Kalanthia stares coldly at me for a moment, murder still dancing in her golden eyes, but eventually breathes heavily, placing her head on her paws and relaxing a bit.

To be blunt: Energy. To even begin to make up for the years they borrowed from the future to generate growth now, they would need to help Lathani absorb enough Energy to reach her Core stage. Each stage we reach extends our lives multifold. It is already a race for Beasts to reach the Core stage before the prime of our lives has been exhausted. With how her growth has been accelerated and her bodily resources drained, she is facing an even more difficult challenge than that which most Beasts already fail. Providing enough Energy to help her transition is the least the lizard-folk can do. I frown.

“You mean, with Energy-Hearts, or something.” Kalanthia tosses her head in her version of a shrug.

Or by offering themselves as sacrifices for her to rip their throats out and eat their flesh. It matters not to me which option they choose.

“I reckon it’ll matter to them,” I mutter to myself. Then I direct my following words to Kalanthia again. “And River?”

He is yours, she tells me bluntly. I shall not harm you by taking his service away from you. As for restitution, he cannot provide any that does not steal from you. I shall hold his debt in abeyance until or unless you should choose to release his Bond.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I admit after a moment of thought. I sigh and rub at my temples as a grimace spreads across my face. It’s true from a certain point of view: any beast he hunts to bring back to her is one he’s not bringing back to us; every Energy-Heart he chose to give to her is one less he could use himself and weakens the party as a result. Though that point about ‘holding his debt in abeyance’ is a bit of a threat.

I’d promised to release him if I couldn’t find a solution to the threat of the vine-stranglers, after all. Considering I’d probably just be releasing him to his death, it doesn’t really feel like an option now. Although... “I want to help Lathani too,” I say slowly. Is there a way of satisfying everyone? “What about if we take Lathani hunting with us?” I ask after a short time. “That way, she could both earn Energy and learn how to fight.” Kalanthia gazes at me thoughtfully.

I was planning on taking her out with me, she says finally. I can hunt and immobilise prey much more efficiently than you, I suspect, she tells me. It’s a good point. However…

“Will Lathani actually learn much from that, though? I mean, if you’re there, she’s never really going to feel that she’s in danger. She’ll gain Energy, sure, and see how you hunt, but you’re just so much more powerful than everything around…” The massive nunda is silent for a while, but I sense she’s considering my offer carefully.

I will think on it, she says finally.

“I mean, if you don’t like the idea, we can give her some Energy-Hearts, if that would help,” I suggest with a little shrug. Kalanthia just hums noncommittally. Well, it’s a start. For now, Kalanthia’s sworn not to kill River for his actions against Lathani while he’s my Bound. Plus, if we can get the lizard-folk to provide Lathani with Energy-Hearts or other beasts, we’ll avoid Kalanthia going on a genocidal rampage. We can cross any other bridges when and if we come to them. Now, for the next concern.

“What kinds of guarantees would you need in order to be satisfied that the lizard-folk won’t cause harm to Lathani in the future?” I ask, wondering if she has any ideas.

Apart from killing them down to the last egg? she asks. The worst thing, is that she’s only slightly joking. I can sense that the joke is in her saying it aloud when she knows I’m not inclined to agree, not that it’s not her preferred option.

“Apart from that, yes,” I say with a little exasperation. My eyes light up as a potential solution comes to mind. “What about an Oath like you and I swore at the beginning of our acquaintance?” Kalanthia eyes me thoughtfully.

I would not be satisfied with an Oath, not with creatures which have already proven their hostility. I was willing to risk it with you because I sensed that you held no ill-feeling to either of us; the reverse, in fact. They are too fallible and my cub’s life too precious that I would not risk them willingly taking the backlash in order to carry out their plot nonetheless. It seems a little paranoid to me, but I guess Kalanthia knows best. However, a solution does come to mind… I tilt my head, the telepathic nunda no doubt picking up the curiosity I’m exuding. It occurs to me that your particular skillset might come in useful here.

“My skillset?” I ask, a frown creeping onto my face. What part of my skillset? I have no Skills which could provide more surety than an Oath. Unless… “You’re not suggesting…?” I trail off, but it’s enough for the vaguely formed images in my mind to be picked up by my canny landlady.

Yes.

“No.” I say immediately, though I haven’t actually properly thought through the implications. Kalanthia tosses her head in a shrug.

Then don’t. Wiping them out is far more certain anyway. It means nothing to me. If anything, killing them all would be preferable to me.

“No!” I protest, feeling the fear emanating down the Bond from River. Clearly Kalanthia is allowing everyone to hear the conversation this time.

Then this is my suggestion. I offer this other option only because you have asked me for an alternative. Conquer them, convince them, but Chain them to yourself and I will be satisfied that they pose no threat to my cub. I don’t respond for a moment, not verbally anyway. What Kalanthia’s suggesting...I don’t know how to feel about it. Using Dominate or Tame on so many… Is it even possible? There was nothing in the Skill description about numbers, but surely I couldn’t just use them on hordes of creatures? Or is that just a self-imposed limitation?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

But even beyond the practicality of her idea is the moral aspect of it. Just...enslaving a whole village? Because surely they wouldn’t all just accept a Bond docilely? Even River only did so because I could offer solving the problem the lizard-folk had with the ‘Forest of Death’. What could I promise the whole of a village? I send the whole gnarly mess over to River and let him mull over it. In the expectation of a rejection from him, I start trying to think through other ideas that might solve Kalanthia’s need for safety for Lathani.

