A/N: I've had a good week. I think I finally solved the mystery of the lingering illness: my digestive tract seems to have developed ADHD. That is, I feel nauseous when I'm doing something boring, as if my stomach/intestines now require excitement in order to function properly. This is obviously not good for holding any kind of stable employment, but at least I can socialize and go on long hikes without fear. Perhaps I can get an outdoor job. Being outside is inherently stimulating.

This is relevant.

.

Konan

Mercifully, Soye ended the training a short time later. The dolls all flopped down into the grass, some on their faces. If they could have made sounds, they would have been crying. Soye paid them no mind, but Konan knew this was a problem. If she didn't do something, the dolls would refuse to come back the next day.

Soye climbed two steps onto the house's meager excuse for a back porch. "This is not the only reason you asked to visit, is it?"

"I will explain in five minutes," Konan replied. She descended onto the grass and knelt down. "Warlic. Solis. Manta. Little One." Four heads turned or lifted to face her. "Cuddle."

They needed no training to understand and obey this command. All dolls leaped to their feet and ran toward her. Konan patted all of their heads, then sat and allowed two of them to sit in her lap at a time. She hugged them as tightly as Yahiko did and spoke to them softly. "You did well, dolls. You are good children. Now it is time for you to become good warriors. This training is hard, I know. But the humans that you live with have already gone through a similar training. If you stay with it, you will be able to fight and play with us instead of merely alongside." Warlic waved his arms. After several minutes of this, all of the dolls were revitalized. They followed Konan onto the tiny porch.

"Is that true?" Soye asked.

"Technically yes," Konan replied in a whisper. "All humans learn to respond to verbal commands as an inherent part of growing up."

Soye sniffed. "It may benefit your group members if that statement became less technical."

"Hmm. Perhaps." Konan waved a hand. "But that is not the business I came to discuss."

She and Soye sat down on a decaying two-person bench nestled against the house's rear wall. Konan summarized all that they had thought of and done with regards to the Regional Guardian system. The demon boy joined in, showing off his badge and proudly taking credit for the idea. Soye kept her face still, not showing a reaction until the very end.

"Was the mayor very concerned about the possibility of common people being harmed?"

"Once we offered our proposal, the mayor was eager to agree. But he seemed more happy than worried. I believe that there is no significant concern about citizens being harmed, but he intends to leverage the concept of it in order to gain political favor."

"Did you mention that your deal with him was just one part of a wider system?"

"Not yet. I expect him to want to know more about what kinds of magical beings there are, what they are like and where they live as negotiations progress. It can be explained then."

"Ought such information to be divulged?"

"Not without the consent of those beings' Regional Guardians."

Soye smiled. "Your 'Regional Guardians' are nothing more than figureheads. But we vampires understand well how important a figurehead can be."

"Do you accept the role of Regional Guardian of vampires?"

"I do."

The demon boy held out a badge. Soye accepted it. "Wear it when you're making an official proclamation," he suggested.

"Very well." Soye pinned it to her shirt. "As Regional Guardian of vampires, I withhold consent. The common people are entirely untrained, and therefore untrustworthy. We have no dealings with them and I see no reason to change that."

Konan nodded. She had expected that.

Soye looked outward and stiffened. Her teeth lifted in the beginnings of a snarl. "These dolls!"

Konan darted over to an old planter box filled with leaves, bark and sticks. The dolls had set this material on fire. Konan analyzed the potential actions of the fire mid-dart. By the time she landed, she understood what was going on. "The fire is controlled. It does not produce visible flames, and it is only strong enough to burn away the dead leaves. There is no risk of it spreading to solid wood at the moment."

Soye looked at the fire herself and reached the same conclusions. However, she did not care. Her fingers curled into loose fists and her eyes flashed as she glowered at the dolls. The dolls were only just beginning to look up. They had been standing on the wooden sides of the planter box watching the fire. There was nothing to watch. No flames, no sparks, barely a glow. They could not have been watching it for their own entertainment, which can only mean -

Soye took a step back, startled. Konan stood only a centimeter beyond where her feet had just been; in order to get there, Konan passed close enough for her hair to brush Soye's cheek. Konan took a moment to adjust her footing, then spoke. "Demon child, ask the dolls why they started this fire."

The demon boy asked Little One to explain. While he interpreted the dolls' silent language of arm-waving, Soye and Konan stared each other in the eyes. Soye was not pleased to have been forced back. Konan refused to give ground. Soye narrowed her eyes; she would tolerate this action only if a suitable explanation was provided. The fact that she did not immediately retaliate spoke highly of her regard for Konan. Clearly, she believed such an explanation was coming. Konan nodded very slightly to confirm it.

"They noticed there was dirt under here, but nothing growing in it," the demon boy said. "They realized it must be because of all the stuff on top of the dirt. They're burning it away."

Konan stepped aside and turned around. Now both she and Soye could see the dolls. Little One continued to speak to the demon boy. However, while he did that, the other dolls responsibly kept their eyes on the fire. It was now large enough to burn away bark and twigs. The dolls used magic to spread the fire around so that it consumed most of the bark and twigs in the box. But no matter how far it spread or how much fuel it found, it did not grow any larger. When eventually the box was clear of bark and twigs, most of the fire was put out. The flames that were not put out suddenly grew, becoming large enough to engulf a branch that stretched the length of the box. These flames went nowhere near the logs that formed the box itself.

