Kara and the others arrived near the end of the day. They quickly exited the carriage and exchanged greetings with everyone.

“What's going on?” Jessica asked when she saw the solid green barrier over one of the tents.

“Hunter's been spending some alone time with Maylia.” Afyne said and rolled her eyes. “I don't know why I couldn't be in there, too.”

Diofra smiled and put an arm over her shoulder. “You'll understand when you're a little older.”

“Wait... you mean he's...” Jessica's face flushed red. “With everyone here, too?”

“Well, the nearest inn is a couple of days away by fast horse.” Steven said.

Jessica's blush started to fade. “But...”

“You don't think we actually needed to go foraging for berries to supplement our dry rations every couple of days, do you?” Steven asked with a grin and pointedly looked at Josh and Evangeline. Jessica turned to look at them herself and Josh started to whistle and turned his head away. Evangeline just stood there and held his hand and smiled, completely unrepentant.

“Wow, I can be so dense sometimes.” Jessica said and Steven laughed.

“You'll understand when you're a little older.” Steven joked and tried to put an arm over her shoulders. Jessica slipped out of his reach before he could and he laughed again.

“When do you think...” Jessica started to ask.

*

“Sorry about that, everyone.” I said and the solid green barrier dissolved as I absorbed it. “I needed to make sure that Maylia knew how much I loved her.”

“Where is she?” Jessica asked, curious.

“She's... going to be sleeping for a while.” I said with a grin and several male chuckles responded. “Now that everyone is here, I'm going into the elf lands.”

“WHAT?!?” Jessica and Kara yelled.

“There's someone inside that I need to visit.” I said.

“You can't be serious!” Jessica exclaimed. “I thought it was just someone near here, not actually inside there!” She waved angrily at the magical barrier. “You know what they did to you the last time!”

“It's all right.” I said as I walked towards Afyne. “I'll have permission this time.” I gave her about a third of the cooked monster chickens to help feed everyone and she gave me a third of the large ostrich eggs in return.

“How do you know that?” Kara asked.

“I'm going to ask, of course.” I said and went to each member of my party and shook the men's hands and hugged the women that wanted a hug. “It should only be a few days travelling to meet her, according to Viri, then I don't know how long I'll be.”

“We're going to stay here, no matter how long it takes.” Allirynn said. “We have a job to finish.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. “That we do.” I said and walked over to Jessica. “I'm sorry this meeting is a lot briefer than I thought.”

“Have you told the queen what you're doing?” Jessica said, almost accusingly.

I chuckled. “Yes, and I told her why.” I said and took her hand. “You can stay here and wait for me, then we can all go to the capital to meet the queen, or you can head back to the capital on your own.”

“We... we have to talk it over.” Jessica said, her voice touched with uncertainty.

“We're waiting.” Kara said confidently. “We need to rest before travelling across the kingdom anyway.”

“I thought as much.” I said and looked at everyone. “You all did fantastic during all of this.” I tried to think of something inspiring to say, then smiled. “Thank you all.” I turned towards the barrier. “I'll see you in a little while.”

“Hunter.” Afyne whispered and I turned back to face her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I said and walked over to her, bent down and gave her the same feather-light kiss she had given me the other day and made her lips tingle this time. She touched her lips with a fingertip and then held it up to me. I kissed the tip to make it tingle as well and she giggled. I kissed her forehead and slipped my blast shield over my eyes and covered it in Presence, just in case, then I walked over to the barrier. I looked up at its massive size, took a deep breath as I covered my hand in Presence and mana, then placed my hand on it. The part of the barrier I could see shimmered at my touch and I closed my eyes.

This worked the last time. I thought and instead of trying to manipulate the energy, I just pulsed it slightly with Presence to make it ripple, like knocking on a door.

*

It had been another long day for Queen Orella of the Elves. Teaching her daughters to be strong and fair was a delicate balancing act. Her own mother had quite the time with her, so she went into their training with an open mind and an understanding attitude. It made her very tired to be moderate and not treat them with a heavy hand like her mother had treated her.

Orella knew if she tried to beat some sense into them, they would only resent her for the effort, just like she resented her own mother for it, even if it would save their lives later. There was a time for harshness and a time for a steady hand. She sighed and sat down at the table to enjoy a meal with all three of her daughters. Sylvana, the youngest princess, had made great strides in both decorum and her emotional control over the last year. She managed to restrain her anger in several different situations already and didn't let it get the better of her, not like she had during that incident nearly a year ago.

Those thoughts made Orella think about the man that had caused that incident. Even after all this time, her mind kept going back to that moment when he had embraced her and kissed her cheek so tenderly. She had never been treated like that by a man before and it still surprised her that a man could be capable of such things. Her hand twitched and she stopped herself before she reached up to touch the spot, then she gasped when she felt a familiar feeling of a hand touching her lower back.

“Mother, what is it?” Braya, one of her twin daughters asked.

“Gather the court mages for a teleport spell.” Queen Orella ordered her and stood, once again stopping herself from putting a hand on the spot. “Someone is touching my barrier.”

Braya didn't argue and ran from the room and the other two daughters stood.

