Binding the rest of the Warriors turns out to be easy enough. Apparently the combination of having beaten each of them in battle, as well as having been recognised as the leader of the Pathwalkers means that they don’t put up much resistance. I had a couple of interesting conversations with some of them, though – the Battle of Wills setting encourages honest discussion. They gave me more ideas about what to raise in the discussion I need to have next.

Now with fourteen Warriors Bound to me with Dominate instead of the five I had before – three after the recent casualties – I can feel a little soul strain again. The four effective points I gained from my level up have most definitely helped – I doubt I’d have been able to Bind that many without it – but apparently Binding so many creatures all at once is still a bit of a strain. It’s probably also to do with their sapience if previous experiences are any indication.

I resolve to do some work in my soulspace to hopefully ease the strain a bit. It’s not too bad as is, and I could probably even do a few more Dominates if really necessary, but I’d rather not feel the slight ache all the time. And I don’t know what long term effects it could have if I don’t deal with it.

As the last Warrior pair walks away from me, new Bonds in place, I see that the space around us has filled up a bit. The sun has pretty much disappeared below the horizon, only a little bit of light from it still illuminating the sky. One of the moons has appeared and the other is on the horizon. They’re full tonight, so even once the sun vanishes completely, it’ll still be fairly light. And I have Aingeal anyway who’s always happy to be my lamp, especially when it earns him a bit of extra fire mana.

The Unevolved samurans appear to have returned from the forest, and the fruit of their labours is stacked all around. They seem to have assumed that where I am is where the Pathwalkers will eat, as there’s a pile of carcasses and a smaller pile of berries not far from my feet. The other Pathwalkers appear to have gone along with it as they are all sitting around it, though they’ve left a space for me.

The Warriors are all sitting around another pile of carcasses, this one a fair bit larger. The two Warriors I most recently Bound have gone directly for that and are already tearing hungrily at the meat. They have their own pile of berries which I see them dipping into.

Finally, there are three other piles, each smaller than the last. Around them are varying numbers of Unevolved. Oddly enough, the smallest pile has the greatest number of Unevolved. Apparently my demonstration a few days ago didn’t make the impact I wanted it to. Worse, making my stomach twist uncomfortably, there’s a large group of Unevolved crouching with no pile in front of them at all. I don’t have to be Bound to them to know that they are hungry: the way they stare at the food is enough evidence of that.

Pushing myself to my feet, I move over to the Pathwalkers’ pile.

“Take as much as you think you will eat,” I instruct them firmly. The group look at me questioningly but I just stare back at them silently until they comply. Each Pathwalker takes one carcass except those who chose a small beast and who take two. It still leaves about seven carcasses left.

Leaning down, I pick them up. Or try to, anyway. It’s not an issue with strength, though the dead weight of the bodies is heavy enough. It’s more that it’s very awkward to carry bloody, floppy bodies which try to slip out of my hands.

I’ll help you, Markus, River says, quickly pushing herself to her feet. Silently Joy joins her, using her power to create a woven mat of roots underneath the pile of carcasses.

“Thank you,” I say gratefully as I grab one side of the weave. River and Joy grab two other sides and I lead the way over to the group of hungry Unevolved. Joy hesitates as our destination becomes obvious, but she doesn’t say anything, only continues walking. River doesn’t hesitate.

We lay the food down in front of the samurans. I do a quick head count – there’s just under fifty of them here. Seven carcasses aren’t going to be nearly enough. Looking around, I see that everyone’s watching what’s happening. Let them watch. Perhaps this time it will stick. Especially when I put into place my other intentions.

Going over to the Warriors’ pile, I tell them to do the same as the Pathwalkers. This time they obviously realise what’s going on. Several of them exchange glances as if to question whether they should play a part in this and a quiet murmur of grunts and clicks meets my ears. I just wait. I could force the issue with the Bonds I have with them, but I’d rather not.

Do it, Shrieks says, taking three carcasses from the pile. Lee and Iandee have already taken two each. The other Warriors, seeing their example, start slowly doing the same.

There are fewer carcasses left over from this pile: the Warriors apparently need more food than the Pathwalkers. That’s understandable considering they’re bigger. Or maybe they’re being greedier. I guess I’ll see what’s left over at the end of dinner. Still, Joy, River, and I take the five carcasses left over to join the seven already near the Unevolved.

The bodies are untouched.

“Why aren’t you eating?” I ask them, concentrating on being understood: only one of the samurans here is Bound to me. Yells-a-curse, I think his name is.

“Are we allowed to eat Honoured Pathwalker Tamer?” one of the unknown samurans asks tentatively. A quick Inspect reveals that he’s called Rolls-a-stone.

“Of course!” I answer, more angry at what the question implies than surprised that he feels the need to ask. I wouldn’t be so cruel as to put food in front of hungry people and expect them not to eat, but perhaps the shaman did. “Just make sure to share it with everyone,” I add, fearing that it might turn into a free for all considering how famished they all look. “I know it’s not a lot,” I add apologetically, “but you can also have whatever’s left over from the other piles after.”

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While I would like to share it all out evenly, I know that food control is something significant among the village. I will be changing things, but not everything this second. What I’m planning will be more than enough change for tonight – I’d better not set the Evolved samurans against me from the start.

“Thank you Honoured Pathwalker,” Rolls-a-stone says, more gratitude in his spikes than I’m comfortable with.

