Chapter 145: Army of Moms

An hour later, Karbo had the rough outline of a shelf done. It was a sort of rectangular section carved out of the top of the cliff and allowing for a view of the ocean on one side and the city on the other. Despite Karbo’s earlier protests that his work wouldn’t be clean, the previously irregular top was now completely level, at least as far as Arthur could see. He couldn’t see the outside edge, though Karbo had promised to do his best to leave a slightly higher stone shelf there for safety.

The staircase was much less clean, but nothing that the mason didn’t feel confident cleaning up over the next few days. What they were left with, or would be left with once the stampers and the stoneworkers had their way, was a sort of public space in the sky. It would still be protected by the wall at the front of the settlement and allowed for anyone who was willing to make the climb to have a high up, quiet view of the city.

Or, as the immediate need called for, a big flat surface with two beautiful views for his friends to hold their wedding.

“This is too much, Arthur.” Rhodia stood in awe of the new recreation area. “I know you did it for us, but it’s too much.”

“She’s not wrong.” Milo was also looking up, slack jawed at what Karbo had done. “What are you going to do when we have our first kid? Fill in the ocean?”

“It’s fine,” Arthur said. “It’s not like I didn’t check with people. Everyone thought it would be a nice space to have. It’s something we can build up. I thought about just doing a staircase, but Spiky convinced me that was a bad idea. Apparently, it was more irregular up there than it looked.”

“Well, fine,” Milo said. “And I have to say, the experience of giving Karbo a hammer that he uses to destroy a mountain is not nothing.”

“You got experience?” Karbo rolled his eyes. “I just got another one of those decorative achievements. The system’s been cheap lately.”

“The system, dear, is likely afraid of you,” Itela said. “If it keeps giving you experience, you might just accidentally break the world one day. Just be content that you're a fully illogical entity.”

“Fine. I’m keeping this hammer, though.” Karbo swung it back and forth. “I think it will be nice for fighting very big things. I like fighting very big things.”

Karbo wandered off swinging his giant death-hammer unnervingly close to various homes and important municipal structures, seeming to day-dream about how he’d fight alarmingly large monsters. Itela followed at a safe distance, still glimmering with her cleric-shield.

“Excuse me, Arthur? Are all the explosions done?” One of the town’s newer laborers stepped up. “We’d like to get ready on the stairs. We figure if we all work on it all day, we can have them done by nightfall. Maybe. Nobody has ever done a job this big before.”

“We’ll get it done,” Karra said. “Just tell me where to chisel.”

“Thank you, everyone. I swear I’ll make it up to you all someday. Somehow,” Arthur promised.

“What’s to make up?” the laborer said. “We get to make a new cool park. Even ignoring experience, what else would be more fun than that?”

Everyone who had a job to do in the park seemed not only willing to do it, but thrilled. Itela and Ella had been right. They could all see the potential of a new, cool space. Which made Arthur realize, suddenly, how little they had thought about saving space for parks and play in their plans for the city. It was something he’d talk to Spiky about later. Luckily, it was nothing they couldn’t fix.

And a few minutes later, Arthur was left with nothing to do. All the preparation that was left for the wedding would have to wait until there was a space ready, which meant he had the better part of the afternoon to cool off with. The problem was finding something that would actually calm him down from the wedding-planning jitters.

“What do I do, Lily? I can’t just stand around while they work. I’ll go crazy,” Arthur said.

“Well, this is going to sound insane, but remember how you are supposed to run a tea shop?” Lily teased. “Wouldn’t it be crazy if you actually did that for once?”

“Phew. That’s the answer, isn’t it?” Arthur almost slapped his own forehead. “Yes, I’ll do that. You want to help?”

“You have no idea how much. But it’ll need to wait. For now, I need to go dump my awesome majicka on the stair-carvers. At least if you want this done as quickly as possible.”

“Yes. Please. Thank you so much, Lily. And I promise once this wedding is done, we’ll spend an entire week in the shop. No other projects. I swear nothing smaller than a monster wave will stop it,” Arthur said. He fully meant it.

“I’ll hold you to that. Now go. Have fun, okay?”

And it was fun. Just honest, naturally occurring fun. A lot of the moms that had descended on the settlement were from other places besides the city Arthur’s old shop had serviced, and had no idea what his drinks even were. Even the moms from the city hadn’t all had a chance to try it, outside of the bare-bones version he had given out during the monster wave. He spent the afternoon explaining what the drink was, figuring out what people wanted, and making the best tea he could.

Which is pretty good tea these days if I do say so myself.

