Raya had come a long way from Vagren over the last few days. She’d been home for two of them, and on the road for close to three before that. Hemsten had given her a big hug when she had come walking up to their pointed palisades in the middle of the evening with Viker and Lotha at her heels. The two magicians had spent a lot of the journey taking notes on parchment or discussing the number of refugees on the road. They smiled and shook hands with Sten as they entered Olston.
Raya’s parents had been relieved to see her, and they shared a small kettle of coffee together. Of course, Novar was nowhere to be found. After the two days she’d been back in Olston, she only saw her brother for about an hour, during which time he prepared and consumed his breakfast in near silence.
The benefactors spent the evening at one of the three inns in town, the only one with single-bedded private rooms. After a few preparations had been made by the town council, they were at least given an appointment for the 10th. Raya knew all of this because she had visited them earlier that very day, and now waited, at their request, outside of the council house on Old Sun Rock.
Behind the closed doors of the longhouse, Melik Kama, Jan Cavthur, and five other Councillors, Viker and Lotha presented their plan to help Olston. The local authorities must have had a lot of questions, for Raya spent two hours making arrows and another hour tossing stones at a target she set up with a handful of twigs from the arid, stony slope. The sun was starting to set, fattening the horizon with a brown and dark purple haze, when at last the doors opened and the council of Olston adjourned.
Cavthur was the first man to stride by, and he gave Raya a glare so stern she almost looked away. He shook his head when their eyes met, and then he was gone, marching down the hill with a few other Councillors. Melik and Councilwoman Santhee both approached Raya. Melik was brimming with pride. “Good work, Raya,” he said.
“We feared that you might return with slavers,” Santhee said. “Which would have made our decision a hard one. But the Magician’s Guild…”
“You were in there a long time,” Raya commented.
Melik smiled. “Once we spoke to them at length, we knew this was a good deal.” As he spoke, Lotha approached, while her friend was speaking with one of the other Councilmen near the longhouse’s doors.
“So, you’ve agreed to their terms?” Raya asked.
“We have,” Santhee said. “Viker will be the eighth member of the Olston council, while Lotha here will assist in resource allocation and the project treasury for our refugees.”
Lotha touched bowed to Raya as she approached. “I’m looking forward to talking to you and your friends more about how to add to the town in a way everyone enjoys,” she said. “I’ve some ideas for building projects already, after only being here for two days.”
“That’s excellent,” Raya said. “I hope to hear lots from you. I’m really glad that I was able to help out. Olston will always be important to me.”
They began the descent of Old Sun Rock together, wading down into the smoky town that smelled of wood ovens, hunted oryx, and caught salmon. Viker and Lotha invited Raya to join them for a meal at their inn, which she agreed to. She invited her father to join her too, because he had lived in Olston for all of his life. The Magician’s Guild, and the newly instated Councilman Viker, would help them make a home for many newcomers over the next few months.