Follow the Aeirunian Brick Road

Faster wagons and less forgiving highland terrain evened out to make a two-day journey to the heart of Elvwood. The clock on Skott’s PTO card ticked down ever so slowly. In his peerless foresight, Skott of Omaha had arranged for his vacation to end on a long weekend. So long as he departed in time to make it down to Crossroads Ford within three days or so (or they found another portal site, even more fortuitous!), then he would be back on Earth in time to make it to another boring shift at Coopycorp.

“Hey, Lamora,” Skott asked during a rare lull in her workload. “What gave you the idea for the road?”

“Why, you did,” Lamora said warmly.

Lucy looked back and forth, evidently quite happy that her parents were bonding.

“Oh?” Skott scratched his chin. He didn’t recall waxing poetic about the concept of a freeway during his first trip to Aeirun.

“It was that story,” Lamora continued. “The one with the… what was it… gold brick road?”

Skott chuckled despite himself. “The yellow brick… Oh!”

The pair had spent a great deal of time discussing the finer points of portal fantasy. It was not a literary tradition of which Aeirun possessed many examples. On Earth, it was plentiful! This is to say, he’d told Lamora the broad-strokes plot of a certain book about a wizard as they lounged by a campfire one night. He was surprised that the story had stuck out so much in Lamora’s mind.

“Okay, I see the inspiration.” Skott looked out the carriage door and laughed again. “Not yellow. More of a sandy-color though.”

“We don’t really have yellow claw to make bricks in our world,” Lamora said.

“Eh, we don’t really have that back home either. It’s just part of the story.”

“Mother told my siblings and I this story on many an occasion!” Lucy said, chipper.

The carriage had begun to climb up a steep hill. The road remained even and pothole free.

“Aw, did you?” Skott asked.

“But of course.” Lamora hummed. “I quite enjoyed that story you told me.”

The older pair laughed, smiling happily.

Heck, the Boston public works department could learn a thing or two from the Aeirunians, Skott thought.

“Hehe,” Lucy giggled. “At long last, mother and father are flirting once more.”

“We are not!” Lamora and Skott said in unison.

+++

The hill they were fording led up into some winding, scenic cliffs and highland forests. The convoy slowed further still. This offered a perfect view of Elvwood—a city carved entirely from the tallest trees of the deepest northern forests.

From a distance, it appeared to be a treetop metropolis. The reality on the ‘street level’ was an incredibly sparse town. Elvan, being a territorial lot, only housed a single major family or extended clan in each mighty oak. The surrounding highlands used to be filled with palatial estates in what was the most sparsely populated province in Aeirun. Most of those estates were now burned down or fallow, while the forests overtook the old elvan gardens.

As they pulled up to the local governmental quarters, Skott povided himself a primer on the Aeirunian political situation.

“Alright. So, Elvwood here was one of the only cities we didn’t overtake during my time here,” he began.

“That’s right,” Lamora began, but Lucy was jumping up and down in her seat.

“Let me explain, mother!”

The P.M. grinned, fangs out. “Very well.”

Lucy-Kignora grinned at Skott, her own underbite bared. “While it’s true the liberating armies never marched into the highlands, by the time you left, Elvwood’s population of indentured servants was already in open rebellion. This forced the local ruling caste of elvan to come to terms and accept incorporation into the coalition.”

That was exactly what Skott had suggested Lamora and their allies do to close out the rebellion. They’d discussed it during that journey to Crossroads Ford and further elaborated on the details during some downtime in the inn.

“You’ve taken to stateswomanship quite well,” Skott told her.

The tower she-orc let out a soft hum at the compliment. “Well, you laid down the groundwork, brave hero.”

“Flirting!” Lucy said with an excited, high-pitched whisper.

“We are not!”

+++

“We’re approaching the provincial government compound,” Lamora said. “Once you left, the remaining party and I traveled here to sign the Writ of Union.”

The coalition had already been established down on the plains. With Elwood’s surrender and incorporation, though, the elvan masters who once ruled the other species with an iron fist were supposed to be well and truly beaten. Such had been the plan, anyway. Skott hadn’t expected there to be clandestine guerrillas out to tear the newly victorious coalition apart.

“What do these Redeemers want anyway?” Skott muttered to himself. “Elvwood autonomy? The easy guess. They surely don’t want a complete return to the old regime?”

“Elvwood is a hotbed of Redeemer activity,” Lamora said. “Hopefully, you won’t encounter any while we’re here. They’re not exactly talkative.”

Lucy and Skott shared a look. They hadn’t told Lucy’s mother that they’d already done battle with a marauding gang of masked elvan on their way to the capital.

The carriage pulled through an ornately cultivated hedge-thicket in the elvan style. They were headed towards the tallest tree-tower in the city, appropriated as the provincial capital.

“I know what this is,” Skott said.

A regal crest had been scratched off the bark beside the tree’s branch-woven exterior circular staircase. The remnants of the design was one that the Earther had carved into his memories long ago.

This was once one of the many hereditary tree manses of the old High King Auron. Skott’s first host in the other world, overking of all elvan, and all-around fierce slayer of orcs and goblins.

A moderately sized army patrolled the grounds. They weren’t taking the coalition prime minsistress’s safety for granted, that much was sure.

The carriage stopped at the foot of the long staircase. Skott got out first, then offered his hand to Lamora.

“Still such a gentleman.” Lamora stepped out with an emerald-green blush unbecoming a calm and collected politician.

“Hehe. Operation Younger Siblings continues apace.” Lucy said, hoping out of the carriage of her own volition.

“Operation? What operation?!” Skott asked.

“Hehe. My plans are measured in centuries,” Lucy-Kignora cooed.

“You didn’t even know we were related at the start of the week!” Skott said.

“Even before, matchmaking Mother with the great hero from Earth was surely a noble goal.” Lucy giggled.

“Jeez, kid.” Skott made a mental note not to underestimate his daughter.

She was getting to be that rebellious age, after all.