All around Kai Fen stood Fen clan members, and judging from the tones and how red-faced everyone was, the red wouldn’t be heat, it would be blood. “Problem?” Kaden turned his back on Kai Fen as he summoned Remembrance of Battle, fully aware and intendingthe message it sent.


    “Let me try and handle this.” She glanced to Remembrance, then jerked her head back toward Kai Fen. “If he needs to die, you can kill him, we can kill him together, or I’ll do it myself. Lots of ways Kai Fen could wind up staring empty-eyed at the sky, but right now, he and I are working toward an agreement.”


    “Do not disrespect me!” Kai said, his voice cold as a blizzard wind. “I came as a token of respect. I gave you a chance to honor me. To honor the Fen.”


    “You get what everyone else gets,” Trella answered. “Three to start. More if you swear days of peace. All the clans are equal as far as I’m concerned.”


    If she’d struck Kai with a sledge hammer he wouldn’t have been more stunned. “They are not equal, because they are not strong. You do not belong here.”


    “I could leave. Anyone else want me to leave?” Trella looked to the other clansmen. “Tonight, go home and tell your mates, ‘We could have had more potions. We could have revived more of our kin from the [Frost.] But Kai Fen said no. And why wouldn’t he say no? Why would he want more of your brothers and sisters retured?’”


    The crowd began to rumble louder and louder.


    “Or I could stay and we do things my way. Eve, give him three potions, more if he swears the oath.” Trella turned and headed back down the stairs into the groundhouse. “I have work to do.”


    The tension in the gathering was so thick Kaden needed Remembrance to cut it. And as Kai Fen turned back to Kaden, it began to boil up. “What are you looking at, Southerner?”


    “A man without enough potions to help his clan.” Kaden began to wonder more and more if the solution wasn’t Remembrance. He’d made the mistake with Jagi of thinking that they’d find a way to coexist. Such mistakes couldn’t be repeated.


    “You stole from us,” Kai Fen said. “You have a treasure of the clans. You can dress like us but you can’t be like us because your heart is southern. Ask him!”


    Kaden produced the Bracers of Skorn. “I was given a Quest by the System. And a choice by the System, a choice I have yet to make. They’re [Beserker] gear. I have no plans of using them. But I’m not turning them over to you.”


    “Kaden.” Sara called softly. “I could use your help, if you have a moment. Please.”


    Kaden reluctantly joined Sara downstairs. “What do you need help with?”


    “Not starting a battle. They arrived at noon and besides refusing to repay the Mercari, they’ve been civil. The clans have to work this out, remember?” Sara sounded almost defensive of the Fen. “Their healer has been working with Eve. They have persistent Status effects and Drokor and the others insist they deserve the same healing as everyone else.”


    Kaden left Sara and headed straight to Trella, whose Deception held up a hand. “We’re right in the middle of a tricky potion. Not [Fire Soul]. We’ll hug and kiss later.”


    Most potions used a single reaction flask, but this had three running at once, with Trella making adjustments and drawing ingredients from her kit as she consulted a scroll.


    It didn’t explode, and that was the best thing Kaden could say for it, as the center flask belched green smoke. The Deception didn’t seem worried. It focused on keeping him from interfering as Trella used a dropper to add to the center flask.


    The smoke turned orange, then red, then black, and tasted of charred eyeballs, a flavor Kaden could never forget after Ashi roasted a swarm of flying eyes. Mana pulsed and Kaden’s ears popped as Trella made a final adjustment.


    When the smoke cleared, she swirled a potion that kept itself separated in two halves, one blue, one green. The separation ran straight down the middle, not horizontal.


    “Definitely room for improvement,” she said. “I should be able to reach good quality, this is average. Or maybe my skill just isn’t high enough yet for good with this potion.”


    [Status Stabilization Potion]


    Provides durable long term protection from minor status effects. You may also not gain bonuses or receive additional cleansing while the status lock remains in effect.


