That first day they didn’t do more than assess the damage as they walked through the building; it wasn’t even half the size of the Grelden Clanhall. Simon very much doubted that anyone had been in here except perhaps to look for something to steal for at least a year.

As their tour went on, the pretty young serving girl appeared more and more nervous, and by the time they reached the end, she finally confessed. “The real reason that Karl Eddek isn’t here is because the clan has fallen on hard times,” she said. “That’s why I said they wouldn't pay you back for all of those lovely dresses.”

“And you didn’t tell me before because you thought I’d leave you there in the wilderness if there was no reward?” Simon asked, withholding a laugh. “Man, you must really think poorly of lowlanders. Who would leave kids in the middle of nowhere just because there wasn’t a payday in it for them?”

“I mean, I didn’t think you would, but how was I to know?” she answered, obviously not sure what to think.

Simon wasn’t too hard on her, and instead of berating her for what she’d done, he sympathized and asked more probing questions. Those at least explained at least part of Eddek’s reluctance to provide details. He was here because his father couldn’t afford to come.

Between a bad harvest, a molding granary, and a series of worsening goblin attacks, they were in a bad place. So, he’d left this to his son to handle since it was more or less perfunctory most years.

“Well, if you guys would have explained this to me all the first night, I might have done things differently,” Simon said finally when her story was done. “But I certainly wouldn’t have left you there to fend for yourself.”

“What would you have done differently?” Kayla asked.

“I would have taken you home instead of bringing you here,” Simon answered curtly. “I would have taken you home, handled your land’s goblin problem, and maybe a few other things besides.”

As much as he’d wanted to explore this city, it was the truth. He’d considered it because he knew something of what the future held for them, but he definitely could have done more good for both his temporary wards and their people by taking them home instead of dealing with the social ostracization and complications that seemed to be everywhere in the capital.

That point was only further hammered home when Simon found out that Karl Grelden’s men were trying to pressure Eddek into leaving Simon behind and taking one of them to the moot instead. After that, it required an act of will not to crack some skulls.

At this point in his many lives, Simon considered himself to be well-balanced. He wasn’t quite enlightened yet, or anything, and the instances with which he possessed that true Zen-like clarity that the Oracle and her priests usually had were rare enough, but the way they were obviously trying to railroad this kid into making some bad decisions, well, he hadn’t been this angry in lifetimes.

“Eddek wants me because he wants the best,” Simon said, matter of factly, squaring up against the man who was trying to convince the boy to take someone else instead. “Got a problem with that?”

“I’ve got a problem with you,” the man spat, taking half a step closer and glaring at Simon. “You lowlanders are all the same. Trying to worm your way into situations that don’t concern you.”

“Well, I didn’t see you there when I was busy saving his life,” Simon responded, willing the man to take the first swing. He was a little bigger than Simon, and there was no doubt he could fight, but he was too angry for any more reasonable options.

Eddek begged them to stop, but both of them ignored him. Instead, it was a guard with a spear in hand that stopped the fight. That should have scared Simon more than it did, but he wasn’t really afraid of spears anymore.

Afterward, he and Eddek chatted. The boy insisted that Simon was coming with him, and Simon explained everything he’d figured out about his clan’s situation after examining their hall. “It's a miserable situation,” the boy agreed, “which is why we need to stay on their good side.”

“Allies that try to press you when you’re down are not allies,” Simon countered. He wasn’t sure how much of this was ill will and how much of it was just cultural differences, but there was definitely a bit of both going on.

“Even so, what am I supposed to do?” Eddek asked.

“What else? Do your duty for your clan,” Simon said with a smile.

It was true that he didn’t need to involve himself in any of this, but there was something else that was true, and that was that level twenty-two was still accessible to the mirror. While he’d solved this level, he hadn’t done enough to prevent some kind of ugly future yet, and there was no reason for him to leave until he’d done that much.

So, before dinner, Simon explained his plan and that when the moot was done before the boy’s school started, they’d be moving into his clan’s holdings. The boy insisted they couldn’t bear such expenses, but Simon brushed him off.

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“We’ll hire a cook maybe and a stable boy, but we’ll get along just fine,” Simon assured him. “Money is not an issue.”

After that, all Simon had to do was avoid picking any fights over the evening, which paradoxically became easier once everyone got drunk. They fought with each other easily enough that evening, but as long as Simon kept telling them stories of faraway places and monsters he’d killed, they forgot they were supposed to hate him, at least for a little while.