If we could get the lizard-folk to move, that might work...except Kalanthia already tried that, moving dens to escape the lizard-folk’s persistent attacks. I doubt she’d consider it any better if the lizard-folk are the ones to move, especially since they’d already showed how willing they were to travel to find her.

Is there another type of Oath they could swear? One with stricter failure clauses, which might offer more guarantee? I rack my brains, but nothing is coming to mind. Oaths are always sworn on quantities or percentages of Energy. The worst that can happen is that you can lose a level and the benefits it gave you, if you don’t have enough Energy in your store to pay the bill. Though how that works with beasts, I don’t know.

River has taken his time to muse over the proposition, but his response, when it comes, is surprising.

I think it’s an acceptable solution, he answers finally.

“What?” I ask sharply aloud before returning to speaking through the Bond. I would have thought you’d be the last one to agree to such a thing.

Why wouldn’t I? he continues with a strange equanimity.

Because...because they’re your people. Don’t you want them to be...free?

Of course. I also wish them to be alive. It appears to me that they cannot be both. He’s far more accepting of this than I would be in his place! He sends over the sense of a resigned sigh.

We can find another solution! I assert. It’s empty, since I know full-well that any other solution would need to have Kalanthia’s approval, and anything with a guarantee of a similar level to either killing them or enslaving them would most likely be no better. River seems to know this even as he responds to me.

What solution? My silence says more than my words could have. Master, Markus… I have not found my servitude to you a burden; I doubt that they would either. You are...not what I expected.

What do you mean? I ask, confused.

Nature’s law is that the strong rule, the weak serve or die. That is how it is with my people. Only the strongest achieve Evolution and so all resources, all efforts are aimed at making the strong stronger at the expense of the weak. Yet that is not your way. It is strange, but...I live now only because of it. You would have to prove your strength to my people, but should you succeed in forcing them to submit as you did me, I suspect that they would benefit from it. Or maybe they would not, but if the alternative is death, what is there to lose?

What do you mean I forced you to submit? I question. We negotiated. You do something for me, I do something for you, right? You helped me save Lathani, so I will do my best to save your people, whether it’s from the vine-stranglers or Kalanthia.

That’s true, he accepts. But I would not have accepted your offer had you not already proven that you were the stronger. Or do you mean to tell me that you couldn’t have forced the Bond on me whether or not I accepted it? I’m silent for a moment, unable to refute his assertion. It’s true: I could have, even before we started properly speaking.

But you could have refused, I respond weakly. I would have respected it.

Whether you would have or not is immaterial: you could have forced my submission. That you didn’t, and instead sought to negotiate an agreed outcome is one reason I support the suggestion of the Great Predator. He pauses and seems to consider something for a moment. That is to say that I would support it regardless, since where there is life there is hope, to my mind. However, because of the way you behaved in our initial negotiation as well as since, I have far more hope for my people under your rule than I would otherwise.

Why? I can’t help but ask. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything particularly noteworthy in our acquaintance. In fact, between almost losing Bastet, almost dying myself – twice – and relying on River’s knowledge of poisons to get us through the lizogs, I feel like it’s been a pretty poor showing, really.

To lose is to be prey. To be prey is to be lesser, River explains, a hint of hesitation coming over the Bond. Yet you have never made me feel lesser. The reverse, in fact. He pauses for a moment before continuing. I have no doubt that if you gained control over the village, my people would be the better for it. And not just because of this, but also because of all the wonders you have shown me in our short time together which you would bring to my people. He sends a series of images through the Bond. From the different fabric which I wear, to fire, and to the weapons I wield.

I suppose looked at it that way, yeah, I have something to offer the village. I’m really uneasy with this whole ‘might makes right’ ideology he’s peddling here, but he has a point about my crafts. Maybe I could negotiate a Bond with at least the Path-walkers by promising to share crafting secrets along with protection from Kalanthia. If I’ve understood the hierarchy correctly in River’s village, the Path-walkers are the ones in charge, so if I’ve got a Bond with them, then I should be able to keep the others in line, even if I have no Bond with them. I share those thoughts with River.

He sends me a hint of frustration, like I’m not getting it, but agrees that the Path-walkers would both be interested in my crafting knowledge and would be able to keep the others in line.

But remember that the strong rule, he warns. Even if you wish to negotiate, you will have to prove your ability to overcome them first. Like it was with me.

OK, thanks for the advice, I tell him. He knows his people best, so if I need to prove myself through Dominate first, and then make them an offer they won’t refuse – rather than can’t – then that’s what I’ll do. My almost-fifty Willpower has to count for something, right? However, I’ve still got a question nagging at me – why is Kalanthia suggesting something that will make me more powerful, but not actually provide any real guarantees for her?