“Ew.”

  “Is it supposed to smell like that?”

  “Gross.”

  Elijah nearly rolled his eyes at the kids’ reactions to his yeast colony. Admittedly, it had grown a bit out of control over the past few days, but ultimately, the result was predictable. Still, he hadn’t been prepared for an entire cask of the stuff. And the children were similarly unprepared for the slimy look and sour smell.

  One of the older kids even remarked that it was a waste of good grove fruits.

  “You don’t understand,” Elijah insisted. “We can do so much with this.”

  “Like what?” asked one of the elven children.

  “We could make bread, for one. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten fresh sourdough,” he said. “I’ll find a good Baker in Ironshore, and you’ll see.”

  Of course, that wasn’t Elijah’s real plan for the yeast. He could spare some, especially since so much had grown, but what he really wanted was to use it to make mead.

  With the children’s help, he then strained the liquid into another cask before discarding the leftover fruit. Nerthus would probably use it for compost. The yeast itself was suspended in that liquid, though Elijah added a bit of honey to keep it growing.

  It was the fifth such cask he’d made, and by this point, he was more than ready to get started on making mead. If only to distract himself from the fate of his friends and family. After all, they hadn’t had time yet to return, though he could feel the members of the grove growing closer by the day.

  From what he could tell, they were making good time, but without much in the way of context, he couldn’t really tell how far they had yet to go. With that in mind, he chose to rely on the illythiri messenger’s estimate that it would be weeks yet before they returned to the surface.

  In the past few days, Elijah had heard back from Benedict, who urged him to hurry but made it clear that he’d fought the asharii to a stalemate. He obviously needed help, but not so urgently that Elijah needed to drop everything to lend aid.

  Or maybe that was just an excuse he was telling himself to justify the delay. Self-realization aside, Elijah had internalized it. Hopefully, Benedict would hold on until Elijah could get to Benediction.

  In any case, he quickly moved on to the next step of the mead-making process, which was to gather everything he would need. The casks were easy. There was a Hooper in town that Elijah had used before, and he was more than happy to build as many barrels as needed. Elijah had settled on twenty to start, though if the mead turned out like he wanted, he intended to expand his operation considerably.

  For now, five of those barrels would contain the mead itself, while the others were meant for water taken from the stream and purified by Biggle. Sourcing everything from the grove would only make the end result that much more powerful.

  Once the water had been heated – not to a boil, which would kill the bacteria – Elijah added the honey Nerthus and the children had harvested from the grove’s apiary. And considering that the recipe required three pounds per gallon of water, Elijah was pouring for quite a while.

  After that, he stirred the mixture until the honey had dissolved into the warm water. The children had long since scampered off to their lessons with Nara, so as Elijah waited for the must – the term for the mixture of honey and water – to cool, he was all alone with his thoughts.

  They inevitably veered toward the Primal Realm near Benediction. He had no idea what to expect from the Labyrinth of Dead Gods, but he had a hard time believing it would be more difficult than the Broken Crown. However, the knowledge that the latter was meant to represent a dragon’s might suggested that the former would take a different path altogether.

  What form that might take was anyone’s guess, but the djinn were supposed to have been powerful mages. Elijah’s only experience with that kind of thing was in the Desolate Reach, and he suspected that the challenge of the Labyrinth of Dead Gods would far exceed that simple task.

  In addition, he wondered about the other unconquered Primal Realms. The angel-focused realm was somewhere out to sea, though Elijah hadn’t learned much more than that. Someone had also discovered the location of the sphinx realm, but they were keeping a lid on that, too.

  Justice and knowledge. They were both such abstract concepts, and to the point that Elijah had no real idea what conquering them might require.

  Either way, the fact that the people who’d found their locations had hidden their discoveries didn’t bode well. Hopefully, his new allies might shine some light on that subject. Otherwise, he would need to do it himself, which was not an attractive option. He didn’t mind flexing his muscles, but he was well aware that every time he went down that route, it would make accomplishing his other goals that much more difficult.

  Breeding resentment was the least of the consequences. He had been reminded of that during his recent issues in Seattle. He hadn’t set out to kill Desdemona Charontis’ children, and in fact, he still believed he was justified in the actions he had taken. But the fact remained that he’d unintentionally made of her a sworn enemy who would stop at nothing to see him brought low.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Justification didn’t mean much to a mother who’d lost her children, after all. Reason made even less of a difference. She wanted vengeance, and she’d enacted a plan to get it. That it had failed wasn’t the point because it wasn’t difficult to imagine a scenario where the next one was more successful.

  And there would be a next one.

  Elijah knew that, with his power, with his influence, there would always be enemies out there. He just needed to be ready. And more than that, he needed to take whatever steps were necessary to minimize their numbers. If not for his survival, then for his peace of mind.

  And the next one might not be content with targeting him. They might decide to go after his friends. His family. His grove or its residents. Elijah didn’t want to think about the dark places he would go if that happened.

  Or the terrible things he would do to anyone who chose that route.

  Those pessimistic thoughts accompanied him for the next week as he settled in to play the waiting game, both for the mead to ferment and for Sadie and the others to return. To distract himself, he began preparations for what came after. The last foray into a Primal Realm had seriously cut into his supplies, and he knew it would be worse now that his appetite had increased. With that in mind, he went to Ironshore and set out to find the best Baker in the city.