The following day, the hall was consumed by preparations. Even Simon had to look his best before the procession to the castle. Kayla helped him with that by scrubbing his armor and shining his sword. She even trimmed his nascent beard into something that looked intentional instead of scruffy. By the time Eddek and the Karl’s party were ready to be off, Simon looked less like a vagabond and more like the hired muscle he was supposed to be.

He didn’t care much about that. He just enjoyed the show as each of the clan representatives slowly merged together into an almost impromptu parade as they approached the castle from the wide main street. For now, it wasn’t just Karls and their bodyguards. Other priests, senior warriors, and notable elders traveled along with them. All of those people would wait in the courtyard for the festivities, but they’d come just the same.

There were banners and cheering. There was even some music coming from somewhere, which was as colorful as he’d seen the city. Still, the castle loomed above them, and though Simon didn’t actually think it was dangerous as they entered it, the number of soldiers on the walls made it clear that it could be if they wanted to.

They could spring this shut like a trap, but to what end? He asked himself.

For just a moment, Simon was reminded of the time he went with Baron Corwin to a meeting like this and died in an ambush of crossbow bolts. That was an ugly death, but the same thing didn’t seem to be in the offing here because while weapons were everywhere, they were in plain view and pointed away from the guests, not toward them.

Still, Simon considered what spells he’d cast to protect them both and in what order before they ever reached the central hall, and Edek sat down at a free spot on the large, round table. Simon didn’t join him there. He’d already been told what to expect. Seats were for attendees, and the walls behind them were for their bodyguards. Simon didn’t mind that. He just stood there, watching everyone file in, searching for signs of treachery.

This would all be so much easier if I could see their auras, he told himself. It was honestly a shame. He might never be in a room with so many movers and shakers again, and it would have been easy enough to pick out the bad apples and commit them to memory so that he could deal with them later.

He didn’t seem to be alone in that idea because when the high king finally entered, he was accompanied by two women who whispered to him intermittently with what were surely supernatural insights. Simon made a note to do the same thing in Liepzen the next time he was there for a king’s funeral or coronation. Neither would be enough to clean up the mess that was Brin, but it might be enough to help.

It might even be enough to figure out who was working for the Unspoken in secret, he realized. Unfortunately, before he could get too excited about the idea, the proceedings began, and he had to pay attention. Still, he made a note to explore the idea further in the future.

The whole thing started with a prayer and a burnt offering to a god that Simon hadn’t even heard of before, let alone believed in. After that, there was a swearing of oaths around the table as each clan renewed their bonds of fealty with the high king. Simon noted that one of the men was from clan Gravenstone and made a note to visit him and see if he could learn anything more about the cursed keep after the drinking started.

Once all of that was done, Simon thought that things might actually get started, but he was wrong. Instead, the king gave another speech. This one wasn’t about the gods, though, or loyalty. Instead, he spoke of the state of the kingdom and his plans for the coming year.

Normally, that would have bored Simon as much as the rest of the proceedings, but when he said, “And to the north, there is word that the Murani are rising once more. Whatever civil war it is that paralyzed them the last few years might be coming to an end, and if it is, they may look southward once more, as they did, even in my father’s time and his father’s before that.”

Not a civil war, Simon corrected him mentally. A toppling pyramid. While he hadn’t expected that to put a kink in their plans forever, it had only been a few years since his other self had triggered that catastrophe, and he’d been hoping that it would buy more than a couple years of breathing room for the south.

Nothing else that the high king said interested him half so much, and eventually, they started voting. First, the king announced his measures in regard to taxation, rebuilding of certain defenses, and bounties for the coming year on the most troublesome monsters, and then, the priests passed out pebbles to everyone. The Karls and Erben’s put their tiny vote in the yes pot or the no pot.

Interestingly, the color changed with each vote, making cheating much harder. Almost everything the king put forward passed easily enough. After that, the Karls were given a chance to put forward their own measures. These were much more contentious and often resulted in arguments and close votes.

While the king’s votes had been about what they should do as a nation, the clan votes that followed were almost universally about themselves, and there it was a zero-sum game. To give grazing land from one clan was to take it from another.

Eddek did as his father instructed and seemed to vote with Karl Grelden on almost every issue, which seemed to please the man. Still, Simon didn’t see it amounting to much.

I suppose it’s better than open warfare, he decided as he watched the events play out. Eventually, Simon decided that this was halfway between a jury of your peers and a popularity contest, and he supposed that he could live with that.

The whole thing went on for hours, and Simon almost regretted coming, but eventually, when they got all the way around the table, one final vote about the divisions of a certain mining claim was called. Then, after the final stone was cast and counted, there were no more grand speeches. Instead, the results were announced, the drinking started, and the party began in earnest.