Loch stepped away from Glarian, turning to Serio.

“I assume you can speak for the Silver Bark now?”

Serio nodded.

“I suppose I can as there are no other from the Silver Bark family on this expedition. Misheal and Hoskia were the only ones and both are now dead.” Serio paused, the hint of a smile on his face. “And you had a hand in the death of both didn’t you?”

“The day of the Connection’s arrival, just minutes after my family was Adapted, we saw an elf being chased by a giant. The elf was wounded and collapsed near us. The giant attacked and I was able to kill it,” Loch answered, deciding to be mostly honest. He could embellish the story a bit to make himself look stronger. “I was going to help Misheal but he attacked. I had no choice but to kill him.”

Glarian looked like he was about to say something but a stern glance from Serio stopped him.

“You can return to the camp now,” Serio said.

The younger elf started to protest.

“Now.”

With a final sharp glare at Loch, Glarian turned and stalked back to the camp. The Silver Bark that remained parted, watching the sulking elf disappear into the tents. They returned their attention to Loch and Serio.

“We knew Misheal had most likely died when he never joined up with us,” Serio said. “It is nice to have some confirmation of how he died. Not that anyone on Tirna will ever know,” he added, turning to look where the portal had been.

“Why was he that far east when you arrived here?,” Loch asked.

Serio looked at Elora, then the rest of Loch’s family. His gaze settled on Piper, not looking at her, but focusing on her hands which gripped Swift’s reins.

“If you killed Misheal, then you or someone with you has his Codex Band,” Serio said, not looking at Loch, who didn’t protest knowing that was as good as admitting. So he said nothing. Serio smiled knowingly. “Undoubtedly the Bonded Spirit has told you that prior to a planet’s actual Connection, there are scouts sent to explore the world.”

“Yes.”

“That was Misheal’s task. He was sent here weeks earlier to establish a place for the rest of us to come and explore. He had wandered far it seems and come across the giant’s arrival point. What Clan were the giants from?”

“The Hillgrowl.”

“I have heard of that Clan. Not one of the largest of the giants. It is rare that giants are involved this early in a new world’s Connection.”

“They are allied with a one of the Si-Te-Cah.”

“What?,” Serio exclaimed, shock and fear flashing across his face.

Murmurs came from the crowd of Silver Bark, including those that had moved to join Clan Brady.

“That is dire news,” Serio said, shaking his head. “If we had known a Si-Te-Cah was interested in this world, the Silver Bark might not have made the expedition or at least would have sent more of the Clan.”

“That bad?”

“It can be,” Serio answered.

“Apparently this is their home world,” Loch said.

Serio just shook his head.

“I wish we could go home,” he said quietly. He looked to Loch. “You wish to negotiate, do you not?”

Loch nodded.

“This expedition has been more difficult than any I had heard of before,” Serio admitted. “We are negotiating from a position of weakness.”

“That’s what you do not understand,” Loch said. “There is no position of strength or weakness. There are just equals. We all have to live in this new world together. There’s no reason one has to be greater than the other. There are more enemies out there, more dangers. Winter is coming and we both will struggle. There is no reason we need to struggle alone.”

“That is not the way of the Connection,” Serio said.

“But it can be.”

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***

“How do you think it went?”

Loch looked over his shoulder to Cerie. The glowing fairy sat on Piper’s shoulder as his daughter walked her horse next to him.

“Well,” she answered. “This was new territory for the Silver Bark. You could have asked for more and most likely gotten it.”

“I know. But I didn’t want to. That would set a bad tone for the future.” He shifted so he could look behind him at the line of elves following his small group. Reaching up, he patted Jarl’s side, as he walked alongside the giant horse. They were all walking. “We’ll probably have elves in the Clan, living alongside us humans. And there will be a new community of the Silver Bark. They’ll be our neighbors going forward. Always best to be friendly with the neighbors. Don’t want them thinking we cheated them of anything.”

