Mason soon realized the crafters had moved entirely to the platforms, which meant he had to take the lift back to the Nexus. After a bit of whining, he decided to leave Streak to return to his pack in the menagerie.

"But you owe me!" he shouted as the wolf sprinted off without glancing back. Mason steeled himself and went for the lift, then changed his mind and climbed straight up the tree.

It was a ridiculous feat. Inhuman and impossible, now almost easy. Mason felt the urge to shapeshift as he went, to extend his claws and climb like a vertical run with a roar on his lips—to let everyone and everything know he was here, he was watching. The master of the forest was home.

He took a deep breath and relaxed into the climb, getting more and more aware of the ‘Cerebus’ impulses that were always poking at his brain. Sometimes he agreed and embraced it. But sometimes it was a pain in the ass.

At the top he stepped onto the platform, resigning himself to probably hours of lengthy explanations by specialists. But he knew it was important to show he cared. And hopefully to maybe learn a bit about how the civilian 'economy' worked. His knowledge of the civilian world was almost laughably bad.

The first platform of buildings looked busy, and Mason walked to the middle and glanced around at signs, not quite sure what was what. Finally he decided to just walk into one and find someone to talk to, but before he could he sensed someone stop and stare behind him.

"Oh. Patron. Er. Baron. Er. Hello."

Mason turned to find Peni the smith holding a large bag of…rocks?…over one shoulder, carrying another in his hand. He was a big man, but either he'd gained some system stats or he was obscenely strong.

"You should have been a warrior," Mason said, gesturing at the feat. Peni smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes.

"Can I, uh, do something for ya? We're a bit busy in there. Lots of refining and smelting yet to do before tomorrow."

"No." Mason shrugged. "I was just...” what the hell was he actually coming to do? “I wanted to see how the new buildings were. Don't let me keep you."

Peni nodded and started to walk on. Then he turned back with a kind of awkward, dutiful expression, like he felt obligated to say more.

"They're great," he said, licking his lips. “We're all grateful for..." he gestured with his head at the Nexus. "For everything. You and the players, you know, you've done real well and all. We're just...trying to catch up."

"I understand," Mason said, not really understanding. Peni frowned, still not setting down his rocks.

"Thing is, we're all pretty worried. With the new continent and all. That we're…well, country bumpkins. You know? Like we'll...I dunno. Look stupid. Next to all the city civilians."

Mason was getting a bit clearer picture now. The civilians had definitely not been the focus in the 'West', partially because they'd spent so much time and effort on survival, partially just because Mason didn't think it was important enough.

"If Haley's right, and she usually is," Mason said. "This thing is a marathon, not a sprint. We'll catch up. Meanwhile, we get to live here." Mason glanced around at the trees. "Not a bad deal."

"No," Peni said, features softening a little as he looked. "No I'd say you're right. Or at least Haley's right. That's a good woman you've got there."

"She is." Mason let out a breath and looked around the crafting quarter. "And I think I’ll go back to her, because there's probably not a useful thing I can do here. I’m not likely to catch up on everything you and yours are doing in an hour. And I’ll probably slow you down. Unless you need some help carrying rocks?" He gestured. Peni smiled a little and shook his head.

"Got storage, too, boss. This'll be plenty. Have a nice night."

Mason nodded and turned away, deciding it was a start, at least. Ultimately he didn't need to be everything to everyone. He'd designate people like Haley or Peni to be in charge of civilians, which reminded him he still had House positions to fill.

Another item on the to-do list, probably best done before the 'tournament' started. Like deciding on arena teams.

Without Blake, Seul-ki, and Annie, they only had ten players. When he thought about that, especially in the context of this new continent, he realized it was an almost laughably small number.

And here I'd thought we were getting powerful.

When it came to fighting, quality mattered. A lot. But quantity mattered, too. Could this eastern city simply overwhelm them with players in a fight? Would they have hundreds? Thousands?

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The thought made Mason realize his bravado with the emperor might very well have been just that. What the hell could they do against an army of players? Even if Mason was as powerful as five, or ten...could he fight fifty? It seemed unlikely.

Maybe if they were pitifully weak and fighting in the trees. If he had time to regenerate, to get stronger, to run them around with endless arrows. But they’d have their own archers, casters, supports...

And his 'soldiers' might have to fight just as many.

The thought sent a chill down his spine. He reminded himself for now it was all just in his imagination. They might have far less players than he feared, and in any case be unable to reach Nassau. There wasn’t enough information yet to fear a war. And there was likely a lot he could do between now and whenever that came. He had to hope.

This 'tournament' was first. With only ten players he couldn't even fill out the teams. For a six, a three, and a two, they’d have needed eleven to sweep the categories and avoid fighting each other (except in the individual duels, of course).

