In a large, ornate room, a rather distinguished looking old man with white hair sat on a sofa. Beside him was an old, leatherbound book, and in front of him was a table with a pot of tea, a teacup on its saucer, and a plate of biscuits. In stark contrast to the richly adorned walls, carpeting and curtains, the man himself was simply dressed. For a final noticeable bit of contrast, the fine glass windows also had iron bars over them.

  After a moment of silence, the old man picked up the teacup, and as he did, a silver shackle peeked out from the cuff of his shirt sleeve. The shackle had a simple design save for a pair of emeralds that were set in the metal. The old man completely ignored the sudden reveal of the shackle and was about to drink his tea, but then suddenly stopped. There was no other noise or movement in the room, but he knew there was another presence. The man stared hard ahead of him for a moment before setting the teacup back down.

  The old man was visibly displeased now, but nothing in the room seemed to have changed. He tapped his finger on the table, amplifying the sound of his impatience. After a short break, he let out a sigh and then turned towards the book beside him. He opened it up to where he left off, which was marked by a pressed flower that he used as a bookmark. The page he opened up had pictures that seemed to show people doing something adventurous. However, they were rather crude drawings that lacked much detail, so it could have just as easily been something else. The old man silently read the words underneath the pictures, and then turned to the next page.

  “What are you reading there?” The question was asked by a voice that was sweet like honey. The old man did not answer the question, but as he looked ahead of him in the direction of the voice, he saw the figure of a woman with otherworldly beauty. She had fair skin and slender arms and legs, and she laid on the sofa that was by the other side of the table. She had long, flowing hair that was the colour of early autumn, long pointed ears, and the top of her head was adorned with a crown made of flowers of several different colours. Her eyes were emerald and she had a matching one-piece dress with ornate and gilded floral patterns along the hem.

  After the man looked away to continue reading his book, the woman pushed herself off her side and leaned forward towards him, putting her hands straight on either side of her and swinging her bare feet onto the floor. The man continued to ignore her. The woman got up off of the sofa and walked over to his side.

  “I did not think a man of your age would still be reading stories.” The man continued to read in silence. “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with it, though. I am personally quite fond of a number of them.” The old man turned to the next page, which seemed to have different kinds of drawings, although still somewhat crude. “What is your favourite story, Oberon?” The man paused his reading, and finally looked directly into the woman’s eyes. His fierce expression contrasted with her playful one as she brought one hand up to her face, slightly covering her mouth.

  “My name is Hiram.” The woman smiled at him.

  “Well, for now.” Hiram sighed with repressed anger and closed the book.

  “I’ve read every story in this book to my daughter and granddaughter.”

  “How sweet of you.” The smile she gave seemed genuine, but her eyes didn’t seem to quite match.

  “But, I regret doing that.”

  “Oh, why is that? Do you think you should have raised them stricter?” They both knew that was not the reason.

  “No, it’s because I think a lot of them have a problem with the amount of praise that they have for you.” Hiram spoke calmly, but one could easily detect the contempt that lay behind his words. The woman responded to his hate with a bemused expression. Then, she dramatically spun around and then brought both of her hands to rest on her hips while slightly puffing out her chest.

  “You know, I think you are right!” She spoke while smiling widely. “They should be praising me more.” Hiram’s anger quickly turned to disappointment as wondered why he even bothered with someone like this. “Speaking of good ideas, though, I think this is the first one you’ve had in a while.” Hiram went back to ignoring her and went to pick up his teacup again. “When I saw that you were returning to Eden, I figured you had some grand plan in mind.” Hiram drank his tea. “I didn’t think you would simply turn yourself over and let yourself be imprisoned.” She laughed in the way a child might laugh while playing outside. “Well, I suppose it is still an improvement to staying cooped up in that old cottage of yours.”

  Hiram did not fall for such obvious provocations. The woman then went behind Hiram’s sofa and leaned over by his left, resting her crossed arms on the top of the sofa.

  “Was this really all you had in mind?” The woman leaned over more until her face was only a foot away from Hiram’s. “Are you planning to just wait this out? Do you think they will simply give up on the matter? Or, are you seriously trying to gather enough magic again to deal with this situation by force? You haven’t renewed your contract with the guardian tree, so you can barely recover it anymore. It’ll take you months just to recover enough magic to fight as you did last time.” The woman reached out with one arm and brought her hand over Hiram’s hand, but did not touch him. “But, that’s only if you were to be free of these shackles.”

  “Any plan I choose will at least be better than any of yours.” Hiram apparently had enough of the woman’s ramblings. The woman smiled brightly at him, seemingly caring far more about the fact of any interaction at all, regardless of the intent or content.