    “That’s not for one of us.” Kaden didn’t need to ask, it would prevent [Speeding Wind], [Life Explosion] and any other positive effects, and negative effects could always be handed off to Eve.


    Trella tucked it into Inventory. “I appreciate the backup but I had everything under control. And honestly, from the way Basu tells it, I understand how the clans wound up here. The Resyr hold a lot of power as the ones with the FarPortal.”


    “Basu is here?” Kaden hadn’t thought the Fen Healer would travel. She seemed busy.


    “She brought two children cursed with [Status] afflictions. Eve can purge them but thirty minutes later, they get [Slow] or [Clumsy] or [Feeble] or [Fear]. So we purge and then we use this.”


    “You had four formulas when you started,” Kaden said. “How many do you have now?”


    “Hundreds. Where do you think most of my gold goes?” Trella put away the eyepiece. “This…was worth everything you paid. When I’m negotiating, I need you to let me. Unless they attack, and then their deaths are their own decision. Did you finish that Quest and save the monkeys?”


    “Sort of. The poacher turned out to be a tier three [Reflactory]. I got the tokens and the favor and in a decade, a [Crystal Capuchin].” Kaden took out the leopard skins and Naturi Orb. “And these. The Resyr are masters of working with hide. Leopard skin doesn’t have any magic properties but it does look nice.”


    “Sara needs trade materials. Much as I want to kill Kai Fen, the clans can shed each other’s blood and laugh about it. You and I can’t.” Trella pulled three more potions from Inventory.


    Kaden offered her the [Fire Soul] he’d bottled. “You fell asleep with this spilling out of the flask.”


    “Poor quality. If I give that out I’ll start another argument. Come with me, I need to make sure this works, and if it doesn’t, I need to make another one.”


    Kaden activated [Stealth Aura] and together, they slipped out of the groundhouse and the long way through the village. West of the [Makur] pen, a heavy, new tent stood, with clansmen and women milling about by the door.


    Inside, fairy lights clustered near the ceiling. Eve wore her deep red robes, which made her hair look pink in the fairy light as she tended to the ill and the wounded. “What made this wound? This is mana-reinforced.”


    An older warrior lay back, cupping his hands to keep his entrails in.


    “One of the Baranak have a flame-sword,” a young man said. “We were foraging south of the blue ravine, it was our right to hunt. He wounded the stag and chased it into our range. Claiming it was the right thing to do.”Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    “Keeping your insides inside would be the right thing to do,” Eve answered. “Stay here, I’ll need to recover to keep healing that. Kaden, welcome back. Trella, potion?”


    Trella produced the potion and handed it over. “I want to see it. If it fails, I can make another one. Where’s Basu? These are hers.”


    “Not mine.” Basu spoke from the entrance. “My friend’s sister’s. But all children are our responsibility.”


    Eve hurried to pull back a side-tent, revealing a girl and boy not five years old. “This won’t hurt. Most of life will, but this won’t. You’re going to bleed a little from your eyes, and then drink this wonderful potion that tastes like chick-berries.”


    “It tastes like ass—a slice of cake.” Trella said, glaring at Eve. “If someone wanted it flavored, someone should have mentioned it.”


    Eve glared right back. “How many children have you been around? How many say ‘Fecal Juice, please, it’s my favorite flavor. I can smell that with the lid on. I didn’t ask because I thought the request was implicit.”


    Basu took the potion and held it up. “It’s awful. But you’re strong. A sip each is all it takes. You want to be stronger and be able to play in the snow and hunt and skin a rabbit, right?”


    One of the twins nodded, which was fifty percent better than neither of them agreeing.


    “Him first,” Basu said.


    Eve activated [Life Explosion], and the boy sneezed, spraying blood out as the status effects left. Before he could even look up, Basu cradled the flask to his lips.


    Though the boy choked and gagged, he swallowed it down—then staggered back as a soft red glow enveloped him. “I feel weird.”


