Balrim and Myrin were eating dinner when Kaldalis arrived back at the mess tent, and as soon as he had his own meal - handmade pasta with a meat sauce - he sat down at their table.

“Okay,” Kaldalis said before either of them could speak, “hi. We need to clear the air, and I’m willing to make the first move on that.”

He’d caught Balrim with a mouthful of food, rendering him unable to immediately protest.

Myrin, meanwhile, looked happy to see him.

It gave him the opening to press on.

“I see now that I haven’t been perfect about making myself understood,” Kaldalis began. “It was never my intent to make you two feel lesser than any of my other obligations, and I’m sorry that I made you feel that way.

“As much as I care about you two and your progress, I do have to arrange my priorities. Ultimately, I can understand that a run through a mysterious new dungeon is going to smoother with me in the point position, but the same is true of Reno and SeventyEight in the dungeon we already have. It’s a question of necessity. With those two still just starting out, catching them up is going to benefit not just them, but all of us together.”

“We’re not necessarily spoiled for choice when it comes to supplemental party members,” Myrin said. “It’s either alpha players who have friends who are better options than us, or betting on some rando to be competent with no guarantee behind them. If we can count on Reno and SeventyEight, it is a benefit to us to have them leveled up.”

Kaldalis nodded in agreement. “The last thing I want to do is ignore you two. I definitely want to explore Nos Meles. I want to help with that dynasty of first clears, and I want to help with your streams like I promised. And so I promise that I’ll go out of my way to travel between the two and help you whenever Reno and SeventyEight don’t actively need my help.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Balrim said, finally finishing his mouthful of pasta. “Really, the last thing I want is for you to kill yourself trying to do too much.”

“Yeah,” Myrin added, “we appreciate your help, but like you said before, we don’t need a babysitter as much as the newbies do.”

Kaldalis could tell from Balrim’s tone - and grimace - that he had likely also spent some time reflecting on their last interaction as well. He’d come to the same realization Heluna had helped Kaldalis reach: as much as Kaldalis had been unclear with his boundaries, Balrim had been an asshole about it.

Just the same, he felt confident he’d made the right call. By starting with an apology, they could both save face here. Kaldalis got to be the bigger man, and Balrim got to feel like his concerns were heard, acknowledged, and understood.

“A lot of things are going to hinge on how long the trip is between the zones,” Kaldalis said, poking at his food. “If it’s a long trip, then obviously I’ll need to keep trips between to a minimum. If it’s not too long, I could jump back and forth once a day.”

“There’s also the chance that we’re imagining problems that don’t exist,” Balrim cut in. “If the new zone isn’t overwhelmingly scaled up, we could all go together. And who knows? Maybe if we work hard on that end, we can make the immediate area around the new town safe enough that they won’t need you.”

Kaldalis nodded, glad that they were able to bury the hatchet on this.

He finally was able to take a bite of his dinner now. After a week on the island, he was able to immediately identify the meat sauce as having been sourced from grizzled dragons. It was beefy with a gamey undertone that betrayed that it wasn’t cow.

Then again, Kaldalis didn’t know if there were actually cows in this world.

“You’re not going to push too hard, right?” Myrin pressed. “I just want to be sure you’re not going to hurt yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” Kaldalis said quickly, even though he wasn’t sure how he would be. “If you want something done, give it to a busy person, right? I’ll figure it all out somehow.”

“Or you’ll have a mental breakdown,” Balrim said with a toothy smile. “One or the other.”

Kaldalis needed to change the subject. He’d managed to make it only about them and the newbies.

If they started to question how he’d manage it, one of them was going to remember that he had obligations to Garyung as well.

“Alright, so maybe you can take something off my plate for me,” Kaldalis said. “If you don’t mind, that is. I think it’s something that would be good for the whole camp, but I’ve been struggling to find the time.”

“Oh yeah,” Balrim said, suddenly surprised by the request. “I’m glad to help. What do you need?”

