Gladesbale Grove Book 1 - Chapters 46,47,48,49,50,51 (Patreon)

Chapter 46

Trouble on the Western Road

The mortals went absolutely bonkers for the new tea. Not because they were packaged in hardened mushroom containers, but because it now came in blends. Rud had spent the previous night as calmly as he could, waking to make his reports and water all his plants. But as soon as Dean was ready to head out, they made straight for Barlgore. The druid was happy to see the bramble vines doing well. The locals had been watering those plants, and there was evidence that an animal-style monster had become tangled in the thorns.

“Could I trouble you by buying them all?” Feather asked.

Rud had been seated in the lord’s home. It was clear this time, not crowded with too many people talking about too many problems. The lord had updated him on the way things were going with the dungeons. The adventurers had already taken care of one and were working on another. As expected, the teams that went west to explore the region hadn’t reported back. 

“That depends on the price,” Rud said after pausing to consider the offer. The truth was, he had already sold ten jars to a merchant. In return, he got two Dungeon Core Fragments. There wasn’t a stable economy around here for that rare resource, so the druid was ready to part with almost anything to get his hands on some. Anything except his freckles.

“Are we still trading in fragments?”

“Yes, but I’m looking for Dungeon Core Fragments now.”

“Moving up in the world, are we?” Feather stood, tossing another log on the fire, He retrieved a dimensional storage bag and the negotiations began. Rud hated haggling, but sold his twenty remaining pots of tea for five fragments.

“Don’t drink it all in one go. Did I mention this version of the tea is better?”

“Extensively. Have I expressed how appreciative we are for your help in recent days?”

Feather had indeed expressed his thanks. The only thing Rud cared about with that expression of gratitude were the Dungeon Core Fragments. He had enough to upgrade another building, but was unclear as to what he was owed by the teams clearing the other dungeons. The druid wouldn’t push things. The best he could do was tip the scales for the mortals in any small way he could think of. The bramble vines were a great example of that, resulting in a defensive measure he didn’t need to maintain.

The idea for the vines had come from Basil himself. The Guardian of The Cliffs of Mog Grove lit his pathways with plants, which had been cultivated to suit a need. Rud didn’t have the skills or time to steer the course of a plant’s development, but he could force it with his spells.

While Rud was inside the town, he used what little money had been given to him by the trader in town to buy a few second-hand tools. He went to the blacksmith and asked what he would need to start the trade. After that, he was introduced to a selection of hammers, tongs, and metal spikes he had no idea what to do with. It all went into his bag, cleaning out his cash and releasing his burden from mortal currency.

“I have energy left,” Dean said, getting on the ground to help Rud reach the saddle. “As do you. We should explore this area.”

Rud took the subtle suggestion as insistence and agreed. Dean was often more wise than he should have been. The dire wolf had seen more of the world than him, so he wouldn’t deny the request. Barlgore was notable for a few landscape features. The lake to the north held an island that seemed encased in ice. If one were to gaze out into the lake, they would see countless ships sailing along the glassy surface. It was to the north, providing a decent border against monster attacks. The south held sloping hills that reached the sea. A warm wind always rushed from that direction, bringing with it the scent of salty air and the call of seabirds.

“At least they have a dock,” Rud said, leaning over the saddle to look at the sandy ground beneath them.

A large three-masted ship bobbled in the distance, anchored far away from the dock. Folks out on the beach scattered away from the wolf, giving him plenty of room. But Dean was uninterested in the shape of the land here, pushing eastward instead. Mountain ranges spanned from south to north here, bordering the town on this side. The wolf growled, sniffing the air.

“That’s their mine,” he said, taking another deep breath of the cold air. “But look. A pass to the east.”

Far in the distance, Rud spotted a dirt road on a hillside. It had been cut into the landscape, angled directly for a split in the mountains. Peaks bordered the road on both the north and south side. The druid didn’t understand what Dean was getting at. But as he thought about it, something became clear.

“Why are you so interested in the eastern approach?” Rud asked, holding on tight as Dean sprinted toward that road.

“This is where I came from. I think I was born on this continent.”

“Interesting that you don’t remember.”

Dean only growled a response, climbing another hill to stand atop that dirt road. He sniffed at the ground, then at the air. “There has been much traffic over this road. The mortals use it often enough.”

Whatever Dean was up to, he wasn’t sharing. Rud trusted that this research was required and went along with it. They had a good amount of time left until they needed to return home. Instead of heading to the west next, the wolf sprinted northward. He tracked a path through what few forests were still here. They saw stumps more often than anything else, but spotted several houses sitting on lonely hillsides. It was a strange region, and even stranger as they came alongside the lake. The wind from the icy island swept inland, killing most nearby plants and depositing a layer of frost on the ground.

North of that section, they joined with the stone road built by the mortals. It was strange, but the road didn’t start at Barlgore. Dean halted his advance on the road, looking to the west. That was the road that led directly to the logging operation. Hills that led to mountains still bordered them on the west, but an expansive forest sprawled northward. While it was hilly in that direction, there wasn’t a range of mountains to halt progress entirely. The wolf dashed some more, driving hard into the forest. Rud had to hold on for dear life as the beast dodged trees and jumped over sudden valleys.

After a half-hour of sprinting at speeds Rud could only guess at, Dean paused to sniff the air some more. “Isn’t that curious?” he asked.

Rud looked around. They were standing in a forest. It didn’t look different from any other forest in the area. The area was a mix of conifers and deciduous trees. Scattered plants filled the underbrush, most of which the druid recognized. The energy of the area was calm compared to the grove and the areas outside of the grove. But otherwise, it seemed much like the other areas he had visited.

“What is it?” Rud asked.

“No idea. Just observations.”

“Spit it out, you old goat,” Rud said, patting Dean on the head. The wolf growled in response.

“I don’t know what it means. I can feel the energy in the air. It’s strange. Too many things are strange.”

“Exit wolf mode for a second. Not literally, I know you can’t shapeshift yet. Name a few things that are strange for me.”

Dean took a moment to think. “The dungeons are spawning in two spots. The mortals haven’t pushed this far north. They’re also obsessed with the west, while paying no attention to the east. Those same mortals are unprepared to deal with so many monsters, although they knew about them before coming here.”

Rud scratched his chin. Those were good points. “Just follow your nose, Dean. If you think something is afoot, we’ll tackle it together.”

“Thank you,” Dean said, turning away from the spot. He angled himself southward and took off.

During the trip back to the grove, Rud had a lot of time to think about what was going on. He was good at finding problems and fixing them, but the one thing he lacked was information. Most of his problems on Earth were solved by correcting channels of communication. Marching orders from higher-ups could be misunderstood or twisted to fit a person’s agenda. Then there were those that thought they were doing something for the good of the company, only to place a boatload of work on someone else’s plate. Where was the miscommunication here? Finding the root of that problem would reveal much.

But his time away from the grove had rendered Rud too tired to concern himself with those things. He had sorted the pressing problems well enough. The thing he needed right now was Ban’s guidance. But she was still out. That left him as the de facto leader of the grove, which sucked. He wanted to run into the forest and do squirrel stuff, not manage a grove. Oh well. The mantle of responsibility came with the position and there was no use complaining. There were buildings to upgrade.

Once Dean got them inside the grove, Rud shifted into a squirrel and took the nearest bush. The wolf had guard duty to take care of, focusing on the dungeons that were still releasing a few monsters. At least the bramble vine walls were doing their job. The druid made his way to the mine, eager to get Taz’s opinion on the smelter upgrade.

“I’ll feel a lot better when the bear is gone,” the dwarf complained.

“Speaking of…”

Rud descended into the chilly cavern, finding the bear slumbering away. The bats had returned to the ceiling and were squeaking their objections to the new tenant. When the druid had asked Taz how he missed a giant hole in the wall, he got defensive. To his credit, the hole wasn’t visible from the far side of the cave. Rud needed to angle himself inside of the area to see it at all.

“At least you’re doing fine,” Rud said, patting the bear on the head. It snorted at him. All the wounds on the beast’s flesh had been mended, but the red line on its chest remained. Just in case the spell wore off, Rud cast another instance of Nature’s Cleanse.

“What has you so excited today?” Taz asked, meeting the druid near the cave’s entrance.

Rud shook his backpack. The sound of Dungeon Core fragments hitting against Toeknocker mushrooms and tools issued from within. “Building upgrade. The smelter for today. Gonna keep the other five I have on backup for the blacksmith.”

Taz rubbed his hands together. “Oh, yeah. Now we’re talking about some serious dwarf stuff.”

“I thought the mine was a weird pick as Ban’s first building. But here we are.”

“Yes, of course. The tree is wise to select things a dwarf would like.”

Rud and Taz stood outside of the smelter. The druid inserted the Dungeon Core Fragments into the building, gaining notifications for each one. It leveled quickly, absorbing the five fragments and hitting Level 5. The familiar list of entries appeared, presenting the druid with endless selections. It was impossible to read each one out, but the dwarf insisted.

“If you’re going to be picky, make me some tea,” Rud grumbled.

The dwarf was off, returning later with a teapot and cups. He also brought two bowls of soup, which Rud appreciated. But instead of reading each entry out, the druid gave summaries of each that wasn’t complete crap. As always, there were a bunch of duds nestled with the good stuff, like an upgrade that turned the building purple. Another allowed them to grow pumpkins in the smelter, which just seemed like nonsense.

“But I like pumpkins,” Taz complained.

“Stay focused.”

