Hello! I had a bit of time, so I managed to finish this chapter.

It's five days until I leave for Kansas, and I'm kind of getting nervous the closer I get to it...Whew! All this flying stuff is not good for my heart. Taking off is alright, I usually grin like an fool, then...It's just...I've never had a good experience with the landing yet...

I've been busy finishing report cards -which are not finished yet- I just took a little break is all, honest!

Yesterday was the last day of school. As soon as I got back to the house, it felt like I was a puppet with all of my strings cut. I slept for five hours, and then eight hours more, after that. I hope it's not mono...

A-anyways, since I finished it, I felt it would be bad of me not to post it, so here it is! Enjoy~

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Dinner was ready when Rien led Briar to the room where they ate.

She looked around. They were in a cozy little room, with what appeared to be a fireplace, but instead of a fire in the hearth, there was a red glowing stone that gave off heat and light steadily, like a mini sun.

In another corner of the room, a bubbling spring emptied into a pool of water. No matter how much water poured into the basin, however, the water never splashed over the edge. Briar figured there might be some sort of drain hole near the top of the pool to keep it from overflowing.

Grandpa Thur, himself, was at a stone counter on the far side of the room. He had already roasted two of the rabbits, and turned the third one into a stew, with mushrooms and some of the moss. The leftovers, he was currently turning into sausages to cure for later. Briar looked over his shoulder to take a look at what he was doing.

“Hey, you don’t have any pepper on you, do you?” He asked in his gravely voice, over his shoulder. Briar wordlessly reached into her bag, and placed a packet of raw peppercorn into his outstretched hand.

Rien watched the transaction, curiously. “what’s pepper?” She asked.

“It’s a seed that comes from a plant. It makes meat taste better and helps preserve it and keep it from going bad.” Briar replied.

“Does it taste good?” Rien asked.

Briar chuckled. “Well, it helps the meat taste good, but if you eat it by itself, it doesn’t exactly taste nice.”

“So it tastes bad? If it tastes bad, then how does it make the meat taste good?” Rien asked.

“It’s like soup, in a ways. If there’s just mushrooms and moss, then that’s all there is. But, if you add some salt, then it tastes better, right?” Briar explained.

Rien tilted her head, still a bit confused.

“Have you tried eating salt by itself?” Briar asked.

Then Rien’s eyes widened with delight as she finally understood. Salt by itself was too salty. But it makes other food taste good. Then, it should be the same with pepper. Pepper by itself was too much. But, when placed with other food, it would enhance the taste the same as salt.

“Humph! The key is moderation. Too many darn younglings putting too much into their food, and ruining it, so they have to add more of other herbs and spices to balance it out. Wasteful, I say!” Grandpa Thur harrumphed again.

“Dinner smells amazing!” Karu said, walking in through the door. “Is it time to eat yet?”

“Set the table, and we’ll start.” Grandpa Thur said, taking the pot of stew off its hook. Karu eagerly grabbed the bowls, plates, knives and spoons, setting the table, which took up the middle of the room.

Oddly enough, the vegetation seemed to go quite well with the meat. Usually, no one would ever think of adding moss to a rabbit dish, but the moss served to get rid of the gamey taste of the meat.

Briar watched the two children dig into the food as if they could never get enough to eat.

“Seconds!” Karu shouted, holding his bowl out to Grandpa Thur. “Seconds!” Rien echoed, holding her well-polished bowl out also.

“My, my! You two ate so fast, that I wonder if you even tasted the food before it ended up in your stomachs.” Grandpa Thur clucked his tongue and dipped his ladle into the rabbit stew.

“It’s because it tastes so good!” Karu said, watching his bowl get filled up once more.

Briar chuckled, watching the two cute children as they hastily devoured their food.

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Later on, after the children had fallen asleep, Briar was lying in the big room with pillars, hands on her head, gazing at the carvings as if she were watching the stars. She felt a presence behind her, but didn’t bother to turn around.

“It took me ten years to get this far along. The best in the world, I’d say, if more people could arrive without dying, anyways.” Grampa Thur said, looking up at the carvings.

“That depends upon the beholder.” Briar said in reply. “That which is priceless, for some, is just a worthless pile of junk for others.”

She turned her head to glance up at him. “Not to say that I don’t agree with you, of course. For all of my lifetime here, I have not seen anything that could rival this colossal masterpiece.” At least, in this life, anyways.

