by Randi Darren
It felt more like a study than a meeting room.
Then again, they weren’t exactly expecting us to show up.
Taking one of the chairs, Vince flopped down into it. Reaching to the center of the table he scooped up an apple and bit into it without preamble.
Elysia took the chair to his left, Meliae dropping into the chair on the right. Red circled the room once and then sat down in the corner and closed her eyes.
Leila had offered to stay with the Dragonnewt and keep an eye on her.
Reaching over, Elysia took the apple out of his hand and began eating it herself.
Giving her a look Vince raised an eyebrow at her.
She met his eyes, chewing languidly on the stolen fruit. After finally swallowing she asked, “Yes, my liege?”
Settling into her new role quite well. Wife and chamberlain.
“Any particular reason you wanted my apple?” Vince inquired, picking up yet another apple.
“Only because your lips had been on it, my liege. I was jealous,” Elysia said, nodding her head.
Meliae snickered to herself, causing Vince to glare her way. “What? It’s amusing, Sweetling. Besides, she took care of my—our—needs. I’m in her debt already. Blue and Green would agree.”
“Hmph. What’s your mother’s name exactly?” Vince asked, changing the subject before his mind wandered back to Blue cleaning him up while Green worked Elysia over. “How do I address her? I probably should have asked previously but…”
“Her name is Mila. Simply call her Lady, or Lady Mila,” Meliae said around a mouthful of food. “She’s an apple Dryad.”
Vince looked to the apple in his hand and then took another bite.
“Definitely one of the better apples I’ve ever had,” Vince admitted.
“Thank you, I take great pride in my bounty,” said a clear voice. “You must be Vince.”
Looking to the speaker, Vince couldn’t help but hesitate. It was like looking at an older version of Meliae, though with some clear minor differences.
“Lady Mila, I am indeed Vince. Might I say, I now see where Meliae gets her beauty from,” Vince said with a smile, holding out a hand to the lovely older Dryad.
“Why thank you. I apologize for the wait, I wasn’t able to slip away from my duties until only a few minutes ago. Before we get started, I’d like to say, while I’m quite happy to see my daughter, I’d like to know how she’s here?” Mila asked, taking a seat directly across from Vince.
“Ah, I’m her tree. Though, it’s better to be said, I’m her grove. I have a number of trees planted in me and bound together. As for the other Dryads who are part of that grove not being here, honestly I’m not sure. I’ve been assured that this distance isn’t too great for those Dryads bound to me that aren’t here. Something to do with being their grove, tree, and man. Is that about it?” Vince asked, looking to Meliae.
“Ah, yes. That’s… that’s all accurate,” confirmed the Dryad.
“Impressive. You must be incredibly strong then. Mightily so. To be the host of an entire grove. Well, thank you for sating a mother’s curiosity,” Mila said, giving him a smile.
“Grandmother,” Vince clarified.
Let’s see if we can’t put her off balance.
Mila blinked at that, and then turned her head directly to Meliae with a wide grin.
“Two,” Meliae admitted, blushing. “A boy and a girl. She isn’t a Dryad though, she’s human.”
Mila froze for a second and then laughed. “Mighty indeed, to overwhelm a Dryad. Please, bring them by later, dear. It’ll be the first time I’ve ever met my grandchildren while they’re little.”
“Of course, mother. I will.”
Turning her head back to Vince, Mila continued to smile radiantly. “Lord Vince,” Mila began. “I imagine you have an agenda for this meeting. Is there any chance you could share it with me? Again, I’ve had no time to prepare and—”
Elysia slipped a paper out of her ledger and laid it down in front of Mila.
Looking from the paper to Elysia, Mila nodded her head once, laid a finger to the words written on the paper, and began reading.
“You smell of Vince,” said the older Dryad without looking up.
“I should hope so. My liege has a number of wives, I’m the newest,” Elysia said without any shame. “Meliae informs me I’m already pregnant after the first try. Our liege is rather… apt with his seed.”
