After Teuila begrudgingly leaves, Harriet faces me and orders, “I gather from your Teuila that you are responsible for the enormous head at the back of the apothecary. Tell me the story again, slowly, in only your own words. Exactly what happened.”
I relay the mindless trek to the Colossi camp, the meeting with the external guards, slaying them to earn the right to talk with who we thought was Karn, slaying who we thought was Karn when he tried to feed Kozzurth our leverage. Well, actually, Karn finished him off. We just stunned him. We truly wanted to discuss things in a peaceful, political and kind manner. There was even a sort of reasonableness and honor to Karn’s desire for us to not wipe out his tribe. He was fully on board though with letting Kozzurth completely eat all of humanity over the years, every single last small person, human. He said only then would he try to earn his title. He wouldn’t relent, and obviously Kozzurth wasn’t going to, she was, ugh, malicious to the core.
I try to gloss over the battle, so that I don’t sound like I’m trying to impress her with my magic or anything. She prods for a few details and I relent. Harriet seems inscrutable currently, I’m not sure what her emotion is when she hears how I defeated Kozzurth. I can’t read her at the moment.
Then I talk about facing off with the two Colossi who had watched our entire duel, trying to talk them out of anything rash. I played the part of a cocky individual, but that’s not who I really am. I skip mentioning Dawn showing up, and just sort of ramble about how what finally ended the situation was telling one of the two that they can have whatever title they want for ruling the plains. That I threatened to maybe possibly return someday, and if they were still being dicks, change their leadership again, hinting at slaying whoever was in charge.
Harriet exclaims, “Excuse me, you what?”
Confused, I respond, “What what? I mean, you had to know it was likely going to end with us killing their leaders, right? I’m not proud of it, but I’m sure Te, well, we both told you why we had to do it, and I reiterated just now. Genocide, all humans over a long period of time.”
Harriet shakes her head, “No, you just appointed someone ruler of the plains?”
My face contorts as I raise one brow, “I guess, sort of? It was a pointless title, they’re barely a society, more just a bunch of people struggling to get by.”
Harriet frowns and prods again, “And you don’t see anything wrong with that?”
I try not to pout, and fail, “I, I don’t know what you’re getting at. It wasn’t a real appointment, I just wanted her off my back while also hopefully scaring her into maybe trying to keep the peace, to you know, avoid that war that you didn’t want.”
The Mairess looks exasperated, almost shocked, “You entered a region, slew its rulers, which, I’m not arguing, this time was likely the right thing to do, but then go out handing appointments by right of conquest? Continued coercion through extended threat of possible future violence?”
I cringe and frown, “It’s, it’s not like I’m appointing her as a puppet ruler or something, I have no interest in how she governs, if she even governs at all, it sounded like Karn was no sort of leader, just a bit of a despot. I even left all the gold, I could have un-conjured it. I don’t want anything to do with the situation, she seemed to think they needed someone to step up, so I just said a few words to give her the confidence to do so. She even admitted the title was pointless. I’m intending to never head back down around that region ever again if I can avoid it. I, I have too many experiences where something like this becomes a repeat occurrence.”
Harriet seems to mumble the word good when I insinuate I’m never returning. It stings, and I think it implies she wants me to never return to Autumn Brook. She also has a look of distaste about me having left the gold. I’m not sure if it’s because Autumn Brook could really use the money, or if because now it sounds like I’m trying to excuse my actions by having bribed them.
Harriet asks, “Do you even know the name of the woman you gave dominion over the plains to?”
Crap, what was it again? I know this, I know this. I didn’t just hand it out to someone that turns out to be some nameless faceless grunt that disappears forever after being out of a scene. It’s not a fiction or a movie. She’s a real person, she had obvious desire to see her tribe survive.
Oh! I reply, excitedly, “It was Harriet! No, I mean Helen, Helena, sorry. Sorry, your name and face were on the tip of my tongue. I mean, ugh. The inside of my head is a nightmare, but she was trying out name and title combinations, and all of them included Helen, some included Helena. I swear.”
Harriet looks incredulous and disappointed. Well hell, does she not believe me because I misspoke and used her name? Does the truth that followed end up sounding like trying to recover? Ugh. I really don’t want to be banned from a town of pretty much wonderful people. If I tell her that the other Colossi’s name was Rej, would she just think I’m self-absorbed and can’t even come up with other fake names for my recovery story? Bluh, I don’t want to risk it. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m making an enemy out of such a staunch, caring, moral, leaderly person. I really, truly need to let someone else handle the talking. Two things I should never do are try to take on a task that requires super speed, or one that requires talking. Bluh.
I guess I’m kind of starting to see her point though. Fudge. Was that really a bad choice though? I wasn’t appointing a dictator or anything. It was a meaningless platitude. I didn’t even assume I had any right to rule or anything. It probably comes off though as if I felt entitled to their, well, everything, after beating up their leaders.
