[Post here first] Northern Mountain Range

Sangilak cocked her head amused. "Well, you're on the northern edge, so if you want to avoid our lands you'd want to go anywhere but south. But in any case that's not necessary. We're a hospitable people, wich is probably why we get so many invaders. Sheesh."

She looked over at her handiwork, the large boulders. "Oh, that was a powerful earth spell. See the people in my clan, the Saskatoon clan, tend to have a strong connection with the earth itself. Stone, soil, the roots of plants, we share a kinship with these things. Not to brag but, I've been told I'm somewhat above average in that regard. Still, you seem like a decent enough person, and a mage. If you're willing to help me rebuild some of these villages, maybe I can teach it to you."

"Alright. Come with me!" Sangilak invited Zagarus to climb on her mount. Together they would ride through the rocky mountain terrain to the first village.

There were a number of issues:

The farms had been trampled by the beast.

There were injured people.

Several houses had been damaged or destroyed.

Big useless piles of rock were obstructing people's property.

Zagarus was invited to address any (or all) of these problems in whatever way he saw fit, using either his knowledge, physical strength, or magic.

Sangilak was pleased by how willing Zagarus was to help out, and together they were able to completely renovate the first village.

"Alright. I'd say that's worth a few lessons!"

Sangilak taught Zagarus the basics of earth magic. She started by showing him several exercises and stances which would allow the user to feel closer to the earth. The more one practiced these stances the more easily one would be able to resonate one's magic with the will of the earth. Since Zagarus was already an experienced mage, this would probably be the most difficult and important lesson; subsequent lessons would be much easier.

After a good night's rest, Sangilak would have them move on to the second village.

The second village had already received medical treatment, and so everyone was ok. But there were still some problems.

"Same deal as last time. Using whatever skills you have, help out as much as you can."

An old man had lost his prized yak. (It was stuck in a ravine, frightened there by the commotion.)

The local bridge had been destroyed.

Several children were traumatized and refused to leave their bedrooms.

The sheep and goat fences were destroyed, and the farmers needed help rounding the animals back up.

The fences themselves needed fixing.

Once again, Zagarus was allowed to whatever resources he had in order to help the villagers. He did not have to succeed in all the tasks, but the more he succeeded at the more Sangilak would like him. He definitely needed to accomplish at least one.

Sangilak gave Zagarus a pleased grip on the shoulder. He had done is best and was pulling his weight. He had earned his next lesson.

"Ok, so, this next part is a bit hard to explain. Once you feel connected to the earth, you need to harmonize your mana with it. The earth has its own spirit, its own mana field, if you will. And you need to intersperse yours with its. You can't just force your mana into the earth, it has to let you in. It's like, it's like you're gaining its trust so to speak. Having a large mana pool definitely helps, but it also takes the right attitude towards the earth."

Sangilak would demonstrate by allowing her mana to flow into the ground around her. She would stretch out her palms and then raise them, causing large clumps of earth to come out of the earth. Then she would tighten her palms into a fist, causing the earth to become concentrated into tight little spheres. Then she would hurl the spheres at another boulder. Surprisingly the boulder would crack. She'd carefully place the earth back into its original source.

"I'm not sure what your learning style is when it comes to magic. If you're more of an intellectual, like most wizards, you might take pleasure in reading about different kinds of soil, minerals, and elements and their various properties, as well as geological processes. It doesn't have to be a strictly intuitive or emotional endeavor. What matters the most is the fact that you show your respect for the earth in some way. And of course, practice. Having a stubborn personality helps too. I find the earth is a rather stubborn entity sometimes."

They would continue training for several hours, until finally they needed to rest. Sangilak would start to ask various inquiries about Zagarus and his life. Where was he from? Did he have a family? How did he start learning magic? She was starting to like the guy, regardless of his answers.

***

By the time they woke up the next night and made it to the third and final village, everything would be mostly in order. The rest of Sangilak's forces would have taken care of most of the work. There were however still some tasks which needed to be done. Again, Zagarus did not have to be successful in all of them:

One of the wealthier families had lost a prized statue of Va'nei the Earthwarden. They wanted either a replacement or to be compensated somehow; they were arguing with the local militia.

