When we arrived back at the outpost, Mouse was there waiting for us. He was sitting on one of the larger fallen bricks as if he had nothing better to do in the world than wait. Although he was glaring at the germaniums like they had done something in a past life to offend him. I had been taking the time over the days we had been here to start taking care of them. Could it be that my deciding that I wanted something pretty here would be so awful to such an ugly man?

"How did it go?" the man squealed out.

"We got three of them. Where is Tiger?" Marco asked.

We had dealt little with Tiger's lackey. He seemed much more interested in taking notes and doing paperwork than dealing with us. Which was fine with me since I did not get any intrigue from the man at all.

"Tiger is out of the camp. She is setting up communications with a nearby adventuring guild. Something about offering rewards to adventurers who kill monsters in the area."

I had begun to tone out the conversation between Mouse and Marco. After all, we didn’t report to Mouse. I decided that the better use of my time was to pluck a few of the geranium flowers. They had begun coming back full of life in deep violets and sun-fired oranges. Tiger had approved for me to accessorize my uniform in any way I wanted. That was under the condition that I completed the work assigned to me. These flowers would be a good way to start. I could use some of them to decorate the rope I used for a belt. I could also pin some around my robe for more pops of color.

I stopped as I noticed that the four men were now staring down at me. Marco had a smile teasing at his lips. Mouse looked like he could kill me at any moment. While Vamp and Liz were looking at me with confusion playing in their eyes.

"Well looks like Devin has already got the idea that the rest of the day is for us,” Marco said.

"No, it is not prisoner 468! You..."

Before Mouse could continue, a flame appeared in Marco's hand. "Wouldn't your boss say something like I am not asking, I am telling you?" Marco said.

I could not help but burst out into laughter. Even though Marco bore a look that could kill. The tremble over Mouse was so noticeable that his entire frame shook. I on the other hand picked up a piece of stone and made a few pins out of it. Then went back to decorating my robe with the flowers I found.

"She said that to you too, huh?" I asked Marco while affixing the last of the flowers.

“Tiger is gonna…” Mouse started.

"Mouse stop, '' I said as playfully as I could, “Marco is only good at killing. I, on the other hand, still have things to do. Tiger told me to repair the walls. So, if you have any objections, bring it up with her."

I turned to Marco, who looked at me dumbfounded. It looked like he wanted to stand his ground on Mouse. But, even I knew that would only get us so far. If Tiger heard word that we were not following Mouse’s orders she would not be happy. I put a hand on his shoulder and dragged him off with me to build some walls.

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"Couldn't you let me torment that guy a little?" Marco asked, giving me his best puppy dog eyes.

"No, because if you torment him Tiger torments us."

"Whatever. That guy bugs the snot out of me. The inquisitors could all die for all I care," Marco said the last part while his mind was not there with me. He was looking off in the distance somewhere I wouldn’t be able to pull him back from.

"Don't worry, we will do nothing too tough. You have the easiest job. All you need to do is lay down and watch me practice." I gave a quick wink to Marco as I turned to the task at hand.

I wanted to work a bit on the walls, even if it had been Tiger's idea. If we got into a siege in the next few days by the dwarfs, we would not survive. I was not at the stage with my powers that I could protect, even Marco and me. Marco had found a grassy patch to lie down on.

“Don’t work too hard on me,” I called back to him.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Marco said. “What I need right now more than anything is a good nap. All this work Tiger has been making us do it too much.”

“Must be tough, but if you don’t mind I have walls to build. That is if you don’t want the dwarves waltzing in here as if they owned the place.”

“Nope, wouldn’t want that. Carry on with what you planned to do,” Marco said as he placed his hands together and lay on top of them.

So, I began working on the wall. At first, I wanted to see the limitations of my golems. I had the three humanoids load a small wooden cart that I occupied from the orcs with fallen bricks. I then drew the cart over in front of me. As the two humanoid golems worked on placing bricks back on the wall, I had the third smear the wall with mud. After they had completed a portion of the wall, I gave it a wave with my hand. I forced the crude construction into a solid wall. We continued this process for a while until the wall became too high for the golems to reach.

At that moment, it was time to stretch out my powers and see what I could do after all I had been through. My golems began pacing the bricks at my feet instead of along the walls. As I instructed, they made the bricks into a circle. I closed my eyes and imagined the bricks returning to their original spots on the wall. The places that they longed to be. Something about the destiny and finality of their existence pulsed through me.

As I had rehearsed in my mind, I began shaping the wall to what felt like its original and intended form. The bricks moved and cemented themselves into place, one after another. The entire process sent a stream of excitement through me, but I needed more power to finish the wall. I knew that to be true since I felt an all too familiar nausea wash over me. Then I realized I could use my golems as a power source. In the same way, Marco could absorb souls. An image flashed into my head that I could do the same to increase my powers.

I reached out a hand to the three humanoid golems and said, "Come to me!" The voice that came out, though, did not sound like my own. The darkness inside of it almost gave me pause, but I was too enthralled with the power building within me to stop. I pushed on, taking in all three souls within my body. The experience was unnerving as it seemed like there was a war inside my body. I pulled it all back together as I pushed through the experience.

As I came back into control, I took a deep breath in and looked to complete my task. Closing my eyes once more, I made a mental image of what the outpost used to be, and what it should be. Then I acted on that image, giving in to the desires of the world, putting everything back together how it once was. I let out a big breath of air as the last fallen brick found its home. As it did, I slumped down to the ground, falling unconscious, completing what I had intended to do.