Chapter 14: A Day of Lectures

Spring 26

Lest got about an hour of quiet that morning while he tended to his farm. While he had the northeastern field full of plants now, with a few among the trees in the southeast, the plants were all strong enough that he only had to water them, check for bugs and illness, and pull a few weeds. He'd planned for that so that he had more time to focus on retrieving the spheres and the guardians at this time. He didn't have a lot of personal money as a result of all the planting. However, he wanted to compensate Jones and Nancy for taking the time to look after Leon. He had picked up some wild herbs and monster items while he'd been out to the tower yesterday, so he divided them into a group to place in the shipping box, a group to put in a basket for the clinic, and a small group of the herbs for Porcoline. He added in some tender leaves of spinach and lettuce from his garden to the two baskets, hoping that would be enough for the chef to cover some of his meal costs.

Once he got back inside to clean up, it was clear that the quiet wouldn't last. Volkanon was there with breakfast and Lest's first lecture of the day. "Did you really have to go to a dangerous place like Karnak Tower on your own?" the master butler said sternly. "Most people who go there never come back. But more than that, you're the prince now and you have a responsibility to the people of this region. You can't be taking risks like that without warning anyone."

Thinking that he probably deserved it and it was better to just let it go, Lest finished washing his hands and dried them on a towel. He still tried to explain his situation. "I've told people before, I'm here on a mission to place the rune spheres in the rune springs. Even if they're all in dangerous places, I've intended to go to those places from the start."

"You could have at least brought someone like Forte with you and waited until you were stronger after your recovery," Volkanon insisted.

"I got delayed for more than I meant in that injury," he said, coming back into the bedroom. "And the elder told me to get the spheres in place as soon as possible. Besides, I'm not sure having someone along would have helped much."

"Two fighters are better than one out in untamed wilds." Even if he was lecturing, he let Lest get started with his breakfast. Probably because it kept him a captive audience in eating and not wanting to talk; Volkanon went on for a good ten minutes with stories and admonitions.

By the end of it, Lest started feeling a bit sorry for Clorica and Vishnal, given they probably got this treatment during their learning process fairly often. But they still loved him like a second father and it was clear that Volkanon was more concerned for Lest's safety and reputation. Once he was given a moment to say something for himself again, Lest asked, "Do you know anyone in town who can see runes without special equipment?"

That caused him to pause. "Well... Jones can read runes."

"He requires an adaptive enchantment that he's tied to his equipment," Lest said.

"Illuminata can, but..." he put his hand on his chin, stroking his beard.

"Same thing, but with her monocle," he said. "I read runes and chi as naturally as others see colors without needing extra help. The only other one in town that I'm sure can do that is Lady Ventuswill. Leon might be able to, but he's just arrived and I haven't confirmed it. And having been there, I can tell you that you absolutely need the ability to sense and interpret runes to get around safely. The whole place is laced with corrupted impure runes. I'll admit to not understanding them fully, but a close brush with some convinced me that they're incredibly dangerous and must be navigated around. Might even be lethal to someone who can't see them and walks into them by accident. While I didn't know before, now I definitely would not want to take anyone else along to that place unless I know that they can navigate the runes too. And that they won't risk having an enchantment or artifact broken, leaving them blind to it."

"Well that is definitely something to keep in mind," Volkanon admitted.

Lest nodded. "And I'm sure you've heard that I'm an empath. It's not easy to surprise me since I can read emotions and runes, getting a warning of what might come. Along with that, my power to break runes is required to get the rune spheres in place and handle them safely. My talents combined also let me disenchant the guardians and wake them up, something that really needs to happen because their creation may have been a moral mistake not far removed from a full human sacrifice. This all means that I need to get into those places to serve Lady Ventuswill properly and make her happy. I agree that it would be better for someone to come with me to the other places, but we need Forte here to protect the town while we've got the threat from the Sechs Empire hanging over us. Even with the Norad central knights here, she knows the town by heart and I feel it's best to keep her here to protect everyone else."

"You might have a difficult time convincing her of that," Volkanon said. "What about Leon?"

