Magical Engineering

It shouldn’t have come as any surprise to me. This had all been going far too well. We had cleared out the entire outer ring of buildings. The brothers had even returned from their mission, ready to prepare to transport the livestock. Of course, that couldn’t last.

“Look, I already told the mayor, I’m not leaving. This is my home. We built this place to finally give some stability to the kids,” the man said, a hint of anger in his words.

We weren’t the first to try and get him out of his house. Several groups had been trying for days, but as we were now six days and eighteen hundred people into this. Convincing him it was time to leave had become a priority. He was the last person on this ring of the city, and while I completely understood why he didn’t want to leave, I wasn’t willing to let him stay behind. Maybe if it had just been him, but he had a dozen children, and they deserved a real chance.

“I know, and I know you just want to keep things stable for your family. Trust me, I get it. From the stories I’ve heard, Gramps hated taking everyone away from his family home, too. But sometimes you just have to do what keeps your kids the safest, even if it seems less stable right now,” Connie replied with a hint of music in her words.

We had already discussed this on the way. She planned to start the conversation and gently make him a little more agreeable. The way she was speaking now reminded me of how Korl had talked the first time we encountered them. Her words just gave an air of good ideas and pleasantness. I was glad she was on our side.

“But, you have to understand. We just got settled. This is the first time the kids have ever felt like they had a real home, and now you just want us to uproot again?” he replied, his tone had shifted. He no longer sounded quite so steadfast in his refusal. She had cracked his wall already.

“Do you know who is with me right here?” the man shook his head. “Well, this is Dave. He’s the ruler of the faction that controls the universe we will be heading to. What’s your name?” Connie asked, the music growing just slightly.

“Tlintril,” he replied.

“Well, Tlintril, I think I can make you a promise you’ve never heard before. Dave do you promise Tlintril his own home on Earth, and that as long as you live, that he is under the protection of the Empire of Dave?” Connie asked, somehow with a straight face, as she turned to me.

“I do. I think I can go a bit further and promise you full rights as a citizen in the Empire, whatever that may mean in the future,” I replied. Right now, it was mostly a meaningless title, but I would stand by it for all of these people if they chose to stay on Earth in the long term.

The man bit his lower lip before replying. “Fine,” he sighed loudly, looking half defeated.

“Thank you. Now these three gentlemen behind us will get you set up for your transport, and help you pack up everything we can,” Connie said. She had a reassuring smile on her face, and her words still seemed to have a touch of magic in them.

“How much can we bring?” Tlintril asked, the earlier anger entirely gone now. Instead, he sounded nervous as he became resigned to his fate.

“Everything that we can get out. If possible, the only thing we will leave behind is the house itself,” I answered. The look on the man’s face changed near instantly. Had he somehow missed the announcement that we wanted them to pack everything possible?

“Oh, oh, okay, well, I guess we’d better get to work. Come on, guys, in here,” he replied, stepping out of the doorway for the first time.

“I’ll let Pryte know we succeeded and see if there is anyone else we need to find,” I said as I pulled up a chat window.