Harlan was waiting outside for his family with Balor.

At 500 feet he first felt them.

At 300 he could determine their exact positions and who was who.

At 100 feet he could tell their mental state.

With divination he figured he could find them from dozens of miles away at this point.

Hugs all around never wore out their welcome.

The only member he hadn’t met yet was Cu, who warily looked at Harlan.

“My, now what are you?”

Its mind was not as simple as a normal animal, yet Harlan knew that it was a puppy when it was given to Redmond.

After a minute long staredown Cu was willing to let himself be pet.

“I almost thought he was going to bite you, I don’t remember you being bad with animals.”

“I’m not. But he is upset with me for some reason. Has he fought Fomorians?”

“No, I don’t like sending him into fights, so he is more for tracking than anything else.”

“Odd. Anyway, I’ve got something to show you.”

Harlan turned his armor to its combat form.

“Snazzy. Just trying to show off?”

“Mom, dad, Adina, why don’t you show him yours.”

Each of them was nearly a copy of Harlan, though his parents' armors had wheat patterns on their shoulders. Harlan wanted them to be able to tell them apart at a glance but they were against suggestions more in line with his personality.. No skulls, no fire, no threats written out on the armor.

He began to wonder if should’ve put his crest on every armor just to make it clear that they belonged to him, now he was wondering if badges wouldn’t be a better idea.

He didn’t really like how they would stick out, but since he was also considering a shawl of some kind to make himself less scary looking, he thought a pin should work.

It was already far past noon when they arrived, so Aida went to help Isha start on some things for supper.

She would never say it, but she wished that her children were a bit more like her, and a bit less like Redmond or Harlan.

She never regretted taking him in, but he was hell on her nerves

In the living room just across the hall from the kitchen Harlan was talking about his golems and asking for suggestions.

“Are you sure you want to make golems? I don’t know if that sounds like a great idea.”

“It should be fine, and I do think I need to make it up to those children. I robbed them of a shit home-”

“Language.”

Was heard from both Autumn and Aida.

“Anyway, and I could give them a place to just exist, they would be safe, they would have work, and they could have something, even if it isn’t a person, who could care for them. I’ve walked the slums of Dullen and Borden, I know that I can help those people, I know it is easy. I know the king asked that I be careful, but these new golems I can make could heal people, they can divine items and people. Think of what I could do with 100 golems.”

Redmond spoke up.

“Harlan, I think you are too young, simple as that. You see what you can change, but not how far it would go. Giving those kids a place to stay and steady work is one thing, but easy? And, I don’t mean to be overly mean, but thinking like you? I just have a hard time believing that a 15 year old should be making things like that, or that they could have the judgment to really handle what you aren’t saying you want them to do.”

“Why don’t we shelve that idea for a while.”

“Harlan, I want you to promise me that you aren’t going to try anything crazy.”

“If cities had my golems, the spiders would’ve never gotten so far, the downtrodden were the first targets, and it was only the work of one man who didn’t even know what was really happening that they were discovered. The golems would not have ignored the people in the slums, they would not treat them as a thing to be tolerated but not bothered with until it steps out of bounds.”

“Harlan, I’m serious.”

“I am too. If you had the chance to make ranger golems, wouldn’t you? Do you want one? Because I could give you a partner in a matter of days. How much corruption is in the frontier, out of sight? Yor is just a place, just people, guards bribed, problems ignored or even started by those in power. I said to myself months ago, I would not turn my eyes away from people who need help when I can help them so easily.

If I don’t at least try, I would be a liar.”

“Are you sure you are ok? Borden surely wasn’t easy, do you think you might need some more time to process what happened? It wasn’t your fault, you know that, right?”

“Stop treating me like a bomb waiting to go off. I am past that, I’ve learned and grown. I know I'm not a man, but I’m not a child either.”

Harlan spun the cup of tea in his hands.

“But, maybe I should slow down. I will revisit the idea of peacekeepers, not warmachines, another day.

I don’t want to argue about this. I just wanted to ask how I could make something that could raise children.”

Jarrick held up the small fox toy which tilted its head to the side as it looked in Harlan’s eyes.

“Make fox.”

He thought about it, was that the answer?

He could make something a bit more friendly than an uncanny valley faced iron mother, give them all animal heads, dress them right, it could work.

It would be clearly inhuman, but in a friendly way.

Children liked the little movements of animals, the tilting of heads, the raising and lowering of ears, these clear gestures would communicate their emotions better than the shifting facial expressions of his golem with a shifting mask.

“Yeah, maybe I will make fox. Thank you Jarrick.”

He didn’t respond, he just kept running around, having let his little friend go just to chase it again.

Harlan didn’t expect that Jaramis would be the next to speak.

“I think you should work on your caretakers. And, I’m not a baron now, and I hope my father lives a long and healthy life, but by the time I am in charge, if you haven’t yet, I would love to see what you could make to keep the peace alongside guards.”

