Arannet pulled another sheet in front of him. “This one is talking about the proper use of materials for any structures used to gain access to the nexus node. This one is going to be important for you, because nexus nodes can’t be shifted around like other dungeon nodes without a risk of losing the connection to the other realm. And since yours is drowned under a mile of water, this is especially true.”

“Can’t we just give everyone celphaloshifter?”

“I’m afraid not, that’s against the Personhood Right to Choose Act.”

Rhen sat back and rubbed his eyes. He was grateful Arannet was there, despite being a buzzkill sometimes. At least she was consistent. The rules were the rules, period. She had no emotion about it, or at least she didn’t show them if she did.

“I think I’ve got a way to help ya, sonny,” Wyland said, pulling Rhen from his depression.

Rhen opened his eyes and leaned forward, offering Wyland a seat at their table. The old man’s purple eyes sparkled and he set a schematic in front of Rhen. It was an accurate drawing of the dungeon from a “side profile,” showing the depth of it with a handy legend of distance in the corner.

At the top was the outside, where the charred remains currently sat. Wyland had sketched a hasty building with a little stick figure person standing outside it. Directly below the building was a pair of long tubes running all the way down to the nexus node.

Wyland flopped another schematic next to it, a close up of the nexus node. It was surrounded by a hexagonal building, elevated on a stone platform. All around it were passageways and waiting areas, where several stick people hung out, leading to the tubes he’d seen leading from the build.

A third schematic went down on top of it all that showed the details of a wire-strung passenger cart with several rows of seats that seemed to strap the inhabitants down. There was a lot of math all over it, and hastily scribbled notes like, “Lafite too inflexible, maybe an alloy mix?”

“There’s still some thing’s I’m workin out, but this is viable. I’ve made constructs like this before for the tall buildings in Desedra city.”

Rhen grinned and jumped to his feet. “You’re a genius, Wyland! This gets around the whole dungeon. No interacting with monsters, no need for an escort, all of it!”

“Hrmm.” Arannet leaned over the table, looking over the illustrations and Rhen’s heart sank. He was sure she’d have some act or bylaw or something to throw at the idea.

She straightened up, giving an approving nod. “Looks like it’ll work in principle.”

“Principle! Ha!” Wyland barked. “Missy, I’ve done it. We just need to get the right materials, and a whole lotta peoplepower.”

“I should be able to dig a fair majority of these tunnels with the control node,” Rhen said, pointing to the long tubes running topside to under the lake.

Wyland stroked his chin. “Yeah, but the topside stuff’ll need to be done by hand, or machine, if we could get any out this way.”

“Forest terrain will make that difficult. They would expedite the process tenfold, but we only have four months to get this all done. If it takes one month clearing enough forest to get augur machines out here, we may’ve been done faster by hand at that point.”

“You’d have to loan or buy one from Desedra, get it shipped out here… It’s a tough call.” Wyland shrugged as if to say, “but not my call.”

Rhen smirked, a thought occurring to him. If they did it by hand, we’d offer the jobs to the local delvers first, and that would chap Welsh’s ass to no end. But also by hand seemed to be the right answer given their time constraints.

“Okay, Arannet, I wonder if I couldn’t ask you to do something for us?”

She nodded. “If I’m able, I will.”

He liked this new level of determination. Seems that the contract lit a fire under her as much as it had Rhen.

“Wanted ads for Yu. Shop owners’ll usually let us place one on their door for a small fee, and Perry over at the Bustling Brood has a whole board for it inside. I’ll pay for you to stay the night there if you like, what do you say?”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Jakira said, dropping a platter of roasted silvish and some citrus fruit in front of him. Ever since they’d tamped down on the monster sized fish in the aquatic chamber, the smaller ones were flourishing better. Rhen wondered if something had happened to throw off the balance in there, allowing the massive creatures to exist in the first place.

Rhen stripped off some of the crispy flesh and stuffed it in his mouth. “Why’s my idea bad? I think it’d be great to offer the locals this chance first, even if it’s not delving, it’s good work.”

“Not that.” Jakira shook her head, smiling. “Sending Arannet. She needs to be here to help you with the paperwork.”

“Right…”

“I’ll go. I know everyone in town a lot better than she does, they probably won’t charge me as much.”

Rhen unhooked the coins purse from his belt and set it in her hand. “Make sure you treat yourself to a private room.”

She grinned. “Oh, I will, and the best stew, probably two servings, and a long, hot bath.”

Welsh showing up had thrown the river party idea out the window. Everyone was more determined than ever to keep him out of Rhen’s dungeon, and that meant no messing around. He’d need to get a delve team into the alpine chamber soon, hunting for the materials they’d need for Wyland’s designs.

