OEW

The following week brought some pleasant surprises and drastic changes to the clan that resided within the Centerland suite. By consensus, it was decided that in anticipation of poor traveling conditions if they waited for the whole duty term to elapse, all but Orison, Morrel and Gan would make their way to the Cantrip estates ahead of time. In anticipation of need, Orison spent every free moment available making scrolls. Through a parcel delivery from the trading post, Orison finally received his additional cut of the liquidated profit from the grave digging expedition.

In a turn of better than anticipated sales, ten Centerland bank notes worth 1,000 apiece laid in the box. Aside from the one he cashed out to split with Gan and Morrel, he handed the other nine over to his mother. Barring an absolute catastrophe, it would be enough to enact the first part of the mother and son's plans. As a back up for if the contractors needed extra encouragement to be honest and hardworking, Orison included some fireballs in his scroll stack along with a golem scroll he could barely manage if they need a little extra help finishing an important structure in a timely manner.

Hearing that they would be leaving soon, Rithus had Gan and Morrel escort him out to Black Glass Field. Once the natives who owned the obsidian mine saw that the crazy Marshlander was only collecting scoops of sand into a relatively small satchel, they didn't even bother to haggle or heckle. With such a large amount of glass sand and pumice laying around no one knew or cared how much he could fit in his little bag after getting a couple silver from him. The depression found the next day where the Marshlander had been was attributed to sinkage.

Two days before departure, Yulian's cousin had managed to track down and invite the old witch with the paternity spell to visit New Fvaris. It was an eventful day for the soldiers of the barracks as Orison had paid the old woman five gold and a temporary spot on his staff with a steady income to provide her services to any woman who believed themselves to be carrying a Centerland soldier's child. After having tested the veracity of her claims towards the spell and over two hundred for the model with notes to learn at a later date, he set her and all the baby mommas loose to finger point.

The men had grown accustomed to the warm reception they had received but after the women stopped coming around once having acquired what they wanted, a few soldiers had gotten bold enough to start approaching others. Unfortunately, those approaches weren't as warmly received. Though no one stepped forward to lay claim there were a few rumors of Progressive men having been beaten and even a damning rumor of a Progressive woman being raped.

At that time, Orison had his hands full with preparations for his family. To curtail the soldier's activities, he staged this event using a bit of Centerland law about the responsibilities of a soldier to their children. Ten percent of a soldier's wages could be claimed for each child, up to a maximum of fifty percent, until the child's majority of sixteen by that law. Since Orison couldn't do anything to the soldiers directly when it was in their rights to pursue whatever local entertainment was available when not on duty, he hit their wallet instead. The one to be hit the hardest was his acting captain, Calix. In less than a month, the man had managed to sire four children.

Despite how deeply the surprise paternity testing cut the soldiers, only two were overly angry about it. Orison had to remind himself that most of the soldiers were lifers that looked forward to nothing better than a 'soldier's wedding' at one point or another to begin with. The Progressive families that had privately sponsored this unofficial fresh blood drive were overjoyed at the unexpected financial support. One of them even offered to sponsor homes with a small bit of land for couples that desired having a go at marriage as long as the soldiers involved swore to offer their swords to clan's defense upon leaving service.

Orison knew that once the shock and novelty of fatherhood wore off there would be more problems on the horizon but he had bought himself some time on that front. The ones responsible for the physical altercations weren't difficult to find after ranks were no longer closed up as soldiers now found themselves with bigger concerns than hiding a buddy's misdeeds. Such concerns Calix proved to be more than capable of handling himself. The rape rumor was a different story, however.

Once Calix had done everything he could on his end, Orison took over the investigation. While it turned out to be Revivalist malcontent 'flash', there was some substance behind it. It took some string pulling with some help from the Speaker of the Left but he did manage to track down a woman who had been abused. Some coaxing and compassionate assistance from Droya managed to open the woman enough to get her story. With what unofficial testimony she provided there were only two soldiers that fit her description based on a few telling signs she could give.

For whatever small blessings it was worth, she wasn't pregnant but she had 'scratched' her assailant's left shoulder. After a fair call for all soldiers to bear arms literally, Orison found three so marked and one of them was Cray. Her second clue was that the assailant didn't have much body hair. Which, once again pointed to Cray but didn't eliminate one of the other two. Orison recognized the man as the one who laughed and didn't respond to his battle buddy speech.

Unwilling to drag it out any further than it needed to be, Orison asked for the guilty party to step forward for a lighter sentencing or wait for him to borrow a truth teller from the council for a maximum sentence of castration and ten years of labor camp to repay the remuneration due the victim. The 'laughing' man bolted for the door. In a moment of temporary insanity or vile cunning the man screamed at the top of his lungs about how he and Specialist Cray had enjoyed the woman together amid other randomly spouted lies to give the Revivalists something to rail about.