Little One looked at the second planter box, which was smaller but in a similar neglected condition. "They're bored and looking for projects to tackle," the demon boy said unnecessarily. The other dolls put out the fire, leaving the big branch only half-burnt. Warlic smashed the branch into several pieces, then joined the rest of them in running over to the second box. They started another tiny leaf-burning fire there.

"Their behavior was consistent with a mission rather than random mischief," Konan agreed. "Now that the nature of this mission is known, we can decide the value of it. Soye, is clearing out planter boxes acceptable?"

Soye let a few seconds pass before responding. "It is." Her tone was mild; this explanation was indeed suitable. If Konan had not interfered, she would not have realized that the dolls were acting purposefully, and might have caused the out-of-control fire that she feared.

"How many planter boxes are there in your territory?"

"Unknown. Vampires have little interest in gardening." Soye paused. "Or rather, vampires cannot have significant interest in gardening. Gardening is very reliant on sunlight, after all."

Konan murmured, "Gardening has different parts. Selecting seeds, planting them, watering, weeding, harvesting. The first two can be performed at night, can't they?"

"But who in their right mind would agree to tend a stranger's garden without pay?" Soye asked rhetorically.

Konan nodded. "A significant obstacle…until now."

"You can do a theme!" the demon boy exclaimed. "They'd probably pay attention better during themed training."

By this point, the dolls had finished burning the second planter box clear of debris. With nothing else to do, they returned to Konan's side. Soye said, "I will propose it tonight. Such an unusual idea is likely to be met with resistance, but there are few reasons to prohibit it. The most prominent of those reasons is the risk of fire. They must be supervised at all times. Allowing a human to fill such an important role will be a second trial in and of itself."

"Understood," Konan replied. "In the interim, they will have to make do with themed training."

"You lucky jerks!" the demon boy said to the dolls. "The vampire lady's willing to let you be contractors for the care and maintenance of dilapidated buildings. Nobody would ever let me do that. I'm a person with the ability to speak, so I could trick them into accepting a bad deal. But you can't trick anybody because you can't speak, so they'll let you do anything!"

Konan and Soye gave the dolls a second appraisal. It's true! The one thing that nobody would ever accuse the dolls of being is dishonest. I suppose they can communicate inaccurately. But it would be much harder, and there are few things they could lie about. The worst they could do is lure someone away by pretending there was an emergency. Without speech, they just can't manipulate other people's thoughts or feelings strongly enough to cause lasting harm. They could never do what Madara did.

"The most they can do is fail to perform," Soye agreed. "They cannot make us believe we want something that is actually harmful, or make us detest what would be beneficial."

"And you think I would?!" the demon boy said with a pout.

"You can," Konan said carefully. "I have been manipulated in that way. Speaking in that capacity, I must tell you that the mere capability is enough to cause reluctance." The demon boy continued to pout, but silently and not in anyone's direction.

"Until tomorrow, then," Soye said.

"Until then." Konan lowered her head. "I apologize for disturbing your rest."

"I would not hold a position of responsibility if I spent the length of the day resting."

"Even so." Konan stepped out into the yard and called out all four of the dolls' names, followed by the Heel command. She and Soye nodded to each other one last time. Then Soye went inside and Konan led the dolls in the direction of home. The demon stayed to make sure that Soye was fully under cover, then unmade his sunshade and followed.

"My friend likes to grow plants," he said. "But he can't use planter boxes because his powers also make things rot."

"There is a rectangle of open ground in front of an abandoned car dealership. It may be large enough for him to use his powers without fear."

"Huh."

Time passed. Konan left the abandoned buildings behind and made her way through an overgrown area. The demon boy stayed with her the whole way. When a building from her street came into sight, Konan asked, "What is your friend like? I have yet to develop an understanding of him."

"He's the little kernel inside everyone that only wants to be loved and appreciated," the demon boy replied without hesitation.

"His other self was very different. The man I knew in my world was a grandiose genius, using his abilities to remake biological reality and gain political power."

"Sounds like someone who was never appreciated."

Konan imagined being spurned and ignored, developing a twisted desire to earn respect by any means necessary. Her understanding expanded. Are all children vulnerable to this phenomenon? Her gut twisted. If the dolls had been brought to life by any other group, would they have been at risk?

The demon boy flew off towards his hospital. Konan led the dolls home. The sun was beginning to consider setting. Someone must have been keeping watch, because Clone Yahiko ran out the door to meet them. "You guys!" he exclaimed, kneeling. The dolls ran up. He kissed them all on their foreheads while asking rhetorical questions. "Did you have an adventure? Was it a good one?"

Our group's softhearted nature creates a multitude of problems. But maybe, just maybe, it prevented many more.

.

A/N: I recently developed a great interest in gardening, specifically in weeding. One month ago or less, I suddenly started plucking grass from a patch of lawn that had herb plants growing wild. Then I expanded into pulling up thorny invasive vines, buying gardening gloves and clippers, and just today I pulled/clipped a path through a formerly impenetrable cluster of raspberry plants. I'm putting down mulch to revitalize the planter boxes by the back porch (the very same back porch and planter boxes that are described in this chapter) and looking forward to growing some kind of root vegetable in them next spring. Beets, or maybe carrots. The boxes are too shallow for extensive root growth, so the plants will be forced to grow lots and lots of greens. I love greens, so heck yeah.

Ahh. This illness has finally proven to be good for something. Perhaps I can get a job working at a local farm or community garden...