    “You feel healthy,” Basu said. “That will last…”


    “A week, maybe longer,” Trella said. “Small sips work just as well as drinking the whole thing.”


    Basu pointed to the girl. “Now, it is your turn.”


    “No!” The girl said. It turned into a vomit of blood, but the girl clamped her mouth shut.


    Trella pointed as her Deception rose from the dark of her cloak. “Look out! That shadow monster’s here to drag you to hell! The only way to send it back is to drink the potion before it drinks your soul!”


    With a shriek of terror, the girl choked down her dose. By the time she opened her eyes, the Deception was miraculously gone.


    “I was going to offer her jerky,” Basu said. “Some people shouldn’t have children. Alba, go find your brother and uncle.”


    The girl darted out of the tent.


    “I want to punch you, but I also want to throw my arms around you and give thanks.” Basu’s tone said she hadn’t made up her mind.


    “I prefer option three, ‘neither,’” Eve said. “Kaden, can you boost my mana so I can try to close this wound?”


    He nodded, stepping up beside her as she invoked [Life Explosion] followed by [Life Endowment] over and over. When she was ready, he began to feed her mana, even though her mana stores dwarfed his.


    The split knit together from either end, closing until intestines barely peeked out in a gutsy smile.


    “We’ll both recover and try again,” Eve said to the man. “You must stay still. I’m going to take a break to regenerate mana. Remember my rules - resurrections come without cost to those who begin fights within my tent. So does death. Many of your clans have sworn days of peace to me. Do not break those oaths.”


    Basu caught Trella’s arm. “Thank you. There aren’t words for what you’ve done. I know, you have your own goals, and I would not see the Fen servants of everyone else, but there is good in this. When we reach an accord, I hope you would be willing to visit. It is unlikely we will be able to get another [Achemist] to come.”


    “You’re going to have to explain to me why you don’t have one of your clan members dual class as an [Alchemist],” Eve said. “If Trella could learn it in months without taking the class, why on earth would you not send four or five to train?”


    “I know,” Trella said. “It’s expensive. Any good [Alchemist] will charge a fee in gold and service. Five thousand gold and five years of service. Compare that to Adventurers. Five gold. Five years.”


    “Can you train someone?” Kaden asked.


    “No. I’m growing. I’m learning. If my skill ever reaches level ten, I’ll be able to, but right now it’s not going to happen. I don’t have the skill to share and I can barely brew potions like [Fire Soul].” Trella lost her focus for a moment. Then shook her head. “I can’t.”


    Eve gently prodded them. “We’ll regenerate faster in Sara’s presence. You’re a mirror of each other, you know that, Kaden? Allies gain health and mana in Sara’s presence. Enemies don’t regenerate mana or health in yours.”


    Kaden hadn’t considered that.


    Sara held negotiations in a groundhouse filled with pipesmoke, the smell of sizzling [Makur] meat, and the stench of sweat. As Kaden took a seat to rest in her presence, a prickling in his consciousness said the [Ulf Stalker] was on the move, heading out onto the tundra to hunt.


    With only a thought, Kaden had the [Ulf] turning and threading its way back through the village, where it met Kaden with pleasure. The Naturi Skill orb wasn’t something Kaden would risk, and Trinity was too loaded with skills as it was. He presented it as a choice.


    One the [Ulf] made with pleasure, biting the skill orb and then falling to the side, stiff-legged as the skill took hold. The tremors passed, and it sniffed and huffed, then struggled to its feet. When it opened its mouth, Kaden was shocked.


    The [Ulf]’s sharp teeth had mutated, becoming wide, blade-like serated edges that would carve hunks of flesh instead of piercing and holding.


    Your bound beast [Ulf Stalker] has become [Ulf Ravager].


    [Ulf Ravager]


    The Ulf Ravager is a champion among the hunters. Their bite cripples and maims, and with time will become septic. This one was an outcast, but has accepted its role in your pack.


