The Quantum Wanderer

“We have a spell that looks like a stone bullet, but it is more powerful. Cecilia was still learning. I am impressed, but the barrier actually held the first shot. But then again, three paladins working together…”

“THREE? And she broke it?”

“The shot went right through. And through whatever was behind it as well… The shield, the armor, the body… The guys behind…” He gives out a laughter.

“Did she use that for all of them?”

“No. For the other ones she used the sword. Shields don’t really help you much if the sword can cut it like paper.” He looks at Cecilia, then back at us. “She doesn’t have much finesse, but mother was brutal. A little less brutal than mother Aquamarine, though.”

Sidhu forgot about any restraint some time ago. He is like a kid in a candy store.

“What did she do?”

“The two rapists were paid in kind… By a Fenrir… Even I get chills on the thought. AAAHHHH…”

Sidhu and Rajesh look at me, I nod. Rajesh tilts his head.

“How did the elves remind you of that?”

“Oh, the hero party had two elves among their ranks. Before anything happened they asked for mercy. I told them to present their crimes in front of Autumnstart, he would pass judgement.”

Rajesh laughs. “I am pissed with you! Go talk to your mother do whatever she says. Otherwise you will get spanked!”

The three of us laugh.

“Basically. They are on their way. They are in a boat in the Big River right now. I am actually amazed with the mounts they were using. Awesome beasts.”

“Really? I think they were using tamed bicorns, right?” Rajesh comments.

“Yes. The beasts ran day and night for a full day. No rest. I am amazed. They did a weeks of travel in a single day…”

“Aham… I have to admit I helped a little bit…” Muninn comments.

“How so?” Rajesh asks.

“Providing incentive…”

Ever my preferred asshole. I pet him on the chest.

“Just let them go at their own pace now…” I laughed.

“Of course, father…”

At this point, the girls stand up. Aisha addresses us.

“Excuse us, we are going for the beauty routine.”

I smile at my girls. They leave the room. I turn to Rajesh.

“What about us? You had mentioned about the music playing…?”

“Yes, they are waiting for us in the ballroom. The acoustics are better there.”

We get there, and listen for songs. Among them, there are some instrumentals of songs from Earth. I remember that Muninn had passed some of those to them. Of course, limited by my memories.

We sit down, enjoying the show. There is something very seductive about a woman playing a violin in the dresses my vestal use.

Rajesh talks about their first harvests in some areas. He also talked about the centaurs, and how integrated to the demon society they were. I look at Muninn, and he nods, confirming that it is all true.

I get really happy with the situation. Sidhu mentions that some centaurs have entered priesthood, and they are some of the fiercest evangelists they have. Their rhetoric and enthusiasm are exemplary.

After some time, a bard join the band. His words are very similar to the elven one. Even the clothes. I laugh at the similarity, while the aspect is very different, with the purple skin, horns and tail.

His voice is not as good as the elven one. There is some room for improvement.

The three of us talk about some other light matters. The hours pass by really quick.

The girls come to the room.

“It is time already, my lord.” Opal says.

“Oh? I didn’t even notice the time pass.”

We say our goodbyes, and we go back home.

***

Summergreen’s POV

I wake up with my bed shaking. The sky is still a little dark. I shake my head. Close to the window, on a chair, there is a dryad. My consort wakes in panic. When he sees I am calm, he calms down a tone, an the image of the dryad also calms her.

“Good morning, children! I am glad you are awake already. You are going to be needed in the square in a little bit! Have your morning food, and please get there.”

The dryad stands up, and disappears on the floor. I am, as always, perplexed. But then again, we are not supposed to reason with the dryads. Our world is a gift from them. One of my jobs is keeping that in our collective mind.

We dress up, and go for our breakfast. There is always a maiden helping in our house. Even as council members, we find it distasteful having servants for every little tasks. There are some tasks, though, that we delegate for helpers. Food is one of them.

The consort, silent till now, looks at me.

“What is going on?”

I shrug at him.

“Right now I know as much as you. You woke up with me.”

He stays silent after this. I have my breakfast, get dressed and head towards the main square. Right when I leave my home, I see that the other councilor, Autumnstart, is also leaving his home. I sigh.

“Good morning, councilor!” I wave at him.

“Good morning, councilor. Can I assume you are also on your way to the main square?”

“Yes.”

The other homes of councilors’ doors also open up. All of us are on the street. We all look at each other and nod. It must be something big. The sky is only completely blue as of right now.

