Matt felt his planning brain kicking into gear as Toraline outlined the difference between classes, callings, and professions for the family. Sure, okay, that kinda made sense. It really was like the old-school D&D games he used to play with his buddies in college. Right down to the 'X uses of Y power per day'. Or at least, apparently that's how it would function if his family weren't turning into demigods or something.

That… that was the part that concerned him, right there. Not that they were being given power; if that was all that was going on, they could handle that. Because after all, power came in many forms, and both he and Allie were used to giving orders to people with certain types of power. Allie, to men and women with guns that could kill people hundreds of yards away, and Matt to people using equipment that could shift hundreds of tons of earth and stone with barely any effort at all.

But to tell his kids that they were becoming power? That they were slotting into positions of power and authority that would place them 'above' large swaths of this world and its inhabitants? That… That was worrying. Putting power like that in a child's hands could have all sorts of ramifications on both the world and the child.

I wonder if other parents have these thoughts? He smirked against the voice in his head and turned his focus back to the conversation just as Bel asked her question.

And then his eyes got wide.

Take over the world. Unite everyone under a single banner. Claim the final prize.

He felt a great yawning pit open up in his mind as the sword spoke of the reason they had been brought here. He glanced around at the others in the clearing. Olivia's eyes were wide and sparkling. Lucas's mouth was hanging open in stark surprise. Isabel had a calculating look on her face. Dinah was closed off as she always seemed to be. And Allie…

Allie was looking right at him.

"Was that not what you were expecting?"

"Hell yes!" Olivia hooted, pumping her fist in the air. "I knew it! I knew we were gonna get to take over the world! We just need to find the right powers and classes to get it in order! Hah! See! I told you guys!"

"Wait, like, for real take over the world?" Lucas said, his eyes getting bigger with each second. "That's really why we're here?"

"Okay, not gonna lie," Isabel said, smiling a smile that showed teeth, "there's a piece of that that really appeals to me right now."

"Does that mean I get to be a queen?" Dinah asked, arching ane eyebrow. "'Cause I've kinda always wanted to be a queen…"

"No."

The word cracked into existence like a whip. It had the weight and authority of God behind it, and every eye there–the tree and the sword included–snapped over to Matt. And it was only then that he realized he was the one who had spoken. But as soon as he realized it, he found more words pouring out of him from the deepest parts of him.

"No," he said again, and the word was hard and unyielding as iron. "We will not be doing that."

"But–" Toraline started to say, probably to make some statement about how it was their destiny or duty, about how it was what they had been called here to do, how they had no choice in the matter.

"No." This time the word was alive and snarling like a tiger that had just seen fresh dinner. "This is not a discussion or debate. This family will do what we need to do to survive. If that means fighting, then we'll fight. If it means building, then we'll build. If it means running, then we'll run. But we will not, before God and His angels, become a conquering army in this world. There will be no 'subjects', there will be no 'unification', not by force anyway."

"But Dad," Olivia said, and Matt had to fight not to turn a thousand-watt glare on his daughter. "We might not have a choice? I mean, in the books, a lot of times the heroes have to conquer in order to survive. Otherwise the entire world winds up against them and they wouldn't have the power to fight them off. What if we need to take over everything to make sure we're okay at the end of the day?"

"Tu papa is right, mija," Allie's voice was softer than Matt's had been, but was no less immoveable. "I have seen what happens when men raise themselves above other men. I have spent nearly twenty years fighting against those men. I will not become them. Not even if it is the only way for us to 'win'. Which," she added with a little smile, "I do not believe is true."

"And even if it is," Matt said, forcing his voice to be quieter this time. "It doesn't change anything. We are not conquerors. That is not who we have been called to be, either by culture, by faith, or by nature." He looked around at his kids, and he saw in their faces. They didn't quite get it.

Okay.

"Do you know what it means to conquer?" he asked gently, looking each of the kids in the eye. "Not in the game sense, not in the 'claiming territory' sense. But in the real, 'I'm imposing my will on other thinking feeling beings' sense?"

That got through, at least in part. Olivia's eyes went wide. Bel grimaced. And Lucas's gaze dropped to his feet.

"You take away their freedom," Allie said, stepping up beside Matt and driving the point further in. "No only that, you tell them you are doing them a favor in doing so. You paint yourself as the good guy, even as you stomp down on the necks of people who only want to live their lives. And in doing so, you darken your own heart and soul with lies and self-deceit. Or worse, you truly believe what you are doing is right… and in doing so, you make yourself a bigger monster than those you are trying to dominate."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The silence that came after that was almost deafening. And when it was broken, it wasn't one of the kids that did it.

"You are very different from Caesar," said the quiet rustling voice of the trees.

"Yes," the sword said, sounding subdued. "And from any other Sojourner I have heard about. I have never heard of one who refused the call to unite the world."

"Well now you have," Matt said with a quirk of his lips. "I'm not saying we won't fight to keep ourselves alive and safe. Or that we'll turn away anyone who comes to us looking for a safe place. But we will not be going out 'a-conquering'. We will not become that against which my wife has fought."