Weapons were going to be a big deal, too. There was a lot of wide-open space in the alpine chamber, and Rhen wasn’t too bad a shot with a bow. It had been one of his preferred weapons in the delver school. He’d need to get everyone equipped and familiar with longer-range and sneak attack styles.

Arannet’s stomach growled so loudly it pulled Rhen from thought. She blushed. “Sorry.”

Jakira scowled. “Don’t be sorry, eat!”

“Oh, I just wasn’t sure if I, um, if I was welcome to…”

Jakira guided her to a chair and put a serving plate in front of her. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re part of this dungeon family for now. We need you to get this done right and fast, so we want to treat you right, too.”

Rhen chuckled, but it was true. Arannet knew all the rules and everything on every sheet of paper he was signing. If they were going to get through this in time for the deadline, they needed her. And she wasn’t horrible, just a rule-stickler to the extreme.

Wyland joined them for lunch too, and they chatted about the lift designs. Rhen asked about the nexus building design, and chatted about adding inn space below it, giving weary travelers a place to stop immediately. This kicked off a cascade of other thoughts like how would they schedule travelers? A ticket system? The nexus node could only take one person at a time and while travel was near instantaneous, they still needed to pace it out so a mob of people didn’t rush the node.

That was a far, far future thought, though. For the next year to year and a half they would play host to the many lords and ladies of the Imperial Kingdoms and their guards, allowing for all the proper inspections and procedures to take place. It would be a good trial run up to supporting full realm travel.

When the meal was finished, Aki appeared to help with the dishes, something he was very adept at for obvious reasons. Rhen and Arannet were right back at the endless stacks of paperwork. The “week’s out essentials” stack was getting smaller and smaller, and Rhen was feeling a bit of hope. They could do this.

Finally, they were down to the last sheet. Arannet pulled it in front of him and started her explanation. “This is a marital non-interference agreement, which simply states that if you had a spouse, they couldn’t govern any of the goings-on in the dungeon procedures for the nexus node—while still maintaining access to other areas—unless they were previously listed as a co-owner on the dungeon property.”

Arannet’s voice slowly faded out of Rhen’s ears as the rushing of blood filled it up.

The color drained from his face. His heart was like a panicked jackhammer against his ribs as his eyes bounced between “marital” and “wife.” The page before him blurred out as a vision from his past overcame his senses.

He looked up to the face in the doorway, her eyes filled with angry devastation. His bloody hands gripped the frame of the door, and his vision was blurred up by tears. She had never liked him, but now she hated him. He was less than dungeon scum to her, and he’d find no salvation here.

“Rhen,” Jakira’s concerned voice pulled him from the depths of his darkest day. “What is it?”

“He had a wife,” Rhen whispered in horror.

“Who did, Mr. Zephitz?” Arannet asked.

Rhen swallowed, stammering, “My sponsor did.”

Arannet brightened while Jakira’s face morphed into worry, a deep wrinkle in her brow.

“I didn’t know you’d gone to delver school, Mr. Zephitz. Was that left off your record?” Arannet turned one of the many rings on her fingers, bringing up Rhen’s ID syntial information.

“No!” Rhen yelled, jumping to his feet.

Arannet flinched, eyes wide.

“No,” Rhen started again, much calmer. “I’d taken private training in my early teens.”

She nodded, a confused smile on her face.

Rhen scribbled a quick signature. “There, all done. I think I should escort you to Desedra, don’t you?” he said, the words coming out in a flurry.

Arannet scowled, puzzled. “I think I’ll be oka—”

“There might be monsters in the forest,” Rhen said, cutting her off. “Plus, I’d like to spend a little time reading a few of the documents a little better to make sure I know what I’m getting into, so it would just make sense for me to go with you.”

Jakira jumped in. “I should come too! I’m headed that way anyway to pass out fliers in Yu. Maybe I could even go to Desedra to leave a few around there, and we need to sell some materials anyway.”

“Yes, we can make a full trip of it. I must report my progress to Broodmother and will need access to a realm to realm communication device.” Aki added, coming from the kitchen.

Brilliant, buddy, Rhen thought, knowing his friend could hear him. Aki flared yellow at the compliment.

Arannet nodded. “All right, I suppose there could be monsters, and having an escort back to the dungeon would be nice.”

“Great, let’s leave right now,” Rhen said, picking up the stuff lying around the dining room.

Arannet, still bewildered from their behavior, started collecting her things too. Rhen let Wyland know and five minutes later they were off. He clutched the Marital Non-Interference Agreement, his eyes burning from held back tears. He couldn’t think of that night, not right now. He needed to get to Desedra without rousing anyone else’s suspicions about who Rhen was.

He needed get a handle on the wife situation.