I awoke before dawn the next morning. I wasn't the only one up and about in the pre-dawn hours, but most were still resting in the lodge. The moon was out in a cloudless sky, low over the treetops.

This place really was beautiful. I'd visited Yellowstone national park once and I'd thought that was the most pristine environment I'd ever see. The lands beyond the Wall, or at least First Fork, was about as pristine as it was possible to be.

There was almost a primal atmosphere here, the moonlight coating the snow-covered firs with a pale illumination. The only sounds were the water of the river and the wind brushing through the forest.

After taking a moment to acknowledge the sight, I went about my business. I tailored a good-sized pack out of some extra hide, then filled it with a collection of wooden tools. I'd considered piling a sledge high with them, but my goal was to convince Ellir and her people to join us here. The less they had to carry the faster we could move.

Granted, it wasn't much of a concern either way when Travelling was involved. Although learning the departure point was a requirement, it was one that could be circumvented with a peculiar exploit. A Gateway can still open within a mile in any direction on unknown terrain. By stepping through that Gateway, the arrival point somehow becomes familiar enough to fulfill the requirement for further Travelling. I didn't understand how it worked, only that it did, and that was certainly good enough for me.

Honestly, I'd never expected my fascination with one particular series of books would ever have real benefits. I was probably suffering from a similar shock fatigue as the rest of First Fork, given how absurdly neutral I felt on everything that had happened.

I should, all things considered, be very upset by being plucked from an otherwise comfortable life and waking up in the cold woods. Sure, having superhuman abilities might be making up for that, but it couldn't explain my indifference towards the absurdity of everything. I'd surely adapt in time and get over it.

As dawn came and the village awoke, I waited in the small village square for Grenwin. Giving greetings to those passing on their own business, I made an effort to be clear that we were going to be trying to talk some of Ellir's group into joining up. Overall there was a positive response, usually along the line of "They're good folks, good to have around."

By the time Grenwin emerged from her house, the sun had risen a fair distance. She wore a pack and her spear was strapped across her back, and I gave her a wave.

"Good morning," I said as she approached.

"Hm," she replied. "You ready to go?"

Nodding, I gestured at my pack. "Plenty of tools for trade and bribes. I'm hoping to convince Ellir to move everyone, but I'll take as many want to come with us regardless."

She looked around, "So when are we leaving?"

Gesturing to the workshop, I walked inside, waiting for her to catch up.

"Might want some privacy for this." I said, "So, her group is downriver, right?"

Grenwin nodded, "In a clearing a half league from the Antler."

Embracing the source, I wove saidar into a Gateway. I didn't know exactly where that would be, so I set the exit high into the air to get a better look at the area.

After the line of light twisted open, Grenwin took a reflexive step back. I couldn't blame her; the exit must have been at least a couple hundred meters in the air. The forest spread below us, the river to the left.

"Sorry, needed to get a better view before we head straight there. Can you see it from here?"

She rallied, stepping forward without fear. Pointing through the Gateway, "There, I think. Smoke in the air and a clearing."

Squinting, I barely made out anything over where she pointed. That could have been smoke trails, and the forest did seem to have a clearing.

"Okay, we'll try there. I have to close this one before we go," I took her arm and lowered her hand, making sure nothing would get cut off when the Gateway closed.

Releasing the weave, the Gateway turned and thinned to a line, then winked out. A moment later and another opened in its place, this placed just above the ground a short distance from that clearing.

Stepping through, Grenwin followed. She took a look around, "Yeah, this is close enough. Won't be a long walk from here."

"Great. Lead the way."

She nodded and started walking while I followed closely behind.

Not even ten minutes of walking later and we broke out into a clearing. Ahead, the village was more or less a series of low mud huts with pine-bough roofs. There were quite a few more people around then there had been at First Fork. There was even a low wooden sheep pen with a plenty of the animals. Another carved weirwood sat to one side, though not as large as ours.

As soon as we were in the open, Grenwin put her hands to either side of her mouth and called out.

"Hullo the village!"