"I think I like that," the tree said after a thoughtful pause. "Raise your banner in welcome, not war. It… Resonates."

"But we do get a banner, right?" Olivia said hopefully.

Matt snorted.

"Of course, mija," Allie said, grinning. "Just, that might not be the top-most on our list of priorities at the moment."

"Yeah," Isabel said. "Right now, my 'top-most' priority is calories. Is anyone else starving?"

As if on cue, Matt's stomach let out a deep rumbling gurgle. He felt his cheeks heat up as his entire family turned to stare at him.

"It's been a while since my last sandwich," he admitted. "But the rest of our grub is back at the Dilligaf. And that means…"

He caught Allie's eye, and he saw understanding light up there immediately. That meant that someone was going to have to go back and get the food. It was only maybe a mile away as the crow flew, but…

But now they knew what could be waiting for them out there. Flashes of memory flew through Matt's mind, of clacking mandibles and whirring blades and cutting claws. He felt his heart clench just a bit at the thought of leading his family back into… That.

"Oh for pete's sake," that came from Bel, and drew both adults' eyes to her. She stood there with her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised, and her gaze meeting first Matt's then Allie's in turn.

"You guys are worried about going to get the food and maybe running into another one of those things, right?" she asked point-blank, and the directness of the question caught Matt off guard.

"I–" Matt began.

"Well duh," Olivia said, breaking in and rolling her eyes. "I mean, I'm worried too, but like, there's not a whole lot of choice, right? We need food. Food isn't here. Food is back at the boat. Ergo, we gotta go back to the boat, right?"

"And we should all go together," Lucas chimed in, grinning a bit weakly. "Because otherwise we gotta split up, and good luck deciding who gets to go and who gets to stay."

"But if we–" Matt tried again, and was again cut off.

"Anybody who stays will be protected by the tree… Do you really not have a name?" Dinah asked, looking up into the blueness of the overhanging canopy.

"I am the third seeding of the Kel'Darshein tree, I do not have a 'name' as you think of it—"

"You cool if we call you William then?" Dinah asked.

"... What?"

"Why 'William'?" Olivia asked.

"Because then we can shorten it to 'Billy'," Dinah said. "And I've always liked that name. And also if we name him, your dad won't name him something like 'Lief' or 'barktholomew'."

"That's an excellent point," Olivia said. "William it is!"

"Hey!" Matt protested.

"I… Am not averse to the name?" the tree said, confusion lacing its rustling voice. "I suppose it would make for an easier time when talking to each other."

"Cool. Nice to meet you Billy, I'm Dinah," Dinah grinned up into the canopy and waved at a branch. "That's Olivia, that's Bel, the runt is Lucas, and the big scary ones are Mr. and Mrs. Albright. Sorry for not actually introducing ourselves earlier. It's been a weird day."

"I am beginning to realize that, yes" said Billy The Tree.

"But back to what I was saying," Dinah said, turning back to Matt. "If you split us up, then yeah Billy can protect anyone who stays here… But that also means that if you DO run into problems on the way back to the boat, you'll have less firepower to deal with it. And if you get killed out there, then the ones who are left here are gonna be in an even worse situation. And also we'll be sad because you're dead."

The calm matter-of-fact tone Dinah used was like a kick in the gut to Matt. More mental images popped into his head, of his kids weeping and hungry under the protective boughs of the tree days after he and Allie hadn't returned from the boat. Or of Allie and the kids mourning him. Or…

He looked at his wife, and saw her looking back at him. Wordlessly, she reached out and took his hand in hers.

"Is this what it's like?" he whispered through a suddenly dry mouth.

"Si," she whispered back, squeezing his hand with the word. "The decisions with the greatest chance of success are sometimes also the ones with the greatest chance of disaster."

"How do you make those decisions and stay sane?"

"Trust, mi corazon. In yourself, in your men, and in the Lord." She smiled and reached up, cupping the back of his head with her free hand and bringing him down so that their foreheads could touch. "I do not call it easy. It never is. But the right things to do rarely are."

"Hey, what's with the whispering?" Bel asked, hands still on her hips. "Are we going to do this thing or aren't we?"

Matt looked up at his kids. At Bel, fierce and defiant. At Olivia, eyes shining and eager. At Lucas, grinning like he didn't have a care in the world. And at Dinah, quiet, reserved, hidden from him.

He paused and eyed her a moment longer, wondering why he'd just thought that. Hm. He was going to have to pull her aside for a talk soon, see how she was really doing.

But for now…

"Alright," he sighed. "You win. We'll all go back to the Dilligaf and see about getting food and supplies."

"And Mom can claim the territory on the way there," Olivia piped up. "So Billy can make some more of those eye-stalks to keep us company on the way!"

"But before we go," Allie cut in, "first we need to make sure we're ready for whatever might happen."

Olivia's head popped up then. "You mean–"

"Yes," Allie said, smiling at her youngest daughter, then turned to Toraline, the sword still sitting against the log, not saying anything. "Toraline, you said before that we could select our own classes and professions. Could you show us how to do that, please?"

"It would be my pleasure, Consul," said the sword immediately.

"Finally!" Olivia said with a whoop.

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