Fomoria wanted Ava to judge him, not for what she knew he did, but for the effects of what he did.

To her, his sheer body count was unjustifiable, it was hard to even fathom the number of bodies that were laid cold by this hand alone.

To him, the best thing he could do to justify what he had done was to show her how the people within his borders lived.

She started far from Kor, but inside of the outermost defensive walls that curled out like a blooming flower and protected the farmland.

They both agreed to hide their relationship so that she could experience his nation more genuinely.

This involved a few things, shifting her armor so it wasn’t styled like Fomoria’s, disguising Lugh as a more plain sword, avoiding using either of them, and of course changing out the money that she had for the local equivalent bearing the Fomorian crest of the skull and broken chain.

To better acclimate her to the outside and make it so she wasn’t clearly so foreign, he did at least give her a basic explanation of a few things, such as the races that were only outside.

“Don’t do anything that you wouldn't do inside the veil. Yara and I have a dinner to attend.”

He was gone before she even had a chance to say goodbye.

The city didn’t seem so far away, but not being allowed to use her golem armor because it would clearly show that she wasn’t what she seemed made a few minutes into a long walk.

Along the way a farmer stopped.

“Do you need a ride?”

“What’s the cost?”

“Just your company.”

She hesitated slightly, but jumped up onto the front of the wagon beside the Dague man.

“You don’t look like you came from New Kingdom, what’s a human doing here?”

“I am just looking around.”

“It is a beautiful city to look around in.”

“Is there somewhere I shouldn’t look around?”

The man scratched his scraggly bearded chin.

“Falin, least so I’ve heard.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Where are you from?”

“West.”

“Well, Falin used to be part of the country of Drang, a terrible place full of terrible people.

Our emperor has been trying his best to correct them, but… apologies, I think he would dislike me talking about them like this. They don’t understand how best to act like people, the kings and nobles before had them living in the mud, and some are so blind that they do not understand how much better their lives are under his rule.”

“How do I get to Falin?”

Ava decided not to even enter Kor, instead going round the wall and leaving.

Once she was out of sight, she could let loose, turning an hours-long journey to a much shorter one.

At the gate, people were given the same questions one might expect in Ragne.

“Name and purpose of visit?”

“Ava, just sightseeing.”

“Hmm… very well. You would be better served in the capital or New Kingdom if you want something nice to look at, and the people here are… less friendly.”

“Perfect.”

The man raised an eyebrow, but didn’t stop her from entering.

The first thing that she noticed was the golems which leapt from roof to roof, constantly keeping an eye out for crime.

Ava asked the first person she saw the same question that Harlan would.

“Where is the beggars district?”

“Fuck off.”

“I just wanted an answer.”

“You show me your tits, and I’ll tell you.”

“I wouldn’t show you my ankle you mud wallowing pig.”

Few things went so perfectly together as a citizen of the former nation of Drang and a misplaced sense of pride and entitlement.

It didn’t matter that he was rude first, or that he had attempted to solicit a sexual favor, she had insulted him.

Yet as the man pulled back to swing, a golem restrained him, and shortly after a guard came.

“Ma’am, what exactly happened here?”

“I just wanted to know where the beggars district was and he asked to see my breasts, so I called him a pig.”

The guard sighed and gave the order to let the man go.

“I am giving you a warning-”

“That’s bullshit, I-”

“Not you, him. Both of you are free to go.”

The man angrily marched off, and the guard began to go back to patrol.

“Wait, where is the beggars district.”

“There is none. Emperor Fomoria has ensured that everyone has housing and food. But I must ask, why are you looking for it?”

“The best way to learn about a city is how the lowest of them are treated.”

The guard chuckled.

“A fair point, but even the lowest shall not spend their days hungry, especially if they go to the magic classes.”

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“How much are they?”

“No cost. One should be starting up soon if you had a desire to watch at least, but I assume you have some experience beyond what we teach the children.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You have an unlocked aura. Have you come from the Sectlands?”

“No, where are they?”

“South, far far south, then across the sea.”

“Oh, and-”

“Apologies, but I must return to work if you need no more help.”

“Thank you, I will be on my way.”

She was a little amazed at the magic class being taught by a clearly non-human but feminine golem which also tried her best to maintain a calmness with the students.

It spoke with authority, but was never harsh with the children for making mistakes, only when fighting began to break out due to one student succeeding and getting a bloated ego.

“You, miss, in the back, why don’t you step forward?”

“Huh?”

“Yes, you, worry not, I don’t bite. Are you here to learn?”

“I’m beyond all of what I’ve seen you tell them. Do you teach the adults as well?”

“Hmm… unfortunately, I only teach the children now, the older ones are free to join, but there is no need to hold specific classes which they no longer attend. But if you have learned beyond this, would you like to show the children a magic trick?”

“You’re putting a lot of trust into a complete stranger.”

“It is only right to trust others.”

The golem was not foolish, it had been watching her, and it judged her as a non-threat.

If she was a threat, these classes were held in a building separated from the ones around it and many golems were hidden in the area.

In an instant, walls would be raised, the floor would shift, and the children would be moved to a safe location until the threat was handled.

