Mason learned the elf's name was Naya. After the...vomiting, she tried weakly to apologize and walk beside him, but she stumbled like a newborn fawn, and pretty soon he was carrying her. He suspected even pre-apocalypse Mason could have done it easily enough, but now he hardly noticed her weight.

"There is much to tell you, Patron," Kiaan said, jogging at his side. "I should reproduce my map for you as soon as possible, either through the settlement database or else on paper or parchment. Though it will be difficult. My memory of the geography is very detailed."

"Glad to hear it," Mason said, mostly impressed the man was still alive. He hadn't sent him to die, but on reflection the task he'd given him was risky to the point of mild insanity.

Yet here he was, alive and speaking casually, attempting to be helpful. Mason expected the man was mercenary as ever. But a good mercenary was just fine as long as he was getting paid.

"Knowledge of the world is incredibly valuable to me," he said, turning his head to meet the man's eyes. "So is competence. When we get back to Nassau, we'll go over everything, including your reward."

Kiaan smiled slightly and bowed his head. "I'm pleased to see you prospering, Patron. You have...certainly changed in my absence."

"I'll turn 'human' again soon enough. The changes are temporary," Mason said, with a glance at the half-listening elf. It was probably time to sell his settlement a bit. "You'll find Nassau changed as much as me. We've accepted the blessing of nature god, and it's about as much forest inside as it is outside. There's plenty of housing, better walls, more food and more...well, everything."

Kiaan bowed slightly again. "May our good fortune continue, Patron. I also have other important information I need to discuss with you, but I think it best to wait until we are alone."

Mason was about to say he could share it now when he noticed that goblin following them like a stray dog. He spoke quietly.

"What do you suggest I do with him?"

Kiaan glanced back and frowned.

"He's either the world's worst spy, attempting to get in our good graces. Or else he's pitifully desperate, and alone. I'm not sure which. But he is skilled in other ways, Patron, and snuck up on me. Almost easily. This is not a simple thing to do."

Mason stopped and waited until the goblin came a little closer.

"Cliknik, was it? Tell me Cliknik, and think carefully before you answer. Are you with the Greenblood Order?"

The goblin's usually wide smile faltered, and his eyes shifted back and forth. He seemed to deflate a little.

"Was, yes. Scout, hmm? But...not now. Would kill cunning Cliknik. Need...new home. And Cliknik likes humans, oh yes, very much."

Mason matched the creature's smile, not because he believed him, which he didn't—but because he was imagining the creature tied down as Blake shook and rattled its brain with mind magic.

"Come along then. But I'm not going to slow down for you."

The goblin beamed. "No, no need, wise human. I stay with you. Oh yes, very happy! Very fast. I will watch your back, very close-like."

"Great." Mason turned and picked up his speed. He supposed he could have disarmed the creature but frankly it didn't concern him in the slightest. He looked forward to it learning about the destroyed mountain guild, and learning whatever else it might know.

Maybe once they'd finished with it, they could send it to the next closest goblins to spread the word about what happened when you fucked with humans.

But first, he had a bunch of elves to gather, and hopefully get back safely to Nassau.

* * *

Naya somehow had actually slept in the man-creature's arms.

She supposed she'd gone several days with little to no sleep, and hardly any food. But even so...it was hard to believe. Yet she remembered feeling warm and safe and closing her eyes, and when she woke she spasmed in alarm, momentarily forgetting what was happening or where she was.

"Calm, girl, you're alright now. Calm."

Naya looked up to see her family's oracle—the ancient, wrinkled face smiling down as she brought a flask of water to Naya's lips. She had a million questions, but forgot them all and drank desperately until her tongue didn't feel like ash.

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Then she looked past Dariya and saw an almost naked man splashing himself in a small creek. He was tall and strong looking, with strangely tattooed arms and a body with many scars. He was unkempt, with a scruffy beard and tanged brown hair and...his eyes! A bright, almost glowing green. The same as the beast's...

"Mason brought you," Dariya said with a grin and a look in the direction of her staring. "Your people are just there beyond that cluster of trees. Safe. Resting. All fifty of them."

Naya still had so many questions, but they all caught in her throat as she realized the oracle had brought this man to save them. And he had.

She took the old woman's hands and put them to her lips. She had never quite trusted her, as she didn't trust any of the followers of the ancient fey religion. But it was still customary for every house to keep an oracle of the old gods.

"Thank you, Oracle. I thought...I thought you'd abandoned us. Then the trolls ambushed us. And my father and brother…and the centaur kept circling the marsh, they wouldn't leave us alone...I…I didn't know what to do."

