"So, let me get this straight. He's my cousin now, too?" Beasty asked.

Max rolled noodles around his chopsticks and stabbed the chunk of meat he’d been eyeing. He’d finished the tree and started the houses in the canopy, but he was tired. He decided the rest of the elves, minus his shadows, could either sleep in the rooms in the ground he’d made, sleep in the tree, or sleep in the forest for the night. He was done for today. He told Cora she was in charge of the sleeping kids, told Rig he was in charge of letting in the absent king and whoever else he was gonna bring into the mound and then left them to do whatever elf stuff they were gonna do.

He and the kids fucked off back to the apartment to eat noodles and seared meat and called an end to diplomacy. He was done. Everything else he could do would be a tomorrow problem.

"Yeah. Claiming familial association denotes that we all acknowledge that we are deriving part of our magic from the same source. It's like saying we are related because the fruit of our magic comes from the same tree. So, you and he are cousins because you are both gifted with shining blood. Magically, you're cousins, even if you have no biological ties." Max sniffed and rolled his eyes at Puppy. "Not incestuous at all."

"And you're a human now because..." Flower asked.

"Because I wanted to be. I have this thing that…” Max didn’t want to explain the system. Or being a god. Or how this body was a life he’d lived and died before.

I’m basically haunting myself now. Fantastic.

Max and Puppy were sitting on the couch in the living room and Flower and Beasty sat on the floor, facing the coffee table holding all of the takeout deliciousness. Miles was on the table like a beautiful centerpiece, rolling a single chopstick back and forth with one of his spindly little spider legs. It was his way of being involved in the family dinner, as golems did not eat. He stayed silent after complaining that the apartment had a dining room table and that they should all eat there instead, and being shouted down by all of them.

“It’s magic.” Max put the noodles in his mouth and chewed.

"And I will be able to do that if I practice, too? Be anyone I want?"

"Maybe?” Max continued chewing his noodles and swallowed. “In some other worlds, you'd be limited to a list of stuff you could learn that some arbitrary entity assigned to you. But here, there is no list. There are no rules. No entity. You could potentially learn to do anything. All you have to do is work hard for it. And me and Miles are gonna help you learn anything you want to."

Flower's smile lit up his face. Beasty also had a smile. Puppy looked confused. But he usually looked confused, so Max didn't pay any mind to it.

“I’m gonna learn how to turn into a dragon so I can eat the old Alpha! And piss-ant Paul!” Beasty yelled.

Max put down his chopsticks. "That reminds me to ask. So, you guys came from a shitty town where all the people were bad guys. Do you want me to kill them all, or do you want to grow in power to exact vengeance yourselves?"

Puppy choked on the noodles he had just put in his mouth. Both Flower and Beasty looked at Puppy to make sure he was okay, and also in askance of what he was going to say.

Miles went still and was listening closely.

After clearing his esophagus clog, Puppy asked, "You can't just kill them all, can you? Aren't you, like, a good guy?"

Puppy really is dumb.

"Why the fuck not?" Max put down his chopsticks and geared up to argue. "I heard more about how they wanted to hurt you guys, and in graphic ways, than I ever wanted to. Not that you guys couldn't tell me!" He patted the air toward Beasty and Flower, assuring them they were okay, and went back to answering Puppy. "... it's just it was so, so horrifying. If scumbags—who are running a whole godsdamned town I might add— think they can do that to you guys, what are they doing to other people they are supposed to be protecting? Maybe not your exact situation, but I'm positive they're probably hurting a lot of folks like you, and those people didn't have the good idea to get out, or the good luck to run into a Miles after they did." Max threw his hands in the air. "They killed your fucking parents, dude, and no one stopped them. C'mon."

"But you're a good guy, right?" Beasty said.

"Letting evil who hurts children continue hurting children is for the bad guys. But I'm not good or bad. I'm just... I don't know. Morally gray? That's an option. Like, someone who has morals but doesn't care enough about stuff unless it directly affects me? I'd even argue that any good thing I've done so far is for purely selfish reasons. So, no, not a good guy."

"But helping us was good," Beasty argued.

