"Hello, Spirit. You have called me, and I agree to join your domain. Is this the right spot for my lair?"

　　Fred was jarred by the voice. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but it also sounded like Martin, in a way. Fred looked all around, and finally spotted a man standing near the tree. In fact, the man was standing close to the unoccupied lair, next to the dragon`s lair. As Fred paid attention, details jumped out at him.

　　First, the "man" was big, well over two spans tall, and bulky, like a wrestler. He was dressed in fine, colorful silks and leathers, and his head was wrapped in a bright red cowl, making his face hard to see. Next to him, on the ground, was a huge leather pack. Fred immediately wondered how far he`d carried such a big pack.

　　Fred couldn`t see the man`s face, but he couldn`t miss the tail. The TIGER tail. White and orange with black stripes. While the man stood still, staring into the lair room, the tail whipped around, looking impatient. Fred decided not to keep him waiting.

　　"Yes, I`m Fred, the Earth Spirit. Can you hear me?"

　　"Perfectly, Fred. You may call me Kumbanaka Hidi. I am here to join your menagerie, if that pleases you."

　　"Wow, well, thank you for asking. No other& creature& has actually asked. They usually just show up and pick a room." Fred goggled at the man, for a time, and then realized what he`d been asked.

　　"Oh! Yes, of course you`re welcome here. So long as you obey the rules."

　　"Oh? What rules are those?", Kumbanaka asked neutrally. His accent was lilting, almost musical, but absolutely nothing like Fred had ever heard before.

　　"Well, I guess there`s only one so far. Don`t kill any humans unless they attack you first."

　　"I agree to abide. I`m here to survive, not make trouble for you."

　　"Good." Fred said. "Let me get your lair ready. This is so weird. I use my magic to know what you& I mean, a& creature& wants, because they can`t tell me. I bet you can."

　　"A bet you would win, Spirit. But please; show me your magic." Kumbanaka`s tail continued to be the only part of him that moved.

　　Fred turned to "face" the unoccupied lair room, and used his magic to "see" what the "man" needed. He saw a large lair, split into two rooms. The first, front room was simple and bare. It was connected to the second, rear room by an almost hidden opening. The second room was as different from the first as it could be, full of fine furniture, tall filled bookshelves, large armoires full of colorful clothes, and a huge bathtub. Both rooms looked to be 20 spans wide.

　　"Wow, uh& I can do the room dimensions, but that second room is full of& stuff. I`ve never made bookshelves and couches for my& guests before."

　　"I`m a reasonable being, Spirit Fred", Kumbanaka said. "I don`t expect you to make my suite perfect. Not right away. I`m a person of comforts, but this is your domain, not mine. I`m sure I can make do with whatever you give me."

　　Fred took a moment to change the shape and size of the lair into the two rooms Kumbanaka wanted. After that, he looked with his magic again, to see what the floors and lighting should be like. The first room was just a simple stone floor, and soft, indistinct light. The second room needed polished marble floors and ceilings, and warm lighting in specific areas. This too was easy for Fred, and done in a few seconds.

　　"What do you think?" Fred asked. If he had a hand, it would be gesturing for the man to go in. Kumbanaka seemed to understand, and stepped inside. He walked into both rooms, tail twitching, reaching out to touch the marble floor and the lighted parts.

　　"You are a powerful Spirit indeed, to have made such fine rooms so quickly. I hesitate to ask, but&"The author`s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

　　"I can make changes, sure. Just tell me."

　　Kumbanaka then explained that he wanted more of a tunnel between each room, and also between the tree area and his first room. "The first room is for fighting. The second is for living. I`d like to keep them separated", he said.

　　Fred didn`t think that was unreasonable, and quickly made the changes.

　　Kumbanaka said, "Much nicer, thank you. I`m certain I can find most of what I need to fill out my living room. Except& have you ever made a bathtub?"

　　Fred had. He`d made swimming pools and cisterns and plumbing and all. He felt prideful about it, and immediately got to work on a bathtub for Kumbanaka. What he saw with his magic sight was a large bowl-shaped marble tub, about 4 spans wide and 2 deep. That was simple for Fred, so he made it, but then the water plumbing stopped him. The only source of water he`d been working with was the stream/pool that fed the drum room, then drained to the naga`s pool and the temple basin. He felt that water source was already stretched to its limit.

　　There was that other water source, the one he`d come across while building Martin`s lair. It was actually close to the tub he`d built, but he`d closed it off, and wasn`t sure it could be re-opened. So Fred checked, and the space he`d closed off was still full of water. He quickly built some ceramic plumbing to connect it to the tub, and built an overflow drain in the lip of the tub, that drained below Kumbanaka`s new lair, and eventually connected with the drain he`d made for the children`s pool. As the water began to stream into the tub, Kumbanaka leaned over to look at it. He had a taste. "Excellent", he proclaimed.