Some of those closest to us waved, and one man called back.

"Hullo, travelers!"

There wasn't any of the panic that I'd provoked at First Fork. In hindsight, I really should have called out instead of standing in the woods staring.

As we approached, nobody took up arms against us, nor were we stopped from entering the village. A few curious looks aside, a few whispers.

Grenwin tapped my shoulder to get my attention, leaning down to speak into my ear.

"Are you going to announce yourself now, or later?"

I shook my head, "Later." Looking around, I noticed a man kneeling by the weirwood. He seemed to not be occupied, and probably wouldn't mind me asking where Ellir was.

Making my way over, I stopped a respectful distance away.

"Excuse me, do you know where Ellir is?"

He jerked, turning to look at me with red grief-stricken eyes. His beard was unkempt and his posture was hunched and defensive. He took a moment to compose himself, "My son. She's tending to him."

I blinked, "I'm sorry. Is he hurt? I can heal very well."

A glimmer of hope seemed to alight in his eyes. "It's breakbone fever. Ellir said he wouldn't live to see the morrow."

I wasn't familiar with that, but my nanites should be able to handle it. Nodding, "Can you take me to them? I'll heal your son, and I have to speak with her."

He stood, nodding eagerly. "Yes. Who are you?"

Hesitating a moment, "My name is Maia. Queen-beyond-the-wall, for the people of First Fork, at least."

He blinked in surprise, eyes flicking to Grenwin for a moment, "Brelan. Come, she's not far."

We followed him, and before long we were able to make out the muffled sounds of a child in pain. Brelan stopped before one of the low huts, gesturing at the hide covering the doorway.

Pushing the hide aside, I stepped into the hut. The pained noises were coming from a young boy laying bent almost in two on a bed of hides. An old woman tended to him, wiry but not frail. She looked as though she was eighty, possibly older, and she gave me a withering look as she prepared a mixture in a wooden cup.

"Who are you? I'm busy"

"Maia. I can help him," I said perfunctorily, stepping over and kneeling next to the boy. He really was in a bad way, his arms and legs straining against themselves as they unnaturally bent. Laying a hand on his shoulder, I set the nanites to work. Within seconds, he relaxed, the nanites clearing up a nasty bacterial infection.

A gnarled hand pulled me back, "What are you doing?"

Standing, I gestured to him, "He's cured. Healed. A service I offer freely."

She stared at me, then knelt to check the boy. She poked and prodded him, check his joints and muscles, all the while muttering to herself.

"I've never seen anything like this. There's no sign that he was even ill to begin with." She said, leaning back on her haunches and giving me a guarded look. "What manner of healing is this?"

"This may be hard to believe. There was an infestation of very very small creatures causing the illness, and… The best way I can describe is that I have the service of many very very small warriors that destroyed the creatures and healed his body."

Even as I spoke, I was keenly aware of how mad it sounded, and I was quick to add, "Both the tiny creatures and the tiny soldiers are visible with the right tools. I don't have them on me, but I'd be happy to demonstrate their effectiveness."

Her gnarled features were held in a neutral expression as she examined me. Finally, after a long moment of uncomfortable staring, she spoke.

"A test, then." She held out her hand, "You will have your… tiny warriors heal me." Her tone was brusque and had a note of skepticism.

Taking her wizened hand in both of mine, I had the nanites spread through her. She was in surprisingly good health for someone as old as she seemed, but that might just be survivorship bias. After all, wouldn't the healthiest members of society reach old age in an environment like this?

She had swelling in her joints, most severely at the knees and elbows. Arthritis, maybe. There were a multitude of old benign growths throughout her body, and while she was in good health, she was still suffering the general breakdown that old age brought with it.

Interestingly, aging was something that the nanites could handle. Not just ameliorating the symptoms but rewinding the clock. It wasn't something that had occurred to me to check, but it certainly had staggering implications.

"So, I can see that you've got some pretty bad joint issues. Otherwise, you're in very good health for your age. I can clear up anything bothering you. If you'd like, I can also have the tiny soldiers restore you to the health you experienced years ago. Potentially, you could be brought back to your physical prime and add decades to your lifespan besides."

