That night the headquarters of the Adventurers Guild looked like a mix of a school canteen and a kennel. There were wolfcats and children everywhere, yipping, laughing, screaming, yowling…
Red and Lunar had brought their cubs to play with the children and Vigil had gotten caught up in the fun. The lot of them were scrambling around madly and having a jolly good time while their parents and caretakers took to the side to nurse their collective headaches.
Remian watched the Maelstrom for a while with a small smile on his face. Then, he reluctantly broke in to extract someone from it. "Jane? A minute, please?"
Jane paused, took one look at him, and immediately ran away.
"Huh…?" Remian blinked, staring at her back as she fled. "What the…?"
"What did you do?" Mandy asked, seeing the girl run away.
"I didn't do anything…! I just wanted to ask her how her stall was doing."
"Stall? What stall?" Mandy queried.
"We wanted to set up shop at the central area and sell some of our Guild stuff locally. Right now, everything we don't use ourselves has been going to the airship. Meat, skins, foraged herbs, the occasional curio… the airship buys whatever it wants at prices it decides. Maybe we could sell some of those things for higher prices right here in town, so…"
"So why don't we?" Mandy asked.
"That's exactly what I wanted to do. Since Jane had ambitions to get rich, I thought she could learn business and…"
"Oh dear…" Mandy shook her head. "So that's what happened."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"It's… a misunderstanding… maybe." Mandy winced. "Jane… isn't like that. I don't think she's very keen on running a business."
"But she wanted to get rich." Remian was baffled.
"Yes, but you have to remember 'how' she wanted to get rich." Mandy explained.
Remian frowned. "By marrying a prince? How's that going to work?"
"I have no idea, but it certainly was a different plan than to open shop." Mandy cleared her throat. "Let her have her dreams, Remian. She's still a little girl."
"That doesn't mean she's not capable."
"Nobody said she wasn't. It's just that she doesn't want to do it, and pushing her won't help."
"But she agreed." Remian protested. "It's not like I'm trying to force her to work. I just wanted to give her some help reaching her dreams."
"I get that. She, however, doesn't." Mandy glanced at where she had fled. "Remian, you must understand, to the kids, you have become something of a father-figure."
"What? But I'm barely 20…!"
"It's not about age. It's about provision and protection. It's about authority." Mandy reached for words. "Like it or not, you have immense influence over their lives right now. They depend on you."
"They work for the Guild and the Guild pays them. They depend on themselves."
"That's not how they see it. As far as they're concerned, you took them in and you keep them safe, sheltered and fed." Mandy hesitated, then said firmly. " 'We' see it that way."
"You're different!" Remian said. "You're family. But they… they could go their own way any time."
"Family? I'm just a slave!" Mandy snorted. "Even if I don't feel like one. Even if we don't act like it. It's the same for them…"
"Um… actually…" Remian gulped. "Mandy…? I… added something to the contract."
Mandy stared blankly. "What? What did you do?! The slave-bond…"
Wordlessly, Remian handed her the contract.
There was a great amount of noise in the hall, children screaming, wolfcats yelping… but in the little corner where Remian and Mandy stood, there was a short playback and then a long, stunned silence.
"It only needs your confirmation." Remian managed at last.
That was the last thing he managed to say the rest of that night. Evidently, his lips were otherwise occupied.
***
Carrie watched Mandy practically drag Remian to the cave in a dead run and shook her head. [Nobody go into that cave for at least a couple hours.]
[Why? What are they doing in my cave?] Buff asked, still referring to it as 'his'.
[Making cubs.] Carrie guessed.
[They're mating?!] Buff roared. [But the smell is going to…]
[Leave it alone, Buff.] Carrie rolled her eyes. [Right now, I'd be more worried about the sounds than the smells.]
Buff froze, then hurriedly shuffled toward the hall. [More play! More sounds! More NOISE!!]
With an amused glance at the dark cave, Carrie wondered what they were going to do when the children's bedtime arrived, then went over to join him.
***
The next morning, Remian found the kids all still in the Guild Hall, soundly asleep curled up with the wolfcats and the bear. Buff had the three youngest ones on top of him. Seriously, did those children take him as an oversized teddy bear…?
"What happened?" he asked Carrie, who slept by the door.
