NOVGO.NET Chapter 2038 Government Carnival
Chapter 2038: Chapter 2038 Government Carnival
— Kat —
Lily had fallen asleep and Kat didn’t blame her. Tony clearly had more than a few things to get off his chest, from how he wasn’t friends with the ’main group’ of kids that his family hung out with, to his issues during schooling and at home. Kat didn’t mind, and for all that Lily echoed that statement it clearly wasn’t something she’d put forth her full focus on. Kat felt she made good progress when the kids and teens were spotted approaching. Tony glanced at her a few times before running off.
Kat didn’t take it to heart. He probably didn’t want to introduce his old ’friends’ to his new friend. He’d want their conversation to be special and Kat didn’t mind that. Hopefully it would make it more memorable to Tony and he’d be able to deal with some of his issues better now that he’d talked them all through. Kat waited for them to be out of sight before standing up.
With Lily in human form it was a little awkward, but just a little. Kat was about to debate over where to go with she noticed someone in uniform running up towards her. “Excuse me Miss, are you Kat?” Kat nodded. “There are some guards at the front of the park waiting to see you. If you could go to them that would be ideal,”
Kat nodded slowly. *I have a strong desire to ignore them… but the fact that someone is coming to find me means it must be serious. The fact that the guards didn’t come into the park, and I was told it would be ’ideal’ but not that I ’have to’ go with them seems to imply I’m not the one in trouble… yeah best I go see what this is about. I thought for a moment they were concerned about the fact I was going to carry Lily off.*
Still, even if the important people likely knew Lily wasn’t just a cat at this point, there was no reason to advertise that fact too widely when they didn’t need to. Kat gave Lily a mental poke, sending the idea of transforming at her. Lily sort of rolled mentally in her sleep and managed the transformation. Perfect. Easier to carry and the guards wouldn’t find the fact I was carrying around a sleeping woman weird.
When she got to the exit of the park, there was two guards in full armour. One of them was standing at attention and waiting patiently for her… the other was on the floor panting. “This is what you get for skipping physical conditioning,” sighed a feminine voice.
“I’m in the reserves!” growled the male sounding guard on the ground.
“Yeah, and part of getting paid for that is keeping up with your exercise in case you are ever called upon this is your own-” the guard paused when they noticed Kat. “Ah! Kat! I apologise for coming to find you, but you’re wanted in the palace for something. I was not informed as to what. Quite a few guards are out looking for you.”
“Um… sure,” said Kat slowly. “Shall I fly to the castle at full speed or would it be better for you to escort me?”
“Hmmm…” the female guard seemed unsure.
“You can fly there,” interrupted the guard on the ground.
“I believe we were told to escort Kat to the castle if she agreed,” the female guard countered.
“Well, I’m saying she can go on ahead!” insisted the man.
“You just don’t want to get off the ground,” grumbled the woman.
“Correct!” insisted the man.
Kat shrugged and said, “I’m fine with whatever, just confirm one way or the other.”
The standing guard glanced at the one on the ground. Clearly chewing on the question for a few moments before shrugging. “Eh, head off. We’ve been looking for you for about thirty minutes and I doubt we were the first guards asked to find you so best you get there are swiftly as possible.”
Kat nodded and leapt into the air, wings flaring as she took to the sky and rushed towards the castle. Even with the magic around it to ensure it took up less space it was still a rather obvious landmark, especially when combined with the gardens that surrounded it. Kat considered flying in through one of the windows but she didn’t actually know where she needed to go… so front entrance it was.
Kat landed at the main gate and the guards soon escorted her inside to a room with the King alongside Stad some guards and a few familiar faces. At the other end of the table was Mayor Pol and a guard… who she was pretty sure was Skrool. Hard to tell when he had a helmet on, but he was the right height. With those two around, Kat was almost expecting to see Grandma somewhere but she seemed to be absent.
“Greetings Kat,” said King Gravel. “We were just hoping to have you act as a somewhat neutral third party for this meeting if that is acceptable to you?”
“Sure I guess?” said Kat uncertain. “Is there a reason you’re not asking Weaver to do this? I mean, considering the fact Pol is here you’ve got to have the portal at least somewhat open right?”
The King winced a bit and gestured for Stad to answer. “We’re a bit concerned with becoming too reliant on Weaver for things. There is also the fact that a number of advisors believe she may be more aligned with the mayor here due to his willingness to have multiple connections around his city,”
“Town,” coughed Pol quietly.
Kat let her eyebrow raise a bit at that, but she supposed it wasn’t really any of her business. “Alright, I suppose I can sit in. What exactly do you want from me other than being here?”
“Essentially, you’ll act as third party confirmation. Mayor Pol has a hard time believing some of our capabilities, and we aren’t entirely sure of things Mayor Pol has stated as fact for his own people. Not that we don’t believe him at all, but such important things need to be double checked,” explained Stad. Lying at least twice in the same sentence but she wasn’t sure if she was meant to point that out just yet.
“Alright,” agreed Kat.
“In that case, the first order of business was finding the best place to dump the more…criminal elements of our city,” stated Gravel. “We were hoping for proper suggestions, and Weaver said she might have a few… but Pol here seems oddly accepting of just having them show up in his city,”
Pol glanced over at Kat for a moment before speaking. “We are forever losing people to Spring mostly. We just… don’t have the population to turn away people interested in staying. We also never prevent anyone leaving. You say they’re criminals, and sure they’re violent but we NEED strong defenders for the community and to replenish our population. While I would be worried if they came in a big group, if smaller segments could be arranged they’d be free to stay or leave as they will,”
Gravel sighed, “And I don’t think you understand just HOW dangerous some of these people are…”
“I’d be willing to talk to their representative to work out a proper deal,” countered Pol.
“I don’t think I’m comfortable with that,” sighed Gravel. “It would make them think they have power over my decisions and frankly they’re already pushing up against the limits of what I can accept without essentially declaring war on them.”
Pol shrugged and once again glanced at Kat. “What do you two want me to say? I understand both perspectives. Pol’s town has to be worried about regular floods and more people to defend is nice when you don’t have walls… but the technology of Gravel’s city is a big power boost. One that means a single person can do a lot of damage even if they’re Rank 1.”
“How about a secondary consideration then?” asked Pol. “Seeing as, even with Kat here, we reached no decision and this is the third time we’ve gone over things. I admit, I don’t understand just how strong someone from your city can be… but that WHY I feel the need to accept them, at least in some numbers. We need that strength. Perhaps we can finally find some way to avoid the floods.”
Ah. Kat was struck with understanding. It was never really about defence from monsters, it was the floods. It likely always would be. *I’d thought that he was taking an unnecessary risk… but he doesn’t need to force anyone. If even a few people from the city settle down everyone who leaves has a chance to contribute to fighting the floods. Especially true if he knows they’re all from one family.*
Pol continued, “You’ve insinuated that not only do you have a significant amount of produce but you have farming techniques that you’d be willing to share in exchange for access to more plants and animals. What sort are you looking for?”