharp that it commanded obedience.

“And Sara the merchant,” he finished, with a flourish to a younger woman with black hair and brown eyes. Her serious expression and demeanor seemed as if it was garnered in preparation of some expected challenge.

I nodded and smiled at the lot, before motioning for Kine to sit beside me. Then, I took a meat bun and ate. I felt famished, having foregone most of my breakfast. The meat bun was stuffed with shredded pork in some kind of sweet sauce that dripped into the breaded crust as I bit into it.

“Master, these folks are all weary travelers who have lost their homes in the north. Many have given up their livelihoods and belongings to escape Mirktallean chains. Neither Lark nor any of the surrounding villages can support more people, and they don’t have the coin to travel to Eiston. Neither do they have the classes to find work there, if they did.”

“Hmmm,” I answered as I continued to eat and chew.

“With your permission, I’d like to establish a village nearby. South of your tower, past your beast pits. It would offer a sense of safety should Mirktal continue south,” he finished his request and placed his hands in his lap.

It was a decently constructed plea and I was half convinced already. That didn’t mean I would make it easy for him. I gestured towards the miner, “Miners can’t find work in the quarries? Or with the loggers?”

The man rumbled, almost a growl, before he answered in a deep voice, “Stone ain’t metal. Trees ain’t neither.”

The way he used such concise language was startling in its effectiveness. It was as if the ideal of perfect verbosity was presented before my very eyes. I needed to see how truly skilled he was in this field, “And you can mine in the bog?”

He shrugged.

That was impressive. I could agree to keep him around, if only to take lessons from him. I glanced at Kine with a raised eyebrow.

“Master, there are a few places with iron ore that might lead to a seam,” Kine answered, though his tone indicated he didn’t believe that himself.

“Hmmm,” I answered and tapped my fingers in thought. That I wasn’t immediately agreeing caused Kine and the two women to begin talking all at once.

“I knew we shouldn’t come here, a wizard he said,” the bitter root of an old woman stabbed her words at me in some attempt to guilt me into action. That her words were slightly louder than the others seemed intentional.

“Many of our people can fish. If we set up hatcheries, this land could provide you with a fresh bounty,” the merchant tried to negotiate with an offering of appeasement.

Fish was tempting. A baked fish, slathered with butter and salt was something I hadn’t tasted in a while.

“Master, I’ve also brought you the fish you wanted for your moat. The black-finned perch is more common the further north you go,” Kine bribed me with something he knew I was weak against. The very type of fish he helped me pick out from a bestiary. The fish no single adventurer in all of Lark had provided.

“Very well,” I started, and waited for them to relax.

Then I added, “But. There are details we need to cover before your people settle. I am not willing to oversee your village. I will write to Baroness Lark to request she appoint Kine as Alderman.”

I pointed at the miner, “You will answer to him and oversee all labor.”

I pointed at the merchant, her eyes widening, “You will also answer to him but oversee all trade and supplies.”

“And you,” I pointed at the old woman, “You can advise Kine with your nagging all you like, but I will not see your face in my home again. Do not test my patience on this.” A statement that was perhaps harsher than needed, but if she was relying on her age to grant her some measure of allowance towards how she spoke to me, then I had her beat.

Finally, I turned to Kine, “I trust you know my preferences for now. We will discuss the details later.”

I gathered three more of the delicious meat buns in my arm and my glass of wine after I spoke my terms, and departed to my study to continue my work.

It only took me a few hours to finish the tome of specialized spells. After which, I sought out my three attendants. From their prescribed duties, two should be in their rooms on the second floor. The third should be attending to feeding my experiment pits and recording the numbers. I arrived just in time to hear the ending of an argument.

“Why should I care if you visit the aldruane, Leslie? You visited Jax behind my back. If there was anything between us before, there isn’t now!” Philipe, my tall red-headed attendant hoarsely whispered at Leslie. She stood in his doorway, half-undressed. Both their faces were heated with anger, and Leslie looked as if she had been crying.

“You—you’re always like this. What did I ever see in you?” Leslie scrunched her face up as if she had bit something sour. Her voice echoed into and then out of Philipe’s bed chambers. Combined with the evidence of crying, it truly didn’t suit her short black hair.

I coughed, loudly, in interruption. Both my attendants looked shocked before they jumped to bow in greeting.

“Master! I didn’t know you had returned!” Leslie said from her bow.

“Welcome back, master,” Philipe’s answer was a little better thought out.

“Hmmm,” I answered them, waiting to see how they would react. Philipe kept bowing, but Leslie stood up.

“Apologies, master! I—we—beg your forgiveness. Right, Philipe?” Leslie said, giving the man a sharp look.

“For what? I did nothing wrong,” Philipe answered her while still bowed.

