"Huh. Where did you get this, sweetie?" asked Amelia, looking at the chew toy.

Shock leapt up and tried to lick her face, letting out silent yips of joy.

"I think one of the ladies from next door gave it to her, dear. They had a good laugh about it, but then they had been into the brandy by then." Sandy contributed, a bit jealous. Now that the pub was next door, and she could get some of Tuuka's best any time she wanted, she was finding her self-control sorely tested.

"I guess it's okay. She hasn't destroyed it yet, so whatever they made it out of must be tough stuff." Amelia ruffled the dog's floppy ears, then gave her scritches under the chin. Shock's tail flailed so hard at the attention that her hindquarters scooted back and forth on the floor.

"You be good for Sandy and Miss Ashlee, okay? And only pee on really bad people, not the carpet or floor."

Shock whuffed at that, and as usual, the action sucked sound out of the air, instead of making an actual noise. It was an effect that was always odd, no matter how many times you 'heard' it.

"Did you see all those trees about? Council must've put 'em in, but I never heard 'em at work. Makes the place seem more rustic and comfy, sorta."

"Trees? Uh, no, I haven't seen any. Where?" Amelia responded to the shopkeeper's question.

"Just around the village. They're everywhere! It's really something. All the trees 'round here were chopped down ages ago for farmland, except for those up in your wood. It's a surprise, seein' as how the council doesn't do much else useful."

The bell on the door tinkled as Amelia stepped outside. Sure enough, there were trees scattered all throughout the little townlet. They looked like they had been there far too long to have been recently transplanted.

"Huh. I'm gonna go get a better look. See you 'round, Sandy!"

"Ta, dear!" Sandy called as the door closed behind her.

The trees weren't particularly densely planted, but nearly every house or building had one, and the small churchyard had several statuesque alders ringing its periphery.

Amelia had a hunch who was behind the sudden forestation.

"Bert? Did you put trees in the village?"

[Affirmative.]

"Uh huh. And how did you do that outside the hollow? I thought you could only do stuff like that inside your realm?"

[The realm was expanded. All of Eldertown is now part of Beorthmund.]

"Right, right. Okay. Were you planning on telling me about this?"

[No.]

Bert's response didn't actually have a sound or tone to it, since the words just appeared in her head. But somehow he sounded a bit sheepish, and a touch guilty.

"And why not? Why did you do it? I don't mind, it's cool, I'm just curious. You aren't in trouble!" She assured the core.

[Dunnwald suggested expanding the realm. To protect the village from outside interference.]

"Donald? That sounds like something he'd do. But since when do you guys talk? I didn't even know you could talk!"

[We formed a link during your confrontation previously. I ... improvised. We communicate through you.]

"Me? What?"

[We are each connected to you. We speak to each other using an out-of-band channel through you, which you don't register.]

"Um, okay. I feel, I don't know, used, somehow. I did notice that Donald hasn't been bugging me to establish a domain the last couple of days, though. This have something to do with it?"

[Affirmative. We are ... sharing. Dunnwald is allowed limited use of my facilities, in return for access to his unleashed contracted agents.]

"Yeah, about that. Did I ever say thanks for saving me and Sandy? 'Cause, thanks! You really saved our bacon, whatever you did. You guys did. Thanks to you, too, Donald!"

Neither core responded to that. They were both starting to communicate ever so slightly more like people, but it was a slow process. She suspected they might be a little on the spectrum.

"Just, you know, go easy on taking over the world. The hollows is plenty to keep track of, alright? And if we make every place fantastic, it kinda loses its charm. Nobody would want to come and visit!" She said the last facetiously.

[Acknowledged.]

[Acknowledged. Domain expansion will be limited to other realms.]

It was easy to tell which core had responded with which answer.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant, Donald! Maybe just limit yourselves to emergency expansions, okay? No casual land-grabbing because you're bored or cranky."

[Acknowledged.]

She got the impression the response was grudging. But it would have to do. Hopefully Bert would rein in Donald's more acquisitive and domineering tendencies.

"So how far do you extend now, Bert? Just the village and the hollows? Or is there anything else you guys should be telling me?"

[Realm incorporates all land immediately surrounding the Hollows and Eldertown.]

"All of it? Even the canal section? I guess that's cool. I guess that means people will be safe getting here, anyways."

She thought about it for a moment.

"So does this mean Mr. Unpronounceable can't come here? That guy's a menace, and I'd hate for him to try to burn down the village again."

There was a suspiciously silent moment when neither core responded.

"Boys? He can't come here, right?"

[Negative. Only the Hollow is bounded. Entry to the surrounding area is permitted.]

"Um, that doesn't sound like you're keeping everybody safe. What gives?"

