By the time he "got back", having made a wider tongue of his domain that stretched out to the village, it was dusk. The ground was still soft from the early rain, but that didn`t stop Fred`s town from becoming party central after night fell.

　　Kumbanaka asked him for help at the same time Jim contacted him. "Hi, Jim. Kumbanaka needs my help. Can you wait a few minutes?"

　　Yes, Fred. I can wait.

　　"Okay, Kumbanaka, what can I do?"

　　"You can fix the damage to my tub, please." Kumbanaka still sounded, well, not down, but a bit different. Not so cheery.

　　Fred looked into Kumbanaka`s lair. It was mostly put back together, but the tub still had all its damage, and several ruined pieces of furniture had been stacked in the corner. Fred winced, and moved to fix up the tub right away (which was easy). The damage had spilled a good bit of water around on the floor, and Fred moved to make the marble floor more porous, for a while, to help dry it all up.

　　"There. What else can I do for you?"

　　"That`s a reasonable question. I`m glad you`re a reasonable Spirit. I`d like& I want to avoid this happening again. The next time I die." Kumbanaka said.

　　"Are you okay? My creatures don`t remember their deaths, except for Martin. He remembers it very well. That`s what he says."

　　"Oh, yes, I remember it. A singular experience. In an iterative way. Heh." Kumbanaka mused. Fred didn`t know what to say to that.

　　So he just said, "Lemme know if there`s anything else you need." When Kumbanaka didn`t reply, Fred went back to talking with Jim.

　　"Jim, I`m back. You there?"

　　Yes, I`m here.

　　"Kumbanaka died fighting today. I know how Martin took it, but I think Kumbanaka is still dealing with it. He says he remembers it, though."

　　You now have two powerful, intelligent creatures in your domain, and both of them have memories of their deaths. This wasn`t the plan. I`m sorry.

　　"Yeah, what`s up with that?"

　　I wish I knew. There are twelve other spirits that have creatures they can talk to. Not one of them has complained about remembering the pain of their own deaths. All of them report a convenient amnesia concerning their battle losses. When they die, they seem only to remember that a fight happened, not the result. This is the way I designed the magic to work.

　　"So I have to tell Martin and Kumbanaka that they`re unlucky?"

　　You don`t have to tell them anything, though I`m sure you don`t want to lie to them.

　　"All right, anyway, lots happened. Besides Kumbanaka."

　　I see that you`ve once again expanded your domain. These three forts are amazing, Fred. You must be expecting to defend against an army.

　　"Maybe. A whole bunch of new humans showed up today, I think two separate kings, and all their people and gear."

　　And you have mighty new towers to house them.

　　"Yeah, but when they showed up, they came out of nowhere. For me. I mean, no warning. They were just there suddenly. So I said to myself, "I`ve gotta see farther."

　　So you extended your domain, and made the road, and the three forts. That makes sense to me.

　　"Well, I don`t need the forts to see, but I figured that, if the humans were in the forts, they could help me know when THEY see an army coming. Like that."

　　That`s very clever. You could ask Kumbanaka to tell the humans to install warning bells or gongs in the forts. You`d hear such a warning, when the humans made it.

　　"Yeah, that`s a good idea. Okay, so, the new Ghast is a very smelly creature. Martin wouldn`t shut up about it. So I made a vent tube, and Martin told me how to make a carbon filter for it, and that seems to work."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

　　Also very clever. Martin continues to be useful.

　　"Uh huh. And speaking of stinky, I`ve got a Brown Slime now. In one of the latrines."

　　I don`t see it. Where.. Oh, there it is. Fred, it`s not bonded with you. It`s not one of your creatures.

　　"I know, right? What`s up with that?"

　　I don`t know. If your magic didn`t call the slime here, then why is it all the way out here? Brown Slimes are common in big city sewers and in swamps. Neither is close by.

　　"Well, I don`t know either. But Martin said it would multiply, and I`m gonna have one in every cistern in my domain."

　　Is it possible it was transplanted here by the humans? Purposefully?

　　"I suppose. I`ve never seen them care about their& well, they are bathing, in the Glass Citadel. So there`s that."

　　Well, keep an eye on it. No harm, and a big help, for now.

　　"Okay. One more thing. I noticed the kids were coming, but they were all beat up. They`d been whipped!"

　　Fred detailed his actions in the village. He talked about the blue-vest bandits, how he made the hand, and what he did with it. He also told Jim about how the liberated village folk behaved, and how he wished he could do more for them, but how he also understood that they weren`t his main mission.

　　Fred, I can see the stone hand you made. You made an avatar.

　　"What`s that?"

　　It`s a thing that moves, and represents you, and you can directly fight using it.

　　"Okay, yeah. I was so angry. It just happened."

　　For you. Fred, the original Earth Spirits didn`t have that power. At the time I was designing you with Aeru, the avatar power was something we threw into the mix, hoping it would be useful.

　　You are the first of your kind to manifest an avatar. That`s amazing. I`m very proud of you.

