“Add each day something to fortify you against poverty and death.”

Seneca the elder

We had been working on improving our foundations, growing our wealth and building up a powerbase in terms of competing with the Nobility of Ponente. Our preparations and their necessity suddenly took on greater importance when we were faced with threats to our mortality so close to home. I had not slept well and doubted that many on our isle had after the imminent threat to our lives had been revealed yesterday. I wondered how everybody else was coping.

“Morning,” I grumbled as I met up with my family at the breakfast table. It was likely that our lessons would be put on hold for the foreseeable future. But adversity in itself would probably teach us more valuable life lessons. In addition, the fact that the lessons were potentially life-threatening to both ourselves and our newfound enemies meant that they would be of more potent support to our levelling skills, stats and experience.

“Good morning,” Aleera replied. Aware of Lady Acacia watching and still expecting her to hold herself properly despite the probable lack of sleep last night. While the Singer metier was not the best to deal with this situation, the merchant metier was hardly any better.

“Help yourself.” Mother insisted and judging by the amount of food prepared she had possibly helped out in the kitchen with our maid and butler despite the frown that this seemed to bring to Lady Acacia's perfectly sculpted face. The new habits of nobility she was attempting to instil in our family were new and not yet habitual. She had clearly returned to her comfort activities which in this case was cooking for her family.

Still, you couldn't beat a home-cooked meal and this was the closest I would be getting to a cooked breakfast in a long time.

Father though took the words to heart and was happily filling up his plate to break his fast. If there was one aspect of living on our isle that he enjoyed the most it was the wider variety of food it afforded him freshly picked from our hidden garden. “So, plans for today?” He asked before tucking into his food. He would fall in line with what we decided he just wanted to know what that decision was.

“I think we need to go back,” I stated simply, fully aware that this might not be the most popular of decisions.

“Back? Why on earth would you go closer to where the monsters might come spilling forth from.” Mother interrupted. “Has yesterday taught you nothing? You are safer staying on our isle.” It was clear that our safety was her number one concern.

“Are we though? We can make the most difference the closer we are to the exit.” I questioned. I was unwilling to be shut down just yet. “Obviously we need to fortify our own home as well but if we can turn the exit into a killing field then that will hopefully keep them contained or at least controlled.”

"A killing field?" She queried.

"A space designed to help us kill them," I answered. This is what I had spent the majority of my wakeful moments working on. Between Callen and I we had come up with a raft of plans to make it perilous.

“I’m not happy with the idea of you going up there alone.” She argued not quite ready to give up the argument. As well as not admitting that it needed to be done.

“I never said I would go alone, ideally it would be all of us. You can shape stone, together we could do so much more than anyone else. With Grandfather to watch over us as we worked maybe even Lady Acacia could add in a layer of defence.” I postulated looking toward her for support with my idea. I had ideas on how to use her magic as well in the designs I had created.

“I can certainly help a little seeing as this is my home too and I hardly wish to see it overrun with vermin or worse base races from the Lodestone.” She inclined her head in agreement. Shuddering a little as she said the words base races. We had not gone into a lot of detail about them but just as each noble race had a specific strength so too did each base race. With trolls being the antithesis of elves in every way. Yet they still held vitality as their race's trait only for them it provided regeneration as opposed to long-lived.

Mother sighed in acceptance; it was the right choice to make despite how much she did not wish to make it. Ultimately, we would all be safer after fortifying the entrance. “Very well, but let’s be up there and back again sooner rather than later. There is no reason to spend all day up there. We can be back by lunch or at the latest tea."

“Thank you,” I said with relief. It still smarted that I had to run everything by my family first. I wished to be more independent. That being said they kept me from making too many mistakes now that they were more aware of my capabilities.

“Thank you, Mother,” Aleera added, eager to help as well.

“Not you. There is nothing that you can do up there. If you want to help, go and see about organising the town with your Grandpa Smit but I see no reason to risk the two of you at the same time.” she insisted.

“But my magic . . .” Aleera started to argue but was again instantly shut down.