“Thank you, I guess I should offer my services, is there anything you want or need?“

“No, these foxes have been a great help with the children. And with the war over, I don’t need to go off fighting. So I don’t require new weapons or armor.”

“Are you and Autumn planning to stay the night?”

“Yes, perhaps I can see the oddities of your home that Ava talks about.”

“I’ve learned from others that there is apparently a larger learning curve than I realized. Why don’t I show you around?”

“Of course.”

Harlan walked him through the guestroom, but while he was explaining the shower and mattress that used water and how to make it harder or softer, his mind was really on how that conversation could’ve gone.

He nearly exploded at Redmond, but he stopped himself.

It was never lost on him how many lives had already been lost because of his actions, and making golems and selling them to cities would just be a matter of time before they were used in a way that he didn’t intend.

The answer to him was that he shouldn’t use them outside of his sight, that he needed to be the one holding the keys to the kingdom so to speak.

He wanted to bring in the orphans, and not give them a place to stay, he wanted to mold them into people he could trust. Just as he told Fragile Peace, if you don’t have people who you trust now, then raise them.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Over dinner Aida showed off her magical training bearing fruit as she served her food without moving a muscle.

“Nice work, mom.”

“I can hardly believe everyone doesn’t learn magic.”

“I don’t want to bring down the mood, but how much more do you eat? The poor can’t afford to feed themselves as it is, if they trained by themselves then they would take months if not years to reach as much as you have in these few months. They’d starve before they became proficient enough to make any money with it.”

Harlan leaned back in his seat and set his silverware down.

“Mom, would you want to help me with the golems?”

She laughed then covered her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t imagine I could be any help.”

“I can think of no better person to help give the golems their minds. You raised all of us and look where we are now. A count, the wife of a baron, a powerful mage, and an enforcer of the law.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?“

“Of course.”

“I don’t know, I can do these little tricks you showed me, but that soulsmithing stuff seems beyond me.”

“I’d do most of the work, I just need you to think strongly about how you raised us. I’d need to test the golems, get rid of junk information that slips in, but you would be the base for the mind.”

“Why don’t we talk about something else, I’ll think about it.”

“Of course. You don’t need to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“What about me? I know that she wasn’t a good mom, but I bet I could be if I had the chance.”

“Do you want to try?”

“...”

“Dawn?”

“I don’t want to do it.”

“You don’t sound convincing.”

“I know I want to do it, but, well, we both know what I am.”

“You can’t know until you do it at least once.”

“Let’s shelve that idea, you did it before, now it is my turn.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Of course.”

Adina was staring daggers into him, he wasn’t sure why, but she mouthed some words at him and he realized.

“I have an announcement to make. I am now in a relationship with Adina.”

There were jeers and cheers around.

Redmond wasn’t really happy with it, but pretended to be.

Harlan didn’t blame him, it took weeks or even months to really warm up to her, and he only met her yesterday.

Once dinner was done Harlow asked that they have a private father son talk.

So they made their way down to the bunker, leaving Adina feeling like a lamb surrounded by wolves.

She hadn’t expected that everyone would be trying to give her relationship advice.

Father and son sat across from one another.

“I didn’t want to say it in front of your mother, but I’m really proud of what you are trying to do.

She and Redmond, all of them, they just don’t know what it was like growing up as poor as I did.

If you really can give those kids work and protection and some guidance, they will grow into better people than they ever would without you.”

“What if I wanted to groom them into a force for me? Would that be a bad thing? It feels wrong to think about children like that, as things to mold into the people who I want.”

“Every parent does that. I wanted you to be a farmer, instead you became something else. I still steered you into a good man, so don't lower your eyes, I know you want to. People all do things they aren’t proud of, but you understand that, I don’t need to say it. I told you before about my brother who died. I shouldn’t have been happy when it happened, but when it did, I could get some sleep at night with a full stomach.

When you live your days barely scraping by, it changes you. They don’t know how it feels. So do what you need to do, give those children the chance to think beyond their next meal, just don’t make them someone they aren’t.”

Harlan’s eyes watered as he hugged his father.

“Thank you, I know I shouldn’t be, but I was angry, they looked at me like I was insane. I just want to do the right thing.”

“I know, and you are going to, because if you fail, you don’t give up, you aren’t going to break, you’ll do better next time. When I’m gone, just bones in the dirt, I want you to remember this, you aren’t bad just for doing bad things, you are bad when you stop caring about what you’re doing; When you stop being able to hurt over the bad things you’ve done.”

“You’ve got decades, don’t start talking like that yet.”

“My parents died when I was your age. I just don’t want to wait, I need to say it before I lose my chance.”

He patted Harlan on the back just like when he was younger.

He was a bit too large to not make it awkward, he was already bigger than his father, so they ended their embrace.

