Chapter 22: Chapter 22 – Not Good Business

 

Aila wanted to continue to run her 'riverbed' out into the wasteland, as she wanted to bring life to the lifeless area.  She skimmed off the surface of the stone in order to plan the route. She realized that without the water elements to soothe and bring balance to the area, it would fail, so after a few hundred feet, she ran towards the mountains in the distance. Of course, she didn't pay attention to the landscape she left behind, as she didn't need to see the surface revert back to its original state in order to know it happened.

"Not one beast." Aila said to herself. "On the other side of the 'border', there are plenty of beasts. On this side, there are none. What in the devil is doing this?"

When she got to the river at the base of the mountains, she saw something even more odd.

"There are no lifeforms in the river when it snakes into the wasteland, but they live in the river when it snakes out. How is this possible?" She closed her eyes and tried to sense the peculiarities of the area.

"It's the same as the border line. Rampant energy to expand it's influence, but when it reaches into the wasteland, there is an opposing force. This doesn't make sense!" She said angrily. "Why should earth repel earth?"

Aila didn't realize that she didn't examine it deeply enough to see the reason for this anomaly, and as such, she couldn't see it right away. There was a reason, but she wasn't aware of what it was.

She lifted her eyes as a large life form entered her sensory range.

"You couldn't have chosen a worse time to sneak up on me! I am in a fucking bad mood!" She growled. "I wonder if you taste like fish!" Aila said angrily. This situation, along with the excessive amounts of flame elements she had stored, made her temper flare quickly.

She dashed forward as the river python came out of the water and attempted to swallow her whole. It couldn't move fast enough to contort it's shape, and change directions to avoid Aila's fist. It didn't have any respect for its target until she began to move.

Her fist impacted the bottom of the python's jaw and sent its head upward. Aila extended her fingers straight, and jabbed upward into the exposed underside of the python's neck and quickly penetrated the tough skin.

"Gotchya." She said as her fingers wrapped around the python's core, and pulled it out of the python's brain. This action had the immediate effect of brain death.

"Ew." She grimaced a bit, and washed her hand in the river. Once the core was washed clean, her eyes narrowed a bit. "Oh, you look so delicious."

Once she swallowed it, blue bands formed all over her flesh as the energy rampaged throughout her body. It was the torrential power of a river in energy form, but even as this energy attempted to rip her to pieces, the flow reversed and was sucked into her personal space.

"Ah, so soothing." She said softly as her eyes narrowed in contentment. Her temper calmed, as did the heat within her body. Her eyes opened a little when she considered what she learned when she absorbed the elements.

"Flame pushes my temper into an agitated state, but erodes my strength as it destroys everything in its path. Water reinforces my strength with agility and power, and smooths out my temper again. Earth improves my physical strength, but impedes my speed. Wind enhances my speed, and pushes back the heaviness of earth." Aila thought for several moments more before she picked up the python, and draped it over her shoulders.

"I will take you home until tomorrow. I don't want to give Toril a heart attack." The additional information she learned about the elements was now a part of her, but she hadn't used it yet. It would take a while to pry out the secrets of the wasteland and the Old Primeval Forest.

On her way home, Aila finally realized that she spent too much time on external things, and didn't concentrate of what she needed to survive the coming Winter. Rirn already told her that Winter existed here when he said that her leather clothes could have a cotton lining for warmth in the Winter season.

She had to give serious consideration to the fact that she didn't give enough attention to her home up to this point.  It was still a ruin, and badly in need of more repairs.

She had a lot of work to do.

 

* * *

 

Aila moved some logs into the courtyard, along with some boulders she picked up in the forest. Her purpose for the boulders was to turn them into large stone bricks, and rebuild the outer walls.

She closed her eyes and sliced the first boulder into large blocks easily. It wasn't difficult once she reached a certain amount of elemental essence, as she could sense how earth element held the stone together.

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As she cut, she absorbed more essence, and continued to build her reserves into a frightening quantity, and quality.

As her wall was repaired, she learned how to fuse the stone together, and reinforce what was already there. Storm wolves and flame wolves could do no damage to her walls, but stone bears, and iron tusked boars still had the strength to damage it.

There was a reason they didn't try to damage her walls though. While she worked within the confines of her home, she radiated elemental essence in a vast quantity.

She didn't know this, but in the eyes of the rank threes, if you called them a candle flame, she was a bonfire.

If they met her in the wild, her elemental essence was normally under control, as long as her emotions were not agitated. While she worked, she didn't know that her elemental essence tended to radiate out, so if someone saw her, it would reveal a bit of her strength.

Aila was similar to a solar generator that was always under full sun. No matter the energy type, she could absorb it passively.

 

* * *

 

"Steward Kom. Have you come to repurchase your slaves?" The secretary said at the gate. Her voice was not disrespectful, nor respectful. Her tone was even and without any inflection.

"No, unfortunately our clan has met one disaster after another. Due to some recent problems, we're forced to sell another four slaves." Kom said, as two guards pushed four women through the door. The secretary looked at the haggard women and shook her head.

"Your clan really does not treat their assets well, steward Kom. I must get my master to come out. Please wait here." The secretary closed her ledger, moved to a side door in the office, and pulled a rope that was beside the door. It was attached to a bell that rang deeper within the manor.

A few minutes later, the slave dealer appeared, but when he saw Kom, his face hardened.

"Steward Kom. Needing to sell damaged goods again?" The question made Kom flinch.

"Toral, please, I'm only fulfilling my duty to the clan. I do not damage the goods, nor do I treat them like they are my personal toys." Kom said, which made Toral nod.

"True enough. However, there was a time when your clan purchased slaves, and had the decency not to sell the ones your people have nearly killed." He walked over and looked at the four women. "You want to sell, but do you want a thorough examination and evaluation, or the 'sight unseen' price?" Kom lowered his gaze.

"I already know what the result of the 'thorough evaluation' will be. Sight unseen." He said. Toral narrowed his eyes.

"I understand. Inform your patriarch that the price will be lowered from this point onward. Your clan does not treat their assets like they are humans in any way." Toral snorted. "Starved, beaten, barely clothed, and treated worse than the family dog. That is no way to treat an asset that gives more value to a clan than a pet." Kom could hear the anger in Toral's voice.

"I agree, but I am merely a steward." He sighed. "Master Liam would not even listen to his own father and requested assassins to go after that person in the forest." Toral looked surprised.

"What? After what she did? Is he insane? Assassins won't be able to kill someone who lives in that forest! They wouldn't make it out alive!" Toral said.

"She 'allowed' one to return as a warning, as far as I am aware." Kom looked at the ceiling. "I might need a new employer soon, or they will make another mistake and try to sell me."

Toral looked at the Inaris steward for a moment, and shook his head. The Inaris clan had fallen hard in the last few weeks, and if they don't want to disappear, they need to start acting properly again.

"If you think like that, don't wait for the mistake, Kom. Waiting for a disaster to take action is not good business."

 

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