She chuckled, "Any elder will have pain in their joints. Restore my health? Do you mean to make me young again?"

I cocked my head, "I suppose if you wanted to look at it that way, yes."

She was quiet for a long moment. "I was a girl just flowered when Raymun took me as a wife. He died not ten years later below the Wall. My children have long since grown and had children of their own, and their children as well. I am old, girl. Why should I wish to be young again?"

I shrugged, "I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't want. Myself, I like being alive, experiencing the world. I'm new to the true north, but I've lived more in the last two weeks than it seems I have my entire life before. You've a great deal of experience, and if I was in your position, having seen my children and my children's children and my children's children's children grow… Well, given the option, I think I'd like to stick around as long as I could and see how they do, pass on my knowledge and give them as good a leg up on the world as I can."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. After a long moment, she opened them again. "Very well. My prime, eh? I suppose that doesn't sound bad at all."

With her assent, I set the nanites to working. In a matter of moments the age seemed to melt away from her features, until a woman that could have been in her mid-twenties sat where the elder had been a moment before.

She took a deep breath, withdrawing her hand and feeling her face. "Amazing! There was no pain, and yet…" Standing, she stretched, an expression of wonder on her face. "I haven't been able to move like this in years!"

Standing myself, "Well, I hope that satisfies."

"Satisfies? Oh, I should say it does! Now, Maia, was it?"

I nodded.

"I am Ellir. I'm grateful for your help with Jorik," She nodded to the dozing boy, "I feared it was almost too late for him. Another day, and I would have asked Brelan to give him mercy."

Blinking, "Mercy?"

"Aye, if one breaks a bone from the fever, they'll never recover. Most die in a few years and suffer greatly besides. It's not a catching disease like some others, but it is still a mercy to give them hemlock."

That made a disturbing amount of sense. These communities already rode the knife's edge of survival and couldn't support the seriously ill. Without medicine, rehabilitation might not be possible here.

"I…" I hesitated, "The people at First Fork accepted me as a queen-beyond-the-Wall. I didn't know about this practice. If we had better medicine, more food, ways to support the ill and help them recover fully, would the free folk still need to give that mercy?"

She snorted, "If we had all those things, it wouldn't need to be done. You say you're one of those fools declaring themselves? You don't seem like much a fool to me, and I've not heard of Rayder or any of the others healing the sick. We should speak," She nodded towards the door flap, "Brelan should know his son will live."

She exited the small hut and I followed. Outside, Brelan seemed a bundle of nerves, standing near Grenwin.

The man saw Ellir, his eyes going wide. "Elder! Will he live?" After a short pause, "Have you done something with your hair?"

"Aye, Jorik will live, and be strong and healthy besides. Maia cured him." Ellir spoke authoritatively. "You should see to him. He is sleeping, but you may wake him."

Brelan nodded jerkily, "Thank you, elder. Thank you, Maia." He all but ran into the hut, and a moment later I heard a cry of joy.

That… Well, that certainly made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Grenwin was looking between me and Ellir. "Ellir, you… Are you younger?"

The former elder nodded, motioning at me, "Maia claims to be of First Fork and has restored my youth." Her eyes contrasted with her warm tone, sharply studying Grenwin's response.

"That… I, well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." The armed woman shrugged, "I don't mean to offend, Maia, but you seem to keep pulling out impossibilities and don't you go acting like it's nothing."

My answering shrug stopped halfway, "I'm sorry. My method of dealing with this is to act as though everything is fine and expected."

Both women gave me a sharp look. Hurriedly, I continued, "That's not to say I don't know what I've been doing! That part I do, I'm just adjusting to life up here."

That seemed to mollify them.

Ellir put a hand on Grenwin's shoulder, "Is it true that she's declared herself Queen-above-the-Wall?"

