Rud & Mint sat around a fire the next morning. He watched as Mint turned a spit over the fire. The meat roasting over the fire looked suspiciously like a wolf’s leg, but he wouldn’t say anything. Nature could be that way sometimes, and he had to accept that not everything would be so straightforward. She produced a knife, cutting strips of the meat off and serving it to the druid.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Mint said, picking up the entire leg and taking a chunk off. Rud couldn’t understand how she was more frightening in her human form than her wolf form. “This is part of nature.”

  Rud looked up at the tree for reassurance. He felt a wave of confirmation and shrugged, taking a bite. It was gamey and greasy, but it hit the spot. They ate their breakfast with more of the sweet citrus tea that Mint brewed, and plenty of mushrooms. Any guilt he felt for the dead wolf was gone by the time he finished his first bite, and filed away as absurd after his third piece of meat.

  “What’s on the agenda, little man?” Mint asked.

  “How are your energy levels, Ban?” Rud asked, looking up at the tree. It seemed impolite not to look at her, even if she didn’t have eyes to look at.

  “They’re fine. I’ll work on a new building after you contact the mortals.”

  So even Ban was ready for him to pull the bandaid off. He nodded, popping the last cooked mushroom into his mouth. “At least I have something to show. I can cast Plant Growth twice with my increased mana.”

  Before heading to bed last night, Rud had spent his free point on the Mind attribute, bringing it to 8. Mana scaled directly with Mind, meaning that he now had 90 mana. He inspected his attribute sheet as Ban and Mint commented on how impressed they were.

  [Rud]

  Main Class:

  Rank 0 Level 2 Druid

  Subclass:

  Rank 0 Level 1 Grove Custodian

  Attributes:

  Health: 56

  Mana: 90

  Strength: 2

  Agility: 3

  Vigor: 5

  Mind: 8

  Affinity: 7

  Titles:

  [Keeper of the Gladesbale Grove]

  Only a few things had changed. Grove Custodian showed up on the screen, his Mind increased by one point, and his Mana had gone up five points. Rud was happy with his growth, and intended to build himself to best support the grove.

  “A caster-style druid would be great,” Mint said with a nod.

  “There are many utility spells he can learn,” Ban agreed. “We would be lucky to have a master user of druidic magic in the grove.”

  Rud soaked in the praise. Mint dashed off without finishing the leg of the wolf, vanishing into the forest to attend to whatever crisis called her. The druid stood, looking off into the underbrush and hesitating. He felt a push of warm energy from the tree, and forged a path through the Thicket Travel upgrade. A step later, he was standing near the field of stumps. The two men who were standing watch in the area were still there. Waiting for him to return. He hesitated.

  “I am with you, little one,” Mint said, somewhere nearby. Rud couldn’t spot her, but he supposed that was the point.

  “Thanks,” he whispered.

  Rud pushed out into the field of stumps, allowing the branches to crack under his feet. The two men shot upright, hoisting spears and holding them out. The druid held his arms wide, trying to smile but looking more like an awkward lopsided sneer.

  “I come in peace,” Rud said before chuckling nervously.

  “Get the commander,” one said, swallowing hard. “Before I mess this up.”

  “Better you than me,” the other said, dashing off.

  “Greetings, forest spirit,” the first guard said, looking back nervously as his friend departed. “You speak the common tongue.”

  “Of course,” Rud said, standing awkwardly with his arms out. “What’s up?”

  The guard chuckled nervously, looking around for support. But he was alone. “Please, great spirit. Wait for my commander to return—I don’t want to offend you.”

  “Fair enough,” Rud said, dropping his arms to the side. “Hope you don’t mind if I work while we wait.”

  The guard offered a deep bow. “Of course not, great spirit.”

  Rud cleared his throat, approaching one sapling that was having trouble taking root. He cradled the two-foot-high plant in his hands and invoked the Plant Growth spell. Green energy swirled from his palms, soaking into the plant. The guard gasped, then politely clapped. The plant shot up, transforming from a tiny sapling with wilting leaves to a young tree. He performed the act again, draining his mana and sending his head spinning. The druid found a stump to sit on, withdrawing a handful of nuts from within his coat.

  “He’s a bit awkward, isn’t he?” Ban asked.

  Rud looked up from the delicious food in his hand, noticing how the guard watched him with an intense look. “Yeah, not sure what his deal is,” he said. When the words came out, the guard went stiff.

  “Good to know he doesn’t speak the language of the spirits. Mint is there, right?”

  Mint was somewhere nearby, but Rud didn’t know where. He assumed she would keep a close eye on him. “Yep. Somewhere back there.”

  The wait was longer than Rud had expected. This section of clearcut forest must have been a trek from their camp. From what Rud understood, they hadn’t settled north of the lake. They were in the south, and he did not know how distant that was. The druid kicked his feet, growing bored with the wait. The merciful sound of feet crunching against sticks came from the distance and the cat-lady came into view shortly after.

