Three years after the invasion
Ember walked casually through Zalia's Grove, still a little awed by the whole thing. The fact that her wonderful, beautiful partner was able to create something like this, especially at Silver rank, was a certain sign of her competence as a Druid. People often thought that the power of your abilities came from luck of the draw, whatever classes you were fortunate enough to get access to before you chose. She had always thought differently though.
In Ember's opinion, the power of the abilities you developed was entirely based on what you had been through to get them. She knew Zalia had been through a lot to get hers.
Hildebrandt was another example of this, a woman so capable and determined that she had become the strongest person in the kingdom and nigh unkillable. She hoped that Zalia would reach that rank and she dearly hoped she would be able to keep up.
Ember had reached Silver rank a few months after Zalia had, the opportunity to level up many of her skills how she usually did limited by the lack of people around. Not that she hadn't gone on her own journeys across the kingdom to help people and not that it was an issue anymore.
They'd had a good few years of peace and silence as the rest of the kingdom recovered and rebuilt but people had eventually started flocking to the Grove once word got around.
As people had started arriving, Zalia had begrudgingly allowed them to live in the town. The only reason she had done so was because of the three ancients who looked after the Grove.
A building near the centre of town had been transformed by the Ancient of Life and Ancient of Wisdom working together. It had become a temple to Nateysta, the god whose image the Ancient of Wisdom had been made in. That very Ancient now stayed in the temple, taking in anyone who needed help or guidance in what to do and taking care of their needs with the assistance of the other two Ancients.
Thus, a thriving town had been born.
The animals that lived in the town lived there as citizens, with their own jobs, homes and lives. It was a bit of an adjustment for the newly arriving Endarians but they soon grew used to it.
Ember nodded to Grey the cat as she walked down the street, receiving a little purr in return. She plucked a sweet fruit off a nearby tree as she went, on her way to help settle a dispute.
The Ancient of Wisdom had asked her to mediate between a group of farmers who wanted to set up a farm just outside the walls and the giant moles who lived there. It was an excellent distraction for her as she was waiting for Zalia.
The moles were an extremely productive group within Nature's Reclaim, often bringing up raw metals and minerals for everyone's use. They didn't ask anything for it, nor did anyone else ask anything for what they contributed. If you needed something, you simply went to the Ancient of Wisdom and it would make sure it happened.
These newly arrived farmers had been a bit of a problem however.
They insisted that they deserved more space, materials and almost everything else than the animals of the Grove did simply because they were human and this was a human kingdom. Well, that kind of mentality had started angering not only the animals but the Bathar that lived with them as well.
For some reason, the Bathar population in the kingdom had surged after the invasion. Ember thought it might have to do with the amount of space they now had with how many people had died but Zalia said it might be because of all the souls she released in Cormaine. Ember didn't question that as Zalia often had thoughts and ideas seemingly from nowhere that turned out to be right. Kind of like Aylie.
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Parenting Aylie had become harder and harder of late, ever since her powers over the astral had reached Bronze rank. Now fifteen, the girl had a tendency to know exactly what you were thinking, often because she could literally see it.
Ember hadn't figured out how to stop her from doing that though Zalia had somehow managed to block it entirely. Either way, it was hard to make an argument about anything with the girl when she'd just break it down with information pulled from your own brain. Issues for another day.
For now, she had to resolve this dispute.
She had reached the town gates and could hear the arguing already. A few of the farmers were yelling something about this being their land to which the moles were replying loudly through mental communication that they were here first and the farmers should find some other dirt further out from the town.
She strolled towards them and one of the farmers spotted her.
“Finally! The Ancient of Wisdom has finally sent someone to get rid of these pesky moles for us.”
Ember scowled at him.
“The fuck is your issue man?”
The farmer stood silent, mouth agape.
“Good, now stay shut up while I explain something to you. The moles have been here for years and have contributed more to the Grove than you may ever do. They're hard-working, peaceful and most importantly, mind their own business. You've been angering a lot of people in this town so you can either figure your shit out and be respectful to the others or take your shit and leave. This is not a place of opportunity, this is a community for those who want to live as equals.”
Some of the farmers began to look angry, so Ember soothed their emotions.
Emotional Soothing
Tin - You may heal emotional wounds.
Iron - This healing is applied in a gentler way. This may cause it to take longer but the resulting healing will be much greater. This is further amplified by your understanding of the emotions within your patient.
Bronze - You can develop a temporary empathic link with another person, allowing you to share their emotional burden. This will allow you to better understand the emotional wound and provide greater care with lesser risk.
Silver - You are able to heal and soothe emotions and emotional trauma in a way that the patient is unaware of. The degree to which you can dull down extreme emotion is significantly increased.
Usually, she tried to avoid using the ability on people unless it was necessary as messing around with others' emotions without consent is something she considered disrespectful at best and downright intrusive at worst. For these farmers, who had been walking around disrespecting the denizens of Nature’s Reclaim, however, she felt no shame in using it.
She watched the anger slowly vanish from their faces, a calm settling over the group. The muttering and yelling stopped as they watched Ember through unsettlingly calm eyes. She let up on the ability, allowing them to feel their own emotions again.
“So, will you be staying here respectfully or leaving for a different town?”
One of them grumbled under his breath.
“What’s that sorry?”
“We’ll be respectful,” he repeated, louder.
Ember nodded.
“Good, now go to the temple of Nateysta in the town centre and talk to the Ancient of Wisdom there. They will give you what you need to get by. If you continue to disrespect the others in the town, it will be the Ancient of War that comes to deal with you next time.”
She pointed back into the town and the grumbling group of seven farmers went through the gates.
Shaking her head at the idiots, she apologised to the moles before going back into the town herself.
After ten minutes of walking about the town, giving respectful nods to people and animals alike, she finally got the mental message she had been waiting for.
“Alright Ember, you can come see them now.”
She rushed back to the statehouse, excitement pulsing through her body. It had been a stressful seven hours of waiting, her nerves so wrecked that Zalia had sent her from the room. Why she was so stressed out she didn’t even know but now that the message had come, all that stress had faded away.
Rushing through the front door, she ascended the stairs quickly and down a hallway to the new room the Grove had made for them. Going inside, she saw Aylie, Zalia and Boreal with five new fluffy little kittens.