It had been a week since Kine’s departure. Two weeks past when my new assistants arrived, and I was sitting on the top of my tower, enjoying a glass of pear brandy. The new height had done wonders to the view during the day, and I could see all the way to Lark from where I sat. Of course, I sat facing the other direction so it wouldn’t disturb my view, but that didn’t change the fact that I could.

I already missed Kine’s presence. I’d sent him off with a geomancers staff, a hollow metal one stuffed with emeralds that bound first-tier earth elementals to it, and topped with a larger emerald with a bound second-tier elemental. Should he be forced into combat, it would give him the ability to call on hundreds of creatures.

I also explained to him the other enchantments. Over a hundred different complex enchantments were placed on it. He would need to dispel one each day or it would summon an elemental to attack him that night. A tier one earth elemental shouldn’t be anything but an annoyance to him at this point, so I didn’t fear for his safety. I feared that he might have sold the staff if I hadn’t done so, rather than keeping it for himself. It was certainly worth quite a bit of money, if not for the risk of being attacked.

He had done an excellent job in creating the new floor. The entire floor was now my room, with its own private bath and study. He’d even moved the correspondence bookcase from the study into my new room. That he left my bed covered in stone dust was only a further sign that he was ready to begin exchanging wizard tricks. I smiled and considered how much I looked forward to the missives he would send when he finally unraveled that last enchantment on his staff.

Kine had graciously stayed a week after the new assistants arrived to show them some of their duties. I’d already shown them most of the remainder, though having three assistants meant the rotation of duties would be changing. They seemed to take well to them, but I was still learning about my new assistants.

Leslie seemed to see herself as an authority figure over the other two, directing them with an arrogant demeanor as they went about their duties. I would need to address that in the near future. Zax and Philipe were actual brothers, though Zax was more analytical and Philipe more confident.

The consideration of those duties, though, wasn’t what brought me to my rooftop today. No, it was the lilies in my moat I was thinking about.

Over the past few weeks, the lilies that were nurtured by nature elementals had grown to tremendous proportions. The flowers were larger than my entire body. They went very well with the golden-scaled eels that had been delivered. I was still awaiting the perch, but after two years, I didn’t hold much hope in the matter. Still, the size of the lilies was only a symptom of my concern.

My concern was the evolution of the nymphs or fairies that inhabited the flowers. Those beings had grown to human-sized, and now resembled incredibly handsome men or unbelievably beautiful women made entirely of green leaves and yellow pollen. They had pointed ears like elves, but that only made their appearance more attractive. The creatures lounged about in the flowers as if there was no work they could be performing, which was most intolerable.

It was disconcerting the way they tried to beckon the residents, and I’d had to keep Meathead from diving in to play more than once. I only had suspicions of what would happen should they actually ensnare someone, but none of those suspicions were good. On the other hand, my tower crystal counted the creatures as part of its defense, listing them under ‘Converted’ as something the elves had called ‘Aldraune’.

Ideally, I would have them all sealed with amber and under my direct control. That they were somewhere in between threat and defense was the only thing that kept me from burning them all away at the moment. I’d been sending my assistants and guards out in groups of two or more to ensure that nothing untoward happened while I decided on the issue.

It was as I was sitting and worrying over how dreadful the sound of plant peoples’ screams would be to the other residents that I heard the sound of a horse galloping. It was faint from this far up in the tower, but with a turn of my head, I could see a messenger racing down the path towards my tower. I finished my drink with a gulp and stood to see what message could be of such great import.

And, hopefully, catch the messenger before they became unintended food for a flower.

The messenger was a thin woman in sweat-soaked clothes. She sat atop her brown horse as they both took in heavy breaths. As Meathead opened the gate, and Eni whispered to her horse, she jumped down to kneel before me. A sealed scroll case with a dangling golden thread was offered up with two hands. After a cursory glance to ensure there were no enchantments, I snatched the scroll from her theatrical hands.

I popped the side open, and the rolled parchment slipped out.

My esteemed Alderman, Great Wizard Nemon Fargus, Hero of Two Wars,

I apologize for the late notice, but I have sent this missive to you on my swiftest messenger. There are two urgent items I feel I must urgently share with you.

The Kingdom of Sena has formally presented a Declaration of War against the heinous Mirktal Monarchy. According to the declaration they have thrice attacked Senan lands without provocation. Each time, they took good citizens as slaves. Even now droves of chained soldiers march south upon Laxtoni lands with impunity.

Tis my duty to share with you this news, even though you and your people will not face the same conscriptions as others. While you have no requirements to muster for service yourself, and your guards are beholden to you in a way that makes them ineligible for conscription, I implore you to find a way to support our Kingdom in the coming battles. The honors and valor you would earn for taking part will not be small.