“No buts young lady. You may have a modicum of magic but your strengths and metier lie in organising not in building or defending. Stick to your strengths.” She stated unwilling to take the two of us up to the eastern edge of the isle at the same time now that she was aware of the dangers. “We will drop you off in town on our way if you would like us to or can I trust you to make your own way?” she asked pointedly.

“Fine, fine. I can make my own way.” She answered frustrated that she would not be accompanying us. I kept quiet and small to avoid drawing my sister’s ire. I was simply happy that my mother was letting me go and I saw no reason to help her change her mind.

. . . .

As Father sailed us across the lagoon, we could see that we were not the only ones making our way there. Another eight individuals were walking around the southern edge of the lagoon heading towards the tower to relieve the first eight sentinels who had watched the exit last night. I wondered as we made our way across whether it had been a quiet night or if anything had actually happened.

In the moment of calm, I enjoyed watching the sunlight shimmer on the cerulean lagoon, the small waves glistening in the morning light. On the edge of the lake, I could see the dappled emerald green of the tree's crowns marching their way up to the eastern cliffs. Would such picturesque scenery remain if the Mosau Eels had made it to the water? Or would it still have looked as beautiful with the knowledge of hidden dangers lurking under the water or in the shadows of the trees?

The fear was a reminder to spin up my other half and set my senses to their maximum just in case. I watched the floor of the lagoon rise ever closer as we headed to the shore through the bottom of the boat. Not with my eyes but with my other senses. Knowing precisely when the water would grow shallow enough to ground us, I was unsurprised when we grounded with a thump running up the shallows.

“Great to be back,” Callen announced as my mind split in two to process all the data it was receiving.

“Keep an eye out,” I spoke to myself. “Two sets of eyes will be better than one.” The wonderful thing about working with yourself was that you could designate different senses to work with and know exactly what to expect. I could trust myself to keep an eye out even when I might be distracted by dialogue or even just thinking.

We made our way up to the eastern tower keeping a sharp lookout as we walked around the eastern woods. I could sense the wildlife around us but it seemed equally shocked by the monsters that had dug their way up yesterday and were keeping quiet and still today. It was not till we arrived at the tower that we saw that they had new reasons to be.

“Welcome to East point an entrance to the very depths of the Lodestone.” Arawn Silversword met us as we climbed up to meet him. Grandfather seemed to be surprisingly cheerful. “As you can see, we had a few visitors last night.” He dramatically revealed the carcasses of some truly giant spiders that were strung out along the path from the cave. “Nasty . . . ” he paused considering his audience or rather more importantly the amount of grief he would get from his daughter if he continued in that vein. “They came out around sunrise towards the end of our shift. Not something that you could easily knock off a cliff, what with having eight legs and all, but the archers did a fantastic job taking them out before they could make it off the path to the woods or to the tower which they were aiming for. The marker of the Lodestar Church seems to be working well in drawing their attention.”

It was tempting to go closer to see exactly what they looked like but I was sure that we would be harvesting their cores momentarily if they had not already been done by him. Though considering my ability in locating them I was fairly sure that he had decided to wait for me to arrive. Although how he knew that I would be arriving was another question. Was I that easy to predict?

“You threw Kai to the eels.” Mother had stepped forward to jab her finger into his sternum. It seemed that a night’s sleep, morning sail and walk had done little to dull her anger as she continued to push him back a step toward the tower and the edge of the cliff.

“Everyone was fine.” He defended himself. Bracing himself and stopping her from shoving him any further backward. Though that did not stop her from continuing to prod and poke.

“Everyone was fine because you dangled my son like bait above the monsters' mouths.” She shrieked in his face. If this is what she was like today it was just as well that she had not accompanied us the day before.

“The boy lived, in fact, he soared.” He shouted back. “If we had not run you would have lost a husband and a daughter yesterday. I couldn’t guard them all! I had to make a decision.” Unrepentant for his actions which he perceived to be the best of two evils.

“Then why didn’t you keep running? You didn’t need to throw him.” She shouted back equally unforgiving of her father.

