“Prince Brakkt, Alyssa, Kasita.” Martin greeted them in the manor’s foyer, wearing a comfortable robe instead of the more militaristic garments Alyssa had seen on him recently. Although he looked about ready to turn in for the night, he appeared to be in a good mood. He was far more relaxed than he had been at the wall the night before and was even smiling as he looked to Fela. “And hellhound. I apologize, I never actually caught your name.”

“Fela.”

“Fela, excellent. I do believe the children are awake,” Martin said, pointing over his shoulder toward one of the closed doors leading off from the foyer, “and they still won’t stop talking about you. If you…” He trailed off as Fela ducked behind Alyssa, half hiding.

“I’m fine here.”

“Sorry if we woke you,” Alyssa said. It wasn’t that late, but she knew that he had not gotten much sleep the night before. By the time Alyssa had returned and headed in for the baths, he had still been up on the wall, keeping an eye on the situation. Since she had immediately gone to help Irulon, Alyssa wasn’t even sure what time he had ended up leaving.

It really had been negligent on her part to have just left like that. Sure, there hadn’t seemed to be any Astral Authority or infected about—and in hindsight, there had been no problems with her leaving—but as basically the only expert in Astral Authority matters, she should have stuck around. Even if expert was a completely relative term in this situation.

At her apology, Martin’s smile did wane. “Just don’t tell me that there is another big emergency.”

“No. No emergency that I know of,” Alyssa said with half a glance toward Brakkt. He wouldn’t know about an emergency that she didn’t, but she still felt the need to glance to him just to double check that he hadn’t received any Messages or anything. “Just a few comments, questions, and maybe suggestions to help keep possible future emergencies at bay.”

“We’re referring to the monster camp. This has little to do with the events of last night.”

“Ah. Excellent. The more I hear about that, the less I like it. I read the preliminary report your friend left with the guild…” Martin’s eyes drifted over to Alyssa, making her wonder just how much the report talked about the Justice and how much it talked about her and Irulon.

“If it is any consolation,” Alyssa said with a gesture toward Brakkt, “we were talking earlier and think that there may be a chance that the pit at Owlcroft is completely closed. You’d have to send someone to check to be certain, but… I give it good odds.”

“That would be good news indeed, but… not what you are here for.”

“No. We’re here about the monsters.”

“I see. Should have guessed. Shall we adjourn to the study?” he said, taking a step back and waving toward a different door than the one he had pointed to earlier. Without waiting for a response from either Brakkt or Alyssa, he started walking toward it, pausing only at a servant standing near it to ask for some drinks and refreshments.

“What would you think about granting the monsters a small plot of land nearby?” Alyssa asked as they walked. It was just a short hallway to a rather large room. The doors were quite opulent, as were all official sections of the manor. Whenever important people visited, they brought them here. Alyssa had actually been inside it before, once or twice. Once without having even seen Martin, back on her very first day in Illuna. “Somewhere close enough to fall under your protection,” she continued as she took a seat on what was obviously the guest side of the large rectangular table. “But not really close enough to be in the conscious mind of the people.”

“Is there something that brought this on?” Martin said as he rounded the table. Even though he was still in just a robe, his posture and countenance gave him a rather regal appearance as he took his seat.

“Should there be any kind of strife, the monsters will likely be the first the people turn to as a scapegoat,” Alyssa said as a servant placed a glass in front of both her and Brakkt before filling it halfway full of an amber-colored liquid. “A famine, for example. Even though the monsters are only using a fraction of the city’s supplies, should something disastrous happen, there will likely be friction between the people and the monsters. Even with as well as they seem to be getting along at the moment,” she added, thinking back to her stroll through the market earlier in the day.

“Is there something making you think such a calamity is on the horizon?” Martin said, leaning forward in obvious alarm. He just about spilled the glass of alcohol that his servant had just poured for him. As it was, only the quick reactions of said servant saved it from his elbow.

Brakkt answered before Alyssa could speak. “Only the amount of spell cards we used today to mark bodies. We were concerned for their total supply and what it meant for farming.”

“Is that all…” Martin took a moment to regain his proper posture before continuing. “We have a generous supply of spell cards. I will make a note of it to ensure that we can produce more well in advance of the next harvest and planting season.”

“That was really just an example,” Alyssa said. “Any kind of strife or hardship that might possibly be the fault of the monsters might lead to friction. So keeping them at a distance, close enough to foster an alliance but far enough to be out of the minds of the people, would probably be a good idea.”

