Dantes looked at Lorna and the strange green creature she’d called Beast as they moved to sit next to him. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and he found his own drawn to them. Like looking down a dark passage in the pit, and sensing something there that he couldn’t quite make out.

“You said you think the Mother chose you for two reasons. You explained the first one to Murk, what was the second?”

“You have good hearing.”

“Yes.”

Dantes glanced at Jacopo who was still boldly drinking water as Beast sat less than a foot away from him.

“The second reason I think she chose me is… hedging.”

“Hedging?”

“It’s clear that druids are dwindling because of their conflict with cities and it sounds like a few other issues. By making me a druid in a city, she’s hedging her bets. Making sure that at least one member of the brotherhood will survive by being on the side of the largest city.”

She scoffed. “A weakling’s mindset. The Mother doesn’t ‘hedge bets’ she is one of the greater gods. If we die it is because we are weak and she has no use for us.”

“Ah, I’m guessing you don’t think I should be initiated then?”

She shook her head. “Oh no. I do. The first point you made to Murk has convinced me. Bombs, magic, tactics. The Floating City of Chitlan does not encroach on my swamp in the way a city that rests on solid ground might on the nature which surrounds it, but they already take more than their fill. It will worsen with time and I must be ready.”

Dante nodded, taking note of her conviction. He wondered what she’d be willing to trade with him. He wasn’t sure what a swamp would have to offer him, but he’d keep an open mind.

He glanced again at Beast. “Can I ask what manner of creature he is? Some kind of swamp dragon?”

“You’ve never seen a gator before?”

He cocked his head. “Never even heard of them.”

She knelt down and gave Beast a rough scratch on the scales of his neck. He opened his mouth and closed his eyes in a clear display of contentment.

“That is sad for you. They are the greatest of the Mother’s creatures.”

He looked at the row of razor sharp teeth on display and nodded. “Yes, I feel very deprived about it."

With their conversation done he approached the twins next. He found that while Fern was on his side, Ivy wasn’t and she needed some convincing. Luckily, unlike Lorna she was convinced by the idea of him being the Mother’s insurance in case the brotherhood came close to falling. They were also both tentatively interested in gunpowder. The suggestion of what havoc they could cause with their birds carrying bundles of bombs seemed to clinch the deal for them.

He spoke to Fizz last, who returned to the glade with two dead deer being pulled by an ox, which shifted into something too small for Dantes to make out then disappearing in the grass.

“Don’t bother. I’ve been listening in this whole time. Well, we all have been. Hard to keep secrets in a grove full of druids.”

Dantes knew that, but he’d already felt that not visiting them individually could be seen as disrespectful or he may come up with some new argument in his favor on the fly.

“Well, where do you stand so far?”

“I was with you from the start, as was Thing.”

A small field mouse popped out of Fizz’s blue hair, morphing into a small bird to do a short lap around Dantes’ head.

“How does he do that?” asked Dantes as he watched Thing change.

“The same way you or I do. We can change, why can’t the animals we share souls with?”

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“I haven’t seen any of the others do it.”

Fizz shrugged. “We all learn things at a different pace. Or sometimes one of us can just do things another can’t. Druid abilities are instinctual, and we tend to learn what powers we’re best suited for first, as do our companions.” He held out a finger for Thing to land on, which it did as a bird, before becoming a lizard and scurrying up his arm.

“Why would I want to be anything other than a rat?” asked Jacopo simply.

Dantes shrugged. “Makes it easier to eat or kill something bigger? Or easier to get small enough to slip somewhere you couldn’t fit before? Or fly? I’d bet flying is very fun.”

Jacopo nibbled on the edge of Dantes’ collar in consideration. “Hmmm. I’d still prefer to be a rat.”

Thing let out a kind of choking sound that Dantes somehow recognized as a laugh. “A strong identity. What a waste of time that is.”

Dantes found himself remembering Syn and the other Changelings. He still needed to find the Magister that had sentenced her to the Pit. Now that he was building favor back up and no longer needed to search for Gaspard, maybe he could turn his attention in that direction. He needed to start monitoring Danglars anyway.

“Well, I appreciate having you on my side.”

“Let me give you another piece of advice.”