The pair narrowed the upgrades down to three. The truth was that each was amazing, especially considering Rud had taken an upgrade for his Smelting skill that bound their only smelter to himself. Taz had already tested it, and he could operate it. But it was willful, and seemed to only want Rud to use it.

“Let’s review these,” Rud said, clearing his throat and reading the upgrades aloud. They would discuss each, deciding which was the best.

[Additional Smelter]

Smelting Workshop Upgrade

Description:

More smelters are better!

Effect:

A magical smelter appears in your workshop.

This smelter is bound to the building, scaling with its rank.

“If we had more people to work the smelter, this would be great,” Taz said, running his fingers through his beard. “But I’m not so sure we’ll find much use for it.”

“I like it, though,” Rud said with a shrug. “My argument is that we can have two smelters at two temperatures. One for iron and one for copper.”

Taz grunted his response. “Next.”

[Hot, Hot, Hot!]

Smelting Workshop Upgrade

Description:

Ease your heating woes.

Effect:

All smelters within this workshop will heat and cool easier.

The heating of the smelters within your workshop will reach temperatures closer to the intended ore to be smelted.

“You want to talk about efficiency?” Taz asked, laughing. “There ya go.”

“I’ll admit. I’m partial to this one,” Rud said. “I spend a lot of time waiting for the smelter to get up to heat.”

“The town I was born in had an upgrade like this.” This was the first time Rud heard Taz mention his home. More than in passing. “It’s not the same, but close. The dwarf who worked the smelter enjoyed the upgrade.”

“Last one.”

[Production Line]

Smelting Workshop Upgrade

Description:

Using your own resources is good!

Effect:

If an ingot is produced within the smelter and used within a nearby workstation, the resulting item will be more powerful.

“We’re taking this one next. I’m sold on Hot, Hot, Hot! What a stupid name,” Taz grumbled.

Production Line was a great upgrade once Rud unlocked the blacksmith. But Taz was right. The Hot upgrade—he refused to think of it as Hot, Hot, Hot—would be the best for now. He imagined himself not waiting an eternity for the smelters to heat. That would save him Fairy Peat and time. Both things were valuable. The druid selected the upgrade.

“That was exciting,” Taz said, folding his arms. “Are we going to test it?”

Rud looked at the small piles of ore. There wasn’t much to be processed. But why not? “Sure.”

Rud fired the furnace up, and Taz watched. They studied the heat of the fire, finding that the sides of the smelter heated far faster than before. The entire thing came to the right heat to smelt iron in about half the time as it had before. The dwarf helped shovel the ore into the smelter and sat around with Rud as they waited for it to melt completely. Once the ingots were poured, they tested the cooling of the smelter. It happened twice as fast as before, which was just as encouraging as the heating.

“I have even more incentive to smelt ore.” Rud laughed, looking over his massive pile of ingots. “Still no idea what to do with those.”

“We’ll use half of those reinforcing the mine when we get there. Half again if we’re planning on making me some new tools. We’re planning on some new picks, right?”

“Of course!” Rud said, having exactly no previous intention of forging picks. “As long as you teach me how to be a blacksmith.”

“I wouldn’t know the first thing. I only ever watched them work back home.”

“That makes you the foremost expert in the grove! Congratulations.”

Taz grumbled, but accepted his fate. “Fine.”

Rud rolled his shoulders. He shapeshifted into a squirrel and the pain went away. Taz yelped when he shifted before grumbling and marching away. The druid scampered off, planning to use the Toeknockers in his backpack to create a wall around Ban. He scurried through a bush and approached the tree. Her energy levels were fine, although he hadn’t given her crystals in a while. But there was something interesting that had happened.

“I thought you were asleep,” Rud said, reading the description on the tree again.

[Ban’Tanthein]

Rank 1 Level 1 Sacred Tree

Upgrade Energy: 0%

Reserve Energy: 70%

Energy Nodule Efficiency: 90%

Upgrade:

[Thicket Travel]

[Root Spears]

Expansions:

[Mining Workshop]

[Smelting Workshop]

[Energy Nodules]

[Observatory]

Ban had done it. She gave herself a way to defend the grove. Rud wondered if she had been holding out for that, hiding behind a mask of confidence. He inspected the newest upgrade.

[Root Spears]

Sacred Tree Upgrade

Description:

The defense of a Sacred Tree is a tricky thing. Their roots run deep and far, often covering an entire grove. It’s only fair that an immobile thing should gain a way to lash out.

Effect:

Consume a small amount of reserve energy to jab spear-like roots at the target.

Targets impaled by this effect will become rooted on the spot. If the target is held in place long enough, the Sacred Tree may siphon energy from that target into themselves.

“Yikes.”

That was a nasty little upgrade. Rud couldn’t judge her for the decision. Being able to defend herself while she was immobile was important. This was an important step in that direction. The druid was considering the implications of that upgrade when Mint burst from a bush.

“Trouble. Western road,” she said, dashing through the bushes again.

“What now?” Rud grumbled, shifting into a squirrel and diving after the wolf.

Chapter 47

Who Doesn’t Hate the Orcs?

Rud scampered up a tree, resting on the boughs as Mint growled below. She had taken him to the western road that led out of the grove. The open fields stretched far in the distance, punctuated by the mountains poking over the horizon. After a few moments of waiting, a group of four figures appeared in the distance. The druid had to squint, but he could almost make them out. A few breaths later, and a larger group appeared behind them.

“Is that Barrow?” Rud asked.

“Indeed. They are being pursued by… something,” Mint said. She sniffed the air, shaking her head. “I can’t tell if they’re monsters or people.”

“Why not both?” Rud asked. “Can you take them?”

“Naturally.”

The pair waited until Barrow was in shouting range. Rud shifted into his normal form. “Keep running, buddy! You got this!”

Barrow screamed back, his voice quavering as he trudged over the uneven terrain. The others following behind him screamed just as loud. But as the group drew close, Rud could see more details about their pursuers. They looked humanoid, but he doubted they were human. Their features came into view, revealing green skin, muscular builds, and sparse clothing.

“Orcs,” Mint growled.

Rud heard something land beside him and looked to spot Nulsa. In a moment, both Sarya and Dean assembled by Mint’s side.

“Observing or defending?” Rud asked the owl.

“Defending if need be. I still don’t have my contract, but… why not? Who doesn’t hate the orcs?”

Rud didn’t know what the orcs were or why he should hate them. But if the animals didn’t like them, he didn’t like them. Barrow and his group rushed past the line of wolves. The druid climbed down the tree, turning away from the battle that erupted outside of the grove. He didn’t care to see the orcs get torn to shreds. His plan was to ask if they were sapient beings later. The druid trudged over to the bedraggled group, preparing to weave his healing magic.

“Welcome to Gladesbale. I’ll be your surgeon today,” Rud said, chuckling to himself. The entire group had sprawled on the wooden pathway, heaving breath. “Minor cuts and all that… Ah, this one got hit with an arrow!”

“I think it was a sling. Or a blowgun,” the adventurer said, clutching their arm.

Rud cast Nature’s Restoration, waving his staff through the air so the shimmering light left a pleasing trail. The adventurer breathed a sigh of relief, and the druid moved on to another patient. They weren’t injured so much as they were exhausted from running.

“Thank you, great spirit,” Barrow said, once he had caught his breath.

The human adventurer had seen better days. He had dark circles under his eyes, and hadn’t washed himself for days. Everyone in the group looked emaciated, and didn’t have the willpower to stand up. Once they were all healed of their minor wounds, Rud stepped through the bushes to get them some food and water. He returned with four bowls of soup and two buckets of enchanted water. Once the food was placed before them, they perked up and ate ravenously.

“Tell me your tale, Barrow,” Rud said, sitting on the wooden path and wrapping his cloak around himself. His ears twitched as he heard the screams of the orcs. The wolves were taking care of it. And Nulsa, he guessed.

Barrow looked up from his bowl, chunks of meat hanging in his beard. “The west sucks.”

“We stumbled into an orc camp,” another adventurer said. “How long ago was that?”

“Four days,” Barrow said. “We’ve been running ever since. They were relentless.”

Rud gave the group time to finish their food. He considered what to say to make them feel better, but realized nothing he could conjure would ease their troubled minds. Food and rest would be better than anything, and they had plenty of that within the grove. Good thing Ban had taken the Root Spears upgrade. Just in case some orcs made it within the trees. If the orcs were anything like mortals, they would get lost. At least there was that.

Once Barrow and his companions were ready to move, Rud led them down the road. There was no reason for them to stay on the edge of the grove, listening to the sounds of wolves tearing orcs apart.

“What is an orc?” Rud asked as they walked.

Although he had been healed, Barrow walked with a limp. Rud suspected there was a broken bone somewhere. But his spell wasn’t good enough to cure that.

“They’re like beastfolk and monsters in a way. The traits they share with beastfolk are that they are like the other mortal races. They’re like monsters because they’re created by the system.”

“But unlike monsters because they aren’t generated in areas of high magic. They’re the opposite,” another adventurer said. “They come into being where other mortal races aren’t.”

Rud could breathe a sigh of relief. He had feared that the orcs were sapient. As long as they were magical things, he would rubberstamp the wholesale slaughter of the pack. Even setting that aside, they were chasing after the mortals. That was a seriously uncool move.

“Exactly. We expected to encounter them. But that tribe was massive.” Barrow blew out a steady breath. “They spotted us before we could get close to their camp. So much for stealth.”

“Did you learn anything valuable?” Rud asked. “What was the point of the trip?”

“Scouting,” Barrow said. “I know there were other adventuring teams heading out. Have you seen them?”