With his and Gan's attention on chasing down the 'laughing' man, neither of them noticed an enraged Cray grab the bow he left at the door. Three seconds later an arrow sprouted from the other soldier's eye socket. After a choice invective of his own, Cray returned the bow by the door and apologized to the woman on behalf of the security unit. As much as a swift ending to the delinquent soldier solved Orison's problems, Cray had just doomed himself. Without the man responsible able to stand before the council, his accusations towards Cray wouldn't be easily laid to rest.

Orison spoke before the council about the incident and attempted as best he could to exonerate Cray but, in reality, they didn't care about the incident much at all and certainly weren't that interested in the truth. Even the Speaker of the Left saw a chastisement of some kind in order as a way to show Centerland soldiers that they were accountable for their actions. In poor Cray's case, they wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Thinking quickly, Orison came up with the best solution he could to keep Cray from facing a fate the archer didn't deserve. On the surface, Orison stripped Cray of his titles and was sending him home in disgrace to 'serve his sentence' elsewhere. In reality, Orison offered Cray a position on his land as woodsman where he'd finish his enlistment term as a border woodland patrol. The understandably devastated but thankful Cray accepted. The sweetheart he'd been 'courtin' proper-like' begged her father to allow her to go along in secret but was ultimately denied.

The next day, Orison sent the bulk of his people on ahead of him. It was the first time since Orison came to this world that he was well and truly going to be separated from his mother and the second for Morrel to be away from Rithus. What should had been a mildly sad but hopeful parting was made bitter by the manacled Cray and hysterically weeping elf girl.

Gan, Morrel and Orison watched the boat get further away when a soft, almost effeminate voice said behind them, "Watching loved ones part is always a difficult thing to do."

Orison turned around to face a Summerland man just shy of halfway through his life. Were the man a human instead of an elf, Orison would place him in his mid forties but soft living could make lie of true age and it was obvious to Orison's eyes that the gold elf had taken good care of himself. The two guards that flanked him were much younger but didn't appear as if they had a day of 'soft living' between them.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting yet. Pardon unintended rudeness. It seems I was negligent in studying Domain titles as I was supposed to have been replaced before you arrived," Orison said cordially.

Faintly smiling, the elf said, "We have no title for diplomat. It is simply a function one of us may serve. My official title is Commissar. Avenar Diedrich is my name. You may call me Commissar Diedrich during official duties but please, feel free to call me Avenar if you're inclined to be friendly."

Orison said, "As of this moment, I have no reason to be otherwise. I have no doubts you already know my name and title but for politness' sake. Legate Orison Cantrip, at your service. Feel free to call me Orison whenever you like. I'm just a stop-gap til the real man of the hour arrives anyway."

Avenar gave a knowing smirk. "No need to be so modest. Words of your deeds and accomplishments have even reached the Domain. The very embassy I will reside in over the next two years bears your mother's name at your behest. I have just cause to believe your replacement may find difficulty filling your shoes."

Orison scoffed, "More like anchor weights you mean. I can't wait to slip them off. No offense meant but perhaps we can continue this tomorrow over lunch. There's a great deal of reorganizing to do within our suite and somber moods aren't fitting for new meetings."

When the three returned to the Centerland suite, Orison dropped his polite demeanor and fumed. "How much do either one of you bet that the unaccounted for gold found in laughing man's belongings came from that snake. When he was shouting all that nonsense, I wondered who he kept looking for."

Gan said, "It just doesn't add up. He wouldn't throw his future away over a handful of gold would he?"

Morrel enlightened, "No. That man's assault had nothing to do with the gold. It was just a symptom of the disease. Orison's actions accidentally flushed out a traitor before he could do real harm."

"So Avenar's real reason to be on the dock was gloating over his misdeed?" Gan asked.

Orison said, "I'm sure he enjoyed the show but no. He wanted to gauge how much it had affected us... We are closing ranks and going dark as possible. This last month we are here is not going to turn into a circus for this clown... Wow, I can say that?... Anyway, I'm sure the men are going to hate it but aside from visits to their girlfriend's homes, they aren't so much as farting on New Fvaris's streets. I'll see what I can do to make their barracks a little more comfortable."

The next morning after their beach run, Orison informed the soldiers of the new tight regulations. "I know it will be hard but we have a gold snake slithering around in the grass and I don't want anyone to get bit by it. Remember Specialist, sorry, Cray of no title? That was just an opening salvo. We do not go for tavern crawls when enemies are at our door.

