Lying there on the cold floor, head pounding, Rhen realized…

Mistakes. Were. Made.

Rhen rolled to his side and free-fell for a short distance, then smacked into the actual floor. He groaned and looked up at the table he’d been asleep on. It shimmered with purple gems that seemed to taunt him.

Jakira roused, eyes squinted. “You okay?”

“No,” Rhen croaked out.

He was hungover.

His mouth tasted like sour beer, and his whole body was way too hot. It felt as if he had Blubberific activated. The pounding in his head was made much worse when Tsu’me moved, her finger cymbals clacking together.

The Sephine rose groggily and surveyed the room. “Now that was a good party.”

“Please, no talking,” Jakira said, her head nestled in her crossed arms on the table.

“I have just the thing.” Tsu’me stepped agilely between the delvers resting on the floor, all of them in a similarly sorry state as Rhen. The Sephine took to the stage and picked up her lyre, then unhooked a flute from her belt.

“Don’t you dare,” Rhen growled, pointing at her.

She smiled, and started playing. The flute pierced the air and split Rhen’s aching head open. He groaned and forced his eyes shut while delvers all around the inn woke with an angry growl.

But then the flute softened. The sound didn’t pierce, it soothed. The lyre plucks came in next and with every chord struck, Rhen was feeling better. He opened his eyes to see green mist swirling out the end of the flute and surging through the room. On the stream of magic floated little symbols that pulsed in time with the tapping of Tsu’me’s foot.

His mouth still tasted like ass, but the other residual hangover effects seemed to have fled at the sound of her music. She kept playing, making a raised-brow gesture at Rhen like he should start doing… something. He wasn’t sure what.

Jakira stretched and arched her back. “Time to make the cure. Come help me?”

“Sure.” He followed her into the kitchen, and she descended to the storeroom.

A moment later she returned with a basket full of dark, sealed jars, and a brown sack that Rhen took off her hands. She pulled a mortar and pestle onto the counter. “Grind a good three cups of those beans up for me.”

Rhen opened the sack to find a rich smelling, oily brown bean the size of the tip of his pinky looking back at him. He scooped up cup after cup and ground down the beans until they were a grainy paste. Meanwhile, Jakira boiled a big pot of water and worked on several other ingredients.

Rhen could hear the delvers in the tavern cleaning up and moving chairs around.

Patti came into the kitchen, her hair a disheveled mess. “Can I help at all?”

“Porridge and yesterday’s loaves?”

“Can do, love.”

They bumped into each other and stumbled while working, but finally got a meal out to the delvers and a few grumpy children. Jakira held out a steaming cup of a dark elixir to Rhen. He took it and sniffed. The smell alone seemed to help awaken his senses. That combined with Tsu’me’s music and he felt almost normal, aside from still being too hot. He’d have to take a dip in the aquatic chamber.

The elixir was earthy, rich, almost chocolaty, with a cinnamon bite and a slight bitter aftertaste. The liquid warmed his already too warm esophagus, but when it hit his stomach, he felt just a tiny bit better.

“What is this?” Rhen asked then dove back in for another sip.

“The Cure, that’s what we called it at Morning Holly—another inn I used to work at. Those beans grow on the tallest mountains in Wenyu, and it’s said they have some magical properties that pull toxins from the body. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve seen it’s effects on patrons that had drank way too much the night before, so I knew it worked. I picked them up last time we were in Desedra in anticipation of this morning.” She smiled.

“You really are the amazing, you know that?” he asked, wrapping his arm over her shoulder and sipping his Cure.

“I do, but thank you for reminding me. The best for the best.” She leaned into him and clanked her tin mug against his.

The noise in the tavern didn’t bother him anymore as he sipped his hot drink. He watched the families help their young children get some porridge and bread, and the older delvers posting up in the corner laughing about the night before. What a great place they’d made together.

Tsu’me finished her song and Rhen was ready with a full cup of the Cure for her.

“Thank you,” she said, eagerly accepting the drink.

Derk, covered in blood, sidled in with a haunch of terrocken meat and plopped down on the floor beside the bard, chewing loudly.

She scowled. “Really?”

The Taalite shrugged huge shoulders. “Heavy drinking always makes me crave raw meat.”

Rhen walked over to the table that had been designated for paperwork for the last several months. Arannet was buried in her tasks already, her porridge barely touched but her cup of Cure empty.

“Mind if I take up some space?” Rhen asked, pulling the dungeon owner’s map from his back pocket.

“No problem,” she said brightly, as if she hadn’t been in severe pain just twenty minutes before.

Rhen unfolded the map and activated the magical syntial with his anima. Ink bled onto the page, from somewhere inside it, and filled it up with a view of the dungeon. In the upper right corner was the legend, and in the lower right was a quests box, where a new link of text blinked at him incessantly: Connection Maintenance.