Dantes raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry about Murk. Focus your attention on everyone else. Convince them and he’ll go along with it. He’s a pack animal at heart.”

Dantes nodded. He didn’t have much of a choice at this point anyway.

The next hour was spent gutting and cleaning the deer that Fizz had brought before putting most of it over the fire to cook, leaving a good chunk of it raw for everyone’s beastly companions. The Twins spent some time foraging and returned with a number of roots, berries, and nuts that supplemented the meal. Overall it was a bit bland to Dantes, compared to what he’d been eating at the Vixen, but still well above what he’d been eating in the Pit just a little over a month before.

As they dozed after eating, there was a commotion in the brush at the edge of the glade. Dantes turned his attention in that direction to see two shapes approaching. The taller of the two, Dantes realized, was in fact a dwarf riding a large Boar. He had a wild gray beard and wore a tattered cloak over a well worn traveling outfit. His eyes were a pale green that caught the light of the setting sun and his Boar’s eyes matched. The boar’s hair was also the same color as the Dwarf’s beard which was so long that for a moment he couldn’t tell where the dwarf ended and the boar began.

The second figure was a slight kobold with bright yellow coloring spotted with black. She had a black raccoon on her shoulder, and both she and the raccoon were wearing backpacks that made light clinking sounds as they moved. As she got closer, Dantes could sense a sickeningly sweet smell emanating from her that was somehow not canceled out by the cacophony of smells the rest of the druids gave off.

“Coal! Mor-gan-may! Welcome. I was beginning to grow concerned,” said Traizen as he approached them.

Coal got off his boar and lifted Traizen by the legs in a powerful bear hug.

Mor simply gave everyone a curt nod, before zeroing in on Dantes.

“You. You are the new one.”

Dantes nodded. “Yes. I’m Dantes, nice to meet you.”

She looked him over, approached, and smelled the air around him by flicking her tongue in his direction. “Hmmmm, there’s an interesting mix of environments within your locus. I’m also picking up… a deep low light environment near strange energies.”

Dantes raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t been in the Pit for quite some time, and he’d bathed frequently since he’d gained the ability to do so regularly. Quite frequently with the help of additional hands that cost him a few silver. “You have impressive senses.”

“Do you know of any native poisons in your locus? Or any curatives?”

Dantes thought about it. Come to think of it, it seemed very foolish of him to overlook the potential of poisons and medicines with his new abilities. It also didn’t surprise him that a Kobold druid would’ve put the incredible focus of her species into investigating that.

“I know that greenleaf helps with wounds, and I think arrowroot can mess up a stomach, but aside from that I don’t know much. Don’t mind a bit of weed for a headache, though some prefer dust.”

Her face turned disappointed as he spoke. “Greenleaf could refer to many many things, as could arrowroot.”

“Hmm, assuming I’m initiated I’ll talk to an herbalist and bring samples the next time all of the druids are called here and give them to you.”

Her expression brightened a bit.

“Maybe you could teach me a few things about poisons in exchange.”

Her expression brightened even more. “Yes, that would be excellent.” The raccoon on her shoulder nodded in agreement.

Coal approached shortly after, with his hog snorting and snarling behind him. “And you’d be the filthy city dweller trying to join us?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“You good in a fight?”

“Only when I fight dirty.”

“You good to your friends?”

“As long as they stay friendly.”

“Do you love plants, animals, and life of all kind.”

Dantes paused. He hadn’t really thought about it before. As a kid he’d thrown small bits of bread into the water at the docks to see the small fish slurp at it from down below. As a young man he’d fed and cared for the mascot for the Purring Princess, a long haired white cat that he’d nearly beaten a man to death over stepping on. Even when he was in the pit he still took the time to water the plants he found and shared some food with Jacopo.

“I do,” he responded after standing silently for a few moments. Speaking with a sincerity that was rare to him.

Coal spat in his hand and held it out. “Then it would be an honor to call you brother.”

Dantes spat in his own hand and gave Coal’s hand a firm grasp.

Coal released his grip, leaving Dantes with a hand that had gone from gray to black where he had touched, and then looked across the glade, his stomach audibly rumbling.

“By the Mother, tell me someone already hunted.”