All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 137: Cult of the Doomba

Bee, Tony, and Susan decided that they needed all needed to break for a little bit. Also, before they made any more significant decisions, they would need to talk to Trent and Mary. It would be best to see if they would actually accept the positions of running food production and taking care of the castle's operations.

"They probably just finished putting Leane down for bed," Tony commented. Not seeing any reason to delay, the trio left the room to go find them. Sure enough, they were in the quarters the family had claimed for themselves. At Tony's gentle knocking, Mary opened the door and welcomed them in. Soon they were all sipping mulled wine around a small wooden table lit dimly by a nearby fireplace.

For a little while, they all just sipped their drinks and watched the fire. Bee wasn't sure what everyone else was thinking about, but her mind couldn't stop running through all the things that she needed to do. Not wanting to lie to herself, she couldn't help but doubt that she was truly capable of leading the whole group. Sure, she had technically been doing it this whole time. But if she took formal control, she would be responsible. There would be no excuses if something went wrong.

It wouldn't be nearly as simple as just telling her story with Void. Or interpreting its words. She would need to plan ahead and make decisions that would affect everyone here. Her only hope was that her master could guide her enough; as much as she knew about it, she wasn't sure how much it would want her to do for herself.

Eventually, Bee realized they were all waiting on her. Looking up, she did her best to squash the embarrassment that was likely showing on her face. "Uh."

Great start, Bee. She thought to herself. Clearing her throat, when she tried to speak again, her voice came out more clearly. "We are formalizing the organization that the castle is becoming. There are just getting to be too many people and too many things that could go wrong to trust that it will all work out otherwise. Someone needs to plan ahead."

Trent and Mary nodded. They clearly understood the need to plan, especially for winter. Neither of them spoke, though, waiting for her to continue. She took a sip. It gave her a second to plan what she was going to say next. "Void is rather hands-off about all this. I don't believe it would leave us with nothing, but it definitely wants us to act for ourselves first. So… we're acting. Both of you have invaluable experience and should be involved with the decisions at the highest levels."

By the time she had finished her little speech, Bee's voice was steady and calm once more. The words weren't entirely her own. Instead, she was pulling on a treatise she had read at some point when she was studying the Devotee class. The wise man had a lot to say in his notes, his experience from ruling a small country for decades. A lot of it hadn't sounded relevant at the time. Now she was wishing she had paid more attention; maybe she would go back to it later.

Trent and Mary were studying each other's faces. Each of them looked serious but not worried. After a few moments of silent communication, they both looked back to the rest of the table. The more stoic Trent was the first to speak. "Bee, you're a responsible miss. We'll do what we can to help you out here."

---

I was heading back to my room for the night after a long day of work. After all the hectic chaos of the castle and struggling with the sheep fibers, I was looking forward to spending some time simply meditating. I was planning on continuing my ruminations on humor as there was something that I felt still escaped me about it.

However, before I made it back to my rug, there was one more thing that caught my attention. Cliff wasn't with the small dogs like she usually was at this time of night. Now she sat patiently by the gate; every once in a while, she pressed her nose against the portcullis bars and let out the slightest whine.

What was she doing? I watched as she licked her lips and repeated her actions again. A quick check of the castle found Tanu in bed with his mother. The young boy was solidly asleep. Well, I wouldn't be getting any translation help from him. Sometimes Cliff didn't act like the dogs I was used to at all, but this seemed slightly familiar. Was she trying to get out of the castle?

Not sure what was going on, I changed directions and headed back outside. When I got near Cliff, she let out a small woof at me and pawed the gate insistently. I beeped a question at her, and she whined back. I still had no idea what she wanted for sure.

Clearly frustrated, she let out a slightly louder woof, almost a bark. When I still didn't do anything, she pawed at the winch handle. Maybe she does want outside. I moved over and started cranking the winch. She sniffed at the gap growing under the gate. As soon as the spikes were a little over a foot off the ground, she went belly down and impatiently wiggled under.

I lowered the gate behind her. We couldn't let anything get in while she was out. But then, how was she going to get back in? I didn't want to just wait here, and no one else was up this late at night. Well, I wouldn't want her getting lost, either. With nothing else to do, I boosted myself over the wall.

