It took a whole day to get to the goblins at my top speed. I had chosen a good place. If something went wrong, nobody I cared about would get hurt.

The snow was starting to melt. I had not seen any more fall in a while and the valley had maybe half a metre left in the untouched places. That meant the entrance to the village was now visible if one got close enough. At least it was still too small for an ork to comfortably fit. They would have to duck all the way up the village cave.

I scouted the area for footprints but found nothing above the snow. The orks living nearby seemed to keep to their houses. Or maybe they had hunting grounds further down the valley. I was satisfied with the safety of the entrance and made my way up the tunnel.

The village was still sleepy but I found a guard close enough to the cave to warn everyone from approaching threats. He had a lit-up vis crystal placed a few metres in front of him and sat in the darkness watching the approach. I still saw him with my superior eyes, not to mention my ears picking up his breathing before I spotted the light.

I greeted him with a hoot. It was Luk and he stepped into the light after seeing me.

“Welcome back, Fio. You’re a little earlier than we expected.”

I bobbed my head to buy time for the connection to form.

“Hello, Luk. I thought it might be smart to figure out a plan before the snow fully thaws so we can start as soon as possible.”

“Mhm. Makes sense. Nobody is up yet. Still gonna be a few hours. Wanna wait here?”

I nodded.

We ended up settling in the tunnel without any further conversation. Luk kept an eye on the path, somehow able to focus for hours on end without twitching a finger. I stood a little further back and did the same. I was used to doing not much. Or rather, it was instinctive as a natural predator to lay in wait or simply rest between meals.

At some point, I heard steps approach from above, another goblin making his way towards us. I told Luk and he gave me a nod before going back to observing the path. It took a full ten minutes for the relief guard to arrive. I knew her from one of the first hunting trips in the white forest but did not remember her name. She greeted us, smiling at me. Luk told her, nothing of importance had happened and I hooted in protest. The goblins giggled and said their goodbyes before Luk and I made our way to the village.

It was just after breakfast, a few goblins still sitting around their cooking spot. The leader group consisting of Roguk, Chef and the weaver argued about something as we got close. Chef waved and got up to get Luk a bowl of food while the others greeted me. Roguk was scowling and the weaver had a strained smile on her face. I quickly connected to everyone. Four people were just within my scope.

“Good morning, everyone”, I sent, “How are you doing? Still enough food, or should I make another trip?”

Chef sat down, Luk next to him, listening in.

“We’re good, probably”, the cook said, “The hunters ain’t having problems. We’ll last ‘til spring ‘s about.”

Luk nodded.

“Two weeks”, he said.

“Listen Fio…”, Roguk started, “We’re kinda… not sure. The things you said you can do are so far removed from our plans, I don’t know how much you can help.”

The weaver cut in.

“What he’s saying is, that he doesn’t like you butting into his self-perceived village chief role.”

“I…”

Roguk’s mouth stood open.

“We’re thankful for your offers”, she continued, “We’ll need ta figure out what’ll actually be a help, though.”

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I nodded.

“I need to figure out what I can really do just as much. I have a better idea of my capabilities, now. We can probably figure out the basics today, at the very least.”

“Hey!”, Roguk jumped in, “Don’t just talk over me!”

“You weren’t saying anything”, Luk mumbled between bites.

The alchemist gave him a glare. When he found no support from any of the others, he sighed.

“Fine. Go ahead. Let’s hear it.”

I bowed a little, this time.

“So. There are a few options and some general information I learned. Most importantly, we can’t harvest the darkness node’s crystals all that much. If we do, the excess vis will go into regrowing them. That sounds good in theory but the vis is what makes the white trees grow. If you want to keep harvesting wood, you’ll need to keep the node as is. The amount I’ve taken should not be an issue but we need to be careful beyond that.”

“So, you’re saying we aren’t as rich as you made us out to be?”

I bobbed my head.

“Yes. Though you do have around 40 gold coins still. That’s enough to get through 20 more winters like this. It means, harvesting one crystal every two years will sustain you, as long as I can transport supplies. There’s an extra gold there which I would take as my personal cut but I hope you won’t need me every year. I want to travel much more and I might not always make it back in time to move your winter supplies.”

