Zalia awoke to soft purring sounds in the comfort of her own home. She had slept for a good half hour, longer than usual these days, and was ready for the coming weeks. The source of the purring was Boreal’s children, sleeping in a puddle of fur nearby.
It was the day that Zalia expected the military seated to the council Faian as well as General Ballast and Hildebrandt to arrive at Nature’s Reclaim. She had sent for them the day after returning from her trip, knowing that they deserved to be informed of her actions. While she was not under their jurisdiction as such, she did have to live with them and getting along was good for that continued relationship.
She stepped lithely out of bed, quickly and more importantly quietly getting dressed. Ember was still asleep in their bed and would be for many more hours still.
Boreal was awake, overlooking her children, apparently having nothing else to do. Zalia gave her a gentle scratch between the ears as she left the room, hearing another purr join the chorus at the action.
The freed slaves were settling in well, more than happy to contribute to the town in return for housing and food. The Ancient of Wisdom was already finding good use for the skills of the many Silver rankers, sending the mages and warriors to guard the walls and patrol the nearby area while the craftsmen and merchants were put to work on whatever various tasks needed doing. Their powerful utility would be invaluable within the town which, for the most part, held people of Bronze and Iron rank.
Zalia had spent a good amount of time thinking about what to do now that the town was running pretty self-sufficiently. While in the early days she had needed to resolve problems between the people and various animals living in the bounds as well as ensuring everyone was properly housed and fed with the support of the Ancient of Wisdom, that wasn’t the case anymore.
The people living there had settled in, now used to their new life intermixing with animals. Where the Ancient of Wisdom had needed guidance when it was young, it now excelled at its tasks, quickly and efficiently allocating resources and labour where they were needed.
The idea to go to the Astar lands had partly been a result of this boredom, in addition to the many other valid reasons for the journey. She probably should have chosen something a little less fragile to spend her days doing but what was done, was done.
For the first time in a very long time, Zalia didn’t have anything to do.
When she had lived in the north of her old world, each day had been filled with the tasks necessary for survival. When she had come to this world, her time had been taken up figuring out what had happened to her and where she was. Once she had sort of figured that out, her time had been taken up by the demon’s invasion of Endaria. Then had come the administration of Nature’s Reclaim.
Now, she might have started a war out of boredom.
That was a bit of an overstatement, yet the idea wasn’t entirely wrong.
There were definitely advantages they would get from having freed the people they had, however. With their combined knowledge, there was a lot they could learn about the Astar and how they functioned. Something, anything to help in the war that would have come either way.
She walked out of her home and down into the streets of town, nodding to people as she went. Aylie was out here somewhere, practicing her magic and… delving into the astral or something. Zalia had noticed something different about Aylie after her time as a disembodied soul. Something just a little off.
The girl could be anywhere though, so Zalia settled for a stroll through town.
She took an apple from a nearby stand, smiling at the owner setting it up as she went. Food was free for everyone in Nature’s Reclaim, freely available to those who contributed to the town. The occasion in which she would need to remove someone from the town for not pulling their own weight had yet to come and she hoped it never would. It was another point in humanities favour, that they were able to live in this way if given the chance.
As she walked through town, she equipped her armour, feeling the increased sense of strength and mobility that came with it. She was greatly enjoying the new permanent rituals that could be imbued into its surface and often wore it just for the feeling, even though it probably scared a good few people seeing her semi-transparent form walking around the town.
The rank-up had been unexpected as it was the first time any of her heirlooms had ranked up without the blessing of a god. She was looking to rank up the other two soon, if she could, hoping that they would advance to Silver rank now that she had been Silver for a while herself. Not that she could really force or train for that rank up like she could with abilities.
She recognised a few of the freed slaves as she went, a good few of them already awake despite the early hour. It wouldn’t have surprised her if a few of them didn’t need sleep either.
Most of them had decided to stay in Nature’s Reclaim with her for a few different reasons. Some wanted to repay her for saving them, others yet just liked the look of the town. Not all of them decided to stay, however, having family or friends they wanted to find. Those were the ones that had been taken more recently than the others, the ones who still had a chance of finding friends or family. Some of the older slaves had been with the Astar for more than two hundred years, a mindboggling amount of time. Zalia couldn’t imagine what it was like for them to come back to their home that wasn’t really their home anymore.
