Theanore worried. There was no news from her father. And Elmar hadn't sent a letter in three days, either. Luca was off to manage his own dungeon. He, at least, was fine.

With nothing better to do, Theanore decided to busy herself with the grotto.

“Ants, line up.” Said Theanore and an ant appeared.

“We need an inn build for the Ogres so that they can have somewhere to wait their groceries.” Said Theanore. “Build one near the panda’s bamboo forest.”

The ant scurried away and Theanore went back to Crassus’ house and then down the secret tunnel. She found the worker elves cooking the lunch. She went to Sunflower, who had become the leader of the worker elves, and tugged at her sleeve.

“Sunflower, there is something I need you to get the rest of the elves to do.” Said Theanore. She knew they would have less time between making the meals, but it was a good business venture.

“Yes, Thea?” Asked Sunflower. She kept steering the big pot before her. Theanore saw mushrooms and carrots swimming in rich sauce and her stomach grumbled.

“I would need for you to make extra food for the Ogres and drinks too. And I would need for you to put prices on them.” Said Theanore. It wouldn’t be much of an inn if there was nothing to eat or drink inside, would it?

“Ok, Thea. We will get it done. Do we make a wide variety of things, or just two-three specials?” Asked Sunflower. Theanore gave it a thought. On average, fifty Ogres passed through the grotto every day. There was no need for too much food set aside for them.

“Just two specials and four types of juices. Please and thank you.” Said Theanore, and when Sunflower nodded, she went to her next task.

The pixies were playing by the lake. They had combated the silk spiders’ efforts to make enough silk to reach the Colorful Egg specters and eat them, and now they had nothing to do until four hours passed, and they needed to go and collect more silk.

“Pixies, line up!” Said Theanore and the pixies lined up like soldiers at inspection. Theanore smiled brightly at how fast they lined up. In the beginning they had been well-meaning, but undisciplined. They have gone a long way.

“Pixies, you know of our business partners, the Ogres. They would need a place to wait for their groceries. I already have the builder ants building the building, but their skills with cloth leave much to be desired. As such, you are to make silk cushions, silk drapes, silk table clothes and silk bedsheets. Let us say, enough for fifty Ogres.” Said Theanore. The pixies saluted her, and she moved to her next task.

With most of the wild animals of the petting zoo being set free, there was no sense in keeping all the pens. Come to think of it, only the hamsters and the sheep were left there. The dogs came back during meal times, but otherwise they roamed the forest.

“Ants, line up.” Said Theanore and an ant came to her.

“Ok, I know I have you guys building the inn, but when you are done, dismantle the unused pens of the petting zoo and prepare the soil for the planting of new trees.” Said Theanore, and she watched as the ant walked away.

Theanore sat on the soft grass and looked at the empty pens of the petting zoo. It had been the right decision to let the animals go. But she worried that it was not healthy for the sheep to be left behind.

Getting up, she opened the pen of the sheep and waited for them to go outside it. They stared at her as they ate their grass.

“You need to run and prance, come on out!” Said Theanore. The sheep bleated at her, but made no move to leave.

“Well, I will leave the door open. You can explore when you feel like it.” Said Theanore, and she stood up. Then she moved to the next thing that needed doing.

She went to the teleport and watched as the same old Ogre that gave illegible notes was again trying to give one to a child, but none took his. The Ogre looked sad. He didn’t have teeth and he was half-blind. Theanore took pity on him and approached him.

“Hello, I can rewrite your note if you tell me what you require. Every time you need.” Said Theanore, and she took a quill and some parchment and prepared to write.

“I don’t have the money to pay you, young lady. The 5% are already stretching my purse thin.” Said the Ogre sadly. Theanore looked at him again. He was not wearing silk clothes like the rest of the Ogres had taken to doing. Instead, he was in a sack that had tears in it.

“The service is free of charge. What do you need, grandpa?” Asked Theanore, and she smiled when the old Ogre smiled so brightly at her that she felt that no one did nice things for him often.

“Ok. I need a new pot and a spoon to make mashed potatoes. Furthermore, half kilogram worth of potatoes and curry. A half kilogram pork won’t go amiss and strawberry jelly. That would be all.” Said the Ogre.

“Ok, I wrote down everything.” Said Theanore as she finished. Then she looked around for a child waiting to make a run to Mirstone. One caught her eyes and she waved him over.

“Here, take everything from this list and deliver it to this grandpa.” Said Theanore to the boy. The brown haired, blue-eyed, boy nodded and took the list. He went to the newly build teleport to Mirstone that they had gotten permission to make by the Emperor and disappeared to go shopping.

“Grandpa, what is your name?” Asked Theanore, the old Ogre.

“Torgog the pathfinder, young nymph.” Said Torgog.

Theanore smiled at that. All the tunnels were secured, but she had no idea where most of them led. Torgog could help with that and earn some money while doing so. But first, she was going to get the worker elves to make him some new, silk, clothes.