Making Amends Meet

“What the hell?” were the only words that came to Cain’s mind as the thugs prostrated themselves before him.

“Please, Boss, allow us to express our most sincerest apologies.” the largest one said, taking off his mask to reveal the face of a young Yotun underneath. “We was only takin’ because we needed it, I swears it!

“You guys tried to kill us, bozo!” Cain yelled back.

“Bozo was my father’s name. Please, call me Buza, boss.” the young yotun replied.

Cain blinked at him, then looked back at Rina and Finn for assistance.

“This seems like a job for our Chief of Security. I’ll go get him.” Finn said, already halfway out the door. “Have fun learning how to do diplomacy, Cain!”

Cain groaned as Rina walked up next to him. This was going to be a pain, he could just feel it.

“Alright, fine, let’s try to be civil about this now that we’ve gotten the violence out of the way.” he sighed.

“Wait, Cain. These guys are still the thieves who stole the supplies we were looking for. Shouldn’t we wait until Gunnar shows up to try to deal with them?” Rina expressed, her voice still somewhat shaky.

Buza spoke up with the comfortable swagger of a businessman. “Apologies, madam. My compatriots and I were simply afraid you was gonna kill us for takin’ those supplies from you. But honest, we was only doin’ it to look out for folk and maybe make a little pocket change for ourselves.”

As Buza spoke, Cain wandered over to the hand cart they had seen earlier, sitting parked next to a stack of crates. Each crate bore the same crest the one from earlier had, the Last Bastion emblem. There was very little room for doubt in Cain’s mind that these were the stolen supplies Valerie had blamed him for the disappearance of. Or at least, they would have been, if all of the crates weren’t empty.

“What happened to all the supplies?” he asked the group of thugs. “It’s only been about a week and this was enough food and medical supplies to provide for a small village for about a month, by the looks of it.”

“Well, er, you see,” Buza stammered in response, “Paradox has been kind of, uh, lackin’, for a while. These supplies were a godsend to the folk out there, all starvin’ and sick-like.”

“So…they’re all gone?” Rina asked, trying to get clarification.

“In a manner of speaking, I suppose you could say that they are in fact, gone. Yes.” Buza replied, sweating nervously.

Cain spoke up again, a tone of concern in his voice. “Wait, so, it was bad enough out there that they went through a month’s worth of supplies in five days? I get that the population here is a little bigger than what those supplies were meant to cover, but doesn’t that seem a bit crazy?”

“It’s worse than I thought then…” Rina mumbled, looking pensive. “We’ve been getting reports from Paradox saying that some communities were having food shortages and illness outbreaks for a little while now, but if the stolen supplies were used up that fast, the situation in here is worse than we accounted for...”

Rina didn’t have to say what was next on that train of thought. Everyone in the room was unmistakably thinking the same thing. If the supplies that could’ve sustained a village for a month were completely used up in only one week, that could only mean one thing. Paradox was running out of food. With how many settlements, villages, and cities Last Bastion had taken refugees, at some point the population of Paradox had passed the threshold of being sustainable.

“Folks in here have been tryin’ to tell you guys that for months!” Buza shouted, standing up angrily and taking a step towards Rina.

Cain jumped in front of her, blocking Buza’s path. “Let’s stay calm about this. There has to be some kind of solution. What about setting up farmland?”

“They tried that when Paradox was first made.” Rina disputed, “The rocky terrain in here isn’t very ideal for farming. Not to mention the lack of sunlight means plants wouldn’t be able to grow very well anyway. Raising livestock was also out of the question, since there would be little to no plants for them to eat.”

Cain wracked his brain. There had to be some kind of solution here. Anything that would prevent a widescale famine from occurring in Paradox. Plants need air, water, light, nutrients, and a proper temperature to grow. Based on what he’d seen so far, magic could probably cover most of those requirements, the only issue was having a suitable place for plants to grow that could sustain a constant temperature in a massive cavern. Cain’s mind drifted to the greenhouses at his school, able to sustain a warm and stable environment year round despite the changing weather conditions.

Cain snapped his fingers. “Greenhouses, that’s it!”

“Greenhouses?” Rina and the thugs asked in unison.

“Greenhouses! They were a type of building back in my world that people used to keep plants in a stable environment no matter what the conditions were like outside.” Cain explained, pacing back and forth thoughtfully, “Rina, is there magic that can water plants and give them nutrients, or that can at least aid in it?”

“I-I think so. That’s not really my area of expertise, but that sounds like something that would be well within the realm of possibility.”

A human woman towards the back of the group who had been silent until now raised her hand tentatively.

“Um, I used to garden back in my village as a hobby. I know a few spells that could help grow some plants, assuming I could get some soil and seeds. I could probably teach them to some others if needed.” she said.

“Great!” Cain exclaimed, thrilled that his idea actually seemed to be going somewhere, “What about the buildings around this warehouse? Are they abandoned where they could be converted into greenhouses?”

“Uh, yeah, they should be.” Buza answered, “This whole complex has been abandoned ever since Lorelin Goods went under a year or so back. That’s why we’ve been using it as a base of operations”

“Perfect.” Cain stated, “We might just be able to make this work.”

