"Simply writing their name in it would not kill you, no." Baxter said.
"Ok. Is there a method I need to be weary of linked to the house and not to greed?" I asked.
"Previous owners paranoia has taken care of that. The house is magicked against any damage of any kind." Baxter said.
"Ok. Then do I have anything to worry about?" I asked.
"Immediately? No, you should be fine." Baxter replied.
"There isn't much of anything I'm afraid of now. My dad and Uncle murdered the pedophiles." I told him. "I don't think I have anymore questions. At least, I don't know what I need to know."
"The most pressing matter I can tell you about is adding to the house. That should be taken care of sooner, rather than later." Baxter recommended.
"Like what?" I asked. "Physically or people wise?"
"I would say physically." Baxter replied.
"Lands maintenence, or the house itself?" I inquired.
"Well, most go with the house itself, but I believe the property would count." Baxter said.
"Alright. I probably have some ideas I could implement. Would this basement count?" I asked.
"Indeed it would. It is on the property." Baxter said.
"I have ideas, then. I asked Snake to come down so it's easier for you both to meet. I don't know if he did, though." I said, pulling open the cage door.
"Well, if you've gone through the trouble of having him come down, I'd love to go and see him. I'd like to see what he's made of himself." Baxter said.
Time resumed, as a now living Baxter walked out of the cage.
"-Process are you talking about?" Dad finished his sentence.
"Sorry, that's for the owner to know. I have been given leave to meet an old friend and have very little time to do so." Baxter said.
"The third floor, out the glass doors. You don't have long to live, but as a wraith you can still talk to Naga." I told him.
"Well, if that ends up being the case, then that will be most welcome." Baxter said.
"We can go up now, to get Snow's things." I said. "Basically, I might die young again. And I need you to handle this book, Dad, to keep it safe."
"Ah.. How safe is this book needing to be?" Dad asked.
"It's as important as his life." Baxter commented.
"Then I know the perfect place for it." Dad said, taking the book from me. For now, it went in his inner jacket pocket.
We followed Baxter out. "I'll ask you questions when you're dead again, if any arise."
"That sounds extremely concerning. But alright." Baxter said.
The forth floor we saw Naga curled up and sun bathing, watching the doors. Baxter opened the doors, greeting him. I let Naga know I was allowing Snow's armor, pay, and weapon to be taken from the treasury, and I insisted he stay with Baxter.
"Oh my gosh, the Naga is so cute." Snow said.
I looked at everyone who was looking at the Naga. "It's the only safe type of Naga to be around, apparently." I commented.
Baxter had approached and embraced the Naga. He was rapidly aging at this point. We headed upstairs, to give them privacy. In the old mayors room again, Snow stopped us and insisted that I shouldn't see the hobby room. I accepted it, the three cats went up, leaving me and Plight in the master bedroom.
"This has been an interesting trip so far." Plight said.
I shrugged. "Sorry you couldn't take the house, Plight. You can consider it to be home."
"It's alright." Plight said. "As for making it a home to me.. We'd have to figure out where my room would be."
"Where would you want it? I'll have to tell Nathan that the mansion is safe now." I said. "Since there's an owner again, and the magic is circulating, it should be the safest place in the world."
"We'll have to take a look around and see if there's any rooms that looks good." Plight said.
"I have to add to it, so we could build you a room." I said. "What do you think?"
"I don't know anything about designing a room." Plight said.
"That's ok. I do." I replied.
"Alright." Plight said.
Snow opened the door to the hobby room, "Alright. you can come up. We've put the worst of it to the side." So, we headed up. "You know, I have no idea how that fat baldy could even get up here."
As is, she climbed up the side of a shelving unit, and pushed open the trap door that led into the treasury. She had Dad lift me up to her, it would have been very difficult for me to climb it. She set me over the lip, safely inside, then slid in herself. She invited the rest up, then.
I asked her what was owed, then fetched it from the treasure chest, handing it over. She fetched her sword and armor. I pointed out a spooky doll, "That thing can do a wish. I think I'll leave it there."
"I agree it's best to leave wishes as they are until they are completely necessary." Dad said.
