I had been forced to make the Keep my base, despite the aversion to living in a place that Chon had defiled so badly. I didn't want to live there, even after a complete cleaning and airing, the psychic stench remained. But the territory stone had been placed in the building, and it was best to maintain a presence near it.

It didn't matter that the array flags and plates had been placed and activated correctly. It also didn't matter how effective those arrays were at defense. It would be idiotic to place the territory stone in the building and then just abandon it for anyone to attempt to walk in and attempt to subvert. A claiming marker could be compromised by allowing someone else to claim the stone. Proximity would allow my Qi to passively feed the connection between me and the stone, strengthening the bond over time. My aversion to Chon and his depravities were secondary considerations.

The Keep was not without its merits; I was forced to admit, and I could repurpose certain rooms to make it more useful to government operations. I moved my working space to the room that used to serve as a large dining hall. The room hadn't been used in years, so it didn't have the taint of corruption and depravity that was pervasive in the areas Chon had used. The removal of the dozen or so tables made a major impact on the functionality of the room. The tables had been gathering dust, the room neglected, but a thorough cleaning revealed a room every bit as large as the reception room Chon had been using for his hedonistic pleasures.

As for the rest of the building, I had considered that any new town council I created might work from here, before dismissing that idea. The Townhall worked well, and the people might not be brave enough to approach their representatives if their offices were moved to the Keep.

I decided, instead, to convert most of the rooms on the first floor into offices and conference rooms, but to use those offices for personal aids and staff that would help me manage the entire barony. It would transform the building from a private residence into the seat of government, but that made the most sense.

The upstairs held a dozen bedroom suites, each appointed with gold and silver embellishments. That was an obscene waste and use of those metals. Their ability to conduct Qi and Dharmic spells made the metals highly sought after. The metal was often used for runes, arrays, enchantments, even cultivation manuals, and fighting techniques were scribed on specially prepared parchment using ink laced with gold or silver.

That method wasn't as effective as using a jade token. It couldn't convey the essence of a technique, but the scrolls could be used by non-cultivators. Tokens not only held the writings of the person imparting their techniques, but it shared the memories of the cultivator as they practiced the technique. Those memories allowed for a more complete understanding. By injecting a trace of personal Qi into the tokens, you were able to embrace those memories. It allowed you to follow along as the person who was imparting the technique practiced it.

I had all the gold and silver removed from the rooms and stored. The inlays and missing fixtures were replaced with more appropriate materials. Gwen had been indispensable in finding people of talent that could help to refurbish the Keep. One of the construction companies had a Body Refinement cultivator that had an affinity for the wood element. His work in replacing the gold and silver with wood inlays made a major difference in the ambiance of each suite. It eased some of the discomfort I felt about using the place as the seat of my barony, and it made more sense to use a resource that was local and abundant in the reconstruction.

The garish display of wealth softened by ceramic fixtures and wood with interesting grains and texture transformed the rooms from garish and ostentatious to elegant and tasteful. I thought the walnut finish more in keeping with our Elven nature, the satiny texture of the new look a much better fit for the building. The ceramic was also a local product. A mix of sand and coral somehow blended together to create polished red adornments.

The reds and browns combined well together and transformed the entire Keep from pleasure den to restrained elegance. The muted colors projecting a warmth and vibrancy the gold and silver were missing.

Chon's bedroom had been gutted. I had ordered everything removed, the furniture repurposed, and the linens and his clothing donated so that local tailors could reuse the cloth. There was a hidden safe discovered when the wood panels had been removed. There was a staggering number of spirit stones. Enough to have powered the eight trigrams formation for years, without the need to bastardize the power control and use his people as Qi batteries.

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Finding that enormous amount of wealth only made his actions even more reprehensible than they already were.

"Sect member Cinder has completed the repairs on the outer sections of the eight trigrams formation," Gwen informed me, almost before I had sat down in my chair to start the day's business.