“As Serio Graybranch said, this is not normal for those in the Connection.”

“He did seem pretty scared once he learned of the Si-Te-Cah,” Kelly said. “Fear is a strong motivator.”

“That is true Lady Kelly,” Cerie agreed. “I think being trapped on this world was the prime factor. He realized that the Lord Lochlan spoke the truth. Both Clan Brady and the Silver Bark will need to learn to work together. It will take some time to get used to.”

Loch shrugged.

“As long as we don’t have to worry about killing each other,” he said. “Two weeks should be interesting when the Silver Bark come to the school and we hash out the territorial borders and who has what Dungeons.”

“That will be very interesting,” Cerie said. Her eyes flashed as she searched her database. “Negotiating over territory and Resources has never been done before in the Silver Bark’s history. They either took by force or lost by force. More often they took by force.” She lifted off Piper’s shoulder, flying closer to Loch. “I wish to be there for the negotiations.”

“I thought we wanted to keep Cerie secret?,” Piper asked.

“We did,” Loch answered. “But Serio knows we have her so…”

He trailed off, wondering just how the elf had known. Some kind of Ability most likely. Once he knew that Misheal had been killed by Loch, he would assume that Loch had the Codex Band, but he had focused on Piper, as if he was positive she had it.

Something to worry about. Loch thought about adding it to one of his many mental lists, but decided not to. Today was a day of victory, not adding to the many issues the Clan had.

Loch looked back again at the elves. Elora was walking next to the half-elf, Sinat, and Casian. The three were deep in conversation. Over a dozen. More than he had thought would join them. Adding to the dozen prisoners, most he assumed would want to head back to the Silver Bark camp. That was a lot more mouths to feed. And who knew how many survivors would have wandered into the Clanhold. It seemed like a dozen, at least, new arrivals every time Loch left the school.

The peace treaty with the Silver Bark was one huge headache removed. It still wasn’t finalized and who knew how well the elves would hold to it, but Loch felt some of the stress he was under fading away. A little bit of new stress was added with the new mouths to feed and house. He had promised the elves shelter.

He looked up at the sky. Dark gray clouds had covered the sun, the air colder. The leaves of the trees had turned browns and oranges. Fall was on them and it looked like Winter was coming soon. They had a lot to do before the first snow fell.

Glarian had been upset that all the elves leaving had been their servants, their manual labor and the ones that did all the cooking and cleaning for the camp. In talking with Sinat, Loch had learned that the group also included the builders and most of the other crafters.

Part of him felt bad for taking those needed roles from the Silver Bark camp, but they would only benefit Clan Brady. And as he had told Glarian, it was the Silver Bark’s own fault that the crafters were eager to leave. They felt they had no value in the Silver Bark, just cogs in the machine to be used. They Leveled but that wasn’t to benefit them. It was to give the Silver Bark above them better equipment. There was no reward for their work.

Loch hoped to fix that. He knew he was taking a risk bringing the elves to the school. They were already overcrowded and there were more laborers than jobs. The Silver Bark, the elves, he had to stop thinking of them as Silver Bark, all seemed to have Craft or Utility Classes. They would be helpful but that would still leave a lot of the humans in the Clan as just laborers. Some of the elves would be as well.

But as Loch had said, it was up to the person to decide their lives. No one was being forced into a role. Neither the elves or humans would be. But to get the Resources available to them, they had to work for them. No one could sit around and do nothing.

At least they got rid of the Silver Bark threat. And with the portal stone in their possession, no more Silver Bark would be coming to Earth. If they wanted to survive, the remaining elves had no choice but to ally with Clan Brady.

In the future, who knows how the relationship could evolve, especially if more elves joined the ranks of Clan Brady. He looked back at Sinat, the half-elf. Then his gaze shifted to Drew and Elora, the two were talking, walking pretty close together. Maybe there might even be some half-elves in the future.