There were a lot of different magic items and treasures in this room. Without Snow, I doubted I'd have found the trap door. After some thought, I took some of the gold and said, "I should talk to the Dwarven Union in Dueling Rivers. I should draw up some plans first."
"It is certainly best to have a plan before talking to anyone about building anything." Dad said.
"What do you have in mind of having them build?" Uncle asked.
"Reinforcing the basement would be a good idea, along with getting rid of the vicious undead." I said. "I have to make additions to it, so I guess some fencing would be good. The house is already impervious to damage and such now that there's an owner.. It might be safer than Dad's office, where he was murdered once on that rug he's got in there."
"I've not spoken of that in a few years. It was rather embarrassing to die in my own office." Dad said.
Snow picked me up, and I said, "To be fair, I don't know the details. You had been trying to make light of your battlefield death by using a joking tone about it. It did not help."
"Ready to go down? Should be paper and ink in the office that no work was done in." Snow commented.
"Hopefully there is enough for both if us, there are a few things I need to jot down." Dad said.
Snow lowered herself gracefully down the trap door again, not even slightly encumbered by carrying me. The men followed as she took us to the upper office, a few floors down. This is where we found the ink and papers. Truly, none of the papers had been used, and the old Dueling Rivers and dealings reports were all untouched.
Unsurprising, really. Dad started making notes about something, and I started drawing up schematics for an addition to the house. I didn't want to take away from Naga's sun bathing deck, so I took away the railing in the back end of the library and extended the library. I added a room on top of the expansion to be Plight's personal room.
Once I was happy with the dimensions, and how that'd look, and could picture it clearly, I turned my attention to the basement. I decided it should mostly be a work out room, though I added a room that would actually be under the mansion that would be a green house type room and specified how it should be organized.
The green house room would be for growing useful herbs domestically. A plant nursery side that would have high humidity, and the other side that would be better suited to growing the mature plants. Once done, I was rather pleased with the results, and showed my dad. I was sure the Dwarves would be interested in the green house since it incorporated some Dwarven tricks that I'd seen in their mountain.
"I'm sure the Dwarves will be eager to build these additions you've made up, Son." Dad replied.
I nodded. "They might be bored anyways at the moment."
"They may be. Dwarves have a tendency to find ways to entertain themselves." Dad commented.
I thought it over, then wrote some of the more appealing altruistic policies down. Might as well show Alberich while I have a chance to. The sooner I get him to open his eyes, the better, I thought. Surely he and his allies had these feelings towards the inequalities to life ahead of Nathan's downfall, right?
"There. All ready." I said. I looked at my Dad, "Did you want to set up you doors here, too?"
"Should we take the doors in the Entrance Hall?" Dad asked.
"That sounds good, I'd say." I replied.
"Alright, we can set that up before we leave." Dad said.
"I should check on the Naga. Should we name it?" I asked.
"Eh, it's your house. It's your pet. You name it." Uncle said.
"You're lucky I can't outrun you yet." I replied.
"What in the world is running through that little mind of yours?" Uncle asked.
"I was a skilled archer, Uncle." I answered.
Snow snorted. "Ah. So to defeat your Uncle you'd just need to maintain distance?"
"Many have tried that strategy. None have succeeded." Uncle said.
"Because they were me." I said, grinning. "Of course, it helps that even if I make you mad you don't actually want to rip me apart."
"Yes, that would play heavily into your favor." Uncle said.
"It's mutual. I don't want to harm any of you." I replied.
"Good, I don't feel like punting you out a window." Uncle said.
"Just wait. In twelve years, I'll be stronger than I was, and as it stands, I was fighting dragons by myself." I told him.
"Good. I'll have to be even more prepared. Can't have my nephew kicking my ass." Uncle said.
I laughed. Snow said, "This kid is practically a Leonin."
It was a high praise. I laughed and said, "Just lack the fur. Maybe we can visit the tower, too."
"What tower are you wanting to visit? I don't know of any tower around here." Dad said.
"Azerime's tower, isn't it? You know where it is?" Snow asked.
"Yup. It's a couple hours North, though I can draw a glyph to it." I said.
"The glyphs are really handy." Plight said.
