I woke up well-rested and with a warm feeling in my heart. Having a place to come back to like this was wonderful. We had some tea for breakfast before I took off towards Serrington.

I reached the city by late afternoon, not rushing in any way. The first stop was the tea factory. I landed in front of the main office and knocked on the door. Soon, a dwarf bid me inside. She guided me to a reception room and went to get the foreman. The dwarf that had led me through the building a few months earlier soon came in and we exchanged polite greetings. The assistant was sent off to ‘get the goods’, as he coined it.

“I must thank you for your idea, miss Fio. We have since experimented with several fruits, some of them grown personally by Guardian Nymph during the cold months. The results were astounding!”

“That is great to hear. I hope the tea will be pleasant to my taste buds as well.”

“Hmm, yes. I won’t presume to know how your body works but for me personally, fruit tea has been my primary beverage after ale in the last month.”

“Promising”, I nodded.

Soon after, the assistant came back with an expensive porcelain tea set. One of the cups was replaced with a bowl for me. She poured some of the ruby-red liquid into it before filling the foreman’s cup and another one for herself.

I tried smelling but as usual, my nose was incapable of deciphering fine fragrances. I felt the heat of the tea tickle my feathers as I lowered my beak. Then, I took a careful sip. The taste of cherries, raspberries and blackberries combined into an explosion of flavour on my tongue. Even just this tiny sample filled my brain with joy. I sighed deeply and leaned back on the chair with closed eyes.

For a minute only the silent slurps from the two dwarves and myself filled the room. We all enjoyed the tea with every bit of care it deserved. All too soon, my bowl was empty.

“This is even better than I expected.”

Smiling mumbles were my answer. The assistant poured another round.

Another minute was spent in silent enjoyment. This time I paid a little more attention to the dwarves in the room. The foreman was alternating between scenting and sipping the liquid. At first, slowly, giving the tea a chance to cool down, then increasingly faster, finishing the last third of his cup in a single, drawn-out gulp. The assistant was more reserved, never drinking a lot at once. She took her time, smacking her lips and rubbing the tongue inside her mouth. It was almost erotic, with the way she groaned in gourmandized pleasure from time to time.

For myself, it was somewhere in between. I took larger sips than the assistant but never increased their size. Only the last bit where I had trouble getting to it with my beak was brought up by a tendril of darkness. It took quite a bit of focus to hold the liquid without spilling anything but that was a price I was willing to pay.

Finally, after a third round, the teapot was empty. The assistant brought it away while the foreman turned to me.

“I see you enjoyed it as much as I do. Once more, thank you for this wonderful idea!”

“It was my pleasure. Literally. I haven’t enjoyed something like this in a long time.”

“Now, of course, we had a deal. Seeing the results, I am inclined to shift it to your favour. My Clan has agreed to grant you one month’s produce from this factory, split between any sort of tea you want. I would recommend you make a recurring order of sorts for whatever you need and we’ll take it from what you’re owed.”

“That sounds wonderful. I assume it won’t be much of a problem to give up this much?”

The dwarf nodded, a large grin on his face.

“Indeed. If you wanted to take it in one big swing, it would hurt the production but we can easily supply you with enough for five dwarves per month. For a lifetime, that is.”

“A dwarven lifetime? How many years is that?”

“I’m going with 250 years here. That’s a bit higher than the average but many of us enjoy a bit of danger every now and then. Those who die from old age usually reach somewhere around there.”

“So… Enough for five dwarves for five centuries? That’s a lot.”

“It is. This factory is one of three and they are all quite optimized. Then again, the five dwarves would only drink one litre of tea per day, each.”

“That’s still more than I need for myself. And I won’t be able to just brew tea every day. Sometimes I spend a few weeks in the wilderness.”

“That’s for you to decide. What do you want to do?”

“I… think I want to take a bunch right now to share with my friends. As well as some for me to use personally. Do you know how long it will keep?”

“We haven’t found any of our fruit tea go bad yet. Going by our experience with black or green tea for around a year in proper containers.”

“Then prepare a year’s supply for me to take with. I’ll come by around noon tomorrow. Unless that’s too early for you?”

“Noon is fine. Do you want a selection or just this one?”

“You made more blends?”

“We have this berry tea, one with citrus fruits, primarily orange and lime, and another one with ginger and lemon.”

“I’m not sure… Let’s just go with a third of each?”

“Or you join us tomorrow to taste the other blends. We’ll prepare a year’s supply of each and you can decide how much you want.”

“That sounds great. I’ll be back by noon tomorrow, then.”

I left the factory and took off into the evening. I was not sure if Nymph would still be awake but it was definitely worth a try. There was no light within the Comraich but I doubted she needed any. I landed in the grass, two steps from the grove and hooted.

I listened for any rustling and soon made out someone making their way towards me from my back. My head swivelled and I saw Banélin walking through the grass, a notebook in his hands.

“A pleasant evening, Fio. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

I nodded a greeting in answer. Before I could form a connection with the supersensory matrix, I felt the telltale sign of [Telepathy] invade my mind.