“Who would dare do that?” Bryanna, the other twin asked.

“Can you think of no one?” Orella asked, almost in a whisper, and both daughters shook their heads.

“Mother.” Braya said a couple of minutes later as she led the court mages into the dining room. “Shouldn't you...”

Queen Orella gave her casual dress a quick glance and looked at her daughters. “There's no time for us to change.” She said and walked over to the mages.

“We're coming, too.” Princess Sylvana said and grabbed her sisters and pulled them into the teleportation circle and motioned for the four armored guards to join them. “I will see with my own eyes the person that would insult you this way.”

The queen knew she would say that and nodded to the mages, who adjusted their chant for the extra people and activated the teleport spell.

*

I saw a glowing teleportation circle appear just on the inside of the barrier. Hey, it worked this time, too. I thought with a smile as a group of mages appeared inside the circle and looked right at me. They look a little angry.

“Who would dare insult the queen by touching the barrier?” Princess Sylvana asked as the mages parted for her and the armored guards.

“Sylvana.” A woman's authoritative voice said in a flat tone.

“I wasn't going to attack.” Sylvana said and motioned for the guards to take defensive positions. “I didn't yell and I didn't rush over, either.”

“You remember your lessons well.” The woman said in a pleased tone and stepped forward herself.

I saw that it was the queen and I gave her a regal bow without letting the barrier go. “Your highness.”

“So, it really is you.” The queen said in an odd tone.

“YOU!” Sylvana yelled when she saw me on the other side of the barrier. Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword. “Do you know how long it took to attune this sword back to me?”

“No.” I said and stood up straight to look at the queen. “Please accept my sincere apologies for touching your barrier.”

“You are still touching it!” One of the twins said and pointed to my hand.

“I don't want you to dismiss me and leave without hearing my request.” I said to the queen and ignored the daughter's accusation.

“It must be important for you to risk my wrath like this.” The queen said with an expressionless face.

“Very.” I said. “I humbly request permission to enter your lands.”

“Of course you cannot enter.” Sylvana said and you could hear her trying to restrain herself. “Outsiders are forbidden.”

“Three things concern me inside your lands, your highness.” I said and continued to ignore the daughters, despite being impressed that Sylvana was remaining calm. “One of your citizens was recommended to me, because they can help me with my class.”

The queen's eyes widened slightly at my words. “Surely, there are others that...”

“My class is incomplete, your highness.” I said and she, her daughters, and the court mages gasped.

“Th-that... that's not possible.” One of the court mages said. “For a class to be incomplete...”

“The energies inside of me are conflicted and fractured.” I said. “I need more specialized help.”

The queen fell silent and considered my words. After a few moments, she spoke. “What are the other two concerns?”

“The more prevalent one would be vampires.” I said and her face lost some of its color.

“What? How?” Sylvana asked, concern in her voice.

“It's because of the third concern I have.” I said, and quickly explained about the cracks and the various creatures that had come into this world through them.

“What makes you think vampires could be here?” One of the mages asked me.

“When I went through the crack they came from, I found their old lair. It was abandoned over a thousand years ago.”

The mages exchanged concerned looks and then all eyes went to the queen, which confirmed my guess about it being around the same time that the elves had erected the barrier.

“Obviously, you have found a way to find them.” The queen said.

“Yes, your highness.” I responded. “I have several spells, actually. One to find the cracks inside your lands, one to reveal vampires within a small local area, and one to detect all of the vampires at once.”

“I suppose you need to come inside to cast them?” One of the twins asked, derisively.

“With your own court mages here?” I asked with a chuckle. “No. I can just give them the spells.”

The mages caught their breath and started to mumble among themselves for almost a full minute.

“You would freely give away such high tier spells?” One of them asked.

“It serves no purpose for me to keep them from you.” I said. “Except to stop you from dealing with the problems.”

That made them all go quiet, because even a year later, they remembered my promise to come back and kill them all if they had sent someone after me.

“Why should we believe you?” One of the twins asked.

“A sign of good faith, then?” I asked and took out the three spells and rolled them up together.

“What are you going to do? Teleport paper through a ten foot thick magical barrier?” Sylvana asked with a laugh.

“Nothing so grandiose.” I said and took out a water skin, covered the rolled paper in Presence, then poured water over it and held the water around it with Presence, just like I had covered the guiding spirit to let it back through the barrier. They stared at the water-covered paper and I pushed it into the barrier. Everyone on the inside of the barrier gasped or yelled in shock as I used Presence to push the water-covered paper right through it without resistance. When it reached the other side, I let the water flow off of the rolled paper and floated the paper over to the group of mages, then I absorbed the Presence I had covered the paper with and let the pages drop to the ground completely dry.

“He just passed something through the barrier like it was nothing!” One of the twins exclaimed. “How? How could that happen?”

The queen stared at me while one of the mages slowly reached out for the rolled papers. She quickly unrolled the papers and read the spells. The other mages read the spells over her shoulder and they started to mumble again.

“Well?” Sylvana asked, clearly frustrated. “Are they legitimate spells or not?”

