Breaking into Sachel’s house since she wasn’t home to let him in herself, Ben made use of the gate hidden within, walking through to find Mora and Fontesh happily snacking while Delair sat to the side, clearly dejected.
“Hey there, sorry for barging in. Is something going on?”
“Oh, my daughter just thought it would be a good idea to use Mora to try to build a giant version of that game you made her. The one where you stack small pieces of wood and pull them out to see who makes it fall?”
“It would have been fun for everyone!” Delair called out in her defense, leaving her mother to shake her head.
“It would have crushed anyone standing too close to it when it fell. You can’t make something like that bigger than our house, how were you even planning on playing with it?”
“Get Mora to ask some spirits to move the pieces for us while we direct them.”
“That would kind of defeat the point if you’re having someone else manage that bit,” Ben pointed out. “But let’s put a small pin in figuring out how to do that for now. If we can figure out a safe way to make it work, that could be a fun little event in Stonewall. For now, kind of have a favour to ask.”
“So, not just here early to pick up Mora then?” Fontesh asked him.
“If things go smoothly enough, then yeah, absolutely. Actually, on that note, would you say Hentath has warmed up to Mora at all? He’s here for at least a bit a few times a week, she must be seeing him occasionally.”
“Oh, I’d say so. He’s a sweet child, it would be hard not to. The rest of the village is pretty comfortable with him by this point as well.”
Mora smiled hearing it, enjoying both the praise and the acknowledgement that he was well liked. “I like all of the dryads too.”
“Fantastic to hear, kiddo. That means you can help me, Fontesh, and Delair beg her for a favour.”
“Ooh, what favour?” Delair asked in curiosity, her mother having a guess.
“If you’re making a new attempt to get some fresh wood, you’re not going to have much luck.”
“Nope, don’t worry. It should be less objectionable in exchange for just being more complicated. I want to talk her into accepting a few new residents here.”
“No,” Hentath told him the moment she opened the door, already putting Ben in his place as he raised his hands.
“Hentath, come on, I just got here.”
“And the look on your face is like someone trying to sell me something; I don’t trust it.”
“You say that, but you can’t fool me. I know you’ve warmed up to ol’ Ben. Come on, hear me out, please. I promise, this is actually important to me and is essentially harmless.”
“I think you should listen to what he has to say, grandmother,” Fontesh told her, having gotten a brief explanation as they went over, even if she could tell there was some context he was trying to be careful about because of the kids.
Looking at her granddaughter, as well as her great-granddaughter and Mora as well, she sighed and stepped out, leading them to the back. “Fine then, come on.”
Taking them to some seats in her yard, Ben took his own, looking at the older dryad and putting his many thoughts in order before speaking up.
“Hentath, there’s a few people I’d like you to allow to move into this village, and I’m hoping that you and the others here would try to make them feel welcomed.”
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“A tall order,” the woman told him, not outright dismissing him like he feared. “Considering that you didn’t name names, it’s not you and your little family and it’s not Sachel and her partner so it’s no one we know and in case you didn’t notice, we’re not the most welcoming of strangers.”
“Maybe not, but you’re all plenty friendly with people you do know, so all you need to do is try and skip the initial weariness step. You’re the head of the village, right? If you try to be open about it, that would go a long way to making sure the rest are okay too. I’ll build their houses as well, quick and easy. Really, the biggest issue you could have is that one of them is going to be a priestess, but I’ve already discussed things with her god. While she’s here, while she may lead some prayers with the others, they’ll do it in private and won’t attempt to get any converts from the village.”
“That doesn’t make me feel more confident. Who do you want coming here and why the hell does it have to be this village? Send them somewhere else if it’s important.”
“It has to be this village because despite how grouchy you seem to want to act, I trust you and I trust the other dryads here to make them comfortable once they settle in. You’re all good people, I wouldn’t have to worry. As for who would be coming, it would be a group of six, including the one priestess I mentioned, but really, all of this is for a mother and daughter.”
Ben went on to explain the circumstances of the two, the events around the daughter’s birth, the lives they’d lived and how they were betrayed by the one they should have been able to trust the most, and finally, waking up on that new doomed planet, having lost everything, only to be forced to confront what seemed to them as the coming end of the world.
“Mirrian just isn’t comfortable where she is. Any city on this planet is going to be so far beyond what her world was like back when she lived on it, and she’d spent her life as a farmer. A village like this, nice and quiet where she could tend to some crops though? Even if you still have some conveniences that she wouldn’t be used to, it would make adjusting easier, probably on her daughter as well. I spoke to her gods on the way here, the other four that would be joining them would be three guards who would act to help protect the village as well as them, and the priestess who Mirrian and Kalley have gotten close to. And if that’s still not enough, I have one more thing to sweeten the deal.”
Pulling an item from his ring as he said it, to the rest of them, it looked like a fairly large crystal cube, a bit over a foot in all dimensions and sparkling in a rainbow of colours, with the only protrusion it had being the large button on its top, with Ben explaining it as the rest looked.
“Emergency button. I’d recommend keeping it in Fontesh’s house since if there’s an emergency, the rest of the village should know that they can evacuate through the gate there anyway but the long and short of it is that if you press the button, it will light up to show that it’s activated and then whatever’s happening, I’ll know to come help as soon as I can and other help might be sent your way as well if it seems urgent enough. You can turn it off by pressing the button again. I’d please ask that you only try to press it in emergencies.”
“How could something like that possibly work?” Hentath asked, her brow wrinkling as she looked at it.
“Oh, it’s actually shockingly simple. If you push the button, it deactivates the time enchantment that’s freezing it, allowing the two million souls trapped within it to scream at my god for help. From there, he contacts either myself or anyone in a better position to help you and then we all come running. Easy peasy.”
Neither adult seemed to know how to respond to such a statement, but the kids took it better. Delair was well used to hearing about how Ben would use souls by that point, and Mora was capable of seeing them all trapped within the tool itself. Even if the scale of it was large, it was still nothing compared to what Ben had been creating even then as they spoke, the swarm of them becoming experience for that particular skill.
“... Moving past that,” Hentath finally said, deciding it was for her own good to ignore just what she’d heard. “That just leaves the question of why you care so much? You’ve just told me that you’ve only met them twice, why are you making it your business, and why does that mean making it my business?”
“Because I think you’re a good person and I don’t think you’d say no to a child in need, but as for why I’m helping… empathy.”
“That’s it?”
“What more does there need to be?” he shrugged. “Back when we first met, I told you a bit about my circumstances. I know what it’s like to be tossed out into a new world and what it’s like to lose everything, why wouldn’t I want to help someone going through the same?”
He could feel the other three’s eyes on him from the statement but Hentath knew he was one of the summoned; she understood exactly what he was talking about, with the answer leaving her to sigh.
“Fine,” she gave in. “So long as they don’t cross any lines, I’ll welcome them and I’ll try to get everyone else to welcome them too but if they cause any trouble, I’ll be pressing that button and expecting you to find somewhere else to stick them.”
“Of course,” Ben nodded. “I’ll admit, I haven’t met the three guards, but I’ll vet them before they show up and I can at least vouch for the qualities I’ve seen in the others. If they cause any problems, I’ll be happy to show up and sort them out.”
“Alright, in that case, when are they going to arrive?”
“I’d say as soon as possible. If I can swing it, two days from now.”