Some of the young people wanted free magic lessons (in an element other than Earth) since the Guardian Tower was a bit far for them and they didn't want to leave their farms. They wanted to be more useful in case of another attack.

An old warrior had been killed in battle. His body was already buried. It was tradition for the youngest granddaughter to leave some flowers on top of the grave site, but the girl was only five and too sad and scared. She wanted the hero who defeated the beast to go with her.

Finally, an old woman who had a reputation for being a seer predicted that something terrible would happen in the Expanse soon, and that Zagarus would be part of it. Her predictions were not always correct (about 70%), and it was felt that someone should convince her that their helper was trustworthy.

At first Sangilak couldn't believe what she was hearing. The man was from Goraia. An actual Goraian? Here? And most shocking of all he didn't have hairy knuckles, wolf's teeth, and glowing green eyes. It was all very interesting, to meet someone who was from the original Medanese government who hadn't been overthrown. Of course she had many questions, like what was the status of the people and if the rumors of rampant human rights violations were true.

But with all that said, she couldn't forget that this stranger had helped out her people and didn't try to hide his identity. He took a big risk. She decided to reward him by telling him about herself. She was the youngest Elder of the Land-Tiller State's Elder Council, one of the most powerful earth mages in the Expanse, and the proud adopted mother of an orphan child named Uglu. Knowledge of earth magic had always been a part of the Saskatoon Clan's tradition, but she also received more advanced training form the Guardian Tower. The lands themselves were thousands of years old, and originally founded by a group of humans and elves who wanted to live in peace with nature. They were blessed by a powerful dragon named Va'nei the Earthwarden, who had recently awoken and now helped protect these lands.

Zagarus' melee lessons did not go unnoticed, and neither did him walking with the little girl. The seer was skeptical, but put at ease for the moment. Sangilak decided not to tell the rest of the villagers that he was from Goraia just yet. The Land-Tillers were very much on the fence when it came to that mysterious nation. For the most part their strategy had been avoidance.

It was time for the final lesson.

Once one had full mastery over earth energy, there were four parts to learning how to summon and control an actual golem. The first part involved harmonizing one's own energy with the energy of the earth around them. The second part involved melding one's concentration with the will of the earth, which would in turn allow for the detection of suitable rock or soil. And the third part involved releasing a burst of energy into the soil, causing the golem to appear. Controlling the titan entailed constant harmonization of one's thoughts with the earth's, and so was an exercise in itself.

As a beginner, Zagarus would likely only be able to summon a small golem, perhaps only a foot taller than himself, but still quite bulky and strong. And the strongest stone he could command would probably be quartz. Truthfully, it would probably take years of training before he could summon a powerful titan like the one Sangilak had summoned before. But a beginning was a beginning.

After a few more days of this, Sangilak would eventually have to depart. But she would give him a written guide for if he ever needed some basic reminders. "Remember, the most important thing is respect for the earth. That and stubborness." She'd say with a smile.

***

They would meet at the entrance of one of the villages, at dawn. The people were already tending to their steep farms and their animals. Nearby a group of children and a few elderly people were preparing a light trek into the forests a little ways south so they could practice identifying edible wild plants. Some earth mages, archers, and falconers were out on patrol, searching for any more unexpected threats.

The weather was clear and dry.

"So..." She said, parting her hair. "Where will you go next?" It was apparent she had taken a slight liking to the man, despite his origin. "You know you're welcome any time, as long as you're still just as friendly of course." Snowball the Yak would gently and playfully butt into his side.

Sangilak bowed. "It was no trouble, friend." Her words were sweeter than normal. It was only her dark skin which precluded Zagarus bearing witness to the general's blushing.

Suddenly there was a sound of hooves. They would turn to find a group of villagers who had followed their party, including the little girl from before!