Threat completely out of his mind, Martin leaned back in his chair, losing some of his regal posture in exchange for a small drink from the glass. “My advisers,” he said as he placed the glass back on the table. He set it down carefully enough that it barely made a sound. “They want me to get rid of the monsters sooner rather than later, citing such claims as they cannot be trusted not to run rampant throughout the streets of Illuna or they are spying for a larger invasion, just playing the victim to gain sympathy. Let our guard down around them and such.”

“Having spent a great deal of time down in their camp, talking and interacting with all of them, I would be overwhelmingly surprised if they were being subversive in their intentions,” Brakkt said.

“Same. I’m not going to say that every monster out there is a paragon of virtue, but there is nothing to fear from this group, at the very least. Instead, I think there is a lot to learn. A lot to gain. For both human and monster.”

“Mhm.” Martin hummed as he took another small drink. He sipped so little that Alyssa wasn’t actually sure that he was drinking. He could simply be letting the alcohol touch his lips, perhaps wanting to appear as if he were drinking in a social manner but without compromising his faculties.

“There is one small problem,” Kasita said. Alyssa glanced to her with an eyebrow raised, but did not interrupt. “Yora wants to run off with a few or all of them for slavery purposes. If you allow that, the monsters will likely think that they are merely being held until the highest bidder comes along and wants to buy them. I believe that any attempt at an alliance at that point would be completely futile. And there are many benefits that would probably outweigh increased tensions with Yora. I have personally spoken with a number of potion crafters here in the city that have expressed an interest in heading down to the monster camp just to bottle a few hairs from beds. You would have allies with the strength of ten men in the form of those like Rokien should something happen, such as a resurgence in infected from Owlcroft if the pit hasn’t been closed. Or any other threat that befalls Illuna.”

Alyssa nodded along with Kasita. “It would probably be the moral thing to do too,” she added. “No sense causing harm unnecessarily.”

“No. No, of course not.”

A long silence followed. No one seemed ready to break it. Brakkt simply picked up his own glass and drank a visible amount while Martin stared. He wasn’t staring at anyone in particular. It was more of the distant gaze-type of look. One deep in thought. Seeing the serious look on his face was heartening. Alyssa was glad he was giving the situation the consideration it deserved.

Although she hadn’t interacted with him too much, Alyssa found herself rather fond of Martin. He was an older man, obviously with years of experience behind his leadership position—even if his son was technically the true leader of Illuna—and a good head on his shoulders. He didn’t jump into action, considered his advisers without kowtowing to their whims, and otherwise seemed… well, wise.

Alyssa could only imagine what a nightmare staying in this city would have been had it been led by someone more of Decorous’ temperament. What would he have done had a bunch of monsters popped up on his doorstep? Given that representatives of his home were wanting to enslave them, probably that, but probably not without a lot of violence to start with. Some measure of cowing the monsters. Or perhaps he would simply panic at learning of their approach, assume they were assaulting the city, and launch his own army to combat them.

The thoughtful silence shattered along with a glass.

The sudden noise made Alyssa jump. Her hands found her weapons in an instant, but she realized just what had caused the crash before actually drawing either her pistol or the deck of cards.

Fela sat in her chair next to Kasita, glaring with fire burning from her eyes at a shattered glass at her place… or perhaps at her paws, which looked like they were holding a piece of the glass. She, like everyone else at the table, had received a glass and some alcohol. It didn’t take much to figure out what had caused the incident.

Lacking opposable thumbs, Fela had probably tried to pick up the glass with both hands and either pressed too hard or hadn’t been able to maintain a grip, resulting in it sliding out of her paws and shattering before she could grab it again. The same amber liquid that was in all their glasses was now spreading across the table.

“Sorry,” Fela said, mumbling more to herself than anything else. She quickly put her arm against the table, both mopping up some of the drink and keeping it from dripping down onto the rest of her, the chair, and the floor. The servant was quick enough in reacting with a small towel to keep her from needing to get completely soaked to save the upholstery, but her arm still dripped a bit as she moved it away for him to wipe the table.

“My apologies,” Martin said, standing. “I should have thought to have a mug, or something else with a handle, for you.”

“I should have known better. I’ve been around humans long enough.” Taking the towel from the servant, she quickly dried off her forearm.

“Would you care for something in a more suitable container?”

“I’ll just get a drink back at the tavern. They have nice big mugs that I can grasp easily. Sorry,” she said again, this time to the servant.

He didn’t respond much aside from a shallow nod of his head. Alyssa got the feeling that he was at least mildly annoyed with what Fela had done, but didn’t want to express that annoyance in front of Martin.