    *Pride.*


    Level: 3


    HP: 1600


    Mana: 40


    Skills: Tracking, Keen Hearing, Stealth, Shredding Bite


    Talents: Pack Tactics, Ice Born


    Status Effects: Frost (33)


    [Shredding Bite]


    The damage this creature does causes crippling injuries to its victim in most cases, as well as healing a small amount of health on each attack.


    Ulf didn’t believe in luck, but Kaden pushed the image of him finding giant hares, which caused a flush of pleasure. The Ulf wasn’t that much larger or stronger, but the change in its mouth would make it a terror which could heal itself off the damage it did.


    Now, it dashed away into the night, desperate to find a victim for its hunger.


    Kaden slipped back to the groundhouse where Sara had been to find most of the clans gone. Ashi stood surrounded by children in robes, speaking with each before they departed with a man or woman.


    “Six fire, three water, two ice, and a necromancer!” Ashi said. She looked to Kaden, a genuine smile. “Of course, getting the [Class] is only the first step of a thousand miles. But I will work with them each. Two mages for each clan. May you keep a secret between us?”


    “Always.”


    Ashi sighed. “I do not enjoy teaching children. I love teaching magic but children are so…young. If they burn from a fireball, they cry. If their hand freezes solid, they cry. Drown, even a little? Cry. And I was sure Anda would be so happy to see her grandmother again. She was not.”


    Kaden sighed and put his arm around her. “They get better. In ten years. Sometimes twenty. Some of them, never. But imagine them learning the craft of magic. Not just existing spells but new ones.”


    “I will think on this.”


    Together they went down into the GroundHouse, where Sara still sat at a table, now with Trella, Eve, Drokor and three other clansmen.


    “And there he is,” Sara said. She went around the table introducing clan leaders and their second in commands. Sometimes spouses and sometimes friends, the Skan and Ewir had come, and the Hvita, which were the clan who had almost been attacked. No coincidence, several of their members were corpses who Eve had resurrected after Kaden retrieved them. “We were waiting for you to celebrate an alliance of four. Four who are ready to swear they will not turn on each other. Four who will found a new accord.”


    Eve stood. “Then let it be made. You will not move in war against each other. You will resolve conflicts with words rather than weapons. If none can agree you will listen to a neutral party chosen by a majority. You will work in good faith for the advancement of your clan and the accord. Swear this to be true.”


    One by one, the leaders spoke, echoing, “It is true.”


    Oathbinder Evelyn ‘Black’ has heard and accepted your oath.


    The Blom Accord is begun.


    All Accord members [Frost] increased by ten.


    All Accord members are now more resistant to [Frost].


    Join others to the Accord to increase its power.


    Kaden sensed the change, a shift like when he had formed a business with Sara. Now, the leaders boasted with each other, and the Skan leader in particular focused on Trella. “The Tun are our neighbors to the north. They aren’t affected as much by [Frost], but the Tun are carvers of bone. They’ve not moved much north or south, but you should travel with us to see them. That you’d take the time will make an impression.”


    “We’ll consider it,” Trella answered. “I need to keep producing [Fire Soul] potions. Not even the Resyr are fully restored, right, Drokor?”


    “Eleven. We will need to speak of housing when all are revived. You sleep in one, work in another, meet in a third.” Drokor didn’t sound upset, just serious. “Others are worse. The Fen have fifty in Winter’s Embrace. The Skan? Eight?”


    “Four,” the Skan leader answered. “We only had seven to start.”


    “I have no problem with you getting more. For that matter, I’m the one producing the potions,” Trella spoke with clear authority. “If I decided tomorrow that Accord members get a higher share, that’s my decision.”


    “Please do not.” Drokor said. “We have a pattern established. Even if we are not in agreement with the other clans that does not make them our mortal enemies. You say you are interested in peace. This is a path to war.”


    A knock at the groundhouse door silenced the conversation.


    Basu Fen stood, highlighted by the setting sun. “Kaden Birch, I wish to speak to you.”