"To compensate, I'll allow storage of recreational food and beverages in the barracks and temporarily relax visitation. Give me a little time and I'll have privacy walls and front curtains for your bunks. You'll need to work things out with your bunk mate but we'll get through this. I'm not even going to pretend I can play games at this guy's level but I won't hesitate to set his board on fire if he wants to force me to play them.

"Anyone sees anything suspicious, you report it to Captain Calix. Captain, until I say otherwise, I want to hear a morning and evening report daily. Keep everyone on the straight and narrow. I'll see about getting you a raise to help feed your clutch with, you virile b******."

Calix's chuckle sounded hollow but considering his cut, that was understandable. In secret, Calix was ridiculously proud of himself and Orison knew that two of the four mothers to be were sisters who had openly declared that if he chose them to live with after service, they'd share him. With everything that was happening, Orison was keeping an eye on Calix, however. The way he figured, a man with expenditures and more family to exploit than he could keep track of could more easily be flipped.

When Orison returned to the suite, the first thing he did was start shoring up defenses of his home. After digging a little into the ground under the floor to make a little safe house that might expand to an emergency tunnel, he discovered someone had already beaten him to the punch and considering how new they looked, it hadn't been done long ago. Out of spite, Orison had a golem dig all night until it reached the sea, flooding the whole thing and all of it's hidden accesses. He spent the rest of the wee hours of the morning fixing the foundation around his part of the suites openly.

Predictably, he was summoned to the council at nine sharp along with Avenar.

Elder Fvaris led. "Legate Cantrip, as the senior in diplomacy currently. We'll start with you. Do you know who built the flood tunnels under our city?"

Orison looked confused. "When I found them they weren't flooded though."

With a rictus grin, the Speaker of the Right said, "So do you admit to flooding them then?"

Orison smiled widely and said, "I sure do. And I'll do it again and again unless Granny Xia tells me not to."

Frowning, Elder Fvaris said, "What if I tell you she was the one who had commissioned them?"

Orison pretended to think for a moment and said, "Then I'll help you rebuild them, of course. That is, right after I apologize to her in person. I can wait til she gets here if need be."

Looking a little ill, elder Fvaris said, "That won't be necessary, Legate. As it so happens, she didn't."

Orison faked relief and said, "Did I catch any rats or snakes? I've heard that unattended tunnels and caves on the island can fill up with vermin quickly."

Both the Speaker of the Right and Avenar frowned. Orison looked bitterly at the Speaker of the Right.

He thought, "I knew we'd never be bros but come on. You couldn't wait til after I left?"

The Revivalist leader ignored Orison's silent disappointment but at least didn't throw any venom at him. He also didn't admit to cooperating with the Commissar in the tunnel system's creation behind the Speaker of the Left's back which left the Commissar flapping in the wind. To Orison's surprise, Avenar swallowed it down, unwilling to burn the only bridge the Domain diplomat likely had.

"Commissar Deidrich, look at me. I was ten when I got here. This job is so stressful, it really ages you. Can we just not? Whatever Abyss the Domain wants you to raise, will it spoil so quickly it can't wait for the man who was trained and might even enjoy playing such games with you?" Orison entreated.

Avenar looked deprecatingly at him, "I had no such intentions from the beginning. As poorly as you may perceive me, I derive no pleasure from bullying children."

Orison sighed. "Over my time here, I have come to appreciate the beauty, savagery and sheer insanity of this island and it's people. Soon, I can appreciate it from a good, safe distance of half a world away. It would be my pleasure to spend a couple of weeks sharing stories over meals, having evening discussions about magic or philosophy and generally making things as pleasant as possible for both of us. I don't even want to contemplate the alternatives."

Avenar turned to the council, who had seemed to switch from interrogators to a blood thirsty audience waiting for violence with anticipation, and said, "Was this the plan of Centerland? Send a child to receive sympathy and mercy long enough to establish a few unfair trades then move on to real diplomacy?"

In a move that was disrespectful to the council but Orison hoped would be entertaining enough to fly with their current mood, he spoke before them. "No, Commissar, they sent me to die. They sent my mother and I here to hemorrhage out my inheritance and then die to cover up embezzlement. I have earned every borrowed second of my life, the lives of my people and the Centerland soldiers here. Honored venerable and respected enemy, do you disagree with this?"

The Speaker of the Right replied, "I do not but you will not speak before us when we are addressed, Legate."

Orison bowed. "My apologies to all the present venerables. I merely wanted to make a point that would save us all some time and effort at the cost of courtesy. Commissar Deidrich, I have earned my seconds of life, enough of them to leave alive. The Dowager makes the exchange rate extremely simple. Two benefits for one inconvenience and right now, by any accounting that I can see, you are in debt. Start earning."

The Domain elf laughed and said, "Then let me begin earning right now!"

A formation lit up under Orison's feet, rooting him in place as if he had been instantly frozen.