“I believe we have said about all we had in mind,” Alyssa said, considering standing to leave. She had so far not touched her drink. It felt a bit awkward to grab it and drink it now, but at the same time, it seemed a bit rude to just up and leave a full glass behind. Martin had offered it as a kindness and she highly doubted that it was any kind of cheap swill given that he had served it to a prince. Picking the drink up, she asked a quick question for Martin, mostly to give her a chance to drink it. “Did you have any questions? Maybe about monsters? Or anything, really.”

“No. Not that I can think up at the moment, anyway. I was planning on visiting with our… visitors? Wasn’t sure when, exactly, but I thought it would be a good idea to walk among them. I am getting daily reports from my watchers and guards, of course, but some things simply need to be seen for oneself. Truth be told, I haven’t interacted with them much since their initial arrival, having gone through intermediaries in the time since when I’ve needed to interact with them. My advisers recommend that I avoid putting myself in more danger than necessary. Yet, as the acting leader of this city, I feel I should meet with the leaders of those who might be our future allies.”

Alyssa couldn’t really argue with people needing to see things for themselves, though she bet that Catal could. She hadn’t seen him since Lumen dragged him out of the baths before the angels showed up, but he had been pretty unsteady at the time.

More importantly, from the way Martin was talking, it sounded an awful lot like he was going to end up siding with the monsters over the likes of Yora. Perhaps it was something he had been thinking about for a long while. Perhaps having Brakkt here had helped to sway his decision. Were Alyssa in his place and the Pharaoh’s son showed up with a suggestion, she would probably be inclined to listen.

“If you wish, we would be happy to accompany you,” Brakkt said after a short moment. “I’ve personally spent a great deal of time there and know my way around. Alyssa has as well.”

“I am sure having a warrior of your renown at my side will put their fears at ease.” Martin stood before any of them, making Alyssa feel much better about getting to her feet even though she had only drank half her glass.

It was just a bit too syrupy for her tastes. The thickness of the liquid was just a tad higher than expected. It had a bite to it as well, a bit of a cinnamon-spice aftertaste like she was sucking on a hard candy. As fancy as this drink probably was, Alyssa thought she enjoyed the watered-down tavern ale a whole lot more.

There were a lot of weird alcohols in this world. From this stuff to the overly sweet Tyrian wine that Irulon favored and the drink that Decorous had offered her during their little dinner date—which she hadn’t touched but smelled vaguely of nail polish remover. She hadn’t really been a connoisseur back on Earth, but she was pretty sure that they had nothing like this stuff.

She wondered if it would fetch a high price back home. She didn’t know the price here, but if she could eventually export some to Earth, it might be an interesting business opportunity. Doubly so if she could claim that it came from another world.

If she ever did get a way of meeting up with her father and brother again, of crossing over between the two worlds at will, she could easily become one of the richest people in both worlds. And that was just cross-selling certain items, including potions maybe a select few of the tamer spell cards, and food and drink. If she and Irulon could maintain a monopoly on portal control—assuming they told anyone about other worlds in the first place—even more so.

But those were all so far off that they really weren’t even worth thinking about. She was closer to opening a pizza parlor in Lyria than she was to becoming some kind of multi-reality transportation baron.

Brakkt and Martin shook hands after Martin walked around the table. Bare hands. Brakkt was still in most of his armor, but he had taken the gauntlets and moderately-sized pauldrons off.

“Always a pleasure to meet with you, Martin.”

“Indeed. And you as well, Alyssa, Kasita, and Fela, was it?” He didn’t offer to shake any of their hands, but Alyssa didn’t mind. And Fela still had a bit of the alcohol on herself.

“We’ll let you get some rest,” Alyssa said. “We need to get some rest as well. Been a busy two days.”

“I appreciate all you’ve done to assist in the wake of last night. My men will be run ragged for weeks. Every little bit helps.”

“I’m sure we’ll be doing more in the coming days.” At least so long as Irulon was back at her research. When she was ready for Alyssa, things might change. Or if they found it time to return home. That would obviously disrupt matters. But at least for tomorrow, Alyssa was relatively confident that they would be back out in the west, marking corpses with a fresh load of flare spells.

As Alyssa and Brakkt headed out from the manor, with Kasita and Fela in close tow, Alyssa had to look up to the prince. “I think that went rather well.”

“Martin has always been a close ally of Lyria. Given his son’s comments and support of my father, I imagine that relationship will continue for some time.”

“I do hope you’re right.”