Melody

"Rooooockyyy, come here boy!"

"Knock it off Mel, if the thing was going to come out at all it wouldn't respond to the name Rocky. Not only is it a stupid name, but it would have no way of knowing that the name referred to him."

Geim was getting tired of Melody's hunt to find the weird hedgehog, but she did not let that stop her. Nobody believed her when she said that she'd seen the cute little animal in their composting bin and she was determined to prove them wrong.

"It is not a stupid name, it's cute! You didn’t see the way he was gnawing on a rock while sleeping in the bin, it is the perfect name for him."

Melody had tagged along with the dwarves every day since while they harvested the trees because she did not have much else to do until people started to arrive. While they lumbered away chopping lumber she would toss scraps of food she brought with her into the trees, calling for the cute little hedgehog again. Although he had run off in a different direction, the forest was the only place she'd seen hedgehogs even close to the size of Rocky. He was here, and she just had to find him.

Unfortunately, today was not the day that Rocky was going to come home with Mel and so as the dwarves packed up the newly felled timber, she gave her thanks to the forest and departed. The air today tasted differently to her, tasted cleaner, and she cast her eyes around into the trees while they left trying to figure out why.

"You excited about ta newcomers ta day?"

Helg's question snapped Melody out of her daze. She'd zoned out looking into the forest again, caught admiring its beauty.

"I almost forgot that the Greensongs were going to be coming back today. I guess I am pretty excited, but I am more excited to just have something to do."

"Mmm, something besides hunting for your imaginary pet you mean. Gotta say I'm looking forward ta havin' someone live in ta houses we been building. Things are shapin’ up for us pretty nicely."

With something else to occupy her mind Melody spent the rest of the walk out of the forest wondering what the day had in store for her.

* * *

It did not take long for the procession to arrive, only a few hours past noon by Melody's guess.

Thanks to the relatively flat land that they'd built on the caravan was visible from a few miles out and Melody had plenty of time to make it to the town hall that the dwarves had built for the town. It was a modest two-story building built out of birch and furnished with rough oak furniture. The upstairs area consisted of a few rooms that were currently being used as bedrooms for herself, Umni who was the acting treasurer, and the two drow sisters, Faeryl and Elvaer.

On the first floor were offices for the treasurer, herself as acting mayor, and two other vacant offices. There was also a waiting room that took up about half the floor furnished with benches for waiting and a single central desk that Faeryl and Elvaer took turns manning. It wasn't much, but every time Melody entered the building she swelled with pride again. She shuffled off into her office to await the flood of new people requesting permits for land to build on or farm.

Her office was probably the fanciest looking room in the town so far. The room was about 4 1/2 meters by 6 meters which was far more room than the half-gnome felt she needed. The walls were lined with beautiful oak bookshelves and a few file cabinets sitting behind her desk. The desk was the centerpiece of the whole office, a beautiful masterwork of mahogany that Geim had gifted to her. Maybe masterpiece was pushing it a bit, compared to the other furniture that the dwarves had managed to carve, you could tell how much work had been put into the desk. Currently the only thing on it was a stack of papers under a pot of ink and the rock she'd found in the composting bin.

Before too long the newcomers began to trickle into the town hall to plead their cases or ask about tax rates and what not. Although there were not any more adventuring parties like the Greensongs who'd arrived, she did end up entertaining a very large variety of potential residents. She mostly spent the day referring various farmers and merchants back to Geim who was the acting city manager. She was very thankful for the number of farmers who were coming from Ostlind, the taste of hedgehog and squirrel had been getting old quickly.

There were a few who stood out to her throughout the hours she spent in the office. First came the herbalist's apprentice who was asking for a loan to buy a building to sell his wares out of.

"I don't have the money currently, the mayor in Ostlind charged the businesses so much that I barely brought enough money home to buy food. I am good at my job though, and with the dungeon there I have no doubt that I'd be able to make enough money to pay the town back with interest in no-time."

She'd sent him to Umni to run the numbers for an interest rate. There was no doubt in Melody's mind that an herbalist would be a boon for the town, and that he'd be able to make a good amount of money considering the bounty of natural herbs the forest grew. The second person that stood out to Melody was actually a group of two people.