Vince frowned and looked to the High Elf. He hadn’t known that and was surprised. Not upset, just surprised.
“Yes, my liege? Did you think it wouldn’t happen? Eva and Thera are also pregnant. You’ll have your second round of children in nine months,” Elysia said with a beautiful smile.
Great. I’m going to drown in my own children.
“I believe we can help with your needs,” Mila said, looking up from the paper. “We should be able to work out a suitable arrangement between our two peoples.”
Managing to barely hold back a sigh of relief, Vince only smiled instead.
“Wonderful. Our most pressing need is food. We’ve taken on a number of new citizens and find ourselves unable to feed everyone sufficiently in the near future.”
Lifting a hand, Mila pressed it to her lower lip. “We’re able to produce quite a bit of fruits and vegetables here. Enough to feed at least two thousand a month. Our surplus is about half of that. Most of it gets turned into compost or traded.”
Going over the previous figures in his head, he knew that’d probably give them another three months’ breathing room before everything fell apart. Three months was infinitely closer to being self-sustaining than they were previously.
“Great. I believe we can purchase or offer you trade in equal—”
“No. We don’t need either of those,” Mila said, interrupting him.
Vince’s heart skipped a beat. He imagined she had something in mind that she wanted if she didn’t want coin or trade.
“I believe our support is worth more than the value of the items we’d trade. I believe I’ve even thought of a proposal I would accept,” Mila said. Giving her head a firm nod she laid her hand back down on the table and homed in on Vince.
“My request on your part, for our surplus, is as follows: You will build, station, and maintain a garrison here at Wooden Heart. Please make sure to only send single, unattached men. I have no doubt we’ll be using them as a breeding pool.”
Mila lifted her hand and held up her thumb
“Second, you’ll send all willing Dryads who are unrelated to Wooden Heart, to Wooden Heart. I would like to see my grove grow, and to do that, I need more Dryads.”
The Lady of the grove held up her index finger.
“I would also ask that you build, and maintain, a road between Yosemite and Wooden Heart to facilitate better relations and trade.”
Lifting her middle finger, Mila nodded her head once.
“Those are my needs.”
Vince chewed on that. He didn’t really want to give in to everything she’d asked for. It’d be a good number of people to maintain a defensible garrison here. On top of that, the roadwork wouldn’t be easy or swift.
Beyond even that, limiting the incoming Dryads to Yosemite would definitely impact his personal power.
We need this though. Desperately.
“I would amend one thing, and add two others,” Vince said slowly.
Mila tilted her head to one side. “Speak, son-in-law. As the father of my grandchildren, and husband to my daughter, I’m willing to make concessions.”
“Any Dryad looking to join our grove will be sent your way. All of the existing Dryads under my domain will remain with me. I have a need of them to help Yosemite grow.”
Staring at him for several seconds, Mila seemed to contemplate how far he’d bend on that. Finally, she sighed and gave her head a tiny nod. “We can agree to that.”
“In addition, I would ask that any Dryad who reaches the age where she would need to leave
be given to the option to join Meliae’s grove. In this way, we can better protect one another, and maintain family relations for those Dryads in your care as well. They would be able to visit freely, if they’re in my grove.”
Mila frowned for a second, and then smiled. “Agreed. That is something that would be welcome. Many of our daughters are sent to their death simply because we cannot keep them here.”
Vince was glad for that. He’d need to recruit new Dryads to keep building his personal power base. It’d be years before it paid off, but it’d be a steady increase.
They’d also all be loyal to him and no other.
No guts, no glory. Let’s see if we can start building our empire. Eventually, we’ll have to face the west.
“Lastly, I would amend what this entire deal is. Rather than a trade agreement, I would seek to make this an alliance of equals. I ask for this as I believe once a garrison is established, a city will more than likely spring up around Wooden Heart. With that in mind, I imagine we’ll need to allow dual citizenship between the two as well.”
Mila’s eyes became hooded as she watched him.
