They met Truck down near a corner of the palace grounds, where he was leisurely chewing on a big clump of grass. The donkey spit out the leafy green blades from its mouth as soon as he saw Rory and Miles approach.

“My, my,” he said, starting appreciatively at the Safe Zone’s shimmering golden boundary. “Haven’t you all grown up.”

“Welcome back, Truck.” Rory found his voice was neutral, which… was accurate to his feelings. “I see you’ve found a taste for grass at last.”

“As a donkey does,” Miles said.

Truck performed some more spitting. “Bah! This thing is actually mildly poisonous. I have no idea how you humans stand it. I hear tell that some of you actually enjoy the smell. Madness!”

Rory wasn’t sure what to feel about the talking donkey. He had left them abruptly for more entertaining pastures a while ago, and Rory had seen neither hide nor hair of him since. It didn’t surprise him. If there was one thing that could describe the Otherworlder donkey accurately, it was flighty eccentricity.

But then, his absence didn’t endear him to Rory at all. There had been several incidents, where, even if Truck had said he couldn’t assist directly die to his restrictions as a system-sanctioned Observer, his advice would still have been helpful.

He hadn’t been there to ask, though.

“Truck, why are you here?” Rory asked. “Miles said something about bringing news.”

“Oh, yes, very true.” Truck straightened, his donkey ears pointing straight upwards. “You will be investigated by the Invigilator soon.”

Rory felt a slow span of cold working its way up his spine. He recalled the letter he had received along with his Sigil of Weaving half a month ago—it felt so much longer than that. The missive had been signed by someone called a System Invigilator.

“I’m guessing it’s because my Safe Zone is illegal,” Rory said. “When is this Invigilator coming over? Maybe we can offer tea.”

Truck brayed out a short laugh. “I doubt Invigilator Arkone will care about refreshments and the like. But there is nothing stopping you from trying, certainly.”

“Is it just the legality of the Safe Zone, though?” Viv had left the main hall, apparently unable to hold herself back from assuaging her curiosity. “From the way the message was framed, as Rory reported it, it sounded like they would be coming in to check a lot earlier. And… they haven’t yet. What’s the sudden rush?”

“I believe the issue is partly with regard to your meddling in the war.”

“We aren’t meddling in the war, though,” Rory said. “We’ve been specifically trying to stay away from it.”

The donkey twisted his head so that he was looking at Rory sideways. “Really? The things I’ve heard suggest otherwise.”

“What have you heard? Come to think of it, what exactly have you been doing all this while? I feel like you’ve got a story to tell.”

Truck let loose another braying laughter. “I am but a mere observer. The real storytellers are those like you who write the story. Explain to me everything you’ve done since I left you, and then I’ll return the favour.”

Rory sighed. He should have expected the donkey was still on the hunt for entertainment. He took some time to recount everything that had gone on. Rory didn’t remember the exact time or day Truck had left, so he picked the time the palace had been overrun by the Thunderclaw Knight and the Thundershells and started from there.

After he was done, Truck was trying to whistle through his teeth. Apparently, donkey mouths weren’t built for whistling, which Truck lamented on quite noisily. “This is quite the violation of my true capabilities. I must take up another complaint against Invigilator Akarnas.”

“How many of these Invigilators are there?” Miles asked.

“Many! They look after all the worlds the system has incorporated, and each has a designated Invigilator that overlooks that world.”

Rory held up a hand. “Wait, back up. You’re straying from the topic. What have you been up to, Truck? Try not to hide anything that would help us to know, please.”

“How dare you accuse me of keeping things.” Truck sniffed and flared his nostrils. “But yes, I have been trawling all over this region of your world, in search of true enlightenment.”

“You mean entertainment.” Viv’s expression was a perfect deadpan.

“Your language is lacking in meaning and context. But yes, to return to the point, I have been traversing the entire region, trying to see what could truly draw me and what I would have to avoid. Unfortunately, there were few things as exciting as my time with you. Mirrorend and Dwellmont were interesting for a few days, but after one battle, the rest start to… blur together.”

“So, you’re expecting you’ll be more entertained by the Invigilator’s visit here than anything else? That’s why you’re here?”

“I applaud your ability to make me sound so tremendously self-centred! But you aren’t wholly incorrect. I am certainly interested in seeing your reactions. At the same time, however, I am invested in you and your fate. Never let it be said that I did not provide information just when you needed it.”

Rory wasn’t so sure about that, but Truck had a point. They now knew that they were going to be meeting an Invigilator soon enough. Therefore, they had time for preparation. It never hurt to be careful.

“When is the Invigilator coming again?” he asked.

Truck looked up from where he was eyeing more grass. “Within a few days.”

“That’s not very exact.”

“The Invigilator has neglected to telegraph the true date of arrival to me, I am afraid.”

“No need to be snarky.”

“What is the meaning of snarky?”

Rory sighed. “Okay different question. Say we don’t have everything ready to prove that we’re a legitimate business yet. What then? Is the Invigilator going to kill us all?”

The others had tensed at his line of questioning, but Truck only brayed.

“Nothing so barbaric,” he said. “Once the Invigilator arrive and you fail to show any convincing proof for your case, you will be apprehended. The Invigilator’s investigations are usually quite thorough.”

“Apprehended?” Miles asked.

“Yes. You will be removed from the locality so you may influence nothing, held in suspended capture until the investigation moves to you personally, then you will be subjected to any necessary treatment required to reveal any and all truths about you and your circumstances. It is often a severely unpleasant experience and most do not survive it. However, should you come out of it alive, you will then be transported to a different world as punishment.”