"Aye, and she's been doing a decent job of it." The warrior chuckled, "We've a new lodge, big enough for all of us and all of yours, and our resident crow has a forge to work metal. We've sleds to carry more game, and we've more meat and hide now than we need. Oh, and the steamhouse! We've soap and a warm place to bathe. I've never felt so clean, Ellir."

The elder nodded, listening. Finally, she turned to me. "Why have you come here, Maia? I cannot believe it was merely to help a sick boy. He fell ill a day after your people left us."

"Oh, Brelan had said his boy was sick, so I decided to help him. I came to talk to you about gathering everyone and moving to First Fork. With the Others around, I want to get as many people together as possible so we can defend ourselves. Eventually, I'd like to get us below the Wall with enough people that the southern lords can't simply force us out with an army."

"And what of those who do not wish to move below the Wall?" She asked with a curious tone.

"I'd like to support them as well as I can. I don't want to force anyone to move if they don't want to, but we're all free folk, and anyone choosing to stay behind should not be left for dead. Ideally, while we have a city below the Wall, we would have one on this side as well."

They both considered that. Grenwin seemed rather taken with the idea, while Ellir seemed somewhat skeptical.

"The only town this side of the wall was Hardhome, and the stories say that the fire was as bright as dawn. It is a sad tale, but if you truly want to build a city here, that would be a good place to start. You'd have to clear out the curse, first."

I blinked, "Curse?"

Ellir gave a serious nod, "The caves in the cliffs above where Hardhome once stood are said to be haunted by the spirits of the dead. They wail and scream, and shadows have been seen within the entrances. Nobody has resettled Hardhome for more than a year before being driven out."

"I didn't know about that. I guess… I can see what I can do about it? There was a cave system I used to visit when I was younger, and it was well known for the wind making peculiar noises when it blew through."

They both gave me an unimpressed look.

"Anyway," I said, "I've brought a few gifts for the people here." Shrugging off my pack, I opened it. "Tools, really, because wood is plentiful and I can make very good things out of it." Taking out a small sheathed knife, I handed it to Ellir.

She took it, unsheathing it and looking skeptical. "It's wood. Not even fire-hardened."

I nodded. "Not fire-hardened, but reinforced with…" I sighed, resigned to it by now, "Magic. It's as good as a fine steel blade would be, cheaper to make, and would probably be a nasty surprise for anyone who thought it was just regular wood."

Ellir raised her eyebrow, then turned to Grenwin. "Is this true?"

The spearwife grinned and took out the belt-knife I'd given her, "Aye. I've used this for days now and it's held up just as Maia said it would."

Ellir still seemed skeptical but sheathed the knife and placed it within a belt pouch. "I see. Thank you, Maia."

"Here," I said, passing the pack over to her. "You'd know best who should get what."

She accepted the pack with a nod and a pensive expression. She was quiet for a long moment, looking out over the small village. "It may be for the best that we join you. There's been talk of trying to make for Mance's camp in the Frostfangs, but such a journey would be months and travelling through unfriendly territory besides. The stories say Mance has goals close to yours, though I've never heard of any plans to help the free folk who stay in the true north. Nor have I heard of him healing the sick, or of him giving gifts to the people of the clans he visited."

She turned to look me in the eye, as though searching for something. Finally, she nodded. "Aye, for the best. I'll organize my people and make for First Fork."

I smiled and nodded, "I'd be happy to help with whatever needs to be done. Oh, and I can speed the journey by quite a bit. Grenwin and I Travelled here by something called a Gateway, like a door between two places. I can make another to take everyone to First Fork directly."

Grenwin made a noise of agreement, and Ellir blinked in surprise. "Prove it, then."

I nodded, embracing saidar. Weaving the Gateway together, two thin vertical lines of light formed near each other off to the side, before they seemed to rotate open into two identical rectangular portals.

Ellir gasped and took a few steps back in shock. She recovered quickly, walking up to one of the portals and examining it.

"Careful," I said, "The edges are incredibly sharp and cut without resistance, and don't touch the rear side of the Gateway. I don't know what happens if you do, but it won't be good."