"And it was Miles's idea. He's the good guy. He's your white knight. I'm just a person with mighty mythical overwhelming magic powers and I don't wanna hear Miles bitch, so I am his bitch." Max looked into an empty food container as if willing more seared meat to appear. "I just so happen to have a vengeance streak when I see people do wrong against those I consider family. And you guys are my family. So."

"I mean, not everyone in the whole town is bad." Puppy looked sad. "I had friends there once. They only stopped being my friends when they thought it could get them killed, too."

"Okay. So you want me to just kill the leaders, then?" Max asked.

Beasty exploded. Her fists hit the coffee table and all the food containers fell over. The ones that still had food in them spilled on the tabletop, some making splat noises when landing on the floor. "I want you to kill all of them! No one helped us! We were supposed to be packmembers and no one helped us! They killed Ma and Pa for nothing! They told me how they were gonna hurt me! They were gonna hurt Thom! If you don't kill them, I will!"

Beasty screamed. She started crying. Flower started crying. Puppy hurdled the coffee table and grabbed Beasty in a full-body hug to try to calm her down, while Flower scooted over and launched at them to join the hug from the outside. Puppy wrapped his arms around Flower to make a three-person hug with Beasty in the middle, and they all cried and Puppy was saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" over and over again.

It was a mess.

Max didn't mean to cause the emotional explosion but knew he couldn't do anything to make their pain stop. All the inner turmoil had to come out eventually, though, or it would grow into an infection. Sometimes, hurts had to be lanced to get better.

He didn't want to intrude on their siblings' grief. He started to slowly gather up the empty and spilled take-out boxes and left the living room to throw them away in the kitchen trash. He gave the kids a moment to calm down.

When he came back in, the three of them were still hugging but were seated on the couch. In a puppy pile. Beasty’s head was on one of Puppy’s shoulders, and Flower was on the other. The t-shirt Puppy was wearing was noticeably wet with both their tears and snot, but Puppy didn’t seem to care. He just held them both tight and let them wind themselves down. "If I was normal, none of this would have happened. I'm sorry." Beasty whispered from Puppy’s chest once she stopped growl-crying.

Poor kid. Angry crying only adds frustration seasonings to the rage feast. Adding in self-pity only makes a harsh meal no one wants to eat so much worse.

"If you were normal, they'd have still wanted to hurt me. It still would have happened. It's not your fault, Em, it's theirs. Merri, you did what you could, but you're barely not a kid anymore, too. Everyone else in that whole town did nothing to stop it." Flower wasn’t sobbing anymore, but the tears were still flowing down his cheeks. He had snot mixed in, too. He leaned over and wiped it on Puppy. The Pup didn’t blink.

Max was sick of tears and grief. He was gonna do some good old-fashioned killing-the-pain-away therapy. Like an adult.

He started again. An answer would let him know the next few day's plans. "Okay. So do I kill them all now, do you kill them all later, or do I only kill a few of them? Because I want to kill them all and burn the town down. That's my vote. I don't think anyone except maybe the babies there would be innocent."

"We're voting?" Puppy asked.

Max rolled his eyes. "Of course, we're voting. It's what families do when discussing murder sprees."

"Oh. Okay. Well, I vote we kill the Alpha and the Betas and the witch. And piss-ant Paul. I don't... I don't want to help. I think that if I do it, even if you're there, I wouldn't want to stop. I'm having... control issues. I don't want to lose mine and then regret anything." Puppy hung his little head. Poor Puppy.

"That's fair. Anger sucks. And you two? What do you want?" Max pointed at Flower and Beasty.

Flower shrugged. "I want it to be over. I don't want to keep worrying they're gonna show up here to try and take us back."

"Okay. And Beasty?"

"I want them all dead." Resolute. Unyielding. Like a queen. Good Beasty.

"Okay. Consider it done. No more talking about it. I'll handle it." Max gathered the last of the takeout containers and stood to throw them away. "I just want to say this, and then I'll let it be. Your parents had you in a shitty town, but I can tell they were great parents. You guys are the products of their upbringing, and you're all good people. They did a great job." Max looked at each of the broken children. "Even good people get angry when backed into a corner. Forgive yourselves for having normal and expected reactions, okay?"

