While Fred had been having this conversation, he`d also been vaguely aware of something else. A new creature walking into his domain from the south. Now that he had a moment, he turned his attention to the beast. It was a lion. Well, a nearly dead, old, scarred lioness. She was limping, because she was missing a back foot. She was emaciated, and almost half her hair was missing, due to scars and sores and disease. Her tail had been broken, and was dragging. One ear was shredded; the other was gone, replaced by a pustulent wound. Fred was surprised she was even moving.

　　But move she did, slowly and with single-minded determination. Early-rising humans saw her, and gathered to watch, but none of them were cruel enough to get in her way. She limped into the entrance to the Front Zone, went down the hall to the Lined Hallway Zone, and found an empty lair to occupy. When she got a single step into the empty lair, she collapsed, and Fred was worried she really had died. But he could barely see her breathing. So he used his magic to make her lair.

　　She needed a veldt. With a big fig tree in the middle. That she could climb. And she wanted the room to be pretty bright.

　　Fred could do the ground, and the dry, tall grass. And the light. He made all this for her in an instant. But while he knew what a fig tree was (somehow), he had no idea how to make one. He`d been copying the trees he`d found in his domain. Most of them were evergreens, but he`d been copying regular old oaks and pines. "Ya know, I bet she can help me figure out the tree she wants, when she wakes up. I`ll just leave it for now," Fred reasoned. "Rest, my dear. The magic will fix you right up."

　　Good morning, Fred.

　　"Good morning!"

　　I have to tell you,I fear one of your peers was killed last night. I cannot find him anymore. If the demons did kill him, he didn`t have time to call out to me. I have no idea how they did it.

　　"That`s not a very good morning, Jim."

　　No, you`re right, it`s not.

　　"They`ve been attacking with wizards and such, with spells, right?"

　　So far. Though sometimes the attacks have come from outside the spirits` domains. When that happened, the spirit often had little information about the attackers.

　　"I get that. That`s why I expanded my boundary. And built those forts. I want to see them coming. Hey, will that make me even more& if I`m bigger, won`t I be an easier target?"

　　It`s hard to say. I don`t think so, but I won`t know until I understand the attack that happened last night. It`s possible that he`s still alive, and unable to talk to me. But I have little hope of that.

　　"Well, figure it out! We need to know how to defend ourselves."

　　I will.

　　Fred immediately felt bad for his outburst. "I`m sorry. But I have good news. Kumbanaka got me that sword."

　　Excellent! Wonderful. Now we need that sword at every other Earth Spirit. Fred, can you ask Kumbanaka to help us? He could tell the humans to disseminate the swords.

　　"Sure. But he`s also got a crazy plan. And I kinda helped him." Fred proceeded to explain about Kumbanaka`s gaudy token, and how it was made, and what Kumbanaka planned to do with it. He talked about how Kumbanaka felt about dying, and his plan to write a book about it. He talked about Martin`s opinion on the matter.

　　I don`t think I`d like to die over and over again, either. I`m glad you see what a unique position you`re in, Fred. I wish I had more advice for you, and for Martin and Kumbanaka. But I don`t.

　　If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

　　I understand your worry about the disruption this& token of Kumbanaka`s could cause to the humans. But I think the humans` lives are suffering great disruption already. One way or the other, everything`s changing, for everyone and everything on Aeru.

　　"Yeah, but Kumbanaka doesn`t even care. He`s doing it for his benefit, and he doesn`t really care about how it would effect the humans."

　　He is what he is. And you are who you are. You are the Earth Spirit here, and if you want to, you can overrule him.

　　"I know. And& but he`s been really helpful. I don`t want to spoil that. And I don`t really know, anyway. I wish I knew what to do, that`s the right thing."

　　So do we all. Fred, what did you dig up, here in the trees?

　　"Oh yeah, Martin found that. He says it`s a teleporter. Can you believe that?"

　　Oh my. Yes, I know the humans used to use them. But there aren`t many still in operation, and certainly none on this continent. They don`t get built in& Fred, are we sure there`s no city near here? Perhaps an underground Dwarven Metropolis?

　　"That`s just what Martin wondered. I haven`t seen anything like that. But like I told him, I can`t really see very far. That`s why I just expanded. So I could see things coming. Anyway, Martin said that it was..." Fred stopped. Then he called out to Martin.

　　"Hey, Martin. You know the ruin with the teleporter? What was the guys you said made it?"