He shrugged. "He's probably a good choice, although I do need to speak with him later and see about that. Plus we'd need to make sure he's in good enough shape to fight." He looked up at the butler and smiled. "Look, I promise I won't go after the other spheres and springs alone if I can help it. I got impatient yesterday and various incidents kept me from returning even when I thought I probably should."

"Very well," he said, still reluctant but satisfied that he was acknowledging the danger and promising to not go alone. Volkanon leaned on the back of another empty chair at the table. "You can be a hard one to work with, Lest. There's many times when you display exactly the kind of attitude and wisdom expected of Selphia's leader. But then you go do crazy things like use a miracle to heal yourself, run off to fix ancient mistakes, and even when you showed up that first time in drag."

Volkanon clearly didn't like that last one, but it was one of those serious 'men ought to be masculine' attitudes that Lest often had trouble resisting some teasing with. "Well I only go out in skirts if it's a special occasion," he said with a trouble-making smile. "It wouldn't be surprising if I did it more often."

He frowned with an expression that said, 'how do you not see what's wrong with that?', much to Lest's amusement. "One would think it's better to make a good first impression."

"I was trying to evade bandits who knew they were looking for a guy," Lest said with a shrug. "Then I got to talking with Nem and Helena on the ship. I'm sure you know how easy it is to lose track of details such as time and what you're wearing when chatting with good friends."

"I wouldn't be comfortable in that kind of situation," Volkanon said without thinking about it too much. It caused a few runes of someone's funny bone being tickled to drift in from the hall. "Besides, what would your father say?"

Lest paused to raise an eyebrow at that, then in complete honesty said, "He'd say that I should have used makeup to look more convincing."

Volkanon groaned and slapped his forehead while laughter broke out in the hallway. "What are you two doing out there?" he barked, increasing the volume on his speech a couple notches.

As might be expected, Vishnal and Clorica came in the room. "We were waiting on today's meeting," the former said, struggling to keep a straight face. Clorica didn't even try, still laughing a little.

He glanced at the clock and realized that it was seven thirty. "Ah. How long were you out there?"

"You were talking about when Lest showed up in drag," Vishnal said.

"Did that really happen?" Clorica asked. "Oh no, what a sight to miss. Was it a pretty skirt?"

Volkanon was caught speechless at that while Vishnal put his hand to his mouth while he laughed again. "It was academical," Lest said. "I thought the ensemble was cute."

"You'll have to show me sometime," she said cheerfully, in an innocent fashion.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Volkanon said.

Vishnal cleared his throat, then said, "Well you have said that we should learn some information on our master's hobbies and help out when needed." Volkanon's eyes went wide as he realized that was his advice, which set both of them back into laughing.

Lest smiled at the scene. "Don't worry, I wouldn't push it on a guy who isn't interested in the first place," he told them. Although he had the feeling that Volkanon might be interrogating Vishnal later on based on that comment.

Once he was done with breakfast, Lest went to his office for a couple of hours to take care of some the the little daily tasks he had to handle as prince. Mostly reviewing Forte's security reports, checking on any notices from the capitol, seeing what notes the patrolling knights in the countryside had. He also had a response from the Sechs Empire today about their query into the building on Selphia's lands. While it was a lot of highbrow language, he guessed that the gist of it was 'Don't **** with us, neighbor, or we'll raze your city'. This was something he needed to discuss with Arthur about.

He then got his second lecture of the day from Forte when she came in with a stony look in her eyes. "Lest, I thought you said that you weren't going anywhere dangerous yesterday."

"I said that I wasn't going to Yokmir Forest," he replied.

"You're not going to get away with exact words," she said and preceded to give him nearly the same lecture that Volkanon had given not that long ago (minus the comments on his attire). Lest sat through it patiently, filing away in his mind that he would have to watch that tactic around Forte now.

After she seemed done with it, Lest gave her a shortened explanation about the corrupt runes and how it turned out better he was alone. "But I already promised Volkanon that I wouldn't be going out to these places alone again," he finished with. "I'm hoping Leon can handle it because I'd rather you be here in town."

"Do you doubt my ability in battle?" she asked, skeptical and almost insulted.

He shook his head. "No, actually it's because I know you're good that I'd rather you be here. Your job is to serve Lady Ventuswill and protect her, right? But she cares deeply about the people of Selphia, so she would want you to protect the town and those who live here. You want that too, right?"

