“You’ve actually spotted lizard-folk? Near here?”

Sniffing around, far too close to my den. If you do not deal with them soon, I will kill them all for their trespass – and for what they have done to my cub.

“I’ll deal with them,” I hurriedly promise. There is far more to be gained from facing them myself. “Do you know how many there are?”

I am unsure about exact numbers but there are more than your group before, but less than your group now.

That’s a bit of a range: my group before numbered seven; now it numbers twenty-seven. So anything between eight and twenty-six. I nod slowly – that’s going to require some careful consideration.

Ideas already starting to flick through my mind, I meet eyes with Sirocco, sitting on the branch above.

Do you feel up to some scouting? I ask. She sends me the sense of being eager to do something more exciting than this slow trudge through the forest. It’s true that our trip has been much longer this way than the other – it’s already well past midday, heading on for dusk. Sirocco has been practically hopping from branch to branch, taking short flights between trees as we moved below at the speed of our slowest members.

It was still probably a quick jogging speed from before I started being enhanced, since even the hulking cyran was able to move relatively quickly. But it certainly can’t compare to our speed in the other direction.

Alright then, try to find the party of lizard-folk, I ask the bird. Be careful, try not to be seen and come back to me as soon as you’ve found them. She sends me a sense of assent and then wings away.

Looking back at Kalanthia, I see her watching with intelligent eyes.

“Sirocco will find them,” I tell her. “We’ll deal with them as soon as possible. But for now, we need to get back home and sort things out a bit.” Frankly, I’m thoroughly looking forward to having a wash, and I know there are a number of things that would be best done at home.

My quiet cave seems to be something of the past, Kalanthia comments a little pointedly.

“Yeah…sorry about that,” I say a bit bashfully, scratching the back of my head. “It wasn’t exactly planned. Is it OK?” I check, because after all, it is her territory and technically she only offered me a home, not all of my Bound.

Kalanthia heaves a gusty sigh.

I should have known when I invited a Binder to stay that it would mean inviting others too. As long as they don’t bother me, they may stay.

“Thanks,” I say with a hint of gratitude. “And thanks for being understanding and…well, not killing me,” I tell her. While I would have fought against it regardless of her decision – my life is rather precious to me – I’m still grateful that it seems to have turned out OK.

Continuing to prove worthy of Lathani’s and my trust in you will be gratitude enough, she says meaningfully. Then, a moment later, she looks away from me. For my part, I thank you for protecting my cub on several occasions. And I…apologise for not being willing to hear you out at first. You have done nothing but prove yourself to be an ally and trustworthy. I was overcome by emotion but it is no excuse. I am more than just a thoughtless beast.

I gape at her for a moment. This is a first! Kalanthia is a prideful being, and doesn’t strike me as someone who will easily admit to being wrong. I quickly collect myself: I must respond correctly to this olive branch. Kalanthia has made the first moves to heal the rift between us, but it takes two to tango.

“Thank you for your apology,” I say carefully. “While I was hoping you would hear me out, I admit that I understand how bad it might have looked to you. Especially since you seem to have had poor experiences with those of my Class before,” I mention, eyeing her to see her reaction. She doesn’t speak for a moment, then sighs again.

That is true. But I should not have allowed my past experience to overcome everything I have seen of you. I apologise for the pain you suffered during my mental investigation. At the time I did not care to make it much easier on you than I did on the Bound at your side. Another wrong I did you. Does your mind feel well now? she asks solicitously, clearly a little anxious to not have caused permanent damage.

“A little sore,” I admit, “but it feels like it should get better soon enough.” A renewed sense of shame comes from the massive nunda in front of me. Her ears are back, her hackles lowered. Perhaps it should feel good to see her humbled, after how easily I could have died because she wouldn’t listen, or how she could have caused me mental damage because of not being careful as she dug through my memories. Somehow, though, it feels wrong.

Still, I’m not above milking the situation, plus, if I’m calculating correctly, it might help her feel better anyway. “If you want to do something to make up for it,” I start slowly, watching her closely, “there’s one thing I need.”

Kalanthia’s gaze returns to mine, very slightly suspicious.

Which is?

“Forgive the rest of River’s debt,” I say to her straight. “It’s more than two-thirds complete as it is, and now Lathani’s part of our group we’ll all be working to help each other anyway. Then we’re square; all forgiven. How about it?”

The big nunda thinks for a moment, then she sends a sense of acceptance.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Very well. It is forgiven. I shall not hold Lathani’s treatment against your Bound. However, if Lathani’s two main torturers survive your takeover of their village, I will demand more restitution from them, and I wish for compensation for her from the village as a whole, she warns. I nod.

“That’s fine. I have a bone to pick with the shaman and herbalist anyway,” I agree.

Then I shall return to the den, Kalanthia says, abruptly taking her leave with only a single glance at Lathani. Before I can do more than offer her a farewell, or suggest that the nunda juvenile go with her too, she fades to near invisibility and takes off with impressive speed. Unlike the last time she did this in our presence, I can actually see the faintest distortion around her outline, allowing me to actually keep track of her as she runs off. Perhaps my increased Wisdom is to thank for that.

Either way, I still wouldn’t be able to see her standing still, and I doubt I would spot her moving unless I was looking for the tell-tale signs of distortion. I turn back to my group. The lightening of the sense of dread caused by an angered Kalanthia’s domain has calmed my Bound to some degree, and the absence of the massive predator has reduced their tension even further. It’s not gone completely: my herbivorous Bound in particular are nervous even with her disappearance, probably because they fear that she might just be waiting to ambush them. But it’s better.

