Chapter 125
Part 19
To their surprise, they were joined by Gvetwa, First God of The Sylvan, who joined the conversation as
if he’d been part of it from the beginning. “Many of us are concerned about the effect your program will
have on my people.” he stated. “When the Sylvan first appeared on this world, we were nothing more
than hunters, killers, and raiders. We took what we needed, and produced nothing. After the
Segregation we were concentrated in Serminak, and after the continent was hunted-out, we were
forced to be productive and co-operative to survive. We became farmers, ranchers, fishers,
manufacturers, builders, and traders. And everyone including us agrees that this was very good for the
Sylvan people.
“Now, thanks to you irritating children, The Sylvan are about to be nothing more than killers again.
The Sylvan on Hiliani don’t even hunt, fish, or gather anymore, all they do is fight, fornicate, and
engage in simted warfare.
“Now, I will admit that thanks to your efforts, my people will be better prepared to face the demons. But
you might want to consider that they will be very difficult to live with after the war, and transitioning
them back to a peacetime existence will prove to be very difficult, if not impossible.”
“Perhaps.” Fire nodded. “But they’ll be alive at least. We’ll deal with what happens after the war, after
the war.
“Personally, I’d be in favor of re-stocking Serminak with prey animals after the war, and limiting the
Sylvan poption to the number that can sustain themselves there with traditional hunting and
gathering methods, like the Sylvan on Hiliani were doing before we set up there. I think it’s more natural
for Sylvan that way, and that they’re happier when they can live like that.”
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“Ha! The hunter-gatherer lifestyle is the most natural for all of our races!” Gvetwa retorted. “It’s how all
of our peoples lived before we started using agriculture, which led to civilization as we know it now. But
I don’t think any of them would be happy about being forced to go back to it! Sure, hunting is fun, but
gathering is boring and monotonous, and few will be happy with giving up the luxuries andforts
we’ve all be ustomed to!”
Fire shrugged and grinned. “Sorry Gvetwa, but that’s not really our problem right now. Our self-imposed
responsibility only extends as far as beating the demons with as few losses to Keran as possible.
We’ll help clean up the mess afterwards as much as we can, but it’s so impossible to predict what
conditions will be like then that it’s not even worth trying to n for it. We’ll cross that bridge when we
get to it.”
“As I suggested before,” Six interjected, “After the war we should have another tournament to decide
our peacetime leadership. Whoever wins it can deal with reconstruction and the transition to peacetime
life.
“But we won’t bepeting in it, because we’ll probably be leaving with the Triax to hunt demons out
in the void, and to find the demon homeworld and exterminate them all. I expect a lot of Sylvan will
choose toe with us. After that we’lle back and start building new livable worlds around our
sun. All that should keep us busy for the foreseeable future.”
“If any of that sounds like fun to you, you’re wee to join us, Eldest of The Sylvan Gods.”
“Fun?!” Gvetwa scowled. “Mortals were more fun when they were awe-struck and submissive! Your
whole cursed family is so damned irritating!”
And he was gone.
After a moment of silence, many on the beach couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at his frustration.
Fire turned to her parents. “We realize that supervising our activities is still pretty instinctive for you,
considering our ages. And the Sylvan re-structuring will be the biggest thing happening on Keran for
the next few days. So, would you all like to continue helping us with it? It sure led to a lot of unexpected
benefits yesterday!”
“It did, and yes we would.” Mark grinned.
“With your permission, I’d like to invite a few volunteers from the other races to join your training
program as well.” Yazadril mused. “I think it’s likely that the younger and more aggressive especially
will advance more quickly there. If it shows promise, we may set up modified versions of your program
amongst all the other races.”
“Certainly, we’d considered that as well.” Six nodded around a mouthful of fruit. “We’ll get going on it
right after breakfast.”
Two dayster, the residents of Hiliani who nned to return to the time-bubble decided that they
would wait until after the next meeting of The Assembly before having the bubble re-cast. Many of
them, particrly Yazadril, nned on attending that meeting, and they all wanted to know the results
before they withdrew from the world again. Within two more days the new Sylvan training system was
On the day before the next meeting of the Assembly, as Mark and Kragorram’s families were enjoying
lunch in their backyard vale on Hiliani, Amirgath and Somonik appeared.
Somonik addressed Val. “It’s obvious that there is enough demand for the new training programs all
over Keran that we cannot meet the demand without using your automated Work spells to get
everything else done. Though the full Assembly has not met on the issue, we’ve personally asked all
the ruling members and the pantheon, and the result was unanimously favorable. We therefore ask you
to use your Work spells to do the work of any who wish to join the new training programs full-time, and
that you cast The Healing of Valentia on those people. If you find that it’s too big a job to do by
yourselves in a reasonable amount of time, we’ll be d to assist you.
“However, we want to stress that this is a wartime measure only. We share your concerns about the
long-term effect that perpetually perfect healing and theck of physical work will have on the character
and culture of our peoples, and the issue will be extensively debated again immediately following the
war.”
“Okay.” Val simply responded as she ate.
“Amirgath, could you be a human, or an elf?” Mark suddenly asked.
“Hmph.” Amirgath rumbled as he considered the question. “I could certainly take the form of a human
or an elf, though I have never contemted doing so. But nothing of my basic nature would be
changed. I would still be a Draconian god, with all that implies.”
“Could you be like me?” Fire asked. “A half-elven, half-human warlock who could use the second
Source?”
“No. I could not use the second Source, nor have I used the Source or the power of wizard’s rock since
I became a god. I believe that my power nowes from the Translocation medium, or from the fabric
of reality itself, even if I took Elven form. I’m not sure. I’ve never been very analytical in my use of
power. No doubt there are other gods who would give you different answers, but I am what I am.”
“Ah. Thanks.” Fire nodded.
Mark was so deep in thought that he didn’t respond.
Amirgath nodded. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave, and speak with you again soon.” he
stated.
He and Somonik disappeared without waiting for an answer.
“Quewanak?” Talia asked the air, and he appeared.
“Yes?”
“The training in the kids’ new system is good, but it’s not near as good as what we were getting here
before the time-bubble opened.” Talia thoughtfully stated. “And as far as I can see, the difference is that
you and Ria were running our exercises here; you set the scenarios and ran the demons, and the
people running the exercises in Serminak just aren’t as good at it as you and Ria are.
“I know a lot of the gods are busy maintaining the time-bubbles and training with the Triax gods and
whatnot, but still, I think it would help a lot if you and some of the other gods started running as many of
the exercises as possible.”
“As soon as we’ve finished setting up the systems, we’ll be running a lot more of them ourselves, like
we did for the Sylvan here when we first started it.” Six mentioned. “But there’s so much to do, we won’t
be able to do that all the time. We still need to get onto building the voidcraft and working them into the
training, and we need to train for the tournament.”