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Without any sort of destination in mind, Zalia found herself at the building that was both the home of the Ancient of Wisdom and a temple dedicated to Nateysta. Inside she found many crows hopping around doing their various tasks, with the Ancient of Wisdom talking quietly with some type of lizard. She gave them both a respectful nod as she passed, making her way to one of the many altars bordering the room.
She found herself kneeling and giving prayer at the altar, trying to get in touch with Nateysta, known to her as Ro-ak.
“Hey bud, I hope you’re doing alright wherever you are. Thanks for sending Lumen to help, it got Aylie and Ember out of the Astar’s grasp, along with many others. I wanted you to be here today for when Faian and others from the capital come to talk about that very thing. I feel that we’ll be planning the future steps in regards to the Astar and know you will have some invaluable insight into the topic.”
It only took a moment before Ro-ak replied.
“Zalia of the Druids, it is good to hear you’re thoughts again. I’m glad that you got them out. Do not worry, I know of this meeting already, I will be there.”
She smiled, still finding the experience odd. Back in her old world, she hadn’t been a religious person. It was kind of hard not to be in Endaria when the gods replied so… directly.
Walking out of the temple, she decided that she really needed to find a hobby. Maybe meditation?
As she pondered, a nearby vine started to wriggle around. It sprouted a branch that grew thicker, spreading out and upwards until the form of her friend, Ro-ak, appeared. It sat still as if it were a plant for just a moment before those infinite beady black eyes blinked. Then the head turned and looked down at her.
“Hello Zalia.”
She blinked back.
“When you said you would be here for the meeting, I kind of expected you to show up when the meeting was happening.”
Ro blinked back at her.
“The meeting is happening, in just a few moments.”
Zalia looked around.
“The others aren’t even here yet.”
Ro-ak tilted his head.
“They will be, soon.”
She sighed.
“Ro, are you getting your time mixed up again? You realise they probably won’t arrive for a few hours, right?”
Ro’s nodded a sort of weird, jerky motion.
“Yes, soon.”
She gave a louder, more pointed sigh.
“Alright then, come on back to the house before people start to realise who you are.”
Ro did join her as they quickly walked back home, people starting to recognise Ro before long, his appearance too similar to the various imagery of him around the town.
He had to shrink in size as she brought him through the normal-sized door to her house, guiding him to a sitting room with a fireplace in it. He settled like he was perching, on the thick, soft leaf litter coating the floor.
“Ember will wake soon so I’ll be back in a bit, Do you want anything to eat?” Zalia asked.
Ro looked at her curiously.
“Nevermind, forgot who I was talking to.”
She left and went to their kitchen. It was a small room, both because it didn’t need a pantry, fridge or cooking implements and due to its rare use. She had picked up a few things over the course of her walk and took them out now, using Natural Matter Alteration to prepare everything. There were thin slices of meat that she cooked to crunchy perfection using her heat manipulation, along with slices of different fruits that could be found in the town. She had also grabbed some fresh bread and cheese which she added to the plate.
Once everything was ready, she went upstairs to their room, creating a table and chair from the floor. She set the plate down, taking off a few bits of the meat and laying it temptingly near Boreal’s children. Using a tiny ritual, she pushed the air around to waft the scent of food towards Ember.
Boreal’s children awoke first, pouncing on the freshly cooked meat with abandon, their eyes still barely open. Ember woke not long after, blinking her eyes blearily.
“Hey, good morning.”
“Mmmmghhh,” Ember groaned as she stretched.
Zalia smiled, still waiting.
“Sleep well?”
The resulting groan of protest against the world told her all she needed to know.
“Breakfast is ready when you are and you should know that Ro appeared a little early for the meeting.”
“He’s here already?” The words were muffled by a blanket.
“Mhm.”
The young cats began to stretch and yawn, Pounce bapping Prance on the head for getting too close.
It took a few minutes for Ember to gather the energy to get up and Zalia kept the meat and bread warm for her all the while.
They relaxed together as a family, Aylie coming in with Lumen shortly after Ember had gotten up. It was nice to just be there with them, an experience she had grown used to over the years.
Their morning was interrupted when a knock came at the door an hour later. When Zalia went to open it, she found Faian, General Ballast and Hildebrandt waiting there.
Faian spoke up first.
“Hello Zalia, you better have a good explanation for calling us here.”
Zalia tapped twice on the doorframe with a knuckle.
“Good morning. Yeah, I do.”