Vandra came back inside to collect the collapsed members of her group, once confirming with Zaria that she had permission to walk through. A small part of Zaria was tempted to surprise the healer with a mimic or three… but that would not be fair play, and the healer had been willing to give up her life to save her group.

Zaria could respect that.

Once the other three were smacked back to health and the loot was collected - Zaria had made silver coins, which also seemed to be too large - the group departed. From their excited conversation, however, the group was taking their near death as a badge of pride and not shame.

“How close is she to Copper, do you think?” Bryna asked.

“I would bet not far off,” Xyver said. “Already looking forward to the next run?’

Bryna nodded. “We’ve got enough shards here to get everyone but Vandra and you to Copper, and she’s already there. I really want to do another run once she Tiers up – you know, when rune management isn’t as tight.”

Caren clapped Xyver on the back. “How close are you to your next breakthrough?”

“Close,” Xyver said. “It’s not quite as…numeric as how you all advance. But my foundation is firm, and my core is full. So, it will be soon.”

“Good.” Olennah said. “If the Yaga doesn’t hit Copper soon, we should at least do a run of Cestmir’s Copper floor together.”

Bryna made a face. “Give me a thousand hungry boxes before any more snakes.”

Xyver opened his mouth to respond, but the group had left Zaria’s hearing range, so his response was lost. Still, that seemed like an overall positive. She turned to the Wisp still sitting by Zaria’s core. Zaria asked Penara.

“For a first full run, I’d say you did well. I’ll make some notes to send to you about minor improvements, once I’ve organized my thoughts, but… you’ve got a knack for this. And, of course, my expert guidance surely helped some.” Penara flashed Zaria a grin. “And congratulations on Tin 9. Have you picked a capstone yet?”

Zaria glanced outside.

“Let me check.” Penara went silent for a moment, her expression falling slack, then snapped back. “Cestmir doesn’t need me, and hasn’t gotten any requests from the Guild for my help, either. I have to say, it’s weird working directly with mortals. Always so busy, everything moving so fast. So, yes, I have time to wait. Just don’t tell Rahana about your plans with the Reclaimers. She probably won’t like that.”

Zaria projected her consciousness into her body on the porch and gave Rahana a small, seated bow. “Your pupils did well.”

Rahana snorted. “They’re not my pupils. My pupils would have made it out without needing me to give them a saving heal.” In spite of her gruff tone, Zaria could see the hint of pride that lingered behind the elder Witch’s eyes. “You’ve seen what my pupils can do.”

“Vysala was your student?” Zaria asked.

Rahana gave Zaria a curt nod. “She left that out, did she? Sounds like her. Girl’s got the memory of a cast iron sieve when it comes to giving people the necessary context.”

Zaria considered all the times Vysala had talked about things that the Yagacore had no frame of reference for and laughed. “You know, I believe that.”

“And you want to take her off on some adventure. Like the Strigas of old, but riding in a magic house.” Rahana looked Zaria up and down, and curved one perfectly trimmed eyebrow upwards. “You know, if this is some kind of trick or trap, I’ll take personal offense.”

“She’s lucky to have people that care about her,” Zaria said. “Especially powerful ones. But no tricks. No traps. Just a dungeon, looking to heal a broken core. Before I explode. Has she mentioned that yet? For that matter, have I?”

Rahana snorted. “Maybe once or twice.” Rahana studied Zaria a moment longer, then nodded to herself with some realization. Whatever it was, she didn’t share. “How long are you here?”

“At least a couple of days, to give Vysala time to research. Then there’s some other quest I have to complete.” Zaria held up a hand to forestall Rahana’s question. “Dungeon quests. Nothing that directly involves the Midnight Coven.”

Rahana shook her head. “You don’t have to do that - even if you join the Coven.”

“I’m not accountable if I join?” Zaria said. “I must admit, that makes the prospect much more appealing.”

Rahana laughed. “Not quite that easy. But you don’t answer to me if you join. Not even to the Guildmistress, when she’s in residence. We decided pretty early on that we weren’t interested in trying to run roughshod over you dungeons. You’d answer to Cestmir. He and the Guildmistress have an understanding.”

“That is appealing,” Zaria said, then paused. “And Vysala - or whoever is my Striga? Who would she answer to then?”

“Oh, that’s going to be a whole mess to sort out.” Rahana let out a long sigh. “My guess? She answers to the Coven for any matters except quests you are undertaking. But don’t hold me to that. It’ll be up to the guildmistress.” Rahana brushed imaginary dust off her coat. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you’re willing. Are you interested in more groups?”

“Absolutely,” Zaria said. “But it still costs me some stability to resummon mobs after each run. Let’s put a limit of five groups a day? If all manage a full clear, that won’t drop me that much - and I would like to get closer to, if not reach Copper.”

“Perfect. I’ll get some set up. If you need anything, reach out to Cestmir. He can help, or get my attention if needed.” Rahana gave Zaria a mirthless smile. “I’ve learned you dungeons are unsubtle when you want something.”

Zaria chuckled. “Well, when you’re a building full of monsters, there aren’t many subtle options.”