　　Kumbanaka went back to his pack, picked it up easily, and brought it to the second room. He grabbed a wood-and fabric item from his pack, and walked back out to the tree room. At the entrance to his new lair, he unfolded the item into a neat camp chair, and sat on it. Then he said, "Would you like to join this conversation, Dragon?"

　　Fred saw Martin slide out from his comfy gold piles, and shift into the middle of his lair. From there, his massive head poked out of his lair`s grand entrance, and shifted to the right, focusing one eye on Kumbanaka (who was seemingly unperturbed by the giant dragon head so close to him).

　　"You`re at war with demons, aren`t you, Fred?" Martin asked. "Why did you let one in here?"

　　"Come now, Dragon. I`m not a demon, I`m a fiend. There`s a difference and you know it.", Kumbanaka said reprovingly. He reached up with clawed hands and unwrapped the red cowl from his face. He had a tiger face. To go with his tiger claws and tiger tail. Fred knew what tigers were (he assumed Aeru had given him that information). But Kumbanaka wasn`t a real tiger, but clearly a human-like-thing with tiger features. And he was big, compared to humans (though very small compared to the dragon next to him).

　　"A fiend? What are you, Kumbanaka?", Fred asked.

　　"His kind are called Rakshasa, Fred. Dangerous killers, and powerful mages, casting illusion spells over everything. You simply can`t trust them", Martin opined.

　　"As opposed to green dragons?" Kumbanaka said with a grin.

　　"A True Green Dragon. There`s a difference and you know it", Martin shot back.

　　"I would happily wager that you`ll cause more trouble for our host than I ever could. I have no ambition here but to stay safe and get my reading done." Kumbanaka continued his grin. The conversation paused as Kumbanaka pulled a pipe out of his clothing, along with a small pouch. He filled the pipe from the pouch, lit it from a striker he also got from the pouch, put the pouch away, and proceeded to puff away, like an old professor. He even sighed in contentment. Fred wondered what the pipe smoke smelled like.

　　"Can you tell me more about yourself, Kumbanaka?", Fred asked.

　　Martin humphed a green puff from his nose, pulled his head back into his lair, and crawled back under his gold piles. Kumbanaka continued to seem completely unperturbed, and he spoke (mind-spoke, really, like Martin did) the same, so (Fred assumed) Martin was still part of the conversation.

　　"Rakshasa aren`t the demons who are currently invading. Nothing like that. My family has been on this world for at least 50,000 years. That I know of. And we aren`t monstrous terrors, either. My family strode through courts of kings, even ruled over a few kingdoms, once upon a time."

　　"Then the humans found out you were drinking blood, right?", Martin interjected.

　　"It`s true that we are proud hunters. Meat eaters. And humans can be tasty. But we are also civilized, and have as much right to this world as anyone else."

　　"What a liar. He hates humans just as much as I do, Fred. He poses and preens, but a tiger can`t change its stripes." Fred didn`t know why, but he felt the dragon`s aphorism was somehow skewed.

　　"What are you called, Dragon?", Kumbanaka challenged.

　　Fred felt he should try to mediate, at least for now. He said, "Oh, I`m sorry, I didn`t really introduce you two. Martin, this is Kumbanaka& Hidi, our newest guest. Kumbanaka, this is Martin, a True Green Dragon from the& Clan of the Marshes".

　　"Clan of the EASTERN Marshes, Fred!"

　　"Sorry, sorry, Clan of the Eastern Marshes, then. Anyways, we all should get along, okay?"

　　Martin said, "we have to, according to your magic." At the same moment, Kumbanaka said, "How could we not, with your magic?"

　　"You know something about my magic, Kumbanaka?", Fred asked.

　　"That part is easy to see, to anyone with Mana Sight." Kumbanaka said. "Your magic is very complex, and very different from the old Earth Spirits. But the bindings and control structures are all very easy to see. Of course, that tree is blinding. It outshines everything around here; even your own powerful magic. Did you have to plant it there?"

　　"Apparently he had no idea what a Fwen Rounbous ring was. He just dug up some pretty stones and used them as decoration."

　　"Absurd! Is this true, Fred?"

　　"Well, yeah, I`m new around here, and I didn`t have anyone to tell me what was going on. So I improvised."

　　Kumbanaka shifted in his chair, and said, "Then I`m glad I came when I did. If you insist on digging up ancient relics, and doing who knows what with them, this mountain of yours will suffer greatly. I suppose my first job here will be your education."

　　"Is there an echo in here?", Fred thought to himself.