"Well, yes," Forte admitted.

"Good, and there's also this," Lest said, picking up the letter from the empire. "I have to check with Arthur, but I'm pretty sure this is trying to provoke a war with us. We do have a lot of help from the capitol with the region's defense, but is it enough? I have no idea and I don't like the idea of leaving the city without a capable defender. There's a few others who seem like they'd be good in a fight, but I feel more comfortable knowing you're around in case an emergency comes up."

"Err, thanks, although I'm not sure I'd be enough if we get the Sechs army marching through here," she said.

"If it were that big, we'd notice such a large group gathering," Lest said.

She nodded. "But for a small group, then I would do all I could to drive them away. Still, you'd better take someone with you for this mission. You've only been here for a few weeks, but you're already important to many of us. I think you need to start taking into account the confidence and well-being of the whole community when deciding on these things."

"I consider the guardians to be part of this community because they all came from around here in the past," he said. "Which means I do want to get them back home soon. Fortunately, two are practically right here and it won't take us all day to go out and get them."

Forte frowned, still not entirely happy with this. But then she nodded. "Very well. But first, let me find my father's journal and copy down his notes on the locations as well as the non-returning monsters there."

Lest brightened at that. "Great! Actually, those non-returning monsters are important to getting the guardians back. I already put one to rest for good getting Leon back, so more information on the others will help a lot. Just don't forget that I have to go out to the northern ruins at the water rune spring too."

"There should be plenty of information about there too, since he and I have made sure to go out there at least once a year to make sure the aqueducts are secure," she said. After saying that she'd have those notes for him tomorrow morning, she left to return to her patrols.

Lest got his tasks done for the day, thinking that this work might increase in time. But that would mean that Selphia was growing again and would be a good thing. Placing the letter from the empire in with Porcoline's basket, he went to check on Venti in case she was awake and wanted to ask something of him. She was awake, and had the same concerns about him going off like he had yesterday.

"Do you know how worried I was when I realized you were all the way out there?" the dragon said, trying to be strict but her worry overrode that. "I admit I wasn't fully awake at the time, but I heard the foxes become active on the wind and realized it was your voice answering them. But then you three went down into the tower and I'm not entirely sure what the inside of that place is like anymore."

"Even with the earth spring revived?" Lest asked.

"Well I can tell now through that," she admitted. "Somewhat, the wind can't go far in there. I know the place is infected with corrupt runes like perverse mushrooms."

While there were some clusters like that, he'd seen it differently. "It's more like streams of the runes flowing from somewhere, perhaps the remains of Storgane's curse."

"I don't know if that is the source," she said, now thoughtful. "It's certainly drawing from it." Then she blinked and shook her head. "And don't change the subject on me! What you did yesterday was a reckless thing, going to the rune spring and trying to alter it and the guardian there without full knowledge of what would happen."

Lest shrugged. "Not much I can do about lack of knowledge because even as long as it's been studied, this part of the plan is pretty much all theory."

"And how do you know about that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Wile his sister had advised not mentioning it, Lest didn't think it'd be smart to avoid the truth here. "My mother's family is the one who's been studying etherlink, the rune spheres, and all of this going on here," he said. "Mom couldn't come here while she was alive because she was still affected by your word, but my sister and I aren't." When she got really worried about it, he put a hand on his hip. "Although she taught Frey all of it first; Frey's the one who actually knows etherlink and helped finish the crafting on the last rune sphere. I didn't know much about it until she grabbed me last summer and started telling me about it. Keeping the son from the knowledge was a habit they started and I got pulled in primarily because they realized that my combination of talents would make me more effective in undoing etherlink on the guardians."

"Then you came here with the intent of freeing them?" Ventuswill asked, her feelings on him wavering.

Lest nodded. "Of course, it'd be silly to leave them in place." That might be what he'd tell anyone else, but it made him think on something sad, a deeper reason. After biting his lip, he added, "So I knew that my Mom was going to die about an hour before she did because of reading runes, but before she'd let me go get Dad and Frey, she made sure to tell me... a lot of people in my old town thought I was a burden and curse for being a rune breaker, among a few other things. But she thought that it was a gift based on the guilt and regret that had built up in her family after generation upon generation not able to find a way to get the guardians awake safely, that they had to keep resorting to what was pretty much a sacrifice of good people in what should have been the prime of their life. So getting this done as soon as I possibly can is really incredibly important to me to get this sin off my family."

