The day had been a short one, as it tended to be when we spent most of it training.

Rethi and I were so accustomed to training that the hours easily flew away when we did so, though it was less so for Alena, who looked as if she’d been run over by a pair of horses. It was a necessary evil, however. Especially now that I Rethi and I didn’t have to hold back on training her so she could travel for the day.

Alena was weak physically, not aided by her lack in stature in comparison to her boyfriend and I. She also had even less of an inclination towards hand-to-hand fighting than I did, which might be saying something. I had overcome my lack of innate ‘talent’ with sheer time investment, but Alena hardly had the same luxury as I did.

I decided that teaching her the full Sharah was a fool’s errand, the amount of time before you’d see real payoff was just too great for it to be effective the way we needed it to. Instead, I broke it down into simplified movements, ones that would allow you to get the majority of movements down but leave you with many edge cases where instinct would have to fill in the gaps.

Rethi did the same with teaching her combat, being a much better teacher in the martial arts than I was. Thankfully, with our intense and strict training method, she advanced quickly. Within only six hours of training, she was capable of running from threats much better than before, and was even able to get in some cheap shots on an enemy if she absolutely had no choice.

Rethi’s discontent with me had melted over the course of the day as he started to find the humour in it like I did. It was fun to joke and banter with Rethi, and despite his best efforts in staying ‘professional’, he wasn’t capable of withholding his own barbed tongue.

But it wasn’t long until the day was over, and evening was falling. Alena was tired and sore from the intensity of the training, and Rethi and I both knew that pushing her further would only serve as a form of torture. Though, I almost wanted to see if I could push her to the point where she’d consider using her life shifting on herself—a taboo topic as far as Alena was concerned.

“Alright!” I exclaimed to my two companions, standing in the rapidly darkening field just outside the south-western city limits. They turned to me with a raised eyebrow, the almost Pavlovian response to any of my theatrics.

“So, today I managed to get a little meeting set up with some... interesting folks.” I grinned at the immediately warry expressions, “They may or may not be interested in upturning the political landscape of Crossroads.” Alena groaned instantly, even before Rethi could fully process my words.

“Seriously, Max?” She said, her tone incredulous, “We’re already going around and destabilizing cities because you feel like it? I know you’re a Champion and stuff but come on.” Rethi took a moment, but he nodded along with the sentiment. I shrugged lackadaisically in response.

“We have to start somewhere. If we decide to move towards the north, we get into the Brauhm Empire’s politics, and if we go to the east we get slavedrivers and worse. This is the only place we have before it gets much hairier than what we could find here. Probably, anyways.”

The couple chewed on that for a moment, and Alena was first to speak.

“Well, I can’t really say that it doesn’t make some sort of sense, but I can’t do shadowy politicking when I’m like this.” She gestured to the general state of her body, barely managing to stay upright with the quaking in her legs. I waved a hand in response, dismissing her informally.

“I don’t really want to have you mixed up in this too much anyways. You’re a healer and that should be your main focus. This is mine, for the moment. Rethi,” I turned my gaze to the boy, “won’t have much choice, however. This will probably be a mainstay of our lives from here on out.”

Rethi and Alena shared a look, Rethi’s a stalwart conviction and Alena’s a quiet plea, but Alena gave in after only a few seconds with a sigh.

“Alright then,” Rethi said, his voice the reliable and calm tone it usually was, “when do we meet?” I looked up at the sky and judged it at around five hours. With a quick trip to take his girlfriend back to the Skinned Lizard, Rethi returned and we began our own training to fill the time—interspersed with conversation.

Time ticked by quickly before it was time, and we were once again standing before the Skinned Lizard’s doors, ready to enter this shadowy conversation that I may be overhyping in my mind, only a little. It only took a few purposeful strides for Rethi and I to enter the door, through the kitchen and into the back room that Tek had told me about.

“Welcome.” Tek’s deep voice rung out as Rethi and I walked into the room, closing the heavy wooden door behind us. Inside the room was warm and cosy—a small fire in the corner of the room crackled, spewing any smoke into a chimney that was built around it.

“Thank you for having us,” I smiled, the expression coming easily to my face, “I didn’t think that I warranted such a crowd.” I looked around the room, my eyes touching the face of each person within. Tek sat at the opposite end of a fairly large, square table, his posture now unrestricted by the limitations of a service worker. His aura bled with trained might, not unlike Mayer when he wanted to be imposing. Sitting to his right was the blue skinned Gek, Gehne, and to his left was Tenra, the young Tiliquan who brought out the food.

However, there was another Gek sitting at the table. Brown skinned and clearly not the athletic sort, with as close to a paunch of fat as I think a Gek could really form, the small Gek’s eyes darted between Rethi and I, dancing with interest and nervousness.

With a practiced grace, Rethi prepared a chair for me to sit in, and I followed along easily. Any show of power here would be a boon to my positioning in this conversation, though I did feel a small satisfaction in the sandy haired boy’s mind—finally getting to use the manners he had been drilled on by Mayer.

“You’re a new player in town, Max. Regardless of how long you stay.” Tek responded, his expression and tone lacking any joviality. This was serious business, and I changed slightly to reflect that.

“And you’d rather I didn’t go around poking anthills with reckless abandon?” Tenra snorted but was shut up when no-one else in the room laughed.