Rhen ran his finger over the text, and it pulled the anima from his hand, re-writing the corner of the map with a longer message.

[New Quest: Connection Maintenance]

As you (should) know, the realm connection is a delicate thing. The Guild has devised several maintenance steps to ensure the connection remains strong until you have daily travelers.

Travel to the new realm once per day and seek out the closest dungeon. You have permission to delve this new dungeon and activate the nodes therein. They will not be connected to the greater Guild network, and therefore can be activated by any person, not just who is designated as owner. Until we have proper equipment stationed within the Zephitz dungeon, they will function this way. Send only delvers you trust! Continue to delve the Zephitz dungeon daily and progress its growth.

Unrelated to the connection of the realms, don’t forget to prepare your village for hosting diplomats and exploration teams, who will be arriving within the month.

-----

Rhen grinned.

“What’s got you so happy?” Jakira asked, pouring both Rhen and Arannet another cup of Cure.

“We get to delve a dungeon in the new realm,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Her eyes bulged. “Really? When?”

“Today, and every day until we have regular travel set up.”

Jakira fist pumped with a whispered, “Yesss.”

Rhen glanced around the tavern, looking for his favorite Prelusk. Surely Aki would’ve heard Rhen talking about delving the new realm and been excited to go, so where was he?

“Aki?” Rhen called out and a few other delvers turned their heads, looking for the cuttlefish sorcerer.

When he didn’t emerge, Rhen got up, concern building. He wouldn’t have gone off and battled by himself, would he? Aki got bored when people were asleep but he always managed to find something safe to occupy his time with.

The rest of the tavern started taking notice of Rhen’s concerned scowl and hunting eyes.

“Aki!” Olliat called, jumping to her feet.

In seconds, the whole dungeon was on its feet, calling his name and hunting around. Rhen jogged up to the control node to check for respawns, but the pool was empty. So he wasn’t dead…

He heard a splash further up the hall, toward the Mastery node, and hurried that way with Jakira on his tail. He rounded the switchback to see Aki and another Prelusk standing near the dungeon exit. This new comer was three times Aki’s size in a bauble of water that swirled and pulsed with color. Rhen could feel the tension of concepts being exchanged, but it was all so foreign and flying around too fast for him to catch anything they were exchanging.

“Rhen,” Aki addressed him with a start, looking over his watery shoulder.

“Is everything alright?” Rhen ask, his hand falling to the hilt of his crescent moon blade as he approached.

Aki was bright orange, his fins flapping against this sides of his body like mad. “This is Broodfather Ohime, my broodfather.”

The larger Prelusk was pale, but for a brief moment showed color like amber.

“He expresses his honor to meet you.”

“Tell him the same from me, as long as he’s not here on any nefarious quest.”

“He is here to warn me, and may now become an exile.” Something about the tone Aki used and the way his colors turned more and more red, Rhen could tell he was furious. Aki’s tentacles twitched and snapped across his chest, and he turned back to his broodfather.

The feeling of information exchange flew again, and Rhen felt frustration, solitude, longing, then joy and contentment. It was too much, so he took a step back. Getting some distance from the Prelusk helped with the information overload, and he watched the exchange with interest.

Ever so often Ohime would flash a bit of color, blue, red, or pink, but mainly stayed his cool pale white. Rhen was able to see the veins and organs under his skin, and realized for the first time just how squishy Aki was. He maintained a color and texture on his surface, but in reality, a Prelusk’s vital organs were all within two inches of the surface. Maybe even less for Aki, since he was significantly smaller than his broodfather.

When the emotional exchange quieted, Ohime reached out with a long tentacle. Aki hesitated, but then grasped it, his color shifting to deep blue. Ohime pulled Aki out of his watery body and into the maelstrom of his own orb. Rhen ripped his blades free and pounced forward, ready to do battle with the broodfather.

Before he slashed, he noticed the broodfather wasn’t trying to escape, or hurt Aki… he was hugging him. Their eyes were closed, Aki’s blue skin reflected in the broodfather’s muted azure. Then, Ohime released Aki and pushed him out.

The broodfather turned and rushed from the dungeon, leaving not a single drop behind in his wake. Aki collected himself back into the man-shaped façade he put on for the other delvers and turned to Rhen. He didn’t speak but Rhen could feel the anguish pouring off him.

Rhen holstered his blades and stepped forward, plucking Aki out of his watery ecosystem more gently than his broodfather had. The water splashed to the ground, save for a little bit Aki needed to breathe. Rhen cradled the Prelusk and felt him sob—not in his arms, but in his heart. Aki was devastated.

Jakira put her hands on Rhen’s shoulders and rested her head on his back. “Tell me what you need.”

Rhen didn’t know what he needed, couldn’t even think of his own needs. What did Aki need?

Quiet.

Peace and space.

Deep, crushing waters.

He yearned for home, but simultaneously feared it. He dreaded what was there.

Broodmother.