Harriet sighs as she states, “Look, adventurer, mercenary, child, assassin. For the ancestors you’ve saved, Autumn Brook will always be in your debt. A debt I do hope you’re kind enough to never collect on, though I’m fearing and doubting that case more and more.”
I shake my head and wave my hands palm forward placatingly, “No, no of course not. I’m not. I swear I’m not trying to coerce you or anyone or or, or, or. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. There’s. I, I just want to find a way home. I didn’t mean to make a political mess. I don’t feel like The Brook owes me anything, I would just be eternally grateful for directions to the nearest Imperium cities and villages. When I come up with a cover story, I won’t even mention Autumn Brook or Aasimovia in case we cause trouble, so that it never finds its way back to haunt you. I swear it.”
She shakes her head, sighing as she takes her forehead in her right hand. I start to plead, “Please, please, don’t banish me, or well, no, it’s fine, you can banish me, I’m the idiot who who, who, I’m the one. Please don’t banish Teuila. She seems to really be falling in love with The Brook and its citizens. Please.”
Harriet clucks her tongue and snaps her fingers, drawing my attention and shushing me simultaneously, “It’s obvious that while you have perhaps the knowledge of someone with many, many years of life, you do not have a broadened wealth of experience to guide you. I fear San Tiago was right. We sent literal children into a bloody and hostile situation. For that, I am sorry.”
I want to feel insulted, but she’s not wrong. I remain silent, waiting for her to continue. After a long pause, she does, “Perhaps it’s unfair of me to think less of you, but reality has its unfairnesses. I know you’ve tried to deny when your love extols you as a hero, and you are right.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
My jaw drops as my expression becomes mortified. Harriet continues, “Chin up though, you’re not as monstrous as you’re fearing right now. I just think you could benefit from a few years of hard work around people. Not my people mind you. I don’t think we have what it takes to temper you. I’ve been talking around, getting the story as best I could, Marshal, Keeley, Berinon, Tiago, George, I even had a short message relayed to Daffodil and back, and some of my eyes and ears in the village who’ve watched you in and around it, including your meeting with a mysterious ghost from The Brook’s past. Your story is consistent, I don’t believe you’re a liar. I simply don’t believe you’re ready for the responsibilities that have been thrust upon you, seemingly time and time again in both your lives.”
I’m weeping openly, and gulping back snot as she says this. I mean, she’s right, I’ve always said that about myself. I’m not a hero, I’m not a leader, people shouldn’t look to me for any sort of guidance or leadership. So I agree, “I, yes, I agree. I’ve admonished myself, I’ve self recriminated, I’ve deliberated and tried so hard to find others to take the responsibilities, but they so often landed in my lap in critical times. Times where action was necessary in an instant to, to save lives. I know I’m not a hero. I know. I just. I don’t want people to die. I want people to lead happy, peaceful lives. And —“
She interrupts me, saying what I was going to say, “You just don’t know how to go about getting them there. At least, through any other means than violence or threats of it.”
I nod, sniffling. Harriet sighs while shaking her head. She removes her hand from her forehead, balling it into a fist as she strikes the table, startling me slightly. She stands and ambles around the table. As she reaches me, she walks a step past to stand slightly behind me with a hand resting on my shoulder.
I can sense her shaking her head as she says, “I do not know what unkind fate guides you, or if fate itself thinks it’s making a hero out of you. I’ll not banish you from The Brook, but I want you to think on your actions. Hell, I doubt it would turn out well for anyone that tried to force you to do anything you didn’t want to do. Though I’ve a feeling you would guilt yourself into accepting a banishment. You’re not an evil person, Reggie Shellcracker. You’re just not quite good, not yet. I suppose the same can be said of all of us.”
Harriet pauses only for a single beat before continuing, “We’ve all made mistakes. Yours however are riskier to make, and perhaps in the long haul, these last few choices in these last few days won’t turn out to have been mistakes at all. But you did not reflect upon the nature of the choices you made. You didn’t even realize the issue you had created. You wield cataclysmic cosmic forces, and destiny seems to swirl around you. I don’t know how many hereafters your soul has been through, how much strife and struggle you’ve truly seen. I couldn’t even hazard a guess. I only wish you peaceful days. For your sake, and for those around you. I’m sure your two matrons will always be proud of you, in every lifetime, but try to do them proud. Be the best Reggie you can be.”
She pats my shoulder and walks to the door, holding it open for me. I turn to speak but she frowns at me, so I scuttle out. Teuila is waiting outside as she said she would. Teuila truly doesn’t want to leave my side longer than enough to have a private conversation, as she pledged, for my sanity. Teuila’s veritably seething. I guess she probably heard that, huh? That, well, that could have gone better. This sucks. Ugh. But did I really not reflect on those last few choices? I mean, it was literally just a conversation with some idiots who were going to get themselves killed by attacking me. My choice saved their lives. Or, spared them anyway. I mean, I wasn’t about to let them kill me. Does she think that would have been the ethical choice in that situation, to just let them kill me and make their own appointment by right of conquest?