Rory’s body had grown colder with every explanatory word from Truck. When the donkey was done, he found it hard to get his own words out. “So you’re saying that, if we don’t have the business set up by the time the Invigilator arrives, we’ll all be captured, brutally tortured, and packed off to a prison realm. Forgive if that doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

Truck shook his head. “Well, you now have time to prepare. Make use of it. You have come so far, Rory. I would hate to see you disappear. Truly.”

They all stared at the donkey, who had sunk his head down to tug out another chunk of grass from the ground. He munched on it for a while before suddenly becoming aware of their gazes and looking up with a frown.

“What?” he asked around his mouthful. “I am starting to believe that grass is an acquired taste.”

“You could help us prepare,” Viv said, spreading her hands. “You obviously know more about the Invigilators than anyone else here. I’m going to guess you know more about them than the Otherworlders too. Well, the ones who’re busy warring, at least.”

Rory nodded. “That’s right. We need information if we’re going to be tackling the Invigilator. Information that you can provide.”

Truck spit out the grass again, this time stomping on it with one foot. “What sort of information are you seeking? I can assure you right now that the Invigilator will not appreciate the quality of the grass here.”

“Forget the grass. I’m more concerned if we can stop the Invigilator. What are their powers? Basically, can we stop them, or even just stall them enough to get away if they go on the warpath?”

Truck laughed long and loud. “Take them, he says.” He looked around with his big teeth bared and his tongue dancing in his braying laughter as though to share the joke with Miles and Viv, but neither of them joined in. They only stared at the donkey, who eventually stopped laughing. “Wait, you all think you can take on an Invigilator?”

“Judging by your reaction, you think it’s impossible,” Viv said.

“Of course, it is. Do you think the system would leave someone in charge of an entire world if they were unable to deal with anything that popped up?”

Rory understood that the Invigilators were powerful beings, but he didn’t like the vagueness. So, he pressed Truck anyway. “What sort of power are we talking about here?”

“I do not have a scale that I can measure something like that with. However, if you must know, I would say that you are to the Invigilator what you are to the sun. In effect, you can do nothing to harm Arkone. Pray that the Invigilator does not turn their full fury against you, or your whole world will be in grave danger.”

Great. Just great. The situation was evolving from dire to hopeless.

“Isn’t there any way we can stop the Invigilator?” Miles asked. “Other than setting up the business, I mean. We need a backup plan that can actually work.”

“I cannot foretell how long I might be able to delay her. Yes, I do have some influence with her that I can leverage,” Truck added when he saw all of them look sharply at him. “But I wouldn’t count on it being anything too intensive. Rest your hopes on getting your business going in time. That should suffice. And maybe some kind pf plausible reason for your meddling in the war.”

“What if we redirected the Invigilator’s attention?” Viv suggested. “Drew her away from the palace and all that, just long enough for us to get away in case things go south.”

Rory frowned. “A distraction?”

“The Invigilator isn’t one to be distracted by pathetic attempts for long,” Truck said.

Viv shook her head, though. “That’s not what I was thinking. Instead of doing a regular distraction, why don’t we find a different issue for the Invigilator to tackle. Something that could be even more important than dealing with an illegal Safe Zone.”

“What could be that important?” Rory asked.

“I haven’t figured that part out, yet. But there has to be something. What does the Invigilator want? We have to figure out what someone is aiming for before we can really do properly manipulate someone.”

Rory blinked at her. She was definitely not shying away from the idea that they had no other recourse than to resort to outright manipulation.

It made him think of the Woodlander he’d met yesterday. That monster was bent on doing whatever it took to protect its dungeon paradise. Here was Rory, doing much the same. Performing something ostensibly distasteful, but then, what choice did he have if he wanted his palace and its people to survive?

“The proper continuation of this war of theirs,” Rory said. “Their status quo of two main Settlements fighting against each other. As level a playing field as they can manage, at least in terms of external influences.”

It certainly was no level playing field when it came to Sigils. The Otherworlders had a powerful edge there.

Viv smiled at him. “You’re right. But what’s the biggest threat to that status quo?”

“Us?” Miles offered.

“Other than us?”

Other than them, huh. Something that was rocking their expectations and ruining things as it should have gone. Rory had to think for a bit, but the answer wasn’t difficult to arrive at. After all, it had only been a few days since they’d had to deal with it.

“The rebels,” he said.

Nobody reacted in surprise. Apparently, they had come to the same conclusion that he had, and around the same time too.

Viv nodded vigorously. She had been about to slap her fist into her palm, only to realize that one of her hands was gone. “So we paint a target on the rebels’ back. Highlight them as the real issue that the Invigilator needs to take care of first. How do we do that, though?”

None of them were sure about that. They looked at Truck in hopes of some kind of answer from the talking donkey, but no answers were forthcoming. Truck had never seen any Otherworlders besides those that wanted to kill the Homeworlders and was surprised to learn all the dealings that they’d had with the rebels. He was finally out of useful information.

“I’ll have to think about it then,” Rory said. “But in the meantime, let’s see about getting the last of the business stuff finished up as well.”

Viv looked down at her stump. “We’ll need to establish contact with the Homeworlders then. Didn’t you say they might not have been behind the attack, officially?”

“Possibly. That’s what it sounded like to me, at least. But we’ll find out when we talk to them.”

They decided to disperse and take some time to think. Another thing Rory had to worry about was how to break the news to the others. None of them would be happy to hear of the new danger they were under, especially the newcomers. They’d come in with the hope that they had finally reached safety. A place they could eventually call home.

And now, that was going to disappear if they didn’t stop the Invigilator somehow.

Truck promised to stick around this time. He was seemingly intent on seeing how things turned out with the Invigilator. Rory wasn’t sure he cared either way. Nevertheless, he thanked Truck again and headed back to the main hall. He had a lot of thinking to do.