“I haven’t,” Rud said. “Should we be concerned?”

“They might have gone a different way… At least the guardian will shred the orcs. The other teams will have an easy time returning to the grove.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Rud was content to listen to the stories the adventurers told as he escorted them back to the Sacred Tree. When they arrived, a fire and infinite soup was waiting for them in the longhouse. Each of them rushed inside, collapsing by the central hearth. Some fell asleep right away, while others stared with wide eyes at the ceiling.

“Rest will sort them out.” Rud added some branches to the fire before he left. By the time he reached the door, everyone in the party was snoring away.

The wolves had made quick work of the orcs. Rud appeared near the grove’s edge, watching as Sarya moved between the dead creatures. He suspected she was collecting Monster Cores, but realized he didn’t know enough about the topic. Could orcs produce cores? But a cloud of prismatic energy was rising from the field of battle. The orcs were evaporating into that light. Weird. The druid approached Mint, nudging her in the side.

“How did that go?” Rud asked.

“The orcs were tired from their run. They posed little threat to the grove.”

Rud doubted that. It wasn’t a matter of a single orc being too strong, but the quantity of the orcs that had approached the grove. If they were anything like fantasy orcs from Earth, they would have minds only for destruction. The druid found himself concerned, even if Mint’s words soothed his spirit. So long as she smoothed things over, he assumed the orcs were more dangerous than expressed.

“Is this another thing we need to deal with?”

“No. We’ll be fine within the grove.”

Rud had the urge to run off to the tower and contact Maria. A soft hoot drew his attention to the branch of a tree. Nulsa had landed there and was looking down at the group.

“What an interesting development,” the owl said.

“Our newest non-member was useful in battle,” Mint said, not looking up to meet eyes with the owl. “Even if he isn’t a wolf.”

“You cannot build your grove around animals bound to the ground. Those of us who can conquer the sky will aid you more than you could imagine.”

Mint only offered a growl in response, eyes still locked down the road. Rud didn’t have the impression that Mint was a wolf-only kind of gal, but there it was. She would be even more angry when he tried to recruit the bear to their cause. Compared to the other groves he had heard about, the Gladesbale Grove was turning into a menagerie. One dwarf, three wolves, an owl, and a bear. Well, that wasn’t so bad. The animal-based Sacred Beasts in this world were powerful enough. And they were nice.

This was a problem that sorted itself out quicker than Rud had expected. With Ban still down, he was happy with the way things had played out. Once Nulsa and Mint were done glowering at each other, he took the nearest bush to the tower. After accepting the Aspect of Bent, he used his Farseeing skill to scan through the grove. The mortals had taken out another dungeon. Monsters were tangled in one line of his bramble vines, and a group of adventurers were taking them out from afar.

Rud clicked his radio on and thumbed the button on the microphone. “Rud to Maria,” he said. “Are you there?”

The radio crackled back for a while. Rud set down the microphone as he scanned his vision over the grove. He centered his sight on the area where the orcs had been killed, finding a unique energy signature he could lock onto. He was surprised to see that it was a more noticeable color than the normal monsters, allowing him to do a quick scan of the forest. As he had expected, a few orcs had slipped past in the fight.

“Nulsa, could you do me a favor?” Rud asked.

The druid waited a beat before realizing that Nulsa wasn’t part of the bond with Ban. The other Sacred Beasts could hear him when he called them, but only because they had formed a pact with Ban.

“Dean, there are a few orcs that slipped through. Could you snag them?”

“Where?” Dean spoke into Rud’s mind.

Three orcs had slipped into the grove. It was hard to see how they had done it considering how aggressive Mint was. But they had delved into the forest, finding themselves lost almost immediately. The creatures stuck together, skirting the edge of the western boundary. The newest wolf in the grove was on the case, breaking off from his current task to intercept the orcs. Every time Rud used the tower, he was reminded how awesome it was.

“Thought I heard you hollering, Rud.” Maria’s voice came in over the radio, washing over the room with a wave of static. “What’s up?”

“Just had some orcs roll up on my grove. I was wondering if you had any information on them.”

“Oh! You’ve seen orcs now, huh? What do you think?”

“Not much. Looking for any information I can find on them.”

“There aren’t many orcs underground, buddy. All I know is what I heard from others.”

Maria explained what she knew, which wasn’t much. She said the same things he had been told before, shedding no light on the situation. Rud spent his time listening politely, but split his attention between the conversation and his Farseeing ability. He watched a group of adventurers fight a bear monster outside of a dungeon and wondered how a person could tell the difference between the monster version and a real one. The monsterized one—generated by the dungeon—moved just like a real bear. There might have been a shimmer of magic on their fur, but it was hard to tell through the confusing view provided by the tower.

“Hard to say if orcs around your grove mean anything, though. We’ve been dealing with system-generated races like that for twenty years.”

“Good to know this is permanent,” Rud said.

“Both your guardian and your tree are going to level. You’ll be fine!”

Rud knew he would be fine, but the reassuring words meant a lot to him. Every time he talked to another custodian, he felt better about his situation. Looking out over the forest made things even better. He chatted with Maria for some time before letting her go. She had her own fires to put out anyway. But the druid only had his tea plants to tend to. He shapeshifted into a squirrel and left the area, returned to Ban and half-expecting her to wake up as he approached. When nothing happened, he got to work on the Toeknocker barrier.

The problem with Toeknocker mushrooms was that they wanted to grow in dark places. Rud had to find the darkest spot near the clearing to plant the mushrooms, and even then it was questionable whether they would survive. The extremely hard mushrooms grew in rocks, but those rocks were surrounded by soil. It was the only way he could transport them out of the cave, but their ability to adapt to the new environment was questionable.

Rud worked his magic for a few hours, growing and shaping the mushrooms to create a wall. He started near the south-facing section of the clearing. Instead of removing the trees that got in his way, he used his Shape Plant spell to weave the two plants together, creating even stronger fortifications. It wasn’t long after shaping the first few mushrooms before the druid saw how damaging direct sunlight was for them. The sections of the mushroom exposed to the sun withered away, releasing a strange goop that smelled like broccoli.

The only way to keep the Toeknockers from wilting away was to seal them with Lacquer, which was easy enough to think about. But finding ladders high enough to cover his mushroom walls was a pain. It took another hour, but the druid had formed one-quarter of the total wall he needed. For now, he was happy to supplement what he had with some bramble vines, which were very easy to work with. The vines would grow with direct sunlight or no sunlight. The hearty little plants didn’t care. Well, they weren’t little anymore. Not after a few applications of Plant Growth.

Rud placed signs around the brambles, hoping that no unwitting mortal would fall into them. The next step for these defenses would be to make the vines living. But the spell still hadn’t come. That was fine with the druid. He returned to the longhouse when the day was getting late. While Barrow was awake and stoking the fire, the other adventurers were still out. He stood upon seeing Rud, sneaking across the room and holding a finger up to his lips.

“I hate to think what would have happened without you,” Barrow said, urging Rud outside. “Sorry. They need sleep.”

“No worries. I’m sure you need the rest.”

“I can’t sleep anymore,” Barrow said, stretching. “What a misguided adventure. I should have figured we’d be in trouble the moment we stepped out of the grove.”

“Hopefully, someone pays you for that information.”

“Absolutely. We’ll be handsomely rewarded. I might suggest we place a settlement on the far side of the grove.”

“Good plan. Maybe a fort.”

“That’s even better!”

“Wait until you see what I did to Barlgore,” Rud said, leaning against the building casually.

Barrow had a fearful expression on his face for only a moment. “What happened?”

“I encased the town in thorny vines. Gave it some druidic flare.”

“Ah. So long as you didn’t burn it to the ground.”

“And why didn’t you tell me Elmera had a fancy tower? Is she important?”

“Very important.” Barrow closed his eyes, nodding with a smile on his face. “It never came up.”

Rud was certain of one thing. His manic behavior of staying ahead of stuff had served him well. Gathering fragments for Ban and searching for baddies before they came had worked well. There was no reason to let up. Even if there wasn’t a problem in sight, he would do everything he could to forestall future problems. No matter what happened, he would defend the grove.

Chapter 48

Did You Miss Me?

Barrow and the other adventurers were feeling much better by the next day. Taz had taken on a strange role as nurse, making sure each of the mortals was doing well. Rud caught the dwarf spoon feeding a human man and tutting when soup dribbled down his chin. He blustered when caught, but it warmed the druid’s heart. No matter how tough the dwarf tried to act, he cared about the grove and the mortals passing through. Those mortals perked up even more when they drank the tea, gaining a surge of energy that gave them some pep in their step.

Once Rud had finished his morning chores—watering, reporting, chatting with Maria, and sending his report for the day—he made his way to the mine. The bear was still snoring away in the cave. To the druid’s surprise, his last instance of Nature’s Cleanse was still working away at the red scar on his chest. He refreshed the spell anyway to make sure the beast wouldn’t wake up. Nothing like an angry bear to ruin the morning.

For his efforts he earned Level 3 in his Healing Magic skill. The general cost of his Healing Magic spells went down and the power went up. That single skill level was enough to push his druid class to Level 6. It had been so long since he thought of his attributes that he needed a refresher.

The plan was to get Mind to 10 then work on Affinity. Rud hadn’t seen what affinity could do, but still fancied himself a spellcaster. He had placed his last point into Affinity. That brought him to 8, and his stopping point was planned at 10 to match Mind. The more the druid thought about it, the more he was convinced that Affinity was hard to quantify. Maybe it was something he would understand in the future, but his current plan was the only plan. The other attributes could wait, especially since he had seen no combat and doubted they would be useful for him right now.

