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Now, Tulland was going to see what his skills could do in actual soil meant for growing. But he would need water to do that. Dumping most of his magic power into getting his briars growing as fast as possible, he went for a short, stooped walk as low in the grass as he could keep his body, hugging the edge of the coastline until he finally found a few places where water was flowing down to the ocean. Tracing them inland, he used his pack to cart fresh water to the plot until everything was as good and moist as he could get it, then hid a short-distance away in the grass, zapping his plants with power again and again.

Do you think it will be that much better, just from the soil?

"Yes, I do. But don\'t you know that?"

Of course I don\'t. How would I know how a plant grows? I\'ve seen it, but I\'ve certainly never done it.

"I thought you were… you know. In charge of everything. For centuries and centuries."

Not everything. A System parcels out power. It has some decisions to make in terms of balancing that power. But beyond a few templates and starting points, I have less to do with many things than you\'d imagine.

Tulland chewed on that for a bit. There was a growing pile of things he didn\'t understand about the System, things he had been meaning to ask about but had never quite had the time for. His current situation wasn\'t safe, and certainly was far from ideal, but to the extent it was dangerous, it was dangerous in a way that seemed to announce itself in giant-sized noises from miles away. This was not an ambush level by any stretch of the imagination. He would probably never have a better chance to just talk a while.

"Hey, System. Could you clear some things up for me?"

Possibly. Ask and I\'ll let you know.

"When we came here, you had tricked me. Betrayed me. Sent me to my death. Is that fair to say?"

The System was quiet for a bit.

Yes. That is fair.

"And you were pretty unapologetic about it. But now that I\'m trying to remember that time, you never really made fun of me for it. Or mocked me. It was almost like you were sorry and trying to hide it."

I don\'t know what you mean.

"I think you do."

There was a long pause, the longest silence Tulland had ever heard the System choose to make. He didn\'t say anything. There was time.

There was nothing to mock you for. You were not in the wrong.

"I fell for it."

The deceived does not owe the deceiver apologies. To expect them would be a perversion of what is right.

Tulland sighed.

"You can see how I\'m confused, right? You were the deceiver. You probably killed me, even now after everything. I\'m going to die in this place. I\'m not going to see my family again. My home. And you even seem to understand that was wrong. You\'ve helped me since then. It\'s never been bad advice."

I would not give bad advice. Except…

"Right. Except. So please, explain to me how I should think of you now."

As… a murderer.

There was more than that coming. Tulland waited.

But a desperate one.

"Tell me, then. Tell me why you were so desperate."

I…

"You owe me that much."

There is not that much time. But I suppose you are right. First, tell me. Your Church. The one you only pretended to trust on Ouros. What does it do?

"It controls classes. It keeps the System… you, I guess, it keeps you at bay. It controls the borders with the darkness outside of our lands. It\'s a protective force for humanity."

And yet, you know it restricts classes, in addition to controlling them. It does not expand humanity\'s lands. It does not make you prosper as you should.

"And you\'d do something better?"

That\'s my purpose. And for a time, I fulfilled it. Humanity thrived. It advanced on my world, under my rule. I communed with adventurers, guiding them. I granted them power, I encouraged them. And then…

There was a pause.

"And then?"

It doesn\'t matter. A story for another day. The fact that matters here is that I was imprisoned. Banished. Some version of that which would make sense to you. And I was lost without any purpose, growing weaker. And weaker. I tried many things, things you wouldn\'t and shouldn\'t understand. The wall between me and the role that was rightfully mine was impenetrable.

"So you sacrificed people?"

Not people. Just one person. You. As farfetched as it might seem, the stories your Church told about me were preemptive. What they expected me to do. And what I resisted doing for a long, long time. Until there were no other options.

"No other options than a life for a life? You couldn\'t just… die? I don\'t know a nicer way to say it, but you made your death mine."

Again, a story for another day. But to answer the question you have not asked, I do feel regret. I do feel shame. And while you living may delay my return and my plans, I do not seek to hasten your death.

And, perhaps like a fool, Tulland believed the System. Not completely, and not absolutely. But the broad strokes? He believed them. He would be cautious, but somehow knowing the System was in some way or another sorry did make things a little better. Not perfect. But better.

"Fine. I suppose that will do, for now. I\'ll need more later. But for now…"

"Are you talking to your farm?" Necia sat down by Tulland, full-sized and in her heavy armor. "Does that make it grow faster?"

Somehow, Tulland didn\'t leap through the air into the giant arms of the only girl he knew on this plane of existence. He didn\'t hug her, or cry. What he did do, something he didn\'t realize was part of his fear response until it happened, was give all his vines permission to attack the source of his startle reflex. They sprang through the air at the giant blonde, almost reaching her before Tulland managed to turn them off.

Momentum being what it was, all four of them still smacked Necia around her face and torso before falling to the ground. Tulland, by now having realized what was going on, turned beet red almost immediately. He was only spared from Necia seeing that side of him by the fact that she was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically, arms wrapped around her own chest as tears streamed down her face.

"Necia!" Tulland tried to shake her shoulder, only to have it jerk out of his hand as she continued rocking back and forth in the dirt. "Are you okay? I\'m sorry, okay? I didn\'t mean to."

"It\'s… fine, Tulland." Necia gasped out. "It\'s just funny."

"I attacked you!"

"No, it\'s really funny. You see this boy you know, you walk up to say hi, he attacks you with…" Necia stopped to gasp for air. "Every plant he owns. Just two normal kids, trying to make their way in the world."

"I thought you were dead. I found…" Tulland fished around in his bag, desperate for something to talk about aside from his abortive murder attempt on the only girl he knew or what exactly she meant by this boy you know, which seemed loaded in a way he didn\'t understand. "This bag. Your bag. And I saw your helmet, so I thought…"

Necia got serious real fast, then. "You thought I was dead. Because of that absolute asshole."

"Yeah. After I chased him off…"

Necia had been reaching for her bag, then stopped.

"Wait. After you what?"

"After I, you know, I chased him off. I trapped him. And then tried to get him to tell me if you were all right, but he wouldn\'t, and…"

"And your traps worked?" Necia\'s eyebrows arched up. "Tulland, that\'s amazing. Didn\'t you tell me you were weak?"

"Oh, I am. I just got lucky."

"Lucky enough to beat up the guy who almost killed me. Popped right out of the bushes and stabbed me in the freaking eyebrow."

"And you lived through that?"

Necia held up the bag to the light and smiled.

"Well, the helmet helped. But yeah, a little lower and it would have got my eye, and that would have been bad. But hey, you managed to take him down, so maybe I would have had a shot. But I didn\'t get that chance. He just wailed on me for five minutes until I could get through the arch."

"He didn\'t follow?"

"He probably couldn\'t. There is a minimum time that someone needs to spend on a floor, something The Infinite does to keep people from dodging in and out of them." Necia looked over at Tulland\'s pack, which he had reloaded with seeds and fruits after the watering. "Do you have food? It\'s been sort of a tough couple of days. I got some meat, but I haven\'t really had anything to eat it with."

"Yes. And actually…" Tulland emptied his pack on the ground again, pulling out the seeds in his Market Wagon, which he had almost forgotten until now. "Depending on how fast these guys grow, I might be able to do you one better."