“I am no fool. If I agree to this, in time it’s very likely Wooden Heart would fall under the reach of Yosemite.”
Vince had expected this. Mila seemed the intelligent type. A garrison in her domain was a problem for her, but not if she had them all under her thrall through Dryad wiles.
But an alliance and town would curtail that.
“I… do not deny you’re right. That would be in the future though, and honestly, would it be that bad? Two groves forming the basis of a kingdom? If indeed you were to fall under the domain of Yosemite, and I were its King, would you not be the Duchess of Wooden Heart and its surrounding lands? Mother-in-law to the emperor, grandmother to its heirs, Duchess of Wooden Heart. The Dryad who would oversee all new Dryads from outside of Yosemite. Only your grove’s offspring would be able to join Meliae’s grove, essentially making you second only to Meliae in the Dryad ranks.”
Mila narrowed her eyes, revealing nothing about her thoughts and which way she’d go.
There was a moment, just a moment, where he saw the greens of her eyes expand, then immediately contract.
The Lady of Wooden Heart’s face split into a blazing grin.
“Duchess of the grove and surrounding lands, you say? Let’s see where this goes then. I agree to your alliance for the time being. When will my Lord Vince be sending his masons, carpenters, and soldiers to defend his new ally?”
And just like that, he’d managed to buy some time.
“Can we go home now? Red wants to be fed. Then Red wants to go home and play,” grumbled the Cursed One from the corner.
“Ah, as to when, I’ll have them sent over immediately as I return. Though I fear my newest companion might need a day to recover,” Vince said. “Then yes, Red, we can go home.”
And I’ll feed you tonight, too.
“Good, there was a massive explosion of natural energy to the east of here. It’s left everyone here on edge,” Mila said, tapping a fingernail to the table.
“I can safely say that you don’t have to worry about that,” Vince said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Got in a fight with a Valkyrie, a Mage, the Dragonnewt, and some golems. I overdid it and lost control of myself. The blast was me.”
The Lady of Wooden Heart blinked twice, then leaned back in her chair.
“Mighty indeed,” she murmured. “I’ll have my Dryads look over your companions. Barring anything truly serious, you should be able to head back tonight.”
Mila had determined that the Dragonnewt had a concussion, and a maimed wing that would never heal on its own. The Lady of Wooden Heart had the concussion healed within the hour, but the wing was beyond her immediate ability, and truthfully, inclination.
That wing could be brought back to full health, but not without considerable investment from a Dryad.
Which meant Ramona the Dragonnewt wasn’t going anywhere without striking a deal with Vince or Mila to have her wing repaired.
Ramona had spoken to Mila for a short period of time before storming off without a backward glance. After that she’d simply kept to herself. Ignoring Vince entirely.
Ramona wasn’t very talkative with the rest of the group either. It made her presence a bother, really. Everyone was annoyed and clearly at a loss with how to proceed with her.
In fact the entire trip back to Yosemite was mostly Vince, Elysia, Leila, and Meliae talking.
Red didn’t say much, while Blue and Green acted the part of mutes but were never far from his side.
As was always the case, the moment he could see the walls of Yosemite, Vince felt an unknown weight lift off his shoulders. It was that feeling of “coming home” that he felt.
Smiling to himself, he looked forward to getting inside.
They’d sent no one ahead by his order. Even Gert, Ris, and Set remained with the group.
With any luck, he’d slip inside, and be able to—
Two Dryads and a squad of Frit’s people were outside of Renzig’s Stand, actively screening guests, traders, and citizens as they entered.
Sighing to himself, he realized unless he really planned for it, he’d never get the chance to wander around his city without being noticed.
I mean, come on. If I could wander around without being noticed, wouldn’t that mean the security of Yosemite failed?
Both Dryads focused on his group after allowing a wagon entry. As they drew nearer to the Dryads he wondered when they’d notice.
Several heartbeats later, both Dryads crossed their arms across their chest in salute.
