Chapter 1284 (2/2)

“And you are finally ready to step into the spotlight as the Randidly Ghosthound?” Tatiana asked. She understood Randidly pretty well, she believed. So she had always been somewhat aware of the many factors that had driven Randidly to create Kharon.

It had never just been about stepping away from the world, although Randidly had since explained that it was important that his image not be the ultimate image of Earth by the Second Calamity. It had also not precisely been about helping the many people struggling in the Wildlands away from the established powers of New Earth’s main Zones, although that had been a project to which Tatiana was very happy to devote energy.

No, at the core of Kharon was the truth that Randidly wasn’t someone who truly embraced the influence he had over Earth. Tatiana had always been able to tell that Randidly felt somewhat awkward about leading; it could be seen in the rather brusque way he dealt with teaching the metalworkers of Kharon how to improve. He cared deeply about improving the situation on Earth but was rather helpless before some of the requirements of convincing others to follow his lead in a more faithful fashion.

To which Randidly responded by creating an increasingly large space between himself and the second strongest person on Earth. An effective strategy for inducing mimicry, but only for broad strokes. For the details, Earth had been left to its own devices.

And Earth’s leaders had failed to handle those details.

“No, but I will do it in order to make sure the Earth continues to improve,” Randidly said with a tired smile. He looked gratefully at Tatiana, then glanced one more time at Wolfram. After shaking his head, he continued to speak. “As much as I would like to avoid it, it’s hard to believe that some of the guests would accept anything less than a formal occasion. I trust your expertise in that area, but I plan on providing some… specialty items that will hopefully keep people entertained. I need to talk with Sam about fixtures, but I’ll get that information to you as soon as possible. Other than that… food I guess. And a band?”

“How many people do you expect to attend?” Tatiana asked lightly. She shot Wolfram a glance, and bless his heart he was already nodding and pulling open a small drawer at the side of his desk. Like a crane sipping water, he dipped his pen into a pot of ink. Despite Wolfram's confusion regarding Randidly’s demands, he had truly acknowledged as this human as his superior. As such, he didn’t let his pride get in the way of trying to fulfill his liege’s requests.

If only more men were so willing to set their emotions when action is needed.

Randidly scratched his cheek, clearly beyond his death. “Well… I mean I wanted to invite most of my friends from Donnyton… and then also the leaders of all the Zones. Beyond that… representatives from the Orders and some people from the Nexus. I’ll try and establish contact with the worlds inside the other cleared Danger Zones as well…”

Considering the multiple invitations we will probably need to give EACH of those individuals, it isn’t likely that the guest list will be below one hundred. Since Wolfram was busy taking notes, Tatiana could simply sit primly and do some mental calculations. And considering who is invited, there will be at least one hundred more people who want to come to the event. And beyond that, there will be quite a few individuals who will want to come to network…

And the political situations in the Zones are so complicated… at least in Zone 1, where should we draw the line for invitations to the senators…?

“It’s going to need to be a rather big event, then,” Tatiana said diplomatically. Her Fidelity to the Ghosthound was humming in her chest. It gave her a small peak into Randidly’s emotions, but all she saw was what she probably could have predicted anyway. Randidly understood that the size of the event was rapidly growing, but he so wanted to have this conversation with the world that he was willing to endure it.

Tatiana admired that. It meant that Randidly Ghosthound was finally growing into the role he had created for himself. Which was for the best, considering that it appeared that the Earth would become quite chaotic once the Calamities finally arrived.

“We will need to make invitations. Something official, befitting your many stations.” Wolfram said. The other reason that Tatiana trusted Wolfram more than time would generally allow was how avidly he had spent his free time researching Randidly Ghosthound.

Randidly grimaced. “Really? Well, if you think it’s for the best. But no matter the size fo the event… I’d like the group not to be so large that they can’t fit into one room. I have some things they need to hear.”

And whether that will be able to happen depends on the size of the room, The corner of Tatiana’s lips twitched. She dearly wished she would have thought to bring one of the bottles from her private whiskey collection to the short term office. The fiery liquid would exactly hit the spot right now.

After discussing a few more details, Randidly opened up a portal with his strange key and departed. Wolfram quickly finished writing out his notes and then turned to Tatiana. “Does this… happen often?”

“Yes,” Tatiana chuckled. They discussed the party for ten minutes, arranged for a meeting to be fit into their agenda, then brought the next person they had to meet with into the tent. Work waited for no one.