Kingdom Of The Weak

There they were outside the Adventurers Guild Hall with a family of eagles, the father constantly cuddling and coddling his "little" daughter (who was actually a bit bigger than Remian) while she wept and chirped her sob story (though Phoebe couldn"t understand a word), one wing hastily and very crudely supported with splints, with bandages wrapped and gauze taped all over her every little bruise and sc.r.a.pe.

"But what about Darian?" Phoebe had to ask.

"The wolfcats and the lynxmice are still tracking him. The Eagle Lord"s flyers have joined the search and they will send word along to us the minute they actually see him." Mindy explained. "It"ll be sent from bird-to-bird psionically over shorter distances, an aerial chain of communications, as long as he"s not too far away, word should reach us within an hour of finding him."

"And how far away would that be?"

"As long as he"s on this side of Dragon Lake."

"So why is Remian packing up the new telescope Arnold brought him?"

"He still wants to go south as soon as the Eagle Princess is settled."

"I see." Phoebe undid the crude bandages and applied healing magic directly onto the smaller sc.r.a.pes and bruises, her treatment process closely watched by Lady Eagle, and much less closely by the Eagle Lord. Light glowed, inadvertently drawing eyes to her from people around the Guild Hall, causing three minor accidents (of the fork-and-sausage stabbing cheek at breakfast variety), two less minor accidents (of the walk-into-pillar variety) and one significant accident (of the drop-hot-pan-on-foot variety). "Aargh!" "Oof!" "Ow!"

"Remian!" George arrived then, with Song Chen. "Could you clarify something for us? Who"s in charge of fortifying the mines? Me or Song Chen?"

"The mines?" Remian blinked, completely distracted.

"Yes. You asked me to do it, and then George here says you asked him to handle it." Song Chen cleared his throat.

Remian stared. "You"re the one with experience. He"s the one with the money. I expect him to supply your efforts. You"re both supposed to do it."

"Ah." Song Chen nodded. "Understood."

"George. I don"t expect you to lay every stone yourself. You"re in charge of seeing it done, not actually carrying every brick in person." Remian turned to him. "Your responsibility is supplying the people doing it. That"s why I gave you the budget."

"But he plans to cut down more of the forest!" George protested.

Remian shook his head. "Song Chen? Don"t do that. We don"t want to provoke the Wilds any more than we already have. We"re trying to make friends with them, see?"

Song Chen eyed the Eagle Lord"s family and Phoebe treating the "baby" bird. "I… I don"t know about this, Remian. I mean, we"ve been fighting them off until now. What"s changed?"

"The Beast Tide. More accurately, the fact that Doom could control them. Seeing him give them orders, even able to stop them from attacking the farm at a moment"s notice… it changes everything." Remian told him. "Before now, there were only the Beast Waves, driven mad by the crystals. There was no way to communicate or negotiate. But the Beast Tide led by Doom is different. I think we can actually befriend them, have them on our side."

"And that"s why you didn"t super-magic them all to death?"

"I don"t think I could if I tried, but yes, the minute I saw Doom directing them, I saw them as potential allies, creatures I wanted to be friends with."

"And that"s why you just let him take your brother?"

"That… was unexpected. Completely out of the blue." Remian admitted.

"And how"s diplomacy been going so far?"

"In the case of the Stag Lord, it seems hopeless. We"ve been feeding our carnivore friends too many herbivores. But befriending the Eagle Lord seems viable." Remian hesitated. "I"m afraid we might have already picked sides on the carnivore versus herbivore conflict."

"That started the minute you fed a wolfcat cub some meat."

"Speaking of Vigil… where is he?" Remian asked. "We actually found some information on his father."

"He should be around somewhere. I"ll spread the word, have whoever sees him to tell him to come find you."

Song Chen left Remian and George looking down at the table glumly.

"What"s wrong?" Remian asked.

"Sorry. I might have gotten into a quarrel with Song Chen…"

Remian cleared his throat. "Fix that, please. Go apologize and bring a cookie if you have to. He"ll understand. He"s a grown man. You"re going to have to rely on him more and more in the future. We"re going to try to make friends of the Wilds, but it"s clear we won"t be able to befriend all of them."

Mindy chipped in. "About this whole carnivore versus herbivore thing… aren"t boars herbivores?"

"No, they"re not. They eat just about anything, including meat." George explained. "They"re omnivores."

"So it"s the dedicated vegetarians we have a problem with? Or just the Stag Lord, specifically?"

Remian"s eyes widened. "You"re right! The Feelo-Wasps don"t have a problem with us. It seems it"s just the Stag Lord…"

George cleared his throat. "Actually, the Wasps eat smaller insects…"

Mindy blinked. "I thought they are nectar and honey and plants?"

"Those too."

"Wait. They eat plants? And fruit? Including our fruit?" Remian asked.

"Don"t worry about that. I have an agreement with the Wasp Queen." George a.s.sured him. "They"re generally able to avoid the plants and fruit I asked them to spare."

The entire conversation, by the way, had been very casually held in the immediate vicinity of the Eagle Lord who had a habit of spying on others when he was bored… AHEM! Sorry, we meant, "noticing many little things about those beneath him."

George, trying very hard not to look at the Eagle Lord looking at them beneath him (and a little to the right), hesitated, then added, "Also, Remian, Jane"s here."

"Jane?" Remian blinked. "What is she doing here?"

"I think Mandy sent her to try and persuade us to go someplace safer." George paused. Well, if Remian was fine talking about this in front of the Eagle Lord, then… "But these days, she"s been following Jim around."

"Who"s Jim?" Remian blinked.

"Arnold"s friend from Libertaria. We wanted a way to harness lightning, remember? He"s over at Deepsilver"s right now, as he always is. I don"t think we could drag him away without violence at this point."

"Well, we need to take good care of him. Get him whatever he needs. Maybe Jane could help us out." Remian scratched his head. "Let me know if you need more resources for that."

"Oh, the money you gave me is plenty. That is, if this Moda guy can be trusted. He says he"s from Deutero, but who knows if he really is…"

"If he isn"t, it"s not going to matter. He won"t be able to do anything with my bank account unless he is exactly who he says he is. It"s not like he"s asking for cash straight up. We"ll just need to be careful when we go with him to the Branch Office." Remian explained. "I"m sure they have ways to verify his ident.i.ty. Besides, I was thinking we should make the trip with Charlie. Maybe not this weekend, because I have a brother to find, but next weekend."

"I don"t think he"ll be here that long. He"s already booked a flight out on the next airship. That"s one of Asda"s from Fal"Herim, by the way."

"Asda"s in Fal"Herim? What is she doing there? I thought she was taking care of things here." Remian frowned.

George stared. "You didn"t know?"

"Know what?"

George gulped. "You might want to sit down, Remian. I"ve got news, and I"m afraid it"s not good."