***

The kids went to bed after an hour of Miles guiding them all through meditation exercises and explaining the process needed to circulate and grow their mana pools. They all were making excellent progress and had kindled larger-than-expected personal mana wells. After a little practice, they'd move on to learning how to circulate mana outside of their wells. It was the next step on the path of being able to cast spells so they could progress from only having shitty little cantrips that any pleb could use.

Max wandered back down to his apartment. Miles's little legs clink-clink-clinked on the floor as he followed. They maintained a one-sided conversation with Max taking the lead.

"Maybe I should move them down here? There's plenty of space, it's nicer, more secure, and there are more bathrooms. It would free up the apartment for the elves who wanted to watch the anchor. And if we're family, we should live together, yeah? We should make it official and invite the shadows to have their own rooms, too. It's not like they aren't down here when I am anyway. This way, they'll have rooms, like people and not ghosts. I'll ask them all tomorrow if that's what any of them want." Max plopped down on his bed. Miles scurried up and laid his beautiful body on a pillow next to Max's head.

Coaxingly, Miles said, "I think you should look at the thing you're avoiding looking at. It's been a lot longer than an hour, Max. It's been closer to six."

"I don't want to." A deep sigh.

"You're being an adolescent and an idiot. Not looking isn't going to make it go away."

"Ugh, I know." He geared up to see things he didn't like. Braced for it.

Max made sure his summary was visible to Miles, too. Misery and suffering and all. And if he was going to lose his shit or have a meltdown over it, it was best to not have to explain why.

"So..." Max sighed. It wasn't as bad as he was expecting. It did kind of piss him off.

"So?"

"The god thing. What's going on with that?"

"I guess there were vacancies and you automatically filled them?"

"That's bullshit. Patron God of Depression? Chastity and Lust? What the hells, Miles?" Max threw his arm over his face and covered his eyes with his elbow.

"Don't look at me. I'm just a spider."

Max removed his arm and glared at Miles. "What are you a demigod of?"

Miles paused and said, "Children, the Hidden, Hacking, and Dancing."

"Why do you get kids and I get Arguing? And why did I get Spiders when you're an actual spider?" Max glared at the ceiling.

"Because you do more arguing than interacting with kids? I'm talking to the girl when I'm not talking to you, I dunno." Miles patted Max's shoulder in a there, there motion. "I'm in your pantheon. We can share Spiders."

"You can be the Patron God of Failure." Max shrugged and relaxed his face.

Miles made a posh sniffing sound. "Unlikely. I only fail before I properly boot."

"Good point." Max refocused on a line in the summary. "Hey! Our demesne is 25 square miles. That's a good chunk of forest. That's cool."

Miles poked Max on the cheek with a beautiful, golden leg. "Are you gonna look at your classes, too? Or just the summary?"

"Just the summary. I'm low-key overwhelmed from it by itself." Although Max's room was the perfect-- if a little cool-- temperature, he lay in his bed, sweating a little. His stomach twisted with nerves.

"But what if you got something super cool? Patron God of Sanctuary? Forests? FAE? You're an archdruid now? Come on," the spider wheedled, "you told me to tell you when you were being a dumbass. You're kinda being a dumbass, Max."

 

---

 

After retrieving his final two people, Aren returned to the anchor of his newly pledged court late that night, with the relief that no one would have to stand watch while they slept. Their borders were assuredly secure. Protected by a god and shining magic. The forest they were to inhabit didn't even have beasts in it. And it was rife and ablaze with the most potent magic he had felt outside of the direct presence of his full pantheon of long-dead gods.

Aren and his people had never been more safe.

He stood on the store stoop with the other two, discussing ground rules and explaining what was expected from his people as the cost for entry to their new House.

"And this fairy godling said they promised safety from themselves, yes?" Ines asked. They, as a group, heard a footfall around the corner of the shop and then silence. They dismissed it as a passer-by.

The promised vintner, Hugo, was apathetic. He stared at the door as he looked at anything else. With the absence of soul.

The soldier, Ines, was being borderline recalcitrant but followed Aren anyway.

"Yes."

"I say we should still be on guard from tricks. Fairies are bastards always looking for a laugh bought with our spilled blood."