“And led them where? The lake? The town? How do you think that would have ended? I couldn’t kill an entire tangle carrying a child in my arms. I had no time to prepare and it was the best I could do.” He asked exasperated that the successful diversion and elimination of the denizens of the depths was not being recognised for what it was, a victory without causalities.

“When are you going to realise that he is not some soldier you need to train up?” She asked exhausted by her own anger and his refusal to repent. The resentment of similar training ran deep.

“When you realise that he is not just your son but a Lord and capable of so much more than that.” He answered sadly. He was equally exhausted by the circular argument that had grown between them. It was impossible to tell the original cause of their conflict now. Only know that when he said white, she said black and that the most obvious area they clashed upon, was me.

“I’m fine, we’re fine.” I put myself between them fully aware that they continued to glare at one another above my head. “We are here to see what we can do about fortifying the exit. Let's focus on that." I tried to redirect their attention.

“Sounds good I can’t be here every day.” He happily accepted the new topic of conversation. “I have other places I need to be. What can you do for here?” he asked.

“I was thinking walls to start off with. If the monsters are always at a height disadvantage it will help us to kill them without them killing us.” I explained my thoughts.

“Why not just seal off the tunnel?” father asked the obvious question. If they could not get out then there would be no problem at all.

“The problem with sealing off an exit is that they will just develop another elsewhere. Only this time you will not know where they are likely to burst from next. They often follow the path of least resistance but if there is no exit at all they will most likely make another.” Lady Acacia lectured us all.

“Where do you plan on putting the walls?” Arawn focused on how we would shape the terrain to the town's advantage. If he was not there to supervise walls would be the next best thing to support them.

“First off, we need to create sheer walls on the cliff edge. We do not want to allow them to climb back up if they fall off over the edge. If you would mother?” I asked her to focus on this her ability to cut stone straight with her voice was still greater than mine even if she was going to run out of mana far before me. Mother headed off to complete my suggestion. Perhaps happy to distance herself from Grandfather. It did not really matter, whatever got the job done.

“Then if we cut away at the cliff creating rising curved steps similar to our amphitheatre but significantly steeper steps that are too high to climb. We will also need to provide a winding exit from the amphitheatre working its way to the East point Tower which will allow us to fire down onto them wherever they may run.” I outlined what I hoped to be able to do with my mana to him and Lady Acacia to see if they had any disagreements. But none came. “Would it be possible for you to create some pitfalls and wooden spikes to impale them, Lady Acacia?” I asked hopefully.

“I thought you would never ask. It would be my pleasure.” She replied equally happy to have a task to focus on. "This is an opportunity to impress the locals, make the most of it," she suggested.

Soon the three of us were working on different aspects of the fortifications. The eight sentinels who had already been there and the eight replacements watching us in amazement.

This was the first time the townspeople had ever seen us using magic and the fact that we could, would be all over town by this evening. Even if the divers’ daughters had not let the cat out of the bag yesterday over the fact that I could fly! The fact that our family held magic would be everywhere by tomorrow. At least this use of magic would be seen as something done for everyone, not just ourselves.

We soon had the initial outline of the fortifications we wished to create and had created enough depth for them that they should give the defenders the advantage as well as funnel the monsters into the kill zones we had created. Hopefully, even if they poured forth in greater numbers than they had arrived in already we would prevail.

. . .

“Amazing milord. I’ll feel a lot safer keeping watch from up here.” One of the archer sentinels complimented me by using my title for the first time. We were standing on the first ringed wall surrounding the exit. Looking down on where they would spill forth.

“This will just be the first ring,” I replied. “We can keep working up from here.” It was always difficult to charge the tone I needed to set with the people but he seemed equally excited at the progress I had made.

. . .

“Thank you, Lady Acacia, that should be more than enough spears for me to throw.” Another of the new sentinels pronounced his thanks. I was finally noticing the conversation but did not feel guilty for listening in now that it had been called to my attention.

“Any chance of some arrows?” Another archer asked cheekily. Fully aware of the huge spears she had grown and had laid out beside her.