  “Oh, Oberon, if you would only be mine, there would be no need for you to bother with anything so pointless.” The woman brought her hand closer to Hiram’s hand, and the emeralds began to glow. Then, she pulled her hand back a bit and the glowing stopped. “Those dragonkin are quite inventive, but if they wanted to suppress the magic of Nature’s blessing more effectively, they would use jade instead of emerald. Not that it would matter at all to me, though.”

  Hiram looked back at her with great annoyance and was about to speak up some more, but suddenly stopped himself to turn around. Just as he did, he heard the lock to his room click open. The door opened, and a proud-looking middle-aged man walked in. He was wearing a heavy cloak made of some kind of fur as well as a golden crown atop his head. After he walked in, a young man wearing a hooded cloak and leather armour followed closely behind him, carrying something rolled up in one of his hands. The young man closed the door behind them, and then the two of them walked over towards Hiram.

  Hiram and the king looked at one another, but said nothing to each other. Eventually, with a voice that barely hid his annoyance, he spoke to the young man beside him.

  “Sir Dristan, what are you waiting for? Announce my presence.” Dristan nodded, and then looked at Hiram a bit apprehensively.

  “His Majesty, King Saul of the Nature Clan has arrived.” The king looked at Dristan with some dissatisfaction. After a bit of contemplation, Dristan continued. “Bow before his presence…” Hiram remained seated on the sofa. Dristan then proceeded to take a step back to bow to the king, as if acting in Hiram’s stead.

  “Good, you may remain seated, Sir Hiram,” the king said, pretending that Hiram acted appropriately. “As uncooperative as you have been, at least you have the tact to know your place.” Hiram considered engaging with such foolishness, but decided to ignore the king and to drink the rest of his tea in silence. “Sir Hiram, I have come here today to inform you that any cooperation from you is no longer required.” Hiram ignored the words and finished the last bit of tea in his cup. “Sir Dristan, show him what you have in your hand.”

  Dristan walked over to Hiram and handed him the rolled up paper. Hiram glanced at it, and based on the king’s expression, it seemed clear that he wanted Dristan to just show it to him instead of actually handing it over. However, the king kept quiet as Hiram took the paper. Instead of asking about its contents, Hiram simply unrolled it to take a look. It appeared to be a bounty poster. At first, Hiram was a bit confused, and then amused, and then very quickly he became visibly upset. This last reaction seemed to be exactly what the king wanted to see.

  “I gave you multiple chances over the last month, but you continued to be uncooperative. Had you provided information as to their whereabouts, this would have been avoidable. Alas, you have forced my hand, and I had the need to summon a representative of the Mercenaries’ Guild to draw up and issue this bounty.”

  Hiram slammed the bounty poster onto the table and got to his feet. Hiram was clearly the oldest in this room, and physically, he looked to be much weaker than Dristan. However, with his first step forward, both Dristan and the king instinctively recoiled.

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  “What is this nonsense?” Hiram’s voice was filled with anger, but he spoke with an even tone. “Recall this immediately.”

  “It is too late for that,” the king said, barely hiding his nervousness as he mentally fought to keep himself from stepping backwards. “The guild’s representative has already accepted it. It will be in circulation throughout Midgard soon enough.” Then, with bravado, the king stepped forward to meet Hiram’s advance. “General Garden has informed me that such a bounty will be more than enough to entice bounty hunters throughout the entire continent.” The king then smirked as he puffed himself out to look taller and bigger. “Within a month, that damned rogue will be caught!”

  “You think you can deceive me, Saul?” Hiram stepped right up to the king, and Dristan, his bodyguard, gave them both a wide berth. “There is no Mercenary’s Guild branch in the Nature Clan. Send them a message to recall this before it circulates!”

  “No, I will not!” The king stood his ground, his hands clenched.

  “Do not be an even bigger fool than I already thought you were. I know there’s no way the council would have approved of this decision.” The king’s eyes gave away the truth.

  “The council is only meant to advise. The ultimate decision has and will always be whatever I, the king, decide.”

  “So you will simply disregard their reasoning?”

  “I have weighed them, and determined that dealing with the matter this way would better serve the Nature Clan.” Hiram gave a strange laugh, something between a mix of an exasperated sigh and an angry snarl.

  “I’ll bet you didn’t even go over the details of the bounty when you proposed this idea.” Again, Hiram could read the truth in the king’s eyes. “Kidnapping?”

  “Would it not be better for everyone else involved that your granddaughter’s aiding and abetting of his crimes be kept secret?”

  “If you really cared about something like that, you would not even consider this.”