“That’s fair”, Chef said, “But how’d ya plan to make us not need food?”

“Wrong question. You will need food. I want to make it so I don’t have to bring it. There are two options, still. The one I don’t think you’ll want to take is moving the village closer to the dwarves. That’s only something we need to get back to if all the other things don’t work out. The second option for food is growing your own.”

“How?”, Roguk asked, “We can’t well use the forest, right? We need the wood. Do you want us to build a farm down in the valley, or what?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Roguk. I’m not stupid. Let me tell you my ideas and then you can think about it.”

He flinched back.

“Go ahead”, the weaver said.

“I know some ways to make plants grow using thaumaturgy. They work even in extreme environments, like underground. I also have a decent way of digging out a suitable cave. The process would require a bunch of magic but I can set it up in a way every goblin can manage the system.”

“So, what kinda food ya think we should grow?”, Chef asked.

“That’s the important question. Mushrooms would be the easiest since they naturally grow in darkness. More traditional crops would also work. Something like wheat or potatoes, probably. I still need to prepare some things in my workshop before I can make everything you would need to grow that but it’s possible within a month or two.”

“Mushrooms would be nice. I need a bunch for my alchemy and I’m starting to run low”, Roguk said.

“About that. I think I have a way to fix your clogged tunnel. I might even be able to turn the node into a power source for the farm but there’s probably better ones out there.”

The alchemist tipped forward, sinking his forehead onto his knees. He let out a deep, grumbling sigh before peeking at me.

“Fine. Fine. We’ll do it. We’ll make our village better. We’ll make it so we won’t ever have to go to the valley.”

I dipped my head.

“Thanks, Roguk.”

“Yes, chief, thank you. For seeing what’s best for us”, weaver nodded at him.

“You said I’m not the chief”, he complained.

“Hihihi. I did, didn’t I? But you’re the one who led us to freedom. Without your approval, we won’t do anything.”

He rubbed his eyes with an arm. Then he looked up at the old woman.

“Thanks, Ira.”

“Right. That’s the basics. Oh, by the way. Trying to improve your enrichment from the node won’t mess with the trees, especially with how little vis you can take in. If you’re going to stay here, someone will need to become a [Node Guardian].”

“What’s that?”, Ira asked.

“It’s someone bound to the node. Wild animals can also do it and they usually get a bunch of mental Attributes for their effort, turning sapient in the process. They can help protect the town from wildlife, like the monkey horde. You might not have any problems right now but it’s likely something will come up at some point.”

“So, just touch the node, or what?”

“Yes. And that’s exactly your problem. The node isn’t in that cave. It’s somewhere below. The huge crystal growing out of the rift is blocking the way to get to it. I would have to dig down in hopes of running into the actual thing. Alternatively, I can bring you an appropriate node and maybe even install thaumaturgic defences.”

“That sounds like a problem”, Luk remarked.

I nodded.

“It’s not an immediate priority but the dwarves first cities started as small communities around a node with a friendly Guardian. They’re almost religiously worshipping them.”

“And anyone can become a Guardian?”, Roguk asked.

“In theory, yes. You need access to the node and the will to own it.”

At that moment, Chef piped in.

“That’s all nice an’ well but… where’s my giant pot?”

I blinked. Right, I had almost forgotten about that.

“It’s ordered. I should be able to get it soon, together with the dishes and knives you all wanted. I’ll… yeah. I’ll see if it’s ready first thing when I’m back at the dwarves.”

Chef harrumphed.

“Good enough.”

“I think thaumaturgy might be a great way to do other things as well, like processing ores or digging them up. Maybe even working hides into proper leather. I’d have to look up how to do all that, though. For now, we should figure out food and then look for some ores. When I dig to find the darkness node, I might run into some.”

The goblins nodded. I could see I had convinced them. It was only a matter of doing the work and they would finally live a better life. What that would bring in the long term, I could not tell at that time but I hoped it would be predominantly positive.