On the day of summer solstice, I woke up to the sounds of men grunting as they pulled the gargantuan palisade gates upright. A few more whacks of the hammer to drive in hinge pins and the men erupted in cheers. The palisade was finally finished.

  A pine-scented breeze brushed my face as I climbed it, patted shoulders, exchanged congratulations and gazed down at the valley floor.

  It wasn’t the lush, green vista spread out before me that caught my attention, but the faces of my people. The children laughed as they chased each other, while the adults wore peaceful smiles of contentment. They were still destitute and emaciated, their lives balanced on what they could fish, hunt and forage, and nothing beyond the ratty clothes on their backs to their names, but the sight of the crops and the palisade rapidly shooting up had kindled hope within every heart.

  I spent the day with the hunters and received lady luck’s blessings. We managed to bring down four mountain goats, which were slowly simmered. Everyone got a bowl of thick, rich stew with some meat in it, putting smiles on their faces.

  The day wasn't entirely pleasant, as the crotchety Elder Hyde found out about Aprilia and me. As the sun slowly marched towards the horizon, the people sang and danced merrily around fires lit around the palisade, while I sat next to Aprilia on a rough bench, enjoying my bowl of goat stew.

  “Why does your stew smell different?” she asked, her cute nose flaring.

  “I had it made specially. I’m sick of eating fish.”

  “You’re spoiled,” she smiled beautifully.

  Before I could respond, Hyde raised his voice from one of the bastions to address everyone.

  “My dear brethren,” he began, “we have survived a great ordeal and found a new home, a place to call our own. Words cannot express how happy I am to see your smiles and full bellies. We are finally free to practice our own ways without persecution, but…” he paused, sweeping his gaze around, “they are being corrupted, by someone who we put in a position of power and responsibility, no less! We trusted him to help our people, not turn them into swine. I'm talking about none other than our dear ‘Supreme Leader,’ Viscount Jack Nobart!”

  Viscount, huh? Using Jack's former title to make me the ‘other.’ Clever bastard.

  “He has turned one of our daughters into his personal whore! Do you really want a man like that leading you?” he almost shouted, his voice cracking.

  I had been listening to him calmly, but those words made my blood boil, and I couldn't stop myself from retaliating.

  “I will not stand mute as you insult my woman, Elder,” I growled at him.

  “See that? No respect—” he spat, but I didn't let him finish.

  “She came to me of her own volition,” I shouted him down, “and decided to stay with me by her own choice. I never coerced her into anything!”

  “None of that matters! No proper rites were performed!” He tried to match me in volume.

  Aah, a bargain-bin ultra-conservative. Force her all you want, just make sure to get our permission first.

  “Her parents agreed to our union. I made no threats to coerce them. Go ahead, ask them yourself.”

  “It does not matter! You violated our ways!”

  He looked at the people, almost pleading.

  Some of the heads nodded in support. Less than a third, but still enough to make my gut clench.

  “We have strong walls and warriors to protect our people now. We don't need this man anymore!”

  “So now that we've gotten everything we needed out of him, just throw him away?” Lothar asked him in a tone that made it clear what he thought of the Elder’s plans.

  That gave the old coot and his supporters pause.

  I could've gone on the offensive, but even through my anger I could see he was in no mood to reason; it was all feelings. I recalled what I knew of his past, and felt some sympathy for him. It wasn’t just hatred that drove him, but grief.

  “Elder,” I called to him gently, “Aprilia has not suffered the same fate as your daughters.” I gestured toward her. “Look at her and tell me with a straight face that she is unhappy or enslaved.”

  She gave him a radiant smile.

  It knocked the wind right out of him. I could see his lips tremble.

  “She was not snatched away from her home, but came to me willingly, with the blessing of her parents. I would have married her if I didn’t have a compelling reason. I'm keeping myself officially single to entice Nanon into an alliance via marriage, if they ever decide to subjugate us at any cost.” I explained.

  His anger swelled up again. “Why would we want an alliance with Nanon?”

