"Hayes, how have you been?" I greet the smith as we enter his shop. He's sitting out front doing some paperwork with a scowl on his face.

Jumping at my voice, he quickly stands up and bows. "Lord Marquis."

"None of that, please." I beg. "We've been dealing with that all day. Just call me Sorrel."

"But, lord... Sorrel." He corrects after seeing the look on my face. "You've done so much for Larendath, it's only natural for people to want to show their gratitude."

"Mmm, I tried to minimize myself in the movie, but everyone still recognizes me." I rub a hand over my short, spiky, blood-red hear. "Maybe I should change my hair, it seems to be what clues most people in."

"Don't you dare!" Amelia says vehemently.

"I'm with Amelia on this one." Apricot backs her up. "I like your little spikies." She lands in my hair and rolls around in it.

"Well, there goes that idea." I chuckle and move on. "So, how's Hayley been. No signs of sickness, I hope. Sorry for scaring you all that day, I was a bit out of sorts and made the whole situation out to be worse than it really was."

"She's as healthy as can be." He pauses. "Well, she did fall out of a tree a couple days ago, but other than that, she's fine. Grouchy because the healer had to wrap her leg up and she can't go running about like normal."

"Oh? I'll be sure to stop by and fix her up when we leave. I owe you for that uranium stuff. I was able to tame it, and use the power it generates to get us to Riverton in time, without having to drain myself along the way."

"Sir, you don't owe me anything-" He starts gushing.

"It's Sorrel, and if I say I do, then I do. The least I can do is fix your grand daughter's broken leg." I stretched my senses out to find the girl and see that she's got a small crack in her tibia. "I came to clear out that slag pile for you too, like I said I would."

"Just let him do what he wants, Hayes." Amelia says with a laugh. "It's important to him, and benefits you, so there's no downside."

"Or would you rather a little girl suffer." Apricot adds.

"I see I'm not going to win this argument, so I'll hold my tongue." He lets out a defeated sigh. "Will you please, at least let me gift you with the ores you were interested in?"

"Only if you let me gift you with this." I hold up a phone. "This is a new communication Rune I'm spreading around. I want you to have one, and to use it if you ever need anything from me. Anything!" I emphasize. "No matter what it is, I'll come."

"Si-Sorrel." He corrects himself mid word. "Thank you. I'll not use it lightly." It looks like he has to fight himself not to bow again.

"Don't be silly." I wave his obeisance off. "I don't care if you stubbed your toe and need a healing, or are just plain bored and want to talk smithing. Now let's see those ores."

Ten minutes later and we're entering a crowd in the metal market, my inventory holding a new crate full of metals and minerals. I left behind several barrels of pure silica for Hayes, and told him that he could get a good price from any glass maker for it.

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

"That was fast. What's up Hayes?" I answer the phone.

"It's Kernan's disciple." He says in a panicked voice.

"Shit! I'm on my way." My senses stretched out and I saw that he wouldn't last long. "Move!" I shout at the people in my way.

Using air magic to clear a path; I sprint forward, the ground cracking under my feet as I push forward as fast as my body and my magic will let me. "Fuck! No time to go around." I curse and dissolve the wall to Kernan's smithy in front of me. Revealing two startled smiths, and a ruined mess that can barely be recognized as the gruff man's apprentice.

Looks like the poor bastard was carrying a large crucible of molten bronze when it slipped. After it hit the floor, the liquid metal all splashed back up and coated his front side, including most of his face.

Not wasting anytime, I blast him with a stream of healing sap before I even stop. Pumping nearly half my own vitality into the spell, before falling to my knees next to the young man as it coats his body.

"Oh, no you don't!" The shock caused his heart to stop, so I pump it magically while forcing oxygen into his lungs. Lumps of metal peel away from the blistered ruin of his flesh as the Magic forces it to re-grow. "It's not enough." I mutter and pump half my remaining strength into him, leaving me with only a quarter.

Several minutes later his vitals have stabilized and his flesh has re-grown, leaving me just one spot left to rebuild. I saved the hardest for last. His left eye had burst when it was hit and molten metal invaded the socket, leaving little more than the optic nerve intact. Fortunately, it is such a small area that it doesn't require much more vitality from me, but it still takes me as long to repair that one organ as it did to re-grow the rest of his wounds.

Finally done, I flop over onto my back and release my hold on his consciousness, causing the apprentice to wake with a gasp. "Ahhh! Huh, what?" I can feel him twist about and look around. "Oh gods, what happened?" A cheer rises up from the street startling him.

I was too busy to notice when the crowd gathered, but knew they would, so the noise didn't affect me. But, the lad and the two smiths nearly jump out of their skins.

"Sorrel!" - "Baby!" The girls drop to their knees next to me and start checking me over.