“Ho? What’s treasure to some is trash to others? That’s a good saying. I like it. Which wizened grandma did you hear that tidbit from?” Grandpa Thur asked.

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I didn’t hear it from anyone.” Briar said again.

“Then, you must have read it in some book or something, right?”

“Although I have read many books in my lifetime, I have never come across such a line.” Thera took one of her hands from behind her head to stifle a yawn. “It’s just something I’ve noticed while watching the people, in general.”

“Nonsense! It’s impossible for someone as young as you to suddenly start spouting wisdom one would only hear from wizened grandmothers.” Grandpa Thur huffed.

“Life is the teacher, who teaches everyone, but what we come away with depends only upon ourselves.” Briar replied. “But, speaking of books, I happened to have read a certain one that deals with the importance of structures in transportation magic.”

Grandpa Thur suddenly stiffened. “What do you mean by that?”

Briar sat up, and scratched her head. “Nothing much, nothing much. My, you certainly are quite the architect, aren’t you?”

The light in the wizened man’s eyes took on a cold glint, as Briar continued.

“In all my life, I’ve never seen such a perfectly disguised magic circle. You’re making this to transport Rien and Karu to the surface world, right?”

Grandpa Thur blinked, and the cold light in his eyes softened a bit as he replied suspiciously, “Maybe. Maybe I am. What’s it to you?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that it doesn’t have a specific destination. While it won’t land them inside a monster’s stomach, there’s no telling if it will set them down in the middle of the ocean, or on top of a mountain peak or something equally hazardous. It’s also lacking a power source.” Briar pointed out.

“I’m no expert,” She continued, “But shouldn’t this sort of thing have a designated power source? If not, then it would continually drain the mana from the area-oh so that’s it! You were going to use the mana power from the nearby lava pool, right? But, wouldn’t the mana be too volatile-”

“There’s no way that I’d use that explosion just waiting to happen!” The old man Thur nearly spit blood, enraged at the thought of it.

Briar calmly looked at him. “No. No, I don’t think you would. But using your own mana is not a good idea either.”

“…So I was found out after all, huh?” The old man sighed. His wrinkles seemed deeper, and his voice less gruff.

“It would be hard not to notice, especially for someone with my education.” Briar replied, in a matter-of-fact manner. “But, like I said, using your own mana is no good. Especially, because of Karu and Rien: if they realized later on that you gave your life just to get them to the surface, then they would be very sad.”

“Be quiet! What business is it of yours what I do with what is mine own?” Thur growled in his deep voice, as he turned his head to look away.

“Since I have a solution to both of your problems, of course.” Briar said. “Why shouldn’t I offer a better solution if it keeps two children from losing their one and only living relative?” Briar retorted.

Grandpa Thur was silent for a minute. “You know how to input coordinates?” He rasped.

Briar nodded. “It was in Bryant’s not-well-known second book, ‘Theory on Coordinates and Adjustments’. You’ve probably only read the first book, right?”

After hesitating a few moments, Grandpa Thur nodded.

“Well, that’s to be expected. After all, since the great fire in the Grand Library of Aldengur, there is only one copy left of Bryant’s second book.” Briar said, stretching.

She hoisted herself to her feet.“Well, if we’re going to do this, I’ll need your steady hand. Karu says that you’re the best there is when it comes to statues and carvings, so I’ll need you to carve the coordinates into the frame.”

Grandpa Thur hesitated. “What about the power source?” He asked.

“We won’t need that until we’re going to use it, so we’ll leave it for afterwards.” Briar said. “But, for now, let’s make sure that it takes them somewhere safe, okay?”

“How do I know you’re not going to trick me?” He growled.

“Because, I like Rien and Karu too, so I need to make sure their stubborn old grandpa lives for a long time yet.” Briar said, making a face at Grandpa Thur, while she spoke in a prickly manner.

“Hey! Is that any way to treat your elders!” Grandpa growled, aiming a chop at Briar’s head.

“Is that any way to talk to your helper~” Briar shot back, dodging the intended blow.

“Why you!!” The old man spoke angrily, but after raising his clenched fist, he paused. Then he let the hand drop, and gave up with a shrug and a sigh.

“What do we need to do first?” He asked.