"I'm not a big fan of portaling around, but oh, well." Uncle said.
"We don't have to go to the tower. It can be dangerous anyways. Specially for cats." I said.
Uncle's face became full of disapproval at that. "Open the damn portal."
I looked at Dad. "Well. To be fair it's more dangerous for those who can't contain curiosity."
"I may be doomed." Dad commented.
I looked at them all, "No touching the table in the entrance room."
"You speak of curiousity and then tell us not to touch something. I'm gonna touch it out of spite." Uncle said.
"Ok." I said. I mind linked to him and showed him the memory of Lana putting a dog on the table, the dogs screams of agony as it was unmade. The blood, water, hair, dust and matter that was neatly separated on the table. The barest bit of what the dog had been. I showed him the same with a vial, how it had been undone to simply sand and mineral.
"And here I thought I was violent." Uncle commented, disgusted.
I ended the link. "It does the same to people."
"Hm?" Snow asked, tilting her head, confused.
"I believe he showed a memory to Dirthin. One of disturbing quality." Dad said.
"I'm not sure I should show you." I said, eyeing my Dad.
"And why not?" He asked.
"You'll get ideas." I replied.
"You've already said not to touch the table and shown Dirthin something that made him uncomfortable. I have ideas." Dad said firmly.
"Ok, ok." I said, then I shared the dog and glass memory with my Dad, Snow and Plight.
"Well, I do certainly have ideas.. Mostly as a merchant." Dad said.
Snow looked grossed out, and Plight looked sickened. "Why would she do that?"
"She thought that the poor thing would become a patch again, not understanding that using the patch made it real.. until that point. Not that it deterred her from touching it, I also can't claim innocence. I put the vial on it, after all. For seconds after it undoes something, you can touch it long enough to collect the materials. People are made up of dust, keratin, calcium, and water." I said. "No, I didn't put any person on it. One of the orphan kids touched it."
"An orphan child touched it?" Plight asked.
"Yes. And Kali. Though it reacted weirdly when she did." I said, frowning. "She'd put a dragon scales on it, panicked and tried to take it off. It melded her together with the scale, turning her into a dragonborn."
"So it can fuse as well?" Dad asked.
"Even stranger, a dragon claw made an electrified orb. A blue scale made a mini dragon egg that had Draconic writing all over it, and a bird familiar with a wind staff made a statuette that could create tornados." I told them. "The egg actually hatched into a tiny baby dragon that aged rapidly, and as it aged, became more powerful than a typical blue dragon."
"Maybe we should ask Archimedes about this table." Dad commented.
I shrugged. "I've avoided it since the dog... I see it's uses, but I've also seen it's horrors."
"It certainly seems worth avoiding." Dad agreed.
I nodded, heading down the stairs. I saw the Naga out the glass doors still. He looked sad. Baxter had died. I headed over to the doors, Baxter had left them open, and approached Naga and his body.
"Are you ok, Naga?" I asked.
"Who are you?" Naga asked.
"Isarial Hearthry. I am the new owner. Thank you for letting us get her things." I said.
"As the owner, you may take as you wish." Naga replied.
Snow approached him. "Would you like him buried? We have a cleric who can speak words for his body."
"Yes. I would like that." Naga said.
Snow hefted the body and started walking away with it. Plight followed her. I approached Naga and said, "He'll be back shortly as a wraith. You don't have to be separated like that anymore."
"I believe he would enjoy the freedom of a wraith's existance." Naga said.
"You know, Nyoka means Snake. That could be a proper name for you, and a nod at how Baxter called you." I said.
"As the owner of the house, you may name me as you wish. But I do like that name." He said, in a sentimental tone.
"Nyoka, it shall be then. I'm gonna hire the Dwarves to do some work, ok? For now, you could eat the goblins that were killed earlier. I'll do my best to provide you food, though." I told him.
"It has been some time since the last master fed me." Nyoka commented.
"I'm sorry that's the case. Has it been painful?" I asked.
"Pain is something one learns to ignore. But a gnawing hunger is... difficult." Nyoka told us.
I patted him lightly and said, "Thank you for listening when I asked you to come down. It would have been hard for Baxter to make it all the way up."
