The rest of the al was rather uneventful, aside from deciding when each of them will train they were mostly silent.
After finishing their food the party excused themselves and went back to their accommodations. It was already quite late, so they simply entered their rooms without any discussions.
Calen wasn’t particularly tired though, so after pacing around his room he went onto the balcony to get so fresh air. Predictably, Isara was already there.
They stood there for a bit, side by side and propped on the railing, watching the slumbering city.
"I think this place has so sort of a problem." Isara said quietly.
"What do you an?"
"Don’t you think they were a little too quick to offer us a long term stay? The biggest human settlent is only a few days journey from here, and they admitted it has soone much more powerful than they are. Why keep us here instead of sending us there if they don’t have an ulterior motive?"
"You’re saying they’re conspiring against us?"
Isara shook her head.
"I wouldn’t go that far. I’m guessing they have an issue we might be able to resolve, but it’s too delicate to bring it up right away."
Calen thought about it for a mont.
"I can ask Elder Lydia tomorrow, she seems like a no-nonsense kind of woman. Speaking of which, what’s your impression of the Elders?"
"Lydia feels like a good person, sa for Baor. Alara seed nice in our brief exchange, but I’ll see tomorrow what she’s really like. It’s a bit weird they didn’t introduce the last elder, but he looked completely normal."
She sighed seed to consider her next words.
"...I also thought that the Archdruid was acting a bit... strange? Like he wasn’t actually in charge or sothing."
She looked directly at Calen.
"When we were going back I’ve asked Ellie about that diplomat thing - turns out that druid circles don’t have a position like that."
Calen has to admit that was a little bit concerning, why would they lie about sothing like that? He’ll have to find out.
"I’ll see what I can learn, if either of us discovers sothing important we’ll share it with the rest, otherwise let’s keep it to ourselves. Cass is already paranoid enough, no need to scare him with potential secret plots."
Isara nodded in agreent, then she stretched and yawned.
"I’m going to hit the hay, don’t stay up too late. Goodnight Cal."
"Goodnight Isa."
Calen was left alone gazing at the dark city. It was all but certain that their stay here was going to be longer and more eventful than they originally anticipated.
***
Lydia and Calen were standing in the middle of a secluded courtyard, wooden swords at their sides.
"First of all call Lydia, none of that ’elder’ bullshit. Second of all, I can see you have questions, so let’s talk before we begin."
She drove the training sword in to the ground, and sat down with crossed legs. She gestured for Calen to do the sa.
So he did.
"Uh... So my friend thinks that you have an ulterior motive in keeping us here, and I’m inclined to agree."
Lydia studied him carefully before responding.
"She’s right. We do need help, your help specifically, but... it’s complicated. The issue is a point of contention among the elders."
"...how did you know which of my friends I was referring to?"
"I saw you two on a balcony yesterday."
"Right. So why is your issue... problematic?"
Lydia sighed and leaned back.
"A matter of pride, tradition and politics. You’d think that after an apocalypse people would move on from such stupid things."
She pointed at the great tree.
"We told you that the tree is using it’s own lifeforce, what we didn’t tell you was that it’s rapidly running out of vitality. Do you know how much ti we have left?"
Calen shook his head.
"Six months at best."
"Can you do sothing about it?"
Lydia snorted.
"Of course we can, but master Vinifer refuses to act."
The amount of venom she put into saying the honorific was a bit surprising.
"May I ask about your... disagreent with the Archdruid?" Carefully asked Calen
"Sure, if I want you to understand the conflict, I’ll need to explain the underlying issue as well. Get comfortable, this is quite a long story."
All the current problems had their source a century ago, when the last Archdruid was choosing his successor. The most likely candidate was Vinifer, the oldest of the remaining Elders, but it turned out that the Archdruid had different plans.
Instead of appointing the experienced and well liked Elder, he chose Lydia - a new mber of the council, who has been helping the ailing Archdruid take care of the great tree.
The decision caused outrage in the council - not only was Lydia unpopular, she was a woman.
Druids are generally very serious about traditions, and the circle in charge of Greenheart was patriarchal for millennia. It was already a miracle that Lydia managed to beco an Elder.
The complaints of the council ant nothing as long as the previous previous Archdruid was still alive, but he wasn’t long for this world.
When the ti for succession finally ca, the council predictably turned against Lydia, they declared her unfit to rule, and replaced her with Vinifer. Not all Elders were against her, but those supporting Conifer had majority
Most of the druids were completely unaware about this betrayal of course, what happened inside the council rarely made it out.
Sowhere along the way two of the Elders who most vehently opposed her passed away, equalising the sides in the council, and making Vinifer’s position unstable.
"How can the sides be equal, isn’t there five of you in the council?" Asked Calen, slightly confused.
"My little brother isn’t aware of the internal struggle, I’ve made sure of that. I love him dearly, but he’s much to naïve and pure to be involved in politics."
"Right, but how does this conflict relate to the current state of the great tree?"
"As you might rember the power of the tree is divine in nature, when you ca here we had a eting to decide what to do with you. I said that with a proper guidance you could help us replace the power source for the tree, and solve our problem instantly."
"And that was a problem?"
Lydia nodded.
"There were two problems with my suggestion according to the Archdruid. The original power of the tree ca from the Goddess of Nature, and he claid that it would sacrilegious to replace."
"And the other problem?"
"That the suggestion ca from , if it ever got out that my plan saved everyone it would destroy his already weak position."
"So you’re at an impasse because you have to save the tree, but the Archdruid doesn’t want to use the only viable way?"
"Correct."
"Why don’t we just... you know, expose him or sothing?"
Lydia’s expression was complicated.
"Because it’s not that simple, if I just took the position from him I would be no different from the council a century ago. Besides, as much as it pains to admit it, Vinifer isn’t so evil mastermind. Sure, he’s a stubborn and arrogant, but he also cares about the city and our safety."
Calen realised sothing.
"If Elder Baor isn’t in on the issue, why was he the one to offer us training to extend our stay?"
Lydia smiled faintly.
"I put him up to it, obviously. Also, while I had an ulterior motive, I still plan on training you properly, not just to use you for the tree."
"Um, thanks I guess. What about my companions?"
"I can assure you they’re also being properly trained, all of the Elders are more than capable of providing guidance."
"Even Vinifer?"
"Especially Vinifer. Despite our mutual dislike I have to admit he is a very good teacher."
"Do you have a plan how to resolve the main issue?"
"I do. Well get you inside the tree and replace the power source before anyone can notice. I don’t know how good you are at handling the fla though."
She stood up and effortlessly took out the sword from the ground.
"And to do that, we’ll need to actually train. Get up, the talk is over."
Calen did as he was told and held up the sword.
"Co at with everything you have, don’t hold back, I need to assess your capabilities."
His sword was enveloped in a soft radiance and he sprung forward, trying to attack Lydia.
***
Five minutes later he was laying in the ground with a broken sword and several bruises. He has never been defeated so thoroughly, he sparred with more powerful opponents of course, but they never went all out.
Lydia was standing above him, casually twirling the wooden sword in her hand.
"Your swordsmanship is quite good, but your handling of the fla is abysmal. Fortunately, this is why I’m here - buckle up kiddo, it seems there’s a long road ahead of us."
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