When Earth-former realises that she’s expected to work while the rest of her village gets to sit and eat, she objects with obvious outrage.

  Why am I forced to work while the others take their leisure? When I’m a Pathwalker.

  I cut her off with a sharp jerk of my hand.

  “What you are is a samuran who has conspired against me and my village. I’m being merciful in letting you live at all. And in repayment of that mercy, you’re going to work and work hard,” I warn Earth-former, eyeing her sternly even as I send a feeling of implacability down the Bond I have with her. I also let her taste just how little patience I currently have with anything connected to the deaths of my people.

  If the look of fright she gives me afterwards is anything to go by, I perhaps let a little too much through. At least she doesn’t keep complaining.

  We settle down next to Flower and Sticks and soon I’m having a lively argument with the Pathwalkers over how best to expand the village. Because expansion is definitely what we need to do next. Either sideways, upwards, or downwards.

  Expansion sideways is the usual move, but that will mean moving and expanding the fence as well which, while possible, won’t be necessary if we expand upwards or downwards.

  The idea is new to the samurans, and I can see that they’re a bit uncertain about it. I understand – both options have potential problems. But if the samurans have the population boom which I’m expecting them to have with more hatchlings surviving each generation, sideways expansion might get out of hand far too quickly.

  Then we should dig further into the ground, Earth-former says tentatively, sending me glances as if wondering whether I’m going to snap at her again.

  We’ve tried that before, Flower tells her with an impatient flick of her tail. And buried our people accidentally when we made the space below too big.

  Treat the soil correctly when digging and it isn’t a problem, Earth-former insists, this time more confident as she focusses on the other Pathwalkers. We created a space much larger below the ground than usual when we made our communal hut, just by making sure that the soil in the roof was packed tightly and woven with roots. It could withstand our villagers walking on top of it with no signs of collapsing.

  “And that’s a key point,” I interject. “Whether we build below or above the ground, the combination of whatever materials we use will be key to whether it succeeds or not. My people managed to create buildings that rose high into the sky with many, many floors, just by using a particular combination of strong materials and metal rods to support the mixture further.”

  The Pathwalkers look at me, expressions ranging from wonder from Sticks and Flower to disbelief from Earth-former. Of course, she hasn't yet been able to see what I’ve brought to this village, most of the time accidentally.

  Build above the ground…. Sticks is the first to actually consider the idea. What would we do when storms come? Our huts only withstand the winds because they’re low to the ground.

  It’s a good question. As I’ve seen in the winter months, storms do hit the forest hard. The bare sides of the mountain get hit worst, but the areas covered by trees come in for their fair share of winds and deluges. At the edge of a large clearing as we are here, their impact was increased and it was only because the huts deflected most of the wind strength that we escaped with little damage beyond some flooding – inevitable when the leaves covering the roofs were ripped away, revealing the hole beneath. We were lucky this winter to escape any trees falling down onto our village – part of the reason for the large gap between the village fence and the tree line.

  “We will have to take that into account,” I admit. “I wasn’t suggesting we build more than two stories anyway, but even if we can only do one storey above ground, we double the number of villagers we can house, without needing to expand sideways at all. And with the lights Hunter can make from Cores, we don’t have to worry about those underground being unable to see.”

  It takes a bit longer and more explanations, but finally I manage to convince the Pathwalkers to give it a try. We’ll create five buildings according to the plans we’ve created together – there’s enough space within the fence to do that much. Combined with the spaces now available due to deaths among our numbers and the fact that I will insist Earth-former share a hut with her sister Healer and it should be enough space to house everyone for the immediate future.

  Plans made, I send a group of hatchlings off to find Earth-shaper – Jumpy. It will be good to have her watching and helping out. After all, I’m not going to be here very much longer. In the future, it will be the two Earth-Shapers from these parts – presuming Earth-former settles well enough into our village – who will be responsible for creating new huts. All the better if they’re both part of the process from the beginning.

  While I wait for her to come back, I move over to speak to the Warrior and juvenile kiinas I left at the village. Interestingly enough, the Warrior is permitting the kiinas to share his carcass.

  “How did it go? Apart from Beast-tamer getting ripped apart, that is.” I ask the Warrior even as I crouch down at the same carcass as them, getting a little snack for myself at the same time.

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  Admittedly, that was not a good moment, he says, eyeing me. Then, perhaps seeing that I’m not angry, flickers of relief go through his spikes. Other than that, it was easy enough, the Warrior shrugs with his tail. They were too cowed by how easily you killed one of their own to argue. He sends over a sense of slightly gleeful satisfaction. I kept the head of Ghost just to remind them of what might happen if they put a toe out of line.

  I’m not sure whether to grin back at him or feel disturbed, so settle for both. A good strategy, going by the results, if not one I’d have chosen myself.

