Breakfast hadn’t gone well, but that wasn’t quite as important as Zella calling Harlan.

“I need your help with-”

He didn’t hesitate or wait for her to explained, he just tracked her through the crossroads and opened a gate at her location.

When Harlan arrived in Mino, he didn’t find a wyvern attack, or a horde of Fomorians, he just found Zella holding a large heart shaped fruit in her hands. It was not a symbolic heart, but one with four chambers.

“What did you need help with?”

“Fomoria-”

She saw his face grow sour.

“-brought a champion to me, and she wanted to make me her replacement.”

“Why don’t you just talk to him about that then?”

“Because he’s insane.”

Harlan let out a sigh of relief.

“Finally, someone else who sees that he is dangerous and unstable.”

“When I complained about him helping the coup that let Mino and Bex gain independence from the rest of The Confederacy he said that he would handle it, and then I told him to stop whatever he was going to do, he said that he was going to basically just conquer them and force them back into The Confederacy.

But that isn’t what matters, the old goat left me her heart.”

It nearly leapt from her hands as it powerfully let out one beat.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“She died of old age.”

“But she was a champion.”

“Anu’s champion doesn’t get immortality. She values the cycle of life and death too much.

I want to ask, what is being a champion like? I think that I should do it, even though I will need to move outside of The Veil.”

“Well, The Darkness didn’t really give me a lot. She unlocked the limits to how much mana I can hold, and she made it so I’m gaining more at a faster rate, and my mind and soul naturally become stronger, but she said that I wasn’t a normal champion. What did Anu’s champion tell you?”

“My hair is probably going to grow flowers and it might turn into vines. She had a cane, and she could tap into the power of the ground, controlling any plants in a pretty big area, growing them to larger sizes and even transforming them. I saw her turn a rose bush into a monster that spit thorns, and the first thing I heard her do was use the roots of a tree to decapitate a large Black Lindwurm.”

“What has Anu told you?”

“That I am going to be called on to handle threats to ecosystems which come from unnatural sources or which threaten the biodiversity of Aarde.”

“I was warned when I was making hybrid animals that if I let them breed, I would be killed by the gods.”

“Anu tells me that I probably won’t even need to do much, but when I do get called, it will never be for a small mission. It doesn’t sound like she is hiding that it isn’t going to be fun, and that I will need to be responsible or she will replace me, but… I don’t trust her.”

“I understand.”

Harlan wondered, how long had it been since he was last here in his mind, waiting for The Darkness to reply?

“Of my siblings, Anu is perhaps the most respectable. She understands that survival is for the fit, but also when one should destroy a force which has become so dominant that it threatens the ability for others to rise up.”

“Alright, what aren’t you saying?”

“Anu is as beautiful as nature, and as brutal. Hyenas will eat their prey before they are dead, starting at the anus. When a new lion takes over the pride, he kills the children of the last leader. Zella is likely to be called for cullings, and not always of just animals. If a nation becomes a threat to nature, they may need to be warned, and if the warning is ignored, they must be slain down to the last so others might understand to listen. House Greenfield has suffered more than one warning, but they understand when to back down.”

“But their agriculture has fed millions that would’ve otherwise starved, and their work is mostly just preventing bugs from eating the plants as well as growing them larger.”

“Exactly. The faster growing plants take more from the ground, requiring alchemical solutions to let the same land be continually farmed. And what of the bugs? If they cannot eat the plants, what should they eat? Without the bugs, what would the birds eat? Making a plant that can repel all insects isn’t easy, but it isn’t so hard that they couldn’t do it. As it stands, they are allowed a certain amount of that, but a fully repellent plant species would see their house burned to the ground and their members slaughtered.”

“I don’t trust you-”

“Obviously.”

“But I want your opinion, is it safe for her?”

“Anu has told her what to expect, and she is honest. Zella is a grown woman, she can make her own choices, just as she refused Calli when called on to be her champion.”

Harlan came back to reality.

“The Darkness said that Anu can be trusted. If she already told you what you will be doing, you can expect that to be true.”

“Alright, thanks. I’m going to just… eat this thing now.”

“When you said that was her heart, did you-”

“I meant it. When she died, Anu told me that the heart would keep beating even after the body was dead, and that I needed to cut it out and eat it to be her champion.”

“What about the Fae curse you have?”

“She said that my soul will integrate it into her powers. It would kill certain people to do this, but she knows how to balance things so that I will be safe.”

Zella sniffed it, finding that each time she did, it smelled like a different fruit, and never like meat.

“You don’t have to eat that if you don’t want to. Someone else could-”

She shook her head.

“No, I want to do this. Prinny was a good person, and she spent her last few weeks with me, showing what good could come from me getting her powers.”

Zella took a deep breath before she gorged herself on the heart, each bite not quite tasting like the last.

When it was done, her hands were stained red, and just as when Harlan was made champion, the six lesser gods of Aarde were summoned to witness her ascension.

Though rather than a blackout that covered miles, the ground shook, and a tree sprouted.