It would not be the first time that reformists had attempted to destroy what Fomoria was building by attacking the future generations which were mostly made up of orphans.

It was almost humorous, these children cared little about their dead parents, and more about the material benefits which were being granted by the man responsible, in part, for their deaths.

“Uh, alright.”

Ava went up to the stage and made a mist in the air that turned into a rainbow.

“Very good, and did you children enjoy that trick?”

It was a middling reaction, Fomoria had been here before, and his tricks were far more impressive.

“Well, I’m sorry that the children didn’t seem to care for it.”

“I can do better, just wait.”

She deftly moved a coin between her fingers, then tossed it in the air and clapped it between her hands, yet when she opened them, it was gone.

The children weren’t that impressed, but then she stepped down and pulled it from behind the year of one of the children.

“Whoa. Can I keep it?”

“Sure?”

Yet the golem snatched it away.

“I will ensure that the coin is put to good use, but it would only invite trouble if it got out that the girl had a gold coin.”

“Sure, alright then.”

Ava stayed until the end of the class, at which point the children were given stew and a slice of cake.

They had been given candies before, but when it became known that the children were being robbed for them, they no longer gave anything to take home.

She spent the next few hours roaming the city, but it became clear that though the security presence was only as high as it was because these people actually had it coming.

Half the men immediately tried to solicit her, half the women tried to sell her stolen items, and half the children tried to pick her pockets.

The men, once rebuffed, mostly reacted with threats, implicit or explicit.

The women, once discovered, had the items seized and always began to complain about the unfairness of not being allowed to scam others.

And the children, Ava felt bad for them, not that she didn’t report them to the guards still.

“Let him go.”

“But-”

“Ma’am, we are aware of the issues. If something has been stolen, tell us and we shall do what we can to have it returned to you.”

“I didn’t have anything taken, but can’t you do anything about all of the pickpockets?”

“Please, let the boy go first.”

She did as asked, and he bolted down the winding streets.

Fomoria had not restructured the city, not much at least, but he had paved it and replaced many of the buildings with stone ones.

He preferred the straight lines, the order, that came with a city designed as a city, but those of Drang wanted their city to be as it was.

“We are not to arrest the children, to place them in jail, or to harm them. This is what we are ordered to do.”

“Why?”

“Liyana, the mayor, decided with his highness, that the children must be reformed, that the adults must be reformed. This city is a school, and every citizen is an unkempt child who must learn how to act as proper people.”

“Hmm…”

She didn’t really understand it all, but she thought she got more out of this than seeing that the people in the capital were happy.

Falin taught her that Fomoria didn’t just conquer people, that he was doing what he possibly could to improve the lives of people who she wasn’t sure deserved it.

As she ruminated on this, he suddenly appeared behind her; he smelled faintly of blood.

“I was told that you never entered Kor. Now you have seen the good, you can see what I am fighting against.”

“Where-”

He dragged her into a void gate, heading far away, where the slave markets were still open; those on the stripes around The Fomorian Empire had been shut down out of fear that he would come for them.

He removed his horns and took the form of a Cast.

“This is a city controlled by the Cast. Stay close to me, wear your armor under your clothes.

Lugh, if anything happens, be ready to kill, do not hesitate, not against them.”

“You look like me.”

“I’m serious, no jokes, no games, if something happens, I am going to take both of you out of here.”

“Fomoria, you’re, you’re being a little strange.”

“The Cast would rape you to death and then sell your corpse for its meat.”

“That’s-”

The illusion over his eyes broke for a moment out of fury.

“Remain close to me at all times, an unattended human will be stolen.”

He took a deep breath and regained his cover, his face twisting into one of boredom.

As they approached the gate, a slave carriage was entering, men and women not yet broken, begging for help.

She didn’t even see it happen, in an instant Fomoria had completely destroyed his cover, he became a beast of blackened bones, a swipe of his claws tore the gate guards in two, mouths grew to devour the corpses.

Everything had an instant turned from an infiltration to a bloodbath.

Gates opened across the city as Others arrived and began to rescue the slaves at the market while slaughtering the soldiers.

“You should go now.”

His voice sent a shiver up her spine as explosions rang out across the city.

“No.”

“Then stay close.”

It was a blur of blood and bodies, Fomoria had to slow the slaughter to allow Ava to accompany his advancement.

She couldn’t fathom it, everything had changed so quickly, but she understood him, she saw it in his eyes as the people in the slave wagon passed by, pain and guilt.

She came to a clashing, she could not accept how Fomoria fought, the brutality, the fear in the men as they were eaten alive.

Yet more than that, she ran through the city along with him and she saw the markets, she saw the way that the slaves were treated, packed into cages so tightly in some places that their chests could not breathe out fully.

She hated the idea of the lesser evil, but when the evil it faced was so great, perhaps she would allow some leeway.

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

Fomoria tried his hardest, but he couldn’t stand it, not as he was now, he couldn’t even pretend.

These people were stripped of their free will, caged like animals, told what they can and cannot do.

He would not allow it, he could not allow it.

Wrath burst from his heart, without letting it out at times, he would not be able to maintain the facade.