  “And there were no issues on the way up? Again, besides the obvious.”

  The Warrior shrugs again. None beyond the usual. Such a large group of the People will always drive most beasts away, but attract a few. Fortunately, we only lost two of the Warriors to an attack from click-grunt-click.

  I blink as a picture of an oddly insectile creature appears in my head, something a bit like a praying mantis though with a reptilian head rather than an insect’s.

  “Well, good,” I comment lamely.

  The Warrior sends across a sense of amusement. The hardest task was preventing that Pathwalker Beast-tamer from getting her sticky claws on the kiinas. I didn’t think you’d be happy if she Bound them. Of course, that issue went away when her previously tamed beasts turned on her.

  “Well done for protecting the kiinas,” I praise him, feeling a surge of anger going through me at her temerity, though it’s less intense than the first time I heard about this, probably because she’s dead and can’t try again. I shift over to the juveniles who look up at my approach, but don’t do more than grunt or hiss quietly at me – they’re used to me and know that my position in the pack is far above their own. Plus, the couple of times that one of them did try to challenge me saw them surrendering very quickly afterwards. They were good opportunities to practise my Transformation Skill and beat the fact that I’m higher up the food-chain into their heads the old-fashioned way.

  Ultimately, that means that they allow me to run my hands over them, using both physical and magical senses to check for injuries or an unwanted Bond. While I’m doing that, I check on Windy’s mount. Fortunately – for her – there don’t seem to be any signs of injuries. She’s definitely a little small for her age, though – I’ll need to keep an eye and check that she’s getting enough food.

  After exchanging a few more words, I see Jumpy heading towards us and excuse myself, leaving the Warrior and kiinas to finish their meal.

  Markus, you wanted me to come? Jumpy asks with only a hint in her tone now of the deference she used to show me – before she got to know me better.

  “I did. Your absence won’t cause any problems for the others?”

  She twitches her tail in negation. They have things well in hand. Between Plant-speaker and Plant-shaper and the other Earth-Shaper, they’re managing to return the fields to the way they were before. The two Water-shapers are working together to even improve the irrigation and drainage of the fields. Ice-shaper is working with Weaver to recreate the fence posts. Herbalist and Healer returned from the forest and are healing the beasts who remained or returned after most were chased away. Some Warriors brought a whole new herd too, that assistant Beast-tamer is with them and apparently helped.

  “What, Bares-claws?” I ask with surprise. I wasn’t expecting that.

  Yes. I hope that he hasn’t stepped out of line, she says anxiously. He means well, I promise you that.

  My eyebrows rise up my forehead. How has an Unevolved samuran from another village got one of my Pathwalkers on his side so much that she’s eager to protect him from me? Perhaps she sees the question in my eyes or feels it across the Bond as Jumpy continues.

  He’s a good worker. And he used those beasts of his to help protect the retreat from the attack, even when one and then the other was cut down by Flying-blade’s attacks.

  I feel abruptly ashamed – I hadn’t noticed that Bares-claws’ beasts were among the dead. I resolve to speak to him about it – and give him the opportunity to Bind a couple more beasts to him, if he wishes. Though if he’s helping the Warriors capture other beasts from the forest – or perhaps convince them to join us – then perhaps he’s already ahead of me. Still, it would be good to find out exactly what he’s doing.

  But for now, we need to get building. I explain what our intentions are to Jumpy, feeling her answering surprise and hesitance through the Bond. Clearly, she’s not convinced it’s possible. To be fair, I’m not sure how we’re going to translate modern concrete into Earth-Shaping, but I’m definitely up for the task of finding out.

  Walking with Jumpy over to where we can see the other three Pathwalkers hanging around, we join them. A thought suddenly comes to mind.

  River? I call mentally, not sure where she’s got to.

  Yes, Markus? What is it?

  Nothing terrible, I promise. Are you busy right now?

  I’m sorting through the herbs which have been rescued from Herbalist’s and my huts. But if you need me, I can come.

  It’s just that we’re going to be building bigger huts than usual to house all of our recent additions. I was wondering whether you know of any alchemical concoction which might be able to help strengthen the materials we’ll use. We’ll probably use stone or soil.

  River is silent for a long moment, but it’s thoughtful so I don’t interrupt her.

  I think that we may have something which could help. I will check and come to speak to you when I’ve found more information.

  Thanks, I tell her sincerely. She just sends me the emotional equivalent of a warm hug.

  “River will be here in a moment,” I tell the Pathwalkers. “I asked her if there were any alchemical concoctions which might help us. She’s not sure but is going to check.”

  That’s a good idea, Sticks says, sounding startled.

  I hadn’t considered it either, admits Flower.

  “It only occurred to me a moment ago,” I confess. “Alright, let’s get started anyway and build anything River finds into our experiment later.”

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