Again there was a moment of silence, and she had the distinct impression the cores were trying to get each other to respond. She tapped her foot.

[Inhabitants of the realm are protected. Unwanted visitors are ... not.]

"So they're bait? Now that doesn't sound nice at all!" she scolded.

[Affirmative.]

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

There wasn't the slightest hint of shame in the response.

"Right. Okay. I suppose I'll have to trust you guys, but don't make me regret it!"

----------------------------------------

The village really did feel nicer with the trees. Several were already decorated with ribbons or hanging lights, so it looked like the villagers approved of the changes. She still wished Bert had asked first, but she didn't really want to micromanage the core, so she'd just have to put up with some of his idiosyncrasies. Their idiosyncrasies, apparently.

She took the 'long' way back home, just to stretch her legs. It was really only a few minutes walk, but after having gotten used to instantaneous portal transportation, it seemed longer. It was a nice day out, not too hot, not too cloudy. She was pleased to see that there weren't any ravens lurking about. Not that she disliked the birds, but now she suspected they were all spies, so she'd rather not see them around.

The entrance gate was left wide open these days, to make sure that visitors felt welcome. She'd finally had to ask Bert to stop telling her whenever people entered the hollow since it got annoying after a while. If they weren't dangerous, she didn't care, and if they were dangerous, Bert wouldn't let them in. So it seemed a waste of time.

She ambled down the entry path, remembering back to what it had been like when she first arrived in the hollow. Then it had been cramped, windy, and muddy. Now, though, it was straight and wide. She and Bert had rearranged the trees a bit to make it a nicely shaded walkway. This was partially for all the new visitors coming in, but mostly for when the miners started hauling out ore. They'd barely managed to bring their own personal wagons in when they came, and that had been a struggle. So now there was room between the trees to get a loaded wain out. Well, room for a dwarf or goblin-sized wagon, anyways.

Amelia paused for a moment as she entered the yard. It was mostly empty at the moment, with just Briar working in the garden and Pancake nibbling away on the lawn. If you listened carefully, you could hear the ringing of hammer blows on the anvil as Bellows worked in the smithy in the backyard, but otherwise, it was peacefully quiet. Whisper came wafting over from wherever she'd been lazing, and nestled down in her hair.

"Hey, you! How you doing?" She gave the wisp a gentle pat, and felt the thrum of what she liked to think was the glow ball's 'purr'.

"Hi Fern! What's going on today?"

"Game! Game! Spears! Spears!"

"Oh man! I'm late!" Amelia responded, smacking her forehead. She'd been so distracted by the trees in town, she'd lost track of time.

Of course Alder was running a game, as usual. Amelia had finally managed to sit in on a few, and they were magical, if in a completely mundane way. The tree really knew how to spin a story, and kept all the players engaged and eager for more. There was always a friendly competition to get a chance to actually play, and there inevitably was a crowd gathered around just to watch.

Spear practice was a new thing, though. The crew had put together a training rig that let people practice fighting with a spear, which was pretty cool. It was a big rectangular thing, about eight feet tall and a little more than that wide. It had shuttered cubbies all over the face of it, set at varying depths, and the goal was to tap the target inside the cubby when the respective shutter opened. If you did it right, a bell would ring. There were levers and buttons that let someone control it, so different sets of shutters opened at different times, to simulate the various openings a foe would expose in a fight. There were even a couple of 'arms' that could be swung or poked at the person practicing, so they had to block or dodge. It was a lot of fun to play with, but very tiring. Amelia had gotten a chance to use it several times, and could only last a couple of minutes before being totally winded. Quiet said that that was the whole point--fighting took a lot of concentration and energy, so you needed to practice bunches to get better at it. They also did basic drills to learn the proper movements and occasionally sparred with each other. Ringing the bells was the most popular since it gave instant feedback of achievement.

Amelia had been surprised when the goblins had suggested starting rudimentary combat training. She didn't like to think of the dangerous aspects of exploring other realms, but supposed that was something that couldn't just be ignored. It turned out there was the potential for dangerous encounters even in the cave system the cavern was part of, so the two guides wanted to make sure anyone they were taking down there had at least a little preparation. Plus it let them figure out who could follow instructions, stick with boring or exhausting tasks, and deal with stress. They were certainly evaluating who they'd let come with them, and this was a simple, fun, and practical way to go about it.

She made her way to the backyard. There was a small crowd around the training machine, all holding practice spears Scorper had turned out. He had made them in varying lengths since Quiet wanted everyone to have one a little taller than themselves. Since their students ranged in height from Bill, an average height human male, to Fork, a pre-schoolish-aged goblin girl, they had quite the selection. The spears all had blunt ends and a padded ball 'tip' that could be strapped on for sparring. They also had masks and padded jackets they wore as well, which really made practice a hot, sweaty experience. Especially after the warm-up run, and the occasional wind sprints they did for punishment or inspiration.