So far the only changes Rud had noticed with either of the attributes he had increased was numbers on his sheet. Perhaps it was worth investigating how the attributes would affect his physical body. Rud shook the thought away, placing his free point into Affinity and inspecting his attribute sheet.

[Rud]

Main Class:

Rank 0 Level 6 Druid

Subclass:

Rank 0 Level 5 Grove Custodian

Attributes:

Health: 56

Mana: 100

Strength: 2

Agility: 3

Vigor: 5

Mind: 10

Affinity: 9

Titles:

[Keeper of the Gladesbale Grove]

Not much had changed. 10 points into Mind had brought him over the 100 mana threshold, but Affinity had made none of the things on that sheet budge. If Rud concentrated real hard, he could feel something of an effect. Maybe a slight sensitivity toward magic. It was hard to tell, since the grove was constantly soaked in druidic magic. Even the cave wasn’t spared from the energy, and he realized that it was absolutely everywhere. Each surface was steeped in the stuff, rendering it different than how it would appear outside the grove.

“Well, slow and steady is certainly a choice,” Rud sighed, patting the massive bear on the flank. When the creature stirred, the druid clapped his hand over his mouth. He snuck away from the cave, leaving both the bear and the bats behind.

Rud loaded two wooden buckets with double-enchanted water and placed them in his bag. With how much junk he shoved inside and how many times he yanked the strap open, he had expected to see some wear on the pack. But the trusty pack held firm as he teleported to the stump forest.

The druid’s pace of force-growing trees was quicker than the lumberjacks could harvest them. It wasn’t the act of felling a tree that delayed them, but the processing of it after that. The value of that lumber was clear when considering how much of Barlgore was made of wood. Rud contemplated the habits of those mortals. There were plenty of areas to harvest wood that weren’t near the grove. Perhaps the wood here was that much better.

“Not like I’m a lumberjack. Or a carpenter,” Rud said to himself. “Wood looks like wood.”

Rud sorted out the trees he could grow, selected a few for force-growing. His pace was indeed faster than the woodcutters. If this continued, the stump forest wouldn’t be filled with stumps for much longer. The druid walked out through the area, feeling a sense of something he couldn’t define filling his chest. He made his way further down the road, probing his feelings as he moved. The same sense of comfort he had while within the grove stayed with him, only fading away when he had walked for quite some time.

The druid snapped his fingers, looking back over the stump forest. It had been suspiciously empty of workers. Even the house was devoid of those people. He found the nearest bush and pushed through, finding that the Thicket Travel upgrade that Ban held worked.

“Ah, dang,” Rud muttered, passing through the same bush to arrive at the tower. He accepted the Aspect of Bent and ascended the tower as a squirrel. Without pause, he scanned the area near the stump field.

“Such furtive movements.” Nulsa’s voice almost startled Rud, but he was getting used to the silent creature. “Is something wrong? Do you need my talons once again?”

“Fun fact. No one told me about the grove expanding. But it expanded when Ban hit a new rank.”

“Interesting.”

There was a logical line to follow here. If the grove expanded every time Ban ranked up, the disorientating effects of the grove would move with it. Since it had covered the area near the woodcutter’s home and they were unaware that it had changed, they wouldn’t have used caution when working in the area. That meant they wouldn’t have used the landscape’s landmarks to prevent getting lost in the grove. One might have gone off to have a pee in the night and been turned around right away.

“Where are you?” Rud muttered. He couldn’t remember how many people were working on the logging operation.

After long moments of frantic searching, Rud found the first woodcutter. A human man was circling a tree, holding his face in his hands. The druid activated the Communication System upgrade on his Observatory, projecting his voice to the man. “Don’t move. You’re lost in the grove, but I’m gonna come get you.”

The man stopped, looking up at the sky. He said something, but Rud couldn’t hear it. Nulsa offered a soft hoot.

“Could you help me with this, Nulsa? I know you can’t teleport yet, but could you search for more stragglers?”

“Certainly,” the owl said, taking off without making a sound.

Rud shifted into his squirrel form and jumped to the nearest clump of leaves to pass through. He made a quick stop at the enchanted pond for some water, then went straight to the frightened man. The druid scampered down the tree, shifting back into his normal form before revealing himself. Even with that bit of consideration, the man jumped in fright.

“Have some water,” Rud said, removing the bucket from his bag and offering it. The man took the bucket, draining half of it in one go.

“I’m lost!” he blurted out, belching loudly.

“How many others were with you?” Rud asked.

“Four.”

Rud got his bearings in the forest. The lost man was about two-hundred paces from the stump clearing. He could almost see the break in the trees, drawing into question how bad the effects of the grove were for mortals. The druid led him through the forest, forcing him to sit down well outside of the dangerous zone of the grove. Before heading back to find more lost souls, he created a new sign and erected a few stone markers for the new line of the grove. The man wouldn’t stop expressing his thanks. Rud just needed him to stay put so he didn’t get lost again.

After the first hour of searching, Rud recruited every able body within the grove. Mint was too busy with something, but Deana, Taz, and Sarya joined the search. The druid would search from his tower, spotting stragglers while the wolves used their keen senses of smell to sniff them out. Some mortals had pushed too far into the grove, following what they thought was the setting sun. How that happened was beyond Rud, as the sun was in its highest midday position. He learned more about how confusing the grove was for mortals, though.

“That’s all of them,” Taz said, patting a frightened human woman on the back. He handed her a cup filled with Rud’s special tea. She took it with a concerned nod.

“Time to address the mortals you have traumatized,” Dean said. Sarya laughed at the joke.

Rud rolled his shoulders. He wanted to argue back against the accusation, but the wolf was right. It didn’t matter if no one told him this would happen when Ban ranked up. The grove and its relationship with the mortals was his burden to carry. Anything that went wrong was his fault, and he was happy to take responsibility. But as he approached the group of scared individuals, he saw them all perform the sign of respect he had come to know. After that, they bowed their heads lower than he had seen any mortal do so far.

“Please accept our apologies for trespassing in—”

“That’s quite fine,” Rud said, holding up a silencing hand. “No harm, no foul. We’ll be more cautious about these things in the future. Alright?”

A murmur of agreement spread through the group. That cleared the air well enough for them. Between the tea and the approval of the spirits, the mortals were doing much better. They had only been lost for a day or so and were more frightened than anything. Rud reminded them of the rules of the grove, and walked with them to create a new house alongside the road. Dean joined him while the other members of the grove headed off to do their own things.

A new house was easy to construct from a tree, but the area the woodcutters would be working was thin on those. Rud would need to put extra effort into regrowing this section so they would have something to work on. That got the druid thinking about the other sections of the grove that needed tending. While the area inside the grove was dense, some places outside were bare. Those places could be directly outside the grove, and the druid wasn’t willing to leave those barren.

Rud moved the stove from the old building and installed it in the new one. Mint would have to steal more of those if the nearby house was going to have heat. But the workers were happy enough with a place to stay while they recovered. He also created a new mailbox out of a sapling and wrote a quick report about what had happened. Even if the workers were the ones to read it, he found the process of writing the message soothing.

“What a day,” Rud said, shifting into a squirrel and finding a nearby bush. He made a few runs between the enchanted pond and the new edge of the grove to the east, sprinkling twice-enchanted water over the area. A procession of mortal feet had packed the ground tightly enough to make it difficult to grow anything. Nothing a few good jabs with his fingers couldn’t fix, but iron tools would be easier.

Rud returned to his tower, clicking his radio on to find some comfort in an Earthling’s voice. He hailed Maria, but she didn’t respond. Instead, he used his Farseeing skill to search for anything weird. The south looked fine, the west looked fine… Everything looked fine. The only thing that didn’t look good was the slumbering tree at the grove’s center. 

But she wouldn’t wake just because he wanted her to. Ranking up took time, it would seem. The druid left the tower, unsatisfied and hungry for some soup. At least Taz had kept the perpetual soup going. With the addition of some deer meat, it had taken on a deeply gamey quality that somehow worked. He suspected there were more vegetables than normal, but the only thing that grew in the wild were the potonions.

Rud stuffed his face and hit the ground, satisfied enough with the food to drift off to sleep.

###

“Did you miss me?”

Rud shot up from his bedroll, scrambling and almost falling into the fire. He dashed from the spot, tripping over himself several times as he raced for the entrance to the longhouse. Once he was outside, he shifted into a squirrel and hit the wooden road, moving far faster than he could in his scrawny two legged form.

“Ban!” Rud shouted, throwing himself against the tree. He grabbed onto her bark, pressing his squirrel face against her as she giggled.

“I wasn’t gone for that long, was I?”

“You were gone for about twenty years,” Rud said, scratching his face against her bark. “There was a mutiny. I had to put Mint in chains. Sorry about that.”

Another soft giggle from the tree. “I see you’ve gone to work on the grove. Perhaps it was twenty years.”

“We missed your guidance,” Rud said.

“You can get down.”

Rud let go of the tree, falling to the ground and shifting into his true form. He looked up at the tree. She had grown a bit compared to before ranking up, but not as much as he expected. The tree already towered over the area, spreading her boughs high above the other trees. She towered even higher now, and her trunk was a bit thicker. More than any physical change, she now radiated a sense of deep magical power. Even with his stunted senses, the druid could feel it coming off of her.

“The upgrade to Energy Nodules is especially nice,” Ban said.

