A small detail of usagisuhe first oo meet the Trionean airship, where they verified the i of the visit and who was on board. This gave Mordecai and Kazue enough time to set up a greeting party. At the ter was Mordecai and a ptform with Kazue's illusion, fnking them to one side were Bellona and Xarlug, while Kansif and Fuyuko fhem oher.

  They also had two small ptoons of forty people ea formation further off to the sides. The first formation was four ns, sisting of ten each bunkin, rabkin, buzzkin, and kobolds. The sed formation was of twenty of the Kuic guards and twenty kitsuhe kitsune were a bit of a scramble to ask for help and thehem anized in that short time frame; they werely known for their soldiering skills. But that sharp trast also helped highlight that these were two different forces who were joining together here.

  The Azeria Mountain Dungeon was in a strange pce politically and Mordecai certainly wasn't up furing out if this was 'too much' or not for receiving the baron of a major city in a rge empire that they had no political unication with to date. But it did send a message. It wasn't a threat, they certainly were not capable of going tainst Trionea, but they were demonstrating that they were a capable for the one hand and that they had allies oher.

  Having a dragon of living cy curiously watg the proceedings from the roof of a nearby building might have emphasized the point a touch.

  A small delegation approached where Kazue's illusion and Mordecai awaited. At the lead was a man with dark hair that was lightly speckled with gray. "Lord Mordecai and Lady Kazue," one of the usagisune esc the delegation announced, "I present to you Baron Emmanuel Demidov of traberg. Baron Demidov, I have the honor of introdug Their Majesties King Mordecai and Queen Kazue of the Azeria Mountain Dungeon and the Azeria Court."

  Baron Demidov bowed to the pair, who gave a somewhat shallower bow iurn as befitted royalty being visited by fn nobility. "It is an honor to make your acquaintances, your Majesties," the Baron said.

  "It is an honor to meet you as well, Baron," Kazue replied with a polite smile, "and we wele you and yours to our nds and home as uests." The slight twitch from the baron showed that he uood the weight of the wuest' ing from a faerie queen. She then turoward one of the members of the delegation. "And it is a pleasure to see you again as well, Captain Vitomir."

  Mordecai looked at Bellona, "Bellona, if the four of you would see to the Baron's people? Thank you. Captain Vitomir, perhaps we share a drink again ter. For the moment, I would like to speak with the Baron in private."

  At Baron Demidov's nod, the captain moved off to the side with Bellona, trailed by Xarlug, Fuyuko, and Kansif. Not that Xarlug and Kansif were obligated to any duties, but Xarlug at least seemed to be angling at being a tractor depending on how things worked out between him and Bellona.

  Kazue bowed to Baron Demidov. "I will leave you in my husband's care," she said before dispelling her illusion.

  The two formations were dismissed as the baron fell in at Mordecai's side. "Your court seems rather informal," Baron Demidov said with careful rality.

  "'Lord' will do, Baron," Mordecai replied with a smile, "if I must be bound by the title of Faerie King, then I will at least take advantage of the more x social s of the fey." He led the baron on a walk along the perimeter of the town as he tinued, "I mostly just want to take a moment to reassure you, directly and personally, that your son is alive and well, though I ot say he is happy."

  "I see," the baron said, "and I thank you. However, I find myself still somewhat fused by your specific request."

  Mordecai took a deep breath before he began. "I believe that there is an anization you are affiliated with that has go of its way to ehat I am their enemy. My information also suggests that you are not directly involved or supportive of this anization's ret as, the same as that have led your son to be held as my prisoner. It seems to me that it might be time for you to resider your positiarding this anization, but before we begiiations I think you o better uand us. To that end, I would like to have you delve the nonbat path of our dungeon. It has proved enlightening for anuest of ours, and I think you will find it just as enlightening. In fact, I think it may be more crucial now than when I sent that letter. The way in which I am now bound to a certain literal truthfulness makes it harder to trust the meaning of otherwise truthful words. If you uand us better, then that should not be as much of an obstacle."

  Emmanuel Demidov sidered this for a while as they tiheir walk in silence, and it was clear that he was taking the time to examihe trading post as well. "You are not the person I was initially told to expect," he ented as they watched the lively little town.

  "Mm," Mordecai responded, "while I do not kly what you have been told, it is probably fair to say there is a certain amount of truth in some of the stories. There is much that could be said about ushed me to such extremes, but whatever my pain and turmoil, I made decisions that hurt and killed others, and that is not something that be easily overlooked. However, there is a lot more tha stake." He gestured toward the town and the inal dungeorance. "My wives were not part of that, nor were any of the other people here. I ot undo what I did, but I make things better for those who are here now. The only reason there has been serious flict here is because others could not allow me to exist in peace thanks to their own prejudices."

  "Thus your desire to have me delve your nonbat path, so that I see with my own eyes a different side of a dungeoence."

  He the baron. "Yes. There are maails to cover tely, for now, I will take you to the rooms that your people have arranged for you, and you figure out your schedule from there. The same rules do apply to your party as to all others."