Arthur whistled to himself as he put all his skills to work doing exactly what they were intended to do and absolutely nothing else. Some blessed unnamed farmer had seen fit to drop off Arthur’s daily ration of Hing milk even when he wasn’t there, and he had plenty of boba, sweeteners, and tea to go around.

The moms loved it. And when moms loved things, they said so.

“This is wonderful.” A beaver-demon mom was gushing over the drink to a badger-demon mother she had made friends with since their arrival. “You know how sometimes you don’t quite want lunch?”

“But you want something,” the badger mother said. “I know exactly what you mean, and this is perfect for that. Young man, you are a genius. How did you think of this?”

“Oh, I can’t take credit for it,” Arthur said with a hint of a smile. “It’s a drink on my old world. I just managed to bring it here.”

“Don’t be so modest.” The beaver-mom smiled at him in a planning, hopeful kind of way. “Do you have a girlfriend? You probably know my daughter Tiun. She’s a very nice girl.”

“He does.” Maar appeared out of nowhere and physically inserted herself in front of Arthur. “Mizu. My daughter.”

“Oh, well then. Can’t blame me for trying,” the beaver-mom said with a wink.

“You can still have as many drinks as you want, I promise.” Arthur tried to act normal under the looks of a dozen thwarted maternal matchmakers, and almost pulled it off. “But yes, I’m currently spoken for.”

Maar nodded in approval as the other moms went about their business, eating and mingling and in general partying surprisingly hard for daytime hours. She picked up her drink, a relatively sour mix Arthur had made for her, and made to the counter.

“They aren’t wrong,” Maar said.

“You think I should date their daughters?” Arthur joked.

This got the slightest hint of a smile from Maar, which Arthur counted as a win.

“No. This drink,” she said. “It… fills a gap. There are many different kinds of food and drink. This is something different than those. People would like this almost anywhere. You can drink it hot?”

“Yes. Most people do after coldfall,” Arthur said.

“Even better.” Maar looked down at her drink, which was nearly empty, and handed it to Arthur to refill. “I’ve spent time in the capital. There are generalist classes for beverages and refreshments. They’d want this. If you like, I could talk to the people who give them their supplies.”

“What for?” Arthur asked.

“To distribute the pearls, Arthur. You are the only one who really knows how to make them.”

“Not true, not anymore,” Arthur said. “Spiky distributed a broadsheet a while ago.”

“Even so, you likely make them better than most can. Especially if your enchantment skills keep up. This product could be sold,” Maar said.

“Hm,” Arthur said. “Lots of money in that, I’m assuming.”

“Quite a bit. If that’s what you want.” Maar grabbed a new drink from Arthur and stirred it with her straw. “Money is only so important, which I think you know. Fame is another motivator. Levels are another. There are many reasons to do this.”

“And some not to,” Arthur said. “I already can’t spend as much time as I want in the shop. Making the pearls would be another draw on that.”

“And you’re already doing very well in a new settlement. Don’t misunderstand me. Please. This is a suggestion, something I’d be glad to do. But please don’t do it if it would be wrong for you.” Maar gave another half smile. “My daughter can be quite angry when she gets mad. I’d rather not cause that here.”

“Well, let’s table it for now, anyway,” Arthur said. “I’ll write you a letter later if I change my mind. For now, I have a whole wedding to plan.”

“Is that going well?” Maar asked.

“As well as it can. If they finish the staircase tomorrow, we can start moving supplies and tables up there. And then there’s decoration and arranging things. It’s kind of a lot. More than I think I can do.” Arthur felt the tension coming back to his neck. “I just wish I had more hands for this.”

“Arthur, does anyone ever tell you that you are a bit of a fool?” Maar asked.

“A lot of people. Why?” Arthur said.

“Look around you, Arthur.” She made a small motion with her hand. “Really look.”

Arthur did. At first, he saw only the plaza, and considered what it would take to move the whole thing up to the sky. But then, after dismissing that particular fantasy, he slowly realized what she was talking about. Here, there, and everywhere were moms. Moms with classes he hadn’t even begun to learn. And they were all getting bored. Their kids were busy during the day, which left them idle. And for demons, being idle was poison.

“Gods. It’s an army,” Arthur said. “Maar, you are a genius. It’s an army of moms.”

“You just have to get them involved,” Maar said. “That I don’t know how to do.”

“If moms really are the same everywhere, it shouldn’t be that hard. Watch this.” Arthur came around the counter and took in a lungful of air before beginning to yell. “Hey, everyone. Does anyone want to help me make a joining ceremony beautiful?”

Dozens of eyes were on him at once. For years afterward, he would describe that moment in hallowed terms. It seemed as if all the moms of the demon world were ready to go to war.