“Hello, friends!”, Nymph sent, “I did not expect this many visitors tonight.”

“Well, I did just drop in unannounced. It is very tempting to do when one has wings.”

The dwarf laughed.

“I can certainly see that. I have some business to talk with you, Nymph, but that can wait for a while. Let me get some tea.”

“Yes, please. The citrus one, if we still have some?”

“We do.”

I watched the dwarf leave before turning around. In between the greenery, even my superior eyesight had trouble spotting the mantis. She was hidden extremely well. Had the [Telepathy] not given me a hint, I might not even have found her.

“I believe you will like this tea as well. It’s something developed recently by the Kark. A perfect blend of sweet and sour.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I only had the berry tea, earlier today.”

The small black orbs seemed to take me in more closely.

“Oh? I believe they are not yet selling it publicly, or am I wrong? Only select leaders have been given a taste to evaluate the new product and the last weeks have been spent mass-producing the beverage.”

I tilted my head.

“Well… I wouldn’t know about that. I just dropped by the factory to see how far they’d come.”

“And why would they tell you?”

I snickered which came out as a mix of clicking and huffing.

“It was my idea in the first place.”

The surprise radiating through our connection was genuine. Which was even more impressive since [Telepathy] had a harder time conveying emotions.

“You… are a genius, Fio!”

I looked away.

“I try…”

“No, seriously! That was such a wonderful idea! How have the dwarves never thought of that? Or myself, for that matter?”

“I wouldn’t know about that… It’s here now, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“I suppose so. Say, Fio, won’t you tell me of your journey?”

And so I did. Banélin joined in soon after, only missing the very beginning. They were very interested in my experiences within the goblin village and my attempts at securing it. We soon arrived at how I moved a node and both of them had their surprise displayed openly. More literally in the dwarf’s case with his wide-open mouth, while Nymph was jittering in excitement. Her scythes almost knocked over her tea bowl before she caught herself.

“So it works?”

“It does”, I nodded, “But I have no idea what happens to a bound node. We might want to experiment with a medium one protected by a wild beast.”

Banélin’s face turned hard. He looked to Nymph.

“You want to leave?”

“Yes. Not forever but I want to go and see the world. I’m sure you can understand that.”

He sighed.

“I… do. I’m sorry I left you here all alone but…”

“Don’t! I lived through you for all these years. Now, with Fio’s help, I am feeling much more confident to venture out myself.”

“About that. What are your plans? How do you want to do it?”

“Well… at first, I just want to see the city. Up close, that is. I… am just a little bit scared. My body is too small. The risk I get hurt is high.”

“I get that but you could just travel on someone, right? Like Banélin’s shoulder, for example.”

“That would be much too suspicious. I do not want to see the city as its Guardian but as a normal person. As much as that is possible.”

“Then come with me? You can sit on my head or cling to my back.”

“That…”, she looked away, “I might consider it.”

“And if that node moving works out for you, I can fly you somewhere. Probably.”

“You’re good to me.”

“You’re my friend, Nymph. We’ll have to wait until the goblins are fully settled but then, we can go anytime.”

She nodded. The dwarf filled up our cups.

“Well, what happened next?”

I continued my story, getting to my second nightly infiltration and the following assassination. They were a little taken aback at my cold retelling but I did not want to keep anything from them. From Nymph, at least. The dwarf was her friend, so I trusted him by proxy. Then came the first [Bloodrush], apparently something the dwarves were well familiar with and the main danger the orks posed. They gave me the advice to heavily wound a good number of orks without killing them. The wounded would fight back as they got ripped apart by their brethren, leading to a chain reaction in some cases.

The rest of my tale was taken mostly quietly. My method of quelling the [Bloodrush] and understanding of the Skills underlying magic was noted down by Banélin to see if the dwarves had tried something similar before. The biggest reaction was to the two I saved and Alexandra.

“So, you made even more friends?”, Nymph teased, “Should I be jealous?”

I hooted.

“Not of the orks, at least. They’re okay but that’s it. I am very close to Alex, however. Partly by necessity. I’m sure you will meet her one day. On that point, I would like to learn [Telepathy] myself. The supersensory matrix is great but it’s got some issues. Especially if I ever want to communicate with someone more powerful than me.”

“Hmf! I guess I could if you ask nicely?”

I could hear the mockery in her tone.

“Of course, oh great Guardian of Serrington. Would you kindly teach me the true [Telepathy]?”

Banélin’s snort broke our fake stand-off into shared laughter. Soon, we returned to small talk and sipping more wonderful tea. I had enjoyed the berry blend a bit more but this was also quite decent. I was looking forward to the ginger and lemon variation. It promised a bit more spice which was something my owl taste buds were not used to but in small doses, it might be quite enjoyable. The evening turned to night and at some point, the dwarf turned in. Nymph offered me a branch on the edge of her grove. I was not really inside but she grew a few leaves to cover me from prying eyes making my rest comfortable. This was almost a second home, though it did feel more like a sleepover. I supposed with Nymph wanting to see the world, I might not get to be here quite as often in the future.