  Rud pushed himself off the log, standing at attention. He felt Mint tense up somewhere. Or maybe that was Ban tensing up from Mint’s actions. It was hard to say. The brown-haired cat woman, who was only slightly more human than cat, approached. Her simple clothes betrayed her station as a commander, but it was a fact the druid appreciated. He didn’t appreciate when she threw herself to the ground, placing her palms flat down on the ground.

  “Great spirit of the forest,” she said, her forehead pressed to the ground. “Please forgive us for desecrating your land. We weren’t aware there was a Sacred Grove nearby. My people will withdraw immediately.”

  “Woah, woah,” Rud said, holding his hands up. “Let’s not be too hasty. Introductions first. I’m Rud. And you are?”

  “Mira,” she said, still not meeting his gaze. “It is an honor to know your name.”

  “Let’s all just stand up and stop worshiping the Talen Por.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  One guard giggled. The other dug his elbow into the first’s ribs.

  “We haven’t offended you?” Mira asked.

  “Not as far as I know. Gladesbale Grove is new. Established after this forest was… removed,” Rud said. He didn’t like when Mira rose to meet his gaze. Even hunched low, she was taller than him. “As the keeper of this grove, I’m happy to allow you access to as many trees as you need. So long as they are not beyond my barrier.”

  Mira’s eyes shot to the piles of stone. She nodded. “My men noticed those. But great spirit… that is far too generous.”

  “So I have spoken!” Rud said, throwing his arms into the air and his head back. Both guards jumped, unsure whether they should fight or run. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, I got excited. Could you like… stand up. Or come sit on a log so we can talk like normal people?”

  Mira shared a look with her men, brows knit tightly. One shrugged and the other had a look of fear on his face. “Certainly,” she said after too long of a time. She stood, crossing the distance between them. Seeing a full-sized mortal near the stumps made Rud realize how young these trees were.

  “You’ve been harvesting small trees,” Rud said, jumping to sit on one stump.

  “Every tree has a purpose,” Mira said, finding her own stump.

  “I’ll cut right to it. I can grow this forest for you. Might not be instant, but I can do it. But in return, I need a favor.”

  Mira looked positively excited about that. “Certainly.”

  “I need mortals to help with the local monster population. I’ve got some dungeons, and they’re getting to be a real pain in the butt.”

  Once again, Mira looked over to her companions. She looked back at Rud and shook her head. “The expedition has encountered very few monsters. Let alone dungeons.”

  “Good news! Or bad news, I don’t know how this works. There are dungeons north of the grove. Spirits cannot enter them. So, I need the help of your people.”

  A kind smile crept onto Mira’s face. She looked like a toddler about to pet a puppy. Or a predator ready to pounce. There was something in that smile he couldn’t place. “I need to talk to someone about this. But I think we can reach an agreement.”

  “Perfect,” Rud said, pushing himself off the log. “Come with me.”

  Mira had a look on her face saying that she would rather do almost anything than approach the forest. So there was some amount of superstition that came with these magical forests. Fair enough. She followed behind him in time. The druid retrieved rocks from the big rock pile and created a simple structure. He left a hole in the center, deep enough to protect anything within from errant rainfall.

  Rud cleared his throat. “You can leave notes here,” he said, gesturing to the makeshift mailbox. “If you leave some writing supplies, I can leave notes too.”

  Mira looked between the mailbox and the short, thin, freckled young man before her. As a mountain lion person, she couldn’t have been that amazed. Could she?

  “You’re not like the other spirit I’ve met. Bent back in Sparwyn. Do you know of him? The stag spirit?”

  “Know of him? I’ve met the guy!”

  “Surely not,” Mira said, shaking her head. “That’s on the other side of the world.”

  “Distance means little to a great spirit.” Rud assumed a heroic pose. Mira clapped politely.

  Mira paused for a long moment after exactly three claps. She rubbed her thumb over her spear, blinking a few times before forming a response. “This is acceptable, Rud. And I see you’ve already started working on regrowing the forest.”

  “Indeed. I’ve made some progress, but it might take me a while.”

  The thing that surprised Rud most of all was how cooperative Mira was being. He had been told she would work with the grove system. But to see the level of reverence that woman had for it was astonishing. Nothing like this would happen back on Earth. Not in his experience anyway.

  Mira seemed to appreciate the mailbox and the open invitation to leave messages there. Rud felt the unspoken threat about cutting into the woods beyond the rock piles hanging in the air, but something unsettled her beyond that. The silence that lingered in the air was proof enough, but she spoke on the matter.

  “Dungeons are scarce enough in this region,” Mira said, bending to meet Rud at eye-level.

  “Ah. We may have under-sold the dungeons,” Ban said, speaking into Rud’s mind.

  “I’m not certain you understand the value of one. No offense meant, great spirit.”

  So she was worried about hurting his ego. Perhaps if Mint had expressed the value of a dungeon, he wouldn’t be in this position. But he wasn’t negotiating with a client for a contract renewal. He was forming a partnership between the grove and the mortals on the other side of the lake.