In more glorious news, I wish to notify you of my upcoming wedding. I will be marrying the most handsome of men on the most auspicious of days, the summer equinox. In twelve days, there will be a ceremony in the center of the Town of Lark, and a feast to follow.

I cordially invite you to attend in a place of high honor, to be seated at my table during the feast. This will be the grandest celebration in our barony this decade. I would be delighted for you to join us and witness my Matrimony.

Cordially,

Baroness Lady Olivine Lark

When I had finished reading, I looked back to the messenger who seemed willing to stand there for as long as it took to obtain my reply. It was petty, of course, that she provided me with such short notice. No doubt it was her way of expressing displeasure from our last encounter. A small slight towards me, to be certain, but still a slight. I had hoped she had enough of such things after how disappointed she looked after our last meeting, but it seems that was not the case.

Still, even petty slights against a wizard do not go unanswered. With a large smile on my face, I nodded to the messenger, “You may tell the Baroness that I shall attend.”

The woman nodded her head and left very promptly afterward, not even sparing a moment for farewell. As I watched her ride away, I considered that she hadn’t spoken a single word the entire time. While it was an unusual occurrence, it was one that I appreciated.

When I returned inside the gate, my gaze swept over the numerous naked bodies of the plant people. More than twenty in total, all with seductive smiles and beckoning arms. I considered the matter a little further, as I took in the sight. I had enough wards and magical protections, that there was little they could do to harm me, even if they filled the air with poison. Perhaps a test was called for.

With that decision made, I took a step up onto the hip-high wall of the bridge and used my [Air Manipulation] to hover my way over to the closest lady flower. Her smile grew uncannily large as I did, and her body gyrated with excitement. It called to my elven half in a way that I hadn’t experienced, and I felt my heart start to beat faster.

I was only a handspan away when I stopped. I tilted my head and waited. I didn’t trust nature elementals for a reason. Should it actually attack, though, my defensive spellworks would leave nothing but ash.

As I watched, the lady’s smile grew ever larger, and then she presented a monstrous grin of sharp teeth. The mouth opened revealing no tongue at all but more rows of teeth inside. Her head lurched forward to bite me, but a sharp mental cry echoed across the moat, like the toll of a great bell.

Stop!

The ivy along the tower rustled loudly and the nature elemental I had summoned stepped out from it, revealing a voluptuous green woman. Darker green hair and pink eyes with no pupil or iris. That her body was made from the thinnest green vines did nothing to detract from her form.

Child, you would be the death of us. Be happy with your bees and your flies.

The one that had been about to attack shrunk back with a look of confusion and fear. The others around me no longer beckoned but hid inside their flowers, the petals closing up around them. This seemed to be the appropriate time to have a conversation with the elemental in the vine.

She had not only revealed she had a form, but that she controlled the others. No doubt, this too was a plan to attempt to entrap me. She could have warned off the other elementals at any time but stayed her voice until the last moment. It did make me curious, however.

I floated my way away from the giant lily and to the vine woman. When I landed on the stone path near her, she spoke again. Her thoughts brushed ever so softly across my mind, like a gently whispered word.

If you seek pleasure in company, you need but beckon.

Her smile was coy, and her body shook as if laughing. The tiny leaves that made her hair mimicked the sound of a lady’s giggle. My heart was still thumping in my chest, even faster than before. However, it had been a very long time since I allowed my passions to dictate my behavior.

“You did not tell me your… children… would grow into such,” I answered without answering.

The children will learn. They shall serve in any way you desire. Your lilies will bloom.

I nodded. Of course, they would serve. I’d kill them all if they didn’t. “Then teach them, and teach them soon. I will not have any within my tower fall victim to the whims of a flower.”

As I spoke those words, I immediately felt them hypocritical. It wasn’t long ago that I felt myself constrainted by the Asrid Flower tea. That didn’t mean I meant them any less.

Your will shall be done. How else may I please?

“Clothes. We have human children here, and they should not see such nudity. I will not have my tower appear as a… a brothel. Additionally,” I brushed my hand through my beard as I thought of what tasks I could assign forty hands to that could be done from one spot. The water limited my options, or I’d have them copying tomes.

I must have stood there thinking for several long moments, because I felt the sun’s heat warm my back through my robe, “Additionally, they should not be idle. If you cannot find something productive for them to do, be it learning music or twisting rope, I will. And neither you nor they will be enamored with the task I give them.”

She gave me a low bow as she accepted the order, twisting her legs so that her leafy hair slid to the side and provocatively displayed her bare back. It was moments like these that caused me to regret the decades of self-imposed abstinence. I was not entirely immune to such temptation, but I was not fool enough to risk myself, either. Rather, I was most tempted to send her back whence she came.