"Yes, a Jinpa. The creature that lives just up the ramp. Next to the mummy."

Fred waited impatiently.

"I suppose you would like to know more?"

"Yes, please!"

"All right. Thousands of years ago, the Raptor Queen cursed fifteen wizards for preventing a ritual that would have helped avert a war between the gods, and the resulting creature is the creepy little monster you harbor. They are known as the Jinpa. Thanks to their cunning and willpower most of them somehow remain alive to this day, but they try their best to avoid the Raptor Queen and all that serve her. Jinpa mainly stick to the shadows, manipulating events as best they can with the intention of bringing ruin to the remaining world and then looting the treasures and knowledge of these collapsed civilizations."

"Wow, okay." Fred took a second to digest that.

"So this Jinpa is a powerful wizard, who got zapped by the Raptor Queen? And she's still after it?"

"Yes", replied Martin. "And she's quite powerful when she is roused. If she ever finds your Jinpa, and comes for it, you'd best not stand in her way."

"Huh. I wonder if I should hide it better? Maybe move it deeper into the domain?"

"Your protective instincts are to your credit, I suppose. But the Jinpa are wicked creatures. Pure evil. Distilled pure evil. I know why it wanted to come here, but I don't know why you'd want to host it."

"Is it really that bad?"

"You're disappointed in me, because I have a poor opinion of humans. But I love this world, as a whole. The jinpa wants to bring about the end of everything, just so it can proclaim itself king in the desolate ashes of what's left. It won't hesitate to kill any living thing that might get in its way. …It also smells."

Once again, Fred missed having a nose. "I'll take your word for it. But my main job is to let humans get stronger, by fighting these creatures. And making it so they don't die so much."

"Then expel the Jinpa. It loves to kill humans."

"Is it more dangerous than you?"

A big green snort shot more gold coins into the air; Martin had finished crawling back into its happy pile. "I can crush humans like toffee treats between my toes."

"So, you think I made its lair in the right place?"

"The humans will learn by doing, no matter where you place your pet Jinpa."

Fred took that as a dismissal, and ended the conversation. He had plenty to think about. The sun had risen high in the sky, and humans seemed to have resumed their normal patterns; at least in regards to battling the creatures in Fred's domain. Every creature on Fred's top floor was currently engaged in combat with humans, including the bear/boar team, and the ogre.

Fred looked on, and didn't see anything amiss, so he looked in on the children. They were all gone, and weren't in the swimming pool room. "Do they have school to go to?" Fred idly wondered.

Fred looked down-slope, into the town. It was also a bit busier, but still not filled with humans. Fred felt he'd have to be patient, if he wanted to see them all back. But his attention was still rewarded.

He watched as two men on horseback rode into town. One was dressed in high-quality, but nondescript armor. The other was wearing a riot of color, holding a big pennant of even more color. They stopped, got off their horses, and started to have animated discussions with the townspeople who approached them. They did a lot of hand waving, including towards Fred's big building. The townspeople seemed to give them lots of shrugs in return. After lots of jawing, they moved into the inn, presumably to eat. "Is that colorful guy a jester?" Thought Fred.

All seemed alright, and Fred got a feeling of being too hot under the open sun, so he escaped to Shelley's cool lair. There he zoned out for the rest of the day.

Near the end of the day, as the shadows were growing long, two things occurred that roused Fred. First, the kids came back. As a group, they climbed in through the cramped, kid-sized tunnel, and started gathering food in their rough sacks. Several of them explored the pool room, but none of them did more than drink the water.

The second notable thing was the raid on the tree. A group of men (most wearing no armor or weapons) were led quickly and quietly down the ramp by a scruffy, dirty, guy in a robe. Because of the guy's outward similarity to the weedy wizards, Fred was immediately on guard. The group stepped out into the central shaft, and approached the tree.

They immediately began harvesting it. Some of them broke or cut the smallest branches. Others hacked at the bark with special tools. Others knocked deep holes in the wood, and held up glass containers to catch the sap that bled from them. A few stuffed everything into sacks. "Well, I guess these guys know what the tree is worth." Fred thought.

None of Fred's creatures challenged them, and soon the group's sacks were filled. The leader hissed orders, and the group exited Fred's domain, back the way they'd come.

Fred looked at the tree. It was kind of a mess. The men could only reach the lower branches, but those were all broken or sawn off. Big patches of bark had been stripped off, and several holes in the trunk continued to bleed.