“Yes, they are real spells.” The one holding them said. “It will take a good amount of mana to cast them, though.”

“Can you do it?” The queen asked without taking her eyes from me. She clearly did not want the answer to be no.

“Yes; but, we won't be able to cast the teleport spell until we recover.”

“Do you have mana crystals?” I asked and held one up. “You can use the mana charge instead.”

The mages stared longingly at the fully charged mana crystal.

“No, we don't have those.” One of them said, sadly.

“Then I suggest casting the crack location spell first and drawing a map. That way, we can confirm if the most dangerous threat actually exists within your barrier.” I said and stored the crystal.

“I have to agree.” The queen said and looked at her mages. “Two of you take the spell and cast it in conjunction to cut the mana cost in half and share the drain.”

The mages quickly copied the spell and sat down to cast it. They added the spell components and easily cast the spell. A two foot wide slightly green bubble appeared above them and it showed their lands. Nearly a dozen cracks were inside and a third mage copied the map and marked the crack locations.

“That might explain why creatures keep appearing inside the barrier and you have to keep sending out scouting and hunting parties all the time to hunt them.” I said.

The queen's guards nodded in agreement as the spell faded, since no one could explain how creatures kept appearing inside the barrier that was supposed to keep everything out. Two other mages copied the spell to locate the vampires and switched seats with the first two tired mages. They cast the vampire locate spell and another two foot wide bubble appeared and showed the kingdom. The mages let out a collective sigh when nothing appeared on the map.

“Well, that's a relief.” I said. “I was worried one of your tree-towns might have been overrun like a few of the villages we encountered here.”

“They took an entire village?” One of the twins asked, surprised.

“Several, actually.” I said sadly. “Also, they took over most of a few towns we cleansed and parts of a couple of cities.” I saw their pretty faces share that sadness. “I would have been here sooner; but, it took us this long to clear the entire kingdom.”

“You cleared the entire First Sothen Kingdom?” The queen asked, clearly surprised, and I nodded. “You don't do anything halfway, do you?”

I shook my head. “Once I knew of the threat and the danger it imposed, I had to deal with it as best as I could.”

The queen looked over my shoulder at the dozen people behind me. “You had a lot of help.”

“I did and I am very grateful for it.” I said.

“If I do grant your request to enter, I cannot let anyone else in.”

“I am aware of that restriction.” I said. “As you can see, no one else is near me and I didn't ask anyone to come with me.”

“Then how would you have fought the vampires?” The queen asked, curious.

“I assumed that you would assign me guards, trackers, and mages to hunt them.” I said. “It would be ridiculous of me to expect you to let me roam freely within your lands unsupervised.”

“You are very accommodating.” One of the twins said. “Is meeting this contact worth putting yourself under the queen's guard?”

“Despite all the things I've done since I arrived here almost a year ago, my body is still weak.” I said and looked right at the queen. “I am vulnerable to magical attacks and I hope to find a remedy to that.”

The queen caught her breath and stared at me with wide eyes. “Why would you tell me that?”

“Trust.” I said and smiled. “A relationship needs to be built on trust. I trusted you not to send anyone after me, and you didn't. I came back and I am asking permission to enter your lands, because I want you to trust me back.”

“That's why you did that trick with the spell papers.” One of the twins said and I saw the understanding on her face. “You wanted to show us that you could have come in at any time that you wanted.”

I nodded. “I also wanted to show you that even though you didn't know it, you were trusting me already by me not returning unannounced.”

“Before I consider letting you enter my lands, tell me how to close these cracks.” The queen said.

“You need a devout follower of a god or goddess that has been blessed by them, either personally or by proxy, then they need to share their divine energy with that follower to seal the cracks.”

The queen, her daughters, the guards, and the mages all had shocked expressions on their faces. Clearly, they were not prepared for me to offer the answer right away.

“I expected that you wouldn't have anyone remotely close to that description, so I am prepared to trade my services for passage.” I said and that made several of them gasp. “I'll need the mixed group of members to be assigned right after I visit my contact and find out what to do about my condition.”

Sylvana turned away from me and whispered to herself. “He's blessed by a divine being.” She closed her eyes and I could see her trying to hold back her tears. “I hurt him and... and I...”

The queen reached out and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. “Now you know another reason not to overreact.” She said. “Imagine if you had succeeded in killing him.”

Sylvana took several breaths ducked her head as several tears dripped from her face and onto the ground. Small sprouts appeared from them and she calmed down. She opened her eyes and looked at her mother.

“Yes, I understand.” Sylvana said and turned to face me. “Hunter, I'm sorry for what happened.”

“So are my balls.” I said and then smiled.

There were gasps, scandalized faces, and laughs on both sides of the barrier. Both the queen and Sylvana understood what I did, diffusing the serious mood with humor, and Sylvana nodded to me. The queen let her daughter's shoulder go and turned to look at me. Without another word, she waved her hand and an opening appeared in the barrier that was barely big enough for me to walk through.

I turned to the people behind me and gave them a little wave, brought my hand to my lips and blew them a kiss, then I turned around and walked through the opening.