"My curiousity got the better of me. But I am glad I had listened as well." Nyoka replied.
"I'll return." I promised it, before heading back to Dad and Uncle. We continued downstairs then. Just when we got close to the front door, an energy shift occured. Uncle stepped forward in a protective manner, Dad summoned fire in his hands, preparing himself for what may happen.
Meanwhile, the energy condensed and took shape of an incorporeal flame-like being. It had feminine features, two sharp horns, and wildly crazy hair, almost like fire. In fact, it was orange-ish with pink and yellow. I was exceptionally confused, looking at it, was it a Fey?
"Hello, little Master." It said, it's voice was just like the little mischievous fey spirits I'd met while traveling the Fey. Only it spoke Common, like us, it was still words in the air, rather than from it's mouth. "It's so nice to be in Fey hands again, I've even grown sentience because of it!" It giggled, "But, why are you going so soon?"
"What kind of spirit are you?" Dad asked.
"Only a house spirit right now. But I shall grow with the Master." It answered. "And when named."
"And what is your purpose?" Dad asked.
"To protect the Master." It answered, as if that was obvious.
"And should the master not want your protection?" Dad inquired.
It stared at him blankly not seeming to understand. "Then I suppose the Master could leave and not come back. But once Master is here, I will protect Master."
"Um.. I haven't seen you before." I said slowly.
"I haven't gained sentience before, either. Nor has there been a Fey Master since Baxter built the first house." It replied cheerfully, coming closer to me and hovering before me. It was almost the size of my head.
".. But I'm the Master of the house..?" I said, it nodded. "But I'm not Fey." It shook it's head. "I'm Kalashtar." It nodded. "Kalashtar aren't Fey." It nodded again. "So, I am not Fey."
"You are." It said simply. "And is the land."
I was frowning deeply. Uncle said, "I don't see any animosity here. It's fine."
".. I agree. I sense no hostility." Dad said.
It swirled in a circle, almost playfully, "But, why are you going so soon?"
"... I have to talk to the Dwarves about adding to the house. It would be too difficult for me to do myself at the moment." I answered slowly.
"Ooh, that'll be neat." It seemed excited.
"So you have no issues with others in the house?" Dad asked.
"Only, if they mean Master harm, then they can leave." It answered. "Master even freed Baxter. The girl was always funny. Climbing all over in the night and threatening to rip Marshall apart if he touched her. She acted all obedient unless he drew near. It was very funny."
"Yes, Snow is delightful." I said.
"She plays beautifully. Just look how she fixed the place up. Very nice. Oh, he's back." It turned to look at Baxter, who was only just manifesting. "Welcome Baxter, great to see you free."
Baxter stretched. "I am free. In a sense. Who are you?"
"I'm a house spirit currently. The fey energy of the land, powerful magicks, and the new Fey Master combined and made me sentient. I've been here with you all along." It answered.
"So your the spirit of..? Hm. That's interesting." Baxter said.
"I didn't do a very good job of restoring you. I apologize. I didn't have enough.. cognizance to fully bring you back." It apologized.
"So you are why I was returned to a semi living state. It is quite alright, its been an interesting experience." Baxter told it.
"Everyone just left you there. Hmph. I wanted you to keep being the Master, but the rules are the rules." It seemed frustrated. "But now little Master has let you free."
Baxter looked at me. "Indeed he has. And he is. But hey humans grow. Big and strong."
The spirit huffed. "Master isn't human. Master is Fey, like 'us'." It waved its arms at the surroundings.
"Oh, is he now? Well that is a development." Baxter said.
"Neither of my birth parents are Fey." I argued.
The spirit lifted it's hands, shrugging at me. "Mayhaps someone lied. But I can tell."
"Or perhaps someone simply didn't know." Dad suggested.
I was getting a little frustrated. I simply didn't believe that I was Fey. Plight and Snow came inside to check on us. "Ba- Oh. You're back." Snow said. "And there's a little spirit."
Baxter waved. "Lovely burial. Thank you."
"You're welcome..." Snow said.
"Well now, don't make it weird." Baxter said.