  I almost slapped my head. I really needed to learn when to shut my trap.

  “Because our people number in the thousands, while theirs in millions! They could spit at us and we would drown.”

  “So the weapons you keep boasting about are useless?” he said, with a triumphant smile.

  “No, but even if those weapons could make each of our soldiers worth ten of theirs, they could still drown us in bodies. They’re just that big, and we’re just that small. The best way to preserve the lives of our people is to not engage in a war. That is what I am trying to achieve.”

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  I looked around, and even his supporters looked chastened. Sensing the change in mood, he huffed and left the bastion, and the tension finally fizzled away. I let out a sigh and tried to walk away, before Aprilia pulled me into a hug. I let her embrace distract me from what he might be planning next.

  Once the celebration ended, I lay alone on top of my bastion. The stars were sharp and cold, the air full of smoke and pine.

  For the first time since my arrival in this world, we were safe and well-fed enough to think beyond survival. I tried to recall the next steps. No matter the place and time, people banded together to establish a settlement and eventually civilizations for three main goals: security, well-being and prosperity.

  We were finally secure, if only barely. Next came well-being.

  For a people so destitute, any food, any type of clothing and any form of shelter would count as well-being, but I wanted more for them. Proper nutrition, warm clothes, medicine that wasn’t just herbs and prayer, and a well-planned city with houses featuring running water and indoor plumbing.

  Achieving prosperity, on the other hand was going to be a much bigger and much more difficult challenge. Since I didn't have all the knowledge humanity accumulated over centuries locked up in my mind, we would have to re-run both the scientific and industrial revolutions if we were to ever produce medicines to cure deadly diseases and reduce the high infant mortality rate that kept humanity shackled.

  Fuck my life.

  Still, I at least knew where to start. The seeds of prosperity were always the same:

  First, invest in children. Provide each of them with high quality food, upbringing and education. Teach them to read, count, think, question. Nurture their talents and provide them opportunities to excel in a field they are interested in, they are skilled at and that which brings value to society.

  Second, establish sensible and predictable laws and institutions that can resolve conflicts, not let the rich, the well connected and the flatterers push aside or steal from the skilled and the honest. That would let the worthy work without interruption.

  Get those two right, and eventually you would have motivated and skilled craftsmen, scholars, inventors; people who can think past the next harvest. If you’re lucky, you would accumulate enough money that you could spend it without worrying about an immediate return on investment. Put it in ventures such as research in medicine, materials, energy, transportation, and the successes would finally push society forward, and make life more than just a struggle for survival.

  The fact that we didn't have enough people, nor would I be alive to see this project to fruition dampened my mood. But someone had to plant the damn seed, even if they’d be long dead before it sprouted.

  Aprilia, ever attentive, came up and sat next to me.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

  “Hmm?”

  “Elder Hyde didn’t get to you, did he?”

  “No, baby. I'm just a worrier.” I forced a smile. “I’m sorry about what he said about you. I’d retaliate, but for all his bluster, he’s as thin as a reed and would crumple at the lightest punch.”

  “I knew some people would say that, and I still chose you. You don’t need to protect me from words. So, what’s really eating you?”

  “I was thinking of what great things we could achieve, if only we had more people.”

  She pecked me on the cheek. “You worry too much. You saw how happy the people were when only a few months ago they were sure they were going to die of starvation. They are happy not just because they have food in their bellies, but because they have hope. This palisade and those armed soldiers are proof that our future can, no, will be better. You brought us that hope.” She insisted.

  “I know. Intellectually, I know, but my mind just cannot stop worrying. We could have a much brighter future... if only there were more of us.”

  “And wouldn't that have come with its own set of problems?”

  “Yes.”

  “Such as?”

  “Crime and lack of resources. We are barely scraping by as it is.”

  “So it's not so bad, see?”

  “Yes, mother.”

  She smacked me playfully and pulled me up to dance. Her warmth was just the balm I needed.

