As swiftly as Vari and Chikere had entered Everheart’s territory, they were gone. That was only possible with his blessing, but it was obvious that he did have a soft spot for his niece. And there were other reasons as well.

“I thought I’d get more out of it,” Luksa admitted. “She… doesn’t hate me as much as I thought she would. Or perhaps… she is in better control of it.”

“I’d say it’s the latter,” Everheart commented. “After all, she learned to control her own devotion flow even before reaching Integration. It’s not odd for you to receive very little malice either. And what of you, Rahayu?”

The man nodded, “I’ve learned quite a bit. This should cut at least a century off of my advancement.”

Luksa sighed. “That Chikere as well. I said I would kill her friend and got nothing. Was I mistaken? Perhaps it is merely a superficial relationship.”

Rahayu shook his head. “That is only expected. I do not know how close these two were in particular, but while her loyalty appears strong… she is not the type to hold grudges for long. Or rather, she would tend to deal with them instead of letting them linger. Besides, you didn’t kill or even seriously injure Vari.”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t supposed to be able to predict that,” Luksa frowned. “This planet you came from is full of odd people.”

“That may be the case,” Everheart admitted. “But your comparisons to Ceretos are twisted by your own home planet.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me of that place. I’m glad I got out of there.”

“I would have caused more trouble before I left if I felt that way,” Everheart said.

“Your trouble was already quite sufficient,” Rahayu commented.

“I don’t like it,” Luksa said. “We’re too weak. Even with you,” Luksa glared at Everheart, “We’re barely a minor faction.”

“I think you simply underestimate how much the Scarlet Alliance has grown,” Everheart pointed out. “But it’s true we do need more people. I was thinking of recruiting from our largest neighbors.”

“You’re not likely going to run into many Augmentation cultivators from a collapsing sect,” Luksa pointed out. “Or Integration cultivators with extreme potential.”

“Well, not by accident of course,” Everheart grinned.

-----

The biggest difficulty with the insects, Three Squeaks determined, was not communicating with them. Their sign language was adaptable enough, and they could understand the pervasive speech on the planet. The stronger among them could even replicate the sounds of speech with their energy. He didn’t even have too much trouble teaching them about cultivation, as if he were some sort of knowledgeable elder and not… well, himself.

No, the difficult part was wondering if he was being watched by her. It didn’t matter how much Anton told him that the Great Queen was friendly, it didn’t prevent her from being terrifying. An unbreakable body- from his perspective- and that was without considering her ability to ignore the effects of natural energy. Scary.

But ultimately, Three Squeaks knew his concerns were just worry. And while Anton said that worry could be useful, developing higher level cognition wasn’t all fun and games. On that note, each generation was growing more rapidly, up to a certain point.

As far as ‘generations’ went, that was about a year for meerkats. Three Squeaks didn’t have any children of his own yet, which was something of an oddity… but these were odd times. They were growing in numbers rapidly, but they could grow even faster if they wanted to. Instead, the coalition was trying to be conservative. Talks of famine made them fear for things going back to how they had been several years prior. It wasn’t just the threat of locusts or the like- though they were more prepared to deal with them if it happened again- but also differing amounts of rainfall and temperature and so many things they hadn’t even had the time to think about before when they were just scavenging for food.

Growing food felt almost unnatural at first, but the benefits proved themselves quickly. It meant being able to stay in the same burrows for longer- potentially forever. And while not all of their members settled down in a set location, the greater quantity of everything from the tastiest scorpions to the ponderous hippos meant that even with their increasing numbers they didn’t need that much more space. At least not as far as sapient individuals were concerned.

-----

The attack came in the night- but not without warning. Meerkats had the luxury of living inside, but not all of their members had the same defensive opportunities. There were some structures they had creatures- things like ‘fences’ and ‘walls’- but nothing that could withstand a real attack. And certainly not for everyone living with them. Thus, they took up a proper meerkat tradition… though admittedly the eagles were much better at it. Just a couple of them watching from the skies at all hours of the day could cover all of the coalition’s territory. And the real threats tended to be the most obvious ones.

Like this. Lions, marching upon them. And unlike Rumbling Growl and the young lions, they came not openly during the day but stealthily at night. Or rather, some of them were trying to be stealthy.

Three Squeaks was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he approached the meeting. “What’s the report?” he asked.

“A dozen lions, at least,” said an eagle from her perch. “I saw the pride leader approaching… and it at first seemed he was alone. But there were many lionesses slinking along beside him, concealing their energy. Most in Spirit Building, or close to it. Except… the pride leader himself. It feels like he has stepped into Essence Collection, or a similar level of power.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Deep Purr had questions in that regard. “They don’t properly know how to cultivate… do they?”

The eagle shrugged, her wings fluttering. “Perhaps they have figured it out. Or perhaps he simply ate a vast quantity of others.”

“We should have done something sooner…” Three Squeaks said.

Deep Purr shook his head. “It was best not to start a conflict.”

“Perhaps, but we didn’t keep track of them even though we were aware of the potential threat. We should have, but we were too focused on our internal matters,” Three Squeaks replied.