Aren continued listing what he expected, "Do not anger Max in their own demesne if you want to continue to live. Do not insult Max's children, or the eldest scion will possibly kill you. He smells like a shifter and something else, too. He is powerful so handle him gently. I did not bargain for safety from him. But, as he seems new in his shining blood, he may not respond how a shining one would, but more like a shifter. I did not meet the other two scions."

Aren looked at the soldier, "I will not defend you to any entity that offers the last of us safety if you instigate reprisal because you can't stop yourself from insulting everyone around you. That includes me. I feel that I've extended compassion and understanding, but you've taken that as permission. It ends now."

"Understood, my King." She nodded a repentant nod and continued to glare at his chest.

"You have been charged with guarding the anchor and working in the storefront when it is open. I was led to believe it does not act as a normal store but is a front for the mound. You'd be a palace guard again, but it was said that if we learned new skills, we can contribute in new ways."

"Understood, my King." Her eyes landed on his feet and stayed there, but not fast enough to hide the anger in them.

"And Hugo, I bargained for a vineyard for you. You might reconsider your outlook when you learn Max offers his House healing. They may be able to restore what you've lost."

Hugo, in their old world, was an unparalleled warrior and swordsman. A general of their vast armies until the ender beasts tore off his left arm and right leg. Using a crutch made with one-handed woodworking, he hobbled around their encampments and had a hard time keeping pace with the rest, so he found caves and abandoned homes and stayed until the other six moved out of the area.

In truth, Aren suspected Hugo had lost interest in living once their feet stepped through the portal and they lost the remaining hundred they thought they had saved to the others on this planet. He now tended to rarely speak. He drank most of the wine he had been able to make while nomadic. It seemed he had less hope than the rest and was just waiting for the day he was caught by a vampire, like his wife, or overpowered by a shifter pack, like his last remaining son.

The rest of his people consisted of the silent shadows, a bashful Cora, and a soldier that spit words at friend and foe alike as if they were arrows used to wound. They, as a people, were not thriving, at all. They weren't even surviving. Hopefully, that will change. If we can't at least thrive, we can at least survive now.

"The sleepers were healed. They may already be awake again." Aren hedged.

The door opened, jingle-jingle, and the shadow Rigel held it ajar.

"Lord Max and the scions have retired for the evening. The sleepers have awakened and are exploring the demesne with Cora. They have questions for you, my King."

"Lead the way, shadow."

They walked slowly through the potion store, slowing their pace so Hugo would not have to hurry. All Aren wanted to do was rush back into the mound and let the magic bathe his skin. Walking back through the door that led to the "greenhouse," he stopped the other two and said, "Prepare yourselves. This next patch will be a shock."

The four continued on, through the door, off the path, and through the primordial forest, to a giant tree that was not there hours previously.

"That's new." Aren's mouth firmed so it wouldn’t gape.

"Lord Max said that proper fantasy elves should live in trees. He made houses in the branches for us."

"That's like saying humans should live in caves because they were cavemen in antiquity." She grumbled through gasps, "Offensive fucking fairies playing tricks." The soldier tried to sound offended while struggling for breath but failed. It probably had to do with the volume of magic battering her body, swelling over her skin, and oozing into her lungs.

Aren understood her body's visceral reaction. It was overwhelming at first.

"Well, you keep calling him a fairy and he will oblige. We live in his mound, on his very verbal sufferance. He did not want us here. He did not recruit us. It was someone else who did." Rigel directly rebutted Ines, showing his anger and displaying his loyalty to their newly-sworn court lord. "You should mind your tongue, foot soldier. He is saving us. He gave us rights no other lord would have and barely asked for a price to be paid."

"It's beautiful," Hugo whispered and a tear dripped down his cheek as he looked at the tree. "Are we truly here, or have we finally passed through the gates to the shores of the after-world?"

A chorus of children's giggles floated through the trees. A group of four elflings ran through the forest toward their group, with a radiant Cora following them. She picked up the smallest, who was struggling to keep up with the older children, and whispered in his ear with a grin. They both laughed. She saw Aren’s group and had a lingering smile on her face that was radiant and alive.

"King Aren! We get to live in a tree!" A boy of ten yelled and giggled.

"I find I'm asking that question to myself, old friend."