All Daniel had were carefully laid plans and several certain beliefs about his capabilities. That he would succeed because he had no other choice. That he was smart enough, strong enough, and determined enough, to overcome.

But there was no planning for every eventuality, and there was certainly no planning for Esra.

Esra shambled in, hands in his pockets. The Game Killer himself.

The champion of a newly formed Game had encountered the very danger that threatened to overturn the careful plotting and schemes of Lords, both High and Low.

Parcel had been wise. Esra was a greater danger to Servant Branch than any shenanigans a Lordling could have schemed.

Dual duties compelled Branch to act.

The best course of action: Find actions that answered both problems.

"Great Gravity Mage Esra, please be welcomed to the O'Tells House during this time. These humble servants are amazed at your show of strength. Could the great Mage perhaps...cancel the spells on the doors?"

The lanky Mage paused. "Oops, I'm at fault," he said. The Law of Fae remained dead in his words, however. Debts were difficult to accrue on Mages. Not impossible, but rarely worth the effort.

Then Esra snapped, and the two front doors moved normally again. However, the Door Keepers fell to the ground, sprawling and stunned.

Time to mop up the first of the mess.

Daniel strode away from his hexed door, his steps graceful and confident.

He found a rhythm and spoke directly to the Law of Fae, shaping the narrative. "Asked and was answered, this one did hear. A Mage was challenged, and persevered! Magic shown and magic done, now all servants back to as begun." He was also firming his interpretation of the event to the Law of Fae.

The Law of Fae found it acceptable.

The doorkeepers looked up at Daniel. Daniel was expecting anger or resentment. Instead, there were expressions of gratitude. Oh, they were afraid of getting in trouble somehow.

"Put the pieces back and all are blessed, no one need find distress. The party goes on, for no one did hear, as this show of strength was for our eyes and ears." Daniel was telling the Law of Fae and the servants that no one need get in trouble and that everyone behaved within the bounds of their duties. It must be true, his bindings did not react. As long as they restored everything before the Surmount Butler finished his rounds inside the Banquet Hall, it would be in everyone's best interest to overcome this incident.

Besides, if one of these fellow servants did take the pains to tattle, Daniel would be able to identify an informant.

The various servants acted quickly. Two maids arrived from somewhere and began sweeping the leaves and petals Esra's gravity well had pulled in. A lesser hall attendant, probably the Glasbin's former partner considering how similar he appeared to Daniel, rushed in to check on the Door Keepers, who started moving again. Another lesser hall attendant polished the fancy knob of the entrance door, which had been smudged by the doorkeepers' wild struggle to hold on. The Door Keepers, standing again, closed the massive double entrance doors in the Lren Style.

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And then it was like the havoc that followed Esra everywhere never happened.

Leaving a very confused Esra. "I don't know what you just said. Did you do a magic thingy again? You promised you'd tell me so I could be ready." Esra said, approaching Daniel.

Politically, Elswith had been allied with Esra a few times, but their spheres of influence hadn’t crossed much. The Mage Affiliation was situated apart from the Fae Courts, and the Mages' influence was directed toward different objectives. Esra was a Mage. He was lax, sloppy, and brilliantly talented in his field.

Surely, Esra would realize that something had happened, and he would behave. Surely, this one time.

"I like your new costume." Esra drawled.

Daniel said nothing, but inwardly he was fuming and begging that Esra would respect the Game for once in his entire life.

Esra the Game Killer smiled, almost as if he had heard Daniel's thoughts, as he stepped closer and tapped Daniel's arm. "Let's talk."

With that contact, he slapped Daniel with a gravity spell.

Of course, Esra couldn't be trusted for even five minutes.

The world was moving out from under Daniel's feet, suddenly lurching up, so the floor was now a steeply banked wall, as Daniel’s center of gravity changed. The leather soles of his shoes squeaked as the floor resolved itself to be the wall. He almost lost his footing.

But this was not the first time he’d experienced this. Daniel leaned into the slide, pushing himself against what was once the floor to distribute his weight and keep himself from tumbling all the way down. “This again?” he muttered. A Duel with Parcel would have been preferable to the uncertainty of Esra.

Daniel hurtled sliding down, passed several hall attendants and more than a few maids.

His bindings all twitched and fluttered, confusion as there was no response prepared for such as situation as this. No doubt the High Lords were laughing. Did the High Lords laugh? The Red Lord certainly did not.

The foyer was long, but it did not run forever. The new 'floor' soon rushed to meet Daniel. What was normally a wall was fast approaching, so Daniel angled his sliding descent so as not to land on any valuable works of art framed on the wall. He was going pretty fast now, had to land carefully or risk his ankles getting damaged. Inside, Daniel fumed over this action.

“Oops, I’m so clumsy. Let me fix this.” Ersa exclaimed, voice dripping with innocence. Great. What was Esra doing now? Anyone else wouldn’t be so forward. If Esra had belonged to a fae court, he wouldn’t have dared do so.

No helping it. Daniel stood on his new 'floor', the wall. He stepped toward the middle of the wall, carefully avoiding marking the walls with shoe prints. He righted his clothes and craned his head up and saw looking up a high hill the rest of the staff staring at him with wide eyes while Esra hustled down.

The Mage walked down the foyer and upon reaching the wall, took a step off the floor until he stood on the same ground as Daniel. He was powerful but blunt and stubborn enough that it was a wonder he was even still breathing.

Daniel felt the spider sock shift for a moment, but then remain inert. Daniel felt real regret. It would have served Esra right to be covered in spiders.

"Hey Spikes, did you see Parcel go through here?"

Spikes. That nickname contained no power and was useless.

The first barrier arrived. How to dissuade the Game Killer from ruining the game while also keeping commands of stalling Esra from finding Parcel?

"Esra, do you have any idea of what you've done?"

"Oh, it'll be fine. It's nothing you can't fix anyway, and the O'Tells love me. Orville's mom asks me to make sure Orville doesn't get in trouble."

"Say that again?" Daniel asked, realizing something important.

"Orville's mom has questionable judgment?"

"No, the first part."

"Oh, it's nothing you can't fix with your Lordling powers. People have to listen to you or something."

Esra didn't know that Daniel was a Servant.

He didn't know what happened to Daniel.

The Game Killer didn't know the danger that would happen if he recklessly intervened. He didn't see the Game at work, perhaps because he couldn't. This meant...as long as no one told Esra, explicitly and in clear faespeach, that Lordling Elswith, Heirling of the Red Sword, was the champion of a Capital Game that would determine the survival of hundreds of children, several rural villages, and Lordling Elswith's own future...then Esra may never piece it together. If no one told Esra that Elswith was basically stripped of all his power and vestiges, then he may never realize on his own.

Esra couldn't kill a game if he didn't know it was there.

Daniel would just have to mislead him. This was one of the few times Daniel wished he could directly tell a falsehood.