Kaldalis was glad that Balrim seemed as surprised as he was himself. He’d hoped he’d have been able to come up with something before finishing that sentence. Fortunately, for the first time in his life when leaning on that tactic, his brain actually came through for him. He came up with an answer before looking like a total idiot. Maybe having Garyung treat him the way he had always treated his own brain was going to pay off.

“A memorial service of sorts,” Kaldalis said. “Not really a funeral, I guess, but a remembrance party?” He gestured with his fork at the town around them. “We all sacrificed a lot to get this town made, but some sacrificed more than we ever could.”

“Haldir,” Myrin said, bowing her head.

“Yes,” Kaldalis said. “Not just him, though. More than a dozen NPCs died between all the Infernal Horde attacks together. We all gave a lot, but they gave their lives.”

“I’m on board with this,” Balrim said, “what do you want to do?”

“I’ll be totally honest, I really don’t have anything thought up yet,” Kaldalis said. “I’d say that I’m open to ideas, but I don’t really have the time to commit to this.”

Balrim looked off over Kaldalis’ shoulder, towards the town. “I like the idea of a remembrance gathering. People liked it when we had a bonfire on the beach. That’s a decent start.”

“I appreciate you taking this off my plate,” Kaldalis said. “Reno and SeventyEight are probably finished with the tutorial quests by now, and need some help.”

“Oh,” Balrim said, reaching over and tapping Myrin on the shoulder. “We could actually do a memorial.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Myrin said, perking up as she followed his logic. “Keertah!”

“Who’s Keertah?” Kaldalis asked.

“Whenever I’m grinding crafting,” Balrim explained, “Myrin goes around the crafting area shooting the breeze with the other crafters.”

“Keertah is one of the stonecutters,” Myrin explained. “Whenever we’ve gathered stone for building, she’s been the one who handles it.”

“I’m thinking you can go talk to her about this, and we can set up something to remember them,” Balrim went on. “A monument or something.”

Myrin shook her head, enthusiastically. “I have a better idea. We have her engrave something on the stone part of the town walls. It’ll be fast to set up, and a bit more symbolic. They’re a part of the city they gave their lives for.”

“I think that’s really cool,” Balrim agreed.

Despite being the source of the idea, Kaldalis didn’t interrupt as they made further plans. After all, he needed them to take off with this idea without him.

He hadn’t actually had this on his plate. It had just been a vague idea. But now that he’d put it out there, it would comfort them to think that he wasn’t saddled with the work they were now doing.

Kaldalis just had to hope that he had accurately estimated his abilities and was going to keep himself from the breakdown he was tricking them into thinking they’d saved him from.

Balrim and Myrin had started their dinner before him, and they suddenly had a dozen things to do once their plates were cleared. Once they left - and once they finished recruiting whatever other help they could in the mess hall - Kaldalis was able to finish his meal in peace before seeking out Reno and SeventyEight.

True to his expectations, they had just wrapped up the tutorial, unlocking the daily townbuilding quests that he’d already had access to. As a trio, they gathered them up and went out to do their part in filling out whatever resource needs the town had. It was simple stuff, just gathering wood, stone, and a few other materials from local fauna and ambulatory flora.

When they returned to town, Kaldalis was impressed to see a column of smoke already going up on the beach, and many of the adventurers missing from the crafting areas where they turned in their quests.

“Looks like it’s time,” Kaldalis said, pointing towards the beach. “I need to put in an appearance on the beach.”

“What’s going on?” Reno asked.

“Uh, right, we were out of town right after dinner,” Kaldalis said. He hesitated, wondering how he should put it. Ultimately, he decided to downplay his part of this event. He didn’t want to seem like he’d manipulated his friends. “You met Balrim and Myrin before. They organized a memorial event for the people who died to set up the town.”

“That sounds really nice,” SeventyEight said.

“It’s really important to me. We… We lost a lot of good people.”

“Don’t let us slow you down,” SeventyEight said, patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll catch up.”

“Thanks, Ess,” Kaldalis said, finding himself struggling not to think too hard about Haldir’s death and the events around it.

There would be plenty of time for that when he arrived and was forced to confront the loss.