Rory and Rosa were about a mile off from the when the huts began and slowly transitioned into the townscape. Rory was admiring the rustic surroundings that had escaped him for so long, his time having been spent almost exclusively in urban areas since he was born. Summer had come, and with it brought sweltering heat and expansive flora. Lush grass covered gently rolling hills that extended into and beyond the horizon. A fleet of trees rose to his right flank; oak, he noticed.

Through the corners of his eyes, he sometimes saw shadows, flitting in and out of vision. He smiled and turned on Chronos, ten children appearing into his view. Just as he instructed, they wore not their black fatigues, but rural clothing, as Rory was wearing. He turned Chronos off, his hypothesis confirmed.

"Alright, come on out."

They appeared, kneeling.

"Didn't I tell you to stop that? You're not my servants today. You're my friends. We all lost our homes and are wandering the countryside for work."

At his request, they all stood back up, though they all held rigid positions.

"Your numbers seem to have halved. Where are the rest of you?"

Eris answered him. "They were appalled by your speech and returned to Illan."

Rory laughed. "Ha! Well, I feel sorry for them none the less. Come on, let's go." He began walking again, headed towards a little shack in the distance. "Stop marching. You're children, not servants. Our cover will be blown if you keep acting like this. Oh, yes, do any of you know a song?"

"A song?"

"Yes, music. You have heard of it?"

"Yes, but..." one of them answered, hesitatingly.

"But you don't know any. We have a lot of work to do, it seems. What is your name?" he asked, pointing towards the one who answered.

"Emi."

"Well, Emi, you can lead our musical."

"B-but—"

"Just hum something. Anything."

"Alright," she said, beginning to hum a soft little melody, her face turning red. Everyone fell silent, until she finally finished.

"That was beautiful, Emi!" Rosa exclaimed.

"W-was it...?" she asked hesitatingly.

Rory smiled at her. "See, you know something. Where'd you learn it?"

"M-my mother use to hum it to me... but Illan said—"

"Illan can go sodomize himself with a rusty sword. Discard everything he told you about living."

"B-but—"

"But nothing. I'm your master now, and we're going to have fun. I'm sure all of you have songs within you. Come on, bring it out. I want to hear them."

And so he did. He heard nursery rhymes, chimes, a tale about true love, and even Eastern melodies. Rory and Rosa made sure to encourage each one, and soon they were a small parade, filling the air around them with mirth and music. In what seemed like seconds, they had reached their destination. An old woman came out to greet them.

"My, my. What do we have here."

"A band of bards, my lady," Rory said with a flourish.

The woman laughed, a deep hearty laugh. "How polite."

"Madame, we come from all over the land. We are exiles from our own families, strangers to our own land. We solemnly request your most gracious aid, and are willing to work your fields for dinner."

"You've come at a good time! The local lord's set up some magic or whatnot. We have water now, coming out from the ground. Of course you can work, dearies. Do you know how to farm?"

"Yes, Madame. Simply direct us to the tools and we shall begin."

"They're over there, in that shack."

Rory bowed before moving out. "Thank you, we will be on our way. Feel free to inspect our work. If we fail in any way, I do not expect compensation." Walking towards the shack, he yelled, "Come on, everyone! Let's get to work, no time to lose!"

They had been working for a bit now, hoeing, plowing, and weeding the fields. Rosa was sitting on a fencepost, watching them while humming Emi's melody. Rory looked down at Chronos; it had been close to an hour. That's long enough. He reached down, grabbing a handful of mud and packing it into a ball with his hands.

"Hey, Emi!" he called.

Startled, she turned around with a "Huh!?" only to get a face full of mud. "W-what was that?"

"A mud ball. Alright, throw one back at me."

"How could I!?"

"Do it. I command you."

Trembling, she reached down and grabbed some mud, forming it into a ball. She daintily threw it at Rory, closing her eyes in the process. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes. It had hit him smack in the face. "I-I'm sor—"

Before she could finish, Rory burst into laughter. "That was a good one! I'll have my revenge, now, though," he said, grabbing another mud ball and throwing it at her. She dodged nimbly out of the way, shrieking. Looking at the fools throwing mud at either other, the rest of the Roniceri soon joined in.

"You know what, I don't care anymore!" Rosa said, jumping off the fencepost and picking up some mud.

Rory stopped chasing Emi for a moment. "Rosa, do you know how much that dress cost—! Never mind, it's too late now," he said, sighing.

Once the mud-throwing had grown to include all but one of the Roniceri, Rory sneaked away, moving back into the hut with the old woman. He saw Eris standing a bit aways.

"Hey, Eris!"