The former elder nodded, taking some snow and tossing it through one Gateway, watching as it fell out the other. "Amazing."

Grenwin stepped up, walking through a Gateway without fear. "It's safe, see? You should have seen earlier. She opened one up in the sky first, and I almost fell through!"

With some trepidation, Ellir stuck a finger through, eyeing how it came out of the other. Then, she strode through, "Ah. It doesn't feel like anything?"

"It's not supposed to. It's just like walking through a door, right?" I spoke.

"How do you make these?" Ellir asked, "What sacrifice is made?"

I blinked, "Sacrifice? No sacrifice, it's done through channeling the female half of the True Source. Gateways are one of ten thousand and more things that can be done, in theory. I've, ah, had a great many advantages when it comes to this. If there are others here who can channel the One Power, they would have to spend decades learning and developing their skills."

The two of them shared an inscrutable look, and Grenwin shrugged.

"I've never heard of this," Ellir said. "I've seen a red witch perform a glamour, once, but she said she required a sacrifice to do so. A little bit of Raymun's blood, a king's blood she called it, and she gave it to the fire. Then, Raymun seemed to grow taller and wider. The witch said sacrifice is the key to sorcery, that there must always be a payment."

I stared at her, shocked. What? "Sorcery?" Symon had been of the opinion that anything attributed to magic was merely misunderstood applications of things not yet understood by men, and I agreed with that. The One Power was the closest thing to actual magic I could claim, but it could very well fall under the same umbrella.

Ellir nodded, "I don't have much knowledge of it myself, but I watched Raymun change before my eyes. What else could that be?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Anyway, please step away from the Gateways so I can close them."

The two women complied, and I let the weaves collapse, the Gateways closing in the reverse process from their appearance.

"Like I said, I'd be happy to help your, our I suppose, people pack up and move." I offered again.

"That… Would be appreciated," Ellir said. "I expected that you would leave us to make our own path to First Fork."

I shrugged, "Well, I can't just show up and say 'join me' without being willing to put the work in for it."

She chuckled, "Wouldn't you believe that's what I've heard of Mance? He comes to a clan, speaks to their elders or magnars or chieftans, then leaves while the rest deal with the journey."

"Ah, well, I'm not much like Mance, then. What needs doing?"

"First, I need to spread the word." Ellir stated, "Come with me."

She set off, Grenwin and I following. Retrieving a sturdy looking staff from a hut, she gave a great strike to a wooden pole driven into the ground. It produced a sonorous thunk, and she hit it again and again. Over the course of minutes, people started congregating around us. They gave Grenwin and I curious looks but were generally quiet.

Eventually, Ellir seemed satisfied with the number of people gathered. "We're moving to First Fork." She states perfunctorily, gesturing at me. "We've a new Queen-beyond-the-Wall who is offering shelter and safety from the Others. Maia, here, says they've a lodge large enough for all of us and food enough to keep our bellies warm and full. I've heard the talk of making for Mance, but we've no promises of food and shelter from him."

The people murmured, and I realized the crowd really did look much more than the twenty people at First Fork. There were at least three times as many people here, and some were still filtering in from the surroundings.

"Gather the animals and pack up so we can move." She finished, and the people dispersed to go about that.

"That was all you needed to say?" I asked her, ignoring the quiet snort from Grenwin.

Ellir nodded, "Nothing gets the free folk moving like a promise of hot food and a warm place to sleep. I hope you can live up to that."

I frowned, doing the mental math on how much food another sixty people would need. We had the stocks for it, but they'd be depleted quickly. More hunters would certainly help, and the sleds let them range further to avoid overhunting. "It'll be stew for a couple of nights until the hunters come back. I'll probably go foraging as well, but we've enough food for everyone."

"Good. Now, the two of you come and help me pack up." She entered the hut, and we followed. It was small, but full of little knick knacks. A bone talisman hung on a peg on the wall, a carved antler, a wooden carving of a flower. It was a stark contrast to the bare cabins of First Fork and spoke of years of memories.