She didn’t seem to have an answer to that, but she also seemed to grow acutely aware of her state of undress. A hand slowly reached to her robe to adjust it back to the proper fit. Still, she kept talking in an effort to somehow escape the circumstances, “How can you say that? You should just tell him.”

His only answer was to sigh as he rose as well.

Philipe opened his mouth to speak, but I lifted the tome in my hand to attract their attention, “You will memorize these spells and make ten copies of this spellbook. Each. There are blank tomes in the study.”

“Yes, master,” they both responded.

“In addition,” I added but paused to give them both a meaningful glance, “You will both compose an essay to describe the appropriate behavior a mage of your standing should demonstrate. I expect both tasks to be completed within the week without affecting your other duties. Philipe, with me.”

I floated the tome over to Leslie to begin her new task and turned with the expectation for Philipe to follow as I headed back upstairs to the study. I had three missives on the table there, one from the house Lark, one from Lilly, and the third from Walker. I was eager to read two of them but apprehensive about the Baroness’s letter.

With deliberate slowness, I sat in one of the chairs and opened the letter from Walker. Philipe stood to my side, ready to speak yet I made him wait on me. Walker's letter had included a minor enchantment to keep anyone else from opening it.

The message itself was one of hope and pride. He’d been accepted into the mage’s corps of the army with eager arms and was attending combat training for the next few months. He apologized if that interfered with his ability to write me during that time.

He also included a brief story concerning how his trainer tried to open the tome I’d gifted him and had his hand turned into a claw for a week. ‘Claw-handed Jurl’ wasn’t happy about the matter, but the other trainers were in high spirits. I chuckled and poured myself a glass of wine, before looking up at Philipe. The man was growing more and more nervous as he waited.

“Please, sit,” I gestured toward an empty sitting chair, a plush green one that was more decorative than comfortable. I placed the missive I had just read from Walker back on the table and considered having Philipe wait while I read the other two. The desire to write back, though was too great, and I didn’t want him waiting the entire time.

Philipe had taken a seat on the edge of the chair, his back straight and his hands on his knees. He held his expression well, though the freckles on his face made it easier to see where it wasn’t perfectly composed.

“Do you know what I wish to speak to you about?” I began. I wanted to talk about the potential of the animal bonding spell Leslie had mentioned, but, given the conversation I had just overheard, I suspected there were things my three attendants weren’t telling me.

He grimaced and looked away as he spoke, “Master, I—I’m sorry I failed you. I let my anger overcome my better judgment. What Leslie did to me, it hurt. I wanted her to hurt too. I promise I won’t return to see them anymore.”

See who? This fool had gone back to the aldruane after they nearly killed him once? Or did he do something worse? I shook my head in disappointment. Don’t these children have enough duties to keep them occupied? I’ll see the end of that. “Very well. If I find your hands too idle again, I suspect you’ll look back on this day with great regret.”

I watched as the tall man slumped in relief before I continued, “Now, Leslie mentioned you and your brother were working on an animal-bonding spell?”

His face lit up in the way only a true researcher or religious zealot could, “Yes master! Jax and I grew up on a farm and we had a pet dog that saved us from a monster attack. Broomie, a long-haired wolf-hound. He didn’t make it, but we did. If we had a bond, we could have saved him too.”

“Hmm,” I waited.

“Jax and I, we have narrowed down the connecting components of the familiar bond spell after taking out the telepathic and energy-transfer components. We reduced it from tier three to tier two, but are missing something that could take it down to the first tier.”

“And what green magics have you consulted?” I asked, and took another sip of my wine. I really enjoyed this vintage of strawberry wine. I would need to order more soon.

“We looked at the charm animal spell, but it wasn’t a permanent effect. So, we dismissed it. The library at the Arcanum didn’t have much in the way of green magic. The druidic teacher there also wasn’t much help. He said that domesticating animals was a plight against nature already and refused.”

“I see,” I stood and started looking through my library for a specific book. When I found it, I pulled it out and tossed it towards Philipe, who caught it with only mild surprise.

“Mastery of the Verdant Forests?” He asked and read the title.

“Yes. A treatise that implies that it is our duty to keep the world’s forests and plains free from civilization. Obviously, written by a moron who has no concept of the dangers of unkept monster breeding grounds. However, I think you’ll find the components of the green magic spell Speak with Animals enlightening in your efforts.”

Philipe stood and bowed in gratitude.

I shook my finger at him, “This will not interfere with your current duties, and you will track your spell development with the appropriate measures. I want to see your framework for approval before you begin testing.”

“Testing, master?” He asked.

“Of course, testing. We have recently come into an abundance of test subjects, man and beast, for such a spell. You think I would allow you to release some drivel without proper testing?”

“Yes, master! I mean, no master! I’ll see to it,” Philipe said with his eyes never leaving the book. I could tell that anything else I said to the man wouldn’t likely be heard.

“Very well, go about your duties,” I waved him away and returned to my seat.