We five, staff in hand, walk towards the main square. It is a long walk. I turn to Autumnstart.

“Is this related to the friend?”

“I have no idea. Have you ever seen a dryad explaining herself?”

I laugh out. Our gods just are. They didn’t explain what they didn’t want to explain. And they never appeared so much in the past. It was a constant that whenever this foreigner, and a short ear at that, was near, their chances of appearing went really high.

The inn that this lord Marcelo uses became a church of sorts. There are several tales roaming around. Most of them in song, thanks to the bard that plays in the place. I know of the accomplishments that he did for the dryads. And those are barely possible. The other stuff the bard sings about… I am really curious at how good his creativity is. He never had lack of it, but it is hard to say.

Still, I have to surrender to the fact that our lives did improve. Trade with dwarves, and indirectly with the demons, have improved our quality of life. Comm Gems became cheaper. We are exporting some goods that are not that rare for us, like the condiments and peppers, and we are getting paid well.

We have been able to armor our hunters with dwarven arrow tips. Dwarven armors. Only an idiot wouldn’t see the advantages.

A couple of councilors are not in favor of this, though. But they are more afraid of loosing their advantages over other elves than really on what is to come.

When we are halfway to the main square, a hunter approaches us. He kneels down.

“My lords, there are two outside elves in the main square, they are asking to speak with lord Autumnstart. They have high levels.”

We four turn to Autumnstart. I can bet my ear that this is something related to sir Marcelo. Autumnstart answers the hunter.

“Do you know what they want?”

“Not yet. They just dropped all their weapons, and are kneeling down in the middle of the square, waiting for the opportunity to talk to you.”

Some of us sigh, we keep walking. After the time to get there, I see the confusion. There is this whole commotion.

Autumstart hits his staff on the ground. Then it happens. The main square starts taking a shape. A hand rail starts growing from the grown, encircling the people, driving them back. I get closer to Autumnstart, so that my whisper cannot be heard by others.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! I hit the ground to get people’s attention. I wasn’t casting.”

The people are seated into grandstands that appear from the ground. The first rows are lower, and they keep going up. It is a semi-circle being created around the two elves kneeling on the floor.

Around those two, a little divider, about three feet in height, rises up.

We are pushed back against chairs that were not there. The other three councilman are looking at Autumnstart. They didn’t hear our exchange previously, they are thinking that this is all on his arbormancy.

They are amazed with the scale. And the waste of something so big.

The silence is profound. We don’t have a tale of something like this in our history books. The dividers around the two elves in the square squeeze them, they are forced to stand. The voices from the forest, that normally laugh at our reactions, are just whispering one word. “Naughty! Naughty!”

Acusations. We look towards the two. The silence is complete.

One of them bow down to us.

“Good morning, lords and lady councilman. We were told to confess our crimes and receive judgement.”

My mind is still processing this. We should perhaps bring a historian to record. I take a look at the crowd, and of course the bard is there. Not the person I had in mind to create a rational, neutral report.

Autumnstart is the first one to recover from shock.

“Very well. Let’s hear your crimes.”

The one that had bowed started talking. The other one can’t seem to raise his eyes from the ground.

“When I was 12, I lied to my parents about going into the forest. My uncle had to save me from a dire wolf, in spite of me disobeying my parents…”

His rants are taking a long time. All of it inconsequential stuff. Things kids do. Unobeyed warnings. Fruit taken from a stand. The sun is high, it is getting close to noon.

Then he mentions that he joined the hero’s party. Like several elves that decide to roam the world, he was after money. And some fame as well.

He starts telling some really dark tales. They were present in several acts of abuse. But they didn’t say anything. Families destroyed because a kid threw a rock that bounced off an armor. The hero would brand them infidels, and they would be given the worst of treatments.

Pillaging. Torture. Rape. The worst of the worst.

They didn’t engage in some of the acts, but they did receive the pillaging’s part. They didn’t try to tell this to anyone. They were in the group.

We do speak common, but we have a mother language. Our language doesn’t even have a word for rape, because it is so unthinkable. It is like dying of thirst. It is a compound verb, ‘dying of thirst’. There is not a single verb for it.

He mentions that they were on a trip to conscript some people into the army. Conscription. Another word that our mother language does not have. Enslaving someone for service in the army. Even the sentence makes my skin crawl.