"Naw, it's weird." Snow said. "Town or tower?"
"Town first?" I asked.
"Sounds good." Snow said, scooping me up in her arms, "Let's go gentlemen. Good day spirits."
And so, off we went. Once we were on the road, headed to Dueling Rivers, I asked, "Am I Fey?"
"I unfortunately can not answer that with certainty." Dad replied.
"Nor can I. Identify doesn't reveal such information. A paladin could tell us, but they sometimes try to kill Fey." Snow said.
Uncle laughed. "I'd love to see them try. They'd be rolling down the street when I was done."
I frowned. "Well, Fey can't lie. So I guess it must be so. But how? According to those books Kalashtar can only pass the Quori to offspring with other Kalashtar or humans."
"Unless a god bent the rules. They tend to do that every once in a while." Uncle pointed out.
"And you are blessed by a god." Snow responded.
We had approached the gates now. I had expected them to stop us, but they didn't. We could hear music, too. Snow's interest was piqued. I mentioned where I needed to go was in the music's direction anyways.
So we headed to the Square. Much to my surprise, Alex was playing there, with Tilton and a brunette woman near him. Seeing this, Snow pressed me into Plight's arms and strode forward. Her steps determined. She slugged his arm as soon as she reached him.
The music stopped instantly. "Ah, Snow it's lovely to see you again." Alex said, rubbing his arm.
"You flighty brat." She said.
"What do you mean flighty?" He asked.
"He doesn't have his memories clear." I told Snow. Plight set me down and I approached them.
She lashed her tail. "That Mayor you left me with was a perverted creep."
"Mayor who again?" Alex asked.
"Marshall." She answered. Glaring at him.
"Oh, right the old mayor of Dueling Rivers. He's a perverted creep you say?" Alex replied.
She continued to glare. Not answering him.
"You're an awfully pretty lion folk." The brunette said. "How could you leave 'er with a creep, Alexander?"
"I'm not sure." Alex said, "Either way. I am very sorry that I have done that. I'm having trouble peacing together a lot."
"I'm not even mad anymore." Snow said, off handedly.
"Well, I'm glad you are not mad at me. Parently I've been a monster for a while. Don't remember that either." Alex said.
I patted Alex's leg, looking up at Alex. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Well, what is it, wee one?" Alex asked.
"Will you use Sending contact Sylvia Briar and ask if she has children?" I asked him.
"Syl.. Sy.. Oh, Sylvia. Oh, I am in trouble. Wait, kids?!" Alex strummed the instument, going red faced, yet pale.
I waited, watching him. His face became glum. and his shoulders drooped. He lowered his instrument, starting to look distraught. Then a portal opened. Two blonde elven children bolted through, pausing wide-eyed, then Sylvia stepped through. Her skin golden, eyes and hair auburn.
"Where have you been?" She said, the portal closing behind her.
His face changed immediately, joyous to see her, "I don't know. Hi!"
I cleared my throat. "This is the town square, not a good place to discuss this. I can explain exactly what occurred these eight years, though."
":Aww.:" Sienna said in Elvish, ":Amilë, this baby speaks so well.:"
":He is little.:" Alexion noted.
":I'll punch you both.:" I warned.
":Aww.:" Sienna squeeled.
I pointed at Alex. ":That's your dad.:"
The twins looked at him, distracted from me. Alex understood every bit of that conversation. Alex smiled and said, "I'm a Dad?"
"You are." Sylvia said. "This is Alexion and Sienna." She looked at me for a moment. "Children, this is Alexander, your father."
Alexion said, "Atar." At the same time Sienna said, "Atya." Father and Daddy.
He set his instrument down, crouching. "Would you two like a hug?"
Sienna, the loving and adoring star she is, launched at him. Alexion, always the tough one, though not jaded towards his father yet, carefully stepped towards him. Accepting the affection he offered. He embraced his twins.
I looked at Sylvia. In Primordial, I began speaking. ";Alexander fell into a bag of holding while attempting to capture the Orc Chieftain in it. He was going to dump the bag over the side of a cliff to return to you sooner. No one saw him fall in. I'm sorry I couldn't tell people about it sooner.;"
She took a deep breath. Instead of asking questions. She simply picked up his instrument and began playing it. While she played, tears rolled down Alex's face. Alexion was the one to start wiping his dad's tears while Sienna turned blue and started crying, just because Alex was.