"Hush now, girl. I’m sorry it took longer than I hoped." Dariya stopped smiling a little. "And I'm sorry. About your father, and brother. They died bravely."

Naya nodded, not daring to speak. There would be time to mourn them, but not yet. Not until her people were safe.

When she'd recovered a little she sat up and covered herself as best she could with her scarf and traveling cloths. Her people were very conservative when it came to men and women, and by rights a stranger shouldn't see anything but her face.

"Th-thank you again, ranger," she called awkwardly. "For saving me, and the others."

The man rose up at her words, and Naya practically gasped. She had never even seen a human before. This one looked strong, like a warrior, but now that she could see...almost everything, he was practically sculpted from nothing but lean muscle and violent angles.

This ranger and ‘druid’ was nothing like the old, wise, bearded men of elven stories. He radiated danger and power, and as he walked towards her, she didn't even have the urge to run—just to freeze in something like confused terror, and maybe awe.

"Don't mention it," he said, smiling and maybe even looking a bit...shy? But that seemed impossible. She decided it must have been a cultural difference. "Thing is...well, we need to figure out what happens now."

Dariya and the ranger exchanged a look, which was strange enough it brought Naya slightly back to her senses. She wasn't a fool. She had listened to the man discuss his settlement, probably for her benefit. Every race of people in the world wanted elves for all kinds of reasons, and these humans would be no different, ranger or no ranger.

But the reality of her situation was stark.

They had no warriors left, and few men at all. Most had died to protect them. The fifty people who remained were faithful pioneers, mostly young females barely over a century, ready to settle and build a new settlement when they found one of the sacred places. They were builders, hunters, fishermen, and several kinds of crafter, but none could truly defend themselves from much in the wild.

"What do you suggest?" she said.

"Well." The human shrugged. "Dariya said you needed a place. Maybe temporary, for a season. If so, you can stay with us. I can promise protection and supplies. All I ask is you do your part. But there's no kind of condition. Try not to get in any fights, I guess. I mean...I don't know what elves are like. Do they drink? Alcohol? Anyway I'm probably rambling."

The powerful human appeared kind of shy and awkward again, and Naya looked at Dariya, who just gave her a knowing smile, her eyes crinkled in amusement. Naya had expected...a binding agreement.

She had expected demands about elven enchantment and probably permanent slaves, especially since they had so many females. The value of a young, elven woman to most races in the world was...hard to measure. And Naya had dozens.

"I told the druid you would consider it," the oracle said, her face masking her emotion now. Naya felt her heart pounding. She wanted to scream 'Yes! Yes of course!' And pretty much throw her arms around the muscled warrior.

But the reality was—she was now Baroness of her house, and this was a formal human chief. In her time in the elven city of Shirass, Naya had been trained mostly as a lore and law keeper. She knew the edicts by heart, and she knew the formal rules of elven nobility as well as she knew her afternoon prayers. What agreements she could make were guided by rules, by tradition. It was her responsibility to keep her family honor.

"I can gratefully accept your protection for my people," she said carefully, "but, my own situation is more...complex." The human stared in incomprehension, and Naya sighed.

Dariya obviously trusted this man enough to bless him with a title reserved only for those who proved themselves worthy, because she sensed the mark now in his presence. He had saved her and all her people, and seemed guileless, almost innocent. Naya would trust him, too.

"I am an elven princess," she said, feeling strange to say it out loud. "I have my own noble house, and a claim to the throne of Shirass. I cannot just...live in your settlement. There must be a reason. A formal...declaration. A..."

"Ah. A treaty," the man said, then shrugged. "Sure. I hereby offer you, Princess Naya of Shirass a formal alliance. With uh, myself, as a condition of protection. No problem. Should we go?"

Naya felt her jaw drop. Even the oracle put a hand to her mouth briefly to cover her surprise. The human had seemed so shy. But obviously that was a ruse. This must have been his plan all along, and Naya could hardly believe his boldness, his arrogance, his casual…strong-arming.

But then…he had saved her life, and the lives of her tribe, and she was in terrible peril.

There was nothing strictly in the edicts preventing an alliance with another race. It had never been done, and was most certainly not traditional. But there was no law. Naya stared so long the human was looking awkward again, his innocent mask quite impressive as he blithely scratched his beard and waited.

Naya could hardly believe what she was about to say, but saw no other option. The truth was she had no bargaining power at all. The elders wouldn’t help her. Her warriors were all dead.

Her only options were to accept the man's conditions, to take her chances in the wilds, or to go crawling back to the fey. She would not do the second or the third. She therefore had only one option...

"I…," she practically squeaked, looking the man up and down again and feeling heat flush through her body. "I accept your marriage proposal."