When they got back to the base they were making, Kay saw the group of dwarves setting up a few tents off to the side of the buildings.

He turned and looked back at Eleniah, “I still don’t feel like I’m ready for something like this.”

“You don’t have to be ready, and you don’t have to do anything. But being ready or not doesn’t mean you can’t, or you shouldn’t.”

He nodded his understanding, then made the rest of the walk in. He waved at a couple of dwarves who noticed him. They nodded or waved back, and one of them turned over his shoulder and called something out in a harsh language. Kay assumed it was whatever their language was that wasn’t Sha’ken.

Ahthia, the dwarf who called herself something of a healer, walked over with a plate in her hands. “Here,” She said, holding out to him, “We made a meal with some of our supplies as a small thanks.”

“Thank you, it looks good.” He paused as he looked at the full plate of delicious-looking food. “Can you afford to give us food like this?”

“Yeah. We’ve got a good amount left, and Rhia says she can plant some fast-growing crops and get us a stable food supply once she has a place to make fields. We didn’t lose any vital supplies in the explosion, just most of our powder.” She pointed at the open doorway of the “kitchen” building Darten had formed. “Come sit over here.” She led them over and sat against the wall.

Kay joined her, sitting on the other side of the doorway. “You got pretty lucky if all you lost was your gunpowder.”

Ahthia snorted and shook her head. “Not luck, planning. We kept the powder cart well back from our other supplies, whether we were moving or stopped, just in case. Those powder idiots insist that it’ll be a useful commodity, but they need to fix it going off all the time if they want to use it for anything.”

“’ Random detonation issue’?” Kay stared down at her, a look of confusion and surprise on his face, “Gunpowder randomly detonates here?”

She waggled her hand. “Random isn’t really the right word, but it’s easier than saying that there’s too much stuff in the world that’ll set it off. It’s basically random since you don’t know when you’re going to run into something. Too much magic? Boom. Someone uses the wrong magic close enough? Boom. Monsters with fire or lightning abilities show up? Boom again. A tier five with a skill that puts out heat from their body walks too close…?”

“Boom?” Kay finished.

“Exactly. There are too many variables that could ignite the stuff, which is the main reason the Clan’s leadership gave to stop using it. Not that they were wrong, but they chose to just completely give up on it instead of looking for solutions.”

“Why?”

She sighed. “It’s all wrapped up in the culture of the Clans. The same reason this lot left.” She gestured at the rest of the dwarves with her head. “Things move slowly there. Really slow. You know how old I am?”

Kay shook his head. I was terrible at this with human women who don’t have mana infusing their bodies, making them live longer. “I have no idea.”

“I’m almost eighty. I got to tier three a little more than a year ago.” She grinned at the shock on his face. “Slow, right? Not for the Weathered Clans. Most people don’t get to tier three before their hundredth birthday.”

“Why? That seems… I don’t have the cultural understanding of how fast someone should level their skills and tier up, but that seems risky. And inefficient.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I hear the inefficient bit all the time, but most people don’t see it as risky.”

“What happens if you lose all the high-tier people? What if there’s a plague or a natural disaster that wipes people out? If only your older people are higher tier, you could lose a lot of their experience and knowledge.”

Ahthia laughed harshly. “But that won’t happen because it never happened before.” She sighed. “The Weathered Clans are focused on tradition and the past. There’s no need to change anything because our ancestors did it this way, and they made out just fine. There’s no need to try and fix the problems in order to make gunpowder useful because our ancestors didn’t have any.” She leaned her head back against the wall. “In the Clans, you’re expected to take the same Class as the rest of your family because that’s what your family does. You follow the same path exactly that your ancestors recorded until tier two. Then you sit and study for decades.”

“Study what?” Kay asked.

“Every single thing your ancestors recorded about their lives until you have it all memorized. Once you’re able to recite what any of your ancestors did on any random day they recorded on your journal, you’re allowed to work at tiering up.”

Kay stared at her.

She genuinely laughed at the expression on his face. “Yeah, it’s a bit excessive, isn’t it? I don’t really know how the Clans got that way. The Elders might, but they keep things secret.” She stared at the rest of the dwarves in her group. “Karl and Senik left because they wanted to do brand new things. They decided to start with the powder because it’s what Karl researched the most, but they wanted to create things. The others left because they all want to do something that isn’t the same path their families have followed for generation upon generation.”

She started pointing at people. “Rhia’s from a family of pottery makers. She wanted to farm. Her husband Devon is from a family of soldiers, heavy infantry. They kicked him out at the tender age of twenty-six to fend for himself because he chose carpenter as his first Class. Same thing with Leya, except she wants to be a fighter, and her family are all stonemasons.” She turned back to face Kay. “The others were too focused on the immediate things that were happening after the explosion, but I saw your face. The two powder idiots will want to stay with you so they can use your knowledge. The others will stay because they don’t want to split up, and any place that lets them be who they want to be is as good as anywhere else. But you don’t have to. I think that elf was telling you the same thing up there.”

