Harlan’s carriage pulled near the house, he saw a worker run to the door to tell his parents a noble was here, Kass was talking with a guard? He figured they were just here to talk about some issue or another heading this way.

With the money he had given his parents the farm was turning into a small village on its own, it took some talking too for them to take his money but he just had to convince them that no matter where he was this place was his home, and that it just made sense for him to make this place larger, he was a noble now after all, and they could take the name if they wanted. It wouldn’t give them any authority since Harlan didn’t even have any real authority, but it was the thought that counted.

Harlow and Aida came outside and rushed to hug Harlan. He couldn’t help but notice his father was moving a little more slowly, not putting too much weight on his left leg.

“It’s been a while son, how have you been?”

“Great, I’ve been making toys and golems mostly. How come you are limping a little? Want to run to the healers real quick? I bought my own carriage with my gold.” His parents put on a pensive face.

“Oh it was nothing, just slipped and fell wrong.”

Harlan’s mind spun around and around, noticing details around him. The guard wasn’t from town, he was hired on to protect the farm then. There were 7 more guards around, a few of them in the trees. The workers all seemed to have at least a dagger on them. Kass had a hard look on his face while talking to the guard. A tree looked like it had been split by a bolt of lightning.

He wasn’t there as Harlan their son anymore, he was there as Harlan the deeply paranoid child.

“What actually happened? Don’t lie to me.”

“Really it’s fine, just a drifter who wanted what we had.”

“Let’s go inside and talk then.” Harlan couldn’t put on a convincing face, they saw he was upset.

They sat round the dinner table.

“Alright, fine. It was someone sent after us to get to you.” Aida smacked his arm.

“Don’t tell him that, he is going to worry.”

“I’m ALREADY worried, what the hell happened?” Harlan wasn’t someone who swore, especially not around his parents, but this was the first time he realized that he wasn’t in danger, but they were and he hadn’t noticed.

“Don’t raise your voice at your mother. The guards said they were from the theocracy. But we hired another 4 guards, we are building a proper fence to stop people from getting close without anyone realizing. We even got some of those weapons you made. You really don’t need to worry.”

Harlan had time to change his face, he pretended that he was wary but was warming up to the idea of them being fine. In his head he was thinking about things, how to protect them, if he could protect them, how that would work when he was at the academy.

“Alright, it’s fine, I’m not going to worry too much.”

“Well I am glad that you have calmed down then, no one is going to get past our new defenses.”

“I agree. How about you show us some new magic, did you bring any of those toys of yours?”

Harlan went out to his carriage, telling the driver that he could wander around or rest if he wanted. And brought back inside a few of his toys, a bull, a sheep and a chicken, the chicken was a nightmare for him, bipeds needed more work to be able to move around without toppling over.

Eventually dinner came and Harlan helped himself to a serving of stew. He hadn’t had it since he was taken, he knew that technically the food at redwall mansion was better quality. But he couldn’t help but cry tasting it again. Leading to another group hug for them.

“So what have you been doing? Other than the toys.”

“I’ve been making proper golems. Well, not proper since they are kinda like foxes. But they are made to defend people, I just need to work on them attacking people who aren’t threats.”

“Heh, well we could use a couple of them.” Harlan faked a chuckle for his fathers joke.

“Welp, I think I should talk with Kass. I haven’t seen him since I’ve been back, then I’ll head back to the mansion.”

“Alright sweetie, just stay safe on the way back.”

“I’ve never put myself in danger before.”

Instead of a laugh he just got more awkward silence.

“Sorry, keep the toys. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Harlan made his way to Kass’s cabin then knocked on the door.

“Harlan, it has been some time manling. Please, come in.” Kass led him to the dinner table for their chat.

“Thank you. So, what have you been up to?”

“Well, I bought my way out of slavery. My debt is paid in full.”

“Are you going back to the confederacy then? I should make you something before you go…”

“No, I think I’ll stay here. I might go to visit my family at some point, but things are calmer here. Back home there are certain… issues.”

“Ah, alright. I won’t pry. I have some people I want you to meet.”

Harlan set Balor and Lugh on the table.

“These are my brothers, introduce yourselves.”

“Pleasure to meet you, I am Balor. I have been alive for less than a year. But I have heard of you, I hope for friendly relations.”

‘I’m Lugh.“

Kass was uncomfortable.

“These… True living items? I do not like them, I have heard horror stories of them.”

Balor didn’t show any discomfort, but Lugh was clearly unhappy at not making a new friend. He snuggled up to Harlan, blunting his edges to not damage his clothes.

“Like what?”

“Some foolish adventurer finds a brand new sword out in the woods and uses it, then it ends up making them drunk with power is how the stories normally go. Depending on who is telling it and where they are from they kill their family or their team.”

“That only happened once, and it was a shield I made, not these two. And it was for a good reason.”

“Really? So these two are NOT a danger to others?”

“Within reason.”

“Explain.”

Harlan told him what he knew about his first shield with the black soul condor and why it killed its user.

“I still don’t like them. But maybe they will be alright.”

To lighten the mood Harlan pulled a goat toy he had made from his pocket, he had used paint to make its horns bright white and designed it on a mountain goat instead of a farm goat.

“I also made this for you, it is really good at climbing.”

“Let’s test that then.”

Kass took Harlan on a walk in the woods to make a little course to test the goat.