The flowers that clung to her branches glittered even in the daylight. Rud beamed at the compliment, content with her praise. “I didn’t know the grove would grow when you ranked up.”

“I didn’t either. But we’ve made good progress. And there is another Sacred Beast that seeks a contract. Interesting.”

Mint could forge the contracts for Sacred Beasts, but Ban was the one who cosigned them. Now that she was awake, they could accept Nulsa into their fold. The only one that was outside of their reach was the slumbering bear, who had refused to wake up. That red line on his chest was no better than before, but Rud kept the faith. He chatted with the tree for a bit, catching her up on everything that had happened since she was sleeping. She hummed along as he spoke, approving of all the decisions he had made.

“Curious, though. The amount of dungeons we’re seeing isn’t normal,” Ban said.

“I know. I was talking to Maria—from Hagsrise Grove—and she’s having the same problem. My theory is that we have some magical-something underground, and its leeching upward—that’s causing the problems with all the dungeons and the orcs and—”

Ban interrupted. “Slow down, Rud,” she said, giggling softly again. She was gone for so long, the laugh seemed like music. “We can worry about those things later. For now, I was thinking of generating another expansion for you.”

Rud groaned. “Come on! You just woke up.”

“You have much to learn about the way things work, young custodian.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve ranked up. My energy reserves are vast compared to what they were before. I have power. Unless the building I’m working on is overly complex, I will not hibernate while creating it from here on out.”

“Yay!” Rud shouted, doing a cool pose for the tree. She giggled, which meant it was a good pose. “Blacksmith?”

“Was there any other option?”

Chapter 49

Advanced Squirrel Mode

The mood of the entire grove improved significantly after Ban woke. All members of the grove, including the newest member Nulsa, gathered in the longhouse to celebrate. Mint had even found a drum and was beating a steady beat. Taz taught Rud how to do a dwarven dance, which involved a lot of kicks and punches. They even knocked heads together at one point.

Ban might have claimed that creating the new building was easy, but as she observed the party Rud could tell it took something out of her. She wouldn’t need to go into hibernation, but her focus was split between the two tasks. The Sacred Tree was constructing a smithy right next to the Smelting Workshop. Rud and Taz would finally have something to do with the stacks of ingots they had produced over the last month. It might take time for the building to become more than a tangle of roots, but they didn’t care.

The party went on for the entire day, with a group of confused mortals passing through from the west. They joined the celebrations, unsure of what was going on. By the next day things returned to normal. The drum had been stowed away, and the tea stopped flowing. That brought Rud to his tea farm and he tended to those plants with double-enchanted water and a rusty knife to clip the leaves. His Plant Care skill finally rolled over to Level 7, and Shapeshifting Magic was on the edge of hitting Level 5. He could feel it in his bones.

“What does that tea smell like?” Ban asked.

“This one smells like citrus,” Rud said, placing his hand on the first plant. “That one smells like black tea back on Earth, and this one smells sweet. Almost like fresh-baked cookies? Hard to explain.”

“That sounds lovely. Do the mortals like it?”

“They love it. That’s how I’ve amassed a stockpile of crystals for you.”

Ban continued asking questions about how the tea production was going. She was excited he had found a way to produce the pots quickly and laughed when she saw the most recent example of his pottery. Even though he had practiced the hobby, he was still horrible with the pottery wheel. Once the tea was sorted, he continued his conversation with the tree as he loaded his backpack with enchanted water. Not only did the eastern forest need the water, but there were pockets along the grove that needed growth.

This new task took half of the day, leaving Rud heading to the Observatory later than he had planned. He clicked on the radio and hailed Hagsrise. “Are you there Maria?”

The long moments of static were always slightly stressful. But her voice came over the radio in time.

“I’m here, Rud. You’re a bit late with your daily call, aren’t you?”

“My tree woke up. Things got wild when she ranked up, so I’ve been playing catchup.”

“Oh, fancy guy with the sapient tree. Yeah. I normally eat lunch in my tower.”

“Dang. Is it that late?” Rud asked, smiling to himself when he peered out the window. Of course it was late. He allowed his vision to go fuzzy, the Farseeing skill taking over so he could scan the grove.

“Yes. It is ‘that’ late. How is the monster problem going?”

“The mortals sorted it out. Mostly.”

“We’re struggling, but I’ve seen harder times. A group of contracted dwarves went off to find allies. None are fighters or adventurers, so they’re useless with the dungeons.”

Rud chatted with the other custodian as he cataloged the area. He was expecting another dungeon to appear in the north, just like the fire and lightning one, but there was nothing yet. Two points on a graph didn’t represent a pattern, but he was certain about this one. And there was something else to glean about the dungeons that had spawned within the grove. They were both more powerful than the ones that spawned to the south and themed around elements. Even the monsters that were found within those dungeons had a unique theme of metalwork and elements.

The dungeons to the south created monsters that went with a forest theme, only spawning animals that were native to the area. Rud couldn’t figure out what the connection between those things were, but he had to keep looking. After the woodworkers got lost in the grove, he realized how important this tower and his Farseeing skill were. Early detection of threats was more important than anything else.

Once Rud was done talking with Maria—she had recently gained an obsession with fossils—he headed away from the tower. The druid shifted into his squirrel form and headed through a bush, appearing in the old stump field. Green shoots rose from the ground, dotting the area as the new growth he had inspired with the enchanted water came to life. He could have done this earlier, but hadn’t been inspired to get the job done. Now that the grove was expanding, it was a requirement. Although he didn’t know why he held this compulsion, he would do it all the same.

“Rud!” a familiar voice shouted from down the road.

The druid turned, his eyes unfocused from staring at the ground for so long. He spotted Elmera jogging down the stone path, waving excitedly.

“Oh! Elmera!” Rud shouted back, waving like an idiot. “What brings you this far out?”

“The first stage of my research is done!” she exclaimed, doubling over to catch her breath. “Those ingots are something else, Rud.”

“Thanks,” Rud said, standing proudly. “Wait, really? Are they that special?”

“You’ve enchanted metal ingots with the power of your grove. Yes. They’re amazing.”

“Did I show you the ingot with the bonus aspect?”

“No, you failed to sell me that one. I had to buy it myself from a local trader. He gouged me on the price, you little forest imp.”

“Heh. Sorry about that. Did you figure anything else out?”

Elmera leaned against her staff. Rud couldn’t tell if it was something meant for walking, or a magic staff like his own. The elven woman held a smile on her face, which was a stark contrast from the way she behaved when they first met. “Infusing metal with a grove’s power is… novel. Folks back in Sparwyn understand the way wood changes when infused, but they’ve never seen it done with metal.”

“We’re just blazing all the trails out here, aren’t we?”

“Indeed you are. I’ve come with payment and the intention of buying a larger sample. It took a while, but I made contact with a smith who specializes in magical metals.”

“I like getting paid.” Rud rubbed his hands together, pausing only when Elmera held a hand up to stop him from dashing off.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to pay my respects to the tree.”

That was interesting enough by itself. The elves—elves of all people—didn’t have the same respect for the Sacred Tree or the groves as the mortals in Sparwyn. While Elmera had expressed her respect for the tree the last time she was in the grove, she didn’t hold it in her mind with the same reverence as the others. But who was Rud to judge?

“That’s fine. Can you make the trip on your own?”

“I should be fine,” Elmera said, looking over her shoulder at the new woodcutter’s house. “I heard what happened to them. But I am sensitive to magic far beyond mundane folk.”

“Which means you wouldn’t get lost in the grove.”

“Almost. I might not get lost in the grove.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you there. Once I’m done watering here.”

Elmera said her farewells and walked over the long road to the Sacred Tree. She would be walking slightly longer than the ones before her, first taking the two-hundred-some feet of the stone road before setting foot on the living road. Green sprouts sprang up where Rud tossed his enchanted water. He wouldn’t urge any individual sprout to be the dominant tree in an area, letting them fight it out instead. It was always faster to let nature sort things out instead of meddling with every single nut.

Rud shifted into his squirrel form before heading away from the area. He checked all the things he needed to do off a mental list, finding only one thing remaining. The druid passed through a bush and arrived outside the mine. Before he even entered, he could hear the sound of Taz’s pickaxe bouncing against the stone within. The bear was still slumbering in the cave, and required another application of Nature’s Cleanse.

Once that was done, Rud shifted back into squirrel mode and headed for the door. A few steps before he reached the cave’s entrance, he got a notification. Shapeshifting Magic had finally hit Level 5. He plopped down on his squirrel-butt, flicking his bushy tail as he read through the upgrade options. As expected, there were quite a few interesting options. But as with most magic-style skills, there was only one upgrade that stuck out.

[Mint’s Shifting Form]

Shapeshifting Magic Upgrade

Description:

Shapeshifting Magic spells gain additional power from the Guardian Mint.

Effect:

Increases the cost of your Shapeshifting Magic spells by 20%.

All Shapeshifting Magic spells gain the Aspect of Mint.

The Aspect of Mint increases the speed and power of your shapeshifting forms (aligned with the Strength and Agility attributes.

This wasn’t the first time Rud found an upgrade associated with Mint. He had Mint’s Blessing for his Crafting Magic skill. But Mint’s Shifting Form was very interesting. The druid had to wonder if this would increase his Strength and Agility while in a shapeshifting form. The increase to mana cost wasn’t even a big deal. Rud often shifted and regenerated his mana shortly after. Since his squirrel form had become his primary means of travel, increased speed was exactly what he needed. He selected the upgrade, preparing to test it out.