"We represent the Ranger's guild and the Divination guild. We are here to contest your claim to the land you are building on. Well, not contest so much as request payment in the form of land. The only reason you knew to build on this land was because one of our agents went rogue. We want re-payment in the form of two free plots of land to build on and a tax haven to make up for the payment the adventurers guild is refusing to give us now."

"I'm sorry Ms..."

"Develd. Reina Develd of the diviners."

Melody had already been cooped up for several hours at this point and there was only one group left to see her after this, so she was trying to handle this as civilly as possible. She was definitely going to be at the tavern tonight.

"Look, Ms. Develd I do not see why you are expecting payment from Annahmia. Nobody in this town owes you anything. No offense, but it wasn't your ranger who brought us to the dungeon and finders doesn't mean keepers until you start building. You know the edict as well as I do I am sure." Neither of the two guests seemed very happy about this as Melody took a break to take a sip of water. She spared a glance to Davis in the corner of the office before continuing, happy for his presence.

"However, in the interest of good relations I will tell Umni to give you an eighty percent discount on two commercial plots and thirty percent off taxes for the first three years you are in town."

The ranger stood up and looked like he was getting ready to argue, but he changed his mind quickly when Davis cleared his throat. He sat back down and let Reina continue talking with her, which was probably the best choice he'd made that day.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but you are right that we don't have a clear legal claim to the land. I'm sure I speak for both guilds when I say thank you for your understanding and we hope to have a very profitable relationship in the future." They shook hands and left the room, crossing the hall to Umni to discuss finances.

'Too easy' she thought as she watched them leave. Everyone here knew that they had no claim to the land, but Melody was feeling charitable today. Besides, one of their own had died in the forest, and even though she knew she wasn't responsible for it, she felt better after helping them out.

"Gladil and Reina..." she muttered to herself while taking note of their names. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on them in the future. There was a knock at the door and she called in the last group of visitors for the day. Two larger gentlemen walked in slowly, eyeing up everything in the room. Melody did not like the way the humans eyed up Davis, eyeing up the beastman who stood at least 10 cm taller than both of them. In return she noticed Davis' posture change as he stopped leaning against the wall and placed his hand on the axe he had strapped at his side, eyeing up the large men and their cudgels.

"Good evening gentlemen. My name is Melody Rainwater, I am the mayor here in Annahmia. Is there anything I can do to help you?" Melody asked, breaking up the standoff and drawing attention back to her. She did not like the look of the men, but only humans would judge someone based entirely on their appearance.

"Yeah. We're here to discuss taxes." It did not escape Melody's notice that neither man offered her their name. They also did not take a seat and were flexing their hands as if waiting for something.

"Okay, what is your profession then? Our taxes vary a bit depending on what your occupation is. Merchants for example pay a larger percentage while farmers and craftsmen pay a flat-"

"No. We are here to discuss the taxes that you will be paying to us, Ostlind. The boss doesn't appreciate you lot squeezing in on our land, and we do not recognize your sovereignty to this land."

"You are not the first humans to barge into my office today and demand payment for land that is rightfully ours. I'll tell you the same thing I told them, get lost. I've read the edict and our town is more than far enough from Ostlind to be founded on its own. Annahmia owes you nothing."

"Wrong answer." With that the large man tried to rip his cudgel from its holster. Instead he found himself lifted by his neck, along with his friend, by Davis. He threw them both backwards into a bookshelf, which was still void of books thankfully, and began shouting at them.

"Get out! How dare you filthy humans try to steal from us again? Out! Out of the building and out of this town your type is not welcome here."

It looked like it was sizing up to be a fight as the two humans favored their odds against Davis. As they started to their feet however Elvaer entered armed with her rapier, ready to back Davis up.

"You haven't heard the last of us you filthy sub-humans. Ostlind always gets what it's due."

"Davis, let’s make your position as the guard captain official. See if you can't get a couple of the new comers to sign on." Melody was feeling very shaken. There wasn't much to do but close up and go to the tavern and get a drink. Maybe Jorn would be there and she could ask about having them help with town security.

Yes, security, that is why she wanted to see Jorn right now.