"Oh," she said, her eyes softening and the simple response showing that she fully understood it.

He didn't want to leave her with such a heavy serious thought, so he smiled as best he could. "Although it was completely worth it when I saw you and Leon back together."

Venti smiled warmly. "It'll be a huge relief to me when they're all back home. In that case, I suppose I should tell you." She crouched down so that she was lying on the floor, her head closer on level with his. "About your rune spheres, I can tell where the other three are. One fell in Yokmir Forest and was claimed by a tree monster there. While it'll remain in place, you're going to have a difficult time getting past Amber's monster form of Ambrosia to reach the sphere or the spring. I think you'll be safe from her butterfly curse and Leon knows an anti-status prayer that will keep anyone else safe as well. But Ambrosia flies quickly through the trees, meaning even between the two of you, you're going to have a hard time pinning her near the ground. I've noticed that the range of your magic is pretty bad even with the casting gloves."

"Yeah, I've been known to break a spell while casting it many times when I was first learning," Lest said. "Plus, I ended up having to hug Sarcophagus and later Leon in order to get a good grasp on undoing those spells. The uncursing requires me to briefly flood their systems with love magic in order to get the monster and etherlink runes out of them, which makes them believe that they're crazy in love with me."

She laughed at that. "I was really seeing that in him yesterday? But then, I can't see a way to avoid that. You would need to get those runes out so they don't reform. Oh, but I think I should instruct you on establishing natural bonds a little better, so the tie between body and soul isn't as weak as it was in Leon then."

He nodded. "That'd be great, I was hoping the body's unconscious memory would be enough."

"It might not be so bad in the others as Leon's been under enchantment for over a thousand years," Venti said. "Back to the rune spheres, one fell on the southern roads, but was picked up rather quickly by a flower lion monster. It got mutated when it swallowed the sphere and has retreated to the flower lion's primary territory of Delirium Lava Caves. And the last one fell in a valley not far to the north. However, it got picked up by a roaming Twinkle Bird; they really like shiny objects. After it got in a losing fight with others in its territory, it took the rune sphere with it when it flew northward, eventually landing in the water ruins. Then it got killed by one of the monsters there who," she hesitated, then said in a quieter voice, "some of the monsters around the rune springs? They spring from the nightmares of the guardians. Not just the ones their bodies turned into, others that are usually extremely powerful for the area they're in, like the tree monster in Yokmir Forest. You're going to have tough fights to get them back."

"All right," Lest said. "Seems like the thing to do would be grab the one in Delirium Cave, then take it to Yokmir to put into the spring there. Once we free Amber, we can take the sphere there to Obsidian Manor and get the northern ruins last."

"Well," she said, hesitant to accept that plan. "It sounds logical, but there's some problems with it."

"What kind of problems?" he asked.

She rubbed her wing against her snout. "Well... like I said, Ambrosia will be fast and I don't know if a team of you and Leon will be able to get her to the ground without harming her. Marionetta would be easier for you two to handle first, plus that's Dolce there and she'd be an asset in battle immediately while Amber's not used to fighting. But then, Dylas is at the Water Ruins and, well I'm just not sure it'd be best to leave him for last even though that location and the monsters there could be the most dangerous of all. Although I feel awful already for whichever one of them ends up awakened last."

"Well think about it and I'll ask your advice again when I know Leon's fine with helping me," Lest said.

"I'd be shocked if he didn't offer without being asked," Venti said, then yawned.

After parting from her so she could nap, Lest headed out to reach the restaurant before the morning got too far along. He took the east road and got halfway there when he started feeling uneasy. Some of the runes nearby were taking on sharper edges. Looking up, he crossed eyes with Doug. He didn't get long to think as a hate laced with suspicion cut through his chest. Caught short of breath, Lest paused and put his hand on his chest, his mind frantically trying to keep calm and let the feelings pass by.

Doug had a cold expression, making it harder to tell what he was feeling beside the hate. Trying to smooth it over with politeness, Lest smiled weakly and said, "Morning, Doug. Something up?"

