That Glade Lord attacked Kal. Why the fuck did she do that? The cheers from the Eonirs have somewhat stopped as many also witness what just happened. The Glade Lord takes out her sword and charges towards Kal who swings his spear. She ducked down without slowing down. In an instant Kal swings his spear down and again she ducked to the side, her blade poised to strike. Just as I thought the Glade Lord could land a hit, Kal seizes her head with one hand then lifts her body overhead and slams her to the ground in one swift motion.

“Wait.” I said through the artifact just before Kal can stab the Glade Lord dead.

“What?” Kal asked. His hoof crushed the Glade Lord’s hand as she still tried to reach her sword. Quite persistent that one.

“Why did she attack you?” I ask. Genuinely curious.

“Just another attempt to challenge the warherd’s leadership.” He answered as matter of factly.

“Another? Has this happened before?” He snorts and looks to the side. As if ashamed of being caught making a mistake. This is the first time I heard about this.

“Druig and I took care of it.”

Make sense. But also quite concerning. With the coming conflict, I can’t exactly keep having rebellious elves in our midst. On one hand, it is good that Kal has counted the Eonirs as part of the herd from his explanation. On the other hand, I now found that the Eonirs have not exactly assimilated into the herd. As this has happened before, it is clear that the Eonirs are not exactly challenged for the herd’s leadership but because of occupation. Even when we did save Laurelorn, there were bound to be many who did not think the same. In fact, I am surprised that most of the Eonir have gotten accustomed to the beastmen in Laurelorn quickly enough. Even when they don’t exactly have the option to choose. So Kal and Druig have been dealing with this problem in the only way they know which is the beastmen way. Kill the challengers to cow the rest. Which can work for a while but not exactly a permanent or a long term solution. Not that a long term solution can land on the beastmen as they will naturally challenge for power. At least before I come to the equation. Now how to deal with this.

“I don’t think she is challenging you for being the leader of the warherd.” I said through the artifact.

“Then why do this?” He asks after trying to think.

“That is for you to find out. I would like to handle this properly myself. But your next sibling will be coming soon.” I answered. This could be a good moment for Kal to learn something else than how beastmen do things.

“I have heard that you have been quite close to Marissith. Perhaps she can help you with this problem.” I then added.

Kal grumbled but acquiesced. He raises his hoof from the crushed hand and grabs the Glade Lord by the head and carries her away. Only after one more cursory check of the battlefield and seeing the retreating Norscan board their ships again do I cut the connection. Hopefully something good will come out of this. Or not. Either Kal will learn something from this or he will double down in the characteristic beastmen fashion and start purging the Eonir. Either way, the Eonir will be kept in check. My herd has grown exponentially and I cannot be in many places at once. My need to delegate has become greater than before and I don’t exactly have a wide selection of leaders to freely pick and choose. Lak is currently tutored on how to do the same while I doubt Druig and Dorn would be suited for non military positions. So should Kal begin a purge, I can only roll along with it. This could mean losing the Eonir and preferably not if I can. At this point, hopefully Marissith can steer Kal to be more reasonable. Come to think of it, I have forgotten about something.

“Mal, How is Jaghatai and Khutulun?” I have practically not paid any attention to both of them.

“At day they are on the other side of the Gate. Following their father or Dorn. At night they returned to this side to feast and sleep. They are growing slower than the rest.” She quickly answers.

“And how is their growth so far?”

“They are as strong as an adult beastmen.” She answers as if that is good enough.

Which it is. Maybe after giving birth to this dragon, I can refocus on them. Raising and teaching them with the dragon should be simple enough. Provided I have enough food to feed all of them. And I can keep their attention. Then so on. This could prove challenging to me as this will be very different from raising the beastmen children. The beastmen grow so fast and become independent quickly enough that the thought of raising them properly doesn’t cross my head.

“I see. Then maybe I should visit them after I give birth to this one.” To this, Mal let out a quite sinister chuckle. I frowned. Surely it is not that bad.

Just as I put down the magic mirror the other set of communication artifacts pings me.

“What’s wrong?” The other Valariel asks.

“More trouble.” I said as I picked up the magic mirror again. “Mal, come here. I might need your insight again.” I called her and she’s receptive to the compliment.

Her doe ears flapping up and down before calming as soon as I reactivate the magic mirror. This time, I trace the connection to the communication artifact of the shadow divers. Fortunately the magic mirror’s clairvoyance can pierce underground and what I see is not something I like. Dozens of rat ogres cages slowly being moved beyond the skaven’s fortifications. Ready to be unleashed to their tunnel to Laurelorn.