Our plan had gone over without a hitch. My second script had made a bit more noise than I anticipated, but we quickly moved the guards back to their positions and then left the way we came through the temple gardens. We were gone before anyone arrived to check on the High Priest.

We decided not to take a break and travel through the night, to get back to our camp and the others as soon as possible. By the time we made it to the woods south of Alarna, the sun already hung high in the sky. Some of us had been up for over thirty hours, and we were thoroughly exhausted when the clearing came into view.

“There it is,” I said, relieved.

I couldn’t wait to give my new bed a try. Unless we were to find a beast rampaging through our camp, or Riala on fire, my next order of business was to get some shuteye.

“Huh? Where is everybody?” Bren asked the moment we stepped out of the trees’ shadows.

He seemed on edge. The open space around our campfire was entirely empty. The others were gone, and so were all of our belongings. I wasn’t overly surprised by this though.

“Don’t worry, they’re about ten minutes that way,” I said, calmly pointing south.

“Huh? Can you... detect them somehow?” he asked, full of wonder.

“No,” I chuckled lightly. “I heard Riala tell the others about the project I’ve been working on over there. I assumed they would move the moment we’re gone.”

My guess was right. As we got closer to the second clearing, I could make out several familiar voices happily talking in the distance. Though they were able to surprise me in a different way, because what came into view next was not the one house I built, but one and a half. Fae was furiously working on a second one. Riala was helping her, while Oryn sat to the side, scribbling in his notebook. The others were out of sight, but I could hear them inside our mostly finished house.

The first to notice us was Riala. We were approaching them in relative silence, but her head snapped in our direction shortly after my eyes fell on her.

“Miles!” she called out, smiling.

After our return was announced by her, everybody gathered to welcome us back. Hayla stepped out with Aelene and Hati in tow, and while I noticed several pairs of eyes glaring at me in anticipation, wanting to talk to me about various things, they waited patiently while Hayla approached us first.

“Welcome back, dear,” she said with a dignified smile.

An eyebrow raised, I dubiously responded, “Thanks...”

Dear? What’s that about?

She looked us over, checking that limbs were still in place, before asking, “Were you successful?”

“Yea, everything went smoothly. The High Priest is gone,” I said curtly. This conveyed the most important information without going into the bloody details.

Relief washed over them. Oryn most of all appeared as if a heavy boulder had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I’m glad...” he mumbled. “I’m so sorry that I let him use me like this. That I went along with it at all... If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.”

“You’re right, he wouldn’t have.” It was impossible to deny. Without him, Orthur would not have become such a threat to his people. And it wasn’t Oryn’s first lapse in judgment either. “I expect you to be more careful about what you share with whom in the future. Ideally... I don’t want you to share any of this information with anyone.”

My words sounded a little more dictatorial than I intended—especially if you considered the events of last night—but keeping all of this to himself would truly be for the best. Oryn was in a precarious position. The knowledge he had was dangerous, and he wasn’t even able to defend himself. Of course I had a hand in teaching him, but he had needed to understand the risks and what he was even dealing with. And this was at least enough for him to flee Alarna.

Upon telling him that he needed to be more careful, he once more glanced around as if caught red handed. Grimacing at the possibility that he messed up even more, I waited for him to say something.

“I-I... might have told Fae and the others a little about mana users and how they can be created in theory.”

“Ah.” My facial features relaxed. “Alright... You’re going to be careful starting now.”

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Oryn hung his head and nodded.

“It’s true then?” Grym suddenly asked, sounding irritated. “You can just get this power?”

“Theoretically, yes,” I responded. “But as you heard, the chances for the process to succeed aren’t great. I wouldn’t recommend attempting it.”

“Hmph.”

I wasn’t sure what he was disgruntled about, but if I could avoid any lengthy discussions at this time, I would. Though there were still Fae and Riala, waiting their turns with shining eyes.

“Are we done then?” Fae asked, and continued without waiting for a response. “Great! Miles, your house is amazing! You need to tell me how the edge connections work, so I can continue with ours!”