Rahana returned the laughter. “Just to be clear, did you want to join the Coven? We are certainly open to new membership from dungeons. But - to be honest with you - any organization on the continent would welcome your membership. Right now, at Tin, you’re already worth basically any long term investment. When you reach higher Tiers… you’ll be a highly sought after ally.”

“Ally or commodity?” Zaria asked, watching Rahana’s face carefully.

This time, Rahana’s smile was far closer to a grimace than anything else. “Depends on who. I’ll happily tell you the Midnight Coven would see you as an ally and a member. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that’s what everyone will say, however.”

Zaria gave Rahana a nod of appreciation for the honesty. “I’m not willing to commit to anything yet. But so far, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from your organization and its members. So - let me say I’m considering for now, and leave it at that?”

Rahana nodded. “Then please, settle in. Oh, Vysala said she’d be by later to let you know what she learned.” She readied herself to leave. “Any other questions?”

“Just one,” Zaria said. “Are there any more tests, or am I clear of them now?”

Rahana, to her credit, showed almost no reaction to the question. Just raised an eyebrow. “What gave it away?”

“Your presence here,” Zaria said. “You’re far too important to wait on a Tin group to finish a dungeon run.”

Rahana shook her head. “I could have just been here as backup healing.”

“Please,” Zaria said. “You could send three extra Coppers to wait for that, and combined, their time would be a fraction as important as yours. I’m guessing normally you would have sent a Silver along, but you’re short on high Tier manpower right now, so you had to watch it personally.”

Rahana studied Zaria a moment longer, then gave the dungeon the first genuine smile Zaria had seen from the Witch. “All right, you spotted that. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But how good are you - what was the test?”

Zaria considered for a moment. “This was to make sure I wasn’t an actual threat. Somehow, Penara was passing you messages. I’m not sure how she managed that without me noticing, but I bet-” Zaria studied Rahana’s face for a moment. The Witch gave nothing away, but Zaria hadn’t expected it to be that easy. She was just buying herself time to think and seem wise and mysterious. “Ah, of course. She was giving messages to Cestmir via telepathy. He was passing them to you.”

From the slight widening of Rahana’s eyes, Zaria had succeeded in seeming knowledgeable. “You guessed the method, yes.” At that, the band around Rahana’s bun unwrapped, revealing a small black snake had been holding her hair in place. It whispered in Rahana’s ear. “Shelina wants me to clarify that it’s not Cestmir, but one of his Servitors. Shelina has become an advisor to whoever has command of the tower.” The snake whispered in Rahana’s ear. “Also, she doesn’t want you to think she’s rude. She’s just very shy around new people.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Shelina.” So that was a Servitor. In this case, it took the form of a snake that could talk, and hide herself from Zaria’s senses, and carry messages from Cestmir. That certainly could come in handy. Shelina wound herself back around Rahana’s hair, nestling back in until she vanished. “As for what the test actually was - probably to see my thought process in action. Penara could make sure you knew I wasn’t excessively cruel, vicious, or malicious. And if I failed, you would have killed me.”

Rahana shook her head. “Not that last part,” she said. “A dungeon core… we wouldn’t deliberately kill you unless you were an active threat. And here? You may be powerful, but you’re not that powerful. We would have just kept an eye on you until you either proved that wrong or left, whichever came first.”

Zaria nodded. “I’ve answered yours, now you answer mine. Is this the last test?”

Rahana’s expression was completely inscrutable for a moment, then she softened. “You sound so much like Vysala right there,” she said. “The answer is no. There is no such thing as a final test. But this is the last test where I don’t know if I can trust you. I’m sure you’ll have tests for me as well. For the Coven as a whole..” Rahana’s eyes widened, and she gave Zaria another genuine smile. “In fact, now I wonder if I’ve passed your test with how I responded?”

Zaria steepled her fingers together and studied Rahana. “I now believe I can trust what you say. What you do… well. Haven’t had much chance to see how trustworthy that is yet.”

Rahana inclined her head. This time, unlike before, there was some actual respect in the motion. “Then we’ll see what we will see. But since you do know you can trust my word, I have one last thing to say.”

Zaria braced herself for another warning about harming the Coven, and if she posed a threat to Vysala or any of the witches, then there would be unspecified but terrible violence.

“You are our guest,” Rahana said. “And the Midnight Coven takes the Old Laws of hospitality seriously. Should anyone attempt to harm you, you will have final say in their fate. Should anyone manage to harm you, they will suffer what you suffered ten times over. And you will only leave here without a Striga if you choose to do so - but if you need to interview every single witch in this tower to find a Striga, I will make that happen. You will not leave here with death looming over you.”

“Oh.” Zaria was honestly speechless. That had been the polar opposite of her expectations. “Thank you,” she managed.

Rahana nodded. “And now - you are correct, I have duties to attend to. I’ll be watching you with great interest, Zaria.”

And then she vanished in a flash of lightning that arced back up to the tower.

Zaria watched her go and shook her head. Layers upon layers to that conversation. Zaria had a feeling they would revisit parts of that in the future.

For now, however, she pulled her consciousness back to the space under her stairs. It was time to go over Capstones with Penara - and prepare for the next group.