She directed us, having us fill a small chest with various odds and ends, then packing up a very large collection of herbs. Woodworking was telling me all sorts of medicinal uses for these, and Ellir confirmed that it was her stocks of healing herbs when I asked.

Eventually, we packed everything up. There was still more to be done around the village, gathering up everything that could be moved easily. It spoke of how little the free folk had that it only took a few hours for everyone to have gathered everything they owned and to be ready to move.

I sent Grenwin back to First Fork via Gateway early on to let them know to expect us soon. Hopefully, that would make it clear our arrival wasn't any kind of attack.

Once everyone was ready, I demonstrated the Gateways, adding on a few weaves of air to make it impossible to come in contact with the sharp edges or the back side of the Gateway. Shame it wasn't something I could do on both sides at once during the formation of the portals. It would make them much safer to use.

Unsurprisingly, a great many were confused and scared by the display of Travelling. It took a concerted effort between Ellir and I to calm them. Once everyone had some time to come to terms with it, I opened a much larger one to the outskirts of First Fork. I'd told Grenwin to keep people out of the space outside the earthen berm until we'd arrived, and from the lack of body parts laying on the ground, she'd been successful.

From this angle, First Fork looked quite nice. The Lodge dominated the view visible above the berm, a large structure, accompanied by the smaller buildings arrayed around it. The top of the weirwood was visible off to the side, red leaves swaying in the wind.

On the berm stood everyone at First Fork, it seemed. I didn't see Taegj or Dagmoor among them, so they'd must not have returned yet. I waved to them, getting answering waves in reply.

Ellir was the first through the gateway, followed by the others. Some carried trunks or chests or pots full of things, or drug hides stacked with possessions behind them. The sheep-wranglers had a good hand on their animals, steering them through the Gateway while giving the edges a good berth. Within minutes, everyone was on the other side, and I finally stepped through, the Gateway closing after me.

"Welcome to First Fork!" I called, "Make yourselves at home. The lodge is warm, and there's plenty of room to cook!"

I was gladdened to see the original people of First Fork come down to help carry things. Myself, I helped the sheepherders set up a pen for them within the berm a little ways from everything else.

It struck me, while drawing black-speckled white stone up through the earth to make the pen walls, that this weave was most likely Earth Delving. I'd been so focused on figuring out Travelling that I hadn't even realized I'd been using this Talent while building the workshop.

The herders were amazed at the appearance of stone seeming to grow from the frozen earth. Under their direction, the walls of the pen grew up to chest-level, leaving a space for a gate on one side. Shaping small stone loops on one side of the gap, part of the gate hinges, I used some spare firewood to shape a gate to fit. Stone pins were placed, and the gate opened easily. I made a small latch out of wood on the other side to keep the gate closed.

The sheepherders told me to put up shelter for the animals, and so I used the Power to take a nearby tree from the forest and shaped it into a low wooden shelter with a wide door. It was different from how I had built the workshop, using the woodshaping weave I'd figured out towards the tail end of that project. Instead of rendering it down into individual pieces, the tree flowed smoothly into its new form. Bark and needles were subsumed by the mass of wood, and the final shelter was all of one piece, aside from the door.

The sheep were driven into the pen, bleating placidly as they were locked in. They nuzzled the ground, pushing snow aside to get at the hardy grass growing beneath.

Afterwards, I built a few more sledges for the hunters, as well as more arrows and whatever other tools they needed. They'd need to fletch the shafts, but otherwise they were still of a masterwork quality while being as tough as steel. With all of the lights I'd collected, that project took only a few minutes, and people were setting out soon after.

It was important that we have more people bringing in food as soon as possible. I estimated that we had a good ninety mouths to feed now, more than four times the number we'd had when the day began. The lodge was already feeling crowded when everyone had been inside, and we'd likely need to build more communal residences.

I was loath to do so before putting together a plumbing system, but if I was going to be collecting people, I needed to make sure we had the space first. Shelter, food, and water were the basic needs, and of those, shelter was the easiest to put together. Water was simple enough, but without purification, I'd be bogged down by healing whatever illnesses people got from drinking that. Giardia was a pretty big concern, and who knew what else was in that river.