"Why should you care?" he asked. It might sound dismissive to others, but the words might as well have been barbed to Lest. "Only because it bothers you to have other people bothered? That kind of thing nearly got you kicked out of your last town, didn't it?"

"H-how did you hear about that?" Lest asked, a shiver running through him.

"Just around," Doug said, shaking his head and hurrying past.

Feeling an immense relief that Doug had decided not to say anything more, Lest hurried on to the restaurant. He didn't feel secure being out on the road with how he felt. But where had he heard about his empathy and that time he'd nearly become an outcast to the tribe? Certainly his friends in the postal crew wouldn't have spoken about the latter. Maybe word of his empathy was getting around town now that he'd told a few people. A cold wind cut through the trees, disrupting the self-control Lest had been trying to gather again. Did it have to be bad enough to start influencing the weather? He had to calm down. Just go inside somewhere and calm down.

"Super good morning!" Porcoline called out from the kitchen as Lest came in, not even turning from his work yet. But once he did glance back, he left off his work to lean on the front counter across from him. "Oh my word, what's wrong, Lest? You look a ghastly pale."

"I-I'll be okay," he said, his voice still shaking as he set the basket for Porcoline on the counter. "Something just… spooked me, I need to calm down."

Porcoline smiled and waved a hand out to the dining area. "Well then pull up a chair and I'll fix you up something relaxing real quick. On the house." He then went to go retrieve a few things.

Taking him up on his offer, Lest brought a stool over and sat there with his arms resting on the counter. If he got a grip on his nerves, he wouldn't accidentally summon a storm or something. It was just such a shock to run into someone who directly hated him again. He'd managed to get people back in Grelin down to indifference or acceptance towards him so they didn't often get angry at him. Coming here, the people were friendly and quick to like him. Running across Doug like that caught him completely off-guard. But, why Doug? Did it have to do with the incident back in the orchard where someone's hate of Ventuswill made him faint? It might have been him.

"Here you are, one fresh hot cup of relax tea," Porcoline said after a few minutes, handing him a teacup with sailboats painted on it. It was filled with a milky pinkish-brown drink. "With a splash of milk and addition of chamomile leaves to be extra soothing."

"Thanks, Porco," Lest said, taking a careful sip of it. It had been brewed quite well.

The chef smiled, but left him alone for a few more minutes while he checked on the progress of the upcoming meal. Lest looked into the cup of tea and kept thinking. At least the incident hadn't lasted long. A few more barbs and he might have really called up a spring storm in a panic. Still, it told him something. While Doug hated him, he saw when he was going too far and walked away instead of lashing out more. He wasn't unreasonable or heartless. He may have known about the empathy, but maybe seeing how deeply it could cut got to his normal empathy and caused him to stop. While Lest was really curious about what the story was here, he would need to handle this situation with care. Softening a person's hate could take years, he knew from unfortunate experience.

Once lunch was in a place where it could be left to simmer, Porco came around the counter and got a stool to sit by Lest. "Well you've got some color back to your cheeks, that's good."

He nodded. "Yeah, I feel somewhat better. Still kind of shaken, though."

"What's the matter?" he asked.

He went ahead and explained about the incident, although he declined the say that it was Doug who he ran into. "Something needs to be done about it, but I really don't want to turn anyone against this person," he finished with. "It's a slow process to bring someone down from that."

"Well if you need help with this person, I'll do what I can," Porco said. "I'd even keep it under wraps if that's what you'd want."

"Thanks, I'll keep that offer in mind," Lest said with a smile. "Oh, and I came here because I got some things from my garden I wanted to give you for use. Here, it's mostly baby greens and some freshly dried herbs."

"Those could be nice to throw in a spring salad," he said in delight. Seeing that, Lest wondered if it was possible for him to be down for long. People like that were lucky.

After thanking Porco for the tea and feeling a lot better, Lest went to the next room to find Arthur. Sure enough, he was there working as usual. Arthur had three newspapers, all spread out on a table while he used a highlighter to mark certain lines, a pencil to make notes in a notebook, and a long bookmark to keep focused on particular information. When Lest glanced at one of the highlighted sections, it was all numbers and abbreviations that didn't make much sense. The page was labeled 'Marketplace Data'; he wondered just how much information was in those numbers.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment?' Lest asked.