  “What do you suggest?” Rud asked, keeping it simple. If Mira wanted to guide their negotiations, she could have at it.

  “As I said, I need to speak with my people. You see my people getting rid of the dungeons as payment for the wood. Access to those dungeons, through your grove I assume, would have us paying you.”

  Rud hummed, scratching his furry chin. “I need crystal fragments more than anything.”

  Mira reached out, tugging at the clothes that barely covered Rud’s body. “Perhaps you could use some new clothes? We could cart our traders over here, maybe.”

  Rud turned to the forest, looking for Mint’s approval. He was surprised to see that she too could speak into his mind. “Trade will be necessary as we advance,” she said. “Don’t invite them in yet. Offer it as a future option.”

  “I agree,” Ban said. Rud felt a wave of comforting warmth from his Sacred Tree.

  Mira watched as Rud looked back at the forest, a puzzled look flashing across her face.

  “Fragments are fine for now,” Rud said, turning back and smiling at the woman. “Do the mortals produce clothes better than this?”

  “Far better than that,” Mira said, frowning. “You look like a wild man.”

  “I am a wild little Talen Por man.”

  “Still… That’s fine. Let me talk with my people about this. They’ll want proper contracts drawn up that recognize the grove as a sacred space.”

  “I told you Sparwyn respects the Sacred Groves,” Mint said, laughing into Rud’s mind.

  “This is acceptable. Thank you, Mira.”

  Mira touched her forehead, then bowed her head. Rud mimicked the action, which got a giggle out of her.

  “I’ll leave you a letter if I don’t see you,” Mira said, rising to her feet and waving down at the druid. “I hope we can do great things together, Keeper.”

  “As do I,” Rud said, turning on the spot. He ambled into a bush and vanished, reappearing near the Sacred Tree. He looked up at Ban, releasing one long warbling shout to release the tension. “Much better. Did I do good boss?”

  “You did great!” Ban said. That put a smile on Rud’s face.

  That wasn’t the best negotiation ever conducted by a person, beastfolk or otherwise. It felt more like fumbling in the dark without the facts. If Rud had known the dungeons were a valuable thing to the mortals, he would have led with that. He didn’t know the value of lumber against fragments, or what dungeons generated that were so valuable. He had no cards to put on the table and relied on the good graces of the people of Sparwyn.

  “Good thing they have a thing for the groves,” Rud muttered. “That could have ended poorly.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Mint said, appearing through the brush. “I’ve heard of custodians doing way worse than that during first contact. Bent’s first custodian bungled a whole bunch of stuff. But that was a long time ago. He’s powerful now, and enshrined near the capital of Sparwyn.”

  “We can only hope to rise to such power one day,” Ban said. She released another comforting wave of warmth which sent Rud’s hair standing on end. “For now, we’ll claw at every scrap we can find.”

  Rud was just glad it was over. The Sacred Tree’s attention seemed to drift elsewhere as he found a soft patch of ground to lay on. He looked back at his pathetic hut and blew out a breath before turning his eyes to the boughs above. Mint padded over, remaining in her wolf form as she sat next to him. He drifted off to sleep a few times, finding that the wolf was gone when he woke. Deciding it was better to wander around than nap the day away, he rose and headed off into the forest.

  The stream that Rud had discovered in the northwest section of the grove snaked northward. Rud followed it, confident that he understood where the grove’s border was. The source for that steam was either the mountains to the north or some spring he wasn’t aware of. But as he pushed a straight path along the bank, his bare feet getting wet in the process, he came upon scattered pools of water. The stream emptied from a hill into a small marsh. It occupied an area smaller than the clearing the Sacred Tree had. But there was an interesting feature he didn’t expect.

  “Big mushrooms,” Rud said, looking upon a grove of familiar, if not giant mushrooms. The forest stirred behind him, and Mint emerged.

  “They’ll keep growing if we don’t prune them,” she said. “The big ones taste horrible. Not poisonous. I don’t think.”

  Rud’s thoughts centered squarely on an image he had drawn up back in the office on Earth. A little doodle man traipsing around the forest, living in a mushroom house and resting by a quaint fire. He fidgeted with his hands, suddenly finding a great need for a cute red and white mushroom house.

  “Should we remove them?” Rud asked.

  “You should. I’m not made for manual labor.”

  Even in her wolf form, Mint was larger than Rud by a longshot. He gave her a flat look then shook his head. “Get me something sharp and I’ll get rid of them.”

  Mint nodded. “I saw some tools just outside of the grove.” She vanished without saying another word.

  The smallest of these giant mushrooms was about two humans tall. The largest within the swampy area had floor space large enough for four humans to lay end-to-end. Rud didn’t know how he was going to preserve the mushrooms after, but he didn’t care. He turned to step through a bush, focusing his destination on the Sacred Tree. He emerged and the tools were already waiting for him. The druid prepared his Plant Growth spell as he approached a mushroom near the clearing’s edge.