“... throw a dwarf over a ravine. The only place an elf would ever throw a dwarf is into a ravine. Hoping for us to go back from wince we came. Ba, stupid pointy ears. No offense Gurt.”

Gurt merely nods at the complaining of the dwarf about the ‘human movie’. The lycan then moved three copper coins into the pile in the middle of the table and took his drink.

“ I must admit. I find this setting very relaxing. Was this common in your home before ‘the change’?”

David took a look at Azanii who threw her cards into the middle and called the Lycan’s raise.

“ This sort of thing tends to happen back then. We spent half the day working on bureaucracy, so I figured we needed a break before we began again.”

The dwarf looked at his hand again before sighing and throwing them in the middle as well.

“ Yes, a game of nonimport and some nice drink after an amazing dinner. It must not have been cheap.”

The Lycan showed his hand of two pairs, sixes and nines. David shook his head and threw his hand in the middle. His king-high pair not making the cut. After the pot was collected and the cards shuffled and dealt did the conversation start again. Starting with Azanii who had an opening bid.

“ If I understand the math right. Over twenty thousand for each of us.”

David shook his head and threw in two cards for new ones. He sighed trying to hide his tell in response to her statement.

“ Not quite, you forget each world market is different. It takes two thousand credits a day to feed one of your people with your food market. But my old world had an abundance of food. It takes about fifty credits a day to feed a person from our markets. That being said, that is the minimum value. But add costs of cooking and all that. Maybe five thousand for the whole thing.”

As David spoke everyone exchanged cards and Azanii put in two coppers. Which he quickly matched.

“ Not using faction funds for that are you?”

David gave the Lycan a shrug.

“ I sorted out the payment schedule and everything last night. With the tax and everything, I can have five thousand wardens on the payroll as long as you are producing. Speaking of important info. Is there anything I should know since I can not access my menu?”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The two councilors looked at each other before throwing their cards in the middle in turn. Azanii shows her cards of a strait from six to ten and David smiled as he showed her the full house of five and nines.

“ We used your notes you left us and arranged things you liked, with some changes you obviously left for our own peoples. Truth be told, we had no idea of how to grow since we never had the option before.”

“ Aye laddy shames me to say, we have fallen behind as well. Me mouth might have made a debt my arms can not back.”

David nods to this not oblivious to the fact some people can not help overestimate themselves. Since he was one of them. He then takes a glance at Azanii and knows without her and her people, they would already on route to collapse as a society.

After a few more hands the dwarf and Lycan noticed the other two were starting to look at each other more and more and realized what was happening and decided to return to their own wives.

With them gone the two began to talk about themselves and ignored the cards. Azanii began with her childhood as a warrior in training. She spoke of her father, who was a general, and the day he did not come back. How her sister Lounoni and her became close after the event. Then of her adventurers rising through the ranks of the dragonkin warriors till she stopped mentioning a name he did not catch through her growl of anger.

That is when David considered it his turn. He began with his father and then how his mother died. Then living with his friend’s family before going to college. Then finally of the three’s dream of building the ultimate warrior's armor. This got her full attention as she started asking questions about it and he answered as best he could.

He began explaining to her about the exoskeleton which was there to hold the weight of the entire suite and assist in moving it. He then began to explain about the interior layer of material all the way through the exterior steel shell and all the changes they made over the years.

What caught Azanii most was the operating system. The magicless system they made to help use the entire suit. As she listened she missed a sudden message that lasted less than a moment.

Warden system compatibility test...

Before Azanii knew it David had begun talking about Marry and what she did to him with his first marriage, and the mistakes he made leading into his second. This leads her to open up about her own relationship difficulties.

Azanii was not sure when after that that she took David and quite literally ripped the clothing off of him before throwing him in his bed in all the same motion. She was not even sure how long had passed since they started, but as she closed her eyes she noticed a message appear for a flash before disappearing.

Test passed!

Then a new message appeared and she forgot all about the previous one.

Seed of Ancient Fire (DIVINE) accepted

With a smile, she failed to resist her fatigue any longer and fell asleep.