"I'm fine." I pant out with a smile before wrinkling my nose. "Cleanse! There, now I'm fine." I don't even want to think about what was coating my body a moment ago. "Had to use a lot of vitality, but I'll be okay after a snack or three." I take out a crate of food, grab a bag of nearly frozen peanut butter cups, and start munching away.

"Lord Marquis." Kernan starts.

"I'm never going to get anyone to call me Sorrel, am I?" I mutter, making the girls laugh. "Don't worry about it, I'm just glad I was close enough to get here in time. Don't worry about the walls either, I'll fix them and the street in a moment." I switch to a box of donuts and down half a maple bar in one bite.

A few minutes and a couple pounds of junk food later and I'm finally feeling human again... Well, Plantkin again, if you want to get specific. The smiths went out front to disperse the crowd, leaving me to recover with the girls watching over me. When they weren't stealing my food, that is.

"Can we not come to Smith street without something crazy happening?" I laugh while rubbing my full belly.

"You doing okay now?" Amelia says around a mouthful of éclair. "We only caught the tail end of you healing him, but that was enough to see how much damage was done. You are fucking fast, by the way." She laughs.

"Seriously!" Apricot adds. "I blinked and you were halfway down the street."

"Had to be, a few more seconds and even I wouldn't have been able to save him." I shake my head at just how close he was to dying. "Remind me to read those books on healing magic once we get home. I need to be able to do this without draining myself, there's a reason why that was the cheapest healing spell available. If my level was any lower, he'd be dead."

I stand and put the much reduced collection of junk food away before walking out front, restoring the shop as we go.

"Marquis Rumex." Kernan speaks and the three men bow. "You have our eternal thanks. I know it's not enough to repay you, but Hayes said you were here for iron. So, I paid for it under my account, and here come the carts now." Several times the amount of metal I had come to buy was slowly trundling down the street, dodging the craters left by my foot prints.

Embarrassed, I wave a hand and restore the street. "I will gladly accept your gratitude, just promise to be more careful in the future." I nod to the smith before addressing his apprentice.

"T-thank you Lord." He stutters out, pale-faced.

"I had the ability to act, how could I do any less and still call myself a man?" I shrug, putting the matter behind me before turning to Hayes. "Let's go take care of Hayley. Then, I am going home and having a lie down."

"Lord." He bows and I just roll my eyes and walk towards the car, scooping the iron into my inventory as I pass.

***

I wake, sit up, and stretch with a big yawn, feeling much better after a good night's sleep.

"Hey baby, you feeling better." Amelia says from her pillow, still spooning a bleary eyed pixie.

"Very." I purr. "Thank you two for that massage last night, and what came after." A throaty laugh escapes my lips.

"All three of us, multiple times." Apricot joins the conversation with a chuckle of her own.

"Mmm." Amelia nods along. "Surprised you had the energy for that, after the mess that was yesterday. What do you have planned for today?"

"Does nothing count?" I flop back and turn my head to look the in the eyes.

"I think we all know by now, that you don't do nothing. You've always got something going on, even if it's just an idea that you're rolling over in the back of your head."

"Heh, you know me too well." I roll over and kiss first Amelia, then Apricot on the forehead. "As much as I dread leaving the house again, we should probably get the phones to that courier that Florence recommended. And, the guy at the exotic food shop said he was expecting another shipment last night, so we might as well swing by there again. Did you want to do anything in particular?"

"No, I'm happy just to tag along and watch you get flustered at everyone bowing and scraping." A sly smile creeps onto her face. "Your left eye started getting this little twitch every time someone said your title."

"That's it, that's the one." Apricot giggles.

"Oh, laugh it up." My own smile grows to match theirs. "But, guess whose number I'm going to give to all the nobles I'm sending phones to?"

"You wouldn't dare!" She abandons her duty as big spoon to tackle me. "No. They're all going to want to call and set up a thank you lunches and crap like that." She starts throttling me when my smile just grows wider.

"Yup. Hahahahah." Tears are leaking out of my eyes as my lovely wife does her level best to strangle me. "I need to give them somebody's number, and I think we both know what'll happen if I give them Apricot's."

"Argh, damn you, and damn your over-powered stats." She finally gives up when it becomes clear that it's not working. "Thank you so much Temmie for fixing him but couldn't you have made him a little weaker?"

*Ding**Ding**Ding* The System just laughs at her.

"Oh, fine. I guess we should hire a secretary for stuff like that. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm surprised we haven't been flooded with invitations yet. Probably some pecking order B.S." I grumble, hating that I have to deal with politics now. "They're likely waiting for us to make the first move since we're new and all."

"Sounds about right, stupid lunker politics." Apricot snuggles closer. "That, or they're just scared of you."

"Oh, what's to be scared of?" Dry humor colors my voice. "I only came out of nowhere, found a dungeon, overturned centuries of enchantment know-how, introduced chocolate, became a Count only to get elevated to Marquis a week later because I saved a city and likely the country, and then, when we got home, I made a little garden. Nothing scary about all that." I feel more like crying than laughing now that I've said all that.