"Hey, Martin. You got a minute?"

"Yes, what is it, Oh Great Earth Spirit?"

"Humans just tore up the tree here. Should I be worried about it?"

"Humph. Let me see, then." Martin shifted his enormous bulk (spilling coins everywhere), slithered through his personal forest, and stuck his head out of the huge entrance to his lair. He focused on the tree, and frowned (which, on his face, was a huge frown).

"Grief, what a mess."

"Yeah, that's what I said!" Fred agreed. "Should I do something?"

"No." Martin simply said, and turned to go back to his gold.

"Really? It'll be alright like this?"

"Yes, Fred. I've actually never heard of a Fwen Rounbous tree being killed. Too much magic, you see. All the damage will be healed quite quickly. Even if the humans managed to chop the whole tree down, it would re-grow."

"Okay. That's a relief. The humans got some magic, and the tree heals up. I wonder if they'll think it was worth it."

"Those humans are probably the richest humans on this continent now."

"What? How!?" exclaimed Fred.

"That is, if they know what to do with what they have. Again, that tree is magic. Almost pure magic, packed with the magic of the stones, the earth, and you. Any wizard or alchemist in… well, any world I know of, will pay anything for the tree parts they took. The question is, do they know any rich alchemists? Or just hedge wizards and charlatans?"

"Any chance they could blow themselves up, with all that magic?" Fred worried.

"Sadly, no. It's very concentrated magic, yes. But it's not the exploding type, you see. It's much more likely to cure their lumbago and then evaporate."

As the night set in, Fred was relieved to see that the tree was healing itself very quickly. Jim showed up, asking how Fred was.

"I'm good. Things are good."

Good. You built a swimming pool and a huge building. Are the humans using them?

"Not yet, as far as I can see. But maybe soon."

Okay. Any questions for me?

"Well, lots. First, Martin says my magic is very different from other Earth Spirits he's known. He says it's designed to make all my creatures happy together. It's why the bear and boar are sleeping in the same lair together."

The bear and boar are sleeping together?

"Yeah. For a while now. Martin showed me how to directly control them, so I walked them down to see him."

You can control them directly?

"Yes, but that's not the point. Martin took a good look, and said that the bear and boar are snuggling because of my magic. And that's not how Earth Spirit magic normally works. So now he accepts that I'm young and new."

Snuggling. Okay. Well, yes Fred. Your magic was designed for you. By me, and by Aeru. We don't want you to be a passive ark for the life of this world, as you know. So we gave you magic that would support you, and your more active role in defending the world from the demons.

"You sound surprised that I can control my creatures."

Well, we didn't give you that. Not directly, I mean. You are a… re-design of the Earth Spirits of this world. So you still have magic that they had. I concentrated on the other magic, dealing with your creatures, managing their lairs and needs. Your control powers must have been theirs, too.

"Wait, you keep saying past tense stuff. Are the old Earth Spirits still around?"

Yes. A few. They're dying, Fred.

"Why? I thought Earth Spirits lasted forever!"

I thought so too. But the last demon incursion, five thousand years ago, changed everything. It was a real cataclysm, for everyone and everything. It took a long time to detect and understand the curse that the demons laid upon the Spirits of Aeru, and by then it was almost too late. What you may not understand is that Aeru is partially made up of all her Spirits, or at least magically bound to them all, so the curse that slowly killed them was killing her too.

"But you broke it?"

We broke the curse, yes. But the old Earth and Water Spirits still waste away. We chose to create you and your siblings, young, strong, and resistant. You are not just the hope to save the humans from the demons. You are the hope of this whole world, including Aeru herself.

"Wow, okay. No pressure, I guess. But why? Why would the demons want to kill Aeru? Don't they want to drink blood? Why not let Aeru re-grow, so they can drink more the next time?"

I cannot fathom the mind of the demons, Fred. They are wicked.

"Oh! Hey, Speaking of wicked, Martin told me all about Nasty Bird."

Really? I still have found nothing about the creature in my research. What did he tell you?

"It's called a… Jinpa. He said they were once powerful wizards, and the Bird Queen cursed them for being too wicked, and now they hide from her. He said there were only, like, fifteen of them."

The Bird Queen? I've heard of a Raptor Queen. Is that it?

"Yes, Raptor Queen, that's what he said."