Yes, I know it is common among humans, but our society is way more evolved than that.

And then he met sir Marcelo. Of course, being who he is his wives were the target of conscription. The strongest around. Sir Marcelo stopped them, demanding the rapists into custody. He said that he presented himself to the Friend of the Forest. He was ordered to come here, and present his crimes. As he is doing right now.

Everyone around us is shocked. Horrified. The young ones have only seen sir Marcelo as an example of human. And one of his wives, I believe, is also human. But they do not represent the average.

Autumnstart then gives the word to the second one.

His tale is much the same. The crimes after joining the hero’s party are the same. When he is done, the skies start to get gray, the rain is coming. The other councilmen realize the same, but a structure around us start growing.

A ceiling with large leafs is formed. The rain pours. Given the kind of structure, the sound of the water hitting it is very loud. The silence among the few thousands inside the structure is louder.

Autumnstart clears his throat.

“VERY WELL, WE ARE GOING TO TALK AMONGST OURSELVES TO PASS JUDGEMENT!”

When he says that, our chairs move back from the table, and assume a position of a circle, close to each other.

Councilor Greenday smiles.

“Now you are just flexing, councilor!” He says, while looking at Autumnstart.

Autumnstart sighs. I can believe, by his expression, that he is not the one to cast. This whole thing is a great lesson in humility. And what arbormancy is about.

“Not really my doing, but never mind that, councilman. Let’s focus with the subject at hand. What do we do with them?”

Another councilman puts in his thoughts.

“They committed the Unforgivable. What is the highest penalty we can apply?”

I intervene.

“Perhaps, but they came here and confessed.” I say.

“Yes, but only because big brother told them to do so.”

We look around, there is a dryad in the circle.

“If that is the case, please forget what I said.”

“What is our highest penalty?” Autumnstart asks.

“Right now, it is banishment. Exile.”

“So be it, then.”

We stand straight in our chairs. They are magically moved back to the desk we are sharing. Autumnstart is in the middle of the group. He looks at us, and we nod at him.

“YOUR CASE HAS BEEN ADJUJICADED. YOU ARE HEREBY BANISHED! YOU ARE TO BEAR THE MARK OF EXILE!”

Autumnstart stands up, and hits his staff on the ground. I can see that he is casting now. A vine comes up from the ground, and etches this tatoo on the face of the two condemned. It is a figure that we have all just seen in history books.

They are considered the worst of the worst. They are branded for a life of hardship, away from any help from the elves.

The tatoo must hurt, but that is probably not the main reason that is making the elves cry. I never thought we would ever brand someone with this.

They turn around, to try to jump over the little structure fencing them in.

“Not so fast!”

Behind their back, group of four dryads appear. They start circling the two elves.

“Naughty.” “Naughty.” “Naughty.” “Naughty.”

Their coordination is enough to make someone a little dizzy.

“If you’re not an elf,”

“you don’t deserve our gifts!”

“The dexterity of cats!”

“The vision of eagles!”

“The hearing of wolves!”

“And the lifespan of trees!”

The two started screaming. They squat, their hands covering their eyes. The rest of the people in silence.

They just start crying inside the small cubicle. I stare at a couple of hunters that are on the first row, and I gesture my head.

They get close, the part behind the duo dissolves. The hunters hold the duo by their arms, and the structure around us starts to get absorbed by the floor. Sometimes even I take for granted that even the ground we step on is alive.

When the duo stand up, everyone looks. They have dried blood around their eyes, that somehow appear unchanged, but somehow feel different. And their ears…

Their ears are now round.

The hunters take them by the arm, and take them to the city entrance. The whole thing is so shocking that I didn’t even realize I am already standing up again.

And most are not caring about something that may come to play a big part in the next years…

The hero is dead.

***

Marcelo’s POV

During breakfast, Muninn informs me that the duo of elves presented themselves to Autumnstart. Their trial was starting. Muninn tells me that they created a huge court occupying most of the central square for the trial.

Cecilia is interested in the trial more than I am.

“What do you think is going to happen, my villain?”

I shrug.

“I don’t know. I don’t know elven law. I imagine they are going to be fair. Do you want to watch the trial?”

“Can I?”

“You can. Let’s got to the elves. You can watch the trial, I am going to do my usual thing there.”

I summon Rudolph.

“Yes, lord?”

“Can you check if Roberta wants to come with us to the elven city? I am going there, I don’t know if we have to purchase anything for the house.”