“Dry your eyes, your fiance is going to be upset if you can’t be her wall against your sisters and mother.

I bet they’ve already torn her apart with questions and jokes.”

“Ava is probably trying to find her weakness right now.”

When they walked back upstairs the conversation had switched to weddings and rings and dresses.

Aida wanted to make them have the wedding she didn’t get, Adina hadn’t even given it any thought.

For her, such an event was 4, 5 years away at least.

“Back, back beasts!”

Harlan came from behind her and made his armor look like wings to cover Adina.

Suddenly everyone stopped talking and just blankly stared at Harlan.

“What?”

“Fox teeth!” Alana enthusiastically shouted.

Harlan reached up and realized that they had sharped.

While he knew it was a joke, his body seemed to disagree as it and bore fangs against them.

“Did you become a vampire? This is such bullshit.”

“Language.” Was reflexively shouted by her oldest sister and mother.

“You told me not to do it and then you become one.”

“Ava, that isn’t what happened. I’m not a vampire.”

“Then what is that?”

“I wanted to make sure it was safe before I used it on you, but I’ve been changing my body ever since I became a champion. I’ve just hidden it under my armor. I’m why I did it right now, sometimes it just happens.”

“Wait, you were planning to do something like that to Ava? Ava, you were going to become a vampire? Both of you-”

“Honey, why don’t you let them explain first.”

Alana just kept repeating fox teeth.

Jaramis took the children to another room to play and everyone outside of the family cleared out so they could have their talk in the living room.

The only ones who weren’t part of the family but still got included were Zella and Adina for obvious reasons.

“Fine, explain.”

“Harlan, you do it first.”

“Alright. Ava is upset that I was born with a natural advantage that she can’t overcome, but I could make her physically strong like me. So why shouldn’t I as soon as I know it is safe? There is no cost so far as I know, no downsides. Once I run more tests, I planned to just make her denser by modifying and adding muscle mass to her along with stronger bones. Maybe I could make her eyes better.

That’s all, everything would look the same.”

“That’s not… that is insane, you’d be… I don’t know, playing god, breaking some natural laws.”

“Let me ask about that.”

Harlan’s eyes went black and his shadow stood up.

“He cannot make new life, he cannot disrupt nature in such a way that life cannot continue, he cannot grant immortality. So long as he follows these rules we have no reason to move against him.”

“Wait, can you clarify not making new life?”

“You’ve not played god, nor will you, the changing of one life is nothing, you don’t intend on changing every human being. You could make any number of horrors, living nightmares of flesh and bone and gnashing teeth, we don’t care. Yet the moment you make them a viable species, we will ask that you kill it, and if you do not, you will be killed in turn.”

“Thank you very much.”

Harlan’s shadow went back to the ground and everyone felt like they could breathe again.

“Wh-who was that?” Ava barely choked out.

“The Darkness. So, now we have confirmation that I’ve not played god or broken any natural laws.

If you just don’t like it, then that’s fine, but I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“That wasn’t normal, that… Darkness, she isn’t natural.”

“Now you are just being silly, she is a god, born of Aarde. It doesn’t get more natural than that.”

“Harlan, why don’t we step back for a moment. I… I kinda thought you were being more metaphorical when you said you talked with a god. I didn’t think…”

Harlow was taking it fairly well, he felt like what happened was so far over his head that it really shouldn’t even matter to him. It was like worrying that a wyvern could go past the kingdoms defenses to destroy his home, but if something like that happened, he could neither prepare for it nor would he really even have time to panic before he died.

“You didn’t think she could just show up? Or that I didn’t actually talk to her? I feel I’ve made it pretty clear what I meant when I said I spoke with her.”

“I mean… I know what you said… it’s just…”

“For the record, I’ve never assumed he was anything but entirely literal.”

Zella said this, and the only one who didn’t agree were was Aida, even Redmond assumed it was entirely literal and he hadn’t even heard the term champion in the way Harlan used it until that very night.

“Huh.”

Was all that they could mutter.

It was a strange experience, she felt like the only sane person in the room.

Sepul walked, or rather, floated into the house and noticed the odd atmosphere.

“I hope I’ve not interrupted a family meeting.”

“Actually, this is perfect. I’m not crazy for wanting to modify Ava’s body so she is physically on par with me, right?”

“Nevermind, if I questioned you, I am sure I’d end up feeling like a madman. So long as she still looks fully human, does it really matter? It isn’t like you are playing god or breaking some natural laws.”

With that Aida could only laugh, unsure if she was crazy or if the world was.

“I’m going to ignore everything else here. I’ve come with a royal decree, please come to speak with me in private.”

“Of course.”

----------------------------------------

Blackship 6: No penetration.

Blackship 7: Signal Loss.

Self-destruction failure, local causality failure.

Attempting to reestablish causality.