"Yes, my lord?" she responded.

"Didn't I tell you to stop that?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Oh, whatever. So, where's Deimos."

She hesitated for a moment, something Rory had never seen before. "He left with the others."

"Went back to Illan, huh?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's fine. I don't want to force anyone to stay with me. Say, why do you wear that mask?"

"I... I have people that I can't have recognizing me."

"You can reveal it me, surely? I want to the see the face that accomplices such a sweet voice."

"S-stop it, my l-lord—"

"Hah! Got you flustered now, huh? Nah, you don't have to show me. We all have our secrets." He crouched down next to her. "I use to be a real wimp, you know. When I first got here, the first thing I did was get hit by a cart. Can you believe that?"

Eris stayed silent.

"That was a strange time. I hadn't really talked with others kids at that time. There were two siblings, though, back at my old orphanage. We didn't start off liking each other that much, but I opened up to them eventually." Rory stared up Eris' black mask, as if trying see the face behind it. "The boy was very strong, but a bit daft. I liked that, though. I'm not too strong myself, you see. The girl, though. She wasn't as well educated, surely, but she was more cunning. Just like you."

"My lord—"

"Just teasing. Ah, I remember one time she filled a bag with sand in order to pay some older kids. I just wanted to beat them up. Really, you could say she was smarter than me."

Rory could hear Eris swallow. "W-what happened... next..."

Rory smiled at her. "I was overconfident. With them, I felt invincible. I did something I shouldn't have. Unlike her, I didn't use cunning. Just brute force. That came back to bite me. I had to pay for my mistakes, and I did. I came back later, when I was a noble, but they were gone by then."

"...why didn't you go earlier."

"I'm a coward, that's why. I was afraid... so afraid that they would reject me, that they would consider me an equal anymore. Now, I'll never see them again. I wonder if they ever forgave me..." Rory stood up. "Look at the time. I have some things to discuss with the nice old lady back there. If you need anything, holler anytime," he said as he began to walk away.

Eris looked at his head, receding. She swallowed, then rose her hand towards him. "Rory, I—" she sputtered out. But, by then, he was too far gone. She let her hand drop.

"Oh, you're back?"

"Yes, Madame. I have a few questions on the current status of the settlement."

"Ask away, dearie. Here, have a seat. Ah, here's my son." She indicated towards a stoutly build young man sitting down at the table.

Rory bowed. "Good to meet you."

"Same," he grunted.

"Now, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"Has the local lord been treating you well?"

"Well, the true lord is gone. We're part of Adringum, see. King's got an alternating year policy."

"So there is no one here, then?"

"No, his adoptive son his here."

"Adoptive? Not a true heir, then?"

"He's set to marry his true daughter."

"My, how incestuous."

She laughed. "Well, they may as well be strangers."

"So, do you trust him? Basically a stranger, after all."

"Most of us didn't. But I say I would, now. He's done a lot of work recently."

"Such as?"

She pointed outside, towards the fields. "Set up strange new devices or whatnot. Water comes out of those shafts. Don't know how. Gave us a new iron plow. Haven't had a chance to use it, though. Mill works on its own now, like magic."

"So he's relatively popular in the town, now?"

"I'd say so."

Rory took a deep breath. This was the important part. "See, we're looking for permanent work. Do you think he'll call for a draft?"

She paused, then shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know much about those matters. Better ask my son."

Rory looked towards him. "Would you join?"

"No, I wouldn't. I doubt much of the men would. Maybe if he pays enough."

"Why not, in particular? Seems to be relatively popular."

He shook his head. "That brat's just some city dweller. Never seen a war before. Never felt a countryman's pain. Never killed a person before. Hell no, I'm not going to fight for him."

Rory nodded his head thoughtfully. "I see. War is tricky business, after all. What if he forced you to go?"

"Then I would go. With reluctance. But I would go."

"Alright, thank you," Rory said, standing up. Before he could leave, however, he heard her son call out for him.

"Wait! One last thing."

"Hmm?"

"Don't walk out too far alone."

"Why not?"

"There's this group of Aklan bastards. These days, if they see a kid alone, they'd attack him right there on the spot. Steal everything he has, maybe kill him."

"Truly? Why haven't you eliminated them, if they are so dangerous?"

"Pier's order's. He told us not to discriminate."

"This really isn't discrimination, or at the very least, not discrimination over nationality."

He shook his head. "Still, we don't want to offend him."

Rory sighed. "Well, thank you for the advice. There's something I need to investigate. If I'm not back by dinner, then just start eating without me."

--

As always, thanks for reading. The next portion will be delayed, as I want to submit something to the Wizard contest thing.