  “Again, you were the one who forced my hand when you refused to cooperate.” Hiram shook his head derisively.

  “And attempted regicide?” Hiram continued to lecture the king.

  “I would say that is a truthful allegation.”

  “If he really wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead!” Hiram angrily shouted at the king as he pointed a finger at him.

  “Seeing as how you were not even a witness, I think you could hardly make such a claim with any certainty.” Hiram shook his head some more. He took a deep breath, and he looked to have slightly calmed down, but when he spoke again, it was clear he had not.

  “If you are going to make up some lies, at least follow through with it.” The king was confused by Hiram’s words. “You really are just that foolish.” The king was incensed, but Hiram gave no opportunity for him to speak up yet. “Do you think there is any other king on Midgard that would put the value of their head at a mere one hundred gold? Where does such frugality come from? Were you not the one who once paid thousands to the Reapers to help you conquer the Bronze Territory? Has the treasury since then been so depleted under your rule? Or, are you admitting now that you have no more worth than the name of your title on paper, and that one hundred gold is a suitable reward for a would-be kingslayer at large? Did you really not think even once about any of that?! Well, surely the council has at least told you the obvious. You drag the reputation of the Nature Clan through the mud with this bounty! Prisoners mistreated and abused to work your forges, and now nothing to show for it all, as if it would have ever been justified anyways. All these new changes and investments, yet a single outlander breaches the capital’s defenses, infiltrates the palace, makes a mockery of our army and knights, and then easily flees while freeing over a hundred prisoners that same night?!” After finishing his tirade, Hiram pushed the king and he easily fell over, only barely bracing against the fall with his hands.

  “Y- You! You!” The king could only shout, barely taking in half of what Hiram had shouted at him as he bellowed back from the floor. “Sir Dristan, what are you doing?!” Dristan moved in between the two of them, but made no attempts to apprehend Hiram.

  “Sir Hiram, please calm yourself and take a seat.” The king angrily scrambled back onto his feet.

  “Y- you speak as if this has nothing to do with you! I know your granddaughter went to the Spirit Altar! If it weren’t for her, none of this would have happened!” Hiram looked away from the king and back to behind the sofa he was seated on earlier, but nothing was there. The king took this to mean an admittance of guilt. “And don’t you dare speak to me as you would scold a child! You have no right, especially with how you’ve lived! An old man who hides away from the capital dares to lecture me about the responsibilities and obligations of being a king?!” The king took a step forward and looked like he was about to strike Hiram in retaliation, but suddenly thought better of it. “You assaulted your king. I could have you charged with treason. Even if it’s you, I could still have you executed.” Hiram stared at him, not the least bit concerned with such a threat, and even seemingly daring him to try to do so. “But, I am a magnanimous king. In light of your past merits, I will forgive your transgressions today.”

  Dristan nervously looked between the two of them, wondering if the king’s words had incensed another escalation. Hiram walked right up in front of the king and looked down at him, being almost an entire head taller. When Hiram spoke again, this time he finally spoke closer to the calm and cool voice that Braith and Tasha would be more familiar with.

  “Go and cancel the bounty. The council would advise you to do the same. Even Garden wouldn’t be opposed to it, I’m sure.” Hiram had little hope, and he read the answer in the king’s eyes even before he spoke.

  “Absolutely not! That criminal outlander will be captured, or killed, whatever be the case. And then your granddaughter will be forced to return here. When that happens, we shall proceed from there. As for you… in the meantime, you shall remain here. If you choose to be more cooperative before that detestable man with the unusual name is captured, perhaps that shall bode better for you and your granddaughter.” Hiram remained silent. “I shall take my leave now. Sir Dristan!” Dristan observed Hiram cautiously for another second before escorting the king out of the room. After the two left and Hiram heard the door being locked again, he sat back down on the sofa and looked at the bounty poster again.

  Hiram was about to start gnashing his teeth but stopped himself. He took another couple deep breaths and leaned back on the sofa. He brought his hands to his face for a moment, and when he put his hands back down, he looked as cool and calm as he did in the beginning. Nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, he poured himself another cup of tea. However, his mood quickly soured again after filling up the cup and setting the teapot back down.

  “I take it this does not bode well for your plans?” Hiram turned towards the direction of the honey-like voice and saw the mystical beauty seated on the sofa next to him. She waved at him happily when he looked towards her.

  “... Was this your idea? Did you put him up to this?” For the first time, the beautiful woman’s face twisted into a look of disgust.

  “Uggh… no, as if I would debase myself to the point of conversing with such a man.” As distrustful as Hiram was, he easily believed her this time.