Arthur tensed in being startled, his pencil making a little extra scribble on the notebook. Then he smiled and quietly erased the mistake. "Oh Lest, it's you. Sure, I was almost done with this. What's on your mind?"

He passed over the letter. "We got a response from the Sechs. If I'm reading it right, they're basically telling us not to mess with them or they'll mess us up and blame a war on us."

"That doesn't sound good," Arthur mumbled, unfolding the letter and reading it for himself. After a minute, he sat down on the couch while Lest sat across from him and waited. He had just figured out that one of the highlighted lines addressed the supply and average price of wheat when Arthur nodded. "It's written to appear politically neutral, but your assessment is accurate."

"Then this whole thing with them building on our lands is an impatience thing?" Lest asked. "They want to start a war with us and probably all of Norad, but for some reason don't want to be seen as instigators."

He nodded again. "It's because of other nations in the world that still trade with both of us. I wouldn't say it's entirely impatience, although that's certainly a factor. Since they do seem to be planning a war, it's in their favor to have a base of operations on both sides of the Maya Mountain range, historically one of the biggest obstacles for both of us in such a war. But if they were more open with building in and threatening Selphia, other nations would not approve of such aggressiveness especially towards a region at a disadvantage as we are. If they can make us appear as instigators, which actually wouldn't be hard because you are new to being a prince, they might be able to appeal it as a reactionary invasion and discredit Norad as a whole. They almost pulled off a similar tactic in the last war."

"But they're already in the wrong in building on our side of the range," Lest said.

Arthur shifted his glasses. "That depends on how long that building stays there. If they wait, they can claim that since we haven't complained, the building and the land it's on belongs to them and that can be fair cause to start a war. You'll want to file this letter away securely with the copy of the one we sent to them in case we need to prove that we did complain. All the same, we're not in a position where we can go do something about it. Our standing army is basically just Forte with reinforcements coming from central Norad. If we want to use the other knights to do something about it, we need to ask permission from the high king and the knight generals to do so, including convince them of taking an action that may lead to a war with Sechs. I'm certain the Sechs emperor is fully aware of this and taking advantage of it."

"It seems like the best thing might be to find some way to get rid of the building without making it clear of who did it," Lest said.

"Maybe," Arthur said. "Whatever we do will require careful consideration. I'll inform my father and gauge how willing he'd be to take action against the building's presence. At least find out what it is, that could help. If it is a military base, we could bring that fact out into the open and discredit them with their allies. Enough pressure on a global scale could get the Sechs to withdraw and stop acting aggressively." He shrugged. "That is, if they're sensible about it. There's been repeated signs that upper levels of their government are insane. For a few years, they insisted that they were the…" he clicked his tongue, then wrote 'Zzyyzx' on a newspaper margin. "An empire with an illogical to pronounce name. But they've been just sane enough that other governments still trade with and support them."

Hearing that, Lest had to agree that any action they made had to be cautiously thought out. "I see. Then yes, finding out the building's purpose safely and subtly is going to be important. At the moment, though, I'm mostly focused on my mission from the tribe, with the rune spheres and awakening the guardians."

"I heard that you've brought one of them back now," Arthur said, a little impressed. "I'm sure that will help us out as well, given what you've told me of Lady Ventuswill's worrisome depression. Just be careful that you don't end up badly hurt again."

He nodded. "I know. Although, given that we need to be careful with the Sechs, I'd like to ask about the royal airship we have on the airfield. My friend Helena says that it's in good shape and should be able to fly, but it's also unarmed with only light armor. But I was considering trying out for my airship piloting license soon in order to get around the region quicker. One of my next tasks will take me out to Delirium Lava Caves which can take a full day to reach and another to return."

"And we wouldn't want you gone for long," he said, thinking about it. "If the ship's unarmed, it should be fine to fly it around as long as you don't go near the Maya Road building. But I would take heed of air reports to make sure the warship doesn't come overhead again when you intend to fly. It'd go down as fast as the other."

"I'm sure of that," Lest said. They talked for a little longer, Lest asking Arthur briefly about the market reports. Then he excused himself to go to the clinic and check on Leon.

