Thanks to Marcus and his gasp of amused disbelief, even those who had so far attributed my new-ish look to just another quirk of mine fixed their gaze on me, questions in their eyes. With that short query of the City Guard’s Chief Healer, the time when I was out of the spotlight ended, and the moment I wasn’t looking forward to fell upon me.

As I suspected and dreaded, the attention was making me quite uncomfortable. It was never my thing, and believe it or not, the forced stay in the cellar of the madman didn’t make my social discomfort go away. If anything, it’s only gotten worse. Not only were my palms sweaty, but under the stare of so many people and in such a small room, I found myself shaking a little with beads of sweat trickling down my spine.

Not exactly Guardian-like demeanor, right?

It sure as hell wasn’t, not in my books. And so, after taking a deep breath, I met their gaze and gave Marcus a slight nod. “It just so happens that I’m...” I said and paused, clearing my throat. “I am Korra’leigh Grey, Guardian of Idleaf.”

I did my best to pronounce it correctly, but when my name came out of my mouth, it didn’t roll off my tongue with as much force as when the spirit of the World Tree said it. It wasn’t a total failure, though. There was a power behind my name. I could feel it, the pressure it put on my throat as I said it. 

It made me proud of myself.

Yet from the looks of those in the room, I found it to be the most likely wasted effort. No one seemed to catch the nuances of my name. Was it weird? Sad, if anything. It just deepened my understanding of how much people have forgotten the power of names. 

“Damn, lass,” Marcus whistled, impressed by my achievement of becoming a Guardian. “That’s what I call jumping at a chance.”

Even though his praise made me feel even more embarrassed, I was glad for his words of approval, especially since not everyone’s reaction was so positive.

“Is it true?” Janine asked her old mentor, looking at me in disbelief and a measured look in her eyes.

Rayden, as I suspected, didn’t take it with the ease I was hoping for and seemed pissed. “Seriously, Grey? Lord? Why the fuck didn’t either of you bother to tell me the shit of this magnitude before?!”

The loudest of all, however, was Baron Egerton. “That’s ridiculous. Am I supposed to take this slave’s word for it?” he asked, the contempt with which he spat the word slave out of his mouth giving me the creeps. “No. I’m not some fool to believe her fairy tales. Guardian of the World Tree? She’s just an attention-seeking wench, is what she is. Rayden, do your damn job and put her in jail, or better yet, get her out of my city!”

The fuck? I figured there’d be some who’d have trouble believing me. Hell, I wouldn’t trust myself if I were in their shoes. But the sheer contempt in the City Lord’s voice caught me off guard. So much, actually, that even though my beast pride was challenged, not even a growl came from my throat, let alone any words to stand up to him.

Luckily, there was no need. In a moment, everyone in the room was struck by the presence of the Imperial Chief Healer pressing on their senses. It was the first time I’d seen him use it, the first time I’d seen him so angry. “I believe no one here is so foolish as to fail to see the implications and importance of the existence of the World Tree in our Empire,” he raised his voice so that everyone in the room could hear him loud and clear. Then he turned his gaze on Baron Egerton. “If so, you are unfit to be here, and I must question whether you are suitable for the position you hold.”

Perhaps with his rationality clouded by outrage or to keep that little bit of pride he still had, the City Lord decided not to yield so easily. And so, despite the initial realization of his transgression, as beads of nervous sweat broke out on his bald head and the efforts of his assistants to calm him down and refrain from further indiscretions, he raised his voice as well. “I don’t need to be lectured about some elven trees by someone like you! You’re the one who should be aware of your standing, not me! It is the Emperor who should decide the value of such a tree, not you...you...” he stammered, at a loss for words what to call the Imperial Chief Healer, as he fully realized who he was yelling at.

To Lord Wigram’s credit, he merely raised an eyebrow, waiting to see what the man would come up with, even stopping the imperial soldiers from making it clear to Baron Egerton that he took it too far. 

“...you...” he said, pointing at me in an effort to talk his ass out of the mess he made for himself. “...you wench, stop growling at me or...or... “

Did he pull that accusation out of thin air? No, he didn’t. I could get over him calling me a wench. After all, he was just a spoiled prick to me. But the fact that he thought of Idleaf or anyone, for that matter, as a thing of value made my inner beast boil with rage.

“Or what?” I growled back, clenching my fists and suppressing my desire to express further the fury I felt towards the bald man.

“You dare! I’ll have you thrown where you belong, into chains and under the whip.”

This time, I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug into my palms and drew blood. Yeah, people still saw me as what I used to be, a slave. And while that may not be the case for long, it was a fact I had to live with until the system reflected my new class. Actually, I didn’t find much shame in it. After all, it wasn’t my choice to have the class and be a slave.

What was humiliating was listening to someone like the City Lord make it clear to me, and not just me, what he thought of the likes of me while being powerless to do much about it given his position.