[We didn't want to disturb you and your mate.] Carrie summarized.
His mate. What an accurate way to describe Mandy. None of that 'half-fiancee' or 'contracted slave' or 'proposed to but not quite accepted' confusion. Mandy herself could have concluded the almost-there-but-not-quite marriage simply by confirming it with a couple of words at any time; but instead, she did nothing with it, and Remian was left hanging without an answer.
As for why? Mandy only said she'd think about it.
Meanwhile, their night-time activities had left all the children stranded in the Guild Hall. Some father-figure! Forget about putting them to bed, he'd practically kicked the kids out of their bedroom…
But looking at them and the wolfcats and the bear sleeping in the hall together, they looked so comfortable, so warm, so… happy… he just couldn't feel bad about it. He felt that it was amazing just how well the children and the Wilds got along together.
He would rather face scenes like this in Frontier Town every day rather than the blood and the fury of the Beast Waves.
"Hey." Joshu sauntered over. "Want to wake everyone up?"
"No, let them sleep." Remian shook his head.
"What's up? You look like you have something important on your mind." Joshu went on.
"I do." Remian hesitated. "There's a side mission I need you to do, and I can't post it on the board."
"A secret mission?" Joshu let out a low whistle. "Now I'm interested. What is it?"
"Find Shadowflash." Remian told him seriously. "He is our best hope for peace."
***
Training commenced that morning. Once again, Remian permitted all the children to pick which training they wanted to do.
All the boys ended up with the Legion. There were no exceptions. Nine of the sixteen children ended up swinging swords and poking spears at straw dummies or sparring partners under Max's watchful gaze.
Jane, Kavitha and the other girls went with the hunters to train in archery. Mindy alone stayed with him and practiced Inscriptions.
"Am I that bad a teacher?" Remian protested.
"No, but the subject is that hard to figure out." Mandy explained. "Actually, if you don't mind… I'm out too."
"You, too, Mandy?" Remian gasped, clutching his chest at the pain of the betrayal.
"Alas, Remian… I am confident in using Tier 1 and 2 scrolls and neither dare nor need Inscribe them myself. Also, since you wanted to set up shop at the town center, I believe this slave should help my master fulfill his desires." She grinned wickedly.
"You really don't have to address yourself or me that way." Remian winced. "Really. Even if you don't want to confirm it… we'll find a way to dissolve the bond."
"Oh, but I do want to confirm it." Mandy tapped her lips. "But you need to have a proper house, not some cave in the hills. I want a three room building with a roof that doesn't leak, a proper kitchen, and a garden. Also, you have to have a horse and carriage. You might want to propose to me with a gold ring… some roses would be nice… and it would be nice to have a full blown grand wedding first, ceremony and all!"
"Whu… uh…" Remian closed his eyes tight. "Oh, great."
"Just a few suggestions." Mandy said innocently. "Master."
Remian let out a groan.
Mandy went to scout for a location as the rest trained, then at lunch time they all helped her set up a stall next to the Open Frontier Inn. Aunt Sara was there, and she appeared a bit grumpy when she saw Remian, but spoke to Mandy tenderly and was quite welcoming of a new shop next door.
Remian noticed that the Inn had an extension to thrice its original size on the other side, and the bottom floor looked like a tavern. There were quite a few staff already there, all of them females who wore tight clothing and thick make-up. Also, Kage was there eating breakfast.
That meant that the Open Frontier Inn was now Aunt Sara's abode. Remian suddenly had a very strong suspicion on what happened to the brothel workers.
Also, he felt an unspoken worry slip away before he even knew he had one. With Kage and Aunt Sara at their back, the church across the road, the Iron Legion airport in the north, and the training camp in the south, Mandy and whoever else ran the Adventurers Guild Shop would have the safety of friends on all sides. That thought alone brought Remian an odd sense of relief.
Even so, he advised himself to caution.
"We should build it big!" Mindy said, excitedly as they were gathering lumber at the site.
"No. Keep it small for now. Make it a mobile stall." Remian cut them short. "I want to go big as well, but let's not take the risk yet. Not until after next week. First, we need to see if we can stop the Beast Wave.
"Until then, we better make a shop that we can pack up and take away from danger."