Considerations

Chapter 182

During the meeting Ban had been rather stunned by Deux’s revelation about her ability. The way she used it, a little less so. He’d seen the maze manipulated when they were fleeing the Seekers. He’d also assumed they’d ended up dead at the time since more hadn’t come.

Even if they hadn’t been able to find an easy way in, that lot wouldn’t have given up. They’d have summoned more of their brethren and kept at it until they found a way.

Ban didn’t give a single shit about how they’d died. The only thing about the situation that bothered him was Deux using her ability to access the dungeon. That set the hairs along his spine up.

“Killing is killing, and the dungeon creatures do it very efficiently,” Deux had said. As if the matter were simple.

Ban shook his head, thoughts clouding it like flies. He’d walked through the town without managing to take much of it in. Now he was on the open road running along the river. His destination was one of the denser stands of trees.

It wouldn’t have been much of a set of directions, but with his sense of smell he hardly needed them. He’d scented Hari and Gretch as soon as they’d made it to a real road and he’d been fighting the instinct to find her since.

Now with the meeting over he was on their trail but hardly had a mind to take in anything else. There shouldn’t really have been any doubts in his mind. A dungeon was an evil thing and even if Deux wasn’t, it didn’t change that they’d be living near one that didn’t seem as contained as he’d assumed.

It should have been a given that they’d politely thank the good mayor for her help and leave. Yet he couldn’t convince himself of that path even without Jalla’s reaction mucking up things.

“I’ll be staying,” Jalla had said in her blunt way. The old doe had even gone so far as to bow to Deux. An elder was supposed to be wise and she was old enough to have helped their mothers whelp them. Ban didn’t know how he was supposed to argue with her, particularly when his heart wasn’t in it.

Maybe it was greed, but he liked the valley. It felt safer than he was accustomed to with its cliffs and friendly people. He also felt rather certain that even if Deux wasn’t an old guardian, she wasn’t entirely different either. That if they agreed to live as citizens, she’d defend them.

Why wasn’t complicated. Deux just seemed to be a poor liar and blunt, not to mention easily overwhelmed. He’d noticed it in how she dealt with him and the others when they first arrived. She liked to keep things simple.

Using the valley and town as a trap for the unwary would have been anything but simple. He doubted Deux would bother with a deception that required so much effort. That didn’t mean he thought she was honest exactly. Just reasonably readable, which was almost better.

She’d tell them what she wanted, possibly even why, and didn’t mind doing what was needful to achieve her goals. She wanted citizens, so she’d be kind to them. Perhaps less so once they committed to living there, but he hadn’t noticed any of the townsfolk wanting for anything important. They’d only really seemed to want a bit of conversation and news of the world outside the valley.

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Caught up in his thoughts, Ban was already straying off into the tree’s before he realized how close he was to his destination. He all but stumbled out of a bush and into the small clearing in front of the burrow.

“There's the brat now,” Gretch said merrily.

“Ban!” Hari called cheerfully. She was covered from the tip of her ears to her toes in dirt. He had her swept up in his arms in a hug before he realized he’d even started moving.

“Missed you, darlin,” Ban said, giddy with relief at seeing her. He didn’t even mind Gretch giving him a wallop with her stick for it. A sore backside was a small price to pay and it had been a light hit.

“Missed you too,” Hari said brightly. She wiggled her nose against his affectionately.

The second more serious wallop from Gretch convinced him to put her down.

“Got it, I’ll be good,” Ban said playfully. He definitely wasn’t going to apologize, though he’d keep his word.

“How was the meeting?” Gretch asked.

Ban was caught flat footed, though he should have expected as much. Gretch already had her reunion with Hari done with. Cutting his short wouldn’t seem that important in comparison to knowing what happened.

“It uh… went… generally fine,” Ban offered haltingly. There was no succinct summary of what had gone on so he went ahead and told them the story from the start when Attem made an ass of himself with Henry through to the meeting.

Hari looked as shocked as Ban had felt, sitting down on a tree stump to think. Gretch though looked thoughtful but not terribly surprise.

“You see this coming?” Ban asked. He couldn’t think of another reason she’d could be so calm.

“Gods boy, no. How would I have?” Gretch demanded. She looked at him like his brain had fallen out of his ear.

“You just don’t seem that surprised,” Ban said quickly.

“I’m not because I came expecting magic, and magic always means chaos of one kind or another,” Gretch said with a heavy sigh. She gestured at the tree’s around them.

“The place is heavy with it, you don’t get plants like this in a desert otherwise. Takes strong earth and water mana to sustain them when nature can't,” she added.

“Oh… I just assumed it was because of the river,” Ban admitted. That earned him another look like he was brainless.

“Along the banks, sure, but it's too low to flood like would be needed to sustain all this,” Gretch pointed out. Ban just nodded, not wanting to put his foot in his mouth again. He hadn’t thought of it, but that did make sense.

“Jalla really said she means to stay?” Hari asked.

“Obviously, so do I,” Gretch said with a harumph.

“What? Why?” Ban asked, doubly confused.

“I’m too old to go into the trackless wilderness like some mad yearling. I hardly made it here. I’d just slow the lot of you down if it came to that, which I won’t do,” Gretch said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Artem means to go,” Ban countered. The weight of the words were already settling uncomfortably in his gut.

“His legs are still good, and he’s an idiot. He probably thinks he’ll be able to finish training up someone to replace him before he dies. Best we pass on what we can here and let the young folks do what they want,” Gretch finished.

“Gran-” Hari started to interject only to be silenced by an upraised hand.

“I’ve spoken my bit, now you two talk amongst yourself. Though keep in mind I’ll geld you lad if you take liberties,” Gretch warned.

“I’ve had my tea,” Ban said, hands up in surrender. The tea didn’t prevent everything, but it would keep him from acting senseless.

“Good,” Gretch said, getting up with some trouble. She glared at Hari but allowed to let her help her to her feet anyway. She even gave her a fond pat before turning and heading for the road.

Watching her slow, uneven steps, Ban couldn’t deny she had a point about her condition and Jalla wasn’t much better. The band's elders certainly weren’t in ideal condition for an expedition of any kind, even without seekers after them.

“I’m staying if she is,” Hari said immediately, a hard look in her eyes. She’d lost her mother early and Gretch had raised her. Ban wasn’t surprised by her choice despite the situation.

“Alright, I wasn’t really keen on going either… if the rest of the band chooses to go, we can look after the elders here until they find a place to settle,” Ban said after a moment.

“There's my smart buck,” Hari said, hugging him this time.

Hari’s choice had made his own, he wouldn’t leave her. Still, it wasn’t a sacrifice of any kind. If anything he was grateful for her decisiveness.