He thought again about the importance of intimidation. About putting the fear of God in these other players enough that they maybe decided messing with Nassau just wasn't in their best interest. And after listening to the other continent's players talking with Dariya's stone he started to get an idea of what to do.

He needed to talk to Haley to confirm, but intuition told him the game would allow it. He'd fill the six and three with his players. And then he'd enter the twos alone.

It was where the best rewards were, and therefore where the best of the east's players would go.

Sometimes in war you didn't have to scare an army. You just had to scare its leaders. If Mason could take on their best two at a time, and crush them. And then if he could do the same to their emperor one on one. Well. Maybe they'd re-calculate.

It was worth a try. And the thought of all that fighting definitely had Mason in the right frame of mind as he walked towards his girls.

His heart beat faster, his stride picked up. He thought of the beautiful women all waiting for him, all his, and could still sometimes barely comprehend. But he was getting shockingly comfortable with it.

Lust helped. And frequently cheating death. And he knew he had an undeniably growing ego, probably with a little help from Cerebus. But it was more than just that. He liked these women. He probably even loved two of them, and fully expected he'd grow to love the others with more time and intimacy.

Yes, he wanted them all in his bed. But he also wanted to sit down at the table and eat with them, listen to them talk and laugh and remind him why all the rest of this insanity mattered.

But they’d make their way to the bed eventually. He’d get them through the discomfort, the awkwardness. He’d do whatever the hell he had to. And then it'd be a night to remember.

* * *

Naya sat awkwardly on the strange furniture the other girls called a 'couch', and ate 'finger food'. The couch was very comfortable, at least, but unstylishly enormous. Naya felt she might sink into the cushions and disappear.

It was also strange to sit so close to the other girls. Elves sat in their own individual seats, or knelt on mats on the floor. Being next to them all the time put her at considerable unease.

"Your posture is so wonderful, Naya," Haley said to her with a smile. "You're inspiring me to pay more attention to how I sit."

It was the third or fourth time Haley had specifically complimented or included her in the conversation, and Naya was grateful, she truly was. But since her first night with her husband, Naya had begun to feel…some intoxicating cocktail of lust and emotion she had never expected in a thousand years.

And despite this overwhelming feeling clouding her mind and body, wanting nothing but so desperately to be back in her husbands’s arms…now she had to share him.

It was hard enough to share with Haley, whom she was beginning to like. But…with these other two women? It was all just so...hard.

"You're very sweet," Naya said, "but you're so beautiful. You can sit however you like." The women (except Rosa) all smiled politely, and Naya struggled to find something else to say. She looked to the concubine named Becky, who was apparently a warrior as well, and forced a smile.

"We haven't had much of a chance to talk," she said. "I'm amazed you fight side by side with a powerful warrior like Mason. I'd be terrified."

"Nah it's them big ol' softy city boys that get scared." Becky blushed a little but her tone wasn't shy. "Country girl like me's as tough as shoe leather."

Naya hardly even understood what the woman actually said, let alone how to respond. She nodded and smiled and sipped her 'tea', which was very nice, still trying to wash the taste of the 'coffee' she'd tried first out of her mouth forever.

The things these humans ate and drank were truly extraordinary. And mostly disgusting.

"Well this sucks," said Rosa suddenly, sucking out the slightly easing tension and making Haley choke on her drink.

"Rosa..."

"Well it does!" The dark eyed concubine tossed up her hands in what was becoming familiar high drama. She looked at Naya. "No offence, but we couldn't even get through supper. Now we're gonna fuck a man together? A man I want and you want and everybody wants." She snorted. "Stop pretending, OK? This sucks."

Even Haley looked a bit speechless, and Naya took a long breath. One thing she admired about humans, despite the fact it was very new for her, was that they had a way of just saying the truth.

"You're right," she said. "This...sucks."

The women looked pretty surprised, and Rosa actually smiled a little. She gestured at Naya as if to say 'you see?'

"But...if Mason is to be my husband..." Rosa rolled her eyes at this but Naya fought on... "then I will do everything I can to bring his house peace and happiness. I want no conflict with any of you. And I will treat you with the same respect Mason does."

"She's so awkward," Rosa said, shaking her head. "Isn't she awkward? Mason could be here any second and I'm not even close to turned on. Maybe I'll go put on something sexy. Can we go put on something sexy?"

Naya did her best to keep her expression neutral, and guard her tongue. She was a very new wife. She could handle a little disrespect. If it continued she would inform her husband, and expect him to punish his concubine, if necessary. But she could tolerate it for now.

Haley stood and walked off, leaving Naya and the other concubines to exchange awkward glances again. Then the only human woman Naya liked returned with two large bottles and set them in the middle of the table.

"We French know what to do in such situations," she said, unscrewing a cork as she winked at Naya. "You’re all going to get drunk."