  “And this is not a mere bluff? He really did issue this bounty?” The woman’s face returned to normal, and she leaned in a bit closer to Hiram.

  “Oh, you think I saw what happened?” she said, in almost a whisper. “Shall I share with you some other secrets, too?” This time, she was barely audible, causing Hiram to lean in a bit closer as well. However, he caught onto what she was doing and moved all the way back to the other end of the sofa away from her.

  “Just tell me what happened, and don’t be so quiet about it. I know nobody else can hear what you’re saying anyways.” The woman slowly moved closer to Hiram again, but kept a more modest distance between the two of them this time.

  “Alright, I’ll tell. That oaf of a king really did summon someone from outside of the Nature Clan. The two of them, together with an artist, made two copies of that bounty poster. The man received some gold and a written guarantee of further payment, and then he left the capital with the other copy of the bounty poster.”

  “When did this all occur?”

  “The transaction occurred yesterday, and the man departed on his horse this morning.” Hiram was about to slam a fist onto the table, but he controlled himself.

  “It’s still not too late for him to take back his decision,” Hiram said, mostly to himself.

  “Oh, but you know it is, Oberon. If there’s one thing you should know better than anyone, the more someone calls out the foolishness of his decisions, the more he abides by them. I wonder where in his family he gets such stubbornness from?”

  “Shut your mouth.” The woman smiled and made a show of covering up her mouth with both hands. She looked at Hiram with glee, knowing that he wasn’t done talking to her. Hiram got up and pulled up both of his shirtsleeves to take a closer look at the shackles on his wrists. He concentrated for a bit, and the emeralds on both shackles started to glow. Hiram grunted a bit, and then let his hands fall to the sides, the emeralds no longer glowing. Then, he looked over at the expectant woman nearby, her mouth still covered up by her hands. “You think you’re very clever, don’t you? All of this set in motion by your brilliant idea to deceive a little girl.”

  “It was no deception.” Her hands were still covering her mouth, but her voice rang clearly in Hiram’s ears.

  “Oh, then that must mean the world is saved now? Catastrophe averted? She did do as you told her to, after all.” Hiram’s words were dripping with sarcasm.

  “Well, we are at least on the right track, now.” The woman pulled her hands away from her mouth as she stood up from the sofa. Her face was rather smug now.

  “The right track, huh? So, it all comes down to this again?”

  “I know what you mean, Oberon, but I truly did give her a chance. She was the one who chose to save those two instead of taking the time to fully contract with me. She was unwilling to make necessary sacrifices.” The woman extended one outstretched hand towards him. “Alas, here we are now. It’s almost as if this is fate.” She brought her hand even closer to Hiram. “Take my hand, Oberon. It’s still not too late if you act right now. Overthrow that fool. Become king… or not. It doesn’t matter, the title alone means nothing.” The woman smiled at him expectantly. Hiram turned away from her and walked over to the other side of the table. “Time is running out if you want to put a stop to that bounty, Oberon,” she urged.

  Hiram reached over the table for his teacup and picked it up. He brought it up to his lips while glaring at the woman. He swirled it around slightly and stared as the steam rose up from the cup. He looked back at the woman who simply smiled wider at him. Hiram suddenly splashed the tea onto the woman. However, the tea passed through her body completely, only making a mess on the sofa and the floor around it. She looked around at the mess with bemusement.

  “My name is Hiram. And I swear upon that name that I shall never become your Oberon.”

  “Are you really so attached to your current name?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to the real issue. “Blackbriar wasn’t so fond of it either, but that was only for the first year. For the rest of his hundred years, I think he liked it quite a bit. You’ll come around to it eventually, as well.” Hiram put the teacup back down and refilled it. “Or, are you worried that you won’t rule for as long as he did? Not to worry, Oberon, after contracting with me, your youth will be restored. You’ll be in the prime of your life again, just as you were when the humans invaded.” Hiram picked up the teacup again.

  “Out of this entire situation, there is still one thing that I am glad to know.”

  “Oh, do tell.”

  “I am glad to know that, in the end, Flora chose not to live up to your expectations.” The woman seemed to understand the underlying intent of his words, and stayed silent for a moment.

  “I see that you are still unwilling. Very well, I shall take my leave now. When you do change your mind, call for me, Oberon.” The two stared at each other, and the instant Hiram blinked, she suddenly vanished without a trace. Hiram looked at the empty sofa for some time, and eventually set the cup down and took a seat on the clean sofa. He picked up the bounty and looked over it again. After a couple more rereads, he put it back down and sighed. Hiram thought to himself: well, at least the description doesn’t match.