"If you'd like I can draw a glyph to the Mansion. Snow just fixed it up, and it's safe." I offered them.
Alex looked up, "Privacy would be nice, yeah."
"Just tell the spirits and Naga, if you encounter them, that Isarial said it's fine for you to be there. Stay as long as you please." I said, as I drew the glyph on the ground. I had chalk on me to do so.
He looked at Sylvia, "Would you like to go to this place?"
"It is fine. The children have been wanting to see you." Sylvia replied.
Once the glyph was finished, I activated it. Alexander lifted his kids, and Sylvia followed him through. I erased it after. Feeling quite tired already.
"Well, he's out of my hair for a time. I have things to attend to." Tilton said.
"Oh, you Rapscallion. That was so touching, how can you be cold?" The brunette asked Tilton. She had a familiar twang to her voice, but most of all, only one person calls Tilton that.
"Ah. You're Ashtar." I realized.
"I am indeed." She replied, friendly.
"I wasn't expecting you.. like this." I said. "But that's ok. Have a good day."
Ashtar smiled in a confused way, but said, "Little guy has more business to get up to, I see. Have a great day."
With that, Ashtar and Tilton wondered off, and we went to the Dwarven Union. I wasn't actually sure who to talk to, and approached the Dwarf I dealt with before, though I wasn't very sure if I should handle it directly when there were four adults with me.
Either way, "*Excuse me,*" I said in Dwarvish. "*Are you in charge of the Union?*"
"*Aye, and who are you?*" He replied.
"*Isarial Hearthry. I'd like to hire your people for some work.*" I told him. "*And if possible, I'd like to talk to Elder Alberich.*"
"*Tell me what you need first, and I'll see if it's something to bring to Alberich.*" The Dwarf replied.
"*It's about a future project that he may be interested in. Also, I'm four years old. What am I gonna be able to do with him?*" I asked. "*If you need specifics, it's about some altruistic beliefs he holds.*"
"*Whereas that's all fine and dandy, I just need to make sure this is something that I need to bring to the boss.*" The Dwarf replied.
"*That would be up to you. It's really hard to speak politely in Dwarvish.. Anyways, would you like to look at the schematics I have?*" I asked.
"*Sure. Go ahead and show them to me.*" He said.
I nodded and separated the paper for Alberich from the schematics. "*I think they are easy to comprehend.. This one is expansion for the third, I don't want the forth floor room to connect to the room on top of the expansion. And this one is for the basement.*"
"*Who helped you draw these out? They are fine work.*" He said.
"*I drew them myself. Thank you for the compliment.*" I replied. "*I would also like stone walls around the property line.*"
"*Well, I think we can get these done. Know what? I think I'll go get the Elder, too.*" He said.
"*You can give him this paper, then.*" I said, handing him the shortened policy papers.
"*Can do.*" He said. He took the schematics with him, too, and went to get Alberich.
I looked at my family, "Nathan will be happy, I think."
"I'm sure he'll be very happy." Plight replied.
I blinked a little, first showing that I was getting tired. It wasn't even lunch time yet. I looked at Plight. I was sure telling him about his future with Sienna would be a bad idea. Besides, it might not happen this time. I wasn't sure seeing her as an eight year old would alter how they'd come to be. It just depended on how she'd react to him as an adult.
"Something wrong?" Plight asked.
"I don't know yet, cause I can't see the future." I told him.
"That has not been my experience with you, but alright." Plight said.
"I've changed too much to predict it." I replied.
About this time, a door opened, and I heard a few people greet Alberich. So I turned and looked. Sure enough, that was the man who had a statue in Hearthstone Town. I waited for them to approach before I greeted him.
"*Hello, Elder Alberich. It's good to see you in great health.*" I said.
He smiled and said, "*It is nice to meet you as well.*"
"*I am Isarial Hearthry. I'm hoping to work well with you in the future to achieve some goals.*" I replied.