“Let me make some formal introductions,” Tek said calmly, ignoring my question entirely, “I am Tek, once a warrior of a powerful Tiliquan tribe. Gehne,” he nodded slightly to his right, “is from Vahla, escaping the Reptilia gangs and slavers there. Tenra is a young Tiliquan from one of the other Tiliquan tribes who I’ve taken under my care. Finally, that,” he said with a note of distaste in his voice, “is Venn. Our information broker and the man we pay to not go to Shed with our information.” The aforementioned Gek, totally unperturbed by the unflattering introduction, stood from his spot at the table and thrust his hand forth in greeting.

“If you need information, I have it or can get it. If you need something found, I can find it. I’m Venn, Crossroads’ best info-dealer.” He spoke with exuberance, much like a car salesman would to a prospective buyer. Of course, I could see underneath all his layers, and I could see the greed. I would have been rather unimpressed with Tek if he were all greed, because underneath even that greed there was a tiny part of him that was using that greed to justify him doing something good.

“I’ll call on you if I need your services, which I may very well require after this.” I spoke slowly and confidently to the little Gek, not letting his act overwhelm. With a firm shake of the man’s hand, he returned to his seat quietly, fidgeting as he looked between myself and Tek.

“So,” I said, breaking the ice, “what’s your goal?” I didn’t leave the conversation in the realm of unsurety for long, cutting right to the heart of it, letting the natural power that I assumed as Demigod of the Hearth guide me in the direction I wanted.

“Peace for those who run from war.” Tek said simply, and I knew it was the truth. “Much of Crossroads’ population is built off humans and Gek that have fled Vahla and the Brauhm Empire, and Tiliquans that have fled the western tribes. We want peace.”

“Peace. It sounds so simple but is almost impossible.” I said, tone serious but with a playful note hiding within.

“If it were so easy,” Gehne said quietly, “we would have done it already. But we don’t have the might to do so, or the resources that those who run it all do.” Her tone wasn’t abrasive, but it was far from the gentle tone that she held casually. It came from a different place, one of hurt and pain, of betrayal and callousness. The wash of emotions I felt as I dug deeper into Gehne’s psyche was one of the times that I wished that I could simply turn my empathy off. But I couldn’t, as it was the price for power.

“Indeed. So, you need a heavy hitter. Someone who can do what you can’t. Though, I must say, I don’t know the state of your current position in all of this. Care to illuminate?” My eyes glanced across the rest of the table, and I could tell that Rethi’s eyes did so in synch.

“Our general state is poor. In all reality, we have the skills but not the means.” Tek said calmly, though his eyes narrowed in thought, “We have a good information broker on our side, and a warrior in Tenra and I.” He noticeably left out Gehne, which none of the other party overtly reacted to. Though, underneath I could see that her skillset was secretive, probably something that Gehne herself had told the others to not reveal. It didn’t make it any less obvious to me.

“So, two men who can fight, a mystery woman, and a man who has his ear to the ground.” I said, putting on my best unconvinced face. “You are playing a dangerous game here, Tek. I don’t doubt your skills as a warrior, in fact you remind me of the man who taught me how to fight, but you obviously cannot hack-and-slash your way through this problem.” The words cut deep, Tenra looking specifically wounded. He turned his face away from me, but I saw the grimace of pain on his scaly lips.

“Precisely. But we know a little about you.” Tek began, his eyes widening and the slits of his cornea pulling tight, “You are a priest of the Hearth Court.” I nodded, knowing that Gehne had likely told of our little interaction, or Tek had inferred a lot and was shooting in the dark.

“I am.”

“Are you a Peace Bringer?” I tilted my head to the side, a confused smile on my lips. At my reaction, the man felt a little dismay in his chest, but I powered onwards.

“I do not know if I am or am not, until you tell me what a Peace Bringer is.” The other Reptilia in the room clenched their powerful jaws, a mutual display of apprehension or even tentative hope.

“A Peace Bringer, they are Hearth God faithfuls, or Nature God sometimes. They are purveyors of conversation and discussion. They routinely involve themselves in kingdom and political business, usually to stop them from going to war, or to stop one from continuing.” Even Tek looked a little hopeful, though I could see the dread in his gut growing as the moments of my non-reaction passed.

“Well, I’ve never done so myself.” There was an instant sigh of disappointment. Even Gehne, who had been extraordinarily stoic this whole time, was now visibly dismayed. “But, I could certainly try my hand. I am somewhat gifted, in that sense.”

“Somewhat gifted?” Tenra spat bitterly, the nice man who had talked to us after bringing us food was gone. What remained was a scared and wounded kid, desperate for anything that could right the wrongs of the world around him.

Rethi, however, was not having it. The boy, who stood to my right, took a step forward and leaned over the table ever so slightly. A slight golden glow surrounded him, like it had for Mayer at times, his face was that of a lazy worker in the midday sun, but it carried far more power than that. His eyes flashed at the spiteful Reptilia across from us.

“He was being humble.” Rethi said quietly, his tone not so much a warning, but a declaration. The rest of the room gulped a little before I raised a hand and touched Rethi’s shoulder.

“And he’s being protective.” I pulled the boy from his posturing and smiled warmly at the wary group. “I’ll cut the bullshit. I’m good at this, and I’m in. What do we do now?”