Bones dismisses his mount and climbs onto my back, then I take off and fly to the east. It will take me several hours to fly to the elves' old island, but I don't want to waste the time. Instead of landing to open a gate, I decide to try something different.

I open a gate ahead of me in the air, leading to above the island, and make it big enough to fly through. While it does work, it takes a lot more mana than a normal gate, about triple. When I fly through it, it is a little rougher than a normal gate, but it gets me to the island.

I intentionally set the gate to the southern end of the island so I could fly over the entire length. The southern end of the island is completely devoid of life, even the trees are gone. This used to be a huge jungle and full of life, but now it looks like a gray desert.

The only way I can think to describe this is that all of the life has been sucked out of the land. It wasn't this bad the last time I was here, I didn't even know the maker could do this. Seeing this, I certainly don't want the maker getting onto the main continent.

I already feel bad being responsible for the death of this island, just to buy myself time. As I fly north this is all I see for a long time, about a quarter of the island is dead. There is nothing living and nothing moving, I don't even see any undead.

After an hour of flying I finally see a different color, the green of the jungle. At the edge of the jungle I finally see some undead, there is a line of them. They are slowly moving forwards, and the only thing behind them is the dead, gray sand.

"Bones, I think I have changed my mind. Do you want to go steal some more energy?"

Bones says "Yes, I do, master."

"Alright, I will check on you after I am done with the ship."

Bones says "Alright, master."

After hearing Bones' response I dive down and land behind the line of undead. Bones climbs down, summons his skeletal horse, mounts up, and then charges over. Seeing him happily start slaughtering the undead, I turn and open a gate back to the ship.

When I arrive in the cabin through the gate, Lin runs over to check and see if I am hurt. Mulan, Mushu, Nala, and Albion also rush over to welcome me back. It takes me several minutes of petting and hugging to get them all to calm down.

Lin says "They have all been worried about you ever since we came through the gate. We are all happy to see you back safe and sound."

"I'm sorry that I worried you."

Lin says "So, what happened to the island?"

"When I left it was covered in magma and the eruption was still going strong. I won't be going back to that island anytime soon. Did anything happen here?"

Lin says "Nope. It has been quiet. We are still two days away from the island. How did your mining go?"

Instead of answering her verbally, I hold out my hand and release all the gems from my ring. Seeing the small mountain of gems on the floor, Lin's eyes go wide. Mulan and Mushu immediately start playing with some of the gems that rolled away from the pile.

Lin says "So, despite the eruption, your mining mission was definitely a success. What's next?"

"Well, I need to cut and shape all of the gems. Some will be turned into windows, others I will grind up."

Lin says "Why grind them up?"

While I play with the kids I explain to Lin how I use the gem dust to add to the ship's mana capacity. While I am at it I explain how I make the windows and the other uses I have found for the gems. Then, before I forget, I ask her about any ideas she may have for dealing with water in the ship.

Lin says "That's actually an easy one. There is a spell that stops water from passing through. However, it can be set to only work in one direction. Using that you can make drains that allow water out but not in."

"That's perfect! You are right, it is extremely easy. Why didn't I think of something so simple?"

Lin says "Because you were looking for it to be complicated."

"I guess so. No matter how intelligent I am, sometimes I am still an idiot."

Lin says "Everyone is like that. Besides, at least you are a cute idiot!"

"Thanks, I think."

Lin says "Are you hungry? It is almost lunch time."

"Nope. I found and ate some tasty eel-like things in the lava."

Lin says "They lived in the lava?"

"Yeah, they even spit it as an attack."

Lin says "That's impressive. Too bad they met you. Um, Mulan just ate a ruby, is that normal?"

"I don't know, but I've eaten weirder things. But maybe we should feed them before they eat more."

Lin says "I will take care of that, you work on your gems."

I give Lin a smile of thanks, then I shapeshift into human form and take out my tools. Then I start grinding and polishing the gems over a bowl to catch the powder. I continue working on the gems for the next several hours and then join the others for dinner.

After dinner I open a soulscape for a while and then after that I go back to working on the gems. Even with all that I haven't even gotten through half of the gems that I mined. I may have gone a little overboard, but I don't regret it, the gems make me happy.

Once the kids are all asleep, Lin comes over and she sits down next to me. She doesn't say or do anything, she just keeps me company while I work. After a bit she starts meditating, but she is close enough that I can feel her warmth and smell her.

Between her and the gems I can't remember the last time that I felt this content. The fact that she isn't pushing for anything from me, makes me feel that I have made the right choice. All that is left is to take the final step and sleep with her, but I want to talk about a few things first.

However, there is no rush, I can wait until tomorrow to talk things through with her. I was planning to work all night, but not long after ending the soulscape I start feeling tired. It isn't too surprising, since other than a nap I haven't slept much recently.

I let Lin know, and then to avoid complications I drop shapeshift and curl up on the floor. Before I can fall asleep, I feel Lin climb onto my back and make herself comfortable. However, I do my best to ignore her and a while later I finally fall asleep.

In the morning I get woken up by a pain in one of my ears, something is tugging on it. When I open my eye and look I see Mushu hanging from my ear and swinging back and forth. As soon as she sees my eye open and looking at her she lets go of my ear.

Mushu says "Hungry!"