Kay nodded, “She was.”

“Well, she’s right. You don’t need to stick around for us. Or let us stick around if you want to stay here. It was kind of you to offer aid, but that can be the end of our business with each other if you want.”

Kay looked at her for a moment. “Why did you leave?”

She paused for a moment before answering. “I’m a historian by choice. Historian is my tier three Class, but I’m looking to branch it out a bit. My parents were disappointed that I didn’t become miners like them, but they didn’t kick me out or get angry at me. I didn’t have a good reason to leave since people mostly left me alone too. This lot got ridiculed or insulted by anyone they met. The people already working in the jobs they wanted refused to help them or let them learn anything since it wasn’t proper for them to try something different from their ancestors. My grandfather is an Elder, so a lot of that went around me because people were afraid of pissing him off.” She frowned. “I’m still not sure if he would have helped me. Anyway, long story short, I stuck around and worked at studying history. And I found some big gaping holes in the history of the Weathered Clans. Big gaping, deliberate holes. When I started asking questions, I suddenly lost all my access to the libraries. After a few quiet talks with some people, I decided it was best to leave the Clans. So I found a group of people I knew that were already planning on leaving, found something they were missing and traded some favors in to get training in it. That’s how I ended up our group’s ‘healer’. I’m a tier two Apprentice Herbalist and a tier-one Novice Mender, which has been enough to keep us going till now.”

“Were you in danger?”

“I don’t think so. The talks were with some members of a few different groups that think that the path the Clans are on isn’t going to work in the long term. They want to change as much as this lot does, but they’re willing to take it slowly and affect change on the inside. They do their best to make sure that groups like this that they know will leave have a good chance of surviving. They realized that this group needed a bit of tempering and asked me to go too, so they didn’t end up throwing themselves off a cliff in their excitement to be free.” She looked up at him, “And that’s the short version of my life’s story.”

Kay looked back at her. “I’m not sure what my answer is yet,” He replied slowly. “Part of me is scared at suddenly being part of something like this. We came out here to train me up and get me stronger. Now suddenly, we might be starting a settlement of some kind? That freaks me out a little bit. At the same time, I’m excited. Starting a new place could be really awesome.” He stood up and stared off into the distance. “So right now, I could go either way.” He picked up his plate. “One way or another, I’ll let everyone know.”

╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦

Eleniah watched Kay walked off from his talk with the dwarf woman. His expression was pensive.

She strolled over to where Ahthia was still sitting. “Good talk?”

Ahthia narrowed her eyes as she watched Kay’s back. “He’s interesting. I gave away a lot more than I got, but what I got is definitely… interesting.” She looked up at Eleniah looming over her. “You’re doing good work building up his confidence.”

“Oh?”

“It’s pretty easy to see that he isn’t used to making decisions that affect others at all, even if it’s indirectly. He doesn’t know what to do, partially because he knows that any decision he makes has the possibility of hurting or disappointing someone.” Ahthia pushed herself to her feet. “At the same time, he has enough self-confidence to know it’s his decision. He isn’t asking anyone else what to do. So, good job.”

“Thank you.” Eleniah leaned against the wall and joined the dwarf in watching Kay as he cleaned up his plate and helped one of the dwarves do the dishes.

“So, he’s going to lead whatever place we make if it happens.”

Eleniah glanced down at her with an eyebrow raised.

Ahthia chuckled. “You aren’t that good at hiding what you’re thinking. I spent decades verbally sparring with Clan Elders that didn’t want me figuring out their secrets. You don’t have half their skill.”

Eleniah chuckled too. “Good to know. And yes. If we make something here, he’ll be in charge.”

“Why?”

Eleniah just laughed again.

Ahthia grunted. “Alright then. What’s your deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t try and be coy now. Why are you following him around? What’s your deal?”

Eleniah stared at Kay, talking with the dwarf woman scrubbing dishes next to him. A smile grew on her face. “I used to be lonely. Now I have a real friend. My ‘deal’ is making sure he’s in the best place he can get to, whether that’s literally or in terms of his power.”

Ahthia turned her head up to look at Eleniah. “That’s…” She grunted, “You’re a good friend, then.”

“I’m certainly trying to be. If we do end up starting a place, I could be a good friend to you too.” Eleniah pushed off the wall and started walking away. Behind her, she heard Ahthia mutter, not quietly enough to escape Eleniah’s tier five hearing.

“I wonder what a place made by the two of you would look like…”

Eleniah smiled. Another piece in place. Her gaze drifted back to her student and friend, and her smile grew fonder. Just because I’ll accept whatever decisions you make doesn’t mean I don’t have my preferences. I won’t push you though, I’ll just make sure that things are in place to make whatever you decide easier. Making something is a lot harder than walking off, so I’ll do my best to drum up some support in case that’s what you decide.