Roots as tall as a man spread quickly, tearing apart the normal forest around them and cutting into the sky.

It opened and pulled her into its amber sap.

Harlan could see as Zella was broken down physically in a few painful moments before being reformed in another shape not entirely unlike her original.

Her hair turned brown like roots, the tens of thousands she already had became a smaller number of thicker strands covered in small bulbs.

Her fingertips and the soles darkened, becoming hard like the hooves of the Minos and Ibexian, giving her hands better suited for digging in the soil and walking barefoot.

On her forehead she gained two minute antler-like growths, not more than a few inches long, clearly more of a decoration than something for combat.

He saw no more changes, she just sat there in the ball of sap inside of the massive tree, her hair floating as if underwater.

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Though her armor had also been devoured by the sap, it did not come back, and yet Harlan did not look away from her naked form out of worry and curiosity.

After half an hour, the sap turned watery and dumped her onto the floor of the tree opening.

Her hair stuck itself into the tree and it began to shrink, the massive thing seemingly being absorbed into it.

Zella awoke and coughed the rest of the sap out of her lung once the tree was no more and her hair looked fuller, going from root-like to being root.

“Whoa.”

She held her hands up and looked at them, then she put them on the ground and just listened to everything around her.

Zella could sense it all, the worms in the ground, the breathing of the trees, even the birds that roosted in them.

“This is amazing.”

“You need to put on clothes.”

“I guess.”

Zella pulled up clumps of grass and grew them, then spit them into fibers which she easily wove into a green dress. Yet the grass was not dead, it would not dry out, and it felt soft as satin to her skin.

“How do my eyes look?”

“Like a flower.”

“Which kind?”

“Daisy. Your pupil is all dotty, your iris is green and looks like petals. Your white is also gray now, but that’s just because earth is brown.”

“That’s annoying.”

“Well, if earth was nature, it would be green. Why is it that air is green though?”

“Because that is how creatures perceive the colors of mana. Earth isn’t brown, it’s earth, and fire isn’t red, it’s- How did I know that?”

Her eyes went fully brown, and Harlan stayed to watch her.

Minos and Ibexians came from the forest, since they weren’t far from the camp.

“Fomoria?”

“No, I am Harlan.”

“What happened here? Who-”

“Zella is now the Champion of Anu.”

“Then she is leaving…”

“She will.”

“Do you know when she will awake?”

“When Anu is done speaking with her. Time moves faster in the small worlds of the gods, so it shouldn’t be too long. The Darkness made me fight for a slower time, but I think Anu should be better about that.”

“Then we shall sit.”

Harlan made an awning and chairs for the soldiers while they waited, and after ten minutes, Zella was awake again.

“Commander Zella, are you really leaving?”

“Yes. Prinny wasn’t here long, but she showed me a path to being myself. Harlan, I need your help with my first mission.”

“Really?”

“Every one of her champions for the last few hundred years has paid a visit to the Greenfields. She said that since you know them, it would make things much easier.”

“Oh. That might be nice. I haven’t seen Cynthia in a long while. Then… you’ll go out there, you’ll need to call Fomoria to-”

“Well, that’s something else. My root gate can get me outside of The Veil, but it can’t take other people. It’s not even a gate really, it doesn’t bend space.”

“What does it do then?”

“Well, my body isn’t really human. I sorta… get broken down, travel through the ground under the ocean, and then I can come back out through the ground or any plants in a new body. I can’t go into the sky with this, but I can move across the ground quickly.”

“It’s almost like you die every time you use it.”

“Funny coming from you. How many times have you died?”

“More than I would like.”

“Go ahead of me, and tell them I’m coming. Anu said that I should say goodbye to my companions and do a little bit of training to get a feel for everything she told me that I can do now.”

“Alright, I’ll see you there.”

Harlan was happy to arrive at the gates of the castle, and the guards allowed him in without any hassle.

Cynthia came out with Sycamore, but Harlan hadn’t expected to see a bump on her stomach.

“You got fat?”

“Yes, these pregnancy cravings have caused me to put on some weight.”

Harlan hugged her.

“This was more fun when you were smaller than me.”

“Yeah, I could fit in all the tight spaces to plant things.”

“It’s good to see you again. But I don’t think this is a sudden unplanned social visit, since you didn’t bring Vivi.”

“I need to talk with your husband.”

“He’s away on business for at least the next few hours. How urgent is it?”

“Not urgent enough that you need to worry. Zella is Anu’s new champion and she has to just make sure that your family understands to maintain whatever agreements they had with the last champion about not disrupting the ecosystem with their agriculture magic.”

“Oh, it’s that.”

“You knew?”

“I could tell there was a new champion, and my husband did mention that the champion would come whenever a new one was in. His grandfather was in charge when the last one gave the warning.”

“How could you tell there was a new champion?”

“Well, when Calli tried to make me her champion, she never really took away some of her gifts.”

“Oh. Can we go inside? I need to tell Zella that she has a few hours, and I want to talk to you. I might need some of your brutal honesty.”