  Later that evening, Mordecai and Captain Vitomir both had the time to sit down for a drink. Ohey'd both had their first sip Ain started with, "That messenger you sent was one scary little girl."

  "Oh? How so?" Mordecai asked, w who Orchid had arrao deliver the letter as he took another sip.

  "She was like a tiny wraith, all but floating into my office without a single guard or soldier having noticed a thie the floral st drifting around her. She had the sweetest smile as she pced the letter on my desk and tellihat it was from you and intended for Baron Demidov. It was only after she disappeared that aiced the trail of flower petals, plus one 'bck butterfly' pced on the chest of one of my soldiers while he slept. The one who had hit on your wives."

  Mordecai resisted the urge to cough and swallowed to clear his throat instead. "Ah, I wasn't expeg her to hand deliver it to you herself. I think it might be just as well no oried to stop her." While the bck butterfly didn't have a specific meaning that he was aware of, it was a rare species of dark aiful orchids, and just leaving it that way could be seen as threatening.

  Or romantic, for the right sort of person. Or both e to think of it.

  But that certainly wasn't Orchid's i here, and he shouldn't be surprised that the princess was getting a handle on how to use her faerie sign to her advantage.

  "I take it that the ss is as dangerous as I assumed?" Ain asked.

  "Possibly more so," Mordecai replied.

  "Huh." Ain scratched his a moment and then asked, "So why did you pick me fo-between and ask for me to join Baron Demidov?"

  Mordecai smiled. "That's easy. I had a good read on your character a you were trustworthy enough to get the letter the rest of the way securely. If the messenger had chosen to deliver it more closely to the baron, he might have felt threatened, but I didn't want to entrust it to standard bureaucracy, given that I would be an unverified seherwise. As for your participation here, it was in part to emphasize that I uood his reasoning in sending you here, and in part to ehat he had an experienced person with a level head within reach to ask advice from. I don't know the man, but we all want this to resolve well. You," Mordecai emphasized by pointing, "are one of our best shots at getting things right, just by being here and being you."

  The captain grimaced. "Bah. Politics. There's a reason I'm still only a captain."

  "Hah, when you have a ce, you should get a drink with Kansif and Bellona. I think you'd get along with them, they feel the same way."

  The two of them tialking for about half an hour more, but both of them also had duties to take care of and Ain had an early m in front of him.

  As for Mordecai, he had two uests who had requested his attention. Brongrim and Nainvil had been part of a delving party that had made it to the river zo had called ao the delve there. The zones were notably harder than they were when the couple had previously delved with Shizoku and Takehiko.

  The pair were fishing off of a dock when Mordecai approached them. "Good evening," he began, "you two wao see me? Oh, don't stop fishing on my at, unless you o not split your attention."

  "Ah, yes sir," Nainvil replied and theated, clearly torween his options.

  Brongrim snorted. "Just watch my pole for me, I'll do the talking." The dwarf handed off his fishing rod and got to his feet to face Mordecai. "You did us a good turn, especially given how we met. I know we've teically fulfilled our part in that bargain, but we still feel that we owe you. So here's what we were thinking. You've been attacked twice so far, right?"

  After Mordecai's nod, Brongrim tinued. "Well, it's an easy guess that you are building toward doing something about it, and I think we've seen the core of your team already. Now, I'd like to offer to help directly, but frankly, I don't think we catch up to your lot. But I suspect having a couple more people guarding your home while yone wouldn't be amiss, aye? What if the two of us rented a p town long term, and delved with other teams every week or so until you needed us to bee tractors while yone. After you return, well, we discuss that then."

  Huh. Iing. Mordecai sidered the situation for a short while before asking, "Aren't you two doing well with the Riverbridge guards?"

  "We've been doing well enough, but I 't say we're perfectly at home there either. We've done a lot of training for the new guards these past few months, and frankly, I think we'd be more useful to you. Part of the point of tractors is that they aren't as bound as an inhabitant, right? Closer to an employee with a bit of restris. So some people at least will trust a traore than one of your folk. Having the two of us will free up more of your other tractors to go with you to take care of the source of your problems."

  "Well, he's n in that," Kazue's core said, "and we have been w on ging up our spring pns. This would make a couple of things easier."

  Moriko added, "I think they would be good to train with once we get bae too. I'm for it."

  Bellona and Fuyuko did not know the pair but were open to being vinced.

  "Alright," Mordecai replied trim, "I think we tentatively agree to that. If yoing to be staying inside our territory, we do something else as well if you like. We reserve, say, ten pert of your rewards until it's time to make a tract. This will let us maximize the power of individual rewards within our limits. Also, you o meet ahe approval of Bellona and Fuyuko, as all new tractors o be approved by all current tractors. Now, you should go help your man there, looks like both rods have a bite."

  The dwarf swore as he turned and grabbed his rod from Nainvil, letting both of them work ing in their catch. Mordecai left the duo to their fishing with a smile and began w with his wives about how this might help their other pns.

  Zagaroth