"Oh, babe." Amelia leans down and kisses me. "Just wait until they see what you do next."

"A pinball machine?" I joke.

"Heh, I doubt a new game is the limit of what you're capable of." She gives me one more kiss before climbing off of me and getting out of bed.

"Well..." I draw the word out. "I did have a crazy idea to make The Garden into a flying island, but 'somebody's' afraid of heights. Guess, I'll just have to save that idea for Arcadia."

"You crazy fucker." Apricot laughs. "Hah. You would do it too. Ooh, look how pale her face is right now." The blonde in question doesn't say anything, just keeps walking to the bathroom instead.

"How are we going to get her to the moon if she's that afraid of a little flying island?" I question, and Amelia closes the door behind her with far more force than necessary.

""Hahahahah"" Apricot and I bust up laughing.

***

"Alright, thanks man. I owe you one." I disconnect the call. "Oliver said they had already lined someone up for us, in case we needed one. He's sending them over now."

"Oh, good." Amelia sighs in relief. "I was afraid we'd have to interview dozens, or hundreds of people." she wipes non-existent sweat from her brow.

"Now, we just have to worry about what they look like, and how far we have to keep them from Sorrel." Apricot teases.

"Well, I am one horny beast of a Plantkin." I put a pensive look on my face. "Oliver didn't say anything about how they looked, but what if they're really hot?"

"Don't even joke." Amelia scolds.

"Hey, I'm just saying." I shrug. "What if it's late at night, I've had a few drinks, and then 'he' puts the moves on me. Anything could happen."

"Hahahah." - *Ding**Ding**Ding* Apricot and Temmie lose it.

"Fine, you got me." Amelia smiles and shakes her head at the smug look on my face.

"Did you really think I'd cheat on you? You had to practically bully me into taking Apricot the first time." I pull her into a hug "I love you. I'm not going to stray... No matter how cute his ass might be." She tries to swat me, but I've got her arms locked up in my hug.

"Jerk." She pouts, but looks up to kiss me.

***

"He's here." I alert the girls. "Ugh! And no ass at all, not unless you count saggy, old man butt." I dodge a blow from Amelia and shake my head. "Always so violent, you're going to scare him off if you keep acting like that." I tease with mock sternness.

"I'll show you violent." She chases after me, but I run to the front door.

Opening it, I call out in a cheerful voice. "Mister Bourke. Welcome to the Garden." I greet our new secretary. He's an older man, a little pudgy, with a full head of silver hair. His face, though. It could almost belong Bill Murray, mostly in the eyes and nose, as his jaw and lips are a bit broader and fuller.

"Lord, Ladies." He gives a shallow bow. "It is an honor to serve you."

"Just Sorrel, please." I groan. "If I have to deal with that Lord stuff all the time it's going to drive me crazy... crazier." I smile at the man. "Do come in, let's get down to business." I guide him to a sitting room.

"Thank you Sorrel, please call me Kyle." He nods and follows us in. "I'm sure I'm not what you were expecting." He gives a self-deprecating smile as he sits in a chair across from the three of us. "I've recently retired from a life-long career as an administrator. And frankly I was going mad with boredom, even had my wife of forty years threaten to leave me if I didn't do something." He laughs. "So, when Oliver mentioned that the new Marquis might need some help, I jumped at the chance."

"Sounds like you're just who we need then." I lean forward. "Tell me what you need, and I'll make it happen. An office, assistants, I'll even build you a small house on the property if you need it. Just please make it so we don't have to directly deal with what I'm sure will soon be a flood of communication." I chuckle, but I am deadly serious and it shows in my eyes.

"Heheh. An office and an assistant will be plenty, my home is actually not too far from here." He looks towards the east. "My grandson Bartlett is free and I believe would be quite suitable."

"Perfect." I hand him three phones, and set a crate full of them on the floor. "For you two, and part of your first assignment. I need to deliver a number of these to the local nobles and what not. We're sure that everyone is going to be pestering us after that."

"That, they likely will, yes." He nods, his eyes going slightly wide.

"Here's a list we got from Florence Abner, feel free to add to it, if needed. But, I need you to figure out who gets how many and when; I was just going to send each name a handful. I don't mind giving out my number." My face says differently. "But, do try to find some wording that lets them know that they should call you first, if they need anything."

"I can do that, but..." He pauses. "What's the extra device for?"

"For your wife, man." I say like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Tell me if you need more for the rest of your family, or just take them from the crate. Calling them phones, by the way. You're office is around this way." I head out of the room, the crate levitating to follow in my wake.

I can hear Amelia telling the man "Don't worry, you'll get used to him." with humor in her voice.

"Well, at least I don't think I'll be bored anymore." He replies with good cheer.

***