“Eh? You built that second one? How?” Bren asked her, dumbfounded.

Fae’s smile vanished in an instant. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked him.

“You’re a Worker, and we didn’t bring a single tool. How are you building a house?”

“He apparently doesn’t even have a Calling and he built a house!” she said, gesturing at me in exasperation.

“That’s different, I’m not surprised by anything he is doing anymore!”

They began arguing, while everyone else was listening somewhat awkwardly. This obsession with one’s Calling was actually something that bugged me, and it had been part of the things we wanted to change in Alarna. I was happy about Fae taking a crack at something outside her wheelhouse.

“We need a place to sleep anyway. I might as well give it a try!”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong!”

Hayla eventually interjected, “You may discuss this in private. In the meantime, I need to talk to Miles. Fae, you can ask your questions once he has rested.”

“Ah!” Fae yelped while Hayla motioned me in the direction of the house. Miffed, she turned to Bren again, fury in her eyes. “Good job!”

“What did I do?” he complained.

Assuming that Hayla had something important to talk about, I accepted her directive. I glanced at Berla and Riala in confusion, but they followed us wordlessly. Just before we headed inside, Hayla casually instructed the Fighters to rest as well, mentioning that other matters would be addressed later, and told Hati to take a post in front of the house.

At that point, it finally clicked. She was playing the role of queen, confidently giving orders, and establishing her relationship and influence on me and the others.

I’m gone for a day and she has built a hierarchy...

I was equally surprised to enter my house and see one of the rooms no longer door- and windowless. On the opposite side of the living room, a door leaned against the wall next to an entrance. It wasn’t held in place by hinges, but had handles on it that I assumed you could use to pick it up and simply jam into the door frame. The same design was used to close off the windows, and after entering, Hayla lit a lamp and sealed the door shut.

“Dear?” Berla asked sharply the moment the four of us were alone.

Hayla looked unimpressed. “It’s just a word. Don’t overreact.”

“It’s not about the word, but what you’re telling people! You’re overstepping your bounds!”

“Our settlement is growing and we need to establish certain structures,” Hayla explained. “I’m Miles’ fiance and you did ask for my help governing. Isn’t this my job then?”

Another argument broke out. Again, I stood to the side, just listening, and feeling left out. Hayla was doing what you might expect of a Ruler, but this appeared to deeply irritate Berla.

Riala tugged on my clothes as they kept going. “Miles, you’re going to be king and Hayla is the queen, right?” she asked.

I sighed as I looked down at her. Technically, this interpretation wasn’t too far-fetched, and I assumed that Hayla had pushed for it. After all, that was her goal. I hadn’t yet thought a lot about where we would go from here though.

“Hm... I mean, you’re not necessarily wrong...”

Hayla interrupted their argument to look our way. “See?” she said, a mischievous grin on her face.

“See what?” Berla shot back. “Even if you marry him, you’re just his wife by law! Call yourself queen or whatever else you want, but that doesn’t give you any authority over him or anyone here!”

I stepped in between the two, trying to calm them. “Okay, let’s pause right here. No decisions have been made about our next steps, and I have yet to even seriously consider all of it. Hayla, I assume you just wanted to lead us away from the others. If you don’t actually have anything important to talk about, I’d rather get some sleep for now. And I’d hope that you two can get along for the time being. There’s no reason to fight.”

“You can’t just ignore this, Miles,” Berla admonished angrily. “She’s a Ruler, it’s in her blood to scheme to get to the top. If you have to marry her, she will do everything she can to take the place she envisions to be ‘rightfully hers!’”

“Berla,” Hayla said with a sigh, “You know it’s not a matter of if we marry.”

“Please! You can’t be that delusional,” Berla said, annoyed. “You’re engaged to the one person who truly understands scripts, and you think he’s not looking into ways to break that contract? It’s—” she bit her tongue, realizing what she just said.

Hayla’s eyes widened. “Break the...” she whispered. Her head slowly turned in my direction and I could feel a headache creeping up on me. “You’re trying to break your word?”

Oh no...