  ──────── ??? ────────

  Morning sunlight spilled through the gaps in the planks, as Aprilia stretched across my chest, tracing circles on my skin.

  “So,” she murmured, “now that the palisade is complete, what new project will you embark upon, Oh Great Messiah!”

  “Messiah?”

  “You told the Elders you were blessed by God, right?”

  “Yes. Why did they accept that claim so readily?”

  “You did come back from the brink of death within a week, and you saved our people when no one else would. Did you actually meet God?”

  “God, or whatever he was, but yes, I did.”

  “Really?” She asked, eyes as large as dinner plates.

  I contemplated telling her the whole truth, but it wasn't the right time. We hadn't been together for long enough.

  “Yes.” I said simply.

  “So you were the miracle sent to save us. Holy shi… maybe I shouldn't be swearing in front of you.” She bit her lip. “So what is your great next project, Your Holiness?”

  “I'll tell you if you worship me like a good little supplicant.” My eyes drifted meaningfully downward.

  A sly smile crept upon her face as she slid down to obey.

  “A school,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “We need to start educating every child from the age of five to fifteen in language, science, mathematics, fu—” I hissed as Aprilia performed her duty with exceptional diligence. “geography and history. Since you are such a diligent student, I think I will enroll you as well.”

  She freed her mouth and scowled at me. “I'm not sitting with the children.”

  “Of course not. Please continue,” I begged. “You will be my secretary. Helping me set up the school, its curriculum and its management. We can also have some... private lessons.”

  “What kind of lessons?” she teased.

  “Well, a boss might have to teach his innocent secretary about the birds and the bees... or the frustrated aid might have to instruct her clueless boss about HR policies.”

  “HR?”

  “Human relations.”

  She gave me a sly smile and went back to her duty.

  ──────── ??? ────────

  To the southeast of the valley the Cha now called home, Castle Nobart stood proudly upon its hill. It was a stout fortress and the seat of the Count of Nobart. A formidable twelve meters tall structure of gray stone, it might not have rivaled the castles of the south in grandeur, but it commanded a view none could match.

  In the shadow of this colossus, its master, Count Zock, was slinking through the alleys of the castle town like some common thug. He kept to the shadows, avoiding anyone who might recognize him.

  He stopped at a nondescript door, and knocked a precise number of times in a precise rhythm. The door opened a crack, and an eye peered out. After a pause, it creaked wider, the wood screaming as it scraped across the rough stone floor. Zock slipped inside the dimly lit room and the door was promptly shut behind him.

  He looked around to confirm that the man who had opened the door was the room’s only occupant.

  “My lord,” the man said, bowing.

  “Sir Sigmar,” Zock greeted the well-built middle-aged man. “I have been told that you can be counted on for discretion.”

  “I would not be alive otherwise, my lord,” Sigmar replied evenly.

  “Good. Let’s get to business. A caravan was recently attacked by a large brigand party in my lands. Among the travelers was a noble who was carrying an item... from an acquaintance of mine. That item was very dear to him and must be recovered at any cost.”

  “May I ask what it is, my lord?”

  “A letter, with a curious mark at the bottom. This is what it looks like.” He showed a piece of parchment to Sigmar. There was a diagonal cross drawn on it, with dots inside each quadrant. The upper arms were curved upward, like the horns of an ox.

  “Thank you. Would you happen to know the current location or bearing of this brigand group?” Sigmar inquired.

  “They are currently fleeing towards the border. I believe they have a hideout on the other side of the Treacherous Bog.”

  “My men will be upon them within a fortnight,” Sigmar told him, “but the letter might be lost. I doubt brigands, no matter how skilled, know how to read.”

  “Confirm that it has been destroyed, then.” He took out a heavy pouch and placed it in Sigmar’s large callused palm.

  “I will send a man of mine with you. Do not fail me, and keep the existence of this letter to yourself, above everything else.”

  “It will be done, my lord.” Sigmar replied, as Zock left the building with the same haste he had entered it.

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