“Hold it, Cain.” came a familiar chilling voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Valerie standing in the doorway along with Gunnar, Shadra, and a dejected Finn. Valerie stepped into the warehouse, keeping her arms crossed as she walked. Her collapsed flagpole hung from her belt like an officer’s service arm, a reminder that ‘necessary force’ was only ever a wrist flick away. Her presence alone was subzero, or at least that was Cain’s explanation for why everyone froze in place.

“Sorry, man.” Finn sighed, “She overheard my conversation with Gunnar.”

“So, Cain, care to tell me what you were planning to do with these thieving scum?” Valerie asked, her voice like ice.

Cain gritted his teeth. There it was again. That accusatory tone that bit into him like a snake, the venom coursing through her words and entering his veins.

“They were telling us about their reasoning for taking the supplies, and-” Cain began.

“Their reasoning doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is that these lowlives sabotaged us. Whether intentional or not, they will be held responsible.” Valerie continued.

“Please, Boss Lady, if you’d permit me a moment to speak to explain our actions-” Buza spoke up.

Nearly before Cain could blink, Valerie had sketched out a black and yellow glyph depicting stakes of lightning. In a flash, the area around Buza was scorched with intimidating accuracy, leaving him unharmed except for the shocked look on his face. It seemed like ‘necessary force’ came out faster than expected.

“Do not speak unless spoken to, thief.” she growled, glaring at him with the ferocity of a thunderstorm.

“What are you doing?!” Cain shouted, “You could’ve killed him! You’re taking this way too far! You need to calm down so that we can discuss this civilly and come to an agreement that benefits everyone!”

Valerie stepped towards Cain, hand drifting to her belt. “I will not take orders from someone who still doesn’t comprehend what’s at stake here. These people stole crucial supplies that could have provided for this place for an entire month! Clearly, you still need to learn some discipline!”

In an instant, she extended her flagpole and swung it towards Cain’s ankles. So that was her plan, knock him to the ground so she could look down on him even more. To keep him on the floor where she could justify putting him down and belittling any of the progress he’d made. To continue telling him he needed to keep aiming higher, no matter how far he had already climbed. Just like back home.

She was taking this too far. This wasn’t about justice anymore, it was just a power trip to satisfy her ego. To tell her she was doing a good job, despite it all. Cain saw through it. Where Valerie probably saw a fearless leader who wouldn’t back down in the face of hardship, Cain simply saw a child throwing a tantrum. Seems like they were more alike than he’d initially thought.

Cain flickered, and suddenly his foot stood on the end of Valerie’s flagpole, pinning it to the floor with a crack that echoed through the room. She glared at him, and he saw his fear reflected back at him.

“You’re right, I don’t know what’s at stake, because you haven’t told me jack shit.” Cain snarled back, wiping another trickle of blood from his nose, “But what I do know, is that these people stole because the supplies you’ve been giving them weren’t enough. People have been going hungry and getting sick because of food and medicine shortages here. They’ve been trying to tell you for months. Have you even been paying attention to them?”

“That’s the purpose of the rations! To make sure the supplies we have are spread out so that things like that don’t happen! We were dealing with supply shortages already, then these people came along and stole a good portion of the supplies we did have! Things like that only make it even harder to make sure everyone has what they need!” Valerie yelled back.

“So then change something!” Cain roared, “If something isn’t working, it’s your job as the leader to make decisions to fix it. As things are right now, people are going to suffer and people are going to die. There are lives behind every one of those map markers and statistics in operations, you should understand that! Or did they not quite get to that part back at the academy?”

Perhaps that last part was a bit too harsh, but it seemed to get Cain’s point across. He could almost hear Valerie’s draconian mask crack when he said that. He stepped off the end of her flagpole, which she quickly retracted, the end of it now slightly dented.

“Fine.” she said, swiftly regaining her composure, “We’ll try your idea of setting up these greenhouses. These thieves will be the ones to work them as atonement. Last Bastion will provide the seeds and the soil, with the stipulation that we receive a portion of the crops grown. Get to work everyone.”

Cain relaxed as Valerie walked away. He took a step forward only to stumble a bit. It seemed like he’d pushed himself further than he thought between the fight with Buza’s group and his confrontation just now. Rina walked over and reached out a hand to help steady him. Cain couldn’t meet her gaze, he was afraid of seeing what kind of look was on her face. He knew he’d gone too far in his exchange with Valerie, and guilt clouded his heart.

Rina gave his shoulder a small, reaffirming squeeze as she helped him walk over to Finn. “Gunnar and I will handle things here, Cain. You…go get some rest.”

“C’mon, Mr. Star of the Show, let’s get you back to the MOLE so you can recuperate.” Finn said quietly as he escorted Cain out of the warehouse.

The rest of the trip back to his room was a bit of a haze. Cain didn’t remember much about what happened along the way, but he did remember passing by Valerie and Shadra talking as he exited the warehouse. He remembered overhearing Valerie asking Shadra if she and Gunnar would give her a few supplementary lessons.