Cliff was waiting for me on the other side. When I landed next to her, she gave me a single swish of the tail. I returned the wave with my claw. She swiveled and disappeared into the forest in a flash, and I zipped after her.

---

Bee laid out the rough plan they had come up with for Trent and Mary. She felt a considerable amount of relief at their support, even if they hadn't actually accepted their roles yet. Simply having them onboard and willing to listen to her meant the world.

After explaining the different major roles, she came to Tony's parents' places. "Trent, we want you to officially take food production. This is something that you've been doing for a while. At the same time, it's not something that you need to do all yourself. The part that falls to you is keeping track of how much we can make and what we can do. If we have issues, we can work together to make sure you get the people and resources you need to solve the issues."

More concepts were taken right from some of the treatises she had read. It seemed to be a good way of splitting up responsibilities while still being able to help each other. Trent nodded with no apparent questions, so Bee turned to face Mary. "Mary, again, it's mostly just what you've been doing. Keeping the people fed and cared for. Things like taking care of the library and distributing food stores fall into this category."

"What about magical equipment and cleaning?" Mary asked with a slight frown.

"Void seems to take care of cleaning, mostly, but we should be ready to help it at any time," Bee said. "Since it's a core tenet and everything, maybe we should even work that into everyone's regular schedule."

"Of course, dear."

"And anything magical will be under my purview. But I might ask for some of your people to help keep some of that working while we figure that out. I will train them, though." Bee continued.

"I think I can manage that," Mary said with a confident nod. "So just keep doing what we were doing, but we all talk for a bit every day to make sure things don't fall through the cracks?"

"For you two? Pretty much. We have a few more things we want to get done as well. Hopefully, we can take some of the load off you soon, though." Bee said. "Tony is going to be going through and making sure we have opportunities for each person to advance their class; if not, we'll offer them the option for me to switch them over to Devotee of Spot."

Tony gave his parents a smile. Trent shook his head and muttered to his son, but Bee was able to overhear. "I still can't believe you're almost the same level as me from switching to that class."

"Susan here will look after our defenses. We'll probably want to train everyone in some basic combat and build a little defense, but we'll also look to the new refugees and see if any have actual experience in a useful skill."

"I also want to start sending scouts out," Susan added. "We should patrol at least the valley and maybe beyond. Right now, things have been quiet, but don't expect things to stay that way. Either the plague will start becoming more of a problem soon, or it will be finished, and the crown will start paying us more attention. We need to prepare for either, and right now, we are completely blind." Susan's voice turned grave. "When things shake out in Caleb, we will know more. If the city falls, we will likely not have to worry about the country coming for us, but things will get really bad for everyone else. That means the undead will eventually find their way there.

"When I left, the siege was still very much undecided. I don't know if we can have scouts trained and there before it is, but we need to find out what happens there as soon as we can." Susan finished.

"That is a real concern, of course." Bee agreed. "I don't know if we'll be able to affect the outcome at all. Maybe if we pray to Void, it will see fit to intervene. But let's stay on topic for a bit." She looked back to Mary and Trent. "The last bit is the magic and religious stuff, which I will take on. Eventually, we will set up a secondary council for the religious questions, but that isn't urgent."

They all sat back, and for a few seconds, there was only the sound of the crackling fireplace as everyone gathered their thoughts. Mary broke the silence. "How are we going to figure out who does what? Within our teams, I mean."

Tony spoke up for the first time. "Well, I don't think we need to do anything disruptive right now, but I'm going to talk to everyone and set up a system to bring new people up to speed as they come in. We can talk about that once we have a better idea of what people can do and what they want to do."

Trent and Mary each had a few more clarifications they asked for, but nothing major. Bee was finally starting to think they had this all figured out.

"It sounds like we have a lot of important things to talk about," Trent said in a serious tone. "But have you considered the most important part of it yet?"

Bee frowned. Her confusion only grew when Tony broke into a wide grin and when Mary put her face in her hands.

"What's the most important part?" Bee asked with concern, feeling as if she was walking into a trap.

Trent let a smile slide onto his face as he answered. "Why, the name, of course!"