“No problem,” I say, then take a few steps back as the Unevolved start tearing into the carcasses with fervour. As I watch, though, I see that they are sharing with each other, each carcass being put in the middle of four or five samurans and quickly torn to bits.

Aware of everyone looking at me – overtly or covertly – I hesitate for a moment. Should I sit with this group of Unevolved? They look so focussed on their meal – it probably wouldn’t help much with my overall objectives. Perhaps the other Unevolved? It could be a good way of letting the ‘lower class’ samurans get to know me a bit and send a message to the rest of the group that I don’t see them as secondary citizens.

Maybe not tonight, I decide in the end for the same reason as I decided not to share the food exactly equally. I have a feeling that the Pathwalkers would be a bit offended if I did that straight after taking ‘their’ food away, and we still need to be able to have a productive discussion.

So, with River and Joy still flanking me, I head back to where I started, sitting down in the space left for me. Obviously, there are no carcasses for me to consume, but that’s not a problem: I have food in my Inventory. Pulling out a baked ‘potato’ and some chunks of meat, I remind myself to do some cooking soon. I’ve run out of stew, let alone anything nicer. I do help myself to a few of the berries, though – after making sure with Inspect Flora that they’re safe to eat, of course.

“Mm, these are nice,” I say, surprised at the sweet yet tangy flavour of them.

Why did you do that? asks Windy, ignoring my comment in favour of leaning forward, anger flickering through her spikes. They hadn’t earned food today. You’ve rewarded their incompetence or laziness.

For the majority of them, it’s not incompetence or laziness which prevents them from reaching their resource quota, replies River before I can respond, anger in her own spikes.

Then what is it? snorts Windy.

For many of them it’s bad luck: they haven’t found what they were searching for, or not enough to meet the minimum to gain a food token. Some are injured and are weaker as a result. Some are simply weak from hunger. Has it been so long since you were an Unevolved that you have forgotten what it was like? River challenges. Windy harrumphs.

The Unevolved are lazy, needing motivation. We all know that. Giving them food even when they haven’t contributed sufficiently to the village will just end up with them sitting around the village doing nothing.

“What’s your evidence for that?” I ask, interrupting River in what is sure to be a scathing rebuttal. I send her an apologetic look, amused when she actually flashes a quick glare at me before looking away. I like these changes in her. But her getting into a fight with Windy won’t help achieve what I want to tonight, even if I’m grateful for her supporting me. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start this evening’s discussion.

Wind-whisperer has a point that often when an Unevolved meets their quota and gains the token, they don’t seem motivated to go and do more to earn a better token, Tarra points out.

“But have you considered that that might be because earning a better token isn’t worth the risk of going back out into the forest?” I ask. There’s a moment of silence. “Perhaps this is a good moment to have a discussion which is desperately needed,” I comment, seizing the moment. “I’m going to invite some of the Warriors over.”

This makes several of the Pathwalkers turn to me with confusion or rejection in their spikes and in the Bond.

What, bring the Warriors over?

Why?

What do we need to discuss with the Warriors?

The voices overlap, only River and Joy staying silent. I’d like to think it’s because they see where I’m going with this. I’ll take it if they’re quiet because they trust me, though, which I figure is more likely.

Shrieks, I say mentally, please choose five other Warriors and come to join us here for an important discussion. Bring your food with you.

Yes, Tamer, he answers in his usual mental rumble.

I see them having a quick discussion over in their circle, and then Shrieks stands up, his chosen Warriors with him. Lee is one of them, which makes sense since he came out fourth from the top in the ranking fight. Iandee is also with them which makes less sense since, although he apparently advanced a rank in the recent fights, that still leaves him in the bottom five.

The other three are those who took second, third, and fifth place after Shrieks – I’m not really counting myself in the Warrior hierarchy as I chose to be considered a Pathwalker. If I remember their names correctly after all the Bonds I formed this afternoon, I think that’s Bites-a-leaf, Plays-with-poison, and Runs-into-a-tree. Plays-with-poison is easy enough to remember since he was the one who used poisoned daggers and a choking cloud of dust to fight me – flammable dust. I haven’t yet come up with nicknames for them – Leaf, Poison, and Tree are probably the easiest to remember.

They move over to the circle and I shift to make space for them. Joy, Tarra, and River all do the same. After a moment, Flower does too. Sticks is the next to follow, though she does so rather slowly. For a long moment it looks like Windy is going to be the holdout – predictably – but after I glare at her, she moves. Begrudgingly, of course

With enough space to sit down, the Warriors take their places as part of the circle. Due to Sticks, Flower, and Windy all moving to sit in pretty much the same part of the circle, Poison, Leaf, and Iandee are all together. Shrieks comes and sits next to me, dwarfing me beside his bulk – even sitting he’s still a mountain. Tree and Lee sit together between Tarra and Joy. It’s good enough.

“Alright,” I say, looking around the circle, doing my best to meet everyone’s eyes briefly. “I wanted to have you all here because there are going to be some changes in this village and I would like to have your help in deciding how best to implement them. I thought it would be best to have equal numbers of Pathwalkers and Warriors for this first discussion as you reflect two sides of the leadership. However, we are still missing a voice.”

They exchange glances, mostly of confusion, but I notice Windy looking mutinous. I think she’s worked out what I’m intending. From the sudden wave of understanding from River, accompanied with approval, I realise that she knows too.

You wish to involve the Unevolved, Shrieks rumbles. Understanding ripples around the circle, accompanied by no small amount of disbelief.

“I do,” I agree.