But when he got there, Leon had already left. "It seems a true rest was enough to put him at a good strength," Jones said. "Perhaps not full strength, so he may not be as good in adventuring and battling as he should be for a while. But I was confident in letting him go with the recommendation to exercise with plenty of breaks and extra care to eat healthy."

"Might need to keep an eye on him, since he's from so long ago and we wouldn't know what he considers healthy eating," Lest said.

Jones nodded. "True, but Nancy also told him about Porcoline's restaurant and I'm sure Porco wouldn't mind arranging menus with him in mind."

"That's good. I did bring over a basket to thank you for all the work you've done for me so far, especially since I'll probably send the other guardians to you when I bring them back." He passed over the gift basket.

"Thanks, just doing my job," Jones said with a warm smile, accepting it. "And yes, let me check over them too. There isn't much of a precedent for what you're doing, so it's best to keep an eye on them and act quickly if something doesn't seem right."

"Hey Vishnal? Do you think there's anything weird about Lest?"

"Um," he paused with his fingers on the checker piece he was intending to move on his turn. He had a couple hours off this morning, so he'd come over the the general store to hang out with Doug in that time. Across the board, the dwarf's gray eyes seemed far off in thought. They hadn't spoken much during the game; something was clearly on his mind. "You know I'm limited in what I can say about my master."

"Oh, sorry, slipped my mind for a sec," Doug said, scowling briefly then trying to get back to whatever thought he'd had.

Looking over the checker board, Vishnal could identify a set of moves that he could easily win with. But Doug didn't have his head in the game. Maybe he wanted to say something? Taking a move meant to extend the game rather than win it, he said, "Although there's plenty weird with him that most of the town already knows. Not creepy weird, he just... he has a really open mind, but you can tell that he has morals he won't betray. He loves everybody," then he rethought saying that, "Well I don't mean love love, I mean he sees the good in people and wants to help however he can."

"Sure it's because he loves people?" Doug asked, not noticing it was his turn. The question surprised Vishnal, although not as much as when Doug closed his eyes and added in a spiteful mutter he could barely hear, "He works with Ventuswill."

There was a moment he wasn't sure what to do or say. After biting his lip, Vishnal asked, "Pardon?"

"N-nothing!" Doug said, startled enough to bump into the checker board with his face turning pale. "Oh ****, sorry, didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay, you seem to have a lot on your mind," he said, giving a friendly smile. The clock said his break was only half over, so he said, "Want to restart the game?"

"Yeah, I'll try to pay more attention this time," he said, smiling but embarrassed as he picked up some pieces off the floor.

"But what would make you think Lest doesn't love people?" Vishnal asked, being careful not to make it sound like an accusation.

"Well he might be pretending to to take advantage of anyone who likes him," Doug said. "After all, nobody outside their tribe understands much of what earthmates really do since they keep a lot of secrets. But they have a tremendous amount of power, far more than any normal person could hope to attain in a lifetime. They could probably rule the world if they wanted. Maybe they even draw rune power out of others for their own use."

"That is a scary thought," Vishnal said. "Although, if they could rule the world but don't, doesn't that mean they don't want to?"

"I guess that could be, or they could be pulling our strings outside our notice." He was thinking again, although it seemed like he was trying to stretch ideas to fit a view he wanted.

"Since I'm sure he'd talk about it if asked, Lest gets his power from his farming," he said. This conversation reminded him of negotiating with his younger siblings, trying to introduce rational ideas gently. When Doug looked over at him, Vishnal nodded. "He believes his power came as a blessing from the earth, so he works hard in raising plants to pay back the blessing. Then the plants bless him in return for caring for them strongly, which makes him continue the work to return that blessing. It's an endless cycle for the earthmate's entire life, although the price they pay back varies between them."

"Sounds like an endless grind to me," Doug said. "I don't know if I could keep up with that."

"And somehow they love it," Vishnal said.

I think it's interesting that one of Doug's noticeable friends even before he's revealed is a servant of the person he hates. Though Kiel probably brought them together as friends.

Actually, I like Volkanon a lot; he's awesome in so many ways. But he'd have some trouble getting used to this Lest. Oh yeah, and Lest's not kidding about his father.