“Of course, lord, just a minute.”

“While you do that, I am going to get into something more adequate.”

The girls and I go upstairs, we get dressed into something casual.

We come downstairs, and meet Roberta.

“Is there anyone else that wants to go as well?”

“A couple of maids would like to, lord, but it is for private business.”

“I don’t mind. Can you please let them know? Once they are ready, we can go.”

Roberta goes into the kitchen, and after that comes back to the living room. She is standing on the corner. I gesture her to sit on the couch.

“I am sorry, lord, but you should not do that! We have a harder time keeping the order! It is our duty to stand!”

I close the door with a breeze. Then I gesture and tell Roberta.

“There. Now no one is going to know.”

She sighs. I gesture again, she sits down.

“You way too nice, lord. It makes Rudolph’s and my jobs that much harder.”

I laugh.

“But then you all make my life easier, so I think that we are achieving some balance.” I giggle.

She sighs again. Cecilia slides to my side, Ruby slides to the other. I look at them.

“To what do I owe the honor?”

“Just felt like it.”

They both keep caressing my scalp. After some minutes of bliss, there is a knock on the door. Roberta stands up, Rudolph opens the door. Two girls enter the room, in normal clothing.

I stand up lazily from the couch. The caressing was really good.

“Is everyone here?”

“Yes, lord.” Roberta answers.

I open the portal, and we go to our home in the elven city.

Ipê, as always, receives us.

“Big brother! Long time no see! Are you here for the trial?”

“Not really. I consider this an internal matter now, to tell you the truth. I just came to enjoy the day. Roberta here is going to refill the condiments.”

“Ok, have fun!”

And just like that, she is gone.

We take our time going to the store. The streets are emptier than usual. The store with the condiments only has us as clients. The storekeeper was actually almost taking a nap with the feet on the counter.

She straightens up when she sees us.

“Good morning, sir!”

“Hi, good morning. I see that you stayed behind.”

She shrugs.

“I was almost closing up to watch the trial, but then you came in. How can I help?”

“Just some shopping around… By the way, do you sell alchemy items here?”

“I do. They are on the last isle, sir.”

I go there to take a look, I am curious. It is not much different than the other stuff sold in the store, but there is a lot more mana coming from the components. There is also one shelf that has corked bottles to store the potions.

I come back to the counter.

“Do you also sell the recipes?”

“I am sorry, sir, but the stores that sell those are more specialized. Each alchemist generally has his or her own florilegium.”

“What a pity. It sounds interesting.”

“Yes it does, sir. There are a couple of specialized shops on that, Some five blocks in that direction. But the shopkeepers are probably watching the trial right now.”

“Are trials here that popular?”

“I can tell you that they are rare. Specially like this one.”

I shrug. I leave Roberta and the two other maids there. The girls and I go to the inn that we usually go. It is closed. I feel some movement to the side.

“Good morning, big brother!”

“Good morning.”

“If you wait a minute, I am going to fetch the keeper…”

“No! I mean, it’s ok. Please let her watch the trial. We just came in a bad day. It happens.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“As you wish, then… Oh, my sisters reminded me, we are going to have a wine party in a week. We would like to invite big brother.”

“Wine party? What is that?”

“It is a party the elves have, two weeks before the change of seasons. It is a last party before harvesting has to start, so it is celebrated with wine and foods.”

“Ok.” I look at the girls. “We are going to be here, then”.

“Great! We are going to have the best wine party ever!”

I giggle at the dryads energy. They always have this behavior. We turn to leave, but a table, with a sunshade/umbrella appears from the ground. The dryad sits on it.

“Excuse me, big brother, but can I talk to big sisters a little bit?”

“Sure.”

I am apparently being excluded from some conversation. I go back to the store and meet Roberta and the other maids. I keep looking at the alchemy ingredients, but there is not much information here. I just browse it to pass the time.

Cecilia and the girls arrive at the moment that Roberta is finishing up her part. We go back home before the rain.

Once we are home, Roberta and the maids go inside the kitchen.

“So, what did you talk with the dryad?”

“Oh, my villain is curious…” Cecilia answers.

“Just a little.”

“Nothing in particular.” She looks at the floor. “She shared with us some details on potions to improve our humor during… periods…”

“Ok”

I consider the subject answered. Closed. Matter solved. No need to repeat.

We proceed to go to the inn that has the bard singer, and have a good time.