Walking to Rammeld's tent, Elmerin brooded.
He hated dealing with smart politicians.
Normal politicians were short-sighted, self-interested, and easy to manipulate.
Smart politicians took the long and broad view while paying far more attention to what normal politicians regarded as inconsequential details.
Without a doubt, Rammeld was a smart politician.
Looking up, Elmerin suddenly spotted Sky and veered to meet them.
"Sky! Did you make Ruby out of this?"
The younger adventurer turned at the call and broke out in a grin. "I did! I bet you saw something but didn't want to tell me and jinx it."
Nothing like that; there wasn't a timeline Elmerin had seen where Sky failed to make Ruby about now, assuming they survived to exit the labyrinth.
"Though there's not much I can do with it right now." Sky sighed in annoyance. "The labyrinth's restricted to Emerald and above until all the Bolat monsters are cleaned out."
Elmerin looked thoughtful, though that was for Sky's benefit. He already knew what he was going to say.
"The Emeralds and higher are probably going to stay a while here. The guild and royal rewards will be wildly lucrative."
"Uh huh." Sky wasn't particularly interested.
"There's merchants in Cothmore that are going to want to leave soon and will want adventurer guards. Rubies can take those jobs."
Sky realized what Elmerin was saying, quickly turning very interested. Elmerin closed his eyes.
"There's a merchant here, trader's mark silver aspen leaves on blue, who wants to leave the day after tomorrow, but is short a few guards. Go take his request, and round up a few of your friends with good records from here or Cothmore City to fill out the roster."
"They all have good records," Sky bristled. Elmerin waved him silent.
"Stay with the merchant until you get to the city of Ten Trails; they'll be able to pick up replacement guards there. Buy a good horse, the best you can afford, and ride like hell down the Golden Way toward your sister's." Elmerin raised a cautionary hand. "Do not try to head to your sister's from here. Every feasible path has monsters and bandits that outrank you." Elmerin opened his eyes and glared at them firmly.
Sky stared at Elmerin without blinking for a moment and nodded. "I'll go look into that." They started away, then turned back. "El, whatever happens, thank you."
Elmerin looked after them as they left. In his mind's eye he could see the bitter, scarred outlaw driven by revenge, and prayed to whichever god might be listening that he had averted a tragedy.
*******
Rammeld's office tent outside the labyrinth was much larger than the one below. The back half was his office and frequent sleeping area, while the front half was divided into a waiting area to the right of the entrance and a storage/delivery area on the left. Two guards stood outside the entrance at all times.
To Elmerin's surprise, Drysia was in the waiting area when he got there.
"Didn't Rammeld talk to you yet?"
"Yeah, he did. He's in there now with Anol. I was just waiting for you."
Elmerin raised an eyebrow.
"About this." Drysia flipped the back tail of her shirt up.
"Aah." He thought a minute, mindful of the guards outside the entrance. "
"What's that? I haven't heard of that one before."
"Eavesdroppers can hear there's a conversation, but not the words. If they try to listen in, they'll hear some boring conversation about the weather or something." Elmerin noticed Drysia looked frustrated. Probably because the spell let him keep her at a distance. "Come to my tent after we're done here. Alex is watching Kres and ordered me to rest after this, so we'll have some privacy."
Drysia blew her bangs out of her face. "Fine. Rammeld's going to ask you to go along with his political sob story."
"Sob story?" Elmerin immediately realized this was likely to be annoying.
"Rammeld's got the bright idea of saying I was spying on the Cothmores all this time, and even the way I dumped off the brat was part of the plan."
His jaw landed somewhere below the floor. "Seriously??"
"Even though I made it perfectly clear to him I never wanted that brat."
Elmerin flinched. "Drysia, have you ever said that to Kres?"
"No. No reason to."
"Good. Don't. Unless Kres asks you directly. There's a big difference between everyone saying your mother is a bitch who doesn't give a shit, and her saying so right to your face."
The blond adventurer considered for a moment. "Fine. But I won't lie to him."
"Absence of truth is what I'm asking for. As for Rammeld's plan," Elmerin shook his head, "no one who knows any of you is going to buy it. But-" he rubbed his forehead "-the larger audience of the public probably will. Especially with the good rep you've built up, while the Cothmores have been tanking theirs."
"Lovely." Drysia rolled her eyes. "I wonder how he's going to explain you taking the kid with you while I get on with my life."
"He'll probably run with some bullshit about how young children's pain doesn't understand adult matters, and you felt it was better for Kres to be with someone he didn't hate until you could earn back his love."
"That sounds like the garbage Rammeld was spouting."
Elmerin rubbed his face. "I don't understand why politicians think the way they do, but I can figure it out. Especially in a specific type of situation." He turned away, thinking. I'll have to explain to Kres that politicians tell people what they think the people want to hear, not what's true. And prep him if some nosy jerk gets past me and asks him shitty questions.
"Interesting ability." Drysia stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "It's not fair I only come up to your shoulders."
"What. are. you. doing." Through gritted teeth.
"Showing my appreciation for all you're doing- hey!" Elmerin had grabbed her wrists, pulled her hands off him, and taken a long step forward, out of her reach again.
"One, that spell is not good at covering sounds that are not normal conversation. Two, I don't need to be riled up when I talk to Rammeld. Three, I. don't. like. you." Elmerin kept his voice low and calm, holding back on tearing her a new one. Partially because of the environment, partially because she was smart enough to use Kres as leverage if she got angry.
Drysia looked at him, irritated and speechless. Mentally, she was calculating if the detox potions had had a greater effect than she had originally thought.
"Ah, Elmerin." Anol exited the inner part of the tent. "Sir Rammeld said to send you right on in if you were here."
The tall adventurer nodded and entered Rammeld's office. Anol turned and saw Drysia chewing on her thumbnail while looking very irritated. "Is something the matter, Lady Drysia?"
She shook her head, then looked up as though something had occurred to her. Drysia smacked her fist into her palm. "That's it!"
Anol was curious. "What's it?"
"Do you have a minute to talk?" Drysia grinned, but in a way that made Anol's spine shiver.
*******
People mentioned:
Elmerin
Sky: Rank: Ruby.
Drysia
Rammeld
Anol