Honestly, his bluntness was an eye-opener for me. I mean, I knew he was an incompetent prick, using his noble standing for his own benefit and amusement. However, perhaps thanks to Lord Wigram, I got the impression that the nobility was a little more...enlightened, period. My bad, though. I should have known better.

Taking my hesitation as his cue, the City Lord continued. “I don’t know what you’re up to, wench. But how dare you play tricks on the Imperial Chief Healer? What gall do you...”

“I’ll have to stop you there, Baron, before you go too far with your accusations and insults,” Lord Wigram cut in on his heated speech. 

“What? Don’t you see how ridiculous her claims are?” he sputtered angrily, pointing a finger at me. “It doesn’t make sense for someone like her to be the Tree Guardian, not to mention the absurdity of such a tree growing near Castiana.”

“Yet it grows there, and she is her Guardian,” argued the Imperial Chief Healer. “I witnessed the events myself, and so did many others. Do you question my words?”

“I question what you saw! That wench must have colluded with those filthy beasts, maybe even with mind mages, that attacked the city in the middle of the night. What they showed you was just a big tree and tricks, nothing more...yeah, that must be it,” he said, sounding as if he had just seen through that sinister plan of mine.

The Imperial Chief Healer sighed and stroked his beard while nodding his head slightly. “I see.”

“At last,” Baron Egerton breathed a sigh of relief. “There is no way...”

“I see your concern, Baron. I admit that if I were there alone, despite my level and experience, there’s a good chance I might have fallen under the spell of mind mages or something akin to them. There are countless creatures with similar abilities.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m talking about.”

“But do you realize you’re questioning the abilities of the Elite Unit of Imperial Soldiers? You question men and women trained to withstand attacks on their minds, to know tricks from reality. And unlike you, most of them know the horrors of the Mind Wars.”

The City Lord visibly paled, looking at the soldiers in the room. “T-that’s not what I meant. I... there’s just a chance that...”

“Don’t fret, Baron,” Lord Wigram stopped him. “There is a grain of truth in what you said, and I think it would put Captain Rayden here at ease too if she could make sure we weren’t subjected to mind magic or that we’re not still under its influence. Am I right, Captain?”

“I should have done that in the first place. Even before I let you into the city, you know. I’ve gone soft,” Rayden said, admitting her failure. Her voice was firm, though, suggesting it would indeed allay her concerns.

Lord Wigram gave her a knowing look. “You beat yourself too hard. We are no longer at war, at least not open war, and you are not a general in the Imperial Army. So, given my position, I understand your reluctance to do so. Honestly, I should have been more thoughtful. Nevertheless, I ask you now.”

“My lord,” I opened my mouth to remind him how impatient Idleaf could be and how long this had been going on, realizing immediately that this was the moment Baron Egerton had been waiting for. He didn’t even give me a chance to say more.

“See, the wench is trying to get out of it already!”

Lord Wigram sighed yet again, tired of him pushing all the blame on me. “If you had let her finish, you would have found that her concern lay elsewhere, Baron. Miss Grey, please tell them.”

“Well,” I looked around the room, my eyes falling on the enraged City Lord. “Whether you believe it or not is your choice. However, I’m a Guardian of Idleaf, the World Tree. As such, she can manifest her spirit near me. Actually, she is eager to meet you all and see the city.”

“Her spirit, not the tree itself,” Lord Wigram quickly added, seeing the horror in the City Lord’s eyes and the disapproval in Rayden’s. “Despite her age, she is rather...youthful and very, very curious.”

“Stop!” Captain Rayden raised her voice, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Did I understand right that you want to bring her into the city? For fuck’s sake, you didn’t think to mention something like that before?” 

“Zip it, Grey,” she barked at me as I was about to set a few things straight. “You knew and didn’t bother to open your mouth. All of you. Even you, Deckard. Honestly, I was hoping your new apprentice would be a positive influence on you, but she’s turning out to be just as much of a troublemaker as you are. Anything else I should know?”

Unable to come up with anything, I just shook my head. “That’s it. I mean, I can’t think of anything else.”

“Are you sure? Because if I find out you guys kept another fireball like this from me, I swear I’ll have you locked up, and I won’t give a shit who you are.”

Yeah, she was royally pissed off. No surprises there. 

After all, I figured she would be when Lord Wigram kept the detail about Idleaf wanting to see the city from her at the gate. Only it was me who now bore the brunt of her anger because of his thoughtless decision, not him. So unfair. 

Yet, despite how wronged I felt, I remained silent and just shook my head when my stressed-out brain couldn’t come up with anything. To the best of my knowledge, all has been said. 

“Well, all right, let’s get on with it then. Janina, Marcus,” she called her best healers, and together, they set about checking all the returnees from Esulmor. Each had their own way of revealing the mind that was tempered with, each way with their respective strengths and flaws. Given the magnitude of the situation and to allay everyone’s concerns, each returnee in the room passed through the hands of all three, even the Imperial Chief Healer.

Not me, though. For some reason, they saved me for last.

“So, lass...” Marcus spoke as he stood in front of me, checking me from top to bottom. “Fancy runes.”