Just to be sure, Rud shifted out of his squirrel form and back into it. He looked down at his fur, finding that it was different. The original form mimicked the look of the local red squirrels, but this new form had Mint’s flare. Instead of red fur, he had a coat of shifting colors and wispy fur that seemed to drag through the air as though submerged in water.

“Oh, yeah,” Rud said, flexing his little paws. He even felt faster. “Time to test.”

Rud ran into a wall about one second after his pronouncement. He moved with caution after that, taking careful steps until he was out of the mine. Once he was clear of the stone prison, he took off. The squirrel dashed through the forest, easily twice as fast as before. He left a trail of color behind him. If one were to observe him, they would have trouble making out anything other than a blur.

Climbing trees was much easier as well, as his claws sunk deep into the bark. He ascended one tree, then jumped to the other in one fluid motion. The distance he got was impressive enough to make this his new mode of transport. While he wasn’t as fast as Dean, he was far quicker than he was in the base squirrel form or his true form. As if the spirits themselves were looking on his progress with approval, a system message appeared.

[Spell Evolved!]

The Wild Spirit Harg has taken notice of you. Your Shapeshift: Squirrel spell has evolved! It is now Shapeshift: Flying Squirrel.

Rud was forcefully shifted back to his Talen Por form. He clung to the branch he rested on, falling and clinging to the next one. Without time to inspect his new spell, he activated it and shifted into his new form. Just like the base squirrel form, this one was a small rodent-like form. The features of the red squirrel were completely gone. His ears were now small, and he could feel weird flaps of skin on his side. The colors of Mint had remained, though. As did her power. Once he had a handle on the branch, he inspected the new spell.

[Shapeshift: Flying Squirrel]

Rank 0 Druid Spell

Shapeshifting Magic

Component:

Imbued Leaf

Mana Cost:

50

Duration:

One Hour

Description:

Assume the shape of a flying squirrel. Woosh.

Effect:

You turn into a flying squirrel. All your clothes, equipment, etc are maintained in your true form and will reappear when you cancel this effect.

You retail all your attributes, but your abilities and skill usage may be limited.

Shapeshifting forms were a strange thing at first. This new form was close enough to his regular squirrel mode that it was fine. The only thing that made it difficult was this incredible speed and power he felt in his little body. Mint’s Shifting Form was a potent upgrade, but combined with Shapeshift: Flying Squirrel, this felt like a fresh experience.

“Take it slow,” Rud said, warning himself. His impulse was to jump from the tree, trying his luck at gliding. But ground-level tests were needed before he took the plunge.

Between the speed provided by his upgrade, his lightweight body, and the flying squirrel’s flappy wing-things, it was pretty easy to glide. Rud took a running start, jumping over a small hill and gliding to the ground. If he got going really fast, he could glide even further. The wind whipped over his ears, producing a rush of sound as he learned how to steer himself in flight.

After enough practice, Rud found a bush and teleported to the Observatory. He scampered to the top, standing on the roof and preparing himself. The roof of the tower  stood well above the treetops, giving him a clear view of the place where he would be gliding. The druid took a running jump, spreading his limbs wide to catch as much wind as possible. He sailed on those currents, weaving through the air as he looked down at the forest below in awe. The trees rushed past, barely visible for a moment before they were well behind.

Rud descended to the grove, catching onto one tree to try another method of gliding. He jumped from a branch, weaving through the forest as he glided to the ground. Once he hit the forest floor, he scampered up another tree and did it again. Before long, he decided this form of travel was superior to anything else. It was one step away from being perfect. True flight would have been ideal, but the druid was content to take whatever he could get.

“What are you doing?” Dean asked, shouting from below.

The flying squirrel turned in the air, doing circles until he landed atop the wolf’s head. “Just flying around. Wussup?”

“Doesn’t flight distress you?”

“Well, I’m only gliding. But, no. It’s awesome.”

Dean growled. “This new form is smaller than the other.”

Rud jumped down, doing circles around the wolf as fast as he could. “Yeah, but quicker. I think I’m stronger, too!”

The druid rammed into the side of Dean, tumbling backward without doing much of anything.

“Not by much.” Dean looked down at the prone squirrel and smacked him, sending Rud tumbling along the ground. Mint must have told him that after taking enough damage he would shift back into his true form.

Dean remained silent for a beat then gave Rud a look. “Wanna race?”

As Rud suspected, Dean was still far faster than him. While it was unclear what rank the wolf was, it was clearly higher rank than the druid. The pair tore through the forest, dean kicking up plumes of dirt and leaves. There were a few times when Rud got ahead for a couple of seconds, but the speed of the wolf was undeniable. They came to rest over a rise overlooking the lake, long since having left the boundaries of the grove.

“Faster than I expected,” Dean said, panting.

“No kidding,” Rud said, collapsing as his shapeshifting spell expired. “Wanna go again?”

Dean crouched, ready to take off. “Let’s do it.”

Chapter 50

Geezer Alert

Minor changes like the Mint’s Shifting Form upgrade could combine with things like the Shapeshift: Flying Squirrel spell to create powerful results. Taken as singular things, both the evolved spell and the upgrade were good. Combined, they created something that changed the way Rud traversed the forest. This would also impact his ability to travel to Barlgore whenever he wanted without involving Dean. It wouldn’t be as swift as when mounted on the wolf, but it was better than hoofing it.

The longhouse was buzzing with activity by the time Rud returned. He had spent some time flying around, and even more racing Dean through the grove. He shifted into his true form, before pushing his way through the double doors. A wave of heat hit him, forcing the druid to realize how cold he had been while playing around with his new form. The next thing to hit him was a wave of chatter. Several groups of adventurers were seated around the fire, laughing with Taz. No other members of the grove were there.

Rud found it awkward to insert himself into the conversation, but edged his way across the room and found a seat on the far side of the group. He got himself a bowl of soup and settled in to eavesdrop on the conversation. The tales they told held true to what Barrow’s group had said. Orcs infested the area west of the grove, and they would only encroach further as time passed. The druid remained in the wings of the conversation, not willing to jump in.

The sun had set outside of the longhouse. Rud was inspired to return to his mushroom house for the first time in a long time. When Ban wasn’t in her hibernation state, he felt a sense of fullness in his chest. That feeling needed to be sated by hanging out with everyone by the fire, but now all he wanted to do was sit in private. It didn’t help that the crowd was rowdy, likely intending to stay up late into the night. The day had exhausted him further than he realized and he needed to recharge.

A fire crackled in the wood burning stove in Rud’s house. He reclined in his chair, not wanting to leave the warmth before he was ready. He gazed up at the ceiling, thinking about the things that had come to pass within the grove. “I’m excited for the new workshop.”

“I bet you are,” Ban said. He knew she would be listening. Since she didn’t need to rest while she generated the new building, she could hear everything he said. No matter where he was. “I’m impressed with your new shapeshifting form.”

“Really? Doesn’t seem as cool as a wolf form. As long as you ask Mint, that is.”

“Our guardian wanted a grove filled with nothing but wolves. When I explained the important balance of nature to her, she almost had a fit.”

Rud felt something tugging at the back of his thoughts. Something he had been concerned about but couldn’t remember. As he let his mind relax, he remembered what it was. “Oh! We need to talk to Bent about the dungeon problem.”

“I already have. They’re having the same problem near each grove.”

“Any theories?”

“Not really. Magical anomalies aren’t uncommon. Mortals might think the world operates in a linear fashion—one event proceeding the other in a predictable pattern—but that isn’t the case for us. We’re here to see the unexpected.”

Rud pushed back, getting more comfortable in his chair. Maybe that was true, but this was still concerning. His job was to prepare the grove, not make decisions like this. “I’ll make sure we’re ready for whatever it is. I think we have an advantage with our mortals.”

“Our mortals… Not sure what I think about those two words standing so close together. We don’t own them.”

“No, but they’re ours. Ours to protect, at least.”

Ban let those words linger in the air, not wanting to correct Rud. It wasn’t the grove’s job to ensure the safety of the mortals. Both parties took advantage of each other’s company, but neither owned the other. Like nature itself, they existed in balance. The druid thought about the way he had interacted with the grove so far. He recalled a bird that would have died without his intervention. A bear that would have fallen to madness. Sometimes a person should step up, using a firm hand to steer the direction of nature. He would protect the mortals not out of responsibility, but necessity. Like the bear that slept in the cave, a powerful ally could be found.

“You’re cute when you’re contemplating things,” Ban said.

“I’m just pondering.” Rud tried not to bluster. “Isn’t it my job to sort these problems out?”

“You’re right. Some might find it easy to discount a custodian. Those people are the ones with failed groves.”

Rud didn’t want to think about the failed groves. From the information he gathered, he knew Bent had tried and failed to create new groves starting twenty-five years ago. Hagsrise was the newest grove, and Maria was the newest custodian after him. “What happened to the groves before ours?”

“Sacred Groves fail more often than they succeed.”

“I guess we just mesh together so well,” Rud said, smacking his lips as he prepared to sleep. “That or we’re very lucky.”

“Hmmm. I wonder which it is.”

###

Rud sipped his Squirrel Grey tea, leaning over a length of paper and jotting his notes for the morning. A frigid breeze blew through the tower, finding ways through the glass or using the open doorway out to the balcony. There was something satisfying about watching the adventurers go dungeon-to-dungeon in the south. At least there hadn’t been another random dungeon flashing up somewhere within the grove.

“You know the worst part?” Maria asked, her sigh joining with the wave of static.

“What’s that?” Rud asked, pulling his attention away from his Farseeing skill.