　　"I didn`t say anything about makers, Fred. My applied heuristic suggested that the Dark Order of N`rgoan Acolytes had occupied&"

　　"Great, thanks!" Fred interrupted him. He repeated the name for Jim.

　　I don`t recognise that group, but I`ll ask around. If we knew who they were, we might be able to discern why they were living all the way out here with a teleport pad.

　　"Yeah, that`d be great. So, I don`t know what to do with it. Martin sez he can`t do all the magic for it, and he wouldn`t even if he could. But anyway I can`t go through it, and I don`t think Martin or Kumbanaka could either. Should I show it to the humans?"

　　I don`t think it could hurt. It`s possible that the existence of the teleport pad could spur them to reactivate it, but that`s a very large guess. I don`t know.

　　"Well but if the humans get it working, won`t the demons just come through it?"

　　It`s possible, but teleport pads don`t work if they are buried. Which is something you can do very easily and quickly.

　　Fred had to agree with that idea. Even if he somehow couldn`t bury it, he was confident he could pull it apart in an instant.

　　All right, Fred. I have to go. Watch out for demons. And keep doing such a marvelous job.

　　"Alright. Bye."

　　Fred looked around his domain. He noticed that Martin was back in his lair, and just in time. One of the kings (the guys who`d arrived in the rain) was marching with several armored knights through the Front Zone, clearly headed for the dragon. Everything in the domain held its breath; nobody wanted dragon trouble, but some people just had to go make that trouble. Fred watched them march into Martin`s lair. He watched Martin kill two armored knights and four archers. He watched the king stab Martin to death with an absurdly large metal lance. He watched a dozen helpers sweep up gold into big sacks. He watched the king swagger out with his team and his winnings, singing songs all the way up the ramp and back to the white-roofed tower.

　　And thirty minutes later, Martin came back to life.

　　"Holy fucking fuck! That never stops hurting! Fuuuuck!!! I felt it in my guts, Fred!!! Shiiiiit!!" Once again, Martin had a big tantrum in his lair, knocking down every tree, and slamming around so hard Fred worried he`d hurt himself. This went on for fifteen minutes, before Martin grew tired, and went to bury himself in his gold. Fred didn`t say anything. He just sympathetically showered some more gold onto him.

　　"So that`s what it`s like for a dragon. Huh. What a diva," Kumbanaka said to Fred.

　　Fred stepped back and took another look around. He didn`t see any kids, so he went to the village to check on the people he`d liberated. But nobody was around.

　　As he looked around the forest village, he found a cart, with no horse or ox attached. Three dead bodies were piled in the cart, all armored bandits with blue vests. They`d been each pierced with many arrows and spears, but those weapons had been retrieved. Fred looked in all the huts, and at the new well he`d dug, and even at the collapsed mine with the stone hand. No humans were around. No clothing or food, either.

　　They`d left.

　　That was all Fred could think. "They didn`t want the trouble of living around here anymore," Fred guessed. "Even though I gave them a new well. And I was feeding their kids."

　　He didn`t know how to process this. He knew he`d miss the kids. And he felt the shame of humans being so shitty to other humans. But Jim had just lectured him about how everyone`s lives were gonna change. The lives of these villagers had certainly changed, because of him.

　　And he knew it wouldn`t get better. The humans kept coming, fighting all day and partying all night. And then there was the Demon Army. Fred gasped to himself.

　　It was the first time he`d really accepted that the Demon Army was in his future. That some day, probably soon, a whole demon army would roll up, and he`d have to fight them with his humans and his creatures and his magic.

　　"No," he thought. "This place is a war zone, and it`s only gonna get worse. I think it`s good that they left. Be safe, you guys. Feed your kids. And wash them."

　　Back in the town, everyone had heard Martin`s tantrum, so everyone was under cover. No merchants or food vendors were selling on the front steps, and few humans were in the domain fighting something. Fred looked into the temple, and everyone there was quiet, too. Aside from the six that Martin had killed, he hadn`t wounded anyone, so there weren`t too many patients. Normally the temple was quiet anyway. Fred assumed that Priestess Sharfroen simply wanted it that way.

　　Fred decided to sit with Shelley for a while. This was good, for an hour. But Fred couldn`t help notice that his swimming pool and garden were left unused, with no kids for the foreseeable future. That was a bit depressing, so he wondered what he could do to occupy himself. Thinking about baths made him think about living space, which made him think about the ruins in the forest, which made him think about the teleport pad. "Perhaps the teleport pad isn`t a bad idea. Mebbe the humans SHOULD use it. Anyway, there was once a special temple in the forest. I bet I could rebuild it."