“I’m calling them the guardian markings. Not sure if that’s a proper term for them.”

He chuckled. “I’m not sure about that either. Might as well call them that. Any other odds and ends before I get started?”

“I have two kinds of mana in me right now...” Did he need to know that when he was about to check my mind? Not sure. But I didn’t want him to think I was under Idleaf’s control because of it.

“Interesting. Why?” Marcus asked, and so, to the best of my ability, I told him about the changes in my mana. To my amazement, he took it as it was without dwelling on it too long. He then put one hand on my shoulder and the other on my temple, closing his eyes in concentration. 

What I felt was completely different from the [Soothing Touch] he used on me last time. This was more intrusive, like he was peering into my brain, searching for things that shouldn’t be there. Though when he found nothing, he smiled warmly and said out loud: “She’s all clear as far as I can tell.”

“Bullshit, she can’t be,” shouted the City Lord in an outburst that was brought to an abrupt end by Captain Rayden when she released her aura. She focused the bulk of it on me while warning Baron not to bother her with only a brief brush of this strange energy pressing down on my body, and my mind in particular. While, at first glance, her aura may have seemed similar to the presence of strong, it was not. Unlike that, it was a skill that did not impact my senses but the body itself.

It didn’t take long, and Rayden, too, found me without any foreign influence on my mind. So did Janina, who took over after her. A result that did not greatly please the City Lord.

“Why does he hate me so much?” I asked Deckard through the link of the union rings while Rayden was forced to defend her competence and the skills of her lieutenants before Baron and Lord Wigram tried to explain to him the importance of keeping a good relationship with Idleaf. 

“I wouldn’t say he hates you.”

“Really? I think he made himself quite clear.”

“He hates what you represent. Or rather, he’s afraid of it.”

Huh? “He’s afraid of the Guardians of the World Trees?”

I could see Deckard visibly struggling not to laugh. “No, little beast. You can’t be truly afraid of what you haven’t met...Egerton is terrified of someone with your status in the city, of something like the World Tree near it. Simply he does not want to see anything that would draw more of the Empire’s attention to this barony.”

“Because it would expose how badly he’s running the city?”

“Nah...they know. San complains about his incompetence all the time. Those higher up in the nobility just weren’t willing to do anything about it. I think his lack of competence plays into their hands. From Viscount Shellford to Grand Duke Hargreave.”

Not being familiar with the names, I had to assume they were his... superiors. As in, Castiana as a barony was part of the viscounty controlled by Viscount Shellford and so on up to Grand Duke Hargreave himself and grand duchy under his care, of which this barony was a part of. 

“What do they get out of letting someone like him run the place? Doesn’t that put them in a bad light, too, then?” 

Deckard gave me an isn’t-it-obvious look. “Money, what else? And thanks to Egerton, they always have someone to blame if something goes wrong.”

“I thought Castiana wasn’t exactly a rich place?”

“Don’t be fooled. It used to be a prosperous city, and even today Fallens Cry is still generating great wealth. Unfortunately, after the old man’s death, his moronic son took over. The fool had no idea how to rule the city. The only thing he was good at was throwing money around, and that hasn’t changed. He’s just a lot flashier with it.”

“Gambling?”

“Oh, no. Not that. San would kill him if he lost even part of Castiana in the cards, and he knows it. Parties, expensive restaurants, even more expensive brothels, and most of it goes to buying favors from the higher nobility so he can attend balls and more parties he wouldn’t otherwise get to.”

“Seriously?”

“Ask San. Expect to hear a whole lot of swearing, though.”

I understood that she and the others had given their word to the late Lord Egerton, who was like a father to them, but I had to admire their patience with his son. Pretty sure I wouldn’t have it and would have left the city long ago.

“Grey, are you ready?” Rayden asked me as the room grew quiet again. While I was talking to Deckard, she and the Imperial Chief Healer made it clear to City Lord how important it was not to mess up relations with Idleaf. At least for now, until the Emperor figures out how to approach the whole thing involving her.

So, was I ready? I wasn’t sure if they were prepared for her. “Are you? She can be quite...overwhelming.”

“We’ll see. Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said, motioning for me to do my thing, and so, as I learned earlier, I sent my mana into the rune on my right side, letting Idleaf know it was the time.

She appeared almost immediately, her violet spirit form taking shape in the middle of the room soundlessly in the blink of an eye. Standing tall and proud, she matched even the tallest in the room in height, taking the breath away of even those who’ve seen her before.

To their credit, no one drew their weapons despite their years honed instincts were telling them so. The same could not be said for their gasps of shock and wonder, though.

“The heck?”

“When did she...?”

“Is she even here? I can’t tell.”

“Fuck me...”

Idleaf, on the other hand, as her playful mood kicked in, enjoyed their confusion and bafflement. Yet the longer she listened to their remarks, some of the confusion began to creep even into her curious mind. It wasn’t long before she turned to me, questions in her eyes.

“Korra’leigh, why do some want to mate with me?”