No, I don’t think that’s what she was hinting at. Ugh, she’s right, I don’t understand. What was bad about it? Me, standing on someone’s corpse, telling someone else to rule others and keep them in line. Seriously Reggie, you can’t think of anything bad about it? Oof. That’s, that’s not fair. They were literally giants, the standing on the corpse thing was mostly to be closer to be able to talk to them. It wasn’t some sort of power play out of disrespect. I may have played the part of the cocky individual that would do that, but that’s not what it really was. I mean, she even admitted herself, that maybe my choices won’t turn out to have been mistakes! I don’t get it. Why does this conversation with her hurt so much? It’s not like she offered alternative solutions, any sort of guidance to help me grow from my mistakes, what sort of options I may have overlooked.
Does she think I should have, I don’t know, ran around the entire plains for a month gathering up all the giants to oversee a democratic assembly? Make them all elect a new leader or leadership style or governance? I don’t have that kind of time! Plus, plus, like, why would I be any more qualified to do that, than to just say “Hey you, take care of your people.”? If they want to be governed in a different way, they can sort it out, can’t they?
Teuila slugs me gently in the shoulder, seeing me caught in my own head, so I relay my last few minutes of thought to her. She’s pissed at Harriet on my behalf, but I don’t want her to be angry with anyone. She has been almost the happiest I’ve ever seen her, at least a few times in The Brook. I don’t want her to give that up. I suck down a ragged breath, gasping as it turns into a sob.
Do I even want to know how Tiago feels about us at this point? There’s a growling voice coming from within, I can tell Harriet is speaking angrily with someone. Harriet’s voice is a hoarse-whisper, quiet but laced with fury. Teuila looks confusedly at me as I tilt my head ever so slightly.
Harriet growls, “I’ve done as close as I’m willing to what you’ve asked. I’ve admonished the adventurers. Now, you’ll be leaving The Brook alone? Actually, no, that’s not a question, that’s an order. Get the hell out of my town. Or maybe I’ll plead that they handle you for me.”
My jaw drops, and Teuila still looks confused. Do I confront Harriet about this? Do I tell Teuila? I, I mean. Harriet did say the way she admonished us was a way that she was willing. So it’s not like her feelings on the subject weren’t basically the truth. Who was she talking to? Someone almost as scary as us, but could be scared off by us? Someone who wanted us sad? Or maybe someone who wanted us toughened up? Or, or maybe to grow morally? Fuuuuuudge. What the hell!? Ugh. Who can I even t— Dawn. I can tell Dawn, and ask Dawn if they’ve seen anyone suspicious sneaking in to speak with the mayor.
How did I hear this exchange but not Teuila? I, hm. It’s like I have hypersensitive hearing sometimes. Kinda like super hearing. Mostly just painful. Like when my pulse rams into my head so loud that it cranks my tinnitus up to full blast.
Wait, did Harriet just say, “They’re not safe here”? The door swings open, and Harriet looks incredibly upset. She seems about to start off in search of something, or someone, then spies us in the corner next to her.
The mairess, seeming surprised to see us, steels herself and says, “I know that I said I wouldn’t banish you, so hopefully you won’t think of this as such. I’d like to book you a fishing charter across the lake to help you get to the Imperium for tomorrow evening at the latest. Two passengers should be easy enough to accommodate.”
Teuila looks furious but I ask, “Could, could you possibly make it three?” With my brow furrowed I mouth the words admonished the adventurers to Harriet questioningly, shock draws across her face. She shakes her head at my mouthed question. I could swear her expression is almost fearful at my mouthed question.
Harriet answers my spoken question affirmatively, almost jokingly chiding, “I certainly could, but which of my citizens are you thinking of abducting?”
Teuila cocks her head at an angle now, less furious, more curious how I’m going to answer. I state, “A ghost from Autumn Brook’s past. I think.”
Harriet’s expression becomes thoughtful, and her gaze far away as she slowly nods. She mumbles, “I’ll see what I can do. Good luck with that abduction.”
She glances around before adding, “You did say your heart’s desire from Autumn Brook was simply directions. After the river landing just north of Lake Ciao, you’ll head northwest to The Gap, then north through it. After, you’ll be in Imperium lands, following the road any which way should take you to a nearby city. Likely the most villages along the river headed north to their own large lake. Just, make certain you don’t head southwest into the Jaggedfen Bog. Caravans report, well, it’s unbelievable, but a multi-headed serpent, a hydra. No news from the entire dominion of the large western peninsula in a very long time, as Jaggedfen Bog is in the way.”
I scratch the back of my head as I nod somberly, wearing a sad frown on my face as my gaze meets Harriet’s. Her gaze is stern though, fairly resolute as she shakes her head.
She begins to shoo us away with a parting statement, “Hopefully Autumn Brook has served you as well as you it. I hope you have a pleasant eve, and safe journeys.”