“The dwarves are smellier than me.”

Rud mocked a gasp. “Surely not. You’re the smelliest Talen Por on the planet.”

“Hey, don’t get too comfortable. I just wish I could get them to bathe.”

“Twenty-five years and you haven’t taught the locals hygiene? Isn’t that the first thing you would do if you went back in time?”

“You’re talking about a fictional scenario where you head back to medieval Earth, right?”

Rud drew more of his attention to the conversation. This one had kept him up at night more than a few times. “Yeah. Think about it. If you’re sent back in time—assuming you speak whatever language they’re speaking back then—you could revolutionize the world.”

“So, why haven’t you revolutionized this world?”

Well, that was a good question. Rud might have come from Earth, but nothing he did was Earth-like. It took him a few minutes to think about it, to which Maria mocked. “I guess infrastructure is a problem.”

“Do you even know how to make soap?”

“No…”

“Even if this is a hypothetical where you go back in time with an infinite supply of bar soap, no one would care. You would be the local crazy talking about germs. I’ve tried to sway the locals in my area about good habits, but they rarely listen. I’m guessing you’re no different.”

From the moment Rud stepped foot in this new world, he had kept his thoughts about Earth to a minimum. He thought about home sometimes, or the way things were, but his mind was now completely focused on the grove. He couldn’t think of much that he would offer this place that would work. Mint had found him soap. They had food and fire thanks to magical means. When magic was involved, barely anything he could think of mattered. The druid realized the medieval period wouldn’t have been much better.

“I’ll take your silence as defeat. Next, I’ll raise you a more important ‘what if.’”

“I accept my defeat. What’s this scenario?”

“What year were you born?”

“Sixty-five.”

“Dang. Geezer alert!”

“Hey!”

“Just kidding. You were transported a while before I was. Anyway… Let’s say you were put back into your body when you were in high school. Could you get rich?”

“So, do I have all my memories? All that future knowledge?”

“Yeah. And we won’t consider the butterfly effect.”

“Easy. I’d bet it all on the Steelers in eighty. Work some garbage job and put it all into that.”

“Can you bet at fifteen?”

“Maybe… It was the eighties.”

“I’d convince my dad to put every dollar he had into Hyperion.”

“Into what?”

“A company. Don’t worry, they didn’t turn into an evil megacorp that ruined the entire planet.”

“Why do I have a feeling that’s exactly what they did?”

Maria ignored that. “There were a few weeks where all I did was stay up and think about that. I always came to the same conclusion, though. If I could do it again, I would make sure I didn’t die on that street.”

Rud felt his heart fall into his stomach. He looked over his grove. The place that he loved more than anything in his previous life. Maria wasn’t enjoying her time in the underground grove. He couldn’t know her struggles in that place, but felt himself wanted to connect the groves more than ever. If custodians could zip between them, feelings like this wouldn’t arise. The druid wasn’t thinking of this only in selfish ways—although a selfish desire to see Maria was intense enough to notice—but in a way to protect these fragile places.

“You there?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about how distant everyone is. Wishing we could bring everyone together.”

“Maybe that’s your destiny in this world. Bringing all the custodians together so we can have a big party.”

“Wouldn’t that be something?”

Maria had a few more ‘what if’ scenarios to pitch at Rud. He was happy to entertain the idea of time-travel and went along for as long as she would laugh at his jokes. By the time she was ready to sign off for the day, he had been done with the report for at least an hour. Nulsa had perched on a nearby tree, but was polite enough to wait for him to finish with his conversation. The druid turned his radio off, waving the report in his hand as he approached the balcony.

“Interesting conversation,” Nulsa said. “If a bit vapid.”

“Come on. You can’t say you wouldn’t abuse some weird superpower.”

“Have you abused yours? Anyway, there is a mortal looking for you. She claims you avoided her.”

“Oh, crap,” Rud said. He stuffed the paper into his backpack and shifted into his flying squirrel form. “I was supposed to strike a deal with Elmera.”

The druid jumped from the Observatory, gliding through a patch of leaves in the tree and appearing in Ban’s boughs. He did tight circles as he flew down, slipping through the crack in the longhouse’s door while still in his squirrel form. Elmera was waiting patiently by the fire, a leatherbound notebook in her lap. She didn’t see him approach and jumped when he shifted into his true form.

“Sorry about that,” Rud said.

“Shapeshifting magic…” Elmera trailed off, writing something else down. “Interesting.”

“Come on,” Rud said, jerking his head toward the exit. “I’ll show you where I keep the ingots.”

Elmera packed her things away calmly. She was back to her old self, hiding behind a stoic mask. As she followed close behind, Rud realized that he rarely walked to the mine area. Since he teleported there, it normally took him moments. He couldn’t be sure, but the walk would take about a half-hour. There were no roads going that way.

“Stay close. I don’t want to scour the forest to find you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

The elven woman did better than Rud expected, but he could tell she got confused a few times. Even with her resistance to magic, the grove’s power was just too much. She relaxed a bit when they entered the Smelting Workshop, but was curious about the forming blacksmithing building. The druid brushed it off, gesturing to the massive piles of ingots.

“You’ve been busy,” Elmera said, crouching to examine the bars. “How many are you willing to part with?”

“About a quarter of what’s there. Although I don’t think I need the enchanted ones as much as the unenchanted ones.”

As with most mortals, she wanted to haggle. Rud played along, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t surprised to learn that she couldn’t buy a single one, let alone a quarter. But he agreed to let her have ten of the bars for future goods. With such a massive pile of ingots it would be stupid not to trust the elf at her word. It wasn’t just that the elf promised to pay him in crystals when she had the money, it was the other things she had access to. If he wanted to upgrade his buildings beyond Rank 0, he needed Rank 1 Dungeon Core Fragments.

“Getting the supply shipped will be hard, but I can manage it,” Elmera said, bowing to Rud. “Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Yeah, no problem. You’re the only one who knows what this stuff is anyway.”

Like most mortals that visited the grove, the elf wanted to stay within the longhouse for a while. She acted as though the magic didn’t affect her, but it did. Rud led her through the forest and back to the comforting fire. Once she was settled in there with her bag filled with ingots, he returned to the mine to check on the bear. While it was concerning that the creature hadn’t woken, it wasn’t getting worse. The druid cast another instance of Nature’s Cleanse.

“At least this is looking better,” Rud said, bending low to see the long red mark on the bear’s chest. It had faded significantly. He watched the bear’s chest rise and fall for a few minutes before heading out once again.

There were plenty of sections of the forest that needed attention. Rud watered his tea plants with double-enchanted water, scooping two more buckets to spread throughout the sparse places in the grove. The woodcutters hadn’t gotten back to work near the clearing, but he couldn’t blame them. He exchanged his mail for a few decent crystal fragments before showering the area with the potent water. The sprouts that had grown yesterday were already pushing further toward the sky. They grew faster than the plants outside of the grove. Rud was appreciative of that, making his job of growing these new areas easier.

With the amount of area Rud had to cover to grow the expanded sections of the grove, he was unsurprised to see his Plant Care skill level up. What was interesting was that he gained another level in his druid class, sending him to Level 7. Stopping to think about it—bucket still in hand—he was certain he had just leveled up. He was happy to place the point into Affinity, bring it to Level 10 where it would sit for a while, but was confused about how he reached the level.

“Oh, well!”

Chapter 51

Off With His Head!

Rud lounged in Ban’s boughs. Now that she was awake, the grove seemed more still than normal. He had assumed his flying squirrel form and climbed up her, finding a place that wasn’t so thick with the glowing flowers. Today hadn’t been difficult, but there was a lot of work to do. There were too many plants that needed attention for him to keep up, resulting in an exhausted squirrel splayed out on the branches of a Sacred Tree. The tree herself had taken notice of his mood, and not just the exhaustion.

“What’s on your mind?”

Rud almost fell out of the tree when he heard her true voice. It was surprising to hear her talk out loud and he wondered if he would ever get used to it. “I want to link the groves. Give the other custodians a chance to move around.”

“A custodian’s job is within a grove.”

Rud fought back the impulse to interrupt her as she spoke. “I’m not talking about moving. The custodians need a vacation.”

“Maria needs a vacation.”

“Ugh, why do you see through me so easily?”

“We’re connected. And I’m older than I look,” Ban said. She issued that girlish giggle that betrayed her age. Wait, how old was she?

“You’re about a month old,” Rud corrected.

“This body is… But this soul? I’ve been through it. So has Mint.”

Rud realized why everyone in the grove got along. They were all old people. “Fair enough. Can we do it?”

“We’ll need to have a specialization in energy generation. And a two-way portal that only draws power from one side. Basil has one that pulls power from both, but…”

Ban fell deep into thought. Rud could feel her mind churning. He wouldn’t consider how a tree could form thoughts. That was a fruitless effort.

“We can do it. There are a series of expansions I need to take to do it, but we can link the groves.”

“Really?” Rud asked. “Just like that?”

A wave of comfort spread through Rud’s body. It was like a warm smile from a motherly figure. A tingle spread up his spine, filling him with hope and excitement for this new feature.

“Just like that, Bent worked on creating a powerful grove for hundreds of years. We have the potential to become the most powerful grove.”

“Sweet. What’s our upgrade path? How do we make it happen?” Rud asked.

“I’m already a few steps into the spatial manipulation tree. Hehe. But the grove teleportation upgrade is locked behind Rank 2. Before that, I’ll need two other upgrades… meaning I won’t get the option to take it before Rank 2 Level 5. You did a great job taking the Energy Flowers upgrade.”