It seemed spears or rather sharpened stakes were easy enough to grow. Arrows though either required more skill mana or were just to think to create in the quantities required. Whichever the case Lady Acacia had not deigned to create any.

Though she still deserved a great big thank you for all of the support she had already provided.

. . .

“That’s a smooth drop.” Another praised my mother’s progress. “Never knew you could do magic.” He added commenting on the fact that she had kept it secret all these years her and grandfather had lived in the town or at least on the edge of it.

“We were never in a position to let it be known.” She answered the unasked question. Even the locals were well enough aware that a child showing such skills was likely to be snapped up at the earliest of opportunities.

“Yes, well we are truly grateful that you feel comfortable enough to us use it now.” He replied gratefully. Some of the townspeople thought that the reason we had become nobles was simply to access our magic without fear of control.

Although another muttered to another, “A siren in more ways than just song.” Before he was hushed in turn but not before he had revealed the other side of public opinion.

. . .

“That’s all for today.” Mother declared as she finally ran out of mana. I still had more to spare but had done perhaps twice the amount of work. However, I didn’t wish to push too far today. It was better to have one layer of defence completed rather than have more than one incomplete. The Sentinels had managed just fine without the defences last night they should be fine for tonight as well when they now had something so much better to support them.

“Time to go home then,” Arawn added patting a pocket full of beast cores that had been collected. As we worked, he brought the corpses over one at a time for me to identify as well as tell him where the cores were. It meant that when they were carried back, they would have fewer holes in the materials to be processed but that the family was also able to keep the cores. Which were the most valuable part of the entire corpse.

"Time to go." I repeated stunned that the morning had passed so quickly but also that they had kids available.

The eight original sentinels made their way back to town carrying their loads of monster corpses. Meat and materials that would be repurposed into other things. Payment for their civic duties alongside the skill levels, experience and stats they would have received for killing the monsters. Maybe people would even become disappointed when there were no monsters to slay but that was a problem for Grandpa Smit to solve. For now, though it was important that they continued to come and stand sentinel over the entrance to the depths.

We returned to our island. It was still light having only spent the morning working on the East point Tower’s defences. Which meant that we could start working on ours too. It was much the same but in reverse. Cutting away at the mountain to form giant smooth walls on par with the ones of Wester Town. This was not a job that could be completed in an afternoon or a day. But we had made a start.

Aleera returned home to say that the archbishop had departed but promised Bishop Bailie and Compass Knight Jacques full attention to our family should we ever require it. He had also taken with him our old Priest Aravan whose departure at least put a smile on our mother’s face. “Good riddance.” Was all she had to say on that.

We sat down to dinner satisfied that even if we had not yet completed the defences required, we had made a good start on them. The maid and butler had got into the habit of laying the table setting out the food and retiring to allow us our private conversations.

“While we may have revealed more than we would have liked. I judge the benefits to have been outweighed the disadvantages.” Lady Acacia toasted the successful navigation of the archbishop’s visit.

“The favours were worth their weight in gold in terms of experience for my class,” Aleera informed us.

“Not sure the favours were of equal value considering the monsters they called forth from the Lodestone.” Mother disagreed.

“It really is a blessing in disguise that we were there for their emergence. It could have ended up far worse for the island.” Lady Acacia stated.

“I’m not disagreeing that it could have gone a lot worse just that the costs might outweigh the favours.” Mother cautioned.

“You even have a changing of the church. Bishop Bailie seems far more agreeable than Aravan ever was. Plus, a Compass Knight of the Lodestar Church is worth his weight in pearls or gold if we can prevail upon him to help train the Town’s Guard and East point’s Sentinels.” Lady Acacia extolled the value of the favours gained. “A single entrance to the depths is hardly too high a cost.”

“About that,” Grandfather muttered.

“Yes?” Lady Acacia arched an eyebrow.

“In the light of lodestar and full transparency, there might just happen to be another entrance to depths on the island.” He answered rolling a knife back and forth between his fingers avoiding the sudden stare of every head at the table.

“There’s another?” she quickly quizzed.

“Well, how else do you think we arrived on the island.” He replied.