"She wanted to make sure you knew she would be working on the taijitu next. The taijitu was hard to explain. It was a concept, very like a [Dao]. It embodied the distinct energies of Ying/Yang and created the harmonics that combined the disparate sections. She promised to be as discrete as possible and wanted me to inform you that the repairs to the design required very little flux or coral."

"Did she mention how long she thought it might take?" I asked. The need to add coral to the metal flux was a requirement that Cinder discovered when she moved from the inner workings of the formation to the outer. The original creator of the formation had recognized that the living coral that grew in the coastal waters had formed a unique resonance. The coral seemed to remember that it was a part of something larger, and a kind of connection remained no matter how far away or how the coral was changed.

I had been forced to leave Cinder to her work, the headaches of managing the town taking too much of my time. Her lessons and explanations into the workings of arrays were a unique opportunity, one I resented being forced to forgo. But there was too much I needed to do to take the time to follow her around each day.

I needed help. The town needed more people stepping up to provide that help.

I had asked Fester and Mauve, two of the remaining council members, to oversee a census, one that included each person's skills. It was hard to make plans for improvement until I knew who I had to draw on and if anyone had the skills I was looking for. Carpenters, stonemasons, and construction crews were my most pressing concerns, especially people that had any affinity with wood, metal, or earth. But I would need all the secondary professions to help rebuild and expand the town at some point.

There was no way to have the census completed quickly. The town had over fifty thousand people living here. Gwen was able to do work around that while Fester and Mauve generated that list by sending out notices to hiring halls. Offers of employment, stressing the need for people able to help with construction.

There were a few construction companies that I was able to hire, each staffed with people with minor talents for earth and wood affinities. The businesses had been languishing along with the rest of the town, each on the edge of insolvency. The neglect that Chon had allowed to grow over time had become so pervasive that even those people who could afford to build and repair their homes and businesses had decided against it. The people realized the town was dying, that it was only a matter of time, and they knew it was a waste of money to affect repairs. Money that could be better spent on trying to flee.

If Harbor Master Elis hadn't been as corrupt as Chon was, the town would have become deserted long ago as people immigrated. But he had extorted huge sums of money for anyone wanting to book passage on a ship. His goal was to keep the people here as long as the smuggling operation was flourishing.

"A day at most," Gwen said, answering my question. "She believes she will need a week to make the repairs to the controlling array and power system once the taijitu is functional."

"Did she agree to let any of the town's people watch and learn?" I asked.

"Only one," she replied, "a young man that is just reaching his majority. She was impressed with his determination to learn, and the knowledge he had been able to gain without access to Sect resources."

"She might suspect he will open a powerful Spirit Root," I mused. "Keep informing the town that I will be holding an awakening ceremony at the end of the month at the Townhall. Let's hope she's right, and he does wake a highly ranked spirit root. The town could use a bit of good news, and the awakening of a powerful cultivator should help boost morale and give them a reason to celebrate."

"I also have a list of candidates interested in serving as new councilors. I've listed them by region, identifying them by the sections they live as it relates to the layout of the eight trigrams formation. Most areas have a number of people interested, but the zone near the dock hasn't had anyone reply so far."

"I can understand their hesitancy," I admitted. "Who would want to be responsible for an area that might see constant attacks. I hope once the eight trigrams formation is completely repaired and operational, that will change.

"In the meantime, I received a missive from the Sect last night. They are sending a dozen Body Refinement Realm cultivators that have an earth or metal elemental affinity to make repairs. The Sect is going to cover the cost of getting the outer walls and gates up and operable.

"They will work on buildings, business, and homes too if anyone is willing to pay them. The Sect will not assume those costs. I plan on having every government building either repaired, rebuilt, or torn down, so I need a list of what and where those properties are," I said, watching as Gwen took notes.

I knew I was leaning heavily on Gwen. Her help had become indispensable, perhaps more than I should allow for. But she had proven herself to be capable and knowledgeable over the few days since I had established my Fief. I had often thought it a shame that she had never had the chance to awaken her spirit root. She would have been a formidable cultivator and made an effective Baron.