Rokanth practically had a ship on every hill, even the ones inhabited by Halflings. The Endeavor made it out of the vortex and got a visual on the situation. When it was displayed on screen, everyone’s eyebrows went up. “…Handrem wasn’t kidding,” whistled Arsha.
“I’ve got the landing site’s coordinates,” reported Nazay, “but it’s gonna be a tight squeeze.”
“Set us down as best you can manage,” ordered Arsha.
The Endeavor slowly maneuvered itself over the site, situated between a pointy Falchion-class vessel and a bulky Imperial-class transport. It descended at a snail’s pace, Nazay not wanting to scratch the other ships or the Endeavor herself. It was almost agonizing at how slow it was. After three minutes, the ship’s landing struts finally touched the hill. One could almost hear it sigh in relief. It then settled down…and scraped itself against the Falchion-class vessel’s prow.
On the bridge, Endea cried out as the scraping echoed throughout the ship. She clutched her side and fell to her knees. Marshii and Thangred rushed to her. Once she could manage the pain well enough to muscle through it long enough to glare at Nazay. “Keelside starboard bow!” she snarled. “Really, Nazay?! Not three minutes in the Mid-realm and you scrape me up?!”
“Sorry!” gulped Nazay.
“Thangred, get some engineers to fix that,” sighed Arsha. Marshii led Endea to Sick Bay as Thangred hurried off to assign the repair teams. Arsha turned to Nazay. “Scrape up my ship, hm?” Nazay’s face went as red as his tail in embarrassment. “All right, we ribbed him long enough. We need to discuss the situation with Skain.”
Handrem and a Halfling man in a mayor’s suit, Mayor Thenthar Hulmbark, met with Elgrad, Hanako, Arsha, Foresna, and Denstra. “Elgrad, my old friend!” cheered Thenthar.
“Thenthar, you old rascal!” chuckled Elgrad as the two hugged one another. Foresna then noticed something.
“Er, pardon my saying so, Lord Mayor, but you look a little thin for a Halfling,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“We better talk in my home,” replied Thenthar. “This way.” He led everyone down a street through the landing struts of the ships littering Rokanth. They made their way to the highest hill and approached a circular door, painted blue. Thenthar then took out a key ring, found the key, and put it into the door to open it. His taller guests had to duck their heads as they entered the house. Inside the hill, though, wasn’t just dirt. It was a rather luxurious home. Once they entered the door, the guests saw the various coat hooks. All down the hall’s left side were the parlor, the dining room, the study, the sitting room, and the bedroom Thenthar and his wife used. On the right side were the drawing room, the kitchen, the cellar, the pantries, and three more bedrooms, one for each of his children. At the end of the hall were the family’s closets. “My house is open to those that wish to make it a home,” greeted Thenthar in the Halfling manner.
“We shall treat this house as a home,” said Elgrad in the usual reply. Thenthar then led everyone to the parlor. As she maneuvered herself around the home, Hanako bumped into the chandelier. She steadied it, then nodded once it stopped shaking. She turned to follow everyone.
“Low bridge,” warned Foresna. The warning came too late as Hanako bumped her head against the ceiling beam.
“Now what is all that racket?!” came a woman’s voice. A Halfling woman then came into the parlor. “Thenthar, I swear, if you conceded to-!” The woman’s eyes rested on the Royanas. “…Your Majesties?!” she whispered.
“Mrs. Hulmbark, I presume?” asked Arsha. Thenthar’s wife beamed with joy.
“Your Majesties, Your Highness! It’s so wonderful to see you! And Little Foresna! Thenthar, you should have told me we were having guests! I’ll get a meal going!”
“Just tea, thank you,” replied Foresna. “We have a situation to discuss.”
“Concerning the Mid-realm throne and the Pretender on it?”
“That’s it,” confirmed Thenthar.
“Then let me get the kettle going! You lot need some tea after that fright!” She dashed off to the kitchen.
“Skain took our staff,” explained Thenthar. “He’s put them to work as guards demanding passes to go through Rokanth.”
“Passes?” asked Arsha. “When did Halflings need passes to go through their home?”
“Since Skain took over,” replied Handrem. Mrs. Hulmbark then came back in. “He’s passed a number of laws that are encroaching on a citizen’s rights, even my own.”
“The Mid-realm’s gone to pot!” grumbled Mrs. Hulmbark. “That slaver should never have sat on your throne! He claimed that YOU made that proclamation, Your Majesty.”
“I most certainly did not!” growled Elgrad. “He owned my ancestors; I didn’t let him anywhere near that kind of power!”
“…I’m sorry, he OWNED your ancestors?” asked Foresna. “I know the Royanas were slaves before the Great Uprising, but a HUMAN from that time is on the throne now?”
“Skain’s not human,” corrected Arsha. “That’s just a disguise to fool everyone. He’s actually an Elf, and a very vindictive one.”
“He once owned the Royanas as his slave labor,” continued Elgrad. “My ancestors were whipped whenever they didn’t get enough of the crops, they were raped, they were killed for talking too much, they were separated from their children, any injustice you could think of, They suffered. Mortak decided that they suffered enough, so she organized a slave revolt against Skain and his family. Skain never forgave the Royana Family for that or forgot. His vendetta led to his family abandoning him.”
“Why is he still around?” asked Foresna.
“The Royanas wanted to reform him,” replied Arsha. “Over time, he’s become less and less blatant about his desire to possess other people as property, but I see that it’s all just an act.”
“An act we wanted no part of,” said Thenthar. “My wife, bless her, has been getting those of darker skin tones out of Largandra and trying to find homes for them. Because of that, we Halflings limited ourselves to just three meals instead of our usual seven.”
“That explains why the Halflings look so thin,” remarked Elgrad. “They’re not eating enough. Mayor Hulmbark, King Handrem, you have my word that these atrocities will stop!”
“You ever need support, just say the word!” declared Handrem.
“And you’ll have my militia as well!” promised Thenthar.
“Then we need to plan our siege,” said Elgrad.