“Thanks!”

“We have our path. How strong is your stockpile of crystal fragments?”

“I’m hoarding almost one-hundred at this point. Heh heh heh. Mostly from tea sales.”

“Get more tea. I’ll need every fragment if we want to reach this goal.”

Ban had some more things to say about her plan, but she was on board. More than just a fun thing for the custodians, the ability to transport grove members between groves was a powerful tool. Not even Basil had gone into that specialization as his upgrade tree differed from the one in Gladesbale. It wasn’t as though energy generation was a bad thing, either. Generating excess energy was awesome and was the only thing keeping the tree alive. More energy also meant she could support more expansions. Each one drained a small amount of energy and would exceed her ability to produce after a time.

“Guess we’re set, then,” Rud said, stretching. The timer on his shapeshifting form expired, and he tumbled from the tree. In the air, he pulled a leaf from his coat and transformed again, gliding to the ground harmlessly.

Since Elmera was hanging out in the longhouse, Rud wanted to spend his night there. She was easy to talk to, since she talked little. But she was the only mortal there. Taz had a bowl ready for Rud before he even arrived, sliding it across the stone hearth as the druid found a seat. Sarya and Dean were gnawing on bones near the fire, but Nulsa and Mint were nowhere to be found.

“Nothing better than a roaring fire as the cold sets in,” Taz said, grunting to a seated position near the fire.

“Indeed. How did you find yourself here, dwarf?” Elmera asked.

“Same way you did, right? We’re all drawn by the power of this place.” Taz stretched and yawned, basking in his lie. Rud considered how hard it would be to face the idea of being an apostate.

“I heard about Barrow’s problems with the orcs. The west might become a battlefield.”

“Bah!” Taz shouted, kicking at the stone hearth. “Nothing a company of armored dwarves couldn’t handle. Send word to my people and we’ll flatten them in days.”

Rud suppressed his laugh as the dwarf continued to brag about the strength of his people. Taz always got straight to the point, but the druid had never seen him boast like this. It took him too long to realize what was going on. The dwarf was trying to impress the elf. Rud had to turn his face away from the pair to contain his laughter, finally heading over to eat his food near the wolves.

“I can’t,” Rud said, leaning against Dean as he ate his soup.

The bragging went on for as long as Elmera would allow it. When she was done with her food and tired enough to sleep, she unfurled a bedroll and placed it by the fire. Rud kicked back and leaned against Dean, finding that the wolf’s warmth was enough to see him through the night. That and the blazing fire before him. The wolf didn’t mind. Sarya came and curled up closer after a while as the group fell asleep.

Rud woke early the next morning on the cold wooden floor of the longhouse. Dean and Sarya had left some time in the night, leaving him to fend for himself. His coat was half-off and his cloak was nowhere to be found. The druid rummaged around for a while, finding his cloak somewhere near the door. At least Taz and Elmera were still snoring away near the fire. They had drawn frighteningly close during the night. The druid shifted into his squirrel form and scampered away from the scene without eating soup for breakfast. There were enough nuts and mushrooms in the forest to get him through the morning.

“Okay!” Rud shouted, posing in front of the tree. “What’s our first step to get you to Rank 2?”

“You’re a bit too eager for this early of an hour,” Ban said. As she spoke into his mind, her voice sounded sleepy.

The sun had barely poked over the eastern horizon, bathing the grove in its early morning glow. Ban’s flowers were sucking energy from the air while her leaves worked to extract as much energy from the sunlight as they could. A low haze hung throughout the forest, driven by high humidity and the threat of rain. While the tower claimed they were clear from such a fate, Rud wasn’t so sure. To top the situation was the dropping temperature, becoming uncomfortable enough that even the magical cloak wasn’t keeping him completely warm.

“I’m like a dog with a bone! Gotta go fast!”

“That doesn’t make sense… Well, you could increase our stockpile of crystals and dungeon core fragments. Sarya collected some Monster Cores… perhaps you can beg for the spell to enchant those.”

“Which spirit do I beg?” Rud asked.

“Aegael. She has spells that can reforge the cores into something our buildings can use.”

“Right!” Rud shouted again. If a tree could wince… He dashed off without another word, heading directly for the Smelting Workshop.

Aegael was the spirit that had granted him the Imbue Crafted Item spell. She was also the aspect he accepted when working the smelter. If he wanted to impress her, the best way would be to work at the smelter and make puppy dog eyes at the sky. Other than that, he had no other ideas on how to coerce her. No matter how big he made his eyes, it didn’t work.

“Ah, well,” Rud said, getting to work on a batch of copper ore. At least it was easier to work with the upgrades to the smelter. It heated more evenly and took far less to get to temperature. He lost himself in the work and forgot about the Monster Cores.

Fortunately, Sarya brought them along after a few hours of work. She held a burlap sack between her teeth and dropped them on the floor. The wolf had nothing to say and darted away. At least the Smelting skill rose to Level 6. Even if the Grove Custodian subclass didn’t budge.

Rud paused at the door to the workshop, closing his eyes as the chilled breeze washed over the sweltering interior. Even with both the front and back doors open, it was too hot. The contrast between the two environments was staggering enough to give him a slight headache. But a break was necessary and he went to inspect the work Ban had done to create the Smithing Workshop. It was progressing much like the other buildings she had created and was currently a tangle of roots that seemed eager to become a proper building.

This section of the grove had long-since been the ‘industrial’ section. Rud popped a mushroom in his mouth as he thought about that. The only other sections within the grove were his houses, roads, and his tea farm. “All that smelting, and Aegael hasn’t noticed me… what a shame.”

But the spirit wouldn’t relent. She remained distant, refusing to bestow him with the spell. Another day, perhaps. Rud finished up with the smelter, imbuing as many ingots as he could with the Imbue Crafted Item spell. They shone with the familiar bands of color, joining with the already-massive pile. The druid shifted into his squirrel form after the smelter had cooled and dashed off. He activated his Clear Communication skill and climbed the nearest tree.

“Squirrel friends!” he shouted. It took them a while to gather, but a dozen red squirrels assembled to investigate the strange flying squirrel in their part of the forest.

“Interloper! He’s hideous! Someone think of the children!”

“No, I’m one of you. Don’t you remember?”

“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”

Rud shifted back into his true form, perching on the branch to glower at the squirrels.

“The man who gives us nuts is back!” one squirrel cried. “All hail that guy!”

“Good lord… Alright. I need some help finding more tea plants,” Rud said. He could use his tower to accomplish the task, but Animal Communication was stuck at Level 5. Any chance to combine that skill with Shapeshifting Magic was worth the effort. “Are you in?”

The squirrels cheered in response, the sound warbling between all-too-human sounds and the chitters of rodents. The creatures dashed off, not batting an eye when the druid shifted back into his flying squirrel mode and headed for the Sacred Tree. His goal wasn’t to join with the squirrels in their search. He used Shape Plant to rearrange the fence for his farm, expanding it out significantly. This project was growing past a point where he could care for it on his own, but there were no other options. Rud needed the tea if he wanted to reach his goals with Ban. It had provided more fragments than anything else they had done.

Before long, a cadre of squirrels approached the clearing. Rud produced the required payment by dumping a large pile of nuts on the ground.

“That’s the good stuff. Gimmie! Yum! This way!”

The squirrels gathered what they could before dashing off, leading Rud in the right direction. Red-furred figures dotted the area near the creek. The squirrel scouts had placed one squirrel near each of the plants, allowing Rud to find them with ease. Transfering the plants had never been an issue. Even if he broke a few thick roots while he was digging with his hands, the tea plants never cared. Once they were planted near his mushroom house and increased in size with the Plant Growth spell, they were fine.

Rud had no desire to go small with this new expansion. He spent a few hours going back-and-forth between the mushroom house and the creek, trickling a trail of nuts wherever he went to keep the squirrels working. hard. It was hard to tell if they actually cared about the nuts. Almost every tree nut was shoved into the ground after the critters grabbed them.

The druid’s hands were filthy by the time he had doubled the size of his tea farm. A few plants didn’t take well to their new home and were wilting even after being hit with the Plant Growth spell. Rud would give them a chance and double-checked that he had watered them with the double-enchanted water. After plucking leaves, placing them on the drying shelves, and relighting the fire in the building it was time for a bath. Filling the giant copper tub was easy enough, but waiting for it to heat over a bed of Fairy Peat wasn’t.

“A little too hot,” Rud said, sliding into the bath. But once he had entered the water fully, he appreciated how well it fought off the cold. The druid sighed with contentment, relaxing after he had washed himself.

“You look content. Even if you didn’t get your spell.”

Rud waved lazily, shrugging as he sunk lower into the bath. “Can’t force a lizard to give me a spell, can I?”

“I suppose you can’t.”

“She will give me the spell right when I need it. That’s how it works, right?”

Ban was off balance for only a moment before she laughed. “That’s right.”

What would the future of the grove hold if Rud kept this up? Things were going well enough, and the future was bright. It appeared no matter what happened, everyone within the protective area of that forest was willing to give it their all. The druid was ready to push for Rank 1, leveling whatever skills he needed to achieve that goal. The better he could support Ban, the faster he’d get the teleporters up to the other groves.

Then he could finally see the others. Not just Jim from Basil’s grove through the custodian exchange. Not just for a day to show off whatever progress they had made. A meaningful exchange between the groves would help each one grow. But there was nothing wrong with taking a relaxing bath or enjoying some fine tea. Those little things were the bookends to Rud’s time within the grove.