DING! DING DING! DING! Sounded the bell as Vieno scored an astounding quadruple hit. The dwarven girl had turned out to be a natural, with both good perception and natural grace. It was tricky hitting targets accurately rapidly in succession, but the goblins assured them it was a critical skill to have. Aim for the eyes, stab the toes, then back to the eyes, etc.

"Good job! I've only ever got a double! And I think that was luck!" Amelia congratulated the girl when she finished. Vieno had stepped away so Bill could take a turn, and was currently leaning on her spear, breathing very heavily.

"Thanks!" the dwarf responded, smiling briefly. Sweat plastered her short hair down to her forehead, but she was grinning.

Amelia hadn't been sure about allowing the kids to learn to fight but supposed it wouldn't cause any harm. Besides, it would be better to know how to fight and not have to, than the other way around. But hopefully, Bert would keep them safe so that wouldn't be an issue.

DING! THUD! THUD! Whuf! "Ow!" Bill got the hit on one of his tries, but was too slow on the last two, slamming the blunt spearhead into the wood of the shutters as they closed too quickly for him. Then to add to the indignity, he'd gotten bopped by one of the arms. They startled you more than they hurt, but that wasn't one of the fun parts of practice.

Amelia grabbed a spear from the rack by the device and joined the queue for practice. Even if she was a little late today, nobody minded. Classes were pretty informal for the most part. That meant she missed the mandatory running portion that they usually started with, though. Both goblins strove to drive home the point that they were always better off running than fighting. And also, to practice fighting when they were already tired, since if it came to blows, they probably would be. It also helped to practice with limbs that were already shaking from fatigue, since adrenaline tended to mess up fine motor control.

Today they did the usual two-handed work with the spears, then some one-handed work. One-handed was a lot harder, and it took more practice to keep the point online. You had to hold the spear in just the right way, or it was too easy for your opponent to push it away and get you. They had a few shields they used for that drill, but mostly they used a mock lantern in the other hand. It was a good excuse to think about fighting at night, or when having to carry something you couldn't (or shouldn't) put down. But Quiet admitted to Amelia it was just a way to mix things up, and make everybody practice gauging distance to opponents at different ranges. She said that that and not tripping over your own feet were vastly more important than perfect accuracy.

They even brought out the real spearheads Bellows had forged. Those were socketed onto the blunt shafts of the spears, and held in place with a nail-like pin. Picker usually kept them in a chest that he inventoried before every spar, and after every time they were used, just in case. They were extremely sharp, and the main goal of practicing with the real deal was learning just how little or much effort it took to pierce things. Everybody was always surprised at how easy it was to run a heavy melon through and sink the point deep into a block of wood. It was a sobering thought, especially if you were picturing your target as a living being, or that you were potentially a target yourself.

Practice lasted about an hour, or until everybody collapsed from exhaustion. Then the goblins goaded everybody into a final sprint around the yards, with the slow pokes getting sprayed with water and jeered at. Amelia was one of those this time since she was limping from a blow to her leg that Pasi had managed to land. She wasn't too ashamed of it, though, since the boy was also moving slower than usual after their bout. They all tended to accumulate some bumps and bruises, but it was still good fun. And vastly better to get a bruise in practice than a wound in real life.

Whisper and Fern occasionally tried to 'help' by zipping around the practice field, which was terribly distracting. It was even worse when one of the younger kids took to throwing water jets and bang spells around at the same time. Everyone was slowly learning just the right amount of focus. Too intent on what was just in front of you, and you got sprayed, surprise banged, or had a sprite raspberry in your face. Too much focus on the chaos around you, and you got poked or smacked. It was a tough lesson.

It was still a couple of hours before tea, and she was wondering how she was going to occupy herself for the rest of the afternoon when Bert interrupted her musing.

[Notice! Visitor has exited Realm to Elara.]

"What was that, Bert? Who? Where?"

[A mortal visitor has exited Beorthmund to the Realm of Elara.]

That was a new one for her.

"Hey, Lark! How do you get to Elara from here?"

The singer had been perched on the eaves of the bathhouse to watch the spear practice. The bird cocked her head at Amelia, then replied. "Via the stone doorway on the mound. Why, Caretaker?"

"Um, Bert says somebody left that way. Somebody mortal. Does that make sense?"

"It is likely one of your 'ramblers' mistakenly stepped through. That portal opens on occasion when the realms align. That is very bad. Elara is a particularly dangerous realm, especially for a mortal to wander in. We should retrieve them right away!"

"Yeah, I thought as much."