That evening, Taegj finally returned. He brought with him another thirty people he'd managed to convince to move. All the newcomers certainly appreciated the amenities available to us so far, and the sweathouse was seeing quite a bit of use.

With all the new faces, there was some tension in the air. Bad blood and old grudges were present, and though nobody drew arms, it seemed grating.

As the sun was setting, I gathered a few people outside.

"Alright, so, I've got something to show you!" I announced after I'd drawn a large circle in the snow with the butt of my spear. "I've got a game from home that you might appreciate."

As I divided the circle in half, Wyck spoke up from the group.

"A game? Why do you need a circle for a game?"

Stepping outside the ring, I shrugged. "The game has two players, and the goal is to push the other outside the ring. No punching or kicking, just strength against strength. So, I need two people."

That got a few excited murmurs, and two burly men stepped forward. One I recognized from Ellir's group, the other came with Taegj. Those two had some sort of grudge with each other, which I was hoping to help alleviate with this sport.

Waving at the circle, "Alright, step on in, one person in each half."

They complied, looking eager.

"Okay, now face each other. Now, take a step back and crouch like this." I demonstrated, moving into a low crouch with my arms forward as though to grapple. "This game is called Sumo! You two understand the rules?"

"Aye," one said, "Push 'em out the other side, no punching."

"Or kickin', you cheating bugger!" The other roared.

"Okay," I stood, raising my arm before sharply cutting my hand down. "Go!"

The men crashed together, grunting as they fought for an advantage. They were fairly evenly matched. After a few moments, the rest of the group gathered were starting to get into it, calling for the one they wanted to win to fight better, try harder.

Eventually, the man that arrived with Taegj had managed to get a good grasp on the other, heaving with a great grunt and lifting his opponent while stumbling forward. The crowd cheered and jeered as both men slammed onto the ground outside the circle.

"Alright!" I called, then pointed at the winner. "What's your name?"

"Harol," he shouted, laughing.

"This is one for history, folks! Harol is the first Sumo winner!" I called, playing the crowd, who cheered in response. Even those who wanted his opponent to win were laughing.

"And you," I pointed at Harol's opponent. "Your name?"

"Olin." He said with anger in his voice.

"Olin, Harol, you both fought well. Lets have a few more rounds with the others first, and if you'd like a rematch, we'll set it up. How does that sound, folks?"

As dusk passed, we had more bouts. Victors and losers both were celebrated, and I felt as though this was a good start to alleviating the tensions.

At dinner, the frosty attitudes had thankfully all but evaporated. There was something odd going on about that, but surely it was just the effects of one of my lights. After all, one was all about communal leadership and building a robust community, and all the others had been obscenely powerful.

As I mused, my attention was pulled to that mental space. All of my reach, every last measure of it, was being used to pull in a cluster of mid-sized lights. The cluster arrived, and I was briefly overwhelmed by the purpose they held.

For the first time since I'd recovered, much of the information was lost to me. The knowledge dump involving something about dragons was shoved aside by that of a light governing resources or some such, which was in turn moved to make room for something about groups and honor and starks, whatever that meant.

It was like having four voices babbling away in my ears all at once, making it impossible to focus on any one in particular. After it ended, I mentally followed the sounds of my nascent community, using it like a lifeline back to reality. With a snap, the lodge came into focus.

I shivered slightly, unsettled by the experience. It was different than it had been before, and I had no idea why. Why was it that so many constellations could pass without a single connection, yet when I do snag a light, it comes in a cluster? That's been the case almost every time I get something new. What did it mean? Was this new experience a one-off, or would it be the norm? Would I be overwhelmed each time I gained a cluster?

I had the most unsettling feeling that something was wrong, somehow. That I couldn't say what was wrong just made it worse.

I kept my concerns private, smiling and nodding and participating in the evening festivities with stories and song. Being around these people helped a great deal to rebalance me, and by the time I was ready to sleep, my worries seemed further away.