Huh. Wow. The Raptor Queen is a serious concern. She lives in several different dimensions. Even Aeru has to be careful around her. If she ever shows up here, Fred, promise me you will be very polite.

"Okay. What will she look like?"

I don't really know. Perhaps a bird. Perhaps a woman. Best to be polite with everything, I suppose.

"I can do that. I think. Unless someone comes around mumbling and shaking feathers at me. Then they get squashed."

So, you can control your creatures? How does that work?

"Yeah. I've only done it with the boar, only once. I concentrated on its head, and thought about riding it, and grabbing the ears. And then suddenly I could feel its body, and control it. But I was still myself too, and I could see everything, and it was very weird. I felt like I could come apart, like a broken mirror. But I got used to it, and could think about getting up, and walking, and the boar did it."

Could you show me?

"Okay." Fred said. He felt pretty confident, but he also didn't want to screw up, so he moved to his original creature, the old wolf. It was late dusk, so the humans were gone from the domain, and the wolf had curled up to sleep. Like last time, he focused on its head, and imagined riding it. In a few moments the wolf's head swung up, alerted by his actions. And he could feel the taut sinews and muscles of the wolf. A part of him was now the wolf.

He thought about moving, and the wolf got to its feet, and moved into the main entrance hall, and then out of the entrance altogether. As he moved a few steps beyond his domain, he felt his own reluctance to move further, and an echoing reluctance from the wolf. So he didn't force it; instead, he turned the wolf around and walked back to its liar. At the entrance, he did that thing of 'stepping back', to disengage from the wolf. It shook itself, stepped into its lair, and went back to sleep.

"See?" He said, kind of proudly.

That's amazing. I don't know of any other Earth Spirit that knows how to do that. But, with your permission, I'm going to tell them. Is that okay?

"Sure. I hope it helps."

It will. Please tell Martin that his advice was useful. I'll talk to you in the morning, okay?

"Yes. See you then."

Fred felt sure Jim was gone, so he turned to other things. He saw that the tree was completely healed now, with all new branches and bark.

He looked at the town, and his new building. Few humans were spending the night in the wood buildings. But he saw two groups of humans were bedding down in his building. One was a group of townsfolk, who were bedded down in the very basement, the lowest floor. They had a fire going in a fireplace, and were bathing in the shallow pool/stream that was down there.

Higher up in the building were the two men who'd come into town that day, holding the colorful pennant. They were camped out too. But Fred noticed that they'd mounted the pennant above the front door of the building, as if to lay claim to it. He suddenly wondered if these two were scouts or heralds for some fancy rich humans who had yet to show up. "I guess we'll see," Fred thought.

Fred checked in with the children. Several were sleeping comfortably with Shelley's crew. None were in the pool room.

Finally, he looked in at all his creatures, who all seemed well. To finish the check-in, Fred spoke to Martin.

"All good, Martin? Do you need anything?"

"I need nothing right now, Thank you, Fred."

"Ya know, Jim was very excited about the trick with controlling the creatures directly. He said he would tell all the other new Earth Spirits about it. He said to say thank you to you."

"Other Earth Spirits? Jim is in contact with them?"

"Yes, well, he said he is. He said there are now 209 of us new Earth Spirits, all made recently by him and by Aeru."

"And you believe this? Tell me, Fred, have you ever spoken to any other Earth Spirits?"

"Yes I believe what Jim tells me. No, I haven't spoken to another Spirit of any kind. I can't very well go see them, can I?"

"But no Water, Wind, or Fire Spirits have visited you?"

"No. Should they? Where can I find them?"

"Well, Fire Spirits tend to survive where great heat persists. So, Volcanoes, mostly. Wind Spirits can go anywhere, but they are, heh heh, rather flighty. And Water Spirits will only be found in persistent and large waterways. And there aren't any mighty rivers near here. So I suppose it's logical that you've been all alone your whole life."

"Except I haven't been alone. I've had Jim to talk to."

"As you've said. And he says there's others like you. Around the world?"

"Yes. Look, you keep being skeptical, but there's gotta be ways to find out. I can ask Jim, and he'll tell me the direction to another Earth Spirit, and you can go fly over and see for yourself. Wadda ya think of that idea?"

"It's a good idea. I accept."

"Okay then. I'll ask him in the morning. Good night, Martin."

"Good night, Fred."

Fred went and laid down with Shelley and the kids. He imagined putting his head in his hands, and breathing deep. "Why does… Martin sure knows how to push a guy."