"Bye Zagarus!" The little girl from before had apparently come after him to say good bye! And she had brought a friend. An even littler boy, no more than a toddler, accompanied by several attendants. That little boy apparently made Sangilak remember herself. "Oh! What are you doing here?!" She ran over to meet the little boy, picked him up, and placed him onto her shoulders.

"This would be Uglu, my adopted son." The little boy waved, too young to even attempt to pronounce Zagarus' name properly. She then placed the boy down and allowed him to run back to the attendants.

"Listen, promise you'll remember us. If something should happen, if there is ever a war, I don't wanna be on opposite sides with you."

...

"Oh what the hell." Sangilak went ahead and gave Zagarus a peck on the cheek before waving him off. This no doubt set off a chorus of cat calls from the villagers behind her.

He would of course receive plenty of supplies for his journey.

<Exit>

Iulia takes a seat across from Naoki in the spacious carriage. It felt much more like a pleasant sitting room than a vehicle. Iulia cradles the china cup in her hands, feeling the warmth of the liquid seep through the delicate porcelain. A heady aroma tinged with roasted nuts and a woody finish accompany the clean, smooth taste of a fine oolong.

This was the good stuff.

“Where I’m from is a tough question, my family comes from all over. I know that doesn’t really nail it down. The longest my family has ever lived in one place has been in Isra. We are part of the Remnant, you see, hence my cap.”

She points to the tiny six pointed star emblem sewn onto the side of her hat.

“The Isran Empire is the closest place to a home many of my people have ever found. I’d agree with them.”

“As for the Foreign Service. My aunt is related by marriage to the family of Josef Zemp, another member of the Remnant. He is my godfather and helped a lot with my education when I was younger. I worked with him as an attaché before he went into ‘half retirement’, as he calls it. I got promoted up from attaché and found myself in my current position: Ambassador to Foreign Peoples, Tribes, and Races. It’s different.”

Iulia questioningly motions to the tea pot to see if the Empress wants more of the oolong.

“Different but not bad. I’ll admit that the feast was almost totally outside my element. And I suspect that is really what you wanted to talk about?”

The china cup returns to the tray, a bit more forcefully than Iulia wanted, but there it sits. The warmth of the tea, pared with her own expectation for the Empress’ reply, has her cheeks burning slightly. What did Naoki want? Surely the Empress could have found all this biographical information out from Iulia’s official record with the Foreign Service.

No, she thought, this is really about the feast. Maybe about the Audrian Prince?

What would Zemp say if he had been here? The wiser statesman would have loved the intrigue and tense airs surrounding the feast after the murder of Steinlund. Iulia looked forward to returning home and seeing what her office thought of the proceedings. Maybe she could write ahead to Zemp try to meet him for lunch sometime during the week and discuss Audria’s new claim to independence.

“The clear takeaway was Konrad’s dramatic rebellion against his Emperor. That much is easy. The fact that he chose such a public event shows he wanted as many world leaders present to see his announcement. I’m not sure that the Tawakoshi delegation respected Konrad’s course of action one bit. The Tainangaard representatives were… fairly hard to read. Haldar didn’t seem to care at all.”

She eyed the Empress, a smile playing around the edges of her mouth.

“And I know you didn’t think much of Konrad’s actions either. You almost annexed Audria outright! I’m still trying to figure out how that massive of a misunderstanding happened. If you pushed just a bit harder, you could have been riding home today one territory richer.”

Iulia laughed twice before coughing awkwardly and pressing on with her assessment. She knew it was pretty basic, just a retelling of the facts. It felt a bit like being back at school and being called on for a question so open ended you got lost in your own ideas.

“I don’t think Konrad won many friends during his dinner and a show. It was dramatic, but if I were in his position, I’d worry about Vessia coming to call. Konrad is a proud man, he showed that by how quickly he declared he’d go to the chopping block before agreeing to bow to anyone. It takes a great deal more than pride to hold down a country. But if Konrad can raise a large enough army fast enough, he might be able to make things difficult for Vessia. I'd hate to see Audria after a war with Vessia. Even if they 'win', the costs might be too much for Konrad's new government to bear.”