Chapter Fifty-two

Chapter Fifty-two

When Eleniah and Meten strolled into the new base Darten had built under Kay’s direction, there were a total of four buildings finished.

“You didn’t mention your nephew knowing any building spells,” Eleniah said to Meten as they walked towards the sound of voices.

“He didn’t.”

They shared a look.

“Well, let’s go see what happened.”Witness the debut of this chapter, unveiled through Ñôv€l--B1n.

They stepped inside the largest of the buildings. The way in was an empty doorway with no door, and it was dark inside with no lights. The building, like the other two large structures, was a long rectangle.

“Kay?” Eleniah called into the building.

“Oh! You’re back!” Eleniah vaguely made out the sight of Kay’s head popping up from the floor in the back of the building. “We’re almost done, be right out!”

“I’m almost done!” Darten snapped from below, his voice slightly muffled but still audible to Eleniah’s tier-five hearing. “You aren’t doing anything!”

“I helped you figure out you could do it at all!”

“That was hours ago! You’re just watching me and training now!”

“Fine!” His head popped up again. “Darten is almost done! We’ll be out right after!”

“Thank you!”

Eleniah and Meten chuckled and waited for them.

A minute later, after some small tremors, Kay came up the stairs with Darten following him.

“Welcome back.” Kay greeted them with a smile.

“What happened?” Eleniah asked, cutting to the chase.

“We fought a Treant and decided that was enough tree cutting for now, and Darten mentioned that there are Earth Mages that can make buildings, so after we talked a little and he figured some things out, we made a little base.” He walked out of the empty doorway and gestured around with both arms. “Welcome, to our unnamed base!”

Eleniah sighed and shook her head, “You just decided to make a base?”

“Thank you.” She smiled and stepped out of his personal space.

“Now, how do we go from here?”

“I think that depends on you since you are in charge.”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “That still feels strange, but I’ll go with it for now.” He paused and thought, “For now, let’s say I’m in charge, but you’re definitely my adviser and have veto power on important decisions, as long as you explain why you’re changing things. For quick decisions, I’ll defer to you until I think I can handle it.”

Eleniah nodded along, then shrugged at the end. “I suggest you become able to handle it quickly. Rapid decisions during times of need are the most important parts of being in charge. That, and being able to handle the consequences of your decisions.”

Kay stared at her for a moment, his expression dead serious. “Okay.” He stared off into the distance for a while. When he was done thinking, he turned back to her and changed the subject. “Why are we adding random strangers to the group?”

“Three important reasons.” She held up a finger for each one, “First, diversity of use. You could also call it convenient. More people up to a point, and more diverse people even further, are useful for many reasons. Second...” She turned and looked at the two relatives going over one of the buildings in the distance. She shrugged. “Based on knowing both of us, I decided it was best to help people. They obviously have some other reason to be out here besides training and exploring, and they immediately asked for help in a roundabout way. Currently, they’re feeling us out, just like we are to them, but I think in the end, we’ll either help them and split or merge into a large group. Either works and helping people is good, most of the time.” She turned back to him, “And third, it gets lonely, even with two people.” She smiled at him, “As cool as we both are, just the two of us alone for a long time wouldn’t be healthy.”

“Three of us.” Kay corrected her. “You forget our little friend.” He smirked.

She glanced down at Murunel’s sleeping form in the ball. “True, three of us.” She gave Kay a look as he continued to grin oddly. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s a reference.” He laughed a little. “Anyway, I get it, and we’ll feel them out and see what happens. I can say for sure that Darten seems pretty cool so far.”

“Yeah, and Meten is a bit of a trickster.”

“Am I?” Meten suddenly called from only a short distance away.

“You certainly like trying to sneak up on people!” Kay called back.

Eleniah grinned, glad he hadn’t been surprised; it meant he’d been learning from his training.

“Well, it seems like the two of you have finished the more private parts of the conversation, so I thought I’d offer something.” He looked at Kay expectantly.

“What’s that?” Kay asked.

“Well, you’ve advanced my nephew’s skills several times today just with suggestion and direction, so I thought I’d offer some training to you.” He held out his glaive. “It isn’t exactly the same, but I think I could teach you a thing or two about wielding you halberd there.”

Kay looked from Meten’s weapon to his own, sitting just in the doorway of the nearest building. “I think I’ll take you up on that.”

“Wonderful!” He gestured for Kay to grab his weapon. “Let’s start now.”