Remian wasn't sure what it was all about. He'd been taken to see Phoebe, who said something… he wasn't sure what. He saw the curve of her eyebrows, the wide angelic eyes, the smile like suns.h.i.+ne, the high, strong cheekbones…

As to what she really said, he wasn't entirely sure. He only regained his senses after she moved on to the next patient.

[What did she say, again?] he asked Carrie, who sat beside him.

[Internal injuries. You need lots of rest. Try not to exert yourself for a week. I didn't quite understand the rest.] Carrie summarized. [Also there are other patients who need a place to rest for a few days.]

[What? How? Spike didn't hurt anyone… did he?]

[No, it was Lydia.]

[Lydia?? What did she do?]

[Some sort of magic surgery to free slaves, I think?]

Ah. Right. The newly freed slaves who just went through surgery would need some downtime too.

"So, let's go." Mindy said. Had she been there the whole time? Remian was half-surprised to see her there.

"Where are we going?" Remian asked.

"Where else? The Guild Hall is just about done. We saved you the entire fourth floor." Mindy told him. "It's supposed to be a super-deluxe suite for the Guild Master, but right now all it has is a big bed."

Remian tried to get up, but pain flared up all over his body. His entire back and neck felt terribly stiff. "Urghk…"

[Come on.] Carrie picked him up with her tail and hauled him off without asking.

She pa.s.sed him on to Max and Tim at the Guild Hall. The two of them put him on a stretcher and brought him up the new stairs.

"Tim? Max? What are you guys doing here?" Remian asked.

"Settling Marcus into a recovery room. Doctor's orders." Max answered. For a moment, he got distracted and b.u.mped into the stairway railing. "Oof!"

"Careful!" Tim warned.

"Recovery room? There's one here?" Remian blinked.

"Oh. Right. The Harvest Sun clan adventurers kind of… booked all the rooms in the first and second floor for their newly freed kids to recover. They paid with Points." Tim explained. "So when Phoebe said Marcus needed a place to recuperate too, Max figured we'd just put him up here with the rest of the patients. Like you."

"Ugh." Remian couldn't say anything against that. But then, he tried to get back to important issues. "Tim, we need to find out what's going on at the Craggy Falls Black Ruins. We should send human scouts, or Vigil…"

"I'll go take a look myself." Tim a.s.sured him.

"Charlie… is he still here? The exports…"

"I'll handle that. You can award me points for being the Guild quartermaster later." Max told him.

"Arnold needs to work on the XXL Ballista. Now that Spike's here with us, there's no telling what they'll send against us next…"

"He's already on it!"

"Buff can buy the cave, but we have to move the stuff here to the Guild…"

"The bas.e.m.e.nt is already prepared."

"The farming equipment we brought…"

"George already has them."

"We also got some books…"

"I'll put them to good use. Also, the Earth Magic book is in your room." Mindy chipped in.

"The Burning Steel Forge…"

"We'll help them build up the west side and set up their workshops and stuff." Max promised. "Look, we'll handle the new developments, you just get some rest."

"But…"

"Doctor's Orders!" Max said, and dumped him on his new bed.

***

They pretty much left Remian alone in his new room. Stuck there, barely able to lift his arms, Remian restlessly picked up the Earth Magic book and began to study.

This study soon locked in his entire concentration. He barely noticed when they brought him food.

Two days pa.s.sed before he could sit up unaided. That day, he was already Inscribing Earth scrolls. Two days later, he was back on his feet, though not for long and wobbly in his steps. By then, the Earth scrolls he Inscribed were Tier 2.

By the fifth day, Remian wobbled his way down the stairs to the main hall to catch up on what was happening.

He found Marcus there munching on steak grouchily. "Remian! These wolfcats of yours won't let me leave!"

"Why not?" Remian asked.

"Max told them not to. It's that girl you brought! The really pretty one! She's taking over everything, bossing everyone about!" Marcus complained.

"Sorry, can't help you there." Remian grimaced. "It seems I'm on sick leave myself."

That, and Marcus looked healthier and better rested today than he had in weeks. Say what you will about the doctor, a few days of rest had done Marcus a great deal of good.

Remian appreciated the downtime too. He had been able to really concentrate and study magic during these few days. He wouldn't be down here if he weren't restless and hankering for something other than fruit and vegetables for meals.

There was a new regular chef, now. With Tim running around spying on stuff all the time, there was a different boy earning most of his Points from cooking. His name was Aeren, and he was a young teenager from the High Rock clan. For a chef, Aeren was incredibly skinny, and he said that he always stayed skinny no matter how much he ate. On top of that, he had a huge appet.i.te. Remian couldn't make any sense of it, but his charbroiled T-bone Steak Portion was delicious.

By the sixth day, Remian felt up to taking a walk to the farm.

***

The Farm had grown explosively since the Harvest Sun clan sprung into action. Looking at it now, Remian felt pretty sure it was bigger than the town already. The Tier 1 and 2 Inscription materials took up only the nearest fields and pond. Farther ahead food crops stretched as far as the eye could see. No less than six farmhouses and accompanying structures dotted the landscape, two were near the Guild, others spread out across the distance.

Yet despite having numerous structures across the area, there was a unity and a wholeness to them all that said this was all one big Farm, not six different farms. Remian was almost stunned to see the swathes of clansmen working in the fields, the children running around, even…

Yes. There she was. Phoebe and Lydia were just done with a surgery at the sheltered porch of the nearest farmhouse, and were taking a short break. The children of the Harvest Sun clan were having cla.s.s taught by a clanswoman not too far off...

No, it wasn't like he'd come all this way here just to see her. Remian was here to inspect the farm and the progress of the Harvest Sun Clan. He was NOT here just to catch a glimpse of Phoebe! Really!

But since he was here anyway, and she was taking a break, Remian figured it wouldn't do any harm to go over and talk to her.

"So… how are things?" Remian asked, waving in greeting.

"Great!" Phoebe said. "You know…"

The rest of her words faded into a blur. She had this glow in her eyes, and a cute tilt to her head and shoulders when she spoke, and sometimes, she s.h.i.+fted her pose in an oddly alluring manner. She liked to gesture when she spoke, and if it was about something nearby, she'd turn and point…

Phoebe drew a Sigil. Light flared and then right in front of her, the entire field of flowers bloomed.

Wait. What?

"Nice." Remian watched the entire field of Gla.s.s Dandelions grow a couple of inches right before his eyes. A rather large, oversized bee in the field buzzed about in surprise at the thriving flowers.

With another dazzling smile, Phoebe turned and left to help Lydia with her next patient.

[What just happened?] the bee asked.

[I think she just casted Life Magic.] Remian wasn't sure he had his feet firmly on the ground just yet.

[Is that… going to happen more?] the bee asked, excitedly.

[Uh… sure?] Remian scratched his head. [I think she said something about teaching Life Magic to the farm clan…?]

[AWESOME!] the bee buzzed. [Say! Can we move here? Can we? Can we?!]

[Uh… sure?] Remian replied, not really thinking.

Fifteen minutes later, a huge swarm of Feelo-Wasps came to live at the Farm.