“Does it matter?” the loud and deep rumbles of Contented Grunt joined the conversation. “Later, we can reflect on whether this could have been prevented. Now, we fight. Can we count on the swordmaster?”

“I don’t think so,” Deep Purr shook his head.

“If you do not think we can count on him, then we can’t,” Contented Grunt said. “We can hope that it does not have to be tested. But there is basically no chance that things happen without a fight. We can try diplomacy, but I would bet they would simply use the time to get into an ambush position.”

“It might be worth it…” Deep Purr said. “After all, it will let us bring more of our forces. We can’t draw upon all of the coalition- especially not immediately- but we can gather more soldiers without leaving anywhere vacant with more time.”

“I’d bet a few minutes at most,” Three Squeaks said. “Maybe if Pondering Hum speaks to them?”

“I… make… talk… long,” Meep offered.

“Only if they don’t get annoyed at you and just attack,” Three Squeaks reminded him.

The previous village chief arrived on the scene. “I heard my name, I believe.”

“Can you delay them with talking for a while?”

The meerkat thought for a few moments. “Better than the rest of us, I think. I suppose it’s a risk I must take. Though I’m running if combat starts. I won’t do any good there.”

“This is why we have different people for different things,” Three Squeaks said. “Some of us are meant for fighting, while some do more useful things. Like talking. And farming,” he looked over at Meep.

“I’m… also… going…” Meep said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Meep nodded slowly. “I bring… bad… mush… rooms.”

Was bad good? Three Squeaks had to assume it would be something good, or it didn’t make sense. Though he wasn’t sure how they could get the lions to eat an obviously bad mushroom.

-----

“Great sir,” Pondering Hum spoke with all of the courage he had. “Might I ask why you enter the lands of our coalition?”

The overly large lion roared in terrifying laughter. “Isn’t it obvious? I heard of many tasty meals here. We are going to devour you.”

Pondering Hum knew that, but it was so much worse to hear it from someone he knew could follow through. And while he believed in their people, he was far too close for comfort. What was this, three or four times the lion’s body length away from him, at most? He could probably jump that.

“It would be difficult,” Pondering Hum said. “You call us tasty meals, but that is because of our natural energy. You know we are strong. We would slay many of you.”

“What of it? Those who are weak will die, and those who are strong will grow stronger. Now then, I tire of this.”

“Wait!” Pondering Hum said. “What if… there were something easier?” He hadn’t even managed a single minute yet. This was one of the few things he was good at, and he really didn’t want to disappoint.

“Easier…?” the lion tilted his head.

“That’s right. Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Pondering Hum. What is your name, great sir?”

It hurt to be polite to an enemy, even if Pondering Hum might have done it to save his own hide. The lion’s glare made him think that his deception was noticed. False praise might be worse than none, after all. Though the lion was ‘great’ by the strictest definition, Three Squeaks didn’t have real respect for the lion. And now he was rising up high, about to murder him.

“That’s right. I am great. And because of that, I have cast aside my name. Instead, I go by King, meaning a great leader!” the lion roared. “Everyone shall fear me.”

“Indeed, King, you are quite terrifying,” Pondering Hum didn’t have to lie about that. But he was constantly nervous about insight picking up his actual plan here. Surely he had to have been found out already…? “But what good is it if they only fear you for a short time? I propose this. Instead of fighting all of us, where some of you will die… instead we choose some of our own. Send them to you to be… to be devoured. Then later, we will do it again. You grow stronger, and you lose no one.”

Pondering Hum hoped nobody thought he was serious about this. His companions were shifting about… but surely they had trained their Insight well enough, right?

“Very well. I want a hundred. No, two hundred meerkats! I will devour a dozen warthogs. And two hippos! Including that one!” King’s voice echoed across the land. “And I will start now.”

“Just one moment, please!” Pondering Hum said. “If you start killing us here, nobody will know we came to an agreement. And it will just turn into that fight.”

“Fine. But I won’t wait long.”

“Good. I’ll inform everyone right away.” Pondering Hum said.

“In the mean time… I notice a few lions among you. How would you like to join my pride? It is much stronger than this refuse you are a part of.”

“We’re from the Kapok Coalition,” Mischief said. “So if you do anything you’ll be in big trouble.”

“Only if I am found out,” the lion shook his head. “Little meerkat. Why are you not going to find the rest of your little coalition?”

“Actually…” the cry of a lioness from the bushes alerted everyone to something going on. “There’s the last of us now, I hope,” Pondering Hum shrugged. Then he turned to run.

-----

Half Oink and her father had been a day’s journey away from the northern border. With the enemy slipping inside, it was closer to a half day to catch up to the others, but they made the trip in even less time than that. As soon as the eagles came, they marched. And when Half Oink saw a lioness, she charged. It was only after her tusks cut a gouge down the side of the first lioness that she heard the talking and realized that maybe she wasn’t supposed to attack yet.

But there were enough of them… so it should probably be fine. And one less lioness meant that they had a bigger advantage.