I woke later than normal the next day because Delik Slin told everyone Vone and I needed as much sleep as possible after the healings. Sometimes he’s a smart man. I had a lazy morning, I figured I deserved it after saving the entire city single-handedly yesterday. Or something like that. I took a nice, long bath. I shaved and trimmed my nails. I felt better than I had since before Jade’s murder. Vone being back was a big part of it. One less dead friend than I had thought. Nice. That only left way too many still murdered by the Kathaldi. I dressed in some of my fancy lord clothes and headed to the kitchen for lunch, which I intended to eat a lot of to make up for missing breakfast. Vone had the same plan and we devoured the excellent meal Sednik’s wife prepared.

“That was delicious!” I declared when we were done. Everyone else had already finished and left the table, except for Delik Slin, who just smiled and watched us while he drank his tea.

“Thank you, sir. I thought you might be hungry from all the fighting and healing yesterday. We need to fatten you up, anyway, or you’ll never catch a wife.” Sednik’s wife’s hand flew to cover her mouth. “Oh my! I’m so sorry, my lord! I didn’t mean anything by it!”

I stood up. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.” She fled the room, tears in her eyes.

Delik looked at me. “Are you sure you are okay? I know she was just trying to get you to eat more but with everything…” He trailed off and just waited, watching me, with concern in his eyes.

“I’m fine. Am I still upset about Jade? Of course. Maybe I always will be, but I’m not mad at Sednik’s wife for speaking without thinking first.”

Vone laughed. “You’d be quite the hypocrite if you were. I can remember many times when you’ve done the same thing.”

I ignored him.

Delik Slin cleared his throat. “How about we get to business? We need to plan a spring campaign for destroying the Kathaldi headquarters.”

“And all of the Kathaldi.” Vone cut in.

“Agreed.” I agreed. “All of the Kathaldi, as well. But what do we need to do today? What has to happen now for this to work in the spring?”

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We all sat and thought about that for a few moments. “I think we need to alert everybody that might want to help so they can send troops.” Vone finally said. “All of the main temples, the elves, the dwarves and the kings of Mindolo and Orcin.”

“Orcin, really?” I said. “You think he’ll send help?”

“No.” Vone said, before pouring himself a mug of tea. “He is probably more likely to wait for us to destroy the Kathaldi and then invade because we will be weaker after the battle, or battles.”

“Then why tell him at all?” I asked. “It seems unwise to say the least.”

“What if I am wrong about King Adagh? We will not know for sure unless we ask him to help. If he refuses, we can expect an invasion.”

“Why don’t we table the decision about asking Orcin for help and just get Welst working on the letters for the messenger birds.” I suggested. “We can send them out today if we get him started right away.”

“Good idea!” Delik Slin stood. “I will go see him right now.” He picked up his tea and was gone.

“I think we’ve accomplished enough for our first day, don’t you?” I asked Vone.

“Fine by me, but what else do you have to work on?”

I sighed. “I haven’t told my family about Jade, yet. And I’m going to ask my youngest brother if he’d like a job as Welst’s assistant. It was Delik Slin’s idea.”

“It is a good one since you can likely trust your own brother, but is he good at keeping secrets?”

“How would I know? I’ve barely been around him as an adult. All I can say is that he seems nice.”

Vone nodded. “It would seem a nice chance to get to know one of your siblings better.”

“True.” I grinned. “And he is my favorite. By a long way. You know what? Let’s go.” Triona, Venzik’s second in command, insisted on coming. She also decided we needed two more guards so Sednik and Grabnik joined us. Delik Slin decided to stay at the office and work with Welst on getting the letters ready.

The walk across town was interesting. More shops were closed than was normal and most of the people on the street looked scared and were hurrying as fast as they could. I turned to Vone. “Is this because the drants attacked yesterday?”

“I believe so.” He shrugged. “It must be. This is not what Ansdron is usually like. What else could it be?”

“I guess you’re right. It just doesn’t make sense to me. We won! The drants were kept out of the city even though they surprised us. A lot more men guard there now. Why is everyone so afraid?”

Vone seemed to think about it for a few moments before he answered. “I can think of two reasons. First, perhaps they did not truly believe the drants would come. I doubt any but elves still live who have actually experienced a drant war. It can be hard to believe in something you have not seen with your own eyes or touched with your own hands. Second, they do not know what you know. How we keep a watch on the ruins, how the soldiers were training. That a large number of troops now guard that section of the city. And more. They hear only rumors and just know that drants were here, attacking. Ignorance leads to many poor decisions.”

That got me thinking. Vone sure made sense. Maybe all of that reading he has done did make him smarter. Who’d have thought it?