“Alright everyone,” I say, sending a sense of safety over the Bond, “That was Kalanthia. Normally we have a much better relationship than you’ve just seen, and now we’ve sorted things out, you should be safe as long as you don’t bother her. But you will have to get used to being around her – we live next to each other.”

The response I get back from my Bound is mixed. Those of my Bound who are already familiar with Kalanthia send relief that the situation was resolved without bloodshed. Those who are not either express reluctance to go nearer the apex predator than absolutely necessary, trust that I will keep them safe, fear that despite my promises, I am unable to do so, distrust in my motives, or a mixture of all of them. But none of them immediately break their Bonds, so I take that as a good sign that they’re willing to see how things turn out.

The final stretch back home seems to pass in a flash, though we do stop at the river near the cave to wash and replenish water supplies once more. Walking up the hill, I feel a sudden sense of relief once more when I see the hole in the mountainside which now says ‘home’ to me.

Thinking through everything, I decide that my ‘crafting’ cave is going to have to fulfil another purpose for now – my Bound are definitely not all going to fit inside the alcove. It might be a bit of a challenge to get them all fitting in the new cave as well. I eye the cyran in particular – I have a feeling that that one’s going to struggle with even getting through the entrance.

The icehal is another one who might have difficulty, but that’s because she’s quite tall. Looking rather like a relatively short-necked scaly giraffe, similar to an okapi, she’s both wide and long-legged. She’s easily the tallest of my Bound, her shoulder just above my head, but unlike the kiinas, who are second tallest when they’re standing as high as possible, she can’t duck down as easily.

Well, if I have to make the opening a bit larger, I’ll do so, though it will take a fair bit of effort. Or I’ll need to bribe Kalanthia to help me again. Facing my Bound, I send the sense of needing their attention down the Bond to all of them. One by one, they quieten and look at me.

For a moment, I can’t help but marvel at the diversity now in front of me. Easily twenty different species are before me. Their sizes range from the tempin, a creature looking rather like a long-legged tortoise and about the size of a football, to the cyran, the triceratops look-alike which is far smaller than the dinosaurs were, but still has a shoulder at the level of mine. Not to mention that she’s probably ten times my weight.

Size isn’t the only difference. Body types range hugely, as do diets – from pure carnivore, to pure herbivore, including insectivores and omnivores. And I suspect that behaviour and personality probably range just as much, but I won’t know that until I become more familiar with each of them.

“Right everyone,” I start. “If you want to sleep inside, this is where to go. It’s pretty bare inside, so I'll send a party down to the forest so you can collect items for bedding and eat some more, if you like. For the meat-eaters among you, I’ll put out a carcass for you,” Lathani’s intervention fortunately yielded us a fair bit of meat, “and we’ll organise a couple of hunting parties for tomorrow.”

I pause for a moment, thinking through what to say next. Though I’ve managed to touch base with all of them, it was brief and mostly just to work out the basics: what kind of Bond we have, their sex, their immediate needs, their diets etc. I also scanned all of them, alerted by the problem Catches-leaves had been suffering, and found a number of problems which I’m going to try to correct. I didn’t want to spend the mana then, but I will do it over time.

“We’re a group,” I say finally. “A team. We work together for each other’s benefit. We help each other become stronger. While you are part of our network of Bonds, you are one of us, benefiting from everything we each can offer, as long as you give as wholeheartedly as you receive. That might be for a week, a month, a year, or permanently.”

It took a bit of thinking for me to decide on that, especially as it affects distribution of the few Energy Hearts I have remaining and any Cores we find. But in the end, I look at Sirocco. If I’d done what I’d originally planned of treating her as different because she was my only Tame in a group of Dominated Bound, we wouldn’t now have the close Bond we do. I was convinced to treat her as one of us, and she has become such. Perhaps some of those who have only chosen to have a limited Bond with me will change their minds. Perhaps not. But either way, it benefits me to have stronger Bound, even if only for a limited time.

“That means no attacking a fellow Bound outside our daily sparring,” I take up the thread of my speech once more. “If you have a problem with another Bound, come to me or to your team leader. Heck, if you have a problem full-stop, come tell us about it. If we know, we can help you solve it; if we don’t, we might not notice until it becomes much worse than if you’d just told us straight.

“Follow first my instructions, then second your team-leader’s. If they are contradictory, come and ask me about it unless you are out in the forest where it would be dangerous to do so. In that case, just follow what makes most sense in that context.” I think carefully. What have I missed?

“I don’t know how long we will be here for,” I admit. “I have several objectives to meet which may include some or all of you and which will require extended time away from the cave. And I have plans for the future which will probably involve moving. But when I have more concrete ideas, I will let you know.”

Not able to think of anything else to say, I end my impromptu speech with some positivity, advice from colleagues coming back to me of always leaving the audience on a high note if possible.

“But I’d like to officially say welcome to the team, and express my gratitude that you’re all here with me. We are stronger together and if we all pull together, we’ll get stronger still,” I finish, part of me cringing inside at hearing the familiar jargon of middle managers coming out of my own mouth. The sense of doubt and caution that still lingers in the network of Bonds makes me feel even more awkward inside. Still, I was being honest, and hope that they will come around in time to the ‘new’ way of doing things.

Dismissing the group, I quickly organise a party to go into the forest – I figure half should go at a time. River being the leader of five new Bound, Bastet being the leader of the other five and leaving the cubs behind.

A brainwave has me shaping a hide to fit across three branches as a sort of makeshift stretcher – a way of carrying the bedding material. I entrust that to River and Catches-leaves just before they start walking down the hill.

Even as their silhouettes disappear into the trees, I notice another shape winging her way up to me. Sirocco’s back.