　　"Well, I`m not. I could crush a few bandits with it. But a big stone hand isn`t the way to really help those people. I mean, they started worshiping it."

　　Yes, you`ve been helping them in the ways that work for you. Giving food and baths and safety to their children. And those are all very valuable. And now you`ve given them fine weapons and a well. Ultimately, they need to accept the aid, and stand up for themselves. It`s up to them now.

　　"I guess. Hey, do you know anything about these blue-vest guys? And what were they making the village dig in the mine for?"

　　I assume, as you do, that they were opportunistic bandits. I don`t know. And if you can`t see anything of worth inside the mine, I`m sure I can`t.

　　Just then, a drum pattern started in the distance.

　　Listen, and talk, to your peers, Fred. You continue to amaze me. I have to go now.

　　"Okay, bye." Fred settled down to listen to the drums. It was Micheal, giving a weather report (he got rain, too) and bragging about how many creatures and humans he had in his domain.

　　After Michael was done, Fred started drumming. He gave his own weather report. He talked about his new Brown Slime. He talked about his three new border forts, and the big forest upslope of him. He talked about how his humans were always throwing a big party every evening. That was enough to say for now.

　　After he was finished, another drum started up. It was Virginia! Fred listened closely. Virginia was learning the drums quickly, but her beat was still pretty quiet, compared to Micheal`s. She hadn`t seen any rain. She had twenty creatures. She was happy to hear all the drums. That was all she said. It made Fred happy.

　　Now that the drums were quiet, Fred could still hear the humans in full night party mode. But something was bothering him, and he wanted to get it out.

　　"Hey, guys, let`s talk now."

　　"As you wish," Kumbanaka said.

　　"What about, Fred?" Martin asked.

　　"I was just talking to Jim. We need to talk about dying."

　　"Kumbanaka has the most recent experience with that. He should go first. Heh heh," Martin rumbled.

　　"No, I have to tell you. Jim says what you guys are feeling, the memories of your pain, isn`t supposed to happen. It`s not how he designed the magic."

　　"Then he`s a bad designer," Martin shot back. "Your simple beasts have no problem dying for you, but Kumbanaka and I are thinking beings. His magic isn`t working right for us."

　　"That`s just it. Jim sez it IS working, for other Earth Spirits. I mean, other Spirits like me have smart beings like you inside them. But those& creatures aren`t bothered like you guys. They don`t have memories of their deaths."

　　Kumbanaka asked, "You say that other beings, other intelligent beings, in other Earth Spirit domains, aren`t remembering their deaths?"

　　"Yes, that`s what Jim said. You`re the only two people anywhere that remember their deaths. When they`re part of an Earth Spirit domain."

　　"Well that`s just perfect, Fred," Martin spat. "What makes us so lucky?"

　　"I don`t know. Jim doesn`t know. I`m sorry. I feel really bad about it."

　　"You should. I`m probably going to get stabbed to death again tomorrow, and I`m really not looking forward to it." Martin said with a huge frown.

　　"I am," interjected Kumbanaka.

　　"You are?" asked both Martin and Fred.

　　"Yes. I have now experienced something entirely unique. Every living being gets to learn about death exactly once, and has no way to share that experience. I`m now the exception. I`ve lived through life and death. And I`m alive to tell the tale. Do you know how exciting that is?"

　　Fred had nothing to say. Martin said, "but, um&"

　　Kumbanaka continued, "I feel reborn. And I am. But I can look forward to the feeling in the future. Again, do you understand how incredibly rare that feeling is? Yes, death is a terrible amount of pain, but pain is life. When I was dead, I felt the emptiness of the void, the terrible solitude of not being. And then I woke up again, alive. Breathing. Feeding."

　　I had no idea it would be this way. This is revelation. This is a unique chance to add new wisdom to the world. I`m going to write a book about this. A book that will be read by my descendants for the next hundred thousand years!"

　　"Bosh!" Martin shot back. "You are a prisoner here, just as I am. Trapped and tortured, with no freedom in sight. And you make up stories to justify it all."

　　"I`ve said no lie."

　　"And I`ve felt no void, experienced no solitude. No time passed between my last painful breath, and my instant reincarnation. You, Sir, are lying to yourself."

　　"Test my forbearance all you want, Dragon. I know what I experienced, and it has nothing to do with your inability to enjoy enlightenment. I say again, this situation is a unique revelation, and a gift. To me. I shall accept it."

　　"Lie to yourself all you want, Kitty. You can be sure I won`t."

　　Fred really hadn`t wanted to start this fight, and he thought about ways he could fix it. "Martin, it`s nighttime. Go fly around."

　　"Hah. You can`t get rid of me, remember, Spirit? I WILL go fly, but not because I`m enjoying any sort of freedom." With that, he shook himself free of his gold, stalked out to the tree (which he had to curl around), scrambled up the big shaft, and practically leapt into the air. The human party was still in full swing, and many humans saw (and heard) Martin take off.

　　That was the end of the party. All the raucous joy was swept away by the dragon`s wing beats (metaphorically), and the humans scurried to get back under cover.