172: Tree

Dashing outside, I had no trouble finding Crisplet. The statue was massive, and it was in the same location we had the Lily statue that was now missing. My presence got Crisplet’s attention immediately, but this time he didn’t bring the statue down.

As I was slowly approaching it, I really took it in. The statue easily reached the height of the roof. The tree itself wasn’t just made of ash, but it was ash, coal and fire. Every leaf was made of flame. The dark bark, which had shades of black and white over it, was fractured, showing the roiling flames in the core. Then I noticed the figures that Crisplet was working on.

They were clearly not all done yet, but at the base of the tree lay Lily. On the opposite side, leaning against the trunk, was Hari, I was sure. The details were not there yet, but the shape of the body was unmistakable.

Looking up into the branches where Crisplet was currently working, looking down at me, happily shooting off sparks, I saw Alira in her human-like form. However, her arms were mostly wings, and all the feathers were made of fire as well.

Near her was another shape of a male. It was hard to tell from where I was standing, but if I were to guess, I’d say it was Milo. Even higher, I saw three more shapes, all much closer to the top of the tree: Jen, Liane, and myself, with Liane being the lowest of the three.

Looking around, though, there were two statues missing: Sylverith and, most importantly, Crisplet himself.

“Where are you?” I called from the base.

Crisplet looked up at the figure that I assumed was going to be me, shooting off an ember at it, so I tried to get a better angle to see it. Sure enough, there he was—the crude shape of Crisplet sitting on the figure’s shoulder, made purely of fire.

“I love it!” I called out.

Getting a burst of sparks in response.

Turning around, I saw Milo, Archie, and Lord Fellwood all standing at the entrance. They didn’t seem as shocked as I was, but I had to guess they saw it coming in.

“Crisplet, I’m going for my meeting now. Did you want to keep working on this?” I asked, looking up at him.

“He’ll be fine. I’ll be with him. You can keep going, Crisplet,” Liane said from behind me.

I jumped at the sound, not even having known she was there.

Crisplet just gave off a burst of sparks and went back to the statue, forming more branches.

“Wait, have you been watching the whole time?” I said, turning on Liane.

“Since you ran past me in the foyer? Yes,” she said.

Letting out a sigh, “Fine. Let’s get this meeting over with.”

“Come on, this one shouldn’t be so bad. The Fellwoods deal with a lot of merchants and the commerce side of government. They are worth being on good terms with. You could get some good deals,” she said as we made our way over.

“Liane, I’m the worst person to be talking business like that, and since when do you care about nobles?” I said, wondering who this person was.

She just laughed. “I care about food more, and if you want bulk stock, this house is where you get bulk stock.”

I saw Milo discussing something with Lord Fellwood on the stairs, but they stopped as soon as they saw us approaching.

“Greetings, Lord Ashmoon. It’s a nice name you have chosen,” Reginald said, bowing.

“Thank you, and just Trevor, please,” I said.

I was unsure if I was supposed to bow or not, so I was trying to see what Liane did, noticing she didn’t bow.

“Uh, shall we go in?” I said, leading the way.

I was heading towards the dining room because I really didn’t know where to go and was just about to reach the door when Archie interrupted.

“Sir, I have prepared a table and tea for you all in the sunroom, as per the request.”

“Thank you, Archie.” I changed course, walking past the Sylverith statue towards the back of the house.

“These statues are truly remarkable,” Reginald commented.

“Thanks. Crisplet has worked very hard on them,” I said happily.

“That tree out front, is it going to be stone like this one?” Reginald asked.

I just shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. That’s new today.”

Liane laughed from behind us. “Lily’s statue is on the roof right now.”

“Of course it is…” I muttered.

Opening the door to the sunroom, I saw that Archie had set up a table overlooking the rear garden. On the table sat a teapot with three cups.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation, Trevor. I’ll admit my intentions have changed since setting this meeting, as information around you is travelling faster than any of us could expect, it seems like,” he said.

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“So it seems,” I said bitterly.

“No, this isn’t a bad thing. Initially, I set this up to learn who you are, and I am still curious, but since then I’ve had the Alchemist Guild attempt to have me not trade with you. You were responsible for the first ever dragon in the capital, and if I’m not mistaken, she is living with you?” Reginald inquired.

This comment was confusing, though, so I had to ask.

“You would have seen her, right? She would have come out to the foyer just before I did.”

He just shook his head. “No one came out before you.”

I could have sworn she went that way, but perhaps she went into her room or the study instead. Oh well.

“But that does answer the question,” Reginald laughed.