  As it turned out, that title belonged to a couple of dwarves who operated a storefront very near the city’s center. The moment Elijah ventured within a block of the place, he knew he’d chosen wisely. The smell of baking bread wafted through the streets, begging him to visit.

  He had no issues giving in to its call.

  When he entered the store, he saw a familiar setup that reminded him of a hundred other bakeries he’d visited over the years. Elijah quickly found himself studying a rack of sourdough bread. Each perfectly formed loaf was dusted with flour, with a crispy crust and a chewy center.

  There were other offerings as well. Mostly pastries and cakes, but a few pies too. In short, the setting was heavenly, and it prompted Elijah to wonder why he’d never visited before.

  Of course, that only lasted a few moments until he realized that the customers inside had noticed his arrival. He could feel their discomfort, though they did pay him the courtesy of trying to hide it.

  Maybe he should have sent someone else. One of the older children would have jumped at the chance.

  But it didn’t take long before Elijah pushed that thought aside. He wouldn’t hide away in his grove like some hermit. Ironshore wasn’t home, but it was close enough. He’d fought and bled for these people. The least they could do was accept his presence without staring at him like some old-school circus attraction.

  Buoyed by that resolution, he took his place in line. It progressed quickly, courtesy of the efficient clerk – a fresh-faced dwarven girl with vivid red hair. Her eyes widened when Elijah reached the counter, but she hid her surprise almost immediately.

  “What can I get you?” she asked, her high-pitched voice cracking in the middle of the question.

  Elijah took that opportunity to order a dozen fruit-filled pastries, a pie, and a few loaves of bread – all for the kids. However, he hadn’t come for that. Instead, he asked, “Can I speak to the Bakers? I have a business proposition for them.”

  She glanced around like she had no idea what to say, but thankfully, she was saved by someone coming from the back. Elijah had already felt them coming, so he was unsurprised when the woman introduced herself as Dorei, one of the owners. And apparently, the girl’s mother.

  “Come with me, Mr. Hart,” the dwarven woman invited, and it wasn’t just so they could speak in private. Elijah’s presence would obviously affect business.

  He followed her into the back, and it wasn’t long before he was inside a cozy-looking office. During the walk back, Elijah got a good look at the Baker. Like her daughter, she was blessed with thick, auburn hair that complemented her sturdy features quite well. She wasn’t quite matronly, but Elijah would have been more comfortable referring to her as handsome than beautiful.

  It was a characteristic of dwarves, who favored blunt facial features.

  In any case, the woman had a bit of flour on her cheek, and her hands looked incredibly strong. She planted herself in a cushy chair, inviting Elijah to sit as well. He took a seat across from her.

  “Can I offer you anything? I hear you have a preference for coffee,” she revealed.

  Elijah took her up on that offer, and soon enough, another redheaded child entered with a pair of steaming mugs. When Elijah took a sip, he was mildly surprised at how good it was. He said as much, to which Dorei replied with a laugh, saying, “It better be. It costs enough!”

  Elijah chuckled along good-naturedly before she asked why he’d come. “I suspect it wasn’t for my coffee or to buy a couple of pies.”

  “I have a proposition for you,” he said, retrieving a small jar from his Arcane Loop. He handed it over, asking, “Do you know what that is?”

  “Yeast.”

  “Beyond that.”

  “Incredibly energetic yeast,” she elaborated. “How much do you want for it?”

  “Nothing,” Elijah answered. He then retrieved one of his grove fruits from his spatial storage and tossed it in her direction. “I want you to make pastries. Lots and lots of pastries.”

  The reality was that Elijah was tired of populating his ring with only savory foods. They were fine. They relieved his hunger. But he’d always had a bit of a sweet tooth, and on top of that, he believed that if all the ingredients came from his grove, the end product would be that much more satisfying.

  With that in mind, he laid it all out. The Baker would receive the yeast starter, while Elijah would get enough pastries to fill half his storage space.

  “All the same type?” she asked.

  Elijah shrugged. “Pretty much. Unless you can think of another way to use the grove fruits. Make a pie, I guess. But pastries are best because they can be eaten on the move.”

  Given how quickly she agreed to the deal, Elijah suspected that the yeast was far more potent – in terms of vitality and ethera – than he’d previous supposed. Or maybe his context was just skewed. Either way, it wasn’t long before they came to an agreement, and Dorei promised to have everything ready within a week.

  After that, Elijah headed out to visit his favorite Cooks in the city, where he commissioned his normal orders of savory foods. However, before he could finish his task, he felt someone familiar arrive via the Spires. Immediately, he dropped what he was doing and left the restaurant. In only a second, he was in the air and shifting into the Shape of the Sky to race across the city.

  He landed outside the Conclave Compound soon after.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, stepping through the gate.

  Hu Shui smiled. “Perhaps I only wanted to visit this fine city. Ironshore is a very desirable destination for many.”

  “Is that why you’re here? Just to visit?”

  “No. I came to speak to you, of course. But I’d prefer to do it in private,” said the martial space mage. “I have a room prepared in this very compound, if it pleases you.”

  “Fine,” Elijah said. He didn’t dislike Hu Shui, but he didn’t trust him, either. Regardless, he couldn’t ignore the man who held the world’s teleportation system in the palm of his hand.

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