After 10 minutes of increasingly steep hills and jumping from small platforms to other smaller platforms Harlan asked what he was building to.

“Do beastkin have pacts?‘

“No, we are tribes. Using the term pack is offensive to some.”

“What? No, pacts, p a c t s.”

“...How much do you already know?”

“I spoke with the mother in the darkness, she told me a little about Aine and werewolves.”

“Oh… then you already know her.”

Harlan couldn’t help but notice the dark tone Kass took when he talked about her.

“You do know what she is right?”

“A god?”

“Well, truer than what the theocracy calls gods but yes. I meant what she really is, as a… person isn’t really the right word, but how she does things?”

“I don’t really understand, I talked with her. She seems nice.”

“She is chaos, the other 5 speak through priests. They are order and help to maintain it though granting what they believe the right thing for each person is. People don’t always follow their words but they try. She lies, the others don’t. She pushes others into conflict with her reinforcement of paths that people choose, but make no mistake, she will push you into whatever game she is playing if she wants to anyway.”

“How do you know?”

“The priests have said it is so. They have been a guiding force for our peoples for as long as we have existed, I see no reason to doubt them.”

Harlan didn’t want to argue against him, he might be right. But she had been so nice to him so far that he couldn’t just believe Kass.

“How long have your people been around? Books say you only showed up after the gods left, but no one really knows much. And what really are you then?”

Kass knew Harlan was trying to change the subject but went along with it anyway.

“We are, or rather were, human. From what I’ve been told the world was harsh without any so-called divine protections. And so people were contacted by the real gods and made pacts, granting them forms to set them apart from normal humans, and to help them adapt to wherever they lived. I am this way because my ancestors lived on a mountain and this form was decided to be the best by Anu, Goddess of earth mana.”

“Huh, I wonder, why do I look more or less like a normal person then.”

“Because our gods wanted forms that set us clearly apart from humans, for us to find companionship in each other, since we are others. I cannot say for sure, you would need to ask your goddess. But I believe that it is because your goddess wanted to make conflict and confusion and chaos, be a people without the clear line of here or there.These forms bring us conflict with the theocracy but they also make this kingdom want to exploit our natural physical talents.”

“I… I have a lot to think about… maybe we can have this talk again some other time.”

“I will not argue against that. You should talk with a high priest about this, they would know far better. You might even get to hear directly from a god. Though you need to be careful, the mention of being… What you are, could turn any attempts to talk sour instantly. Instead, why don’t you tell me about what you have been doing. Small talk to come down from this dour talk. I have spoken to that friend of yours with the hair, I do hope she didn’t tell us lies.”

Harlan liked the idea, they spoke for quite some time about the things he had done.

Eventually he decided to go.

He went back to his carriage and told the driver he wanted to visit town.

It was dark when he reached the blacksmith but he was still working.

“What can I do ya for child?”

“Skysteel parts, like what I’ve had you make before. How many can you make me?”

“How many ya need? I can do enough for 5 a day. Long as you can pay.”

“You got more work for me? I’ll be… closer for a little while.”

“Stop bein ominous, and ya I got orders to fill.”

“Thank you, work on my parts as much as you can, I don’t want to put others out to make my parts.”

“I’ll work on what I want, goody boy. Now git.”

Harlan was pretty sure the old man liked him.

His next stop was to go back to the adventurers guild.

“I need to put up a quest, 1 month as a runner, 50 silver a day.”

“That will surely get more than a few people, would you like first come first serve or an interview process?”

“I really don’t want to interview people, is there anyone who you know would do it and not try to steal from me?”

“While I take offense to your insinuations about the moral standing of our workers I do know someone. She is not in right now, will you be in town for a few days?”

“I’d rather not be, can I drop off a day’s pay and you tell her where to go?”

“That would be reasonable.”

“Do you have a map? Not a great natural compass.”

“Of course sir.”

Harlan followed her to a back room meant for guests and he pointed exactly where his plot of land was.

“I will already have walls set up when she gets there most likely.”

“Pleasure doing business with you sir.”

Harlan went back to the mansion to get his tools and a mimic tree branch and to tell his sisters that he would be at the farm.

They didn’t really need to know where he was going to be.

He had the carriage driver drop him off in town and then told him to spend time in town before heading back to the mansion, getting a gold coin for his troubles.

Harlan was ready to wander into the woods and get to work.

“I’ve held my tongue, but is this really the best option? Surely you could just build them at the mansion.”

“I want to see birds.” Lugh and Balor had very different opinions on going to spend a month in the woods.

“I don’t want any distractions. And this will let me try some things without so many eyes on me.”

“Surely this is going to end well…”

Harlan reached his plot after some walking, then he started setting up walls 15 feet tall across the entire area he would be working in, this would take hours.

He had barely set up his house, a proper log cabin made from the trees he knocked down when he heard a knock on the wall. He made a mental note to add a door somewhere.

He made a hole in the wall and a woman, barely bigger than him walked in.

“You my boss?”

“Yes.”

“Heard you needed running done, what kind?”

“Parts from the blacksmith in black alley, probably food, I’m not planning to waste too much time hunting.”

“You allowed to be here?”

“Yes, they are my lands. I’m Harlan Fomoria, noble mage.”

“Lots of nobles are mages.”

Harlan began to dread the idea of explaining what he meant every single time he mentioned it to someone.