As if realizing something had changed, Frit’s squad locked eyes on Vince’s group and immediately went to attention as well.
“Run along, you three. Check in with your superiors and get back into rotation,” Vince said to his scouts. Gert, Ris, and Set left immediately since they’d been dismissed.
Drawing up to the gate guards, Vince bobbed his head to them.
Entering into the city proper, he couldn’t help but smile. Everywhere were his people, working, living, and existing alongside one another. Races and clans that would have tried to kill each other on the outside.
Two Ogres outfitted in heavy gear stepped into formation behind his group. A large Orc set off at a sprint towards the building Kitch had built for her group’s barracks.
She had seemingly set up a lookout post for his return.
Is she recruiting Orcs now? I suppose they’d be a light infantry version of Ogres and Trolls.
Ramona looked at the Ogres nervously, her scaled hands flexing nervously.
“Don’t worry. Guards for Bringer. They nice. Red rides them at times,” Red explained. Crouching low, Red pounced upward, scrambling up one of the Ogre’s armor.
Then she sat down on his shoulder plate and began surveying their surroundings.
For his part, the Ogre looked at her, then went back to watching for threats. She was no weight at all to him.
Vince had heard from Gert that Red had already been discussed amongst the Yosemite captains. Everyone knew she was a close personal bodyguard for Vince. Though no one had proof of it, apparently people believed that she could fight Fes and Petra to a standstill, if not win outright.
There was no mistaking Vince for anyone other than who he was now that his escort had slid into their place.
Nodding towards the assembly hall, Vince set himself onto the inevitable path of simply meeting with Felicity.
Realistically, the sooner he got Elysia and Felicity on the same page, the sooner he could go do nothing and enjoy it.
And yet, in a week I’ll be itching to leave.
“Elysia. I’d like you to book me some time tomorrow. I need to speak with the Dryads about the new conditions we’ve taken on.
“The day after that, we should probably pop all those collars. I imagine it’ll be helpful to the grove on top of that,” Vince said.
“Yes indeed, S
weetling. It truly will be. I’ll go let my sisters know,” Meliae said with a happy smile on her face. “Come with me, Green. Blue, you stay with Vince.”
Blue and Green shared a look, and then separated quickly.
Strange. They really are different than most of the other Dryads.
Quicker than he realized, they’d reached their destination. Sighing, he looked at Leila, his Ogre guards, Red, and Ramona. “Alright, you can wait out here, or inside the assembly hall, but the meeting I’m going to have with Felicity and Elysia will be a closed door one. Questions?” Vince asked.
Ramona looked lost, her reptilian blue eyes shifting to him and then away.
“Leila, get Ramona a room. I’m sure she’ll want to discuss something with me later today.”
Vince turned on his heel and entered, stepping through the big doors of the assembly hall. Elysia walked pace for pace for him on his left, both of them heading straight for a door off to one side.
Behind that door was a small wing which held the offices Elysia and Felicity worked out of.
No sooner had the door closed behind them after they’d entered, than Felicity came out like a rocket.
“Oh, thank goodness!” exclaimed the Dark Elf. She hurried up to Elysia and opened up her own ledger.
She really does take after Elysia.
“We ended up taking on almost every single person that was brought back. On top of that, we got another wave of refugees and the military came calling, asking if they could sell us more citizens. I… I accepted both.
“I’m sorry! The idea of turning them away… they had nothing. Not even a scrap to their names or—”
“It’s alright,” Vince said, interrupting the poor girl. He couldn’t help but grin at her soft-hearted self. “How bad is it?”
“We, we have enough for a month,” Felicity said quietly.
Sighing, Vince scratched at his temple with a fingertip. “Alright. So add a month to that, we got an agreement with Wooden Heart. Did we hear back from the west?”
“They won’t deal with us on anything other than military equipment and slaves. They’re claiming they need everything else,” Felicity said, her eyes downcast. “They might change their mind if you were to go personally.”
