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Rezolo, however, merely remained quiet, which Loren did not find surprising.

The little Freeman seemed to take that as a bad sign. "A-ah, well, like I said, the matter is open to discussion if it interests you. Lighteyes has been invited by our leader, so we would be happy to work with you toward an acceptable compromise in becoming a member. You would not have to leave your current sect if you do not wish to."

"Who is this leader of yours, anyway?" said Zahi.

"That would be Germal, the Gentleman of Palei."

Loren blinked. That guy was the leader of the Freeman Fellowship? Loren had met him a few times while studying under Gohvis; and while he was aware that Germal was rather famous in his own right, it was still difficult to bridge the mental gap in his mind between that one-horned weirdo and the increasingly talked about Freeman Fellowship.

Really, it had only been a few months since he first started hearing about the Fellowship, whereas it had been years since he'd last seen Germal. And at the rate they were growing, Germal had probably just made a list of servants he barely even knew and gave it to subordinates for this apparent recruitment drive of theirs.

Yeah. He decided that he shouldn't read too much into this whole "invite" thing being a big deal.

Perhaps Rezolo was thinking something similarly, because he chose that moment to finally speak up and say, 'What has Loren done to earn the honor of an invitation from your leader?'

"Hey, before that, tell us your name already, short stuff," said Zahi.

"Oh, my apologies. My name is Wallace Chandler. And the two behind me--"

"Can I call you Wally?"

"I... I suppose."

"Cool. But yeah, anyway, Wally, how come Lighteyes here gets an invite, and I don't, hmm?"