Her generosity and the warm smile she gave the children while handing them the coin so that they could proudly present it to their parents, instead, was something Nana would have never done. "What about me?" Vexal asked after the Crone passed in front of him, yet gave him nothing. "Keep standing up for your clients like you did today, and these people will come back here every day. Sooner or later, this silver will end up in your pockets, so don’t be greedy, young man." Baba Yaga replied. "Good thinking." Vexal didn’t need the silver, but he was a greedy man. His greed, however, couldn’t keep up with the joy he felt thinking that maybe Nana had sent the old mage to his shop to help her old village. "Since I’m giving you so much silver, I need you to do something for me." The Crone said. "If it doesn’t interfere with my business, sure." The baker nodded. "Give these to those who ran away earlier." The Crone handed him the few remaining silver coins. "They need it much more than any of us if they trampled on their dignity for a bit of money. Find a nice way to give them the rest of the silver. "It must not seem charity or out of pity. Did I make myself clear?" "Crystal." Vexal replied while making the coins in his hand jingle. "One last thing. If I find out you kept the silver or bullied those people, I’ll transform you into a rat." "Sure." He chuckled at the joke. The Crone’s eyes burned bright cyan like those of Nana, then blue, violet, and lastly, they became as bright as two white suns. "Do I look like I’m joking, young man?" She asked. "Do you want apricot or berry jam in your bread?" He replied, swallowing hard. *** Kelia and Baba Yaga had their tea and jam bread while sitting on a bench and making small talk. Vexal insisted on having it on the house, but Kelia insisted harder to pay, or it would have been his gift. One glare of the Crone and he took the copper coin, wishing never to see them again. Kamila liked the music box a lot. Not only did it play the lullaby her grandmother sang to her when she was little, but the sound it produced was so clear that it seemed to be played by a harp. "This is a pretty good idea." Lith examined the music box after Kelia left him and Kamila alone. "We can use the music to put the little imp to sleep or at least to distract him while we play." "We get a thoughtful gift for our baby boy, and that’s the first thing you think about? Sax?" For once, Kamila was happy for the Guardians’ meddling with her speech. "It’s the circle of life, babe." Lith replied. "Sax makes babies, babies meddle with sax, and then the cycle starts anew. Life always finds a way." He spoke with such a straight face that she couldn’t stay mad and started laughing. *** A few days later, Aalejah Eventide joined Rena for her usual meeting with the current rulers of the underground city of Zelex. "Where is Lith?" The usually jovial and light-hearted elf had deep dark circles around her blue eyes, and her long blonde hair looked like it had wrestled a cat out of it. "He’s buys." Kamila lied while sipping her tea. "Feel free to tell me whatever you have to say to him." "Yeah, sure." Aalejah glared at Kamila’s womb, knowing she had to use a much politer and more refined language than she had planned, if she wanted to survive the meeting. "And remember, you are free to say whatever you want." Salaark said while sharpening her sword on a whetstone. "Just like I’m free to chop you into small pieces and serve you as a stew for dinner." "Duly noted." The elf grunted. "Please, tell Lith that I ’thank him’ for the honor he entrusted me with and that a new World Tree is born. Don’t forget to tell him how ’fun’ it was for me to visit the various World Saplings. "I received many ’welcoming parties’ the various Saplings prepared for me in the hope of ’convincing me they were the best candidate’." Kamila could almost hear the air quotes. "It will be my pleasure." Kamila gave the elf her best smile and offered her a cup of tea. "Is this strong? Because I need something strong. I haven’t slept in weeks." Aalejah said. "No, but I can prepare you some coffee, if you want." "Thanks." The elf put down her Yggdrasill staff to sip her tea and fell immediately asleep. Kamila covered Aalejah with a blanket and let her rest until the rest of the guests reached the Mansion. "Your coffee is ready." "Thanks." Aalejah looked around in confusion. In what seemed the blink of an eye to her, a steaming cup of coffee had replaced her tea, and the members of Zelex’s senate had Warped around her without the elf noticing. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, representative Eventide?" Syra, the Hati Queen, asked. The members of Zelex’s senate had actually walked into the room and taken their seats like normal people. Warping through your host’s house was considered either a sign of familiarity or disrespect. Familiarity because it meant you knew the place well enough to remember the dimensional coordinates of the various rooms. Yet unless you had received the permission from the master of the house to use dimensional magic, it was considered disrespectful, if not even a veiled threat to their safety. Syra and the others never used dimensional magic without express permission and were most polite while in the Mansion. It was the reason they had noticed the sleeping elf and not disturbed her slumber when Kamila had greeted them with a bow and brought a finger to her lips. "Queen Syra, honorable members of the senate." Aalejah’s groggy mind found it more believable to think her guests’ magical prowess had improved by leaps and bounds, so she acted accordingly. "I have joined your assembly today to deliver you news of your brethren who are currently deployed in Jiera and bring you your share of the prize they have earned." She took a long sip of her coffee to clear her thoughts. "Do you have your dimensional amulets?" "Rings." Br’ey, the orc who the geyser reverted into a Svartalf, crossed her arms. "The Kingdom still doesn’t trust us with spell-holding rings, so they give us only dimensional storage rings." "I’m sorry to hear that, but don’t worry, things are about to change." The elf gave the other women a nod and took a small mound of Harmonizers out of her amulet. "As per your instructions, the Awakened Council of Garlen has worked to reverse-engineer Glemos’ work. "They have succeeded and fulfilled the second point of the treaty by using the people of Zelex’s share of resources from Jiera to craft enough Harmonizers for everyone. Women, children, and the elderly won’t be left behind anymore." "With your permission, Representative Eventide." Syra stood up and collected a few collars that she handed over to her friends, keeping only one for herself.