“Syca, honey, why don’t you go play in the garden? I need to talk with your godfather.”

“Ok.”

He ran off, nearly falling down the stairs before Harlan used a gentle burst of wind to right him.

“He has your energy.”

“I ended up with bruises and scrapes all the time as a kid. It’s a wonder I never died climbing on the walls of the castle or going into the lion cages to play with them.”

“I don’t think I ever heard that story before.”

“Oh it was nothing, they were just kittens back then, and I was already 10, old enough to wrestle with them.”

Cynthia had changed the tea room, combining it with a garden.

Rather than thin fabric pouches full of dried leaves, she liked to clip them straight from the plants and add oils or juices from fresh fruits for flavor.

“Vanilla?”

“Do you have something stronger?”

“I know for a fact that our liquor isn’t strong enough for you.”

“I meant a spiced tea.”

“Ah. I will grab some from the other room, in the meanwhile, you can call Zella and tella her that there is no rush. I’ll call my husband, tell him to just be ready for her.”

He chuckled at her little joke.

Cynthia came back with peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, anise, and fennel seeds.

“I learned this recipe from a nice Golden woman I met in the market.”

“Oh? Is this Great Desert tea?”

“Yes. I’ll get a maid to get some milk and cream.”

Cynthia got out a mortar and pestle from a hidden compartment in the table; the woodworking was so flush that there was no visible seam where it was.

“I just need to grind some of this up, but it is worth it.”

The tea took a little longer to make than he expected, and though he offered to crush it with his hands, she was determined to prepare it herself.

“I never get the chance to make this, my husband doesn't like it, and neither do I.”

“Why do you want to make it so much then?”

“I just like grinding the spices and mixing everything. And the tea smells wonderful, but I don’t care for the flavor.”

“You do like your sweets more than your spices.”

“I do.”

Eventually, the tea was finished, both of them having their own clear glass pots.

“So, what are you wrong about but refuse to admit?”

“That not-”

“Well, you wanted my honesty, and since you don’t want to listen to your wife, who already told you you are wrong and stupid, now it falls on me.”

“Did you call Adina while you were getting the spices?”

“No. I just know you. If she told you were wrong already, then you wouldn’t need to come here and make me tell you that you are wrong.”

“I’m not wrong, I just… don’t know.”

“Alright. Now, since we are past the opening, what has made you upset?”

“Everyone seems to like Emperor Fomoria.”

“If he was so great, he would’ve come to visit me.”

“Last night, Balor and my parents went to a nice dinner, but they told me at breakfast that Fomoria joined them. I asked how that was possible, since he is still an enemy of the state. But when capital guards showed up, he argued that fighting him was pointless, since not only would he ravage the city due to his strength, but even if they killed him, he would just go to another body and hold a grudge.”

“Well, that’s how you got out of punishment for destroying Haldren.”

“But I learned from that, I changed.”

“Well, you say that, but have you really been put in a situation where you had to test yourself? To really make that hard call? If someone killed Vivi, what would you do?”

Harlan’s body tensed and his blood ran cold at just the suggestion.

“I don’t… I-”

“You would snap. I don’t think you can even deny that. Emperor Fomoria, I’m sure if I talked to him, would see that what he does isn’t right, but he feels like he needs to do.”

“Sepul… let me back up a little bit. I saw him about a week ago-”

“Fomoria or Sepul?”

“Both. I was with Sepul healing people for free to better relations with The North, but then Fomoria showed up with Balor.”

“Back to your story now.”

“I was almost ready to fight him there in the street, but Sepul told me to calm down, and then we spoke after our work was done. Fomoria had gone to Sepul a month or so back to ask him about… Fomoria is committing genocide right now, he unleashed a virus that targets a certain people, and he is wiping them out to the last man.”

“And I’m sure he has a good reason.”

“How would you know? You haven’t even seen him.”

“But he and you were the same person. I know that you could get pushed to be a terrible monster, but I doubt he is. Now, let’s move past that. Why does Adina like him?”

“He… he told her how to take care of Vivi, how when teaching an empathic child, you should hold their hand to let them feel you are worried for their safety. Vivi has been acting much better since then.

It feels like he wormed his way into my life, made everyone love him, and now that they do, they think I’m the asshole for hating him. Oh, and Balor is going to apologize for a fight we had because Fomoria made him see that he was wrong, so now Balor is on his side-”

“He isn’t on his side.”

“YES HE IS, EVERYONE IS ON HIS SIDE.”

Cynthia took a sip of tea.

“Do you ever think that he just wants to be part of his own family again? And that since they forgave you for everything that you’ve done, they would do the same for him? That maybe nobody is at fault here?”

“He has lost his mind-”

“No.”

“You have no idea if-”

“Call him, do it right now, and we can all hash this out over tea.”

“You don’t just hash out a genocide over tea.”

“I bet I can. Unless you want me to call Adina, and then make her call him here.”

Harlan made the call.